Two smaller
expeditions
beyond the Rhine followed
in the years 371 and 374.
in the years 371 and 374.
Cambridge Medieval History - v1 - Christian Roman Empire and Teutonic Kingdoms
D.
230—282
the Pyrenees, devastating as they went. Then they pushed on, as the
,
Cimbri had done before them, across the mountains into Spain, and
made havoc of that country for several years, reducing to subjection even
great cities like Tarraco, while, like the Vandals after them, they also
made a foray into Africa. As at the time of the Cimbrian war, the
terror of the Germans spread through all the countries of Western
Europe. Only after a considerable time Postumus-a capable soldier
and a well-intentioned administrator--was able to force the Germanic
hordes out of Gaul and restore peace and security.
But the Rhine
became the frontier of the Empire and remained so as long as the Empire
lasted.
From this time onward begins a period of incessant fighting with the
Teutons of the Rhine-country: with the Alemans in the south and the
Franks in the north. The weakness and exhaustion of the Empire
caused by inner dissensions becomes manifest. If Postumus succeeded
in keeping the Roman possessions on the Gaulish bank of the Rhine
essentially intact, his immediate successors were less successful. The
country was left defenceless, and large portions of it were plundered and
drained of their resources. Probus indeed, whose short reign (276-282)
is a ray of light in these gloomy times, succeeded in clearing them out of
Gaul, and even ventured to assume the offensive on the upper Rhine, in
a brilliant campaign forcing the Alemans back to the further side of the
Neckar. But such successes were but temporary. Only in the time of
Diocletian does a durable improvement on the Rhine frontier set in, an
improvement which was maintained for the next two or three generations.
During this period a third set of invaders, in addition to the Franks and
Alemans, appeared towards the close of the century in the Saxons, the
terror of the British and Gaulish coasts. In the main, however, Gaul
was suffered to enjoy peace; and with peace returned prosperity.
Meanwhile on the shores of the Euxine, there emerges a people
with whose name the world was to ring for centuries, the Goths.
Their original home had been, it would appear, in Scandinavia, and
after their migration to the German Baltic coast they had at first
established themselves about the estuary of the Vistula', then in course
of time they had moved further southward along the right bank of that
river, so that at the beginning of our era they appear as far south as the
neighbourhood of the Bohemian kingdom of the Marcomanni. How
long they remained in this region we do not know, but it is not unlikely
that their eastward migration falls about the time of the great
Marcomannic war. We are equally ignorant of the time occupied by
this migration and the details of its progress; the only thing certain is
that it reached its close not later than c. 230-240.
1 The Gutones on the North Sea coast mentioned by Pytheas in the fourth century
B. C. may have been a branch of this people which had wandered westward, and were
absorbed probably by the Frisians.
## p. 203 (#233) ############################################
A. D. 240–250]
The Goths
203
The territory where the Goths at last took up their abode embraced
the whole of the northern coast of the Black Sea. In the east it was
separated by the Don from that of the Alani, in the west it bordered on
the tract of country northward of the Danube Delta and the Dacian
frontier which had been settled four hundred years earlier by the
Bastarnae and the Sciri. Here the Goths divided into two sections soon
after their immigration, that dwelling more to the west being known
as the Tervingi, “the inhabitants of the forest region,” while the
eastern division was known as the Greutungi, “the inhabitants of the
Steppes. ” For the former the name Visigoths (Vesegoti) came into use',
at latest c. 350, for the latter the name Ostrogoths, designations however
of which the meaning is not absolutely certain, although “ the western
Goths” and “the eastern Goths” was an interpretation already known
to Jordanes. The boundary between them was formed by the Dniester.
Before long there appear alongside of them other Germanic peoples, the
Gepidae, Taifali, Borani, Urugundi and Heruli. The two first of these
had some original link of connexion with them. The Gepidae indeed
appear in the Gothic legend of their migrations as an actual part of
the Gothic nation. Whether they migrated to the Black Sea region
at the same time as the Goths, or followed them later, must remain an
open question.
Towards the end of the reign of Severus Alexander (222-235) the
first indications of the appearance on the northern shores of the Black Sea
of a new and powerful barbarian race, of a most warlike temper, had
already become manifest, when the Greek towns of Olbia and Tyras fell
victims to the sudden descent of an unknown enemy from the North.
A little later, under Gordian III (238–244), its name is found. In the
spring of 238 Gothic war-bands marched southwards, crossed the Danube
with the connivance of the Dacian Carpi and broke into the province of
Lower Moesia, where they captured and plundered the town of Istrus.
The Procurator of the province, Tullius Menophilus (238-241), being
unable to repel the invasion by force of arms, induced the Goths to
retire by the promise of a yearly subsidy. But by 248 they had renewed
their attacks on the Roman frontier in alliance with the Taifali, Asdingi
and Bastarnae. Under the leadership of Argaith and Gunterich their
bands again broke into Lower Moesia, assailed without success the fortified
town of Marcianople and plundered the unfortunate province again.
But these first exploits of the Goths were completely thrown into
the shade by the great invasion of Roman territory made at the
beginning of 250 by the half-legendary King Kniwa at the head of a
powerful army. While the Carpi Aung themselves upon Dacia, the
Gothic attack was directed as before upon Moesia. Thence a strong
1 These names, like the division of the race which they express, may have been
considerably older, and as the occurrence of Greutungi in Scandinavia suggests,
brought by the Goths from their original home.
CH.
VII.
## p. 204 (#234) ############################################
204
Decius
[A. D. 250—265
reverse.
i
detachment pressed onward over the undefended passes of the Balkans
into Thrace, laid siege to Philippopolis, and even despatched a plundering
party into Macedonia. One division of the Gothic army, after vainly
assaulting Novae and Nicopolis, was defeated in the neighbourhood of
the latter town by the Emperor Decius in person, but this success
was immediately counterbalanced by a
The Goths, while
retiring southwards by way of Beroë (Augusta Traiana), the present
Eski-Zaghra, on the southern slope of the Balkans, defeated the Roman
troops who were pursuing them. After this battle the victorious Goths
effected a junction with their countrymen who were investing Philip-
popolis, and that city fell into their hands. The Romans, however, were
now making extensive preparations, in view of which the barbarians
began their retreat. Decius, eager to wipe out the failure at Beroë,
sought to bar their path, and, in the hope of inflicting a crushing defeat
upon them, engaged them near Abrittus, about 30 miles south-east of
Durostorum (Silistria) in June 251. The day, which began well for the
Romans, ended in a fearful disaster, a great part of their army was
destroyed and the Emperor himself and one of his sons were among the
slain. The country from which the barbarians had just retired now lay
once more defenceless before them. They were finally bought off by the
promise of a yearly subsidy.
The Gothic war of 250-251 had revealed in its full extent the
danger which had lain hidden behind the mountains of Dacia. Later
events did little to remove the terrible impression which the invasion of
Kniwa had left behind. On the contrary, the history of the eastern half
of the Empire in the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, Claudius, Aurelian
and Probus is filled with incessant struggles against the Goths and their
allies. For even Asia Minor was not exempt from their ravages; besides
.
;
the bands which swept down by the Balkans and back again there were
now others which came by sea from the Crimea and Lake Maeotis to
ravage a constantly widening area of the coasts of Asia Minor and
which even penetrated to the inland districts. Especially prominent in
these piratical raids were the Borani and Heruli, two peoples who here
appear in history for the first time side by side with the Goths. The
first of these expeditions, made by the Borani in 256 against the town
of Pityus (on the eastern shore of the Black Sea), ended in failure, but
by the following year these same Borani succeeded in capturing and
sacking Pityus and Trapezus. Even more destructive was the expedition
which (spring 258) was undertaken by the West Goths, starting by sea
and land from the port of Tyras. The whole western coast of Bithynia
with the cities of Chalcedon, Nicomedia, Nicaea, Apamea and Prusa,
was ravaged. The years 263, 264 and 265 also witnessed the vasting of
the coast lands of Asia Minor by similar expeditions of the Pontic
Teutons. Ilium, Ephesus with its renowned temple of Artemis,
and Chalcedon, were this time the victims of the barbarians.
But all these exploits were far surpassed in importance by the great
## p. 205 (#235) ############################################
A. D. 267–270]
Claudius
205
a
plundering expedition of the Heruli in the year 207. From Lake
Maeotis a fleet, said to have been five hundred strong, sailed along the
western shore of the Euxine, then through the Bosphorus, where they
made a successful coup-de-main against Byzantium, through the
Propontis, where Cyzicus was captured, and the Hellespont, and onward
past Lemnos and Scyros across the Aegean to Greece. Here on the
classic soil of Attica, Argolis and Laconia the wild hosts of these
barbarians made fearful havoc, and it was long enough before the
bewildered provincial government ventured to oppose them. The
defenders, in whose ranks the historian Dexippus of Athens played
a leading part, gradually gained confidence, and when they had succeeded
in destroying the ships, the invaders were obliged to retreat by the
land route. Beaten by the Roman troops their hosts rolled northwards
through Boeotia, Epirus, Macedonia towards their home, which they
succeeded in reaching although hard pressed by their pursuers and at the
very last compelled by the Emperor Gallienus to fight a battle, in which
they incurred heavy losses, at the river Nestus, on the boundary between
Macedonia and Thrace.
We have seen above how the Danube had been constantly threatened
since the appearance of the Goths on the Black Sea, how invasion after
invasion had descended on Dacia and Moesia. Soon after the accession
of Gallienus (probably 256-7)', Dacia with the exception of the
narrow strip between the Temes and the Danube, which continued to be
held down to the time of Aurelian, together with the portion of Lower
Moesia which lay to the north of the Danube (the present Great
Wallachia), became the prey of the barbarians. Some of the West
Goths settled in Great Wallachia and the Taifali in the Banat; the
northern districts, especially Transylvania, were occupied by the Victovali
and Gepidae, who at this time make their appearance among the
enemies of Rome. The consequence of the loss of Dacia and Trans-
Danubian Moesia was that the Teutons now became on the lower
Danube as well as elsewhere the immediate neighbours of the Empire,
their territory being divided from it only by the river.
Only once in this whole period of inward decay did the imperial
power succeed in winning a decisive victory. That was the achievement
of the Emperor Claudius, whom his grateful contemporaries and succes-
sors have rightly adorned with the honourable title of “Gothicus. " In
the spring of 269 the Teutons made yet another attack upon the Empire,
surpassing all former ones in violence. East Goths and West Goths,
whom tradition here first distinguishes, Bastarnae (Peucini), Gepidae
and Heruli united their forces and advanced with a mighty army
and fleet-estimated in the sources at 300,000 fighting-men and 2000
1 In this year the minting of coins for the province of Dacia breaks off. The
inscriptions found in this country too do not come down beyond the first year of
the reign of Valerian.
CH. VII.
## p. 206 (#236) ############################################
206
Claudius and Aurelian
[A. D. 268-284
ships—against the Danubian frontier. Once more the province of Lower
Moesia bore the brunt of their attack. The land army of the Teutons,
in which lay their main strength, first made an unsuccessful attempt to
take Tomi and Marcianople, then swept like a flood over the interior
of the country, wasting and plundering as they went. Meanwhile the
fleet, which was manned chiefly by Heruli, sailed past Byzantium and
Cyzicus into the Aegean, and appeared before Thessalonica. Part of it
remained there and blockaded the city; the remainder made a great
plundering expedition which bears eloquent testimony to the seamanship
and daring of these Teutons, along the coasts of Macedonia, Greece and
Asia Minor, extending even as far as Crete and Cyprus.
This was the situation when the Emperor Claudius reached the
scene of war. At his approach the besiegers of the hard-pressed
Thessalonica had hastily drawn off northwards and effected a junction
with their kinsmen in Upper Moesia. The hostile forces met near
Naissus. In the desperate struggle which ensued the Teutons suffered
a crushing defeat. What remained of their army was in part cut to
pieces in the pursuit, in part driven into the inhospitable recesses of the
Balkans, where the survivors surrendered. They were partly enrolled in
the Roman army, partly, in pursuance of a policy initiated by the
Emperor Marcus, settled as coloni in the devastated frontier districts.
Thus the danger was averted from the Empire, and the desire of its
restless neighbours beyond the Danube to make expeditions on the great
scale was damped for nearly a hundred years. No doubt the inroads and
piratical voyages of smaller Gothic war-bands continued ; indeed, in the
next fourteen years (270-284), there was fighting with bands of this
kind under Quintillus, Aurelian, Tacitus and Probus, but all these
incursions were easily repelled by the imperial government, which
gained strength under Aurelian and Probus. Just at this time, too,
there broke out a severe internal struggle between the Teutons of the
Euxine and those of the Danube. The first aid called in by the Goths
against the Tervingi was that of the Bastarnae, but the outcome of the
struggle was that the Bastarnae were defeated and compelled to abandon
the territory which they had held so tenaciously for more than five
hundred years. The expelled Bastarnae, said to have numbered 100,000
men, were taken under his protection by the Emperor Probus and settled
in Thrace. After that the Tervingi, supported by the Taifali, made war
on the allied Gepidae and Vandals, while the East Goths fought with
their eastern neighbours the Urugundi, who on their defeat were taken
under the protection of the Alani'. We can see that the whole of the
eastern Germanic world was in a state of wild
uproar.
On the middle Danube there had been no fighting worth mention
1 Mamert. genethl. Maxim. 17 (p. 114 Baehrens) where the impossible Alamanni
is doubtless to be corrected to Alani ; the Burgundii are of course the Urugundi.
Cf. L. Schmidt, Gesch. der Wandalen, p. 14.
## p. 207 (#237) ############################################
A. D. 282–299]
Diocletian, Carausius
207
since the Marcomannic war. We hear indeed of an incursion of the
Marcomanni in the reign of Valerian, but, broadly speaking, the name
of this once so warlike nation may be said to disappear from history.
Their old comrades the Quadi often appear in association with the
lazyges, from the time of Gallienus, when they made a descent upon
Pannonia. There was further fighting with them in 283, as is proved
by a coin of Numerian'. However, they are in this period thrown into
the shade by the other more dangerous assailants of the Empire; indeed,
with the appearance of the Goths the main struggle between the Roman
and Germanic powers had shifted from the middle to the lower Danube.
Shortly after the death of Probus (Oct. 282), the Alemans on the
upper Rhine, and the Franks and Saxons on the lower Rhine, had
begun their forays again. The eastern districts of Gaul were again over-
run, while the coasts of the Channel were harried by Saxon pirates. The
Burgundians also had left their home between the Oder and the Vistula,
and forced their way through the heart of Germany to the Main. When
the government had been taken over by Diocletian, his colleague and
(after April 286) co-Emperor Maximian entered Gaul in the beginning
of that year; it was his first care, so soon as he had suppressed the
insurrection of the Bagaudae, to put a stop to the piracy of the Saxons
and Franks. He first cleared the left bank of the Rhine, drove the
Heruli and Chaivones, two Baltic tribes who had invaded Gaul, right
out of the country, and, basing himself on Mainz, conducted a successful
defensive campaign against Alemans and Burgundians. The defence of
the coasts was entrusted to a capable officer, Carausius the Menapian,
with a strong command and extensive authority. But when Carausius
set up for Emperor in Britain towards the end of 286 the Teutons found
a fresh opportunity. The usurper even made common cause with the
enemies of the Empire and openly helped them. Maximian, indeed,
repeatedly (287 and 291) gained successes against them, but the first
decided improvement on the Rhine frontier was due to a new develop-
ment of imperial organisation by which Gaul and Britain became a
distinct administrative department with a governor of their own in the
person of the general Flavius Constantius (March 293), who was at the
same time appointed Caesar. The Franks were decisively defeated
within their own borders (summer 293), Britain was reconquered for
the Empire (spring 296)—Carausius himself had fallen a victim to a
conspiracy in 293—and finally by two great victories over the Alemans
on the upper Rhine peace was at length restored (298-9), and the Rhine
was made secure, especially as regards the upper part of its course, by
the building of forts and the restoration of the defensive works which
had been destroyed by the enemy or had fallen into decay. Following
the example of Maximian, Constantius settled large numbers of prisoners
а
1 Cohen, vil. p. 378 n. 91, with the inscription triumfu[8] Quador[um].
CH, VII.
## p. 208 (#238) ############################################
208
Constantine and Constantius
[A. D. 299–353
of war, Franks, Frisians and Chamavi, as laeti and coloni, in the wasted
and depopulated districts of north-east Gaul. Here they were to
cultivate the fields that had been lying fallow, to supply the labour
that was sorely needed, and to aid in the defence of the frontier. he
country rapidly recovered, trade and commerce began to flourish again,
and the ancient prosperity returned.
It was in this hopeful condition that the Western provinces came
into the hands of Constantine when (25 July 306) he was called by the
will of the army to take up the reins of government. During a reign of
thirty-one years he thoroughly fulfilled the promise of his youth. From
the first day of his rule he devoted all his efforts to the securing and well-
being of the provinces. The Franks who were again on the move were
energetically repressed; in the process two of their chiefs were taken
prisoners, and given to the beasts. Similarly four years later a
combined attack of the Bructeri, Chamavi, Cherusci, Lanciones, Alemans
and Tubantes was repulsed with heavy loss. These were the only
occasions during Constantine's long reign on which the Germanic peoples
of the Rhine-district made any expeditions on a large scale.
As regards the actual defence of the frontier, the number of troops
was increased, the flotilla on the Rhine was reorganised and raised to a
considerable strength, and the belt of fortresses along the frontier was
improved. In this connexion took place the reoccupation and reforti-
fication of Divitia (Deutz), the old bridge-head of Cologne, which once
more gave the Romans a firm foothold on the right bank of the Rhine
on what had now become Frankish soil.
The coast defence of Gaul and Britain likewise underwent further
improvements
. The establishment of a special military command in the
latter country, mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum under the title comes
litoris Saxonici per Britanniam, most probably goes back to Constantine.
When the Emperor towards the end of 316 left Gaul for the last time,
the land was in the enjoyment of complete peace, and this happy state of
affairs continued so long as the internal peace of the Empire was preserved.
The enemy on the further side of the Rhine was thoroughly overawed,
and ventured on nothing more than small violations of the frontier.
Nevertheless the peace did not endure. When Magnentius, a Frank
by race, set himself up as Emperor (350), the security of the Rhine was
immediately imperilled, since the eastern Emperor Constantius himself
incited the Teutons to attack the usurper and so to invade the Empire.
All that had been accomplished by Constantine was rapidly lost in the
disastrous years of civil war between 351 and 353. The left bank of the
Rhine was again overrun by the Teutons, the fortified positions, denuded
of their garrisons, were almost all captured and destroyed and the open
country far into the interior of the province was plundered till there was
nothing left to plunder. Although Constantius, after the suppression
of the pestifera tyrannis, himself made two campaigns against the
## p. 209 (#239) ############################################
A. D. 354–368]
Julian
209
Alemans, in the first (spring 354) against the kings Gundomad and
Vadomar, in the second (summer 355) against the Lentienses, he effected
practically nothing. It was only when the young Caesar Julian took
up the command in Gaul that the situation began to improve. The
whole year 356 was taken up in fighting against the Alemans, who were
driven back on all sides. A great number of towns, including Cologne,
which had been captured by the Franks, were won back again. A
serious defeat incurred in 357 by the magister peditum Barbatio was
retrieved by the brilliant victory of the Caesar over the united forces
of Chnodomar, Serapio, Vestralp and other kings--in all 35,000 men
under seven “kings" (reges) and ten “sub-kings" (regales)--at Argento-
ratum (Strassburg). Two further campaigns against the Alemans, in
359 and 861, were equally successful. On the lower Rhine also Julian
defeated the Franks, the Chauci and the Chamavi (358-360); the
tracts between the Scheldt and the Meuse were cleared of the enemy,
seven towns, among them the old fortresses of Bingium, Antunnacum,
Bonna, Novaesium and Vetera (all on the Rhine) were retaken, and
again put in a state of defence. Thus the young Caesar seemed in the
way of bringing about a complete pacification of the Rhine country, when
he was compelled to leave Gaul by the outbreak of the conflict with
Constantius (361)'.
Once again the country was left defenceless before the barbarians, who
did not fail to profit by the situation. It was indeed high time when,
after the death of Jovian (Feb. 364), the new Emperor Valentinian entered
the threatened province in the late autumn of 365, and took up his
headquarters at Paris. So much had the situation altered for the worse
since the departure of Julian that the Alemans could venture in January
366 to cross the frozen Rhine, and penetrate to the neighbourhood of
Châlons-sur-Marne. Here, indeed, they were defeated by the general
Jovinus who had hastened from Paris to intercept them, and were
compelled to beat a retreat. But the danger was not done with. The
guerrilla warfare continued on the frontier, with its forays and surprises.
Several years of vigorous action were needed before any change was
apparent. Following the old and well-tried maxim that attack is the
best defence, Valentinian in 368 himself crossed the Rhine at the head of
a considerable army reinforced by contingents of Illyrian and Italian
troops. Advancing into the country of the Alemans he came upon the
enemy at Solicinium (Sulz on the upper Neckar ? ) and defeated them
1 Fuller accounts of these campaigns and of the Gothic War are given in the
next chapter.
If this identification is correct, Valentinian started from Trier, and marched
to the Rhine by the great military road through Metz-Zabern-Strassburg, and from
this point advanced in a south-easterly direction using the old military road which
led upwards from Offenburg in the Kinzig Valley and on which also lies Sulz, formerly
the site of a Roman fortress.
14
C. MED. H. VOL. I. CH. VII.
## p. 210 (#240) ############################################
210
Valentinian
(A. D. 282–383
a
in a bloody battle.
Two smaller expeditions beyond the Rhine followed
in the years 371 and 374. The result of this successful assumption of
the aggressive by the Romans was, broadly speaking, the recovery of the
Rhine frontier, which remained for the present exempt from serious
attack.
During this time of military activity the defences along the whole
line of the Rhine were strengthened. The existing castles and watch-
towers were improved and many new ones were built ; indeed a vigorous
development of this old and well-tried system of frontier defence is the
special merit of Valentinian. Taken generally, his reign marks a revival
of the strength of the Empire, inward as well as outward, and the results
of his work upon the Rhine could be felt for a generation after his
death. Thus his son and successor, Gratian (375-383), found for the
most part his ways made plain and a more peaceful situation obtaining
on his arrival in Gaul than that which had confronted his father ten
years earlier. Nevertheless he too had to draw the sword against the
Alemans, who—mainly the tribe of the Lentienses—in the spring of 378
crossed the Rhine with a considerable force. A battle took place near
Argentaria (Horburg near Colmar) in which the Romans gained a
complete victory, destroying the greater part of the enemy. Thus, here
on the Rhine frontier the year 378 brought the Romans once more a
complete success—the same year which in the East witnessed the break-
down of the Roman military power and the disastrous fall of the
Emperor Valens.
In contrast to the Rhine countries, the Danubian provinces had, since
the death of the Emperor Probus, enjoyed comparative peace. The
power of the most dangerous neighbour of the Empire, the Goths, had
been crippled for a long time, as we have seen, by Claudius and Aurelian,
and more especially by the dissensions and struggles between the
different tribes. The East Goths in particular had, since the close of
the third century, been fully occupied with their own affairs, and com-
pletely disappear for nearly a century. In the fourth century it is always
the western division, the Tervingi, of whom we hear; as is indeed natural,
seeing that their conquest of Trans-Danubian Moesia under Gallienus
had made them the immediate neighbours of the Empire.
No events of any great importance on the Danubian frontier are
recorded down to the time of Constantine. True, an inscription of
Diocletian and his colleagues of a date shortly before 301, celebrates a
victory over hostile tribes on the lower Danube', which doubtless means
the Goths, but these battles can hardly have been of any considerable
importance. On the other hand Constantine frequently had trouble
with the Goths. After some inroads in 314 the frontier defences
were strengthened by the building of the fortress Tropaeum Traiani
1 0. 1. L. III. 6151.
## p. 211 (#241) ############################################
A. D. 323–340]
The Goths in Dacia
211
(Adamelissi)”. The removal of troops from the frontier during prepara-
tions of Licinius for another civil war gave the signal at the beginning of
323 for a new incursion of the Goths. Thanks to the rapid advance
of Constantine—which brought him into his colleague's territory—the
invaders were intercepted before they had done any great damage, and
after severe losses, including the death of their leader, Rausimod, were
forced back across the Danube.
After the end of the civil war Constantine strove with unwearying
zeal to improve the defences of the frontier. The line was protected by
castles, and although the number of the frontier troops to whom was
especially assigned the duty of garrisoning them—the milites limitanei or
riparienses—was considerably reduced, there was no diminution, but, on
the contrary, a distinct increase of military security, gained by the
creation at the same time of a mobile field force. So strong did the
Roman Empire feel itself at this period that towards the close of the
reign of Constantine it even ventured to interfere in events on the
further side of the Danube where the Goths and Taifali were encroaching
on the Sarmatians who occupied the tract between the Theiss and the
Danube. In response to an appeal of the Sarmatians for help, the
Emperor's eldest son Constantine crossed the river at the head of an
army and, in conjunction with the Sarmatians, thoroughly routed the
Teutons (20 April 332).
Doubtless in consequence of this defeat, which clearly brought home
to them the military superiority of the Empire, the warlike ardour of the
Tervingi and Taifali was extinguished for a long time. Their impulse to
expand, the driving force of all their undertakings, was exhausted for
the present. The barbarians began to busy themselves with agriculture
and cattle-raising. As regards their relation to the Empire, former
conditions were reversed. By the treaty of peace concluded after their
defeat they nominally surrendered their independence and recognised the
suzerainty of the Roman government, being pledged as foederati, in
return for yearly subsidies (annonae foederaticae), to share in the defence
of the frontier, and in case of war to serve as auxiliary troops. The
peace continued for more than thirty years. From time to time there
may have been slight disturbances of the peace of this, indeed, there
is inscriptional evidence from the period of the joint rule of the three sons
of Constantine (337-340)', but on the whole both sides strictly observed
their compact.
1 The only record of these events is contained in C. I. L. 11. 13734 (presumably
from the year 316): Romanae securitatis libertatisque vindicibus dd. nn. Fl. Val.
Constantino et V[al. Licin]ia[no Licinio) piis felicibus aeternis Augg. quorum virtute
et providentia edomitis ubique barbararum gentium populis ad confirmandam limitis
tutelam etiam Tropeensium civitas auspicato a fundamentis feliciter opere constructa
est.
2 C. I. L. u. 12483.
CH. VII.
142
## p. 212 (#242) ############################################
212
Conversion of the Goths
[A. D. 332–381
During this long period of peace the West Goths underwent a
revolution, primarily religious but one which in its consequences affected
the whole mental, social and political life of the people—the introduction
of Christianity. As early as the second half of the third century
Christian teaching had obtained an entrance among them through
Cappadocian prisoners, taken in the sea-expeditions against Asia Minor.
There is no reason to doubt this fact; and it is equally certain that a
century later there were among the Goths representatives of the most
various schools of belief, Catholics, Arians and (since about 350) Audians.
Accordingly, the beginnings of Christianity among the Goths of the
Danube reach far back, and its diffusion among them took place under
the most various and independent influences. Of a conversion of the
nation there can be no question, at least as far down as the middle of
the fourth century. Their conversion only begins with the appearance
of Ulfila.
Born of Christian parents about the year 310-11 in the country of
the Goths, he grew up as a Goth among the Goths, although Greek
blood flowed in his veins. One or other of his parents came of a
Christian family from the neighbourhood of Parnasus in Cappadocia
which had been carried into captivity by the Goths in the time of
Gallienus (264? ). First employed as a Reader, he was, at the age of
about 30, that is to say about the year 341, consecrated as bishop of
the Christian community in the land of the Goths, by Eusebius (of
Nicomedia), the famous leader of the Arian party, at that time bishop
of Constantinople. Equally efficient as missionary and as organiser, Ulfila
gathered and united the scattered confessors of the Christian faith, and
by his enthusiastic preaching of the Gospel he won for it many new
adherents. For seven years he worked with great success among his
fellow-countrymen, and then he was suddenly obliged (c. 348) to
interrupt his work. A “godless and impious prince,” probably
Athanarich, inflicted cruel persecution on the Christians who dwelt
within his dominion, by which the newly organised church was scattered
and its bishop compelled to leave his home. Ulfila gathered together
his adherents or as many of them as had escaped the persecution and
fled with them across the Danube into Roman territory, where the
Emperor Constantius gave him shelter. Here he lived and worked (in
the neighbourhood of Nicopolis) as the priestly, and also as the political,
head of the Goths who had accompanied him in his flight, until 380 or
381—in very truth the apostle of the Goths, and not least so in virtue
of his great work of translating the Bible, by which he transmitted to
his people the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures for all time; and although
i On the form of the name cf. G. Kaufmann in his very thorough dissertation on
the sources of the history of Ulfila (Zeitschr. f. deutsch. Altert. 27, N. F. 15, pp. 243 f. ).
According to him the bishop of the Goths was named Ulfila not Vulfila, the
latter form having only come into use later, alongside of the former.
## p. 213 (#243) ############################################
A. D. 361–370]
Valens
213
his missionary. activity in his native land had early been brought to a
close, yet the conversion of the whole Gothic race to Arian Christianity
was nothing else than the harvest of that seed which he had sown in
those first years of his work among them. .
Soon after the death of Constantius (361) the friendly relations
between the West Goths and the Empire began to change. Scarcely
had Valentinian and Valens ascended the throne when there was an open
rupture. First, towards the end of 364, predatory bands of Goths
devastated Thrace-at the same time there was an incursion of the
Quadi and Sarmatians into Pannonia--then in the spring of 365 the
whole Gothic nation prepared for a great expedition against the Roman
territory. Once more the danger was averted; Valens, although he was
on the march for Syria and had already reached Bithynia, at once
took vigorous measures to cope with it. Two years later however came
the long-expected collision. Valens himself advanced to the attack.
He found a pretext in the ambiguous attitude of the Goths in recent
years, especially in their having aided the usurper Procopius with a
contingent of 3000 men (winter of 365-6). In the summer of 367 the
Roman army crossed the Danube. Yet no events of decisive importance
took place, either in this or the two following years—for the war lasted
till 369. The Goths, who had chosen as their leader Athanarich,
skilfully avoided a pitched battle, and they withdrew into the fastnesses
of the Transylvanian highlands? . In the end both sides were weary of
the war and negotiations were set on foot, which resulted in a treaty of
peace whereby the alliance with the Tervingi was formally annulled and
the Danube was established as the boundary between the two powers.
Immediately after the war, which had restored the status quo of the
beginning of the century-and therewith the complete liberty of the
Goths', the Romans set to work on a thorough restoration of the
frontier defences. Numerous burgi (barrier-forts) were erected along
the line of the Danube, as we learn in part from the evidence of
inscriptions. Yet at first the frontier remained undisturbed. Internal
dissensions and strife (chiefly due to a general persecution of the
Christians stirred up by Athanarich about the year 370) withdrew his
attention from external affairs. The Gothic prince shewed the utmost
a
· The statement of Ammianus (xxvii. 5. 6) that Athanarich nevertheless towards
the close of the war finally offered battle and was beaten and put to flight, is open
to grave doubt, since it is not obvious why the Gothic leader should suddenly
abandon the strategic method which had hitherto served him so well; and,
moreover, neither Zosimus (iv. 11) nor Themistius in his oration on the peace in 370
(Or. x. ) makes any mention of a battle in which the Romans had been successful.
: As the well-known inscription of Hissarlik, C. I. L. 11. 7494 (cf. Mommsen,
Hermes, xvii. 1882, pp. 523 ff. = Ges. Schriften, vi. pp. 303 ff. ) expressly emphasizes :
(Valens). . . [in fidem recepto rege Athanjarico, victis superatisque Gothis. . . hunc
burgum) ad defensionem rei publicae extruxit. . . .
CH. VII.
## p. 214 (#244) ############################################
214
Athanarich and Fritigern
[A. D. 370—376
ferocity against all Christians, without distinction of high or low, Arian,
Catholic, or Audian, with the avowed intention of extirpating
Christianity as dangerous to the State and deleterious to the strength
and vigour of the nation.
Probably in connexion with this, there arose (c. 370) a violent
conflict between the two most influential chiefs, Athanarich and Fritigern,
which finally led to an open schism between two portions of the race.
Fritigern was worsted, retired with his whole following into Roman
territory and placed himself under the protection of the Emperor, who
readily accorded him all possible succour and support. This step had
an important result for the cause of the persecuted Christians, inasmuch
as Fritigern with all his followers went over to Christianity and adopted
the Arian creed. This conversion of Fritigern to Christianity, and,
moreover, to Arian Christianity, powerfully influenced the further
development of events, since, on the one hand, it prepared the way for
the wider extension and final victory of Christianity among the Goths,
and on the other hand it became a serious danger to the political existence
of the nation when Arianism had been suppressed among the Romans,
for it had acquired a virtually national significance for the Goths.
The sojourn of Fritigern in Roman territory was not of long
duration. Confident in the support of the Roman government, he
returned with his followers to his own country and succeeded in main-
taining his position against Athanarich; there seems indeed to have
been a reconciliation between the rivals. Alongside of them, though
doubtless inferior to them in power and influence, a whole series of
important chiefs are mentioned by name in this period, among them
Alavio, Munderich, Eriwulf and Fravitta. At the same time, however,
Athanarich continued to exercise a certain primacy, although his
position was not in any sense constitutionally defined—among the
Romans he always bears the title of judex not rex.
The East Goths, of whom we have so long lost sight, had in the
meantime extended their dominions far and wide. A mighty empire
extending from the Don to the Dniester, from the Black Sea to the
marshes of the Pripet and the head-waters of the Dnieper and the
Volga, had emerged from their continual wars of conquest against their
neighbours, Germanic (such as the Heruli), Slavonic, and Finnish. The
main portion of these conquests is doubtless to be ascribed to King
Ermanarich, who had ruled over the Greutungi since the middle of the
century. In contrast with the West Goths who, as we have seen, down
to the end of their residence on the Danube, were ruled according to
ancient Germanic custom by principes or local chiefs, the East Goths had
early developed a monarchy embracing the whole nation. It is doubtless
to the inner strength which belongs to a firm and undivided exercise of
authority, that we are to attribute the rapid rise of the young Ostro-
gothic State under its kings from Ostrogotha to Ermanarich, a monarch
## p. 215 (#245) ############################################
A. D. 370–376]
The Huns
215
under whose vigorous rule it enjoyed its period of greatest prosperity-
and also met its fall.
Such was the state of affairs when a nation of untamed
savages,
horrible
in aspect and terrible from their countless numbers and ferocious courage,
broke forth from the interior of Asia and threatened the whole of the
West with destruction. These were the Huns. They were doubtless of
Mongolian race, and were probably natives of the great expanse of
steppes which lies to the north and east of the Caspian Sea. Soon after
370 they penetrated into Europe, and threw themselves with irresistible
fury upon the peoples which came in their way. The Alani, who had to
,
bear the first brunt of their attack, were soon overpowered, and com-
pelled to join their conquerors, and the same fate befel the smaller
peoples whose settlements lay further north, on the right bank of the
Volga.
The fate of the Ostrogothic Empire was now imminent. For a con-
siderable time they succeeded in holding the enemy at the sword's point,
but finally their strength broke down before the weight of the Asiatic
hordes. Ermanarich himself died by his own hand rather than live to see
the downfall of his kingdom ; his successor, Withimir, after several bloody
defeats, met his death on the field of battle. All resistance ceased, and
the whole people surrendered itself to the Huns.
The invading flood rolled westward to encounter the Tervingi (375).
At the first tidings of the events in the neighbouring country, Athanarich
called his people to arms and marched with a part of his forces to meet
the Huns. The Gothic leader took his stand on the bank of the
Dniester ; but finding himself compelled to abandon this position by a
crafty turning-movement of the enemy, Athanarich gave up thence-
forward all thought of resistance in the field, and betook himself to the
impenetrable ravines of the Transylvanian highlands. But only some of
the Goths followed him thither. The mass of the people, weary of
hardship and privation, separated themselves and resolved to abandon
their country. Under the leadership of their local chiefs Alavio and
Fritigern they mustered their forces in the spring of 376 on the north
bank of the Danube and besought permission to enter the Roman
Empire, in the hope of finding a dwelling-place in the rich plains of
Thrace. The Emperor Valens graciously received their request and gave
orders to the commanders on the frontier to take measures for the
shelter and provisioning of this huge mass of people. The Goths passed
the river. In boats, and rafts, and hollowed tree-trunks they made their
way across and covered all the country round"like the rain of ashes from
an eruption of Etna. ” At first all went well. The new-comers maintained
an exemplary attitude: not so the Roman officials—the chief of whom
was the Thracian comes Lupicinus. They used the precarious position
of the barbarians to their own profit, taking advantage of them in every
CH. VII.
## p. 216 (#246) ############################################
216
Battle of Hadrianople
[A. D. 376–378
possible way. It was not long before their shameless injustice aroused
the deep resentment of the Teutons, among whom famine had already
set in.
Things soon came to open rupture. In the immediate neighbourhood
of Marcianople a bloody battle was fought between the infuriated
Teutons and the soldiers of Lupicinus. The Romans were almost
annihilated, their leader took refuge behind the strong walls of the town,
which was immediately invested by the main body of the Tervingian
forces. Other divisions scattered over the plains, plundering as they
went. All attempts of the barbarians failed to take the town by storm.
So Fritigern “made his peace with stone walls. ” A strong force remained
“
before the place as an army of observation, while the main body turned,
as detachments of it had done before, to the plundering of the adjoining
districts of Moesia. Once more the country suffered fearfully, and to
complete its misery other bands of plunderers now joined the Goths.
Taifali, Alani, and even Huns were drawn across the Danube by the hope
of plundering and ravaging these fertile provinces. This was in the
summer of 377.
Troops were hurried up from all sides for the defence of the threatened
provinces ; even Gratian sent aid from the West. Meanwhile the Goths
had overrun all Moesia. Not only had the bloody battle fought at a
place called Salices (late summer 377) been indecisive and cost the
Romans heavy losses, but a strong detachment of Roman troops under
the tribune Barzimeres, a Teuton by race, had been. cut to pieces at
Dibaltus. A success which the dux Frigeridus, likewise of Teutonic birth,
gained over the Taifali and a company of the Greutungi under their
chief Farnobius was not much to balance this and did not alter the fact
that Thrace, which after the battle of Salices had been overrun by the
Teutons, remained a prey to them.
the Pyrenees, devastating as they went. Then they pushed on, as the
,
Cimbri had done before them, across the mountains into Spain, and
made havoc of that country for several years, reducing to subjection even
great cities like Tarraco, while, like the Vandals after them, they also
made a foray into Africa. As at the time of the Cimbrian war, the
terror of the Germans spread through all the countries of Western
Europe. Only after a considerable time Postumus-a capable soldier
and a well-intentioned administrator--was able to force the Germanic
hordes out of Gaul and restore peace and security.
But the Rhine
became the frontier of the Empire and remained so as long as the Empire
lasted.
From this time onward begins a period of incessant fighting with the
Teutons of the Rhine-country: with the Alemans in the south and the
Franks in the north. The weakness and exhaustion of the Empire
caused by inner dissensions becomes manifest. If Postumus succeeded
in keeping the Roman possessions on the Gaulish bank of the Rhine
essentially intact, his immediate successors were less successful. The
country was left defenceless, and large portions of it were plundered and
drained of their resources. Probus indeed, whose short reign (276-282)
is a ray of light in these gloomy times, succeeded in clearing them out of
Gaul, and even ventured to assume the offensive on the upper Rhine, in
a brilliant campaign forcing the Alemans back to the further side of the
Neckar. But such successes were but temporary. Only in the time of
Diocletian does a durable improvement on the Rhine frontier set in, an
improvement which was maintained for the next two or three generations.
During this period a third set of invaders, in addition to the Franks and
Alemans, appeared towards the close of the century in the Saxons, the
terror of the British and Gaulish coasts. In the main, however, Gaul
was suffered to enjoy peace; and with peace returned prosperity.
Meanwhile on the shores of the Euxine, there emerges a people
with whose name the world was to ring for centuries, the Goths.
Their original home had been, it would appear, in Scandinavia, and
after their migration to the German Baltic coast they had at first
established themselves about the estuary of the Vistula', then in course
of time they had moved further southward along the right bank of that
river, so that at the beginning of our era they appear as far south as the
neighbourhood of the Bohemian kingdom of the Marcomanni. How
long they remained in this region we do not know, but it is not unlikely
that their eastward migration falls about the time of the great
Marcomannic war. We are equally ignorant of the time occupied by
this migration and the details of its progress; the only thing certain is
that it reached its close not later than c. 230-240.
1 The Gutones on the North Sea coast mentioned by Pytheas in the fourth century
B. C. may have been a branch of this people which had wandered westward, and were
absorbed probably by the Frisians.
## p. 203 (#233) ############################################
A. D. 240–250]
The Goths
203
The territory where the Goths at last took up their abode embraced
the whole of the northern coast of the Black Sea. In the east it was
separated by the Don from that of the Alani, in the west it bordered on
the tract of country northward of the Danube Delta and the Dacian
frontier which had been settled four hundred years earlier by the
Bastarnae and the Sciri. Here the Goths divided into two sections soon
after their immigration, that dwelling more to the west being known
as the Tervingi, “the inhabitants of the forest region,” while the
eastern division was known as the Greutungi, “the inhabitants of the
Steppes. ” For the former the name Visigoths (Vesegoti) came into use',
at latest c. 350, for the latter the name Ostrogoths, designations however
of which the meaning is not absolutely certain, although “ the western
Goths” and “the eastern Goths” was an interpretation already known
to Jordanes. The boundary between them was formed by the Dniester.
Before long there appear alongside of them other Germanic peoples, the
Gepidae, Taifali, Borani, Urugundi and Heruli. The two first of these
had some original link of connexion with them. The Gepidae indeed
appear in the Gothic legend of their migrations as an actual part of
the Gothic nation. Whether they migrated to the Black Sea region
at the same time as the Goths, or followed them later, must remain an
open question.
Towards the end of the reign of Severus Alexander (222-235) the
first indications of the appearance on the northern shores of the Black Sea
of a new and powerful barbarian race, of a most warlike temper, had
already become manifest, when the Greek towns of Olbia and Tyras fell
victims to the sudden descent of an unknown enemy from the North.
A little later, under Gordian III (238–244), its name is found. In the
spring of 238 Gothic war-bands marched southwards, crossed the Danube
with the connivance of the Dacian Carpi and broke into the province of
Lower Moesia, where they captured and plundered the town of Istrus.
The Procurator of the province, Tullius Menophilus (238-241), being
unable to repel the invasion by force of arms, induced the Goths to
retire by the promise of a yearly subsidy. But by 248 they had renewed
their attacks on the Roman frontier in alliance with the Taifali, Asdingi
and Bastarnae. Under the leadership of Argaith and Gunterich their
bands again broke into Lower Moesia, assailed without success the fortified
town of Marcianople and plundered the unfortunate province again.
But these first exploits of the Goths were completely thrown into
the shade by the great invasion of Roman territory made at the
beginning of 250 by the half-legendary King Kniwa at the head of a
powerful army. While the Carpi Aung themselves upon Dacia, the
Gothic attack was directed as before upon Moesia. Thence a strong
1 These names, like the division of the race which they express, may have been
considerably older, and as the occurrence of Greutungi in Scandinavia suggests,
brought by the Goths from their original home.
CH.
VII.
## p. 204 (#234) ############################################
204
Decius
[A. D. 250—265
reverse.
i
detachment pressed onward over the undefended passes of the Balkans
into Thrace, laid siege to Philippopolis, and even despatched a plundering
party into Macedonia. One division of the Gothic army, after vainly
assaulting Novae and Nicopolis, was defeated in the neighbourhood of
the latter town by the Emperor Decius in person, but this success
was immediately counterbalanced by a
The Goths, while
retiring southwards by way of Beroë (Augusta Traiana), the present
Eski-Zaghra, on the southern slope of the Balkans, defeated the Roman
troops who were pursuing them. After this battle the victorious Goths
effected a junction with their countrymen who were investing Philip-
popolis, and that city fell into their hands. The Romans, however, were
now making extensive preparations, in view of which the barbarians
began their retreat. Decius, eager to wipe out the failure at Beroë,
sought to bar their path, and, in the hope of inflicting a crushing defeat
upon them, engaged them near Abrittus, about 30 miles south-east of
Durostorum (Silistria) in June 251. The day, which began well for the
Romans, ended in a fearful disaster, a great part of their army was
destroyed and the Emperor himself and one of his sons were among the
slain. The country from which the barbarians had just retired now lay
once more defenceless before them. They were finally bought off by the
promise of a yearly subsidy.
The Gothic war of 250-251 had revealed in its full extent the
danger which had lain hidden behind the mountains of Dacia. Later
events did little to remove the terrible impression which the invasion of
Kniwa had left behind. On the contrary, the history of the eastern half
of the Empire in the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, Claudius, Aurelian
and Probus is filled with incessant struggles against the Goths and their
allies. For even Asia Minor was not exempt from their ravages; besides
.
;
the bands which swept down by the Balkans and back again there were
now others which came by sea from the Crimea and Lake Maeotis to
ravage a constantly widening area of the coasts of Asia Minor and
which even penetrated to the inland districts. Especially prominent in
these piratical raids were the Borani and Heruli, two peoples who here
appear in history for the first time side by side with the Goths. The
first of these expeditions, made by the Borani in 256 against the town
of Pityus (on the eastern shore of the Black Sea), ended in failure, but
by the following year these same Borani succeeded in capturing and
sacking Pityus and Trapezus. Even more destructive was the expedition
which (spring 258) was undertaken by the West Goths, starting by sea
and land from the port of Tyras. The whole western coast of Bithynia
with the cities of Chalcedon, Nicomedia, Nicaea, Apamea and Prusa,
was ravaged. The years 263, 264 and 265 also witnessed the vasting of
the coast lands of Asia Minor by similar expeditions of the Pontic
Teutons. Ilium, Ephesus with its renowned temple of Artemis,
and Chalcedon, were this time the victims of the barbarians.
But all these exploits were far surpassed in importance by the great
## p. 205 (#235) ############################################
A. D. 267–270]
Claudius
205
a
plundering expedition of the Heruli in the year 207. From Lake
Maeotis a fleet, said to have been five hundred strong, sailed along the
western shore of the Euxine, then through the Bosphorus, where they
made a successful coup-de-main against Byzantium, through the
Propontis, where Cyzicus was captured, and the Hellespont, and onward
past Lemnos and Scyros across the Aegean to Greece. Here on the
classic soil of Attica, Argolis and Laconia the wild hosts of these
barbarians made fearful havoc, and it was long enough before the
bewildered provincial government ventured to oppose them. The
defenders, in whose ranks the historian Dexippus of Athens played
a leading part, gradually gained confidence, and when they had succeeded
in destroying the ships, the invaders were obliged to retreat by the
land route. Beaten by the Roman troops their hosts rolled northwards
through Boeotia, Epirus, Macedonia towards their home, which they
succeeded in reaching although hard pressed by their pursuers and at the
very last compelled by the Emperor Gallienus to fight a battle, in which
they incurred heavy losses, at the river Nestus, on the boundary between
Macedonia and Thrace.
We have seen above how the Danube had been constantly threatened
since the appearance of the Goths on the Black Sea, how invasion after
invasion had descended on Dacia and Moesia. Soon after the accession
of Gallienus (probably 256-7)', Dacia with the exception of the
narrow strip between the Temes and the Danube, which continued to be
held down to the time of Aurelian, together with the portion of Lower
Moesia which lay to the north of the Danube (the present Great
Wallachia), became the prey of the barbarians. Some of the West
Goths settled in Great Wallachia and the Taifali in the Banat; the
northern districts, especially Transylvania, were occupied by the Victovali
and Gepidae, who at this time make their appearance among the
enemies of Rome. The consequence of the loss of Dacia and Trans-
Danubian Moesia was that the Teutons now became on the lower
Danube as well as elsewhere the immediate neighbours of the Empire,
their territory being divided from it only by the river.
Only once in this whole period of inward decay did the imperial
power succeed in winning a decisive victory. That was the achievement
of the Emperor Claudius, whom his grateful contemporaries and succes-
sors have rightly adorned with the honourable title of “Gothicus. " In
the spring of 269 the Teutons made yet another attack upon the Empire,
surpassing all former ones in violence. East Goths and West Goths,
whom tradition here first distinguishes, Bastarnae (Peucini), Gepidae
and Heruli united their forces and advanced with a mighty army
and fleet-estimated in the sources at 300,000 fighting-men and 2000
1 In this year the minting of coins for the province of Dacia breaks off. The
inscriptions found in this country too do not come down beyond the first year of
the reign of Valerian.
CH. VII.
## p. 206 (#236) ############################################
206
Claudius and Aurelian
[A. D. 268-284
ships—against the Danubian frontier. Once more the province of Lower
Moesia bore the brunt of their attack. The land army of the Teutons,
in which lay their main strength, first made an unsuccessful attempt to
take Tomi and Marcianople, then swept like a flood over the interior
of the country, wasting and plundering as they went. Meanwhile the
fleet, which was manned chiefly by Heruli, sailed past Byzantium and
Cyzicus into the Aegean, and appeared before Thessalonica. Part of it
remained there and blockaded the city; the remainder made a great
plundering expedition which bears eloquent testimony to the seamanship
and daring of these Teutons, along the coasts of Macedonia, Greece and
Asia Minor, extending even as far as Crete and Cyprus.
This was the situation when the Emperor Claudius reached the
scene of war. At his approach the besiegers of the hard-pressed
Thessalonica had hastily drawn off northwards and effected a junction
with their kinsmen in Upper Moesia. The hostile forces met near
Naissus. In the desperate struggle which ensued the Teutons suffered
a crushing defeat. What remained of their army was in part cut to
pieces in the pursuit, in part driven into the inhospitable recesses of the
Balkans, where the survivors surrendered. They were partly enrolled in
the Roman army, partly, in pursuance of a policy initiated by the
Emperor Marcus, settled as coloni in the devastated frontier districts.
Thus the danger was averted from the Empire, and the desire of its
restless neighbours beyond the Danube to make expeditions on the great
scale was damped for nearly a hundred years. No doubt the inroads and
piratical voyages of smaller Gothic war-bands continued ; indeed, in the
next fourteen years (270-284), there was fighting with bands of this
kind under Quintillus, Aurelian, Tacitus and Probus, but all these
incursions were easily repelled by the imperial government, which
gained strength under Aurelian and Probus. Just at this time, too,
there broke out a severe internal struggle between the Teutons of the
Euxine and those of the Danube. The first aid called in by the Goths
against the Tervingi was that of the Bastarnae, but the outcome of the
struggle was that the Bastarnae were defeated and compelled to abandon
the territory which they had held so tenaciously for more than five
hundred years. The expelled Bastarnae, said to have numbered 100,000
men, were taken under his protection by the Emperor Probus and settled
in Thrace. After that the Tervingi, supported by the Taifali, made war
on the allied Gepidae and Vandals, while the East Goths fought with
their eastern neighbours the Urugundi, who on their defeat were taken
under the protection of the Alani'. We can see that the whole of the
eastern Germanic world was in a state of wild
uproar.
On the middle Danube there had been no fighting worth mention
1 Mamert. genethl. Maxim. 17 (p. 114 Baehrens) where the impossible Alamanni
is doubtless to be corrected to Alani ; the Burgundii are of course the Urugundi.
Cf. L. Schmidt, Gesch. der Wandalen, p. 14.
## p. 207 (#237) ############################################
A. D. 282–299]
Diocletian, Carausius
207
since the Marcomannic war. We hear indeed of an incursion of the
Marcomanni in the reign of Valerian, but, broadly speaking, the name
of this once so warlike nation may be said to disappear from history.
Their old comrades the Quadi often appear in association with the
lazyges, from the time of Gallienus, when they made a descent upon
Pannonia. There was further fighting with them in 283, as is proved
by a coin of Numerian'. However, they are in this period thrown into
the shade by the other more dangerous assailants of the Empire; indeed,
with the appearance of the Goths the main struggle between the Roman
and Germanic powers had shifted from the middle to the lower Danube.
Shortly after the death of Probus (Oct. 282), the Alemans on the
upper Rhine, and the Franks and Saxons on the lower Rhine, had
begun their forays again. The eastern districts of Gaul were again over-
run, while the coasts of the Channel were harried by Saxon pirates. The
Burgundians also had left their home between the Oder and the Vistula,
and forced their way through the heart of Germany to the Main. When
the government had been taken over by Diocletian, his colleague and
(after April 286) co-Emperor Maximian entered Gaul in the beginning
of that year; it was his first care, so soon as he had suppressed the
insurrection of the Bagaudae, to put a stop to the piracy of the Saxons
and Franks. He first cleared the left bank of the Rhine, drove the
Heruli and Chaivones, two Baltic tribes who had invaded Gaul, right
out of the country, and, basing himself on Mainz, conducted a successful
defensive campaign against Alemans and Burgundians. The defence of
the coasts was entrusted to a capable officer, Carausius the Menapian,
with a strong command and extensive authority. But when Carausius
set up for Emperor in Britain towards the end of 286 the Teutons found
a fresh opportunity. The usurper even made common cause with the
enemies of the Empire and openly helped them. Maximian, indeed,
repeatedly (287 and 291) gained successes against them, but the first
decided improvement on the Rhine frontier was due to a new develop-
ment of imperial organisation by which Gaul and Britain became a
distinct administrative department with a governor of their own in the
person of the general Flavius Constantius (March 293), who was at the
same time appointed Caesar. The Franks were decisively defeated
within their own borders (summer 293), Britain was reconquered for
the Empire (spring 296)—Carausius himself had fallen a victim to a
conspiracy in 293—and finally by two great victories over the Alemans
on the upper Rhine peace was at length restored (298-9), and the Rhine
was made secure, especially as regards the upper part of its course, by
the building of forts and the restoration of the defensive works which
had been destroyed by the enemy or had fallen into decay. Following
the example of Maximian, Constantius settled large numbers of prisoners
а
1 Cohen, vil. p. 378 n. 91, with the inscription triumfu[8] Quador[um].
CH, VII.
## p. 208 (#238) ############################################
208
Constantine and Constantius
[A. D. 299–353
of war, Franks, Frisians and Chamavi, as laeti and coloni, in the wasted
and depopulated districts of north-east Gaul. Here they were to
cultivate the fields that had been lying fallow, to supply the labour
that was sorely needed, and to aid in the defence of the frontier. he
country rapidly recovered, trade and commerce began to flourish again,
and the ancient prosperity returned.
It was in this hopeful condition that the Western provinces came
into the hands of Constantine when (25 July 306) he was called by the
will of the army to take up the reins of government. During a reign of
thirty-one years he thoroughly fulfilled the promise of his youth. From
the first day of his rule he devoted all his efforts to the securing and well-
being of the provinces. The Franks who were again on the move were
energetically repressed; in the process two of their chiefs were taken
prisoners, and given to the beasts. Similarly four years later a
combined attack of the Bructeri, Chamavi, Cherusci, Lanciones, Alemans
and Tubantes was repulsed with heavy loss. These were the only
occasions during Constantine's long reign on which the Germanic peoples
of the Rhine-district made any expeditions on a large scale.
As regards the actual defence of the frontier, the number of troops
was increased, the flotilla on the Rhine was reorganised and raised to a
considerable strength, and the belt of fortresses along the frontier was
improved. In this connexion took place the reoccupation and reforti-
fication of Divitia (Deutz), the old bridge-head of Cologne, which once
more gave the Romans a firm foothold on the right bank of the Rhine
on what had now become Frankish soil.
The coast defence of Gaul and Britain likewise underwent further
improvements
. The establishment of a special military command in the
latter country, mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum under the title comes
litoris Saxonici per Britanniam, most probably goes back to Constantine.
When the Emperor towards the end of 316 left Gaul for the last time,
the land was in the enjoyment of complete peace, and this happy state of
affairs continued so long as the internal peace of the Empire was preserved.
The enemy on the further side of the Rhine was thoroughly overawed,
and ventured on nothing more than small violations of the frontier.
Nevertheless the peace did not endure. When Magnentius, a Frank
by race, set himself up as Emperor (350), the security of the Rhine was
immediately imperilled, since the eastern Emperor Constantius himself
incited the Teutons to attack the usurper and so to invade the Empire.
All that had been accomplished by Constantine was rapidly lost in the
disastrous years of civil war between 351 and 353. The left bank of the
Rhine was again overrun by the Teutons, the fortified positions, denuded
of their garrisons, were almost all captured and destroyed and the open
country far into the interior of the province was plundered till there was
nothing left to plunder. Although Constantius, after the suppression
of the pestifera tyrannis, himself made two campaigns against the
## p. 209 (#239) ############################################
A. D. 354–368]
Julian
209
Alemans, in the first (spring 354) against the kings Gundomad and
Vadomar, in the second (summer 355) against the Lentienses, he effected
practically nothing. It was only when the young Caesar Julian took
up the command in Gaul that the situation began to improve. The
whole year 356 was taken up in fighting against the Alemans, who were
driven back on all sides. A great number of towns, including Cologne,
which had been captured by the Franks, were won back again. A
serious defeat incurred in 357 by the magister peditum Barbatio was
retrieved by the brilliant victory of the Caesar over the united forces
of Chnodomar, Serapio, Vestralp and other kings--in all 35,000 men
under seven “kings" (reges) and ten “sub-kings" (regales)--at Argento-
ratum (Strassburg). Two further campaigns against the Alemans, in
359 and 861, were equally successful. On the lower Rhine also Julian
defeated the Franks, the Chauci and the Chamavi (358-360); the
tracts between the Scheldt and the Meuse were cleared of the enemy,
seven towns, among them the old fortresses of Bingium, Antunnacum,
Bonna, Novaesium and Vetera (all on the Rhine) were retaken, and
again put in a state of defence. Thus the young Caesar seemed in the
way of bringing about a complete pacification of the Rhine country, when
he was compelled to leave Gaul by the outbreak of the conflict with
Constantius (361)'.
Once again the country was left defenceless before the barbarians, who
did not fail to profit by the situation. It was indeed high time when,
after the death of Jovian (Feb. 364), the new Emperor Valentinian entered
the threatened province in the late autumn of 365, and took up his
headquarters at Paris. So much had the situation altered for the worse
since the departure of Julian that the Alemans could venture in January
366 to cross the frozen Rhine, and penetrate to the neighbourhood of
Châlons-sur-Marne. Here, indeed, they were defeated by the general
Jovinus who had hastened from Paris to intercept them, and were
compelled to beat a retreat. But the danger was not done with. The
guerrilla warfare continued on the frontier, with its forays and surprises.
Several years of vigorous action were needed before any change was
apparent. Following the old and well-tried maxim that attack is the
best defence, Valentinian in 368 himself crossed the Rhine at the head of
a considerable army reinforced by contingents of Illyrian and Italian
troops. Advancing into the country of the Alemans he came upon the
enemy at Solicinium (Sulz on the upper Neckar ? ) and defeated them
1 Fuller accounts of these campaigns and of the Gothic War are given in the
next chapter.
If this identification is correct, Valentinian started from Trier, and marched
to the Rhine by the great military road through Metz-Zabern-Strassburg, and from
this point advanced in a south-easterly direction using the old military road which
led upwards from Offenburg in the Kinzig Valley and on which also lies Sulz, formerly
the site of a Roman fortress.
14
C. MED. H. VOL. I. CH. VII.
## p. 210 (#240) ############################################
210
Valentinian
(A. D. 282–383
a
in a bloody battle.
Two smaller expeditions beyond the Rhine followed
in the years 371 and 374. The result of this successful assumption of
the aggressive by the Romans was, broadly speaking, the recovery of the
Rhine frontier, which remained for the present exempt from serious
attack.
During this time of military activity the defences along the whole
line of the Rhine were strengthened. The existing castles and watch-
towers were improved and many new ones were built ; indeed a vigorous
development of this old and well-tried system of frontier defence is the
special merit of Valentinian. Taken generally, his reign marks a revival
of the strength of the Empire, inward as well as outward, and the results
of his work upon the Rhine could be felt for a generation after his
death. Thus his son and successor, Gratian (375-383), found for the
most part his ways made plain and a more peaceful situation obtaining
on his arrival in Gaul than that which had confronted his father ten
years earlier. Nevertheless he too had to draw the sword against the
Alemans, who—mainly the tribe of the Lentienses—in the spring of 378
crossed the Rhine with a considerable force. A battle took place near
Argentaria (Horburg near Colmar) in which the Romans gained a
complete victory, destroying the greater part of the enemy. Thus, here
on the Rhine frontier the year 378 brought the Romans once more a
complete success—the same year which in the East witnessed the break-
down of the Roman military power and the disastrous fall of the
Emperor Valens.
In contrast to the Rhine countries, the Danubian provinces had, since
the death of the Emperor Probus, enjoyed comparative peace. The
power of the most dangerous neighbour of the Empire, the Goths, had
been crippled for a long time, as we have seen, by Claudius and Aurelian,
and more especially by the dissensions and struggles between the
different tribes. The East Goths in particular had, since the close of
the third century, been fully occupied with their own affairs, and com-
pletely disappear for nearly a century. In the fourth century it is always
the western division, the Tervingi, of whom we hear; as is indeed natural,
seeing that their conquest of Trans-Danubian Moesia under Gallienus
had made them the immediate neighbours of the Empire.
No events of any great importance on the Danubian frontier are
recorded down to the time of Constantine. True, an inscription of
Diocletian and his colleagues of a date shortly before 301, celebrates a
victory over hostile tribes on the lower Danube', which doubtless means
the Goths, but these battles can hardly have been of any considerable
importance. On the other hand Constantine frequently had trouble
with the Goths. After some inroads in 314 the frontier defences
were strengthened by the building of the fortress Tropaeum Traiani
1 0. 1. L. III. 6151.
## p. 211 (#241) ############################################
A. D. 323–340]
The Goths in Dacia
211
(Adamelissi)”. The removal of troops from the frontier during prepara-
tions of Licinius for another civil war gave the signal at the beginning of
323 for a new incursion of the Goths. Thanks to the rapid advance
of Constantine—which brought him into his colleague's territory—the
invaders were intercepted before they had done any great damage, and
after severe losses, including the death of their leader, Rausimod, were
forced back across the Danube.
After the end of the civil war Constantine strove with unwearying
zeal to improve the defences of the frontier. The line was protected by
castles, and although the number of the frontier troops to whom was
especially assigned the duty of garrisoning them—the milites limitanei or
riparienses—was considerably reduced, there was no diminution, but, on
the contrary, a distinct increase of military security, gained by the
creation at the same time of a mobile field force. So strong did the
Roman Empire feel itself at this period that towards the close of the
reign of Constantine it even ventured to interfere in events on the
further side of the Danube where the Goths and Taifali were encroaching
on the Sarmatians who occupied the tract between the Theiss and the
Danube. In response to an appeal of the Sarmatians for help, the
Emperor's eldest son Constantine crossed the river at the head of an
army and, in conjunction with the Sarmatians, thoroughly routed the
Teutons (20 April 332).
Doubtless in consequence of this defeat, which clearly brought home
to them the military superiority of the Empire, the warlike ardour of the
Tervingi and Taifali was extinguished for a long time. Their impulse to
expand, the driving force of all their undertakings, was exhausted for
the present. The barbarians began to busy themselves with agriculture
and cattle-raising. As regards their relation to the Empire, former
conditions were reversed. By the treaty of peace concluded after their
defeat they nominally surrendered their independence and recognised the
suzerainty of the Roman government, being pledged as foederati, in
return for yearly subsidies (annonae foederaticae), to share in the defence
of the frontier, and in case of war to serve as auxiliary troops. The
peace continued for more than thirty years. From time to time there
may have been slight disturbances of the peace of this, indeed, there
is inscriptional evidence from the period of the joint rule of the three sons
of Constantine (337-340)', but on the whole both sides strictly observed
their compact.
1 The only record of these events is contained in C. I. L. 11. 13734 (presumably
from the year 316): Romanae securitatis libertatisque vindicibus dd. nn. Fl. Val.
Constantino et V[al. Licin]ia[no Licinio) piis felicibus aeternis Augg. quorum virtute
et providentia edomitis ubique barbararum gentium populis ad confirmandam limitis
tutelam etiam Tropeensium civitas auspicato a fundamentis feliciter opere constructa
est.
2 C. I. L. u. 12483.
CH. VII.
142
## p. 212 (#242) ############################################
212
Conversion of the Goths
[A. D. 332–381
During this long period of peace the West Goths underwent a
revolution, primarily religious but one which in its consequences affected
the whole mental, social and political life of the people—the introduction
of Christianity. As early as the second half of the third century
Christian teaching had obtained an entrance among them through
Cappadocian prisoners, taken in the sea-expeditions against Asia Minor.
There is no reason to doubt this fact; and it is equally certain that a
century later there were among the Goths representatives of the most
various schools of belief, Catholics, Arians and (since about 350) Audians.
Accordingly, the beginnings of Christianity among the Goths of the
Danube reach far back, and its diffusion among them took place under
the most various and independent influences. Of a conversion of the
nation there can be no question, at least as far down as the middle of
the fourth century. Their conversion only begins with the appearance
of Ulfila.
Born of Christian parents about the year 310-11 in the country of
the Goths, he grew up as a Goth among the Goths, although Greek
blood flowed in his veins. One or other of his parents came of a
Christian family from the neighbourhood of Parnasus in Cappadocia
which had been carried into captivity by the Goths in the time of
Gallienus (264? ). First employed as a Reader, he was, at the age of
about 30, that is to say about the year 341, consecrated as bishop of
the Christian community in the land of the Goths, by Eusebius (of
Nicomedia), the famous leader of the Arian party, at that time bishop
of Constantinople. Equally efficient as missionary and as organiser, Ulfila
gathered and united the scattered confessors of the Christian faith, and
by his enthusiastic preaching of the Gospel he won for it many new
adherents. For seven years he worked with great success among his
fellow-countrymen, and then he was suddenly obliged (c. 348) to
interrupt his work. A “godless and impious prince,” probably
Athanarich, inflicted cruel persecution on the Christians who dwelt
within his dominion, by which the newly organised church was scattered
and its bishop compelled to leave his home. Ulfila gathered together
his adherents or as many of them as had escaped the persecution and
fled with them across the Danube into Roman territory, where the
Emperor Constantius gave him shelter. Here he lived and worked (in
the neighbourhood of Nicopolis) as the priestly, and also as the political,
head of the Goths who had accompanied him in his flight, until 380 or
381—in very truth the apostle of the Goths, and not least so in virtue
of his great work of translating the Bible, by which he transmitted to
his people the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures for all time; and although
i On the form of the name cf. G. Kaufmann in his very thorough dissertation on
the sources of the history of Ulfila (Zeitschr. f. deutsch. Altert. 27, N. F. 15, pp. 243 f. ).
According to him the bishop of the Goths was named Ulfila not Vulfila, the
latter form having only come into use later, alongside of the former.
## p. 213 (#243) ############################################
A. D. 361–370]
Valens
213
his missionary. activity in his native land had early been brought to a
close, yet the conversion of the whole Gothic race to Arian Christianity
was nothing else than the harvest of that seed which he had sown in
those first years of his work among them. .
Soon after the death of Constantius (361) the friendly relations
between the West Goths and the Empire began to change. Scarcely
had Valentinian and Valens ascended the throne when there was an open
rupture. First, towards the end of 364, predatory bands of Goths
devastated Thrace-at the same time there was an incursion of the
Quadi and Sarmatians into Pannonia--then in the spring of 365 the
whole Gothic nation prepared for a great expedition against the Roman
territory. Once more the danger was averted; Valens, although he was
on the march for Syria and had already reached Bithynia, at once
took vigorous measures to cope with it. Two years later however came
the long-expected collision. Valens himself advanced to the attack.
He found a pretext in the ambiguous attitude of the Goths in recent
years, especially in their having aided the usurper Procopius with a
contingent of 3000 men (winter of 365-6). In the summer of 367 the
Roman army crossed the Danube. Yet no events of decisive importance
took place, either in this or the two following years—for the war lasted
till 369. The Goths, who had chosen as their leader Athanarich,
skilfully avoided a pitched battle, and they withdrew into the fastnesses
of the Transylvanian highlands? . In the end both sides were weary of
the war and negotiations were set on foot, which resulted in a treaty of
peace whereby the alliance with the Tervingi was formally annulled and
the Danube was established as the boundary between the two powers.
Immediately after the war, which had restored the status quo of the
beginning of the century-and therewith the complete liberty of the
Goths', the Romans set to work on a thorough restoration of the
frontier defences. Numerous burgi (barrier-forts) were erected along
the line of the Danube, as we learn in part from the evidence of
inscriptions. Yet at first the frontier remained undisturbed. Internal
dissensions and strife (chiefly due to a general persecution of the
Christians stirred up by Athanarich about the year 370) withdrew his
attention from external affairs. The Gothic prince shewed the utmost
a
· The statement of Ammianus (xxvii. 5. 6) that Athanarich nevertheless towards
the close of the war finally offered battle and was beaten and put to flight, is open
to grave doubt, since it is not obvious why the Gothic leader should suddenly
abandon the strategic method which had hitherto served him so well; and,
moreover, neither Zosimus (iv. 11) nor Themistius in his oration on the peace in 370
(Or. x. ) makes any mention of a battle in which the Romans had been successful.
: As the well-known inscription of Hissarlik, C. I. L. 11. 7494 (cf. Mommsen,
Hermes, xvii. 1882, pp. 523 ff. = Ges. Schriften, vi. pp. 303 ff. ) expressly emphasizes :
(Valens). . . [in fidem recepto rege Athanjarico, victis superatisque Gothis. . . hunc
burgum) ad defensionem rei publicae extruxit. . . .
CH. VII.
## p. 214 (#244) ############################################
214
Athanarich and Fritigern
[A. D. 370—376
ferocity against all Christians, without distinction of high or low, Arian,
Catholic, or Audian, with the avowed intention of extirpating
Christianity as dangerous to the State and deleterious to the strength
and vigour of the nation.
Probably in connexion with this, there arose (c. 370) a violent
conflict between the two most influential chiefs, Athanarich and Fritigern,
which finally led to an open schism between two portions of the race.
Fritigern was worsted, retired with his whole following into Roman
territory and placed himself under the protection of the Emperor, who
readily accorded him all possible succour and support. This step had
an important result for the cause of the persecuted Christians, inasmuch
as Fritigern with all his followers went over to Christianity and adopted
the Arian creed. This conversion of Fritigern to Christianity, and,
moreover, to Arian Christianity, powerfully influenced the further
development of events, since, on the one hand, it prepared the way for
the wider extension and final victory of Christianity among the Goths,
and on the other hand it became a serious danger to the political existence
of the nation when Arianism had been suppressed among the Romans,
for it had acquired a virtually national significance for the Goths.
The sojourn of Fritigern in Roman territory was not of long
duration. Confident in the support of the Roman government, he
returned with his followers to his own country and succeeded in main-
taining his position against Athanarich; there seems indeed to have
been a reconciliation between the rivals. Alongside of them, though
doubtless inferior to them in power and influence, a whole series of
important chiefs are mentioned by name in this period, among them
Alavio, Munderich, Eriwulf and Fravitta. At the same time, however,
Athanarich continued to exercise a certain primacy, although his
position was not in any sense constitutionally defined—among the
Romans he always bears the title of judex not rex.
The East Goths, of whom we have so long lost sight, had in the
meantime extended their dominions far and wide. A mighty empire
extending from the Don to the Dniester, from the Black Sea to the
marshes of the Pripet and the head-waters of the Dnieper and the
Volga, had emerged from their continual wars of conquest against their
neighbours, Germanic (such as the Heruli), Slavonic, and Finnish. The
main portion of these conquests is doubtless to be ascribed to King
Ermanarich, who had ruled over the Greutungi since the middle of the
century. In contrast with the West Goths who, as we have seen, down
to the end of their residence on the Danube, were ruled according to
ancient Germanic custom by principes or local chiefs, the East Goths had
early developed a monarchy embracing the whole nation. It is doubtless
to the inner strength which belongs to a firm and undivided exercise of
authority, that we are to attribute the rapid rise of the young Ostro-
gothic State under its kings from Ostrogotha to Ermanarich, a monarch
## p. 215 (#245) ############################################
A. D. 370–376]
The Huns
215
under whose vigorous rule it enjoyed its period of greatest prosperity-
and also met its fall.
Such was the state of affairs when a nation of untamed
savages,
horrible
in aspect and terrible from their countless numbers and ferocious courage,
broke forth from the interior of Asia and threatened the whole of the
West with destruction. These were the Huns. They were doubtless of
Mongolian race, and were probably natives of the great expanse of
steppes which lies to the north and east of the Caspian Sea. Soon after
370 they penetrated into Europe, and threw themselves with irresistible
fury upon the peoples which came in their way. The Alani, who had to
,
bear the first brunt of their attack, were soon overpowered, and com-
pelled to join their conquerors, and the same fate befel the smaller
peoples whose settlements lay further north, on the right bank of the
Volga.
The fate of the Ostrogothic Empire was now imminent. For a con-
siderable time they succeeded in holding the enemy at the sword's point,
but finally their strength broke down before the weight of the Asiatic
hordes. Ermanarich himself died by his own hand rather than live to see
the downfall of his kingdom ; his successor, Withimir, after several bloody
defeats, met his death on the field of battle. All resistance ceased, and
the whole people surrendered itself to the Huns.
The invading flood rolled westward to encounter the Tervingi (375).
At the first tidings of the events in the neighbouring country, Athanarich
called his people to arms and marched with a part of his forces to meet
the Huns. The Gothic leader took his stand on the bank of the
Dniester ; but finding himself compelled to abandon this position by a
crafty turning-movement of the enemy, Athanarich gave up thence-
forward all thought of resistance in the field, and betook himself to the
impenetrable ravines of the Transylvanian highlands. But only some of
the Goths followed him thither. The mass of the people, weary of
hardship and privation, separated themselves and resolved to abandon
their country. Under the leadership of their local chiefs Alavio and
Fritigern they mustered their forces in the spring of 376 on the north
bank of the Danube and besought permission to enter the Roman
Empire, in the hope of finding a dwelling-place in the rich plains of
Thrace. The Emperor Valens graciously received their request and gave
orders to the commanders on the frontier to take measures for the
shelter and provisioning of this huge mass of people. The Goths passed
the river. In boats, and rafts, and hollowed tree-trunks they made their
way across and covered all the country round"like the rain of ashes from
an eruption of Etna. ” At first all went well. The new-comers maintained
an exemplary attitude: not so the Roman officials—the chief of whom
was the Thracian comes Lupicinus. They used the precarious position
of the barbarians to their own profit, taking advantage of them in every
CH. VII.
## p. 216 (#246) ############################################
216
Battle of Hadrianople
[A. D. 376–378
possible way. It was not long before their shameless injustice aroused
the deep resentment of the Teutons, among whom famine had already
set in.
Things soon came to open rupture. In the immediate neighbourhood
of Marcianople a bloody battle was fought between the infuriated
Teutons and the soldiers of Lupicinus. The Romans were almost
annihilated, their leader took refuge behind the strong walls of the town,
which was immediately invested by the main body of the Tervingian
forces. Other divisions scattered over the plains, plundering as they
went. All attempts of the barbarians failed to take the town by storm.
So Fritigern “made his peace with stone walls. ” A strong force remained
“
before the place as an army of observation, while the main body turned,
as detachments of it had done before, to the plundering of the adjoining
districts of Moesia. Once more the country suffered fearfully, and to
complete its misery other bands of plunderers now joined the Goths.
Taifali, Alani, and even Huns were drawn across the Danube by the hope
of plundering and ravaging these fertile provinces. This was in the
summer of 377.
Troops were hurried up from all sides for the defence of the threatened
provinces ; even Gratian sent aid from the West. Meanwhile the Goths
had overrun all Moesia. Not only had the bloody battle fought at a
place called Salices (late summer 377) been indecisive and cost the
Romans heavy losses, but a strong detachment of Roman troops under
the tribune Barzimeres, a Teuton by race, had been. cut to pieces at
Dibaltus. A success which the dux Frigeridus, likewise of Teutonic birth,
gained over the Taifali and a company of the Greutungi under their
chief Farnobius was not much to balance this and did not alter the fact
that Thrace, which after the battle of Salices had been overrun by the
Teutons, remained a prey to them.
