middle ages. * But the confusion of blood and manners on that doubtful frontier often perplexed the most accurate observers. As the Goths advanced near the Euxine sea, they encountered a purer race of Sarmatians, the Jazyges, the Alani, and the Roxolani; and they were probably the first Germans who saw the mouths of the Borysthenes and of the Tanais. If we inquire into the characteristic marks of the people of Germany and of Sarmatia, we shall discover that these two great portions of human kind were principally distinguished by fixed huts or moveable tents, by a close dress, or flowing garments, by the marriage of one or several wives, by a military force, consisting for the most part, either of infantry or cavalry; and, above all, by the use of the Teutonic, or of the Sclavonian language; the last of by the ancients to designate the Celts, or more properly Kelts. The offsets of their race which they left during their progress westward, have been already noticed, as well as the fabulous emigrations from Gaul, invented to account for them. Among these the Scordisci, or Kordista, appear to have been connected with the Gallic tribes occasionally mentioned on the western borders of the Euxine. Strabo (lib. 7) described them particularly as occupying the islands of the Danube; and Pausanias (lib. 10, de Phocicis), records an instructive fact. He stated that a horse was called by that people marcas, which closely resembles the present Gaelic and Welsh names for the same animal. Till the victories of Alexander on the Danube made the Greeks acquainted with this nation they had never known any Celta. (Appian. 1. 1, c. 3; 1. 7, c. 15.) After that they gave the name of Galate to the descendants of the Kimmerioi in Asia Minor, who had previously been imperfectly known as Bithynian Thracians, and whom the Romans afterwards denominated Gallo-Græci. The Scordisci most probably furnished the army of Gauls that attacked Delphi, 278 B.C., and must have been the progenitors of the Albanians, whose resemblance to the Highlanders of Scotland in language and personal appearance has been pointed out by Major Leake (Researches in Greece, p. 237) and by Lord Byron in his Notes to Childe Harold (canto 2, p. 125).-ED.] * The Venedi, the Slavi, and the Antes, were the three great tribes of the same people. (Jornandes, c. 24.) [These three tribes constituted the great Sclavonian nation.-GUIZOT.] [The Venedi are here mistaken for the Wenden.-ED.]

Tacitus most assuredly deserves that title, and even his cautious suspense is a proof of his diligent inquiries. Jac. Reineggs thinks that he discovered among the Caucasian mountains some descendants of the ancient Alani. They are called by the Tartars Edeki Alan; and use a particular dialect of the ancient language spoken by the Tartars of Caucasus. Reinegg's Description of Caucasus, Germ. ed. pp. 11, 15. -GUIZOT.

which has been diffused by conquest, from the confines of Italy to the neighbourhood of Japan.

The Goths were now in possession of the Ukraine, a country of considerable extent and uncommon fertility, intersected with navigable rivers, which from either side discharge themselves into the Borysthenes, and interspersed with large and lofty forests of oaks. The plenty of game and fish, the innumerable bee-hives deposited in the hollow of old trees, and in the cavities of rocks, and forming, even in that rude age, a valuable branch of commerce, the size of the cattle, the temperature of the air, the aptness of the soil for every species of grain, and the luxuriancy of the vegetation, all displayed the liberality of nature, and tempted the industry of man. * But the Goths withstood all these temptations, and still adhered to a life of idleness, of poverty, and of rapine.

The Scythian hordes, which, towards the east, bordered on the new settlements of the Goths, presented nothing to their arms, except the doubtful chance of an unprofitable victory. But the prospect of the Roman territories was far more alluring; and the fields of Dacia were covered with rich harvests, sown by the hands of an industrious, and exposed to be gathered by those of a warlike, people. It is probable, that the conquests of Trajan, maintained by his successors, less for any real advantage than for ideal dignity, had contributed to weaken the empire on that side. The new and unsettled province of Dacia was neither strong enough to resist, nor rich enough to satiate, the rapaciousness of the barbarians. As long as the remote banks of the Niester were considered as the boundary of the Roman power, the fortifications of the Lower Danube were more carelessly guarded, and the inhabitants of Moesia lived in supine security, fondly conceiving themselves at an inaccessible distance from any barbarian invaders. The irruptions of the Goths, under the reign of Philip, fatally convinced them of their mistake. The king, or leader of that fierce nation, traversed with contempt the province of Dacia, and passed both the Niester and the Danube without encountering any opposition capable of retarding his progress. The

* Genealogical History of the Tartars, p. 593. Mr. Bell (vol. ii, p. 379) traversed the Ukraine in his journey from Petersburgh to Constantinople. The modern face of the country is a just repre

relaxed discipline of the Roman troops betrayed the most important posts where they were stationed, and the fear of deserved punishment induced great numbers of them to enlist under the Gothic standard. The various multitude of barbarians appeared, at length, under the walls of Marcianopolis, a city built by Trajan in honour of his sister, and at that time the capital of the second Moesia.* The inhabitants consented to ransom their lives and property, by the payment of a large sum of money, and the invaders retreated back into their deserts, animated rather than satisfied, with the first success of their arms against an opulent but feeble country. Intelligence was soon transmitted to the emperor Decius, that Cniva, king of the Goths, had passed the Danube a second time, with more considerable forces; that his numerous detachments scattered devastation over the provinces of Moesia, whilst the main body of the army, consisting of seventy thousand Germans and Sarmatians, a force equal to the most daring achievements, required the presence of the Roman monarch, and the exertion of his military power.

Decius found the Goths engaged before Nicopolis, on the Jatrus, one of the many monuments of Trajan's victories. On his approach they raised the siege, but with a design only of marching away to a conquest of greater importance, the siege of Philippopolis, a city of Thrace, founded by the father of Alexander, near the foot of Mount Hæmus. Decius followed them through a difficult country, and by forced marches; but when he imagined himself at a considerable distance from the rear of the Goths, Cniva turned with rapid fury on his pursuers. The camp of the sentation of the ancient, since, in the hands of the Cossacks, it still remains in a state of nature. * In the sixteenth chapter of Jornandes, instead of secundo Moesiam, we may venture to substitute secundam, the second Moesia, of which Marcianopolis was certainly the capital. (See Hierocles de Provinciis, and Wesseling, ad locum, p. 636. Itinerar.) It is surprising how this palpable error of the scribe could escape the judicious correction of Grotius. [Marcianopolis is now Prebislaw, in Bulgaria. D'Anville, Géog. Anc. tom. i, p. 311.-GUIZOT.]

The place is still called Nicop. The little stream on whose banks it stood falls into the Danube. D'Anville, Géographie Ancienne, tom. i, p. 307. Stephan. Byzant. de Urbibus, p. 740. Wesseling, Itinerar. p. 136. Zonaras, by an odd mistake, ascribes the foundation of Philippopolis to the immediate predecessor of Decius. [It now bears the same name, or sometimes Philiba. Its situation amid three hills gave

Romans was surprised and pillaged, and for the first time their emperor fled in disorder before a troop of half-armed barbarians. After a long resistance, Philippopolis, destitute of succour, was taken by storm. A hundred thousand persons are reported to have been massacred in the sack of that great city.* Many prisoners of consequence became a valuable accession to the spoil; and Priscus, a brother of the late emperor Philip, blushed not to assume the purple under the protection of the barbarous enemies of Rome.† The time, however, consumed in that tedious siege, enabled Decius to revive the courage, restore the discipline, and recruit the numbers of his troops. He intercepted several parties of Carpi, and other Germans, who were hastening to. share the victory of their countrymen,‡ intrusted the passes of the mountains to officers of approved valour and fidelity,§ repaired and strengthened the fortifications of the Danube, and exerted his utmost vigilance to oppose either the progress or the retreat of the Goths. Encouraged by the return of fortune, he anxiously waited for an opportunity to retrieve, by a great and decisive blow, his own glory, and that of the Roman arms.T

At the same time when Decius was struggling with the violence of the tempest, his mind, calm and deliberate amidst the tumult of war, investigated the more general causes, that, since the age of the Antonines, had so impetuously urged the decline of the Roman greatness. He soon discovered that it was impossible to replace that greatness on a permanent basis, without restoring public virtue, ancient principles and manners, and the oppressed majesty of the laws. To execute this noble but arduous design, he first resolved to revive the obsolete office of censor; an office

it also the name of Trimontium. D'Anville, Géog. Anc. tom. i, p. 295. -GUIZOT.] * Ammian, 31, 5. Aurel. Victor, c. 29. Victoria Carpice, on some medals of Decius, insinuate these advantages.

§ Claudius (who afterwards reigned with so much glory) was posted in the pass of Thermopyla with two hundred Dardanians, one hundred heavy and one hundred and sixty light horse, sixty Cretan archers, and one thousand well-armed recruits. See an original letter from the emperor to his officer, in the Augustan History, p. 200.

Jornandes, c. 16-18. Zosimus, 1. 1, p. 22. In the general account of this war, it is easy to discover the opposite prejudices of the Gothic and the Grecian writer. In carelessness alone they are

which, as long as it had subsisted in its pristine integrity, had so much contributed to the perpetuity of the state,* till it was usurped and gradually neglected by the Cæsars.† Conscious that the favour of the sovereign may confer power, but that the esteem of the people can alone bestow authority, he submitted the choice of the censor to the unbiassed voice of the senate. By their unanimous votes, or rather acclamations, Valerian, who was afterwards emperor, and who then served with distinction in the army of Decius, was declared the most worthy of that exalted honour. As soon as the decree of the senate was transmitted to the emperor, he assembled a great council in his camp, and before the investiture of the censor elect, he apprized him of the difficulty and importance of his great office. "Happy Valerian," said the prince to his distinguished subject, "happy in the general approbation of the senate and of the Roman republic! Accept the censorship of mankind; and judge of our manners. You will select those who deserve to continue members of the senate; you will restore the equestrian order to its ancient splendour; you will improve the revenue, yet moderate the public burdens. You will distinguish into regular classes the various and infinite multitude of citizens, and accurately review the military strength, the wealth, the virtue, and the resources of Rome. Your decisions shall obtain the force of laws. The army, the palace, the ministers of justice, and the great officers of the empire, are all subject to your tribunal. None are exempted, excepting only the ordinary consuls, the prefect of the city, the king of the sacrifices, and (as long as she preserves her chastity inviolate) the eldest of the vestal virgins. Even these few, who may not dread the severity, will anxiously solicit the esteem of the Roman censor."§ A magistrate, invested with such extensive powers, would

alike. * Montesquieu, Grandeur et Décadence des Romains, c. 8. He illustrates the nature and use of the censorship with his usual ingenuity, and with uncommon precision. Vespasian and Titus were the last censors. Plin. Hist. Natur. 7, 49. Censorinus de Die Natali. The modesty of Trajan refused an honour which he deserved, and his example became a law to the Antonines. See Pliny's Panegyric, c. 45 and 60. Yet, in spite of this exemption, Pompey appeared before that tribunal during his consulship. The occasion indeed was equally singular and honourable. Plutarch in Pomp. p. 630.

§ See the original speech, in the Augustan Hist. p. 173, 174.