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THE VISIGOTHS.
were already attached to the Christian faith. It is certain that
the Huns, from causes unknown to us, advanced towards the
Danube, and pressed upon the Gotlis, the most numerous of
whom were the Visigoths. The latter had a peculiar national
civilisation; and already possessed an alphabet of their own
which was invented by Ulphilas. They had long been in a
peaceful relation to the Komans, to whom, being now unable
to resist the Huns, they applied in their distress, begging that
they would receive them into the empire. There can be no
doubt that the true policy of the Romans would have been to
exert all their powers to support and fight for them in their
own country: but this plan was not thought of; and the only
question deliberated on was whether they should be received
or not. This was decided in the affirmative: they were
admitted into the empire on condition that they should sur-
render their arms, and disperse in various parts of the empire.
But this proved impossible. Dread of the Huns drove them
onward; they threw themselves into boats and rafts to save
their lives: the Roman detachments, which were to receive
them, were not sufficiently numerous to perform that service;
much dishonesty also was practised on that occasion; the
Romans allowing themselves to be bribed to leave them their
arms. In short, everything which should have been done
was neglected; and whatever should have been avoided, was
allowed to take place. The Goths were not dispersed, but
permitted to remain together. At the same time, the Romans
plundered and behaved cruelly towards them. They had been
promised supplies of provisions until they should have formed
settlements; but the Romans now availed themselves of this
opportunity to extort enormous prices from them. The Goths
endured all this with great forbearance. As yet only the tribe
of the Visigoths were concerned in these proceedings, the
Ostrogoths being still in their mountains. They must have
been exceedingly wealthy, for the Romans extorted incredible
sums. At length, however, they were provoked by this ill-
treatment : an insurrection broke out at Marcianopolis (in the
neighbourhood of Shumla) which soon became general. The
Visigoths were commanded, not by kings, but by two judges,
one of whom, Fritigern, was a truly great man, and carried
on the war with resolution. The dreamy Romans had not
imagined it possible that their crimes could be followed by
THE OSTBOGOTHS.
333
such consequences, when all at once the whole nation of the
Goths was in arms and inundated Moesia and Thrace. They
made unsuccessful attempts upon several cities, such as Philip-
popolis, but the open country was entirely given up to them.
The fear and terror they occasioned were immense. The
Ostrogoths soon followed, and advanced into the places aban-
doned by the Visigoths; but it must not be inferred that they
acted in concert, for the Ostrogoths and Visigoths were in
every respect essentially different nations.
Valens was now roused from his inactivity: he secured
peace with Persia, and led the legions of the East against the
enemy, calling in the aid of Gratian also from the West. The
Goths were besieging Adrianople. PIad Valcns waited for
Gratian’s arrival, it might perhaps have been still possible to
sustain the shock of those migrating nations. The Visigotlis
formed one great warlike mass of 200,000 men, capable of
bearing arms; but had they not succeeded at Adrianople, the
world would not have experienced the change which then
came upon it. Valens, although he was anything but a
warrior, prosecuted the war with a determination to run risks
such as he should not have ventured upon. But he was jealous
of Gratian, who was advancing very rapidly and had already
gained a brilliant victory over the Alemannians. Instead of
waiting a few weeks and then uniting with him, Valens ven-
tured upon the attack alone, and the battle was completely
lost: two-thirds of the Roman army were destroyed, and
Valens himself was among the slain. The Goths now tra-
versed the whole diocese of Illyricum and Thrace, and even
approached the gates of Constantinople. The towns indeed
could not be taken, but the open country from the Adriatic to
the Black Sea, and the frontiers of Greece, was thoroughly
ravaged. After this there follows a period of six years, the
history of which is buried in complete darkness.
When Valens had fallen, Gratian saw the impossibility of
defending the whole Roman world alone, and made Theodosius
his colleague in the empire. This resolution does infinite
credit to Gratian, and proves that he was capable Ofthefeelings
of a great man. Theodosius was the son of a most distinguished
man, who in the early part of Gratian’s reign, had, though
innocent, been put to death, in consequence of a malicious accu-
sation after he had recovered Britain and Africa. Theodosius was