Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/29

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 7 equal conflict.^- The despair of Cunimund was active and dangerous. He was informed that the Avars had entered his confines ; but on the strong assurance that, after the defeat of the Lombards, these foreign invaders would easily be repelled, he rushed forwards to encounter the implacable enemy of his name and family. But the courage of the Gepidae could secure them no more than an honourable death. The bravest of the nation fell in the field of battle ; the king of the Lombards contemplated with delight the head of Cunimund, and his skull was fashioned into a cup to satiate the hatred of the conqueror, or, perhaps, to comply with the savage custom of his country. ^^ After this victory no farther obstacle could impede the progress of the confederates, and they faithfully executed the terms of their agreement.!^ The fair countries of Walachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, and the parts of Hungary beyond the Danube, were occupied, without resistance, by a new colony of Scythians; and the Dacian empire of the chagans subsisted with splendour above two hundred and thirty years. ^'^ The nation of the Gepidag was dissolved ; but, in the distribution of the captives, the slaves of the Avars were less fortunate than the companions of the Lombards, whose generosity adopted a valiant foe, and whose freedom was incompatible with cool and deliberate tyranny. One moiety of the spoil introduced into the camp of Alboin more wealth than a barbarian could readily compute. The fair Rosamond was persuaded or compelled to acknowledge the rights of her victorious lover ; and the daughter of Cuni- mund appeared to forgive those crimes which might be imputed to her own irresistible charms. The destruction of a mighty kingdom established the fame Aiboin under- of Alboin. In the days of Charlemagne, the Bavarians, the auestofitaiy' Saxons, and the other tribes of the Teutonic language, still [sesj repeated the songs which described the heroic virtues, the '2 [The negotiations between Avars and Lombards, described by Menander, fr. 24 and 25 (F. H. G. iv. p. 230), belong to A. D. 566 at earliest, and most probably ; the destruction of the Gepidas is most naturally placed in 567.] ^•' It appears from Strabo, Pliny, and Ammianus Marcellinus that the same practice was common among the Scythian tribes (Muratori, Scriptores Rer. Italic. torn. i. p. 424). The scalps of North America are likewise trophies of valour. The skull of Cunimund was preserved above two hundred years among the Lombards ; and Paul himself was one of the guests to whom duke Ratchis exhibited this cup on a high festival (1. ii. c. 28). [The same barbarity was practised by the Bulgarians. The skull of the Emperor Nicephorus I. was made into a cup by the Bulgarian sovran Crum. See below, c. Iv. ] ^* Paul, 1. i. c. 27. Menander, in Excerpt. Legat. p. no, in [loc. cit.]. "^•^ [See Appendix 2.]