Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/80

60 THE DECLINE AXD FALL formidable adversaries, whose name had so long l)een the object of their terror. The king of Scythia (and Hermanrie alone could deserve so lofty a title) was grieved and exasperated by this national calamity. His ambassadors loudly complained, at the court of V'alcns, of the infraction of the ancient and solemn alliance which iiad so long subsisted between the Romans and the Goths. They alleged that they had fulfilled the duty of allies by assisting the kinsman and successor of the emperor Julian ; they required the immediate restitution of the noble captives ; and they urged a very singular claim, that the Gothic generals, marching in arms and in hostile array, were entitled to the sacred character and privileges of ambassadors. The decent but peremptory refusal of these extravagant demands was signified to the Barbarians by Victor, master-general of the cavalry ; who expressed, with force and dignity, the just com- plaints of the Emperor of the East.^^- The negotiation was interrupted ; and the manly exhortations of ^alentinian encouraged his timid brother to vindicate the insulted majesty of the empire.^^^ Hoituitiei The splendour and magnitude of this Gothic war are cele- A.D. 367, 368, bratcd by a contemporary' historian ; ^^* but the events scarcely deserve the attention of posterity, except as the preliminary steps of the approaching decline and fall of the empire. In- stead of leading the nations of Germany and Scythia to the banks of the ])anube, or even to the gates of Constantinople, the aged monarch of the Goths resigned to the brave Athanaric the danger and glory of a defensive war, against an enemy who wielded with a feeble hand the powers of a mighty state. A bridge of boats was established upon the Danube ; the presence of Valens animated his troops ; and his ignorance of the art of war was compensated by personal braverj'^ and a wise deference to the advice of Mctor and Arintheus, his masters-general of the cavalry and infantry. The operations of the campaign were i'2 The march nnd subsequent negotiation .ire described in the Fragments of Eunapius (Excerpt. Lcgat. p. i8, edit Lxjuvre [fr. 37. F. H. G. iv.]). The pro-in- cials, who afterwards became familiar with the Barbarians, found that their strength was more apparent than reaL They were tall of stature ; but their legs were clumsy, and their shoulders were narrow. 153 Valens enim, ut consulto placuerat fratri, ciijus regebatur arbitrio, arma concussit in Gothos ratione justd permotus. Ammianus (^';vii. 4) then proceeds to describe, not the country of the Goths, but the peaceful and obedient province of Thrace, which was not affected by the war. i'** Eunapius, in Excerpt. Legat. p. 18, ig[ii.]. The Greek sophist must hare considered as one and the same war the whole series of Gothic history till the victories and peace of Theodosius. 369