Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/380

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846 plint's natueal histoet. [Book rv. are the Burgundiones the Yarini^, the Carini^, and the Grutones^; the Ingaevones, forming a second race, a por- tion of whom are the Cimbri the Teutoni^, and the tribes Riesengebirge. They subsequently appeared in Dacia and Pannonia, and in the beginning of the fifth century invaded Spain. Under Genseric they passed over into Afi'ica, and finally took and plundered Rome in A.D. 455. Their kingdom was finally destroyed by BeUsarius. ^ It is supposed that the Burgundiones were a Gothic people dwelling in the country between the rivers Viadus and Vistula, though Armnianus MarceUinus declares them to have been of pure Roman origin. How they came into the country of the Upper Maine in the south-west of Germany in A.D. 289, liistorians have found themselves at a loss to in- form us. It is not improbable that the two peoples were not identical, and that the similarity of their name arose only from the circumstance that they both resided in " burgi" or burghs. See Gibbon, iii. 99. BohrCs Ed. 2 The Varhii dwelt on the right bank of the Albis or Elbe, north of the Langobardi. Ptolemy however, who seems to mention them as the Ava- rini, speaks of them as dwelling near the sources of the Vistula, on the Bite of the present Cracow. See Gibbon, iv. 225. Bohn^s Ed. 3 Nothing whatever is known of the locahty of tins people. ^ They are also called in history Gothi, Gothones, Gotones and Gutse. According to Pytheas of Marseilles (as mentioned by Phny, B.xxsvii. c. 2), they dwelt on the coasts of the Baltic, in the vicinity of what is now called the Fritsch-Hafi*. Tacitus also refers to the same district, though he does not speak of them as inhabiting the coast. Ptolemy again speaks of them as dwelling on the east of the Vistula, and to the south of the Venedi. The later form of their name, Gothi, does not occur tiU the time of CaracaUa. Their native name was Gutthinda. They are first spoken of as a powerful nation at the beginning of the third cen- tury, when we find them mentioned as 'Gette,' from the circumstance of their having occupied the countries formerly inhabited by the Sarmatian Getse. The formidable attacks made by this people, divided into the nations of the Ostrogoths and Visigoths, upon the Roman power during its decline, are too well known to every reader of Gibbon to require further notice.

  • The inhabitants of Chersonesus Cimbrica, the modern peninsula of

Jutland. It seems doubtful whether these Cimbri were a Germanic na- tion or a Celtic tribe, as also whether they were the same race whose numerous hordes successively defeated six Roman armies, and were finally conquered by C. Marius, B.C. 101, in the Campi Raudii. The more general impression, however, entertained by liistorians, is that they were a Celtic or GaUic and not a Germanic nation. The name is said to have signified " robbers." See Gibbon, i. 273, iii. 365. Bolm's Ed. ^ The Teutoni or Teutones dwelt on the coasts of the Baltic, adjacent to the territory of the Cimbri. Then* name, though belonging originally to a single nation or tribe, came to be afterwards apphed collectively to the whole people of Germany. See Gibbon, iii. 139. Bohti's Ed,