The Races of the Danube. 235 



that the Slavonic race began to play a part in 

 European history. Advancing from what is now * 

 southern Russia, in the rear of the Tataric hordes 

 of Attila, various Slavic tribes overran the prov- 

 inces of Moesia, Thrace, Illyricum, and Mace- 

 donia. Overcoming, and, to some extent, crowd- 

 ing out, the Gothic inhabitants, they were within 

 a century firmly established throughout the area 

 between the Black Sea and the Adriatic, which 

 they have ever since continued to occupy. But, 

 far from attempting to set themselves up as an 

 independent political power in this territory, they 

 were readily brought to acknowledge the sover- 

 eignty of the Empire. They no more thought of 

 overthrowing the dominion of Rome than the 

 Germans did : what they were after was a good 

 share of its material advantages. To have set up 

 a rival imperium would have been quite beyond 

 their slender political capacity, and their imagina- 

 tion did not reach so far as to conceive the idea. 

 So long as they were allowed to retain their for- 

 cibly-acquired possessions of land and cattle, they 

 were quite ready to help to defend the Empire 

 against Tataric Avars and other marauders. * The 

 relations thus knit between the Slavs and the 

 government at Constantinople were similar to 

 those established between the Germans and the 



