Ch. vi. Inhabitants of the Noi'th of Europe. 99 



their wives and families, for the purpose of settle- 

 ment.* This formidable body, which was said to 

 consist at first of 320,000 barbarians,! was ulti- 

 mately destroyed and dispersed by the vigour and 

 wisdom of the emperor Claudius. His successor, 

 Aurelian, encountered and vanquished new hosts 

 of the same name that had quitted their settlements 

 in the Ukraine; but one of the implied conditions 

 of the peace was, that he should withdraw the 

 Roman forces from Dacia, and relinquish this great 

 province to the Goths and Vandals.J A new and 

 most formidable invasion of the Allemanni threat- 

 ened soon after to sack the mistress of the world, 

 and three great and bloody battles were fought by 

 Aurelian before this destroying host could be 

 exterminated, and Italy be delivered from its ra- 

 vages.§ 



The strength of Aurelian had crushed on every 

 side the enemies of Rome. After his death they 

 seemed to revive with an increase of fury and 

 numbers. They were again vanquished on all 

 sides by the active vigour of Probus. The deli- 

 verance of Gaul alone from the German invaders is 

 reported to have cost the lives of four hundred 

 thousand barbarians. || The victorious emperor 

 pursued his successes into Germany itself; and 

 the princes of the country, astonished at his pre- 



* Gibbon, vol. ii. c. xi. p. 13. 



t Id. p. 11. 



} Id. p. 19, A. D. 270. 



§ LI. p. 26. 



|| Id. vol. ii. c. xii. p. 75. 



ii 2 



