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Goths, who bi'fiL-;xcd it A. D. 537, and continued it above 

 a year till their iinal departure. During' this fiege, which 

 was raifed in March, A. D. 538, one-third of their enor- 

 mous holl was dellroyed in frequent and bloody combats 

 undi-r the walls of the city, and the evils of famine and 

 pcftlleiice were aprgravatcd by their own licentioufnefs, and 

 the unfriendly difpofition of the covmlry. Vitiger, their 

 king, retired for Iheltcr within the walls and morunes of 

 Ravenna. At length Belifarius bcfiegcd the city, and took 

 it in tlie latter end of the year 539. The fubmifTion of the 

 capital was imitated in the town-, and villages of Italy ; and 

 the independent Gotlis who remained in arms at Pavia and 

 Verona, were ambitious only to become the fubjefts of 

 Belifarius. But his inflexible loyalty rejeded, except as 

 the fubllitute of Jullinian, their oaths of allegiance. In the 

 year 540, the Goths revolted, and Totila, the nephew of 

 their late king, undertook the relloration of the kingdom of 

 Italy. His firll movements were rapid and fuccefsful; and 

 after reducing by force, or treaty, the towns of inferior note 

 in the midland provinces of Italy, Totila proceeded, A.D. 

 C46, to encompafs Rome, and to ftarve its inhabitants. 

 Famine had rela.xed the ftrength and dii'cipline of the garri- 

 fon, and Rome was taken by the Gotlis in December, 

 A. D. 546. After the departure of Totila, it was recovered 

 by Belifarius in February, A. D. 547. (See Belisakius.) 

 When Totila returned to avenge tlie injury and difgrace, 

 the Goths were thrice rcpulfcd ; they loll the flower of 

 their troops ; the royal ilandard had almort fallen into 

 the hands of the enemy, and the fane of Totila fmik, 

 as it had rifen, with the fortune of h's arms. Rome was 

 again taken by the Goths, A. D. 549. Juliinian made 

 "•reat preparations for the Gothic war, the conduct of which 

 was committed to Narfes, who defeated Totila in a bloody 

 engagement, July, A. D. 552, and Toti'a himfelf wns 

 ftruck through the body witb a lance. Narfes then pro- 

 ' ceeded to the ccwq^eH of Rome j and JuiHnian once more 

 received the keys of the imperial city, which, under his 

 reign, had been fii-e times taken and recovered. The lalt 

 kin" of the Goths was Teias, who was unanimoufly chofen 

 to fucceed and revenge their departed hero, Marcli, A.D. 

 CC3. Sixty days weie confumed in dillant and fruitlefs 

 combats, between the Gothic and Roman armies, but at 

 length, after an engagement of many hours, Teias fell, 

 and his head, exalted on a fpear, proclaimed to the nations, 

 that the Gothic kingdom was no more. After a reign of 60 

 years, the throne of the Gothic kings was filled by the 

 exarchs of Ravenna (fee Exarch); and the remains of the 

 Gothic nation evacuated the country or mingled with the 

 people. (Anc. Un. Hill. vol. xvii. Gibbon's Hill. vol. vii. 

 paP.im.) 



The Goths fpread themfelves very widely in their various 

 min-rations, and formed part of the population of the 

 feverai nations of Europe. In England the Celtic popula- 

 tion was fucceeded by tlie Gothic, and about two-thivds of 

 En'J-land were poffefled by the Belgic Goths. (See Bki.ci.k 

 and E.\CiL.\ND.) About the time that the Belgx fei/,ed on 

 the fouth of England, it appears that a hundred Gothic tribes 

 pafled to the fouth of Ireland. (See Ireland.") In France, 

 or Gaul, the Goths, or warlike Gernuui tribes, under the 

 denomination ofCelgx', fei/.ed on a third part of the country 

 into which they introduced the Gothic language and man- 

 ners. (See BEr,c..>; and Gaul.) The original population 

 of tlie Netlierlands was Celtic ; but it was afterwards fuiJ- 

 plantcd by the Belgse. vSec Belg.k and Netiif.ulasds.) 

 In Germany, the Scythiaui or Goths, proceeding either 

 from Scandinavia, or, as others fay, from their original feats 

 on the Euxine, expelled the Cimbri and Fins, and thefe, 

 intermixed with the German nations, dellroyed the Romaji 



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empire in the weft. (See GehmAnv, and the precidiiig 

 part of this article.) Pruflia appears to have been peopled 

 by the Peuclni and jEilii, Gothic tribes bordering on tlic 

 Venedi, who were Slavonians. (See PllLssiA.) The 

 Vandal;;, who conquered Spain in the fifth century, •^Tre 

 fubdued by the Vifigoths under Euric, who found^'d th'- 

 modern kiiigdom of Spain. (See Spain.) The original 

 population of Turkey in Europe chiefly fprung from ihc 

 ancient Scythians on the Euxine, the progenitors of the 

 Dacians, Thracians, S:c. and even of the Greeks. The 

 regions of Turkey in Afia were peopled by Scythic nation;-, 

 intermixed with a few AfTyrians from the fouth. (See 

 TuuiCEY.) The Batavi of Holland were the mofl nortlierii 

 people of Belgic Gaul, and without doubt a German or 

 Gothic progeny. . (SecB.\TAVi, Gaul and Holla.no.) 

 The Cimbri or northern Celts, Avho originally peopled 

 Denmark, were expelled by the Goths, if they were not, as 

 fome conceive, tribes of the fame nation ; and the Fins or 

 Laps of Norway, which, with Sweden, couftitutes the 

 ancient Scandinavia, were driven to the northern e.xtreniities 

 by the Gothic invafion. (See Denmark, Nohwav, Scan- 

 Dix.vviA, and Sweden'.) The Helvetians, or original Swifs, 

 are fuppofed by fome writers to have i;cen Celts ; but 

 others, with greater probabiUty, confider lliem as a Gothic 

 race, or very ancient colony of Germans. 



It has been a general opinion, ftrcniioufly maintained by 

 Cluverius and Pelloutier, and adopted by Mallet in his 

 " Northern Antiquities,'' that the Gothic and Celtic nations 

 were the fame ; but the ingenious Englilh trpnllator of 

 Mr. Mallet's " Northern Antiquities" has produced a va- 

 riety of teftimonies from ancient authors, to prove that the 

 Celtic and Teutonic or Gothic nations were, ab origine, 

 dilliuct, and that they differed conhderably in perfon, man- 

 ners, laws, religion, and language. The former were the 

 ancellors of the Gauls, Britons, and Irifli ; and the Germans, 

 Saxons, and Scandinavians derived their origin from the 

 latter. The Celtic tribes \\ere probably the tirll that tra- 

 velled welhvard ; and the Goths, or Gets of the ancients, 

 v.lio emigrated at different times from the eaflern countries 

 after tluni, miglit borrow fome of their opinions and prac- 

 tices, which will account for the relemblancc that has been 

 obferved between them, without admitting that they were 

 defcended from them, or that they iliould be coiUidered as 

 the fame ])eople. In the fame way we may account for 

 tliofe relics both of Celtic and Gothic fuperllitions, wliich 

 are difcernible in Gaul and Britain, and many other coun- 

 tries, the inhabitants of which derive their defcent equally 

 from the Celts and Goths, who were at different times 

 mailers of thefe kingdoms, and whofe defcendants are now 

 blended together ; thus, the iirfl inhabitants of Gaul and 

 I'jritain being of Celtic race, followed the Druidical fuper- 

 llition. The ancient Germans, Scandinavians, &:c. being 

 of Gothic race, profefTed that fyllem of polytheifm whicli 

 was afterwards delivered in the Edda ; and the Franks and 

 Saxons, who afterwards fettled in Gaul and Britain, being- 

 of Gothic race, introduced the polytheilm of their own 

 nation, which was in general tlie fame that prevailed among 

 all the other Gothic or Teutoriie people. See, hcwever, 

 the article Gothic Icingiuige, where the original identity of 

 tlie Celts and Goths is maintained partly by general reafon- 

 ing, and partly by etymological invelligation. 



GOTLUNDA, in Geography, a town of Sweden, in 

 Nericia; nine miles N. N. E. of Orcbro. 



GOTOMB, a town of Poland, in the palatinate of 

 Lublia ; 2S miles N. W. of Lublin. 



GO-TON, a town of Cjiina, in the province of Se-lehuen ; 

 4S wiles N. W. of Ou-moiig. 



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