836 



ON THE MIDDLE OR DARK AGES. 



hordes of barbarians into the heart of its fairest provinces than to deter 

 from aggression by examples of signal vengeance and severity. 



The tide of incursion, as I have already observed, flowed almost en- 

 tirely from the north. Beyond the Tanais, and immediately crossing the 

 Imaus or Caf of the Caucasus, extending nearly from the banks of this 

 river to the sea of Japan, lay scattered at th^ commencement of the 

 Christian era, a variety of tribes unknown to the conquering swords of 

 the Roman legions, and distinguished by the names of Vandals, Sueves, 

 Alans, Goths, Huns, Turks, and Tartars. Of all these the Huns appear 

 to have given the earliest proofs of restlessness and love of power : they 

 first pressed forward upon the Goths, who, dispossessed of their native re- 

 gions, bore down upon the Vandals, Sueves, and Alans ; and these, flying 

 before them, entered into Gaul, and from Gaul advanced into Spain ; and 

 on being driven from Spain passed over and invaded Africa ; thus making 

 way for a farther advance of the Goths and Huns into the centre of the 

 western empire, which they prosecuted sometimes in conjunction and 

 sometimes alone. Hence, even Italy was in several instances over-run, 

 and Rome itself taken and sacked by the Goths under Alaric, towards 

 the beginning of the fifth century ; while the Goths themselves were in 

 their turn, about forty years afterward, obliged to fly before the victorious 

 arms of Attila, the Hunnish leader, or to enlist under his banners : a 

 barbarous chieftain, who, descending from the wild and barren mountains 

 of Scythia, spread terror and devastation over almost the whole 6f 

 Europe ; and, possessing a political authority of as extensive a range to- 

 wards the east, proved a formidable enemy to every sovereign from 

 China to Gaul. The camp of this adventurous and successful soldier, 

 when he was stationary, was pitched on the northern side of the Danube, 

 between the Teiss and the Carpathian mountains ; his court was unri- 

 valled in splendour and magnificence, and his empire extended through a 

 range of not less than seven thousand miles in length. On the death of 

 Attila, this enormous, but ephemeral empire, which had only grown with 

 his growth and strengthened with his strength," insensibly crumbled away. 

 " The Huns were melted down into the nations which they conquered ; 

 and, if the modern Hungarians be excepted, whose descent from them is 

 rather a plausible conjecture than a historical fact supported by conclu- 

 sive evidence, few vestiges of them are nov/ discoverable either in Europe 

 or Asia."* 



The history of the Roman empire from this period may be comprised 

 in a few words. Towards the close of tlie fifth century, during the reign 

 of Augustulus, who had regained possession of the central provinces, it 

 was overthrown by the Heruhans under Odoacer, who were themselves 

 shortly afterward expelled from Italy by Theodoric, king of the Ostro-goths. 

 About the year 568, the Lombards, issuing from the mark of Bradenburg, 

 invaded tlie Higher Italy, as it was named, and founded a powerful state, 

 called the empire of the Lombards ; the Middle and Lower Italy being 

 added to the empire of the east by the brilliant conquests of Justinian's 

 celebrated, but ill-requited generals, Belisarius and Narses. These, 

 however, were afterward wrenched from it and incorporated into the new 

 empire of the Lombards ; from whom the whole passed, together with 

 almost the entire amplitude of polished Europe, into the hands of Charle- 

 magne, the second sovereign of the second dynasty of the Franks : a 



* Butler, Hor. Bibl. part ii. p. 85, 



