TO THE CAPITAL OF THE BANNAT. 295 
of the head. According to Pliny, the original chap. 
inhabitants were Geus, afterwards called Daci _' . 
by the Romans. They were governed by their /^"J^f^'f 
own kings, until Trajan reduced the country to ^'"^^"' 
a Roman province. Afterwards, they were 
successively subdued by the Sarmaice, the 
Gothi, and the Hunni: and, lastly, the Saxons, 
driven by the conquests of Charlemagne, esta- 
blished themselves in Daci a, since subdivided 
into the various partitions of Hungary, Transyl- 
vania, JValachia, and Moldavia. The Saxons 
principally concentrated themselves in Transyl- 
vania, or Mediterranean Dacia, a fertile 
region, surrounded with forests and metalliferous 
mountains'; and to their coming must be en- 
tirely attributed the origin of its cultivation'. 
All its principal towns were built by them : the 
traces of their language are still retained; and it is 
from them that Transylvania received the name of 
(2) " Transylvania ipsa rerum omnium est feracissima, praecipu^ 
auri, argenti, et aliorum metallorum," Joan. Sambuco, Append. 
Rei: Hung. Bonfinii, p. 760. Franco/. 1581. 
(3) " Iste populus agriculturae studiosus, et rusticae rei addictis- 
simus." {Chorographixi TransylvanicEy apud licr. Hungar. Script, 
p. 560. Franco/. 1600.) " Les Sa.rons cultiverent mieux le pals." 
Le Royaume de la Hongrie, chap. 16. y. 111. Cologne, 1686.) " Les 
Saxons sont plus affables et plus polls; ils vivent comuie les ancieus 
Allemans, dont ils se croyent issus, et ils en ont retenu la langue et 
les costumes. (Histoire et Description du Royaume deHongrie, liv. iv. 
/?. 279. Pam, 1688.) 
