714 G O 
qiiefts, and diflrafted tJie councils, of that vifforious 
people. Several ot the hords were therefore allured 
by the liberal promifes of Fritigern ; and the rapid ca¬ 
valry of Scythia added weight and energy to the heady 
and ftrenuous efforts of the Gothic infantry. 
On the 9th ot Auguft 378, a day moft inaufpi'cious to 
the Romans, the emperor Valens, leaving under a ftrong 
guard his baggage and military treafure, marched from 
Adrianople to attack the Gotl'.s, wiio were encamped 
about twelve miles from that city. By fonte miftake of 
the orders, or ignorance of the ground, the right co¬ 
lumn ot cavalry arrived in fight of the enemy, whilfi: 
the left was hill at a confiderable dihance, and out of 
view : the infantry were compelled, in the fultry heat 
of lummer, to precipitate their pace; and the line of 
battle was formed with tedious confufion, and irregular 
delay. The Gothic cavalry had been detached to fo¬ 
rage in the adjacent country ; and the crafty Fritigern 
played off the artifice of a fuppliant for peace. He 
dilpatched meffengers, made propofals, offered hohages, 
and wahed the hours, till the Romans, expofed without 
hieher to the burning rays of the fun, were exhauhed 
by thirh, hunger, and unul'ual fatigue. The emperor 
was deluded to lend an ambalfador to the Gothic camp ; 
and the zealous Richomer, who alone had courage to 
accept the dangerous coinmiflion, was proceeding on his 
way, when lie was fiuldenly recalled by the Ihouts of 
battle. The hafty attack was made by Bacurius the 
Iberian, who commanded a legion of archers ; and as 
they advanced v\ ith rafimefs, they retreated with fudden 
difgrace. In the fame moment, the fleet fquadrons of 
Alatheus and Saphrax, whofe return had been anxicu.fly 
expeifled by the general of the Goths, defcended like 
a whirlwind rrom the hills, fwept acrofs the plain, and 
added new terrors to the tumultuous but irrefifrible 
charge of the barbarian hoft. The event of the battle 
of Adrianople, fo fatal to Valens and to the empire, 
may be dcicribed in a few words;—the Roman cavalry 
■fled ; the infantry was abandoned, furrounded, and cut 
in pieces. The moft Ikilful evolutions, the firmefl: cou¬ 
rage, are rarely able to extricate a body of foot, encom- 
palfed, on an open plain, by fuperior numbers of horfe: 
but the troops of Valens, oppreffed by the weight of 
the enemy and their own fears, were crowded into a 
narrow fpacc, where it was impolTible for them to ex¬ 
tend their ranks, or even to life, with effeiff, their 
fwords and javelins. In tlie midflof tumult, of (laugh¬ 
ter, and difmay, the emperor, deferred by his guards, 
and wounded with an arrow, fought protection among 
the Laucearii and the Mattiarii, wlio (till maintained 
their ground witli fonie appearance of order and (inn- 
nefs. Fiis faitliful generals, Trajan and Vidlor, who 
perceived his danger, loudly exclaimed, that all was 
lofl, unlefs the perlon of the emperor could be (aved. 
Some troops, animated by their exhortation, advanced 
to his relief: they found only a bloody (pot, covered 
with broken arms and mangled bodies, without being 
able to difeover their unfortunate prince, either among 
the living, or the dead. Their fearch could not indeed 
be fuccelsful ; for by the care of lome of his attend¬ 
ants, Valens was removed from the field of battle to a 
neighbouring cottage, where they attempted to drefs 
his wound, and to provide for liis (afety. But this 
luimble retreat was inftantly lurrounded by the enemy, 
■who, receiving a difeharge of arrov.-s from the roof, in 
revenge (et (ire to a pile of faggots, and confumed the 
cottage with the Roman emperor and iiis train. Valens 
periflied in the flames j'and a youth, wlio dropt from 
.the window, alone eicaped, to attefl the melancholy 
tale, and to inform the Goths of the ineflim.ible prize 
wiiicii tliey liad lofl: in ihe ranfom of the emperor, by 
their own mcoufiderate rathaels. See Ammianus, xxxi. 
13. 
'File pride of the Goths was elated by this -memo¬ 
rable victory, ill vVhich it is recorded that forty thoiu 
T H S. 
fand Romans fell : but their avarice was difappointed 
by the mortifying difeovery, that the imperial fpoils 
had been fecured within the walls of Adrianople. 
They haftened to poffefs this claim of tlieir valour; 
but they were encountered by the remains of the van- 
quifiied army, with an intrepid refolution, which was 
the effeft of delpair, and the only hope of their fafety. 
Tile walls of the city, and the ramparts of the Roman 
camp, were lined with military engines, that threw 
(tones of an enormous weight ; and aftonifhed the igno. 
rant barbarians by tlie noi(e and velocity, more than by 
the real effefts, of the difeharge. The foldiers, the ci¬ 
tizens, the provincials, the domeftics of the palace, 
were equally united in the danger, and in the defence : 
the furious affault of the Goths was repulfed ; and 
they indignantly raifed the (lege of Adrianople, in pur- 
fuit of a grander enterprife. "I he tide of the Gothic 
inundation rolled indantly fronrthe walls of Adrianople 
to the fuburbs of Conflantinople. . T he barbarians were 
lurprifed with the fplendid appearance of the capital 
city of tlie Eaft, tlie height and extent of the walls, 
the myriads of wealthy and aftViglued citizens who 
crowded the ramparts, and the various profjiedt: of the 
fea and land. While they gazed with hojielcds defire 
on tiie inacceffible beaiuies of Conflantinople, a (ally 
was made from one of the gates by a party of Saracens, 
who had been engaged in the fervice of Valens. 'I he 
cavalry of the Goths was forced to yield to tlie adini- 
rabie fwiftnefs and fpirit of the Arabian horfes ; their 
riders were fkilled in the evolutions of irregular war ; 
and the nortliern barbarians were afloniflied and dif- 
mayed by the fuperior ferocity of the barbarians of the 
foutl). A Gothic foldier was (lain by the dagger of an 
Arab; and the hairy naked favage, applying his lips to 
the wound,-expreffed a horrid delight while lie (ticked 
the blood of his vainqiiiflied enemy. The army o( tlie 
Goths, laden vvith tlie fpoils of the wealthy fuburbs, 
(lowly moved from the Bofphorus t.o the mountaini 
wiiich form the weftern boundary of I'lirace. 1 he im¬ 
portant pafs of Succi was betrayed by the fear or mif- 
conduCt of Maiirus ; and the barbarians, who no loir^er 
had any refiflance to apprehend from tlie (cattered and 
vanquidied troops of the eafl, fpread theiuielves over 
the face of a fertile and beautiful country, as tar as the 
confines of Italy and the Adriatic Sea. St. Jerome has 
deferibed in mournful language the dreadful calamities 
inflicted by the Goths, tlie Huns, and Vandals, on his 
native country of Pannonia ; and tlie vvide extent of 
tlieir ravages, from the walls of Conflantinople to the 
foot of the Julian Alps ; the rapes, the inaflacres, the 
conflagrations ; and, above all, the protanation ot the 
churches, that were turned into ttables, and the con¬ 
temptuous treatment of the relics ot holy martyrs. He 
affirms, “rliat, in thofe defert countries, nothing was 
left except the (ky and tlie earth ; that, alter the de- 
Itriiction of the cities, and the extirpation of the human 
race, the land was overgrown witli forel’ts and inextri¬ 
cable brambles ; and that the iiniverfal defolation, an¬ 
nounced by the prophet Zephaniah, was accomplilhcd, 
in the fcarcity of the hearts, the birds, and even of the 
filh!”—Tom, vii. p. 250. ad i cap. Sophonias ; ;uid 
tom. i. p. 26. 
Wiiatever might have been the true meafure of the 
calamities of Kurojie, there was reafon to fear that the 
lame calamities would foon extend toihe peaceiul coun¬ 
tries of Afia. The Cons of the Goths had been dillri- 
buted tiirough the cities of the eaft; and the arts of 
education were employed to piolifh and (ubdue the na¬ 
tive ficrcenefs of their tempei. In the (pace of about 
twelve years, iheir nunibers had continiuiliy incieafed; 
and the’ childien, wlio in the firlt emigv.ition were (cut 
over tlie Jtiellelpont, had attained, with rapid grov/ih, 
the (trength anddpirit ot perledb inanliood. It Vvus im- 
pollible to conceal from tlieir knowledge the events of 
the Gothic war ; and as tiioic daring youths had not 
; , (iudied 
