810 SCLAVONIANS. 
The Sclavonic language is one of the great stocks, of 
which the languages of the North and western regions of 
Europe seem to be ramifications; the other two being the 
Celtic and the Gothic. The present Russian is thought to 
be the most faithful specimen of the original Sclavonic, 
which prevailed in those parts of Europe where the ancients 
placed the Sarmatas. 
SCLAVONIANS, Slavonians, Sclavi, or Slavi, in 
Ancient History, a numerous race' who migrated from the 
northern parts of Asia, and established many colonies in 
different countries, or rather blended themselves with the 
original inhabitants. The Slavonian stock is said to be one 
of the most remarkable and most widely extended in the 
world. Next to the Arabians, who formerly prevailed from 
Malacca to Lisbon, there are no people on the globe who 
have diffused their language, their dominion, and their co¬ 
lonies, to so surprising an extent. From the shores of the 
Adriatic, northwards as far as the coast of the Frozen 
Ocean, and from the shores of the Baltic through the whole 
length of Europe and Asia, as far as America and to the 
neighbourhood of Japan, we every where meet with Slavonic 
nations. Towards the middle of the fourth century, the 
Sclavonians, who before that time had over-run the half 
of Europe and Asia, were subdued by Ermanarik or Her- 
manric, whose domiuions extended from the Baltic to the 
Euxine, and incorporated with the Ostrogoths into one go¬ 
vernment. Soon afterwards, both the dominant Ostrogoths, 
and the servile Sclavonians, were subject to the victorious 
Huns. In the course of the succeeding century, when the 
disturbers of the world were either exterminated or driven to 
the farther side of the Danube, the Sclavonians began to 
shew themselves in Dacia, pressed between the Ungres and 
the Gepidse, and occupied a part of the northern shore of 
the Danube. Here they blended themselves with the bar¬ 
barians who menaced from the north the downfall of the de¬ 
clining Roman empire 5 hence they plundered the Roman 
provinces, commencing their attack in the time of Justi¬ 
nian I.: and hence they rushed like a torrent on the country 
of the Gepidae, who had been almost entirely extirpated by 
the Longobards and Avari. The Avari arrogated to them¬ 
selves a kind of sovereignty over the various Sclavonian 
tribes, and occasionally extorted from them a tribute; but 
these people were at length swallowed up by the Bulgarians, 
who extended themselves over all Dacia. Forced by their 
oppressions, the Dacian Sclavi for the most part abandoned 
their dwellings, and retreated (probably about the middle of 
the seventh century) from the Danube to the North. Some 
tribes withdrew to Poland, Others to Russia, and some of 
them remained on the Danube. In this manner were the 
countries just mentioned peopled by Slavonian colonies; 
who, continually spreading further and further, and found¬ 
ing governments in every place, occasioned the most signal 
revolutions in the north of Europe. All the branches of the 
-grand Slavonian stock, who formed peculiar states, may be 
ranged by their present condition in seven classes, viz., Rus¬ 
sian, Polish, Bohemian, German, Illyrian, Hungarian, and 
Turkish Sclavonians. In every age the same race of Sclavo¬ 
nians appears to have maintained the possession of the same 
countries. Their numerous tribes, however distant or ad¬ 
verse, used one common language, and have been known 
by the resemblance of their form, which deviated from the 
swarthy Tartar, and approached, without attaining, the 
lofty stature and fair complexion of the German. Four 
thousand six hundred villages, according to the statement 
of Mr. Gibbon, were scattered over the provinces of Russia 
and Poland, and their huts were hastily built of rough tim¬ 
ber, in a country deficient both in stone and iron; and situ¬ 
ated in the midst of forests, on the banks of rivers, or at the 
edges of morasses. The fertility of the soil, rather than the 
labour of the natives, supplied the rustic plenty of the Scla¬ 
vonians. Their sheep and horned cattle were large and nu- 
.merous, and the fields which they sowed with millet and 
panic, afforded, in the place of bread, a coarse and less 
.nutritive food. The incessant rapine of their neighbours 
compelled them to bury their treasure in the earth; but on 
the appearance of a stranger, it was -freely imparted by a 
people, whose unfavourable character is qualified by the epi¬ 
thets of chaste, patient, and hospitable. As their supreme 
god, they adored an invisible master of the thunder. The 
rivers and nymphs obtained their subordinate honours, and 
the popular worship was expressed in vows and sacrifices. 
The Sclavonians disdained to obey a despot, a prince, or 
even a magistrate; but their limited experience, and head¬ 
strong passions, would not allow their forming a system of 
equal law or of general defence. Some voluntary respect 
was paid to age and valour; but each tribe or village existed 
as a separate republic, and all must be persuaded where 
none could be compelled. They fought on foot, almost 
naked, and, except an unwieldy shield, without any defen¬ 
sive armour. Their weapons of offence were a bow, a qui¬ 
ver of small poisoned arrows, and a long rope, which they 
dexterously threw from a distance, and entangled their enemy 
in a running noose. In the field, the Sclavonian infantry 
was dangerous by their speed, agility, and hardiness: they 
swam, they dived, they remained under water, drawing 
their breath through a hollow cane; and a river or lake was 
often the scene of their unsuspected ambuscade. But these 
were the achievements of spies or stragglers. The military 
art was unknown to the Sclavonians; their name was ob¬ 
scure, and their conquests were inglorious. For the name 
and nation, the situation and manners, of the Sclavonians, 
we refer to Procopius, Goth. 1. ii. c. 26. 1. iii. c. 14. The 
precise boundaries of the Sclavonians, and also of the Bul¬ 
garians, who were people of the same origin, cannot be 
recisely ascertained ; nor do the people themselves seem to 
ave been restrained within any definite and fixed limits. 
Their importance depended on "their vicinity to the Roman 
empire: and in the time of Justinian, the level country of 
Moldavia and Walachia was occupied by a Sclavonian tribe, 
denominated Antes, whence Anticus is one of the titles of 
Justinian and of his successors. Against the Antes he 
erected the fortifications of the Lower Danube; and laboured 
to secure the alliance of a people seated in the direct channel 
of northern inundation, an interval of 200 miles between 
the mountains of Transylvania and the Euxine sea. But 
the Antes wanted power and inclination to stem the fury of 
the torrent; and the light-armed Sclavonians, from an hun¬ 
dred tribes, pursued with almost equal speed the footsteps of 
the Bulgarian horse. The payment of one piece of gold for 
each soldier procured a safe and easy retreat through the 
country of the Gepidae, who commanded the passage of the 
Upper Danube. Three thousand Sclavonians, who divided 
themselves into two bands, passed the Danube and the He- 
brus, vanquished the Roman generals who dared to oppose 
their progress, and plundered with impunity the cities of II- 
lyricum and Thrace. But whatever praise the boldness of 
the Sclavonians may deserve, it is sullied by the wanton 
and deliberate cruelty which they are accused of exercising 
on their prisoners. Without distinction of rank, age, or sex, 
the captives were impaled or flayed alive, or suspended be¬ 
tween four posts, and beaten with clubs till they expired, 
or inclosed in some spacious building, and left to perish in 
the flames, with the spoil and cattle which impeded the 
march of these savage victors. Such js, as we trust, the 
exaggerated relation of the cruelty of these people, given by 
Procopius; but for their mild and liberal behaviour to their 
prisoners, we may appeal to the somewhat more recent au¬ 
thority of the emperor Maurice. (Stratagemata, 1. ii. c. 5.) 
Perhaps, says Mr. Gibbon, a more impartial narrative than 
that of Procopius would reduce the number, and qualify the 
nature, of these horrid acts; and they might sometimes be 
excused by the cruel laws of retaliation. In the siege of 
Topirus, situated near Philippi in Thrace, or Macedonia, 
opposite to the isle of Thasos, whose obstinate defence had 
enraged the Sclavonians, they massacred 15,000 males; but 
they spared the women and children, the most valuable 
captives were always reserved for labour or ransom; the ser¬ 
vitude was not rigorous, and the terms of their, deliverance 
were speedy and moderate. The Sclavonians and Finns 
were the aborigines of Russia, Gibbon's Hist. Bed. 
and 
