Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/313

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 2S9 from the Baltic to the Euxine ; but the cause that pro- CHAP, duced it lies concealed amonoj the various motives ' which actuate the conduct of unsettled barbarians. Either a pestilence, or a famine, a victory, or a defeat, an oracle of the gods, or the eloquence of a daring leader, were sufficient to impel the Gothic arms on the milder climates of the south. Besides the influence of a martial religion, the numbers and spirit of the Goths were equal to the most dangerous adventures. The use of round bucklers and short swords rendered them formidable in a close engagement; the manly obedi- ence which they yielded to hereditary kings, gave un- common union and stability to their councils" ; and the renowned Amala, the hero of that age, and the tenth ancestor of Theodoric king of Italy, enforced, by the ascendant of personal merit, the prerogative of his birth, which he derived from the Anses, or demigods of the Gothic nation*. The fame of a great enterprise excited the bravest The Gothic warriors from all the Vandalic states of Germany ; ^^*^°" *f" •' ' creases m many of whom are seen a few years afterwards com- its march. bating under the common standard of the Goths y. The first motions of the emigrants carried them to the banks of the Prypec, a river universally conceived by the ancients to be the southern branch of the Borys- thenes^ The windings of that great stream through the plains of Poland and Russia gave a direction to their line of march, and a constant supply of fresh water and pasturage to their numerous herds of cattle. They followed the unknown course of the river, con- fident in their valour, and careless of whatever power might oppose their progress. The Bastarnae and the " Omnium harum gentium insigne, rotunda scuta, breves gladii, et erga reges obsequium. Tacit. Germ. c. 43. The Goths probably acquired their iron by the commerce of amber. ^ Jornandes, c. 13, 14. y The Heruli, and the Uregundior Burgundi, are particularly mentioned. See Mascou's History of the Germans, 1. v. A passage in the Augustan History, p. 28, seems to allude to this great emigration. The Marcomannic war was partly occasioned by the pressure of barbarous tribes, who fled before the arms of more northern barbarians. ' D'Anville, Geographic Ancienne, and the tliird part of his incomparable map of Europe. VOL. I. U