Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/367

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 343 and circumstances of his exploits ; but, if we could be CHAP, indulged in the allusion, we might distribute into three ^^' acts this memorable tragedy. I. The decisive battle was fought near Naissus, a city of Dardania. The le- gions at first gave way, oppressed by numbers, and dis- mayed by misfortunes. Their ruin was inevitable, had not the abilities of their emperor prepared a seasonable relief. A large detachment rising out of the secret and difficult passes of the mountains, which, by his order, they had occupied, suddenly assailed the rear of the victorious Goths. The favourable instant was improved by the activity of Claudius. He revived the courage of his troops, restored their ranks, and pressed the barbarians on every side. Fifty thousand men are re- ported to have been slain in the battle of Naissus. Several large bodies of barbarians, covering their re- treat with a moveable fortification of waggons, retired, or rather escaped, from the field of slaughter. II. We may presume that some insurmountable difficulty, the fatigue, perhaps, or the disobedience, of the conquer- ors, prevented Claudius from completing in one day the destruction of the Goths. The war was diffused over the provinces of Maesia, Thrace, and Macedonia, and its operations drawn out into a variety of marches, surprises, and tumultuary engagements, as well by sea as by land. When the Romans suffered any loss, it was commonly occasioned by their own cowardice or rashness ; but the superior talents of the emperor, his perfect knowledge of the country, and his judicious choice of measures as well as officers, assured on most occasions the success of his arms. The immense booty, the fruit of so many victories, consisted for the greater part of cattle and slaves. A select body of the Gothic youth was received among the imperial troops ; the re- mainder was sold into servitude ; and so considerable was the number of female captives, that every soldier obtained to his share two or three women : a circum- stance from which we may conclude, that the invaders entertained some designs of settlement as well as of