Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/335

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 317 This motive of enmity must have inflamed the suh- C II A l jects of contention, which perpetually arise on the con- J ;_ fines of warlike and independent nations. The Vandal The Gothic princes were stimulated by fear and revenge, the Gothic 'J^J^ ^^^ kings aspired to extend their dominion from the Eux- ine to the frontiers of Germany ; and the waters of the Maros, a small river which foils into the Teyss, were stained with the blood of the contending barbarians. After some experience of the superior strength and numbers of their adversaries, the Sarmatians implored the protection of the Roman monarch, who beheld with pleasure the discord of the nations, but who was justly alarmed by the progress of the Gothic arms. As soon as Constantino had declared himself in favour of the weaker party, the haughty Araric, king of the Goths, instead of expecting the attack of the legions, boldly passed the Danube, and spread terror and de- vastation through the province of Maesia. To oppose the inroad of this destroying host, the aged emperor took the field in person; but on this occasion, either his conduct or his fortune betrayed the glory which he had acquired in so many foreign and domestic wars. He had the mortification of seeing his troops fly before an inconsiderable detachment of the barbarians, who pursued them to the edge of their fortified camp, and obliged him to consult his safety by a precipitate and ignominious retreat. The event of a second and more successful action retrieved the honour of the Roman name; and the powers of art and discipline prevailed, after an obstinate contest, over the efforts of irregular valour. The broken army of the Goths abandoned the field of battle, the wasted province, and the pas- saffe of the Danube : and although the eldest of the sons of Constantine was permitted to supply the place of his father, the merit of the victory, which diffused a.D. 332, universal joy, was ascribed to the auspicious counsels ^P"' ''^^• of the emperor himself. Spain under the dominion of the Golhs, gives them for enemies, not the Vandals, but the Sarmatians. See his Chronicle in Grotius, p. 709.