Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/337

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 319 sonitcs, the emperor was still more magnificent. The CHAP, pride of the nation was gratified by the splendid and ^^^^^' almost royal decorations bestowed on their magistrate and his successors. A perpetual exemption from all duties was stipulated for their vessels which traded to the ports of the Black sea. A regular subsidy was promised, of iron, corn, oil, and of every supply which could be useful either in peace or war. But it was thought that the Sarmatians were sufficiently rewarded by their deliverance from impending ruin ; and the emperor, perhaps with too strict an economy, deducted some part of the expenses of the war from the custom- ary gratitications which were allowed to that turbulent nation. Exasperated by this apparent neglect, the Sarma- Expulsion tians soon forgot, with the levity of barbarians, the ^a^j^ns/' services which they had so lately received, and the ^.D. 334. dangers which still threatened their safety. Their in- roads on the territory of the empire provoked the in- dignation of Constantine to leave them to their fate ; and he no longer opposed the ambition of Geberic, a renowned warrior, who had recently ascended the Gothic throne. Wisumar, the Vandal king, whilst alone and unassisted he defended his dominions with undaunted courage, was vanquished and slain in a de- cisive battle which swept away the flower of the Sar- matian youth. The remainder of the nation embraced the desperate expedient of arming their slaves, a hardy race of hunters and herdsmen, by whose tumultuary aid they revenged their defeat, and expelled the in- vader from their confines. But they soon discovered that they had exchanged a foreign for a domestic ene- my, more dangerous and more implacable. Enraged by their former servitude, elated by their present glory, the slaves, under the name of Limigantes, claimed and usurped the possession of the country which they had saved. Their masters, unable to withstand the un- governed fury of the populace, preferred the hardships of exile to the tyranny of their servants. Some of the