Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/120

 100 THE DECLINE AND FALL asserted their equal claim of subjects and allies. Their humble prayers were rejected with insolence and derision ; and, as their patience was now exhausted, the townsmen, the soldiers, and the Goths were soon involved in a conflict of passionate altercation and angry reproaches. A blow was imprudently given ; a sword Avas iiastily drawn ; and the first blood that was spilt in this accidental quarrel became the signal of a long and destructive war. In the midst of noise and brutal intemper- ance. Lupicinus was informed, by a secret messenger, that many of his soldiers were slain and despoiled of their arms ; and, as he was already inflamed by wine and oppressed by sleep, he issued a rash command that their death should be revenged by the massacre of the guards of Fritigern and Alavivus. The clamorous shouts and dying groans apprised Fritigern of his extreme danger ; and, as he possessed the calm and intrepid spirit of a hero, he saw that he was lost if he allowed a moment of deliberation to the man who had so deeply injured him, "A trifling dispute," said the Gothic leader, with a firm but gentle tone of voice, "appears to have arisen between the two nations ; but it may be productive of the most dangerous consequences, unless the tumult is immediately pacified by the assurance of our safety and the authority of our presence." At these words, Fritigern and his companions drew their swords, opened their passage through the unresisting crowd which filled the palace, the streets, and the gates of Marcianopolis, and, mounting their horses, hastily vanished from the eyes of the astonished Romans. The generals of the Goths were saluted by the fierce and joyful acclamations of the camp ; war was instantly resolved, and the resolution was executed without delay ; the banners of the nation were displayed according to the custom of their ancestors ; and the air resounded with the harsh and mournful music of the Barbarian trumpet."-^ The weak and guilty Lupicinus, who had dared to provoke, who had neglected to destroy, and who still presumed to despise, his formidable 73 Vexillis de 7nore sublatis, auditisque triste sonantibus classicis. Ammian. xxxi. 5. These are the rauca cornua of Claudian (in Rufin. ii. 57), the large horns of the Uri, or wild bull ; such as have been more receiitly used by the Swiss Cantons of Uri and Underwald (Simler de Republica Hc'.vet. 1. ii. p. 201, edit. Fuselin. Tigiir. 1734). The military horn is finely, though perhaps casually, introduced in an original narrative of the b;ttle of Nancy (a.d. 1477). "Attendant le combat le dit |cor fut corn6 par trois fois, tant que le vent du souffleur pouvoit durer : ce qui esbahit fort Monsieur de Bourgoigne ; cardija a Morat Pavoit ouy.'' (See the Pieces Justificatives, in the 4to edition of Philippe de Coniines, torn, iiu p. 493-)