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 102 THE DECLINE AND FALL be communicated by the neighbourhood, and the success, of their countrjmen. The respectful submission with which they yielded to the order of their march might be considered as a proof of their fidelity ; and their moderate request of a sufficient allowance of provisions, and of a delay of only two days, was expressed in the most dutiful terms. But the first magistrate of Hadrianople, incensed by some disorders which had been committed at his country-house, refused this indulgence ; and arming against them the inhabitants and manufacturers of a populous city, he urged, with hostile threats, their instant departure. The Barbarians stood silent and amazed, till they were exasperated by the insulting clamours, and missile weapons, of the populace : but, when patience or contempt was fatigued, they crushed the undisciplined multitude, inflicted many a shameful wound on the backs of their flying enemies, and despoiled them of the splendid armour ""^ which they were unworthy to bear. The resemblance of their sufferings and their actions soon united this victorious detachment to the nation of the Visigoths ; the troops of Colias and Suerid ex- pected the approach of the great Fritigem, ranged themselves under his standard, and signalized their ardour in the siege of Hadrianople. But the resistance of the garrison informed the Barbarians that, in the attack of regular fortifications, the efforts of unskilful courage are seldom effectual. Their general acknowledged his error, raised the siege, declared that "he was at peace with stone walls,""' and revenged his dis- appointment on the adjacent country. He accepted, with pleasure, the useful reinforcement of hardy workmen, who laboured in the gold mines of Thrace ~* for the emolument, and under the lash, of an unfeeling master : ~^ and these new associates conducted the Barbarians, through the secret paths, to the most sequestered places, which had been chosen to 76 An Imperial manufacture of shields, &c., was established at Hadrianople ; and the populace were headed by the Fabricenses, or workmen (Vales, ad Ammian. XXXI. 6). '^ 77 Pacem sibi esse cum parietibus memorans. Amm. xxxi. 7. 78 These mines were in the country of the Bessi, in the ridge of mountains, the Rhodope, that runs between Philippi and Philippopolis ; two Macedonian cities, which derived their name and origin from the father of Alexander. From the mines of Thrace he annually received the value, not the weight, of a thousand talents (200,0001.); a revenue which paid the phalanx, and corrupted the orators of Greece. See Diodor. Siculus, torn. ii. 1. xvi. p. 88, edit. Wesseling. Godefroy's Commentary on the Theodosian Code, torn. iii. p. 496. Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. torn, i p. 676, 857. D'Anville, Geographic Ancienne, tom. i. p. 336. 79 As those unhappy workmen often ran away, Valens had enacted severe laws to drug them from their hiding-places. Cod. Theodosian. 1. .v tit xi.k. leg. 5, 7.