Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/26

 THE DECLINE AND FALL Alboin, king of the Lom- barila his valour, love, and revenge despise your enmity and your aid. The conquerors of the Avars solicit our alliance : shall we dread their fugitives and exiles ?" The bounty of our uncle was granted to your misery, to your humble prayers. From us you shall receive a more important obligation, the knowledge of your own weakness. Retire from our ])resence ; the lives of ambassadors are safe ; and, if you return to implore our pardon, j)erhaps you will taste of our benevolence." •'' On the report of his ambassadors, the chagan was awed by tlie apparent firuniess of a Roman emperor, of whose character and resources he was ignorant. Instead of executing his threats against the eastern empire, he marched into tile poor and savage countries of Germany, which were subject to the dominion of the Franks. After two doubtful battles he consented to retire, and the Austrasian king relieved the distress of his camj) with an immediate sup])ly of corn and cattle.'' Such repeated disa})pointments iiad chilled the spirit of the 7vars, and their power would have dissolved away in the Sarmatian desert, if the alliance of Alboin, king of the Lombards, had not given a new object to their arms, and a lasting settle- ment to their wearied fortunes. While Alboin served under his father's standard, he en- countered in battle, and transpierced with his lance, the rival prince of the Gepidte. The Lombards, who a))plauded such early prowess, requested his father with unaiiimous acclamations ' Corippiis, 1. iii. 390. The unqiicslionable sense relates to the Turks, the conquerors of the Avars ; but, the word sciil/or has no apparent meaning, and the sole Ms. of f^orippus, from whence the first edition (1581, apud Plantin) was printed, is no longer visible. The last editor, Foggini of Rome, has inserted the conjectural emendation of soldan ; but the [iroofs of Ducange (Joinville, Dissert, xvi. p. 238-240) for the early use (jf this title among the Turks and Persians are weak or ambiguous. And I must incline to the authority of d'Herbelot (Biblio- theque Orient, p. 825), who ascribes the word to the Arabic and Chaldean tongues, and the date to the beginning of the xith century, when it was bestowed by the caliph of Bagdad on Mahmud, prince of Gazna and conqueror of India. [This judgment on Foggini's conjecture is sound, though sultan is read by Partsch, the latest editor. It is doubtful whether the lines do refer to the Turks.] 401) W'ith the prose of Menander (Excerpt. Legation, p. 102, 103 [fr. 28, in F. H. G., iv.]). Their diversity proves that they did not copy each other ; their resemblance that they drew from a common original. [John of Ephesus says that Justin called the Avar envoys dogs, and threatened to cut off their hair and then their heads ; vi. 24.] " For the Austrasian war, see Menander (Excerpt. Legat. p. iio[fr. 14, F. H. G., iv. p. 219]), Gregory of Tours (Hist. Franc. 1. iv. c. 29), and Paul the Deacon (de Gest. Langobard. 1. ii. c. 10). [This passage in Paul refers to te fin/ invasion of the Merovingian dominions of the Avars, which took place in A.n. 562, and is recorded by Gregory in iv. 23. The date of the second invasion, recorder 1 by Gregory in iv. 29 and by Menander, is probably A.D. 566.]
 * • For these characteristic speeches, compare the verse of Corippus (1. iii. 251-