CHAPTER XXVII.
HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BARBAROUS TRIBES THAT AIDED IN DESTROYING THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
Lo! from the frozen forests of the north,
The sons of slaughter pour in myriads forth!
Who shall awake the mighty? Will thy woe,
City of thrones, disturb the world below?
Call on the dead to hear thee! let thy cries
Summon their shadowy legions to arise,
Array the ghosts of conquerors on thy walls
Barbarians revel in their ancient halls!
And their lost children bend the subject knee,
Amidst the proud tombs and trophies of the free!—Anon.
1. We have already mentioned that the barbarous nations which joined in the destruction of the Roman empire, were invited to come within its precincts through the weakness or folly of successive sovereigns who recruited their armies from those hardy tribes, in preference to their own subjects, enervated by luxury and indolence. The grants of land, and the rich donations by which the emperors endeavoured to secure the fidelity of these dangerous auxiliaries, encouraged them to regard the Roman territories as their prey; and being alternately the objects of lavish extravagance and wanton insult, their power was increased at the same time that their resentment was provoked. 2. Towards the close of the year 406, the Vandals, the Suevi, and the Alans, first sounded the tocsin of invasion, and their example was followed by the Goths, the Burgundians, the Alleman'ni, the Franks, the Huns, the Angli, the Saxons, the Heruli, and the Longobar'di, or Lombards. The chief of these nations, with the exception of the Huns were of German origin. It is not easy in every instance to discover the original seat of these several tribes, and trace their successive migrations, because, being ignorant of letters, they only retained some vague traditions of their wanderings.
THE VANDALS AND ALANS
3. This tribe was, like the Burgundians and Lombards, a branch of the ancient Sue'vi, and inhabited that part of Germany which lies between the Elbe and the Vis'tula. Being joined by some warriors from Scandinavia, they advanced towards the south, and established themselves in that part of Da'cia which included the modern province of Transylva'nia,[Pg. 386] and part of Hungary. Being oppressed in their new settlement by the Goths, they sought the protection of Constantine the Great, and obtained from him a grant of lands in Pannonia, on condition of their rendering military service to the Romans. 4. About the commencement of the fifth century, they were joined by the ALANS, a people originally from mount Cau'casus, and the ancient Scythia: a branch of which having settled in Sarma'tia, near the source of the Borysthenes (Dnieper), had advanced as far as the Danube, and there made a formidable stand against the Romans. In their passage through Germany, the Vandals and Alans were joined by a portion of the Suevi, and the confederate tribes entering Gaul, spread desolation over the entire country.
5. From thence the barbarians passed into Spain and settled in the province, from them named Vandalu'sia, since corrupted to Andalusia. On the invitation of Count Boniface, the Vandals proceeded from Spain to Africa, where they founded a formidable empire. After remaining masters of the western Mediterranean for nearly a century, the eastern emperor Justinian sent a formidable force against them under the command of the celebrated Belisa'rius. This great leader not only destroyed the power of these pirates, but erased the very name of Vandals from the list of nations.
THE GOTHS.
6. The Goths, the most powerful of these destructive nations, are said to have come originally from Scandina'via; but when they first began to attract the notice of historians, we find them settled on the banks of the Danube. Those who inhabited the districts towards the east, and the Euxine sea, between the Ty'ras (Dniester) the Borys'thenes (Dnieper) and the Tan'ais (Don) were called Ostrogoths; the Visigoths extended westwards over ancient Dacia, and the regions between the Ty'ras, the Danube, and the Vistula.