'their conquests. At a ftill greater diftance the open towns of Gaul were deferted, and the inhabitants of ⚫ the fortified cities, who trufted to their ftrength and 'vigilance, were obliged to content themfelves with 'fuch fupplies of corn, as they could raife on the vacant • land within the inclosure of their walls. The dimi. nished legions, deftitute of pay and provisions, of arms and difcipline, trembled at the approach, and even at the name, of the Barbarians.' In the year 362, it may be added, so confiderable a scarcity of corn was felt in Antioch and the cities of Syria, as to generate public discontent. Thirty thousand Vifigoths, the fubjects of Hermanric, who reigned from the Euxine to the Baltic, and over the greatest part of Germany and Scythia, paffed the Danube in the year 366; and the provinces of Thrace 'groaned under the weight of the Barbarians. Whilft the maritime provinces of Gaul and Britain, about the year 371, were haraffed by the Saxons; the Quadi, and a body of Sarmatian cavalry, invaded Pannonia, in the year 374, and in the feafon of harveft; and "'unmercifully destroyed every object of plunder which 'they could not easily transport24.' 'But every part of the reign of Conftantine and his immediate fucceffors may poffibly be regarded by fome perfons, as too early for the commencement of the third feal; and indeed I know not, that there is any neceffity for concluding, that the events foretold in the fecond feal fhould be immediately followed by thofe prefigured in the third. Prophecies, fo concifely expreffed as the feals are, cannot poffibly defcribe all the confiderable events of a long period, but only the principal characteriftic events. Perhaps, then, the reign of Valens, ** Decl. and Fall of the Rom. Emp. vol. III. p. 123, 195, 213; vol. IV. p. 147, 286-329. and and the year 376, may form the true epoch, when the events of the third feal began to be accomplished. In this memorable year the Gothic nation, conftituting nearly a million of persons, being driven from their ancient feats by an irrefiftible torrent of other Barbarians, the Huns and the Alani, were permitted by the emperor Valens to cross the Danube: but fatal were the confequences which attended that permiffion, for this immenfe body of Goths, exafperated by the ill treatment of the Roman officers, did, in this very year, rear the standard of revolt in the provinces of the empire, and defeat an army of Romans, But on this important æra I fhall quote the words of Mr. Gibbon. In the difaftrous period of the fall of the Roman empire, which may justly be dated from the reign of Valens, the happiness and security of each ' individual were perfonally attacked; and the arts and labours of ages were rudely defaced by the Barbarians ' of Scythia and Germany. The invafion of the Huns ' precipitated on the provinces of the Weft the Gothic 'nation, which advanced, in lefs than forty years, from the Danube to the Atlantic, and opened a way, by the 'fuccefs of their arms, to the inroads of fo many hoftile tribes, more favage than themselves.' It was in the year 376, that the Roman legions, upder the command of Lupicinus, one of the governors of Thrace, were completely defeated by the Goths. As they had been deprived, by the minifters of the emperor, of the common benefits of nature, and the fair ⚫ intercourfe of focial life, they retaliated the injuftice on the subjects of the empire; and the crimes of Lupicinus 'were expiated by the ruin of the peaceful hufbandmen of Thrace, the conflagration of their villages, and the maffacre, or captivity, of their innocent families.' The hardy workmen, who laboured in the gold mines 4 of Thrace, for the emolument, and under the lash, of an unfeeling mafter,' having joined the Goths, conducted them, through the fecret paths, to the most se'questered places, which had been chofen to fecure the ' inhabitants, the cattle, and the magazines of corn.→→ The imprudence of Valens and his minifters had intro'duced into the heart of the empire a nation of enemies; but the Vifigoths might even yet have been reconciled, 'by the manly confeffion of paft errors, and the fincere 'performance of former engagements. These healing ' and temperate meafures feemed to concur with the timo rous difpofition of the fovereign of the Eaft; but, on this occafion alone, Valens was brave; and his unfeafonable bravery was fatal to himself and to his fubjects.' Only two years after the admiffion of the Goths into the Roman empire happened the battle of Hadrianople, which equalled, in the actual lofs, and far furpaffed, in the fatal confequences, the misfortune which Rome had 'formerly fuftained in the fields of Cannæ.-Above two-thirds of the Roman army 25 were deftroyed;' and the emperor Valens, who commanded it in perfon, himfelf perished near the field of battle. The tide of the Gothic inundation rolled from the walls of Hadrianople to the fuburbs of Conftantinople;-and the Bar⚫barians, who had no longer any refiftance to apprehend 'from the scattered and vanquished troops of the Eaft, fpread themselves over the face of a fertile and culti'vated country, as far as the confines of Italy, and the Hadriatic fea. Their mifchievous difpofition was fhewn in the deftruction of every object, which they wanted * ftrength to remove, or tafte to enjoy; and they often 'confumed, with improvident rage, the harvests, or the granaries, which foon afterwards became neceflary for * About 40,000 Romans fell. • their 'their own fubfiftence.' It may be added, that the Goths, after the defeat of Valens, never abandoned the • Roman territory.' Their devaftations had a double operation. The confumption of harvests, the conflagration of farms, and the maffacre of husbandmen, conftituted only part of the evil. The uncertain condition of their property dif'couraged the fubjects of Theodofius,' the fucceffor of Valens, from engaging in those useful and laborious ⚫ undertakings, which require an immediate expence, and promise a flow and distant advantage. The fre*quent examples of ruin and defolation tempted them not to spare the remains of a patrimony, which might, ' every hour, become the prey of the rapacious Goth. ' And the mad prodigality, which prevails in the confu⚫fion of a shipwreck or a fiege, may serve to explain the ' progress of luxury amidst the misfortunes and terrors ' of a finking nation 26.' What mighty calamities were inflicted on the Roman empire, during the joint reigns of Arcadius and Honorius, the fons and fucceffors of Theodofius, every man is apprized, who is acquainted with the hiftory of its decline and its fubverfion. On this point there can be no difpute. To the great events, which happened during their administration, it will, therefore, be fufficient very concisely to refer. During the reigns of the feeble sons of Theodofius, Greece was ravaged and over-run by the Goths; Spain and Gaul were invaded and occupied by various tribes of fierce Barbarians; and Italy and Rome were plundered by Alaric, the commander of the Gothic armies. From the long account of these varied devaftations, I shall cite only two fhort extracts. • The banks 26 Vol. IV. p. 340-443; vol. V. p. 88. • of * of the Rhine were crowned, like thofe of the Tyber, with elegant houfes and well cultivated farms.-This fcene of peace and plenty was fuddenly changed into a defert; and the prospect of the fmoaking ruins could ⚫ alone distinguish the folitude of nature from the defolation of man.' The following account of the misfortunes of Spain is in the language of its moft eloquent hiftorian, Mariana. "The irruption of these nations 41 36 was followed by the most dreadful calamities: as the "Barbarians exercifed their indifcriminate cruelty on "the fortunes of the Romans and the Spaniards; and ravaged with equal fury the cities and the open "country. The progrefs of famine reduced the miser*able inhabitants to feed on the flesh of their fellowcreatures,-Peftilence foon appeared, the infeparable companion of famine;" and "a large proportion of the "people was fwept away 29." 66 Seven years after the death of Honorius, Africa became the theatre of the most terrible devastations. The ⚫ long and narrow tract of the African coaft was filled with frequent monuments of Roman art and magnificence. A fimple reflection will imprefs every thinking mind with the cleareft idea of fertility and cultivation: the country was extremely populous; the inhabi'tants referved a liberal subfiftence for their own use; and the annual exportation, particularly of wheat, was fo regular and plentiful, that Africa deferved the name of the common granary of Rome and of mankind. On a fudden, the feven fruitful provinces, from Tangier to Tripoli, were overwhelmed by the invafion of the Vandals.-The Vandals, where they found refiftance, fel'dom gave quarter; and the deaths of their valiant countrymen were expiated by the ruin of the cities 4 8 Vol, V. p. 225. 19 Gibbon, vol. V. p. 352. ' under |