ive battle, which broke
the power of the Gepidae, transferred the fears and wishes of Justinian,
and first displayed the character of Alboin, the youthful prince of the
Lombards, and the future conqueror of Italy. [10]

[Footnote 7: Gens Germana feritate ferocior, says Velleius Paterculus
of the Lombards, (ii. 106.) Langobardos paucitas nobilitat. Plurimis
ac valentissimis nationibus cincti non per obsequium, sed praeliis et
perilitando, tuti sunt, (Tacit. de Moribus German. c. 40.) See likewise
Strabo, (l. viii. p. 446.) The best geographers place them beyond
the Elbe, in the bishopric of Magdeburgh and the middle march of
Brandenburgh; and their situation will agree with the patriotic remark
of the count de Hertzberg, that most of the Barbarian conquerors issued
from the same countries which still produce the armies of Prussia. *
Note: See Malte Brun, vol. i. p 402.--M]

[Footnote 8: The Scandinavian origin of the Goths and Lombards, as
stated by Paul Warnefrid, surnamed the deacon, is attacked by Cluverius,
(Germania, Antiq. l. iii. c. 26, p. 102, &c.,) a native of Prussia, and
defended by Grotius, (Prolegom. ad Hist. Goth. p. 28, &c.,) the Swedish
Ambassador.]

[Footnote 9: Two facts in the narrative of Paul Diaconus (l. i. c. 20)
are expressive of national manners: 1. Dum ad tabulam luderet--while he
played at draughts. 2. Camporum viridantia lina. The cultivation of flax
supposes property, commerce, agriculture, and manufactures]

[Footnote 10: I have used, without undertaking to reconcile, the facts
in Procopius, (Goth. l. ii. c. 14, l. iii. c. 33, 34, l. iv. c. 18, 25,)
Paul Diaconus, (de Gestis Langobard, l. i. c. 1-23, in Muratori, Script.
Rerum Italicarum, tom. i. p. 405-419,) and Jornandes, (de Success.
Regnorum, p. 242.) The patient reader may draw some light from Mascou
(Hist. of the Germans, and Annotat. xxiii.) and De Buat, (Hist. des
Peuples, &c., tom. ix. x. xi.)]

The wild people who dwelt or wandered in the plains of Russia,
Lithuania, and Poland, might be reduced, in the age of Justinian, under
the two great families of the Bulgarians [11] and the Sclavonians.
According to the Greek writers, the former, who touched the Euxine and
the Lake Maeotis, derived from the Huns their name or descent; and it is
needless to renew the simple and well-known picture of Tartar manners.
They were bold and dexterous archers, who drank the milk, and feasted
on the flesh, of their fleet and indefatigable horses;