and by Peter
Teutoburgicus, (p. 68, A.D. 1326,) Memel is defined as the common
frontier of Russia, Curland, and Prussia. Aurum ibi plurimum, (says
Adam,) divinis auguribus atque necromanticis omnes domus sunt plenae....
a toto orbe ibi responsa petuntur, maxime ab Hispanis (forsan Zupanis,
id est regulis Lettoviae) et Graecis. The name of Greeks was applied to
the Russians even before their conversion; an imperfect conversion, if
they still consulted the wizards of Curland, (Bayer, tom. x. p. 378,
402, &c. Grotius, Prolegomen. ad Hist. Goth. p. 99.)]

[Footnote 54: Constantine only reckons seven cataracts, of which he
gives the Russian and Sclavonic names; but thirteen are enumerated by
the Sieur de Beauplan, a French engineer, who had surveyed the
course and navigation of the Dnieper, or Borysthenes, (Description de
l'Ukraine, Rouen, 1660, a thin quarto;) but the map is unluckily wanting
in my copy.]

[Footnote 55: Nestor, apud Leveque, Hist. de Russie, tom. i. p. 78-80.
From the Dnieper, or Borysthenes, the Russians went to Black Bulgaria,
Chazaria, and Syria. To Syria, how? where? when? The alteration
is slight; the position of Suania, between Chazaria and Lazica, is
perfectly suitable; and the name was still used in the xith century,
(Cedren. tom. ii. p. 770.)]

Chapter LV: The Bulgarians, The Hungarians And The Russians.--Part III.

But the same communication which had been opened for the benefit, was
soon abused for the injury, of mankind. In a period of one hundred and
ninety years, the Russians made four attempts to plunder the treasures
of Constantinople: the event was various, but the motive, the means, and
the object, were the same in these naval expeditions. [56] The Russian
traders had seen the magnificence, and tasted the luxury of the city of
the Caesars. A marvellous tale, and a scanty supply, excited the desires
of their savage countrymen: they envied the gifts of nature which their
climate denied; they coveted the works of art, which they were too lazy
to imitate and too indigent to purchase; the Varangian princes unfurled
the banners of piratical adventure, and their bravest soldiers were
drawn from the nations that dwelt in the northern isles of the ocean.
[57] The image of their naval armaments was revived in the last century,
in the fleets of the Cossacks, which issued from the Borysthenes, to
navigate the same seas for a similar purpose. [58] The Greek appellation
of monoxyla, or single c