e Carpi appear in 237 as a Suevian tribe who had made an irruption
into Maesia. Afterwards they reappear under the Ostrogoths, with whom
they were probably blended. Adelung, p. 236, 278.--G.]

[Footnote 26: The Venedi, the Slavi, and the Antes, were the three great
tribes of the same people. Jornandes, 24. * Note Dagger: They formed the
great Sclavonian nation.--G.]

[Footnote 27: Tacitus most assuredly deserves that title, and even his
cautious suspense is a proof of his diligent inquiries.]

[Footnote 271: Jac. Reineggs supposed that he had found, in the mountains
of Caucasus, some descendants of the Alani. The Tartars call them
Edeki-Alan: they speak a peculiar dialect of the ancient language of the
Tartars of Caucasus. See J. Reineggs' Descr. of Caucasus, p. 11, 13.--G.
According to Klaproth, they are the Ossetes of the present day in Mount
Caucasus and were the same with the Albanians of antiquity. Klaproth,
Hist. de l'Asie, p. 180.--M.]

Chapter X: Emperors Decius, Gallus, Aemilianus, Valerian And Gallienus.--Part II.

The Goths were now in possession of the Ukraine, a country of
considerable extent and uncommon fertility, intersected with navigable
rivers, which, from either side, discharge themselves into the
Borysthenes; and interspersed with large and leafy forests of oaks.
The plenty of game and fish, the innumerable bee-hives deposited in the
hollow of old trees, and in the cavities of rocks, and forming, even in
that rude age, a valuable branch of commerce, the size of the cattle,
the temperature of the air, the aptness of the soil for every species of
gain, and the luxuriancy of the vegetation, all displayed the liberality
of Nature, and tempted the industry of man. [28] But the Goths withstood
all these temptations, and still adhered to a life of idleness, of
poverty, and of rapine.

[Footnote 28: Genealogical History of the Tartars, p. 593. Mr. Bell
(vol. ii. p 379) traversed the Ukraine, in his journey from
Petersburgh to Constantinople. The modern face of the country is a just
representation of the ancient, since, in the hands of the Cossacks, it
still remains in a state of nature.]

The Scythian hordes, which, towards the east, bordered on the new
settlements of the Goths, presented nothing to their arms, except the
doubtful chance of an unprofitable victory. But the prospect of the
Roman territories was far more alluring; and the fields of Dacia were
covered with rich harvests, sown by t