the vast wilds of northern Europe and
Asia, though almost innumerable, and of different languages and
customs, were all called, by the Greeks, Scythians, as we have given
the general name of Indians to all the tribes who formerly ranged the
forests of North America. The Scythians were as ferocious a race as
earth has ever known. They drank the blood of their enemies; tanned
their skins for garments; used their skulls for drinking cups; and
worshiped a sword as the image or emblem of their favorite deity, the
God of War. Philip of Macedon was the first who put any check upon
their proud spirit. He conquered them in a decisive battle, and thus
taught them that they were not invincible. Alexander the Great
assailed them and spread the terror of his arms throughout all the
region between the Danube and the Dnieper. Subsequently the Roman
legions advanced to the Euxine, and planted their eagles upon the
heights of the Caucasus.

The Roman historians seem to have dropped the Scythian name, and they
called the whole northern expanse of Europe and Asia, Sarmatia, and
the barbarous inhabitants Sarmatians. About the time of our Saviour,
some of these fierce tribes from the banks of the Theiss and the
Danube, commenced their assaults upon the frontiers of the Roman
empire. This was the signal for that war of centuries, which
terminated in the overthrow of the throne of the Caesars. The Roman
Senate, enervated by luxury, condescended to purchase peace of these
barbarians, and nations of savages, whose names are now forgotten,
exacted tribute, under guise of payment for alliance, from the proud
empire. But neither bribes, nor alliances, nor the sword in the hands
of enervated Rome, could effectually check the incursions of these
bands, who were ever emerging, like wolves, from the mysterious depths
of the North.

In the haze of those distant times and remote realms, we catch dim
glimpses of locust legions, emerging from the plains and the ravines
between the Black Sea and the Caspian, and sweeping like a storm cloud
over nearly all of what is now called Russia. These people, to whom
the name of Alains was given, had no fixed habitations; they conveyed
their women and children in rude carts. Their devastations were alike
extended over Europe and Asia, and in the ferocity of their assaults
they were as insensible to death as wild beasts could be.

In the second century, the emperor Trajan conquered and took
possession of the prov