titude of their ships were crowded in a narrow
channel, many were dashed against each other, or against the shore. The
barbarians made several descents on the coasts both of Europe and Asia;
but the open country was already plundered, and they were repulsed with
shame and loss from the fortified cities which they assaulted. A spirit
of discouragement and division arose in the fleet, and some of their
chiefs sailed away towards the islands of Crete and Cyprus; but the main
body, pursuing a more steady course, anchored at length near the foot of
Mount Athos, and assaulted the city of Thessalonica, the wealthy capital
of all the Macedonian provinces. Their attacks, in which they displayed
a fierce but artless bravery, were soon interrupted by the rapid
approach of Claudius, hastening to a scene of action that deserved the
presence of a warlike prince at the head of the remaining powers of the
empire. Impatient for battle, the Goths immediately broke up their camp,
relinquished the siege of Thessalonica, left their navy at the foot of
Mount Athos, traversed the hills of Macedonia, and pressed forwards to
engage the last defence of Italy.

We still posses an original letter addressed by Claudius to the senate
and people on this memorable occasion. "Conscript fathers," says the
emperor, "know that three hundred and twenty thousand Goths have invaded
the Roman territory. If I vanquish them, your gratitude will reward my
services. Should I fall, remember that I am the successor of Gallienus.
The whole republic is fatigued and exhausted. We shall fight after
Valerian, after Ingenuus, Regillianus, Lollianus, Posthumus, Celsus,
and a thousand others, whom a just contempt for Gallienus provoked
into rebellion. We are in want of darts, of spears, and of shields. The
strength of the empire, Gaul, and Spain, are usurped by Tetricus, and
we blush to acknowledge that the archers of the East serve under the
banners of Zenobia. Whatever we shall perform will be sufficiently
great." The melancholy firmness of this epistle announces a hero
careless of his fate, conscious of his danger, but still deriving a
well-grounded hope from the resources of his own mind.

The event surpassed his own expectations and those of the world. By
the most signal victories he delivered the empire from this host of
barbarians, and was distinguished by posterity under the glorious
appellation of the Gothic Claudius. The imperfect historians of an
irregular war