do not enable as to describe the order and circumstances
of his exploits; but, if we could be indulged in the allusion, we might
distribute into three acts this memorable tragedy. I. The decisive
battle was fought near Naissus, a city of Dardania. The legions at first
gave way, oppressed by numbers, and dismayed by misfortunes. Their
ruin was inevitable, had not the abilities of their emperor prepared
a seasonable relief. A large detachment, rising out of the secret
and difficult passes of the mountains, which, by his order, they had
occupied, suddenly assailed the rear of the victorious Goths. The
favorable instant was improved by the activity of Claudius. He revived
the courage of his troops, restored their ranks, and pressed the
barbarians on every side. Fifty thousand men are reported to have been
slain in the battle of Naissus. Several large bodies of barbarians,
covering their retreat with a movable fortification of wagons, retired,
or rather escaped, from the field of slaughter. II. We may presume
that some insurmountable difficulty, the fatigue, perhaps, or the
disobedience, of the conquerors, prevented Claudius from completing
in one day the destruction of the Goths. The war was diffused over the
province of Maesia, Thrace, and Macedonia, and its operations drawn out
into a variety of marches, surprises, and tumultuary engagements,
as well by sea as by land. When the Romans suffered any loss, it was
commonly occasioned by their own cowardice or rashness; but the superior
talents of the emperor, his perfect knowledge of the country, and
his judicious choice of measures as well as officers, assured on most
occasions the success of his arms. The immense booty, the fruit of so
many victories, consisted for the greater part of cattle and slaves. A
select body of the Gothic youth was received among the Imperial troops;
the remainder was sold into servitude; and so considerable was the
number of female captives, that every soldier obtained to his share
two or three women. A circumstance from which we may conclude, that the
invaders entertained some designs of settlement as well as of plunder;
since even in a naval expedition, they were accompanied by their
families. III. The loss of their fleet, which was either taken or sunk,
had intercepted the retreat of the Goths. A vast circle of Roman posts,
distributed with skill, supported with firmness, and gradually
closing towards a common centre, forced the barbarians into t