e foundations of Rome, should be
left on the opposite shore. It was thought expedient that an accurate
account should be taken of their numbers; but the persons who were
employed soon desisted, with amazement and dismay, from the prosecution
of the endless and impracticable task: [67] and the principal historian
of the age most seriously affirms, that the prodigious armies of Darius
and Xerxes, which had so long been considered as the fables of vain and
credulous antiquity, were now justified, in the eyes of mankind, by
the evidence of fact and experience. A probable testimony has fixed the
number of the Gothic warriors at two hundred thousand men: and if we can
venture to add the just proportion of women, of children, and of slaves,
the whole mass of people which composed this formidable emigration, must
have amounted to near a million of persons, of both sexes, and of all
ages. The children of the Goths, those at least of a distinguished rank,
were separated from the multitude. They were conducted, without delay,
to the distant seats assigned for their residence and education; and as
the numerous train of hostages or captives passed through the cities,
their gay and splendid apparel, their robust and martial figure, excited
the surprise and envy of the Provincials. [67a] But the stipulation, the
most offensive to the Goths, and the most important to the Romans, was
shamefully eluded. The Barbarians, who considered their arms as the
ensigns of honor and the pledges of safety, were disposed to offer a
price, which the lust or avarice of the Imperial officers was easily
tempted to accept. To preserve their arms, the haughty warriors
consented, with some reluctance, to prostitute their wives or their
daughters; the charms of a beauteous maid, or a comely boy, secured the
connivance of the inspectors; who sometimes cast an eye of covetousness
on the fringed carpets and linen garments of their new allies, [68] or
who sacrificed their duty to the mean consideration of filling their
farms with cattle, and their houses with slaves. The Goths, with arms in
their hands, were permitted to enter the boats; and when their strength
was collected on the other side of the river, the immense camp which
was spread over the plains and the hills of the Lower Maesia, assumed
a threatening and even hostile aspect. The leaders of the Ostrogoths,
Alatheus and Saphrax, the guardians of their infant king, appeared
soon afterwards on the Northern