that he was lost if he allowed a moment of deliberation to the man
who had so deeply injured him. "A trifling dispute," said the Gothic
leader, with a firm but gentle tone of voice, "appears to have arisen
between the two nations; but it may be productive of the most dangerous
consequences, unless the tumult is immediately pacified by the assurance
of our safety, and the authority of our presence." At these words,
Fritigern and his companions drew their swords, opened their passage
through the unresisting crowd, which filled the palace, the streets,
and the gates, of Marcianopolis, and, mounting their horses, hastily
vanished from the eyes of the astonished Romans. The generals of the
Goths were saluted by the fierce and joyful acclamations of the camp;
war was instantly resolved, and the resolution was executed without
delay: the banners of the nation were displayed according to the custom
of their ancestors; and the air resounded with the harsh and mournful
music of the Barbarian trumpet. [71] The weak and guilty Lupicinus,
who had dared to provoke, who had neglected to destroy, and who still
presumed to despise, his formidable enemy, marched against the Goths, at
the head of such a military force as could be collected on this sudden
emergency. The Barbarians expected his approach about nine miles from
Marcianopolis; and on this occasion the talents of the general were
found to be of more prevailing efficacy than the weapons and discipline
of the troops. The valor of the Goths was so ably directed by the genius
of Fritigern, that they broke, by a close and vigorous attack, the
ranks of the Roman legions. Lupicinus left his arms and standards, his
tribunes and his bravest soldiers, on the field of battle; and their
useless courage served only to protect the ignominious flight of
their leader. "That successful day put an end to the distress of the
Barbarians, and the security of the Romans: from that day, the Goths,
renouncing the precarious condition of strangers and exiles, assumed the
character of citizens and masters, claimed an absolute dominion over the
possessors of land, and held, in their own right, the northern provinces
of the empire, which are bounded by the Danube." Such are the words
of the Gothic historian, [72] who celebrates, with rude eloquence,
the glory of his countrymen. But the dominion of the Barbarians was
exercised only for the purposes of rapine and destruction. As they had
been deprived, by the