sure to the flattering suggestions of the eunuchs
of the palace, was impatient to seize the glory of an easy and assured
conquest. His army was strengthened by a numerous reenforcement of
veterans; and his march from Constantinople to Hadrianople was conducted
with so much military skill, that he prevented the activity of the
Barbarians, who designed to occupy the intermediate defiles, and to
intercept either the troops themselves, or their convoys of provisions.
The camp of Valens, which he pitched under the walls of Hadrianople,
was fortified, according to the practice of the Romans, with a ditch and
rampart; and a most important council was summoned, to decide the fate
of the emperor and of the empire. The party of reason and of delay was
strenuously maintained by Victor, who had corrected, by the lessons
of experience, the native fierceness of the Sarmatian character; while
Sebastian, with the flexible and obsequious eloquence of a courtier,
represented every precaution, and every measure, that implied a doubt
of immediate victory, as unworthy of the courage and majesty of their
invincible monarch. The ruin of Valens was precipitated by the deceitful
arts of Fritigern, and the prudent admonitions of the emperor of the
West. The advantages of negotiating in the midst of war were
perfectly understood by the general of the Barbarians; and a Christian
ecclesiastic was despatched, as the holy minister of peace, to
penetrate, and to perplex, the councils of the enemy. The misfortunes,
as well as the provocations, of the Gothic nation, were forcibly and
truly described by their ambassador; who protested, in the name of
Fritigern, that he was still disposed to lay down his arms, or to employ
them only in the defence of the empire; if he could secure for his
wandering countrymen a tranquil settlement on the waste lands of Thrace,
and a sufficient allowance of corn and cattle. But he added, in a
whisper of confidential friendship, that the exasperated Barbarians were
averse to these reasonable conditions; and that Fritigern was doubtful
whether he could accomplish the conclusion of the treaty, unless he
found himself supported by the presence and terrors of an Imperial army.
About the same time, Count Richomer returned from the West to announce
the defeat and submission of the Alemanni, to inform Valens that
his nephew advanced by rapid marches at the head of the veteran and
victorious legions of Gaul, and to request, in the na