his perplexity, that
the Sarmatians had taken a king from among the Vandals; a supposition
entirely contrary to the usages of Barbarians Dacia, at this period, was
occupied, not by Sarmatians, who have never formed a distinct race, but
by Vandals, whom the ancients have often confounded under the general
term Sarmatians. See Gatterer's Welt-Geschiehte p. 464--G.]

This motive of enmity must have inflamed the subjects of contention,
which perpetually arise on the confines of warlike and independent
nations. The Vandal princes were stimulated by fear and revenge; the
Gothic kings aspired to extend their dominion from the Euxine to the
frontiers of Germany; and the waters of the Maros, a small river which
falls into the Teyss, were stained with the blood of the contending
Barbarians. After some experience of the superior strength and numbers
of their adversaries, the Sarmatians implored the protection of the
Roman monarch, who beheld with pleasure the discord of the nations, but
who was justly alarmed by the progress of the Gothic arms. As soon
as Constantine had declared himself in favor of the weaker party, the
haughty Araric, king of the Goths, instead of expecting the attack of
the legions, boldly passed the Danube, and spread terror and devastation
through the province of Maesia.

To oppose the inroad of this destroying host, the aged emperor took the
field in person; but on this occasion either his conduct or his fortune
betrayed the glory which he had acquired in so many foreign and domestic
wars. He had the mortification of seeing his troops fly before an
inconsiderable detachment of the Barbarians, who pursued them to the
edge of their fortified camp, and obliged him to consult his safety by
a precipitate and ignominious retreat. [43a] The event of a second and
more successful action retrieved the honor of the Roman name; and the
powers of art and discipline prevailed, after an obstinate contest, over
the efforts of irregular valor. The broken army of the Goths abandoned
the field of battle, the wasted province, and the passage of the Danube:
and although the eldest of the sons of Constantine was permitted to
supply the place of his father, the merit of the victory, which diffused
universal joy, was ascribed to the auspicious counsels of the emperor
himself.

[Footnote 43a: Gibbon states, that Constantine was defeated by the Goths
in a first battle. No ancient author mentions such an event. It is, no
doubt, a