a foreign for a domestic enemy, more dangerous and more
implacable. Enraged by their former servitude, elated by their present
glory, the slaves, under the name of Limigantes, claimed and usurped the
possession of the country which they had saved. Their masters, unable to
withstand the ungoverned fury of the populace, preferred the hardships
of exile to the tyranny of their servants. Some of the fugitive
Sarmatians solicited a less ignominious dependence, under the hostile
standard of the Goths. A more numerous band retired beyond the
Carpathian Mountains, among the Quadi, their German allies, and were
easily admitted to share a superfluous waste of uncultivated land. But
the far greater part of the distressed nation turned their eyes towards
the fruitful provinces of Rome. Imploring the protection and forgiveness
of the emperor, they solemnly promised, as subjects in peace, and as
soldiers in war, the most inviolable fidelity to the empire which should
graciously receive them into its bosom. According to the maxims adopted
by Probus and his successors, the offers of this barbarian colony were
eagerly accepted; and a competent portion of lands in the provinces of
Pannonia, Thrace, Macedonia, and Italy, were immediately assigned for
the habitation and subsistence of three hundred thousand Sarmatians.
[45] [45a]

[Footnote 44a: Gibbon supposes that this war took place because
Constantine had deducted a part of the customary gratifications, granted
by his predecessors to the Sarmatians. Nothing of this kind appears in
the authors. We see, on the contrary, that after his victory, and to
punish the Sarmatia is for the ravages they had committed, he withheld
the sums which it had been the custom to bestow. St. Martin, note to Le
Beau, i. 327.--M.]

[Footnote 45: The Gothic and Sarmatian wars are related in so broken and
imperfect a manner, that I have been obliged to compare the following
writers, who mutually supply, correct, and illustrate each other. Those
who will take the same trouble, may acquire a right of criticizing
my narrative. Ammianus, l. xvii. c. 12. Anonym. Valesian. p. 715.
Eutropius, x. 7. Sextus Rufus de Provinciis, c. 26. Julian Orat. i.
p. 9, and Spanheim, Comment. p. 94. Hieronym. in Chron. Euseb. in Vit.
Constantin. l. iv. c. 6. Socrates, l. i. c. 18. Sozomen, l. i. c. 8.
Zosimus, l. ii. p. 108. Jornandes de Reb. Geticis, c. 22. Isidorus in
Chron. p. 709; in Hist. Gothorum Grotii. Constantin. Porphyroge