r of their common enemies. [165] The Spanish war was obstinately
supported, during three campaigns, with desperate valor, and various
success; and the martial achievements of Wallia diffused through the
empire the superior renown of the Gothic hero. He exterminated the
Silingi, who had irretrievably ruined the elegant plenty of the province
of Boetica. He slew, in battle, the king of the Alani; and the remains
of those Scythian wanderers, who escaped from the field, instead of
choosing a new leader, humbly sought a refuge under the standard of the
Vandals, with whom they were ever afterwards confounded. The Vandals
themselves, and the Suevi, yielded to the efforts of the invincible
Goths. The promiscuous multitude of Barbarians, whose retreat had been
intercepted, were driven into the mountains of Gallicia; where they
still continued, in a narrow compass and on a barren soil, to exercise
their domestic and implacable hostilities. In the pride of victory,
Wallia was faithful to his engagements: he restored his Spanish
conquests to the obedience of Honorius; and the tyranny of the Imperial
officers soon reduced an oppressed people to regret the time of their
Barbarian servitude. While the event of the war was still doubtful, the
first advantages obtained by the arms of Wallia had encouraged the court
of Ravenna to decree the honors of a triumph to their feeble sovereign.
He entered Rome like the ancient conquerors of nations; and if the
monuments of servile corruption had not long since met with the fate
which they deserved, we should probably find that a crowd of poets and
orators, of magistrates and bishops, applauded the fortune, the wisdom,
and the invincible courage, of the emperor Honorius. [166]

[Footnote 163:

Quod Tartessiacis avus hujus Vallia terris
Vandalicas turmas, et juncti Martis Alanos
Stravit, et occiduam texere cadavera Calpen.

Sidon. Apollinar. in Panegyr. Anthem. 363 p. 300, edit. Sirmond.]

[Footnote 164: This supply was very acceptable: the Goths were insulted
by the Vandals of Spain with the epithet of Truli, because in their
extreme distress, they had given a piece of gold for a trula, or about
half a pound of flour. Olympiod. apud Phot. p. 189.]

[Footnote 165: Orosius inserts a copy of these pretended letters.

Tu cum omnibus pacem habe, omniumque obsides accipe; nos nobis
confligimus nobis perimus, tibi vincimus; immortalis vero quaestus erit
Reipublicae tuae, si utrique