and sent some to waste Moesia, knowing that it
was undefended through the neglect of the emperors.
He himself with seventy thousand men hastened to
Euscia, that is, Novae. When driven from this place by
the general Gallus, he approached Nicopolis, a very famous
town situated near the Iatrus river. This city
Trajan built when he conquered the Sarmatians and
named it the City of Victory. When the Emperor Decius
drew near, Cniva at last withdrew to the regions of
Haemus, which were not far distant. Thence he hastened
to Philippopolis, with his forces in good array. When 102
the Emperor Decius learned of his departure, he was
eager to bring relief to his own city and, crossing Mount
Haemus, came to Beroa. While he was resting his horses
and his weary army in that place, all at once Cniva and
his Goths fell upon him like a thunderbolt. He cut the
Roman army to pieces and drove the Emperor, with a
few who had succeeded in escaping, across the Alps again
to Euscia in Moesia, where Gallus was then stationed
with a large force of soldiers as guardian of the frontier.
Collecting an army from this region as well as from
Oescus, he prepared for the conflict of the coming war.
But Cniva took Philippopolis after a long siege and then, 103
laden with spoil, allied himself to Priscus, the commander
in the city, to fight against Decius. In the battle that
followed they quickly pierced the son of Decius with an
arrow and cruelly slew him. The father saw this, and
although he is said to have exclaimed, to cheer the hearts
of his soldiers: "Let no one mourn; the death of one
soldier is not a great loss to the republic", he was yet
unable to endure it, because of his love for his son. So
he rode against the foe, demanding either death or vengeance,
and when he came to Abrittus, a city of Moesia,
he was himself cut off by the Goths and slain, thus making
an end of his dominion and of his life. This place
is to-day called the Altar of Decius, because he there
offered strange sacrifices to idols before the battle.

(THE GOTHS IN THE TIME OF GALLUS, VOLUSIANUS AND AEMILIANUS)

[Sidenote: Gallus A.D. 251-253]

[Sidenote: Volusianus A.D. 252-253]

[Sidenote: Aemilianus A.D. 253]

[Sidenote: The Plague A.D. 252-267]

[Sidenote: Gallienus A.D. 253-268]

XIX Then upon the death of Decius, Gallus and 104
Volusianus succeeded to the Roman Empire. At this
time a destructive plague, almost like death itself, such
as we suffer