d by Priscus, a Greek general, and later on by the Emperor
Heraclius (610-641), and from that time their nation was gradually
dispersed.

[Footnote 112: Between 453 and 469 A.D. according to different
writers.]

IV.

But now we arrive at a period when there was some little interval in the
successive inroads of barbarians, and a breathing time for the peaceably
disposed inhabitants of Dacia; for the next race of wanderers who
entered upon the fertile plains of the Danube succeeded in holding their
ground almost as undisputed masters for three centuries. Later on, as we
shall find, they founded a second dynasty in combination with the
Wallachs; and, although their rule was troubled by the incursions of
other barbarians, and by wars first with the Byzantines and afterwards
with the Hungarians or Magyars, yet they managed with some intermission
to remain the governing power, and their descendants have ruled in
various localities even down to the present day.

But what makes the history of this tribe, the _Bulgari_, so interesting,
is not so much the domination which they exercised in the Danubian
provinces, as the insight which it gives us into the condition of the
people during the dark ages; and although we must content ourselves with
a brief sketch of their career and a few incidents selected from it, we
can confidently recommend our readers to prosecute the enquiry for
themselves, with the certainty of being repaid for their labour and
research. The origin of the Bulgari, or Bulgarians, like that of most of
the so-called barbarians, is more or less clouded in mystery. According
to some writers they were of Scythian origin, and comprised numerous
tribes, amongst whom the Wallachs, the Croats, and the Moravians are the
best known.[113] Gibbon says[114] that the Bulgarians and Slavonians
were a wild people who dwelt, or rather wandered, on the plains of
Russia, Lithuania, and Poland. They were bold and dexterous archers, who
drank the milk and feasted on the flesh of their indefatigable
horses.[115] Their flocks followed, or rather guided, their movements,
as it was in search of pasture for these that they roamed about from
place to place. They were practised in flight and incapable of fear.
Roesler is of opinion that they were an offshoot of the Huns, and in the
earlier period of their career, he says, they adopted the costume of all
the Ural races, and notably of the Avari. The hair of the head was shorn
off with