fair
Rosamond, and of insulting her family and nation. The arts of persuasion
were tried without success; and the impatient lover, by force and
stratagem, obtained the object of his desires. War was the consequence
which he foresaw and solicited; but the Lombards could not long
withstand the furious assault of the Gepidae, who were sustained by a
Roman army. And, as the offer of marriage was rejected with contempt,
Alboin was compelled to relinquish his prey, and to partake of the
disgrace which he had inflicted on the house of Cunimund.

When a public quarrel is envenomed by private injuries, a blow that is
not mortal or decisive can be productive only of a short truce,
which allows the unsuccessful combatant to sharpen his arms for a
new encounter. The strength of Alboin had been found unequal to the
gratification of his love, ambition, and revenge: he condescended to
implore the formidable aid of the chagan; and the arguments that he
employed are expressive of the art and policy of the Barbarians. In
the attack of the Gepidae, he had been prompted by the just desire of
extirpating a people whom their alliance with the Roman empire had
rendered the common enemies of the nations, and the personal adversaries
of the chagan. If the forces of the Avars and the Lombards should
unite in this glorious quarrel, the victory was secure, and the reward
inestimable: the Danube, the Hebrus, Italy, and Constantinople, would
be exposed, without a barrier, to their invincible arms. But, if they
hesitated or delayed to prevent the malice of the Romans, the same
spirit which had insulted would pursue the Avars to the extremity of the
earth. These specious reasons were heard by the chagan with coldness and
disdain: he detained the Lombard ambassadors in his camp, protracted the
negotiation, and by turns alleged his want of inclination, or his
want of ability, to undertake this important enterprise. At length he
signified the ultimate price of his alliance, that the Lombards should
immediately present him with a tithe of their cattle; that the spoils
and captives should be equally divided; but that the lands of the Gepidae
should become the sole patrimony of the Avars. Such hard conditions
were eagerly accepted by the passions of Alboin; and, as the Romans
were dissatisfied with the ingratitude and perfidy of the Gepidae, Justin
abandoned that incorrigible people to their fate, and remained the
tranquil spectator of this unequal conflict