l
for domestic discords had thus been removed, Victor, the commander of
the cavalry, was sent to the Goths to inquire, without disguise, why a
nation friendly to the Romans, and bound to it by treaties of equitable
peace, had given the support of its arms to a man who was waging war
against their lawful emperor. And they, to excuse their conduct by a
valid defence, produced the letters from the above-mentioned Procopius,
in which he alleged that he had assumed the sovereignty as his due, as
the nearest relation to Constantine's family; and they asserted that
this was a fair excuse for their error.

2. When Victor reported this allegation of theirs, Valens disregarding
it as a frivolous excuse, marched against them, they having already got
information of his approach. And at the beginning of spring he assembled
his army in a great body, and pitched his camp near a fortress named
Daphne, where having made a bridge of boats he crossed the Danube
without meeting any resistance.

3. And being now full of elation and confidence, as while traversing the
country in every direction he met with no enemy to be either defeated or
even alarmed by his advance; they having all been so terrified at the
approach of so formidable a host, that they had fled to the high
mountains of the Serri, which were inaccessible to all except those who
knew the country.

4. Therefore, that he might not waste the whole summer, and return
without having effected anything, he sent forward Arinthaeus, the captain
of the infantry, with some light forces, who seized on a portion of
their families, which were overtaken as they were wandering over the
plains before coming to the steep and winding defiles of the mountains.
And having obtained this advantage, which chance put in his way, he
returned with his men without having suffered any loss, and indeed
without having inflicted any.

5. The next year he attempted with equal vigour again to invade the
country of the enemy; but being checked in his advance by the
inundations of the Danube, which covered a wide extent of country, he
remained near the town of Capri, where he pitched a camp in which he
remained till the autumn. And from thence, as he was prevented from
undertaking any operations on account of the magnitude of the floods, he
retired to Marcianopolis into winter quarters.

6. With similar perseverance he again invaded the land of the barbarians
a third year, having crossed the river by a brid