angers as
the kings.

15. Taking advantage of this favourable opportunity, Theodosius, the
commander of the cavalry, passed through the Tyrol and attacked the
Allemanni, who, out of fear of the Burgundians, had dispersed into their
villages. He slew a great number, and took some prisoners, whom by the
emperor's command he sent to Italy, where some fertile districts around
the Po were assigned to them, which they still inhabit as tributaries.

VI.

Sec. 1. Let us now migrate, as it were, to another quarter of the world,
and proceed to relate the distresses of Tripoli, a province of Africa;
distresses which, in my opinion, even Justice herself must have
lamented, and which burst out rapidly like flames. I will now give an
account both of them and of their causes.

2. The Asturians are barbarians lying on the frontier of this province,
a people always in readiness for rapid invasions, accustomed to live on
plunder and bloodshed; and who, after having been quiet for a while, now
relapsed into their natural state of disquiet, alleging the following as
the serious cause for their movements.

3. One of their countrymen, by name Stachao, while freely traversing our
territories, as in time of peace, did some things forbidden by the laws;
the most flagrant of his illegal acts being that he endeavoured, by
every kind of deceit and intrigue, to betray the province, as was shown
by the most undeniable evidence, for which crime he was burnt to death.

4. To avenge his death, the Asturians, claiming him as their clansman,
and affirming that he had been unjustly condemned, burst forth from
their own territory like so many mad wild beasts during the reign of
Jovian, but fearing to approach close to Leptis, which was a city with
a numerous population, and fortified by strong walls, they occupied the
district around it, which is very fertile, for three days: and having
slain the agricultural population on it, whom terror at their sudden
inroad had deprived of all spirit, or had driven to take refuge in
caves, and burnt a great quantity of furniture which could not be
carried off, they returned home, loaded with vast plunder, taking with
them as prisoner a man named Silva, the principal noble of Leptis, whom
they found with his family at his country house.

5. The people of Leptis being terrified at this sudden disaster, not
wishing to incur the further calamities with which the arrogance of the
barbarians threatened them, implor