[1: Such is the bad taste of Ammianus, (xxvi. 10,) that
it is not easy to distinguish his facts from his metaphors. Yet
he positively affirms, that he saw the rotten carcass of a ship,
ad Modon, in Peloponnesus.]
[2: The earthquakes and inundations are variously
described by Libanius, (Orat. de ulciscenda Juliani nece, c. x.,
in Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. tom. vii. p. 158, with a learned note
of Olearius,) Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 221,) Sozomen, (l. vi. c. 2,)
Cedrenus, (p. 310, 314,) and Jerom, (in Chron. p. 186, and tom.
i. p. 250, in Vit. Hilarion.) Epidaurus must have been
overwhelmed, had not the prudent citizens placed St. Hilarion, an
Egyptian monk, on the beach. He made the sign of the Cross; the
mountain- wave stopped, bowed, and returned.]
[3: Dicaearchus, the Peripatetic, composed a formal
treatise, to prove this obvious truth; which is not the most
honorable to the human species. (Cicero, de Officiis, ii. 5.)]
[4: The original Scythians of Herodotus (l. iv. c. 47 -
57, 99 - 101) were confined, by the Danube and the Palus Maeotis,
within a square of 4000 stadia, (400 Roman miles.) See D'Anville
(Mem. de l'Academie, tom. xxxv. p. 573 - 591.) Diodorus Siculus
(tom. i. l. ii. p. 155, edit. Wesseling) has marked the gradual
progress of the name and nation.]
[5: The Tatars, or Tartars, were a primitive tribe, the
rivals, and at length the subjects, of the Moguls. In the
victorious armies of Zingis Khan, and his successors, the Tartars
formed the vanguard; and the name, which first reached the ears
of foreigners, was applied to the whole nation, (Freret, in the
Hist. de l'Academie, tom. xviii. p. 60.) In speaking of all, or
any of the northern shepherds of Europe, or Asia, I indifferently
use the appellations of Scythians or Tartars.
Note: The Moguls, (Mongols,) according to M. Klaproth, are a
tribe of the Tartar nation. Tableaux Hist. de l'Asie, p. 154. -
M.]
[6: Imperium Asiae ter quaesivere: ipsi perpetuo ab
alieno imperio, aut intacti aut invicti, mansere. Since the time
of Justin, (ii. 2,) they have multiplied this account. Voltaire,
in a few words, (tom. x. p. 64, Hist. Generale, c. 156,) has
abridged the Tartar conquests.
Oft o'er the trembling nations from afar,
Has Scythia breathed the living cloud of war.
Note: Gray. - M.]
[7: The fourth book of Herodotus affords a curious
though imperfect, portrait of the Scythians. Among the moderns,
who describe the uniform scene, the Khan of Khowaresm, Abulghazi
Bahadur, expresses his native feelings; and his genealogical
history of the Tartars has been copiously illustrated by the
French and English editors. Carpin, Ascelin, and Rubruquis (in
the Hist. des Voyages, tom. vii.) represent the Moguls of the
fourteenth century. To these guides I have added Gerbillon, and
the other Jesuits, (Description de la China par du Halde, tom.
iv.,) who accurately surveyed the Chinese Tartary; and that
honest and intelligent traveller, Bell, of Antermony, (two
volumes in 4to. Glasgow, 1763.)
Note: Of the various works published since the time of
Gibbon, which throw fight on the nomadic population of Central
Asia, may be particularly remarked the Travels and Dissertations
of Pallas; and above all, the very curious work of Bergman,
Nomadische Streifereyen. Riga, 1805. - M.]
[8: The Uzbecks are the most altered from their
primitive manners; 1. By the profession of the Mahometan
religion; and 2. By the possession of the cities and harvests of
the great Bucharia.]
[9: Il est certain que les grands mangeurs de viande
sont en general cruels et feroces plus que les autres hommes.
Cette observation est de tous les lieux, et de tous les temps: la
barbarie Angloise est connue, &c. Emile de Rousseau, tom. i. p.
274. Whatever we may think of the general observation, we shall
not easily allow the truth of his example. The good-natured
complaints of Plutarch, and the pathetic lamentations of Ovid,
seduce our reason, by exciting our sensibility.]
[10: These Tartar emigrations have been discovered by M.
de Guignes (Histoire des Huns, tom. i. ii.) a skilful and
laborious interpreter of the Chinese language; who has thus laid
open new and important scenes in the history of mankind.]
[11: A plain in the Chinese Tartary, only eighty leagues
from the great wall, was found by the missionaries to be three
thousand geometrical paces above the level of the sea.
Montesquieu, who has used, and abused, the relations of
travellers, deduces the revolutions of Asia from this important
circumstance, that heat and cold, weakness and strength, touch
each other without any temperate zone, (Esprit des Loix, l. xvii.
c. 3.)]
[12: Petit de la Croix (Vie de Gengiscan, l. iii. c. 6)
represents the full glory and extent of the Mogul chase. The
Jesuits Gerbillon and Verbiest followed the emperor Khamhi when
he hunted in Tartary, Duhalde, Description de la Chine, tom. iv.
p. 81, 290, &c., folio edit.) His grandson, Kienlong, who unites
the Tartar discipline with the laws and learning of China,
describes (Eloge de Moukden, p. 273 - 285) as a poet the
pleasures which he had often enjoyed as a sportsman.]
[13: See the second volume of the Genealogical History
of the Tartars; and the list of the Khans, at the end of the life
of Geng's, or Zingis. Under the reign of Timur, or Tamerlane,
one of his subjects, a descendant of Zingis, still bore the regal
appellation of Khan and the conqueror of Asia contented himself
with the title of Emir or Sultan. Abulghazi, part v. c. 4.
D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orien tale, p. 878.]
[14: See the Diets of the ancient Huns, (De Guignes,
tom. ii. p. 26,) and a curious description of those of Zingis,
(Vie de Gengiscan, l. i. c. 6, l. iv. c. 11.) Such assemblies are
frequently mentioned in the Persian history of Timur; though they
served only to countenance the resolutions of their master.]
[15: Montesquieu labors to explain a difference, which
has not existed, between the liberty of the Arabs, and the
perpetual slavery of the Tartars. (Esprit des Loix, l. xvii. c.
5, l. xviii. c. 19, &c.)]
[16: Abulghasi Khan, in the two first parts of his
Genealogical History, relates the miserable tales and traditions
of the Uzbek Tartars concerning the times which preceded the
reign of Zingis.
Note: The differences between the various pastoral tribes
and nations comprehended by the ancients under the vague name of
Scythians, and by Gibbon under inst of Tartars, have received
some, and still, perhaps, may receive more, light from the
comparisons of their dialects and languages by modern scholars. - M]
[17: In the thirteenth book of the Iliad, Jupiter turns
away his eyes from the bloody fields of Troy, to the plains of
Thrace and Scythia. He would not, by changing the prospect,
behold a more peaceful or innocent scene.]
[18: Thucydides, l. ii. c. 97.]
[19: See the fourth book of Herodotus. When Darius
advanced into the Moldavian desert, between the Danube and the
Niester, the king of the Scythians sent him a mouse, a frog, a
bird, and five arrows; a tremendous allegory!]
[20: These wars and heroes may be found under their
respective titles, in the Bibliotheque Orientale of D'Herbelot.
They have been celebrated in an epic poem of sixty thousand
rhymed couplets, by Ferdusi, the Homer of Persia. See the
history of Nadir Shah, p. 145, 165. The public must lament that
Mr. Jones has suspended the pursuit of Oriental learning.
Note: Ferdusi is yet imperfectly known to European readers.
An abstract of the whole poem has been published by Goerres in
German, under the title "das Heldenbuch des Iran." In English, an
abstract with poetical translations, by Mr. Atkinson, has
appeared, under the auspices of the Oriental Fund. But to
translate a poet a man must be a poet. The best account of the
poem is in an article by Von Hammer in the Vienna Jahrbucher,
1820: or perhaps in a masterly article in Cochrane's Foreign
Quarterly Review, No. 1, 1835. A splendid and critical edition
of the whole work has been published by a very learned English
Orientalist, Captain Macan, at the expense of the king of Oude.
As to the number of 60,000 couplets, Captain Macan (Preface, p.
39) states that he never saw a MS. containing more than 56,685,
including doubtful and spurious passages and episodes. - M.
Note: The later studies of Sir W. Jones were more in unison
with the wishes of the public, thus expressed by Gibbon. - M.]
[21: The Caspian Sea, with its rivers and adjacent
tribes, are laboriously illustrated in the Examen Critique des
Historiens d'Alexandre, which compares the true geography, and
the errors produced by the vanity or ignorance of the Greeks.]
[22: The original seat of the nation appears to have
been in the Northwest of China, in the provinces of Chensi and
Chansi. Under the two first dynasties, the principal town was
still a movable camp; the villages were thinly scattered; more
land was employed in pasture than in tillage; the exercise of
hunting was ordained to clear the country from wild beasts;
Petcheli (where Pekin stands) was a desert, and the Southern
provinces were peopled with Indian savages. The dynasty of the
Han (before Christ 206) gave the empire its actual form and
extent.]
[23: The aera of the Chinese monarchy has been variously
fixed from 2952 to 2132 years before Christ; and the year 2637
has been chosen for the lawful epoch, by the authority of the
present emperor. The difference arises from the uncertain
duration of the two first dynasties; and the vacant space that
lies beyond them, as far as the real, or fabulous, times of Fohi,
or Hoangti. Sematsien dates his authentic chronology from the
year 841; the thirty-six eclipses of Confucius (thirty- one of
which have been verified) were observed between the years 722 and
480 before Christ. The historical period of China does not
ascend above the Greek Olympiads.]
[24: After several ages of anarchy and despotism, the
dynasty of the Han (before Christ 206) was the aera of the
revival of learning. The fragments of ancient literature were
restored; the characters were improved and fixed; and the future
preservation of books was secured by the useful inventions of
ink, paper, and the art of printing. Ninety-seven years before
Christ, Sematsien published the first history of China. His
labors were illustrated, and continued, by a series of one
hundred and eighty historians. The substance of their works is
still extant; and the most considerable of them are now deposited
in the king of France's library.]
[25: China has been illustrated by the labors of the
French; of the missionaries at Pekin, and Messrs. Freret and De
Guignes at Paris. The substance of the three preceding notes is
extracted from the Chou-king, with the preface and notes of M. de
Guignes, Paris, 1770. The Tong-Kien- Kang-Mou, translated by P.
de Mailla, under the name of Hist. Generale de la Chine, tom. i.
p. xlix. - cc.; the Memoires sur la Chine, Paris, 1776, &c., tom.
i. p. 1 - 323; tom. ii. p. 5 - 364; the Histoire des Huns, tom.
i. p. 4 - 131, tom. v. p. 345 - 362; and the Memoires de
l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. x. p. 377 - 402; tom. xv. p.
495 - 564; tom. xviii. p. 178 - 295; xxxvi. p. 164 - 238.]
[26: See the Histoire Generale des Voyages, tom. xviii.,
and the Genealogical History, vol. ii. p. 620 - 664.]
[27: M. de Guignes (tom. ii. p. 1 - 124) has given the
original history of the ancient Hiong-nou, or Huns. The Chinese
geography of their country (tom. i. part. p. lv. - lxiii.) seems
to comprise a part of their conquests.
Note: The theory of De Guignes on the early history of the
Huns is, in general, rejected by modern writers. De Guignes
advanced no valid proof of the identity of the Hioung-nou of the
Chinese writers with the Huns, except the similarity of name.
Schlozer, (Allgemeine Nordische Geschichte, p. 252,)
Klaproth, (Tableaux Historiques de l'Asie, p. 246,) St. Martin,
iv. 61, and A. Remusat, (Recherches sur les Langues Tartares, D.
P. xlvi, and p. 328; though in the latter passage he considers
the theory of De Guignes not absolutely disproved,) concur in
considering the Huns as belonging to the Finnish stock, distinct
from the Moguls the Mandscheus, and the Turks. The Hiong-nou,
according to Klaproth, were Turks. The names of the Hunnish
chiefs could not be pronounced by a Turk; and, according to the
same author, the Hioung-nou, which is explained in Chinese as
detestable slaves, as early as the year 91 J. C., were dispersed
by the Chinese, and assumed the name of Yue-po or Yue-pan. M. St.
Martin does not consider it impossible that the appellation of
Hioung-nou may have belonged to the Huns. But all agree in
considering the Madjar or Magyar of modern Hungary the
descendants of the Huns. Their language (compare Gibbon, c. lv.
n. 22) is nearly related to the Lapponian and Vogoul. The noble
forms of the modern Hungarians, so strongly contrasted with the
hideous pictures which the fears and the hatred of the Romans
give of the Huns, M. Klaproth accounts for by the intermingling
with other races, Turkish and Slavonian. The present state of the
question is thus stated in the last edition of Malte Brun, and a
new and ingenious hypothesis suggested to resolve all the
difficulties of the question.
Were the Huns Finns? This obscure question has not been
debated till very recently, and is yet very far from being
decided. We are of opinion that it will be so hereafter in the
same manner as that with regard to the Scythians. We shall trace
in the portrait of Attila a dominant tribe or Mongols, or
Kalmucks, with all the hereditary ugliness of that race; but in
the mass of the Hunnish army and nation will be recognized the
Chuni and the Ounni of the Greek Geography. the Kuns of the
Hungarians, the European Huns, and a race in close relationship
with the Flemish stock. Malte Brun, vi. p. 94. This theory is
more fully and ably developed, p. 743. Whoever has seen the
emperor of Austria's Hungarian guard, will not readily admit
their descent from the Huns described by Sidonius Appolinaris. - M]
[28: See in Duhalde (tom. iv. p. 18 - 65) a
circumstantial description, with a correct map, of the country of
the Mongous.]
[29: The Igours, or Vigours, were divided into three
branches; hunters, shepherds, and husbandmen; and the last class
was despised by the two former. See Abulghazi, part ii. c. 7.
Note: On the Ouigour or Igour characters, see the work of M.
A. Remusat, Sur les Langues Tartares. He conceives the Ouigour
alphabet of sixteen letters to have been formed from the Syriac,
and introduced by the Nestorian Christians. - Ch. ii. M.]
[30: Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxv.
p. 17 - 33. The comprehensive view of M. de Guignes has compared
these distant events.]
[31: The fame of Sovou, or So-ou, his merit, and his
singular adventurers, are still celebrated in China. See the
Eloge de Moukden, p. 20, and notes, p. 241 - 247; and Memoires
sur la Chine, tom. iii. p. 317 - 360.]
[32: See Isbrand Ives in Harris's Collection, vol. ii.
p. 931; Bell's Travels, vol. i. p. 247 - 254; and Gmelin, in the
Hist. Generale des Voyages, tom. xviii. 283 - 329. They all
remark the vulgar opinion that the holy sea grows angry and
tempestuous if any one presumes to call it a lake. This
grammatical nicety often excites a dispute between the absurd
superstition of the mariners and the absurd obstinacy of
travellers.]
[A: 224 years before Christ. It was built by
Chi-hoang-ti of the Dynasty Thsin. It is from twenty to
twenty-five feet high. Ce monument, aussi gigantesque
qu'impuissant, arreterait bien les incursions de quelques
Nomades; mais il n'a jamais empeche les invasions des Turcs, des
Mongols, et des Mandchous. Abe Remusat Rech. Asiat. 2d ser. vol.
i. p. 58 - M.]
[33: The construction of the wall of China is mentioned
by Duhalde (tom. ii. p. 45) and De Guignes, (tom. ii. p. 59.)]
[34: See the life of Lieoupang, or Kaoti, in the Hist,
de la Chine, published at Paris, 1777, &c., tom. i. p. 442 - 522.
This voluminous work is the translation (by the P. de Mailla) of
the Tong-Kien- Kang-Mou, the celebrated abridgment of the great
History of Semakouang (A.D. 1084) and his continuators.]
[35: See a free and ample memorial, presented by a
Mandarin to the emperor Venti, (before Christ 180 - 157,) in
Duhalde, (tom. ii. p. 412 - 426,) from a collection of State
papers marked with the red pencil by Kamhi himself, (p. 354 -
612.) Another memorial from the minister of war (Kang- Mou, tom.
ii. p 555) supplies some curious circumstances of the manners of
the Huns.]
[36: A supply of women is mentioned as a customary
article of treaty and tribute, (Hist. de la Conquete de la Chine,
par les Tartares Mantcheoux, tom. i. p. 186, 187, with the note
of the editor.)]
[37: De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. p. 62.]
[38: See the reign of the emperor Vouti, in the
Kang-Mou, tom. iii. p. 1 - 98. His various and inconsistent
character seems to be impartially drawn.]
[39: This expression is used in the memorial to the
emperor Venti, (Duhalde, tom. ii. p. 411.) Without adopting the
exaggerations of Marco Polo and Isaac Vossius, we may rationally
allow for Pekin two millions of inhabitants. The cities of the
South, which contain the manufactures of China, are still more
populous.]
[40: See the Kang-Mou, tom. iii. p. 150, and the
subsequent events under the proper years. This memorable
festival is celebrated in the Eloge de Moukden, and explained in
a note by the P. Gaubil, p. 89, 90.]
[41: This inscription was composed on the spot by
Parkou, President of the Tribunal of History (Kang-Mou, tom. iii.
p. 392.) Similar monuments have been discovered in many parts of
Tartary, (Histoire des Huns, tom. ii. p. 122.)]
[42: M. de Guignes (tom. i. p. 189) has inserted a short
account of the Sienpi.]
[43: The aera of the Huns is placed, by the Chinese,
1210 years before Christ. But the series of their kings does not
commence till the year 230, (Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. p. 21,
123.)]
[44: The various accidents, the downfall, and the flight
of the Huns, are related in the Kang-Mou, tom. iii. p. 88, 91,
95, 139, &c. The small numbers of each horde may be due to their
losses and divisions.]
[45: M. de Guignes has skilfully traced the footsteps of
the Huns through the vast deserts of Tartary, (tom. ii. p. 123,
277, &c., 325, &c.)]
[B: The Armenian authors often mention this people under
the name of Hepthal. St. Martin considers that the name of
Nepthalites is an error of a copyist. St. Martin, iv. 254. - M.]
[46: Mohammed, sultan of Carizme, reigned in Sogdiana
when it was invaded (A.D. 1218) by Zingis and his moguls. The
Oriental historians (see D'Herbelot, Petit de la Croix, &c.,)
celebrate the populous cities which he ruined, and the fruitful
country which he desolated. In the next century, the same
provinces of Chorasmia and Nawaralnahr were described by
Abulfeda, (Hudson, Geograph. Minor. tom. iii.) Their actual
misery may be seen in the Genealogical History of the Tartars, p.
423 - 469.]
[47: Justin (xli. 6) has left a short abridgment of the
Greek kings of Bactriana. To their industry I should ascribe the
new and extraordinary trade, which transported the merchandises
of India into Europe, by the Oxus, the Caspian, the Cyrus, the
Phasis, and the Euxine. The other ways, both of the land and sea,
were possessed by the Seleucides and the Ptolemies. (See
l'Esprit des Loix, l. xxi.)]
[48: Procopius de Bell. Persico, l. i. c. 3, p. 9.]
[49: In the thirteenth century, the monk Rubruquis (who
traversed the immense plain of Kipzak, in his journey to the
court of the Great Khan) observed the remarkable name of Hungary,
with the traces of a common language and origin, Hist. des
Voyages, tom. vii. p. 269.)]
[50: Bell, (vol. i. p. 29 - 34,) and the editors of the
Genealogical History, (p. 539,) have described the Calmucks of
the Volga in the beginning of the present century.]
[51: This great transmigration of 300,000 Calmucks, or
Torgouts, happened in the year 1771. The original narrative of
Kien-long, the reigning emperor of China, which was intended for
the inscription of a column, has been translated by the
missionaries of Pekin, (Memoires sur la Chine, tom. i. p. 401 -
418.) The emperor affects the smooth and specious language of the
Son of Heaven, and the Father of his People.]
[52: The Khan-Mou (tom. iii. p. 447) ascribes to their
conquests a space of 14,000 lis. According to the present
standard, 200 lis (or more accurately 193) are equal to one
degree of latitude; and one English mile consequently exceeds
three miles of China. But there are strong reasons to believe
that the ancient li scarcely equalled one half of the modern.
See the elaborate researches of M. D'Anville, a geographer who is
not a stranger in any age or climate of the globe. (Memoires de
l'Acad. tom. ii. p. 125-502. Itineraires, p. 154-167.]
[53: See Histoire des Huns, tom. ii. p. 125 - 144. The
subsequent history (p. 145 - 277) of three or four Hunnic
dynasties evidently proves that their martial spirit was not
impaired by a long residence in China.]
[C: Compare M. Klaproth's curious speculations on the
Alani. He supposes them to have been the people, known by the
Chinese, at the time of their first expeditions to the West,
under the name of Yath-sai or A-lanna, the Alanan of Persian
tradition, as preserved in Ferdusi; the same, according to
Ammianus, with the Massagetae, and with the Albani. The remains
of the nation still exist in the Ossetae of Mount Caucasus.
Klaproth, Tableaux Historiques de l'Asie, p. 174. - M. Compare
Shafarik Slawische alterthumer, i. p. 350. - M. 1845.]
[54: Utque hominibus quietis et placidis otium est
voluptabile, ita illos pericula juvent et bella. Judicatur ibi
beatus qui in proelio profuderit animam: senescentes etiam et
fortuitis mortibus mundo digressos, ut degeneres et ignavos,
conviciis atrocibus insectantur. [Ammian. xxxi. 11.] We must
think highly of the conquerors of such men.]
[55: On the subject of the Alani, see Ammianus, (xxxi.
2,) Jornandes, (de Rebus Geticis, c. 24,) M. de Guignes, (Hist.
des Huns, tom. ii. p. 279,) and the Genealogical History of the
Tartars, (tom. ii. p. 617.)]
[56: As we are possessed of the authentic history of the
Huns, it would be impertinent to repeat, or to refute, the fables
which misrepresent their origin and progress, their passage of
the mud or water of the Maeotis, in pursuit of an ox or stag, les
Indes qu'ils avoient decouvertes, &c., (Zosimus, l. iv. p. 224.
Sozomen, l. vi. c. 37. Procopius, Hist. Miscell. c. 5.
Jornandes, c. 24. Grandeur et Decadence, &c., des Romains, c.
17.)]
[D: Art added to their native ugliness; in fact, it is
difficult to ascribe the proper share in the features of this
hideous picture to nature, to the barbarous skill with which they
were self-disfigured, or to the terror and hatred of the Romans.
Their noses were flattened by their nurses, their cheeks were
gashed by an iron instrument, that the scars might look more
fearful, and prevent the growth of the beard. Jornandes and
Sidonius Apollinaris: -
Obtundit teneras circumdata fascia nares,
Ut galeis cedant.
Yet he adds that their forms were robust and manly, their height
of a middle size, but, from the habit of riding, disproportioned.
Stant pectora vasta,
Insignes humer, succincta sub ilibus alvus.
Forma quidem pediti media est, procera sed extat
Si cernas equites, sic longi saepe putantur
Si sedeant.]
[57: Prodigiosae formae, et pandi; ut bipedes existimes
bestias; vel quales in commarginandis pontibus, effigiati
stipites dolantur incompte. Ammian. xxxi. i. Jornandes (c. 24)
draws a strong caricature of a Calmuck face. Species pavenda
nigredine ... quaedam deformis offa, non fecies; habensque magis
puncta quam lumina. See Buffon. Hist. Naturelle, tom. iii. 380.]
[58: This execrable origin, which Jornandes (c. 24)
describes with the rancor of a Goth, might be originally derived
from a more pleasing fable of the Greeks. (Herodot. l. iv. c. 9,
&c.)]
[59: The Roxolani may be the fathers of the the
Russians, (D'Anville, Empire de Russie, p. 1 - 10,) whose
residence (A.D. 862) about Novogrod Veliki cannot be very remote
from that which the Geographer of Ravenna (i. 12, iv. 4, 46, v.
28, 30) assigns to the Roxolani, (A.D. 886.)
Note: See, on the origin of the Russ, Schlozer, Nordische
Geschichte, p. 78 - M.]
[60: The text of Ammianus seems to be imperfect or
corrupt; but the nature of the ground explains, and almost
defines, the Gothic rampart. Memoires de l'Academie, &c., tom.
xxviii. p. 444 - 462.]
[61: M. de Buat (Hist. des Peuples de l'Europe, tom. vi.
p. 407) has conceived a strange idea, that Alavivus was the same
person as Ulphilas, the Gothic bishop; and that Ulphilas, the
grandson of a Cappadocian captive, became a temporal prince of
the Goths.]
[62: Ammianus (xxxi. 3) and Jornandes (de Rebus Geticis,
c. 24) describe the subversion of the Gothic empire by the Huns.]
[E: The most probable opinion as to the position of this
land is that of M. Malte-Brun. He thinks that Caucaland is the
territory of the Cacoenses, placed by Ptolemy (l. iii. c. 8)
towards the Carpathian Mountains, on the side of the present
Transylvania, and therefore the canton of Cacava, to the south of
Hermanstadt, the capital of the principality. Caucaland it is
evident, is the Gothic form of these different names. St.
Martin, iv 103. - M.]
[63: The Chronology of Ammianus is obscure and
imperfect. Tillemont has labored to clear and settle the annals
of Valens.]
[64: Zosimus, l. iv. p. 223. Sozomen, l. vi. c. 38.
The Isaurians, each winter, infested the roads of Asia Minor, as
far as the neighborhood of Constantinople. Basil, Epist. cel.
apud Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 106.]
[F: Sozomen and Philostorgius say that the bishop
Ulphilas was one of these ambassadors. - M.]
[65: The passage of the Danube is exposed by Ammianus,
(xxxi. 3, 4,) Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 223, 224,) Eunapius in Excerpt.
Legat. (p. 19, 20,) and Jornandes, (c. 25, 26.) Ammianus declares
(c. 5) that he means only, ispas rerum digerere summitates. But
he often takes a false measure of their importance; and his
superfluous prolixity is disagreeably balanced by his
unseasonable brevity.]
[66: Chishull, a curious traveller, has remarked the
breadth of the Danube, which he passed to the south of Bucharest
near the conflux of the Argish, (p. 77.) He admires the beauty
and spontaneous plenty of Maesia, or Bulgaria.]
[67: Quem sci scire velit, Libyci velit aequoris idem
Discere quam multae Zephyro turbentur harenae.
Ammianus has inserted, in his prose, these lines of Virgil,
(Georgia l. ii. 105,) originally designed by the poet to express
the impossibility of numbering the different sorts of vines. See
Plin. Hist. Natur l. xiv.]
[G: A very curious, but obscure, passage of Eunapius,
appears to me to have been misunderstood by M. Mai, to whom we
owe its discovery. The substance is as follows: "The Goths
transported over the river their native deities, with their
priests of both sexes; but concerning their rites they maintained
a deep and 'adamantine silence.' To the Romans they pretended to
be generally Christians, and placed certain persons to represent
bishops in a conspicuous manner on their wagons. There was even
among them a sort of what are called monks, persons whom it was
not difficult to mimic; it was enough to wear black raiment, to
be wicked, and held in respect." (Eunapius hated the "black-robed
monks," as appears in another passage, with the cordial
detestation of a heathen philosopher.) "Thus, while they
faithfully but secretly adhered to their own religion, the Romans
were weak enough to suppose them perfect Christians." Mai, 277.
Eunapius in Niebuhr, 82. - M]
[68: Eunapius and Zosimus curiously specify these
articles of Gothic wealth and luxury. Yet it must be presumed,
that they were the manufactures of the provinces; which the
Barbarians had acquired as the spoils of war; or as the gifts, or
merchandise, of peace.]
[69: Decem libras; the word silver must be understood.
Jornandes betrays the passions and prejudices of a Goth. The
servile Geeks, Eunapius and Zosimus, disguise the Roman
oppression, and execrate the perfidy of the Barbarians.
Ammianus, a patriot historian, slightly, and reluctantly, touches
on the odious subject. Jerom, who wrote almost on the spot, is
fair, though concise. Per avaritaim aximi ducis, ad rebellionem
fame coacti sunt, (in Chron.)
Note: A new passage from the history of Eunapius is nearer
to the truth. 'It appeared to our commanders a legitimate source
of gain to be bribed by the Barbarians: Edit. Niebuhr, p. 82. - M.]
[70: Ammianus, xxxi. 4, 5.]
[71: Vexillis de more sublatis, auditisque trisie
sonantibus classicis. Ammian. xxxi. 5. These are the rauca
cornua of Claudian, (in Rufin. ii. 57,) the large horns of the
Uri, or wild bull; such as have been more recently used by the
Swiss Cantons of Uri and Underwald. (Simler de Republica Helvet,
l. ii. p. 201, edit. Fuselin. Tigur 1734.) Their military horn
is finely, though perhaps casually, introduced in an original
narrative of the battle of Nancy, (A.D. 1477.) "Attendant le
combat le dit cor fut corne par trois fois, tant que le vent du
souffler pouvoit durer: ce qui esbahit fort Monsieur de
Bourgoigne; car deja a Morat l'avoit ouy." (See the Pieces
Justificatives in the 4to. edition of Philippe de Comines, tom.
iii. p. 493.)]
[72: Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 26, p. 648, edit.
Grot. These splendidi panm (they are comparatively such) are
undoubtedly transcribed from the larger histories of Priscus,
Ablavius, or Cassiodorus.]
[73: Cum populis suis longe ante suscepti. We are
ignorant of the precise date and circumstances of their
transmigration.]
[74: An Imperial manufacture of shields, &c., was
established at Hadrianople; and the populace were headed by the
Fabricenses, or workmen. (Vales. ad Ammian. xxxi. 6.)]
[75: Pacem sibi esse cum parietibus memorans. Ammian.
xxxi. 7.]
[76: These mines were in the country of the Bessi, in
the ridge of mountains, the Rhodope, that runs between Philippi
and Philippopolis; two Macedonian cities, which derived their
name and origin from the father of Alexander. From the mines of
Thrace he annually received the value, not the weight, of a
thousand talents, (200,000l.,) a revenue which paid the phalanx,
and corrupted the orators of Greece. See Diodor. Siculus, tom.
ii. l. xvi. p. 88, edit. Wesseling. Godefroy's Commentary on the
Theodosian Code, tom. iii. p. 496. Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq.
tom. i. p. 676, 857. D Anville, Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p.
336.]
[77: As those unhappy workmen often ran away, Valens had
enacted severe laws to drag them from their hiding-places. Cod.
Theodosian, l. x. tit xix leg. 5, 7.]
[78: See Ammianus, xxxi. 5, 6. The historian of the
Gothic war loses time and space, by an unseasonable
recapitulation of the ancient inroads of the Barbarians.]
[79: The Itinerary of Antoninus (p. 226, 227, edit.
Wesseling) marks the situation of this place about sixty miles
north of Tomi, Ovid's exile; and the name of Salices (the
willows) expresses the nature of the soil.]
[80: This circle of wagons, the Carrago, was the usual
fortification of the Barbarians. (Vegetius de Re Militari, l.
iii. c. 10. Valesius ad Ammian. xxxi. 7.) The practice and the
name were preserved by their descendants as late as the fifteenth
century. The Charroy, which surrounded the Ost, is a word
familiar to the readers of Froissard, or Comines.]
[81: Statim ut accensi malleoli. I have used the
literal sense of real torches or beacons; but I almost suspect,
that it is only one of those turgid metaphors, those false
ornaments, that perpetually disfigure to style of Ammianus.]
[82: Indicant nunc usque albentes ossibus campi.
Ammian. xxxi. 7. The historian might have viewed these plains,
either as a soldier, or as a traveller. But his modesty has
suppressed the adventures of his own life subsequent to the
Persian wars of Constantius and Julian. We are ignorant of the
time when he quitted the service, and retired to Rome, where he
appears to have composed his History of his Own Times.]
[83: Ammian. xxxi. 8.]
[H: The Taifalae, who at this period inhabited the
country which now forms the principality of Wallachia, were, in
my opinion, the last remains of the great and powerful nation of
the Dacians, (Daci or Dahae.) which has given its name to these
regions, over which they had ruled so long. The Taifalae passed
with the Goths into the territory of the empire. A great number
of them entered the Roman service, and were quartered in
different provinces. They are mentioned in the Notitia Imperii.
There was a considerable body in the country of the Pictavi, now
Poithou. They long retained their manners and language, and
caused the name of the Theofalgicus pagus to be given to the
district they inhabited. Two places in the department of La
Vendee, Tiffanges and La Tiffardiere, still preserve evident
traces of this denomination. St. Martin, iv. 118. - M.]
[84: Hanc Taifalorum gentem turpem, et obscenae vitae
flagitiis ita accipimus mersam; ut apud eos nefandi concubitus
foedere copulentur mares puberes, aetatis viriditatem in eorum
pollutis usibus consumpturi. Porro, siqui jam adultus aprum
exceperit solus, vel interemit ursum immanem, colluvione
liberatur incesti. Ammian. xxxi. 9.
Among the Greeks, likewise, more especially among the
Cretans, the holy bands of friendship were confirmed, and
sullied, by unnatural love.]
[85: Ammian. xxxi. 8, 9. Jerom (tom. i. p. 26)
enumerates the nations and marks a calamitous period of twenty
years. This epistle to Heliodorus was composed in the year 397,
(Tillemont, Mem. Eccles tom xii. p. 645.)]
[86: The field of battle, Argentaria or Argentovaria, is
accurately fixed by M. D'Anville (Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, p.
96 - 99) at twenty-three Gallic leagues, or thirty-four and a
half Roman miles to the south of Strasburg. From its ruins the
adjacent town of Colmar has arisen.
Note: It is rather Horburg, on the right bank of the River
Ill, opposite to Colmar. From Schoepflin, Alsatia Illustrata.
St. Martin, iv. 121. - M.]
[87: The full and impartial narrative of Ammianus (xxxi.
10) may derive some additional light from the Epitome of Victor,
the Chronicle of Jerom, and the History of Orosius, (l. vii. c.
33, p. 552, edit. Havercamp.)]
[88: Moratus paucissimos dies, seditione popularium
levium pulsus Ammian. xxxi. 11. Socrates (l. iv. c. 38) supplies
the dates and some circumstances.
Note: Compare fragment of Eunapius. Mai, 272, in Niebuhr,
p. 77. - M]
[89: Vivosque omnes circa Mutinam, Regiumque, et Parmam,
Italica oppida, rura culturos exterminavit. Ammianus, xxxi. 9.
Those cities and districts, about ten years after the colony of
the Taifalae, appear in a very desolate state. See Muratori,
Dissertazioni sopra le Antichita Italiane, tom. i. Dissertat.
xxi. p. 354.]
[90: Ammian. xxxi. 11. Zosimus, l. iv. p. 228 - 230.
The latter expatiates on the desultory exploits of Sebastian, and
despatches, in a few lines, the important battle of Hadrianople.
According to the ecclesiastical critics, who hate Sebastian, the
praise of Zosimus is disgrace, (Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs,
tom. v. p. 121.) His prejudice and ignorance undoubtedly render
him a very questionable judge of merit.]
[91: Ammianus (xxxi. 12, 13) almost alone describes the
councils and actions which were terminated by the fatal battle of
Hadrianople. We might censure the vices of his style, the
disorder and perplexity of his narrative: but we must now take
leave of this impartial historian; and reproach is silenced by
our regret for such an irreparable loss.]
[92: The difference of the eight miles of Ammianus, and
the twelve of Idatius, can only embarrass those critics (Valesius
ad loc.,) who suppose a great army to be a mathematical point,
without space or dimensions.]
[93: Nec ulla annalibus, praeter Cannensem pugnam, ita
ad internecionem res legitur gesta. Ammian. xxxi. 13. According
to the grave Polybius, no more than 370 horse, and 3,000 foot,
escaped from the field of Cannae: 10,000 were made prisoners; and
the number of the slain amounted to 5,630 horse, and 70,000 foot,
(Polyb. l. iii. p 371, edit. Casaubon, 8vo.) Livy (xxii. 49) is
somewhat less bloody: he slaughters only 2,700 horse, and 40,000
foot. The Roman army was supposed to consist of 87,200 effective
men, (xxii. 36.)]
[94: We have gained some faint light from Jerom, (tom.
i. p. 26 and in Chron. p. 188,) Victor, (in Epitome,) Orosius,
(l. vii. c. 33, p. 554,) Jornandes, (c. 27,) Zosimus, (l. iv. p.
230,) Socrates, (l. iv. c. 38,) Sozomen, (l. vi. c. 40,) Idatius,
(in Chron.) But their united evidence, if weighed against
Ammianus alone, is light and unsubstantial.]
[95: Libanius de ulciscend. Julian. nece, c. 3, in
Fabricius, Bibliot Graec. tom. vii. p. 146 - 148.]
[96: Valens had gained, or rather purchased, the
friendship of the Saracens, whose vexatious inroads were felt on
the borders of Phoenicia, Palestine, and Egypt. The Christian
faith had been lately introduced among a people, reserved, in a
future age, to propagate another religion, (Tillemont, Hist. des
Empereurs, tom. v. p. 104, 106, 141. Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p.
593.)]
[97: Crinitus quidam, nudus omnia praeter pubem,
subraunum et ugubre strepens. Ammian. xxxi. 16, and Vales. ad
loc. The Arabs often fought naked; a custom which may be
ascribed to their sultry climate, and ostentatious bravery. The
description of this unknown savage is the lively portrait of
Derar, a name so dreadful to the Christians of Syria. See
Ockley's Hist. of the Saracens, vol. i. p. 72, 84, 87.]
[98: The series of events may still be traced in the
last pages of Ammianus, (xxxi. 15, 16.) Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 227,
231,) whom we are now reduced to cherish, misplaces the sally of
the Arabs before the death of Valens. Eunapius (in Excerpt.
Legat. p. 20) praises the fertility of Thrace, Macedonia, &c.]
[99: Observe with how much indifference Caesar relates,
in the Commentaries of the Gallic war, that he put to death the
whole senate of the Veneti, who had yielded to his mercy, (iii.
16;) that he labored to extirpate the whole nation of the
Eburones, (vi. 31;) that forty thousand persons were massacred at
Bourges by the just revenge of his soldiers, who spared neither
age nor sex, (vii. 27,) &c.]
[100: Such are the accounts of the sack of Magdeburgh,
by the ecclesiastic and the fisherman, which Mr. Harte has
transcribed, (Hist. of Gustavus Adolphus, vol. i. p. 313 - 320,)
with some apprehension of violating the dignity of history.]
[101: Et vastatis urbibus, hominibusque interfectis,
solitudinem et raritatem bestiarum quoque fieri, et volatilium,
pisciumque: testis Illyricum est, testis Thracia, testis in quo
ortus sum solum, (Pannonia;) ubi praeter coelum et terram, et
crescentes vepres, et condensa sylvarum cuncta perierunt. Tom.
vii. p. 250, l, Cap. Sophonias and tom. i. p. 26.]
[102: Eunapius (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 20) foolishly
supposes a praeternatural growth of the young Goths, that he may
introduce Cadmus's armed men, who sprang from the dragon's teeth,
&c. Such was the Greek eloquence of the times.]
[103: Ammianus evidently approves this execution,
efficacia velox et salutaris, which concludes his work, (xxxi.
16.) Zosimus, who is curious and copious, (l. iv. p. 233 - 236,)
mistakes the date, and labors to find the reason, why Julius did
not consult the emperor Theodosius who had not yet ascended the
throne of the East.]
[104: A life of Theodosius the Great was composed in the
last century, (Paris, 1679, in 4to-1680, 12mo.,) to inflame the
mind of the young Dauphin with Catholic zeal. The author,
Flechier, afterwards bishop of Nismes, was a celebrated preacher;
and his history is adorned, or tainted, with pulpit eloquence;
but he takes his learning from Baronius, and his principles from
St. Ambrose and St Augustin.]
[105: The birth, character, and elevation of Theodosius
are marked in Pacatus, (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 10, 11, 12,)
Themistius, (Orat. xiv. p. 182,) Zosimus, l. iv. p. 231,)
Augustin. (de Civitat. Dei. v. 25,) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 34,)
Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 2,) Socrates, (l. v. c. 2,) Theodoret, (l.
v. c. 5,) Philostorgius, (l. ix. c. 17, with Godefroy, p. 393,)
the Epitome of Victor, and the Chronicles of Prosper, Idatius,
and Marcellinus, in the Thesaurus Temporum of Scaliger.
Note: Add a hostile fragment of Eunapius. Mai, p. 273, in
Niebuhr, p 178 - M.]
[106: Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 716, &c.]
[107: Italica, founded by Scipio Africanus for his
wounded veterans of Italy. The ruins still appear, about a
league above Seville, but on the opposite bank of the river. See
the Hispania Illustrata of Nonius, a short though valuable
treatise, c. xvii. p. 64 - 67.]
[108: I agree with Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom.
v. p. 726) in suspecting the royal pedigree, which remained a
secret till the promotion of Theodosius. Even after that event,
the silence of Pacatus outweighs the venal evidence of
Themistius, Victor, and Claudian, who connect the family of
Theodosius with the blood of Trajan and Hadrian.]
[109: Pacatas compares, and consequently prefers, the
youth of Theodosius to the military education of Alexander,
Hannibal, and the second Africanus; who, like him, had served
under their fathers, (xii. 8.)]
[110: Ammianus (xxix. 6) mentions this victory of
Theodosius Junior Dux Maesiae, prima etiam tum lanugine juvenis,
princeps postea perspectissimus. The same fact is attested by
Themistius and Zosimus but Theodoret, (l. v. c. 5,) who adds some
curious circumstances, strangely applies it to the time of the
interregnum.]
[111: Pacatus (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 9) prefers the
rustic life of Theodosius to that of Cincinnatus; the one was the
effect of choice, the other of poverty.]
[112: M. D'Anville (Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 25)
has fixed the situation of Caucha, or Coca, in the old province
of Gallicia, where Zosimus and Idatius have placed the birth, or
patrimony, of Theodosius.]
[113: Let us hear Ammianus himself. Haec, ut miles
quondam et Graecus, a principatu Cassaris Nervae exorsus, adusque
Valentis inter, pro virium explicavi mensura: opus veritatem
professum nun quam, ut arbitror, sciens, silentio ausus
corrumpere vel mendacio. Scribant reliqua potiores aetate,
doctrinisque florentes. Quos id, si libuerit, aggressuros,
procudere linguas ad majores moneo stilos. Ammian. xxxi. 16. The
first thirteen books, a superficial epitome of two hundred and
fifty- seven years, are now lost: the last eighteen, which
contain no more than twenty-five years, still preserve the
copious and authentic history of his own times.]
[114: Ammianus was the last subject of Rome who composed
a profane history in the Latin language. The East, in the next
century, produced some rhetorical historians, Zosimus,
Olympiedorus, Malchus, Candidus &c. See Vossius de Historicis
Graecis, l. ii. c. 18, de Historicis Latinis l. ii. c. 10, &c.]
[115: Chrysostom, tom. i. p. 344, edit. Montfaucon. I
have verified and examined this passage: but I should never,
without the aid of Tillemont, (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 152,)
have detected an historical anecdote, in a strange medley of
moral and mystic exhortations, addressed, by the preacher of
Antioch, to a young widow.]
[116: Eunapius, in Excerpt. Legation. p. 21.]
[117: See Godefroy's Chronology of the Laws. Codex
Theodos tom. l. Prolegomen. p. xcix. - civ.]