Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/156

CHAP. V.
_____receiving this sudden tide of fortune; he flattered himself that his accession would be undisturbed by competition, and unstained by civil blood ; and whilst he enjoyed the vain pomp of triumph, he neglected to secure the means of victory. Instead of entering into an effectual negociation with the powerful armies of the west, whose resolution might decide, or at least must balance, the mighty contest; instead of advancing without delay towards Rome and Italy, where his presence was impatiently expected^[1], Niger trifled away in the luxury of Antioch those irretrievable moments which were dihgently improved by the decisive activity of Severus^[2].

Pannonia and Dalmatia.The country of Pannonia and Dalmatia, which occupied the space between the Danube and the Adriatic, was one of the last and most diflicult conquests of the Romans. In the defence of national freedom, two hundred thousand of these barbarians had once appeared in the field, alarmed the declining age of Augustus, and exercised the vigilant prudence of Tiberius at the head of the collected force of the empire^[3]. The Pannonians yielded at length to the arms and institutions of Rome. Their recent subjection, however, the neighbourhood, and even the mixture, of the unconquered tribes, and perhaps the climate, adapted, as it has been observed, to the production of great bodies and slow minds^[4], all contributed to preserve some remains of their original ferocity ; and under the tame and uniform countenance of Roman provincials, the hardy features of the natives were still to be discerned. Their warlike youth aflbrded an inexhaustible supply of recruits to the legions stationed on the banks of the

1. Dion, 1. Ixxiii. p. 1238 ; Herod. 1. ii. p. 67. A verse in every one's mouth at that time, seems to express the general opinion of the three rivals: Optimus est Niger, bonus Afer, pessimus Albus. Hist. August, p. 75.
2. Herodian, 1. ii. p. 71.
3. See an account of that memorable war in Velleius Paterculus, ii. 110, etc. who served in the army of Tiberius.
4. Such is the reflection of Herodian, 1. ii. p. 74. Will the modern Austrians allow the influence ?