96 THE DECLINE AND FALL nation ;^^ but the execution of this order was a task of labour and difficulty. The stream of the Danube, which in those parts is above a mile broad,'^^ had been swelled by incessant rains ; and, in this tumultuous passage, many were swept away and drowned by the rapid violence of the current. A large fleet of vessels, of boats, and of canoes was provided ; many days and nights they passed and repassed with indefatigable toil ; and the most strenuous diligence was exerted by the officers of Vaiens that not a single Barbarian, of those who were reserved to subvert the foundations of Rome, should be left on the opposite shore. It was thought expedient that an accurate account should be taken of their numbers ; but the persons who were employed soon desisted, with amazement and dismay, from the prosecution of the endless and impracticable task ; ^'^ and the principal historian of the age most seriously affirms that the prodigious armies of Darius and Xerxes, which had so long been considered as the fables of vain and credulous antiquity, were now justified, in the eyes of mankind, by the evidence of fact and experience. A probable testimony has fixed the number of the Gothic warriors at two hundred thou- sand men ; and, if we can venture to add the just proportion of women, of children, and of slaves, the whole mass of people which composed this formidable emigration must have amounted to near a million of persons, of both sexes and of all ages. The children of the Goths, those at least of a distinguished rank, were separated from the multitude. They were conducted, without delay, to the distant seats assigned for their residence and education ; and, as the numerous train of hostages or captives passed through the cities, their gay and splendid apparel, their robust and martial figure, excited the surprise and envy of the Provincials. But the stipulation, the most offensive to the Goths and the most important to the Romans, was shamefully 67 The passage of the Danube is exposed by Ammianiis (xxxi. ■^, 4), Zosimus (1. iv. p. 223, 224), Eunapius (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 19, 20), and Jornandes (c. 25, 26). Ammianus declares (c. 5) that he means only ipsas rerum digerere summitates. But he often takes a false measure of their importance ; and his superfluous prolixity is disagreeably balanced by his unseasonable brevity. ^ ChishuU, a curious traveller, has remarked the breadth of the Danube, which he passed to the south of Bucliarest, near the conHux of the Argish [.^rgeche] (p. 77). He admires the beauty and spontaneous plenty of Msu-sia, or Bulgaria. ^5' Quern si [leg. qui] scire velit, Libyci velit a;quoris idem. Scire leg. discere] quam multas Zephyro truduntur S^leg. turbentur] harenae. Ammianus has inserted, in his prose, these lines of Virgil (Georgic. 1. ii. [105-6]), originally designed by the poet to express the impossibility of numbering the dinerent sorts of vines. See PUn. Hist. Natur. 1. xiv.
