Speech #670403468

These assurances were confirmed by the ambass adors of the Goths. who impatiently expected from the mouth of Valens an answer that must finally determine the fate of their unhappy countrymen. The emperor of the East was no longer guided by the wisdom and authority of his elder brother. whose death happened toward the end of the precedlng year. and as the distressful situation of the Goths required an instant and peremptory decision. he was deprived of the favorite resource of feeble and timid minds. who consider the use of dilatory and ambiguous measures as the most admirable efforts of consummate prudence. * * * Snecedw When that important proposition. so essentially connected with the public safety. was referred to the ministers of Valens. they were perplexed and divided . but they soon acquiesced in tile flattering sentiment which seemed the most favorable to the pride. the indolence. and the avarice of their sovereign. The slaves. who were decorated with the titles of prefects and generals. dissembled or disregarded the terrors of this national emigration. so extremely different from the partial and accidental colonies which had been received on the extreme limits of the empire. But they applauded the liberality of fortune. which had conducted. from the most distant countries of tie globe. a numerous and invincible army of strangers to defend the throne of Valens. who might now add to the royal treasures the immense sums of gold supplied by the provincials to compensate their annual proportion of recruits. The prayers of the .Goths were granted and their service was accepted by the imperial court. and orders were Immediately dispatched to the civil and military governors of the Thracian diocese to nrake the necessary preparations for the passage and subsistence of a great people. till a proper and sufficient territory could be allotted for their future residence. * * * * * * * 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 Xexxes. 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 200.000 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 all ages. (Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. II. pp. 499501.) These immigrants soon became restless and lawless and arose in rebellion. They defeated the imperial army. slew the emperor. who had admitted them. and. being joined by masses of their kinspeople from the homeland. for a long time overran the country. They were never expelled. But they and other Invadi.ng immigrants like them finally completely subverted the national life and almost destroyed the civilization of Rome and ushered in the long. dismal period of human history known as the Dark Ages. The record of that transaction and of the period to which it belongs Is found in Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. in Myers Ancient History. Wests Ancient World. and other authentic histories covering the period from A.