er)_ the Borys'thenes
_(Dnieper)_ and the Tan'ais _(Don)_ were called Ostrogoths; the
Visigoths extended westwards over ancient Dacia, and the regions
between the Ty'ras, the Danube, and the Vistula.

7. Attacked in these vast countries by the Huns, as has been mentioned
in a preceding chapter, some were subjugated, and others compelled to
abandon their habitations. They obtained settlements from the
emperors, but being unwisely provoked to revolt, they became the most
formidable enemies of the Romans. After having twice ravaged Italy and
plundered Rome, they ended their conquests by establishing themselves
in Gaul and Spain.

8. The Spanish monarchy of the Visigoths, which in its flourishing
state comprised, besides the entire peninsula, the province of
Septima'nia (_Langucaoc_) in Gaul, and Mauritania, Tingeta'na,
(_north-western Africa_) on the opposite coasts of the Mediterranean,
lasted from the middle of the fifth to the commencement of the eighth
century, when it was overthrown by the Moors. 9. The Thuringians, whom
we find established in the heart of Germany, in the middle of the
fifth century, appear to have been a branch of the Visigoths.

THE FRANKS.

10. A number of petty German tribes having entered into a confederacy
to maintain their mutual independence, took the name of Franks, or
Freemen. The tribes which thus associated, principally inhabited the
districts lying between the Rhine and the Weser, including the greater
part of Holland and Westphalia. 11. In the middle of the third
century, they invaded Gaul, but were defeated by Aurelian, who
afterwards became emperor. In the fourth, and towards the beginning of
the fifth century, they permanently established themselves as a
nation, and gave the name of _Francia_, or _France_, to the provinces
lying between the Rhine, the Weser, the Maine, and the Elbe; but about
the sixth century that name was transferred to ancient Gaul, when it
was conquered by the Franks.

THE ALLEMANNI.

12. The Alleman'ni were another confederation of German tribes, which
took its name from including a great variety of nations. It is
scarcely necessary to remark, that the name is compounded of the words
_all_ and _man_ which still continue unchanged in our language. Their
territories extended between the Danube, the Rhine, and the Maine, and
they rendered themselves formidable to the Romans by their frequent
inroads into Gaul and Italy during the third and fourth centuries.