ecure refuge in the mountains of Caucasus, between the
Euxine and the Caspian, where they still preserve their name and their
independence. Another colony advanced, with more intrepid courage,
towards the shores of the Baltic; associated themselves with the
Northern tribes of Germany; and shared the spoil of the Roman provinces
of Gaul and Spain. But the greatest part of the nation of the Alani
embraced the offers of an honorable and advantageous union; and the
Huns, who esteemed the valor of their less fortunate enemies, proceeded,
with an increase of numbers and confidence, to invade the limits of the
Gothic empire.

The great Hermanric, whose dominions extended from the Baltic to the
Euxine, enjoyed, in the full maturity of age and reputation, the fruit
of his victories, when he was alarmed by the formidable approach of a
host of unknown enemies, on whom his barbarous subjects might, without
injustice, bestow the epithet of Barbarians. The numbers, the strength,
the rapid motions, and the implacable cruelty of the Huns, were felt,
and dreaded, and magnified, by the astonished Goths; who beheld
their fields and villages consumed with flames, and deluged with
indiscriminate slaughter. To these real terrors they added the surprise
and abhorrence which were excited by the shrill voice, the uncouth
gestures, and the strange deformity of the Huns. * These savages of
Scythia were compared (and the picture had some resemblance) to the
animals who walk very awkwardly on two legs and to the misshapen
figures, the Termini, which were often placed on the bridges of
antiquity. They were distinguished from the rest of the human species by
their broad shoulders, flat noses, and small black eyes, deeply buried
in the head; and as they were almost destitute of beards, they never
enjoyed either the manly grace of youth, or the venerable aspect of age.
A fabulous origin was assigned, worthy of their form and manners; that
the witches of Scythia, who, for their foul and deadly practices, had
been driven from society, had copulated in the desert with infernal
spirits; and that the Huns were the offspring of this execrable
conjunction. The tale, so full of horror and absurdity, was greedily
embraced by the credulous hatred of the Goths; but, while it gratified
their hatred, it increased their fear, since the posterity of daemons
and witches might be supposed to inherit some share of the praeternatural
powers, as well as of the malignant t