He contributed at least to improve this advantage, by his negotiations
with the free and warlike people of Chersonesus, whose capital, situate
on the western coast of the Tauric or Crimaean peninsula, still retained
some vestiges of a Grecian colony, and was governed by a perpetual
magistrate, assisted by a council of senators, emphatically styled the
Fathers of the City. The Chersonites were animated against the Goths,
by the memory of the wars, which, in the preceding century, they had
maintained with unequal forces against the invaders of their country.
They were connected with the Romans by the mutual benefits of commerce;
as they were supplied from the provinces of Asia with corn and
manufactures, which they purchased with their only productions, salt,
wax, and hides. Obedient to the requisition of Constantine, they
prepared, under the conduct of their magistrate Diogenes, a considerable
army, of which the principal strength consisted in cross-bows and
military chariots. The speedy march and intrepid attack of the
Chersonites, by diverting the attention of the Goths, assisted the
operations of the Imperial generals. The Goths, vanquished on every
side, were driven into the mountains, where, in the course of a severe
campaign, above a hundred thousand were computed to have perished
by cold and hunger Peace was at length granted to their humble
supplications; the eldest son of Araric was accepted as the most
valuable hostage; and Constantine endeavored to convince their chiefs,
by a liberal distribution of honors and rewards, how far the friendship
of the Romans was preferable to their enmity. In the expressions of his
gratitude towards the faithful Chersonites, the emperor was still more
magnificent. The pride of the nation was gratified by the splendid
and almost royal decorations bestowed on their magistrate and his
successors. A perpetual exemption from all duties was stipulated for
their vessels which traded to the ports of the Black Sea. A regular
subsidy was promised, of iron, corn, oil, and of every supply which
could be useful either in peace or war. But it was thought that
the Sarmatians were sufficiently rewarded by their deliverance from
impending ruin; and the emperor, perhaps with too strict an economy,
deducted some part of the expenses of the war from the customary
gratifications which were allowed to that turbulent nation.

Exasperated by this apparent neglect, the Sarmatians soon forgot,
with the