n of Judges; and, among those judges, Athanaric, Fritigern,
and Alavivus, were the most illustrious, by their personal merit,
as well as by their vicinity to the Roman provinces. These domestic
conquests, which increased the military power of Hermanric, enlarged his
ambitious designs. He invaded the adjacent countries of the North; and
twelve considerable nations, whose names and limits cannot be accurately
defined, successively yielded to the superiority of the Gothic arms
[141] The Heruli, who inhabited the marshy lands near the lake Maeotis,
were renowned for their strength and agility; and the assistance of
their light infantry was eagerly solicited, and highly esteemed, in
all the wars of the Barbarians. But the active spirit of the Heruli was
subdued by the slow and steady perseverance of the Goths; and, after a
bloody action, in which the king was slain, the remains of that warlike
tribe became a useful accession to the camp of Hermanric.

He then marched against the Venedi; unskilled in the use of arms, and
formidable only by their numbers, which filled the wide extent of the
plains of modern Poland. The victorious Goths, who were not inferior
in numbers, prevailed in the contest, by the decisive advantages
of exercise and discipline. After the submission of the Venedi, the
conqueror advanced, without resistance, as far as the confines of the
Aestii; [142] an ancient people, whose name is still preserved in the
province of Esthonia. Those distant inhabitants of the Baltic coast were
supported by the labors of agriculture, enriched by the trade of amber,
and consecrated by the peculiar worship of the Mother of the Gods. But
the scarcity of iron obliged the Aestian warriors to content themselves
with wooden clubs; and the reduction of that wealthy country is ascribed
to the prudence, rather than to the arms, of Hermanric. His dominions,
which extended from the Danube to the Baltic, included the native seats,
and the recent acquisitions, of the Goths; and he reigned over the
greatest part of Germany and Scythia with the authority of a conqueror,
and sometimes with the cruelty of a tyrant. But he reigned over a part
of the globe incapable of perpetuating and adorning the glory of its
heroes. The name of Hermanric is almost buried in oblivion; his exploits
are imperfectly known; and the Romans themselves appeared unconscious
of the progress of an aspiring power which threatened the liberty of the
North, and the peace