rds became familiar with the Barbarians, found
that their strength was more apparent than real. They were tall of
stature; but their legs were clumsy, and their shoulders were narrow.]

[Footnote 147: Valens enim, ut consulto placuerat fratri, cujus
regebatur arbitrio, arma concussit in Gothos ratione justa permotus.
Ammianus (xxvii. 4) then proceeds to describe, not the country of the
Goths, but the peaceful and obedient province of Thrace, which was not
affected by the war.]

The splendor and magnitude of this Gothic war are celebrated by a
contemporary historian: [148] but the events scarcely deserve the
attention of posterity, except as the preliminary steps of the
approaching decline and fall of the empire. Instead of leading the
nations of Germany and Scythia to the banks of the Danube, or even to
the gates of Constantinople, the aged monarch of the Goths resigned to
the brave Athanaric the danger and glory of a defensive war, against an
enemy, who wielded with a feeble hand the powers of a mighty state. A
bridge of boats was established upon the Danube; the presence of Valens
animated his troops; and his ignorance of the art of war was compensated
by personal bravery, and a wise deference to the advice of Victor
and Arintheus, his masters-general of the cavalry and infantry. The
operations of the campaign were conducted by their skill and experience;
but they found it impossible to drive the Visigoths from their strong
posts in the mountains; and the devastation of the plains obliged the
Romans themselves to repass the Danube on the approach of winter. The
incessant rains, which swelled the waters of the river, produced a tacit
suspension of arms, and confined the emperor Valens, during the whole
course of the ensuing summer, to his camp of Marcianopolis. The third
year of the war was more favorable to the Romans, and more pernicious
to the Goths. The interruption of trade deprived the Barbarians of the
objects of luxury, which they already confounded with the necessaries of
life; and the desolation of a very extensive tract of country threatened
them with the horrors of famine. Athanaric was provoked, or compelled,
to risk a battle, which he lost, in the plains; and the pursuit was
rendered more bloody by the cruel precaution of the victorious generals,
who had promised a large reward for the head of every Goth that was
brought into the Imperial camp. The submission of the Barbarians
appeased the resentment of