tude, retired towards the South; implored the protection
of the emperors of China; and were permitted to inhabit, and to guard,
the extreme frontiers of the province of Chansi and the territory of
Ortous. But the most warlike and powerful tribes of the Huns maintained,
in their adverse fortune, the undaunted spirit of their ancestors. The
Western world was open to their valor; and they resolved, under the
conduct of their hereditary chieftains, to conquer and subdue some
remote country, which was still inaccessible to the arms of the Sienpi,
and to the laws of China. [45] The course of their emigration soon
carried them beyond the mountains of Imaus, and the limits of the
Chinese geography; but we are able to distinguish the two great
divisions of these formidable exiles, which directed their march towards
the Oxus, and towards the Volga. The first of these colonies established
their dominion in the fruitful and extensive plains of Sogdiana, on the
eastern side of the Caspian; where they preserved the name of Huns,
with the epithet of Euthalites, or Nepthalites. [45a] Their manners
were softened, and even their features were insensibly improved, by
the mildness of the climate, and their long residence in a flourishing
province, [46] which might still retain a faint impression of the arts
of Greece. [47] The white Huns, a name which they derived from the
change of their complexions, soon abandoned the pastoral life of
Scythia. Gorgo, which, under the appellation of Carizme, has since
enjoyed a temporary splendor, was the residence of the king, who
exercised a legal authority over an obedient people. Their luxury was
maintained by the labor of the Sogdians; and the only vestige of their
ancient barbarism, was the custom which obliged all the companions,
perhaps to the number of twenty, who had shared the liberality of a
wealthy lord, to be buried alive in the same grave. [48] The vicinity
of the Huns to the provinces of Persia, involved them in frequent and
bloody contests with the power of that monarchy. But they respected,
in peace, the faith of treaties; in war, she dictates of humanity;
and their memorable victory over Peroses, or Firuz, displayed the
moderation, as well as the valor, of the Barbarians. The second division
of their countrymen, the Huns, who gradually advanced towards the
North-west, were exercised by the hardships of a colder climate, and a
more laborious march. Necessity compelled them to exchange the