ths started on their pilgrimage in 488 (probably in the autumn of
that year) they did not descend into the plains of Italy even at its
extreme north-eastern corner, till July, 489.

There was one fact which probably facilitated the progress of Theodoric,
and prevented his expedition with such a multitude from being condemned
as absolute foolhardiness. His road lay, for the most part, through
regions with which he was already well acquainted, through a land which
might almost be called his native land, and both the resources and the
difficulties of which were well known to him. The first considerable
city that he came to, Singidunum (the modern Belgrade), was the scene of
his own first boyish battle. The Gepidae, who were his chief antagonists
on the road, had swarmed over into that very province of Pannonia where
his father's palace once stood; and though they showed themselves
bitter foes, they were doubtless surrounded by foes of their own who
would be friends to the Ostrogoths. Probably, too, Frederic, the Rugian
refugee, brought with him many followers who knew the road and could
count on the assistance of some barbarian allies, eager to overturn the
throne of Odovacar. Thus it will be seen that though the perils of the
Ostrogothic march were tremendous, the danger which in those mapless
days was so often fatal to an invading army--ignorance of the
country--was not among them.

We are vaguely told of countless battles fought by the Ostrogoths with
Sclavonic and other tribes that lay across their line of march, but the
only battle of which we have any details (and those only such as we can
extract from the cloudy rhetoric of a popular preacher[52]) is one which
was fought with the Gepidse, soon after the Goths had emerged from the
territory of the friendly Empire, near the great mere or river which
went by the name of Hiulca Palus, in what is now the crown-land of
Sclavonia. When the great and over-wearied multitude approached the
outskirts of the Gepid territory, their leader sent an embassy to
Traustila, king of the Gepidae, entreating that his host might have an
unmolested passage, and offering to pay for the provisions which they
would require. To this embassy Traustila returned a harsh and insulting
answer: "He would yield no passage through his dominions to the
Ostrogoths; if they would go by that road they must first fight with
the unconquered Gepidae" Traustila then took up a strong position near
the Hiulca