ters at Ticinum, or Pavia, but who seems to have avoided a decisive battle till he had assembled his distant forces. Many cities of Italy were pillaged, or destroyed; and the siege of Florence by Radagaisus is one of the earliest events in the history of that celebrated republic, whose firmness checked and delayed the unskilful fury of the barbarians. The senate and people trembled at their approach within 180 miles of Rome; and anxiously compared the danger which they had escaped with the new perils to which they were exposed. Alaric was a Christian, and a soldier, the leader of a disciplined army; who understood the laws of war, who respected the sanctity of treaties, and who had familiarly conversed with the subjects of the empire in the same camps and the same churches. The savage Radagaisus was a stranger to the manners, the religion, and even the language of the civilised nations of the south. The fierceness of his temper was exasperated by cruel superstition; and it was universally believed that he had bound himself by a solemn vow to reduce the city into a heap of stones and ashes, and to sacrifice the most illustrious of the Roman senators on the altars of those gods who were appeased by human blood. Florence was reduced to the last extremity. On a sudden they beheld from their walls the banners of Stilicho, who advanced with his united forces to the relief of the faithful city; and who soon marked that fatal spot for the grave of the barbarian host. The apparent contradictions of those writers who variously relate the defeat of Radagaisus may be reconciled without offering much violence to their respective testimonies. Their extravagant assertion that not a single soldier of the Christian army was killed, or even wounded, may be dismissed; but the rest of the narrative of Augustin and Orosius is consistent with the state of the war and the character of Stilicho. Conscious that he commanded the last army of the republic, his prudence would not expose it in the open field to the headstrong fury of the Germans. The method of surrounding the enemy with strong lines of circumvallation, which he had twice employed against the Gothic king, was repeated on a larger scale, and with more considerable effect. The example of Cæsar must have been familiar to the most illiterate of the Roman warriors; and the fortifications of Dyrrhachium, which connected twentyfour castles by a perpetual ditch and rampart of fifteen miles, afforded the model of an intrenchment, which might confine and starve the most numerous host of barbarians. The imprisoned multitude of horses and men were gradually destroyed by famine, rather than by the sword; but the Romans were exposed, during the progress of such an extensive work, to the frequent attacks of an impatient enemy. The despair of the hungry barbarians would precipitate them against the fortifications of Stilicho; the general might sometimes indulge the ardour of his brave auxiliaries, who eagerly pressed to assault the camp of the Germans; and these various incidents might produce the sharp and bloody conflicts which dignify the narrative of Zosimus, and the Chronicles of Prosper and Marcellinus.

A seasonable supply of men and provisions had been introduced into the walls of Florence; and the famished host of Radagaisus was in its turn besieged. The proud monarch of so many warlike nations, after the loss of his bravest warriors, was reduced to confide either in the faith of a capitulation, or in the clemency of Stilicho. But the death of the royal captive, who was ignominiously beheaded, disgraced the triumph of Rome and of Christianity; and the short delay of his execution was sufficient to brand the conqueror with the guilt of cool and deliberate cruelty. The famished Germans who escaped the fury of the auxiliaries were sold as slaves, at the contemptible price of as many single pieces of gold: but the difference of food and climate swept away great numbers of those unhappy strangers; and it was observed that the inhuman purchasers, instead of reaping the fruit of their labors, were soon obliged to add to it the expense of interring them. Stilicho informed the emperor and the senate of his success; and deserved a second time the glorious title of Deliverer of Italy.'

The fame of Stilicho's victory,' continues this historian, has encouraged a vain persuasion that the whole army, or rather nation, of Germans, who migrated from the shores of the Baltic, miserably perished under the walls of Florence. Such indeed was the fate of Radagaisus himself, of his brave and faithful companions, and of more than one-third of the various multitude of Sueves and Vandals, of Alani and Burgundians, who adhered to the standard of their general. The union of such an army might excite our surprise, but the causes of separation are obvious and forcible; they were the pride of birth, the insolence of valor, the jealousy of command, the impatience of subordination, and the obstinate conflict of opinions, of interests, and of passions, among so many kings and warriors, who were untaught to yield or to obey. After the defeat of Radagaisus, two parts of the German host, which must have exceeded the number of 100,000 men, still remained in arms between the Appenines and the Alps, or between the Alps and the Danube. It is uncertain whether they attempted to revenge the death of their general: but their irregular fury was soon diverted by the prudence and firmness of Stilicho, who opposed their march, and facilitated their retreat; who considered the safety of Rome and Italy as the great object of his care, and who sacrificed with too much indifference the wealth and tranquillity of the distant provinces. The barbarians acquired from the junction of some Pannonian deserters the knowledge of the country and of the roads, and the invasion of Gaul, which Alaric had defined, was executed by the remains of the great army of Radagaisus. When the limits of Gaul and Germany were shaken by the northern emigration, the Franks bravely encountered the single force of the Vandals; who had again separated their troops from the standard of their barbarian allies. They paid the penalty of their rashness: and 20,000 Vandals, with their king Godegiselus, were slain in the field of battle. The whole people must have been extirpated, if the squadrons of the

Alani, advancing to their relief, had not trampled down the infantry of the Franks; who, after an honorable resistance, were compelled to relinquish the unequal contest. The victorious confederates pursued their march; and on the last day of the year, in a season when the waters of the Rhine were most probably frozen, they entered without opposition the defenceless provinces of Gaul. This memorable passage of the Suevi, the Vandals, the Alani, and the Burgundians, who never afterwards retreated, may be considered as the fall of the Roman empire in the countries beyond the Alps; and the barriers which had so long separated the savage and the civilised nations of the earth were from that fatal moment levelled with the ground. While the peace of Germany was secured by the attachment of the Franks and the neutrality of the Alemanni, the subjects of Rome, unconscious of their approaching calamities, enjoyed a state of quiet and prosperity which had seldom blessed the frontiers of Gaul. This scene of peace and plenty was suddenly changed into a desert, and the prospect of the smoking ruins could alone distinguish the solitude of nature from the desolation of man. The flourishing city of Mentz was surprised and destroyed; and many thousand Christians were inhumanly massacred in the church. Worms perished after a long and opstinate siege: Strasburg, Spires, Rheims, Tour nay, Arras, Amiens, experienced the most cruel oppression of the German yoke; and the consuming flames of war spread from the banks of the Rhine over the greatest part of the seventeen provinces of Gaul. That rich and extensive country, as far as the Ocean, the Alps, and the Pyrenees, was delivered to the barbarians, who drove before them in a promiscuous crowd the bishop, the senator, and the virgin, laden with the spoils of their houses and altars.'

In the midst of these calamities, a revolt happened in Britain, where one Constantine, a common soldier, was raised to the imperial throne, merely for the sake of his name. He governed Britain with great prosperity; passed over into Gaul and Spain, the inhabitants of which submitted without opposition, being glad of any protector whatever from the barbarians. Honorius, incapable of defending the empire, or repressing the revolt, was obliged to acknowledge him for his partner in the empire.

In the mean time Alaric, with his Goths, threatened a new invasion, unless he was paid a certain sum of money; and Stilicho, having advised a compliance with this demand was accused, after all his services, of corrupt motives, and put to death. The money, however, not being readily sent, Alaric laid siege to Rome, and would have taken it, had not the emperor finally complied with his demand. The ransom of the city was 5000 lbs. of gold, 30,000 of silver, 4000 silk garments, 3000 skins dyed purple, and 3000 lbs. of pepper. On this occasion, the heathen temples were stripped of their remaining ornaments, and among others of the statue of Valor; which the Pagans did not fail to interpret as a presage of the speedy ruin of the state. Alaric, having received this treasure, departed for a short time; but soon after he again blocked up the city with a nume

rous army; and again an accommodation with Honorius was set on foot. However, Rome was a third time besieged, and at last taken and plandered. Procopius says that there was not in the whole city one house left entire; and both St. Jerome und Philostorgius assert that the great metropolis of the empire was reduced to a heap of ashes and ruins. Though many of the Goths, pursuant to the orders of their general, refrained from shedding the blood of such as made no resistance; yet others more cruel and blood-thirsty, massacred all they met: so that in some quarters the streets were seen covered with dead bodies, and swimming in blood. However, not the least injury was offered to those who fled to the churches; nay the Goths themselves conveyed thither, as to places of safety, such as they were desirous should be spared. Many of the statues of the gods, that had been left entire by the emperors as excellent pieces of art, were on this occasion destroyed, either by the Goths, who, though mostly Arians, were zealous Christians, or by a dreadful storm of thunder and lightning which fell at the same time upon the city, as if it had been sent on purpose to complete with them the destruction of idolatry. Some writers, however, affirm that the city suffered very little at this time, not so much as when it was taken by Charles V. Alaric did not long survive the taking of Rome, being cut off by a violent fit of sickness in the neighbourhood of Rhegium.

After his death the affairs of Honorius seemed a little to revive by the defeat and death of Constantine and some other usurpers; but the provinces of Gaul, Britain, and Spain, were now almost entirely occupied by barbarians, in which state they continued till the death of Honorius, which happened in the year 423, after an unfortunate reign of twenty-eight years.

VALENTINIAN III.-After some usurpations which took place on his death, his nephew Valentinian III. was declared emperor of the west, and his mother, Placidia, regent during his minority. He was scarcely seated on the throne, when the empire was attacked by the Huns under the celebrated ATTILA (see that article). The empress then had two celebrated generals, Bonifacius and Aetius; who by their union might have saved the empire; but, unhappily, through the treachery of Aetius, Bonifacius revolted, and a civil war ensued. Aetius, notwithstanding his treachery, was pardoned, and put at the head of the forces. He defended it against Attila with great spirit and success, notwithstanding the deplorable situation of affairs, till he was murdered by Valentinian with his own hand. In the mean time, the provinces, except Italy itself, were totally over-run by the barbarians. Genseric, king of the Vandals, ravaged Africa and Sicily; the Goths, Suevians, Burgundians, &c., had taken possession of Gaul and Spain; and the Britons were oppressed by the Scots and Picts, so that they were obliged to call in the Saxons to their assistance. In the year 455 Valentinian was murdered by one Maximus, whose wife he had ravished.

MAXIMUS immediately assumed the empire; but felt such violent anxieties that he designed to resign it, and fly out of Italy, to enjoy the

quiet of a private life. However, being dissuaded from this by his friends, and his own wife dying soon after, he forced the empress Eudoxia to marry him. Eudoxia, who had tenderly loved Valentinian, provoked beyond measure at being married to his murderer, invited Genseric king of the Vandals into Italy. This proved a most fatal scheme; for Genseric immediately appeared before Rome; a violent tumult ensued, in which Maximus lost his life; and the city was taken and plundered by Genseric, who carried off what had been left by the Goths. A vessel was loaded with costly statues; half the covering of the capitol, which was of brass plated over with gold; sacred vessels enriched with precious stones; and those which had been taken by Titus out of the temple of Jerusalem; all of which were lost with the vessel in its passage to Africa.

MARJORIANUS. Nothing could now be more deplorable than the state of the Roman affairs; nevertheless, the Western empire continued to exist for some few years; and even seemed to revive for a little under Marjorianus, who was declared emperor in 458. He was a man of great courage, and possessed of many other excellent qualities. He defeated the Vandals, and drove them out of Italy. With great labor he fitted out a fleet, of which the Romans had been long destitute. With this he designed to pass over into Africa; but, it being surprised and burnt by the enemy, he himself was soon after murdered by one Ricimer, a Goth, who had long governed every thing with an absolute sway. After the death of Marjorianus, Athemius was raised to the empire: but, beginning to counteract Ricimer, the latter openly revolted, and besieged and took Rome; where he committed innumerable cruelties, among the rest putting to death the emperor Anthemius, and raising one Olybius to the empire.

The transactions of Olybius's reign were very few, as he died soon after his accession. On his death Glycerius usurped the empire. He was deposed in 474, and Julius Nepos had the name of emperor. He was driven out the next year by his general Orestes, who caused his son Romulus Augustulus to be proclaimed emperor. But the following year, 476, the barbarians who served in the Roman armies, and were distinguished with the title of allies, demanded, as a reward for their services, the third part of the lands in Italy; pretending that the whole country, which they had so often defended, belonged of right to them. As Orestes refused to comply with this insolent demand, they resolved to do themselves justice, as they called it; and, openly revolting, chose one Odoacer for their leader. Odoacer was, according to Ennodius, meanly born, and only a private man in the guards of the emperor Augustulus, when the barbarians, revolting, chose him for their leader. However he is said to have been a man of uncommon ability. He marched against Orestes and his sou Augustulus, who still refused to give them any share of the lands in Italy. As the Roman troops were inferior, both in number and valor, to the barbarians, Orestes took refuge in Pavia, at that time one of the best fortified cities in

Italy; but Odoacer, investing the place without loss of time, took it soon after by assault, gave it up to be plundered by the soldiers, and then set fire to it. Orestes being taken prisoner, and brought to Odoacer, he carried him to Placentia, and there caused him to be put to death on the 28th of August, the day on which he had driven Nepos out of Ravenna, and obliged him to abandon the empire. From Placentia Odoacer marched straight to Ravenna, where he found Paul, the brother of Orestes, and the young emperor Augustulus. The former he immediately hut to death; but sparing Augustulus, in consideration of his youth, he stripped him of the ensigns of the imperial dignity, and confined him to Lucullanum, a castle in Campania; where he was treated with great humanity, and allowed a handsome maintenance. Rome readily submitted to the conqueror, who immediately caused himself to be proclaimed king of Italy, but would not assume the purple. Thus failed the very name of an empire in the west. Britain had been long abandoned by the Romans; Spain was held by the Goths and Suevans; Africa by the Vandals; the Burgundians, Goths, Franks, and Alans, had erected several tetrarchies in Gaul; at length Italy itself, with its proud metropolis, which for so many ages had given law to the rest of the world, was enslaved by a contemptible barbarian, whose family, country, and nation, are not well known to this day.

PART V.

EASTERN, OR CONSTANTINOPOLITAN

EMPIRE.

From the death of Theodosius to the time when the Roman empire in the west was totally destroyed by the Goths, we find little remarkable in the history of Constantinople; or during the reigns of Theodosius II., Marcian and Leo I. and II., except that Leo II., who had been associated by his materual grandfather, (Leo I.) resigned in favor of his father Zeno, whom he crowned with his own hands. When the western empire ended in Augustulus, the Eastern was usurped by Basiliscus, who had driven out Zeno the lawful emperor. Zeno fled into Isauria, where he was pursued by Illus and Trecondes, two of the usurper's generals; who, having easily defeated the few troops he had with him, forced the unhappy prince to shut himself up in a castle, which they immediately invested. But in a short time Basiliscus having become obnoxious to the people by his cruelty, avarice, and other bad qualities, his generals joined with Zeno, whom they restored to the throne. After his restoration, Zeno having got Baisliscus into his power, confined him in a castle of Cappadocia, together with his wife Zenonide, where they both perished with hunger and cold, A. D. 478, after Basiliscus had reigned about twenty months. During the time of this usurpation a fire happened at Constantinople, which consumed great part of the city, with the library containing 120,000 volumes; among which were the works of Homer, written, it is said, on the great gut of a dragon

120 feet long. Zeno was not improved by his misfortunes. He still continued the same vicious courses which had given occasion to the usurpation of Basiliscus ; yet, though other conspiracies were formed against him, he had the good fortune to escape them. He engaged in a war with the Ostrogoths, in which he proved unsuccessful, and was obliged to yield the provinces of Lower Dacia and Mosia to them. In 484 Theodoric, their king, made an irruption into Thrace, and advanced within fifteen miles of Constantinople; but the following year they retired in order to attack Odoacer king of Italy, of which country Theodoric was proclaimed king in 493. The emperor Zeno died in 491, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, and seventeenth of his reign. The Roman empire had long been on the decline, before it fell a prey to the Goths. The ancient valor and military discipline, which had rendered the Romans superior to other nations, had now greatly degenerated. But what proved of the greatest detriment was the allowing vast swarms of barbarians to settle in the different provinces, and to serve in the empire in separate and independent bodies. This had proved the immediate cause of the dissolution of the western empire; but, as it affected the eastern parts less, the Constantinopolitan empire continued for near 1000 years after the western was totally dissolved. The weak administrations of Zeno, and Anastasius I., who succeeded him, rapidly reduced the eastern empire; and it might possibly have fallen soon after the western one, had not the wise and vigorous conduct of Justin, and his partner Justinian, revived in some measure the ancient martial spirit. Justin ascended the throne in 518. In 521 he engaged in a war with the Persians, who had long been very formidable enemies. Against them he employed the famous Belisarius; but nothing remarkable happened till after the accession of Justinian.

JUSTINIAN I.-This prince was the nephew of Justin, and was by him taken as his partner in the empire in 527; the same year Justin died, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, and ninth of his reign. Justinian, being now sole master of the empire, bent his whole force against the Persians. The latter proved successful in the first engagement; but were soon after utterly defeated by Belisarius on the frontiers of Persia, and by Dorotheus in Armenia. The war continued with various success during the first five years of Justinian's reign. In the sixth a peace was concluded, stipulating, 1. That the emperor should pay the king of Persia 1000 lbs. weight of gold. 2. That both princes should restore the places they had taken during the wars. 3. That the commander of the Roman forces should no longer reside at Daras, on the Persian frontiers, but at Constantina in Mesopotamia. 4. That the Iberians, who had sided with the emperor, should be at liberty to return to their own country or stay at Constantinople. This peace, concluded in 532, was styled eternal; but proved of very short duration.

About this time happened at Constantinople one of the greatest civic tumults recorded in history. It began among the different factions in the circus, but ended in an open rebellion. The

people, highly dissatisfied with the conduct of John the præfectus prætorii, and of Trebonianus then questor, forced Hypatius, nephew to the emperor Anastasius, to accept the empire, and proclaimed him with great solemnity. As these two ministers were greatly abhorred on account of their avarice, Justinian immediately discharged them, hoping thus to appease the tumult; but this was so far from answering the purpose that the people only grew more outrageous; and, most of the senators joining them, the emperor was so much alarmed that he had thoughts of abandoning the city. But the empress Theodora persuaded him rather to part with his life than his empire, and he resolved to defend himself to the utmost. In the mean time the rebels, having attempted in vain to force the gates of the palace, carried Hypatius in triumph to the circus, where, while he was beholding the sports from the imperial throne, amidst the shouts and acclamations of the people, Belisarius, who had been recalled from Persia, entered the city with a considerable body of troops. Being now apprised of the usurpation of Hypatius, he marched strait to the circus; fell sword in hand upon the disarmed multitude; and, with the assistance of a band of Heruli, headed by Mundus, governor of Illyricum, cut about 30,000 of them in pieces. Hypatius the usurper, and Pompeius, another nephew of Anastasius, were taken prisoners, and carried to the emperor, by whose orders they were both beheaded, and their bodies cast into the sea. Their estates were confiscated with those of such senators as had joined with them; but the emperor caused great part of their lands and effects to be afterwards restored, together with their honors and dignities, to their children. Justinian, having now no other enemy to contend with, turned his arms against the Vandals in Africa, and the Goths in Italy; both which provinces he recovered out of the hands of the barbarians. But before Belisarius had time to reestablish fully the Roman power in Italy, he was recalled to carry on the war against Cosrhoes king of Persia, who, regardless of the late treaty, entered the Roman dominions at the head of a powerful army. The same year a new peace was concluded upon the following conditions:1. That the Romans should, within two months, pay to the Persian king 5000 lbs. weight of gold, and an annual pension of 500 lbs. 2. That the latter should relinquish all claim to the fortress of Daras, and maintain a body of troops to guard the Caspian gates, and prevent the barbarians from breaking into the empire. 3. That upon payment of that sum Cosrhoes should immediately withdraw his troops from the Roman dominions. The treaty being signed, and the stipulated sum paid, Cosrhoes began to march back again; but by the way plundered several cities. Justinian hereupon resolved to renew the war with vigor; but had scarcely for that purpose despatched Belisarius into the east before he was obliged to recal him, in order to oppose the Goths, who had gained great advantages in Italy. The Persian war was carried on with indifferent success till A. D. 558, when a peace was concluded, upon the emperor again paying an immense sum to the enemy. The same year

the Huns, passing the Danube in the depth of winter, marched in two bodies for Constantinople; and, laying waste the countries through which they passed, came, without opposition, within 150 furlongs of the city. But Belisarius, marching out against them with a handful of men, put them to flight; the emperor, however, agreed to pay them an annual tribute, upon their promising to defend the empire against all other barbarians. This was the last exploit performed by Belisarius, who, on his return to Constantinople, was disgraced, stripped of his employments, and confined to his house, on pretence of a conspiracy. See BELISARIUS. In 565 a real conspiracy was formed against Justinian, which he happily escaped, and the conspirators were executed; but the emperor did not long survive, being carried off by a natural death in 556, in the thirty-ninth year of his reign.

JUSTINIAN'S SUCCESSORS, TO THE FIRST TURKISH INVASION.-During the reign of Justinian the majesty of the Roman empire seemed to revive. He recovered the provinces of Italy and Africa out of the hands of the barbarians, by whom they had been held for a number of years; but after his death they were soon lost, and the empire tended fast to dissolution. In 569 Italy was conquered by the Lombards, who held it for the space of 200 years. Some amends, however, were made for this loss by the acquisition of Persian Armenia, the inhabitants of which being persecuted on account of the Christian religion, which they professed, revolted to the Romans. This produced a war between the two nations, who continued to weaken each other, till at las! the Persian monarchy was overthrown, and that of the Romans greatly reduced by the Saracens. These new enemies attacked the Romans in 632, and pursued their conquests with incredible rapidity. Within four years they reduced Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. In 648 they became masters of Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, África, Cyprus, Aradus, and Rhodes; and having defeated the Roman fleet, commanded by the emperor Constans II. in person, they concluded a peace on condition of keeping the vast extent of territory they had seized, and paying for 1000 nummi a-year. An expedition against the Lombards was about this time undertaken, but with very little success, a body of 20,000 Romans being almost entirely cut off by one of the Lombard generals. In 671 the Saracens ravaged several provinces, made a descent in Sicily, took and plundered the city of Syracuse, and overran the whole island, destroying every thing with fire and sword. In like manner they laid waste Cilicia; and, having passed the winter at Smyrna, entered Thrace in the winter of 672, and laid siege to Constantinople itself. Here, however, they were repulsed with great loss: but next spring they renewed their attempt, in which they met with the same bad success: many of their ships being burnt by the sea fire, as it was called, because it burnt under water; and in their return home their fleet was wrecked off the Scyllæan promontory. At last a peace was concluded for thirty years, on condition that the Saracens should retain all the provinces they had seized; and that they should pay to the emperor and his

successors 3000 pounds weight of gold, fifty slaves, and as many choice horses. This peace was scarcely concluded when the empire was in vaded by the Bulgarians; who, breaking into Thrace, defeated the Roman army, and ravaged the country far and wide. Constantine IV., in 678, agreed to pay them an annual pension, rather than continue a doubtful war; and allowed them to settle in Lower Masia, from them called Bulgaria.

In 687 they were attacked by Justinian II., who entered their country without provocation; but they, falling suddenly upon him, drove him out, and obliged him to restore the towns and captives he had taken. In 697 Justinian was deposed; and in his exile fled to Trebelis, king of the Bulgarians, by whose aid he was restored to his throne; but, soon forgetting this favor, he invaded the country of the Bulgarians, with a design to wrest from them those provinces which he had yielded to them. In this expedition he was attended by no better success than his ingratitude deserved, his army being defeated, and himself obliged to make his escape in a vessel to Constantinople. The Bulgarians, continuing their inroads and ravages at different times, generally defeated the Romans who ventured to oppose them, till A. D. 800, the seventh of the reign of Nicephorus I., when they surprised the city of Sardica, and put the whole garrison, consisting of 6000 men, to the sword. The emperor marched against them with a considerable army; but the enemy retired at his approach; and he, instead of pursuing them, returned to Constantinople. Two years after he entered Bulgaria at the head of a powerful army, destroying every thing with fire and sword. The king offered to conclude a peace with him upon honorable terms; but Nicephorus, rejecting his proposals, continued to waste the country, destroying the cities, and putting all the inhabitants, without distinction of sex or age, to the sword. The king was so much affected with these cruelties, that he sent a second embassy to Nicephorus, offering to conclude a peace with him upon any terms. But, Nicephorus dismissing the ambassadors with scorn, the Bulgarian monarch attacked the Roman camp, forced it, and cut off almost the whole army, with the emperor himself, and a great number of patricians. His successor, Michael I., likewise engaged in a war with the Bulgarians; but, being utterly defeated, resigned the empire. After this the Bulgarians continued to be very formidable enemies till the year 979, when they were vigorously attacked by Basilius II. Bulgarians were now governed by a king named Samuel; who having ravaged the Roman territories, 'Basilius sent against him Nicephorus Uranus at the head of a powerful army. Uranus, leaving his baggage at Larissa, reached by long marches the Sperchius, and encamped with his whole army over against the enemy, who lay on the opposite bank. As the river was greatly swelled, with the heavy rains that had lately fallen, Samuel, not imagining the Romans would attempt to pass it, suffered his troops to roam in large parties about the country. But Uranus, having at length found out a place where tho river was fordable, passed it in the night, fell

The