]
[Sidenote: A.D. 376.]
The nation of the Goths had been from remote ages settled on the banks
of the Danube, and were by that river divided into two nations, the
Ostrogoths on the east, and the Visigoths on the west. They had for
many years enjoyed the blessings of profound peace under the
government of their king Herman'ric, when they were suddenly alarmed
by the appearance of vast hordes of unknown enemies on their northern
and eastern frontiers. These were the Huns, a branch of the great
Mongolian race, which, from the earliest time, had possessed the vast
and wild plains of Tartary. Terrified by the numbers, the strength,
the strange features and implacable cruelty of such foes, the Goths
deserted their country, almost without attempting opposition, and
supplicated the emperor Va'lens to grant them a settlement in the
waste lands of Thrace. This request was cheerfully granted, and the
eastern empire was supposed to be strengthened by the accession of a
million of valiant subjects, bound both by interest and gratitude to
protect its frontiers.
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