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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

day to the imperial throne, the rebellion against his assumed authority by somechief equally favoured by the soldiery of some distant quarter, the contentionbetween the competitors for fame and empire, with its speedy decision by thedeath of one of them, all followed each other in regular progression. Tothis sanguinary scene, (which dreadful as it certainly is, becomes extremelyimmaterial to naval history) succeeded about the middle of the third centurythe first attack made on the Roman empire by the Goths, an irruption whichbeing frequently repeated with varied success, proved one of the most dreadfulscourges the empire had ever experienced, and was the forerunner of downfallto the imperious mistress (as Rome was then stiled) of the whole world. Ofthe origin from whence this singular and enterprising, though barbarous people,sprung, there appears some doubt, nor is it very material in this place tdattempt any close developement of so intricate a question.

* Their own historians have taken every possible pains to impress the worldwith the belief, that the most remote accounts existing of their ancestors,placed them in Scandinavia, the present Sweden. Others assert them to havebeen descended from an horde of barbarians, settled on the borders of the PalusMaeotis, situated to the northward of the Euxine, or Black Sea, and withwhich, on account of its contiguity, it is not unfrequently confounded. Thisrestless people, groaning under the tyranny of Mithridates, whose power theywere unable to resist, are said, according to the second account, to have passedfrom the borders of Asiatic Sarmatia into Scandavia, under the guidance andcommand of Odin : in hopes, first, that in so remote and inhospitable a quarterof the world, they might at least be permitted to enjoy their independence ;and secondly, that at a future day they might avail themselves of some oppor-tunity of avenging themselves on* the descendants of those who would haveoppressed them, and pouring forth unlimited destruction on the less hardy inha-bitants of the south, according to an ancient prophecy religiously cherished amongthem. They were uneasy even in their new colony, ere they had acquired suffi-cient strength, and occasion presented itself to them, by which they should beenabled to carry their sanguinary, revengeful projects into execution. Variousemigrations took place at different periods, so that by degrees they over-ran Prus-sia, and Pomerania, established themselves upon the fertile territory towardsthe mouth of the Vistula, extended along the banks of the Oder, and spreadthemselves at length so far, that in the reign of Alexander Severus, they maderepeated inroads into the Roman province of Dacia. All these enterprises

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