HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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their conveyance, is said to have amounted to six thousand, which, extensive asit may be thought, can scarcely be deemed incredible, when the proofs alreadygiven of their inconsiderable dimensions are adverted to. The contendingparties, each equally eager to put a period to the dispute by a decisive battle,met near the city of Maissus in Dardania. The Goths fought for plunder,Claudius and his legions for the preservation of their country. The fate ofRome itself depended on the event, her utmost exertions had been used tocollect the army, and in case of its defeat, submission to the imperious will ofthe victor appeared inevitable. The genius of Roma prevailed: the Gothswere signally defeated, fifty thousand of them fell in the action itself, andthose who, for a time, were fortunate enough to evade slaughter, or captivity,fell, after suffering a myriad of hardships, either beneath the swords, or into thepower of the Romans. Their fleet experienced no better fortune: all the vesselswhich composed it were either taken or destroyed, and put a finishing period tothat contest, the success of which would otherwise have been incomplete.

During the reigns of Claudius, Aurelian, and Probus, the ancient disciplineappeared completely revived in the Roman legions. The rebellions thatwere occasionally excited among various barbarous nations, which had beenreduced in former times to subjection, were suppressed, almost as soon asexcited ; and Probus appears to have taken the most decisive, and prudentmeasures to prevent the repetition of them. To this end, he transportedimmense bodies of the conquered rebels into different countries, where theirservices might be useful, and their turbulent spirit checked by the contrarydemeanour of those strangers, among whom they were introduced. A singularnaval anecdote took place, however, in consequence of this measure. A corpsof Franks, who had been stationed by the emperor on the sea coast of Pontus,uneasy at their removal, resolved to attempt, by every possible risk, their returnto their native country. They were fortunate enough to surprize a fleet ofvessels which had been collected on the Euxine, and thev boldly resolved toseize that opportunity, desperate as it certainly was, of carrying their intendedproject into effect. Unskilled in the art of navigation, and completely unac-quainted with those seas through which they were under the necessity ofpassing, they steered their course through the Bosphorus and Hellespont intothe Mediterranean. There they for some time glutted their revenge againsttheir conquerors by desultory descents, which were uniformly marked with themosts a vage cruelty, on the defenceless shores of Asia, Greece, and Africa^

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