OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE,
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by the j udicioiis Strabo, * that the piratical vessels chap.used by the barbarians of Pontus and the LesserScythia, were not capable of containing morethan twenty-five or thirty men, we may safelyaffirm, that fifteen thousand warriors, at themost, embarked in this great expedition. Impa-tient of the limits of the Euxine , they steeredtheir destructive course from the Cimmerian totheThracianBosphorus. When they had almostgained the middle of the straits, they were sud-denly driven back to the entrance of them ; till Ttie yp aS9a favourable wind, springing up the next day,carried them in a few hours into the placid sea, and theor rather lake, of the Propontis . Their landing pont* 5 "on the little island of Cyzicus was attended withthe ruin of that ancient and noble city. Fromthence issuing again through the narrow passageof the Hellespont , they pursued their windingnavigation amidst the numerous islands scatter-ed over the Archipelago , or the iEgean sea. Theassistance of captives and deserters must havebeen very necessary to pilot their vessels; andto direct their various incursions, as well on thecoast of Greece as on that of Asia. At lengththe Gothic fleet anchored in the port of Pirseus,five miles distant from Athens/ which had at-tempted to make some preparations for a vigor-ous defence. Cleodamus, one of the engineersemployed by the emperor’s orders to fortify themaritime cities against the Goths , had alreadybegun to repair the ancient walls, fallen to de-
f I'lin. Hist. Natur. iii, 7.