OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

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were still infected with the vices of their servileorigin. The execution of this design was at-tended with more difficulty than glory. Theterritory of the Lirnigantes was protected againstthe Romans by the Danube, against the hostilebarbarians by the Teyss. The marshy lands,which lay between those rivers, and were oftencovered by their inundations, formed an intri-cate wilderness, pervious only to the inhabitants,who were acquainted with its secret paths andinaccessible fortresses. On the approach ofConstantius , the Lirnigantes tried the efficacyof prayers, of fraud, and of arms; but he sternlyrejected their supplications, defeated their rudestratagems, and repelled with skill and firmnessthe efforts of their irregular valour. One oftheir most warlike tribes, established in a smallisland towards the conflux of the Teyss and theDanube , consented to pass the river with theintention of surprising the emperor during thesecurity of an amicable conference. They soonbecame the victims of the perfidy which theymeditated. Encompassed on every side, tram-pled down by the cavalry, slaughtered by theswords of the legions, they disdained to ask formercy, and with an undaunted countenance stillgrasped their weapons in the agonies of death..After this victory a considerable body of Ro-mans was landed on the opposite banks of theDanube ; theTaifalae, a Gothic tribe engaged inthe service of the empire, invaded the Lirniganteson the side of the Teyss; and their former mas-ters, the free Sarmatians, animated by hope andrevenge, penetrated through the hilly country

CHAP.

XIX.