X. and fplendour from the munificence of the Em- CHA P. peror Hadrian, who had conftructed an artificial port on a coaft left deftitute by nature of fecure harbours 109. The city was large and populous; a double enclosure of walls feemed to defy the fury of the Goths, and the ufual garrifon had been ftrengthened by a reinforcement of ten thousand men. But there are not any advantages capable of fupplying the abfence of difcipline and vigilance. The numerous garrifon of Trebizond, diffolved in riot and luxury, difdained to guard their impregnable fortifications. The Goths foon discovered the fupine negligence of the befieged, erected lofty pile of fafcines, afcended the walls in the filence of the night, and entered the defenceless city, fword in hand. A general maf facre of the people enfued, whilft the affrighted foldiers efcaped through the oppofite gates of the town. The most holy temples, and the most fplendid edifices, were involved in a common deftruction. The booty that fell into the hands of the Goths was immenfe; the wealth of the adja. cent countries had been depofited in Trebizond, as in a fecure place of refuge. The number of captives was incredible, as the victorious barbarians ranged without oppofition through the extensive province of Pontus". The rich spoils of Trebizond filled a great fleet of fhips that had been found in the port. The robuft youth of the 109 Arrian, p. 129. The general obfervation is Tournefort's. 110 See an epiftle of Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Neo-Ca farea, quoted by Mascou, v. 37. fea X. CHA P. fea-coaft were chained to the oar; and the Goths, fatisfied with the fuccefs of their first naval expedition, returned in triumph to their new establish. ments in the kingdom of Bofphorus "". The fecond of the Goths. The fecond expedition of the Goths was unexpedition dertaken with greater powers of men and ships; but they fteered a different course, and, disdaining the exhaufted provinces of Pontus, followed the western coaft of the Euxine, paffed before the wide mouths of the Boryfthenes, the Niester, and the Danube, and increafing their fleet by the capture of a great number of fishing barks, they approached the narrow outlet through which the Euxine fea pours its waters into the Mediterranean, and divides the continents of Europe and Afia. The garrifon of Chalcedon was encamped near the temple of Jupiter Urius, on a promontory that commanded the entrance of the Strait; and fo inconfiderable were the dreaded invafions of the barbarians, that this body of troops furpaffed in number the Gothic army. But it was in numbers alone that they furpaffed it. They deferted with precipitation their advantageous poft, and abandoned the town of Chalcedon, most plentifully stored with arms and money, to the difcretion of the conquerors. Whilst they hefitated whether they should prefer the fea or land, Europe or Afia, for the fcene of their hoftilities, a perfidious fugitive pointed out Nicomedia, once the capital of the kings of Bithynia, as a rich and eafy conqueft. He guided the march, which They plunder the ci ties of Bithynia. Zofimus, l. i. p. 32, 33. was 427 X. was only fixty miles from the camp of Chalce- C H A P. don, directed the refiftlefs attack, and partook of the booty; for the Goths had learned fufficient policy to reward the traitor, whom they detefted. Nice, Prufa, Apæmæa, Cius, cities that had fometimes rivalled, or imitated, the splendour of Nicomedia, were involved in the fame calamity, which, in a few weeks, raged without controul through the whole province of Bithynia. Three hundred years of peace, enjoyed by the foft inhabitants of Afia, had abolished the exercife of arms, and removed the apprehenfion of danger. The ancient walls were fuffered to moulder away, and all the revenue of the most opulent cities was referved for the conftruction of baths, temples, and theatres "3. 113 the Goths. When the city of Cyzicus withstood the utmost Retreat of effort of Mithridates "4, it was diftinguished by wife laws, a naval power of two hundred gallies, and three arfenals, of arms, of military engines, and of corn. It was ftill the feat of wealth and luxury; but of its ancient ftrength nothing remained except the fituation, in a little ifland of the Propontis, connected with the continent of Afia only by two bridges. From the recent fack of Prufa, the Goths advanced within eighteen miles of the city, which they had X. CHA P. devoted to deftruction; but the ruin of Cyzicus was delayed by a fortunate accident. The feafon was rainy, and the lake Apolloniates, the reservoir of all the springs of Mount Olympus, rofe to an uncommon height. The little river of Rhyndacus, which iffues from the lake, fwelled into a broad and rapid ftream, and stopped the progrefs of the Goths. Their retreat to the maritime city of Heraclea, where the fleet had probably been ftationed, was attended by a long train of waggons, laden with the spoils of Bithynia, and was marked by the flames of Nice and Nicomedia, which they wantonly burnt "7. Some obfcure hints are mentioned of a doubtful combat that fecured their retreat But even a complete victory would have been of little moment, as the approach of the autumnal equinox fummoned them to haften their return. To navigate the Euxine before the month of May, or after that of September, is esteemed by the modern Turks the moft unqueftionable instance of rashness and. folly ". Third na 118 When we are informed that the third fleet val expedi tion of equipped by the Goths in the ports of Bofphorus, confifted of five hundred fail of fhips 20, our ready imagination instantly computes and multiplies the formidable armament; but, as we are affured Goths. 17 Zofimus, l. i. p. 33. 118 Syncellus tells an unintelligible ftory of Prince Odenathus, who defeated the Goths, and who was killed by Prince Odenathus. 119 Voyages de Chardin, tom. i. p. 45. He failed with the Turks from Conftantinople to Caffa. 12 Syncellus (p. 382.) fpeaks of this expedition, as undertaken by the Heruli. by X. rus and the by the judicious Strabo, that the piratical veffels CHA P. ufed by the barbarians of Pontus and the Leffer Scythia, were not capable of containing more than twenty-five or thirty men, we may fafely affirm, that fifteen thoufand warriors, at the moft, embarked in this great expedition. Impatient of the limits of the Euxine, they fteered their deftructive courfe from the Cimmerian to the Thracian Bofphorus. When they had almost gained the middle of the Straits, they were fuddenly driven back to the entrance of them; till They pafs a favourable wind, fpringing up the next day, the Bofphocarried them in a few hours into the placid fea, Hellefpont, or rather lake, of the Propontis. Their landing on the little island of Cyzicus was attended with the ruin of that ancient and noble city. From thence iffuing again through the narrow paffage of the Hellefpont, they pursued their winding navigation amidst the numerous iflands fcattered over the Archipelago, or the Ægean Sea. The affiftance of captives and deferters must have been very neceffary to pilot their veffels, and to direct their various incurfions, as well on the coaft of Greece as on that of Afia. At length the Gothic fleet anchored in the port of Piræus, five miles diftant from Athens 22, which had attempted to make fome preparations for a vigorous defence. Cleodamus, one of the engineers employed by the Emperor's orders to fortify the maritime cities against the Goths, had already begun to repair the ancient walls fallen to decay fince the time of 1 Strabo, l. xi. p.495. 122 Plin. Hift. Natur. iii. 7. |