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Empress Fausta, the Samaratians on the Danube & the Gothic War (326 - 334 A.D.)
The innocence of Crispus was so universally acknowledged,
that the modern Greeks, who adore the memory of their founder,
are reduced to palliate the guilt of a parricide , which the
common feelings of human nature forbade them to justify. They
pretend, that as soon as the afflicted father discovered the
falsehood of the accusation by which his credulity had been so
fatally misled, he published to the world his repentance and
remorse; that he mourned forty days, during which he abstained
from the use of the bath, and all the ordinary comforts of life;
and that, for the lasting instruction of posterity, he erected a
golden statue of Crispus, with this memorable inscription: To my
son, whom I unjustly condemned. 21 A tale so moral and so
interesting would deserve to be supported by less exceptionable
authority; but if we consult the more ancient and authentic
writers, they will inform us, that the repentance of Constantine
was manifested only in acts of blood and revenge; and that he
atoned for the murder of an innocent son, by the execution,
perhaps, of a guilty wife. They ascribe the misfortunes of
Crispus to the arts of his step-mother Fausta, whose implacable
hatred, or whose disappointed love, renewed in the palace of
Constantine the ancient tragedy of Hippolytus and of Phaedra . 22
Like the daughter of Minos , the daughter of Maximian accused her
son-in-law of an incestuous attempt on the chastity of his
father's wife; and easily obtained, from the jealousy of the
emperor, a sentence of death against a young prince, whom she
considered with reason as the most formidable rival of her own
children. But Helena , the aged mother of Constantine, lamented
and revenged the untimely fate of her grandson Crispus; nor was
it long before a real or pretended discovery was made, that
Fausta herself entertained a criminal connection with a slave
belonging to the Imperial stables. 23 Her condemnation and
punishment were the instant consequences of the charge; and the
adulteress was suffocated by the steam of a bath, which, for that
purpose, had been heated to an extraordinary degree. 24 By some
it will perhaps be thought, that the remembrance of a conjugal
union of twenty years, and the honor of their common offspring,
the destined heirs of the throne, might have softened the
obdurate heart of Constantine, and persuaded him to suffer his
wife, however guilty she might appear, to expiate her offences in
a solitary prison. But it seems a superfluous labor to weigh the
propriety, unless we could ascertain the truth, of this singular
event, which is attended with some circumstances of doubt and
perplexity. Those who have attacked, and those who have
defended, the character of Constantine, have alike disregarded
two very remarkable passages of two orations pronounced under the
succeeding reign. The former celebrates the virtues, the beauty,
and the fortune of the empress Fausta, the daughter, wife,
sister, and mother of so many princes. 25 The latter asserts, in
explicit terms, that the mother of the younger Constantine, who
was slain three years after his father's death, survived to weep
over the fate of her son. 26 Notwithstanding the positive
testimony of several writers of the Pagan as well as of the
Christian religion, there may still remain some reason to
believe, or at least to suspect, that Fausta escaped the blind
and suspicious cruelty of her husband. * The deaths of a son and
a nephew, with the execution of a great number of respectable,
and perhaps innocent friends, 27 who were involved in their
fall, may be sufficient, however, to justify the discontent of
the Roman people, and to explain the satirical verses affixed to
the palace gate, comparing the splendid and bloody reigns of
Constantine and Nero . 28
Footnote 21: In order to prove that the statue was erected by
Constantine, and afterwards concealed by the malice of the
Arians, Codinus very readily creates (p. 34) two witnesses,
Hippolytus , and the younger Herodotus , to whose imaginary
histories he appeals with unblushing confidence.
Footnote 22: Zosimus (l. ii. p. 103) may be considered as our
original. The ingenuity of the moderns, assisted by a few hints
from the ancients, has illustrated and improved his obscure and
imperfect narrative.
Footnote 23: Philostorgius, l. ii. c. 4. Zosimus (l. ii. p. 104,
116) imputes to Constantine the death of two wives, of the
innocent Fausta, and of an adulteress , who was the mother of his
three successor s. According to Jerom, three or four years
elapsed between the death of Crispus and that of Fausta. The
elder Victor is prudently silent.
Footnote 24: If Fausta was put to death, it is reasonable to
believe that the private apartments of the palace were the scene
of her execution. The orator Chrysostom indulges his fancy by
exposing the naked desert mountain to be devoured by wild
beasts.
Footnote 25: Julian. Orat. i. He seems to call her the mother
of Crispus. She might assume that title by adoption. At least,
she was not considered as his mortal enemy. Julian compares the
fortune of Fausta with that of Parysatis , the Persian queen. A
Roman would have more naturally recollected the second Agrippina:
-
Et moi, qui sur le trone ai suivi mes ancetres:
Moi, fille, femme, soeur, et mere de vos maitres.
Footnote 26: Monod. in Constantin. Jun. c. 4, ad Calcem Eutrop.
edit. Havercamp. The orator styles her the most divine and pious
of queens .
Footnote 27: Interfecit numerosos amicos. Eutrop. xx. 6.
Footnote 28: Saturni aurea saecula quis requirat?
Sunt haec gemmea, sed Nero niana.
Sidon. Apollinar. v. 8.
It is somewhat singular that these satirical lines should be
attributed, not to an obscure libeller, or a disappointed
patriot, but to Ablavius, prime minister and favorite of the
emperor. We may now perceive that the imprecations of the Roman
people were dictated by humanity, as well as by superstition.
Zosim. l. ii. p. 105.
By the death of Crispus, the inheritance of the Empire
seemed to devolve on the three sons of Fausta, who have been
already mentioned under the names of Constantine, of Constantius,
and of Constans. These young princes were successively invested
with the title of Caesar; and the dates of their promotion may be
referred to the tenth, the twentieth, and the thirtieth years of
the reign of their father. 29 This conduct, though it tended to
multiply the future masters of the Roman world, might be excused
by the partiality of paternal affection; but it is not so easy to
understand the motives of the emperor, when he endangered the
safety both of his family and of his people, by the unnecessary
elevation of his two nephews, Dalmatius and Hannibalianus. The
former was raised, by the title of Caesar, to an equality with
his cousins. In favor of the latter, Constantine invented the
new and singular appellation of Nobilissimus; 30 to which he
annexed the flattering distinction of a robe of purple and gold.
But of the whole series of Roman princes in any age of the
Empire, Hannibalianus alone was distinguished by the title of
King; a name which the subjects of Tiberius would have detested,
as the profane and cruel insult of capricious tyranny. The use
of such a title, even as it appears under the reign of
Constantine, is a strange and unconnected fact, which can
scarcely be admitted on the joint authority of Imperial medals
and contemporary writers. 31
Footnote 29: Euseb. Orat. in Constantin. c. 3. These dates are
sufficiently correct to justify the orator.
Footnote 30: Zosim. l. ii. p. 117. Under the predecessors of
Constantine, Nobilissimus was a vague epithet, rather than a
legal and determined title.
Footnote 31: Adstruunt nummi veteres ac singulares. Spanheim de
Usu Numismat. Dissertat. xii. vol. ii. p. 357. Ammianus speaks
of this Roman king (l. xiv. c. l, and Valesius ad loc.) The
Valesian fragment styles him King of kings; and the Paschal
Chronicle acquires the weight of Latin evidence.
Footnote *: Hannibalianus is always designated in these authors
by the title of king. There still exist medals struck to his
honor, on which the same title is found, Fl. Hannibaliano Regi.
See Eckhel, Doct. Num. t. viii. 204. Armeniam nationesque circum
socias habebat, says Aur. Victor, p. 225. The writer means the
Lesser Armenia.
The whole Empire was deeply interested in the education of
these five youths, the acknowledged successor s of Constantine.
The exercise of the body prepared them for the fatigues of war
and the duties of active life. Those who occasionally mention the
education or talents of Constantius, allow that he excelled in
the gymnastic arts of leaping and running that he was a dexterous
archer, a skilful horseman, and a master of all the different
weapons used in the service either of the cavalry or of the
infantry. 32 The same assiduous cultivation was bestowed, though
not perhaps with equal success, to improve the minds of the sons
and nephews of Constantine. 33 The most celebrated professors of
the Christian faith, of the Grecian philosophy, and of the Roman
jurisprudence , were invited by the liberality of the emperor, who
reserved for himself the important task of instructing the royal
youths in the science of government, and the knowledge of
mankind. But the genius of Constantine himself had been formed
by adversity and experience. In the free intercourse of private
life, and amidst the dangers of the court of Galerius, he had
learned to command his own passions, to encounter those of his
equals, and to depend for his present safety and future greatness
on the prudence and firmness of his personal conduct. His
destined successor s had the misfortune of being born and educated
in the Imperial purple. Incessantly surrounded with a train of
flatterers, they passed their youth in the enjoyment of luxury,
and the expectation of a throne; nor would the dignity of their
rank permit them to descend from that elevated station from
whence the various characters of human nature appear to wear a
smooth and uniform aspect. The indulgence of Constantine
admitted them, at a very tender age, to share the administration
of the Empire; and they studied the art of reigning, at the
expense of the people intrusted to their care. The younger
Constantine was appointed to hold his court in Gaul; and his
brother Constantius exchanged that department, the ancient
patrimony of their father, for the more opulent, but less
martial, countries of the East. Italy, the Western Illyricum,
and Africa, were accustomed to revere Constans, the third of his
sons, as the representative of the great Constantine. He fixed
Dalmatius on the Gothic frontier, to which he annexed the
government of Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece. The city of
Caesarea was chosen for the residence of Hannibalianus; and the
provinces of Pontus , Cappadocia , and the Lesser Armenia , were
destined to form the extent of his new kingdom. For each of
these princes a suitable establishment was prOvid ed. A just
proportion of guards, of legions, and of auxiliaries, was
allotted for their respective dignity and defence. The ministers
and generals, who were placed about their persons, were such as
Constantine could trust to assist, and even to control, these
youthful sovereigns in the exercise of their delegated power. As
they advanced in years and experience, the limits of their
authority were insensibly enlarged: but the emperor always
reserved for himself the title of Augustus; and while he showed
the Caesars to the armies and provinces, he maintained every part
of the Empire in equal obedience to its supreme head. 34 The
tranquility of the last fourteen years of his reign was scarcely
interrupted by the contemptible insurrection of a camel-driver in
the Island of Cyprus, 35 or by the active part which the policy
of Constantine engaged him to assume in the wars of the Goths and
Sarmatians.
Footnote 32: His dexterity in martial exercises is celebrated by
Julian, (Orat. i. p. 11, Orat. ii. p. 53,) and allowed by
Ammianus, (l. xxi. c. 16.)
Footnote 33: Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. l. iv. c. 51. Julian,
Orat. i. p. 11-16, with Spanheim's elaborate Commentary.
Libanius, Orat. iii. p. 109. Constantius studied with laudable
diligence; but the dulness of his fancy prevented him from
succeeding in the art of poetry, or even of rhetoric.
Footnote 34: Eusebius, (l. iv. c. 51, 52,) with a design of
exalting the authority and glory of Constantine, affirms, that he
divided the Roman Empire as a private citizen might have divided
his patrimony. His distribution of the provinces may be
collected from Eutropius, the two Victors and the Valesian
fragment.
Footnote 35: Calocerus, the obscure leader of this rebellion, or
rather tumult, was apprehended and burnt alive in the
market-place of Tarsus , by the vigilance of Dalmatius. See the
elder Victor, the Chronicle of Jerom, and the doubtful traditions
of Theophanes and Cedrenus.
Among the different branches of the human race, the
Sarmatians form a very remarkable shade; as they seem to unite
the manners of the Asiatic barbarians with the figure and
complexion of the ancient inhabitants of Europe. According to
the various accidents of peace and war, of alliance or conquest,
the Sarmatians were sometimes confined to the banks of the
Tanais; and they sometimes spread themselves over the immense
plains which lie between the Vistula and the Volga. 36 The care
of their numerous flocks and herds, the pursuit of game, and the
exercises of war, or rather of rapine, directed the vagrant
motions of the Sarmatians . The movable camps or cities, the
ordinary residence of their wives and children, consisted only of
large wagons drawn by oxen, and covered in the form of tents.
The military strength of the nation was composed of cavalry ; and
the custom of their warriors, to lead in their hand one or two
spare horses, enabled them to advance and to retreat with a rapid
diligence, which surprised the security, and eluded the pursuit,
of a distant enemy. 37 Their poverty of iron prompted their rude
industry to invent a sort of cuirass , which was capable of
resisting a sword or javelin, though it was formed only of
horses' hoofs, cut into thin and polished slices, carefully laid
over each other in the manner of scales or feathers, and strongly
sewed upon an under garment of coarse linen. 38 The offensive
arms of the Sarmatians were short daggers, long lances, and a
weighty bow vow with a quiver of arrows. They were reduced to
the necessity of employing fish- bones for the points of their
weapons; but the custom of dipping them in a venomous liquor,
that poisoned the wounds which they inflicted, is alone
sufficient to prove the most savage manners, since a people
impressed with a sense of humanity would have abhorred so cruel a
practice, and a nation skilled in the arts of war would have
disdained so impotent a resource. 39 Whenever these Barbarian tribes
issued from their deserts in quest of prey, their shaggy beards,
uncombed locks, the furs with which they were covered from head
to foot, and their fierce countenances, which seemed to express
the innate cruelty of their minds, inspired the more civilized
provincials of Rome with horror and dismay.
Footnote 36: Cellarius has collected the opinions of the
ancients concerning the European and Asiatic Sarmatia; and M.
D'Anville has applied them to modern geography with the skill and
accuracy which always distinguish that excellent writer.
Footnote 37: Ammian. l. xvii. c. 12. The Sarmatian horses were
castrated to prevent the mischievous accidents which might happen
from the noisy and ungovernable passions of the males.
Footnote 38: Pausanius, l. i. p. 50,. edit. Kuhn. That
inquisitive traveler had carefully examined a Sarmatian cuirass ,
which was preserved in the temple of Aesculapius at Athens.
Footnote 39: Aspicis et mitti sub adunco toxica ferro,
Et telum causas mortis habere duas.
Ovid , ex Ponto, l. iv. ep. 7, ver. 7.
See in the Recherches sur les Americains, tom. ii. p. 236 -
271, a very curious dissertation on poison ed darts. The venom
was commonly extracted from the vegetable reign: but that
employed by the Scythians appears to have been drawn from the
viper, and a mixture of human blood. The use of poison ed arms,
which has been spread over both worlds, never preserved a savage
tribe from the arms of a disciplined enemy.
The tender Ovid , after a youth spent in the enjoyment of
fame and luxury, was condemned to a hopeless exile on the frozen
banks of the Danube, where he was exposed, almost without
defence, to the fury of these monsters of the desert, with whose
stern spirits he feared that his gentle shade might hereafter be
confounded. In his pathetic, but sometimes unmanly lamentations,
40 he describes in the most lively colors the dress and manners,
the arms and inroads, of the Getae and Sarmatians , who were
associated for the purposes of destruction; and from the accounts
of history there is some reason to believe that these Sarmatians
were the Jazygae , one of the most numerous and warlike tribes of
the nation. The allurements of plenty engaged them to seek a
permanent establishment on the frontiers of the Empire. Soon
after the reign of Augustus, they obliged the Dacians, who
subsisted by fishing on the banks of the River Teyss or Tibiscus,
to retire into the hilly country, and to abandon to the
victorious Sarmatians the fertile plains of the Upper Hungary,
which are bounded by the course of the Danube and the
semicircular enclosure of the Carpathian Mountains. 41 In this
advantageous position, they watched or suspended the moment of
attack, as they were provoked by injuries or appeased by
presents; they gradually acquired the skill of using more
dangerous weapons, and although the Sarmatians did not illustrate
their name by any memorable exploits, they occasionally assisted
their eastern and western neighbors, the Goths and the Germans,
with a formidable body of cavalry. They lived under the
irregular aristocracy of their chieftains: 42 but after they had
received into their bosom the fugitive Vandals , who yielded to
the pressure of the Gothic power, they seem to have chosen a king
from that nation, and from the illustrious race of the Astingi,
who had formerly dwelt on the hores of the northern ocean. 43
Footnote 40: The nine books of Poetical Epistles which Ovid
composed during the seven first years of his melancholy exile,
possess, beside the merit of elegance, a double value. They
exhibit a picture of the human mind under very singular
circumstances; and they contain many curious observations, which
no Roman except Ovid , could have an opportunity of making. Every
circumstance which tends to illustrate the history of the
Barbarians, has been drawn together by the very accurate Count de
Buat. Hist. Ancienne des Peuples de l'Europe, tom. iv. c. xvi. p.
286-317
Footnote 41: The Sarmatian Jazygae were settled on the banks of
Pathissus or Tibiscus, when Pliny the Younger, in the year 79, published his
Natural History. See l. iv. c. 25. In the time of Strabo and
Ovid , sixty or seventy years before, they appear to have
inhabited beyond the Getae, along the coast of the Euxine.
Footnote 42: Principes Sarmaturum Jazygum penes quos civitatis
regimen plebem quoque et vim equitum, qua sola valent,
offerebant. Tacit. Hist. iii. p. 5. This offer was made in the
Civil war between Vitellino and Vespasian.
Footnote 43: This hypothesis of a Vandal king reigning over
Sarmatian subjects, seems necessary to reconcile the Goth
Jornandes with the Greek and Latin historian s of Constantine. It
may be observed that Isidore, who lived in Spain under the
dominion of the Goths, gives them for enemies, not the Vandals ,
but the Sarmatians . See his Chronicle in Grotius, p. 709.
Note: I have already noticed the confusion which must
necessarily arise in history, when names purely geographical, as
this of Sarmatia, are taken for historical names belonging to a
single nation. We perceive it here; it has forced Gibbon to
suppose, without any reason but the necessity of extricating
himself from his perplexity, that the Sarmatians had taken a king
from among the Vandals ; a supposition entirely contrary to the
usages of Barbarians Dacia, at this period, was occupied, not by
Sarmatians , who have never formed a distinct race, but by
Vandals , whom the ancients have often confounded under the
general term Sarmatians . See Gatterer's Welt-Geschiehte p. 464 -
G.
This motive of enmity must have inflamed the subjects of
contention, which perpetually arise on the confines of warlike
and independent nations. The Vandal princes were stimulated by
fear and revenge; the Gothic kings aspired to extend their
dominion from the Euxine to the frontiers of Germany; and the
waters of the Maros, a small river which falls into the Teyss,
were stained with the blood of the contending Barbarians. After
some experience of the superior strength and numbers of their
adversaries, the Sarmatians implored the protection of the Roman
monarch, who beheld with pleasure the discord of the nations, but
who was justly alarmed by the progress of the Gothic arms. As
soon as Constantine had declared himself in favor of the weaker
party, the haughty Alaric, king of the Goths, instead of
expecting the attack of the legions, boldly passed the Danube,
and spread terror and devastation through the province of Maesia.
To oppose the inroad of this destroying host, the aged emperor
took the field in person; but on this occasion either his conduct
or his fortune betrayed the glory which he had acquired in so
many foreign and domestic wars. He had the mortification of
seeing his troops fly before an inconsiderable detachment of the
Barbarians, who pursued them to the edge of their fortified camp,
and obliged him to consult his safety by a precipitate and
ignominious retreat. * The event of a second and more successful
action retrieved the honor of the Roman name; and the powers of
art and discipline prevailed, after an obstinate contest, over
the efforts of irregular valor. The broken army of the Goths
abandoned the field of battle, the wasted province, and the
passage of the Danube: and although the eldest of the sons of
Constantine was permitted to supply the place of his father, the
merit of the Victory, which diffused universal joy, was ascribed
to the auspicious counsels of the emperor himself.
He contributed at least to improve this advantage, by his
negotiations with the free and warlike people of Chersonesus, 44
whose capital, situate on the western coast of the Tauric or
Crimean peninsula, still retained some vestiges of a Grecian
colony, and was governed by a perpetual magistrate, assisted by a
council of senators, emphatically styled the Fathers of the City.
The Chersonites were animated against the Goths, by the memory of
the wars, which, in the preceding century, they had maintained
with unequal forces against the invaders of their country. They
were connected with the Romans by the mutual benefits of
commerce; as they were supplied from the provinces of Asia with
corn and manufactures, which they purchased with their only
productions, salt, wax, and hides. Obedient to the requisition
of Constantine, they prepared, under the conduct of their
magistrate Diogenes, a considerable army, of which the principal
strength consisted in cross-bows and military chariots. The
speedy march and intrepid attack of the Chersonites, by diverting
the attention of the Goths, assisted the operations of the
Imperial generals. The Goths, vanquished on every side, were
driven into the mountains, where, in the course of a severe
campaign, above a hundred thousand were computed to have perished
by cold and hunger Peace was at length granted to their humble
supplications; the eldest son of Araric was accepted as the most
valuable hostage; and Constantine endeavored to convince their
chiefs, by a liberal distribution of honors and rewards, how far
the friendship of the Romans was preferable to their enmity. In
the expressions of his gratitude towards the faithful
Chersonites, the emperor was still more magnificent. The pride of
the nation was gratified by the splendid and almost royal
decorations bestowed on their magistrate and his successor s. A
perpetual exemption from all duties was stipulated for their
vessels which traded to the ports of the Black Sea. A regular
subsidy was promised, of iron, corn, oil, and of every supply
which could be useful either in peace or war. But it was thought
that the Sarmatians were sufficiently rewarded by their
deliverance from impending ruin; and the emperor, perhaps with
too strict an economy, deducted some part of the expenses of the
war from the customary gratifications which were allowed to that
turbulent nation.
Footnote 44: I may stand in need of some apology for having
used, without scruple, the authority of Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, in all that relates to the wars and negotiations
of the Chersonites. I am aware that he was a Greek of the tenth
century, and that his accounts of ancient history are frequently
confused and fabulous. But on this occasion his narrative is,
for the most part, consistent and probable nor is there much
difficulty in conceiving that an emperor might have access to
some secret archives, which had escaped the diligence of meaner
historian s. For the situation and history of Chersone, see
Peyssonel, des Peuples barbares qui ont habite les Bords du
Danube, c. xvi. 84-90.
Exasperated by this apparent neglect, the Sarmatians soon
forgot, with the levity of barbarians, the services which they
had so lately received, and the dangers which still threatened
their safety. Their inroads on the territory of the Empire
provoked the indignation of Constantine to leave them to their
fate; and he no longer opposed the ambition of Geberic, a
renowned warrior, who had recently ascended the Gothic throne.
Wisumar, the Vandal king, whilst alone, and unassisted, he
defended his dominions with undaunted courage, was vanquished and
slain in a decisive battle, which swept away the flower of the
Sarmatian youth. * The remainder of the nation embraced the
desperate expedient of arming their slaves, a hardy race of
hunters and herdsmen, by whose tumultuary aid they revenged their
defeat, and expelled the invader from their confines. But they
soon discovered that they had exchanged a foreign for a domestic
enemy, more dangerous and more implacable. Enraged by their
former servitude, elated by their present glory, the slaves,
under the name of Limigantes, claimed and usurped the possession
of the country which they had saved. Their masters, unable to
withstand the ungoverned fury of the populace, preferred the
hardships of exile to the tyranny of their servants. Some of the
fugitive Sarmatians solicited a less ignominious dependence,
under the hostile standard of the Goths. A more numerous band
retired beyond the Carpathian Mountains, among the Quadi, their
German allies, and were easily admitted to share a superfluous
waste of uncultivated land. But the far greater part of the
distressed nation turned their eyes towards the fruitful
provinces of Rome. Imploring the protection and forgiveness of
the emperor, they solemnly promised, as subjects in peace, and as
soldiers in war, the most inviolable fidelity to the Empire which
should graciously receive them into its bosom. According to the
maxims adopted by Probus and his successor s, the offers of this
barbarian colony were eagerly accepted; and a competent portion
of lands in the provinces of Pannonia, Thrace, Macedonia, and
Italy, were immediately assigned for the habitation and
subsistence of three hundred thousand Sarmatians . 45
Footnote 45: The Gothic and Sarmatian wars are related in so
broken and imperfect a manner, that I have been obliged to
compare the following writers, who mutually supply, correct, and
illustrate each other. Those who will take the same trouble, may
acquire a right of criticizing my narrative. Ammianus, l. xvii.
c. 12. Anonym. Valesian. p. 715. Eutropius, x. 7. Sextus Rufus
de Provinciis, c. 26. Julian Orat. i. p. 9, and Spanheim,
Comment. p. 94. Hieronym. in Chron. Euseb. in Vit. Constantin.
l. iv. c. 6. Socrates, l. i. c. 18. Sozomen, l. i. c. 8.
Zosimus, l. ii. p. 108. Jornandes de Reb. Geticis, c. 22.
Isidorus in Chron. p. 709; in Hist. Gothorum Grotii. Constantin.
Porphyrogenitus de Administrat. Imperii, c. 53, p. 208, edit.
Meursii.
Footnote *: Compare, on this very obscure but remarkable war,
Manso, Leben Coa xantius, p. 195 - M.
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To cite original text:
Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794. The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. (NY : Knopf, 1993), v. 2, pp. 161 - 172 .