The invitation of Narses was followed by a movement similar to that of the Ostrogoths under Theodoric. Alboin marched with all his people, their herds and household goods. The passes of the Alps were purposely left undefended at their approach, and in 568, accompanied by the fragments of many other Germanic tribes who gave up their homes on the Danube, they entered Italy and took immediate possession of all the northern provinces. The city of Pavia, which was strongly fortified, held out against them for four years, and then, on account of its strength and gallant resistance, was chosen by Alboin for its capital. Italy then became the kingdom of the Longobards, and the permanent home of their race, whose name still exists in the province of Lombardy. Only Ravenna, Naples and Genoa were still held by the Eastern Emperors, constituting what was called the Exarchy. Rome was also nominally subject to Constantinople, although the Popes were beginning to assume the government of the city. The young republic of Venice, already organized, was safe on its islands in the Adriatic. The Migrations of the Races, which were really commenced by the Goths when they moved from the Baltic to the Black Sea, but which first became a part of our history in the year 375, terminated with the settlement of the Longobards in Italy. They therefore occupied two centuries, and form a grand and stirring period of transition between the Roman Empire and the Europe of the Middle Ages. With the exception of the invasion of the Huns, and the slow and rather uneventful encroachment of the Slavonic race, these great movements were carried out by the kindred tribes who inhabited the forests of "Germania Magna," in the time of Cæsar. CHAPTER VIII. EUROPE, AT THE END OF THE MIGRATION OF THE RACES. (570.) Extension of the German Races in A. D. 570. --The Longobards. --The Franks. --The Visigoths. --The Saxons in Britain. --The Tribes on German Soil. --The Eastern Empire. --Relation of the Conquerors to the Conquered Races. --Influence of Roman Civilization. --The Priesthood. --Obliteration of German Origin. --Religion. --The Monarchical Element in Government. --The Nobility. --The Cities. --Slavery. --Laws in regard to Crime. --Privileges of the Church. --The Transition Period. [Sidenote: 570. SPREAD OF THE GERMAN RACES.]