At the death of Valentinian in 375, Gratian was seventeen years of age, and really able to hold the reins of government. During the first years of his reign, his rule was all that one could wish; for he behaved with justice and lenity, and allowed of religious freedom. Taking possession of Italy and the West, he left the East to his uncle Valens, upon whom there soon fell a fearful visitation. The Goths, who since the days of Claudius and Aurelian had settled in Dacia, invaded the Roman empire under Hermanric, whose memory has been handed down in the Heldenbuch, and in the Icelandic Sagas.—The lay of the Nibelungen is originally Gothic, from which language it has been paraphrased.—Whether Hermanric belongs to the time in which Jornandes places him, is a question hard to answer; I for my part rather believe him to have been much earlier: but an historical person he is. In short, there was once upon a time a great Gothic empire in the South-east of Europe, which was destroyed by the Huns. I am likewise convinced that De Guigne’s idea of the early history of the Huns is incorrect: they were a powerful nomadic people of Mongolian race, quite distinct from the Southern Asiatics and the Europæans; and they make their appearance like the other nations of the tablelands of Upper Asia. The Goths were divided into three tribes, the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths, and the Gepidæ. They were anything but uncivilized, and as a people they had been Christians much sooner than the inhabitants of the Roman empire: when they overran it, the great majority of them had already embraced Christianity. It is now certain that the Huns, from reasons which are unknown to us, pushed their way to the Danube, driving the Goths before them. Among the latter, the Visigoths were the most numerous: they had a national civilization of their own, and already possessed an alphabet invented for them by Ulphilas. Being unable to resist the Huns, they in their distress now besought the Romans, with whom they had long been at peace, to harbour them within their empire. It would then undoubtedly have been the true policy of the Romans, to put forth all their strength to keep the Visigoths as they were, by fighting for them in their own country: but this was not thought of at all, the only question being, whether they should be received or not. They were admitted, though on condition that they should lay down their arms and disperse themselves throughout the empire. But this proved to be impossible. The fear of the Huns driving them onwards, they threw themselves into skiffs and on rafts, caring only to get over; and on the other hand, the Romans who had been stationed to receive them, were not sufficient for the duty, and moreover were guilty of much dishonesty: for they allowed themselves to be bribed to let the barbarians keep their arms. Nothing was done that ought to have been done, and everything was done that ought not to have been done. The Goths were not