He heard it, but he heeded not; his eyes Were with his heart, and that was far away: He recked not of the life he lost nor prize, But where his rude hut by the Danube lay, _There_ were his young barbarians all at play, _There_ was their Dacian mother--be their sire, Butchered to make a Roman holiday. All this rushed with his blood. Shall he expire, And unavenged? Arise, ye Goths, and glut your ire! CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE, iv. 140. He was more Than a mere Alexander, and, unstained With household blood and wine, serenely wore His sovereign virtues--still we Trajan's name adore. CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE, iv. 111. [Illustration: HISTORICAL MAP] CHAPTER IX. FROM THE GETÆ (ABOUT 335 B.C.) TO THE CLOSE OF THE ROMAN DOMINATION IN DACIA TRAJANA (ABOUT A.D. 274). The Getæ; their supposed origin and history--The Dacians; their origin and migrations--Their incursions into the Roman provinces--Their King, 'Decebalus'--His contests with Cornelius Fuscus and Tertius Julianus--Legends regarding him--Domitian pays him tribute--Trajan--His first expedition against the Dacians--His supposed route--The engineering works of the Romans--Defeat and submission of Decebalus--Trajan's triumphal return to Rome--The bas-reliefs on Trajan's Column--Description of the first expedition therefrom--Decebalus breaks the treaty--Trajan's second expedition--Capture and suicide of Longinus--Defeats of the Dacians--Arrival of the Romans before Sarmizegethusa and its destruction by the Dacians--Suicide of Decebalus and his chiefs--Dacia a Roman province--Approximate boundaries--Carra's opinion of the colonists--Hadrian destroys Trajan's bridge--Duration and decline of the Roman power in Dacia--The Goths and Vandals defeat the Emperor Decius--They are beaten by Marcus Aurelius Claudius (called Gothicus)--Permanent withdrawal from Dacia by Aurelian--Conflicting opinions of historians regarding the evacuation--Gibbon's views probably correct--Character of the colonists who remained in Dacia. I.