. Rome : its rise and fall ; a text-book for high schools and colleges. be ( 376). — The year 8 The frequent inroads of the barbarians into the provinces causedthe Roman towns to assume a new aspect. In the time of the Anto-nines (par. 228) they were in many cases without walls, and presenteda straggling and country-like appearance; now they are surroundedwith strong walls, and the houses necessarily are crowded together onnarrow, ill-ventilated streets. These are the prototypes of the mediaevaltowns. See Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the WesternEmpire, p. 147. 4i8 ROME AS AN
. Rome : its rise and fall ; a text-book for high schools and colleges. be ( 376). — The year 8 The frequent inroads of the barbarians into the provinces causedthe Roman towns to assume a new aspect. In the time of the Anto-nines (par. 228) they were in many cases without walls, and presenteda straggling and country-like appearance; now they are surroundedwith strong walls, and the houses necessarily are crowded together onnarrow, ill-ventilated streets. These are the prototypes of the mediaevaltowns. See Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the WesternEmpire, p. 147. 4i8 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. following the death of Valentinian, an event of the greatestimportance occurred in the East. The Visigoths (WesternGoths) dwelling north of the Lower Danube, who had oftenin hostile bands crossed that river to war against the Romanemperors, now appeared as suppliants in vast multitudesupon its banks. They said that a terrible race, whom theywere powerless to withstand, had invaded their territories,and spared neither their homes nor their lives. They begged. Roman Signal-Towers, Sentries and Storehouse onthe Danube. (Relief on Trajans Column.) permission of the Romans to cross the river and settle inThrace, and promised, should this request be granted, ever toremain the grateful and firm allies of the Roman state. Valens, it is said, consented to grant their petition oncondition that they should surrender their arms, give uptheir children as hostages, and all be baptized in theChristian Their terror and despair led them to 1 It is somewhat doubtful whether this last condition was really apart of the agreement. THE LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE. 410 assent to these conditions. So the entire nation, number-ing about one million souls, — counting men, women, andchildren, — were allowed to cross the river. Several daysand nights were consumed in the transport of the vast mul-titudes. The writers of the times liken the passage to thatof the Hellespont by the hosts
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