Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 19, Scripture-SUG

SPA [ 494 ] SPA
Spain, have addreffed thetf letter?j their ambafTadors, and their
hoftages, to the throne of the wefte'rn emperor, exhort¬
ing him to remain a tranquil fpedlator of their conteft j
the events of which muft be favourable to the Romans,
by the mutual {laughter of their common enemies. The
Spanilh war was obilinately fupported, during three
campaigns, with defperate -valour, and various fuccels ;
and the martial achievements of Wallra diffufed through
the empire the luperiorrenown of the Gothic hero. He
exterminated the Silingi, who had irretrievably ruined
the elegant plenty of the province of Bostick. He flew
in battle the king of the Alani; and the remains of
thofe Scythian wanderers, who efcaped from the field,
inftead of choofing a new leader, humbly fought a re¬
fuge under the ftandard of the Vandals, with whom
they were ever afterwards confounded. The Vandals
themfelves, and the Suevi, yielded to the efforts of the
invincible Goths. The promifeuous multitude of bar¬
barians, whofe retreat had been intercepted, Were driven
into the mountains of Gallicia, where they ftill conti¬
nued, in a narrow compafs, and on a barren foil, to ex-
ercife their domeftic and implacable hoftilities. In the
pride of viftory, Wallia was faithful to his engage¬
ments 5 he reffored his Spanrfh conquefis to the obedi¬
ence of Htmorius 5 and the tyranny of the imperial offi¬
cers foon reduced an opprefled people to regret the time
of their barbarian fervitude. While the event of the
war was ftill doubtful, the firft advantages obtained by
the arms of Wallia, had encouraged the Court of Ra¬
venna to decree the hoiTours of a triumph to their feeble
fovereign. He entered Rome like the ancient conquer¬
ors of nations 5 and if the monuments of fervile corrup¬
tion had not long lince met with the fate which they
deferved, we fliouid probably find that a crowd of poets,
and orators, of magiftrates and biffiops, applauded the
fortune, the wifdom, and the invincible courage, of the
emperor Honorius.
An. 428. After the retreat of the Goths, the authority of Ho¬
norius had obtained a precarious eftablifliment in Spain j
except only in the province of Gallicia, where the Suevi
and the Vandals had fortified their camps, in mutual
difeord, and hoftile independence. The Vandals pre¬
vailed j and their adverfaries were befieged in the Ner-
vafean hills, between Leon and Oviedo, till the ap¬
proach of Count Afterius compelled, or rather provoked,
the viftorious barbarians to remove the feene of the war
to the plains of Bsetica. The rapid prOgrefs of the
Vandals foon required a more effeiRual oppofition *, and
the mafter-general Coftinus marched againft them with
a numerous army of Romans and Goths. Vahquiffied
in battle by an inferior enemy, Coflinus fled with difho-
nour to Tarragona ; and this memorable defeat, which
has been reprefented as the puniffiment, was moft pro¬
bably the effeift, of his raffi prefumption. Seville and
Carthagena became the reward, or rather the prey, of
the ferocious conquerors *, and the veffels which they
found in the harbour of Carthagena, might eafily tranf-
port them to the ifles of Majorca and Minorca, where
the Spanifh fugitives, as in a fecure recefs, had vainly
concealed their families and their fortunes. The expe¬
rience of navigation, and perhaps the profpeft of Africa,
encouraged the Vandals to accept the invitation which
they received from Count Boniface 5 and the death of
Gonderic ferved only to forward and animate the bold
-enterprife. In the room of a prince, ftot confpicuous
2
for any fuperior powers of the mind or body, they ac- Spain,
quired his baflard brother, the terrible Genferic ; a ~ V'*'
name which, in the deftruftion of the Roman empire,
has deferved an equal rank with the names of Alaric
and Attila. Almoft in the moment of his departure he
was informed, that Hermanric, king of the Suevi, had
prefumed to ravage the Spaniflr territories, which he
was refolved to abandon. Impatient of the infolt, Gen¬
feric purfiied the hafty retreat of the Suevi as far as Me¬
rida ; precipitated the king and his army into the river
Anas, and calmly returned to the fea {here, to embark
his victorious troops. The veffels which tranfported the
Vandals over the modern ftraits of Gibraltar, a channel
only twelve miles in breadth, were furnifhed by the Spa¬
niards, who anxioufly wiflied their departure ; and by
the African general, who had implored their formidable
affiffance.
When Theodoric king of the Vifigoths encouraged An, ^
Avitus to affume the purple, he offered his perfon and
his forces, as a faithful foldier of the republic. The ex¬
ploits of Theodoric foon convinced the world, that he
had not degenerated from the warlike virtues of his an-
ceffors. After the eftabliffiment of the Goths in Aqui-
tain, and the paffage of the Vandals into Africa, the
Suevi who had fixed their kingdom in Gallicia, afpired
to the conqueft of Spain, and threatened to extinguifh
the feeble remains of the Roman dominion. The pro¬
vincials off Carthagena and Tarragona, affiifted by an
hoftile invafion, reprefented their injuries and their ap-
prehenfions. Count Fronto was difpatchcd, in the name
of the emperor Avitus, with advantageous offers of
peace and alliance ; and Theodoric interpofed his
weighty mediation, to declare that, unlefs his brother-
in-law, the king of the Suevi, immediately retired, he
fhould be obliged io arm in the caufe of juft iee and of
Rome. “ Tell him,’* replied the haughty Rechiarius,
“ that I defpife his friendffiip and his arms 5 but that 1
{hall foon try, whether he will dare to expeCt my arri¬
val under the walls of Tbouloufe.” Such a challenge
urged Theodoric to prevent the bold defigns of his ene¬
my : He paffed the Pyrenees at the head of the Vifi¬
goths ; the Franks and Burgundians ferved under his
ilandard ; and though he profeffed himfelf the dutiful
fervant of Avitus, he privately ftipulated, for himfelf
and his fucceffors, the abffilute poffeffion of his Spanilh
conquefts. The two armies, or rather the tw'o nations,
encountered each other on the banks of the river Urbi-
cus, about i 2 miles from Aftorga •, and the decifive vic¬
tory of the Goths appeared for a while to have extirpa¬
ted the name and kingdom of the Suevi. From the field
bf battle Theodoric advanced to Braga, their metropo¬
lis, which ftill retained the fplendid veftiges of its an¬
cient commerce and dignity. His entrance was not pol¬
luted Avith blood, and the Goths refpedfed the chaftity
bf their female captives, more efpecially of the confe-
crated virgins } but the greateft part of the clergy and
people Were made flaves, and even the churches and al¬
tars were confounded in the univerfal pillage. The un¬
fortunate king of the Suevi. had efcaped to one of the
ports of the ocean ; but the obftinacy of the winds op-
pofed his flight ; he was delivered to his implacable ri¬
val •, and Rcchiarius, who neither defired nor experied
mercy, received, with manly conftancy, the death winch
he would probably have inflidled. After this bloody
facrifice to poliev or refentment, Theodoric carried his
1 .. victorious