CHAPTER XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople .-- Part V.
The introduction of Barbarians into the Roman armies became every day more universal, more necessary, and more fatal.

The most daring of the Scythians, of the Goths, and of the Germans, who delighted in war, and who found it more profitable to defend than to ravage the provinces, were enrolled, not only in the auxiliaries of their respective nations, but in the legions themselves, and among the most distinguished of the Palatine troops.

As they freely mingled with the subjects of the empire, they gradually learned to despise their manners, and to imitate their arts.

They abjured the implicit reverence which the pride of Rome had exacted from their ignorance, while they acquired the knowledge and possession of those advantages by which alone she supported her declining greatness.

The Barbarian soldiers, who displayed any military talents, were advanced, without exception, to the most important commands; and the names of the tribunes, of the counts and dukes, and of the generals themselves, betray a foreign origin, which they no longer condescended to disguise.