same time making threats in case they did not fulfil his
wish. The Goths spurned this alliance and brought his
embassy to naught. Inflamed with anger because his
offer had been rejected, he led an army of seven hundred
thousand armed men against them and sought to avenge
his wounded feelings by inflicting a public injury. Crossing
on boats covered with boards and joined like a bridge
almost the whole way from Chalcedon to Byzantium, he
started for Thrace and Moesia. Later he built a bridge
over the Danube in like manner, but he was wearied by
two brief months of effort and lost eight thousand armed
men among the Tapae. Then, fearing the bridge over the
Danube would be seized by his foes, he marched back to
Thrace in swift retreat, believing the land of Moesia
would not be safe for even a short sojourn there.

[Sidenote: Xerxes B.C. 485-465]

After his death, his son Xerxes planned to avenge his 64
father's wrongs and so proceeded to undertake a war
against the Goths with seven hundred thousand of his
own men and three hundred thousand armed auxiliaries,
twelve hundred ships of war and three thousand transports.
But he did not venture to try them in battle, being
overawed by their unyielding animosity. So he returned
with his force just as he had come, and without righting
a single battle.

[Sidenote: Philip of Macedon B.C. 359-336]