[Sidenote: Decius A.D. 249-251]

[Sidenote: Capture of Philippopolis A.D. 250]

[Sidenote: Death of Decius at Abrittus A.D. 251]

XVIII After his death, Cniva divided the army into 101
two parts and sent some to waste Moesia, knowing that it
was undefended through the neglect of the emperors.
He himself with seventy thousand men hastened to
Euscia, that is, Novae. When driven from this place by
the general Gallus, he approached Nicopolis, a very famous
town situated near the Iatrus river. This city
Trajan built when he conquered the Sarmatians and
named it the City of Victory. When the Emperor Decius
drew near, Cniva at last withdrew to the regions of
Haemus, which were not far distant. Thence he hastened
to Philippopolis, with his forces in good array. When 102
the Emperor Decius learned of his departure, he was
eager to bring relief to his own city and, crossing Mount
Haemus, came to Beroa. While he was resting his horses
and his weary army in that place, all at once Cniva and
his Goths fell upon him like a thunderbolt. He cut the
Roman army to pieces and drove the Emperor, with a
few who had succeeded in escaping, across the Alps again
to Euscia in Moesia, where Gallus was then stationed
with a large force of soldiers as guardian of the frontier.
Collecting an army from this region as well as from
Oescus, he prepared for the conflict of the coming war.