beyond the _Danube_; from whence _Odoacer_ then carried his people into
_Italy_. _Tato_ overthrew the kingdom of the _Heruli_ beyond the _Danube_.
_Wacho_ conquered the _Suevians_, a kingdom then bounded on the east by
_Bavaria_, on the west by _France_, and on the south by the _Burgundians_.
_Audoin_ returned into _Pannonia_ A.C. 526, and there overcame the
_Gepides_. _Alboin_ A.C. 551 overthrew the kingdom of the _Gepides_, and
slew their King _Chunnimund_: A.C. 563 he assisted the _Greek_ Emperor
against _Totila_ King of the _Ostrogoths_ in _Italy_; and A.C. 568 led his
people out of _Pannonia_ into _Lombardy_, where they reigned till the year
774.

According to _Paulus Diaconus_, the _Lombards_ with many other _Gothic_
nations came into the Empire from beyond the _Danube_ in the reign of
_Arcadius_ and _Honorius_, that is, between the years 395 and 408. But they
might come in a little earlier: for we are told that the _Lombards_, under
their captains _Ibor_ and _Ayon_, beat the _Vandals_ in battle; and
_Prosper_ placeth this victory in the Consulship of _Ausonius_ and
_Olybrius_, that is, A.C. 379. Before this war the _Vandals_ had remained
quiet forty years in the seats granted them in _Pannonia_ by _Constantine_
the great. And therefore if these were the same _Vandals_, this war must
have been in _Pannonia_; and might be occasioned by the coming of the
_Lombards_ over the _Danube_ into _Pannonia_, a year or two before the
battle; and so have put an end to that quiet which had lasted forty years.
After _Gratian_ and _Theodosius_ had quieted the _Barbarians_, they might
either retire over the _Danube_, or continue quiet under the _Romans_ till
the death of _Theodosius_; and then either invade the Empire anew, or throw
off all subjection to it. By their wars, first with the _Vandals_, and then
with the _Bulgarians_, a _Scythian_ nation so called from the river _Volga_
whence they came; it appears that even in those days they were a kingdom
not contemptible.