That they forced their way down, wave after wave, on what would have
been the line of least resistance--the Marches between the Gauls,
Romanized or otherwise, and the Sclavonians. And that the Alps and
the solid front of the Roman Empire turned them to the East, till
their vanguard found itself on the Danube.

This would agree with Dr. Latham's most valuable hint, that Markmen,
'Men of the Marches,' was perhaps the name of many German tribes
successively.

That they fought, as they went, with the Sclavonian and other tribes
(as their traditions seem to report), and rolled them back to the
eastward; and that as each Teutonic tribe past down the line, the
Sclavonians rolled back again, till the last column was past.

That the Teutons also carried down with them, as slaves or allies, a
portion of this old Sclavonic population (to which Dr. Latham will
perhaps agree); and that this fact caused a hiatus, which was
gradually filled by tribes who after all were little better than
nomad hunters, and would occupy (quite nominally) a very large tract
with a small population.

Would not this theory agree at once tolerably with the old traditions
and with Dr. Latham's new facts?

The question still remains--which is the question of all. What put
these Germanic peoples on going South? Were there no causes
sufficient to excite so desperate a resolve?