ilva, in Ancient Geography, a forest situated between the Rauraci and the Danube, before it comes to be navigable; a part of the Hercynia. Now Schwartzwald, or Black Forest, in the south-west of Swabia, near the rise of the Danube and Neckar.

MARCIANUS, a native of Thrace, born of an obscure family. After he had for some time served in the army as a common soldier, he was made private secretary to one of the officers of Theodosius. His winning address and uncommon talents raised him to higher stations; and on the death of Theodosius II. A.D. 450, he was invested with the imperial purple in the east. The subjects of the Roman empire had reason to be satisfied with their choice. Marcianus showed himself active and resolute; and when Attila, the barbarous king of the Huns, asked the emperor the annual tribute, which the indolence and cowardice of his predecessors had regularly paid, the successor of Theodosius firmly said, that he kept his gold for his friends, but that iron was the metal which he had prepared for his enemies. In the midst of universal popularity, Marcianus died, after a reign of six years, in the 69th year of his age, as he was making warlike preparations against the barbarians that had invaded Africa. His death was long lamented; and indeed his merit was great, since his reign has been distinguished by the appellation of the Golden Age. Marcianus married Pulcheria the sister of his predecessor. It is said, that in the years of his obscurity he found a man who had been murdered, and that he had the humanity to give him a private burial; for which circumstance he was accused of the homicide, and imprisoned. He was condemned to lose his life; and the sentence would have been executed, had not the real murderer been discovered, and convinced the world of the innocence of Marcianus.

Another emperor of the Marcionites east, A.D. 479, &c.