a warlike German tribe, whose territories were situated between the Danube, the Bohemian mountains, and the River Marus. They make their first appearance in history in the first century as formidable foes of the Romans. Their bodies were covered with mail, consisting of plates of horn; their weapons were long spears; and each man had three swift horses for his use in battle. Thus equipped, they commenced the practice of making rapid and sweeping raids into Pannonia, Moesia, and other neighbouring provinces. Sometimes they routed the imperial forces which tried to check their inroads. At all times they returned home with their predatory spirit unbroken. No reverses, in fact, however frequent, could daunt those wild border troopers of the Danube. The emperors Marcus Aurelius, Probus, Carus, and Valentinian I., defeated them without subduing or crushing them. The last glimpse that we get of them in history shows them in company with other barbaric hordes, in 407, overrunning Gaul, and revelling in boundless havoc and slaughter.