and some account of them is given by Ovid, who was exiled to their vicinity, but little is known of them until they came in contact with the Roman armies.  The Getae have little direct interest for us, but as we find associated with them the names of Philip of Macedon, Alexander the Great, and Lysimachus, a few words concerning their connection with those heroes may not be out of place, and will at least serve to fix a period in the history of the people.  Whilst they were still seated on the southern side of the Danube, they are said to have been the allies of Philip in his expedition against the Scythians, and in his contest with the Triballi; but Alexander the Great found them on the northern bank of the river when he undertook the conquest of the Thracian tribes prior to his expedition into Persia.  He is said to have crossed the Danube at a place not clearly defined (B.C. 335), and to have defeated about 10,000 foot and 4,000 horsemen.  These took refuge with their families in a wooden town, from which they were also dislodged, and fleeing to the steppes they escaped from the victorious Greeks.  Now it is that we find the name Getae changed into that of Dacians,[77] and in the events which followed during the reign of Lysimachus they are known by both designations.  After the death of Alexander the Great, Lysimachus inherited Thrace, and subsequently acquired Macedonia and Asia Minor; but in order to secure the first-named territory he found it necessary to cope with barbarian tribes, who formed a coalition against him.  These he defeated; but inasmuch as the Getae or Dacians, under their king (hellenised) Dromichaetes, had co-operated with the barbarians, he undertook an expedition into their country north of the Danube shortly afterwards.  Penetrating to their barren plains, he sustained a defeat, and was captured along with his whole army.  According to certain Greek writers he was treated with great magnanimity by the Dacian king; but all are agreed that the latter only liberated him for a ransom of some kind, either in money or territory.  Paget thinks he secured a large treasure, as many thousands of gold coins have been found, some of them bearing the name of Lysimachus.  ’I am in possession of some of these coins,’ he says, ’and though many were melted down by the Jews in Wallachia, to whom they were conveyed across the frontier in loaves of bread, they are still [1850] very common, and are frequently used by the Transylvanians for signet rings and other ornaments.’[78]

From the time of Lysimachus until about that of Augustus Caesar we hear little or nothing of the Getae or Dacians, and we will therefore pass on to what may be called the Roman period.

[Footnote 77:  Full accounts of the relations, or supposed relations, between the Thracians, the Getae, and the Dacians will be found in Smith, Geog.  Dict., articles ‘Dacia,’ Geography; ‘Thracia,’ p. 325; ‘Moesia,’ p. 677; and ‘Dacia,’ p. 679.  In Dierauer (pp. 63-4 and note 1) and Roesler (chap, i.) everything of interest from the Greek and Roman historians is fully discussed, but the other German, French, and English writers treat the matter with more or less brevity, in some instances dismissing it in a few words.]