Editing Battle of Naissus (section)

==Aftermath==
A large number of Goths managed to escape towards Macedonia, initially defending themselves behind their [[laager]]. Soon, many of them and their pack animals, distressed as they were by the harassment of the Roman cavalry and the lack of provisions, died of hunger. The Roman army methodically pursued and surrounded the survivors at [[Balkan Mountains|Mount Haemus]] where an epidemic affected the entrapped Goths.<ref>Zosimus, 1.45</ref> After a bloody but inconclusive battle, they escaped but were pursued again until they surrendered. Prisoners were admitted to the army or given land to cultivate and become [[Colonus (person)|coloni]]. The members of the pirate fleet, after the failed attacks on Crete and Rhodes, retreated and many of them suffered a similar end.<ref>John Bray, p.282. See Zosimus, 1.46</ref> However the plague also affected the pursuing Romans and Emperor Claudius, who died from it in 270.<ref>G. Syncellus, p.720</ref>

The psychological impact of this victory was so strong that Claudius became known to posterity as Claudius II ''Gothicus Maximus'' ("conqueror of the Goths"). However devastating the defeat, the battle did not entirely break the military strength of the Gothic tribes.<ref>Alaric Watson, p.216</ref> Besides, the troubles with [[Zenobia]] in the east and the breakaway [[Gallic Empire]] in the West were so urgent that the victory at Naissus could only serve as a temporary relief for the troubled Empire. In 271, after Aurelian repelled another Gothic invasion, he abandoned the province of [[Dacia]] north of the Danube in order to rationalize the defense of the Empire.<ref>David S. Potter, p.270</ref>