IX. CHAP. with a wide frontier of folitude and devaftation. The awful distance preferved by their neighbours, attefted the terror of their arms, and in fome measure defended them from the danger of unexpected incurfions fomented by the policy of Rome, دو دو 77 The Bructeri (it is Tacitus who now speaks) ,, were totally exterminated by the neighbouring tribes " provoked by their infolence, allured by the hopes of spoil, and perhaps inspired by the tutelar deities of the empire. Above fixty ,, thousand barbarians were deftroyed; not by the Roman arms, but in our fight, and for ,, our entertainment. May the nations, enemies of Rome, ever preferve this enmity to each other! We have now attained the utmost verge ❞ of profperity "9, and have nothing left to demand - » of Fortune, except the difcord of thefe barba دو رو دو دو 79 rians." These fentiments, lefs worthy of the humanity than of the patriotifm of Tacitus, exprefs the invariable maxims of the policy of his countrymen. They deemed it a much safer expedient to divide than to combat the barbarians, from whofe defeat they could derive neither honour nor advantage. The money and negociations of Rome infinuated themselves into the heart of Germany; and every art of feduction was used with dignity, to conciliate thofe nations whom their proximity to the Rhine or Danube might render the moft ufeful friends, as well as the moft troublesome enemies. Chiefs of renown and power were flattered by the most trifling prefents, which they received either as marks of diftinction, or as the inftruments of luxury. In civil diffentions the weaker faction endeavoured to ftrengthen its intereft by entering into fecret connexions with the governors of the frontier provinces. Every quarrel among the Germans was fomented by the intrigues of Rome; and every plan of union and public good was defeated by the stronger bias of private jealousy and intereft ". 82 CHAP IX. union a gainft nus. The general confpiracy which terrified the Tranfient Romans under the reign of Marcus Antoninus, comprehended almost all the nations of Germany, Marcus and even Sarmatia, from the mouth of the Rhine Antoni to that of the Danube ". It is impoffible for us to determine whether this hafty confederation was formed by neceffity, by reafon, or by paffion; but we may reft affured, that the barbarians were neither allured by the indolence, nor provoked by the ambition, of the Roman monarch. This dangerous invafion required all the firmnefs and vigilance of Marcus. He fixed generals of ability in the feveral ftations of attack, and affumed in perfon the conduct of the most important province on the Upper Danube. After a long and doubtful conflict, the fpirit of the barbarians was fubdued. The Quadi and the Marcomanni "3 who had taken the lead in the war, were the moft feverely punished in its catastrophe. They were commanded to retire five miles from their own banks of the Danube, and to deliver up the flower of the youth, who were immediately fent into Britain, a remote island, where they might be fecure as hoftages, and useful as foldiers ". On the frequent 84 83 SOFIAVIER RAS O MADRID CHAP IX. Diftinction of the Ger man tribes. rebellions of the Quadi and Marcomanni, the irritated emperor refolved to reduce their country into the form of a province. His defigns were disappointed by death. This formidable league, however, the only one that appears in the two first centuries of the Imperial history, was entirely diffipated, without leaving any traces behind in Germany. In the course of this introductory chapter, we have confined ourselves to the general outlines of the manners of Germany, without attempting to defcribe or to diftinguish the various tribes which filled that great country in the time of Cæfar, of Tacitus, or of Ptolemy. As the ancient, or as new tribes fucceffively present themselves in the series of this hiftory, we shall concisely mention their origin, their fituation, and their particular character. Modern nations are fixed and permanent focieties, connected among themselves by laws and government, bound to their native foil by arts and agriculture. The German tribes were voluntary and fluctuating affociations of foldiers, almost of favages. The fame territory often changed its inhabitans in the tide of conqueft and emigration. The fame communities uniting in a plan of defence or invafion, bestowed a new title on their new confederacy. The dif folution of an ancient confederacy restored to the independent tribes their peculiar but long forgotten appellation. A victorious ftate often communicated its own name to a vanquished people. Sometimes crowds of volunteers flocked from all parts to the ftandard of a favourite leader; his camp became their country, and fome circumstance of the enterprise foon gave a common denomination to the mixed multitude. The diftinctions of the ferocious invaders were perpetually varied by themselves, and confounded by the aftonished fubjects of the Roman empire 86 СНАР. IX. Wars, and the administration of public affairs, Numbers. are the principal fubjects of hiftory; but the number of perfons interested in these busy scenes, is very different, according to the different condition of mankind. In great monarchies, millions of obedient fubjects pursue their useful occupations in peace and obfcurity. The attention of the Writer, as well as of the Reader, is folely confined to a court, a capital, a regular army, and the districts which happen to be the occafional scene of military operations. But a ftate of freedom and barbarifm, the feafon of civil commotions, or the fituation of petty republics", raises almost every member of the community into action, and confequently into notice. The irregular divifions, and the restless motions, of the people of Germany, dazzle our imagination, and feem to multiply their numbers. The profufe enumeration of kings and warriors, of armies and nations, inclines us to forget that the fame objects are continually repeated under a variety of appellations, and that the most splendid appellations have been frequently lavished on the most inconfiderable objects. СНАР. The nature ject. A. D. 248 268. СНАР. Х. The Emperors Decius, Gallus, Æmilianus, Valerian. and Gallienus. The general Irruption of the Barbarians. The thirty Tyrants. FROM the great fecular games celebrated by Philip, to the death of the emperor Gallienus, of the fub- there elapfed twenty years of shame and misfortune. During that calamitous period, every instant of time was marked, every province of the Roman world was afflicted, by barbarous invaders and military tyrants, and the ruined empire feemed to approach the last and fatal moment of its diffolution. The confufion of the times, and the fcarcity of authentic memorials, oppose equal difficulties to the hiftorian, who attempts to preferve a clear and unbroken thread of narration. Surrounded with imperfect fragments, always concife, often obfcure, and fometimes contradictory, he is reduced to collect, to compare, and to conjecture: and though he ought never to place his conjectures in the rank of facts, yet the knowledge of human nature, and of the fure operation of its fierce and unrestrained paffions, might, on fome occafions, fupply the want of hiftorical materials. The empe There is not, for instance, any difficulty in For Philip. conceiving, that the fucceffive murders of fo many emperors had loofened all the ties of allegiance between the prince and people; that all the generals of Philip were difpofed to imitate the example of their |