and of discipline.

Few of

the only ornament of their wooden or osier shields. the chiefs were distinguished by cuirasses, scarce any by helmets. Though the horses of Germany were neither beautiful, swift, nor practised in the skilful evolutions of the Roman manege, several of the nations obtained renown by their cavalry; but, in general, the principal strength of the Germans consisted in their infantry," which was drawn up in several deep columns, according to the distinction of tribes and families. Impatient of fatigue or delay, these half-armed warriors rushed to battle with dissonant shouts and disordered ranks; and sometimes, by the effort of native valor, prevailed over the constrained and more artificial bravery of the Roman mercenaries. But as the barbarians poured forth their whole souls on the first onset, they knew not how to rally or to retire. A repulse was a sure defeat; and a defeat was most commonly total destruction. When we recollect the complete armor of the Roman soldiers, their discipline, exercises, evolutions, fortified camps, and military engines, it appears a just matter of surprise how the naked and unassisted valor of the barbarians could dare to encounter in the field the strength of the legions and the various troops of the auxiliaries which seconded their operations. The contest was too unequal, till the introduction of luxury had enervated the vigor, and a spirit of disobedience and sedition had relaxed the discipline, of the Roman armies. The introduction of barbarian auxiliaries into those armies was a measure attended with very obvious dangers, as it might gradually instruct the Germans in the arts of war and of policy. Although they were admitted in small numbers and with the strictest precaution, the example of Civilis was proper to convince the Romans that the danger was not imaginary, and that their precautions were not always sufficient." During the civil wars that followed the death of

73 It was their principal distinction from the Sarmatians, who generally fought on horseback.

74 The relation of this enterprise occupies a great part of the fourth and fifth books of the History of Tacitus, and is more remarkable for its eloquence than perspicuity. Sir Henry Saville has observed several inaccuracies.

Nero, that artful and intrepid Batavian, whom his enemies condescended to compare with Hannibal and Sertorius," formed a great design of freedom and ambition. Eight Batavian cohorts, renowned in the wars of Britain and Italy, repaired to his standard. He introduced an army of Germans into Gaul, prevailed on the powerful cities of Treves and Langres to embrace his cause, defeated the legions, destroyed their fortified camps, and employed against the Romans the military knowledge which he had acquired in their service. When at length, after an obstinate struggle, he yielded to the power of the empire, Civilis secured himself and his country by an honorable treaty. The Batavians still continued to occupy the islands of the Rhine," the allies, not the servants, of the Roman monarchy.

Civil dissen

many,

II. The strength of ancient Germany appears formidable when we consider the effects that might have been produced by its united effort. The wide extent of country sions of Ger- might very possibly contain a million of warriors, as all who were of age to bear arms were of a temper to use them. But this fierce multitude, incapable of concerting or executing any plan of national greatness, was agitated by various and often hostile intentions. Germany was divided into more than forty independent states; and even in each state the union of the several tribes was extremely loose and precarious. The barbarians were easily provoked; they knew not how to forgive an injury, much less an insult; their resentments were bloody and implacable. The casual disputes that so frequently happened in their tumultuous parties of hunting or drinking were sufficient to inflame the minds of whole nations; the private feud of any considerable chieftains diffused itself among their followers and allies. To chastise the insolent, or to plunder the defenceless, were alike causes of war. The most formidable states of Germany affected to encompass their territories with a wide frontier of

75 Tacit. Hist. iv. 13. Like them, he had lost an eye.

76 It was contained between the two branches of the old Rhine, as they subsisted before the face of the country was changed by art and nature. See Cluver. German. Antiq. 1. iii. ch. 30, 37.

solitude and devastation. The awful distance preserved by their neighbors attested the terror of their arms, and in some measure defended them from the danger of unexpected incursions."

fomented

of Rome.

"The Bructeri" (it is Tacitus who now speaks)" were totally exterminated by the neighboring tribes," provoked by their insolence, allured by the hopes of spoil, and perby the policy haps inspired by the tutelar deities of the empire. Above sixty thousand barbarians were destroyed, not by the Roman arms, but in our sight and for our entertainment. May the nations, enemies of Rome, ever preserve this enmity to each other! We have now attained the utmost verge of prosperity," and have nothing left to demand of fortune except the discord of the barbarians."80 These sentiments, less worthy of the humanity than of the patriotism of Tacitus, express the invariable maxims of the policy of his countrymen. They deemed it a much safer expedient to divide than to combat the barbarians, from whose defeat they could derive neither honor nor advantage. The money and negotiations of Rome insinuated themselves into the heart of Germany, and every art of seduction was used with dignity to conciliate those nations whom their proximity to the Rhine or Danube might render the most useful friends as well as the most troublesome enemies. Chiefs of renown and power were flattered by the most trifling presents, which they received either as marks of distinction or as the instruments of luxury. In civil dissensions the weaker faction endeavored to strengthen its interest by entering into secret connections with the governors of the frontier provinces. Every quarrel among the Germans was fomented by the intrigues of Rome,

77 Cæsar de Bell. Gall. I. vi. 23.

78 They are mentioned, however, in the fourth and fifth centuries by Nazarius, Ammianus, Claudian, etc., as a tribe of Franks. See Cluver. Germ. Antiq. 1. iii.

c. 13.

19 Urgentibus is the common reading, but good-sense, Lipsius, and some MSS. declare for Vergentibus. [The common reading urgentibus gives a good sense:

see Orelli ad loc.-S.]

80 Tacit. Germ. c. 33.

The pious Abbé de la Bleterie is very angry with Taci tus, talks of the devil who was a murderer from the beginning, etc., etc.

and every plan of union and public good was defeated by the stronger bias of private jealousy and interest."1

Transient

Marcus An

The general conspiracy which terrified the Romans under the reign of Marcus Antoninus comprehended almost all the nations of Germany, and even Sarmatia, from the union against mouth of the Rhine to that of the Danube.82 It is toninus. impossible for us to determine whether this hasty confederation was formed by necessity, by reason, or by passion; but we may rest assured that the barbarians were neither allured by the indolence nor provoked by the ambition of the Roman monarch. This dangerous invasion required all the firmness and vigilance of Marcus. He fixed generals of ability in the several stations of attack, and assumed in person the conduct of the most important province on the Upper Danube. After a long and doubtful conflict, the spirit of the barbarians was subdued. The Quadi and the Marcomanni, who had taken the lead in the war, were the most severely 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 sent into Britain, a remote island, where they might be secure

83

84

81 Many traces of this policy may be discovered in Tacitus and Dion; and many more may be inferred from the principles of human nature.

82 Hist. August. p. 31. [Capitol. M. Ant. Phil. c. 22.] Ammian. Marcellin. 1. xxxi. c. 5. Aurel. Victor. [de Cæsar. c. 16]. The Emperor Marcus was reduced to sell the rich furniture of the palace, and to enlist slaves and robbers.

83 The Marcomanni, a colony who, from the banks of the Rhine, occupied Bohemia and Moravia, had once erected a great and formidable monarchy under their king Maroboduus. See Strabo, 1. vii. [p. 290]. Vell. Pat. ii. 108. Tacit. Annal. ii. 63.a

84 Mr. Wotton (History of Rome, p. 166) increases the prohibition to ten times the distance. His reasoning is specious, but not conclusive. Five miles were sufficient for a fortified barrier.

a The name Marc-o-manni, the March-men or borderers, appears to have been given to different tribes on the different marches or confines of Germany, and not to have been the name of one and the same people. Since there were Marcomanni in the army of Ariovistus on the Rhine (Cæs. Bell. Gall. i. c. 51), it was inferred, as Gibbon has stated in his note, that the Marcomanni of Maroboduus were a colony from the Marcomanni on the Rhine; but there may have been no connection between them, the Marcomanni of Ariovistus being the Marchmen of the Gallic march, and the Marcomanni of Maroboduus being the Marchmen of the RhætoPannonian march. See Latham, The Germania of Tacitus, Proleg. p. liii. seq.—S.

as hostages and useful as soldiers. On the frequent rebellions of the Quadi and Marcomanni, the irritated emperor resolved to reduce their country into the form of a province. His designs were disappointed by death. This formidable league, however, the only one that appears in the two first centuries of the imperial history, was entirely dissipated without leaving any traces behind in Germany.

Distinction of the German tribes.

In the course of this introductory chapter we have confined ourselves to the general outlines of the manners of Germany, without attempting to describe or to distinguish the various tribes which filled that great country in the time of Cæsar, of Tacitus, or of Ptolemy. As the ancient, or as new tribes successively present themselves in the series of this history, we shall concisely mention their origin, their situation, and their particular character. Modern nations are fixed and permanent societies, connected among themselves by laws and government, bound to their native soil by arts and agriculture. The German tribes were voluntary and fluctuating associations of soldiers, almost of savages. The same territory often changed its inhabitants in the tide of conquest and emigration. The same communities, uniting in a plan of defence or invasion, bestowed a new title on their new confederacy. The dissolution of an ancient confederacy restored to the independent tribes their peculiar but long-forgotten appellation. A victorious state often communicated its own name to a vanquished people. Sometimes crowds of volunteers flocked from all parts to the standard of a favorite leader; his camp became their country, and some circumstance of the enterprise soon gave a common denomination to the mixed multitude. The distinctions of the fe rocious invaders were perpetually varied by themselves, and confounded by the astonished subjects of the Roman empire."

Wars and the administration of public affairs are the prin cipal subjects of history; but the number of persons inter

85 Dion, 1. lxxi. [c. 11 seq.] lxxii. [c. 2].

86 See an excellent dissertation on the origin and migrations of nations, in the Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions, tom. xviii. p. 48-71. It is seldom that the antiquarian and the philosopher are so happily blended,