VIII. and max taxerxes, forms a memorable era in the history of the East, CHAP. and even in that of Rome. His character seems to have been marked by those bold and com- Character manding features, that generally distinguish the ims of Arprinces who conquer, from those who inherit, an A. D. 240 empire. Till the last period of the Persian monarchy, his code of laws was respected as the ground-work of their civil and religious policy." Several of his sayings are preserved. One of them in particular discovers a deep insight into the constitution of government. "The autho rity of the prince," said Artaxerxes, “must "be defended by a military force; that force can only be maintained by taxes; all taxes "must at last, fall upon agriculture; and agri"culture can never flourish except under the protection of justice and moderation." Artaxerxes bequeathed. his new empire, and his ambitious designs against the Romans, to Sapor, a son not unworthy of his great father; but those designs were too extensive for the power of Persia, and served only to involve both nations in a long series of destructive wars and reciprocal calamities. power of The Persians, long since civilized and cor- Military rupted, were very far from possessing the mar- the Pertial independence, and the intrepid hardiness, sians. Eutychius, tom. ii, p. 180, vers. Pocock. The great Chosroes Noushirwan sent the code of Artaxerxes to all his satraps, as the inva riable rule of their conduct. 'D'Herbelot Bibliotheque Orientale, au mot Ardshir. We may observe, that after an ancient period of fables, and a long interval of darkness, the modern histories of Persia begin to assume an air of truth with the dynasty of the Sassanides. .... VIII. CHAP. both of mind and body, which have rendered the northern barbarians masters of the world. The science of war, that constituted the more rational force of Greece and Rome, as it now does of Europe, never made any considerable progress in the East. Those disciplined evolutions which harmonize and animate a confused multitude, were unknown to the Persians. They were equally unskilled in the arts of constructing, besieging, or defending regular fortifications. They trusted more to their numbers than to their courage; more to their courage than to their disTheir in- cipline. The infantry was a half-armed spirittemptible. less crowd of peasants, levied in haste by the allurements of plunder, and as easily dispersed by a victory as by a defeat. The monarch and his nobles transported into the camp the pride and luxury of the seraglio. Their military operations were impeded by a useless train of women, eunuchs, horses, and camels; and in the midst of a successful campaign, the Persian host was often separated or destroyed by an unexpected famine.* fantry con Their ca cellent, But the nobles of Persia, in the bosom of luxalry ex- ury and despotism, preserved a strong sense of personal gallantry and national honour. From the age of seven years they were taught to speak truth, to shoot with the bow, and to ride; and it was universally confessed, that in the two last of these arts, they had made a more than com * Herodian, l. vi, p 214. Ammianus Marcellinus, 1. xxiii, c. 6. Some differences may be observed between the two historians, the natural effects of the changes produced by a century and a half. VIII. mon proficiency.' The most distinguished CHAP. youth were educated under the monarch's eye, practised their exercises in the gate of his palace, and were severely trained up to the habits. of temperance and obedience, in their long and laborious parties of hunting. In every province, the satrap maintained a like school of military virtue. The Persian nobles (so natural is the idea of feudal tenures) received from the king's bounty lands and houses, on the condition of their service in war. They were ready on the first summons to mount on horseback, with a martial and splendid train of followers, and to join the numerous bodies of guards, who were carefully selected from amongst the most robust slaves, and the bravest adventurers of Asia. These armies, both of light and of heavy cavalry, equally formidable by the impetuosity of their charge, and the rapidity of their motions, threatened, as an impending cloud, the eastern provinces of the declining empire of Rome.m The Persians are still the most skilful horseman, and their horses the finest in the East. m From Herodotus, Xenophon, Herodian, Ammianus, Chadrin, &c. I have extracted such probable accounts of the Persian nobility, as seem either common to every age, or particular to that of the Sassanides. IX. CHAP. IX. The state of Germany till the invasion of the barbarians, in the time of the emperor Decius. CHAP. THE government and religion of Persia have deserved some notice, from their connection with the decline and fall of the Roman empire. We shall occasionally mention the Scythian, or Sarmatian tribes, which, with their arms and horses, their flocks and herds, their wives and families, wandered over the immense plains which spread themselves from the Caspian sea to the Vistula, from the confines of Persia to those of Germany. But the warlike Germans, who first resisted, then invaded, and at length overturned, the western monarchy of Rome, will occupy a much more important place in this history, and possess a stronger, and, if we may use the expression, a more domestic, claim to our attention and regard. The most civilized nations of modern Europe issued from the woods of Germany; and in the rude institutions of those barbarians we may still distinguish the original principles of our present laws and manners. In their primitive state of simplicity and independence, the Germans were surveyed by the discerning eye, and delineated by the masterly pencil, of Tacitus, the first of historians who applied the science of philosophy to the study of facts. The expressive conciseness of his descriptions has deserved to ex IX. ercise the diligence of innumerable antiquarians, CHAP. and to excite the genius and penetration of the philosophic historians of our own times. The subject, however various and important, has already been so frequently, so ably, and so successfully discussed, that it is now grown familiar to the reader, and difficult to the writer. We shall therefore content ourselves with observing, and indeed with repeating, some of the 'most important circumstances of climate, of manners, and of institutions, which rendered the wild barbarians of Germany such formidable enemies to the Roman power. Ancient Germany, excluding from its inde- Extent of Germany pendent limits the province westward of the Rhine, which had submitted to the Roman yoke, extended itself over a third part of Europe. Almost the whole of modern Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Livonia, Prussia, and the greater part of Poland, were peopled by the various tribes of one great nation, whose complexion, manners, and language denoted a common origin, and preserved a striking resem blance. On the west, ancient Germany was divided by the Rhine from the Gallic, and on the south, by the Danube, from the Illyrian provinces of the empire. A ridge of hills, rising from the Danube, and called the Carpathian mountains, covered Germany on the side of Dacia or Hungary. The eastern frontier was faintly marked by the mutual fears of the Germans and the Sarmatians, and was often confounded by the mixture of warring and confederating tribes of the two nations. In the re |