XI. CHAP. 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 fafer 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 themfelves into the heart of Germany; and every art of feduction was used with dignity, to conciliate those nations whom their proximity to the Rhine or Danube might render the moft ufeful friends, as well as the most troublefome enemies. Chiefs of renown and power were flattered by the moft trifling presents, which they received either as marks of diftinction, or as the inftruments of luxury. In civil diffenfions 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 ftronger bias of private jealousy and intereft $1. Tranfient union 81 The general confpiracy which terrified the Romans under the reign of Marcus Antoninus, comprehended almost all the nations of Germany, Antoninus. and even Sarmatia, from the mouth of the Rhine againft Marcus 8 Many traces of this policy may be discovered in Tacitus and Dion; and many more may be inferred from the principles of human nature. to IX. to that of the Danube. It is impoffible for CHA P. 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, or provoked by the ambition, of the Roman monarch. This dangerous invafion required all the firmness and vigilance of Marcus. He fixed generals of ability in the feveral stations 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 Marcomannis, 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 fent into Britain, a remote island, where they might be fecure as hoftages, and useful as foldiers. On the frequent rebellions of the Quadi and Marcomanni, the irritated Emperor refolved to reduce their coun try into the form of a province. His defigns 82 Hift. Auguft. p. 31. Ammian. Marcellin. 1. xxxi. c. 5. Aurel. Victor. The Emperor Marcus was reduced to fell the rich furniture of the palace, and to inlift flaves and robbers. *3 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. Vell. Pat. ii. 105. Tacit. Annal. ii. 63. 84, Mr. Wotton (History of Rome, p. 166.) increases the prohibition to ten times the distance. His reafoning is fpecious, but not conclufive. Five miles were fufficient for a fortified barrier. 35 Dion, 1.lxxi. and lxxii. were IX. CHAP. 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. Diftinction man tribes. In the courfe of this introductory chapter, we of the Ger- 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 prefent themselves in the feries of this hiftory, we shall concifely mention their origin, their fituation, and their particular character. Modern nations are fixed and permanent focieties, connected among them. felves by laws and government, bound to their native foil by arts and agriculture. The German tribes were voluntary and fluctuating af fociations of foldiers, almost of favages. The fame territory often changed its inhabitants 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 diffolution 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 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 circumftance of the enterprise foon gave a common denomination 15 IX. nation to the mixed multitude. The diftinc- c HA P. tions of the ferocious invaders were perpetually varied by themselves, and confounded by the aftonished fubjects of the Roman empire". 1 Wars, and the administration of public affairs, Numbers. are the principal fubjects of hiftory; but the number of perfons interested in these busy fcenes, is very different, according to the dif ferent condition of mankind. In great monarchies, millions of obedient fubjects purfue 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 fcene of military operations. But a state 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 restlefs 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 moft fplendid appellations have been frequently lavished on the most inconfiderable objects. 86 See an excellent differtation on the origin and migrations of nations; in the Memoires de l'Academie des Infcriptions, tom. xviii. P. 48-71. It is feldom that the antiquarian and the philofopher are so happily blended. 87 Should we fufpect that Athens contained only 21,000 citizens, and Sparta no more than 39,000? See Hume and Wallace on the number of mankind in ancient and modern times. X. ject. -268. CHAP. X. The Emperors Decius, Gallus, Emilianus, Valerian, and Gallienus.-The general Irruption of the Barbarians.-The thirty Tyrants. CHAP. FROM the great fecular games celebrated by Philip to the death of the Emperor GallieThe nature nus, there elapfed twenty years of fhame and of the fub- misfortune. During that calamitous period, every inftant of time was marked, every province of the Roman world was afflicted, by barbarious invaders and military tyrants, and the ruined empire feemed to approach the laft and fatal moment of its diffolution. The confufion of the times, and the scarcity of authentic memorials, oppofe 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 unreftrained paffions, might on fome occafions, fupply the want of historical materials. The Empe There is not, for inftance, any difficulty in ror Philip. conceiving, that the fucceffive murders of fo many emperors had loofened all the ties of aliegiance between the prince and people; that all |