and Asia. A more difficult task still remained for the emperors, to subdue the barbarous nations of Europe, the Germans, the Gauls, the Britons, and even the remote corner of Scotland; for though these countries had been discovered, they were not effectually subdued by the Roman generals. These nations, though rude and ignorant, were brave, and independent. It was rather from the superiority of their discipline, than of their courage, that the Romans gained any advantage over them. The Roman wars with the Germans, are described by Tacitus; and from his accounts, though a Roman, it is easy to discover with what bravery they fought, and with what reluctance they submitted to a foreign yoke. From the obstinate resistance of the Germans, we may judge the difficulties the Romans met with, in subduing the other nations of Europe. The contests on both sides were bloody; the countries, of Europe were successively laid waste, the inhabitants perished in the field, many were carried into slavery, and but a feeble remnant submitted to the Roman power. This situation, of affairs was extremely unfavorable to the happiness of mankind. The barbarous nations, indeed, from their intercourse with the Romans, acquired some taste for the arts, sciences, language, and manners of their new

masters.

These, however, were but miserable consolations for the loss of liberty, for being deprived of the use of their arms, for being overawed by mercenary soldiers kept in pay to restrain

them, and for being delivered over to rapacious. governors, who plundered them without mercy. The only circumstance which could sup port them under these complicated calamities, was the hope of seeing better days.

CHAP. II.

Of the Irruption of the Goths and Vandals, and other Barbarians.

THE Roman empire, now stretched out to such an extent, had lost its spring and force. It contained within itself the seeds of dissolu. tion; and the violent irruptions of the Goths and Vandals, and other Barbarians, hastened its destruction. These fierce tribes, who came to take vengeance on the empire, either inhabited the various provinces of Germany, which had never been subdued by the Romans, or were scattered over the vast countries of the North of Europe, and north-west of Asia, which are now inhabited by the Danes, the Swedes, the Poles, the subjects of the Russian empire, and the Tartars. They were drawn from their native country by that restlessness which actuates the minds of the Barbarians, and makes them rove from home in quest of plunder and new settlements.

The first invaders met with a powerful resistance from the superior discipline of the

Roman legions; but this, instead of daunting men of a strong and impetuous temper, only roused them to vengeance. They return to their companions, acquaint them with the unknown conveniences and luxuries that abound in countries better cultivated, or blessed with a milder climate than their own; they acquaint them with the battles they had fought, of the friends they had lost, and warm them with resentment against their opponents. Great bodies of armed men, says an elegant historian, in describing this scene of desolation, with their wives and children, and slaves and flocks, issued forth, like regular colonies, in quest of new settlements. New adventurers followed them. The lands which they deserted, were occupied by more remote tribes of Barbarians. These in their turn, pushed forward into more fertile countries, and, like a torrent continually increasing, rolled on, and swept every thing before them. Wherever the Barbarians marched, their route was marked with blood: they ravaged or destroyed all around them: they made no distinction between what was sacred, and what was profane: they respected no age, nor sex, nor rank. If a man was called upon to fix upon the period, in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most calamitous and afflicted, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Theodosius the Great, A. D. 39, to the establishment of the Lombards in Italy, A. D. 571. The contemporary authors, who

beheld that scene of desolation, labor, and are at a loss for expressions to describe the horror of it. "The scourge of God, the destroyer of nations," are the dreadful epithets by which they distinguish the most noted of the barbarous leaders.

CHAP. III.

Of the Separation of the Western and Eastern Provinces.

CONSTANTINE, who was Emperor about the beginning of the fourth century, and who had embraced christianity, changed the seat of empire from Rome to Constantinople. This occasioned a prodigious alteration. The western and eastern provinces were separated from each other, and governed by different sovereigns. The withdrawing the Roman legions from the Rhine and the Danube, to the east, threw down the western barriers of the empire, and laid it open to the invaders.

Rome (now known by the name of the Western empire, in contradistinction to Constantinople, which, from its situation, was called the Eastern empire,) weakened by this division, becomes a prey to barbarous nations. Its ancient glory, vainly deemed immortal, is effaced, and Odoacer, a Barbarian chieftain, is seated on the throne of the Cæsars. These

irruptions into the empire were gradual and successive. The immense fabric of the Roman empire was the work of many ages, and several centuries were employed in demolishing it. The ancient discipline of the Romans, in military affairs, was so efficacious, that the remains of it descended to their successors, and must have proved an over-match for all their enemies, had it not been for the vices of their Emperors, and the universal corruption of manners among the people. Satiated with the luxuries of the known world, the Emperors were at a loss to find new provocatives. The most distant regions were explored, the ingenuity of mankind was exercised, and the tribute of provinces expended upon one favorite dish. The tyranny, and the universal deprivation of manners, which prevailed under the emperors, or, as they are called, Cæsars, could only be equalled by the barbarity of those nations who overcame them.

Towards the close of the sixth century, the Saxons, a German nation, were masters of the southern, and most fertile provinces of Britain; the Franks, another tribe of Germans, of Gaul; the Goths, of Spain; the Goths and Lombards, of Italy, and the adjacent provinces. Scarcely any vestige of the Roman policy, jurisprudence, arts, or literature remained. New forms of government, new laws, new manners, new dresses, new languages, and new names of men and countries, were every where introduced.