cfa Country on its Inhabitants 283 
empire?* A defolate and uncultivated fcene, 
which probably originally infpired the ferocious 
difpofition of thefe people, was more congenial 
to their ideas and inclinations, than elegant 
buildings, and cultivated grounds, which, whilft 
they betrayed the unwarlike fpiric of their pof- 
feflbrs, evidenced their fuperiority in underftand- 
ing and induftry. 
Miners, for the fame reafons, are generally 
obferved to be a hardy, ferocious, and cruel fee 
of men. The feenes of horror, mifery, and 
gloom, with which they are converfant, oblite¬ 
rate the finer fenfations, and fteel the heart againfl: 
the fentiments of tendernefs and compaffion. The 
* Ovid mentions in his time, that the Gets deftroyed all 
the buildings, and laid the country wafte, wherever they 
went. 
Hoftis equo pollens, longeque volante fagitta. 
Vicinam late depopulatur humum. 
Qux nequeunt fecum ferre aut abducere, perdunt, 
Et cremat infontes hoftica flamma cafas. 
Ovid Trift. L. III. Eleg. 10. 
Quicquid invenire poterat momento temporis parvi, vaf- 
tabant, (Saraceni) milvorum rapacium fimiles. 
Amm Marcell. L. XIX. C. 4. 
The Franks deftroyed forty cities upon the Rhine. 
Zofim L. III. C. 1. 
Alaric deflroyed all the cities in Macedonia, 1 hrace and 
Greece, except Athens, and Thebes. Attila preferred 
his houfe of wood on the Tibifcus, to all the lplendid 
palaces he might have enjoyed. Zofim. L. V. C. 5. 
emotions 
