Ch. vi. Inhabitants of the North of Europe. 103 



parts of the northern hemisphere. Gathering 

 fresh darkness and terror as they rolled on, the 

 congregated bodies at length obscured the sun of 

 Italy, and sunk the western world in night. 



In two centuries from the flight of the Goths 

 across the Danube, barbarians of various names 

 and lineage had plundered and taken possession 

 of Thrace, Pannonia, Gaul, Britain, Spain, Africa, 

 and Italy.* The most horrible devastations and 

 an incredible destruction of the human species 

 accompanied these rapid conquests; and famine 

 and pestilence, which always march in the train 

 of war when it ravages with such inconsiderate 

 cruelty, raged in every part of Europe. The his- 

 torians of the times, who beheld these scenes of 

 desolation, labour and are at a loss for expressions 

 to describe them; but, beyond the power of Ian - 

 o-uaae, the numbers and the destructive violence 

 of these barbarous invaders were evinced by the 

 total change which took place in the state of 

 Europe-t These tremendous effects, so long and 

 so deeply felt throughout the fairest portions of 

 the earth, may be traced in a great degree to the 

 simple cause of the superiority of the power of 

 .population to the means of subsistence. 



Machiavel, in the beginning of his History of 

 Florence, says, " The people who inhabit the 

 " northern parts that lie between the Rhine and 

 " the Danube, living in a healthful and prolific 



* Robertson's Charles V. vol. i. kect. i. p. 7. 8vo. 1/Si\ 

 t IA p. 10, U, 12. 



