ALE 



through Rhitia, and is faid to have extended the confines of 

 tlie empire to the fourcc of the Danube. In the year 7.91 tlic 

 D\irguiidi.iiis fcizcd on part of the country belonging to the 

 Alcmaniii ; and in 301 Conilantius Chlonis, the tatlier of 

 C'oiiftantine the Great, gained a figual vidor)' over them, on 

 which oceafion tlie Alemanni are faid to have l"ft 60,000 

 men. Nolwithflandiug this lofs, thcv did not long rcmam 

 quiet ; for in 310 they again crolTed the Rhine, and ravaged 

 the neighbouring provinces : but Conllantine marching 

 ugainft then\, defeated them in a hattk, and ubbgcdthem to 

 quit thiir booty and repafs the Rhine. Some fay he was 

 called Ma:cimus on account of this vicloiy. In the liStli 

 year of Conftantius's reign, the Alemanni again al tempted to 

 make an incurfion into Italy ; and having advanced as far as 

 the lake of Conilance, tlic emperor marched againft. them, 

 and put them to flight. In the courfe of the fame year 

 another body of them, breaking into Gaul vvith the Franks 

 and Saxons, took and plundered above 40 towns on the 

 banks of tlie Rhine, and among thefe was the city of Co- 

 logne, which they almoft entirely ruined. Tliey were at 

 length driven out of Gaul by Julian; but affembling near 

 Stralburg, he marched againil them, A. D. 357 ; and after 

 viclory had remained for iome time in fufpencc, the Alemanni 

 were entirely defeated, and driven completely out of Gaul. 

 Julian ravaged the countries of the Alemans and their allies 

 for fome time, and granted them a truce for ten months. 

 When the truce expired, he pafl'ed the Rhine on a bridge of 

 boats, entered their country, and compelled them to fue fur 

 peace. Upon the death of Julian they again ravage Gaul ; 

 defeat the Romans in a pitched battle, but were after- 

 wards defeated by Jovinus in three battles, A. D. 366. In 

 the clufe of the following year they again rally, and pals the 

 Rhine ; but Valentinian gains a fignal viftory over them. In 

 •^69 Valentinian invades their country ; and in 374 concludes 

 a peace with their king Macrianus. In 378 they again pafs 

 the Rhine, and wafte the neighbouring provinces, but are de- 

 feated with great flaughter by Gratian. In 388 they fub- 

 mitted to Maximus, who had ufurpcd the empire in Gaul, 

 and agreed to pay him a yearly tribute. In the reign of Ho- 

 norlus a colony of the Alemanni was allowed to fettle in 

 that part of the prefent Switzerland, which is feparated by 

 mount Jura from the Franche Comte, and by the lake of 

 Geneva and the Rhine from the prefent Savoy and province 

 sf Vienne. About the year 411 the country bordering on 

 the lake Lemanus, or the lake of Geneva, was, according to 

 Senius, inhabited ty the Alemanni. In 477 Audoacrius, 

 king of the Saxons, and Childeric, king of the Franks, 

 marched againft thofe who had fettled among the Alps, 

 and put many of them to death. Upon the deftruftion of 

 the wcllern empire, the Alemanni fubdued that part of Gaul, 

 which is now known by the name of Alface, where they 

 fettled. Thefe were joined by their countrymen in Ger- 

 many, and thofe who dwelt between Mount Jura and the 

 lake of Geneva ; and in 496 entered Germania fecunda, and 

 walled the country ; but they were overcome by Clovis, 

 king of the Salian Franks, and difperfed. Thofe who 

 fettled in Alface and near the lake of Geneva acknowledged 

 Lim for their king. Others took refuge in Rhaetia and Nori- 

 cam, where they were allowed by Theodorlc, king of Italy, 

 to refide. Many of them were tranfplanted by the fame 

 prince into Italy, and the reft were permitted to fettle be- 

 tween the Alps and the Danube. From this time the Ale- 

 manni had no king of their own ; but continued, as they 

 were difperfed in feveral countries, fubjeft partly to the Of- 

 trogoths, who were mafters of Italy, and partly to the 

 Franks, who had dominion in Gaul. When the Oftrogoths 

 ceded their territories out of Italy to the children of Clovis, 



ALE 



d)« Alemanni, thofe excepted whom Thcodoric had tranf- 

 planted into that country, fubmitted to the Franks. Gib- 

 bon's Iliftoiy, 5:c. vol. i. p. 417, &c. Vol. ii. p. 21, &c. 

 Anc. Un. Hilt. vol. xvii. p, 28S — 299. 



ALEMAMNIA, or Auemania, in indent Geography, 

 a name given to Germany, which was not known before the 

 time of the Antonines, and then applied only to a part of it. 

 The appellation is derived from the Alemanni. 



ALEMBERT, John le Romd D', in Biography, an 

 eminent mathematician and philofopher, and an elegant 

 writer, was born at Paris, November 16, 17 17. His fur- 

 name D'le Rond was derived from that of the church near 

 w hich he was expofed as a foundling by his mother, who 

 is faid to have been Madcmoifelle Tencin, fifter of the 

 Abbe, afterwards Cardinal, Tencin. His father Dcf- 

 touches Canon, hearing of his fituation in the Inmfe of a 

 glazier, with xvhofe wife he was put to nurfe, yielded to 

 the impulfe of affeftion and duty, and took meafures for his 

 future fubfiltencc and education. In acquiring the fint 

 rudiments of education among the Janfeniils, he manifefted 

 figns of thofe extraordinary powers, by which he was after- 

 wards diftinguiihed. At the age of 10 years, his fchool- 

 mafter declared that he had nothing further to teach him ; 

 and during his attention to theological ftudies, he compofed 

 at a vciy early period, " A Commentary on the Epiftles of 

 St. Paul to the Romans," which led the Janfenifts to ex- 

 pe£l, that he would be an able champion in their caufe, and 

 become a fecond Pafchal. But purfuing his education at 

 the college of Mazarin, he transferred his attention from 

 theology to mathematics, in which he found greater fatis- 

 faction, and in the knowledge of which he atterwarda ex- 

 celled. 



Upon leaving the college, he retired to the houfe of his 

 nurfe, for the purpofe of enjoying a tranquil retreat, and of 

 profecuting his ftudies without interruption. He hoped 

 likewife to teftify his gratitude for her former kindnefs by 

 (baring with her the means of fubfiftence with which he 

 was provided, and thus contributing to the increafe of her 

 domeftic comfort. In this obfcure fituation he hved for many 

 years, with the greateft fnnplicity, and derived fatisfadtion 

 to himfelf from adminiftering to the happinefs of thofe with 

 whom he was connefted. His hoftefs had no juft concep- 

 tion of the extraordinary talents of her gucft ; and fhe 

 could not help occafionally confidermg him as ftill an ob- 

 ject of compafijoii. " You will never," faid flic one day to 

 him, " be any thing but a philofopher ; and what is a phi- 

 lofopher but a fool, who toils and plagues himfelf, that 

 people may talk of him after he is dead?" With a. view 

 to the improvement of his fortune, or rather of the means 

 of comfortable fubfiftence, he followed the advice of his 

 friends in direfting his attention, firft, to the law, in which 

 he took his degrees, and afterwards to medicine ; but his 

 attachment to mathematics prevailed over every other con- 

 fideration, and induced him to decline the advantage which 

 he might reafonably expeft to derive from any other lucra- 

 tive profefiion. At the age of 24, in ; 741, he attrafted no- 

 tice by correcting the errors of Ileyneau's " Analyfe De- 

 montree," which was a work of high eftim.ation in the de- 

 partment of analytics ; and he was admitted a member of 

 the Academy of Sciences, He riien ainduoully examined 

 the path in which a body moves in pafling obliquely from 

 a rarer into a denfer fluid ; and this inveftigation, which he 

 fatisfaftorily profecuted, engaged him in extending his 

 views to the forces of moving bodies. The refult of his 

 fpeculations was, his " Treatife on Dynamics ;" (Traite 

 de Dynamique, 4to, Paris, 1743. Ed. 2. 1758.) in which 

 he fcparates into two parts the action of the moving powers, 



and 



