4S INTRODUCTION, 



obstinate resistance of the Germans, we may judge of the difficult 

 ties the Romans met with in subduing the other nations of Europe. 

 The contests were bloody; the countries of Europe were succes- 

 sively laid waste; numbers of the inhabitants perished in the field, 

 many were carried into slavery, and but a feeble remnant submit- 

 ted to the Roman power. This situation of affairs was extremely 

 unfavourable 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 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 Roman empire, now stretched out to such an extent, had 

 lost its spring and force. It contained within itself the seeds of 

 dissolution ; and the violent irruptions of the Goths, Vandals, Huns, 

 and other barbarians, hastened its destruction. These fierce tribes, 

 who came to take vengeance on the empire, either inhabited the 

 various parts of Germany which had never been subdued by the 

 Romans, or were scattered over the vast countries of the north of 

 Europe, and the 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 barbari- 

 ans, and makes them rove from home in quest of plunder or 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 returned to their companions, acquaint- 

 ed them with the unknown conveniences and luxuries that abound- 

 ed in countries better cultivated, or blessed with a milder climate, 

 than their own ; they acquainted them with the battles they had 

 fought, or the friends they had lost ; and warmed them with resent- 

 ment 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, roll- 

 ed on, and swept every thing before them. W herever the barbarians 

 marched, their route was marked with blood. They ravaged or des- 

 troyed all around them. They made no distinction between what was 

 sacred and what was profane. They respected no age, or sex, or 

 rank. If a man were called to fix upon the period in the history 

 of the world, during which the condition of the human race was 

 the most calamitous and afflicted, he would, without hesitation, 

 name that which elapsed from the death of "Theodosius the Great, 

 A. D. 395, to the establishment of the Lombards in Italy, A. D. 

 571. The contemporary authors, who beheld that scene of desola- 

 tion, labour and are at a loss for expressions to describe the horrors 

 of it. The scourge of God, the destroyer of nations, are the dread- 

 ful epithets by which they distinguish the most noted of the bar- 

 barous leaders. 



