the Romanfh Language. 137 
ring death to the lofs of their liberties^, favoured by 
the natural ftrength and indigence of their country, were 
not very likely to be fo far fubdued by any foreign power 
inferior to the Roman, as to fuffer any conliderable revo- 
lution in their culloms and language : for as to the irrup- 
tions of the Goths, Vandals, and Lombards, in the fifth 
and lixth centuries, betides a profound lilence in hiftorv 
concerning any fucc^fsful attempt of thofe barbarians 
upon this lpot, it is fcarce credible, that any of them 
fhould have either wifhed or endeavoured to fettle in a 
country, perhaps far lefs hofpitable than that they had 
juft forfaken, efpecially after they had opened to them- 
felves a way into the fertile plains of Lombardy. 
Some ftrefs muft be laid upon this inference, as the 
hiftory of what befel this country after the decline of the 
Roman empire is fo intimately blended with that of Sua- 
bia, the Tyrolefe, and the lower parts of the Grifons, 
which are known to have fallen to the fhare of the riling 
power of the Franks, that nothing politive can be drawn 
from authors as to the interior lfate of this fmall tra< 5 L 
The victory gained in the year 496 near Cologn, by 
Clovis 1. king of the Franks, over the Almains, who 
had wrefted from the Romans all their dominions on 
the Northern fide of the Alps ; and the defeat of both Ro- 
mans and Goths in Italy, in the year 549, by the treacher- 
ous arms of theodebert king of Auftrafia, whofe do- 
(z) Rhaetica nunc praebcnt Thraciaqne axnia metum. 
oviD. Trift. lib. ii. 226. 
Devota morti pc£lora liberae. hor. 4 lib. Od. xiv, 
Vol. LX VI, T minions 
