6 IS F R A 
any diftindt account, was into Italy, under a famed lea¬ 
der named Bellovefus, about fix hundred and twenty-two 
years before Chrift. He eroded the Rhone and the Alps, 
till then unattempted; defeated the Hetrurians; and 
leized upon that part of their country fince known by the 
names of Lombardy and Piedmont. The fecond grand 
expedition was made by the Ccenomani, a people dwel¬ 
ling between the rivers Seine and Loire, under a general 
named Elitonis. They fettled in thofe parts of Italy now 
known by the names of Brefciano, Cremonefe, Mantuan, 
Carnioia, and Venetian, In a third excurfion, two other 
Gauliih nations fettled on both fides of the Po ; and in a 
fourth, the Boii and Lingones fettled in the country be¬ 
tween Ravenna*and Bologna. The fifth irruption of the 
Gauls happened about two hundred years after that of 
Bellovefus. The Sinones, between Paris and Meux, were 
invited into Italy by an Hetrurian lord, and fettled them- 
felves in Umbria. Brennus their king laid fiege to Clu- 
fium, a city in alliance with Rome ; and this produced a 
war witli the Romans* in which the latter were at firfl 
defeated, and their city taken and burnt; but at length 
the whole army was totally defeated by Camillus. Some 
other expeditions were undertaken by the Gauls againft 
the Romans, in which, though they generally proved 
unfuccefsful, by reafon of their want of difeipline ; ' yet 
their fiercenefs and courage made them fo formidable to 
the Roman republic, that, on the firfl; news of their 
march, extraordinary levies of troops were made, facri- 
fices and public fupplications were offered to the gods, 
and the law which granted an immunity from military 
lervice to priefts and old men, was, forthe time, abolifhed. 
Againft the Greeks, the expeditions of the Gauls were 
very little more fuccefsful than againft the Romans. 
The firft recorded of thefe, was about two hundred and 
ieventy-nine years before- Chrift, in the year after Pyr¬ 
rhus had invaded Italy. At this time the Gauls, finding 
themfelves overftocked' at home, fent out three great co¬ 
lonies to conquer new countries for themfelves. One of 
thefe armies was commanded by Brennus, another by 
Cerethrius, and the third by Belgius. The firft entered 
Pannonia or Hungary; the fecond Thrace; and the 
third marched into Illyricum and Macedonia. Here Bel¬ 
gius at firft met with great fuccefs; and enriched himfelf 
by plunder to fuch a degree, that Brennus, envying him, 
refolved to enter the fame countries, with a view to (hare 
the fpoil. In a fhorf time, however, Belgius met with 
fuch a total defeat, that his army was almoft entirely de- 
flroy.ed; upon which Brennus haftened to his affiftance. 
His army at firft confided of one hundred and fifty thou- 
fand foot, and fifteen thoufand horfe; but two of bis 
principal officers revolted, and carried away twenty thou¬ 
fand men, with whom they marched into Thrace; where, 
having joined Cerethrius, they feized on Byzantium and 
the weftern coaft of Propontis, making the adjacent parts 
tributary to them. To retrieve this lofs, Brennus fent 
for frefh fupplies from Gaul; and having increafed his 
army to one hundred and fifty thoufand foot, and upwards 
•of fixty thoufand horfe, he entered Macedonia, defeated 
the army which oppofed him, and ravaged the whole 
country. He next marched towards the liraits of Ther¬ 
mopylae with an intent to invade Greece, but was circum- 
,vented by the forces fent to defend that pafs againft him. 
He paifedthe mountains, however, as Xerxes had for¬ 
merly done; from which the guards retired to avoid be¬ 
ing furrounded. Brennus then, having ordered Acicho- 
.rius, the next in command, to follow at a diftance with 
part of his army, marched with the bulk of the forces to 
Delphi, with an intent to plunder its rich temple. But 
-this enterprile proved exceedingly unfortunate: a great 
number of his men were deftroyed by a dreadful (form of 
thunder and lightning.; another part of his army perifhed 
by an earthquake ; and the remainder, imagining them- 
felve's attacked by the enemy, fought againft each other 
.the whole night, fo that in the morning fcarcely one half 
©f them remained. The; Greek forces now poured in 
T* C E. 
upon them from all parts; and though Acichor'uis came 
up in due time with his forces, yet Brennus found him¬ 
felf unable to make head againft the Greeks, and was de¬ 
feated with great daughter. He himfelf was defperately 
wounded, and fo difneartened by his misfortune, that, hav¬ 
ing aflembled all his chiefs, he advifed them to kill the 
wounded and difabled, and make the beft retreat they 
could; after which he put an end to his own exiftence. 
On this occafion, it is faid that twenty thoufand of thefe 
unhappy people were executed by their own countrymen.' 
Acichorius then retreated with the remainder for Gaul 
but, being obliged to march through the country of their 
enemies, the calamities they met with were fo grevious, 
that few of them reached their own country. A itift 
judgment, fay the Greek and Roman authors, for their 
facrilegious defigns upon the temple of Delphi. 
The Romans, after having fo often felt the effedts of 
the Gauliffi ferocity and courage, in order to humble 
them, refolved to invade their country. Their firft at¬ 
tempt was about one hundred and eighteen years before 
Chrift, under the aufpices of Qujntus Marcius. He 
opened a way betwixt the Alps and the Pyrenees, which 
laid the foundation for conquering the whole country. 
This was a work of immenfe labour in itfelf, and was ren. 
dered ftill more difficult by the oppofition of the Gauls, 
efpecially thofe called the Stseni, who lived at the foot 
of the Alps. Thefe people, finding themfelves over¬ 
powered by the confular army, fet fire to their houfes, 
killed their wives and children, and then threw them¬ 
felves into the flames. After this Marcius built the city 
of Narbonne, which became the capital of a province. 
From this time the Gauls ceafed to be formidable to the 
Romans, who exercifed a rigid hand over them. At laft, 
however, the Helvetii had courage to open a new war 
with the republic, which brought Caefar over the Alps, 
and decided the fate of the country. In this manner the 
conqueftof the Gaul was commenced, and eventually ac- 
complifhed, from the Alps and Pyrenees of the Rhine ; 
all which vaft trait of country was reduced to a Roman 
province, and placed under the government of a praetor. 
The Romans now continued in poffeffion of Gaul, fo 
long as their empire retained its ftrength. But in the 
reign of the emperor Valerian, the Roman difeipline be- * 
gun to decline, and its ancient valour was funk, never to 
rife again! The barbarous nations, therefore, began to 
make incurfions on the Roman provinces; among the 
moft forward of which was a German nation of great ce¬ 
lebrity. Their origin is varioufly accounted for ; but 
it is now generally fuppofed, that about the two hundred 
and fortieth year of the chriflian aera, under the reign of 
tlie emperor Gordian, a confederacy was formed by the 
inhabitants of the lower Rhine and the Wefer: thefe 
alfumed the common name of Franks, or Freemen ; 
and the laws of their union, which at firft were dictated 
by mutual advantage, were confirmed by gradual experi¬ 
ence, and was the means of changing the name of Gaul 
to that of France. 
The Rhine, the boafted fafeguard and bulwark of the 
Roman provinces in Gaul, proved but a feeble barrier 
againft thefe enterprifing confederates; the devaluations 
of the Franks, in the year 260, ftretched from that river 
to the Pyrenees; their army penetrated through the paf- 
fes of thofe difficult mountains; and Tarragona, the ca¬ 
pital of a peaceful province on the other tide, was facked 
and almoft deftroyed by their rapacious fury. For twelve 
years, while the imperial feeptre was fvvayed by Gallie- 
ntts, Spain was the theatre of their deftrudiive hoftilities ; 
the ports of the exhaufted country fupplied them with 
veffels to tranfport themfelves into Mauritania; and 
Africa beheld with terror and aftoniffiment the manners, 
the habits, and ferocious courage, of thefe new invaders. 
Yet in the reign of Probus, about the year 277, the 
Franks were compelled by the victorious arms of that 
monarch to repafs the Rhine, and to ffielter themfelves 
in the flat maritime country which they had previoully 
occupied 
