4 On the Fristine Character of the Ancient Germans, [Aug. I, 
southern districts, whither Rome could 
pour in her external resources with 
greatest facility, that the love of free¬ 
dom was exchanged for subservience to a 
foreign yoke, and the turbulence of war- 
fare was resigned for the blandishments 
of peace. Here the ancient simplicity 
of German manners was on the wane;’ 
liberty sunk as soon as tlie German 
ceased to esteem the busy haunts of 
civilized man as so many prisons and 
infectious receptacles; the vanquished 
eitlier forgot his tiative tongue or assimi¬ 
lated it to that of the victor, and the 
L’bii in ])arilcular, worshipping the Ro¬ 
man almost as their idol, besought of him 
that their region might be dignified with 
the name of the land ot the Agrippini, 
which they adopted from the consort of 
Claudius, to uhoni they had already 
erected altars.* 
The perceptions of moral good and 
evil being with the German, as with all 
infant nations, gross and obscure, it was 
impossible the mental should not keep 
pace with the corporeal debasement of 
his primitive character. Of this, the 
preceding are irrefragable proofs; nor 
can the eagerness with which many of 
the Germans visited the Roman garri- 
sons, and Italy itself, be looked upon 
but as a main-spring ol their degeneracy. 
Here they perceived how closely Art not 
only imitated, but how industriously she 
supplanted Nature; here they beheld, 
witii emotions of wonder and delight, 
bow captivating an aspect society wears, 
when fostered by wholesome laws, im¬ 
proved bv state policy, enlightened by 
science, cnriciiccl by industry, and sweet¬ 
ened by domestic comforts. Shall we 
blame them for their incapacity to sepa = 
rate the dross from the ore? shall it star¬ 
tle us that tliey assumed Roman names 
and dignities? Surelv it is with semi- 
ments of compassion, not ot indignation, 
that the historian will depict them re¬ 
turning to their native land, where, am¬ 
bitious to emulate ihe splendour, luxuries, 
and social enjoyments, of civilized Rome, 
thev ardently imparted the effeminate 
arts and habits of foreign parts to their 
Tjneivilized brethren. A consequence of 
this change in the features of the native 
characteristic, was a fatal indifference to 
faith and moral duties, and an attach- 
n ent no less fatal to sensual delights and 
the acquisition of wealth. Indeed, so 
little desirous did they appear of re- 
fimiintr their independence, that bhirus 
tells us,* There was such peace in 
Germany, its race and soil seemed al¬ 
tered, and even the temperature ot its 
climate appeared to liave become 
milder.” Tlie commerce carried on by 
the Roman merchants, who brought their 
clothing, wines, and other commodities, 
into Germany, where they bartered them 
for amber,! light hair, prisoners, quills, 
and skins,t together with the occasional 
residence of the Cffisars amongst them, 
were equally calculated to wean the Ger¬ 
mans from their coarse and barbarous 
habits of life. Treves was the favourite 
resort, where the Roman emperors re¬ 
galed their German subjects with the 
blaze and pageantry of their courts. In 
tlie time of Constantine the Great this 
city could boast its public edifices, its 
ampiiheatre, mint, and manufactories, 
whence were sent forth, as Ausonius ob¬ 
serves, “ clothes and arms the sinews of 
the empire.” Ttiis poet praises also tlie 
feitility of the banks of the Mosel, their 
high state of cultivation, their rich vine¬ 
yards, and the attainments of their in- 
iiahitants in music, eloquence, and poe¬ 
try.! richer classes, and those who 
dwelt near the Rhine, had hethoughC 
tlieraselves of greater decency (if such an 
expression be in this case applicable,) in 
their apparel. Instead of skins, wliich 
had hitherto hung loosely over the shoul¬ 
ders and back, they began to wear 
dresses, which were made trght and jtlia- 
ble to every motion of the limbs. The 
female was no longer content with her 
plain linen garment, but bedizened her¬ 
self with purple ribbons, whicli it was her 
pride to have brought to her from so re¬ 
mote a country as Phoenicia. When 
Phnv wrote, ti.e German vessels were 
nothing more than large oaks, which the}' 
hollowed out, and yet they were often 
made to contain more than fifty men. 
They soon learned, however, a sufficient 
knowledge of ship-building from the Ro¬ 
mans to enable them to become pirates, 
and so far were they from confining their 
predatory expeditious to the iieighbc-ir- 
ing coasts of Britain, that the Gauls and 
Spaniards in a short time were taught to 
dread their incessant debarkations, of 
which pillage and rapine were the certain 
concomitants. 
* UiS. Aug. iib IV. cap. 12. 
f In search of this article, Te Phoenician 
fiist, and then the Roman and Grecian, mcr- 
chants, roamed as far as to the Baltic sea. 
J Plinii His. Nat. lib. x. cap. go, 
4 Ausonius de Clar. Urb. Mosdis 
20 . ct and vers. 381. 
« Tacitus de Mor. Germ. 
vers* 
