3 
18 i 1.] On the Pristine Character of the Jnclent Germans, 
at the best by a precarious tenure; for 
her struggle was not now with a nation, 
sunk 111 eTfeminncy, and enervated by 
luxury, but witli men, who imbibed tlie 
spirit of war with their mother’s milk; 
whose sinews were braced by the rigours 
of an inclement climate, and whose 
fierceness was invigorated by an here¬ 
ditary love of freedom. It xs not, how¬ 
ever, on tiie circumstances of this war¬ 
fare that we have now to dwell, but on 
its consequences, as productive of the 
first perceptible mutation in the German 
character. 
The object of Roman policy was not 
only to acquire dominion by conquest, 
but advantage and stability by civiliza¬ 
tion ; though the vanquished were pil¬ 
laged, yet were they instructed and ci¬ 
vilized, wherever it seemed requisite, and 
^lome wisely preferred to reign over 
enlightened citizens, rather than un¬ 
tutored savages. The beneficial results 
of this policy had already shewn them¬ 
selves elsewhere, and particularly in the 
adjacent country of Gaul, whose inha¬ 
bitants, at the first dawn of the Roman 
invasions, were as much dreaded on ac- 
count of their intrepidity, as of their vir¬ 
tues and love of liberty ; in the former 
quality, some historians even held them 
pre-eminent above their German neigh¬ 
bours.* The concjuests of the Romans 
in Germany were followed by an attempt 
to civilize the conquered, and to intro¬ 
duce amongst them their laws, sciences, 
arts, language, and manners. They 
tarwght them the use of money, of the 
precious metals, of wines and other ob¬ 
jects of luxury. In the twenty-nijith 
year before the Christian era, Augustus 
annexed the province of Noricum, and 
nineteen years afterwards, Rh;etia and 
Vindelicia, to the Roman empire; to 
these, the enterprising spirit of Drusus 
shortly after added the countries extend- 
nig from the right bank of the Rliine to 
tii.e VVeser, and the mouth of the Elbe. 
Here they possessed towms,t villages, 
castles, highways,! schools, manufac¬ 
* Livii His. P.om. Lib. v. cap. 34. 
■f In tlie environs of the llhine, Augusta 
Trcnj-.t-oru/n^ Neinetuvi^ Rigomagus, Vangionum^ 
Ara Ubiorum, etc. In Tsioricum, Laureacumi 
OvUia, Lentia^ Celeia^ etc. In Rhsstia and 
Vindelicia, Auguna Vindel\wumy Regina 
easlra, BatU'va castra, etc. 
t The most considerable; of these, was that 
tvhifh passed over the Alps, and through 
Rhstiaaad Vindelicia, to Augsburg. 
tories*, farms, temples, and public spec¬ 
tacles; liere tlie laws and legislation of 
Rome were introduced, and no measures 
were neglected to extirpate the national 
religion; agriculture and cattle-feeding, 
the last, and in their eyCs the most ab¬ 
ject, occOpations of the aboriginal Ger¬ 
mans, became an object of attention, and 
it was not long ere vineyards grew ud in 
the environs of the Rhine and Mosel. 
Of all ibeCcEsars, Augustus and Probus 
shewed tliemselves most wary in thes# 
particulars; strong holds were erected 
under their directions; lands wer^ 
allotted to their garrisons for culture; 
Probus was the first who encouraged the 
propagation of the vine, and endeavoured 
to persuade bis German subjects to sur¬ 
render their arms, in order that they 
might thenceforward solicit assistance 
from the Romans against their enemies. 
Of all his projects he succeeded the least 
in this, nor indeed were the whole of 
them productive of any other than a par¬ 
tial success, though he took occasion to 
boast, in a dispatch to his senate, that 
“ Germany, extensive as it is, is subju¬ 
gated, all the barbarians work for us, and 
carry on our wars against distant na¬ 
tions.”! 
Notwithstanding the wise and weariless 
exertions of the Roman politicians to 
subdue by craft, where violence would' 
have recoiled upon its authors, history 
will scarcely afford us an instance, in 
which the pristine character of a nation 
was so little affected by a long intercourse 
with another of such opposite, though 
seductive, habits. The spirit of war and 
independence still glowed with unabated 
vigour in those parts, and they formed 
the largest portion of the surface of Ger¬ 
many, which had forests and marshes for 
their frontiers, and even in many dis¬ 
tricts, such as VV'estplialia and the coun¬ 
tries adjoining the Elbe and Maine, 
where the Romans had their military 
stations, mines,! and settlements. R 
was only amongst thoge Germans who 
had been forced or seduced to follow the 
Roman eagles, or, who inhabited the 
* Both Strasburg and Trives had their ma- 
nurlactories or arms. 
! Vopiscus in vita Probi, inter His. Aug, 
Script. 
t The first silver mines in Germany ap¬ 
pear to luave been those whrdi Ru- 
fius worked, for a short time aad to little 
purpose, ir» tlie kind of the Chatti. 
Anml HIk ii) r. 2^, 
souther^ 
