the causeway, and get out of the enemy's reach. But when his army was drawn up, the legions posted on the wings deserted their stations, and occupied a field beyond the marshes. Cæcina followed them, but the baggage stuck in the mire, as he attempted to cross the marshes, which greatly embarrassed the soldiers. Arminius, perceiving this, began the attack, and crying out, This is a second Varus, the same fate attends him and his legions,' fell on the Romans with inexpressible fury. As he had ordered his men to aim chiefly at the horses, great numbers of them were killed; and, the ground becoming slippery with their blood, the rest either fell or threw their riders, and galloping through the ranks, put them in disorder. Cæcina distinguished himself greatly, but his horse being killed he would have been taken prisoner, had not the first legion rescued him. The avarice of the enemy, however, saved the Romans from destruction; for just as the legions were quite spent, and on the point of yielding, the Germans suddenly abandoned them to seize their baggage. During this respite, the Romans struggled out of the marsh, and, having gained the dry fields, formed a camp with all possible speed. The Germans having thus lost the opportunity of destroying the Romans, contrary to the advice of Arminius, attacked their camp next morning, but were repulsed with great slaughter; after which they gave Cæcina no more molestation till he reached the banks of the Rhine.

Germanicus, in the mean time, having conveyed the legions he had with him down the Ems to the ocean, to return by sea to the Rhine, and finding his vessels overloaded, delivered the second and fourteenth legions to P. Vitellius, desiring him to conduct them by land. But this march proved fatal to great numbers, who were either buried in the quicksands, or swallowed up by the returning tide, to which they were as yet utter strangers. Those who escaped lost their arms, utensils, and provisions; and passed a melancholy night upon an eminence, which they had gained by wading up to the chin. The next morning at ebb, Vitellius, by a hasty march, reached the Usingis, by some thought to be the Hoerenster, on which the city of Groningen stands. There Germanicus, who had reached that river with his fleet, took the legions again on board, and conveyed them to the mouth of the Rhine, whence they all returned to Cologne, where it had been reported they were totally lost.

This expedition cost the Romans very dear, and procured very few advantages. Great numbers of men had perished; and the greatest part of those who had escaped so many dangers, returned without arms, utensils, horses, &c., half naked, lamed, and unfit for service. The next year, however, Germanicus, bent on the entire reduction of Germany, made vast preparations for another expedition. Having found that the Germans were chiefly indebted for their safety to their woods and marshes, their short summers and long winters; and that his troops suffered more from their tedious marches than from the enemy, he resolved to enter the country by sea, hoping thus to begin the campaign earlier, and

surprise the enemy. Having, therefore, built 1000 vessels, with great despatch, during winter, he ordered them early in the spring (A. D. 16), to fall down the Rhine; and appointed the island of the Batavians for the general rendezvous of his forces. When the fleet was sailing, he detached Silius, one of his lieutenants, with orders to make a sudden irruption into the country of the Catti; and in the mean time, he himself, hearing that a Roman fort on the Lupias was besieged, hastened with six legions to its relief. Silius was prevented, by sudden rains, from doing more than taking some booty, with the wife and daughter of Arpen, king of the Catti; neither did those who besieged the fort wait the arrival of Germanicus. In the mean time, the fleet arriving at the island of the Batavians, the provisions and warlike engines were put on board and sent forward; ships were assigned to the legions and allies; and, the whole army being embarked, the fleet entered the canal formerly cut by Drusus, and from his name called Fossa Drusiana. Hence he sailed prosperously to the mouth of the Ems; where, having landed his troops, he marched directly to the Weser, where he found Arminius encamped on the opposite bank, and determined to dispute his passage. The next day Arminius drew out his troops in order of battle; but Germanicus, not thinking it advisable to attack them, ordered the horse to ford over under the command of his lieutenants, Stertinius and Emilius; who, to divide the enemies' forces, crossed the river in two different places. At the same time Cariovalda, the leader of the Batavian auxiliaries, crossed the river where it was most rapid: but, being drawn into an ambuscade, he was killed, together with most of the Batavian nobility; and the rest would have been totally cut off, had not Stertinius and Emilius hastened to their assistance. Germanicus in the mean time passed the river without molestation. A battle soon after ensued; in which the Germans were defeated with so great a slaughter that the ground was covered with arms and dead bodies for more than ten miles round: and among the spoils taken on this occasion were found, as formerly, the chains with which the Germans had hoped to bind their captives.

In memory of this signal victory, Germanicus raised a mount, upon which he placed as trophies the arms of the enemy, and inscribed underneath the names of the conquered nations. This so provoked the Germans, though already vanquished and determined to abandon their country, that they attacked the Roman army unexpectedly on its march, and put them into some disorder. Being repulsed, they encamped between a river and a large forest surrounded by a marsh, except on one side, where it was enclosed by a broad rampart, formerly raised by the Angrivarii as a barrier between them and the Cherusci. Here another battle ensued; in which the Germans behaved with great bravery, but in the end were defeated with great slaughter. After this second defeat, the Angrivarii submitted, and were taken under the protection of the Romans, and Germanicus put an end to the campaign. Some of the legions he sent to their winter quarters by land, while he himself

embarked with the rest on the river Ems, in order to return by sea. The ocean proved at first very calm, and the wind favorable: but all of a sudden a storm arising, the fleet, consisting of 1000 vessels, was dispersed; some of them were swallowed up by the waves; others were dashed in pieces against the rocks, or driven upon remote and inhospitable islands, where the men either perished with famine, or lived upon the flesh of the dead horses with which the shores soon appeared strewed; for, in order to lighten their vessels, and disengage them from the shoals, they had been obliged to throw over-board their horses and beasts of burden, nay, even their arms and baggage. Most of the men, however, were saved, and even great part of the fleet recovered. Some of them were driven upon the coast of Britain; but the petty kings who reigned there generously sent them back. On the news of this misfortune, the Catti, taking new courage, ran to arms; but Caius Silius being detached against them with 30,000 foot, and 3000 horse, kept them in awe. Germanicus himself, at the head of a numerous body, made a sudden irruption into the territories of the Marsi, where he recovered one of Varus's eagles; and, having laid waste the country, he returned to the frontiers of Germany, and put his troops into winter quarters; whence he was soon recalled by Tiberius, and never suffered to return into Germany again. After the departure of Germanicus, the more northern nations of Germany were no more molested by the Romans. Arminius carried on a long and successful war with Maroboduus king of the Marcomanni, whom he at last expelled, and forced to apply to the Romans for assistance; but, excepting Germanicus, it seems they had at this time no other general capable of opposing Arminius, so that Maroboduus was never restored. After the final departure of the Romans, however, Arminius having attempted to enslave his country, fell by the treachery of his own kindred. The Germans held his memory in great veneration; and Tacitus informs us, that in his time they still celebrated him in their songs. Nothing remarkable occurs in the history of Germany from this time till the reign of Claudius I. A war indeed is said to have been carried on by Lucius Domitius the father of Nero. But of his exploits we know nothing more than that he penetrated beyond the river Elbe, and led his army farther into the country than any of the Romans had ever done. In the reign of Claudius, however, the German territories were invaded by Cn. Domitius Corbulo, one of the greatest generals of his age. But, when he was on the point of forcing them to submit to the Roman yoke, he was recalled by Claudius, who was jealous of the reputation he had required. In the reign of Vespasian, a terrible revolt happened among the Batavians and those German nations who had submitted to the Romans; an account of which will be found under the article ROME. The revolters were with difficulty subdued; but in the reign of Domitian the Dacians invaded the empire, and proved a more terrible enemy than any of the other German nations had been.

After repeated defeats, Domitian was at last obliged to consent to pay an annual tribute to Decebalus king of the Dacians; which continued

to the time of Trajan. But this warlike prince refused to pay tribute; alleging, when it was demanded of him, that he had never been conquered by Decebalus.' Upon this the Dacians passed the Danube, and began to commit hostilities in the Roman territories. Trajan, glad of this opportunity to humble an enemy whom he began to fear, drew together a great army, and marched with the utmost expedition to the banks of the Danube. As Decebalus was not apprised of his arrival, the emperor passed the river without opposition, and entering Dacia laid waste the country. At last he was met by Decebalus with a numerous army. A bloody engagement ensued, in which the Dacians were defeated; though the victory cost the Romans dear: the wounded were so numerous, that they wanted linen to bind up their wounds; and to supply the defect, the emperor devoted his own wardrobe. After the victory, he pursued Decebalus from place to place, and at last obliged him to consent to a peace on the following terms: 1. That he should surrender the territories which he had unjustly taken from the neighbouring nations. 2. That he should deliver up his arms, his warlike engines, with the artificers who made them, and all the Roman deserters. 3. That for the future he should entertain no deserters, nor take into his service the natives of any country subject to Rome. 4. That he should dismantle all his fortresses, castles, and strong holds. And, lastly, that he should have the same friends and foes with the Romans. This peace was of short duration. Four years after (A.D. 105) Decebalus began to raise men, provide arms, entertain deserters, fortify his castles, and invite the neighbouring nations to join him against the Romans as a common enemy. The Scythians hearkened to his solicitations; but the Jazyges, a neighbouring nation, refusing to bear arms against Rome, Decebalus invaded their country. Hereupon Trajan marched against him; but the Dacían, finding himself unable to withstand him by open force, had recourse to treachery, and attempted to get the emperor murdered. His design, however, proved abortive, and Trajan pursued his march into Dacia. That his troops might the more readily pass and repass the Danube, he built his celebrated bridge over that river. To guard the bridge, he ordered two castles to be built; one on each side the Danube. Trajan, however, as the season was far advanced, did not enter Dacia this year, but contented himself with making the necessary preparations. Early in the next spring (A. D. 106) Trajan set out for Dacia; and, having passed the Danube by the new bridge, reduced the whole country, and would have taken Decebalus himself had he not put an end to his own life, to avoid falling into the hands of the Romans.

After the death of Decebalus, Dacia was reduced to a Roman province; and several castles were built in it, and garrisons placed in them to keep the country in awe. From the death of Trajan, the Roman empire began to decline, and the northern nations to be daily more and more formidable. Dacia indeed was held by the Romans till the reign of Galienus; but Adrian, who succeeded Trajan, caused the arches of the bridge over the Danube to be broken down, lest the

barbarians should make themselves masters of it, and invade the Roman territories. In the time of Marcus Aurelius, the Marcomanni and Quadi invaded the empire, and gave the emperor a terrible overthrow. He continued the war, however, with better success afterwards, and invaded their country in his turn. In the end, the Marcomanni and Quadi were, by repeated defeats, brought to the verge of destruction; insomuch that their country would probably have been reduced to a Roman province, had not Marcus Aurelius been diverted from pursuing his conquests by the revolt of one of his generals.

After the death of Marcus Aurelius, the Germanic nations became every day more and more formidable to the Romans. Far from being able to invade and attempt the conquest of these northern countries, the Romans had the greatest difficulty to repress the incursions of their inhabitants. But for a particular account of their various invasions of the Roman empire, and its total destruction by them at last, see ROME. The immediate destroyers of the Roman empire were the Heruli; who, under their leader Odoacer, dethroned Augustulus the last Roman emperor, and proclaimed Odoacer king of Italy (A. D. 478). The Heruli were soon expelled by the Ostrogoths; and these in their turn were subdued by Justinian I., who re-annexed Italy to the eastern empire. But the popes found means to obtain the temporal as well as spiritual jurisdiction over a considerable part of the country, while the Lombards subdued the rest. These last proved very troublesome to the popes, and at length besieged Adrian I. in his capital. In this distress he applied to Charles the Great king of France; who conquered both Italy and Germany, and was crowned emperor of the west (A. D. 800). See GERMANY.

We have now to notice_the_peculiar manners and customs of these nations. They are described by the Roman historians as resembling the Gauls; and differing from other nations by their tall stature, ruddy complexion, blue eyes, yellow bushy hair, haughty and threatening looks, strong constitutions, and being proof against hunger, cold, and all kinds of hardships. Their native disposition appeared chiefly in their martial genius, and in their singular fidelity. The former they indeed carried to such an excess as came little short of downright ferocity: and as to the latter, they were greatly esteemed by other nations for it: insomuch that Augustus, and several of his successors, committed the guard of their persons to them, and other nations either courted their alliance, or hired them as auxiliaries though it must be owned that their extreme love of liberty, and their hatred of tyranny and oppression, often hurried them to treachery and murder, especially when they thought themselves ill used by those who hired them; for in such cases they were easily provoked, and extremely vindictive. In other cases, Tacitus tells us, they were noble, magnanimous, and beneficent, without ambition to aggrandise their dominions, or invade those from whom they had received no injury; rather choosing to employ their strength and valor defensively than offensively; to preserve their own than to ravage those VOL. X.

of their neighbours. Their friendship and intercourse were rather a compound of honest bluntness and hospitality, than of wit, humor, or gallantry. All strangers were sure to meet with a kind reception from them to the utmost of their ability even those who were not in a capacity to entertain them, reckoned it a duty to introduce them to those who could; and nothing was held more detestable than to refuse them either the one or the other. They do not seem, indeed, to have had a taste for elegant entertainments; they affected in every thing, in their houses, furniture, diet, &c., rather plainness and simplicity, than sumptuousness and luxury. If they learned of the Romans and Gauls the use of money, it was rather because they found it more convenient than their ancient way of bartering one commodity for another; and then they preferred those ancient coins which had been stamped during the times of the Roman liberty, especially such as were either milled or cut in the rims, because they could not be so easily cheated in them as in some others, which were frequently nothing but copper, or iron plated over with silver. This last metal they likewise preferred before gold, as more convenient for traffic; and, as they became more feared by the Romans, they learned how to draw enough of it from them to supply their whole country, besides what flowed from other nations. As to marriage, every man was contented with one wife, except some few of the nobles, who kept a plurality, more for show than pleasure; and both parties were so faithful to each other, and chaste, true, and disinterested, in their conjugal affection, that Tacitus prefers their manners in this respect to those of the Romans. The men sought not dowries from their wives, but bestowed them upon them. Their youth, in those cold climes, did not begin so soon to feel the warmth of love as those in hotter ones: it was common with them not to marry young; and those were most esteemed who continued longest in celibacy, because they reckoned it an effectual means to make them grow tall and strong. To marry, or be concerned with a woman, before they were full twenty years old, was accounted shameful wantonness. The women shared with their husbands not only the care of their families, and the education of their children, but even the hardships of war. They attended them in the field, cooked their victuals, dressed their wounds, excited their courage to fight against their enemies, and sometimes by their own bravery recovered a victory when it was upon the point of being lost. In a word, they looked upon such constant attendance on them, not as a servitude, like the Roman dames, but as a duty and an honor. Yet what appears to have been still a harder fate upon the ancient German ladies was, that their great Odin, or Woden, excluded all those from his valhalla, or paradise, who did not, by some violent death, follow their deceased husbands.

The authority of civil government was extremely limited among the Germans. In times of peace they had no common or fixed magistrate; but the chief men of every district dispensed justice and accommodated differences

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In the far greater part of Germany, the form of government was a democracy, tempered indeed, and controlled, not so much by general and positive laws, as by the occasional ascendant of birth and valor, of eloquence and superstition. Some tribes, however, on the coast of the Baltic, acknowledged the right of kings; but their kings had not absolute or unbounded power; their authority consisted rather in the privilege of advising than in the power of commanding. Matters of small consequence were determined by the chief men; affairs of importance by the whole community.

On occasions of danger a general of the tribe was elected; and, in circumstances of pressing and extensive danger, several tribes concurred in the choice of the same general. The bravest warrior was named to lead his countrymen into the field, by his example rather than his commands. His power expired with the war, and in time of peace the German tribes acknowledged not any supreme chief. Princes were, however, appointed, in the general assembly, to administer justice, or rather to compose differences (minuunt controversias, Cæsar) in their respective districts. In the choice of these magistrates birth was regarded as much as merit. To each was assigned, by the public, a guard, and a council of 100 persons; and the first of the princes appears to have enjoyed a pre-eminence of rank and honor, which sometimes tempted the Romans to compliment him with the regal title. They considered it as a badge of servitude to be obliged to dwell in a city surrounded with walls. Each barbarian fixed his independent dwelling on the spot to which a plain, a wood, or a stream of fresh water had induced him to give the preference. Neither stone, nor brick, nor tiles, were employed in these slight habitations. They were, indeed, no more than low huts of a circular figure, built of rough timber thatched with straw, and pierced at the top to leave a free passage for the smoke. That they considered cities as places of confinement, rather than of security, appears from the following circumstance: when one of their tribes had shaken off the Roman yoke, their countrymen required of them, as an evidence of their having recovered liberty, to demolish the walls of the towns which the Romans had built in their country.

The military weapons of the cavalry among the Germans were shields and spears, which they used in common with the foot, but the latter had, besides their darts, bows and slings, and seldom had recourse to their pikes and swords. Their arms were esteemed their favorite furniture and chief ornament; so that they never appeared in public without them. The sword was so sacred, that the most solemn and obligatory oaths were those which they took upon a naked blade. Nor did they assist in any solemn rite, without their sword, shield, or spear. They even wore them at their familiar visits, banquets, and religious dances; and they were frequently to be burnt or buried with them, when they died.

There is scarcely any thing in which the Germans, though nearly allied in most of their other customs to the Gauls, were more opposite to them than in their funerals. Those of the latter

were performed with great pomp and profusion; those of the former with the same plainness and simplicity which they observed in all other things. The only grandeur they affected in them was, to burn the bodies of their great men with some peculiar kinds of wood; but the funeral pile was neither adorned with the clothes and other furniture of the deceased, nor perfumed with fragrant herbs and gums; each man's arnour, that is, his sword, shield, and spear, were flung into it, and sometimes his riding-horse. The Danes, indeed, flung into the funeral pile of a prince, gold, silver, and other precious things, which the chief mourners, who walked in a gloomy guise round the fire, exhorted the bystanders to fling liberally into it in honor of the deceased. They afterwards deposited their ashes in urns, like the Gauls, Romans, &c., as plainly appears from the vast numbers which have been dug up all over the country, and illustrated by dissertations written upon them, by several learned moderns of that nation. And the sacrifices they offered for their dead, the presents they made to them at their funerals, and all the other superstitious rites performed at them, were done in consequence of those notions, which their ancient religion had taught them, as to the immortality of the soul, and the bliss or misery of a future life. At these funerals, as well as in all their other feasts, they were famed for drinking to excess; and one may say of them, above all the other descendants of the ancient Celtes, that their hospitality, banquets, &c., consisted much more in the quantity of strong liquors, than in the elegance of eating. Beer and strong mead, their natural drink, were reckoned the chief promoters of health, strength, fertility, and bravery; upon which account, they indulged themselves to the utmost in them, not only in their feasts, and before battle, but even in their common meals.

As the ancient Germans did not commit any thing to writing, and as none of the ancient writers have given us any account of it, it is impossible to guess how soon the belief of their great Woden, and his paradise, was received among them. It may have been much older than the times of Tacitus, and he have known nothing of it, from their care in concealing their religion from strangers; but as they conveyed their doctrines to posterity in songs and poems, and most of their northern poets tell us that they have drawn their intelligence from those very poems which were preserved amongst them, we may justly suppose that whatever doctrines are contained in them were formerly professed by the generality of the nation, especially as we find their ancient practice conformable to it. Thus, as the surest road to this paradise was to exce in martial deeds, and to die intrepidly in the field of battle; and as none were excluded from it but base cowards, and betrayers of their country, it is natural to think that the signal and excessive bravery of the Germans flowed from this ancient belief of theirs and if their females were so brave and faithful as not only to share with their husbands all the dangers and fatigues of war, but at length to follow them by a voluntary death into the other world, it can hardly be