t and fame of military prowess,
all that is valued by mankind appeared vile and contemptible to these
Barbarians, whose native fierceness was stimulated by the consciousness
of numbers and freedom. The tents of the Hungarians were of leather,
their garments of fur; they shaved their hair, and scarified their
faces: in speech they were slow, in action prompt, in treaty perfidious;
and they shared the common reproach of Barbarians, too ignorant to
conceive the importance of truth, too proud to deny or palliate the
breach of their most solemn engagements. Their simplicity has been
praised; yet they abstained only from the luxury they had never known;
whatever they saw they coveted; their desires were insatiate, and their
sole industry was the hand of violence and rapine. By the definition of
a pastoral nation, I have recalled a long description of the economy,
the warfare, and the government that prevail in that state of society;
I may add, that to fishing, as well as to the chase, the Hungarians
were indebted for a part of their subsistence; and since they seldom
cultivated the ground, they must, at least in their new settlements,
have sometimes practised a slight and unskilful husbandry. In their
emigrations, perhaps in their expeditions, the host was accompanied
by thousands of sheep and oxen which increased the cloud of formidable
dust, and afforded a constant and wholesale supply of milk and animal
food. A plentiful command of forage was the first care of the general,
and if the flocks and herds were secure of their pastures, the hardy
warrior was alike insensible of danger and fatigue. The confusion of men
and cattle that overspread the country exposed their camp to a nocturnal
surprise, had not a still wider circuit been occupied by their light
cavalry, perpetually in motion to discover and delay the approach of the
enemy. After some experience of the Roman tactics, they adopted the
use of the sword and spear, the helmet of the soldier, and the iron
breastplate of his steed: but their native and deadly weapon was the
Tartar bow: from the earliest infancy their children and servants were
exercised in the double science of archery and horsemanship; their arm
was strong; their aim was sure; and in the most rapid career, they were
taught to throw themselves backwards, and to shoot a volley of arrows
into the air. In open combat, in secret ambush, in flight, or pursuit,
they were equally formidable; an appearance of order