torious lance--were the rewards which the
companions claimed from the liberality of their chief. The rude plenty
of his hospitable board was the only pay that he could bestow, or they
would accept. War, rapine, and the free-will offerings of his friends,
supplied the materials of this munificence. [53] This institution,
however it might accidentally weaken the several republics, invigorated
the general character of the Germans, and even ripened amongst them all
the virtues of which barbarians are susceptible; the faith and valor,
the hospitality and the courtesy, so conspicuous long afterwards in the
ages of chivalry.

The honorable gifts, bestowed by the chief on his brave companions, have
been supposed, by an ingenious writer, to contain the first rudiments of
the fiefs, distributed after the conquest of the Roman provinces, by the
barbarian lords among their vassals, with a similar duty of homage and
military service. [54] These conditions are, however, very repugnant to
the maxims of the ancient Germans, who delighted in mutual presents; but
without either imposing, or accepting, the weight of obligations. [55]

[Footnote 53: Tacit. Germ. 13, 14.]

[Footnote 54: Esprit des Loix, l. xxx. c. 3. The brilliant imagination
of Montesquieu is corrected, however, by the dry, cold reason of the
Abbe de Mably. Observations sur l'Histoire de France, tom. i. p. 356.]

[Footnote 55: Gaudent muneribus, sed nec data imputant, nec acceptis
obligautur. Tacit. Germ. c. 21.]

"In the days of chivalry, or more properly of romance, all the men were
brave, and all the women were chaste;" and notwithstanding the latter of
these virtues is acquired and preserved with much more difficulty than
the former, it is ascribed, almost without exception, to the wives of
the ancient Germans. Polygamy was not in use, except among the princes,
and among them only for the sake of multiplying their alliances.
Divorces were prohibited by manners rather than by laws. Adulteries were
punished as rare and inexpiable crimes; nor was seduction justified by
example and fashion. [56] We may easily discover that Tacitus indulges an
honest pleasure in the contrast of barbarian virtue with the dissolute
conduct of the Roman ladies; yet there are some striking circumstances
that give an air of truth, or at least probability, to the conjugal
faith and chastity of the Germans.

[Footnote 56: The adulteress was whipped through the village. Neither
wealth nor bea