manners of the ancient
Germans. Their climate, their want of learning, of arts, and of laws,
their notions of honor, of gallantry, and of religion, their sense of
freedom, impatience of peace, and thirst of enterprise, all contributed
to form a people of military heroes. And yet we find, that during more
than two hundred and fifty years that elapsed from the defeat of
Varus to the reign of Decius, these formidable barbarians made few
considerable attempts, and not any material impression on the luxurious
and enslaved provinces of the empire. Their progress was checked by
their want of arms and discipline, and their fury was diverted by the
intestine divisions of ancient Germany. I. It has been observed, with
ingenuity, and not without truth, that the command of iron soon gives
a nation the command of gold. But the rude tribes of Germany, alike
destitute of both those valuable metals, were reduced slowly to acquire,
by their unassisted strength, the possession of the one as well as
the other. The face of a German army displayed their poverty of iron.
Swords, and the longer kind of lances, they could seldom use. Their
frameoe (as they called them in their own language) were long spears
headed with a sharp but narrow iron point, and which, as occasion
required, they either darted from a distance, or pushed in close onset.
With this spear, and with a shield, their cavalry was contented.
A multitude of darts, scattered [72] with incredible force, were an
additional resource of the infantry. Their military dress, when they
wore any, was nothing more than a loose mantle. A variety of colors was
the only ornament of their wooden or osier shields. Few of the chiefs
were distinguished by cuirasses, scarcely any by helmets. Though the
horses of Germany were neither beautiful, swift, nor practised in the
skilful evolutions of the Roman manege, several of the nations obtained
renown by their cavalry; but, in general, the principal strength of the
Germans consisted in their infantry, [73] which was drawn up in several
deep columns, according to the distinction of tribes and families.
Impatient of fatigue and delay, these half-armed warriors rushed to
battle with dissonant shouts and disordered ranks; and sometimes, by
the effort of native valor, prevailed over the constrained and more
artificial bravery of the Roman mercenaries. But as the barbarians
poured forth their whole souls on the first onset, they knew not how to
rally or to