ad taken the lead in the war, were
the most severely punished in its catastrophe. They were commanded to
retire five miles [84] from their own banks of the Danube, and to
deliver up the flower of the youth, who were immediately sent into
Britain, a remote island, where they might be secure as hostages, and
useful as soldiers. [85] On the frequent rebellions of the Quadi and
Marcomanni, the irritated emperor resolved to reduce their country into
the form of a province. His designs were disappointed by death. This
formidable league, however, the only one that appears in the two first
centuries of the Imperial history, was entirely dissipated, without
leaving any traces behind in Germany.

[Footnote 82: Hist. Aug. p. 31. Ammian. Marcellin. l. xxxi. c. 5. Aurel.
Victor. The emperor Marcus was reduced to sell the rich furniture of the
palace, and to enlist slaves and robbers.]

[Footnote 83: The Marcomanni, a colony, who, from the banks of the Rhine
occupied Bohemia and Moravia, had once erected a great and formidable
monarchy under their king Maroboduus. See Strabo, l. vii. [p. 290.]
Vell. Pat. ii. 108. Tacit. Annal. ii. 63. * Note: The Mark-manaen, the
March-men or borderers. There seems little doubt that this was an
appellation, rather than a proper name of a part of the great Suevian or
Teutonic race.--M.]

[Footnote 84: Mr. Wotton (History of Rome, p. 166) increases the
prohibition to ten times the distance. His reasoning is specious, but
not conclusive. Five miles were sufficient for a fortified barrier.]

[Footnote 85: Dion, l. lxxi. and lxxii.]

In the course of this introductory chapter, we have confined ourselves
to the general outlines of the manners of Germany, without attempting
to describe or to distinguish the various tribes which filled that
great country in the time of Caesar, of Tacitus, or of Ptolemy. As the
ancient, or as new tribes successively present themselves in the
series of this history, we shall concisely mention their origin, their
situation, and their particular character. Modern nations are fixed and
permanent societies, connected among themselves by laws and government,
bound to their native soil by arts and agriculture. The German tribes
were voluntary and fluctuating associations of soldiers, almost of
savages. The same territory often changed its inhabitants in the tide
of conquest and emigration. The same communities, uniting in a plan of
defence or invasion, bestowed a new title on t