ies of confusion and calamity. As the
Roman empire was at the same time, and on every side, attacked by
the blind fury of foreign invaders, and the wild ambition of domestic
usurpers, we shall consult order and perspicuity, by pursuing, not so
much the doubtful arrangement of dates, as the more natural distribution
of subjects. The most dangerous enemies of Rome, during the reigns of
Valerian and Gallienus, were, 1. The Franks; 2. The Alemanni; 3. The
Goths; and, 4. The Persians. Under these general appellations, we may
comprehend the adventures of less considerable tribes, whose obscure
and uncouth names would only serve to oppress the memory and perplex the
attention of the reader.

I. As the posterity of the Franks compose one of the greatest and most
enlightened nations of Europe, the powers of learning and ingenuity have
been exhausted in the discovery of their unlettered ancestors. To the
tales of credulity have succeeded the systems of fancy. Every passage
has been sifted, every spot has been surveyed, that might possibly
reveal some faint traces of their origin. It has been supposed that
Pannonia, that Gaul, that the northern parts of Germany, gave birth to
that celebrated colony of warriors. At length the most rational
critics, rejecting the fictitious emigrations of ideal conquerors, have
acquiesced in a sentiment whose simplicity persuades us of its
truth. They suppose, that about the year two hundred and forty, a new
confederacy was formed under the name of Franks, by the old inhabitants
of the Lower Rhine and the Weser. * The present circle of Westphalia,
the Landgraviate of Hesse, and the duchies of Brunswick and Luneburg,
were the ancient of the Chauci who, in their inaccessible morasses,
defied the Roman arms; of the Cherusci, proud of the fame of Arminius;
of the Catti, formidable by their firm and intrepid infantry; and of
several other tribes of inferior power and renown. The love of liberty
was the ruling passion of these Germans; the enjoyment of it their best
treasure; the word that expressed that enjoyment, the most pleasing to
their ear. They deserved, they assumed, they maintained the honorable
appellation of Franks, or Freemen; which concealed, though it did not
extinguish, the peculiar names of the several states of the confederacy.
Tacit consent, and mutual advantage, dictated the first laws of the
union; it was gradually cemented by habit and experience. The league of
the Franks may admit of