diones, &c., (Hist. Natur. iv. 28.)]

[Footnote 100: The wars and negotiations relative to the Burgundians and
Alemanni, are distinctly related by Ammianus Marcellinus, (xxviii. 5,
xxix 4, xxx. 3.) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 32,) and the Chronicles of Jerom
and Cassiodorus, fix some dates, and add some circumstances.]

The land was covered by the fortifications of Valentinian; but the
sea-coast of Gaul and Britain was exposed to the depredations of the
Saxons. That celebrated name, in which we have a dear and domestic
interest, escaped the notice of Tacitus; and in the maps of Ptolemy, it
faintly marks the narrow neck of the Cimbric peninsula, and three small
islands towards the mouth of the Elbe. [101] This contracted territory,
the present duchy of Sleswig, or perhaps of Holstein, was incapable of
pouring forth the inexhaustible swarms of Saxons who reigned over the
ocean, who filled the British island with their language, their laws,
and their colonies; and who so long defended the liberty of the North
against the arms of Charlemagne. [102] The solution of this difficulty
is easily derived from the similar manners, and loose constitution,
of the tribes of Germany; which were blended with each other by the
slightest accidents of war or friendship. The situation of the native
Saxons disposed them to embrace the hazardous professions of fishermen
and pirates; and the success of their first adventures would naturally
excite the emulation of their bravest countrymen, who were impatient of
the gloomy solitude of their woods and mountains. Every tide might float
down the Elbe whole fleets of canoes, filled with hardy and intrepid
associates, who aspired to behold the unbounded prospect of the ocean,
and to taste the wealth and luxury of unknown worlds. It should seem
probable, however, that the most numerous auxiliaries of the Saxons were
furnished by the nations who dwelt along the shores of the Baltic. They
possessed arms and ships, the art of navigation, and the habits of
naval war; but the difficulty of issuing through the northern columns of
Hercules [103] (which, during several months of the year, are obstructed
with ice) confined their skill and courage within the limits of a
spacious lake. The rumor of the successful armaments which sailed from
the mouth of the Elbe, would soon provoke them to cross the narrow
isthmus of Sleswig, and to launch their vessels on the great sea. The
various troops of pirates and adventurers,