f his
readers to the important events, whilst the remainder are thrown into
shade. His mode of treating his authorities is perhaps the best that can
be imagined; he neither clogs his pages with long extracts, nor does he
leave them unsupported by a reference to the original authors. At the
end of each paragraph a reference is given to the authorities followed,
to whom the reader may at once turn if he wish to verify the conclusions
arrived at; and where the points are involved in obscurity, the passages
founded on are quoted generally in a note, and never in the text, except
when their importance really justified such an interruption of the
narrative. His style is always animated and graphic, occasionally rising
to elevated flights of eloquence, while his subject is one of a deep and
varied interest; for in following the checkered fortunes of the Gauls,
he is brought in contact with almost every nation of the earth. To
whatever country of the ancient world we turn, we find that the Gaul has
preceded us, either as the savage conqueror or the little less savage
mercenary. Issuing originally from the East, that boundless cradle of
the human race, we soon find him contending with the German for his
morass, with the Spaniard for his gold--traversing the sands of Africa,
and pillaging the plains of Greece--founding a kingdom in the midst of
Asiatic luxury, and bearing his conquering lance beneath the Capitol of
Rome. But a mightier spirit soon rose to rule the storm. In vain the
courage of the Gaul, allied with the power of Carthage, and directed by
the genius of Hannibal, maintained for years a desperate and doubtful
contest in the heart of Italy. The power of Rome kept steadily
advancing: Greece soon fell beneath her conquering arm; and the fleets
of Carthage no longer ruled the wave. The Spaniard, after many a
hard-fought field, at last sank into sullen submission; and the
Galatians, degenerating under the influence of Asiatic manners, proved
unequal to the contest; the Gaul, instead of inundating the land of the
foreigner, could with difficulty maintain his own; and soon the eagle of
the Capitol spread its wings over a Transalpine province. But the free
spirit of the Gaul now made a mighty effort to rend asunder the bonds
which encircled it; and a countless multitude, after ravaging Spain,
poured down into Italy: the Roman empire rocked to its foundation, when
Marius, hastening over from his African conquests, saved his cou