the death
of their leader, was infamous. They even carried into the field their
women and children, who adopted all the martial sentiments of the men:
and being thus impelled by every human motive, they were invincible;
where they were not opposed either by the similar manners and
institutions of the neighbouring Germans, or by the superior
discipline, arms, and numbers of the Romans [b].
[FN [b] Caesar, lib. 6. Tacit. de Mor. Germ.]

The leaders and their military companions were maintained by the
labour of their slaves, or by that of the weaker and less warlike part
of the community, whom they defended. The contributions which they
levied went not beyond a bare subsistence; and the honours, acquired
by a superior rank, were the only reward of their superior dangers and
fatigues. All the refined arts of life were unknown among the
Germans: tillage itself was almost wholly neglected: they even seem to
have been anxious to prevent any improvements of that nature; and the
leaders, by annually distributing anew all the land among the
inhabitants of each village, kept them from attaching themselves to
particular possessions, or making such progress in agriculture as
might divert their attention from military expeditions, the chief
occupation of the community [c].
[FN [c] Caesar, lib. 6. Tacit. de Mor. Germ.]

The Saxons had been for some time regarded as one of the most warlike
tribes of this fierce people, and had become the terror of the
neighbouring nations [d]. They had diffused themselves from the
northern parts of Germany and the Cimbrian Chersonesus, and had taken
possession of all the sea-coast from the mouth of the Rhine to
Jutland; whence they had long infested by their piracies all the
eastern and southern parts of Britain, and the northern of Gaul [e].
In order to oppose their inroads, the Romans had established an
officer, whom they called COUNT OF THE SAXON SHORE; and as the naval
arts can flourish among a civilized people alone, they seem to have
been more successful in repelling the Saxons, than any of the other
barbarians by whom they were invaded. The dissolution of the Roman
power invited them to renew their inroads; and it was an acceptable
circumstance, that the deputies of the Britons appeared among them,
and prompted them to undertake an enterprise, to which they were of
themselves sufficiently inclined [f].
[FN d Amm. Marcell. lib. 28. Orosius. [e] Marcell. lib. 27. cap. 7.
lib. 28. cap