mollified the ferocious temper of the conquerors.

[Footnote 511: It might be a curious speculation, how far the purer
morals of the genuine and more active Christians may have compensated,
in the population of the Roman empire, for the secession of such numbers
into inactive and unproductive celibacy.--M.]

This awful revolution may be usefully applied to the instruction of
the present age. It is the duty of a patriot to prefer and promote the
exclusive interest and glory of his native country: but a philosmay
be permitted to enlarge his views, and to consider Europe as one great
republic whose various inhabitants have obtained almost the same level
of politeness and cultivation. The balance of power will continue to
fluctuate, and the prosperity of our own, or the neighboring kingdoms,
may be alternately exalted or depressed; but these partial events cannot
essentially injure our general state of happiness, the system of arts,
and laws, and manners, which so advantageously distinguish, above the
rest of mankind, the Europeans and their colonies. The savage nations
of the globe are the common enemies of civilized society; and we may
inquire, with anxious curiosity, whether Europe is still threatened with
a repetition of those calamities, which formerly oppressed the arms and
institutions of Rome. Perhaps the same reflections will illustrate
the fall of that mighty empire, and explain the probable causes of our
actual security.

I. The Romans were ignorant of the extent of their danger, and the
number of their enemies. Beyond the Rhine and Danube, the Northern
countries of Europe and Asia were filled with innumerable tribes of
hunters and shepherds, poor, voracious, and turbulent; bold in arms,
and impatient to ravish the fruits of industry. The Barbarian world was
agitated by the rapid impulse of war; and the peace of Gaul or Italy was
shaken by the distant revolutions of China. The Huns, who fled before a
victorious enemy, directed their march towards the West; and the torrent
was swelled by the gradual accession of captives and allies. The flying
tribes who yielded to the Huns assumed in their turn the spirit of
conquest; the endless column of Barbarians pressed on the Roman empire
with accumulated weight; and, if the foremost were destroyed, the vacant
space was instantly replenished by new assailants. Such formidable
emigrations can no longer issue from the North; and the long repose,
which has been imputed to th