r
numbers of a veteran army. When France was invaded by Charles V., he
inquired of a prisoner, how many days Paris might be distant from the
frontier; "Perhaps twelve, but they will be days of battle:" [93] such
was the gallant answer which checked the arrogance of that ambitious
prince. The subjects of Honorius, and those of Francis I., were animated
by a very different spirit; and in less than two years, the divided
troops of the savages of the Baltic, whose numbers, were they fairly
stated, would appear contemptible, advanced, without a combat, to the
foot of the Pyrenean Mountains.

[Footnote 89: Claudian (i. Cons. Stil. l. i. 221, &c., l. ii. 186)
describes the peace and prosperity of the Gallic frontier. The Abbe
Dubos (Hist. Critique, &c., tom. i. p. 174) would read Alba (a nameless
rivulet of the Ardennes) instead of Albis; and expatiates on the
danger of the Gallic cattle grazing beyond the Elbe. Foolish enough! In
poetical geography, the Elbe, and the Hercynian, signify any river,
or any wood, in Germany. Claudian is not prepared for the strict
examination of our antiquaries.]

[Footnote 90:--Germinasque viator Cum videat ripas, quae sit Romana
requirat.]

[Footnote 91: Jerom, tom. i. p. 93. See in the 1st vol. of the
Historians of France, p. 777, 782, the proper extracts from the Carmen
de Providentil Divina, and Salvian. The anonymous poet was himself a
captive, with his bishop and fellow-citizens.]

[Footnote 92: The Pelagian doctrine, which was first agitated A.D.
405, was condemned, in the space of ten years, at Rome and Carthage. St
Augustin fought and conquered; but the Greek church was favorable to his
adversaries; and (what is singular enough) the people did not take any
part in a dispute which they could not understand.]

[Footnote 93: See the Memoires de Guillaume du Bellay, l. vi. In French,
the original reproof is less obvious, and more pointed, from the double
sense of the word journee, which alike signifies, a day's travel, or a
battle.]

In the early part of the reign of Honorius, the vigilance of Stilicho
had successfully guarded the remote island of Britain from her incessant
enemies of the ocean, the mountains, and the Irish coast. [94] But those
restless Barbarians could not neglect the fair opportunity of the Gothic
war, when the walls and stations of the province were stripped of the
Roman troops. If any of the legionaries were permitted to return from
the Italian expedition, thei