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III.

generated, by the greatness of the necessity, a CHAP. proportionate benefit. By a conjecture more probable in itself, and more consistent with contemporaneous facts, than any other which has been mentioned, a modern writer has very happily ascribed to it the formation of that important confederation, which, under the name of Francs, withstood the Roman arms, and preserved the liberties of Germany, 26

It is the prevailing opinion of the learned, that Their true about the year 240 a new confederation was formed, origin. under the name of Francs, by the old inhabitants of the Lower Rhine and 27 Weser. As the incursion of Maximin took place about the year 235, the additional supposition of Spener is very happy, that this confederation arose from a general desire of security and revenge.

THE horizon of Rome was at this juncture darkening: civil wars were consuming the strength of the empire; and its Germanic enemies, who had many losses of liberty, life, and property to avenge, were learning the dangerous secret of the benefit of union. The 28 Alemanni had alarmed Marcus Aurelius with its first exhibition. The advantage of this confederation generated others, until the Roman empire was overwhelmed by the accumu

"Non valde ·

26 Spener in his Notit. Germ. lib. iv. p. 338. vereor adfirmare, Maximini crudelem in Germaniam incursionem fœdus inferioris Rheni accolis Germanis suasisse."

27 Gibbon 1. p. 259. -Foncemagne, Mem. Ac. xv. p. 268., and Freret, Hist. Ac. Insc. ix. p. 88., and Mem. xxxiii. p. 134., unite in the opinion.-Mascou, who dislikes it, p. 196., has evidently not weighed all the circumstances.

28 For the nations who assumed this name, see Spener, 175 179.

II.

BOOK lating torrent; and her western provinces were parcelled out among those warlike spoilers, whose improved posterity now govern Europe.

Their use

to the Saxons.

30

THIS sagacious union of strength in a common cause was consecrated on the Rhine by the general name of Francs, in which the peculiar denominations of the tribes were 29 absorbed. 29 absorbed. Their valour achieved its end; and their existence and general conduct were peculiarly useful to the Saxon nation. The safety and success of our ancestors may have flowed from this timely confederation. The Saxon exploits on the ocean, inflicted such wounds on the Roman colonies and commerce, that a peculiar fleet was appointed to counteract them; the southern coast of Britain was put under an officer called Comes Littoris Saxonici; and every historian mentions them with dread and hatred. It does not seem visionary to state, that it would have been one of the first employments of the Roman indignation to have exterminated them by an expedition like those of Drusus, Germanicus, and Maximin, if the confederation of the Francs had not interposed a formidable barrier that was never destroyed, and which kept the imperial armies em

29 The states who united in the league are particularised by Spener, p. 341.; and by Chrytæus, Sax. Proem.

30 The ancient writers give us some curious traits of the Francs of this period: "Francis familiare est ridendo fidem frangere." Vopiscus Proc. c. xiii. p. 237. Ed. Bip. "Gens Francorum infidelis est. Si perjeret Francus quid novi faciet, qui perjurium ipsum sermonis genus putat esse non criminis." Salvian de Gub. Dei, lib. iv. p. 82. Mag. Bib. Pat. 5.- Again, lib: vii. p. 116. "Franci mendaces, sed hospitales."-This union of laughter and crime, of deceit and politeness, has not been entirely unknown to France in many periods since the fifth century.

HI.

ployed on the south banks of the Rhine. We may CHAP. add, that the furious desolations of Maximin were favourable to the growth of the Saxon power; for they depopulated the contiguous states, and left the Saxons without any strong neighbours to coerce or endanger them.

ANOTHER cause, peculiarly promotive of the prosperity of the Saxons, was their application to maritime expeditions; and it is interesting to the philosophical student of history to remark, by what incidents they were led to this peculiar direction of their courage and activity.

31 Pontanus Origin. Franc.-Spener, 333-360., and his 2 vol. 421-429., and Schilters' Glossary, 316-322., furnish much information on the Frankish tribes.

BOOK
II.

CHAP. IV.

The Application of the SAXONS to Maritime Expeditions.

THE

HE situation of the Saxons on the sea-coast of that part of Europe, which was in the neighbourhood of some fertile provinces of the Roman empire, and yet remote enough to elude their vengeful pursuit; and the possession of an island, with an harbour so ample, and yet so guarded against hostile assaults, as Helig-land afforded, were circumstances propitious to a system of piracy.

THE tribes on the sea-coasts, from the mouths of the Rhine to the Baltic, had from the days of Cæsar been gradually forming themselves to maritime exertions. The Romans themselves, inattentive to the consequences, contributed to their progress in this new path of war. Drusus equipped a fleet on the Rhine to waft his army to the Ems: he cut a channel for its passage into the Zuyder Zee; and we find in his time, that the Bructeri, who lived on the left of the Ems, were able to fight a battle with him on the seas. In the reign of Tiberius, Germanicus built a thousand vessels on the Rhine, Maes, and Scheld', teaching the attentive natives the use of ships, and the manner of their constructing them, and employing them in their navigation.

1 Mascou, Hist. vol. i. p. 80.

2 Tacitus Ann. lib. ii. c. 6.

IV.

WITHIN thirty years afterwards, Gennascus, at CHAP. the head of the Chauci, evinced their improvement; for with light ships, armed for plunder, he made the descent already noticed on the contiguous shores, and particularly on the Roman provinces in France, knowing that they were rich, and perceiving that they were weak against such attacks.3 His enterprises were in fact the precursors of those, with which the Francs and Saxons afterwards annoyed the Roman empire. The naval exertions of Civilis have been stated before.

As the population between the Rhine and Ems were thus accustomed to maritime exertions, the Saxons began to multiply near them, and to spread into the islands we have described. But an active system of naval enterprise is not naturally chosen by any nation; and, still less, distant voyages, which are fatal to land warriors from their ignorance, and still more formidable from their superstitions. Hence the Saxons might have lived amid their rocks and marshes, conflicting with their neighbours, or sailing about them in petty vessels for petty warfare, till they had mouldered away in the vicissitudes in which so many tribes perished; if one remarkable incident, not originating from themselves, but from a Roman emperor, had not excited their peculiar attention to maritime expeditions on a larger scale, with grander prospects, and to countries far remote.

THIS event, which tinged with new and lasting colours the destiny of Europe, by determining the Saxons to piratical enterprises, was the daring achievements of the Francs; whom Probus, during

3 Tacit. Ann. lib. xi. c. 18.

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