HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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embraced'bv the rising generation ; but it is the misfortune of those princes wh‘»laboriously sustain a declining monarchy, that to obtain some immediate ad-vantage, or to avert some impending danger, they are forced to countenance,and even to multiply, the most pernicious abuses. Majorian, like the weakestof his predecessors, was reduced to the disgraceful expedient of substitutingbarbarian auxiliaries in the place of his unwarlike subjects; and his superiorabilities could only be displayed in the vigour and dexterity with which hewielded a dangerous instrument, so apt to recoil in the hand that used it.Besides the confederates, who were already engaged in the service of theempire, the fame of his liberality and valour attracted the nations of the Da-nube, the Borysthenes, and perhaps of the Tanais. Many thousands of thebravest subjects of Attila, the Gepidae, the Ostrogoths, the Rugians, the Bur-gundians, the Suevi, the Alani, assembled in the plains of Liguria, and theirformidable strength was balanced by their mutual animosities. They passedthe Alps in a severe winter. The emperor led the way on foot, and in com-plete armour, sounding with his long staff the depth of the ice or snow, andencouraging the Scythians, who complained of the extreme cold, by the cheerfulassurance that they should be satisfied with the heat of Africa. The citizensof Lyons had presumed to shut their gates. They soon implored and expe-rienced the clemency of Majorian. He vanquished Theodoric in the field, andadmitted to his friendship and alliance a king whom he had found net unworthyof his arms. The beneficial, though precarious, reunion of the greatest partof Gaul and Spain, was the effect of persuasion, as well as of force ; and thein lependent Bagandae, who had escaped or resisted the oppression of formerreigns, were disposed to confide in the virtues of Majorian. His camp wasfilled with barbarian allies. His throne was supported by the zeal of an affec-tionate people; but the emperor had foreseen that it was impossible, without amaritime power, to atchieve the conquest of Africa. In the first Punic war,the republic had exerted such incredible diligence, that within sixty days afterthe first stroke of the axe had been given in the forest, a fleet of one hundredand sixty gailies proudly rode at anchor in the sea. Under circumstances muchless favourable, Majorian equalled the spirit and perseverance of the ancient-Romans. The woods of the Apennine were felled, the arsenals and manufac-tures of Ravenna and Misenum were restored, Italy and Gaul vied with eachother in liberal contributions to the public service, and the imperial navy ofthree hundred large gailies, with an adequate proportion of transports, and

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