OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
winter campaign, that chilled the courage of theRoman troops, was scarcely felt by these hardychildren of the north, k who in their turn wereunable to resist the summer heats, and dissolvedaway in languor and sickness under the beamsof an Italian sun . 1
There is not any where upon the globe, a largetract of country, which we have discovered desti-tute of inhabitants, or whose firstpopulation canbe fixed with any degree of historical certainty.And yet, as the most philosophic minds can sel-dom refrain from investigating the infancy ofgreat nations, our curiosity consumes itself intoilsome and disappointed efforts. WhenTacitusconsidered the purity of the German blood, andthe forbidding aspect of the country, he was dis-posed to pronounce those barbarians indigence,or natives of the soil. We may allow with safe-ty, and perhaps with truth, that ancient Ger-many was not originally peopled by any foreigncolonies already formed into apolitical society ;" 1but that the name and nation received their ex-istence from the gradual union of some wander-
k Plutarch , in Mario. The Cimbri, by way of amusement, often sliddown mountains of snow on their broad shields.
1 The Romans made war in all climates, and by their excellent dis-cipline were, in a great measure, preserved in health and vigour. Itmay be remarked, that man is the only animal which can live and mul-tiply in every country from the equator to the poles. The hog seemsto approach the nearest to our species in that privilege.
m Tacit. German, c. 3. The emigration of the Gauls followed thecourse of the Danube, and discharged itself on Greece and Asia. Taci-tus could discover only one inconsiderable tribe that retained anytraces of a Gallic origin.
349
CHAP.
IX.