THE DECLINE AND FALL
412
chap mestic usurpers, we shall consult order and per-__‘_spicuity, by pursuing, not so much the doubt-ful arrangement of dates, as the more naturaldistribution of subjects. The most dangerousenemies of Rome, during the reigns of Valerianinroads of an( j Q a ijj enus were, 1. The Franks. 2. The
the barba- .
rians. Alemanni. 3. The Goths ; and, 4. The Per-sians . Under thesegeneral appellations, we maycomprehend the adventurers of less considerabletribes, whose obscure and uncouth names wouldonly serve to oppress the memory, and perplexthe attention of the reader.
Origin Ti As the posterity of the Franks compose onederacy of of the greatest and most enlightened nations of
the Franks . 1 1 • i • •.
Europe , the powers ot learning and ingenuityhave been exhausted in the discovery of theirunlettered ancestors. To the tales of credulityhave succeeded the systems of fancy. Everypassage has been sifted, every spot has beensurveyed, that might possibly reveal some fainttraces of their origin. It has been supposedthat Pannonia,* that Gaul, that the northernparts ofi} Germany / gave birth to that cele-brated colony of warriors. At length the mostrational critics, rejecting the fictitious emigra-tions of ideal conquerors, have acquiesced in asentiment whose simplicity persuades us of its