which fometimes tempted the Romans to com- CHAP. pliment him with the regal title ". 50 IX. more abfo the pro perty than The comparative view of the powers of the magiftrates, in two remarkable inftances, is lute over alone fufficient to reprefent the whole fyftem of German manners. The difpofal of the landed over the perfons property within their district was abfolutely the vested in their hands, and they diftributed it Germans. every year according to a new divifion". At the fame time they were not authorised to punish with death, to imprison, or even to strike, a private citizen 52. A people thus jealous of their perfons, and careless of their poffeffions, muft have been totally deftitute of industry and the arts, but animated with a high fenfe of honour and independence. ments. The Germans refpected only thofe duties Voluntary which they impofed on themfelves. The most engage obfcure foldier refifted with difdain the authority of the magiftrates. "The nobleft youths "blushed not to be numbered among the faith"ful companions of fome renowned chief, to "whom they devoted their arms and fervice. "A noble emulation prevailed among the com"panions, to obtain the first place in the esteem "of their chief; amongst the chiefs, to acquire "the greatest number of valiant companions. "To be ever furrounded by a band of select c youths, was the pride and strength of the chiefs, their ornament in peace, their de 50 Cluver. Germ. Ant. 1. i. c. 38. Tacit. Germ. 7. "fence IX. CHAP. " fence in war. The glory of such distinguished "heroes diffufed itself beyond the narrow limits “of their own tribe. Prefents and embaffies "folicited their friendship, and the fame of "their arms often enfured victory to the party "which they efpoufed. In the hour of danger "it was fhameful for the chief to be furpaffed "in valour by his companions; shameful for "the companions not to equal the valour of "their chief. To furvive his fall in battle, was "indelible infamy. To protect his perfon, and "to adorn his glory with the trophies of their "own exploits, were the most facred of their "duties. The chiefs combated for victory, the "companions for the chief. The nobleft war"riors, whenever their native country was funk "in the laziness of peace, maintained their "numerous bands in fome diftant scene of "action, to exercise their restless spirit, and "to acquire renown by voluntary dangers. "Gifts worthy of foldiers, the warlike fteed, "the bloody and ever victorious lance, were "the rewards which the companions claimed " from the liberality of their chief. The rude "plenty of his hospitable board was the only ' pay that he could beftow, or they would ac"cept. War, rapine, and the free-will offerings "of his friends, fupplied the materials of this "munificence 53." This inftitution, however it might accidentally weaken the feveral republics, invigorated the general character of 53 Tacit. Germ. 13, 14. the IX. the Germans, and even ripened amongst them CHA P. all the virtues of which barbarians are fufceptible; the faith and valour, the hospitality and the courtesy, fo confpicuous long afterwards in the ages of chivalry. The honourable gifts, bestowed by the chief on his brave companions, have been fuppofed, by an ingenious writer, to contain the first rudiments of the fiefs, diftributed, after the conqueft of the Roman provinces, by the barbarian lords among their vaffals, with a fimilar duty of homage and military fervice 4. Thefe conditions are, however, very repugnant to the maxims of the ancient Germans, who delighted in mutual presents; but without either impofing, or accepting, the weight of obligations ". chastity. "In the days of chivalry, or more properly German "of romance, all the men were brave, and all "the women were chafte ;" and notwithstanding the latter of thefe virtues is acquired and preferved with much more difficulty than the former, it is afcribed, almoft without exception, to the wives of the ancient Germans. Polygamy was not in ufe, except among the princes, and among them only for the fake of multiplying their alliances. Divorces were prohibited by manners rather than by laws. Adulteries were punished as rare and inexpiable crimes; nor 54 Efprit des Loix, l. xxx. c. 3. The brilliant imagination of Montefquieu is corrected, however, by the dry cold reafon of the Abbé de Mably. Obfervations fur l'Hiftoire de France, tom.i. P. 356. 55 Gaudent muneribus, fed nec data imputant, nec acceptis obligantur. Tacit. Germ. c. 21. was IX. CHAP. was feduction juftified by example and fashion 5. We may easily discover, that Tacitus indulges an honeft pleafure in the contrast of barbarian virtue with the diffolute conduct of the Roman ladies; yet there are fome ftriking circumstances that give an air of truth, or at leaft of probability, to the conjugal faith and chastity of the Germans. Its proba Although the progrefs of civilization has unble caufes doubtedly contributed to affuage the fiercer paffions of human nature, it feems to have been lefs favourable to the virtue of chastity, whofe moft dangerous enemy is the foftnefs of the mind. The refinements of life corrupt while they polish the intercourfe of the fexes. The grofs appetite of love becomes moft dangerous when it is elevated, or rather, indeed, difguifed by fentimental paffion. The elegance of drefs, of motion, and of manners, gives a luftre to beauty, and inflames the fenfes through the imagination. Luxurious entertainments, midnight dances, and licentious fpectacles, prefent at once temptation and opportunity to female frailty ". From fuch dangers the unpolished wives of the barbarians were fecured by poverty, folitude, and the painful cares of a domeftic life. The German huts, open on every fide, to the eye of indiscretion or 56 The adultress was whipped through the village. Neither wealth nor beauty could inspire compaffion, or procure her a second husband, 18, 19. 57 Ovid employs two hundred lines in the research of places the moft favourable to love. Above all, he confiders the theatre as the beft adapted to collect the beauties of Rome, and to melt them into tenderness and fenfuality. jealoufy, 58 IX. jealoufy, were a better fafeguard of conjugal fide- c HAP. lity, than the walls, the bolts, and the eunuchs of a Persian haram. To this reason, another may be added, of a more honourable nature. The Germans treated their women with esteem and confidence, confulted them on every occafion of importance, and fondly believed, that in their breasts refided a fanctity and wisdom more than human. Some of these interpreters of fate, such as Velleda, in the Batavian war, governed, in the name of the deity, the fierceft nations of Germany 5. The reft of the fex, without being adored as goddeffes, were refpected as the free and equal companions of foldiers; affociated, even by the marriage ceremony, to a life of toil, of danger, and of glory 59. In their great invafions, the camps of the barbarians were filled with a multitude of women, who remained firm and undaunted amidst the found of arms, the various forms of destruction, and the honourable wounds of their fons and hufbands 6. Fainting armies of Germans have more than once been driven back upon the enemy, by the generous defpair of the women, who dreaded death much lefs than fervitude. If the day was irrecoverably loft, they well knew how to deliver themfelves and their children, with their own hands, from 53 Tacit. Hift. iv. 61. 65. 60 59 The marriage prefent was a yoke of oxen, horfes, and arms. See Germ. c. 18. Tacitus is fomewhat too florid on the fubject. 60 The change of exigere into exugere is a moft excellent correc tion. VOL. I. BB an |