CHAP. drawn from the Notitia, might exercife the dili tent himself with obferving, that the number of Difficulty armorum auxiliorumque erat. T. Liv. 1. xxxvii. c. 39, 40. Flaminius, even before the event, had compared the army of Antiochus to a fupper, in which the flesh of one vile animal was diverfified by the skill of the cooks. See the life of Flaminius in Plutarch. 134 Agathias, 1. v. p. 157. edit. Louvre. ed, 135 XVII. ed 13, although flaves, at least by a tacit connivance, CHAP. were indiscriminately received into the ranks, the infurmountable difficulty of procuring a regular and adequate fupply of volunteers, obliged the emperors to adopt more effectual and coërcive methods. The lands bestowed on the veterans, as the free reward of their valour, were henceforward granted under a condition, which contains the first rudiments of the feudal tenures; that their fons, who fucceeded to the inheritance, fhould devote themselves to the profeffion of arms, at foon as they attained the age of manhood; and their cowardly refufal was punished by the lofs of honour, of fortune, or even of life 136. But as the annual growth of the fons of the vete rans bore a very small proportion to the demands of the fervice, levies of men were frequently required from the provinces, and every proprietor was obliged either to take up arms, or to procure a substitute, or to purchase his exemption by the payment of a heavy fine. The fum of forty-two pieces of gold, to which it was reduced, afcertains the exorbitant price of volunteers, and the reluc 135 Valentinian (Cod. Theodof. 1. vii, tit. xiii. leg. 3.) fixes the standard at five feet leven inches, about five feet four inches and a half English measure. It had formerly been five feet ten inches, and in the beft corps fix Roman feet. Sed tunc erat amplior multitudo, & plures fequebantur militiam armatam. Vegetius de Re Militari, l.i. c. 5. 136 See the two titles, De Veteranis, and De Filiis Veteranorum, in the feventh book of the Theodofian Code. The age at which their military fervice was required, varied from twenty-five to fixteen. If the fons of the veterans appeared with a horse, they had a right to ferve in the cavalry; two horfes gave them fome valuable privileges. VOL. III. F tance CHA P. tance with which the government admitted of this XVII. alternative 37. Such was the horror for the profeffion of a foldier, which had affected the minds. of the degenerate Romans, that many of the youth of Italy, and the provinces, chofe to cut off the fingers of their right hand to escape from being preffed into the service; and this ftrange expedient was so commonly practifed, as to deferve the fevere animadverfion of the laws 138, and a pe culiar name in the Latin language 139. Encrease rían auxi The introduction of Barbarians into the Roman of Barba armies became every day more univerfal, more neceffary, and more fatal. The most daring of the Scythians, of the Goths, and of the Germans, who delighted in war, and who found it more liaries. 137 Cod. Theod. 1. vii. tit. xiii. leg. 7. According to the hiftorian Socrates (See Godefroy ad loc.), the fame emperor Valens fometimes required eighty pieces of gold for a recruit. In the following law it is faintly expreffed, that flaves fhall not be admitted inter optimas le&iffimorum militum turmas. 138 The perfon and property of a Roman knight, who had muti. lated his two fons, were fold at public auction by order of Auguftus. (Sueton. in August, c. 27.) The moderation of that artful ufurper proves, that this example of feverity was juftified by the spirit of the times. Ammianus makes a distinction between the effeminate Italians and the hardy Gauls. (L. xv. C. 12. 139 They were called Murci. Murcidus is found in Plautus and Feftus, to denote a lazy and cowardly perfon, who, according to Arnobius and Auguftin, was under the immediate protection of the goddefs Murcia. From this particular inftance of cowardice, murcare is used as fynonymous to mutilare, by the writers of the iddle Latinity. See Lindenbrogius, and Valefius ad Ammian. Marcellin. 1. xv. c. 12, profitable profitable to defend than to ravage the provinces, c H A P. were enrolled, not only in the auxiliaries of their xvii. respective nations, but in the legions themselves, and among the most diftinguifhed of the Palatine troops. As they freely mingled with the fubjects of the empire, they gradually learned to defpife their manners, and to imitate their arts. They abjured the implicit reverence, which the pride of Rome had exacted from their ignorance, while they acquired the knowledge and poffeffion of thofe advantages by which alone fhe supported her declining greatnefs. The Barbarian foldiers, who difplayed any military talents, were advanced, without exception, to the most imand the names of the triportant commands. bunes, of the counts and dukes, and of the generals themselves, betray a foreign origin, which they no longer condefcended to difguife. They were often entrusted with the conduct of a war against their and though moft of them preferred the ties of allegiance to those of blood, they did not always avoid the guilt, or at leaft the fufpicion, of holding a treasonable correspondence with the enemy, of inviting his invafion, or of fparing his retreat. The camps, and the palace of the fon of Constantine, were governed by the powerful faction of the Franks, who preferved the ftricteft connection with each other, and with their country, and who refented every perfonal affront as a national indignity 140. countrymen. 140 Malarichus-adhibitis Francis quorum ea tempeftate in pa. latio multitudo florebat, erectius jam loquebatur tumultuabaturque. Ammian. 1. xv. c. 5. F 2 When CHAP. When the tyrant Caligula was fufpected of an inXVII. tention to invest a very extraordinary candidate Seven mi with the confular robes, the facrilegious profanation would have fcarcely excited lefs aftonifhment, if, inftead of a horfe, the nobleft chieftain of Germany or Britain had been the object of his .choice. The revolution of three centuries had produced fo remarkable a change in the prejudices of the people, that, with the public approbation, Conftantine fhewed his fucceffors the example of beftowing the honours of the confulfhip on the Barbarians, who, by their merit and fervices, had deferved to be ranked among the first of the Romans 14. But as thefe hardy veterans, who had been educated in the ignorance or contempt of the laws, were incapable of exercising any civil offices, the powers of the human mind were contracted by the irreconcileable feparation of talents as well as of profeffions. The accomplifhed citizens of the Greek and Roman republics, whofe characters could adapt themselves to the bar, the fenate, the camp, or the fchools, had learned to write, to speak, and to act with the fame fpirit, and with equal abilities. IV. Befides the magiftrates and generals, who nifters of at a distance from the court diffufed their delethe palace. 141 Barbaros omnium primus, ad ufque fafces auxerat et trabeas confulares. Ammian. 1. xx. c. 10. Eufebius (in Vit. Conftantin. 1. iv. c. 7.) and Aurelius Victor feem to confirm the truth of this affertion; yet in the thirty-two confular Fafti of the reign of Conftantine, I cannot difcover the name of a fingle Barbarian. I should therefore interpret the liberality of that prince, as relative to the ornaments, rather than to the office, of the confulfhip. gated |