XVII.

CHAP. nourished by the memory of their past exploits, and the consciousness of their actual ftrength. As long as they maintained their ancient eftablishment of fix thousand men, they fubfifted, under the reign of Diocletian, each of them fingly, a visible and important object in the military hif tory of the Roman empire. A few years afterwards, these gigantic bodies were shrunk to a very diminutive fize; and when feven legions, with fome auxiliaries, defended the city of Amida against the Perfians, the total garrifon, with the inhabitants of both fexes, and the peafants of the deferted country, did not exceed the number of twenty thousand perfons "". From this fact, and from fimilar examples, there is reason to believe, that the conftitution of the legionary troops, to which they partly owed their valour and difcipline, was diffolved by Conftantine; and that the bands of Roman infantry, which still affumed the fame names and the fame honours, confifted only of one thousand or fifteen hundred men "". The confpiracy of so many separate detachments, each of which was awed by the sense of its own weaknefs, could easily be checked; and the fucceffors of Conftantine might indulge their love of oftentation, by issuing their orders to one hundred and thirty-two legions, infcribed on the mufter-roll of their numerous armies. The remainder of their troops was diftributed into feveral hundred cohorts of infantry, and fquadrons of cavalry. Their arms, and titles, and enfigns, were calculated to inspire terror, and to difplay the variety

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of nations who marched under the imperial ftandard. And not a veftige was left of that fevere fimplicity, which, in the ages of freedom and victory, had diftinguished the line of battle of a Roman army from the confufed hoft of an Afiatic monarch "". A more particular enumeration, drawn from the Notitia, might exercife the diligence of an antiquary; but the hiftorian will content himself with obferving, that the number of permanent ftations or garrifons eftablished on the frontiers of the empire, amounted to five hundred and eighty-three; and that, under the fucceffors of Conftantine, the complete force of the military eftablishment was computed at fix hundred and forty-five thoufand foldiers ". An effort fo prodigious furpaffed the wants of a more antient, and the faculties of a later, period.

CHAP.

XVIA

In the various ftates of society, armies are re- Difficulty cruited from very different motives. Barbarians of levies. are urged by the love of war; the citizens of a free republic may be prompted by a principle of duty; the fubjects, or at leaft the nobles of a monarchy, are animated by a fentiment of honour; but the timid and luxurious inhabitants of a declining empire must be allured into the fervice by the hopes of profit, or compelled by the dread of punishment. The refources of the Roman treafury were exhausted by the encrease of pay, by the repetition of donatives, and by the invention of new emoluments and indulgences, which, in the opinion of the provincial youth, might compenfate the hardships and dangers of a military

CHAP. life. Yet, although the ftature' was lowered,

XVII.

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136

although slaves, at least by a tacit connivance, 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 coercive methods. The lands beftowed on the veterans as the free reward of their valour, were henceforwards granted under a condition, which contains the first rudiments of the feudal tenures; that their fons, who fucceeded to the inheritance, should devote themselves to the profeffion of arms, as soon as they attained the age of manhood; and their cowardly refufal was punished by the loss of honour, of fortune, or even of life "". But as the annual growth of the fons of the veterans bore a very fmall 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 extemption by the payment of a heavy fine. The fum of forty-two pieces of gold, to which it was reduced, ascertains the exorbitant price of volunteers, and the reluctance with which the government admitted of this alternative"". 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 fervice; and this strange expedient was fo commonly practifed, as to deserve

the

the fevere animadverfion of the laws 138 and a pe- CHA P. culiar name in the Latin language ".

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XVII.

Encrease

rian auxi.

liaries.

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 profitable to defend than to ravage the provinces, were enrolled, not only in the auxiliaries of their refpective nations, but in the legions themselves, and among the most diftinguished of the Palatine troops. As they freely mingled with the fubjects of the empire, they gradually learned to despise 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 she fupported her declining greatness. The Barbarian foldiers who difplayed any military talents, were advanced, without exception, to the most important commands; and the names of the tribunes, 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 countrymen; and though most of them preferred the ties of allegiance to thofe of blood, they did not always avoid the guilt, or at leaft the fufpicion, of holding a treasonable correfpondence with the enemy, of inviting his invafion, or of sparing his retreat. The camps,

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CHAP. and the palace of the son 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 personal affront as a national indignity ***. When the tyrant Caligula was fufpected of an intention to inveft a very extraordinary candidate with the confular robes, the facrilegious profanation would have fcarcely excited lefs aftonishment, if, instead of a horse, 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 shewed his fucceffors the example of bestowing the honours of the confulship on the barbarians, who, by their merit and fervices, had deferved to be ranked among the first of the Romans. But as these 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 accomplished citizens of the Greek and Roman republics, whofe characters could adapt themselves to the bar, the fenate, the camp, or the schools, had learned to write, to speak, and to act with the fame fpirit, and with equal abilities.

Beven mi

nifters of

the palace.

IV. Besides the magiftrates and generals, who at a diftance from the court diffufed their delegated authority over the provinces and armies,