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pontiae to enumerate the important, a l various su 'vices whic, agriculture, and ali tho aris, have received froin iron. when tempored and fashioned by the operation os fire, and the denterous hand of man. Money, is a word, is the most universat incitem ent, iron thamost powerfui instrument, os humati industry ; aud itia very dissiculi to conceive by what means a Pe opimnelther actuared by the one. nor seconded by the olbe could emerge froni the gros est barbarism. Is we contempla te a lavage nation in any pari olthe glabe . a supine indoletice. and a carelesineti ost turlay will found to constitute their getierat cha-Tacter. Iu a civiliae I state, every Laeulty ot man Isexpati ded alid exercised; and tbe great cha in os mutua .ependerice connect., and embra a the severat mein bers M society. The most numeroo a portion of it, is
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sation; lind war, and danger were the only amuseis ments adequale to iis fierce temper. The sound that summo ed the German to aruas was gratesul to his eat. It roused him fro in his uncomfortable lethargy, gave him an active pursuit. and , by sirong exercise of the body, and violent limotions of the mitid, resso redhim to a more lively sense of his existen . In thaduli intervat of peace , these barbarians were immode
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The intemperato thirst of strong liquore osten. urged . the barbarians to invade the provinces, ori Which au. oe natoro h ad besto ined those much euvied. Presenis. The Tuscan, who betrayed.his country to the Celtiunations, attracted them into Italy, by the pnolaeci ofilio ricli fruits a Dd delictous wines, the production Oila happiEr climate. And in the fame maciner the Ger ει man auxiliaries, invited into France duriing the civilwars os the fixi centi, cetntury, were allured by thepi omise of plenteous quarters in the provinces of Cham .. igne and Burgundy. Drunkentieti. the most illiberat.
times capis bie, in a lese civiliaed state of manlii dὸ of
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os the lal Iehood, and in deed tho impossibili ty of ille
sation for this sa vage state in the en joyment os liberin Their po veri y Iecured their Reedom, since our des rea and our possessions are ille strongest fetters of despotita. Among the Suiones csays Tacitus riches are hold tu honoυr. They are therelare subject to an absolute monarch, Who, instead os intrusting, his p eople willi the Dee use of ainis, at it is practi sed in the rest of Germany, commits them to the salais custOdy, nOt os a citigen, or even os a Deedman, but os a flave. The Deigh bours of the Suiones, the Sbritones, are sutili even below servitude: they obey a
In the mention Os these exceptions, the great historiare sufficiently achnowledges ille generat theory of
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goverrimenti me a re only at a toti to eodeeivo his what meatis richos and despotita could penetrato inicia remoto comer of the Forth. arid extingui in thagenerous flame that blaZed with such fiercenesi on thoseontiers of the Roman provinces: or how the ancestorsos thoia Danes and Norwegians, se distinguished in
Ialter ages, by their unconquered spirit, could thus tamely resign the great chai actor os Germati liberi Some tribes, however, on tho coast of Baltic, achno
Iedged the authority of hings, though intibout relin. quis hing the rights of man; but in the far greater part
by generat and positive laws, as by the occasional asce flant of birili or valour, os eloquence or stipeissition. Civil go vernmenis, in their fit st institutiona, are vo- Iuniary associatiotis for mutuat defetice. To obta in the delired Eud, it is absolutely DeceiIary, that Each in libvidual inould conceive biniself obliged to submit his
Private opinion and actions, to the judgment or thogreater number of his associales. Tho German tribes were contented with this rudo but liberal ouiline os political society. As scion as a youth, borri os nee parenis, bad alta ined the age of man hood, he was introduced into the g erat councilof his countlymen, solemtity in vested with a mieldand sp eur, and adopted as an equat and worthy member of the military commonwealth. Tho assembly of the warriors of the tribe, Was coli vened at stated season, or sudden emergen cies. The triat os public osseuces, the election os magistrates, and the great busineia ofPctace and war, inere determined by iis independentvoice. Sometimos, indeed, these important questions
mero previousty considered, and prepared in a more select
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eseleel eouncit of the principia chieliaina. The magistrates might deliberate and persuade, ibo people onj conId resolve and execute; and the resolutions of thea Germana inere for the moli part hasty and violent. Barbariana accustomed to place their Beedom in gratiis ing the present passion, and their courage in overinicio Ling ali future consequetices, turned a way with indignant contempt Do m the remonstrances of justice and Policy, and it was the practice to signisn by a hollo πmurmur, their disithe of such timid coutiseis. Butwhen evex a more popular orator propolad to vindicata the meanest ciliten Dom either foret gn or domestie injury, whenever he called upon hia fellois countrymati
and spears expressed the eager applause of the si embly.
For the Germans always mei in arma. and it was con
stantly to be drea ded, test an irregular multitude, in-sa med witti faction and strong liquors, should uso
os Poland have been polluted with blood, and tho more numerous party has been compelled to yield to the more violent and seditious. Λ generat of the tribowas elected on occasions of danger; and, is the dangee Was pressing, and entensive, severat tribes concurredin the choice of the same generat. The bravest warrioe was named to lead his countrymen into the fiet d, hyhis example rather than by his commanda. But this power, however limited ,. was stili invidiotis. It e pired with the war, and in time of peace, the Germautribes achnowledged not any supreme chies. Princes Were, howeVer, appotnted, in the generat assembinto administer justice, or rather to compose disserenoes, in thoir respective districis. ΙΔ the choloe os theta
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is of their Own exploits, were the most sacred of thelenduties. The chie se comba ted sor victory. tho comis Arions sor the chi es. The noblest Warriors, whem , ,e ver their native country was stan k in the laκ neti,, of peaee, maintai Ded their numero us banda in lamori distant scene os action, to exercise their resti ess spirit, is and to acquire renown by voluntary dangers. Gisis
i companions claimed hom the liberality of their ebi et The rude plenty of his hospitable board, was th. only pay that he could besio π, or they wOuid accepti War rapine, and the Deewill osse rings of his frienda, si supplied the materials of this munificence. Τhis institution, howe ver it might accidentaligineahen tho severat republics, invigorated the genera character of ne Germatis, and even ripened amongstinem ali tho viriues, of which barbarians ara suscepisti, et the faith and valour, the hospitality, and theeourtesy, so conspicuous long afterwarda ta the ages achivalry. The honourabio gitis, be wed by thoebios on his brave companions, have been *ppos d. by an ingenious writer, to contain the first 'redimenta of the fien, distributed, after the conquest ot tho R man provinces, by the barbarian Lorda among thelavassais, with a similar duty of homage and militarrserviee. These conditions are, bowever, Very repugnaret to the maxima of the ancient Germatas, wtio dolis itin
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in mutuat presenis; but mi thout either imposng. ovaccepting the weight os obligations. In the da ys of chivat ry, or more properly o sero mance, nil the men were brave, and ali the women Awere chaste; and nowitbstanding the lalter of thesavirto es is acquired and preserved with much more difficulty than the former, it is ascribed, at inolt without exception, to the wives of the ancient Germans. Polygamy was not in uis , eXCepi among the princes, and among them ouJy, for the sahe of multiplying their alliatices. Divorces were prohibited by manneraxather than by laws. Adulteries mere punished as raro and inexpiabie crimes; nor Was Ieduction justissed brexample and sanion. We may ea sily discover, that Taeitus indulges an honest pleatare in the contrast olharbari an virtve, with the dissolute conduci os the Roman la dies : yet there a re sonae stri hing circumstan. ees that give an air of truth, or at least os probabit in eo the conjugal laith and chasti ty of the Germans. Although the progress o civili nation has undoubbadly contributed to a Gage the fiercer passions os human nature, it seems to have been leti fauciura blaeo tho virtve of chastity, whose most dan gerous enemy s the laseneis of the miud. The re finements of ldaeorrupt while they polisti the interco urse of the sexeso The poli appetite os love, becomes most dangero when it is eleva ted, or rather, in deed, disgui sed by sentimental passion. The elegance of droia, of motion, and of Amners, givea a lustre to beauty, and inflammcto senses through the imagination. Luxurious erater tain menta, midnight dances, and licentioua spectacles. Praent at once tempsation and opportunity to Lemale Baiity. From such dangers the utipolithed wives cirino barbari ns Mero secured, by poverin solitude, and
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the walis. the bolis, and the eunucha os a Persian haram. TO this reason, another may be ad ded os amore hovourable nature. The Germans trealed thelawomen with Esteem ηnd confiden ce, consulted themon e very occasion os importance, and fondly belleveri that in their breasta resided a sanctity aud wisdom.
Some of these interpretera os late, such as Velleia. in the Batavian war, governed in the name of aho deity, the fiercest nations os Germann The rest of tho sex, without being adored as god desies, were respectedas ibo Dee, and equat companions os soldiers ; allocialedeven by the mania ge ceremony to a lita os toll. oldanger, and of gloxy. In their great invasons, thocamps of the barbarians wero filled with a multitudo of women, who re mained firm and undaunted amida the inund of arma, the various forma os destruction, and the honourable wounds of their laus and hushanda. Fainting armi ea os Germans have more thati once been