by the exhibition of splendid and triumphal
games. But the wise monarch, instead of aspiring to the conquest of
Germany, confined his attention to the important and laborious defence
of the Gallic frontier, against an enemy whose strength was renewed by
a stream of daring volunteers, which incessantly flowed from the most
distant tribes of the North. The banks of the Rhine from its source to
the straits of the ocean, were closely planted with strong castles
and convenient towers; new works, and new arms, were invented by the
ingenuity of a prince who was skilled in the mechanical arts; and his
numerous levies of Roman and Barbarian youth were severely trained in
all the exercises of war. The progress of the work, which was sometimes
opposed by modest representations, and sometimes by hostile attempts,
secured the tranquillity of Gaul during the nine subsequent years of the
administration of Valentinian.

That prudent emperor, who diligently practised the wise maxims of
Diocletian, was studious to foment and excite the intestine divisions
of the tribes of Germany. About the middle of the fourth century, the
countries, perhaps of Lusace and Thuringia, on either side of the Elbe,
were occupied by the vague dominion of the Burgundians; a warlike and
numerous people, * of the Vandal race, whose obscure name insensibly
swelled into a powerful kingdom, and has finally settled on a
flourishing province. The most remarkable circumstance in the ancient
manners of the Burgundians appears to have been the difference of their
civil and ecclesiastical constitution. The appellation of Hendinos was
given to the king or general, and the title of Sinistus to the high
priest, of the nation. The person of the priest was sacred, and his
dignity perpetual; but the temporal government was held by a very
precarious tenure. If the events of war accuses the courage or conduct
of the king, he was immediately deposed; and the injustice of his
subjects made him responsible for the fertility of the earth, and the
regularity of the seasons, which seemed to fall more properly within the
sacerdotal department. The disputed possession of some salt-pits engaged
the Alemanni and the Burgundians in frequent contests: the latter were
easily tempted, by the secret solicitations and liberal offers of the
emperor; and their fabulous descent from the Roman soldiers, who had
formerly been left to garrison the fortresses of Drusus, was admitted
with mutual credul