ortance of his achievements, by the
language of panegyric, which celebrates only his triumph over the
elements or, in other words, the good fortune of a safe and easy
passage from the port of Boulogne to the harbor of Sandwich. [112] The
calamities which the afflicted provincials continued to experience,
from foreign war and domestic tyranny, were aggravated by the feeble and
corrupt administration of the eunuchs of Constantius; and the transient
relief which they might obtain from the virtues of Julian, was soon
lost by the absence and death of their benefactor. The sums of gold and
silver, which had been painfully collected, or liberally transmitted,
for the payment of the troops, were intercepted by the avarice of the
commanders; discharges, or, at least, exemptions, from the military
service, were publicly sold; the distress of the soldiers, who were
injuriously deprived of their legal and scanty subsistence, provoked
them to frequent desertion; the nerves of discipline were relaxed, and
the highways were infested with robbers. [113] The oppression of the
good, and the impunity of the wicked, equally contributed to diffuse
through the island a spirit of discontent and revolt; and every
ambitious subject, every desperate exile, might entertain a reasonable
hope of subverting the weak and distracted government of Britain. The
hostile tribes of the North, who detested the pride and power of the
King of the World, suspended their domestic feuds; and the Barbarians
of the land and sea, the Scots, the Picts, and the Saxons, spread
themselves with rapid and irresistible fury, from the wall of Antoninus
to the shores of Kent. Every production of art and nature, every object
of convenience and luxury, which they were incapable of creating by
labor or procuring by trade, was accumulated in the rich and fruitful
province of Britain. [114] A philosopher may deplore the eternal
discords of the human race, but he will confess, that the desire of
spoil is a more rational provocation than the vanity of conquest.
From the age of Constantine to the Plantagenets, this rapacious spirit
continued to instigate the poor and hardy Caledonians; but the same
people, whose generous humanity seems to inspire the songs of Ossian,
was disgraced by a savage ignorance of the virtues of peace, and of
the laws of war. Their southern neighbors have felt, and perhaps
exaggerated, the cruel depredations of the Scots and Picts; [115] and
a valiant tribe