ovince to another,
astonished and terrified the subjects of Rome; and their affrighted
imagination enlarged the real extent of a momentary evil. They
recollected the preceding earthquakes, which had subverted the cities
of Palestine and Bithynia: they considered these alarming strokes as the
prelude only of still more dreadful calamities, and their fearful
vanity was disposed to confound the symptoms of a declining empire and
a sinking world. [2] It was the fashion of the times to attribute every
remarkable event to the particular will of the Deity; the alterations
of nature were connected, by an invisible chain, with the moral and
metaphysical opinions of the human mind; and the most sagacious
divines could distinguish, according to the color of their respective
prejudices, that the establishment of heresy tended to produce an
earthquake; or that a deluge was the inevitable consequence of the
progress of sin and error. Without presuming to discuss the truth or
propriety of these lofty speculations, the historian may content himself
with an observation, which seems to be justified by experience, that man
has much more to fear from the passions of his fellow-creatures, than
from the convulsions of the elements. [3] The mischievous effects of an
earthquake, or deluge, a hurricane, or the eruption of a volcano, bear
a very inconsiderable portion to the ordinary calamities of war, as they
are now moderated by the prudence or humanity of the princes of Europe,
who amuse their own leisure, and exercise the courage of their subjects,
in the practice of the military art. But the laws and manners of modern
nations protect the safety and freedom of the vanquished soldier; and
the peaceful citizen has seldom reason to complain, that his life,
or even his fortune, is exposed to the rage of war. In the disastrous
period of the fall of the Roman empire, which may justly be dated from
the reign of Valens, the happiness and security of each individual were
personally attacked; and the arts and labors of ages were rudely defaced
by the Barbarians of Scythia and Germany. The invasion of the Huns
precipitated on the provinces of the West the Gothic nation, which
advanced, in less than forty years, from the Danube to the Atlantic, and
opened a way, by the success of their arms, to the inroads of so many
hostile tribes, more savage than themselves. The original principle
of motion was concealed in the remote countries of the North; and
the c