LETTER XIX.

SIR,

IN compliance with your desire I again present to you a train of observations and reflections which will give you but little pleasure; for not many reflections of an agreeable kind can arise from the period which now offers itself to our contemplation. After the subversion of the Roman empire a gloomy period succeeds, which seems to form a vast chasm in the history of the human mind. From that memorable epoch to the reign of Charlemagne, the history of Europe, during a period of more than three centuries, displays a continued scene of bloodshed and anarchy. The pages of history recount nothing else, during this dark and calamitous period, but the incessant and bloody revolutions which took place in the kingdoms and states which the northern nations had formed out of the ruins of the Roman empire; and the writers, who treat of those times, crowd their narratives with ill-authenticated details of battles, seiges, treasons, and assassinations, which are not worth the attention of posterity, any further than as they serve to exhibit a general view of the formation of the kingdoms and states of modern Europe. The Goths had established their kingdom in Spain, about A. D. 472; and Clovis established the French monarchy about

the end of the fifth century. The Saxons had entered into England so early as A. D. 440. And the sixth century is distinguished by the establishment of the Saxon heptarchy in this country; the conquest of Burgundy and Acquitain by the French, and the complete establishment of the French monarchy. The kingdom of Idoacer, in Italy, was conquered by Theodoric, king of the Goths, who was subsidized and commissioned by the court of Constantinople, and reigned king of Italy under the sanction and authority of the eastern Emperor, to whom he acknowledged himself a vassal. Theodoric is represented as a prince of great political virtues, but so ignorant of letters, that he could not sign his name. Italy, however, flourished under his reign: he preserved the Goths and Italians, as two distinct nations, reserving the former for the employments of war, and the latter for those of peace. On the death of Theodoric his kingdom devolved upon his beautiful and accomplished daughter, Amalasontha, whose exile and death happened A. D. 535. Theodoric had reigned under the sanction of the imperial court of Constantinople, and, although king of Italy, had always acknowledged himself the ally and dependent of the eastern empire; but after the exile and death of his daughter, the Goths of Italy refused to acknowledge the paramount authority of the imperial court, and renounced all dependence on, and connection with, the empire. Justinian then reigned over the east, and dispatched his general, Belisarius, into Italy.

Belisarius entered Rome, where he was besieged by the Goths. His gallant and almost incredible defence of the city, with only 5000 veterans, against a numerous army of Goths, commanded by Vitiges, their king, during the space of a whole year, A. D. 537, is deemed one of the most signal military exploits recorded in history; although it may not be unreasonable to suppose, that our account of it is somewhat exaggerated, as it is related by Procopius, an author partial to the interests and the fame of Belisarius. The military achievements of that great general are, however, sufficiently authenticated to immortalize his name. Belisarius made many daring and successful sallies out of Rome, and the Goths are said to have lost 30,000 men in one general assault. They were obliged to raise the siege on the arrival of fresh troops from Constantinople. Belisarius at length subdued the Gothic kingdom of Italy, Vitiges, their king surrendering on conditions, was sent to Constantinople, and Justinian assigned him for his maintenance a rich estate in Asia minor; and, on his conforming to the Athanasian creed, conferred on him the rank of patrician and senator, which still continued as honorary titles, in the empire. Gulimer, king of the Vandals, had also an ample estate assigned him, but could not enjoy any honorary title, that being incompatible with his professing Arianism. The Goths again revolted under the command of Tetila, whom they had elected king, on which Belisarius, a second time, entered Italy, Rome was taken by the Goths, A. D. 546, and reta

ken by Belisarius, A. D. 548. Belisarius being recalled, Rome was again captured by the enemy. The command of the army of Italy then was conferred on Narses, the eunuch, a person of consummate military skill, and the most daring courage. This general defeated and slew Tetila, the Gothic king, and made himself master of Rome, A. D. 552. He also defeated and slew Teias, who had succeeded Tetila, as king of the Goths, A. D. 553. Immediately after followed a formidable invasion of Italy, by the Franks and Altemanni, whose vast armies poured in like a deluge; but those invaders were defeated by Narses, with prodigious slaughter, A. D. 554. Italy was then made a province of the eastern or Byzantine empire, and a government established under the denomination of the exarchate, of which the eunuch Narses, who had distinguished himself by the most signal display of military talents, and dauntless courage, was the first exarch. The long and bloody series of reiterated invasions and repulses, of plunder, desolation, and butchery, which, from the reign of Honorius, in the west, to that of Justinian, in the east, during a space of nearly a hundred and fifty years, desolated Italy, and fill the volumes of the historians of that calamitious period, would rather deserve to be buried in eternal oblivion, than to be recalled to the remembrance of after-ages, did not a cursory view of them contribute to shew the gradual downfal of the Roman empire, with

the scenes of war and slaughter which took place before the northern nations could establish their dominion on the ruins of that colossal power. The history of these times, however, among all its disgusting scenes, exhibits some great and extraordinary characters, which merit a place in the memory of posterity; particularly the Emperor Justinian, and his celebrated generals, Belisarius and Narses. Fortune seems to have singled out Justinian in an extrordinary manner, as the object of her favors. He owed his elevation to his uncle Justin, who was born of an obscure family of peasants in Dacia; on the north side of the Danube, and, with two other peasants of the same village, deserting the profession of husbandry, and with a scanty provision of biscuit in their sacks, travelled to Constantinople, to try their fortune in that capital, which was then the central point of human action, and the most conspicuous theatre for the display of kind of talents. There is not, every perhaps, in the history of mankind, any thing more agreeable, or more striking, than the exhibition of extraordinary characters, and the display of those singular vicissitudes which have marked the lives of some extraordinary personages, who seem to have been selected by the Divine Providence to act a distinguished part on the great theatre of the world. Justin, on his arrival at Constantinople, was, by reason of his strength and stature, received into the body guards of the Emperor Leo. Under the two succeeding reigns Justin emerged from poverty and obscurity to