in a public assembly. The debates were exceedingly warm, and carried to a great height on both sides. Without coming to any determination, the first thing he did was, to command them to lay down their arms, and send their respective ambassadors to Rome; and accordingly they repaired thither immediately, and were admitted to audience. The league with the Achæans was in great consideration at Rome, but, at the same time, the Romans did not care to disgust the Lacedæmonians entirely. The senate therefore returned an obscure and ambiguous answer, which has not come down to us, whereby the Achæans might flatter themselves that they were allowed full power to infest Sparta; and the Spartans, that such power was very much limited and restrained.

The Achæans extended it as they thought proper. Philopomen had been continued in his employment of first magistrate. He marched the army to a small distance from Sparta without loss of time, and again demanded to have those persons surrendered to him who had concerted the enterprise against the town of Las; declaring that they should not be condemned or punished till after being heard. Upon this promise, those who had been nominated expressly set out, accompanied by several of the most illustrious citizens, who looked upon their cause as their own, or rather as that of the public. Being arrived at the camp of the Achæans, they were greatly surprised to see the exiles at the head of the army. The latter, advancing out of the camp, came to them with an insulting air, and began to vent the most injurious expressions against them: after this, the quarrel growing warmer, they fell upon them with great violence, and treated them very ignominiously. In vain did the Spartans implore both gods and men, and claimed the right of nations; the rabble of the Achæans, animated by the seditious cries of the exiles, joined with them, notwithstanding the protection due to ambassadors, and in spite of the prohibition of the supreme magistrate, 17 were immediately stoned to death, and 73 rescued by the magistrate out of the hands of those furious wretches. It was not that he intended, in any manner, to pardon them; but he would not have it said that they had been put to death without being heard. The next day, they were brought before that enraged multitude, who, almost without so much as hearing them, condemned and executed them all.

The reader will naturally suppose, that so unjust, so cruel a treatment, threw the Spartans into the deepest affliction, and filled them with alarms. The Achæans imposed the same con

ditions upon them, as they would have done on a city that had been taken by storm. They gave orders that the walls should be demolished; that all such mercenaries as the tyrants had kept in their service, should leave Laconia; that the slaves whom those tyrants had set at liberty (and there were a great number of them,) should also be obliged to depart the country in a certain limited time, upon pain of being seized by the Achæans, and sold or carried wheresoever they thought proper; that the laws and institutions of Lycurgus should be annulled In fine, that the Spartans should be associated in the Achæan league, with whom they should thenceforth form but one body, and follow the same customs and usages.

'The Lacedæmonians were not much afflicted at the demolition of their walls; with which they began the execution of the orders prescribed them; and indeed it was no great misfortune to them. *Sparta had long subsisted without any other walls or defence but the bravery of its citizens. † Pausanias informs us, that the walls of Sparta were begun to be ‡ built in the time of the inroads of Demetrius, and afterwards of Pyrrhus; but that they had been completed by Nabis. Livy relates also, that the tyrants for their own security, had fortified with walls all such parts of the city as were most open and accessible. The Spartans were therefore not much grieved at the demolition of these walls. But it was with inexpressible regret they saw the exiles, who had caused its destruction, returning into it, and who might justly be considered as its most cruel enemies. Sparta enervated by this last blow, lost all its pristine vigour, and was for many years dependent on, and subjected to the Achæans. The most fatal circumstance with regard to Sparta was, the abolition of the laws of Lycurgus, which had continued in force 700 years, and had been the source of all its grandeur and glory.

*Fuerat quondam sine muro Sparta. Tyranni nuper locis patentibus planisque objecerant murum; altiora loca et difficiliora aditu stationibus armatorum pro munimento objectis tutabantur. Liv. 1. xxx¡v. n. 38.

Spartani urbem, quam semper armis non muris defenderant, tum contra responsa fatorum et veterem majorum gloriam, armis diffisi, murorum præsidio includunt. Tantum eos degeneravisse a majoribus, ut cum multis seculis murus urbi civium virtus fuerit, tunc cives salvos se fore non existimaverint, nisi intra muros laterent. Justin. 1. xiv. c. 5. t In Achaiac. p. 412.

Justin informs us that Sparta was fortified with walls at the time that Cassander meditated the invasion of Greece.

Nulla res tanto erat damino, quam disciplina Lycurgi, cui per septingentos annos assueverant, sublata. Liv.

This cruel treatment of so renowned a city as Sparta does Philopomen no honour, but, on the contrary, seems to be a great blot in his reputation. Plutarch, who justly ranks him among the greatest captains of Greece, does but just glance at this action, and says only a word or two of it. It must indeed be confessed, that the cause of the exiles was favourable in itself. They had Agesipolis at their head, to whom the kingdom of Sparta rightfully belonged; and they had been all expelled their country by the tyrants; but so open a violation of the laws of nations, to which Philopamen gave at least occasion, if he did not consent to it, cannot be excused in any manner.

* It appears, from a fragment of Polybius, that the Lacedæmonians made complaints at Rome against Philopomen, as having, by this equally unjust and cruel action, defied the pow er of the republic of Rome, and insulted its majesty. It was a long time before they could obtain leave to be heard. At last, + Lepidus the consul wrote a letter to the Achæan confederacy, to complain of the treatment which the Lacedæmonians had met with. However, Philopomen and the Achæans sent an ambassador, Nicodemus of Elis, to Rome, to justify their conduct.

In the same campaign, and almost at the same time that Fulvius the consul terminated the war with the Etolians, Manlius the other consul, terminated that with the Gauls. I haye taken notice elsewhere, of the inroad those nations had made into different countries of Europe and Asia under Brennus. The Gauls in question had settled in that part of Asia Minor, called, from their name, Gallo Græcia, or Gallatia; and formed three bodies, three different states, the Tolistobogi, the Trocmi, and Tectosages. These had made themselves formidable to all the nations round, and spread terror and alarms on all sides. The pretence made use of for declaring war against them, was their having aided Antiochus with troops. Immediately after L. Scipio had resigned the command of his army to Manlius, the latter set out from Ephesus, and marched against the Gauls. If Eumenes had not been then at Rome, he would have been of great service to him in his march; however, his brother Attalus supplied his place, and was the consul's guide. The Gauls had acquired great reputation in every part of this country, which they had subdued

Polyb. in Legat. c. xxxvii. + A. M. 3817. Ant. J. C. 187. ‡ Liv. 1. xxxviii. n. 12-27. Polyb. in Excerpt. Legat. 29-35.

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by the power of their arms, and had not met with the least opposition. Manlius judged that it would be necessary to harangue his forces on this occasion, before they engaged the enemy. 66 am no ways surprised," says he, "that the Gauls should have “made their names formidable to, and spread the strongest "terror in the minds of nations, of so soft and effeminate a "cast as the Asiatics. Their tall stature, their fair flowing "hair, which descends to their waists; their unwieldy buck"lers, their long swords: add to this, their songs, their cries, "and howlings, at the first onset; the dreadful clashing of "their arms and shields: All this may, indeed, intimidate 66 men not accustomed to them, but not you, O Romans, "whose victorious arms have so often triumphed over that na❝tion. Besides, experience has taught you, that after the "Gauls have spent their first fire, an obstinate resistance "blunts the edge of their courage, as well as their bodily "strength; and that then, quite incapable of supporting the "heat of the sun, fatigue, dust, and thirst, their arms fall from "their hands, and they sink down quite tired and exhausted. "Do not imagine these the ancient Gauls, inured to fatigues "and dangers. The luxurious plenty, of the country they have "invaded, the soft temperature of the air they breathe, the "effeminacy and delicacy of the people among whom they in"habit, have entirely enervated them. They now are no (6 more than Phrygians in Gallic armour; and the only cir"cumstance I fear is, that you will not reap much honour by "the defeat of a rabble of enemies, so unworthy of disputing "victory with Romans."

It was a general opinion, with regard to the ancient Gauls, that a sure way to conquer them, was, to let them exhaust their first fire, which immediately was deadened by opposition; and that when once this edge of their vivacity was blunted, they had lost all strength and vigour: that their bodies were even incapable of sustaining the slightest fatigues long, or withstanding the sun-beams, when they darted with ever so little violence: that, as they were more than men in the beginning of an action, they were less than women at the conclusion of it. *Gallos primo impetu feroces esse, quos sustinere satis sitGallorum quidem etiam corpora intolerantissima laboris atque astus fluere; primaque eorum prælia plus quam virorum, postrema minus quam feminarum esse.

Those who are not acquainted with the genius and charac ter of the modern French, entertain very near the same idea of them. However, the late transactions in Italy, and especially

* Liv. 1. x. n. 28.

on the Rhine, must have undeceived them in that particular. Though I am very much prejudiced in favour of the Greeks and Romans, I question whether they ever discovered greater patience, resolution, and bravery, than the French did at the siege of Phillpsburg. I do not speak merely of the generals and officers; courage being natural to, and in a manner inherent in them: but even the common soldiers showed such an ardour, intrepidity, and greatness of soul, as amazed the generals. The sight of an army, formidable by its numbers, and still more so by the fame and abilities of the prince who commanded it, served only to animate them the more. During the whole course of this long and laborious siege, in which they suffered so much by the fire of the besieged, and the heat of the sun; by the violence of the rains, and the inundations of the Rhine, they never once breathed the least murmur or complaint. They were seen wading through great floods, where they were up to the shoulders in water, carrying their clothes and arms over their heads, and afterwards marching, quite uncovered, on the outside of the trenches full of water, exposed to the whole fire of the enemy; and then advancing with intrepidity to the front of the attack, demanding, with the loudest shouts, that the enemy should not be allowed capitulation of any kind; and to dread no other circumstance, but their being denied the opportunity of signalizing their courage and zeal still more, by storming the city. What I now relate is universally known. The most noble sentiments of honour, bravery, and intrepidity, must necessarily have taken deep root in the minds of our countrymen; otherwise, they could not have roused at once so gloriously in a first campaign, after having been in a manner asleep during a twenty years peace.

The testimony which Lewis XV. thought it incumbent on him to give them, is so glorious to the nation, and even reflects so bright a lustre on the king, that I am persuaded none of my readers will be displeased to find it inserted here entire. If this digression is not allowable in a history like this, methinks it is pardonable, and even laudable in a Frenchman fired with zeal for his king and country.

The KING'S LETTER to the MARSHAL D'ASFELDT.

"COUSIN,

"I AM entirely sensible of the important service you have <done me in taking Philipsburg. Nothing less than your courage and resolution could have surmounted the obstacles to VOL. VII. D

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