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 than the bravery of its citizens. d Pausanias informs us, that the walls of Sparta were begun to bet 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 acces→ sible. The demolition of these walls, therefore, was not a subject of much grief to the inhabitants of Sparta. 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 seven hundred years; and had been the source of all its grandeur and glory. 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. In Achaic. p. 412. * Fuerat quondam sine muro Sparta. Tyranni nuper locis pa tentibus planisque objecerant murum: altiora loca & difficiliora aditu stationibus armatorum pro munimento objectis tutabantur. Liv. 1. xxxiv. n. 38. Spartani urbem, quam semper armis non muris defenderant, tum contra responsa fatorum & veterem majorum gloriam, armis diffisi, murorum præsidio includunt. Tantum eos degeneravisse à majoribus, ut cùm multis seculis murus urbi civium virtus fuerit, tunc cives salvos se fore non existimaverint, nisi intra muros laterent. JUSTIN. 1. xiv. c. 5. + Justin informs us, that Sparta was fortified with walls, at the time that Cassander meditated the invasion of Greece. ↑ Nulla res tanto erat damno, quàm disciplina Lycurgi, cui per septingentos annos assueverant, sublata. Liv. A. M. 3817 Ant. J.C. 187. 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 law of nations (to which Philopomen gave at least occasion, if he did not consent to it) cannot be excused in any manner. с It appears, from a fragment of Polybius, that the Lacedæmonians made complaints at Rome against Philopomen, as having, by this action, equally unjust and cruel, defied the power 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, ter minated that with the Gauls. I have 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 Galatia: and formed three bodies, three different states, the Tolistobogi, the Trocmi, and Tectosages. They 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 Antio Polyb. in Legat. c. xxxvii. f Liv. 1. xxxviii. n. 12-27. chus 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 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. "I am no ways surprised, "(says he) that the Gauls should have made their name formidable, and spread the strongest terror "in the minds of nations, of so soft and effemi"nate a cast as the Asiatics. Their tall stature, "their fair, flowing hair, which descends to their "waists; their enormous bucklers, their long swords: 66 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, be dread"ful to men not accustomed to them, but not to you, O Romans, whose victorious arms have so often triumphed over that nation. 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 sup"porting 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 to be 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 luxury of "the people among whom they dwell, have entirely "enervated them. They now are no more than Phrygians, in Gallic armour; and the only circumstance I fear is, that you will not reap much 66 honour by the defeat 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 was quickly 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 of 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 æstús fluere; primaque eorum prælia plus quàm virorum, postrema minus quàm feminarum esse. Those who are not acquainted with the genius and character of the modern French, entertain very near the same idea of them. However, the late transactions in Italy, and especially on the Rhine, must have undeceived them. However prepossessed I may be 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 Philipsburgh. 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 hostile 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 inun Liv. 1. x. n. 28. dations 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 appearing to dread no other circumstance, than 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 burst forth 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 true Frenchman, fired with zeal for his king and country. The KING'S Letter to the Marshal D'Asfeldt. "COUSIN, "I am fully sensible of the important service you have done me in taking Philipsburgh. Nothing less than your courage and resolution could have surmounted the obstacles to that enterprise, occasioned by the inundations of the Rhine. You have had the satisfaction to see your example inspire the officers and soldiers with the same sentiments. caused an account to be sent me daily, of all the I |