. Six thousand years of history. n-turies of conquest and victorious repulse or utterdestruction of Gallic and German assailants from thenorth? Why did the Romans prove at last inferior inforce to the Barbarians? The first answer is, that theBarbaric world had grown stronger than of old. Theconfederations of Germans in the Third Century of theRoman Empire show that the Barbarians had learnedthe secret of strength in union. They had also improvedin intelligence and military skill. They were, moreover,impelled in aggressive force against the Roman frontiersby the irresistible pressure wrought on
. Six thousand years of history. n-turies of conquest and victorious repulse or utterdestruction of Gallic and German assailants from thenorth? Why did the Romans prove at last inferior inforce to the Barbarians? The first answer is, that theBarbaric world had grown stronger than of old. Theconfederations of Germans in the Third Century of theRoman Empire show that the Barbarians had learnedthe secret of strength in union. They had also improvedin intelligence and military skill. They were, moreover,impelled in aggressive force against the Roman frontiersby the irresistible pressure wrought on themselves bythe newcomers from Asia—the Huns. The second answeris, that not only had Rome failed to increase or to main-tain her power, but that power had positively and largelydeclined. Rome had ceased to conquer, and this wasonly because she had reached the limit of her Hadrian gave up the Parthian conquests ofTrajan, and when Aurelian abandoned Dacia—whenthe boundaries of the Empire were thus deliberately. v. < I— o oi- fco< U IT. £ HISTORY OF ROME 289 narrowed by able and energetic rulers—it is certain thatRome was becoming weak and exhausted, and that theserulers knew it, and wisely acted on their knowledge. Itwas no moral degeneracy, caused by luxury and success,that could account for this. The Roman armies werenot affected by the doings of a brutal and effeminatearistocracy; the discipline was what it had ever been;the Generals were as capable as most of those who com-manded under the Republic. The successes of Julianagainst the Alemanni, of Theodosius against the Goths,of Stilicho against Alaric, and of Aetius against theHuns of Attila, prove that the armies of Rome couldstill fight and win. It was from physical causes, notmoral, that Rome fell. The Empire perished for want of men. The Romanarmies had become mainly composed of Barbariantroops, and thus the citadel of Romes strength wasoccupied by defenders whose very presence was a p
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