Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/297

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 273 The same ignorance which renders barbarians inca- CHAP, pable of conceiving or embracing the useful restraints of laws, exposes them naked and unarmed to the blind Its effects terrors of superstition. The German priests, improv- ^" P*^ace, ing this favourable temper of their countrymen, had assumed a jurisdiction, even in temporal concerns, which the magistrate could not venture to exercise ; and the haughty warrior patiently submitted to the lash of correction, when it was inflicted, not by any human power, but by the immediate order of the god of war ^ The defects of civil policy were sometimes supplied by the interposition of ecclesiastical authority. The latter was constantly exerted to maintain silence and decency in the popular assemblies; and was sometimes ex- tended to a more enlarged concern for the national welfare. A solemn procession was occasionally cele- brated in the present countries of Mecklenburg and Pomerania. The unknown symbol of the earth, co- vered with a thick veil, was placed on a carriage drawn by cows ; and in this manner the goddess, whose com- mon residence was in the isle of Rugen, visited several adjacent tribes of her worshippers. During her pro- gress, the sound of war was hushed, quarrels were sus- pended, arms laid aside, and the restless Germans had an opportunity of tasting the blessings of peace and harmony *. The truce of God, so often and so ineffec- tually proclaimed by the clergy of the eleventh century, was an obvious imitation of this ancient custom ". But the influence of rehgion was far more powerful in war. to inflame, than to moderate, the fierce passions of the Germans. Interest and fanaticism often prompted its ministers to sanctify the most daring and the most un- just enterprises, by the approbation of heaven, and full assurances of success. The consecrated standards, long revered in the groves of superstition, were placed in the front of the battle '' ; and the hostile army was " See Dr. Robertson's History of Charles V. vol. i. note 10. " Tacit. Germ. c. 7. These standards were only the heads of wild beasts. VOL. I. T
 * Tacit. Germ. c. 7. » Ibid. c. 40.