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 CHAPTER VIII 65. Apolli- naris Sido- nius de- scribes the Saxon pirates of the fifth century. THE DISRUPTION OF CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE I. THE NORTHMEN For centuries the German peoples of the North har- assed the coasts of the North Sea and often extended their invasions far inland. In one of the letters of Apollinaris Sidonius 1 we have a vivid picture of the Saxons about the time that they were getting their foothold in England in the middle of the fifth century. At the end of a long letter to a friend, Sidonius says : Behold, when I was on the point of concluding this epistle, in which I have already chattered on too long, a messenger suddenly arrived from Saintonge with whom I have spent some hours in conversing about you and your doings. He affirms that you have just sounded your trumpet on board the fleet, and that, combining the duties of a sailor and a soldier, you are roaming along the winding shores of the ocean, looking out for the curved pinnaces of the Saxons. When you see the rowers of that nation you may at once make up your mind that every one of them is an arch-pirate ; with such wonderful unanimity do all at once command, obey, teach, and learn their one chosen business of brigandage. For this reason I ought to warn you to be more than ever on your guard in this warfare. Our enemy is the most truculent of all enemies. Unex- pectedly he attacks ; when expected he escapes ; he despises those who seek to block his path, he overthrows those who are off their guard ; he always succeeds in cutting off the 1 See above, pp. 58 sq.