that separated the Bastarnæ from the savages of Finland was possessed, or rather wasted, by the Venedi:[1] we have some reason to believe that the first of these nations, which distinguished itself in the Macedonian war,[2] and was afterwards divided into the formidable tribes of the Peucini, the Borani, the Carpi, &c., derived its origin from the Germans. With better Distinction of Germans and Sarmatiansauthority a Sarmatian extraction may be assigned to the Venedi, who rendered themselves so famous in the middle ages.[3] But the confusion of blood and manners on that doubtful frontier often perplexed the most accurate observers.[4] As the Goths advanced near the Euxine Sea, they encountered a purer race of Sarmatians, the Jazyges, the Alani, and the Roxolani; and they were probably the first Germans who saw the mouths of the Borysthenes and of the Tanais. If we inquire into the characteristic marks of the people of Germany and of Sarmatia, we shall discover that those two great portions of human kind were principally distinguished by fixed huts or moveable tents, by a close dress or flowing garments, by the marriage of one or of several wives, by a military force consisting, for the most part, either of infantry or cavalry; and, above all, by the use of the Teutonic, or of the Sclavonian language; the last of which has been diffused, by conquest, from the confines of Italy to the neighbourhood of Japan.
Description of the UkraineThe Goths were now in possession of the Ukraine, a country of considerable extent and uncommon fertility, intersected with navigable rivers, which from either side discharge themselves into the Borysthenes; and interspersed with large and lofty forests of oaks. The plenty of game and fish, the innumerable bee-hives, deposited in the hollow of old trees and in the cavities of rocks, and forming, even in that rude age, a valuable branch of commerce, the size of the cattle, the temperature of the air, the aptness of the soil for every species of grain, and the luxuriancy of the vegetation, all displayed the liberality of Nature, and tempted the industry of man.[5] But the Goths withstood all these temptations, and still adhered to a life of idleness, of poverty, and of rapine.
- ↑ Tacit. Germania, c. 46. [The Bastarnæ were certainly a Germanic people.]
- ↑ Cluver. Germ. Antiqua, 1. iii. c. 43.
- ↑ The Venedi, the Slavi, and the Antes, were the three great tribes of the same people. Jornandes, c. 24 [xxiii. 119, ed. Moramsen].
- ↑ Tacitus most assuredly deserves that title, and even his cautious suspense is a proof of his diligent inquiries.
- ↑ Genealogical History of the Tartars, p. 593. Mr. Bell (vol. ii. p. 379) traversed the Ukraine in his journey from Petersburgh to Constantinople. The modern face of the country is a just representation of the ancient, since, in the hands of the Cossacks, it still remains in a state of nature.
