v.
but faintly distinguished. The barbarous inhabitants of Europe, roving and unsettled, often varied their situation. At one time they seized this part of the country, at another, were driven from it by some stronger tribe of Barbarians, or spontaneously left it in search of some new settlement. Thus Cæsar informs us that the Gauls often migrated across the Rhine into Germany, and on the other hand, the Germans into Gaul. By these means the languages and customs of each became blended together, till in time, historians were led to believe that they were both originally descended from the same stock. The Roman writers had such a confused and indistinct knowledge of the descent and character of the northern nations of Europe, that they confounded both the Celts and Goths with the Sarmatians, who are well known to have been
