This circumstance quickly made them think of forcing a settlement in
the provinces which they had overrun: and these barbarians, spreading
themselves over the country, found an interest in protecting the
property and industry of the people whom they had subdued. But the Danes
and Norwegians, invited by their maritime situation, and obliged to
maintain themselves in their uncultivated country by fishing, had
acquired some experience of navigation; and, in their military
excursions, pursued the method practised against the Roman empire by the
more early Saxons. They made descents in small bodies from their ships,
or rather boats, and ravaging the coasts, returned with the booty to
their families, whom they could not conveniently carry along with them
in those hazardous enterprises. But when they increased their armaments,
made incursions into the inland countries, and found it safe to remain
longer in the midst of the enfeebled enemy, they had been accustomed to
crowd their vessels with their wives and children, and having no longer
any temptation to return to their own country, they willingly embraced
an opportunity of settling in the warm climates and cultivated fields of
the south.
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