2. The Germans themselves, I am inclined to think, are natives of the soil and extremely little affected by immigration or friendly intercourse with other nations. For, in ancient times, if you wished to change your habitat, you travelled by sea and not by land; and the vast ocean that lies beyond and, so to speak, defies intruders, is seldom visited by ships from our world. Besides—to say nothing of the perils of a wild and unknown sea—who would leave Asia, Africa or Italy to visit Germany, with its unlovely scenery, its bitter climate, its general dreariness to sense and eye, unless it were his home?
In their ancient songs, their only form of recorded history, the Germans celebrate the earth-born god, Tuisto. They assign to him a son, Mannus, the author of their race, and to Mannus three sons, their founders, after whom the people nearest Ocean are named Ingaevones, those of the centre Herminones, the remainder Istaevones. The remote past invites guesswork, and so some authorities record more sons of the god and more national names, such as Marsi, Gambrivii, Suebi and Vandilici; and the names are indeed genuine and ancient. As for the name of Germany, it is quite a modern coinage, they say. The first people to cross the Rhine and oust the Gauls are now called Tungri, but were then called Germans. It was the name of this tribe, not that of a nation, that gradually came into general use. And so, in the first place, they were all called Germans after the conquerors because of the terror these inspired, and finally adopted and applied the new name to themselves.
3. Hercules, among others, is said to have visited them, and they chant his praises before those of other heroes on their way into battle. They have also a different kind of chant. Its recital—barritus, to use their own name— serves to kindle their courage and helps them by its sound to forecast the issue of the coming battle. They inspire or feel terror according to which army roars the louder, and they regard the competition as one of valour rather than voice. What they aim at most is a harsh tone and hoarse murmur, and so they put their shields before their mouths, in order to make the voice swell fuller and deeper as it echoes back. Ulysses, too, in those long and fabled wanderings of his, is thought by some to have reached this ocean, visited the German lands and founded and named Asciburgium, a place still inhabited to-day on the banks of the Rhine. They even add that an altar, consecrated by Ulysses and giving also the name of his father, Laertes, was found long since on the same spot, and that certain monuments on barrows, inscribed with Greek letters, are still to be seen on the borders of Germany and Rhaetia. I am not disposed either to sustain or refute such assertions by evidence; my readers may believe or disbelieve at their own discretion.
4.For myself I accept the view that the peoples of Germany have never been tainted by intermarriage with other peoples, and stand out as a nation peculiar, pure and unique of its kind. Hence the physical type, if one may generalize at all about so vast a population, is everywhere the same wild, blue eyes, reddish hair and huge frames that excel only in violent effort. They have no corresponding power to endure hard work and exertion, and have little capacity to bear thirst and heat; but their climate and soil have taught them to bear cold and hunger.
5. The country in general, while varying somewhat in character, either bristles with woods or festers with swamps. It is wetter where it faces Gaul, windier where it faces Noricum and Pannonia. Though fertile in grain crops, it is unkind to fruit trees. It is rich in flocks, but they are for the most part undersized. Even the cattle lack the splendid brows that are their natural glory. It is numbers that please, numbers that constitute their only, their darling, form of wealth. Heaven has denied them gold and silver—shall I say in mercy or in wrath? But I would not go so far as to assert that Germany has no lodes of silver and gold. Who has ever prospected for them? The Germans take less than the normal pleasure in owning and using them. One may see among them silver vessels, which have been given as presents to their envoys and chiefs, as lightly esteemed as earthenware. The Germans nearest us do, however, value gold and silver for their use in trade, and recognize and prefer certain types of Roman money. The peoples of the interior, truer to the plain old ways, employ barter. They like money that is old and familiar, denarii with the notched edge and the type of the two-horse chariot. Another point is that they try to get silver in preference to gold. They have no predilection for the metal, but find plenty of silver change more serviceable in buying cheap and common goods.
6. There is not even any great
abundance of iron, as may be inferred from the character of their
weapons. Only a very few use swords or lances. The spears that they
carry—frameae is the native word—have short and narrow heads, but
are so sharp and easy to handle, that the same weapon serves at need
for close or distant fighting. The horseman asks no more than his shield
and spear, but the infantry have also javelins to shower, several per
man, and can hurl them to a great distance; for they are either naked or
only lightly clad in their cloaks. There is nothing ostentatious in
their turn-out.
Only the shields are picked out with carefully selected colours. Few
have breastplates; only here and there will you see a helmet of metal or
hide. Their horses are not distinguished either for beauty or for
speed, nor are they trained in Roman fashion to execute various turns.
They ride them straight ahead or with a single swing to the right,
keeping the wheeling line so perfect that no one drops behind the rest.
On a general survey, their strength is seen to he rather in their
infantry, and that is why they combine the two arms in battle. The men
whom they select from the whole force and station in the van are fleet
of foot mid fit admirably into cavalry action. The number of these
select men ' is exactly fixed. A hundred are drawn from each district,
and ` the hundred'
is the name they bear at home. What began as a mere number ends as a
title of distinction. The line is made up of wedge formations. To
retreat, provided that you return to the attack, is considered crafty
rather than cowardly. They bring in the bodies of the fallen even when
the battle hangs in the balance. To throw away one's shield is the
supreme disgrace; the guilty wretch is debarred from sacrifice or
council. Men have often survived battle only to end their shame by
hanging themselves.
7. They choose their kings for their noble birth, their leaders for their valour. The power
even of the kings is not absolute or arbitrary. As for the leaders, it
is their example rather than their authority that wins them special
admiration—for their energy, their distinction, or their presence in the
van of fight. Capital punishment, imprisonment and even flogging are
allowed to none but the priests, and are not inflicted merely as
punishments or on the leaders' orders, but in obedience to the god whom
they believe to preside over battle. They also carry into the fray
figures and emblems taken from their sacred groves. Not chance or the
accident of mustering makes the troop or wedge, but family and
friendship, and this is a very powerful incitement to valour. A man's
dearest possessions are at hand; he can hear close to him the laments of
his women and the wailing of his children. These are the witnesses that
a man reverences most, to them he looks for his highest praise. The men
take their wounds to their mothers and wives, and the latter are not
afraid of counting and examining the blows, and bring food and
encouragement to the fighting men.
8. It stands on record that armies
wavering on the point of collapse have been restored by the women. They
have pleaded heroically with their men, thrusting their bosoms before
them and forcing them to realize the imminent prospect of their
enslavement—a fate which they fear more desperately for their women than
for themselves. It is even found that you can secure a surer hold on a
state if you demand among the hostages girls of noble family. More than
this, they believe that there resides in women an element of holiness
and prophecy, and so they do not scorn to ask their advice or lightly
disregard their replies. In the reign of the deified Vespasian we saw
Veleda long honoured by many Germans as a divinity, whilst even earlier
they showed a similar reverence for Aurinia and others, a reverence
untouched by flattery or any pretence of turning women into goddesses.
9. Above all gods they worship Mercury, and count it no sin to win his favour on certain days by human sacrifices. They appease Hercules and Mars with the beasts normally allowed. Some of the Suebi sacrifice to Isis
also. I cannot determine the origin and meaning of this foreign cult,
but her emblem, made in the form of a light war-vessel, proves that her
worship came in from abroad. They do not, however, deem it consistent
with the divine majesty to imprison their gods within walls or represent
them with anything like human features. Their holy places are the woods
and groves, and they call by the name of god that hidden presence which
is seen only by the eye of reverence.
10. For auspices and the casting of
lots they have the highest possible regard. Their procedure in casting
lots is uniform. They break off a branch of a fruit-tree and slice it
into strips; they distinguish these by certain runes and throw them, as
random chance will have it, on to a white cloth. Then the priest of the
State if the consultation is a public one, the father of the family if
it is private, after a prayer to the gods and an intent gaze heavenward,
picks up three, one at a time, and reads their meaning from the runes
scored on them. If the lots forbid an enterprise, there can be no
further consultation that day; if they allow it, further confirmation by
auspices is required. Their practice of questioning the notes and
flights of birds is, of course, known also to us; peculiar to the
Germans is the seeking of presentiments and warnings from horses. These
horses are kept at the public expense in those sacred woods and groves
that I have already mentioned; they are pure white and undefiled by work
for man. The priest or king or chief of the State yokes them to a
sacred chariot and goes along with them, noting their neighings and
snortings. No form of auspices inspires greater trust, not only among
the commons, but even among the nobles and priests. They themselves are
only the servants, the horses are the confidants of the gods. There is
yet another kind of auspices used to forecast the issue of serious wars.
They somehow or other contrive to secure a captive from the nation with
which they are at war and match him against a champion of their own,
each armed in native style. The victory of one or the other is taken as a
test case.
11. On matters of minor
importance only the chiefs debate, on major affairs the whole community;
but, even where the commons have the decision, the case is carefully
considered in advance by the chiefs. Except in case of accident or
emergency they assemble on fixed days, when the moon is either crescent
or nearing her full orb. These, they hold, are the most auspicious times
for embarking on any new enterprise. They count, not like us, by days,
but by nights. It is by nights that they fix dates or make appointments.
Night is regarded as ushering in the day. It is a defect of their
freedom that they do not assemble at once or in obedience to orders, but
waste two or three days in their dilatory gathering. When the mass so
decide, they take their seats fully armed. Silence is then demanded by
the priests, who on that occasion have also power to enforce obedience.
Then such hearing is given to the king or chief as age, rank, military
distinction or eloquence can secure; but it is rather their prestige as
counsellors than their authority that tells. If a proposal displeases
them, the people roar out their dissent; if they approve, they clash
their spears. No form of approval can carry more honour than praise
expressed by arms.
12.One can launch an accusation before the
Council or bring a capital charge. The punishment varies to suit the
crime. The traitor and deserter are hanged on trees, the coward, the
shirker and the unnaturally vicious are drowned in miry swamps under a
cover of wattled hurdles. The distinction in the punishments implies
that deeds of violence should be paid for in the full glare of
publicity, but that deeds of shame should be suppressed. Even for
lighter offences the punishment varies. The man who is found guilty is
fined so and so many horses or cattle. Part of the fine is paid to the
King or State, part to the injured man or his relatives. In the same
councils are elected the chiefs, who dispense justice through the
country districts and villages. Each of them is attended by a hundred
companions, drawn from the commons, both to advise him and to add weight
to his decisions.
13. No business, public or
private, is transacted except in arms. But it is the rule that no one
shall take up his arms until the State has attested that he is likely to
make good. When that time comes, one of the chiefs or the father or a
kinsman equips the young warrior with shield and spear in the public
council. This with the Germans is the equivalent of our toga—the
first public distinction of youth. They cease to rank merely as members
of the household and are now members of the state. Conspicuous ancestry
or great services rendered by their fathers can win the rank of chief
for boys still in their teens. They are attached to the other chiefs,
who are more mature and approved, and no one blushes to be seen thus in
the ranks of the companions. This order of companions has even its
different grades, as determined by the leader, and there is intense
rivalry among the companions for the first place by the chief, among the
chiefs for the most numerous and enthusiastic companions. Dignity and
power alike consist in being continually attended by a corps of chosen
youths. This gives you consideration in peace-time and security in war.
Nor is it only in a man's own nation that he can win name and fame by
the superior number and quality of his companions, but in neighbouring
states as well. Chiefs are courted by embassies and complimented by
gifts, and they often virtually decide wars by the mere weight of their
reputation.
14. On the field of battle it is a
disgrace to the chief to be surpassed in valour by his companions, to
the companions not to come up to the valour of their chief. As for
leaving a battle alive after your chief has fallen, that means lifelong
infamy and shame. To defend and protect him, to put down one's own acts
of heroism to his credit that is what they really mean by `allegiance'.
The chiefs fight for victory, the companions for their chief. Many noble
youths, if the land of their birth is stagnating in a protracted peace,
deliberately seek out other tribes, where some war is afoot. The
Germans have no taste for peace; renown is easier won among perils, and
you cannot maintain a large body of companions except by violence and
war. The companions are prodigal in their demands on the generosity of
their chiefs. It is always `give me that war-horse' or `give me that
bloody and victorious spear'. As for meals with their plentiful, if
homely, fare, they count simply as pay. Such open-handedness must have
war and plunder to feed it. You will find it harder to persuade a German
to plough the land and to await its annual produce with patience than
to challenge a foe and earn the prize of wounds. He thinks it spiritless
and slack to gain by sweat what he can buy with blood.
15. When not engaged in warfare, they
spend some little time in hunting, but more in idling, abandoned to
sleep and gluttony. All the heroes and grim warriors dawdle their time
away, while the care of house, hearth and fields is left to the women,
old men and weaklings of the family. The warriors themselves lose their
edge. They are so strangely inconsistent. They love indolence, but they
hate peace. It is usual for states to make voluntary and individual
contributions of cattle or agricultural produce to the chiefs. These are
accepted as a token of honour, but serve also to relieve essential
needs. The chiefs take peculiar pleasure in gifts from neighbouring
states, such as are sent not only by individuals, but by the community
as well—choice horses, splendid arms, metal discs and collars; the
practice of accepting money payments they have now learnt—from us.
16. It is a well-known fact that
the peoples of Germany never live in cities, and will not even have
their houses set close together. They live apart, dotted here and there,
where spring, plain or grove has taken their fancy. Their villages are
not laid out in Roman style, with buildings adjacent or interlocked.
Every man leaves an open space round his house, perhaps as a precaution
against the risk of fire, perhaps because they are such inexpert
builders. They do not even make any use of little stone blocks or tiles;
what serves their every purpose is ugly timber, both unimpressive and
unattractive. They smear over some parts of their houses with an earth
that is so pure and brilliant that it looks like painting or coloured
mosaics. They have also the habit of hollowing out caves underground and
heaping masses of refuse on the top. In these they can escape the
winter's cold and store their produce. In such shelters they take the
edge off the bitter frosts; and, should an invader come, he ravages the
open country, but the secret and buried stores may pass altogether
unnoticed or escape detection, simply because they have to be looked
for.
17. The universal dress
is the short cloak, fastened with a brooch or, failing that, a thorn.
They pass whole days by the hearth fire wearing no garment but this. The
richest are not distinguished, like the Persians and Sarmatians, by a
long flowing robe, but by a tight one that shows the shape of every
limb. They also wear the pelts of wild animals, the tribes near the
Rhine without regard to appearance, the more distant peoples with some
refinement of taste, for there is no other finery that they can buy.
These latter peoples make careful choice of animal, then strip off the
pelt and mottle it with patches of the spotted skins of the beasts that
live in the outer ocean —and the unknown sea. The dress of the women
differs from that of the men in two respects only. The women often wear
undergarments of linen, embroidered with purple, and, as the upper part
does not extend to sleeves, forearms and upper arms are bare. Even the
breast, where it comes nearest the shoulder, is exposed too.
18. For all that, marriage in
Germany is austere, and there is no feature in their morality that
deserves higher praise. They are almost unique among barbarians in being
satisfied with one wife each. The exceptions, which are exceedingly
rare, are of men who receive offers of many wives because of their rank;
there is no question of sexual passion. The dowry is brought by husband
to wife, not by wife to husband. Parents and kinsmen attend and approve
of the gifts, gifts not chosen to please a woman's whim or gaily deck a
young bride, but oxen, horse with reins, shield, spear and sword. For
such gifts a man gets his wife, and she in her turn brings some present
of arms to her husband. In this interchange of gifts they recognize the
supreme bond, the holy mysteries, the presiding deities of marriage. A
woman must not imagine herself free to neglect the manly virtues or
immune from the hazards of war. That is why she is reminded, in the very
ceremonies which bless her marriage at its outset, that she is coming
to share a man's toils and dangers, that she is to be his partner in all
his sufferings and adventures, whether in peace or war. That is the
meaning of the team of oxen, of the horse ready for its rider, of the
gift of arms. On these terms she must live her life and bear her
children. She is receiving something that she must hand over unspoilt
and treasured to her children, for her son's wives to receive in their
turn and pass on to the grandchildren.
19. Thus it is that the German women
live in a chastity that is impregnable, uncorrupted by the temptations
of public shows or the excitements of banquets. Clandestine love-letters
are unknown to men and women alike. Adultery
in that populous nation is rare in the extreme, and punishment is
summary and left to the husband. He shaves off his wife's hair, strips
her in the presence of kinsmen, thrusts her from his house and flogs her
through the whole village. They have, in fact, no mercy on a woman who
prostitutes her chastity. Neither beauty, youth nor wealth can find the
sinner a husband. No one in Germany finds vice amusing, or calls it
`up-to-date' to debauch and be debauched. It is still better with those
states in which only virgins marry, and the hopes and prayers of a wife
are settled once and for all. They take one husband, like the one body
or life that they possess. No thought or desire must stray beyond him.
They must not love the husband so much as the married state. To restrict
the number of children or to put to death any born after the heir is
considered criminal. Good morality is more effective in Germany than
good laws in some places that we know.
20. The children grow up in every
home, naked and dirty, to that strength of limb and size of body which
excite our admiration. Every mother feeds her child at the breast and
does not depute the task to maids and nurses. The master is not to be
distinguished from the slave by any pampering in his upbringing. They
grow up together among the same flocks and on the same ground, until
maturity sets apart the free and the spirit of valour claims them as her
own. The young men are slow to mate, and their powers, therefore, are
never exhausted. The girls, too, are not hurried into marriage. As old
and full-grown as the men, they match their mates in age and strength,
and the children reproduce the might of their parents. The sons of
sisters are as highly honoured by their uncles as by their own fathers.
Some even go so far as to regard this tie of blood as peculiarly close
and sacred, and, in taking hostages, insist on having them of this
class; they think that this gives them a firmer grip on men's hearts and
a wider hold on the family. However, a man's heirs and successors are
his own children, and there is no such thing as a will; where there are
no children, the next to succeed are, first, brothers, and then uncles,
first on the father's, then on the mother's side. The larger a man's kin
and the greater the number of his relations by marriage, the stronger
is his influence when he is old. Childlessness in Germany is not a paying profession.
21. A man is bound to take up the
feuds as well as the friendships of father or kinsman. But feuds do not
continue unreconciled. Even homicide can be atoned for by a fixed number
of cattle or sheep, and the satisfaction is received by the whole
family. This is much to the advantage of the community, for private
feuds are peculiarly dangerous side by side with liberty.
No nation abandons itself more completely to
banqueting and entertainment than the German. It is accounted a sin to
turn any man away from your door. The host welcomes his guest with the
best meal that his means allow. When supplies run out, the host takes on
a fresh role; he directs and escorts his guest to a new hostelry. The
two go on, uninvited, to the nearest house. It makes no difference; they
are welcomed just as warmly. No distinction is ever made between
acquaintance and stranger as far as the right to hospitality is
concerned. As the guest takes his leave, it is usual to let him have
anything he asks for; the host, too, is no more shy in asking. They take
delight in presents, but ask no credit for giving them and admit no
obligation in receiving them. There is a pleasant courtesy in the
relations between host and guest.
22. As soon as they rise from their
sleep, which is often protracted well into the day, they wash in water
that is usually warm; can one wonder, where winter holds such sway?
After washing, they breakfast; each has his special place and his
special table. Then they sally forth in arms to business or, as often as
not, to banquets. Drinking bouts, lasting a day and night, are not
considered in any way disgraceful. Such quarrels as inevitably arise
over the cups are seldom settled by mere hard words, more often by blows
and wounds. None the less, they often make banquets an occasion for
discussing such serious affairs as the reconciliation of enemies, the
forming of marriage alliances, the adoption of new chiefs, and even the
choice of peace or war. At no other time, they feel, is the heart so
open to frank suggestions or so quick to warm to a great appeal. The
Germans are neither canny nor cunning, and take advantage of the
occasion to unbosom themselves of their most secret thoughts; every soul
is naked and exposed. The next day, comes reconsideration, and so due
account is taken of both occasions. They debate at a time which cuts out
pretence, they decide at a time that precludes mistake.
23. For drink they extract a juice from barley
or grain, which is fermented to make something not unlike wine. The
Germans who live nearest the Rhine can actually get wine in the market.
Their food is plain—wild fruit, fresh game or curdled milk. They satisfy
their hunger without any elaborate service or appetizers. But they show
no corresponding self-control in drinking. You have only to indulge
their intemperance by supplying all that they crave, and you will gain
as easy a victory through their vices as through your own arms.
24.. They have only one form of
public show, which is the same wherever they foregather. Naked youths,
trained to the sport, dance among swords and spears that are levelled at
them. Practice begets skill, and skill grace, but they are not
professionals or paid. However adventurous the play, their only reward
is the pleasure they give the spectators. But they go in for dicing, if
you can believe it, in all seriousness and in their sober hours, and are
so recklessly keen about winning or losing that, when everything else
is gone, they stake their personal liberty on the last decisive throw.
The loser goes into slavery without complaint; younger or stronger he
may be, but he suffers himself to be bound. Such is their perverse
persistence, or, to use their own word, their honour. Slaves of this
sort are sold and passed on, so that the winner may be clear of the
shame that even he feels in his victory.
25. Slaves in general are not
allotted, as we allot them, to special duties in the establishment. Each
has control of his own house and home. The master imposes a fixed
charge of grain, cattle or clothing, as he would on a tenant, and up to
this point the slave will obey; but domestic tasks, as a whole, are
performed by a man's wife and children. It is seldom that they flog a
slave or punish him with imprisonment or forced labour; but they often
put one to death, in no spirit of stern discipline, but in a fit of
passion, as they might an enemy—only they have not to pay for it.
Freedmen rank little higher than slaves; they have seldom any serious
influence in the household, never in the State, excepting only in
nations under the rule of kings. There they mount high above free men
and nobles. With the rest the inferiority of freedmen is the hall-mark
of liberty.
26. The practice of usury and
compound interest is simply unknown. Ignorance here is a surer defence
than any ban. Lands are taken into occupation, turn and turn about, by
whole villages in proportion to the number of cultivators, and are then
allotted in order of rank. The distribution is made easy by the vast
extent of open land. They change their plough-lands yearly, and still
there is ground to spare. The fact is that their soil is fertile and
plentiful, but they refuse to give it the labour it deserves. They plant
no orchards, fence off no meadows, water no gardens; the only levy on
the earth is the corn crop. Hence it comes that they divide the year
into fewer seasons than we do. Winter, spring and summer are familiar to
them both as ideas and as names, but autumn is as unknown to them, as
are the gifts she has to bring.
27. There is no pomp about their
funerals. The one rule observed is that the bodies of famous men are
burned with special kinds of wood. When they have heaped up the fire
they do not throw robes or spices on the top; but only a man's arms, and
sometimes his horse, too, are cast into the flames. The tomb is a
raised mound of turf. They disdain to show honour by laboriously rearing
high monuments of stone; they would only he heavy on the dead. Weeping
and wailing are soon abandoned—sorrow and mourning not so soon. A woman
may decently express her grief in public; a man should nurse his in his
heart.
Such is the general account that we find given of the origin and
customs of the Germans as a whole. I must now set forth the institutions
and practices of the nations severally, so far as they are distinctive,
and note the tribes that migrated into Gaul. 28. That the power of Gaul once exceeded that of Germany is recorded by that greatest of authorities, the deified Julius; and, in view of that, we may well believe that the Gauls in their time crossed into Germany. There was only a stream between, and how paltry an obstacle was that to stop any nation that grew strong enough from seizing and continuing to seize ever fresh lands, when they were no man's property and not yet partitioned between powerful kings! Thus, between the Hercynian forest and the rivers Rhine and Main, we find the Helvetii settled; beyond them, the Boii, both peoples of Gaul. The name of Bohemia still clings to the land and indicates its ancient history, even after its change of inhabitants. Whether the Aravisci came as immigrants to Pannonia from the German tribe of the Osi, or the Osi from the Aravisci into Germany, cannot be determined. Both speak the same language and have the same customs and character. Furthermore, of old, when both banks of the Rhine were equally poor and equally free, they offered identical advantages and disadvantages. The Treviri and Nervii even go out of their way to claim German descent. Such a glorious origin, they feel, should clear them of any resemblance to the nerveless Gauls. The actual bank of the Rhine is held by peoples of undoubted German originthe Vangiones, the Triboci and the Nemetes. Even the Ubii, for all that they have earned the rank of Roman colony and prefer to be called Agrippinenses, after Agrippina, their foundress, are not ashamed of their origin. They crossed the Rhine many years ago and, now that their loyalty to us is proved, they are stationed right on the river-bank, not to be under surveillance, but to keep the gate against intruders.
29. The most conspicuously courageous of all these peoples, the Batavi, hold little of the bank, but do
hold the Rhine island. They were once a people of the Chatti, and on
occasion of civil war migrated to their present homes—destined there to
become a part of the Roman Empire. But the honour and distinction of
their old alliance remain. They are not insulted by tribute or ground
down by the tax-gatherer. Free from imposts and special levies, and
reserved for battle, they are like weapons and armour, `only to be used
in war'. No less dutiful is the nation of the Mattiaci,
across the Rhine; for the greatness of Rome has spread the awe of her
Empire even beyond the Rhine and the ancient frontiers. In geographical
position they are on the German side, in heart and soul they are with
us. They are similar to the Batavians in every way—except that soil and
climate give a keener edge to their spirit.
I am inclined not to reckon among the people of Germany the cultivators of the Agri decumates,
settled though they may be between Rhine and Danube. All the wastrels
of Gaul, all the penniless adventurers seized on what was still no man's
land. It was only later, when the frontier line of defence was drawn
and the garrisons were moved forward, that they have become a sort of
projection of the empire and a part of a province.
30. Beyond them dwell the Chatti,
from the Hercynian forest onward, in a country less wide and marshy
than the other states, which Germany stretches out to form. For the
hills run on, and only thin out gradually, and the Hercynian forest,
like a nurse with her infant cares, shows the Chatti on their way, and
finally sets them down in the plain. This nation is distinguished by
great physical hardiness, tautness of limb, savagery of expression and
unusual mental vigour. They have plenty of judgment and acumen, as
measured by the German standard. They pick the men to lead them, and
proceed to obey them. They know how to keep their ranks, seize a chance,
or delay an attack. They can map out the duties of the day or make sure
the defences of the night. They reckon fortune a chance, but valour a
certainty. They can also rise to an unusual achievement, usually
reserved for Roman discipline: they place more dependence on the general
than on the army. Their strength lies in their infantry, which, over
and above its arms, has to bear the burden of entrenching tools and
provisions. Other Germans may be seen going to battle, only the Chatti
to war. It is but seldom that they engage in sallies or in broken
fighting, such as really belong to cavalry, with its quick triumphs and
its quick retreats. With infantry, speed is next door to cowardice,
deliberate action approximates to courage.
31. A custom that in other German peoples is
uncommon and depends on the enterprise of the individual has among the
Chatti become a general rule—the letting the hair and beard grow long as
soon as one has come of age, and only clearing the face of this
covering, which has been vowed and pledged to valour, when one has slain
an enemy. Over the bloodstained spoils they unbare the brow. `Now at
last,' they cry, `we have paid the price of birth and shown ourselves
worthy of country and parents.' The coward and the shirker remain still
unkempt. The bravest also all wear an iron ring—which to the Chatti
implies disgrace as a bond from which only the killing of an enemy can
free them. Very many of the Chatti like this fashion and still signalize
themselves by it even till their hair turns white—a mark for friend and
foe alike. With such old warriors it always rests to begin the battle.
They are always in the van and present a startling sight; even in peace
they decline to soften the savagery of their expression. None of them
has home, land or business of his own. To whatever host they choose to
go, they get their keep from him, wasting the goods of others while
despising their own, until old age drains their blood and incapacitates
them for so exacting a form of heroism.
32. Next to the Chatti, along a Rhine that has now defined its channel and can serve as a boundary, live the Usipi and Tencteri.
The Tencteri, while sharing in the general military glory, excel in
skilful horsemanship. The infantry of the Chatti are not more famous
than the cavalry of the Tencteri. That is their inherited tradition,
which later ages continue to honour. The games of the children, the
competitions of the young men, all take this same direction; even the
old persist in it: Horses are handed down as part of the household with
its protecting gods and the rights of the succession. They are inherited
by a son, not necessarily, like the rest of the property, by the
eldest, but by the one who is the keenest and ablest soldier.
33. Next to the Tencteri once came the Bructeri, but now the Chamavi and Angrivarii are said to have taken their place. The Bructeri were ousted and almost annihilated
by a league of neighbouring tribes. Perhaps they were hated for their
pride, or it may have been the lure of booty, or else the gods were kind
to Rome. We were even gratified with the spectacle of a battle. Over
60,000 Germans fell, and not by Roman swords or javelins, but, more
splendid still, to gladden Roman eyes. Long, I pray, may the Germans
persist, if not in loving us, at least in hating one another; for the
imperial destiny drives hard, and fortune has no longer any better gift
for us than the disunion of our foes.
34. The Angrivarii and Chamavi are
shut in from behind by the Dulgubnii, Chasuarii and other peoples of no
special note, whilst in the West they are succeeded by the Frisii.
The Frisii are called the `greater' and the `lesser', in accordance
with the actual strength of the two peoples. Both tribes have the Rhine
as their border right down to Ocean, and their settlements also extend
round vast lakes, which have been sailed by Roman fleets. We have even
felt our way into Ocean by this route, and rumour has it that there are
pillars of Hercules beyond. Did Hercules really go there, or is it only
our habit of assigning any conspicuous achievement anywhere to that
famous name? Drusus Germanicus was not deficient in the courage of the
explorer, but Ocean forbade further research into its own secrets or
those of Hercules. Since then no one has tried to explore. It has been
judged more pious and reverent to believe in what the gods have done
than to investigate it.
35. This is as far as the Germany
we know extends to the westward. To the north it comes back in a huge
sweep. The very first nation here is that of the Chauci.
They begin after the Frisians and hold a section of the coast, but they
also lie along the flanks of all those nations that I have been
describing, and finally curve back to meet the Chatti. This huge stretch
of country is not merely occupied, but filled to overflowing by the
Chauci. They are one of the noblest peoples of Germany, and one that
actually prefers to maintain its greatness by righteous dealing. Unvexed
by greed or lawless ambition, they dwell in quiet seclusion, never
provoking a war, never robbing or plundering their neighbours. It is
conspicuous proof of their valour and strength that their acknowledged
superiority does not rest on aggression. Yet every man has arms ready to
his hand, and, if occasion demands it, they have vast reserves of men
and horses. So, even when they are at peace, their reputation does not
fall.
36. On the flank of the Chauci and Chatti the Cherusci
have been left free to enjoy a peace, too deep and overripe—a pleasant
but perilous indulgence among powerful aggressors, where there is no
true peace. When the strong hand decides, reasonableness and integrity
have no meaning except as applied to the conqueror; and so the Cherusci,
once the good and true, now hear themselves called the slovenly and
slack. The luck of the victorious Chatti has come to rank as deep
policy. In the fall of the Cherusci was involved the neighbouring tribe
of the Fosi. They played second string to them in prosperity, but get an
equal share of their adversity.
37. In the same bend of Germany, next to Ocean, dwell the Cimbri,
a mighty name in history, though now but a tiny State. The traces of
their ancient fame may still be seen far and wide, in vast encampments
on both sides of the Rhine, which, by their huge girth, still supply a
gauge of the mass and man-power of the nation and the historical truth
of that great exodus. Rome was in her six hundred and fortieth year when
the alarm of the Cimbrian arms was first heard, in the consulship of
Caecilius Metellus and Papirius Carbo. Reckoning from that year to the
second consulship of our Emperor Trajan, we get a total of just about
two hundred and ten years. That is the time it is taking to conquer
Germany. In the course of that long period much punishment has been
given and taken by us. Neither from the Samnites nor from the Carthaginians, neither from Spain nor Gaul nor from the Parthians
even, have we had more painful lessons. The freedom of Germany is a
deadlier enemy than the despotism of Arsaces. After all, with what has
the East to taunt us except the slaughter of Crassus? And after that it
soon lost its own Pacorus and was humbled at the feet of Ventidius. But
the Germans routed or captured Carbo, Cassius, Aurelius Scaurus,
Servilius Caepio and Mallius Maximus, and robbed the Roman people,
almost at one stroke, of five consular armies. From Caesar they stole
Varus and his three legions. It was not without painful loss that C.
Marius smote the Germans in Italy, that the deified Julius smote them in
Gaul, that Drusus, Nero and Germanicus smote them in their own homes.
Then the vast threats of Gaius Caesar ended in farce. After that ensued a
peace, until the Germans took advantage of our dissensions and civil
wars to storm the quarters of the legions and claim possession of Gaul.
Driven back from these pretensions, they have in recent times supplied
us with more triumphs than victories.
38. We must come now to speak of the Suebi,
who do not, like the Chatti or Tencteri, constitute a single nation.
They actually occupy more than half Germany, and are divided into a
number of distinct tribes under distinct names, though all generically
are called Suebi. It is the special characteristic of this nation to
comb the hair sideways and fasten it below with a knot. This
distinguishes the Suebi from the rest of the Germans; this, among the
Suebi, distinguishes the freeman from the slave. In other nations that
are either related in some degree to the Suebi or indulge in the common
habit of imitation the practice does exist, but is uncommon and confined
to early manhood. But with the Suebi the bristling hair, even till it
turns white, is twisted back and often knotted on the very crown of the
head. The chiefs use an even more elaborate style. Such attention do
they pay to their personal appearance—and yet in all innocence; it is
not to make love or inspire it that they build their hair to such a
terrifying height; all this elaborate make-up is to impress the foe they
will meet in battle.
39. The oldest and noblest of the Suebi, so it is said, are the Semnones,
and the justice of this claim is confirmed by a religious rite. At a
set time all the peoples of this blood gather, in their embassies, in a
wood hallowed by the auguries of their ancestors and the awe of ages.
The sacrifice in public of a human victim marks the grisly opening of
their savage ritual. In another way, too, reverence is paid to the
grove. No one may enter it unless he is bound with a cord. By this he
acknowledges his own inferiority and the power of the deity. Should he
chance to fall, he must not get up on his feet again. He must roll out
over the ground. All this complex of superstition reflects the belief
that in that grove the nation had its birth, and that there dwells the
god who rules over all, while the rest of the world is subject to his
sway. Weight is lent to this belief by the prosperity of the Semnones.
They dwell in a hundred country districts and, in virtue of their
magnitude, count themselves chief of all the Suebi.
40. The Langobardi, by
contrast, are distinguished by the fewness of their numbers. Ringed
round as they are by many mighty peoples, they find safety, not in
obsequiousness but in battle and its perils. After them come the
Reudigni, Aviones, Anglii, Varini, Eudoses, Suarini and Nuitones behind
their ramparts of rivers and woods. There is nothing particularly
noteworthy about these people in detail, but they are distinguished by a
common worship of Nerthus, or Mother Earth. They believe that she
interests herself in human affairs and rides through their peoples. In
an island of Ocean stands a sacred grove, and in the grove stands a car
draped with a cloth which none but the priest may touch. The priest can
feel the presence of the goddess in this holy of holies, and attends
her, in deepest reverence, as her car is drawn by kine. Then follow days
of rejoicing and merry-making in every place that she honours with her
advent and stay. No one goes to war, no one takes up arms; every object
of iron is locked away; then, and then only, are peace and quiet known
and prized, until the goddess is again restored to her temple by the
priest, when she has had her fill of the society of men. After that, the
car, the cloth and, believe it if you will, the goddess herself are
washed clean in a secluded lake. This service is performed by slaves who
are immediately afterwards drowned in the lake. Thus mystery begets
terror and a pious reluctance to ask what that sight can be which is
allowed only to dying eyes.
41. This section of Suebian
territory that I have been describing juts out into the inner recesses
of Germany. Nearer to us, if we now follow the course of the Danube, as
we have been following that of the Rhine, come the Hermunduri,
our faithful allies. It is because they are our allies that they are the
only Germans who trade with us, not only on the river-bank, but deep
inside our lines, in the brilliant colony
that is the capital of Rhaetia. They come over where they will, and
without a guard. To other nations we only show off our arms and our
camps; to them we expose our palaces and our country mansions and they
do not covet them. In the territory of the Hermunduri rises the river
Elbe, once world-famous, now a mere name.
42. Next to the Hermunduri dwell the Naristi, followed by the Marcomanni
and Quadi. The Marcomanni are conspicuous in renown and power; they won
the very land they now hold by their bravery, when they drove out the
Boii. Nor do the Naristi and Quadi fall below their high standard. These
people form the front, so to speak, presented to us by Germany, where
it is girt by the Danube. The Marcomanni and Quadi down to our own times
retained kings of their own race, the noble line of Maroboduus and
Tudrus, but now they submit to foreigners too. The might and power of
the kings depend upon the authority of Rome. These kings occasionally
receive our armed assistance, more often our financial, and it is
equally effective.
43. The rear of the Marcommani
and Quadi is shut in by the Marsigni, Cotini, Osi and Buri. Of these,
the Marsigni and Buri, in language and mode of life, recall the Suebi.
The Cotini and Osi are not Germans; that is proved by their languages,
Gallic in the one case, Pannonian in the other, and also by the fact
that they submit to paying tribute. Part of the tribute is levied by the
Sarmatians, part by the Quadi, who regard them as men of foreign blood;
the Cotini, more to their shame, have iron to mine. All these people
are settled in country with little plain, but plenty of uplands,
mountain peaks and high ground. Suebia, in fact, is parted down the
middle by a range of mountains, and beyond that live a multitude of
peoples, among whom the name of the Lugii is the widest spread,
covering, as it does, a multitude of States. I need only give the names
of the most powerful—the Harii, Helvecones, Manimi, Helisii and
Naharvali. In the territory of the Naharvali one is shown a grove,
hallowed from ancient times. The presiding priest dresses like a woman;
the gods, translated into Latin, are Castor and Pollux. That expresses
the character of the gods, but their name is Alci. There are no images,
there is no trace of foreign cult, but they are certainly worshipped as
young men and as brothers. As for the Harii,
they are superior in strength to the other peoples I have just
mentioned, and they pander to their savage instincts by choice of
trickery and time. They black their shields and dye their bodies black
and choose pitch dark nights for their battles. The terrifying shadow of
such a fiendish army inspires a mortal panic, for no enemy can stand so
strange and devilish a sight. Defeat in battle always begins with the
eyes.
Passing the Lugii, we find the Gothones under
the rule of kings. It is a slightly stricter rule than in the rest of
the German peoples, but yet does not pass the bounds of freedom. Then,
immediately bordering on the ocean, are the Rugii and Lemovii. All these
peoples are distinguished by round shields, short swords and submission
to regal authority.
44. The states of the Suiones
that follow along the shore of Ocean are strong not only in arms and
men but also in their fleets. The shape of their ships differs from the
normal in having a prow at both ends, which is always ready to be put in
to shore. They do not rig sails or fasten their oars in banks at the
sides. Their oarage is loose, as one finds it on some rivers, and can be
shifted, as need requires, from side to side. Wealth, too, is held in
high honour, and that is why they obey one ruler, with no restrictions
on his authority and with no mere casual claim to obedience. Arms are
not, as in the rest of Germany, allowed to all and sundry, but are kept
under custody, and the custodian is a slave. There are two reasons for
this: the ocean makes any sudden invasion impossible, and men with arms
in their hands easily get into mischief, if not fighting. As for putting
no noble or freeman, or even freedman, in charge of the arms—that is
part of royal policy.
45. Passing the Suiones, we find yet another
sea that is sluggish and almost stagnant. The reason why this sea is
believed to be the boundary that girds the earth is because the last
radiance of the setting sun lasts here till dawn, with a brilliance that
dims the stars. Rumour adds that you can hear the sound he
makes as he leaves the waves and can see the shape of his horses and
the rays on his head. At this point our real knowledge of the world
ends. However, turning to the right shore of the Suebian sea, we find it
washing the territories of the Aestii, who
have the religion and general customs of the Suebi, but a language
approximating to the British. They worship the Mother of the gods. They
wear, as emblem of this cult, the masks of boars, which stand them in
stead of armour or human protection and ensure the safety of the
worshipper even among his enemies. They seldom use weapons of iron, but
cudgels often. They cultivate grain and other crops with a patience
quite unusual among lazy Germans. Nor do they omit to ransack the sea;
they are the only people to collect the amber —glaesum is their
own word for it—in the shallows or even on the beach. Like true
barbarians, they have never asked or discovered what it is or how it is
produced. For a long time, indeed, it lay unheeded like any other
jetsam, until Roman luxury made its reputation. They have no use for it
themselves. They gather it crude, pass it on unworked and are astounded
at the price it fetches. Amber, however, is certainly a gum of trees, as
you may see from the fact that creeping and even winged creatures are
often seen shining in it. They got caught in the sticky liquid, and were
imprisoned as it hardened. I imagine that in the islands and lands of
the West, just as in the secret chambers of the East, where the trees
sweat frankincense and balm, there must be woods and groves of unusual
fertility. Their gums, drawn out by the rays of their near neighbour,
the sun, flow in liquid state into the sea and are finally washed by
violent storms on to the shores opposite. If you care to test the
properties of amber by applying fire to it, you will find that it lights
like a torch and gives off a thick and heavily scented flame; it then
cools into a sticky solid like pitch or resin.
Continuous with the Suiones are the nations of the Sitones.
They resemble them in all respects but one —woman is the ruling sex.
That is the measure of their decline, I will not say below freedom, but
even below decent slavery.
46. Here Suebia ends. I cannot make up my mind
whether to assign the tribes of the Peucini, Venedi and Fenni to Germany
or Sarmatia. The Peucini, however, who are
sometimes called the Bastarnae, in language, social habits, mode of
settlement and dwelling are like Germans. They are a squalid and
slovenly people; the features of their nobles get something of the Sarmatian ugliness from intermarriage. The Venedi
have borrowed largely from Sarmatian ways; their plundering forays take
them over all that wooded and mountainous country that rises between
the Peucini and the Fenni. Nevertheless they are to be classed as
Germans, for they have settled houses, carry shields, and are fond of
travelling—and travelling fast—on foot, in all these respects differing
from the Sarmatians, who live in wagons or on horseback. The Fenni
are astonishingly wild and horribly poor. They have no arms, no horses,
no homes. They eat grass, dress in skins, and sleep on the ground.
Their only hope is in their arrows, which, for lack of iron, they tip
with bone. The same hunt provides food for men and women alike; for the
women go everywhere with the men and claim a share in securing the prey.
The only way they can protect their babies against wild beasts or foul
weather is to hide them under a makeshift network of branches. This is
the hovel to which the young men come back, this is where the old must
lie. Yet they count their lot happier than that of others who groan over
field labour, sweat over house-building, or hazard their own or other
men's fortunes in the wild lottery of hope and fear. They care for
nobody, man or god, and have gained the ultimate release: they have
nothing to pray for. What comes after them is the stuff of
fables—Hellusii and Oxiones with the faces and features of men, but the
bodies and limbs of animals. On such unverifiable stories I will express
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