Germany as a whole is separated from the Gauls and from the Raeti and the Pannonians by the rivers Rhine and Danube, and from the Sarmatians and Dacians by mutual fear or by mountains: the rest the Ocean girds about, embracing broad bays and immense reaches of islands, where certain nations and kings have lately come to our knowledge, whom war laid open. The Rhine, risen from the inaccessible and sheer summit of the Raetian Alps, turns with a slight bend toward the west and mingles with the northern Ocean. The Danube, poured forth from the gentle and softly rising ridge of Mount Abnoba, visits more peoples, until it breaks into the Pontic sea by six channels; a seventh mouth is swallowed up in marshes.

Germania omnis a Gallis Raetisque et Pannoniis Rheno et Danubio fluminibus, a Sarmatis Dacisque mutuo metu aut montibus separatur: cetera Oceanus ambit, latos sinus et insularum immensa spatia complectens, nuper cognitis quibusdam gentibus ac regibus, quos bellum aperuit. Rhenus, Raeticarum Alpium inaccesso ac praecipiti vertice ortus, modico flexu in occidentem versus septentrionali Oceano miscetur. Danubius molli et clementer edito montis Abnobae iugo effusus plures populos adit, donec in Ponticum mare sex meatibus erumpat; septimum os paludibus hauritur.

The Germans themselves I should believe to be indigenous, and in no degree intermixed by the arrivals and hospitalities of other nations; for in old times those who sought to change their abodes were carried not by land but in fleets, and the boundless Ocean beyond—set, so to speak, against us—is approached by ships from our world but seldom. And who, besides the peril of a wild and unknown sea, would leave Asia or Africa or Italy and make for Germany—shapeless in its land, harsh in its sky, dreary to dwell in and to behold—unless it were his native country? In ancient songs, which among them are the one form of record and of annals, they celebrate Tuisto, a god sprung from the earth. To him they assign a son, Mannus, the origin and founder of the nation, and to Mannus three sons, from whose names those nearest the Ocean are called Ingaevones, those in the middle Herminones, and the rest Istaevones. Some, with the license that belongs to antiquity, affirm that more sons sprang from the god, and more names of the people—Marsi, Gambrivii, Suebi, Vandilii—and that these are the true and ancient names. The word "Germania," on the other hand, is recent and lately applied; for those who first crossed the Rhine and drove out the Gauls, now called Tungri, were then called Germani: so the name of a tribe, not of the whole race, gradually prevailed, until all came to be called Germani—first by the conqueror, to inspire fear, and soon by themselves as well, once the name had been found.

Ipsos Germanos indigenas crediderim minimeque aliarum gentium adventibus et hospitiis mixtos, quia nec terra olim sed classibus advehebantur qui mutare sedes quaerebant, et immensus ultra utque sic dixerim adversus Oceanus raris ab orbe nostro navibus aditur. quis porro, praeter periculum horridi et ignoti maris, Asia aut Africa aut Italia relicta Germaniam peteret, informem terris, asperam caelo, tristem cultu aspectuque nisi si patria sit? Celebrant carminibus antiquis, quod unum apud illos memoriae et annalium genus est, Tuistonem deum terra editum. ei filium Mannum originem gentis conditoresque Manno tres filios adsignant, e quorum nominibus proximi Oceano Ingaevones, medii Herminones, ceteri Istaevones vocentur. quidam, ut in licentia vetustatis, plures deo ortos pluresque gentis appellationes, Marsos Gambrivios Suebos Vandilios adfirmant, eaque vera et antiqua nomina. ceterum Germaniae vocabulum recens et nuper additum, quoniam qui primi Rhenum transgressi Gallos expulerint ac nunc Tungri, tunc Germani vocati sint: ita nationis nomen, non gentis, evaluisse paulatim, ut omnes primum a victore ob metum, mox et a se ipsis invento nomine Germani vocarentur.

They relate that Hercules too was among them, and they sing of him as the first of all brave men when they are about to go into battle. They have also those songs by the recital of which—they call it the barditus—they kindle their spirits and divine from the very singing the fortune of the coming fight; for they strike terror or feel it according as the line has sounded, and it seems less a harmony of voices than of valour. Roughness of sound above all is studied, and a broken roar, with the shields held before the mouth, so that the voice may swell fuller and deeper by the echo. Moreover, some suppose that Ulysses too, in that long and fabled wandering, was carried into this Ocean and reached the lands of Germany, and that Asciburgium, which stands on the bank of the Rhine and is inhabited to this day, was founded and named by him; nay, that an altar consecrated to Ulysses, with his father Laertes’ name added, was once discovered in that same place, and that certain monuments and mounds inscribed with Greek letters still survive on the border of Germany and Raetia. These things I have no mind either to confirm with arguments or to refute: let each man, according to his temper, withhold or grant belief.

Fuisse et apud eos Herculem memorant, primumque omnium virorum fortium ituri in proelia canunt. sunt illis haec quoque carmina quorum relatu, quem baritum vocant, accendunt animos futuraeque pugnae fortunam ipso cantu augurantur; terrent enim trepidantve, prout sonuit acies, nec tam vocis ille quam virtutis concentus videtur. adfectatur praecipue asperitas soni et fractum murmur, obiectis ad os scutis, quo plenior et gravior vox repercussu intumescat. ceterum et Ulixen quidam opinantur longo illo et fabuloso errore in hunc Oceanum delatum adisse Germaniae terras, Asciburgiumque, quod in ripa Rheni situm hodieque incolitur, ab illo constitutum nominatumque; aram quin etiam Ulixi consecratam, adiecto Laertae patris nomine, eodem loco olim repertam, monumentaque et tumulos quosdam Graecis litteris inscriptos in confinio Germaniae Raetiaeque adhuc extare. quae neque confirmare argumentis neque refellere in animo est: ex ingenio suo quisque demat vel addat fidem.

I myself fall in with the opinion of those who judge that the peoples of Germany, tainted by no intermarriages with other nations, have stood forth as a race peculiar, pure, and like to none but itself. Whence too the bodily appearance, so far as is possible in so great a number of men, is the same in all: fierce blue eyes, reddish hair, large frames—but strong only for the onset. For toil and hard labour they have not the like endurance, and least of all can they bear thirst and heat; to cold and hunger they are inured by their climate and soil.

Ipse eorum opinionibus accedo qui Germaniae populos nullis aliarum nationum conubiis infectos propriam et sinceram et tantum sui similem gentem extitisse arbitrantur. unde habitus quoque corporum, tamquam in tanto hominum numero, idem omnibus: truces et caerulei oculi, rutilae comae, magna corpora et tantum ad impetum valida. laboris atque operum non eadem patientia, minimeque sitim aestumque tolerare, frigora atque inediam caelo solove adsueverunt.

The land, though it differs somewhat in aspect, is on the whole either bristling with forests or foul with marshes—moister where it faces Gaul, windier where it looks toward Noricum and Pannonia; fertile enough for crops, but unfriendly to fruit-trees, rich in cattle, though these are for the most part undersized. Not even their herds have their proper dignity or the glory of the brow: they delight in numbers, and these are their sole and most cherished wealth. Whether it is in mercy or in anger that the gods have denied them silver and gold, I am in doubt. Yet I would not affirm that no vein of Germany breeds silver or gold: for who has searched it out? In the possession and use of these they are not affected as we are. One may see among them silver vessels, given as gifts to their envoys and chiefs, held in no higher esteem than those moulded of clay. The nearest tribes, indeed, for the purposes of commerce, value gold and silver, and recognize and choose certain forms of our coinage; those of the interior practise barter of goods more simply and after the older way. They approve money that is old and long familiar—the serrated coin and the bigatus. Silver, too, they pursue rather than gold, from no preference of the mind, but because a quantity of silver pieces is handier in use for those who trade in common and cheap wares.

Terra etsi aliquanto specie differt, in universum tamen aut silvis horrida aut paludibus foeda, humidior qua Gallias, ventosior qua Noricum ac Pannoniam aspicit; satis ferax, frugiferarum arborum impatiens, pecorum fecunda, sed plerumque improcera. ne armentis quidem suus honor aut gloria frontis: numero gaudent, eaeque solae et gratissimae opes sunt. argentum et aurum propitiine an irati dii negaverint dubito. nec tamen adfirmaverim nullam Germaniae venam argentum aurumve gignere: quis enim scrutatus est? possessione et usu haud perinde adficiuntur: est videre apud illos argentea vasa, legatis et principibus eorum muneri data, non in alia vilitate quam quae humo finguntur. quamquam proximi ob usum commerciorum aurum et argentum in pretio habent formasque quasdam nostrae pecuniae agnoscunt atque eligunt: interiores simplicius et antiquius permutatione mercium utuntur. pecuniam probant veterem et diu notam, serratos bigatosque. argentum quoque magis quam aurum sequuntur, nulla adfectione animi, sed quia numerus argenteorum facilior usui est promisca ac vilia mercantibus.

Not even iron is plentiful, as is gathered from the character of their weapons. Few use swords or the longer lances: they carry spears—or, in their own word, frameae—with a narrow and short iron head, but so keen and handy in use that with the same weapon, as the situation demands, they fight either hand to hand or at a distance. The horseman, indeed, is content with shield and framea; the foot-soldiers scatter javelins besides, each man several, and they hurl them an immense distance, naked or lightly clad in a short cloak. There is no flaunting of equipment: only their shields they pick out with the choicest colours. Few have breastplates; scarcely one or two a helmet of metal or hide. Their horses are conspicuous neither for beauty nor for speed. But neither are they trained to wheel in circles after our fashion: they drive them straight ahead, or with a single turn to the right, the ring so closed that no one is left behind. To one weighing it all in all, there is more strength in the infantry; and so they fight intermingled, the speed of the foot being apt and matched to a cavalry battle—picked from the whole body of the young men and stationed before the line. Their number too is fixed: a hundred from each district, and by this very name they are called among their own people, so that what was at first a number is now a title and an honour. The line is drawn up in wedges. To give ground, provided you press on again, they account strategy rather than fear. They carry off the bodies of their own even in indecisive battles. To have left one’s shield behind is the foremost disgrace, and it is not lawful for a man so dishonoured to be present at the rites or to enter the assembly; and many who survived their wars have ended their infamy with a noose.

Ne ferrum quidem superest, sicut ex genere telorum colligitur. rari gladiis aut maioribus lanceis utuntur: hastas vel ipsorum vocabulo frameas gerunt angusto et brevi ferro, sed ita acri et ad usum habili, ut eodem telo, prout ratio poscit, vel comminus vel eminus pugnent. et eques quidem scuto frameaque contentus est, pedites et missilia spargunt, pluraque singuli, atque in immensum vibrant, nudi aut sagulo leves. nulla cultus iactatio: scuta tantum lectissimis coloribus distinguunt. paucis loricae, vix uni alterive cassis aut galea. equi non forma, non velocitate conspicui. sed nec variare gyros in morem nostrum docentur: in rectum aut uno flexu dextros agunt, ita coniuncto orbe ut nemo posterior sit. in universum aestimanti plus penes peditem roboris; eoque mixti proeliantur, apta et congruente ad equestrem pugnam velocitate peditum, quos ex omni iuventute delectos ante aciem locant. definitur et numerus: centeni ex singulis pagis sunt, idque ipsum inter suos vocantur, et quod primo numerus fuit, iam nomen et honor est. acies per cuneos componitur. cedere loco, dummodo rursus instes, consilii quam formidinis arbitrantur. corpora suorum etiam in dubiis proeliis referunt. scutum reliquisse praecipuum flagitium, nec aut sacris adesse aut concilium inire ignominioso fas, multique superstites bellorum infamiam laqueo finierunt.

Their kings they take on the ground of birth, their leaders on the ground of valour. The kings have no unbounded or unfettered power, and the leaders preside by example rather than by command—by being ready, by being conspicuous, by acting before the line—through admiration. But to punish, to bind, even to flog, is permitted to none save the priests, and that not as a penalty nor at the leader’s bidding, but as though by the command of the god whom they believe to be present with men at war. And certain images and standards, taken down from the sacred groves, they carry into battle. And—what is the chief spur to courage—it is no chance nor random clustering that makes the squadron or the wedge, but families and kinships; and close at hand are the pledges dearest to them, whence the wailing of women may be heard, whence the crying of infants. These are for each man the most sacred witnesses, these his highest praisers: to their mothers, to their wives, they bring their wounds; nor do the women shrink from counting and demanding the blows, and they carry food and encouragement to the fighters.

Reges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute sumunt. nec regibus infinita ac libera potestas, et duces exemplo potius quam imperio, si prompti, si conspicui, si ante aciem agant, admiratione praesunt. ceterum neque animadvertere neque vincire, ne verberare quidem nisi sacerdotibus permissum, non quasi in poenam nec ducis iussu, sed velut deo imperante, quem adesse bellantibus credunt. effigiesque et signa quaedam detracta lucis in proelium ferunt; quodque praecipuum fortitudinis incitamentum est, non casus nec fortuita conglobatio turmam aut cuneum facit, sed familiae et propinquitates; et in proximo pignora, unde feminarum ululatus audiri, unde vagitus infantium. hi cuique sanctissimi testes, hi maximi laudatores: ad matres, ad coniuges vulnera ferunt; nec illae numerare et exigere plagas pavent, cibosque et hortamina pugnantibus gestant.

It is handed down to memory that lines already wavering and giving way have been restored by the women, by the constancy of their entreaty and the baring of their breasts, and by the pointing to captivity close at hand—which they dread far more impatiently on their women’s account, so much so that those states are bound more effectively in fealty among whose hostages noble girls too are demanded. Nay, they hold that there is in women something holy and prophetic, and they neither scorn their counsels nor neglect their answers. We saw, under the deified Vespasian, Veleda long held by many in the place of a divinity; but in former times, too, they venerated Aurinia and many others—not in flattery, nor as though they were making goddesses.

Memoriae proditur quasdam acies inclinatas iam et labantes a feminis restitutas constantia precum et obiectu pectorum et monstrata comminus captivitate, quam longe impatientius feminarum suarum nomine timent, adeo ut efficacius obligentur animi civitatum quibus inter obsides puellae quoque nobiles imperantur. inesse quin etiam sanctum aliquid et providum putant, nec aut consilia earum aspernantur aut responsa neglegunt. vidimus sub divo Vespasiano Veledam diu apud plerosque numinis loco habitam; sed et olim Auriniam et complures alias venerati sunt, non adulatione nec tamquam facerent deas.

Of the gods they worship Mercury most, to whom on appointed days they count it right to offer even human victims. Hercules and Mars they appease with permitted animals. A part of the Suebi sacrifice to Isis as well: what the cause and origin of this foreign rite may be I have not sufficiently learned, except that the emblem itself, fashioned in the shape of a light galley, shows the worship to have been imported from abroad. For the rest, they judge it not in keeping with the greatness of the heavenly beings to confine the gods within walls, or to liken them to any semblance of the human countenance: they consecrate groves and woodlands, and by the names of gods they call that mystery which they behold by reverence alone.

Deorum maxime Mercurium colunt, cui certis diebus humanis quoque hostiis litare fas habent. Herculem ac Martem concessis animalibus placant. pars Sueborum et Isidi sacrificat: unde causa et origo peregrino sacro parum comperi nisi quod signum ipsum in modum liburnae figuratum docet advectam religionem. ceterum nec cohibere parietibus deos neque in ullam humani oris speciem adsimulare ex magnitudine caelestium arbitrantur: lucos ac nemora consecrant deorumque nominibus appellant secretum illud, quod sola reverentia vident.

Auspices and lots they observe as much as any people. The practice of lots is simple. A branch cut from a fruit-bearing tree they lop into slips, and these, distinguished by certain marks, they scatter at random and by chance over a white cloth. Then, if the consultation be public, the priest of the state, if private, the father of the family himself, after praying to the gods and gazing up at the sky, takes up three, one at a time, and interprets those he has taken up according to the mark stamped on them beforehand. If they have forbidden, there is no further consultation that day on the same matter; if it is permitted, the confirmation of auspices is still required. And this too is known here—to inquire of the voices and flight of birds; but it is peculiar to the nation to test the presages and warnings of horses as well. These are fed at the public charge in those same woods and groves, white and touched by no mortal labour; yoked to the sacred chariot, the priest and king or chief of the state accompany them and observe their neighing and snorting. Nor is any augury more trusted, not only among the commons but among the nobles and the priests; for they reckon themselves the servants of the gods, but the horses their confidants. There is yet another observance of auspices, by which they explore the issue of grave wars. A captive of the nation with which there is war, taken in whatever way, they match against a chosen man of their own people, each in his country’s arms: the victory of the one or the other is accepted as a foretoken.

Auspicia sortesque ut qui maxime observant. sortium consuetudo simplex. virgam frugiferae arbori decisam in surculos amputant eosque notis quibusdam discretos super candidam vestem temere ac fortuito spargunt. mox, si publice consultetur, sacerdos civitatis, sin privatim, ipse pater familiae, precatus deos caelumque suspiciens ter singulos tollit, sublatos secundum impressam ante notam interpretatur. si prohibuerunt, nulla de eadem re in eundem diem consultatio; sin permissum, auspiciorum adhuc fides exigitur. et illud quidem etiam hic notum, avium voces volatusque interrogare: proprium gentis equorum quoque praesagia ac monitus experiri. publice aluntur isdem nemoribus ac lucis, candidi et nullo mortali opere contacti; quos pressos sacro curru sacerdos ac rex vel princeps civitatis comitantur hinnitusque ac fremitus observant. nec ulli auspicio maior fides, non solum apud plebem, sed apud proceres, apud sacerdotes; se enim ministros deorum, illos conscios putant. est et alia observatio auspiciorum, qua gravium bellorum eventus explorant. eius gentis cum qua bellum est captivum quoquo modo interceptum cum electo popularium suorum, patriis quemque armis, committunt: victoria huius vel illius pro praeiudicio accipitur.

On lesser matters the chiefs deliberate, on greater all; yet in such a way that even those whose decision rests with the commons are first handled among the chiefs. They assemble, unless something sudden and unlooked-for has fallen out, on fixed days, when either the moon is new or at the full; for they believe this the most auspicious beginning for the conduct of affairs. They reckon not by the number of days, as we do, but of nights. So they appoint, so they make their engagements: night seems to them to lead the day. This flaw springs from their freedom—that they do not come together at once or as if commanded, but a second and a third day is wasted by the dilatoriness of those assembling. When it has pleased the throng, they take their seats armed. Silence is enjoined by the priests, who then have also the right of compulsion. Then the king or chief, each according to his age, his birth, his glory in war, his eloquence, is heard—by the weight of his persuading rather than the power of commanding. If the opinion has displeased, they reject it with a murmur; if it has pleased, they clash their spears: to praise with arms is the most honourable kind of assent.

De minoribus rebus principes consultant, de maioribus omnes, ita tamen ut ea quoque, quorum penes plebem arbitrium est, apud principes praetractentur. coeunt, nisi quid fortuitum et subitum incidit, certis diebus, cum aut incohatur luna aut impletur; nam agendis rebus hoc auspicatissimum initium credunt. nec dierum numerum, ut nos, sed noctium computant. sic constituunt, sic condicunt: nox ducere diem videtur. illud ex libertate vitium, quod non simul nec ut iussi conveniunt, sed et alter et tertius dies cunctatione coeuntium absumitur. ut turbae placuit, considunt armati. silentium per sacerdotes, quibus tum et coercendi ius est, imperatur. mox rex vel princeps, prout aetas cuique, prout nobilitas, prout decus bellorum, prout facundia est, audiuntur auctoritate suadendi magis quam iubendi potestate. si displicuit sententia, fremitu aspernantur; sin placuit, frameas concutiunt: honoratissimum adsensus genus est armis laudare.

It is allowed also before the council to bring accusation and to press a capital charge. The distinction of penalties follows the offence: traitors and deserters they hang on trees; the cowardly, the unwarlike, and those infamous in body they drown in mire and marsh, with a hurdle flung over them besides. The diversity of punishment looks to this—that crimes ought to be shown openly while they are punished, but shameful deeds hidden away. But for lighter offences too the penalty is in proportion: those convicted are fined a number of horses and cattle. Part of the fine is paid to the king or the state, part to him who is righted or to his kinsmen. In these same councils are chosen also the chiefs who administer justice through the districts and villages; to each a hundred companions from the commons attend, at once as counsel and as authority.

Licet apud concilium accusare quoque et discrimen capitis intendere. distinctio poenarum ex delicto: proditores et transfugas arboribus suspendunt, ignavos et imbelles et corpore infames caeno ac palude, iniecta insuper crate, mergunt. diversitas supplicii illuc respicit, tamquam scelera ostendi oporteat dum puniuntur, flagitia abscondi. sed et levioribus delictis pro modo poena: equorum pecorumque numero convicti multantur. pars multae regi vel civitati, pars ipsi qui vindicatur vel propinquis eius exsolvitur. eliguntur in isdem conciliis et principes qui iura per pagos vicosque reddunt; centeni singulis ex plebe comites consilium simul et auctoritas adsunt.

Nothing, however, of public or of private business do they transact except under arms. But it is the custom for none to assume arms before the state has approved him fit. Then, in the very council, either one of the chiefs, or the father, or his kinsmen deck the young man with shield and framea: this among them is the toga, this the first honour of youth; before this they seem part of a household, afterward part of the commonwealth. Distinguished birth, or the great services of their fathers, win for mere striplings the regard due to a chief; they are attached to the rest, sturdier and long approved, nor is there any shame in being seen among the companions. The companionship itself, indeed, has its degrees, at the judgement of him whom they follow; and there is great rivalry among the companions for the first place with their chief, and among the chiefs for the most numerous and keenest companions. This is dignity, these are strength: to be girt always by a great band of chosen youths is in peace an ornament, in war a defence. And not only in his own nation, but among the neighbouring states as well, is each man’s name and glory, if his following stand out in number and in valour; for they are courted by embassies and honoured with gifts, and very often by their mere repute they break off wars.

Nihil autem neque publicae neque privatae rei nisi armati agunt. sed arma sumere non ante cuiquam moris quam civitas suffecturum probaverit. tum in ipso concilio vel principum aliquis vel pater vel propinqui scuto frameaque iuvenem ornant: haec apud illos toga, hic primus iuventae honos; ante hoc domus pars videntur, mox rei publicae. insignis nobilitas aut magna patrum merita principis dignationem etiam adulescentulis adsignant: ceteris robustioribus ac iam pridem probatis adgregantur, nec rubor inter comites aspici. gradus quin etiam ipse comitatus habet, iudicio eius quem sectantur; magnaque et comitum aemulatio, quibus primus apud principem suum locus, et principum, cui plurimi et acerrimi comites. haec dignitas, hae vires: magno semper electorum iuvenum globo circumdari in pace decus, in bello praesidium. nec solum in sua gente cuique, sed apud finitimas quoque civitates id nomen, ea gloria est, si numero ac virtute comitatus emineat; expetuntur enim legationibus et muneribus ornantur et ipsa plerumque fama bella profligant.

When it has come to the battle-line, it is shameful for a chief to be surpassed in valour, shameful for the band not to match the valour of its chief. Nay, to have left the field surviving one’s chief is infamy and reproach for one’s whole life: to defend him, to guard him, to assign even one’s own brave deeds to his glory, is the foremost oath of fealty. The chiefs fight for victory, the companions for the chief. If the state in which they were born grows torpid in long peace and idleness, most of the noble youths seek out of their own accord those nations which are then waging some war; for quiet is unwelcome to the race, and amid uncertainties they more readily win renown, and a great following cannot be maintained except by force and war—for they look to their chief’s liberality for that war-horse, for that bloody and conquering framea; while feasts and entertainments, rude but lavish in their provision, stand in lieu of pay. The means of munificence come through wars and plunder. You could not so easily persuade them to plough the earth and await the year’s harvest as to challenge an enemy and earn wounds; nay, it seems to them slothful and spiritless to acquire by sweat what may be won by blood.

Cum ventum in aciem, turpe principi virtute vinci, turpe comitatui virtutem principis non adaequare. iam vero infame in omnem vitam ac probrosum superstitem principi suo ex acie recessisse: illum defendere, tueri, sua quoque fortia facta gloriae eius adsignare praecipuum sacramentum est: principes pro victoria pugnant, comites pro principe. si civitas in qua orti sunt longa pace et otio torpeat, plerique nobilium adulescentium petunt ultro eas nationes, quae tum bellum aliquod gerunt, quia et ingrata genti quies et facilius inter ancipitia clarescunt magnumque comitatum non nisi vi belloque tueare; exigunt enim principis sui liberalitate illum bellatorem equum, illam cruentam victricemque frameam; nam epulae et quamquam incompti, largi tamen apparatus pro stipendio cedunt. materia munificentiae per bella et raptus. nec arare terram aut expectare annum tam facile persuaseris quam vocare hostem et vulnera mereri; pigrum quin immo et iners videtur sudore adquirere quod possis sanguine parare.

Whenever they are not going to war, they spend not much time in hunting, more in idleness, given over to sleep and food: each bravest and most warlike man doing nothing at all, the care of house and hearth and fields handed over to the women and the old men and the weakest of the household, while they themselves grow dull—by a strange contradiction of nature, that the same men should so love sloth and hate quiet. It is the custom of the states to bestow on their chiefs, of their own accord and man by man, a portion of cattle or of grain, which, accepted as an honour, supplies their needs as well. They take special delight in the gifts of neighbouring nations, sent not only by individuals but in the name of the state—choice horses, splendid arms, trappings and torques; and we have now taught them to accept money too.

Quotiens bella non ineunt, non multum venatibus, plus per otium transigunt, dediti somno ciboque: fortissimus quisque ac bellicosissimus nihil agens, delegata domus et penatium et agrorum cura feminis senibusque et infirmissimo cuique ex familia, ipsi hebent, mira diversitate naturae, cum idem homines sic ament inertiam et oderint quietem. mos est civitatibus ultro ac viritim conferre principibus vel armentorum vel frugum, quod pro honore acceptum etiam necessitatibus subvenit. gaudent praecipue finitimarum gentium donis, quae non modo a singulis, sed et publice mittuntur, electi equi, magnifica arma, phalerae torquesque; iam et pecuniam accipere docuimus.

That no cities are inhabited by the peoples of Germany is well enough known, nor even that they endure dwellings set side by side. They live apart and scattered, as a spring, a meadow, or a grove has taken their fancy. Their villages they lay out not in our manner, with the buildings connected and adjoining: each surrounds his own house with a space, whether as a safeguard against the hazards of fire, or from ignorance of building. They use not even quarried stone or tiles among them: for everything they employ unshapen timber, without regard to appearance or charm. Certain spots they daub more carefully with an earth so pure and gleaming that it counterfeits painting and the lines of colour. They are wont also to open underground caves, and to load them with much dung above, as a refuge in winter and a receptacle for the crops, since such places soften the rigour of the cold; and if at any time an enemy comes, he lays waste the open country, but what is hidden and buried is either unknown or eludes him by this very fact—that it must be sought.

Nullas Germanorum populis urbes habitari satis notum est, ne pati quidem inter se iunctas sedes. colunt discreti ac diversi, ut fons, ut campus, ut nemus placuit. vicos locant non in nostrum morem conexis et cohaerentibus aedificiis: suam quisque domum spatio circumdat, sive adversus casus ignis remedium sive inscitia aedificandi. ne caementorum quidem apud illos aut tegularum usus: materia ad omnia utuntur informi et citra speciem aut delectationem. quaedam loca diligentius inlinunt terra ita pura ac splendente ut picturam ac lineamenta colorum imitetur. solent et subterraneos specus aperire eosque multo insuper fimo onerant, suffugium hiemis et receptaculum frugibus, quia rigorem frigorum eius modi loci molliunt, et si quando hostis advenit, aperta populatur, abdita autem et defossa aut ignorantur aut eo ipso fallunt quod quaerenda sunt.

The covering for all is a cloak fastened with a clasp, or, if that be wanting, with a thorn: for the rest unclothed, they pass whole days beside the hearth and fire. The wealthiest are distinguished by a garment, not flowing, as among the Sarmatians and Parthians, but close-fitting and showing each limb. They wear also the skins of wild beasts, those nearest the river-bank carelessly, those farther off with more pains, since they have no finery from commerce. They pick out the beasts, and the hides they have stripped off they speckle with patches from the pelts of those creatures that the outer Ocean and the unknown sea breed. Nor is the dress of the women other than the men’s, save that the women more often wrap themselves in linen mantles and vary them with purple, and do not extend the upper part of their dress into sleeves, leaving the arms and shoulders bare; nay, even the nearest part of the breast is exposed.

Tegumen omnibus sagum fibula aut, si desit, spina consertum: cetera intecti totos dies iuxta focum atque ignem agunt. locupletissimi veste distinguuntur non fluitante, sicut Sarmatae ac Parthi, sed stricta et singulos artus exprimente. gerunt et ferarum pelles, proximi ripae neglegenter, ulteriores exquisitius, ut quibus nullus per commercia cultus. eligunt feras et detracta velamina spargunt maculis pellibusque beluarum, quas exterior Oceanus atque ignotum mare gignit. nec alius feminis quam viris habitus, nisi quod feminae saepius lineis amictibus velantur eosque purpura variant, partemque vestitus superioris in manicas non extendunt, nudae brachia ac lacertos; sed et proxima pars pectoris patet.

Yet their marriages are strict, and in no part of their morals would you praise them more. For almost alone among barbarians they are content each with a single wife—excepting a very few, who, not from lust but for their nobility, are courted with many proposals of marriage. The dowry the wife does not bring to the husband, but the husband to the wife. The parents and kinsmen are present and approve the gifts—gifts sought not for womanly delights, nor wherewith a new bride may adorn herself, but oxen, and a bridled horse, and a shield with framea and sword. For these gifts the wife is taken, and she in turn brings some weapon to her husband: this they hold the strongest bond, these the secret rites, these the gods of marriage. That the woman may not think herself outside all thought of valour, outside the hazards of war, she is admonished by the very auspices of her beginning wedlock that she comes as the partner of toils and dangers, to suffer and to dare the same in peace, the same in battle: this the yoked oxen, this the harnessed horse, this the given arms proclaim. So she must live, so bring forth: she receives what she is to hand on to her children inviolate and worthy, what her sons’ wives are to receive and pass on again to her grandsons.

Quamquam severa illic matrimonia, nec ullam morum partem magis laudaveris. nam prope soli barbarorum singulis uxoribus contenti sunt, exceptis admodum paucis, qui non libidine sed ob nobilitatem plurimis nuptiis ambiuntur. dotem non uxor marito, sed uxori maritus offert. intersunt parentes et propinqui ac munera probant, munera non ad delicias muliebres quaesita nec quibus nova nupta comatur, sed boves et frenatum equum et scutum cum framea gladioque. in haec munera uxor accipitur, atque in vicem ipsa armorum aliquid viro adfert: hoc maximum vinculum, haec arcana sacra, hos coniugales deos arbitrantur. ne se mulier extra virtutum cogitationes extraque bellorum casus putet, ipsis incipientis matrimonii auspiciis admonetur venire se laborum periculorumque sociam, idem in pace, idem in proelio passuram ausuramque: hoc iuncti boves, hoc paratus equus, hoc data arma denuntiant. sic vivendum, sic pariendum: accipere se quae liberis inviolata ac digna reddat, quae nurus accipiant rursusque ad nepotes referantur.

Thus they live with their chastity fenced about, corrupted by no allurements of shows, by no provocations of banquets. Of secret correspondence men and women alike are ignorant. Adulteries are very few in so numerous a people, and their punishment is immediate and left to the husbands: with her hair shorn off and herself stripped bare, in the presence of her kinsmen the husband drives her from the house and flogs her through the whole village; for of chastity once made public there is no pardon: not by beauty, not by youth, not by wealth will she find a husband. For there no one laughs at vices, nor is to corrupt and be corrupted called the spirit of the age. Better still are those states in which only maidens marry, and the matter is settled once for all in the hope and prayer of a wife. So they take one husband, even as one body and one life, that there may be no thought beyond, no lingering desire, that they may love not the husband, as it were, but the marriage. To limit the number of children, or to put to death any of those born after, is held a crime; and there good morals avail more than good laws elsewhere.

Ergo saepta pudicitia agunt, nullis spectaculorum illecebris, nullis conviviorum irritationibus corruptae. litterarum secreta viri pariter ac feminae ignorant. paucissima in tam numerosa gente adulteria, quorum poena praesens et maritis permissa: abscisis crinibus nudatam coram propinquis expellit domo maritus ac per omnem vicum verbere agit; publicatae enim pudicitiae nulla venia: non forma, non aetate, non opibus maritum invenerit. nemo enim illic vitia ridet, nec corrumpere et corrumpi saeculum vocatur. melius quidem adhuc eae civitates, in quibus tantum virgines nubunt et cum spe votoque uxoris semel transigitur. sic unum accipiunt maritum quo modo unum corpus unamque vitam, ne ulla cogitatio ultra, ne longior cupiditas, ne tamquam maritum sed tamquam matrimonium ament. numerum liberorum finire aut quemquam ex agnatis necare flagitium habetur, plusque ibi boni mores valent quam alibi bonae leges.

In every household they grow up naked and grimy into those limbs, those frames, that we marvel at. Each one’s own mother nurses him at her breast, and they are not handed over to maidservants and nurses. Master and slave you could not tell apart by any refinements of upbringing: among the same cattle, on the same ground, they pass their days, until age sets the freeborn apart and valour claims her own. Late comes the young men’s love, and therefore their manhood is unexhausted. Nor are the maidens hurried; the same youthfulness, a like stature: they are matched, equal and vigorous, and the children reproduce the strength of their parents. To sisters’ sons the same honour belongs with their uncle as with their father. Some hold this tie of blood more sacred and binding, and in the taking of hostages press for it the rather, as gripping the mind more firmly and the house more widely. Yet each man’s heirs and successors are his own children, and there is no will. If there are no children, the next degree in possession are brothers, paternal uncles, maternal uncles. The more kinsmen, the greater the number of connexions, the more honoured is old age; and there is no reward for childlessness.

In omni domo nudi ac sordidi in hos artus, in haec corpora, quae miramur, excrescunt. sua quemque mater uberibus alit, nec ancillis ac nutricibus delegantur. dominum ac servum nullis educationis deliciis dignoscas: inter eadem pecora, in eadem humo degunt, donec aetas separet ingenuos, virtus agnoscat. sera iuvenum venus, eoque inexhausta pubertas. nec virgines festinantur; eadem iuventa, similis proceritas: pares validaeque miscentur, ac robora parentum liberi referunt. sororum filiis idem apud avunculum qui apud patrem honor. quidam sanctiorem artioremque hunc nexum sanguinis arbitrantur et in accipiendis obsidibus magis exigunt, tamquam et animum firmius et domum latius teneant. heredes tamen successoresque sui cuique liberi, et nullum testamentum. si liberi non sunt, proximus gradus in possessione fratres, patrui, avunculi. quanto plus propinquorum, quanto maior adfinium numerus, tanto gratiosior senectus; nec ulla orbitatis pretia.

To take up the feuds of one’s father or kinsman, no less than his friendships, is a necessity. Yet they do not endure implacable: for even homicide is atoned by a fixed number of cattle and sheep, and the whole house receives the satisfaction—to the profit of the community, since feuds are more dangerous in proportion to freedom. In conviviality and hospitality no other people indulges more lavishly. To shut out any mortal whatever from one’s roof is held a sin; according to his means each receives a guest with a well-furnished table. When his store has failed, he who but now was host becomes the guide and companion to hospitality: uninvited they go to the next house. Nor does it matter: they are received with equal kindness. Known and unknown, as touching the right of a guest, no one distinguishes. To one departing, if he asks for anything, it is the custom to grant it; and there is the same readiness in asking in turn. They delight in gifts, but neither charge up what they give nor feel bound by what they receive.

Suscipere tam inimicitias seu patris seu propinqui quam amicitias necesse est. nec implacabiles durant: luitur enim etiam homicidium certo armentorum ac pecorum numero recipitque satisfactionem universa domus, utiliter in publicum, quia periculosiores sunt inimicitiae iuxta libertatem. Convictibus et hospitiis non alia gens effusius indulget. quemcumque mortalium arcere tecto nefas habetur; pro fortuna quisque apparatis epulis excipit. cum defecere, qui modo hospes fuerat, monstrator hospitii et comes; proximam domum non invitati adeunt. nec interest: pari humanitate accipiuntur. notum ignotumque quantum ad ius hospitis nemo discernit. abeunti, si quid poposcerit, concedere moris; et poscendi in vicem eadem facilitas. gaudent muneribus, sed nec data imputant nec acceptis obligantur.

Straight from sleep, which they commonly prolong into the day, they wash, more often with warm water, as among a people whom winter chiefly occupies. Washed, they take food: each has his own seat apart and his own table. Then they go forth to business, and no less often to feasting, under arms. To carry the day and night through in drinking is a reproach to no one. Frequent quarrels, as among the drunken, are settled rarely with abuse, oftener with slaughter and wounds. But also about the reconciling of foes with one another, and the forming of marriage-alliances, and the adopting of chiefs, and finally about peace and war, they commonly deliberate at their feasts—as though at no other time is the mind more open to plain thoughts, or kindled to great ones. The race, neither cunning nor crafty, still lays bare the secrets of the heart in the freedom of the place; so the mind of all stands uncovered and naked. On the next day the matter is taken up again, and the reckoning of both occasions is preserved: they deliberate when they know not how to feign, they decide when they cannot err.

Statim e somno, quem plerumque in diem extrahunt, lavantur, saepius calida, ut apud quos plurimum hiems occupat. lauti cibum capiunt: separatae singulis sedes et sua cuique mensa. tum ad negotia nec minus saepe ad convivia procedunt armati. diem noctemque continuare potando nulli probrum. crebrae, ut inter vinolentos, rixae raro conviciis, saepius caede et vulneribus transiguntur. sed et de reconciliandis invicem inimicis et iungendis adfinitatibus et adsciscendis principibus, de pace denique ac bello plerumque in conviviis consultant, tamquam nullo magis tempore aut ad simplices cogitationes pateat animus aut ad magnas incalescat. gens non astuta nec callida aperit adhuc secreta pectoris licentia loci; ergo detecta et nuda omnium mens. postera die retractatur, et salva utriusque temporis ratio est: deliberant dum fingere nesciunt, constituunt dum errare non possunt.

Their drink is a liquor from barley or grain, fermented into a certain likeness of wine; those nearest the bank buy wine besides. Their food is simple—wild fruits, fresh game, or curdled milk: without ceremony, without dainties, they drive off hunger. Against thirst there is not the same temperance. If you indulge their drunkenness by supplying as much as they crave, they will be vanquished no less easily by their vices than by arms.

Potui humor ex hordeo aut frumento, in quandam similitudinem vini corruptus; proximi ripae et vinum mercantur. cibi simplices, agrestia poma, recens fera aut lac concretum: sine apparatu, sine blandimentis expellunt famem. adversus sitim non eadem temperantia. si indulseris ebrietati suggerendo quantum concupiscunt, haud minus facile vitiis quam armis vincentur.

Of shows there is one kind, and the same in every gathering: naked youths, to whom this is sport, fling themselves in a dance among swords and levelled frameae. Practice has bred skill, skill grace—yet not for gain or hire: the prize of their boldest wantonness is the pleasure of the spectators. Dice—a thing one might marvel at—they play sober, among their serious affairs, with such recklessness in winning and losing that, when all else has failed, on the last and final throw they stake their freedom and their persons. The loser goes into voluntary servitude: though younger, though stronger, he suffers himself to be bound and sold. Such is their obstinacy in a thing so perverse; they themselves call it good faith. Slaves of this condition they pass on through trade, that they too may rid themselves of the shame of the victory.

Genus spectaculorum unum atque in omni coetu idem: nudi iuvenes, quibus id ludicrum est, inter gladios se atque infestas frameas saltu iaciunt. exercitatio artem paravit, ars decorem, non in quaestum tamen aut mercedem: quamvis audacis lasciviae pretium est voluptas spectantium. aleam, quod mirere, sobrii inter seria exercent, tanta lucrandi perdendive temeritate, ut, cum omnia defecerunt, extremo ac novissimo iactu de libertate ac de corpore contendant. victus voluntariam servitutem adit; quamvis iuvenior, quamvis robustior, alligari se ac venire patitur. ea est in re prava pervicacia; ipsi fidem vocant. servos condicionis huius per commercia tradunt, ut se quoque pudore victoriae exsolvant.

Their other slaves they do not use, after our fashion, with the household duties parcelled out: each rules his own dwelling, his own household gods. The master lays on him a measure of grain or of cattle or of clothing, as upon a tenant, and so far the slave obeys; the rest of the household’s offices the wife and children discharge. To flog a slave, and to coerce him with chains and hard labour, is rare: they are wont to kill him, not from discipline and severity, but in a burst of anger, as one might an enemy—save that it goes unpunished. Freedmen are not much above slaves, rarely of any weight in the household, never in the state, except only among those nations that are ruled by kings. For there they mount above the freeborn and above the noble: among the rest the inferior standing of freedmen is the proof of freedom.

Ceteris servis non in nostrum morem descriptis per familiam ministeriis utuntur: suam quisque sedem, suos penates regit. frumenti modum dominus aut pecoris aut vestis ut colono iniungit, et servus hactenus paret; cetera domus officia uxor ac liberi exequuntur. verberare servum ac vinculis et opere coercere rarum: occidere solent, non disciplina et severitate, sed impetu et ira, ut inimicum, nisi quod impune est. liberti non multum supra servos sunt, raro aliquod momentum in domo, numquam in civitate, exceptis dumtaxat iis gentibus quae regnantur. ibi enim et super ingenuos et super nobiles ascendunt: apud ceteros impares libertini libertatis argumentum sunt.

To traffic in usury and to extend it into compound interest is unknown; and so it is the better guarded against than if it had been forbidden. Lands are taken up in turn by the whole community, in proportion to the number of cultivators, and these they then divide among themselves according to rank; the wide spaces of the plains make the dividing easy. They change the plough-lands every year, and there is field to spare. For they do not strive with the richness and extent of the soil by labour—to plant orchards, to mark off meadows, to water gardens: only a crop of corn is demanded of the earth. Whence they do not even divide the year itself into so many parts: winter and spring and summer have their meaning and their names; of autumn the name alike and the gifts are unknown.

Faenus agitare et in usuras extendere ignotum; ideoque magis servatur quam si vetitum esset. agri pro numero cultorum ab universis in vices occupantur, quos mox inter se secundum dignationem partiuntur; facilitatem partiendi camporum spatia praestant. arva per annos mutant, et superest ager. nec enim cum ubertate et amplitudine soli labore contendunt, ut pomaria conserant, ut prata separent, ut hortos rigent: sola terrae seges imperatur. unde annum quoque ipsum non in totidem digerunt species: hiems et ver et aestas intellectum ac vocabula habent, autumni perinde nomen ac bona ignorantur.

In funerals there is no ostentation: this alone is observed, that the bodies of famous men be burned with particular kinds of wood. They heap the pyre neither with garments nor with perfumes: to each man his own arms, to some the horse too is added to the fire. The tomb a turf raises up: the lofty and laborious honour of monuments they reject as burdensome to the dead. Lamentations and tears they lay aside quickly, grief and sorrow slowly. For women it is seemly to mourn, for men to remember. These things we have received in common concerning the origin and the customs of all the Germans: now I shall set forth the institutions and rites of the several nations, in so far as they differ, and what nations have migrated from Germany into the Gauls.

Funerum nulla ambitio: id solum observatur ut corpora clarorum virorum certis lignis crementur. struem rogi nec vestibus nec odoribus cumulant: sua cuique arma, quorundam igni et equus adicitur. sepulcrum caespes erigit: monumentorum arduum et operosum honorem ut gravem defunctis aspernantur. lamenta ac lacrimas cito, dolorem et tristitiam tarde ponunt. feminis lugere honestum est, viris meminisse. Haec in commune de omnium Germanorum origine ac moribus accepimus: nunc singularum gentium instituta ritusque quatenus differant, quaeque nationes e Germania in Gallias commigraverint, expediam.

That the power of the Gauls was once the greater, the deified Julius, the highest of authorities, records; and so it is credible that Gauls too crossed over into Germany. For how little a river stood in the way to keep each nation, as it grew strong, from seizing and exchanging abodes still common to all and not yet parted by the power of any kingdoms! Thus between the Hercynian forest and the rivers Rhine and Main the Helvetii held the land, and beyond it the Boii, both Gallic nations. The name Boihaemum still survives and marks the old memory of the place, though its inhabitants are changed. But whether the Aravisci migrated into Pannonia from the Osi, a German nation, or the Osi from the Aravisci into Germany—since they use still the same speech, institutions, and customs—is uncertain, because, with equal poverty and equal freedom of old, the good and ill of either bank were the same. The Treveri and Nervii are even ambitious in their claim to a German origin, as though by this glory of blood they might be set apart from the likeness and indolence of the Gauls. The very bank of the Rhine, beyond doubt, German peoples inhabit—the Vangiones, the Triboci, the Nemetes. Not even the Ubii, although they have earned to be a Roman colony and more gladly are called Agrippinenses from the name of their founder, blush for their origin, having crossed over long ago and, on proof of their loyalty, been settled upon the very bank of the Rhine, to be a barrier, not to be guarded.

Validiores olim Gallorum res fuisse summus auctorum divus Iulius tradit; eoque credibile est etiam Gallos in Germaniam transgressos. quantulum enim amnis obstabat quo minus, ut quaeque gens evaluerat, occuparet permutaretque sedes promiscas adhuc et nulla regnorum potentia divisas! igitur inter Hercyniam silvam Rhenumque et Moenum amnes Helvetii, ulteriora Boii, Gallica utraque gens, tenuere. manet adhuc Boihaemi nomen signatque loci veterem memoriam quamvis mutatis cultoribus. sed utrum Aravisci in Pannoniam ab Osis, Germanorum natione, an Osi ab Araviscis in Germaniam commigraverint, cum eodem adhuc sermone institutis moribus utantur, incertum est, quia pari olim inopia ac libertate eadem utriusque ripae bona malaque erant. Treveri et Nervii circa adfectationem Germanicae originis ultro ambitiosi sunt, tamquam per hanc gloriam sanguinis a similitudine et inertia Gallorum separentur. ipsam Rheni ripam haud dubie Germanorum populi colunt, Vangiones, Triboci, Nemetes. ne Ubii quidem, quamquam Romana colonia esse meruerint ac libentius Agrippinenses conditoris sui nomine vocentur, origine erubescunt, transgressi olim et experimento fidei super ipsam Rheni ripam collocati, ut arcerent, non ut custodirentur.

Of all these nations the Batavi are foremost in valour; they inhabit not much of the bank, but an island of the river Rhine—once a people of the Chatti, and by a domestic sedition passed over into those abodes in which they were to become a part of the Roman empire. Their honour remains, and the badge of their ancient alliance; for they are not degraded with tribute, nor does the tax-farmer grind them down: exempt from burdens and contributions, and set apart only for the use of battle, they are reserved for wars like weapons and arms. In the same allegiance is the nation of the Mattiaci too; for the greatness of the Roman people has carried the awe of empire beyond the Rhine and beyond the old boundaries. Thus by seat and territory on their own bank, in mind and spirit they side with us—in other respects like the Batavi, save that by the very soil and climate of their land they are quickened to a keener spirit. I would not count among the peoples of Germany, although they have settled beyond the Rhine and the Danube, those who till the Decumate Lands. The most fickle of the Gauls, and made bold by want, seized a soil of doubtful possession; soon, a frontier-line drawn and the garrisons pushed forward, they are reckoned a fold of the empire and a part of the province.

Omnium harum gentium virtute praecipui Batavi non multum ex ripa, sed insulam Rheni amnis colunt, Chattorum quondam populus et seditione domestica in eas sedes transgressus in quibus pars Romani imperii fierent. manet honos et antiquae societatis insigne; nam nec tributis contemnuntur nec publicanus atterit; exempti oneribus et collationibus et tantum in usum proeliorum sepositi, velut tela atque arma, bellis reservantur. est in eodem obsequio et Mattiacorum gens; protulit enim magnitudo populi Romani ultra Rhenum ultraque veteres terminos imperii reverentiam. ita sede finibusque in sua ripa, mente animoque nobiscum agunt, cetera similes Batavis, nisi quod ipso adhuc terrae suae solo et caelo acrius animantur. Non numeraverim inter Germaniae populos, quamquam trans Rhenum Danubiumque consederint, eos qui Decumates agros exercent: levissimus quisque Gallorum et inopia audax dubiae possessionis solum occupavere; mox limite acto promotisque praesidiis sinus imperii et pars provinciae habentur.

Beyond these the Chatti begin the seat of their dwelling from the Hercynian forest, in country not so open and marshy as the other states into which Germany spreads flat, since the hills endure—they thin out by degrees—and the Hercynian forest escorts its Chatti and sets them down together. The race has harder bodies, knit limbs, a threatening countenance, and greater vigour of mind. Much, for Germans, of reason and skill: to put chosen men in front, to obey the commanders, to keep their ranks, to perceive opportunities, to defer their onsets, to dispose the day, to entrench by night, to reckon fortune among the doubtful things and valour among the sure, and—what is rarest, and granted only to Roman discipline—to put more trust in the leader than in the army. All their strength is in the infantry, whom, besides their arms, they load with iron tools and provisions: other Germans you may see go to a battle, the Chatti to a war. Sallies are rare with them, and the chance encounter. That, indeed, is the property of cavalry strength—to win victory swiftly, swiftly to give way: the speed of the foot is near to panic, their deliberateness nearer to steadfastness.

Ultra hos Chatti initium sedis ab Hercynio saltu incohant, non ita effusis ac palustribus locis ut ceterae civitates in quas Germania patescit, durant siquidem colles, paulatim rarescunt, et Chattos suos saltus Hercynius prosequitur simul atque deponit. duriora genti corpora, stricti artus, minax vultus et maior animi vigor. multum, ut inter Germanos, rationis ac sollertiae: praeponere electos, audire praepositos, nosse ordines, intellegere occasiones, differre impetus, disponere diem, vallare noctem, fortunam inter dubia, virtutem inter certa numerare, quodque rarissimum nec nisi Romanae disciplinae concessum, plus reponere in duce quam in exercitu. omne robur in pedite, quem super arma ferramentis quoque et copiis onerant: alios ad proelium ire videas, Chattos ad bellum. rari excursus et fortuita pugna. equestrium sane virium id proprium, cito parare victoriam, cito cedere: peditum velocitas iuxta formidinem, cunctatio propior constantiae est.

And a practice taken up by other German peoples but rarely, at each man’s private daring, has among the Chatti turned into a settled consent: that, as soon as they are grown, they let the hair and beard grow long, and do not put off this guise of the countenance—vowed and pledged to valour—until they have slain an enemy. Over the blood and the spoils they bare the brow, and declare that then at last they have repaid the price of their birth and are worthy of their country and their parents; on the cowardly and unwarlike the squalor remains. The bravest, moreover, wear an iron ring besides—a thing of disgrace to the race—like a fetter, until they free themselves by the slaying of an enemy. This guise pleases very many of the Chatti, and they grow grey conspicuous in it, marked out to enemies and to their own alike. By these is the beginning of every battle; this is always the front line, strange to look upon: for not even in peace do they soften to a milder face. To none of them is there house or field or any care: to whomsoever they have come, by him they are fed—prodigal of others’ goods, contemptuous of their own—until bloodless old age makes them unequal to so hard a valour.

Et aliis Germanorum populis usurpatum raro et privata cuiusque audentia apud Chattos in consensum vertit, ut primum adoleverint, crinem barbamque submittere, nec nisi hoste caeso exuere votivum obligatumque virtuti oris habitum. super sanguinem et spolia revelant frontem, seque tum demum pretia nascendi rettulisse dignosque patria ac parentibus ferunt; ignavis et imbellibus manet squalor. fortissimus quisque ferreum insuper anulum (ignominiosum id genti) velut vinculum gestat, donec se caede hostis absolvat. plurimis Chattorum hic placet habitus, iamque canent insignes et hostibus simul suisque monstrati. omnium penes hos initia pugnarum; haec prima semper acies, visu nova: nam ne in pace quidem vultu mitiore mansuescunt. nulli domus aut ager aut aliqua cura: prout ad quemque venere, aluntur, prodigi alieni, contemptores sui, donec exsanguis senectus tam durae virtuti impares faciat.

Next to the Chatti, the Usipi and Tencteri inhabit a Rhine now settled in its channel and sufficient to serve as a boundary. The Tencteri, beyond the wonted glory of war, excel in the art of cavalry discipline; nor is there greater praise among the Chatti for infantry than among the Tencteri for horsemen. So their forefathers ordained, their posterity imitate. These are the sports of children, this the rivalry of the young: the old persevere. Among the household and the household gods and the rights of succession horses are handed down: the son receives them—not, as with the rest, the eldest born, but as he is fierce in war and the better man.

Proximi Chattis certum iam alveo Rhenum quique terminus esse sufficiat Usipi ac Tencteri colunt. Tencteri super solitum bellorum decus equestris disciplinae arte praecellunt; nec maior apud Chattos peditum laus quam Tencteris equitum. sic instituere maiores, posteri imitantur. hi lusus infantium, haec iuvenum aemulatio: perseverant senes. inter familiam et penates et iura successionum equi traduntur: excipit filius, non ut cetera, maximus natu, sed prout ferox bello et melior.

Next to the Tencteri the Bructeri once met one; now the Chamavi and Angrivarii are said to have moved in, the Bructeri having been driven out and utterly cut to pieces by the consent of the neighbouring nations—whether from hatred of their pride, or the sweetness of plunder, or some favour of the gods toward us; for they did not even grudge us the spectacle of the battle. Above sixty thousand fell, not by Roman arms or weapons, but—what is more magnificent—for our delight and to gladden our eyes. May it last, I pray, and endure among the nations, if not love of us, yet at least hatred of one another; since, with the destinies of the empire pressing on, fortune can grant nothing greater now than the discord of our foes.

Iuxta Tencteros Bructeri olim occurrebant: nunc Chamavos et Angrivarios immigrasse narratur, pulsis Bructeris ac penitus excisis vicinarum consensu nationum, seu superbiae odio seu praedae dulcedine seu favore quodam erga nos deorum; nam ne spectaculo quidem proelii invidere. super sexaginta milia non armis telisque Romanis, sed, quod magnificentius est, oblectationi oculisque ceciderunt. maneat, quaeso, duretque gentibus, si non amor nostri, at certe odium sui, quando urgentibus imperii fatis nihil iam praestare fortuna maius potest quam hostium discordiam.

The Angrivarii and Chamavi the Dulgubnii and Chasuarii close in at the rear, and other nations not so much spoken of; in front the Frisii receive them. The Greater and Lesser Frisii take their name from the measure of their strength. Both nations skirt the Rhine as far as the Ocean, and besides encircle vast lakes, navigated even by Roman fleets. The very Ocean, indeed, we have attempted in those parts; and rumour has spread abroad that the Pillars of Hercules still survive there—whether Hercules came thither, or whether, by agreement, we refer to his renown whatever anywhere is magnificent. Nor did daring fail Drusus Germanicus, but the Ocean withstood inquiry into itself and at once into Hercules. Soon no one made the attempt, and it seemed more holy and reverent to believe the deeds of the gods than to know them.

Angrivarios et Chamavos a tergo Dulgubnii et Chasuarii claudunt aliaeque gentes haud perinde memoratae, a fronte Frisii excipiunt. maioribus minoribusque Frisiis vocabulum est ex modo virium. utraeque nationes usque ad Oceanum Rheno praetexuntur ambiuntque immensos insuper lacus et Romanis classibus navigatos. ipsum quin etiam Oceanum illa temptavimus; et superesse adhuc Herculis columnas fama vulgavit, sive adiit Hercules, seu quicquid ubique magnificum est, in claritatem eius referre consensimus. nec defuit audentia Druso Germanico, sed obstitit Oceanus in se simul atque in Herculem inquiri. mox nemo temptavit, sanctiusque ac reverentius visum de actis deorum credere quam scire.

Thus far we have known Germany toward the west; toward the north it draws back in a vast bend. And first of all, straightway, the nation of the Chauci—although it begins from the Frisii and occupies a part of the shore—stretches along the flanks of all the nations I have set out, until it curves round even to the Chatti. So immense a space of land the Chauci not only hold but fill—a people the noblest among the Germans, and one that would rather guard its greatness by justice. Without greed, without lawless violence, quiet and withdrawn, they provoke no wars, they ravage with no raids or robberies. This is the chief proof of their valour and their strength, that they win their pre-eminence by no wrongs; yet arms are ready to all, and, if the matter demand, an army, a great abundance of men and horses; and even while they keep the peace their fame is the same.

Hactenus in occidentem Germaniam novimus; in septentrionem ingenti flexu recedit. ac primo statim Chaucorum gens, quamquam incipiat a Frisiis ac partem litoris occupet, omnium quas exposui gentium lateribus obtenditur, donec in Chattos usque sinuetur. tam immensum terrarum spatium non tenent tantum Chauci sed et implent, populus inter Germanos nobilissimus quique magnitudinem suam malit iustitia tueri. sine cupiditate, sine impotentia, quieti secretique nulla provocant bella, nullis raptibus aut latrociniis populantur. id praecipuum virtutis ac virium argumentum est, quod, ut superiores agant, non per iniurias adsequuntur; prompta tamen omnibus arma ac, si res poscat, exercitus, plurimum virorum equorumque; et quiescentibus eadem fama.

On the flank of the Chauci and Chatti the Cherusci, unprovoked, nursed too long a slack and rotting peace; and this was more pleasant than safe, since among the violent and the strong you keep quiet to your own hurt: where it comes to the hand, moderation and uprightness are titles for the stronger. Thus the Cherusci, once called good and just, are now called slothful and foolish; to the victorious Chatti their good fortune passed for wisdom. Drawn down in the ruin of the Cherusci were the Fosi too, a bordering nation, equal partners in adversity, though in prosperity they had been the lesser.

In latere Chaucorum Chattorumque Cherusci nimiam ac marcentem diu pacem inlacessiti nutrierunt; idque iucundius quam tutius fuit, quia inter impotentes et validos falso quiescas: ubi manu agitur, modestia ac probitas nomina superioris sunt. ita qui olim boni aequique Cherusci, nunc inertes ac stulti vocantur; Chattis victoribus fortuna in sapientiam cessit. tracti ruina Cheruscorum et Fosi, contermina gens, adversarum rerum ex aequo socii sunt, cum in secundis minores fuissent.

The same recess of Germany, nearest the Ocean, the Cimbri hold—now a small state, but in glory immense. And of their old fame broad traces remain, camps and spaces on either bank, by whose compass you may even now measure the mass and the man-power of the nation, and the credit of so great a departure. Our city was in its six hundred and fortieth year when the arms of the Cimbri were first heard of, in the consulship of Caecilius Metellus and Papirius Carbo. If from that time we reckon to the second consulship of the emperor Trajan, about two hundred and ten years are gathered up: so long is Germany in the conquering. In the midst of so long a span of time there have been many losses on either side. Not the Samnite, not the Carthaginian, not Spain or Gaul, not even the Parthian, has more often given us warning: for the freedom of the Germans is fiercer than the kingdom of Arsaces. For what else has the East to cast in our teeth than the slaughter of Crassus—the East, itself brought low under Ventidius, with Pacorus too lost? But the Germans, with Carbo and Cassius and Scaurus Aurelius and Servilius Caepio and Maximus Mallius routed or taken, robbed the Roman people of five consular armies at once, and Varus with three legions besides even from a Caesar; nor without loss did Gaius Marius in Italy, the deified Julius in Gaul, Drusus and Nero and Germanicus crush them in their own seats: soon the mighty threats of Gaius Caesar were turned to mockery. Thence quiet, until, taking the occasion of our discord and the civil wars, they stormed the winter-quarters of the legions and even reached after the Gauls; and again driven back, in the latest times they have been triumphed over rather than conquered.

Eundem Germaniae sinum proximi Oceano Cimbri tenent, parva nunc civitas, sed gloria ingens. veterisque famae lata vestigia manent, utraque ripa castra ac spatia, quorum ambitu nunc quoque metiaris molem manusque gentis et tam magni exitus fidem. sescentesimum et quadragesimum annum urbs nostra agebat, cum primum Cimbrorum audita sunt arma Caecilio Metello ac Papirio Carbone consulibus. ex quo si ad alterum imperatoris Traiani consulatum computemus, ducenti ferme et decem anni colliguntur: tam diu Germania vincitur. medio tam longi aevi spatio multa in vicem damna. non Samnis, non Poeni, non Hispaniae Galliaeve, ne Parthi quidem saepius admonuere: quippe regno Arsacis acrior est Germanorum libertas. quid enim aliud nobis quam caedem Crassi, amisso et ipse Pacoro, infra Ventidium deiectus Oriens obiecerit? at Germani Carbone et Cassio et Scauro Aurelio et Servilio Caepione Maximoque Mallio fusis vel captis quinque simul consulares exercitus populo Romano, Varum tresque cum eo legiones etiam Caesari abstulerunt; nec impune C. Marius in Italia, divus Iulius in Gallia, Drusus ac Nero et Germanicus in suis eos sedibus perculerunt: mox ingentes C. Caesaris minae in ludibrium versae. inde otium, donec occasione discordiae nostrae et civilium armorum expugnatis legionum hibernis etiam Gallias adfectavere, ac rursus pulsi; nam proximis temporibus triumphati magis quam victi sunt.

Now of the Suebi we must speak, whose nation is not, like that of the Chatti or Tencteri, a single one; for they hold the greater part of Germany, still distinguished by peculiar nations and names, although in common they are called Suebi. It is the mark of the race to comb the hair sideways and bind it in a knot: thus the Suebi are set apart from the rest of the Germans, thus the freeborn Suebi from the slaves. In other nations, whether from some kinship with the Suebi or, as more often happens, from imitation, it is rare and confined to the span of youth: among the Suebi, even to grey hairs, the bristling locks are twisted back and often knotted on the very crown. The chiefs wear it yet more adorned: such is their care for appearance, but innocent; for it is not that they may love or be loved, but, going to war, they are dressed for a certain loftiness and terror—trimmed for the eyes of the enemy.

Nunc de Suebis dicendum est, quorum non una ut Chattorum Tencterorumve gens; maiorem enim Germaniae partem obtinent, propriis adhuc nationibus nominibusque discreti, quamquam in commune Suebi vocentur. insigne gentis obliquare crinem nodoque substringere: sic Suebi a ceteris Germanis, sic Sueborum ingenui a servis separantur. in aliis gentibus seu cognatione aliqua Sueborum seu, quod saepius accidit, imitatione, rarum et intra iuventae spatium: apud Suebos usque ad canitiem horrentes capilli retorquentur, ac saepe in ipso vertice religantur. principes et ornatiorem habent: ea cura formae, sed innoxia; neque enim ut ament amenturve, in altitudinem quandam et terrorem adituri bella compti, ut hostium oculis, ornantur.

The Semnones report themselves the most ancient and the noblest of the Suebi; the assurance of their antiquity is confirmed by religion. At a fixed time, all the peoples of the same name and blood meet by embassies in a wood hallowed by the auguries of their fathers and by ancient dread, and, a man having been slain in public, they celebrate the dreadful first rites of a barbarous worship. There is yet another reverence for the grove: no one enters except bound with a fetter, as the lesser and bearing before himself the power of the godhead. If by chance he has slipped and fallen, to be lifted up and to rise is not lawful: they roll out along the ground. And to this all their superstition looks, as though from there were the beginnings of the race, there the god who rules over all, the rest subject and obedient. The fortune of the Semnones adds weight: they dwell in a hundred districts, and by their great mass it comes about that they believe themselves the head of the Suebi.

Vetustissimos nobilissimosque Sueborum Semnones memorant; fides antiquitatis religione firmatur. stato tempore in silvam auguriis patrum et prisca formidine sacram nominis eiusdemque sanguinis populi legationibus coeunt caesoque publice homine celebrant barbari ritus horrenda primordia. est et alia luco reverentia: nemo nisi vinculo ligatus ingreditur, ut minor et potestatem numinis prae se ferens. si forte prolapsus est, attolli et insurgere haud licitum: per humum evolvuntur. eoque omnis superstitio respicit, tamquam inde initia gentis, ibi regnator omnium deus, cetera subiecta atque parentia. adicit auctoritatem fortuna Semnonum: centum pagis habitant, magnoque corpore efficitur ut se Sueborum caput credant.

The Langobardi, on the contrary, fewness ennobles: ringed by very many and very powerful nations, they are safe not by submission but by battles and the hazarding of them. After them the Reudigni and Aviones and Anglii and Varini and Eudoses and Suarines and Nuitones are fenced by rivers or forests. Nor is there anything notable in them singly, except that in common they worship Nerthus—that is, Mother Earth—and believe that she intervenes in the affairs of men and rides among the peoples. There is on an island of the Ocean a chaste grove, and in it a consecrated chariot, covered with a cloth; to touch it is permitted to the priest alone. He perceives the goddess present in her shrine, and with deep reverence attends her as she is drawn by cows. Glad then are the days, and festive the places, that she deigns to visit and to lodge in. They go to no wars, take up no arms; all iron is shut away; peace and quiet are then alone known, then alone loved, until the same priest restores to her temple the goddess sated with the converse of mortals. Soon the chariot, and the cloth, and—if you will believe it—the divinity herself, are bathed in a secret lake. Slaves perform the service, whom the same lake at once swallows up. Hence a mysterious terror and a holy ignorance of what that may be which only those about to perish behold.

Contra Langobardos paucitas nobilitat: plurimis ac valentissimis nationibus cincti non per obsequium sed proeliis et periclitando tuti sunt. Reudigni deinde et Aviones et Anglii et Varini et Eudoses et Suarines et Nuitones fluminibus aut silvis muniuntur. nec quicquam notabile in singulis, nisi quod in commune Nerthum, id est Terram matrem, colunt eamque intervenire rebus hominum, invehi populis arbitrantur. est in insula Oceani castum nemus, dicatumque in eo vehiculum, veste contectum; attingere uni sacerdoti concessum. is adesse penetrali deam intellegit vectamque bubus feminis multa cum veneratione prosequitur. laeti tunc dies, festa loca, quaecumque adventu hospitioque dignatur. non bella ineunt, non arma sumunt; clausum omne ferrum; pax et quies tunc tantum nota, tunc tantum amata, donec idem sacerdos satiatam conversatione mortalium deam templo reddat. mox vehiculum et vestis et, si credere velis, numen ipsum secreto lacu abluitur. servi ministrant, quos statim idem lacus haurit. arcanus hinc terror sanctaque ignorantia, quid sit illud quod tantum perituri vident.

And this part of the Suebi indeed reaches into the more secret regions of Germany; nearer—so that, as a little before I followed the Rhine, so now I may follow the Danube—is the state of the Hermunduri, faithful to the Romans; and therefore to them alone of the Germans is there commerce not on the bank but deep within, and in the most splendid colony of the province of Raetia. They cross over everywhere without a guard; and whereas to the other nations we display only our arms and our camps, to these we have laid open our houses and country-seats, who do not covet them. Among the Hermunduri rises the Elbe, a river once famed and well known; now it is only heard of.

Et haec quidem pars Sueborum in secretiora Germaniae porrigitur: propior, ut, quo modo paulo ante Rhenum, sic nunc Danubium sequar, Hermundurorum civitas, fida Romanis; eoque solis Germanorum non in ripa commercium, sed penitus atque in splendidissima Raetiae provinciae colonia. passim sine custode transeunt; et cum ceteris gentibus arma modo castraque nostra ostendamus, his domos villasque patefecimus non concupiscentibus. in Hermunduris Albis oritur, flumen inclutum et notum olim; nunc tantum auditur.

Next to the Hermunduri the Naristi, and then the Marcomani and Quadi, have their seats. Pre-eminent are the glory and strength of the Marcomani, and their very abode—won by valour, the Boii of old being driven out. Nor do the Naristi or Quadi degenerate. And this is, as it were, the brow of Germany, in so far as it is girdled by the Danube. Among the Marcomani and Quadi, down to our own memory, kings remained out of their own nation, the noble line of Maroboduus and Tudrus (now they endure foreigners too); but the force and power of the kings is from Roman authority. Rarely are they aided by our arms, oftener by our money, and they are no less strong for it.

Iuxta Hermunduros Naristi ac deinde Marcomani et Quadi agunt. praecipua Marcomanorum gloria viresque, atque ipsa etiam sedes pulsis olim Boiis virtute parta. nec Naristi Quadive degenerant. eaque Germaniae velut frons est, quatenus Danubio praecingitur. Marcomanis Quadisque usque ad nostram memoriam reges manserunt ex gente ipsorum, nobile Marobodui et Tudri genus (iam et externos patiuntur), sed vis et potentia regibus ex auctoritate Romana. raro armis nostris, saepius pecunia iuvantur, nec minus valent.

Behind, the Marsigni, Cotini, Osi, and Buri close in the backs of the Marcomani and Quadi. Of these the Marsigni and Buri recall the Suebi in speech and culture: the Gallic tongue convicts the Cotini, the Pannonian the Osi, of being no Germans, as does the fact that they endure tribute. Part of the tribute the Sarmatians, part the Quadi lay upon them as foreigners: the Cotini—to their greater shame—even dig out iron. And all these peoples have settled little of the plains, but for the rest the woods and the ridges and crests of the mountains. For a continuous mountain-ridge sunders and cleaves Suebia, beyond which very many nations dwell, of whom most widely spread is the name of the Lugii, diffused into several states. It will be enough to have named the strongest: the Harii, Helvecones, Manimi, Helisii, Naharvali. Among the Naharvali a grove of ancient religion is shown. A priest in woman’s dress presides; but the gods, by Roman interpretation, they record as Castor and Pollux. Such is the power of the divinity, whose name is Alcis. There are no images, no trace of foreign superstition; yet as brothers, as youths, they are worshipped. As for the Harii—beyond the strength in which they surpass the peoples just enumerated—fierce, they heighten by art and by timing their inborn savagery: black shields, dyed bodies; they choose dark nights for their battles, and by the very terror and shadow of a ghostly host they strike dread, no enemy enduring the strange and, as it were, infernal sight; for in all battles the eyes are conquered first. Beyond the Lugii the Gotones are ruled by kings, somewhat more strictly now than the rest of the German nations, yet not as yet above freedom. Then straightway, from the Ocean, come the Rugii and Lemovii; and the badge of all these nations is round shields, short swords, and obedience toward their kings.

Retro Marsigni, Cotini, Osi, Buri terga Marcomanorum Quadorumque claudunt. e quibus Marsigni et Buri sermone cultuque Suebos referunt: Cotinos Gallica, Osos Pannonica lingua coarguit non esse Germanos, et quod tributa patiuntur. partem tributorum Sarmatae, partem Quadi ut alienigenis imponunt: Cotini, quo magis pudeat, et ferrum effodiunt. omnesque hi populi pauca campestrium, ceterum saltus et vertices montium insederunt. dirimit enim scinditque Suebiam continuum montium iugum, ultra quod plurimae gentes agunt, ex quibus latissime patet Lugiorum nomen in plures civitates diffusum. valentissimas nominasse sufficiet, Harios, Helveconas, Manimos, Helisios, Naharvalos. apud Naharvalos antiquae religionis lucus ostenditur. praesidet sacerdos muliebri ornatu, sed deos interpretatione Romana Castorem Pollucemque memorant. ea vis numini, nomen Alcis. nulla simulacra, nullum peregrinae superstitionis vestigium; ut fratres tamen, ut iuvenes venerantur. ceterum Harii super vires, quibus enumeratos paulo ante populos antecedunt, truces insitae feritati arte ac tempore lenocinantur: nigra scuta, tincta corpora; atras ad proelia noctes legunt ipsaque formidine atque umbra feralis exercitus terrorem inferunt, nullo hostium sustinente novum ac velut infernum aspectum; nam primi in omnibus proeliis oculi vincuntur. Trans Lugios Gotones regnantur, paulo iam adductius quam ceterae Germanorum gentes, nondum tamen supra libertatem. protinus deinde ab Oceano Rugii et Lemovii; omniumque harum gentium insigne rotunda scuta, breves gladii et erga reges obsequium.

Hence the states of the Suiones, set in the very Ocean, are strong, besides in men and arms, in their fleets. The form of their ships differs in this, that a prow at either end presents a front always ready for running ashore. They neither work them with sails nor fasten oars in a row along the sides: the rowing is loose, as on certain rivers, and shifting, as the case demands, this way or that. There is among them honour for wealth too, and so one man rules, with no exceptions now, with no precarious right of obedience. Nor are arms, as among the other Germans, in common keeping, but shut away under a warder—and that a slave; since the Ocean forbids sudden inroads of enemies, and idle hands of armed men readily run riot. For indeed it is the royal interest to set over the arms neither a noble nor a freeborn man, not even a freedman.

Suionum hinc civitates, ipso in Oceano, praeter viros armaque classibus valent. forma navium eo differt quod utrimque prora paratam semper adpulsui frontem agit. nec velis ministrant nec remos in ordinem lateribus adiungunt: solutum, ut in quibusdam fluminum, et mutabile, ut res poscit, hinc vel illinc remigium. est apud illos et opibus honos, eoque unus imperitat, nullis iam exceptionibus, non precario iure parendi. nec arma, ut apud ceteros Germanos, in promisco, sed clausa sub custode, et quidem servo, quia subitos hostium incursus prohibet Oceanus, otiosae porro armatorum manus facile lasciviunt: enimvero neque nobilem neque ingenuum, ne libertinum quidem armis praeponere regia utilitas est.

Beyond the Suiones is another sea, sluggish and almost motionless, by which the globe of the earth is believed to be girt and enclosed; and the proof is that the last gleam of the now-setting sun lasts on until its rising, so bright that it dims the stars; belief adds, moreover, that the sound of his emerging is heard and the shapes of horses and the rays about his head are seen. Thus far—and here report is true—nature reaches and no farther. So now, on the right shore of the Suebic sea, the nations of the Aestii are washed, whose rites and habit are those of the Suebi, their tongue nearer to the British. They worship the mother of the gods. As the badge of their superstition they wear the shapes of boars: this, in place of arms and as a guard against every danger, keeps the worshipper of the goddess safe even among enemies. Rare is the use of iron, frequent of clubs. Grain and the other fruits they cultivate with more patience than accords with the wonted indolence of the Germans. Nay, they ransack the sea too, and alone of all men gather amber—which they themselves call glesum—among the shallows and on the very shore. Nor have they, as barbarians, asked or found out what its nature or what cause produces it: indeed it lay long among the other castings of the sea, until our luxury gave it a name. To them it is of no use: it is gathered raw, passed on unworked, and they receive a price, marvelling. Yet you may understand it to be a juice of trees, since certain creeping and even winged creatures often shine through within it, which, entangled in the moisture, are presently shut in as the substance hardens. I should therefore believe that, as in the secret places of the East groves and woodlands sweat frankincense and balsams, so in the islands and lands of the West there are richer ones, which, pressed out by the rays of the neighbouring sun and flowing liquid, slip into the nearest sea and by the force of storms are washed out upon the opposite shores. If you test the nature of amber by bringing fire near, it kindles like a torch and feeds a fat and fragrant flame; soon it grows soft as into pitch or resin. To the Suiones the nations of the Sitones adjoin. Like them in all else, they differ in one thing—that a woman rules over them: to such a degree do they fall below not only freedom but even slavery.

Trans Suionas aliud mare, pigrum ac prope immotum, quo cingi claudique terrarum orbem hinc fides, quod extremus cadentis iam solis fulgor in ortus edurat adeo clarus ut sidera hebetet; sonum insuper emergentis audiri formasque equorum et radios capitis aspici persuasio adicit. illuc usque et fama vera tantum natura. ergo iam dextro Suebici maris litore Aestiorum gentes adluuntur, quibus ritus habitusque Sueborum, lingua Britannicae propior. matrem deum venerantur. insigne superstitionis formas aprorum gestant: id pro armis hominumque tutela securum deae cultorem etiam inter hostes praestat. rarus ferri, frequens fustium usus. frumenta ceterosque fructus patientius quam pro solita Germanorum inertia laborant. sed et mare scrutantur, ac soli omnium sucinum, quod ipsi glesum vocant, inter vada atque in ipso litore legunt. nec quae natura quaeve ratio gignat, ut barbaris, quaesitum compertumve; diu quin etiam inter cetera eiectamenta maris iacebat, donec luxuria nostra dedit nomen. ipsis in nullo usu: rude legitur, informe perfertur, pretiumque mirantes accipiunt. sucum tamen arborum esse intellegas, quia terrena quaedam atque etiam volucria animalia plerumque interlucent, quae implicata humore mox durescente materia clauduntur. fecundiora igitur nemora lucosque, sicut Orientis secretis, ubi tura balsamaque sudantur, ita Occidentis insulis terrisque inesse crediderim, quae vicini solis radiis expressa atque liquentia in proximum mare labuntur ac vi tempestatum in adversa litora exundant. si naturam sucini admoto igne temptes, in modum taedae accenditur alitque flammam pinguem et olentem; mox ut in picem resinamve lentescit. Suionibus Sitonum gentes continuantur. cetera similes uno differunt, quod femina dominatur: in tantum non modo a libertate sed etiam a servitute degenerant.

Here is the boundary of Suebia. The nations of the Peucini, Venethi, and Fenni I am in doubt whether to reckon to the Germans or to the Sarmatians—although the Peucini, whom some call Bastarnae, in speech, culture, settlement, and dwellings live as Germans do. Squalor is in all, and sloth in the nobles: by mixed marriages they are somewhat disfigured into the aspect of the Sarmatians. The Venethi have drawn much from their manners; for whatever forests and mountains rise between the Peucini and the Fenni they range in their raids. Yet these are rather to be referred to the Germans, since they both build houses and carry shields and delight in the use and swiftness of foot—all which is otherwise among the Sarmatians, who live in wagon and on horse. The Fenni have a wondrous savagery, a foul poverty: no arms, no horses, no household gods; their food is herbs, their clothing skins, their bed the ground: their only hope is in arrows, which, for want of iron, they tip with bone. And the same hunting feeds men and women alike; for the women go everywhere with them and claim a share of the prey. Nor have the infants any shelter from beasts and rains save to be covered in some interlacing of boughs: hither the young return, this is the refuge of the old. But they think it happier than to groan over fields, to toil at houses, to turn their own and others’ fortunes between hope and fear: secure against men, secure against gods, they have attained the most difficult thing—that they have not even need of a prayer. The rest is now the stuff of fable: that the Hellusii and Oxiones wear the faces and countenances of men, the bodies and limbs of beasts. This, as unascertained, I leave open.

Hic Suebiae finis. Peucinorum Venethorumque et Fennorum nationes Germanis an Sarmatis adscribam dubito. quamquam Peucini, quos quidam Bastarnas vocant, sermone cultu sede ac domiciliis ut Germani agunt. sordes omnium ac torpor procerum: conubiis mixtis nonnihil in Sarmatarum habitum foedantur. Venethi multum ex moribus traxerunt; nam quidquid inter Peucinos Fennosque silvarum ac montium erigitur latrociniis pererrant. hi tamen inter Germanos potius referuntur, quia et domos figunt et scuta gestant et pedum usu et pernicitate gaudent: quae omnia diversa Sarmatis sunt in plaustro equoque viventibus. Fennis mira feritas, foeda paupertas: non arma, non equi, non penates; victui herba, vestitui pelles, cubile humus: solae in sagittis spes, quas inopia ferri ossibus asperant. idemque venatus viros pariter ac feminas alit; passim enim comitantur partemque praedae petunt. nec aliud infantibus ferarum imbriumque suffugium quam ut in aliquo ramorum nexu contegantur; huc redeunt iuvenes, hoc senum receptaculum. sed beatius arbitrantur quam ingemere agris, inlaborare domibus, suas alienasque fortunas spe metuque versare: securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos rem difficillimam adsecuti sunt, ut illis ne voto quidem opus esset. cetera iam fabulosa: Hellusios et Oxionas ora hominum vultusque, corpora atque artus ferarum gerere: quod ego ut incompertum in medio relinquam.

T acitus Entire

The Germania

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