1 files changed, 5410 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/7524.txt b/7524.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..38ba969
--- /dev/null
+++ b/7524.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5410 @@
+Project Gutenberg's The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus, by Tacitus
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus
+       The Oxford Translation Revised, with Notes
+
+Author: Tacitus
+
+Commentator: Edward Brooks
+
+
+Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7524]
+This file was first posted on May 13, 2003
+Last Updated: May 17, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GERMANY AND THE AGRICOLA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon,
+Eric Casteleijn and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE GERMANY AND THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS.
+
+THE OXFORD TRANSLATION REVISED, WITH NOTES.
+
+By Tacitus
+
+With An Introduction By Edward Brooks, Jr.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+Very little is known concerning the life of Tacitus, the historian,
+except that which he tells us in his own writings and those incidents
+which are related of him by his contemporary, Pliny.
+
+His full name was Caius Cornelius Tacitus. The date of his birth can
+only be arrived at by conjecture, and then only approximately. The
+younger Pliny speaks of him as _prope modum aequales_, about the same
+age. Pliny was born in 61. Tacitus, however, occupied the office of
+quaestor under Vespasian in 78 A.D., at which time he must, therefore,
+have been at least twenty-five years of age. This would fix the date of
+his birth not later than 53 A.D. It is probable, therefore, that Tacitus
+was Pliny's senior by several years.
+
+His parentage is also a matter of pure conjecture. The name Cornelius
+was a common one among the Romans, so that from it we can draw no
+inference. The fact that at an early age he occupied a prominent
+public office indicates that he was born of good family, and it is not
+impossible that his father was a certain Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman
+knight, who was procurator in Belgic Gaul, and whom the elder Pliny
+speaks of in his "Natural History."
+
+Of the early life of Tacitus and the training which he underwent
+preparatory to those literary efforts which afterwards rendered him a
+conspicuous figure among Roman literateurs we know absolutely nothing.
+
+Of the events of his life which transpired after he attained man's
+estate we know but little beyond that which he himself has recorded in
+his writings. He occupied a position of some eminence as a pleader at
+the Roman bar, and in 77 A.D. married the daughter of Julius Agricola,
+a humane and honorable citizen, who was at that time consul and was
+subsequently appointed governor of Britain. It is quite possible that
+this very advantageous alliance hastened his promotion to the office of
+quaestor under Vespasian.
+
+Under Domitian, in 88, Tacitus was appointed one of fifteen
+commissioners to preside at the celebration of the secular games. In the
+same year he held the office of praetor, and was a member of one of the
+most select of the old priestly colleges, in which a pre-requisite of
+membership was that a man should be born of a good family.
+
+The following year he appears to have left Rome, and it is possible
+that he visited Germany and there obtained his knowledge and information
+respecting the manners and customs of its people which he makes the
+subject of his work known as the "Germany."
+
+He did not return to Rome until 93, after an absence of four years,
+during which time his father-in-law died.
+
+Some time between the years 93 and 97 he was elected to the senate, and
+during this time witnessed the judicial murders of many of Rome's best
+citizens which were perpetrated under the reign of Nero. Being himself a
+senator, he felt that he was not entirely guiltless of the crimes which
+were committed, and in his "Agricola" we find him giving expression to
+this feeling in the following words: "Our own hands dragged Helvidius
+to prison; ourselves were tortured with the spectacle of Mauricus and
+Rusticus, and sprinkled with the innocent blood of Senecio."
+
+In 97 he was elected to the consulship as successor to Virginius
+Rufus, who died during his term of office and at whose funeral Tacitus
+delivered an oration in such a manner to cause Pliny to say, "The
+good fortune of Virginius was crowned by having the most eloquent of
+panegyrists."
+
+In 99 Tacitus was appointed by the senate, together with Pliny, to
+conduct the prosecution against a great political offender, Marius
+Priscus, who, as proconsul of Africa, had corruptly mismanaged the
+affairs of his province. We have his associate's testimony that Tacitus
+made a most eloquent and dignified reply to the arguments which were
+urged on the part of the defence. The prosecution was successful, and
+both Pliny and Tacitus were awarded a vote of thanks by the senate for
+their eminent and effectual efforts in the management of the case.
+
+The exact date of Tacitus's death is not known, but in his "Annals"
+he seems to hint at the successful extension of the Emperor Trajan's
+eastern campaigns during the years 115 to 117, so that it is probable
+that he lived until the year 117.
+
+Tacitus had a widespread reputation during his lifetime. On one occasion
+it is related of him that as he sat in the circus at the celebration of
+some games, a Roman knight asked him whether he was from Italy or the
+provinces. Tacitus answered, "You know me from your reading," to which
+the knight quickly replied, "Are you then Tacitus or Pliny?"
+
+It is also worthy of notice that the Emperor Marcus Claudius Tacitus,
+who reigned during the third century, claimed to be descended from the
+historian, and directed that ten copies of his works should be published
+every year and placed in the public libraries.
+
+The list of the extant works of Tacitus is as follows: the "Germany;"
+the "Life of Agricola;" the "Dialogue on Orators;" the "Histories," and
+the "Annals."
+
+The following pages contain translations of the first two of these
+works. The "Germany," the full title of which is "Concerning the
+situation, manners and inhabitants of Germany," contains little of value
+from a historical standpoint. It describes with vividness the fierce and
+independent spirit of the German nations, with many suggestions as to
+the dangers in which the empire stood of these people. The "Agricola"
+is a biographical sketch of the writer's father-in-law, who, as has been
+said, was a distinguished man and governor of Britain. It is one of the
+author's earliest works and was probably written shortly after the
+death of Domitian, in 96. This work, short as it is, has always been
+considered an admirable specimen of biography on account of its grace
+and dignity of expression. Whatever else it may be, it is a graceful and
+affectionate tribute to an upright and excellent man.
+
+The "Dialogue on Orators" treats of the decay of eloquence under the
+empire. It is in the form of a dialogue, and represents two eminent
+members of the Roman bar discussing the change for the worse that had
+taken place in the early education of the Roman youth.
+
+The "Histories" relate the events which transpired in Rome, beginning
+with the ascession of Galba, in 68, and ending with the reign of
+Domitian, in 97. Only four books and a fragment of a fifth have been
+preserved to us. These books contain an account of the brief reigns of
+Galba, Otho and Vitellius. The portion of the fifth book which has been
+preserved contains an interesting, though rather biased, account of the
+character, customs and religion of the Jewish nation viewed from the
+standpoint of a cultivated citizen of Rome.
+
+The "Annals" contain the history of the empire from the death of
+Augustus, in 14, to the death of Nero, in 68, and originally consisted
+of sixteen books. Of these, only nine have come down to us in a state
+of entire preservation, and of the other seven we have but fragments of
+three. Out of a period of fifty-four years we have the history of about
+forty.
+
+The style of Tacitus is, perhaps, noted principally for its conciseness.
+Tacitean brevity is proverbial, and many of his sentences are so brief,
+and leave so much for the student to read between the lines, that in
+order to be understood and appreciated the author must be read over and
+over again, lest the reader miss the point of some of his most
+excellent thoughts. Such an author presents grave, if not insuperable,
+difficulties to the translator, but notwithstanding this fact, the
+following pages cannot but impress the reader with the genius of
+Tacitus.
+
+
+
+
+A TREATISE ON THE SITUATION, MANNERS AND INHABITANTS OF GERMANY. [1]
+
+
+1. Germany [2] is separated from Gaul, Rhaetia, [3] and Pannonia, [4] by
+the rivers Rhine and Danube; from Sarmatia and Dacia, by mountains [5]
+and mutual dread. The rest is surrounded by an ocean, embracing broad
+promontories [6] and vast insular tracts, [7] in which our military
+expeditions have lately discovered various nations and kingdoms. The
+Rhine, issuing from the inaccessible and precipitous summit of the
+Rhaetic Alps, [8] bends gently to the west, and falls into the Northern
+Ocean. The Danube, poured from the easy and gently raised ridge of Mount
+Abnoba, [9] visits several nations in its course, till at length it
+bursts out [10] by six channels [11] into the Pontic sea; a seventh is
+lost in marshes.
+
+2. The people of Germany appear to me indigenous, [12] and free from
+intermixture with foreigners, either as settlers or casual visitants.
+For the emigrants of former ages performed their expeditions not by
+land, but by water; [13] and that immense, and, if I may so call it,
+hostile ocean, is rarely navigated by ships from our world. [14] Then,
+besides the danger of a boisterous and unknown sea, who would relinquish
+Asia, Africa, or Italy, for Germany, a land rude in its surface,
+rigorous in its climate, cheerless to every beholder and cultivator,
+except a native? In their ancient songs, [15] which are their only
+records or annals, they celebrate the god Tuisto, [16] sprung from the
+earth, and his son Mannus, as the fathers and founders of their race.
+To Mannus they ascribe three sons, from whose names [17] the people
+bordering on the ocean are called Ingaevones; those inhabiting the
+central parts, Herminones; the rest, Istaevones. Some, [18] however,
+assuming the licence of antiquity, affirm that there were more
+descendants of the god, from whom more appellations were derived; as
+those of the Marsi, [19] Gambrivii, [20] Suevi, [21] and Vandali; [22]
+and that these are the genuine and original names. [23] That of Germany,
+on the other hand, they assert to be a modern addition; [24] for that
+the people who first crossed the Rhine, and expelled the Gauls, and
+are now called Tungri, were then named Germans; which appellation of a
+particular tribe, not of a whole people, gradually prevailed; so that
+the title of Germans, first assumed by the victors in order to excite
+terror, was afterwards adopted by the nation in general. [25] They
+have likewise the tradition of a Hercules [26] of their country, whose
+praises they sing before those of all other heroes as they advance to
+battle.
+
+3. A peculiar kind of verses is also current among them, by the recital
+of which, termed "barding," [27] they stimulate their courage; while the
+sound itself serves as an augury of the event of the impending combat.
+For, according to the nature of the cry proceeding from the line, terror
+is inspired or felt: nor does it seem so much an articulate song, as the
+wild chorus of valor. A harsh, piercing note, and a broken roar, are
+the favorite tones; which they render more full and sonorous by applying
+their mouths to their shields. [28] Some conjecture that Ulysses, in the
+course of his long and fabulous wanderings, was driven into this ocean,
+and landed in Germany; and that Asciburgium, [29] a place situated on
+the Rhine, and at this day inhabited, was founded by him, and named
+_Askipurgion_. They pretend that an altar was formerly discovered here,
+consecrated to Ulysses, with the name of his father Laertes subjoined;
+and that certain monuments and tombs, inscribed with Greek characters,
+[30] are still extant upon the confines of Germany and Rhaetia. These
+allegations I shall neither attempt to confirm nor to refute: let every
+one believe concerning them as he is disposed.
+
+4. I concur in opinion with those who deem the Germans never to have
+intermarried with other nations; but to be a race, pure, unmixed, and
+stamped with a distinct character. Hence a family likeness pervades the
+whole, though their numbers are so great: eyes stern and blue; ruddy
+hair; large bodies, [31] powerful in sudden exertions, but impatient of
+toil and labor, least of all capable of sustaining thirst and heat. Cold
+and hunger they are accustomed by their climate and soil to endure.
+
+5. The land, though varied to a considerable extent in its aspect, is
+yet universally shagged with forests, or deformed by marshes: moister on
+the side of Gaul, more bleak on the side of Norieum and Pannonia. [32]
+It is productive of grain, but unkindly to fruit-trees. [33] It abounds
+in flocks and herds, but in general of a small breed. Even the beeve
+kind are destitute of their usual stateliness and dignity of head: [34]
+they are, however, numerous, and form the most esteemed, and, indeed,
+the only species of wealth. Silver and gold the gods, I know not whether
+in their favor or anger, have denied to this country. [35] Not that I
+would assert that no veins of these metals are generated in Germany; for
+who has made the search? The possession of them is not coveted by these
+people as it is by us. Vessels of silver are indeed to be seen among
+them, which have been presented to their ambassadors and chiefs; but
+they are held in no higher estimation than earthenware. The borderers,
+however, set a value on gold and silver for the purpose of commerce,
+and have learned to distinguish several kinds of our coin, some of which
+they prefer to others: the remoter inhabitants continue the more simple
+and ancient usage of bartering commodities. The money preferred by the
+Germans is the old and well-known species, such as the _Serrati_ and
+_Bigati_. [36] They are also better pleased with silver than gold; [37]
+not on account of any fondness for that metal, but because the smaller
+money is more convenient in their common and petty merchandise.
+
+6. Even iron is not plentiful [38] among them; as may be inferred from
+the nature of their weapons. Swords or broad lances are seldom used; but
+they generally carry a spear, (called in their language _framea_, [39])
+which has an iron blade, short and narrow, but so sharp and manageable,
+that, as occasion requires, they employ it either in close or distant
+fighting. [40] This spear and a shield are all the armor of the cavalry.
+The foot have, besides, missile weapons, several to each man, which they
+hurl to an immense distance. [41] They are either naked, [42] or lightly
+covered with a small mantle; and have no pride in equipage: their
+shields only are ornamented with the choicest colors. [43] Few are
+provided with a coat of mail; [44] and scarcely here and there one with
+a casque or helmet. [45] Their horses are neither remarkable for beauty
+nor swiftness, nor are they taught the various evolutions practised with
+us. The cavalry either bear down straight forwards, or wheel once to
+the right, in so compact a body that none is left behind the rest. Their
+principal strength, on the whole, consists in their infantry: hence
+in an engagement these are intermixed with the cavalry; [46] so Well
+accordant with the nature of equestrian combats is the agility of those
+foot soldiers, whom they select from the whole body of their youth,
+and place in the front of the line. Their number, too, is determined; a
+hundred from each canton: [47] and they are distinguished at home by a
+name expressive of this circumstance; so that what at first was only an
+appellation of number, becomes thenceforth a title of honor. Their line
+of battle is disposed in wedges. [48] To give ground, provided
+they rally again, is considered rather as a prudent strategem, than
+cowardice. They carry off their slain even while the battle remains
+undecided. The greatest disgrace that can befall them is to have
+abandoned their shields. [49] A person branded with this ignominy is not
+permitted to join in their religious rites, or enter their assemblies;
+so that many, after escaping from battle, have put an end to their
+infamy by the halter.
+
+7. In the election of kings they have regard to birth; in that of
+generals, [50] to valor. Their kings have not an absolute or unlimited
+power; [51] and their generals command less through the force of
+authority, than of example. If they are daring, adventurous, and
+conspicuous in action, they procure obedience from the admiration they
+inspire. None, however, but the priests [52] are permitted to judge
+offenders, to inflict bonds or stripes; so that chastisement appears not
+as an act of military discipline, but as the instigation of the god whom
+they suppose present with warriors. They also carry with them to battle
+certain images and standards taken from the sacred groves. [53] It is
+a principal incentive to their courage, that their squadrons and
+battalions are not formed by men fortuitously collected, but by the
+assemblage of families and clans. Their pledges also are near at hand;
+they have within hearing the yells of their women, and the cries of
+their children. These, too, are the most revered witnesses of each man's
+conduct, these his most liberal applauders. To their mothers and their
+wives they bring their wounds for relief, nor do these dread to count
+or to search out the gashes. The women also administer food and
+encouragement to those who are fighting.
+
+8. Tradition relates, that armies beginning to give way have been
+rallied by the females, through the earnestness of their supplications,
+the interposition of their bodies, [54] and the pictures they have drawn
+of impending slavery, [55] a calamity which these people bear with more
+impatience for their women than themselves; so that those states who
+have been obliged to give among their hostages the daughters of noble
+families, are the most effectually bound to fidelity. [56] They even
+suppose somewhat of sanctity and prescience to be inherent in the female
+sex; and therefore neither despise their counsels, [57] nor disregard
+their responses. [58] We have beheld, in the reign of Vespasian, Veleda,
+[59] long reverenced by many as a deity. Aurima, moreover, and several
+others, [60] were formerly held in equal veneration, but not with a
+servile flattery, nor as though they made them goddesses. [61]
+
+9. Of the gods, Mercury [62] is the principal object of their adoration;
+whom, on certain days, [63] they think it lawful to propitiate even with
+human victims. To Hercules and Mars [64] they offer the animals usually
+allotted for sacrifice. [65] Some of the Suevi also perform sacred rites
+to Isis. What was the cause and origin of this foreign worship, I have
+not been able to discover; further than that her being represented with
+the symbol of a galley, seems to indicate an imported religion. [66]
+They conceive it unworthy the grandeur of celestial beings to confine
+their deities within walls, or to represent them under a human
+similitude: [67] woods and groves are their temples; and they affix
+names of divinity to that secret power, which they behold with the eye
+of adoration alone.
+
+10. No people are more addicted to divination by omens and lots. The
+latter is performed in the following simple manner. They cut a twig [68]
+from a fruit-tree, and divide it into small pieces, which, distinguished
+by certain marks, are thrown promiscuously upon a white garment. Then,
+the priest of the canton, if the occasion be public; if private, the
+master of the family; after an invocation of the gods, with his eyes
+lifted up to heaven, thrice takes out each piece, and, as they come up,
+interprets their signification according to the marks fixed upon them.
+If the result prove unfavorable, there is no more consultation on the
+same affair that day; if propitious, a confirmation by omens is still
+required. In common with other nations, the Germans are acquainted with
+the practice of auguring from the notes and flight of birds; but it is
+peculiar to them to derive admonitions and presages from horses also.
+[69] Certain of these animals, milk-white, and untouched by earthly
+labor, are pastured at the public expense in the sacred woods and
+groves. These, yoked to a consecrated chariot, are accompanied by the
+priest, and king, or chief person of the community, who attentively
+observe their manner of neighing and snorting; and no kind of augury
+is more credited, not only among the populace, but among the nobles
+and priests. For the latter consider themselves as the ministers of
+the gods, and the horses, as privy to the divine will. Another kind of
+divination, by which they explore the event of momentous wars, is to
+oblige a prisoner, taken by any means whatsoever from the nation with
+whom they are at variance, to fight with a picked man of their own, each
+with his own country's arms; and, according as the victory falls, they
+presage success to the one or to the other party. [70]
+
+11. On affairs of smaller moment, the chiefs consult; on those of
+greater importance, the whole community; yet with this circumstance,
+that what is referred to the decision of the people, is first maturely
+discussed by the chiefs. [71] They assemble, unless upon some sudden
+emergency, on stated days, either at the new or full moon, which they
+account the most auspicious season for beginning any enterprise. Nor do
+they, in their computation of time, reckon, like us, by the number of
+days, but of nights. In this way they arrange their business; in this
+way they fix their appointments; so that, with them, the night seems to
+lead the day. [72] An inconvenience produced by their liberty is, that
+they do not all assemble at a stated time, as if it were in obedience
+to a command; but two or three days are lost in the delays of convening.
+When they all think fit, [73] they sit down armed. [74] Silence is
+proclaimed by the priests, who have on this occasion a coercive power.
+Then the king, or chief, and such others as are conspicuous for age,
+birth, military renown, or eloquence, are heard; and gain attention
+rather from their ability to persuade, than their authority to command.
+If a proposal displease, the assembly reject it by an inarticulate
+murmur; if it prove agreeable, they clash their javelins; [75] for the
+most honorable expression of assent among them is the sound of arms.
+
+12. Before this council, it is likewise allowed to exhibit accusations,
+and to prosecute capital offences. Punishments are varied according to
+the nature of the crime. Traitors and deserters are hung upon trees:
+[76] cowards, dastards, [77] and those guilty of unnatural practices,
+[78] are suffocated in mud under a hurdle. [79] This difference of
+punishment has in view the principle, that villainy should be exposed
+while it is punished, but turpitude concealed. The penalties annexed
+to slighter offences [80] are also proportioned to the delinquency. The
+convicts are fined in horses and cattle: [81] part of the mulct [82]
+goes to the king or state; part to the injured person, or his relations.
+In the same assemblies chiefs [83] are also elected, to administer
+justice through the cantons and districts. A hundred companions, chosen
+from the people, attended upon each of them, to assist them as well with
+their advice as their authority.
+
+13. The Germans transact no business, public or private, without being
+armed: [84] but it is not customary for any person to assume arms till
+the state has approved his ability to use them. Then, in the midst of
+the assembly, either one of the chiefs, or the father, or a relation,
+equips the youth with a shield and javelin. [85] These are to them the
+manly gown; [86] this is the first honor conferred on youth: before this
+they are considered as part of a household; afterwards, of the state.
+The dignity of chieftain is bestowed even on mere lads, whose descent is
+eminently illustrious, or whose fathers have performed signal services
+to the public; they are associated, however, with those of mature
+strength, who have already been declared capable of service; nor do
+they blush to be seen in the rank of companions. [87] For the state of
+companionship itself has its several degrees, determined by the judgment
+of him whom they follow; and there is a great emulation among the
+companions, which shall possess the highest place in the favor of their
+chief; and among the chiefs, which shall excel in the number and valor
+of his companions. It is their dignity, their strength, to be always
+surrounded with a large body of select youth, an ornament in peace,
+a bulwark in war. And not in his own country alone, but among the
+neighboring states, the fame and glory of each chief consists in being
+distinguished for the number and bravery of his companions. Such chiefs
+are courted by embassies; distinguished by presents; and often by their
+reputation alone decide a war.
+
+14. In the field of battle, it is disgraceful for the chief to be
+surpassed in valor; it is disgraceful for the companions not to equal
+their chief; but it is reproach and infamy during a whole succeeding
+life to retreat from the field surviving him. [88] To aid, to protect
+him; to place their own gallant actions to the account of his glory, is
+their first and most sacred engagement. The chiefs fight for victory;
+the companions for their chief. If their native country be long sunk in
+peace and inaction, many of the young nobles repair to some other state
+then engaged in war. For, besides that repose is unwelcome to their
+race, and toils and perils afford them a better opportunity of
+distinguishing themselves; they are unable, without war and violence,
+to maintain a large train of followers. The companion requires from the
+liberality of his chief, the warlike steed, the bloody and conquering
+spear: and in place of pay, he expects to be supplied with a table,
+homely indeed, but plentiful. [89] The funds for this munificence
+must be found in war and rapine; nor are they so easily persuaded
+to cultivate the earth, and await the produce of the seasons, as to
+challenge the foe, and expose themselves to wounds; nay, they even think
+it base and spiritless to earn by sweat what they might purchase with
+blood.
+
+15. During the intervals of war, they pass their time less in hunting
+than in a sluggish repose, [90] divided between sleep and the table.
+All the bravest of the warriors, committing the care of the house, the
+family affairs, and the lands, to the women, old men, and weaker part
+of the domestics, stupefy themselves in inaction: so wonderful is the
+contrast presented by nature, that the same persons love indolence,
+and hate tranquillity! [91] It is customary for the several states to
+present, by voluntary and individual contributions, [92] cattle or grain
+[93] to their chiefs; which are accepted as honorary gifts, while they
+serve as necessary supplies. [94] They are peculiarly pleased with
+presents from neighboring nations, offered not only by individuals,
+but by the community at large; such as fine horses, heavy armor, rich
+housings, and gold chains. We have now taught them also to accept of
+money. [95]
+
+16. It is well known that none of the German nations inhabit cities;
+[96] or even admit of contiguous settlements. They dwell scattered and
+separate, as a spring, a meadow, or a grove may chance to invite
+them. Their villages are laid out, not like ours in rows of adjoining
+buildings; but every one surrounds his house with a vacant space, [97]
+either by way of security against fire, [97] or through ignorance of
+the art of building. For, indeed, they are unacquainted with the use
+of mortar and tiles; and for every purpose employ rude unshapen timber,
+fashioned with no regard to pleasing the eye. They bestow more than
+ordinary pains in coating certain parts of their buildings with a kind
+of earth, so pure and shining that it gives the appearance of painting.
+They also dig subterraneous caves, [99] and cover them over with a great
+quantity of dung. These they use as winter-retreats, and granaries; for
+they preserve a moderate temperature; and upon an invasion, when the
+open country is plundered, these recesses remain unviolated, either
+because the enemy is ignorant of them, or because he will not trouble
+himself with the search. [100]
+
+17. The clothing common to all is a sagum [101] fastened by a clasp, or,
+in want of that, a thorn. With no other covering, they pass whole days
+on the hearth, before the fire. The more wealthy are distinguished by a
+vest, not flowing loose, like those of the Sarmatians and Parthians, but
+girt close, and exhibiting the shape of every limb. They also wear the
+skins of beasts, which the people near the borders are less curious in
+selecting or preparing than the more remote inhabitants, who cannot by
+commerce procure other clothing. These make choice of particular skins,
+which they variegate with spots, and strips of the furs of marine
+animals, [102] the produce of the exterior ocean, and seas to us
+unknown. [103] The dress of the women does not differ from that of the
+men; except that they more frequently wear linen, [104] which they stain
+with purple; [105] and do not lengthen their upper garment into sleeves,
+but leave exposed the whole arm, and part of the breast.
+
+18. The matrimonial bond is, nevertheless, strict and severe among them;
+nor is there anything in their manners more commendable than this. [106]
+Almost singly among the barbarians, they content themselves with one
+wife; a very few of them excepted, who, not through incontinence, but
+because their alliance is solicited on account of their rank, [107]
+practise polygamy. The wife does not bring a dowry to her husband, but
+receives one from him. [108] The parents and relations assemble, and
+pass their approbation on the presents--presents not adapted to please
+a female taste, or decorate the bride; but oxen, a caparisoned steed, a
+shield, spear, and sword. By virtue of these, the wife is espoused; and
+she in her turn makes a present of some arms to her husband. This they
+consider as the firmest bond of union; these, the sacred mysteries,
+the conjugal deities. That the woman may not think herself excused from
+exertions of fortitude, or exempt from the casualties of war, she is
+admonished by the very ceremonial of her marriage, that she comes to her
+husband as a partner in toils and dangers; to suffer and to dare equally
+with him, in peace and in war: this is indicated by the yoked oxen, the
+harnessed steed, the offered arms. Thus she is to live; thus to die.
+She receives what she is to return inviolate [109] and honored to her
+children; what her daughters-in-law are to receive, and again transmit
+to her grandchildren.
+
+19. They live, therefore, fenced around with chastity; [110] corrupted
+by no seductive spectacles, [111] no convivial incitements. Men and
+women are alike unacquainted with clandestine correspondence. Adultery
+is extremely rare among so numerous a people. Its punishment is instant,
+and at the pleasure of the husband. He cuts off the hair [112] of the
+offender, strips her, and in presence of her relations expels her from
+his house, and pursues her with stripes through the whole village. [113]
+Nor is any indulgence shown to a prostitute. Neither beauty, youth, nor
+riches can procure her a husband: for none there looks on vice with
+a smile, or calls mutual seduction the way of the world. Still more
+exemplary is the practice of those states [114] in which none but
+virgins marry, and the expectations and wishes of a wife are at once
+brought to a period. Thus, they take one husband as one body and one
+life; that no thought, no desire, may extend beyond him; and he may be
+loved not only as their husband, but as their marriage. [115] To limit
+the increase of children, [116] or put to death any of the later progeny
+[117] is accounted infamous: and good habits have there more influence
+than good laws elsewhere. [118]
+
+20. In every house the children grow up, thinly and meanly clad, [119]
+to that bulk of body and limb which we behold with wonder. Every mother
+suckles her own children, and does not deliver them into the hands of
+servants and nurses. No indulgence distinguishes the young master from
+the slave. They lie together amidst the same cattle, upon the same
+ground, till age [120] separates, and valor marks out, the free-born.
+The youths partake late of the pleasures of love, [121] and hence
+pass the age of puberty unexhausted: nor are the virgins hurried into
+marriage; the same maturity, the same full growth is required: the sexes
+unite equally matched [122] and robust; and the children inherit the
+vigor of their parents. Children are regarded with equal affection by
+their maternal uncles [123] as by their fathers: some even consider
+this as the more sacred bond of consanguinity, and prefer it in the
+requisition of hostages, as if it held the mind by a firmer tie, and the
+family by a more extensive obligation. A person's own children, however,
+are his heirs and successors; and no wills are made. If there be no
+children, the next in order of inheritance are brothers, paternal and
+maternal uncles. The more numerous are a man's relations and kinsmen,
+the more comfortable is his old age; nor is it here any advantage to be
+childless. [124]
+
+21. It is an indispensable duty to adopt the enmities [125] of a father
+or relation, as well as their friendships: these, however, are not
+irreconcilable or perpetual. Even homicide is atoned [126] by a certain
+fine in cattle and sheep; and the whole family accepts the satisfaction,
+to the advantage of the public weal, since quarrels are most dangerous
+in a free state. No people are more addicted to social entertainments,
+or more liberal in the exercise of hospitality. [127] To refuse any
+person whatever admittance under their roof, is accounted flagitious.
+[128] Every one according to his ability feasts his guest: when his
+provisions are exhausted, he who was late the host, is now the guide
+and companion to another hospitable board. They enter the next house
+uninvited, and are received with equal cordiality. No one makes a
+distinction with respect to the rights of hospitality, between a
+stranger and an acquaintance. The departing guest is presented with
+whatever he may ask for; and with the same freedom a boon is desired in
+return. They are pleased with presents; but think no obligation incurred
+either when they give or receive.
+
+22. [129] [Their manner of living with their guest is easy and affable]
+As soon as they arise from sleep, which they generally protract till
+late in the day, they bathe, usually in warm water, [130] as cold
+weather chiefly prevails there. After bathing they take their meal, each
+on a distinct seat, and a a separate table. [131] Then they proceed,
+armed, to business, and not less frequently to convivial parties, in
+which it is no disgrace to pass days and nights, without intermission,
+in drinking. The frequent quarrels that arise amongst them, when
+intoxicated, seldom terminate in abusive language, but more frequently
+in blood. [132] In their feasts, they generally deliberate on the
+reconcilement of enemies, on family alliances, on the appointment of
+chiefs, and finally on peace and war; conceiving that at no time the
+soul is more opened to sincerity, or warmed to heroism. These people,
+naturally void of artifice or disguise, disclose the most secret
+emotions of their hearts in the freedom of festivity. The minds of all
+being thus displayed without reserve, the subjects of their deliberation
+are again canvassed the next day; [133] and each time has its
+advantages. They consult when unable to dissemble; they determine when
+not liable to mistake.
+
+23. Their drink is a liquor prepared from barley or wheat [134] brought
+by fermentation to a certain resemblance of wine. Those who border on
+the Rhine also purchase wine. Their food is simple; wild fruits, fresh
+venison, [135] or coagulated milk. [136] They satisfy hunger without
+seeking the elegances and delicacies of the table. Their thirst for
+liquor is not quenched with equal moderation. If their propensity to
+drunkenness be gratified to the extent of their wishes, intemperance
+proves as effectual in subduing them as the force of arms. [137]
+
+24. They have only one kind of public spectacle, which is exhibited
+in every company. Young men, who make it their diversion, dance naked
+amidst drawn swords and presented spears. Practice has conferred skill
+at this exercise; and skill has given grace; but they do not exhibit for
+hire or gain: the only reward of this pastime, though a hazardous one,
+is the pleasure of the spectators. What is extraordinary, they play at
+dice, when sober, as a serious business: and that with such a desperate
+venture of gain or loss, that, when everything else is gone, they set
+their liberties and persons on the last throw. The loser goes into
+voluntary servitude; and, though the youngest and strongest, patiently
+suffers himself to be bound and sold. [138] Such is their obstinacy in
+a bad practice--they themselves call it honor. The slaves thus acquired
+are exchanged away in commerce, that the winner may get rid of the
+scandal of his victory.
+
+25. The rest of their slaves have not, like ours, particular employments
+in the family allotted them. Each is the master of a habitation and
+household of his own. The lord requires from him a certain quantity
+of grain, cattle, or cloth, as from a tenant; and so far only the
+subjection of the slave extends. [139] His domestic offices are
+performed by his own wife and children. It is usual to scourge a slave,
+or punish him with chains or hard labor. They are sometimes killed by
+their masters; not through severity of chastisement, but in the heat
+of passion, like an enemy; with this difference, that it is done with
+impunity. [140] Freedmen are little superior to slaves; seldom filling
+any important office in the family; never in the state, except in those
+tribes which are under regal government. [141] There, they rise above
+the free-born, and even the nobles: in the rest, the subordinate
+condition of the freedmen is a proof of freedom.
+
+26. Lending money upon interest, and increasing it by usury, [142] is
+unknown amongst them: and this ignorance more effectually prevents
+the practice than a prohibition would do. The lands are occupied
+by townships, [143] in allotments proportional to the number of
+cultivators; and are afterwards parcelled out among the individuals
+of the district, in shares according to the rank and condition of each
+person. [144] The wide extent of plain facilitates this partition. The
+arable lands are annually changed, and a part left fallow; nor do they
+attempt to make the most of the fertility and plenty of the soil, by
+their own industry in planting orchards, inclosing meadows, and watering
+gardens. Corn is the only product required from the earth: hence their
+year is not divided into so many seasons as ours; for, while they
+know and distinguish by name Winter, Spring, and Summer, they are
+unacquainted equally with the appellation and bounty of Autumn. [145]
+
+27. Their funerals are without parade. [146] The only circumstance to
+which they attend, is to burn the bodies of eminent persons with some
+particular kinds of wood. Neither vestments nor perfumes are heaped upon
+the pile: [147] the arms of the deceased, and sometimes his horse, [148]
+are given to the flames. The tomb is a mound of turf. They contemn the
+elaborate and costly honours of monumental structures, as mere burthens
+to the dead. They soon dismiss tears and lamentations; slowly, sorrow
+and regret. They think it the women's part to bewail their friends, the
+men's to remember them.
+
+28. This is the sum of what I have been able to learn concerning the
+origin and manners of the Germans in general. I now proceed to mention
+those particulars in which they differ from each other; and likewise
+to relate what nations have migrated from Germany into Gaul. That great
+writer, the deified Julius, asserts that the Gauls were formerly the
+superior people; [149] whence it is probable that some Gallic colonies
+passed over into Germany: for how small an obstacle would a river be
+to prevent any nation, as it increased in strength, from occupying or
+changing settlements as yet lying in common, and unappropriated by the
+power of monarchies! Accordingly, the tract betwixt the Hercynian forest
+and the rivers Rhine and Mayne was possessed by the Helvetii: [150] and
+that beyond, by the Boii; [151] both Gallic tribes. The name of
+Boiemum still remains, a memorial of the ancient settlement, though
+its inhabitants are now changed. [152] But whether the Aravisci [153]
+migrated into Pannonia from the Osi, [154] a German nation; or the Osi
+into Germany from the Aravisci; the language, institutions, and manners
+of both being still the same, is a matter of uncertainty; for, in their
+pristine state of equal indigence and equal liberty, the same advantages
+and disadvantages were common to both sides of the river. The Treveri
+[155] and Nervii [156] are ambitious of being thought of German origin;
+as if the reputation of this descent would distinguish them from the
+Gauls, whom they resemble in person and effeminacy. The Vangiones,
+Triboci, and Nemetes, [157] who inhabit the bank of the Rhine, are
+without doubt German tribes. Nor do the Ubii, [158] although they have
+been thought worthy of being made a Roman colony, and are pleased
+in bearing the name of Agrippinenses from their founder, blush to
+acknowledge their origin from Germany; from whence they formerly
+migrated, and for their approved fidelity were settled on the bank of
+the Rhine, not that they might be guarded themselves, but that they
+might serve as a guard against invaders.
+
+29. Of all these people, the most famed for valor are the Batavi; whose
+territories comprise but a small part of the banks of the Rhine, but
+consist chiefly of an island within it. [159] These were formerly a
+tribe of the Catti, who, on account of an intestine division, removed
+to their present settlements, in order to become a part of the Roman
+empire. They still retain this honor, together with a memorial of their
+ancient alliance; [160] for they are neither insulted by taxes, nor
+oppressed by farmers of the revenue. Exempt from fiscal burthens and
+extraordinary contributions, and kept apart for military use alone,
+they are reserved, like a magazine of arms, for the purposes of war. The
+nation of the Mattiaci [161] is under a degree of subjection of the same
+kind: for the greatness of the Roman people has carried a reverence
+for the empire beyond the Rhine and the ancient limits. The Mattiaci,
+therefore, though occupying a settlement and borders [162] on the
+opposite side of the river, from sentiment and attachment act with us;
+resembling the Batavi in every respect, except that they are animated
+with a more vigorous spirit by the soil and air of their own country.
+[163] I do not reckon among the people of Germany those who occupy the
+Decumate lands, [164] although inhabiting between the Rhine and Danube.
+Some of the most fickle of the Gauls, rendered daring through indigence,
+seized upon this district of uncertain property. Afterwards,
+our boundary line being advanced, and a chain of fortified posts
+established, it became a skirt of the empire, and part of the Roman
+province. [165]
+
+30. Beyond these dwell the Catti, [166] whose settlements, beginning
+from the Hercynian forest, are in a tract of country less open and
+marshy than those which overspread the other states of Germany; for
+it consists of a continued range of hills, which gradually become more
+scattered; and the Hercynian forest [167] both accompanies and leaves
+behind, its Catti. This nation is distinguished by hardier frames, [168]
+compactness of limb, fierceness of countenance, and superior vigor of
+mind. For Germans, they have a considerable share of understanding
+and sagacity; they choose able persons to command, and obey them when
+chosen; keep their ranks; seize opportunities; restrain impetuous
+motions; distribute properly the business of the day; intrench
+themselves against the night; account fortune dubious, and valor
+only certain; and, what is extremely rare, and only a consequence of
+discipline, depend more upon the general than the army. [169] Their
+force consists entirely in infantry; who, besides their arms, are
+obliged to carry tools and provisions. Other nations appear to go to
+a battle; the Catti, to war. Excursions and casual encounters are rare
+amongst them. It is, indeed, peculiar to cavalry soon to obtain, and
+soon to yield, the victory. Speed borders upon timidity; slow movements
+are more akin to steady valor.
+
+31. A custom followed among the other German nations only by a few
+individuals, of more daring spirit than the rest, is adopted by general
+consent among the Catti. From the time they arrive at years of maturity
+they let their hair and beard grow; [170] and do not divest themselves
+of this votive badge, the promise of valor, till they have slain an
+enemy. Over blood and spoils they unveil the countenance, and proclaim
+that they have at length paid the debt of existence, and have proved
+themselves worthy of their country and parents. The cowardly and
+effeminate continue in their squalid disguise. The bravest among them
+wear also an iron ring [171] (a mark of ignominy in that nation) as a
+kind of chain, till they have released themselves by the slaughter of a
+foe. Many of the Catti assume this distinction, and grow hoary under
+the mark, conspicuous both to foes and friends. By these, in every
+engagement, the attack is begun: they compose the front line, presenting
+a new spectacle of terror. Even in peace they do not relax the sternness
+of their aspect. They have no house, land, or domestic cares: they
+are maintained by whomsoever they visit: lavish of another's property,
+regardless of their own; till the debility of age renders them unequal
+to such a rigid course of military virtue. [172]
+
+32. Next to the Catti, on the banks of the Rhine, where, now settled in
+its channel, it is become a sufficient boundary, dwell the Usipii and
+Tencteri. [173] The latter people, in addition to the usual military
+reputation, are famed for the discipline of their cavalry; nor is
+the infantry of the Catti in higher estimation than the horse of the
+Tencteri. Their ancestors established it, and are imitated by posterity.
+Horsemanship is the sport of their children, the point of emulation of
+their youth, and the exercise in which they persevere to old age. Horses
+are bequeathed along with the domestics, the household gods, and the
+rights of inheritance: they do not, however, like other things, go to
+the eldest son, but to the bravest and most warlike.
+
+33. Contiguous to the Tencteri were formerly the Bructeri; [174] but
+report now says that the Chamavi and Angrivarii, [175] migrating into
+their country, have expelled and entirely extirpated them, [176] with
+the concurrence of the neighboring nations, induced either by hatred of
+their arrogance, [177] love of plunder, or the favor of the gods towards
+the Romans. For they even gratified us with the spectacle of a battle,
+in which above sixty thousand Germans were slain, not by Roman arms,
+but, what was still grander, by mutual hostilities, as it were for our
+pleasure and entertainment. [178] May the nations retain and perpetuate,
+if not an affection for us, at least an animosity against each other!
+since, while the fate of the empire is thus urgent, [179] fortune can
+bestow no higher benefit upon us, than the discord of our enemies.
+
+34. Contiguous to the Angrivarii and Chamavi backwards lie the
+Dulgibini, Chasauri, [180] and other nations less known. [181] In front,
+the Frisii [182] succeed; who are distinguished by the appellations of
+Greater and Lesser, from their proportional power. The settlements of
+both stretch along the border of the Rhine to the ocean; and include,
+besides, vast lakes, [183] which have been navigated by Roman fleets. We
+have even explored the ocean itself on that side; and fame reports that
+columns of Hercules [184] are still remaining on that coast; whether it
+be that Hercules was ever there in reality, or that whatever great and
+magnificent is anywhere met with is, by common consent, ascribed to
+his renowned name. The attempt of Drusus Germanicus [185] to make
+discoveries in these parts was sufficiently daring; but the ocean
+opposed any further inquiry into itself and Hercules. After a while no
+one renewed the attempt; and it was thought more pious and reverential
+to believe the actions of the gods, than to investigate them.
+
+35. Hitherto we have traced the western side of Germany. It turns from
+thence with a vast sweep to the north: and first occurs the country of
+the Chauci, [186] which, though it begins immediately from Frisia, and
+occupies part of the seashore, yet stretches so far as to border on
+all the nations before mentioned, till it winds round so as to meet the
+territories of the Catti. This immense tract is not only possessed, but
+filled by the Chauci; a people the noblest of the Germans, who choose
+to maintain their greatness by justice rather than violence. Without
+ambition, without ungoverned desires, quiet and retired, they provoke
+no wars, they are guilty of no rapine or plunder; and it is a principal
+proof of their power and bravery, that the superiority they possess has
+not been acquired by unjust means. Yet all have arms in readiness; [187]
+and, if necessary, an army is soon raised: for they abound in men and
+horses, and maintain their military reputation even in inaction.
+
+36. Bordering on the Chauci and Catti are the Cherusci; [188] who, for
+want of an enemy, long cherished a too lasting and enfeebling peace:
+a state more flattering than secure; since the repose enjoyed amidst
+ambitious and powerful neighbors is treacherous; and when an appeal is
+made to the sword, moderation and probity are names appropriated by the
+victors. Thus, the Cherusci, who formerly bore the titles of just and
+upright, are now charged with cowardice and folly; and the good fortune
+of the Catti, who subdued them, has grown into wisdom. The ruin of the
+Cherusci involved that of the Fosi, [189] a neighboring tribe, equal
+partakers of their adversity, although they had enjoyed an inferior
+share of their prosperity.
+
+37. In the same quarter of Germany, adjacent to the ocean, dwell the
+Cimbri; [191] a small [192] state at present, but great in renown. [193]
+Of their past grandeur extensive vestiges still remain, in encampments
+and lines on either shore, [194] from the compass of which the strength
+and numbers of the nation may still be computed, and credit derived to
+the account of so prodigious an army. It was in the 640th year of Rome
+that the arms of the Cimbri were first heard of, under the consulate
+of Caecilius Metellus and Papirius Carbo; from which era to the second
+consulate of the emperor Trajan [195] is a period of nearly 210 years.
+So long has Germany withstood the arms of Rome. During this long
+interval many mutual wounds have been inflicted. Not the Samnite, the
+Carthaginian, Spain, Gaul, or Parthia, have given more frequent alarms;
+for the liberty of the Germans is more vigorous than the monarchy of
+the Arsacidae. What has the East, which has itself lost Pacorus, and
+suffered an overthrow from Ventidius, [196] to boast against us, but
+the slaughter of Crassus? But the Germans, by the defeat or capture of
+Carbo, [197] Cassius, [198] Scaurus Aurelius, [199] Servilius Caepio,
+and Cneius Manlius, [200] deprived the Roman people of five consular
+armies; [201] and afterwards took from Augustus himself Varus with three
+legions. [202] Nor did Caius Marius [203] in Italy, the deified Julius
+[204] in Gaul, or Drusus, [204] Nero, [204] or Germanicus [204] in their
+own country, defeat then without loss. The subsequent mighty threats
+of Caligula terminated in ridicule. Then succeeded tranquillity; till,
+seizing the occasion of our discords and civil wars, they forced the
+winter-quarters of the legions, [205] and even aimed at the possession
+of Gaul; and, again expelled thence, they have in latter times been
+rather triumphed over [206] than vanquished.
+
+38. We have now to speak of the Suevi; [207] who do not compose a single
+state, like the Catti or Tencteri, but occupy the greatest part of
+Germany, and are still distributed into different names and nations,
+although all hearing the common appellation of Suevi. It is a
+characteristic of this people to turn their hair sideways, and tie it
+beneath the poll in a knot. By this mark the Suevi are distinguished
+from the rest of the Germans; and the freemen of the Suevi from the
+slaves. [208] Among other nations, this mode, either on account of some
+relationship with the Suevi, or from the usual propensity to imitation,
+is sometimes adopted; but rarely, and only during the period of youth.
+The Suevi, even till they are hoary, continue to have their hair growing
+stiffly backwards, and often it is fastened on the very crown of the
+head. The chiefs dress it with still greater care: and in this respect
+they study ornament, though of an undebasing kind. For their design is
+not to make love, or inspire it; they decorate themselves in this manner
+as they proceed to war, in order to seem taller and more terrible; and
+dress for the eyes of their enemies.
+
+39. The Semnones [209] assert themselves to be the most ancient and
+noble of the Suevi; and their pretensions are confirmed by religion.
+At a stated time, all the people of the same lineage assemble by their
+delegates in a wood, consecrated by the auguries of their forefathers
+and ancient terror, and there by the public slaughter of a human victim
+celebrate the horrid origin of their barbarous rites. Another kind of
+reverence is paid to the grove. No person enters it without being bound
+with a chain, as an acknowledgment of his inferior nature, and the power
+of the deity residing there. If he accidentally fall, it is not lawful
+for him to be lifted or to rise up; they roll themselves out along the
+ground. The whole of their superstition has this import: that from this
+spot the nation derives its origin; that here is the residence of the
+Deity, the Governor of all, and that everything else is subject and
+subordinate to him. These opinions receive additional authority from
+the power of the Semnones, who inhabit a hundred cantons, and, from the
+great body they compose, consider themselves as the head of the Suevi.
+
+40. The Langobardi, [210] on the other hand, are ennobled by, the
+smallness of their numbers; since though surrounded by many powerful
+nations, they derive security, not from obsequiousness, but from their
+martial enterprise. The neighboring Reudigni, [211] and the Avions,
+[212] Angli, [213] Varini, Eudoses, Suardones, and Nuithones, [214]
+are defended by rivers or forests. Nothing remarkable occurs in any of
+these; except that they unite in the worship of Hertha, [215] or Mother
+Earth; and suppose her to interfere in the affairs of men, and to visit
+the different nations. In an island [216] of the ocean stands a sacred
+and unviolated grove, in which is a consecrated chariot, covered with a
+veil, which the priest alone is permitted to touch. He becomes conscious
+of the entrance of the goddess into this secret recess; and with
+profound veneration attends the vehicle, which is drawn by yoked cows.
+At this season, [217] all is joy; and every place which the goddess
+deigns to visit is a scene of festivity. No wars are undertaken; arms
+are untouched; and every hostile weapon is shut up. Peace abroad and
+at home are then only known; then only loved; till at length the same
+priest reconducts the goddess, satiated with mortal intercourse, to her
+temple. [218] The chariot, with its curtain, and, if we may believe it,
+the goddess herself, then undergo ablution in a secret lake. This office
+is performed by slaves, whom the same lake instantly swallows up. Hence
+proceeds a mysterious horror; and a holy ignorance of what that can be,
+which is beheld only by those who are about to perish. This part of the
+Suevian nation extends to the most remote recesses of Germany.
+
+41. If we now follow the course of the Danube, as we before did that of
+the Rhine, we first meet with the Hermunduri; [219] a people faithful to
+the Romans, [220] and on that account the only Germans who are admitted
+to commerce, not on the bank alone, but within our territories, and in
+the flourishing colony [221] established in the province of Rhaetia.
+They pass and repass at pleasure, without being attended by a guard; and
+while we exhibit to other nations our arms and camps alone, to these
+we lay open our houses and country seats, which they behold without
+coveting. In the country of the Hermunduri rises the Elbe; [222] a river
+formerly celebrated and known among us, now only heard of by name.
+
+42. Contiguous to the Hermunduri are the Narisci; [223] and next to
+them, the Marcomanni [224] and Quadi. [225] Of these, the Marcomanni are
+the most powerful and renowned; and have even acquired the country which
+they inhabit, by their valor in expelling the Boii. [226] Nor are the
+Narisci and Quadi inferior in bravery; [227] and this is, as it were,
+the van of Germany as far as it is bordered by the Danube. Within our
+memory the Marcomanni and Quadi were governed by kings of their own
+nation, of the noble line of Maroboduus [228] and Tudrus. They now
+submit even to foreigners; but all the power of their kings depends upon
+the authority of the Romans. [229] We seldom assist them with our arms,
+but frequently with our money; nor are they the less potent on that
+account.
+
+43. Behind these are the Marsigni, [230] Gothini, [231] Osi, [232] and
+Burrii, [233] who close the rear of the Marcomanni and Quadi. Of these,
+the Marsigni and Burrii in language [234] and dress resemble the Suevi.
+The Gothini and Osi prove themselves not to be Germans; the first, by
+their use of the Gallic, the second, of the Pannonian tongue; and both,
+by their submitting to pay tribute: which is levied on them, as aliens,
+partly by the Sarmatians, partly by the Quadi. The Gothini, to their
+additional disgrace, work iron mines. [235] All these people inhabit but
+a small proportion of champaign country; their settlements are chiefly
+amongst forests, and on the sides and summits of mountains; for a
+continued ridge of mountains [236] separates Suevia from various remoter
+tribes. Of these, the Lygian [237] is the most extensive, and diffuses
+its name through several communities. It will be sufficient to name
+the most powerful of them--the Arii, Helvecones, Manimi, Elysii, and
+Naharvali. [238] In the country of the latter is a grove, consecrated to
+religious rites of great antiquity. A priest presides over them, dressed
+in woman's apparel; but the gods worshipped there are said, according to
+the Roman interpretation, to be Castor and Pollux. Their attributes are
+the same; their name, Alcis. [239] No images, indeed, or vestiges of
+foreign superstition, appear in their worship; but they are revered
+under the character of young men and brothers. The Arii, fierce beyond
+the superiority of strength they possess over the other just enumerated
+people, improve their natural ferocity of aspect by artificial helps.
+Their shields are black; their bodies painted: [240] they choose the
+darkest nights for an attack; and strike terror by the funereal gloom of
+their sable bands--no enemy being able to sustain their singular, and,
+as it were, infernal appearance; since in every combat the eyes are the
+first part subdued. Beyond the Lygii are the Gothones, [241] who live
+under a monarchy, somewhat more strict than that of the other German
+nations, yet not to a degree incompatible with liberty. Adjoining
+to these are the Rugii [242] and Lemovii, [243] situated on the
+sea-coast--all these tribes are distinguished by round shields, short
+swords, and submission to regal authority.
+
+44. Next occur the communities of the Suiones, [244] seated in the very
+Ocean, [245] who, besides their strength in men and arms, also possess a
+naval force. [246] The form of their vessels differs from ours in having
+a prow at each end, [247] so that they are always ready to advance. They
+make no use of sails, nor have regular benches of oars at the sides:
+they row, as is practised in some rivers, without order, sometimes on
+one side, sometimes on the other, as occasion requires. These people
+honor wealth; [248] for which reason they are subject to monarchical
+government, without any limitations, [249] or precarious conditions of
+allegiance. Nor are arms allowed to be kept promiscuously, as among the
+other German nations: but are committed to the charge of a keeper, and
+he, too, a slave. The pretext is, that the Ocean defends them from any
+sudden incursions; and men unemployed, with arms in their hands, readily
+become licentious. In fact, it is for the king's interest not to entrust
+a noble, a freeman, or even an emancipated slave, with the custody of
+arms.
+
+45. Beyond the Suiones is another sea, sluggish and almost stagnant,
+[250] by which the whole globe is imagined to be girt and enclosed, from
+this circumstance, that the last light of the setting sun continues so
+vivid till its rising, as to obscure the stars. [251] Popular belief
+adds, that the sound of his emerging [252] from the ocean is also heard;
+and the forms of deities, [253] with the rays beaming from his head, are
+beheld. Only thus far, report says truly, does nature extend. [254] On
+the right shore of the Suevic sea [255] dwell the tribes of the Aestii,
+[256] whose dress and customs are the same with those of the Suevi, but
+their language more resembles the British. [257] They worship the mother
+of the gods; [258] and as the symbol of their superstition, they carry
+about them the figures of wild boars. [250] This serves them in place of
+armor and every other defence: it renders the votary of the goddess safe
+even in the midst of foes. Their weapons are chiefly clubs, iron being
+little used among them. They cultivate corn and other fruits of the
+earth with more industry than German indolence commonly exerts. [260]
+They even explore the sea; and are the only people who gather amber,
+which by them is called _Glese_, [261] and is collected among the
+shallows and upon the shore. [262] With the usual indifference of
+barbarians, they have not inquired or ascertained from what natural
+object or by what means it is produced. It long lay disregarded [263]
+amidst other things thrown up by the sea, till our luxury [264] gave
+it a name. Useless to them, they gather it in the rough; bring it
+unwrought; and wonder at the price they receive. It would appear,
+however, to be an exudation from certain trees; since reptiles, and even
+winged animals, are often seen shining through it, which, entangled
+in it while in a liquid state, became enclosed as it hardened. [264] I
+should therefore imagine that, as the luxuriant woods and groves in the
+secret recesses of the East exude frankincense and balsam, so there are
+the same in the islands and continents of the West; which, acted upon
+by the near rays of the sun, drop their liquid juices into the subjacent
+sea, whence, by the force of tempests, they are thrown out upon the
+opposite coasts. If the nature of amber be examined by the application
+of fire, it kindles like a torch, with a thick and odorous flame; and
+presently resolves into a glutinous matter resembling pitch or resin.
+The several communities of the Sitones [266] succeed those of the
+Suiones; to whom they are similar in other respects, but differ in
+submitting to a female reign; so far have they degenerated, not only
+from liberty, but even from slavery. Here Suevia terminates.
+
+46. I am in doubt whether to reckon the Peucini, Venedi, and Fenni among
+the Germans or Sarmatians; [267] although the Peucini, [268] who are by
+some called Bastarnae, agree with the Germans in language, apparel,
+and habitations. [269] All of them live in filth and laziness. The
+intermarriages of their chiefs with the Sarmatians have debased them
+by a mixture of the manners of that people. [270] The Venedi have
+drawn much from this source; [271] for they overrun in their predatory
+excursions all the woody and mountainous tracts between the Peucini and
+Fenni. Yet even these are rather to be referred to the Germans, since
+they build houses, carry shields, and travel with speed on foot; in
+all which particulars they totally differ from the Sarmatians, who pass
+their time in wagons and on horseback. [272] The Fenni [273] live in a
+state of amazing savageness and squalid poverty. They are destitute
+of arms, horses, and settled abodes: their food is herbs; [274] their
+clothing, skins; their bed, the ground. Their only dependence is on
+their arrows, which, for want of iron, are headed with bone; [275] and
+the chase is the support of the women as well as the men; the former
+accompany the latter in the pursuit, and claim a share of the prey. Nor
+do they provide any other shelter for their infants from wild beasts and
+storms, than a covering of branches twisted together. This is the resort
+of youth; this is the receptacle of old age. Yet even this way of life
+is in their estimation happier than groaning over the plough; toiling
+in the erection of houses; subjecting their own fortunes and those of
+others to the agitations of alternate hope and fear. Secure against men,
+secure against the gods, they have attained the most difficult point,
+not to need even a wish.
+
+All our further accounts are intermixed with fable; as, that the
+Hellusii and Oxionae [276] have human faces, with the bodies and limbs
+of wild beasts. These unauthenticated reports I shall leave untouched.
+[277]
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE OF CNAEUS JULIUS AGRICOLA.
+
+
+[This work is supposed by the commentators to have been written before
+the treatise on the manners of the Germans, in the third consulship of
+the emperor Nerva, and the second of Verginius Rufus, in the year of
+Rome 850, and of the Christian era 97. Brotier accedes to this opinion;
+but the reason which he assigns does not seem to be satisfactory. He
+observes that Tacitus, in the third section, mentions the emperor Nerva;
+but as he does not call him Divus Nerva, the deified Nerva, the learned
+commentator infers that Nerva was still living. This reasoning might
+have some weight, if we did not read, in section 44, that it was the
+ardent wish of Agricola that he might live to behold Trajan in the
+imperial seat. If Nerva was then alive, the wish to see another in his
+room would have been an awkward compliment to the reigning prince. It
+is, perhaps, for this reason that Lipsius thinks this very elegant tract
+was written at the same time with the Manners of the Germans, in the
+beginning of the emperor Trajan. The question is not very material,
+since conjecture alone must decide it. The piece itself is admitted to
+be a masterpiece in the kind. Tacitus was son-in-law to Agricola; and
+while filial piety breathes through his work, he never departs from
+the integrity of his own character. He has left an historical monument
+highly interesting to every Briton, who wishes to know the manners of
+his ancestors, and the spirit of liberty that from the earliest time
+distinguished the natives of Britain. "Agricola," as Hume observes, "was
+the general who finally established the dominion of the Romans in this
+island. He governed, it in the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian.
+He carried his victorious arms northward: defeated the Britons in every
+encounter, pierced into the forests and the mountains of Caledonia,
+reduced every state to subjection in the southern parts of the island,
+and chased before him all the men of fiercer and more intractable
+spirits, who deemed war and death itself less intolerable than servitude
+under the victors. He defeated them in a decisive action, which they
+fought under Galgacus; and having fixed a chain of garrisons between the
+friths of Clyde and Forth, he cut off the ruder and more barren parts
+of the island, and secured the Roman province from the incursions of the
+barbarous inhabitants. During these military enterprises he neglected
+not the arts of peace. He introduced laws and civility among the
+Britons; taught them to desire and raise all the conveniences of life;
+reconciled them to the Roman language and manners; instructed them
+in letters and science; and employed every expedient to render those
+chains, which he had forged, both easy and agreeable to them." (Hume's
+Hist. vol. i. p. 9.) In this passage Mr. Hume has given a summary of the
+Life of Agricola. It is extended by Tacitus in a style more open than
+the didactic form of the essay on the German Manners required, but
+still with the precision, both in sentiment and diction, peculiar to
+the author. In rich but subdued colors he gives a striking picture of
+Agricola, leaving to posterity a portion of history which it would be
+in vain to seek in the dry gazette style of Suetonius, or in the page of
+any writer of that period.]
+
+
+1. The ancient custom of transmitting to posterity the actions and
+manners of famous men, has not been neglected even by the present age,
+incurious though it be about those belonging to it, whenever any exalted
+and noble degree of virtue has triumphed over that false estimation
+of merit, and that ill-will to it, by which small and great states
+are equally infested. In former times, however, as there was a greater
+propensity and freer scope for the performance of actions worthy of
+remembrance, so every person of distinguished abilities was induced
+through conscious satisfaction in the task alone, without regard to
+private favor or interest, to record examples of virtue. And many
+considered it rather as the honest confidence of integrity, than a
+culpable arrogance, to become their own biographers. Of this, Rutilius
+and Scaurus [1] were instances; who were never yet censured on this
+account, nor was the fidelity of their narrative called in question; so
+much more candidly are virtues always estimated; in those periods which
+are the most favorable to their production. For myself, however, who
+have undertaken to be the historian of a person deceased, an apology
+seemed necessary; which I should not have made, had my course lain
+through times less cruel and hostile to virtue. [2]
+
+2. We read that when Arulenus Rusticus published the praises of Paetus
+Thrasea, and Herennius Senecio those of Priscus Helvidius, it was
+construed into a capital crime; [3] and the rage of tyranny was let
+loose not only against the authors, but against their writings; so that
+those monuments of exalted genius were burnt at the place of election
+in the forum by triumvirs appointed for the purpose. In that fire they
+thought to consume the voice of the Roman people, the freedom of the
+senate, and the conscious emotions of all mankind; crowning the deed
+by the expulsion of the professors of wisdom, [4] and the banishment of
+every liberal art, that nothing generous or honorable might remain. We
+gave, indeed, a consummate proof of our patience; and as remote ages saw
+the very utmost degree of liberty, so we, deprived by inquisitions of
+all the intercourse of conversation, experienced the utmost of slavery.
+With language we should have lost memory itself, had it been as much in
+our power to forget, as to be silent.
+
+3. Now our spirits begin to revive. But although at the first dawning
+of this happy period, [5] the emperor Nerva united two things before
+incompatible, monarchy and liberty; and Trajan is now daily augmenting
+the felicity of the empire; and the public security [6] has not only
+assumed hopes and wishes, but has seen those wishes arise to confidence
+and stability; yet, from the nature of human infirmity, remedies are
+more tardy in their operation than diseases; and, as bodies slowly
+increase, but quickly perish, so it is more easy to suppress industry
+and genius, than to recall them. For indolence itself acquires a charm;
+and sloth, however odious at first, becomes at length engaging. During
+the space of fifteen years, [7] a large portion of human life, how great
+a number have fallen by casual events, and, as was the fate of all the
+most distinguished, by the cruelty of the prince; whilst we, the few
+survivors, not of others alone, but, if I may be allowed the expression,
+of ourselves, find a void of so many years in our lives, which has
+silently brought us from youth to maturity, from mature age to the
+very verge of life! Still, however, I shall not regret having composed,
+though in rude and artless language, a memorial of past servitude, and a
+testimony of present blessings. [8]
+
+The present work, in the meantime, which is dedicated to the honor of my
+father-in-law, may be thought to merit approbation, or at least excuse,
+from the piety of the intention.
+
+4. CNAEUS JULIUS AGRICOLA was born at the ancient and illustrious colony
+of Forumjulii. [9] Both his grandfathers were imperial procurators, [10]
+an office which confers the rank of equestrian nobility. His father,
+Julius Graecinus, [11] of the senatorian order, was famous for the study
+of eloquence and philosophy; and by these accomplishments he drew on
+himself the displeasure of Caius Caesar; [12] for, being commanded to
+undertake the accusation of Marcus Silanus, [13]--on his refusal, he
+was put to death. His mother was Julia Procilla, a lady of exemplary
+chastity. Educated with tenderness in her bosom, [14] he passed his
+childhood and youth in the attainment of every liberal art. He was
+preserved from the allurements of vice, not only by a naturally good
+disposition, but by being sent very early to pursue his studies at
+Massilia; [15] a place where Grecian politeness and provincial frugality
+are happily united. I remember he was used to relate, that in his
+early youth he should have engaged with more ardor in philosophical
+speculation than was suitable to a Roman and a senator, had not the
+prudence of his mother restrained the warmth and vehemence of his
+disposition: for his lofty and upright spirit, inflamed by the charms of
+glory and exalted reputation, led him to the pursuit with more eagerness
+than discretion. Reason and riper years tempered his warmth; and
+from the study of wisdom, he retained what is most difficult to
+compass,--moderation.
+
+5. He learned the rudiments of war in Britain, under Suetonius
+Paullinus, an active and prudent commander, who chose him for his tent
+companion, in order to form an estimate of his merit. [16] Nor did
+Agricola, like many young men, who convert military service into wanton
+pastime, avail himself licentiously or slothfully of his tribunitial
+title, or his inexperience, to spend his time in pleasures and absences
+from duty; but he employed himself in gaining a knowledge of
+the country, making himself known to the army, learning from the
+experienced, and imitating the best; neither pressing to be employed
+through vainglory, nor declining it through timidity; and performing
+his duty with equal solicitude and spirit. At no other time in truth was
+Britain more agitated or in a state of greater uncertainty. Our veterans
+slaughtered, our colonies burnt, [17] our armies cut off, [18]--we were
+then contending for safety, afterwards for victory. During this period,
+although all things were transacted under the conduct and direction of
+another, and the stress of the whole, as well as the glory of recovering
+the province, fell to the general's share, yet they imparted to the
+young Agricola skill, experience, and incentives; and the passion for
+military glory entered his soul; a passion ungrateful to the times, [19]
+in which eminence was unfavorably construed, and a great reputation was
+no less dangerous than a bad one.
+
+6. Departing thence to undertake the offices of magistracy in Rome, he
+married Domitia Decidiana, a lady of illustrious descent, from which
+connection he derived credit and support in his pursuit of greater
+things. They lived together in admirable harmony and mutual affection;
+each giving the preference to the other; a conduct equally laudable in
+both, except that a greater degree of praise is due to a good wife,
+in proportion as a bad one deserves the greater censure. The lot of
+quaestorship [20] gave him Asia for his province, and the proconsul
+Salvius Titianus [21] for his superior; by neither of which
+circumstances was he corrupted, although the province was wealthy and
+open to plunder, and the proconsul, from his rapacious disposition,
+would readily have agreed to a mutual concealment of guilt. His family
+was there increased by the birth of a daughter, who was both the support
+of his house, and his consolation; for he lost an elder-born son in
+infancy. The interval between his serving the offices of quaestor and
+tribune of the people, and even the year of the latter magistracy, he
+passed in repose and inactivity; well knowing the temper of the times
+under Nero, in which indolence was wisdom. He maintained the same tenor
+of conduct when praetor; for the judiciary part of the office did not
+fall to his share. [22] In the exhibition of public games, and the idle
+trappings of dignity, he consulted propriety and the measure of his
+fortune; by no means approaching to extravagance, yet inclining rather
+to a popular course. When he was afterwards appointed by Galba to manage
+an inquest concerning the offerings which had been presented to the
+temples, by his strict attention and diligence he preserved the state
+from any further sacrilege than what it had suffered from Nero. [23]
+
+7. The following year [24] inflicted a severe wound on his peace
+of mind, and his domestic concerns. The fleet of Otho, roving in
+a disorderly manner on the coast, [25] made a hostile descent on
+Intemelii, [26] a part of Liguria, in which the mother of Agricola was
+murdered at her own estate, her lands were ravaged, and a great part
+of her effects, which had invited the assassins, was carried off. As
+Agricola upon this event was hastening to perform the duties of filial
+piety, he was overtaken by the news of Vespasian's aspiring to the
+empire, [27] and immediately went over to his party. The first acts
+of power, and the government of the city, were entrusted to Mucianus;
+Domitian being at that time very young, and taking no other privilege
+from his father's elevation than that of indulging his licentious
+tastes. Mucianus, having approved the vigor and fidelity of Agricola
+in the service of raising levies, gave him the command of the twentieth
+legion, [28] which had appeared backward in taking the oaths, as soon as
+he had heard the seditious practices of his commander. [29] This legion
+had been unmanageable and formidable even to the consular lieutenants;
+[30] and its late commander, of praetorian rank, had not sufficient
+authority to keep it in obedience; though it was uncertain whether from
+his own disposition, or that of his soldiers. Agricola was therefore
+appointed as his successor and avenger; but, with an uncommon degree
+of moderation, he chose rather to have it appear that he had found the
+legion obedient, than that he had made it so.
+
+8. Vettius Bolanus was at that time governor of Britain, and ruled with
+a milder sway than was suitable to so turbulent a province. Under his
+administration, Agricola, accustomed to obey, and taught to consult
+utility as well as glory, tempered his ardor, and restrained his
+enterprising spirit. His virtues had soon a larger field for their
+display, from the appointment of Petilius Cerealis, [31] a man of
+consular dignity, to the government. At first he only shared the
+fatigues and dangers of his general; but was presently allowed to
+partake of his glory. Cerealis frequently entrusted him with part of his
+army as a trial of his abilities; and from the event sometimes enlarged
+his command. On these occasions, Agricola was never ostentatious
+in assuming to himself the merit of his exploits; but always, as a
+subordinate officer, gave the honor of his good fortune to his superior.
+Thus, by his spirit in executing orders, and his modesty in reporting
+his success, he avoided envy, yet did not fail of acquiring reputation.
+
+9. On his return from commanding the legion he was raised by Vespasian
+to the patrician order, and then invested with the government of
+Aquitania, [32] a distinguished promotion, both in respect to the office
+itself, and the hopes of the consulate to which it destined him. It is a
+common supposition that military men, habituated to the unscrupulous and
+summary processes of camps, where things are carried with a strong hand,
+are deficient in the address and subtlety of genius requisite in civil
+jurisdiction. Agricola, however, by his natural prudence, was enabled to
+act with facility and precision even among civilians. He distinguished
+the hours of business from those of relaxation. When the court or
+tribunal demanded his presence, he was grave, intent, awful, yet
+generally inclined to lenity. When the duties of his office were
+over, the man of power was instantly laid aside. Nothing of sternness,
+arrogance, or rapaciousness appeared; and, what was a singular felicity,
+his affability did not impair his authority, nor his severity render him
+less beloved. To mention integrity and freedom from corruption in such
+a man, would be an affront to his virtues. He did not even court
+reputation, an object to which men of worth frequently sacrifice,
+by ostentation or artifice: equally avoiding competition with, his
+colleagues, [33] and contention with the procurators. To overcome in
+such a contest he thought inglorious; and to be put down, a disgrace.
+Somewhat less than three years were spent in this office, when he was
+recalled to the immediate prospect of the consulate; while at the same
+time a popular opinion prevailed that the government of Britain would be
+conferred upon him; an opinion not founded upon any suggestions of his
+own, but upon his being thought equal to the station. Common fame does
+not always err, sometimes it even directs a choice. When consul, [34]
+he contracted his daughter, a lady already of the happiest promise,
+to myself, then a very young man; and after his office was expired
+I received her in marriage. He was immediately appointed governor of
+Britain, and the pontificate [35] was added to his other dignities.
+
+10. The situation and inhabitants of Britain have been described by many
+writers; [36] and I shall not add to the number with the view of vying
+with them in accuracy and ingenuity, but because it was first thoroughly
+subdued in the period of the present history. Those things which, while
+yet unascertained, they embellished with their eloquence, shall here be
+related with a faithful adherence to known facts. Britain, the largest
+of all the islands which have come within the knowledge of the Romans,
+stretches on the east towards Germany, on the west towards Spain, [37]
+and on the south it is even within sight of Gaul. Its northern extremity
+has no opposite land, but is washed by a wide and open sea. Livy, the
+most eloquent of ancient, and Fabius Rusticus, of modern writers, have
+likened the figure of Britain to an oblong target, or a two-edged axe.
+[38] And this is in reality its appearance, exclusive of Caledonia;
+whence it has been popularly attributed to the whole island. But that
+tract of country, irregularly stretching out to an immense length
+towards the furthest shore, is gradually contracted in form of a wedge.
+[39] The Roman fleet, at this period first sailing round this remotest
+coast, gave certain proof that Britain was an island; and at the same
+time discovered and subdued the Orcades, [40] islands till then unknown.
+Thule [41] was also distinctly seen, which winter and eternal snow had
+hitherto concealed. The sea is reported to be sluggish and laborious to
+the rower; and even to be scarcely agitated by winds. The cause of this
+stagnation I imagine to be the deficiency of land and mountains where
+tempests are generated; and the difficulty with which such a mighty mass
+of waters, in an uninterrupted main, is put in motion. [42] It is not
+the business of this work to investigate the nature of the ocean and
+the tides; a subject which many writers have already undertaken. I shall
+only add one circumstance: that the dominion of the sea is nowhere more
+extensive; that it carries many currents in this direction and in that;
+and its ebbings and flowings are not confined to the shore, but it
+penetrates into the heart of the country, and works its way among hills
+and mountains, as though it were in its own domain. [43]
+
+11. Who were the first inhabitants of Britain, whether indigenous [44]
+or immigrants, is a question involved in the obscurity usual among
+barbarians. Their temperament of body is various, whence deductions are
+formed of their different origin. Thus, the ruddy hair and large limbs
+of the Caledonians [45] point out a German derivation. The swarthy
+complexion and curled hair of the Silures, [46] together with their
+situation opposite to Spain, render it probable that a colony of the
+ancient Iberi [47] possessed themselves of that territory. They who are
+nearest Gaul [48] resemble the inhabitants of that country; whether from
+the duration of hereditary influence, or whether it be that when
+lands jut forward in opposite directions, [49] climate gives the same
+condition of body to the inhabitants of both. On a general survey,
+however, it appears probable that the Gauls originally took possession
+of the neighboring coast. The sacred rites and superstitions [50] of
+these people are discernible among the Britons. The languages of the two
+nations do not greatly differ. The same audacity in provoking danger,
+and irresolution in facing it when present, is observable in both. The
+Britons, however, display more ferocity, [51] not being yet softened
+by a long peace: for it appears from history that the Gauls were once
+renowned in war, till, losing their valor with their liberty, languor
+and indolence entered amongst them. The same change has also taken place
+among those of the Britons who have been long subdued; [52] but the rest
+continue such as the Gauls formerly were.
+
+12. Their military strength consists in infantry; some nations also make
+use of chariots in war; in the management of which, the most honorable
+person guides the reins, while his dependents fight from the chariot.
+[53] The Britons were formerly governed by kings, [54] but at present
+they are divided in factions and parties among their chiefs; and this
+want of union for concerting some general plan is the most favorable
+circumstance to us, in our designs against so powerful a people. It
+is seldom that two or three communities concur in repelling the common
+danger; and thus, while they engage singly, they are all subdued. The
+sky in this country is deformed by clouds and frequent rains; but the
+cold is never extremely rigorous. [55] The length of the days greatly
+exceeds that in our part of the world. [56] The nights are bright, and,
+at the extremity of the island, so short, that the close and return
+of day is scarcely distinguished by a perceptible interval. It is even
+asserted that, when clouds do not intervene, the splendor of the sun is
+visible during the whole night, and that it does not appear to rise and
+set, but to move across. [57] The cause of this is, that the extreme
+and flat parts of the earth, casting a low shadow, do not throw up the
+darkness, and so night falls beneath the sky and the stars. [58] The
+soil, though improper for the olive, the vine, and other productions of
+warmer climates, is fertile, and suitable for corn. Growth is quick,
+but maturation slow; both from the same cause, the great humidity of the
+ground and the atmosphere. [59] The earth yields gold and silver [60]
+and other metals, the rewards of victory. The ocean produces pearls,
+[61] but of a cloudy and livid hue; which some impute to unskilfulness
+in the gatherers; for in the Red Sea the fish are plucked from the rocks
+alive and vigorous, but in Britain they are collected as the sea throws
+them up. For my own part, I can more readily conceive that the defect is
+in the nature of the pearls, than in our avarice.
+
+13. The Britons cheerfully submit to levies, tributes, and the other
+services of government, if they are not treated injuriously; but such
+treatment they bear with impatience, their subjection only extending to
+obedience, not to servitude. Accordingly Julius Caesar, [62] the first
+Roman who entered Britain with an army, although he terrified the
+inhabitants by a successful engagement, and became master of the shore,
+may be considered rather to have transmitted the discovery than the
+possession of the country to posterity. The civil wars soon succeeded;
+the arms of the leaders were turned against their country; and a long
+neglect of Britain ensued, which continued even after the establishment
+of peace. This Augustus attributed to policy; and Tiberius to the
+injunctions of his predecessor. [63] It is certain that Caius Caesar
+[64] meditated an expedition into Britain; but his temper, precipitate
+in forming schemes, and unsteady in pursuing them, together with the
+ill success of his mighty attempts against Germany, rendered the design
+abortive. Claudius [65] accomplished the undertaking, transporting his
+legions and auxiliaries, and associating Vespasian in the direction
+of affairs, which laid the foundation of his future fortune. In this
+expedition, nations were subdued, kings made captive, and Vespasian was
+held forth to the fates.
+
+14. Aulus Plautius, the first consular governor, and his successor,
+Ostorius Scapula, [66] were both eminent for military abilities. Under
+them, the nearest part of Britain was gradually reduced into the form of
+a province, and a colony of veterans [67] was settled. Certain districts
+were bestowed upon king Cogidunus, a prince who continued in perfect
+fidelity within our own memory. This was done agreeably to the ancient
+and long established practice of the Romans, to make even kings the
+instruments of servitude. Didius Gallus, the next governor, preserved
+the acquisitions of his predecessors, and added a very few fortified
+posts in the remoter parts, for the reputation of enlarging his
+province. Veranius succeeded, but died within the year. Suetonius
+Paullinus then commanded with success for two years, subduing various
+nations, and establishing garrisons. In the confidence with which this
+inspired him, he undertook an expedition against the island Mona, [68]
+which had furnished the revolters with supplies; and thereby exposed the
+settlements behind him to a surprise.
+
+15. For the Britons, relieved from present dread by the absence of the
+governor, began to hold conferences, in which they painted the miseries
+of servitude, compared their several injuries, and inflamed each other
+with such representations as these: "That the only effects of their
+patience were more grievous impositions upon a people who submitted with
+such facility. Formerly they had one king respectively; now two were set
+over them, the lieutenant and the procurator, the former of whom vented
+his rage upon their life's blood, the latter upon their properties; [69]
+the union or discord [70] of these governors was equally fatal to those
+whom they ruled, while the officers of the one, and the centurions
+of the other, joined in oppressing them by all kinds of violence and
+contumely; so that nothing was exempted from their avarice, nothing from
+their lust. In battle it was the bravest who took spoils; but those whom
+_they_ suffered to seize their houses, force away their children, and
+exact levies, were, for the most part, the cowardly and effeminate; as
+if the only lesson of suffering of which they were ignorant was how
+to die for their country. Yet how inconsiderable would the number of
+invaders appear did the Britons but compute their own forces! From
+considerations like these, Germany had thrown off the yoke, [71] though
+a river [72] and not the ocean was its barrier. The welfare of their
+country, their wives, and their parents called them to arms, while
+avarice and luxury alone incited their enemies; who would withdraw as
+even the deified Julius had done, if the present race of Britons would
+emulate the valor of their ancestors, and not be dismayed at the event
+of the first or second engagement. Superior spirit and perseverence were
+always the share of the wretched; and the gods themselves now seemed to
+compassionate the Britons, by ordaining the absence of the general, and
+the detention of his army in another island. The most difficult point,
+assembling for the purpose of deliberation, was already accomplished;
+and there was always more danger from the discovery of designs like
+these, than from their execution."
+
+16. Instigated by such suggestions, they unanimously rose in arms, led
+by Boadicea, [73] a woman of royal descent (for they make no distinction
+between the sexes in succession to the throne), and attacking the
+soldiers dispersed through the garrisons, stormed the fortified posts,
+and invaded the colony [74] itself, as the seat of slavery. They
+omitted no species of cruelty with which rage and victory could
+inspire barbarians; and had not Paullinus, on being acquainted with the
+commotion of the province, marched speedily to its relief, Britain would
+have been lost. The fortune of a single battle, however, reduced it
+to its former subjection; though many still remained in arms, whom
+the consciousness of revolt, and particular dread of the governor,
+had driven to despair. Paullinus, although otherwise exemplary in his
+administration, having treated those who surrendered with severity, and
+having pursued too rigorous measures, as one who was revenging his own
+personal injury also, Petronius Turpilianus [75] was sent in his stead,
+as a person more inclined to lenity, and one who, being unacquainted
+with the enemy's delinquency, could more easily accept their penitence.
+After having restored things to their former quiet state, he delivered
+the command to Trebellius Maximus. [76] Trebellius, indolent, and
+inexperienced in military affairs, maintained the tranquillity of the
+province by popular manners; for even the barbarians had now learned to
+pardon under the seductive influence of vices; and the intervention of
+the civil wars afforded a legitimate excuse for his inactivity. Sedition
+however infected the soldiers, who, instead of their usual military
+services, were rioting in idleness. Trebellius, after escaping the fury
+of his army by flight and concealment, dishonored and abased, regained a
+precarious authority; and a kind of tacit compact took place, of safety
+to the general, and licentiousness to the army. This mutiny was not
+attended with bloodshed. Vettius Bolanus, [77] succeeding during the
+continuance of the civil wars, was unable to introduce discipline into
+Britain. The same inaction towards the enemy, and the same insolence in
+the camp, continued; except that Bolanus, unblemished in his character,
+and not obnoxious by any crime, in some measure substituted affection in
+the place of authority.
+
+17. At length, when Vespasian received the possession of Britain
+together with the rest of the world, the great commanders and
+well-appointed armies which were sent over abated the confidence of
+the enemy; and Petilius Cerealis struck terror by an attack upon the
+Brigantes, [78] who are reputed to compose the most populous state in
+the whole province. Many battles were fought, some of them attended
+with much bloodshed; and the greater part of the Brigantes were either
+brought into subjection, or involved in the ravages of war. The conduct
+and reputation of Cerealis were so brilliant that they might have
+eclipsed the splendor of a successor; yet Julius Frontinus, [79] a truly
+great man, supported the arduous competition, as far as circumstances
+would permit. [80] He subdued the strong and warlike nation of the
+Silures, [81] in which expedition, besides the valor of the enemy, he
+had the difficulties of the country to struggle with.
+
+18. Such was the state of Britain, and such had been the vicissitudes of
+warfare, when Agricola arrived in the middle of summer; [82] at a time
+when the Roman soldiers, supposing the expeditions of the year were
+concluded, were thinking of enjoying themselves without care, and the
+natives, of seizing the opportunity thus afforded them. Not long before
+his arrival, the Ordovices [83] had cut off almost an entire corps
+of cavalry stationed on their frontiers; and the inhabitants of
+the province being thrown into a state of anxious suspense by this
+beginning, inasmuch as war was what they wished for, either approved of
+the example, or waited to discover the disposition of the new governor.
+[84] The season was now far advanced, the troops dispersed through
+the country, and possessed with the idea of being suffered to remain
+inactive during the rest of the year; circumstances which tended to
+retard and discourage any military enterprise; so that it was generally
+thought most advisable to be contented with defending the suspected
+posts: yet Agricola determined to march out and meet the approaching
+danger. For this purpose, he drew together the detachments from the
+legions, [85] and a small body of auxiliaries; and when he perceived
+that the Ordovices would not venture to descend into the plain, he led
+an advanced party in person to the attack, in order to inspire the rest
+of his troops with equal ardor. The result of the action was almost the
+total extirpation of the Ordovices; when Agricola, sensible that renown
+must be followed up, and that the future events of the war would be
+determined by the first success, resolved to make an attempt upon the
+island Mona, from the occupation of which Paullinus had been summoned
+by the general rebellion of Britain, as before related. [86] The
+usual deficiency of an unforeseen expedition appearing in the want
+of transport vessels, the ability and resolution of the general
+were exerted to supply this defect. A select body of auxiliaries,
+disencumbered of their baggage, who were well acquainted with the fords,
+and accustomed, after the manner of their country, to direct their
+horses and manage their arms while swimming, [87] were ordered suddenly
+to plunge into the channel; by which movement, the enemy, who expected
+the arrival of a fleet, and a formal invasion by sea, were struck with
+terror and astonishment, conceiving nothing arduous or insuperable to
+troops who thus advanced to the attack. They were therefore induced to
+sue for peace, and make a surrender of the island; an event which threw
+lustre on the name of Agricola, who, on the very entrance upon his
+province, had employed in toils and dangers that time which is usually
+devoted to ostentatious parade, and the compliments of office. Nor was
+he tempted, in the pride of success, to term that an expedition or a
+victory; which was only bridling the vanquished; nor even to announce
+his success in laureate despatches. [88] But this concealment of his
+glory served to augment it; since men were led to entertain a high idea
+of the grandeur of his future views, when such important services were
+passed over in silence.
+
+19. Well acquainted with the temper of the province, and taught by the
+experience of former governors how little proficiency had been made
+by arms, when success was followed by injuries, he next undertook to
+eradicate the causes of war. And beginning with himself, and those next
+to him, he first laid restrictions upon his own household, a task no
+less arduous to most governors than the administration of the province.
+He suffered no public business to pass through the hands of his slaves
+or freedmen. In admitting soldiers into regular service, [89] to
+attendance about his person, he was not influenced by private favor, or
+the recommendation or solicitation of the centurions, but considered the
+best men as likely to prove the most faithful. He would know everything;
+but was content to let some things pass unnoticed. [90] He could pardon
+small faults, and use severity to great ones; yet did not always punish,
+but was frequently satisfied with penitence. He chose rather to confer
+offices and employments upon such as would not offend, than to
+condemn those who had offended. The augmentation [91] of tributes and
+contributions he mitigated by a just and equal assessment, abolishing
+those private exactions which were more grievous to be borne than the
+taxes themselves. For the inhabitants had been compelled in mockery to
+sit by their own locked-up granaries, to buy corn needlessly, and to
+sell it again at a stated price. Long and difficult journeys had also
+been imposed upon them; for the several districts, instead of being
+allowed to supply the nearest winter quarters, were forced to carry
+their corn to remote and devious places; by which means, what was easy
+to be procured by all, was converted into an article of gain to a few.
+
+20. By suppressing these abuses in the first year of his administration,
+he established a favorable idea of peace, which, through the negligence
+or oppression of his predecessors, had been no less dreaded than war.
+At the return of summer [92] he assembled his army. On their march, he
+commended the regular and orderly, and restrained the stragglers; he
+marked out the encampments, [93] and explored in person the estuaries
+and forests. At the same time he perpetually harassed the enemy by
+sudden incursions; and, after sufficiently alarming them, by an interval
+of forbearance, he held to their view the allurements of peace. By
+this management, many states, which till that time had asserted their
+independence, were now induced to lay aside their animosity, and to
+deliver hostages. These districts were surrounded with castles and
+forts, disposed with so much attention and judgment, that no part of
+Britain, hitherto new to the Roman arms, escaped unmolested.
+
+21. The succeeding winter was employed in the most salutary measures.
+In order, by a taste of pleasures, to reclaim the natives from that rude
+and unsettled state which prompted them to war, and reconcile them to
+quiet and tranquillity, he incited them, by private instigations
+and public encouragements, to erect temples, courts of justice, and
+dwelling-houses. He bestowed commendations upon those who were prompt
+in complying with his intentions, and reprimanded such as were dilatory;
+thus promoting a spirit of emulation which had all the force of
+necessity. He was also attentive to provide a liberal education for the
+sons of their chieftains, preferring the natural genius of the Britons
+to the attainments of the Gauls; and his attempts were attended with
+such success, that they who lately disdained to make use of the Roman
+language, were now ambitious of becoming eloquent. Hence the Roman habit
+began to be held in honor, and the toga was frequently worn. At length
+they gradually deviated into a taste for those luxuries which stimulate
+to vice; porticos, and baths, and the elegancies of the table; and this,
+from their inexperience, they termed politeness, whilst, in reality, it
+constituted a part of their slavery.
+
+22. The military expeditions of the third year [94] discovered new
+nations to the Romans, and their ravages extended as far as the estuary
+of the Tay. [95] The enemies were thereby struck with such terror that
+they did not venture to molest the army though harassed by violent
+tempests; so that they had sufficient opportunity for the erection of
+fortresses. [96] Persons of experience remarked, that no general had
+ever shown greater skill in the choice of advantageous situations than
+Agricola; for not one of his fortified posts was either taken by storm,
+or surrendered by capitulation. The garrisons made frequent sallies;
+for they were secured against a blockade by a year's provision in their
+stores. Thus the winter passed without alarm, and each garrison proved
+sufficient for its own defence; while the enemy, who were generally
+accustomed to repair the losses of the summer by the successes of the
+winter, now equally unfortunate in both seasons, were baffled and driven
+to despair. In these transactions, Agricola never attempted to arrogate
+to himself the glory of others; but always bore an impartial testimony
+to the meritorious actions of his officers, from the centurion to the
+commander of a legion. He was represented by some as rather harsh
+in reproof; as if the same disposition which made him affable to the
+deserving, had inclined him to austerity towards the worthless. But
+his anger left no relics behind; his silence and reserve were not to
+be dreaded; and he esteemed it more honorable to show marks of open
+displeasure, than to entertain secret hatred.
+
+23. The fourth summer [97] was spent in securing the country which had
+been overrun; and if the valor of the army and the glory of the Roman
+name had permitted it, our conquests would have found a limit within
+Britain itself. For the tides of the opposite seas, flowing very far up
+the estuaries of Clota and Bodotria, [98] almost intersect the country;
+leaving only a narrow neck of land, which was then defended by a
+chain of forts. [99] Thus all the territory on this side was held in
+subjection, and the remaining enemies were removed, as it were, into
+another island.
+
+24. In the fifth campaign, [100] Agricola, crossing over in the first
+ship, [101] subdued, by frequent and successful engagements, several
+nations till then unknown; and stationed troops in that part of Britain
+which is opposite to Ireland, rather with a view to future advantage,
+than from any apprehension of danger from that quarter. For the
+possession of Ireland, situated between Britain and Spain, and
+lying commodiously to the Gallic sea, [102] would have formed a very
+beneficial connection between the most powerful parts of the empire.
+This island is less than Britain, but larger than those of our sea.
+[103] Its soil, climate, and the manners and dispositions of its
+inhabitants, are little different from those of Britain. Its ports
+and harbors are better known, from the concourse of merchants for the
+purposes of commerce. Agricola had received into his protection one
+of its petty kings, who had been expelled by a domestic sedition; and
+detained him, under the semblance of friendship, till an occasion should
+offer of making use of him. I have frequently heard him assert, that
+a single legion and a few auxiliaries would be sufficient entirely to
+conquer Ireland and keep it in subjection; and that such an event would
+also have contributed to restrain the Britons, by awing them with the
+prospect of the Roman arms all around them, and, as it were, banishing
+liberty from their sight.
+
+25. In the summer which began the sixth year [104] of Agricola's
+administration, extending his views to the countries situated beyond
+Bodotria, [105] as a general insurrection of the remoter nations was
+apprehended, and the enemy's army rendered marching unsafe, he caused
+the harbors to be explored by his fleet, which, now first acting in aid
+of the land-forces gave the formidable spectacle of war at once pushed
+on by sea and land. The cavalry, infantry, and marines were frequently
+mingled in the same camp, and recounted with mutual pleasure their
+several exploits and adventures; comparing, in the boastful language of
+military men, the dark recesses of woods and mountains, with the
+horrors of waves and tempests; and the land and enemy subdued, with
+the conquered ocean. It was also discovered from the captives, that the
+Britons had been struck with consternation at the view of the fleet,
+conceiving the last refuge of the vanquished to be cut off, now the
+secret retreats of their seas were disclosed. The various inhabitants of
+Caledonia immediately took up arms, with great preparations, magnified,
+however, by report, as usual where the truth is unknown; and by
+beginning hostilities, and attacking our fortresses, they inspired
+terror as daring to act offensively; insomuch that some persons,
+disguising their timidity under the mask of prudence, were for instantly
+retreating on this side the firth, and relinquishing the country rather
+than waiting to be driven out. Agricola, in the meantime, being informed
+that the enemy intended to bear down in several bodies, distributed
+his army into three divisions, that his inferiority of numbers,
+and ignorance of the country, might not give them an opportunity of
+surrounding him.
+
+26. When this was known to the enemy, they suddenly changed their
+design; and making a general attack in the night upon the ninth legion,
+which was the weakest, [106] in the confusion of sleep and consternation
+they slaughtered the sentinels, and burst through the intrenchments.
+They were now fighting within the camp, when Agricola, who had received
+information of their march from his scouts, and followed close upon
+their track, gave orders for the swiftest of his horse and foot to
+charge the enemy's rear. Presently the whole army raised a general
+shout; and the standards now glittered at the approach of day. The
+Britons were distracted by opposite dangers; whilst the Romans in the
+camp resumed their courage, and secure of safety, began to contend for
+glory. They now in their turns rushed forwards to the attack, and a
+furious engagement ensued in the gates of the camp; till by the emulous
+efforts of both Roman armies, one to give assistance, the other to
+appear not to need it, the enemy was routed: and had not the woods and
+marshes sheltered the fugitives, that day would have terminated the war.
+
+27. The soldiers, inspirited by the steadfastness which characterized
+and the fame which attended this victory, cried out that "nothing could
+resist their valor; now was the time to penetrate into the heart
+of Caledonia, and in a continued series of engagements at length to
+discover the utmost limits of Britain." Those even who had before
+recommended caution and prudence, were now rendered rash and boastful by
+success. It is the hard condition of military command, that a share in
+prosperous events is claimed by all, but misfortunes are imputed to
+one alone. The Britons meantime, attributing their defeat not to the
+superior bravery of their adversaries, but to chance, and the skill of
+the general, remitted nothing of their confidence; but proceeded to arm
+their youth, to send their wives and children to places of safety, and
+to ratify the confederacy of their several states by solemn assemblies
+and sacrifices. Thus the parties separated with minds mutually
+irritated.
+
+28. During the same summer, a cohort of Usipii, [107] which had been
+levied in Germany, and sent over into Britain, performed an extremely
+daring and memorable action. After murdering a centurion and some
+soldiers who had been incorporated with them for the purpose of
+instructing them in military discipline, they seized upon three light
+vessels, and compelled the masters to go on board with them. One of
+these, however, escaping to shore, they killed the other two upon
+suspicion; and before the affair was publicly known, they sailed away,
+as it were by miracle. They were presently driven at the mercy of
+the waves; and had frequent conflicts, with various success, with the
+Britons, defending their property from plunder. [108] At length they
+were reduced to such extremity of distress as to be obliged to feed upon
+each other; the weakest being first sacrificed, and then such as were
+taken by lot. In this manner having sailed round the island, they lost
+their ships through want of skill; and, being regarded as pirates, were
+intercepted, first by the Suevi, then by the Frisii. Some of them, after
+being sold for slaves, by the change of masters were brought to the
+Roman side of the river, [109] and became notorious from the relation of
+their extraordinary adventures. [110]
+
+29. In the beginning of the next summer, [111] Agricola received a
+severe domestic wound in the loss of a son, about a year old. He bore
+this calamity, not with the ostentatious firmness which many have
+affected, nor yet with the tears and lamentations of feminine sorrow;
+and war was one of the remedies of his grief. Having sent forwards his
+fleet to spread its ravages through various parts of the coast, in
+order to excite an extensive and dubious alarm, he marched with an
+army equipped for expedition, to which he had joined the bravest of
+the Britons whose fidelity had been approved by a long allegiance, and
+arrived at the Grampian hills, where the enemy was already encamped.
+[112] For the Britons, undismayed by the event of the former action,
+expecting revenge or slavery, and at length taught that the common
+danger was to be repelled by union alone, had assembled the strength
+of all their tribes by embassies and confederacies. Upwards of thirty
+thousand men in arms were now descried; and the youth, together with
+those of a hale and vigorous age, renowned in war, and bearing their
+several honorary decorations, were still flocking in; when Calgacus,
+[113] the most distinguished for birth and valor among the chieftans,
+is said to have harangued the multitude, gathering round, and eager for
+battle, after the following manner:--
+
+30. "When I reflect on the causes of the war, and the circumstances of
+our situation, I feel a strong persuasion that our united efforts on the
+present day will prove the beginning of universal liberty to Britain.
+For we are all undebased by slavery; and there is no land behind us, nor
+does even the sea afford a refuge, whilst the Roman fleet hovers around.
+Thus the use of arms, which is at all times honorable to the brave, now
+offers the only safety even to cowards. In all the battles which
+have yet been fought, with various success, against the Romans, our
+countrymen may be deemed to have reposed their final hopes and resources
+in us: for we, the noblest sons of Britain, and therefore stationed in
+its last recesses, far from the view of servile shores, have preserved
+even our eyes unpolluted by the contact of subjection. We, at the
+furthest limits both of land and liberty, have been defended to this
+day by the remoteness of our situation and of our fame. The extremity of
+Britain is now disclosed; and whatever is unknown becomes an object
+of magnitude. But there is no nation beyond us; nothing but waves and
+rocks, and the still more hostile Romans, whose arrogance we cannot
+escape by obsequiousness and submission. These plunderers of the world,
+after exhausting the land by their devastations, are rifling the ocean:
+stimulated by avarice, if their enemy be rich; by ambition, if poor;
+unsatiated by the East and by the West: the only people who behold
+wealth and indigence with equal avidity. To ravage, to slaughter,
+to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a
+desert, they call it peace. [114]
+
+31. "Our children and relations are by the appointment of nature the
+dearest of all things to us. These are torn away by levies to serve in
+foreign lands. [115] Our wives and sisters, though they should escape
+the violation of hostile force, are polluted under names of friendship
+and hospitality. Our estates and possessions are consumed in tributes;
+our grain in contributions. Even our bodies are worn down amidst stripes
+and insults in clearing woods and draining marshes. Wretches born to
+slavery are once bought, and afterwards maintained by their masters:
+Britain every day buys, every day feeds, her own servitude. [116] And as
+among domestic slaves every new comer serves for the scorn and derision
+of his fellows; so, in this ancient household of the world, we, as the
+newest and vilest, are sought out to destruction. For we have neither
+cultivated lands, nor mines, nor harbors, which can induce them to
+preserve us for our labors. The valor too and unsubmitting spirit
+of subjects only render them more obnoxious to their masters; while
+remoteness and secrecy of situation itself, in proportion as it conduces
+to security, tends to inspire suspicion. Since then all Lopes of mercy
+are vain, at length assume courage, both you to whom safety and you to
+whom glory is dear. The Trinobantes, even under a female leader, had
+force enough to burn a colony, to storm camps, and, if success had not
+damped their vigor, would have been able entirely to throw off the
+yoke; and shall not we, untouched, unsubdued, and struggling not for the
+acquisition but the security of liberty, show at the very first onset
+what men Caledonia has reserved for her defence?
+
+32. "Can you imagine that the Romans are as brave in war as they are
+licentious in peace? Acquiring renown from our discords and dissensions,
+they convert the faults of their enemies to the glory of their own army;
+an army compounded of the most different nations, which success alone
+has kept together, and which misfortune will as certainly dissipate.
+Unless, indeed, you can suppose that Gauls, and Germans, and (I blush to
+say it) even Britons, who, though they expend their blood to establish
+a foreign dominion, have been longer its foes than its subjects, will be
+retained by loyalty and affection! Terror and dread alone are the weak
+bonds of attachment; which once broken, they who cease to fear will
+begin to hate. Every incitement to victory is on our side. The Romans
+have no wives to animate them; no parents to upbraid their flight. Most
+of them have either no home, or a distant one. Few in number, ignorant
+of the country, looking around in silent horror at woods, seas, and a
+heaven itself unknown to them, they are delivered by the gods, as it
+were imprisoned and bound, into our hands. Be not terrified with an idle
+show, and the glitter of silver and gold, which can neither protect nor
+wound. In the very ranks of the enemy we shall find our own bands. The
+Britons will acknowledge their own cause. The Gauls will recollect their
+former liberty. The rest of the Germans will desert them, as the
+Usipii have lately done. Nor is there anything formidable behind them:
+ungarrisoned forts; colonies of old men; municipal towns distempered and
+distracted between unjust masters and ill-obeying subjects. Here is
+a general; here an army. There, tributes, mines, and all the train of
+punishments inflicted on slaves; which whether to bear eternally, or
+instantly to revenge, this field must determine. March then to battle,
+and think of your ancestors and your posterity."
+
+33. They received this harangue with alacrity, and testified their
+applause after the barbarian manner, with songs, and yells, and
+dissonant shouts. And now the several divisions were in motion, the
+glittering of arms was beheld, while the most daring and impetuous
+were hurrying to the front, and the line of battle was forming; when
+Agricola, although his soldiers were in high spirits, and scarcely to
+be kept within their intrenchments, kindled additional ardor by these
+words:--
+
+"It is now the eighth year, my fellow-soldiers, in which, under the high
+auspices of the Roman empire, by your valor and perseverance you have
+been conquering Britain. In so many expeditions, in so many battles,
+whether you have been required to exert your courage against the enemy,
+or your patient labors against the very nature of the country, neither
+have I ever been dissatisfied with my soldiers, nor you with your
+general. In this mutual confidence, we have proceeded beyond the limits
+of former commanders and former armies; and are now become acquainted
+with the extremity of the island, not by uncertain rumor, but by actual
+possession with our arms and encampments. Britain is discovered and
+subdued. How often on a march, when embarrassed with mountains, bogs
+and rivers, have I heard the bravest among you exclaim, 'When shall
+we descry the enemy? when shall we be led to the field of battle?' At
+length they are unharbored from their retreats; your wishes and your
+valor have now free scope; and every circumstance is equally propitious
+to the victor, and ruinous to the vanquished. For, the greater our glory
+in having marched over vast tracts of land, penetrated forests, and
+crossed arms of the sea, while advancing towards the foe, the greater
+will be our danger and difficulty if we should attempt a retreat. We are
+inferior to our enemies in knowledge of the country, and less able to
+command supplies of provision; but we have arms in our hands, and in
+these we have everything. For myself, it has long been my principle,
+that a retiring general or army is never safe. Hot only, then, are we to
+reflect that death with honor is preferable to life with ignominy, but
+to remember that security and glory are seated in the same place. Even
+to fall in this extremest verge of earth and of nature cannot be thought
+an inglorious fate.
+
+34. "If unknown nations or untried troops were drawn up against you, I
+would exhort you from the example of other armies. At present, recollect
+your own honors, question your own eyes. These are they, who, the last
+year, attacking by surprise a single legion in the obscurity of the
+night, were put to flight by a shout: the greatest fugitives of all the
+Britons, and therefore the longest survivors. As in penetrating woods
+and thickets the fiercest animals boldly rush on the hunters, while the
+weak and timorous fly at their very noise; so the bravest of the Britons
+have long since fallen: the remaining number consists solely of the
+cowardly and spiritless; whom you see at length within your reach, not
+because they have stood their ground, but because they are overtaken.
+Torpid with fear, their bodies are fixed and chained down in yonder
+field, which to you will speedily be the scene of a glorious and
+memorable victory. Here bring your toils and services to a conclusion;
+close a struggle of fifty years [118] with one great day; and convince
+your country-men, that to the army ought not to be imputed either the
+protraction of war, or the causes of rebellion."
+
+35. Whilst Agricola was yet speaking, the ardor of the soldiers declared
+itself; and as soon as he had finished, they burst forth into cheerful
+acclamations, and instantly flew to arms. Thus eager and impetuous, he
+formed them so that the centre was occupied by the auxiliary infantry,
+in number eight thousand, and three thousand horse were spread in the
+wings. The legions were stationed in the rear, before the intrenchments;
+a disposition which would render the victory signally glorious, if
+it were obtained without the expense of Roman blood; and would ensure
+support if the rest of the army were repulsed. The British troops, for
+the greater display of their numbers, and more formidable appearance,
+were ranged upon the rising grounds, so that the first line stood upon
+the plain, the rest, as if linked together, rose above one another upon
+the ascent. The charioteers [119] and horsemen filled the middle of the
+field with their tumult and careering. Then Agricola, fearing from the
+superior number of the enemy lest he should be obliged to fight as
+well on his flanks as in front, extended his ranks; and although this
+rendered his line of battle less firm, and several of his officers
+advised him to bring up the legions, yet, filled with hope, and resolute
+in danger, he dismissed his horse and took his station on foot before
+the colors.
+
+36. At first the action was carried on at a distance. The Britons, armed
+with long swords and short targets, [120] with steadiness and dexterity
+avoided or struck down our missile weapons, and at the same time poured
+in a torrent of their own. Agricola then encouraged three Batavian and
+two Tungrian [121] cohorts to fall in and come to close quarters; a
+method of fighting familiar to these veteran soldiers, but embarrassing
+to the enemy from the nature of their armor; for the enormous British
+swords, blunt at the point, are unfit for close grappling, and engaging
+in a confined space. When the Batavians; therefore, began to redouble
+their blows, to strike with the bosses of their shields, and mangle the
+faces of the enemy; and, bearing down all those who resisted them on
+the plain, were advancing their lines up the ascent; the other cohorts,
+fired with ardor and emulation, joined in the charge, and overthrew all
+who came in their way: and so great was their impetuosity in the pursuit
+of victory, that they left many of their foes half dead or unhurt behind
+them. In the meantime the troops of cavalry took to flight, and the
+armed chariots mingled in the engagement of the infantry; but although
+their first shock occasioned some consternation, they were soon
+entangled among the close ranks of the cohorts, and the inequalities
+of the ground. Not the least appearance was left of an engagement of
+cavalry; since the men, long keeping their ground with difficulty, were
+forced along with the bodies of the horses; and frequently, straggling
+chariots, and affrighted horses without their riders, flying variously
+as terror impelled them, rushed obliquely athwart or directly through
+the lines. [122]
+
+37. Those of the Britons who, yet disengaged from the fight, sat on the
+summits of the hills, and looked with careless contempt on the smallness
+of our numbers, now began gradually to descend; and would have fallen on
+the rear of the conquering troops, had not Agricola, apprehending this
+very event, opposed four reserved squadron of horse to their attack,
+which, the more furiously they had advanced, drove them back with the
+greater celerity. Their project was thus turned against themselves; and
+the squadrons were ordered to wheel from the front of the battle
+and fall upon the enemy's rear. A striking and hideous spectacle
+now appeared on the plain: some pursuing; some striking: some making
+prisoners, whom they slaughtered as others came in their way. Now, as
+their several dispositions prompted, crowds of armed Britons fled before
+inferior numbers, or a few, even unarmed, rushed upon their foes,
+and offered themselves to a voluntary death. Arms, and carcasses, and
+mangled limbs, were promiscuously strewed, and the field was dyed in
+blood. Even among the vanquished were seen instances of rage and valor.
+When the fugitives approached the woods, they collected, and surrounded
+the foremost of the pursuers, advancing incautiously, and unacquainted
+with the country; and had not Agricola, who was everywhere present,
+caused some strong and lightly-equipped cohorts to encompass the ground,
+while part of the cavalry dismounted made way through the thickets,
+and part on horseback scoured the open woods, some disaster would have
+proceeded from the excess of confidence. But when the enemy saw their
+pursuers again formed in compact order, they renewed their flight, not
+in bodies as before, or waiting for their companions, but scattered
+and mutually avoiding each other; and thus took their way to the most
+distant and devious retreats. Night and satiety of slaughter put an end
+to the pursuit. Of the enemy ten thousand were slain: on our part three
+hundred and sixty fell; among whom was Aulus Atticus, the praefect of a
+cohort, who, by his juvenile ardor, and the fire of his horse, was borne
+into the midst of the enemy.
+
+38. Success and plunder contributed to render the night joyful to the
+victors; whilst the Britons, wandering and forlorn, amid the promiscuous
+lamentations of men and women, were dragging along the wounded; calling
+out to the unhurt; abandoning their habitations, and in the rage of
+despair setting them on fire; choosing places of concealment, and then
+deserting them; consulting together, and then separating. Sometimes, on
+beholding the dear pledges of kindred and affection, they were melted
+into tenderness, or more frequently roused into fury; insomuch that
+several, according to authentic information, instigated by a savage
+compassion, laid violent hands upon their own wives and children. On the
+succeeding day, a vast silence all around, desolate hills, the distant
+smoke of burning houses, and not a living soul descried by the scouts,
+displayed more amply the face of victory. After parties had been
+detached to all quarters without discovering any certain tracks of the
+enemy's flight, or any bodies of them still in arms, as the lateness
+of the season rendered it impracticable to spread the war through the
+country, Agricola led his army to the confines of the Horesti. [123]
+Having received hostages from this people, he ordered the commander
+of the fleet to sail round the island; for which expedition he was
+furnished with sufficient force, and preceded by the terror of the
+Roman name. Pie himself then led back the cavalry and infantry, marching
+slowly, that he might impress a deeper awe on the newly conquered
+nations; and at length distributed his troops into their
+winter-quarters. The fleet, about the same time, with prosperous gales
+and renown, entered the Trutulensian [124] harbor, whence, coasting all
+the hither shore of Britain, it returned entire to its former station.
+[125]
+
+39. The account of these transactions, although unadorned with the pomp
+of words in the letters of Agricola, was received by Domitian, as was
+customary with that prince, with outward expressions of joy, but inward
+anxiety. He was conscious that his late mock-triumph over Germany, [126]
+in which he had exhibited purchased slaves, whose habits and hair [127]
+were contrived to give them the resemblance of captives, was a subject
+of derision; whereas here, a real and important victory, in which so
+many thousands of the enemy were slain, was celebrated with universal
+applause. His greatest dread was that the name of a private man should
+be exalted above that of the prince. In vain had he silenced the
+eloquence of the forum, and cast a shade upon all civil honors,
+if military glory were still in possession of another. Other
+accomplishments might more easily be connived at, but the talents of a
+great general were truly imperial. Tortured with such anxious thoughts,
+and brooding over them in secret, [128] a certain indication of some
+malignant intention, he judged it most prudent for the present to
+suspend his rancor, tilt the first burst of glory and the affections
+of the army should remit: for Agricola still possessed the command in
+Britain.
+
+40. He therefore caused the senate to decree him triumphal ornaments,
+[129]--a statue crowned with laurel, and all the other honors which
+are substituted for a real triumph, together with a profusion of
+complimentary expressions; and also directed an expectation to be raised
+that the province of Syria, vacant by the death of Atilius Rufus,
+a consular man, and usually reserved for persons of the greatest
+distinction, was designed for Agricola. It was commonly believed that
+one of the freedmen, who were employed in confidential services, was
+despatched with the instrument appointing Agricola to the government of
+Syria, with orders to deliver it if he should be still in Britain; but
+that this messenger, meeting Agricola in the straits, [130] returned
+directly to Domitian without so much as accosting him. [131] Whether
+this was really the fact, or only a fiction founded on the genius and
+character of the prince, is uncertain. Agricola, in the meantime, had
+delivered the province, in peace and security, to his successor; [132]
+and lest his entry into the city should be rendered too conspicuous by
+the concourse and acclamations of the people, he declined the salutation
+of his friends by arriving in the night; and went by night, as he was
+commanded, to the palace. There, after being received with a slight
+embrace, but not a word spoken, he was mingled with the servile throng.
+In this situation, he endeavored to soften the glare of military
+reputation, which is offensive to those who themselves live in
+indolence, by the practice of virtues of a different cast. He resigned
+himself to ease and tranquillity, was modest in his garb and equipage,
+affable in conversation, and in public was only accompanied by one or
+two of his friends; insomuch that the many, who are accustomed to form
+their ideas of great men from their retinue and figure, when they beheld
+Agricola, were apt to call in question his renown: few could interpret
+his conduct.
+
+41. He was frequently, during that period, accused in his absence before
+Domitian, and in his absence also acquitted. The source of his danger
+was not any criminal action, nor the complaint of any injured person;
+but a prince hostile to virtue, and his own high reputation, and the
+worst kind of enemies, eulogists. [133] For the situation of public
+affairs which ensued was such as would not permit the name of Agricola
+to rest in silence: so many armies in Moesia, Dacia, Germany, and
+Pannonia lost through the temerity or cowardice of their generals; [134]
+so many men of military character, with numerous cohorts, defeated and
+taken prisoners; whilst a dubious contest was maintained, not for the
+boundaries, of the empire, and the banks of the bordering rivers, [135]
+but for the winter-quarters of the legions, and the possession of our
+territories. In this state of things, when loss succeeded loss, and
+every year was signalized by disasters and slaughters, the public voice
+loudly demanded Agricola for general: every one comparing his vigor,
+firmness, and experience in war, with the indolence and pusillanimity
+of the others. It is certain that the ears of Domitian himself were
+assailed by such discourses, while the best of his freedmen pressed him
+to the choice through motives of fidelity and affection, and the
+worst through envy and malignity, emotions to which he was of himself
+sufficiently prone. Thus Agricola, as well by his own virtues as the
+vices of others, was urged on precipitously to glory.
+
+42. The year now arrived in which the proconsulate of Asia or Africa
+must fall by lot upon Agricola; [136] and as Civica had lately been put
+to death, Agricola was not unprovided with a lesson, nor Domitian with
+an example. [137] Some persons, acquainted with the secret inclinations
+of the emperor, came to Agricola, and inquired whether he intended to go
+to his province; and first, somewhat distantly, began to commend a life
+of leisure and tranquillity; then offered their services in procuring
+him to be excused from the office; and at length, throwing off all
+disguise, after using arguments both to persuade and intimidate him,
+compelled him to accompany them to Domitian. The emperor, prepared to
+dissemble, and assuming an air of stateliness, received his petition for
+excuse, and suffered himself to be formally thanked [138] for granting
+it, without blushing at so invidious a favor. He did not, however,
+bestow on Agricola the salary [139] usually offered to a proconsul, and
+which he himself had granted to others; either taking offence that it
+was not requested, or feeling a consciousness that it would seem a bribe
+for what he had in reality extorted by his authority. It is a principle
+of human nature to hate those whom we have injured; [140] and Domitian
+was constitutionally inclined to anger, which was the more difficult
+to be averted, in proportion as it was the more disguised. Yet he was
+softened by the temper and prudence of Agricola; who did not think it
+necessary, by a contumacious spirit, or a vain ostentation of liberty,
+to challenge fame or urge his fate. [141] Let those be apprised, who are
+accustomed to admire every opposition to control, that even under a
+bad prince men may be truly great; that submission and modesty, if
+accompanied with vigor and industry, will elevate a character to a
+height of public esteem equal to that which many, through abrupt and
+dangerous paths, have attained, without benefit to their country, by an
+ambitious death.
+
+43. His decease was a severe affliction to his family, a grief to his
+friends, and a subject of regret even to foreigners, and those who had
+no personal knowledge of him. [142] The common people too, and the class
+who little interest themselves about public concerns, were frequent
+in their inquiries at his house during his sickness, and made him the
+subject of conversation at the forum and in private circles; nor did any
+person either rejoice at the news of his death, or speedily forget it.
+Their commiseration was aggravated by a prevailing report that he was
+taken off by poison. I cannot venture to affirm anything certain of this
+matter; [143] yet, during the whole course of his illness, the principal
+of the imperial freedmen and the most confidential of the physicians was
+sent much more frequently than was customary with a court whose visits
+were chiefly paid by messages; whether that was done out of real
+solicitude, or for the purposes of state inquisition. On the day of his
+decease, it is certain that accounts of his approaching dissolution were
+every instant transmitted to the emperor by couriers stationed for the
+purpose; and no one believed that the information, which so much pains
+was taken to accelerate, could be received with regret. He put on,
+however, in his countenance and demeanor, the semblance of grief: for he
+was now secured from an object of hatred, and could more easily conceal
+his joy than his fear. It was well known that on reading the will, in
+which he was nominated co-heir [144] with the excellent wife and most
+dutiful daughter of Agricola, he expressed great satisfaction, as if it
+had been a voluntary testimony of honor and esteem: so blind and corrupt
+had his mind been rendered by continual adulation, that he was ignorant
+none but a bad prince could be nominated heir to a good father.
+
+44. Agricola was born in the ides of June, during the third consulate of
+Caius Caesar; [145] he died in his fifty-sixth year, on the tenth of
+the calends of September, when Collega and Priscus were consuls. [146]
+Posterity may wish to form an idea of his person. His figure was comely
+rather than majestic. In his countenance there was nothing to inspire
+awe; its character was gracious and engaging. You would readily have
+believed him a good man, and willingly a great one. And indeed, although
+he was snatched away in the midst of a vigorous age, yet if his life be
+measured by his glory, it was a period of the greatest extent. For after
+the full enjoyment of all that is truly good, which is found in virtuous
+pursuits alone, decorated with consular and triumphal ornaments, what
+more could fortune contribute to his elevation? Immoderate wealth did
+not fall to his share, yet he possessed a decent affluence. [147] His
+wife and daughter surviving, his dignity unimpaired, his reputation
+flourishing, and his kindred and friends yet in safety, it may even be
+thought an additional felicity that he was thus withdrawn from impending
+evils. For, as we have heard him express his wishes of continuing to the
+dawn of the present auspicious day, and beholding Trajan in the imperial
+seat,--wishes in which he formed a certain presage of the event; so it
+is a great consolation, that by his untimely end he escaped that latter
+period, in which Domitian, not by intervals and remissions, but by a
+continued, and, as it were, a single act, aimed at the destruction of
+the commonwealth. [148]
+
+45. Agricola did not behold the senate-house besieged, and the senators
+enclosed by a circle of arms; [149] and in one havoc the massacre of so
+many consular men, the flight and banishment of so many honorable women.
+As yet Carus Metius [150] was distinguished only by a single victory;
+the counsels of Messalinus [151] resounded only through the Albanian
+citadel; [152] and Massa Baebius [153] was himself among the accused.
+Soon after, our own hands [154] dragged Helvidius [155] to prison;
+ourselves were tortured with the spectacle of Mauricus and Rusticus,
+[156] and sprinkled with the innocent blood of Senecio. [157]
+
+Even Nero withdrew his eyes from the cruelties he commanded. Under
+Domitian, it was the principal part of our miseries to behold and to be
+beheld: when our sighs were registered; and that stern countenance, with
+its settled redness, [158] his defence against shame, was employed in
+noting the pallid horror of so many spectators. Happy, O Agricola! not
+only in the splendor of your life, but in the seasonableness of your
+death. With resignation and cheerfulness, from the testimony of those
+who were present in your last moments, did you meet your fate, as
+if striving to the utmost of your power to make the emperor appear
+guiltless. But to myself and your daughter, besides the anguish of
+losing a parent, the aggravating affliction remains, that it was not our
+lot to watch over your sick-bed, to support you when languishing, and to
+satiate ourselves with beholding and embracing you. With what attention
+should we have received your last instructions, and engraven them on our
+hearts! This is our sorrow; this is our wound: to us you were lost four
+years before by a tedious absence. Everything, doubtless, O best of
+parents! was administered for your comfort and honor, while a most
+affectionate wife sat beside you; yet fewer tears were shed upon your
+bier, and in the last light which your eyes beheld, something was still
+wanting.
+
+46. If there be any habitation for the shades of the virtuous; if, as
+philosophers suppose, exalted souls do not perish with the body; may
+you repose in peace, and call us, your household, from vain regret and
+feminine lamentations, to the contemplation of your virtues, which allow
+no place for mourning or complaining! Let us rather adorn your memory by
+our admiration, by our short-lived praises, and, as far as our natures
+will permit, by an imitation of your example. This is truly to honor the
+dead; this is the piety of every near relation. I would also recommend
+it to the wife and daughter of this great man, to show their veneration
+of a husband's and a father's memory by revolving his actions and words
+in their breasts, and endeavoring to retain an idea of the form and
+features of his mind, rather than of his person. Not that I would reject
+those resemblances of the human figure which are engraven in brass or
+marbles but as their originals are frail and perishable, so likewise are
+they: while the form of the mind is eternal, and not to be retained
+or expressed by any foreign matter, or the artist's skill, but by the
+manners of the survivors. Whatever in Agricola was the object of our
+love, of our admiration, remains, and will remain in the minds of men,
+transmitted in the records of fame, through an eternity of years. For,
+while many great personages of antiquity will be involved in a
+common oblivion with the mean and inglorious, Agricola shall survive,
+represented and consigned to future ages.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+
+A TREATISE ON THE SITUATION, MANNERS AND INHABITANTS OF GERMANY.
+
+[1] This treatise was written in the year of Rome 851, A.D. 98; during
+the fourth consulate of the emperor Nerva, and the third of Trajan.
+
+[2] The Germany here meant is that beyond the Rhine. The Germania
+Cisrhenana, divided into the Upper and Lower, was a part of Gallia
+Belgica.
+
+[3] Rhaetia comprehended the country of the Grisons, with part of Suabia
+and Bavaria.
+
+[4] Lower Hungary, and part of Austria.
+
+[5] The Carpathian mountains in Upper Hungary.
+
+[6] "Broad promontories." Latos sinus. Sinus strictly signifies "a
+bending," especially inwards. Hence it is applied to a gulf, or bay, of
+the sea. And hence, again, by metonymy, to that projecting part of the
+land, whereby the gulf is formed; and still further to any promontory
+or peninsula. It is in this latter force it is here used;--and refers
+especially to the Danish peninsula. See Livy xxvii, 30, xxxviii. 5;
+Servius on Virgil, Aen. xi. 626.
+
+[7] Scandinavia and Finland, of which the Romans had a very slight
+knowledge, were supposed to be islands.
+
+[8] The mountains of the Grisons. That in which the Rhine rises is at
+present called Vogelberg.
+
+[9] Now called Schwartzwald, or the Black Forest. The name Danubius was
+given to that portion of the river which is included between its source
+and Vindobona (Vienna); throughout the rest of its course it was called
+Ister.
+
+[10] _Donec erumpat_. The term _erumpat_ is most correctly and
+graphically employed; for the Danube discharges its waters into the
+Euxine with so great force, that its course may be distinctly traced for
+miles out to sea.
+
+[11] There are now but five.
+
+[12] The ancient writers called all nations _indigenae_ (_i.e._ inde
+geniti), or _autochthones_, "sprung from the soil," of whose origin they
+were ignorant.
+
+[13] It is, however, well established that the ancestors of the Germans
+migrated by land from Asia. Tacitus here falls into a very common kind
+of error, in assuming a local fact (viz. the manner in which migrations
+took place in the basin of the Mediterranean) to be the expression of a
+general law.--ED.
+
+[14] Drusus, father of the emperor Claudius, was the first Roman general
+who navigated the German Ocean. The difficulties and dangers which
+Germanicus met with from the storms of this sea are related in the
+Annals, ii. 23.
+
+[15] All barbarous nations, in all ages, have applied verse to the same
+use, as is still found to be the case among the North American Indians.
+Charlemagne, as we are told by Eginhart, "wrote out and committed to
+memory barbarous verses of great antiquity, in which the actions and
+wars of ancient kings were recorded."
+
+[16] The learned Leibnitz supposes this Tuisto to have been the Teut or
+Teutates so famous throughout Gaul and Spain, who was a Celto-Scythian
+king or hero, and subdued and civilized a great part of Europe and Asia.
+Various other conjectures have been formed concerning him and his son
+Mannus, but most of them extremely vague and improbable. Among the
+rest, it has been thought that in Mannus and his three sons an obscure
+tradition is preserved of Adam, and his sons Cain, Abel, and Seth; or of
+Noah, and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japhet.
+
+[17] Conringius interprets the names of the sons of Mannus into Ingaeff,
+Istaef, and Hermin.
+
+[18] Pliny, iv. 14, embraces a middle opinion between these, and
+mentions five capital tribes. The Vindili, to whom belong the
+Burgundiones, Varini, Carini, and Guttones; the Ingaevones, including
+the Cimbri, Teutoni, and Chauci; the Istaevones, near the Rhine, part
+of whom are the midland Cimbri; the Hermiones, containing the Suevi,
+Hermunduri, Catti, and Cherusci; and the Peucini and Bastarnae,
+bordering upon the Dacians.
+
+[19] The Marsi appear to have occupied various portions of the northwest
+part of Germany at various times. In the time of Tiberius (A.D. 14) they
+sustained a great slaughter from the forces of Germanicus, who ravaged
+their country for fifty miles with fire and sword, sparing neither age
+nor sex, neither things profane nor sacred. (See Ann. i. 51.) At this
+period they were occupying the country in the neighborhood of the
+Rura (Ruhr), a tributary of the Rhine. Probably this slaughter was the
+destruction of them as a separate people; and by the time that Trajan
+succeeded to the imperial power they seem to have been blotted out from
+amongst the Germanic tribes. Hence their name will not be found in the
+following account of Germany.
+
+[20] These people are mentioned by Strabo, vii. 1, 3. Their locality is
+not very easy to determine.
+
+[21] See note, c. 38.
+
+[22] The Vandals are said to have derived their name from the German
+word _wendeln_, "to wander." They began to be troublesome to the Romans
+A.D. 160, in the reigns of Aurelius and Verus. In A.D. 410 they made
+themselves masters of Spain in conjunction with the Alans and Suevi,
+and received for their share what from them was termed Vandalusia
+(Andalusia). In A.D. 429 they crossed into Africa under Genseric, who
+not only made himself master of Byzacium, Gaetulia, and part of Numidia,
+but also crossed over into Italy, A.D. 455, and plundered Rome. After
+the death of Genseric the Vandal power declined.
+
+[23] That is, those of the Marsi, Gambrivii, etc. Those of Ingaevones,
+Istaevones, and Hermiones, were not so much names of the people, as
+terms expressing their situation. For, according to the most learned
+Germans, the Ingaevones are _die Inwohner_, those dwelling inwards,
+towards the sea; the Istaevones, _die Westwohner_, the inhabitants of
+the western parts: and the Hermiones, _die Herumwohner_, the midland
+inhabitants.
+
+[24] It is however found in an inscription so far back as the year of
+Rome 531, before Christ 222, recording the victory of Claudius Marcellus
+over the Galli Insubres and their allies the Germans, at Clastidium, now
+Chiastezzo in the Milanese.
+
+[25] This is illustrated by a passage in Caesar, Bell. Gall. ii. 4,
+where, after mentioning that several of the Belgae were descended from
+the Germans who had formerly crossed the Rhine and expelled the Gauls,
+he says, "the first of these emigrants were the Condrusii, Eburones,
+Caeresi and Paemani, who were called by the common name of Germans."
+The derivation of German is _Wehr mann_, a warrior, or man of war. This
+appellation was first used by the victorious Cisrhenane tribes, but not
+by the whole Transrhenane nation, till they gradually adopted it, as
+equally due to them on account of their military reputation. The Tungri
+were formerly a people of great name, the relics of which still exist in
+the extent of the district now termed the ancient diocese of Tongres.
+
+[26] Under this name Tacitus speaks of some German deity, whose
+attributes corresponded in the main with those of the Greek and
+Roman Hercules. What he was called by the Germans is a matter of
+doubt.--_White_.
+
+[27] _Quem barditum vocant_. The word _barditus_ is of Gallic origin,
+being derived from _bardi_, "bards;" it being a custom with the Gauls
+for bards to accompany the army, and celebrate the heroic deeds of their
+great warriors; so that _barditum_ would thus signify "the fulfilment of
+the bard's office." Hence it is clear that _barditum_ could not be used
+correctly here, inasmuch as amongst the Germans not any particular,
+appointed, body of men, but the whole army chanted forth the war-song.
+Some editions have _baritum_, which is said to be derived from the
+German word _beren_, or _baeren_, "to shout;" and hence it is translated
+in some dictionaries as, "the German war-song." From the following
+passage extracted from Facciolati, it would seem, however, that German
+critics repudiate this idea: "De _barito_ clamore bellico, seu, ut
+quaedam habent exemplaria, _bardito_, nihil audiuimus nunc in Germania:
+nisi hoc dixerimus, quod _bracht_, vel _brecht_, milites Germani
+appellare consueverunt; concursum videlicet certantium, et clamorem
+ad pugnam descendentium; quem _bar, bar, bar_, sonuisse nonnulli
+affirmant."--(Andr. Althameri, Schol. in C. Tacit De Germanis.) Ritter,
+himself a German, affirms that _baritus_ is a reading worth nothing; and
+that _barritus_ was not the name of the ancient German war-song, but
+of the shout raised by the Romans in later ages when on the point
+of engaging; and that it was derived "a clamore barrorem, _i.e._
+elephantorum." The same learned editor considers that the words "quem
+barditum vocant" have been originally the marginal annotation of some
+unsound scholar, and have been incorporated by some transcriber into the
+text of his MS. copy, whence the error has spread. He therefore encloses
+them between brackets, to show that, in his judgment, they are not the
+genuine production of the pen of Tacitus.--_White_.
+
+[28] A very curious coincidence with the ancient German opinion
+concerning the prophetic nature of the war-cry or song, appears in the
+following passage of the Life of Sir Ewen Cameron, in "Pennant's Tour,"
+1769, Append, p. 363. At the battle of Killicrankie, just before the
+fight began, "he (Sir Ewen) commanded such of the Camerons as were
+posted near him to make a great shout, which being seconded by those who
+stood on the right and left, ran quickly through the whole army, and was
+returned by the enemy. But the noise of the muskets and cannon, with the
+echoing of the hills, made the Highlanders fancy that their shouts were
+much louder and brisker than those of the enemy, and Lochiel cried out,
+'Gentlemen, take courage, the day is ours: I am the oldest commander in
+the army, and have always observed something ominous and fatal in such
+a dull, hollow and feeble noise as the enemy made in their shout, which
+prognosticates that they are all doomed to die by our hands this night;
+whereas ours was brisk, lively and strong, and shows we have vigor and
+courage.' These words, spreading quickly through the army, animated
+the troops in a strange manner. The event justified the prediction; the
+Highlanders obtained a complete victory."
+
+[29] Now Asburg in the county of Meurs.
+
+[30] The Greeks, by means of their colony at Marseilles, introduced
+their letters into Gaul, and the old Gallic coins have many Greek
+characters in their inscriptions. The Helvetians also, as we are
+informed by Caesar, used Greek letters. Thence they might easily pass
+by means of commercial intercourse to the neighboring Germans. Count
+Marsili and others have found monuments with Greek inscriptions in
+Germany, but not of so early an age.
+
+[31] The large bodies of the Germans are elsewhere taken notice of by
+Tacitus, and also by other authors. It would appear as if most of them
+were at that time at least six feet high. They are still accounted some
+of the tallest people in Europe.
+
+[32] Bavaria and Austria.
+
+[33] The greater degree of cold when the country was overspread with
+woods and marshes, made this observation more applicable than at
+present. The same change of temperature from clearing and draining
+the land has taken place in North America. It may be added, that the
+Germans, as we are afterwards informed, paid attention to no kind of
+culture but that of corn.
+
+[34] The cattle of some parts of Germany are at present remarkably
+large; so that their former smallness must have rather been owing to
+want of care in feeding them and protecting them from the inclemencies
+of winter, and in improving the breed by mixtures, than to the nature of
+the climate.
+
+[35] Mines both of gold and silver have since been discovered in
+Germany; the former, indeed, inconsiderable; but the latter, valuable.
+
+[36] As vice and corruption advanced among the Romans, their money
+became debased and adulterated. Thus Pliny, xxxiii. 3, relates, that
+"Livius Drusus during his tribuneship, mixed an eighth part of brass
+with the silver coin;" and ibid. 9, "that Antony the triumvir mixed iron
+with the denarius: that some coined base metal, others diminished
+the pieces, and hence it became an art to prove the goodness of the
+denarii." One precaution for this purpose was cutting the edges like
+the teeth of a saw, by which means it was seen whether the metal was
+the same quite through, or was only plated. These were the Serrati, or
+serrated Denarii. The Bigati were those stamped with the figure of a
+chariot drawn by two horses, as were the Quadrigati with a chariot and
+four horses. These were old coin, of purer silver than those of the
+emperors. Hence the preference of the Germans for certain kinds of
+species was founded on their apprehension of being cheated with false
+money.
+
+[37] The Romans had the same predilection for silver coin, and probably
+on the same account originally. Pliny, in the place above cited,
+expresses his surprise that "the Roman people had always imposed a
+tribute in silver on conquered nations; as at the end of the second
+Punic war, when they demanded an annual payment in silver for fifty
+years, without any gold."
+
+[38] Iron was in great abundance in the bowels of the earth; but this
+barbarous people had neither patience, skill, nor industry to dig and
+work it. Besides, they made use of weapons of stone, great numbers of
+which are found in ancient tombs and barrows.
+
+[39] This is supposed to take its name from _pfriem_ or _priem_, the
+point of a weapon. Afterwards, when iron grew more plentiful, the
+Germans chiefly used swords.
+
+[40] It appears, however, from Tacitus's Annals, ii. 14, that the length
+of these spears rendered them unmanageable in an engagement among trees
+and bushes.
+
+[41] Notwithstanding the manner of fighting is so much changed in modern
+times, the arms of the ancients are still in use. We, as well as they,
+have two kinds of swords, the sharp-pointed, and edged (small sword and
+sabre). The broad lance subsisted till lately in the halberd; the spear
+and framea in the long pike and spontoon; the missile weapons in the war
+hatchet, or North American tomahawk. There are, besides, found in the
+old German barrows, perforated stone balls, which they threw by means of
+thongs passed through them.
+
+[42] _Nudi_. The Latin nudus, like the Greek _gemnos_, does not point
+out a person devoid of all clothing, but merely one without an upper
+garment--clad merely in a vest or tunic, and that perhaps a short
+one.--_White_.
+
+[43] This decoration at first denoted the valor, afterwards the
+nobility, of the bearer; and in process of time gave origin to the
+armorial ensigns so famous in the ages of chivalry. The shields of the
+private men were simply colored; those of the chieftains had the figures
+of animals painted on them.
+
+[44] Plutarch, in his Life of Marius, describes somewhat differently
+the arms and equipage of the Cimbri. "They wore (says he) helmets
+representing the heads of wild beasts, and other unusual figures, and
+crowned with a winged crest, to make them appear taller. They were
+covered with iron coats of mail, and carried white glittering shields.
+Each had a battle-axe; and in close fight they used large heavy swords."
+But the learned Eccard justly observes, that they had procured these
+arms in their march; for the Holsatian barrows of that age contain few
+weapons of brass, and none of iron; but stone spear-heads, and instead
+of swords, the wedgelike bodies vulgarly called thunderbolts.
+
+[46] Casques (_cassis_) are of metal; helmets (_galea_) of
+leather--_Isidorus_.
+
+[46] This mode of fighting is admirably described by Caesar. "The
+Germans engaged after the following manner:--There were 6,000 horse, and
+an equal number of the swiftest and bravest foot; who were chosen,
+man by man, by the cavalry, for their protection. By these they were
+attended in battle; to these they retreated; and, these, if they were
+hard pressed, joined them in the combat. If any fell wounded from their
+horses, by these they were covered. If it were necessary to advance or
+retreat to any considerable distance, such agility had they acquired by
+exercise, that, supporting themselves by the horses' manes, they kept
+pace with them."--Bell. Gall. i. 48.
+
+[47] To understand this, it is to be remarked, that the Germans were
+divided into nations or tribes,--these into cantons, and these into
+districts or townships. The cantons (_pagi_ in Latin) were called by
+themselves _gauen_. The districts or townships (_vici_) were called
+_hunderte_, whence the English hundreds. The name given to these select
+youth, according to the learned Dithmar, was _die hunderte_, hundred
+men. From the following passage in Caesar, it appears that in the more
+powerful tribes a greater number was selected from each canton. "The
+nation of the Suevi is by far the greatest and most warlike of the
+Germans. They are said to inhabit a hundred cantons; from each of
+which a thousand men are sent annually to make war out of their own
+territories. Thus neither the employments of agriculture, nor the use of
+arms are interrupted."--Bell. Gall. iv. 1. The warriors were summoned
+by the _heribannum_, or army-edict; whence is derived the French
+arriere-ban.
+
+[48] A wedge is described by Vegetius (iii. 19,) as a body of infantry,
+narrow in front, and widening towards the rear; by which disposition
+they were enabled to break the enemy's ranks, as all their weapons were
+directed to one spot. The soldiers called it a boar's head.
+
+[49] It was also considered as the height of injury to charge a person
+with this unjustly. Thus, by the _Salic_ law, tit. xxxiii, 5, a fine
+of 600 denarii (about 9_l._) is imposed upon "every free man who shall
+accuse another of throwing down his shield, and running away, without
+being able to prove it."
+
+[50] Vertot (Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscrip.) supposes that the French
+_maires du palais_ had their origin from these German military leaders.
+If the kings were equally conspicuous for valor as for birth, they
+united the regal with the military command. Usually, however, several
+kings and generals were assembled in their wars. In this case, the most
+eminent commanded, and obtained a common jurisdiction in war, which did
+not subsist in time of peace. Thus Caesar (Bell. Gall. vi.) says, "In
+peace they have no common magistracy." A general was elected by placing
+him on a shield, and lifting him on the shoulders of the bystanders. The
+same ceremonial was observed in the election of kings.
+
+[51] Hence Ambiorix, king of the Eburones, declare that "the nature of
+his authority was such, that the people had no less power over him, than
+he over the people."--Caesar, Bell. Gall. v. The authority of the North
+American chiefs almost exactly similar.
+
+[52] The power of life and death, however, was in the hands of
+magistrates. Thus Caesar: "When a state engages either in an offensive
+or defensive war, magistrates are chosen to preside over it, and
+exercise power of life and death."--Bell. Gall. vi. The infliction of
+punishments was committed to the priests, in order to give them more
+solemnity, and render them less invidious.
+
+[53] _Effigiesque et signa quaedam_. That effigies does not mean the
+images of their deities is proved by that is stated at chap. ix., viz.
+that they deemed it derogatory to their deities to represent them in
+human form; and, if in human form, we may argue, _a fortiori_, in the
+form of the lower animals. The interpretation of the passage will be
+best derived from Hist. iv. 22, where Tacitus says:--"Depromptae silvis
+lucisve ferarum imagines, ut cuique genti inire praelium mos est." It
+would hence appear that these effigies and signa were images of wild
+animals, and were national standards preserved with religious care in
+sacred woods and groves, whence they were brought forth when the clan or
+tribe was about to take the field.--_White_.
+
+[54] They not only interposed to prevent the flight of their husbands
+and sons, but, in desperate emergencies, themselves engaged in battle.
+This happened on Marius's defeat of the Cimbri (hereafter to be
+mentioned); and Dio relates, that when Marcus Aurelius overthrew the
+Marcomanni, Quadi, and other German allies, the bodies of women in armor
+were found among the slain.
+
+[55] Thus, in the army of Ariovistus, the women, with their hair
+dishevelled, and weeping, besought the soldiers not to deliver them
+captives to the Romans.--Caesar, Bell. Gall. i.
+
+[56] Relative to this, perhaps, is a circumstance mentioned by Suetonius
+in his Life of Augustus. "From some nations he attempted to exact a new
+kind of hostages, women: because he observed that those of the male sex
+were disregarded."--Aug. xxi.
+
+[57] See the same observation with regard to the Celtic women, in
+Plutarch, on the virtues of women. The North Americans pay a similar
+regard to their females.
+
+[58] A remarkable instance of this is given by Caesar. "When he inquired
+of the captives the reason why Ariovistus did not engage, he learned,
+that it was because the matrons, who among the Germans are accustomed
+to pronounce, from their divinations, whether or not a battle will be
+favorable, had declared that they would not prove victorious, if they
+should fight before the new moon."--Bell. Gall. i. The cruel manner in
+which the Cimbrian women performed their divinations is thus related
+by Strabo: "The women who follow the Cimbri to war, are accompanied
+by gray-haired prophetesses, in white vestments, with canvas mantles
+fastened by clasps, a brazen girdle, and naked feet. These go with drawn
+swords through the camp, and, striking down those of the prisoners that
+they meet, drag them to a brazen kettle, holding about twenty amphorae.
+This has a kind of stage above it, ascending on which, the priestess
+cuts the throat of the victim, and, from the manner in which the blood
+flows into the vessel, judges of the future event. Others tear open
+the bodies of the captives thus butchered, and, from inspection of the
+entrails, presage victory to their own party."--Lib. vii.
+
+[59] She was afterwards taken prisoner by Rutilius Gallicus. Statius, in
+his Sylvae, i. 4, refers to this event. Tacitus has more concerning her
+in his History, iv. 61.
+
+[60] Viradesthis was a goddess of the Tungri; Harimella, another
+provincial deity; whose names were found by Mr. Pennant inscribed on
+altars at the Roman station at Burrens. These were erected by the German
+auxiliaries.--Vide Tour in Scotland, 1772, part ii. p. 406.
+
+[61] Ritter considers that here is a reference to the servile flattery
+of the senate as exhibited in the time of Nero, by the deification of
+Poppaea's infant daughter, and afterwards of herself. (See Ann. xv.
+23, Dion. lxiii, Ann. xiv. 3.) There is no contradiction in the present
+passage to that found at Hist. iv. 61, where Tacitus says, "plerasque
+feminarum fatidicas et, augescente superstitione, arbitrantur deas;"
+_i.e._ they deem (_arbitrantur_) very many of their women possessed of
+prophetic powers, and, as their religious feeling increases, they deem
+(_arbitrantur_) them goddesses, _i.e._ possessed of a superhuman nature;
+they do not, however, make them goddesses and worship them, as the
+Romans did Poppaea and her infant, which is covertly implied in
+_facerent deas_.--_White_.
+
+[62] Mercury, _i.e._ a god whom Tacitus thus names, because his
+attributes resembled those of the Roman Mercury. According to Paulus
+Diaconus (de Gestis Langobardorum, i. 9), this deity was Wodun, or
+Gwodan, called also Odin. Mallet (North. Ant. ch. v.) says, that in
+the Icelandic mythology he is called "the terrible and severe God, the
+Father of Slaughter, he who giveth victory and receiveth courage in
+the conflict, who nameth those that are to be slain." "The Germans drew
+their gods by their own character, who loved nothing so much themselves
+as to display their strength and power in battle, and to signalize their
+vengeance upon their enemies by slaughter and desolation." There remain
+to this day some traces of the worship paid to Odin in the name given by
+almost all the people of the north to the fourth day of the week, which
+was formerly consecrated to him. It is called by a name which signifies
+"Odin's day;" "Old Norse, _Odinsdagr_; Swedish and Danish, _Onsdag_;
+Anglo-Saxon, _Wodenesdaeg_, _Wodnesdaeg_; Dutch, _Woensdag_; English,
+Wednesday. As Odin or Wodun was supposed to correspond to the Mercury of
+the Greeks and Romans, the name of this day was expressed in Latin _Dies
+Mercurii_."--_White_.
+
+[63] "The appointed time for these sacrifices," says Mallet (North. Ant.
+ch. vi.), "was always determined by a superstitious opinion which
+made the northern nations regard the number 'three' as sacred and
+particularly dear to the gods. Thus, in every ninth month they renewed
+the bloody ceremony, which was to last nine days, and every day they
+offered up nine living victims, whether men or animals. But the most
+solemn sacrifices were those which were offered up at Upsal in Sweden
+every ninth year...." After stating the compulsory nature of the
+attendance at this festival, Mallet adds, "Then they chose among the
+captives in time of war, and among the slaves in time of peace, nine
+persons to be sacrificed. In whatever manner they immolated men, the
+priest always took care in consecrating the victim to pronounce certain
+words, as 'I devote thee to Odin,' 'I send thee to Odin.'" See Lucan i.
+444.
+
+  "Et quibus immitis placatur sanguine diro
+  Teutates, horrensque feris altaribus Hesus."
+
+Teutates is Mercury, Hesus, Mars. So also at iii. 399, &c.
+
+  "Lucus erat longo nunquam violatus ab aevo.
+  ... Barbara ritu
+  Sacra Deum, structae diris altaribus arae,
+  Omnis et humanis lustrata cruoribus arbor."
+
+[64] That is, as in the preceding case, a deity whose attributes
+corresponded to those of the Roman Mars. This appears to have been
+not _Thor_, who is rather the representative of the Roman Jupiter, but
+_Tyr_, "a warrior god, and the protector of champions and brave men!"
+"From _Tyr_ is derived the name given to the third day of the week in
+most of the Teutonic languages, and which has been rendered into Latin
+by _Dies Martis_. Old Norse, _Tirsdagr_, _Tisdagr_; Swedish, _Tisdag_;
+Danish, _Tirsdag_; German, _Dienstag_; Dutch, _Dingsdag_; Anglo-Saxon,
+_Tyrsdaeg_, _Tyvesdag_, _Tivesdaeg_; English, _Tuesday_"--(Mallet's
+North. Ant. ch. v.)--_White_.
+
+[65] The Suevi appear to have been the Germanic tribes, and this also
+the worship spoken of at chap. xl. _Signum in modum liburnae figuration
+_corresponds with the _vehiculum_ there spoken of; the real thing being,
+according to Ritter's view, a pinnace placed on wheels. That _signum
+ipsum _("the very symbol") does not mean any image of the goddess, may
+be gathered also from ch. xl., where the goddess herself, _si credere
+velis_, is spoken of as being washed in the sacred lake.
+
+[66] As the Romans in their ancient coins, many of which are now extant,
+recorded the arrival of Saturn by the stern of a ship; so other nations
+have frequently denoted the importation of a foreign religious rite by
+the figure of a galley on their medals.
+
+[67] Tacitus elsewhere speaks of temples of German divinities (e.g. 40;
+Templum Nerthae, Ann. i. 51; Templum Tanfanae); but a consecrated grove,
+or any other sacred place, was called templum by the Romans.
+
+[68] The Scythians are mentioned by Herodotus, and the Alans by Ammianus
+Marcellinus, as making use of these divining rods. The German method of
+divination with them is illustrated by what is said by Saxo-Grammaticus
+(Hist. Dan. xiv, 288) of the inhabitants of the Isle of Rugen in the
+Baltic Sea: "Throwing, by way of lots, three pieces of wood, white in
+one part, and black in another, into their laps, they foretold good
+fortune by the coming up of the white; bad by that of the black."
+
+[69] The same practice obtained among the Persians, from whom the
+Germans appear to be sprung. Darius was elected king by the neighing
+of a horse; sacred white horses were in the army of Cyrus; and Xerxes,
+retreating after his defeat, was preceded by the sacred horses
+and consecrated chariot. Justin (i. 10) mentions the cause of this
+superstition, viz. that "the Persians believed the Sun to be the only
+God, and horses to be peculiarly consecrated to him." The priest of the
+Isle of Rugen also took auspices from a white horse, as may be seen in
+Saxo-Grammaticus.
+
+[70] Montesquieu finds in this custom the origin of the duel, and of
+knight-errantry.
+
+[71] This remarkable passage, so curious in political history, is
+commented on by Montesquieu, in his Spirit of Laws. vi 11. That
+celebrated author expresses his surprise at the existence of such a
+balance between liberty and authority in the forests of Germany; and
+traces the origin of the English constitution from this source. Tacitus
+again mentions the German form of government in his Annals, iv. 33.
+
+[72] The high antiquity of this made of reckoning appears from the Book
+of Genesis. "The evening and the morning were the first day." The Gauls,
+we are informed by Caesar, "assert that, according to the tradition of
+their Druids, they are all sprung from Father Dis; on which account they
+reckon every period of time according to the number of nights, not of
+days; and observe birthdays and the beginnings of months and years in
+such a manner, that the day seems to follow the night." (Bell. Gall.
+vi. 18.) The vestiges of this method of computation still appear in the
+English language, in the terms se'nnight and fort'night.
+
+[73] _Ut turbae placuit_. Doederlein interprets this passage as
+representing the confused way in which the people took their seats in
+the national assembly, without reference to order, rank, age, &c.
+It rather represents, however, that the people, not the chieftains,
+determined when the business of the council should begin.--_White_.
+
+[74] And in an open plain. Vast heaps of stone still remaining, denote
+the scenes of these national councils. (See Mallet's Introduct. to Hist.
+of Denmark.) The English Stonehenge has been supposed a relic of this
+kind. In these assemblies are seen the origin of those which, under the
+Merovingian race of French kings, were called the Fields of March;
+under the Carlovingian, the Fields of May; then, the Plenary Courts of
+Christmas and Easter; and lastly, the States General.
+
+[75] The speech of Civilis was received with this expression of
+applause. Tacitus, Hist. iv. 15.
+
+[76] Gibbeted alive. Heavy penalties were denounced against those who
+should take them down, alive or dead. These are particularized in the
+Salic law.
+
+[77] By cowards and dastards, in this passage, are probably meant those
+who, being summoned to war, refused or neglected to go. Caesar (Bell.
+Gall. vi. 22) mentions, that those who refused to follow their chiefs
+to war were considered as deserters and traitors. And, afterwards, the
+emperor Clothaire made the following edict, preserved in the Lombard
+law: "Whatever freeman, summoned to the defence of his country by his
+Count, or his officers, shall neglect to go, and the enemy enter the
+country to lay it waste, or otherwise damage our liege subjects,
+he shall incur a capital punishment." As the crimes of cowardice,
+treachery, and desertion were so odious and ignominious among the
+Germans, we find by the Salic law, that penalties were annexed to the
+unjust imputation of them.
+
+[78] These were so rare and so infamous among the Germans, that barely
+calling a person by a name significant of them was severely punished.
+
+[79] Incestuous people were buried alive in bogs in Scotland. Pennant's
+Tour in Scotland, 1772; part i. p. 351; and part ii. p. 421.
+
+[80] Among these slighter offences, however, were reckoned homicide,
+adultery, theft, and many others of a similar kind. This appears from
+the laws of the Germans, and from a subsequent passage of Tacitus
+himself.
+
+[81] These were at that time the only riches of the country, as was
+already observed in this treatise. Afterwards gold and silver became
+plentiful: hence all the mulcts required by the Salic law are pecuniary.
+Money, however, still bore a fixed proportion to cattle; as appears from
+the Saxon law (Tit. xviii.): "The Solidus is of two kinds; one contains
+two tremisses, that is, a beeve of twelve months, or a sheep with its
+lamb; the other, three tremisses, or a beeve of sixteen months. Homicide
+is compounded for by the lesser solidus; other crimes by the greater."
+The Saxons had their Weregeld,--the Scotch their Cro, Galnes, and
+Kelchin,--and the Welsh their Gwerth, and Galanus, or compensations for
+injuries; and cattle were likewise the usual fine. Vide Pennant's Tour
+in Wales of 1773, pp. 273, 274.
+
+[82] This mulct is frequently in the Salic law called "fred," that is,
+peace; because it was paid to the king or state, as guardians of the
+public peace.
+
+[83] A brief account of the civil economy of the Germans will here be
+useful. They were divided into nations; of which some were under a
+regal government, others a republican. The former had kings, the latter
+chiefs. Both in kingdoms and republics, military affairs were under the
+conduct of the generals. The nations were divided into cantons; each of
+which was superintended by a chief, or count, who administered justice
+in it. The cantons were divided into districts or hundreds, so called
+because they contained a hundred vills or townships. In each hundred
+was a companion, or centenary, chosen from the people, before whom small
+causes were tried. Before the count, all causes, as well great as small,
+were amenable. The centenaries are called companions by Tacitus, after
+the custom of the Romans; among whom the titles of honor were, Caesar,
+the Legatus or Lieutenant of Caesar, and his comites, or companions. The
+courts of justice were held in the open air, on a rising ground, beneath
+the shade of an oak, elm, or some other large tree.
+
+[84] Even judges were armed on the seat of justice. The Romans, on
+the contrary, never went armed but when actually engaged in military
+service.
+
+[85] These are the rudiments of the famous institution of chivalry. The
+sons of kings appear to have received arms from foreign princes. Hence,
+when Audoin, after overcoming the Gepidae, was requested by the Lombards
+to dine with his son Alboin, his partner in the victory, he refused;
+for, says he, "you know it is not customary with us for a king's son
+to dine with his father, until he has received arms from the king of
+another country."--Warnefrid, De gestis Langobardorum, i. 23.
+
+[86] An allusion to the _toga virilis_ of the Romans. The German youth
+were presented with the shield and spear probably at twelve or fifteen
+years of age. This early initiation into the business of arms gave them
+that warlike character for which they were so celebrated. Thus, Seneca
+(Epist. 46) says, "A native of Germany brandishes, while yet a boy,
+his slender javelin." And again (in his book on Anger, i. 11), "Who are
+braver than the Germans?--who more impetuous in the charge?--who fonder
+of arms, in the use of which they are born and nourished, which are
+their only care?--who more inured to hardships, insomuch that for the
+most part they provide no covering for their bodies, no retreat against
+the perpetual severity of the climate?"
+
+[87] Hence it seems that these noble lads were deemed _principes_ in
+rank, yet had their position among the _comites_ only. The German word
+_Gesell_ is peculiarly appropriated to these comrades in arms. So highly
+were they esteemed in Germany, that for killing or hurting them a fine
+was exacted treble to that for other freemen.
+
+[88] Hence, when Chonodomarus, king of the Alamanni, was taken prisoner
+by the Romans, "his companions, two hundred in number, and three friends
+peculiarly attached to him, thinking it infamous to survive their
+prince, or not to die for him, surrendered themselves to be put in
+bonds."--Ammianus Marcellinus, xvi. 13.
+
+[89] Hence Montesquieu (Spirit of Laws, xxx, 3) justly derives the
+origin of vassalage. At first, the prince gave to his nobles arms and
+provision: as avarice advanced, money, and then lands, were required,
+which from benefices became at length hereditary possessions, and were
+called fiefs. Hence the establishment of the feudal system.
+
+[90] Caesar, with less precision, says, "The Germans pass their whole
+lives in hunting and military exercises." (Bell. Gall, vi. 21.) The
+picture drawn by Tacitus is more consonant to the genius of a barbarous
+people: besides that, hunting being the employment but of a few months
+of the year, a greater part must necessarily be passed in indolence
+by those who had no other occupation. In this circumstance, and those
+afterwards related, the North American savages exactly agree with the
+ancient Germans.
+
+[91] This apparent contradiction is, however, perfectly agreeable to the
+principles of human nature. Among people governed by impulse more than
+reason, everything is in the extreme: war and peace; motion and rest;
+love and hatred; none are pursued with moderation.
+
+[92] These are the rudiments of tributes; though the contributions
+here spoken of were voluntary, and without compulsion. The origin of
+exchequers is pointed out above, where "part of the mulct" is said to
+be "paid to the king or state." Taxation was taught the Germans by the
+Romans, who levied taxes upon them.
+
+[93] So, in after-times, when tributes were customary, 500 oxen or cows
+were required annually from the Saxons by the French kings Clothaire
+I. and Pepin. (See Eccard, tom. i. pp. 84, 480.) Honey, corn, and other
+products of the earth, were likewise received in tribute. (Ibid. p.
+392.)
+
+[94] For the expenses of war, and other necessities of state, and
+particularly the public entertainments. Hence, besides the Steora, or
+annual tribute, the Osterstuopha, or Easter cup, previous to the public
+assembly of the Field of March, was paid to the French kings.
+
+[95] This was a dangerous lesson, and in the end proved ruinous to
+the Roman empire. Herodian says of the Germans in his time, "They
+are chiefly to be prevailed upon by bribes; being fond of money, and
+continually selling peace to the Romans for gold."--Lib. vi. 139.
+
+[96] This custom was of long duration; for there is not the mention of a
+single city in Ammianus Marcellinus, who wrote on the wars of the Romans
+in Germany. The names of places in Ptolemy (ii. 11) are not, therefore,
+those of cities, but of scattered villages. The Germans had not even
+what we should call towns, notwithstanding Caesar asserts the contrary.
+
+[97] The space surrounding the house, and fenced in by hedges, was that
+celebrated Salic land, which descended to the male line, exclusively of
+the female.
+
+[98] The danger of fire was particularly urgent in time of war; for,
+as Caesar informs us, these people were acquainted with a method of
+throwing red-hot clay bullets from slings, and burning javelins, on the
+thatch of houses. (Bell. Gall. v. 42.)
+
+[99] Thus likewise Mela (ii. 1), concerning the Sarmatians: "On account
+of the length and severity of their winters, they dwell under ground,
+either in natural or artificial caverns." At the time that Germany was
+laid waste by a forty years' war, Kircher saw many of the natives who,
+with their flocks, herds, and other possessions, took refuge in the
+caverns of the highest mountains. For many other curious particulars
+concerning these and other subterranean caves, see his Mundus
+Subterraneus, viii. 3, p. 100. In Hungary, at this day, corn is commonly
+stored in subterranean chambers.
+
+[100] Near Newbottle, the seat of the Marquis of Lothian, are some
+subterraneous apartments and passages cut out of the live rock, which
+had probably served for the same purposes of winter-retreats and
+granaries as those dug by the ancient Germans. Pennant's Tour in 1769,
+4to, p.63.
+
+[101] This was a kind of mantle of a square form, called also _rheno_.
+Thus Caesar (Bell. Gall. vi. 21): "They use skins for clothing, or the
+short rhenones, and leave the greatest part of the body naked." Isidore
+(xix. 23) describes the rhenones as "garments covering the shoulders
+and breast, as low as the navel, so rough and shaggy that they are
+impenetrable to rain." Mela (iii. 3), speaking of the Germans, says,
+"The men are clothed only with the sagum, or the bark of trees, even in
+the depth of winter."
+
+[102] All savages are fond of variety of colors; hence the Germans
+spotted their furs with the skins of other animals, of which those
+here mentioned were probably of the seal kind. This practice is still
+continued with regard to the ermine, which is spotted with black
+lamb's-skin.
+
+[103] The Northern Sea, and Frozen Ocean.
+
+[104] Pliny testifies the same thing; and adds, that "the women
+beyond the Rhine are not acquainted with any more elegant kind of
+clothing."--xix. 1.
+
+[105] Not that rich and costly purple in which the Roman nobility shone,
+but some ordinary material, such as the _vaccinium_, which Pliny says
+was used by the Gauls as a purple dye for the garments of the slaves,
+(xvi. 18.)
+
+[106] The chastity of the Germans, and their strict regard to the laws
+of marriage, are witnessed by all their ancient codes of law. The purity
+of their manners in this respect afforded a striking contrast to the
+licentiousness of the Romans in the decline of the empire, and is
+exhibited in this light by Salvian, in his treatise De Gubernatione Dei,
+lib. vii.
+
+[107] Thus we find in Caesar (Bell. Gall. i. 53) that Ariovistus had
+two wives. Others had more. This indulgence proved more difficult to
+abolish, as it was considered as a mark of opulence, and an appendage of
+nobility.
+
+[108] The Germans purchased their wives, as appears from the following
+clauses in the Saxon law concerning marriage: "A person who espouses a
+wife shall pay to her parents 300 solidi (about 180_l._ sterling);
+but if the marriage be without the consent of the parents, the damsel,
+however, consenting, he shall pay 600 solidi. If neither the parents nor
+damsel consent, that is, if she be carried off by violence, he shall pay
+300 solidi to the parents, and 340 to the damsel, and restore her to her
+parents."
+
+[109] Thus in the Saxon law, concerning dowries, it is said: "The
+Ostfalii and Angrarii determine, that if a woman have male issue, she
+is to possess the dower she received in marriage during her life, and
+transmit it to her sons."
+
+[110] _Ergo septae pudicitia agunt_. Some editions have _septa
+pudicitia_. This would imply, however, rather the result of the care and
+watchfulness of their husbands; whereas it seems the object of Tacitus
+to show that this their chastity was the effect of innate virtue, and
+this is rather expressed by _septae pudicitia_, which is the reading of
+the Arundelian MS.
+
+[111] Seneca speaks with great force and warmth on this subject:
+"Nothing is so destructive to morals as loitering at public
+entertainments; for vice more easily insinuates itself into the heart
+when softened by pleasure. What shall I say! I return from them more
+covetous ambitious, and luxurious."--Epist. vii.
+
+[112] The Germans had a great regard for the hair, and looked upon
+cutting it off as a heavy disgrace; so that this was made a punishment
+for certain crimes, and was resented as an injury if practised upon an
+innocent person.
+
+[113] From an epistle of St. Boniface, archbishop of Mentz, to
+Ethelbald, king of England, we learn that among the Saxons the women
+themselves inflicted the punishment for violated chastity; "In ancient
+Saxony (now Westphalia), if a virgin pollute her father's house, or a
+married woman prove false to her vows, sometimes she is forced to put an
+end to her own life by the halter, and over the ashes of her burned body
+her seducer is hanged: sometimes a troop of females assembling lead her
+through the circumjacent villages, lacerating her body, stripped to
+the girdle, with rods and knives; and thus, bloody and full of minute
+wounds, she is continually met by new tormenters, who in their zeal for
+chastity do not quit her till she is dead, or scarcely alive, in order
+to inspire a dread of such offences." See Michael Alford's Annales
+Ecclesiae Anglo-Saxon., and Eccard.
+
+[114] A passage in Valerius Maximus renders it probable that the
+Cimbrian states were of this number: "The wives of the Teutones besought
+Marius, after his victory, that he would deliver them as a present to
+the Vestal virgins; affirming that they should henceforth, equally with
+themselves, abstain from the embraces of the other sex. This request not
+being granted, they all strangled themselves the ensuing night."--Lib.
+vi. 1.3.
+
+[115] Among the Heruli, the wife was expected to hang herself at once at
+the grave of her husband, if she would not live in perpetual infamy.
+
+[116] This expression may signify as well the murder of young children,
+as the procurement of abortion; both which crimes were severely punished
+by the German laws.
+
+[117] _Quemquam ex agnatis_. By _agnati_ generally in Roman law were
+meant relations by the father's side; here it signifies children born
+after there was already an heir to the name and property of the father.
+
+[118] Justin has a similar thought concerning the Scythians: "Justice is
+cultivated by the dispositions of the people, not by the laws." (ii.
+2.) How inefficacious the good laws here alluded to by Tacitus were
+in preventing enormities among the Romans, appears from the frequent
+complaints of the senators, and particularly of Minucius Felix; "I
+behold you, exposing your babes to the wild beasts and birds, or
+strangling the unhappy wretches with your own hands. Some of you, by
+means of drugs, extinguish the newly-formed man within your bowels, and
+thus commit parricide on your offspring before you bring them into the
+world." (Octavius, c. 30.) So familiar was this practice grown at Rome,
+that the virtuous Pliny apologises for it, alleging that "the great
+fertility of some women may require such a licence."--xxix. 4, 37.
+
+[119] _Nudi ac sordidi_ does not mean "in nakedness and filth," as most
+translators have supposed. Personal filth is inconsistent with the daily
+practice of bathing mentioned c. 22; and _nudus_ does not necessarily
+imply absolute nakedness (see note 4, p. 293).
+
+[120] This age appears at first to have been twelve years; for then a
+youth became liable to the penalties of law. Thus in the Salic law it is
+said, "If a child under twelve commit a fault, 'fred,' or a mulct, shall
+not be required of him." Afterwards the term was fifteen years of
+age. Thus in the Ripuary law, "A child under fifteen shall not be
+responsible." Again, "If a man die, or be killed, and leave a son;
+before he have completed his fifteenth year, he shall neither prosecute
+a cause, nor be called upon to answer in a suit: but at this term, he
+must either answer himself, or choose an advocate. In like manner with
+regard to the female sex." The Burgundian law provides to the same
+effect. This then was the term of majority, which in later times, when
+heavier armor was used, was still longer delayed.
+
+[121] This is illustrated by a passage in Caesar (Bell. Gall. vi. 21):
+"They who are the latest in proving their virility are most commended.
+By this delay they imagine the stature is increased, the strength
+improved, and the nerves fortified. To have knowledge of the other
+sex before twenty years of age, is accounted in the highest degree
+scandalous."
+
+[122] Equal not only in age and constitution, but in condition. Many of
+the German codes of law annex penalties to those of both sexes who marry
+persons of inferior rank.
+
+[123] Hence, in the history of the Merovingian kings of France, so many
+instances of regard to sisters and their children appear, and so many
+wars undertaken on their account.
+
+[124] The court paid at Rome to rich persons without children, by the
+Haeredipetae, or legacy-hunters, is a frequent subject of censure and
+ridicule with the Roman writers.
+
+[125] Avengers of blood are mentioned in the law of Moses, Numb. xxxv.
+19. In the Roman law also, under the head of "those who on account of
+unworthiness are deprived of their inheritance," it is pronounced, that
+"such heirs as are proved to have neglected revenging the testator's
+death, shall be obliged to restore the entire profits."
+
+[126] It was a wise provision, that among this fierce and warlike
+people, revenge should be commuted for a payment. That this intention
+might not be frustrated by the poverty of the offender, his whole family
+were conjointly bound to make compensation.
+
+[127] All uncivilized nations agree in this property, which becomes less
+necessary as a nation improves in the arts of civil life.
+
+[128] _Convictibus et hospitiis_. "Festivities and entertainments." The
+former word applies to friends and fellow-countrymen; the latter, to
+those not of the same tribe, and foreigners. Caesar (Bell. Gall. vi. 23)
+says, "They think it unlawful to offer violence to their guests, who,
+on whatever occasion they come to them, are protected from injury,
+and considered as sacred. Every house is open to them, and provision
+everywhere set before them." Mela (iii. 3) says of the Germans, "They
+make right consist in force, so that they are not ashamed of robbery:
+they are only kind to their guests, and merciful to suppliants. The
+Burgundian law lays a fine of three solidi on every man who refuses his
+roof or hearth to the coming guest." The Salic law, however, rightly
+forbids the exercise of hospitality to atrocious criminals; laying a
+penalty on the person who shall harbor one who has dug up or despoiled
+the dead? till he has made satisfaction to the relations.
+
+[129] The clause here put within brackets is probably misplaced;
+since it does not connect well either with what goes before or what
+follows.[130] The Russians are at present the most remarkable among the
+northern nations for the use of warm bathing. Some of the North American
+tribes also have their hypocausts, or stoves.
+
+[131] Eating at separate tables is generally an indication of voracity.
+Traces of it may be found in Homer, and other writers who have described
+ancient manners. The same practice has also been observed among the
+people of Otaheite; who occasionally devour vast quantities of food.
+
+[132] The following article in the Salic law shows at once the frequency
+of these bloody quarrels, and the laudable endeavors of the legislature
+to restrain them;--"If at a feast where there are four or five men in
+company, one of them be killed, the rest shall either convict one as the
+offender, or shall jointly pay the composition for his death. And this
+law shall extend to seven persons present at an entertainment."
+
+[133] The same custom is related by Herodotus, i. p. 66, as prevailing
+among the Persians.
+
+[134] Of this liquor, beer or ale, Pliny speaks in the following
+passage: "The western nations have their intoxicating liquor, made of
+steeped grain. The Egyptians also invented drinks of the same kind. Thus
+drunkenness is a stranger in no part of the world; for these liquors are
+taken pure, and not diluted as wine is. Yet, surely, the Earth thought
+she was producing corn. Oh, the wonderful sagacity of our vices! we have
+discovered how to render even water intoxicating."--xiv. 22.
+
+[135] Mela says, "Their manner of living is so rude and savage, that
+they eat even raw flesh; either fresh killed, or softened by working
+with their hands and feet, after it has grown stiff in the hides of
+tame or wild animals." (iii. 3.) Florus relates that the ferocity of
+the Cimbri was mitigated by their feeding on bread and dressed meat, and
+drinking wine, in the softest tract of Italy.--iii. 3.
+
+[136] This must not be understood to have been cheese; although Caesar
+says of the Germans, "Their diet chiefly consists of milk, cheese and
+flesh." (Bell. Gall. vi. 22.) Pliny, who was thoroughly acquainted with
+the German manners, says more accurately, "It is surprising that the
+barbarous nations who live on milk should for so many ages have been
+ignorant of, or have rejected, the preparation of cheese; especially
+since they thicken their milk into a pleasant tart substance, and a fat
+butter: this is the scum of milk, of a thicker consistence than what is
+called the whey. It must not be omitted that it has the properties of
+oil, and is used as an unguent by all the barbarians, and by us for
+children."--xi. 41.
+
+[137] This policy has been practised by the Europeans with regard to the
+North American savages, some tribes of which have been almost totally
+extirpated by it.
+
+[138] St. Ambrose has a remarkable passage concerning this spirit
+of gaming among a barbarous people:--"It is said that the Huns, who
+continually make war upon other nations, are themselves subject to
+usurers, with whom they run in debt at play; and that, while they live
+without laws, they obey the laws of the dice alone; playing when drawn
+up in line of battle; carrying dice along with their arms, and perishing
+more by each others' hands than by the enemy. In the midst of victory
+they submit to become captives, and suffer plunder from their own
+countrymen, which they know not how to bear from the foe. On this
+account they never lay aside the business of war, because, when they
+have lost all their booty by the dice, they have no means of acquiring
+fresh supplies for play, but by the sword. They are frequently borne
+away with such a desperate ardor, that, when the loser has given up his
+arms, the only part of his property which he greatly values, he sets the
+power over his life at a single cast to the winner or usurer. It is a
+fact, that a person, known to the Roman emperor, paid the price of a
+servitude which he had by this means brought upon himself, by suffering
+death at the command of his master."
+
+[139] The condition of these slaves was the same as that of the vassals,
+or serfs, who a few centuries ago made the great body of the people
+in every country in Europe. The Germans, in after times, imitating the
+Romans, had slaves of inferior condition, to whom the name of slave
+became appropriated; while those in the state of rural vassalage were
+called _lidi_.
+
+[140] A private enemy could not be slain with impunity, since a fine
+was affixed to homicide; but a man might kill his own slave without
+any punishment. If, however, he killed another person's slave, he was
+obliged to pay his price to the owner.
+
+[141] The amazing height of power and insolence to which freedmen
+arrived by making themselves subservient to the vices of the prince,
+is a striking characteristic of the reigns of some of the worst of the
+Roman emperors.
+
+[142] In Rome, on the other hand, the practice of usury was, as our
+author terms it, "an ancient evil, and a perpetual source of sedition
+and discord."--Annals, vi. 16.
+
+[143] All the copies read _per vices_, "by turns," or alternately; but
+the connection seems evidently to require the easy alteration of _per
+vicos_, which has been approved by many learned commentators, and is
+therefore adopted in this translation.
+
+[144] Caesar has several particulars concerning this part of German
+polity. "They are not studious of agriculture, the greater part of
+their diet consisting of milk, cheese, and flesh; nor has any one
+a determinate portion of land, his own peculiar property; but the
+magistrates and chiefs allot every year to tribes and clanships forming
+communities, as much land, and in such situations, as they think proper,
+and oblige them to remove the succeeding year. For this practice they
+assign several reasons: as, lest they should be led, by being
+accustomed to one spot, to exchange the toils of war for the business of
+agriculture; lest they should acquire a passion for possessing extensive
+domains, and the more powerful should be tempted to dispossess the
+weaker; lest they should construct buildings with more art than was
+necessary to protect them from the inclemencies of the weather; lest
+the love of money should arise amongst them, the source of faction
+and dissensions; and in order that the people, beholding their own
+possessions equal to those of the most powerful, might be retained by
+the bonds of equity and moderation."--Bell. Gall. vi. 21.
+
+[145] The Germans, not planting fruit-trees, were ignorant of the proper
+products of autumn. They have now all the autumnal fruits of their
+climate; yet their language still retains a memorial of their ancient
+deficiencies, in having no term for this season of the year, but one
+denoting the gathering in of corn alone--_Herbst_, Harvest.
+
+[146] In this respect, as well as many others, the manners of the
+Germans were a direct contrast to those of the Romans. Pliny mentions a
+private person, C. Caecilius Claudius Isidorus, who ordered the sum of
+about 10,000_l._ sterling to be expended in his funeral: and in another
+place he says, "Intelligent persons asserted that Arabia did not produce
+such a quantity of spices in a year as Nero burned at the obsequies of
+his Poppaea."--xxxiii. 10, and xii. 18.
+
+[147] The following lines of Lucan, describing the last honors paid by
+Cornelia to the body of Pompey the Great, happily illustrate the customs
+here referred to:--
+
+  Collegit vestes, miserique insignia Magni.
+  Armaque, et impressas auro, quas gesserat olim
+  Exuvias, pictasque togas, velamina summo
+  Ter conspecta Jovi, funestoque intulit igni.--Lib. ix. 175.
+
+  "There shone his arms, with antique gold inlaid,
+  There the rich robes which she herself had made,
+  Robes to imperial Jove in triumph thrice display'd:
+  The relics of his past victorious days,
+  Now this his latest trophy serve to raise,
+  And in one common flame together blaze."--ROWE.
+
+[148] Thus in the tomb of Childeric, king of the Franks, were found
+his spear and sword, and also his horse's head, with a shoe, and gold
+buckles and housings. A human skull was likewise discovered, which,
+perhaps, was that of his groom.
+
+[149] Caesar's account is as follows:--"There was formerly a time when
+the Gauls surpassed the Germans in bravery, and made war upon them;
+and, on account of their multitude of people and scarcity of land, sent
+colonies beyond the Rhine. The most fertile parts of Germany, adjoining
+to the Hercynian forest, (which, I observe, was known by report to
+Eratosthenes and others of the Greeks, and called by them Orcinia,) were
+accordingly occupied by the Volcae and Tectosages, who settled there.
+These people still continue in the same settlements, and have a high
+character as well for the administration of justice as military prowess:
+and they now remain in the same state of penury and content as the
+Germans, whose manner of life they have adopted."--Bell. Gall. vi. 24.
+
+[150] The inhabitants of Switzerland, then extending further than at
+present, towards Lyons.
+
+[151] A nation of Gauls, bordering on the Helvetii, as appears from
+Strabo and Caesar. After being conquered by Caesar, the Aedui gave them
+a settlement in the country now called the Bourbonnois. The name of
+their German colony, Boiemum, is still extant in Bohemia. The aera at
+which the Helvetii and Boii penetrated into Germany is not ascertained.
+It seems probable, however, that it was in the reign of Tarquinius
+Priscus; for at that time, as we are told by Livy, Ambigatus, king of
+the Bituriges (people of Berry), sent his sister's son Sigovesus into
+the Hercynian forest, with a colony, in order to exonerate his kingdom
+which was overpeopled. (Livy, v. 33; _et seq._)
+
+[152] In the time of Augustus, the Boii, driven from Boiemum by the
+Marcomanni, retired to Noricum, which from them was called Boioaria, now
+Bavaria.
+
+[153] This people inhabited that part of Lower Hungary now called the
+Palatinate of Pilis.
+
+[154] Towards the end of this treatise, Tacitus seems himself to decide
+this point, observing that their use of the Pannonian language, and
+acquiescence in paying tribute, prove the Osi not to be a German nation.
+They were settled beyond the Marcomanni and Quadi, and occupied the
+northern part of Transdanubian Hungary; perhaps extending to Silesia,
+where is a place called Ossen in the duchy of Oels, famous for salt and
+glass works. The learned Pelloutier, however, contends that the Osi were
+Germans; but with less probability.
+
+[155] The inhabitants of the modern diocese of Treves.
+
+[156] Those of Cambresis and Hainault.
+
+[157] Those of the dioceses of Worms, Strasburg, and Spires.
+
+[158] Those of the diocese of Cologne. The Ubii, migrating from Germany
+to Gaul, on account of the enmity of the Catti, and their own attachment
+to the Roman interest, were received under the protection of Marcus
+Agrippa, in the year of Rome 717. (Strabo, iv. p. 194.) Agrippina, the
+wife of Claudius and mother of Nero, who was born among them, obtained
+the settlement of a colony there, which was called after her name.
+
+[159] Now the Betuwe, part of the provinces of Holland and Guelderland.
+
+[160] Hence the Batavi are termed, in an ancient inscription, "the
+brothers and friends of the Roman people."
+
+[161] This nation inhabited part of the countries now called the
+Weteraw, Hesse, Isenburg and Fulda. In this territory was Mattium, now
+Marpurg, and the Fontes Mattiaci, now Wisbaden, near Mentz.
+
+[162] The several people of Germany had their respective borders, called
+marks or marches, which they defended by preserving them in a desert and
+uncultivated state. Thus Caesar, Bell. Gall. iv 3:--"They think it the
+greatest honor to a nation, to have as wide an extent of vacant land
+around their dominions as possible; by which it is indicated, that a
+great number of neighboring communities are unable to withstand them.
+On this account, the Suevi are said to have, on one side, a tract of
+600 (some learned men think we should read 60) miles desert for their
+boundaries." In another place Caesar mentions, as an additional reason
+for this policy, that they think themselves thereby rendered secure from
+the danger of sudden incursions. (Bell. Gall. vi. 13.)
+
+[163] The difference between the low situation and moist air of Batavia,
+and the high and dry country of the Mattiaci, will sufficiently justify
+this remark, in the opinion of those who allow anything to the influence
+of climate.
+
+[164] Now Swabia. When the Marcommanni, towards the end of the reign
+of Augustus, quitting their settlements near the Rhine, migrated to
+Bohemia, the lands they left vacant were occupied by some unsettled
+Gauls among the Rauraci and Sequani. They seem to have been called
+Decumates (Decimated), because the inhabitants, liable to the incursions
+of the Germans, paid a tithe of their products to be received under
+the protection of the Romans. Adrian defended them by a rampart, which
+extended from Neustadt, a town on the Danube near the mouth of the river
+Altmuehl, to the Neckar near Wimpfen; a space of sixty French leagues.
+
+[165] Of Upper Germany.
+
+[166] The Catti possessed a large territory between the Rhine, Mayne and
+Sala, and the Hartz forest on this side of the Weser; where are now
+the countries of Hesse, Thuringia, part of Paderborn, of Fulda, and
+of Franconia. Learned writers have frequently noted, that what Caesar,
+Florus and Ptolemy have said of the Suevi, is to be understood of the
+Catti. Leibnitz supposes the Catti were so called from the active
+animal which they resemble in name, the German for cat being _Catte_, or
+_Hessen_.
+
+[167] Pliny, who was well acquainted with Germany, gives a very striking
+description of the Hercynian forest:--"The vast trees of the Hercynian
+forest, untouched for ages, and as old as the world, by their almost
+immortal destiny exceed common wonders. Not to mention circumstances
+which would not be credited, it is certain that hills are raised by the
+repercussion of their meeting roots; and where the earth does not follow
+them, arches are formed as high as the branches, which, struggling, as
+it were, with each other, are bent into the form of open gates, so wide,
+that troops of horse may ride under them."--xvi. 2.
+
+[168] _Duriora corpora_. "Hardier frames;" _i.e._ than the rest of
+the Germans. At Hist. ii 32. the Germans, in general, are said to have
+_fluxa corpora_; while in c. 4 of this treatise they are described as
+_tantum ad impetum valida_.
+
+[169] Floras, ii. 18, well expresses this thought by the sentence "Tanti
+exercitus, quanti imperator." "An army is worth so much as its general
+is."
+
+[170] Thus Civilis is said by our author (Hist. iv. 61), to have let his
+hair and beard grow in consequence of a private vow. Thus too, in Paul
+Warnefrid's "History of the Lombards," iii. 7, it is related, that "six
+thousand Saxons who survived the war, vowed that they would never cut
+their hair, nor shave their beards, till they had been revenged of their
+enemies, the Suevi." A later instance of this custom is mentioned by
+Strada (Bell. Belg. vii. p. 344), of William Lume, one of the Counts
+of Mark, "who bound himself by a vow not to cut his hair till he had
+revenged the deaths of Egmont and Horn."
+
+[171] The iron ring seems to have been a badge of slavery. This custom
+was revived in later times, but rather with a gallant than a military
+intention. Thus, in the year 1414, John duke of Bourbon, in order to
+ingratiate himself with his mistress, vowed, together with sixteen
+knights and gentlemen, that they would wear, he and the knights a gold
+ring, the gentlemen a silver one, round their left legs, every Sunday
+for two years, till they had met with an equal number of knights and
+gentlemen to contend with them in a tournament. (Vertot, Mem. de l'Acad.
+des Inscr. tom. ii. p. 596.)
+
+[172] It was this nation of Catti, which, about 150 years afterwards,
+uniting with the remains of the Cherusci on this side the Weser, the
+Attuarii, Sicambri, Chamavi, Bructeri, and Chauci, entered into the
+Francic league, and, conquering the Romans, seized upon Gaul. From them
+are derived the name, manners, and laws of the French.
+
+[173] These two tribes, united by a community of wars and misfortunes,
+had formerly been driven from the settlements on the Rhine a little
+below Mentz. They then, according to Caesar (Bell. Gall. iv. 1, _et
+seq._), occupied the territories of the Menapii on both sides the Rhine.
+Still proving unfortunate, they obtained the lands of the Sicambri,
+who, in the reign of Augustus, were removed on this side the Rhine by
+Tiberius: these were the present counties of Berg, Mark, Lippe, and
+Waldeck; and the bishopric of Paderborn.
+
+[174] Their settlements were between the rivers Rhine, Lippe (Luppia),
+and Ems (Amisia), and the province of Friesland; now the countries of
+Westphalia and Over-Issel. Alting (Notit. German. Infer, p. 20) supposes
+they derived their name from _Broeken_, or _Bruchen_, marshes, on
+account of their frequency in that tract of country.
+
+[175] Before this migration, the Chamavi were settled on the Ems,
+where at present are Lingen and Osnaburg; the Angrivarii, on the Weser
+(Visurgis), where are Minden and Schawenburg. A more ancient migration
+of the Chamavi to the banks of the Rhine is cursorily mentioned
+by Tacitus, Annal. xiii. 55. The Angrivarii were afterwards called
+Angrarii, and became part of the Saxon nation.
+
+[176] They were not so entirely extirpated that no relics of them
+remained. They were even a conspicuous part of the Francic league, as
+before related. Claudian also, in his panegyric on the fourth consulate
+of Honorius, v. 450, mentions them.
+
+            Venit accola sylvae
+  Bructerus Hercyniae.
+
+  "The Bructerian, borderer on the Hercynian forest, came."
+
+After their expulsion, they settled, according to Eccard, between
+Cologne and Hesse.
+
+[177] The Bructeri were under regal government, and maintained many wars
+against the Romans. Hence their arrogance and power. Before they were
+destroyed by their countrymen, Vestricius Spurinna terrified them into
+submission without an action, and had on that account a triumphal statue
+decreed him. Pliny the younger mentions this fact, book ii. epist. 7.
+
+[178] An allusion to gladiatorial spectacles. This slaughter happened
+near the canal of Drusus, where the Roman guard on the Rhine could be
+spectators of the battle. The account of it came to Rome in the first
+year of Trajan.
+
+[179] As this treatise was written in the reign of Trajan, when the
+affairs of the Romans appeared unusually prosperous, some critics have
+imagined that Tacitus wrote _vigentibus_, "flourishing," instead of
+_urgentibus_, "urgent." But it is sufficiently evident, from other
+passages, that the causes which were operating gradually, but surely, to
+the destruction of the Roman empire, did not escape the penetration of
+Tacitus, even when disguised by the most flattering appearances. The
+common reading is therefore, probably, right.--_Aikin_.
+
+[180] These people first resided near the head of the Lippe; and then
+removed to the settlements of the Chamavi and Angrivarii, who had
+expelled the Bructeri. They appear to have been the same with those whom
+Velleius Paterculus, ii. 105, calls the Attuarii, and by that name they
+entered into the Francic league. Strabo calls them Chattuarii.
+
+[181] Namely, the Ansibarii and Tubantes. The Ansibarii or Amsibarii are
+thought by Alting to have derived their name from their neighborhood to
+the river Ems (Amisia); and the. Tubantes, from their frequent change of
+habitation, to have been called _Tho Benten_. or the wandering troops,
+and to have dwelt where now is Drente in Over-Issel. Among these
+nations, Furstenburg (Monum. Paderborn.) enumerates the Ambrones,
+borderers upon the river Ambrus, now Emmeren.
+
+[182] The Frieslanders. The lesser Frisii were settled on this side, the
+greater, on the other, of the Flevum (Zuyderzee).
+
+[183] In the time of the Romans this country was covered by vast meres,
+or lakes; which were made still larger by frequent inundations of the
+sea. Of these, one so late as 1530 overwhelmed seventy-two villages; and
+another, still more terrible, in 1569, laid under water great part
+of the sea-coast of Holland, and almost all Friesland, in which alone
+20,000 persons were drowned.
+
+[184] Wherever the land seemed to terminate, and it appeared impossible
+to proceed further, maritime nations have feigned pillars of Hercules.
+Those celebrated by the Frisians must have been at the extremity of
+Friesland, and not in Sweden and the Cimmerian promontory, as Rudbeck
+supposes.
+
+[185] Drusus, the brother of Tiberius, and father of Germanicus, imposed
+a tribute on the Frisians, as mentioned in the Annals, iv. 72, and
+performed other eminent services in Germany; himself styled Germanicus.
+
+[186] The Chauci extended along the seacoast from the Ems to the Elbe
+(Albis); whence they bordered on all the fore-mentioned nations, between
+which and the Cherusci they came round to the Catti. The Chauci were
+distinguished into Greater and Lesser. The Greater, according to
+Ptolemy, inhabited the country between the Weser and the Elbe; the
+Lesser, that between the Weser and Ems; but Tacitus (Annals xi. 19)
+seems to reverse this order. Alting supposes the Chauci had their name
+from _Kauken_, signifying persons eminent for valor and fidelity, which
+agrees with the character Tacitus gives them. Others derive it from
+_Kauk_, an owl, with a reference to the enmity of that animal to cats
+(_Catti_). Others, from _Kaiten_, daws, of which there are great numbers
+on their coast. Pliny has admirably described the country and manners of
+the maritime Chauci, in his account of people who live without any trees
+or fruit-bearing vegetables:--"In the North are the nations of Chauci,
+who are divided into Greater and Lesser. Here, the ocean, having a
+prodigious flux and reflux twice in the space of every day and night,
+rolls over an immense tract, leaving it a matter of perpetual doubt
+whether it is part of the land or sea. In this spot, the wretched
+natives, occupying either the tops of hills, or artificial mounds
+of turf, raised out of reach of the highest tides, build their small
+cottages; which appear like sailing vessels when the water covers the
+circumjacent ground, and like wrecks when it has retired. Here from
+their huts they pursue the fish, continually flying from them with the
+waves. They do not, like their neighbors, possess cattle, and feed on
+milk; nor have they a warfare to maintain against wild beasts, for every
+fruit of the earth is far removed from them. With flags and seaweed they
+twist cordage for their fishing-nets. For fuel they use a kind of mud,
+taken up by hand, and dried, rather in the wind than the sun: with this
+earth they heat their food, and warm their bodies, stiffened by the
+rigorous north. Their only drink is rain-water collected in ditches at
+the thresholds of their doors. Yet this miserable people, if conquered
+to-day by the Roman arms, would call themselves slaves. Thus it is that
+fortune spares many to their own punishment."--Hist. Nat. xvi. 1.
+
+[187] On this account, fortified posts were established by the Romans
+to restrain the Chauci; who by Lucan are called Cayci in the following
+passage:
+
+  Et vos crinigeros bellis arcere Caycos
+  Oppositi.--Phars. i. 463.
+
+  "You, too, tow'rds Rome advance, ye warlike band,
+  That wont the shaggy Cauci to withstand."--ROWE
+
+[188] The Cherusci, at that time, dwelt between the Weser and the Elbe,
+where now are Luneburg, Brunswick, and part of the Marche of Brandenburg
+on this side the Elbe. In the reign of Augustus they occupied a more
+extensive tract; reaching even this side the Weser, as appears from
+the accounts of the expedition of Drusus given by Dio and Velleius
+Paterculus: unless, as Dithmar observes, what is said of the Cherusci
+on this side the Weser relates to the Dulgibini, their dependents. For,
+according to Strabo, Varus was cut off by the Cherusci, and the people
+subject to them. The brave actions of Arminius, the celebrated chief
+of the Cherusci, are related by Tacitus in the 1st and 2d books of his
+Annals.
+
+[189] Cluver, and several others, suppose the Fosi to have been the same
+with the ancient Saxons: but, since they bordered on the Cherusci, the
+opinion of Leibnitz is nearer the truth, that they inhabited the banks
+of the river Fusa, which enters the Aller (Allera) at Cellae; and were
+a sort of appendage to the Cherusci, as Hildesheim now is to Brunswick.
+The name of Saxons is later than Tacitus, and was not known till the
+reign of Antoninus Pius, at which period they poured forth from the
+Cimbric Chersonesus, and afterwards, in conjunction with the Angles,
+seized upon Britain.
+
+[191] The name of this people still exists; and the country they
+inhabited is called the Cimbric Chersonesus, or Peninsula; comprehending
+Jutland, Sleswig, and Holstein. The renown and various fortune of
+the Cimbri is briefly, but accurately, related by Mallet in the
+"Introduction" to the "History of Denmark."
+
+[192] Though at this time they were greatly reduced by migrations,
+inundations and wars, they afterwards revived; and from this storehouse
+of nations came forth the Franks, Saxons, Normans, and various other
+tribes, which brought all Europe under Germanic sway.
+
+[193] Their fame spread through Germany, Gaul, Spain, Britain, Italy,
+and as far as the Sea of Azoph (Palus Maeotis), whither, according
+to Posidonius, they penetrated, and called the Cimmerian or Cimbrian
+Bosphorus after their own name.
+
+[194] This is usually, and probably rightly, explained as relating to
+both shores of the Cimbric Chersonesus. Cluver and Dithmar, however,
+suppose that these encampments are to be sought for either in Italy,
+upon the river Athesis (Adige), or in Narbonnensian Gaul near Aquae
+Sextiae (Aix in Provence), where Florus (iii. 3) mentions that the
+Teutoni defeated by Marius took post in a valley with a river running
+through it. Of the prodigious numbers of the Cimbri who made this
+terrible irruption we have an account in Plutarch, who relates that
+their fighting men were 300,000, with a much greater number of women and
+children. (Plut. Marius, p. 411.)
+
+[195] Nerva was consul the fourth time, and Trajan the second, in the
+85lst year of Rome; in which Tacitus composed this treatise.
+
+[196] After the defeat of P. Decidius Saxa, lieutenant of Syria, by the
+Parthians, and the seizure of Syria by Pacorus, son of king Orodes, P.
+Ventidius Bassus was sent there, and vanquished the Parthians, killed
+Pacorus, and entirely restored the Roman affairs.
+
+[197] The Epitome of Livy informs us, that "in the year of Rome 640, the
+Cimbri, a wandering tribe, made a predatory incursion into Illyricum,
+where they routed the consul Papirius Carbo with his army." According
+to Strabo, it was at Noreia, a town of the Taurisci, near Aquileia, that
+Carbo was defeated. In the succeeding years, the Cimbri and Teutonia
+ravaged Gaul, and brought great calamities on that country; but at
+length, deterred by the unshaken bravery of the Gauls, they turned
+another way; as appears from Caesar, Bell. Gal. vii. 17. They then
+came into Italy, and sent ambassadors to the Senate, demanding lands to
+settle on. This was refused; and the consul M. Junius Silanus fought
+an unsuccessful battle with them, in the year of Rome 645. (Epitome of
+Livy, lxv.)
+
+[198] "L. Cassius the consul, in the year of Rome 647, was cut off with
+his army in the confines of the Allobroges, by the Tigurine Gauls,
+a canton of the Helvetians (now the cantons of Zurich, Appenzell,
+Schaffhausen, &c.), who had migrated from their settlements. The
+soldiers who survived the slaughter gave hostages for the payment of
+half they were worth, to be dismissed with safety." (Ibid.) Caesar
+further relates that the Roman army was passed under the yoke by the
+Tigurini:--"This single canton, migrating from home, within the memory
+of our fathers, slew the consul L. Cassius, and passed his army under
+the yoke."--Bell. Gall. i. 12.
+
+[199] M. Aurelius Scaurus, the consul's lieutenant (or rather consul,
+as he appears to have served that office in the year of Rome 646), was
+defeated and taken by the Cimbri; and when, being asked his advice,
+he dissuaded them from passing the Alps into Italy, assuring them the
+Romans were invincible, he was slain by a furious youth, named Boiorix.
+(Epit. Livy, lxvii.)
+
+[200] Florus, in like manner, considers these two affairs
+separately:--"Neither could Silanus sustain the first onset of the
+barbarians; nor Manlius, the second; nor Caepio, the third." (iii. 3.)
+Livy joins them together:--"By the same enemy (the Cimbri) Cn. Manlius
+the consul, and Q. Servilius Caepio the proconsul, were defeated in an
+engagement, and both dispossessed of their camps." (Epit. lxvii.) Paulus
+Orosius relates the affair more particularly:--"Manlius the consul, and
+Q. Caepio, proconsul, being sent against the Cimbri, Teutones,
+Tigurini, and Ambronae, Gaulish and German nations, who had conspired to
+extinguish the Roman empire, divided their respective provinces by the
+river Rhone. Here, the most violent dissensions prevailing between them,
+they were both overcome, to the great disgrace and danger of the Roman
+name. According to Antias, 80,000 Romans and allies were slaughtered.
+Caepio, by whose rashness this misfortune was occasioned, was condemned,
+and his property confiscated by order of the Roman people." (Lib. v.
+16.) This happened in the year of Rome 649; and the anniversary was
+reckoned among the unlucky days.
+
+[201] The Republic; in opposition to Rome when governed by emperors.
+
+[202] This tragical catastrophe so deeply affected Augustus, that, as
+Seutonius informs us, "he was said to have let his beard and hair grow
+for several months; during which he at times struck his head against the
+doors, crying out, 'Varus, restore my legions!' and ever after kept
+the anniversary as a day of mourning." (Aug. s. 23.) The finest history
+piece, perhaps, ever drawn by a writer, is Tacitus's description of the
+army of Germanicus visiting the field of battle, six years after,
+and performing funeral obsequies to the scattered remains of their
+slaughtered countrymen. (Annals, i. 61.)
+
+[203] "After so many misfortunes, the Roman people thought no general
+so capable of repelling such formidable enemies, as Marius." Nor was the
+public opinion falsified. In his fourth consulate, in the year of Rome
+652. "Marius engaged the Teutoni beyond the Alps near Aquae Sextiae (Aix
+in Province), killing, on the day of battle and the following day, above
+150,000 of the enemy, and entirely cutting off the Teutonic nation."
+(Velleus Paterculus, ii. 12.) Livy says there were 200,000 slain, and
+90,000 taken prisoners. The succeeding year he defeated the Cimbri, who
+had penetrated into Italy and crossed the Adige, in the Raudian plain,
+where now is Rubio, killing and taking prisoners upwards of 100,000 men.
+That he did not, however, obtain an unbought victory over this warlike
+people, may be conjectured from the resistance he met with even from
+their women. We are told by Florus (iii. 3) that "he was obliged to
+sustain an engagement with their wives, as well as themselves; who,
+entrenching themselves on all sides with wagons and cars, fought from
+them, as from towers, with lances and poles. Their death was no less
+glorious than their resistance. For, when they could not obtain from
+Marius what they requested by an embassy, their liberty, and admission
+into the vestal priesthood (which, indeed, could not lawfully be
+granted); after strangling their infants, they either fell by mutual
+wounds, or hung themselves on trees or the poles of their carriages in
+ropes made of their own hair. King Boiorix was slain, not unrevenged,
+fighting bravely in the field." On account of these great victories,
+Marius, in the year of Borne 652, triumphed over the Teutoni, Ambroni,
+and Cimbri.
+
+[204] In the 596th year of Rome, Julius Caesar defeated Ariovistus, a
+German king, near Dampierre in the Franche-Comte, and pursued his routed
+troops with great slaughter thirty miles towards the Rhine, filling all
+that space with spoils and dead bodies. (Bell. Gall. i. 33 and 52.)
+He had before chastised the Tigurini, who, as already mentioned, had
+defeated and killed L. Cassius. Drusus: This was the son of Livia, and
+brother of the emperor Tiberius. He was in Germany B.C. 12, 11. His loss
+was principally from shipwreck on the coast of the Chauci. See Lynam's
+Roman Emperors, i. 37, 45, Nero; _i.e._ Tiberius, afterwards emperor.
+His name was Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero. See Lynam's Roman Emperors,
+i. 51, 53, 62, 78. Germanicus: He was the son of Drusus, and so nephew
+of Tiberius. His victories in Germany took place A.D. 14-16. He too,
+like his father, was shipwrecked, and nearly at the same spot. See
+Lynam's Roman Emperors, i. 103-118.
+
+[205] In the war of Civilis, related by Tacitus, Hist. iv. and v.
+
+[206] By Domitian, as is more particularly mentioned in the Life of
+Agricola.
+
+[207] The Suevi possessed that extensive tract of country lying between
+the Elbe, the Vistula, the Baltic Sea, and the Danube. They formerly had
+spread still further, reaching even to the Rhine. Hence Strabo, Caesar,
+Florus, and others, have referred to the Suevi what related to the
+Catti.
+
+[208] Among the Suevi, and also the rest of the Germans, the slaves,
+seem to have been shaven; or at least cropped so short that they could
+not twist or tie up their hair in a knot.
+
+[209] The Semnones inhabited both banks of the Viadrus (Oder); the
+country which is now part of Pomerania, of the Marche of Brandenburg,
+and of Lusatia.
+
+[210] In the reign of Augustus, the Langobardi dwelt on this side the
+Elbe, between Luneburg and Magdeburg. When conquered and driven beyond
+the Elbe by Tiberius, they occupied that part of the country where are
+now Prignitz, Ruppin, and part of the Middle Marche. They afterwards
+founded the Lombard kingdom in Italy; which, in the year of Christ
+774, was destroyed by Charlemagne, who took their king Desiderius, and
+subdued all Italy. The laws of the Langobardi are still extant, and may
+be met with in Lindenbrog. The Burgundians are not mentioned by Tacitus,
+probably because they were then an inconsiderable people. Afterwards,
+joining with the Langobardi, they settled on the Decuman lands and the
+Roman boundary. They from thence made an irruption into Gaul, and seized
+that country which is still named from them Burgundy. Their laws are
+likewise extant.
+
+[211] From Tacitus's description, the Reudigni must have dwelt in part
+of the present duchy of Mecklenburg, and of Lauenburg. They had formerly
+been settled on this side the Elbe, on the sands of Luneburg.
+
+[212] Perhaps the same people with those called by Mamertinus, in
+his Panegyric on Maximian, the Chaibones. From their vicinity to the
+fore-mentioned nations, they must have inhabited part of the duchy of
+Mecklenburg. They had formerly dwelt on this side the Elbe, on the banks
+of the river Ilmenavia in Luneburg; which is now called Ava; whence,
+probably, the name of the people.
+
+[213] Inhabitants of what is now part of Holstein and Sleswig; in which
+tract is still a district called Angeln, between Flensborg and Sleswig.
+In the fifth century, the Angles, in conjunction with the Saxons,
+migrated into Britain, and perpetuated their name by giving appellation
+to England.
+
+[214] From the enumeration of Tacitus, and the situation of the other
+tribes, it appears that the Eudoses must have occupied the modern Wismar
+and Rostock; the Suardones, Stralsund, Swedish Pomerania, and part
+of the Hither Pomerania, and of the Uckerane Marche. Eccard, however,
+supposes these nations were much more widely extended; and that
+the Eudoses dwelt upon the Oder; the Suardones, upon the Warte; the
+Nuithones, upon the Netze.
+
+[215] The ancient name of the goddess Herth still subsists in the German
+_Erde_, and in the English _Earth_.
+
+[216] Many suppose this island to have been the isle of Rugen in the
+Baltic sea. It is more probable, however, that it was an island near
+the mouth of the Elbe, now called the isle of Helgeland, or Heiligeland
+(Holy Island). Besides the proof arising from the name, the situation
+agrees better with that of the nations before enumerated.
+
+[217] Olaus Rudbeck contends that this festival was celebrated in
+winter, and still continues in Scandinavia under the appellation of
+Julifred, the peace of Juul. (Yule is the term used for Christmas season
+in the old English and Scottish dialects.) But this feast was solemnized
+not in honor of the Earth, but of the Sun, called by them Thor or
+Taranium. The festival of Herth was held later, in the month of
+February; as may be seen in Mallet's "Introduction to the History of
+Denmark."
+
+[218] _Templo_ here means merely "the consecrated place," _i.e._ the
+grove before mentioned, for according to c.9 the Germans built no
+temples.
+
+[219] It is supposed that this people, on account of their valor, were
+called Heermanner; corrupted by the Romans into Hermunduri. They were
+first settled between the Elbe, the Sala, and Bohemia; where now
+are Anhalt, Voightland, Saxony, part of Misnia, and of Franconia.
+Afterwards, when the Marcomanni took possession of Bohemia, from which
+the Boii had been expelled by Maroboduus, the Hermunduri added their
+settlements to their own, and planted in them the Suevian name, whence
+is derived the modern appellation of that country, Suabia.
+
+[220] They were so at that time; but afterwards joined with the
+Marcomanni and other Germans against the Romans in the time of Marcus
+Aurelius, who overcame them.
+
+[221] Augusta Vindelicorum, now Augsburg; a famous Roman colony in the
+province of Rhaetia, of which Vindelica was then a part.
+
+[222] Tacitus is greatly mistaken if he confounds the source of the
+Egra, which is in the country of the Hermuduri, with that of the Elbe,
+which rises in Bohemia. The Elbe had been formerly, as Tacitus observes,
+well known to the Romans by the victories of Drusus, Tiberius, and
+Domitius; but afterwards, when the increasing power of the Germans kept
+the Roman arms at a distance, it was only indistinctly heard of. Hence
+its source was probably inaccurately laid down in the Roman geographical
+tables. Perhaps, however, the Hermunduri, when they had served in the
+army of Maroboduus, received lands in that part of Bohemia in which
+the Elbe rises; in which case there would be no mistake in Tacitus's
+account.
+
+[223] Inhabitants of that part of Bavaria which lies between Bohemia and
+the Danube.
+
+[224] Inhabitants of Bohemia.
+
+[225] Inhabitants of Moravia, and the part of Austria between it and
+the Danube. Of this people, Ammianus Marcellinus, in his account of the
+reign of Valentinian and Valens, thus speaks:--"A sudden commotion arose
+among the Quadi; a nation at present of little consequence, but
+which was formerly extremely warlike and potent, as their exploits
+sufficiently evince."--xxix. 15.
+
+[226] Their expulsion of the Boii, who had given name to Bohemia, has
+been already mentioned. Before this period, the Marcomanni dwelt near
+the sources of the Danube, where now is the duchy of Wirtemburg; and, as
+Dithmar supposes, on account of their inhabiting the borders of Germany,
+were called Marcmanner, from _Marc_ (the same with the old English
+_March_) a border, or boundary.
+
+[227] These people justified their military reputation by the dangerous
+war which, in conjunction with the Marcomanni, they excited against the
+Romans, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius.
+
+[228] Of this prince, and his alliance with the Romans against Arminius,
+mention is made by Tacitus, Annals, ii.
+
+[229] Thus Vannius was made king of the Quadi by Tiberius. (See Annals,
+ii. 63.) At a later period, Antoninus Pius (as appears from a medal
+preserved in Spanheim) gave them Furtius for their king. And when they
+had expelled him, and set Ariogaesus on the throne, Marcus Aurelius, to
+whom he was obnoxious, refused to confirm the election. (Dio, lxxi.)
+
+[230] These people inhabited what is now Galatz, Jagerndorf, and part of
+Silesia.
+
+[231] Inhabitants of part of Silesia, and of Hungary.
+
+[232] Inhabitants of part of Hungary to the Danube.
+
+[233] These were settled about the Carpathian mountains, and the sources
+of the Vistula.
+
+[234] It is probable that the Suevi were distinguished from the rest
+of the Germans by a peculiar dialect, as well as by their dress and
+manners.
+
+[235] Ptolemy mentions iron mines in or near the country of the Quadi.
+I should imagine that the expression "additional disgrace" (or, more
+literally, "which might make them more ashamed") does not refer merely
+to the slavery of working in mines, but to the circumstance of their
+digging up iron, the substance by means of which they might acquire
+freedom and independence. This is quite in the manner of Tacitus. The
+word _iron_ was figuratively used by the ancients to signify military
+force in general. Thus Solon, in his well-known answer to Croesus,
+observed to him, that the nation which possessed more iron would be
+master of all his gold.--_Aikin_.
+
+[236] The mountains between Moravia, Hungary, Silesia, and Bohemia.
+
+[237] The Lygii inhabited what is now part of Silesia, of the New
+Marche, of Prussia and Poland on this side the Vistula.
+
+[238] These tribes were settled between the Oder and Vistula, where
+now are part of Silesia, of Brandenburg, and of Poland. The Elysii are
+supposed to have given name to Silesia.
+
+[239] The Greeks and Romans, under the name of the Dioscuri, or Castor
+and Pollux, worshipped those meteorous exhalations which, during a
+storm, appear on the masts of ships, and are supposed to denote an
+approaching calm. A kind of religious veneration is still paid to this
+phenomenon by the Roman Catholics, under the appellation of the fire
+of St. Elmo. The Naharvali seem to have affixed the same character of
+divinity on the _ignis fatuus_; and the name Alcis is probably the same
+with that of Alff or Alp, which the northern nations still apply to the
+fancied Genii of the mountains. The Sarmatian deities Lebus and Polebus,
+the memory of whom still subsists in the Polish festivals, had, perhaps,
+the same origin.
+
+[240] No custom has been more universal among uncivilized people than
+painting the body, either for the purpose of ornament, or that of
+inspiring terror.
+
+[241] Inhabitants of what is now Further Pomerania, the New Marche and
+the Western part of Poland, between the Oder and Vistula. They were a
+different people from the Goths, though, perhaps, in alliance with them.
+
+[242] These people were settled on the shore of the Baltic, where
+now are Colburg, Cassubia, and Further Pomerania. Their name is still
+preserved in the town of Rugenwald and Isle of Rugen.
+
+[243] These were also settlers on the Baltic, about the modern Stolpe,
+Dantzig, and Lauenburg. The Heruli appear afterwards to have occupied
+the settlements of the Lemovii. Of these last no further mention occurs;
+but the Heruli made themselves famous throughout Europe and Asia, and
+were the first of the Germans who founded a kingdom in Italy under
+Odoacer.
+
+[244] The Suiones inhabited Sweden, and the Danish isles of Funen,
+Langlaud, Zeeland, Laland, &c. From them and the Cimbri were derived
+the Normans, who, after spreading terror through various parts of the
+empire, at last seized upon the fertile province of Normandy in France.
+The names of Goths, Visigoths, and Ostrogoths, became still more famous,
+they being the nations who accomplished the ruin of the Roman empire.
+The laws of the Visigoths are still extant; but they depart much from
+the usual simplicity of the German laws.
+
+[245] The Romans, who had but an imperfect knowledge of this part of
+the world, imagined here those "vast insular tracts" mentioned in the
+beginning of this treatise. Hence Pliny, also, says of the Baltic sea
+(Codanus sinus), that "it is filled with islands, the most famous
+of which, Scandinavia (now Sweden and Norway), is of an undiscovered
+magnitude; that part of it only being known which is occupied by the
+Hilleviones, a nation inhabiting five hundred cantons; who call this
+country another globe." (Lib. iv. 13.) The memory of the Hilleviones is
+still preserved in the part of Sweden named Halland.
+
+[246] Their naval power continued so great, that they had the glory
+of framing the nautical code, the laws of which were first written at
+Wisby, the capital of the isle of Gothland, in the eleventh century.
+
+[247] This is exactly the form of the Indian canoes, which, however, are
+generally worked with sails as well as oars.
+
+[248] The great opulence of a temple of the Suiones, as described by
+Adam of Bremen (Eccl. Hist. ch. 233), is a proof of the wealth that
+at all times has attended naval dominion. "This nation," says he,
+"possesses a temple of great renown, called Ubsola (now Upsal), not far
+from the cities Sictona and Birca (now Sigtuna and Bioerkoe). In this
+temple, which is entirely ornamented with gold, the people worship the
+statues of three gods; the most powerful of whom, Thor, is seated on a
+couch in the middle; with Woden on one side, and Fricca on the other."
+From the ruins of the towns Sictona and Birca arose the present capital
+of Sweden, Stockholm.
+
+[249] Hence Spener (Notit. German. Antiq.) rightly concludes that the
+crown was hereditary, and not elective, among the Suiones.
+
+[250] It is uncertain whether what is now called the Frozen Ocean is
+here meant, or the northern extremities of the Baltic Sea, the Gulfs
+of Bothnia and Finland, which are so frozen every winter as to be
+unnavigable.
+
+[251] The true principles of astronomy have now taught us the reason
+why, at a certain latitude, the sun, at the summer solstice, appears
+never to set: and at a lower latitude, the evening twilight continues
+till morning.
+
+[252] The true reading here is, probably, "immerging;" since it was a
+common notion at that period, that the descent of the sun into the ocean
+was attended with a kind of hissing noise, like red hot iron dipped into
+water. Thus Juvenal, Sat. xiv, 280:--
+
+  Audiet Herculeo stridentem gurgite solem.
+  "Hear the sun hiss in the Herculean gulf."
+
+[253] Instead of formas deorum, "forms of deities," some, with more
+probability, read equorum, "of the horses," which are feigned to draw
+the chariot of the sun.
+
+[254] Thus Quintus Curtius, speaking of the Indian Ocean, says, "Nature
+itself can proceed no further."
+
+[255] The Baltic Sea.
+
+[256] Now, the kingdom of Prussia, the duchies of Samogitia and
+Courland, the palatinates of Livonia and Esthonia, in the name of which
+last the ancient appellation of these people is preserved.
+
+[257] Because the inhabitants of this extreme part of Germany retained
+the Scythico-Celtic language, which long prevailed in Britain.
+
+[258] A deity of Scythian origin, called Frea or Fricca. See Mallet's
+Introduct. to Hist. of Denmark.
+
+[259] Many vestiges of this superstition remain to this day in Sweden.
+The peasants, in the month of February, the season formerly sacred to
+Frea, make little images of boars in paste, which they apply to various
+superstitious uses. (See Eccard.) A figure of a Mater Deum, with the
+boar, is given by Mr. Pennant, in his Tour in Scotland, 1769, p.
+268, engraven from a stone found at the great station at Netherby in
+Cumberland.
+
+[260] The cause of this was, probably, their confined situation, which
+did not permit them to wander in hunting and plundering parties, like
+the rest of the Germans.
+
+[261] This name was transferred to _glass_ when it came into use. Pliny
+speaks of the production of amber in this country as follows:--"It is
+certain that amber is produced in the islands of the Northern Ocean, and
+is called by the Germans _gless_. One of these islands, by the natives
+named Austravia, was on this account called Glessaria by our sailors in
+the fleet of Germanicus."--Lib. xxxvii. 3.
+
+[262] Much of the Prussian amber is even at present collected on the
+shores of the Baltic. Much also is found washed out of the clayey cliffs
+of Holderness. See Tour in Scotland, 1769, p. 16.
+
+[263] Insomuch that the Guttones, who formerly inhabited this coast,
+made use of amber as fuel, and sold it for that purpose to the
+neighboring Teutones. (Plin. xxxvii. 2.)
+
+[264] Various toys and utensils of amber, such as bracelets, necklaces,
+rings, cups, and even pillars, were to be met with among the luxurious
+Romans.
+
+[265] In a work by Goeppert and Berendt, on "Amber and the Fossil
+Remains of Plants contained in it," published at Berlin, 1845, a passage
+is found (of which a translation is here given) which quite harmonizes
+with the account of Tacitus:--"About the parts which are known by the
+name of Samland an island emerged, or rather a group of islands, ...
+which gradually increased in circumference, and, favored by a mild sea
+climate, was overspread with vegetation and forest. This forest was the
+means of amber being produced. Certain trees in it exuded gums in such
+quantities that the sunken forest soil now appears to be filled with
+it to such a degree, as if it had only been deprived of a very trifling
+part of its contents by the later eruptions of the sea, and the
+countless storms which have lashed the ocean for centuries." Hence,
+though found underground, it appears to have been originally the
+production of some resinous tree. Hence, too, the reason of the
+appearance of insects, &c. in it, as mentioned by Tacitus.
+
+[266] Norwegians.
+
+[267] All beyond the Vistula was reckoned Sarmatia. These people,
+therefore, were properly inhabitants of Sarmatia, though from their
+manners they appeared of German origin.
+
+[268] Pliny also reckons the Peucini among the German nations:--"The
+fifth part of Germany is possessed by the Peucini and Bastarnae, who
+border on the Dacians." (iv. 14.) From Strabo it appears that the
+Peucini, part of the Bastarnae, inhabited the country about the mouths
+of the Danube, and particularly the island Peuce, now Piczina, formed by
+the river.
+
+[269] The habitations of the Peucini were fixed; whereas the Sarmatians
+wandered about in their wagons.
+
+[270] "Sordes omnium ac torpor; procerum connubiis mixtis nonnihil in
+Sarmatarum habitum foedantur." In many editions the semicolon is placed
+not after _torpor_, but after _procerum_. The sense of the passage so
+read is: "The chief men are lazy and stupid, besides being filthy, like
+all the rest. Intermarriage with the Sarmatians have debased." &c.
+
+[271] The Venedi extended beyond the Peucini and Bastarnae as far as the
+Baltic Sea; where is the Sinus Venedicus, now the Gulf of Dantzig. Their
+name is also preserved in Wenden, a part of Livonia. When the German
+nations made their irruption into Italy, France and Spain, the Venedi,
+also called Winedi, occupied their vacant settlements between the
+Vistula and Elbe. Afterwards they crossed the Danube, and seized
+Dalmatia, Illyricum, Istria, Carniola, and the Noric Alps. A part of
+Carniola still retains the name of Windismarck, derived from them. This
+people were also called Slavi; and their language, the Sclavonian, still
+prevails through a vast tract of country.
+
+[272] This is still the manner of living of the successors of the
+Sarmatians, the Nogai Tartars.
+
+[273] Their country is called by Pliny, Eningia, now Finland. Warnefrid
+(De Gest. Langobard. i. 5) thus describes their savage and wretched
+state:--"The Scritobini, or Scritofinni, are not without snow in the
+midst of summer; and, being little superior in sagacity to the brutes,
+live upon no other food than the raw flesh of wild animals, the hairy
+skins of which they use for clothing. They derive their name, according
+to the barbarian tongue, from leaping, because they hunt wild beasts by
+a certain method of leaping or springing with pieces of wood bent in
+the shape of a bow." Here is an evident description of the snow-shoes or
+raquets in common use among the North American savages, as well as the
+inhabitants of the most northern parts of Europe.
+
+[274] As it is just after mentioned that their chief dependence is on
+the game procured in hunting, this can only mean that the vegetable
+food they use consists of wild herbs, in opposition to the cultivated
+products of the earth.
+
+[275] The Esquimaux and the South Sea islanders do the same thing to
+this day.
+
+[276] People of Lapland. The origin of this fable was probably the
+manner of clothing in these cold regions, where the inhabitants bury
+themselves in the thickest furs, scarcely leaving anything of the form
+of a human creature.
+
+[277] It is with true judgment that this excellent historian forbears to
+intermix fabulous narrations with the very interesting and instructive
+matter of this treatise. Such a mixture might have brought an
+impeachment on the fidelity of the account in general; which,
+notwithstanding the suspicions professed by some critics, contains
+nothing but what is entirely consonant to truth and nature. Had Tacitus
+indulged his invention in the description of German manners, is it
+probable that he could have given so just a picture of the state of a
+people under similar circumstances, the savage tribes of North America,
+as we have seen them within the present century? Is it likely that his
+relations would have been so admirably confirmed by the codes of law
+still extant of the several German nations; such as the Salic, Ripuary,
+Burgundian, English and Lombard? or that after the course of so many
+centuries, and the numerous changes of empire, the customs, laws and
+manners he describes should still be traced in all the various people
+of German derivation? As long as the original constitution and
+jurisprudence of our own and other European countries are studied, this
+treatise will be regarded as one of the most precious and authentic
+monuments of historical antiquity.
+
+
+THE LIFE OF CNAEUS JULIUS AGRICOLA.
+
+[1] Rutilius was consul B.C. 104; and for his upright life and great
+strictness was banished B.C. 92. Tacitus is the only writer who says he
+wrote his own life. Athenaeus mentions that he wrote a history of the
+affairs of Rome in the Greek language. Scaurus was consul B.C. 114, and
+again B.C. 106. He is the same Scaurus whom Sallust mentions as having
+been bribed by Jugurtha. As the banishment of Rutilius took place on the
+accusation of Scaurus, it is possible that, when the former wrote his
+life, the latter also wrote his, in order to defend himself from charges
+advanced against him.
+
+[2] _Venia opus fuit_. This whole passage has greatly perplexed the
+critics. The text is disputed, and it is not agreed why Tacitus asks
+indulgence. Brotier, Dronke, and others, say he asks indulgence for the
+inferiority of his style and manner _(incondita ac rudi voce_, c. 3), as
+compared with the distinguished authors (_quisque celeberrimus_) of an
+earlier and better age. But there would have been no less occasion to
+apologize for that, if the times he wrote of had not been so hostile to
+virtue. Hertel, La Bletterie, and many French critics, understand
+that he apologizes for writing the memoir of his father-in-law so late
+(_nunc_), when he was already dead (_defuncti_), instead of doing it,
+as the great men of a former day did, while the subject of their memoirs
+was yet alive; and he pleads, in justification of the delay, that he
+could not have written it earlier without encountering the dangers of
+that cruel age (the age of Domitian). This makes a very good sense.
+The only objection against it is, that the language, _opus fuit_, seems
+rather to imply that it was necessary to justify himself for writing
+it at all, by citing the examples of former distinguished writers of
+biography, as he had done in the foregoing introduction. But why would
+it have been unnecessary to apologize for writing the life of Agricola,
+if the times in which he lived had not been so unfriendly to virtue?
+Because then Agricola would have had opportunity to achieve victories
+and honors, which would have demanded narration, but for which the
+jealousy and cruelty of Domitian now gave no scope. This is the
+explanation of Roth; and he supports it by reference to the fact,
+that the achievements of Agricola in the conquest of Britain, though
+doubtless just as Tacitus has described them, yet occupy so small
+a space in general history, that they are not even mentioned by any
+ancient historian except Dio Cassius; and he mentions them chiefly out
+of regard to the discovery made by Agricola, for the first time, that
+Britain was an island (Vid. R. Exc. 1.) This explanation answers all the
+demands of grammar and logic; but as a matter of taste and feeling, I
+cannot receive it. Such an apology for the unworthiness of his subject
+at the commencement of the biography, ill accords with the tone of
+dignified confidence which pervades the memoir. The best commentary I
+have seen on the passage is that of Walther; and it would not, perhaps,
+be giving more space to so mooted a question than the scholar requires,
+to extract it entire:--"_Venia_," he says, "is here nothing else than
+what we, in the language of modesty, call an apology, and has respect
+to the very justification he has just offered in the foregoing exordium.
+For Tacitus there appeals to the usage, not of remote antiquity only,
+but of later times also, to justify his design of writing the biography
+of a distinguished man. There would have been no need of such an apology
+in other times. In other times, dispensing with all preamble, he would
+have begun, as in c. 4, 'Cnaeus Julius Agricola,' &c., assured that no
+one would question the propriety of his course. But now, after a long
+and servile silence, when one begins again 'facta moresque posteris
+tradere,' when he utters the first word where speech and almost
+memory (c. 2) had so long been lost, when he stands forth as the first
+vindicator of condemned virtue, he seems to venture on something so new,
+so strange, so bold, that it may well require apology." In commenting
+upon _cursaturus--tempora_, Walther adds: "If there is any boldness in
+the author's use of words here, that very fact suits the connection,
+that by the complexion of his language even, he might paint the audacity
+'cursandi tam saeva et infesta virtutibus tempora'--of running over (as
+in a race, for such is Walther's interpretation of _cursandi_) times
+so cruel and so hostile to virtue. Not that those times could excite
+in Tacitus any real personal fear, for they were past, and he could now
+think what he pleased, and speak what he thought (Hist. i. 1). Still
+he shudders at the recollection of those cruelties; and he treads with
+trembling footstep, as it were, even the path lately obstructed by them.
+He looks about him to see whether, even now, he may safely utter his
+voice, and he timidly asks pardon for venturing to break the reigning
+silence."--_Tyler_.
+
+[3] A passage in Dio excellently illustrates the fact here referred
+to: "He (Domitian) put to death Rusticus Arulenus, because he studied
+philosophy, and had given Thrasea the appellation of holy; and Herennius
+Senecio, because, although he lived many years after serving the office
+of quaestor, he solicited no other post, and because he had written
+the Life of Helvidius Priscus." (lxvii. p. 765.) With less accuracy,
+Suetonius, in his Life of Domitian (s. 10), says: "He put to death
+Junius Rusticus, because he had published the panegyrics of Paetus
+Thrasea and Helvidius Priscus, and had styled them most holy persons;
+and on this occasion he expelled all the philosophers from the city,
+and from. Italy." Arulenus Rusticus was a Stoic; on which account he was
+contumeliously called by M. Regulus "the ape of the Stoics, marked with
+the Vitellian scar." (Pliny, Epist. i. 5.) Thrasea, who killed Nero, is
+particularly recorded in the Annals, book xvi.
+
+[4] The expulsion of the philosophers, mentioned in the passage above
+quoted from Suetonius.
+
+[5] This truly happy period began when, after the death of Domitian,
+and the recision of his acts, the imperial authority devolved on Nerva,
+whose virtues were emulated by the successive emperors, Trajan, Hadrian,
+and both the Antonines.
+
+[6] _Securitas publica_, "the public security," was a current expression
+and wish, and was frequently inscribed on medals.
+
+[7] The term of Domitian's reign.
+
+[8] It appears that at this time Tacitus proposed to write not only the
+books of his History and Annals, which contain the "memorial of past
+servitude," but an account of the "present blessings" exemplified in the
+occurrences under Nerva and Trajan.
+
+[9] There were two Roman colonies of this name; one in Umbria, supposed
+to be the place now called Friuli; the other in Narbonnensian Gaul, the
+modern name of which is Frejus. This last was probably the birth-place
+of Agricola.
+
+[10] Of the procurators who were sent to the provinces, some had the
+charge of the public revenue; others, not only of that, but of the
+private revenue of the emperor. These were the imperial procurators. All
+the offices relative to the finances were in the possession of the Roman
+knights; of whom the imperial procurators were accounted noble. Hence
+the equestrian nobility of which Tacitus speaks. In some of the lesser
+provinces, the procurators had the civil jurisdiction, as well at the
+administration of the revenue. This was the case in Judaea.
+
+[11] Seneca bears a very honorable testimony to this person, "If," says
+he, "we have occasion for an example of a great mind, let us cite that
+of Julius Graecinus, an excellent person, whom Caius Caesar put to death
+on this account alone, that he was a better man than could be suffered
+under a tyrant." (De Benef. ii. 21.) His books concerning Vineyards are
+commended by Columella and Pliny.
+
+[12] Caligula.
+
+[13] Marcus Silanus was the father of Claudia, the first wife of Caius.
+According to the historians of that period, Caius was jealous of him,
+and took every opportunity of mortifying him. Tacitus (Hist. iv. 48)
+mentions that the emperor deprived him of the military command of the
+troops in Africa in an insulting manner. Dion (lix.) states, that when,
+from his age and rank, Silanus was usually asked his opinion first in
+the senate, the emperor found a pretext for preventing this respect;
+being paid to MS worth. Suetonius (iv. 23) records that the emperor one
+day put to sea in a hasty manner, and commanded Silanus to follow him.
+This, from fear of illness, he declined to do; upon which the emperor,
+alleging that he stayed on shore in order to get possession of the
+city in case any accident befell himself, compelled him to cut his own
+throat. It would seem, from the present passage of Tacitus, that there
+were some legal forms taken in the case of Silanus, and that Julius
+Graecinus was ordered to be the accuser; and that that noble-minded
+man, refusing to take part in proceedings so cruel and iniquitous, was
+himself put to death.
+
+[14] Of the part the Roman matrons took in the education of youth,
+Tacitus has given an elegant and interesting account, in his Dialogue
+concerning Oratory, c. 28.
+
+[15] Now Marseilles. This was a colony of the Phocaeans; whence it
+derived that Grecian politeness for which it was long famous.
+
+[16] It was usual for generals to admit young men of promising
+characters to this honorable companionship, which resembled the office
+of an aide-de-camp in the modern service. Thus, Suetonius informs us
+that Caesar made his first campaign in Asia as tent-companion to Marcus
+Thermus the praetor.
+
+[17] This was the fate of the colony of veterans at Camalodunum, now
+Colchester or Maldon. A particular account of this revolt is given in
+the 14th book of the Annals.
+
+[18] This alludes to the defeat of Petilius Cerialis, who came with the
+ninth legion to succor the colony of Camalodunum. All the infantry were
+slaughtered; and Petilius, with the cavalry alone, got away to the camp.
+It was shortly after this, that Suetonius defeated Boadicea and her
+forces.
+
+[19] Those of Nero.
+
+[20] The office of quaestor was the entrance to all public employments.
+The quaestors and their secretaries were distributed by lot to the
+several provinces, that there might be no previous connections between
+them and the governors, but they might serve as checks upon each other.
+
+[21] Brother of the emperor Otho.
+
+[22] At the head of the praetors, the number of whom was different at
+different periods of the empire, were the Praetor Urbanus, and Praetor
+Peregrinus. The first administered justice among the citizens, the
+second among strangers. The rest presided at public debates, and had the
+charge of exhibiting the public games, which were celebrated with
+great solemnity for seven successive days, and at a vast expense. This,
+indeed, in the times of the emperors, was almost the sole business of
+the praetors, whose dignity, as Tacitus expresses it, consisted in the
+idle trappings of state; whence Boethius justly terms the praetorship
+"an empty name, and a grievous burthen on the senatorian rank."
+
+[23] Nero had plundered the temples for the supply of his extravagance
+and debauchery. See Annals, xv. 45.
+
+[24] This was the year of Rome 822; from the birth of Christ, 69.
+
+[25] The cruelties and depredations committed on the coast of Italy by
+this fleet are described in lively colors by Tacitus, Hist. ii. 12, 13.
+
+[26] Now the county of Vintimiglia. The attack upon the municipal town
+of this place, called Albium Intemelium, is particularly mentioned in
+the passage above referred to.
+
+[27] In the month of July of this year.
+
+[28] The twentieth legion, surnamed the Victorious, was stationed in
+Britain at Deva, the modern Chester, where many inscriptions and other
+monuments of Roman antiquities have been discovered.
+
+[29] Roscius Caelius. His disputes with the governor of Britain,
+Trebellius Maximus, are related by Tacitus, Hist. i. 60.
+
+[30] The governors of the province, and commanders in chief over all the
+legions stationed in it.
+
+[31] He had formerly been commander of the ninth legion.
+
+[32] The province of Aquitania extended from the Pyrenean mountains to
+the river Liger (Loire).
+
+[33] The governors of the neighboring provinces.
+
+[34] Agricola was consul in the year of Rome 830, A.D. 77, along with
+Domitian. They succeeded, in the calends of July, the consuls Vespasian
+and Titus, who began the year.
+
+[35] He was admitted into the Pontifical College, at the head of which
+was the Pontifex Maximus.
+
+[36] Julius Caesar, Livy, Strabo, Fabius Rusticus, Pomponius Mela,
+Pliny, &c.
+
+[37] Thus Caesar: "One side of Britain inclines towards Spain, and the
+setting sun; on which part Ireland is situated."--Bell. Gall. v. 13.
+
+[38] These, as well as other resemblances suggested by ancient
+geographers, have been mostly destroyed by the greater accuracy of
+modern maps.
+
+[39] This is so far true, that the northern extremity of Scotland is
+much narrower than the southern coast of England.
+
+[40] The Orkney Islands. These, although now first thoroughly known to
+the Romans, had before been heard of, and mentioned by authors. Thus
+Mela, in. 6: "There are thirty of the Orcades, separated from each other
+by narrow straits." And Pliny, iv. 16: "The Orcades are forty in number,
+at a small distance from each other." In the reign of Claudius, the
+report concerning these islands was particularly current, and adulation
+converted it into the news of a victory. Hence Hieronymus in his
+Chronicon says, "Claudius triumphed over the Britons, and added the
+Orcades to the Roman empire."
+
+[41] Camden supposes the Shetland Islands to be meant here by Thule;
+others imagine it to have been one of the Hebrides. Pliny, iv. 16,
+mentions Thule as the most remote of all known islands; and, by placing
+it but one day's sail from the Frozen Ocean, renders it probable that
+Iceland was intended. Procopius (Bell. Goth, ii. 15) speaks of another
+Thule, which must have been Norway, which many of the ancients thought
+to be an island. Mr. Pennant supposes that the Thule here meant was
+Foula, a very lofty isle, one of the most westerly of the Shetlands,
+which might easily be descried by the fleet.
+
+[42] As far as the meaning of this passage can be elucidated, it would
+appear as if the first circumnavigators of Britain, to enhance the idea
+of their dangers and hardships, had represented the Northern sea as
+in such a thickened half solid state, that the oars could scarcely be
+worked, or the water agitated by winds. Tacitus, however, rather chooses
+to explain its stagnant condition from the want of winds, and the
+difficulty of moving so great a body of waters. But the fact, taken
+either way, is erroneous; as this sea is never observed frozen, and is
+remarkably stormy and tempestuous.--_Aiken_.
+
+[43] The great number of firths and inlets of the sea, which almost cut
+through the northern parts of the island, as well as the height of the
+tides on the coast, render this observation peculiarly proper.
+
+[44] Caesar mentions that the interior inhabitants of Britain were
+supposed to have originated in the island itself. (Bell. Gall. v. 12.)
+
+[45] Caledonia, now Scotland, was at that time overspread by vast
+forests. Thus Pliny, iv. 16, speaking of Britain, says, that "for thirty
+years past the Roman arms had not extended the knowledge of the island
+beyond the Caledonian forest."
+
+[46] Inhabitants of what are now the counties of Glamorgan, Monmouth,
+Brecknock, Hereford, and Radnor.
+
+[47] The Iberi were a people of Spain, so called from their neighborhood
+to the river Iberus, now Ebro.
+
+[48] Of these, the inhabitants of Kent are honorably mentioned by
+Caesar. "Of all these people, by far the most civilized are those
+inhabiting the maritime country of Cantium, who differ little in their
+manners from the Gauls."--Bell. Gall. v. 14.
+
+[48] From the obliquity of the opposite coasts of England and France,
+some part of the former runs further south than the northern extremity
+of the latter.
+
+[50] Particularly the mysterious and bloody solemnities of the Druids.
+
+[51] The children were born and nursed in this ferocity. Thus Solinus,
+c. 22, speaking of the warlike nation of Britons, says, "When a woman
+is delivered of a male child, she lays its first food upon the husband's
+sword, and with the point gently puts it within the little one's mouth,
+praying to her country deities that his death may in like manner be in
+the midst of arms."
+
+[52] In the reign of Claudius.
+
+[53] The practice of the Greeks in the Homeric age was the reverse of
+this.
+
+[54] Thus the kings Cunobelinus, Caractacus, and Prasutagus, and the
+queens Cartismandua and Boadicea, are mentioned in different parts of
+Tacitus.
+
+[55] Caesar says of Britain, "the climate is more temperate than that of
+Gaul, the cold being less severe." (Bell. Gall. v. 12.) This certainly
+proceeds from its insular situation, and the moistness of its
+atmosphere.
+
+[56] Thus Pliny (ii. 75):--"The longest day in Italy is of fifteen
+hours, in Britain of seventeen, where in summer the nights are light."
+
+[57] Tacitus, through the medium of Agricola, must have got this report,
+either from the men of Scandinavia, or from those of the Britons who had
+passed into that country, or been informed to this effect by those who
+had visited it. It is quite true, that in the further part of Norway,
+and so also again in Iceland and the regions about the North Pole, there
+is, at the summer solstice, an almost uninterrupted day for nearly two
+months. Tacitus here seems to affirm this as universally the case, not
+having heard that, at the winter solstice, there is a night of equal
+duration.
+
+[58] Tacitus, after having given the report of the Britons as he had
+heard it, probably from Agricola, now goes on to state his own views
+on the subject. He represents that, as the far north is level, there is
+nothing, when the sun is in the distant horizon, to throw up a shadow
+towards the sky: that the light, indeed, is intercepted from the surface
+of the earth itself, and so there is darkness upon it; but that the sky
+above is still clear and bright from its rays. And hence he supposes
+that the brightness of the upper regions neutralizes the darkness on the
+earth, forming a degree of light equivalent to the evening twilight or
+the morning dawn, or, indeed, rendering it next to impossible to decide
+when the evening closes and the morning begins. Compare the following
+account, taken from a "Description of a Visit to Shetland," in vol.
+viii. of Chambers' Miscellany:--"Being now in the 60th degree of north
+latitude, daylight could scarcely be said to have left us during the
+night, and at 2 o'clock in the morning, albeit the mist still hung about
+us, we could see as clearly as we can do in London, at about any hour in
+a November day."
+
+[59] Mr. Pennant has a pleasing remark concerning the soil and climate
+of our island, well agreeing with that of Tacitus:--"The climate of
+Great Britain is above all others productive of the greatest variety and
+abundance of wholesome vegetables, which, to crown our happiness, are
+almost equally diffused through all its parts: this general fertility
+is owing to those clouded skies, which foreigners mistakenly urge as a
+reproach on our country: but let us cheerfully endure a temporary gloom,
+which clothes not only our meadows, but our hills, with the richest
+verdure."--Brit. Zool. 4to. i. 15.
+
+[60] Strabo (iv. 138) testifies the same. Cicero, on the other hand,
+asserts, that not a single grain of silver is found on this island. (Ep.
+ad Attic, iv. 16.) If we have recourse to modern authorities, we
+find Camden mentioning gold and silver mines in Cumberland, silver in
+Flintshire, and gold in Scotland. Dr. Borlase (Hist. of Cornwall, p.
+214) relates, that so late as the year 1753, several pieces of gold
+were found in what the miners call stream tin; and silver is now got in
+considerable quantity from several of our lead ores. A curious paper,
+concerning the Gold Mines of Scotland, is given by Mr. Pennant in
+Append. (No. x.) to his second part of a "Tour in Scotland in 1772," and
+a much more general account of the mines and ores of Great Britain in
+early times, in his "Tour in Wales of 1773," pp. 51-66.
+
+[61] Camden mentions pearls being found in the counties of Caernarvon
+and Cumberland, and in the British sea. Mr. Pennant, in his "Tour in
+Scotland in 1769," takes notice of a considerable pearl fishery out of
+the fresh-water mussel, in the vicinity of Perth, from whence 10,000_l._
+worth of pearls were sent to London from 1761 to 1764. It was, however,
+almost exhausted when he visited the country. See also the fourth volume
+of Mr. Pennant's Br. Zool. (Class vi. No. 18), where he gives a much
+more ample account of the British pearls. Origen, in his Comment. on
+Matthew, pp. 210, 211, gives a description of the British pearl, which,
+he says, was next in value to the Indian;--"Its surface is of a gold
+color, but it is cloudy, and less transparent than the Indian." Pliny
+speaks of the British unions as follows:--"It is certain that small and
+discolored ones are produced in Britain; since the deified Julius has
+given us to understand that the breastplate which he dedicated to Venus
+Genitrix, and placed in her temple, was made of British pearls."--ix.
+35.
+
+[62] Caesar's two expeditions into Britain were in the years of Rome
+699 and 700. He himself gives an account of them, and they are also
+mentioned by Strabo and Dio.
+
+[63] It was the wise policy of Augustus not to extend any further the
+limits of the empire; and with regard to Britain, in particular, he
+thought the conquest and preservation of it would be attended with more
+expense than it could repay. (Strabo, ii. 79, and iv. 138.) Tiberius,
+who always professed an entire deference for the maxims and injunctions
+of Augustus, in this instance, probably, was convinced of their
+propriety.
+
+[64] Caligula.
+
+[65] Claudius invaded Britain in the year of Rome 796, A.D. 43.
+
+[66] In the parish of Dinder, near Hereford, are yet remaining the
+vestiges of a Roman encampment, called Oyster-hill, as is supposed from
+this Ostorius. Camden's Britain, by Gibson, p. 580.
+
+[67] That of Camalodunum, now Colchester, or Maldon.
+
+[68] The Mona of Tacitus is the Isle of Anglesey, that of Caesar is the
+Isle of Man, called by Pliny Monapia.
+
+[69] The avarice of Catus Decidianus the procurator is mentioned as the
+cause by which the Britons were forced into this war, by Tacitus, Annal.
+xiv. 32.
+
+[70] Julius Classicianus, who succeeded Decidianus, was at variance with
+the governor, but was no less oppressive to the province.
+
+[71] By the slaughter of Varus.
+
+[72] The Rhine and Danube.
+
+[73] Boadicea, whose name is variously written Boudicea, Bonduca,
+Voadicea, &c., was queen of the Iceni, or people of Suffolk, Norfolk,
+Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire. A particular account of this revolt
+is given in the Annals, xiv. 31, and seq.
+
+[74] Of Camalodunum.
+
+[75] This was in A.D. 61. According to Tac. Hist. i. 6, Petronius
+Turpilianus was put to death by Galba, A.D. 68.
+
+[76] The date of his arrival is uncertain.
+
+[77] He was sent to Britain by Vespasian, A.D. 69.
+
+[78] The Brigantes inhabited Yorkshire, Lancashire, Westmoreland,
+Cumberland, and Durham.
+
+[79] The date of his arrival in Britain is uncertain. This Frontinus
+is the author of the work on "Stratagems," and, at the time of his
+appointment to the lieutenancy of Britain, he was _curator aquarum_ at
+Rome. This, probably, it was that induced him to write his other work on
+the aqueducts of Rome.
+
+[80] This seems to relate to his having been curtailed in his military
+operations by the parsimony of Vespasian, who refused him permission to
+attack other people than the Silures. See c. 11.
+
+[81] Where these people inhabited is mentioned in p. 355, note 5.
+
+[82] This was in the year of Rome 831, of Christ 78.
+
+[83] Inhabitants of North Wales, exclusive of the Isle of Anglesey.
+
+[84] _I.e._ Some were for immediate action, others for delay. Instead
+of _et quibus_, we read with Dr. Smith's edition (London, 1850), _ut
+quibus_.
+
+[85] _Vexilla_ is here used for _vexillarii_. "Under the Empire the name
+of Vexillarii was given to a distinct body of soldiers supposed to have
+been composed of veterans, who were released from the military oath and
+regular service, but kept embodied under a separate flag (_vexillum_),
+to render assistance to the army if required, guard the frontier,
+and garrison recently conquered provinces; a certain number of these
+supernumeraries being attached to each legion. (Tac. Hist. ii. 83, 100;
+Ann. i. 36.)"--Rich, Comp. to Dict. and Lex. s. v. Vexillum.
+
+[86] A pass into the vale of Clwyd, in the parish of Llanarmon, is still
+called Bwlch Agrikle, probably from having been occupied by Agricola, in
+his road to Mona.--_Mr. Pennant_.
+
+[87] From this circumstance it would appear that these auxiliaries were
+Batavians, whose skill in this practice is related by Tacitus, Hist. iv.
+12.
+
+[88] It was customary for the Roman generals to decorate with sprigs of
+laurel the letters in which they sent home the news of any remarkable
+success. Thus Pliny, xv. 30: "The laurel, the principal messenger of joy
+and victory among the Romans, is affixed to letters, and to the spears
+and javelins of the soldiers." The _laurus_ of the ancients was probably
+the baytree, and not what we now call laurel.
+
+[89] _Ascire_, al. _accire_, "To receive into regular service." The
+reference is to the transfer of soldiers from the supernumeraries to
+the legions. So Walch, followed by Dronke, Both, and Walther. The next
+clause implies, that he took care to receive into the service none but
+the best men (_optimum quemque_), who, he was confident, would prove
+faithful (_fidelissimum_).
+
+[90] In like manner Suetonius says of Julius Caesar, "He neither noticed
+nor punished every crime; but while he strictly inquired into and
+rigorously punished desertion and mutiny, he connived at other
+delinquencies."--Life of Julius Caesar, s. 67.
+
+[91] Many commentators propose reading "exaction," instead of
+"augmentation." But the latter may be suffered to remain, especially as
+Suetonius informs us that "Vespasian, not contented with renewing some
+taxes remitted under Galba, added new and heavy ones: and augmented the
+tributes paid by the provinces, even doubling some."--Life of Vesp. s.
+19.
+
+[92] In the year of Rome 832. A.D. 79.
+
+[93] Many vestiges of these or other Roman camps yet remain in different
+parts of Great Britain. Two principal ones, in the county of Annandale,
+in Scotland, called Burnswork and Middleby, are described at large by
+Gordon in his Itiner. Septentrion, pp. 16, 18.
+
+[94] The year of Rome 833, A.D. 80.
+
+[95] Now the Firth of Tay.
+
+[96] The principal of these was at Ardoch, seated so as to command the
+entrance into two valleys, Strathallan and Strathearn. A description
+and plan of its remains, still in good preservation, are given by Mr.
+Pennant in his Tour in Scotland in 1772, part ii. p. 101.
+
+[97] The year of Rome 834, A.D. 81.
+
+[98] The Firths of Clyde and Forth.
+
+[99] The neck of land between these opposite arms of the sea is only
+about thirty miles over. About fifty-five years after Agricola had left
+the island, Lollius Urbicus, governor of Britain under Antoninus Pius,
+erected a vast wall or rampart, extending from Old Kirkpatrick on the
+Clyde, to Caeridden, two miles west of Abercorn, on the Forth, a space
+of nearly thirty-seven miles, defended by twelve or thirteen forts.
+These are supposed to have been on the site of those of Agricola. This
+wall is usually called Graham's dike; and some parts of it are now
+subsisting.
+
+[100] The year of Rome 835, A.D. 82.
+
+[101] Crossing the Firth of Clyde, or Dumbarton Bay, and turning to the
+western coast of Argyleshire, or the Isles of Arran and Bute.
+
+[102] The Bay of Biscay.
+
+[103] The Mediterranean.
+
+[104] The year of Rome 836, A.D. 83.
+
+[105] The eastern parts of Scotland, north of the Firth of Forth, where
+now are the counties of Fife, Kinross, Perth, Angus, &c.
+
+[106] This legion, which had been weakened by many engagements, was
+afterwards recruited, and then called Gemina. Its station at this affair
+is supposed by Gordon to have been Lochore in Fifeshire. Mr. Pennant
+rather imagines the place of the attack to have been Comerie in
+Perthshire.
+
+[107] For an account of these people see Manners of the Germans, c. 32.
+
+[108] Mr. Pennant had a present made him in Skye, of a brass sword and a
+denarius found in that island. Might they not have been lost by some of
+these people in one of their landings?
+
+[109] The Rhine.
+
+[110] This extraordinary expedition, according to Dio, set out from the
+western side of the island. They therefore must have coasted all that
+part of Scotland, must have passed the intricate navigation through the
+Hebrides, and the dangerous strait of Pentland Firth, and, after coming
+round to the eastern side, must have been driven to the mouth of the
+Baltic Sea, Here they lost their ships; and, in their attempt to proceed
+homeward by land, were seized as pirates, part by the Suevi, and the
+rest by the Frisii.
+
+[111] The year of Rome 837, A.D. 84.
+
+[112] The scene of this celebrated engagement is by Gordon (Itin.
+Septent.) supposed to be in Strathern, near a place now called the
+Kirk of Comerie, where are the remains of two Roman camps. Mr. Pennant,
+however, in his Tour in 1772, part ii. p. 96, gives reasons which appear
+well founded for dissenting from Gordon's opinion.
+
+[113] The more usual spelling of this name is Galgacus; but the other is
+preferred as of better authority.
+
+[114] "Peace given to the world" is a very frequent inscription on the
+Roman medals.
+
+[115] It was the Roman policy to send the recruits raised in the
+provinces to some distant country, for fear of their desertion or
+revolt.
+
+[116] How much this was the fate of the Romans themselves, when, in
+the decline of the empire, they were obliged to pay tribute to the
+surrounding barbarians, is shown in lively colors by Salvian:--"We call
+that a gift which is a purchase, and a purchase of a condition the most
+hard and miserable. For all captives, when they are once redeemed,
+enjoy their liberty: we are continually paying a ransom, yet are never
+free."--De Gubern. Dei, vi.
+
+[118] The expedition of Claudius into Britain was in the year of Rome
+796, from which to the period of this engagement only forty-two years
+were elapsed. The number fifty therefore is given oratorically rather
+than accurately.
+
+[119] The Latin word used here, _covinarius_, signifies the driver of
+a _covinus_, or chariot, the axle of which was bent into the form of
+a scythe. The British manner of fighting from chariots is particularly
+described by Caesar, who gives them the name of _esseda_:--"The
+following is the manner of fighting from _essedae_: They first drive
+round with them to all parts of the line, throwing their javelins, and
+generally disordering the ranks by the very alarm occasioned by the
+horses, and the rattling of the wheels: then, as soon as they have
+insinuated themselves between the troops of horse, they leap from their
+chariots and fight on foot. The drivers then withdraw a little from the
+battle, in order that, if their friends are overpowered by numbers,
+they may have a secure retreat to the chariots. Thus they act with
+the celerity of horse, and the stability of foot; and by daily use and
+exercise they acquire the power of holding up their horses at full speed
+down a steep declivity, of stopping them suddenly, and turning in a
+short compass; and they accustom themselves to run upon the pole, and
+stand on the cross-tree, and from thence with great agility to recover
+their place in the chariot."--Bell. Gall. iv. 33.
+
+[120] These targets, called _cetrae_, in the Latin, were made of
+leather. The broad sword and target were till very lately the peculiar
+arms of the Highlanders.
+
+[121] Several inscriptions have been found in Britain commemorating the
+Tungrian cohorts.
+
+[122] The great conciseness of Tacitus has rendered the description of
+this battle somewhat obscure. The following, however, seems to have been
+the general course of occurrences in it:--The foot on both sides began
+the engagement. The first line of the Britons which was formed on the
+plain being broken, the Roman auxiliaries advanced up the hill after
+them. In the meantime the Roman horse in the wings, unable to withstand
+the shock of the chariots, gave way, and were pursued by the British
+chariots and horse, which then fell in among the Roman infantry, These,
+who at first had relaxed their files to prevent their being out-fronted,
+now closed, in order better to resist the enemy, who by this means were
+unable to penetrate them. The chariots and horse, therefore, became
+entangled amidst the inequalities of the ground, and the thick ranks
+of the Romans; and, no longer able to wheel and career as upon the open
+plain, gave not the least appearance of an equestrian skirmish: but,
+keeping their footing with difficulty on the declivity, were pushed off,
+and scattered in disorder over the field.
+
+[123] People of Fifeshire.
+
+[124] Where this was does not appear. Brotier calls it Sandwich, making
+it the same as _Rutupium_: others Plymouth or Portsmouth. It is clear,
+however, this cannot be the case, from the subsequent words.--_White_.
+
+[125] This circumnavigation was in a contrary direction to that of the
+Usipian deserters, the fleet setting out from the Firth of Tay on the
+eastern coast, and sailing round the northern, western, and southern
+coasts, till it arrived at the port of Sandwich in Kent. After staying
+here some time to refit, it went to its former station, in the Firth of
+Forth, or Tay.
+
+[126] It was in this same year that Domitian made his pompous expedition
+into Germany, from whence he returned without ever seeing the enemy.
+
+[127] Caligula in like manner got a number of tall men with their hair
+dyed red to give credit to a pretended victory over the Germans.
+
+[128] Thus Pliny, in his Panegyric on Trajan, xlviii., represents
+Domitian as "ever affecting darkness and secrecy, and never emerging
+from his solitude but in order to make a solitude."
+
+[129] Not the triumph itself, which, after the year of Rome 740 was no
+longer granted to private persons, but reserved for the imperial family.
+This new piece of adulation was invented by Agrippa in order to gratify
+Augustus. The "triumphal ornaments" which were still bestowed, were a
+peculiar garment, statue, and other insignia which had distinguished the
+person of the triumphing general.
+
+[130] Of Dover.
+
+[131] Domitian, it seems, was afraid that Agricola might refuse to obey
+the recall he forwarded to him, and even maintain his post by force. He
+therefore despatched one of his confidential freedmen with an autograph
+letter, wherein he was informed Syria was given to him as his province.
+This, however, was a mere ruse: and hence it was not to be delivered
+as Agricola had already set out on his return. In compliance with these
+instructions, the freedman returned at once to Domitian, when he found
+Agricola on his passage to Rome According to Dion (liii.), the emperor's
+lieutenants were required to leave their province immediately upon
+the arrival of their successor, and return to Rome within three
+months.--_White_.
+
+[132] Agricola's successor in Britain appears to have been Sallustius
+Lucullus, who, as Suetonius informs us, was put to death by Domitian
+because he, permitted certain lances of a new construction to be palled
+Lucullean.--Life of Domitian, s. 10.
+
+[133] Of this worst kind of enemies, who praise a man in order to render
+him obnoxious, the emperor Julian, who had himself suffered greatly by
+them, speaks feelingly in his 12th epistle to Basilius;--"For we live
+together not in that state of dissimulation, which, I imagine, you have
+hitherto experienced: in which those who praise you, hate you with a
+more confirmed aversion than your most inveterate enemies."
+
+[134] These calamitous events are recorded by Suetonius in his Life of
+Domitian.
+
+[135] The Rhine and Danube.
+
+[136] The two senior consulars cast lots for the government of Asia and
+Africa.
+
+[137] Suetonius relates that Civica Cerealis was put to death in his
+proconsulate of Asia, on the charge of meditating a revolt. (Life of
+Domitian, s. 10.)
+
+[138] Obliging persons to return thanks for an injury was a refinement
+in tyranny frequently practised by the worst of the Roman emperors. Thus
+Seneca informs us, that "Caligula was thanked by those whose children
+had been put to death, and whose property had been confiscated." (De
+Tranquil, xiv.) And again;--"The reply of a person who had grown old in
+his attendance on kings, when he was asked how he had attained a thing
+so uncommon in courts as old age? is well known. It was, said he, by
+receiving injuries, and returning thanks."--De Ira, ii. 33.
+
+[139] From a passage in Dio, lxxviii. p. 899, this sum appears to have
+been _decies sestertium_, about 9,000_l._ sterling.
+
+[140] Thus Seneca: "Little souls rendered insolent by prosperity have
+this worst property, that they hate those whom they have injured."--De
+Ira, ii. 33.
+
+[141] Several who suffered under Nero and Domitian erred, though nobly,
+in this respect.
+
+[142] A Greek epigram still extant of Antiphilus, a Byzantine, to the
+memory of a certain Agricola, is supposed by the learned to refer to the
+great man who is the subject of this work. It is in the Anthologia, lib.
+i. tit. 37.
+
+[143] Dio absolutely affirms it; but from the manner in which Tacitus,
+who had better means of information, speaks of it, the story was
+probably false.
+
+[144] It appears that the custom of making the emperor co-heir with the
+children of the testator was not by any means uncommon. It was done in
+order to secure the remainder to the family. Thus Prasutagus, king of
+the Iceni in Britain, made Nero co-heir with his two daughters. Thus
+when Lucius Vetus was put to death by Nero, his friends urged him to
+leave part of his property to the emperor, that his grandsons might
+enjoy the rest. (Ann. xvi. 11.) Suetonius (viii. 17) mentions that
+Domitian used to seize the estates of persons the most unknown to him,
+if any one could be found to assert that the deceased had expressed an
+intention to make the emperor his heir.--_White_.
+
+[145] Caligula. This was A.D. 40, when he was sole consul.
+
+[146] According to this account, the birth of Agricola was on June 13th,
+in the year of Rome 793, A.D. 40; and his death on August 23d, in the
+year of Rome 846 A.D. 93: for this appears by the Fasti Consulares
+to have been the year of the consulate of Collega and Priscus. He
+was therefore only in his fifty-fourth year when he died; so that the
+copyists must probably have written by mistake LVI. instead of LIV.
+
+[147] From this representation, Dio appears to have been mistaken in
+asserting that Agricola passed the latter part of his life in dishonor
+and penury.
+
+[148] Juvenal breaks out in a noble strain of indignation against this
+savage cruelty, which distinguished the latter part of Domitian's reign:
+
+  Atque utinam his potius nugis tota illa dedisset
+  Tempora saevitiae: claras quibus abstulit Urbi
+  Illustresque animas impune, et vindice nullo.
+  Sed periit, postquam cerdonibus esse timendus
+  Coeperat: hoc nocuit Lamiarum, caede madenti.--Sat. iv. 150.
+
+  "What folly this! but oh! that all the rest
+  Of his dire reign had thus been spent in jest!
+  And all that time such trifles had employ'd
+  In which so many nobles he destroy'd!
+  He safe, they unrevenged, to the disgrace
+  Of the surviving, tame, patrician race!
+  But when he dreadful to the rabble grew,
+    Him, who so many lords had slain, they slew."--DUKE.
+
+ [149] This happened in the year of Rome 848.
+
+[150] Carus and Massa, who were proverbially infamous as informers,
+are represented by Juvenal as dreading a still more dangerous villain,
+Heliodorus.
+
+  --Quem Massa timet, quem munere palpat
+  Carus.--Sat. i. 35.
+
+  "Whom Massa dreads, whom Carus soothes with bribes."
+
+Carus is also mentioned with deserved infamy by Pliny and Martial. He
+was a mimic by profession.
+
+[151] Of this odious instrument of tyranny, Pliny the younger thus
+speaks: "The conversation turned upon Catullus Messalinus, whose loss
+of sight added the evils of blindness to a cruel disposition. He was
+irreverent, unblushing, unpitying, Like a weapon, of itself blind and
+unconscious, he was frequently hurled by Domitian against every man of
+worth." (iv. 22.) Juvenal launches the thunder of invective against him
+in the following lines:--
+
+  Et cum mortifero prudens Vejento Catullo,
+  Qui numquam visae flagrabat amore puellae,
+  Grande, et conspicuum nostro quoque tempore monstrum,
+  Caecus adulator, dirusque a ponte satelles,
+  Dignus Aricinos qui mendicaret ad axes,
+  Blandaque devexae jactaret basia rhedae.--Sat. iv. 113.
+
+  "Cunning Vejento next, and by his side
+  Bloody Catullus leaning on his guide:
+  Decrepit, yet a furious lover he,
+  And deeply smit with charms he could not see.
+  A monster, that ev'n this worst age outvies,
+  Conspicuous and above the common size.
+  A blind base flatterer; from some bridge or gate,
+  Raised to a murd'ring minister of state.
+  Deserving still to beg upon the road,
+  And bless each passing wagon and its load."--DUKE.
+
+[152] This was a famous villa of Domitian's, near the site of the
+ancient Alba, about twelve miles from Rome. The place is now called
+Albano, and vast ruins of its magnificent edifices still remain.
+
+[153] Tacitus, in his History, mentions this Massa Baebius as a person
+most destructive to all men of worth, and constantly engaged on the
+side of villains. From a letter of Pliny's to Tacitus, it appears that
+Herennius Senecio and himself were joined as counsel for the province
+of Boetica in a prosecution of Massa Baebius; and that Massa after his
+condemnation petitioned the consuls for liberty to prosecute Senecio for
+treason.
+
+[154] By "our own hands," Tacitus means one of our own body, a senator.
+As Publicius Certus had seized upon Helvidius and led him to prison,
+Tacitus imputes the crime to the whole senatorian order. To the same
+purpose Pliny observes: "Amidst the numerous villanies of numerous
+persons, nothing appeared more atrocious than that in the senate-house
+one senator should lay hands on another, a praetorian on a consular man,
+a judge on a criminal."--B. ix. ep. 13.
+
+[155] Helvidius Priscus, a friend of Pliny the younger, who did not
+suffer his death to remain unrevenged. See the Epistle above referred
+to.
+
+[156] There is in this place some defect in the manuscripts, which
+critics have endeavored to supply in different manners. Brotier seems to
+prefer, though he does not adopt in the text, "nos Mauricum Rusticumque
+divisimus," "we parted Mauricus and Rusticus," by the death of one
+and the banishment of the other. The prosecution and crime of Rusticus
+(Arulenus) is mentioned at the beginning of this piece, c. 2. Mauricus
+was his brother.
+
+[157] Herennius Senecio. See c. 2.
+
+[158] Thus Pliny, in his Panegyr. on Trajan, xlviii.: "Domitian was
+terrible even to behold; pride in his brow, anger in his eyes, a
+feminine paleness in the rest of his body, in his face shamelessness
+suffused in a glowing red." Seneca, in Epist. xi. remarks, that "some
+are never more to be dreaded than when they blush; as if they had
+effused all their modesty. Sylla was always most furious when the blood
+had mounted into his cheeks."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus, by Tacitus
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GERMANY AND THE AGRICOLA ***
+
+***** This file should be named 7524.txt or 7524.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/7/5/2/7524/
+
+Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon,
+Eric Casteleijn and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
+  www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at 809
+North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887.  Email
+contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the
+Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:  www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For forty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+