 Part 1 of Tacitus is Germania. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Andrew Coleman. Germania by Publius Cornelius Tacitus. Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib. Part 1. Germany is separated from the galley, the Rishi and Pannoni, by the rivers Rhine and Danube. Mountain ranges are the fear which each feels for the other, divided from the Samatai and Desi. Elsewhere ocean-guards it, embracing broad peninsulas and islands of unexplored extent, where certain tribes and kingdoms are newly known to us, revealed by war. The Rhine springs from a precipitous and inaccessible height of the Rhine Alps, bends slightly westward, and mingles with the northern ocean. The Danube pours down from the gradual and gently rising slope of Mount Abnobah and visits many nations, to force its way at last through six channels into the Pontus. A seventh mouth is lost in marshes. The Germans themselves I should regard as aboriginal and not mixed at all with other races through immigration or intercourse. For in former times it was not by land, but on ship-board that those who sought to emigrate would arrive. And the boundless, and so to speak, hostile ocean beyond us, is seldom entered by a sail from our world. And beside the perils of rough and unknown seas, who would leave Asia, or Africa, or Italy, for Germany, with its wild country, its inclement skies, its sullen manners and aspect, unless indeed it were his home. In their ancient songs their only way of remembering or recording the past, they celebrate an earth-born god, Tusco, and his son Manus, as the origin of their race, as their founders. To Manus they assign three sons, from whose names they say their coast-tribes are called ingavones, those of the interior Herminones, or the rest Istivones. Some, with the freedom of conjecture permitted by antiquity, assert that the god had several descendants, and the nation's several appellations, as Marci, Gambrivi, Suivi, Vandilii, and that these are genuine old names. The name Germany, on the other hand, they say, is modern and newly introduced, from the fact that the tribes which first crossed the Rhine and drove out the Gauls, and are now called Tongrians, were then called Germans. Thus what was the name of a tribe, and not of a race, gradually prevailed, till all called themselves by this self-invited name of Germans, which the conquerors had first employed to inspire terror. They say that Hercules too, once visited them, and when going into battle they sing of him first of all heroes. They have also those songs of theirs, by the recital of which Baratus they call it, they rouse their courage, while from the note they augur the result of the approaching conflict. For, as their line shouts, they inspire or feel alarm. It is not so much an articulate sound, as a general cry of valor. They aim chiefly at a harsh note, at a confused roar, putting their shields to their mouth, so that, by reverberation, it may swell into a fuller and deeper sound. Ulysses too, is believed by some, in his long legendary wanderings, to have found his way into this ocean, and, having visited German soil, to have founded and named the town of Ascibergium, which stands on the back of the Rhine, and is to this day inhabited. They even say that an altar dedicated to Ulysses, with the addition of the name of his father, Laertes, was formally discovered on this same spot, and that certain monuments and tombs, with Greek inscriptions, still exist on the borders of Germany and Russia. These statements I have no intention of sustaining by proofs, or of refuting. Everyone may believe or disbelieve them, as he feels inclined. For my own part, I agree with those who think that the tribes of Germany are free from all taint of intermarriages with foreign nations, and that they appear as a distinct, unmixed race, like none but themselves. Hence too, the same physical peculiarities throughout so vast a population. All have fierce blue eyes, red hair, huge frames fit only for a sudden exertion. They are less able to bear laborious work. Heat and thirst they cannot in the least endure. To cold and hunger their climate and their soil endure them, their country. Though somewhat various in appearance, yet generally either bristles with forests or reeks with swamps. It is more rainy on the side of Gaul. Bleaker on that of Noricum and Penonia. It is productive of grain, but unfavourable to fruit-bearing trees. It is rich in flocks and herds, but these are for the most part undersized, and even the cattle have not their usual beauty or noble head. It is number that is chiefly valued. They are in fact the most highly prized, indeed the only, riches of the people. Silver and gold, the gods have refused them. Whether in kindness or in anger, I cannot say. I would not, however, affirm that no vein of German soil produces gold or silver, for who has ever made a search? They are but little to possess or use them. You may see among them vessels of silver which have been presented to their envoys and chieftains, held as cheap as those of clay. The border population, however, value gold and silver for their commercial utility they are familiar with and show preference for some of our coins. The tribes of the interior use the simpler and more ancient practice of the barter of commodities. They like the old and well-known money. Coins milled or showing a two-horse chariot. They likewise prefer silver to gold, not from any special liking, but because a large number of silver pieces is more convenient for use among dealers in cheap and common articles. Even iron is not plentiful with them, as we infer from the character of their weapons. But few use swords or long lances. They carry a spear. Thramya is their name for it. With a narrow and short head, but so sharp and easy to wield that the same weapon serves according to circumstances for close or distant conflict. As for the horse soldier, he is satisfied with a shield and spear. The foot soldiers also scatter showers of missiles, each man having several and hurling them to an immense distance and being naked or lightly clad with a little cloak. There is no display about their equipment. Their shields alone are marked with very choice colours. A few only have corsets and just one or two here and there a metal or leather helmet. Their horses are remarkable neither for beauty nor for fleetness. Nor are they toward various evolutions after our fashion, but are driven straight forward or so as to make one wheel to the right in such a compact body that none is left behind another. On the whole one would say that the chief strength is in their infantry, which fights along with the cavalry, admirably adapted to the action of the latter, is the swiftness of certain foot soldiers who are picked from the entire youth of their country and stationed in front of the line. Their number is fixed a hundred from each canton and from this they take their name among their countrymen so that what was originally a mere number has now become a title of distinction. Their line of battle is drawn up in a wedge-like formation. To give ground, provided you return to the attack, is considered prudence rather than cowardice. The bodies of their slain they carry off even in indecisive engagements. To abandon your shield is the basest of crimes, nor may a man thus disgraced be present at the sacred rites or enter their council. Many indeed, after escaping from battle, have ended their infamy with a halter. They choose their kings by birth, their generals for merit. These kings have not unlimited or arbitrary power and the generals do more by example than by authority. If they are energetic, if they are conspicuous, if they fight in the front, they lead because they are admired. But to reprimand, to imprison, even to flog, is permitted to the priests alone and that not as a punishment or at the general's bidding but as it were, by the mandate of the God whom they believe to inspire the warrior. They also carry with them into battle certain figures and images taken from their sacred groves and what most stimulates their courage is that their squadrons or battalions, instead of being formed by chance or by a fortuitous gathering, are composed of families and clans. Close by them too are those dearest to them so that they hear the shrieks of women, the cries of infants. They are to every man the most sacred witnesses of his bravery. They are his most generous applauders. The soldier brings his wounds to mother and wife who shrink not from counting or even demanding them and who administer both food and encouragement to the competence. Tradition says that armies already wavering and giving way have been rallied by women who with earnest entreaties and bosoms laid bare have vividly represented the horrors of captivity which the Germans fear with such extreme dread on behalf of their women that the strongest tie by which a state can be bound is the being required to give among the number of hostages maidens of noble birth. They even believe that the sex has a certain sanctity and prescience and they do not despise their councils or make light of their answers. In Vespasian's days we saw Velaida long regarded by many as a divinity. In former times too they venerated Orinia and many other women but not with servile flatteries or with sham deification. Mercury is the deity whom they chiefly worship and on certain days they deem it right to sacrifice to him even with human victims. Hercules and Mars they appease with more lawful offerings. Some of the Swayvi also sacrificed to Isis. Of the occasion and origin of this foreign rite I have discovered nothing but that the image which is fashioned like a light galley indicates an imported worship. The Germans however do not consider it consistent with the grandeur of celestial beings to confine the gods within walls or to liken them to the form of any human countenance. They consecrate woods and groves and they apply the names of deities to the abstraction which they see only in spiritual worship. Orgiri and divination by lot no people practice more diligently. Use of the lots is simple. A little bow is locked off a fruit-bearing tree and cut into small pieces. These are distinguished by certain marks and thrown carelessly and at random over a white garment. In public questions the priest of the particular state in private the father of the family invokes the gods and, with his eyes towards heaven takes up each piece three times and finds in them a meaning according to the mark previously impressed on them. If they prove unfavourable there is no further consultation that day about the matter. If they sanction it the confirmation of Orgiri is still required for they are also familiar with the practice of consulting the notes and the flight of birds. It is peculiar to this people to seek omens and munitions from horses. Kept at the public expense in these same woods and groves are white horses pure from the taint of earthly labour. These are yoked to a sacred car and accompanied by the priest and the king or chief of the tribe who note their names and snortings. No species of Orgiri is more trusted not only by the people and by the nobility but also by the priests who regard themselves as the ministers of the gods and the horses as acquainted with their will. They have also another method of observing gossipes by which they seek to learn the result of an important war. Having taken by whatever means a prisoner from the tribe with whom they are at war they pit him against a picked man of their own tribe each competent using the weapons of their country. The victory of the one or the other is accepted as an indication of the issue about minor matters the chiefs deliberate about the more important the whole tribe yet even when the final decision rests with the people the affair is always thoroughly discussed by the chiefs they assemble except in the case of a sudden emergency on certain fixed days either at noon or at full moon for this they consider the most auspicious season for the transaction of business instead of reckoning by days as we do they reckon by nights and in this manner fix both their ordinary and their legal appointments night they regard as bringing on day their freedom has this disadvantage that they do not meet simultaneously or as they are bidden but two or three days are wasted in the delays of assembling when the multitude think proper they sit down armed silences proclaimed by the priests who have on these occasions the right of keeping order then the king or the chief referring to age, birth, distinction in war or eloquence is heard more because he has influence to persuade than because he has power to command if his sentiments displease them they reject them with murmurs if they are satisfied they brandish their spears the most complimentary form of assent is to express approbation with their weapons in their councils an accusation may be preferred or a capital crime prosecuted penalties are distinguished according to the offence traitors and deserters are hanged on trees the coward, the unwarlike the man stained with abominable vices is plunged into the ma of the morass with a hurdle put over him this distinction in punishment means that crime they think ought in being punished to be exposed while infamy ought to be buried out of sight lighter offences too have penalties proportioned to them he who is convicted is fined in a certain number of horses or of cattle half of the fine is paid to the king or to the state half to the person whose wrongs are avenged and to his relatives in these same councils they also elect the chief magistrates who administer law in the canthons and the towns each of these has a hundred associates chosen from the people who support him with their advice and influence they transact no public or private business without being armed it is not however usual for anyone to wear arms till the state has recognised his power to use them then in the presence of the council one of the chiefs or the young man's father or some kinsman equips him with a shield and a spear these arms are what the toga is with us the first honour with which youth is invested up to this time he is regarded as a member of a household afterwards as a member of the commonwealth very noble birth or great services rendered by the father secure for lads the rank of a chief such lads attach themselves to men of mature strength and of long approved valor it is no shame to be seen among a chief's followers even in his escort there are gradations of rank dependent on the choice of the man to whom they are attached these followers vie keenly with each other as to who shall rank first with his chief the chiefs as to who shall have the most numerous and the bravest followers it is an honour as well as a source of strength to be thus always surrounded by a large body of picked youths it is an ornament in peace and a defence in war and not only in his own tribe but also in the neighbouring states it is the renown and glory of a chief to be distinguished for the number and valor of his followers for such a man is courted by embassies is honoured with presence and the very prestige of his name often settles a war when they go into battle it is a disgrace for the chief to be surpassed in valor a disgrace for his followers not to equal the valor of the chief and it is an infamy and a reproach for life to have survived the chief and returned from the field to defend, to protect him to ascribe one's own brave deeds to his renown is the height of loyalty the chief fights for victory his vassals fight for their chief if their native state sinks into the sloth of prolonged peace and repose many of its noble youths voluntarily seek those tribes which are waging some war both because inaction is odious to their race and because they win renown more readily in the midst of peril and cannot maintain a numerous following except by violence and war indeed men looked to the liberality of their chief for their warhorse and their bloodstained and victorious lance feasts and entertainments which though inelegant are plentifully furnished are their only pay the means of this bounty come from war and rapine nor are they as easily persuaded to plow the earth and to wait for the years produce as to challenge an enemy and earn the honor of wounds nay they actually think it tame and stupid to acquire by the sweat of toil what they might win by their blood whenever they are not fighting they pass much of their time in the chase and still more in idleness giving themselves up to sleep and to feasting the bravest and the most warlike doing nothing and surrendering the management of the household of the home and of the land to the women, the old men and all the weakest members of the family they themselves lie buried in sloth a strange combination in their nature that the same men should be so fond of idleness so averse to peace it is the custom of the states to bestow by voluntary and individual contribution on the chiefs a present of cattle or of grain which, while accepted as a compliment supplies their wants they are particularly delighted by gifts from neighboring tribes which are sent not only by individuals but also by the state such as choice steeds heavy armor trappings and neck chains we have now taught them to accept money also it is well known that the nations of Germany have no cities and that they do not even tolerate closely contiguous dwellings they live scattered and apart just as a spring, a meadow or a wood has attracted them their villages they do not arrange in our fashion where the buildings connected and joined together but every person surrounds his dwelling with an open space either as a precaution against the disasters of fire or because they do not know how to build no use is made by them of stone or tile they employ timber for all purposes rude masses without ornament or attractiveness some parts of their buildings they stain more carefully with a clay so clear and bright that it resembles painting or a coloured design they are wont also to dig out subterranean caves and pile on them great heaps of dung as a shelter from winter and as a receptacle for the years produce for by such places they mitigate the rigor of the cold and should an enemy approach he lays waste the open country while what is hidden and buried is either not known to exist or else escapes him from the very fact that it has to be searched for End of Part 1 Recording by Andrew Coleman Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib Part 2 They all wrap themselves in a cloak which is fastened with a clasp or if this is not forthcoming with a thorn leaving the rest of their persons bare they pass whole days on the earth by the fire the wealthiest are distinguished by a dress which is not flowing like that of the Sarmat and Parti but is tight and exhibits each limb they also wear the skins of wild beasts the tribes on the Rhine and Jnup in a careless fashion those of the interior with more elegance as not obtaining other clothing by commerce these select certain animals the heights of which they strip off and vary them with the spotted skins of beasts the produce of the outer ocean and of seas unknown to us the women have the same dress as the men except that they generally wrap themselves in linen garments which they embroider with purple and do not lengthen out the upper part of their clothing into sleeves the upper and lower arm is thus bare and the nearest part of the bosom is also exposed their marriage coat however is strict and indeed no part of their manners is more praiseworthy almost alone among barbarians they are content with one wife except the very few among them and these not from sensuality but because their noble birth procures for them many offers of alliance the wife does not bring a dowry to the husband but the husband to the wife the parents and relatives are present and pass judgment on the marriage gifts gifts not meant to suit a women's taste nor such as a bride would deck herself with but oxen a comparison steed a shield, a lance and a sword with these presents the wife is espoused and she herself in her turn brings her husband a gift of arms this they count their strongest bond of union these their sacred mysteries these their gods of marriage lest the woman should think herself to stand apart from aspirations after noble deeds and from the perils of war she is reminded by the ceremony which inaugurates marriage that she is her husband's partner in toil and danger destined to suffer and to dare with him alike both in peace and in war the yoked oxen, the harnessed steed gift of arms proclaim this fact she must live and die with the feeling that she is receiving what she must hand down to her children neither tarnished nor depreciated what future daughters in law may receive and may be so passed on to her grandchildren thus with their virtue protected they live uncorrupted by the allurements of public shows or the stimulant of feastings clandestine correspondence is equally unknown to men and women very rare for so numerous a population is adultery, the punishment for which is prompt and in the husband's power having cut off the hair of the adulteress and stripped her naked he expels her from the house in the presence of her kinsfolk and then flogs her through the whole village the loss of chastity meets with no indulgence neither beauty, youth nor wealth secure the culprit a husband no one in Germany loves advice nor do they call it the fashion to corrupt and to be corrupted still better is the condition of those states in which only maidens are given in marriage and where the hopes and expectations of a bride are then finally terminated they receive one husband as having one body and one life that they may have no thoughts beyond no further reaching desires not so met the husband as the married state to limit the number of their children or to destroy any of their subsequent offspring is accounted infamous and good habits are here more effectual than good laws elsewhere in every household the children, naked and filthy grow up with those stout frames and limbs which we so much admire every mother suckles her own offspring and never entrusts it to servants and nurses the master is not distinguished from the slave by being brought up with greater delicacy both live amid the same flocks and lie on the same ground till the free born are distinguished by age and recognized by merit the young men marry late and their vigour is thus unimpaired nor are the maidens hurried into marriage the same age and a similar stature is required well matched and vigorous they wed and the offspring reproduce the strength of the parents sister's sons are held in as much esteem by their uncles as by their fathers indeed some regard the relation is even more sacred and binding and preferred in receiving hostages thinking thus to secure a stronger hold on the affections and a wider bond for the family but every man's own children are his heirs and successes and there are no wills should there be no issue the next in succession to the property are his brothers and his uncles by their side the more relatives he has the more numerous his connections the more honoured is his old age nor are there any advantages in childlessness it is a duty among them to adopt the feuds as well as the friendships of a father or a kinsman these feuds are not implacable even homicide is expiated by the payment of a certain number of cattle and of sheep and the satisfaction is accepted by the entire family greatly to the advantage of the state since feuds are dangerous in proportion to a people's freedom no nation indulges more profusely in entertainment and hospitality to exclude any human being from their roof is thought impious every German, according to his means receives his guest with a well furnished table when his supplies are exhausted he who was but now the host becomes the guide and companion to further hospitality and without invitation they go to the next house it matters not they are entertained with like cordiality no one distinguishes between an acquaintance and a stranger as regards the rights of hospitality it is usual to give the departing guest whatever he may ask for and the present in return is asked with his little hesitation they are greatly charmed with gifts but they expect no return for what they give nor feel any obligation for what they receive on waking from sleep which they generally prolong to a late hour of the day they take a bath often a stuff warm water which suits the country where winter is the longest of the seasons after their bath they take their meal each having a separate seat and table of his own then they go armed to business or no less often to their festival meetings to pause an entire day and night in drinking this graces no one their quarrels as might be expected with intoxicated people are seldom fought out with mere abuse but commonly with wounds and bloodshed yet it is at their feasts that they generally consult on the reconciliation of enemies on the forming of matrimonial alliances on the choice of chiefs finally even on peace and war for they think that at no time is the mind more open to simplicity of purpose or more warmed to noble aspirations a race without either natural or acquired cunning that is close their hidden thoughts in the freedom of the festivity thus the sentiments of all having been discovered and laid bare the discussion is renewed on the following day and from each occasion its own peculiar advantage is derived they deliberate when they have no power to dissemble they resolve when error is impossible a liquor for drinking is made out of barley or other grain and fermented into a certain resemblance to wine the dwellers on the river bank also buy wine their food is of a simple kind consisting of wild fruit fresh game and curdled milk they satisfy their hunger without elaborate preparation and without delicacies in quenching their thirst they are not equally moderate if you indulge their love of drinking by supplying them with as much as they desire they will be overcome by their own vices as easily as by the arms of an enemy one and the same kind of spectacle is always exhibited at every gathering naked youth who practice the sport bound in the dance amid swords and lances that threaten their lives experience give them skill and skill again gives grace profit or pay are out of the question however reckless their pastime its reward is the pleasure of the spectators strangely enough they make games of hazard a serious occupation even when sober and so venturesome are they about gaining or losing that when every other resource has failed on the last and final throw they stake the freedom of their own persons the loser goes into voluntary slavery though the younger and stronger he suffers himself to be bound and sold such is their stubborn persistency in a bad practice they themselves call it honour slaves of this kind even as part with in the way of commerce and also to relieve themselves from the scandal of such a victory the other slaves are not employed after our manner with distinct domestic duties assigned to them but each one has the management of a house and home of his own the master requires from the slave a certain quantity of grain of cattle and of clothing as he would from a tenant and this is a limit of subjection all other household functions are discharged by the wife and children to strike a slave or to punish him with bonds or with hard labour is a rare occurrence they often kill them not in enforcing strict discipline but on the impulse of passion as they would an enemy only it is done with impunity the freedmen do not rank much above slaves and are seldom of any weight in the family never in the state with the exception of those tribes which are ruled by kings there indeed they rise above the freed born and the noble elsewhere the inferiority of the freedmen marks the freedom of the state of lending money on interest and increasing it by compound interest they know nothing a more effectual safeguard than if it were prohibited land proportion to the number of inhabitants is occupied by the whole community in turn and afterwards divided among them according to rank a wide expanse of planes makes the partition easy they till fresh fields every year and they have still more land than enough with the richness and extent of their soil they do not laboriously exert themselves in planting orchards in closing meadows and watering gardens corn is the only produce required from the earth hence even the year itself is not divided by them into as many seasons as with us winter spring and summer have both a meaning and a name the name and blessings of autumn are like unknown in their funerals there is no pump they simply observe the custom of burning the bodies of illustrious men with certain kinds of wood they do not heap garments or spices on the funeral pile the arms of the dead men and in some cases his holes are consigned to the fire a turf mound forms the tomb monuments with a lofty elaborate splendor they reject as oppressive to the dead tears and lamentations they soon dismiss grief and sorrow but slowly it is thought becoming for women to bewail for men to remember the dead such on the whole is the account which I have received of the origin and manners of the entire German people I will now touch on the institutions and religious rights of the separate tribes pointing out how far they differ and also what nations have migrated from Germany into Gaul that highest authority the great Julius informs us that Gaul was once more powerful than Germany consequently we may believe that Gauls even crossed over into Germany for what a trifling obstacle would a river be to the various tribes as they grew in strength and wished to possess in exchange settlements which were still open to all and not petitioned among powerful monarchies accordingly the country between the Horsenian forest and the rivers Rhine and Manus and that which lies beyond was occupied respectively by the Helvetii and Boye both tribes of Gaul the name Boyamum still survives marking the old tradition of the place though the population has been changed whether however the Aravisci migrated into Panonia from the Ozi a German race or whether the Ozi came from the Aravisci into Germany as both nations still retain the same language institutions and customs is a doubtful matter for as they were once equally poor and equally free either bank had the same attractions the same drawbacks the Treveri and Nervi are even eager in their claims of a German origin thinking that the glory of this descent distinguishes them from the uniform level of Gallic effeminacy the Rhine bank itself is occupied by tribes unquestionably German the Vangiones the Tribozi and the Nemetis nor do even the Upii though they have earned the distinction of being a Roman colony and prefer to be called Agrippinensis from the name of their founder blushed to own their origin having crossed the sea in former days and given proof of their allegiance they were settled on the Rhine bank itself as those who might guard it but need not be watched for most among all these nations in Vela the Batavi occupy an island within the Rhine and but a small portion of the bank formerly a tribe of the Chiati they were forced by internal dissension to migrate to their present settlements and there become a part of the Roman Empire they yet retain the honourable batch of an ancient alliance for they are not insulted by tribute nor ground down by the tax-gatherer free from the usual burdens and contributions and set apart for fighting purposes like a magazine of arms we reserve them for our wars the subjection of the Matiazi is of the same character for the greatness of the Roman people has spread reverence for our empire beyond the Rhine and the old boundaries thus this nation whose settlements and territories are on their own side of the river are yet in sentiment and purpose one with us in all other respects they resemble the Batavi except that they still gained from the soil and climate of their native land Akina Vigge I should not reckon among the German tribes the cultivators of the Tithelands although they are settled on the further side of the Rhine and Genube reckless adventurers from Gaul emboldened by Wont occupy this land of questionable ownership after a while our frontier having been advanced and our military positions pushed forward it was regarded as a remote nook for our empire and a part of a Roman province beyond them are the Chati whose settlements begin at the Harsinian forest where the country is not so open and marshy as in the other cantons into which Germany stretches they are found where there are hills and with them grow less frequent for the Harsinian forest keeps close till it has seen the last of its native Chati hardy frames closed-knit limbs fierce countenances vigorous courage mark the tribe for Germans they have much intelligence and sagacity they promote their picked men to power and obey those whom they promote they keep their ranks not their opportunities check their impulses portion out the day entrench themselves by night regard fortune as a doubtful velle as an unfailing resource and what is most unusual and only given to systematic discipline more on the general than on the army their whole strength is in their infantry which in addition to its arms is laden with iron tools and provisions other tribes you see going to battle the Chati to a campaign seldom do they engage in mere raids and casual encounters it is indeed the peculiarity of a cavalry force quickly to win and as quickly to yield a victory fleetness and timidity go together their brightness is more akin to steady courage a practice rare among the other German tribes and simply characteristic of individual prowess has become general among the Chati of letting the hair and beard grow as soon as they have attained manhood and not till they have slain a foe laying aside that peculiar aspect which devotes and pledges them to velle over the spoiled and bleeding enemy they show their faces once more then and not till then proclaiming that they have discharged the obligations of their birth and prove themselves worthy of their country and of their parents the coward and the unwarlike remain unshoen the bravest of them also wear an iron ring which otherwise is a mark of disgrace among the people until they have released themselves by the slaughter of a foe most of the Chati delight in these fashions even whore-headed men are distinguished by them conspicuous alike to enemies and to fellow countrymen to begin the battle always rests with them they form the first line an unusual spectacle nor even in peace do they assume a more civilized aspect they have no home or land or occupation they are supported by whomsoever they visit as lavish of the property of others as they are regardless of their own till at length the feebleness of age makes them unequal to so stern a vella End of Part 2 Part 3 of Tessitus Garmania This is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording my Chulipa Malchem Garmania by Pablius Cornelius Tessitus translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib Part 3 next to the catty on the Rhine which is now a well-defined channel and serves as a boundary dwell the usipi and tenturi the latter besides the more usual military distinctions particularly excel in the organization of cavalry and the catty are not more famous for their foot soldiers than are the tenturi for their horsemen What if their forefathers originated posterity maintained the supplies brought to their children rivalry to their youths even the aged keep it up horses are bequeathed along with the slaves the dwelling house and the usual rides of inheritance they go to the son not to the eldest as does the other property but to the most warlike and courageous after the tenturi came in former days the brocatery but a general account now is that a camovie and angriviary entered their settlements drove them out and utterly exterminated them with the common help of the neighboring tribes either from hatred of their tyranny or from the attractions of plunder or from heaven's favourable regard for us it did not even grudge us the spectacle of the conflict more than 60,000 fell not beneath the Roman arms and weapons but grand afar before our delighted eyes made the tribes I pray ever retain if not love for us at least hatred for each other for while the destinies of empire hurry us on fortune can give no greater boon than discord among our foes the angriviary the angriviary the angriviary and camovie are bounded in the rear by the dolgubbini and cassowari and other tribes not equally famous towards the river are the frezi distinguished as a greater and lesser frezi according to their strengths both these tribes as far as the ocean are skirted by the Rhine and their territory also embraces vast lakes where Roman fleets have navigated we have ventured on the ocean itself in these parts pillars of Hercules so rumour commonly says still exist where the Hercules really visited the country or whether we have agreed to ascribe every work of grandeur wherever met with to his renown Drus's Germanicus indeed did not like daring but the ocean barred the explorer's access to itself and to Hercules subsequently no one has made the attempt and it has been thought more pies and reverential to believe in the actions of the gods than to inquire thus far we have taken out of western Germany northwards the country takes a vast sweep first comes the tribe of the Corsi which beginning at the Fridgen settlement and occupying a part of the coast stretches along the frontier of all the tribes which I have enumerated till it reaches with the band as far as the catty this vast extent of country is not merely possessed but densely peabot by the Corsi the nobles of the German races a nation who would maintain their greatness by righteous dealing without ambition without lawless violence they live peaceful and secluded never provoking a war or rendering others by repine and robbery the crowning proof of their valor and their strengths is that they keep up their superiority without harm to others yet all have their weapons and redness and an army of necessary with the multitude of men and horses and even while at peace they have the same renown of valor dwelling on one side of the Corsi and catty the carousel long cherished unassailed unending love of peace this was more pleasant than safe for to be a peaceful a self-deception among lawless and powerful neighbors where the strong hand decides moderation and justice are terms applied only to the more powerful and so the carousel ever reputed good and just are now called cowards and fools while in the case of the victorious catty success has been identified with prudence the downfall of the carousel brought with it also that of the Fossi a neighbouring tribe which shared equally in their disasters though they had been inferior to them in prosperous days in the same remote corner of Germany bordering on the ocean dwell the Kimbrie a now insignificant tribe but of great renown of their ancient glory widespread traces yet to remain both the sides of the Rhine are encampments of vast extent and by the circuit you may even now measure the warlike strengths of the tribe and find evidence of that mighty immigration Rome was in her 640th year when we first heard of the Kimbrie invader in the consulship of Cecilius Matalus and Papyrus Carbo from which time to the second consulship of the emperor Trajan was back in about two hundred and ten years so long have it been in conquering Germany in the space of this long epoch many losses have been sustained on both sides neither Semnaid nor Cartaginian neither Spain nor Gaul not even the Partians have given us more frequent warnings German independence truly is fiercer than the despotism of Narcissies because indeed can the East taunt us with but the slaughter of grasses when it has itself lost packers and been crushed under a vantidias but Germans by rotting or making prisoners of Carbo, Cacius Scorus, Aurelius Civilius Capio and Marcellus Manlius deprived the Roman people of five consular armies and they robbed even a Caesar of Varys three legions not without loss to us was a discomfited by Marius in Italy by the great Julius in Gaul and by Drusus Nero and Germanicus on their own ground soon after the mighty Manus of Cacius Caesar were turned into a jest then came a lull until on the occasion of our discord and the civil war they stormed in the winter camp of our legions and even designed the conquest of Gaul again where they driven back and in recent times we have celebrated triumphs rather than one conquest over them I must now speak of the Sweve who are not one nation as are the cate and taintery for they occupy the greater part of Germany and have hitherto been divided into separate tribes with names of their own though they are called a nation of Sweve a national peculiarity with them is to twist their hair back and fasten it in a knot this distinguishes the Sweve from the other Germans as it also does their own freeborn from their slaves with other tribes either from some connection with the Sweve race or as often happens from imitation the practice is an occasional one and restricted to youth the Sweve till their heads are grey affect the fashion of drawing back their encamped logs and often they are knotted on the very top of the head the chiefs have a more elaborate style so much do they study appearance but in perfect innocence not with any sort of love making but arranging their hair when they go to battle to make themselves tall and terrible so to speak for the eyes of the foe the Semnones give themselves out to be the most ancient and renowned branch of the Sweve their antiquity is strongly tested by the religion at a stated period all the tribes of the same race assemble by their representatives in a grove consecrated by the auguries of their forefathers and by immemorial associations of terror here having publicly slaughtered the human fiction they celebrate the horrible beginning of their barbarous ride reverence also in other ways is paid to the grove no one enters it except bound with a chain as an inferior acknowledging the might of the local divinity if he chance to fall it is not lawful for him to be lifted up or to rise to his feet he must crawl out along the ground all the superstition implies to believe that from this spot the nation took it origin steered wells the supreme and all-ruling deity to whom all else is subject and obedient the fortunate lot of the Semnones strengthens this belief a hundred cantons are in their occupation and the vastness of their community makes them regard themselves as a head of the Sweve Greys to the Lange body on the country their scanty numbers are a distinction they are surrounded by a host of most powerful tribes they are safe not by submitting but by daring the pearls of wool next come the Rodigny the Evionis the Anglii the Varinii the Eudoses the Swardones and Nothones who are fenced in by rivers and forests except their common worship of Urtha or Mother Earth and their belief that she interposes in human affairs and visits of the nations in her car in an island of the ocean there is a sacred grove and within it a consecrated chariot covered over with a garment only one priest is permitted to touch it he can perceive the presence of the goddess in the sacred recess and walks by her side in the most reverence as she is drawn along by hyphers it is a season of rejoicing and festivity reigns wherever she dames to go and be received they do not go to battle or wear arms every weapon is under lock peasant, quiet, unknown and welcomed only at these times till the goddess wary of human intercourse is at length restored by the same priest to her temple afterwards the car, the vestment and if you like to believe it the divinity herself are purified in a secret lake slaves perform the ride who are instantly swallowed up by its waters hands arises a mysterious terror and a pious ignorance concerning the nature of that which is seen only by men doomed to die this branch indeed of the suave stretches into the remote regions of Germany nearer to us is a state of the Hermundry I shall follow the course of the Demu as I did before that of Therain a people loyal to Rome consequently they alone of the Germans stayed not merely on the banks of the river but far inland and in the most flourishing colony of the province of Riesche everywhere they are allowed to pass without a guard and while to the other tribes who display only our arms and our camps to them we have thrown open our houses and country-seeds which they do not covet it is in their lands that the Albi takes its rise a famous river known to us in past days now we only hear of it the Nariski border on the Hermundry and then follow the Marcomani and Quarri the Marcomani stand first in strengths and renown and their very territory from which the Bowie driven in a former age was won by Vela nor are the Nariski and Quarri inferior to them this I may call the frontier of Germany so far as it is completed by the Danube the Marcomani and Quarri have up to our time been ruled by kings of their own nation descended from the noble stock of Marobodius and Tudras they now submit even to foreigners but the strengths and power of the Monarch depend on Roman influence he is occasionally supported by our arms more frequently by our money and his authority is nonetheless behind them the Marsigny Gotini, Ozi and Buri close in the rear of the Marcomani and Quarri of these the Marsigny and Buri in their language and manner of life resemble the Swevy the Gotini and Ozi are proved by their respective Gallic and Pannonian tongs as well as by the effect of their enduring tribute not to be Germans tribute is imposed on them as aliens partly by the Somate partly by the Quarri the Gotini to complete their digration actually work iron mines all these nations occupy Dwelling in forests and on mountain tops for Swevia is divided and cut in half by continuous mountain range beyond which live a multitude of tribes the name of Liggy spread as it is among many states is most widely extended it will be enough to mention the most powerful which are the Hari the Helviconis the Manimi, the Hylissi and the Nehanavali among these last is shown a grove of immemorial sanctity a precent female etai has a charge of it but the Deities are described in Roman language as Caster and Pollux such indeed are their attributes of the Divinity the name being Alchys they have no images or indeed any vestige of foreign superstition but it is as brothers and as youths that the Deities are worshiped the Hari having superior in strength to the tribes just enumerated savages as they are make the most of their natural ferocity by the help of art and opportunity their shields are black their bodies died they choose dark nights for battle and by the dread and gloomy aspect of their deaths like host strike terror into the foe who can never confront their strange and almost infernal appearance for in all battles it is in the eye which is first vanquished beyond the liggy are the Katonis who are ruled by kings a little more strictly than the other German tribes but not as yet inconsistently with freedom immediately adjoining them further from the coast are the Rugi and Lemovie the better of all these tribes being the Rand shield the short sword the vile submission to their kings and now begin the state of the Sionis situated on the ocean itself and these besides men and arms are powerful in ships the form of their vessels is peculiar in this respect that a prow at either extremity acts as a foe part always ready for running into shore they are not worked by sails nor have they rather awws attached to their sides but as on some rivers the apparatus of rowing is unfixed and shifted from side to side as circumstances require and they likewise honor wealth and so a single ruler holds sway with no restrictions and with no uncertain claim to obedience arms are not with them as with the other Germans at the General Disposal but are in the charge of a keeper for the ocean for bits the sudden inroad of enemies and besides an idle multitude of armed men is easily demoralized and indeed it is by no means the policy of a monarch to place either a nobleman a free born citizen or even a freedman at the head of an armed foe beyond the Sionis is another sea sluggish and almost motionless which we may certainly infer from the girdles and surrounds the world from the fact that a last vagance of the setting sun lingers on till sunrise with the brightness sufficient to dim the light of the stars even the very sound of his rising as popular belief adds may be heard and the forms of gods and the glory round his head may be seen only thus far and here Rome seems truth does the world extend at this point the Swevic sea on its eastern shore washes the tribes of the Asti whose rites and fashions and style of dress are those of the Swevi while the language is more like the British they worship the mother of the gods and rare as a religious symbol the device of a wild boar this serves as armor and as a universal defence rendering the votory of the goddess safe even amidst enemies they often use clubs iron weapons but seldom they are more patient in cultivating corn and other produce than might be expected from the general indolence of the Germans they also search the deep and are the only people who gather amber which they call glissom in the shadows and also on the shore itself barbarians as they are they have not investigated or discovered what natural cause or process produces it nay it even limits the sea's other refuse till our luxury gave it a name to them it is utterly useless they gather it in its raw state bring it to us in shapeless lumps and marvel at the price which they receive it is however adduced from trees as you may infer from the fact that there are often seen shining through it reptiles and even winged insects which having become entangled in the fluid are gradually enclosed in the substance as it hardens I am therefore inclined to think that the islands and countries of the west like the remote recesses of the east where frankincense and bosom exude contain fruitful woods and groves that these productions act aton by the near rays of the sun glide in a liquid state into the adjacent sea and are thrown up by the force of storms on the opposite shores if you tested the composition of amber by applying fire it burns like pine wood and sends forth a rich and fragrant flame it is soon softened into something like pitch or raisin closely bordering on the sionis are the tribes of the satonis which resembling them in all else differ only and being ruled by a woman so low have they fallen not merely from freedom but even from slavery itself here's wavia and as to the tribes of the pocini fineti and fenny I am in doubt whether I should clasp them with the Germans or the Samate although indeed the pocini called by some bastone are like Germans in their language mode of life and in the permanence of their settlements they all live in filth and sloth and by the intermarriages of the cheese they are becoming in some degree debased into resemblance to the Samate the verneti have borrowed largely from the Samatian character and their plundering expeditions they roam over the whole extent of forest and mountain between the pocini and fenny they are however to be rather referred to the German race their habitations carry shields and delight in strengths and fleedness of foot thus presenting a complete contrast to the Samate who live in wagons and on horseback the fenny are strangely beast like and squalledly poor neither arms nor horses have they their food as herbs their clothing skins their bed the earth they trust wholly to their arrows their wand of iron are pointed with bone the men and women are alike supplied by the chase whose letter are always present and demand a share of the bray the little children have no shelter from wild beasts and storms but a covering of interlaced boughs such are the homes of the young such the resting place of the old yet they count this greater happiness than groaning over field labour toiling at building and poising the fortunes of themselves and others between hope and fear heedless of men heedless of gods they have attained the hardest of results the not needing so much as wish all else is fabulous as at a Halusi and Exionis have the faces and expressions of men with the bodies and limbs of wild beasts all this is unauthenticated and I shall leave it open