The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus
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Tacitus >> The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus
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[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.
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