The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus

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[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.

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