The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus
woods and marshes, made this observation more applicable than at
present. The same change of temperature from clearing and draining
the land has taken place in North America. It may be added, that the
Germans, as we are afterwards informed, paid attention to no kind of
culture but that of corn.
[34] The cattle of some parts of Germany are at present remarkably
large; so that their former smallness must have rather been owing to
want of care in feeding them and protecting them from the inclemencies
of winter, and in improving the breed by mixtures, than to the nature of
the climate.
[35] Mines both of gold and silver have since been discovered in
Germany; the former, indeed, inconsiderable; but the latter, valuable.
[36] As vice and corruption advanced among the Romans, their money
became debased and adulterated. Thus Pliny, xxxiii. 3, relates, that
"Livius Drusus during his tribuneship, mixed an eighth part of brass
with the silver coin;" and ibid. 9, "that Antony the triumvir mixed iron
with the denarius: that some coined base metal, others diminished
the pieces, and hence it became an art to prove the goodness of the
denarii." One precaution for this purpose was cutting the edges like
the teeth of a saw, by which means it was seen whether the metal was
the same quite through, or was only plated. These were the Serrati, or
serrated Denarii. The Bigati were those stamped with the figure of a
chariot drawn by two horses, as were the Quadrigati with a chariot and
four horses. These were old coin, of purer silver than those of the
emperors. Hence the preference of the Germans for certain kinds of
species was founded on their apprehension of being cheated with false
money.
[37] The Romans had the same predilection for silver coin, and probably
on the same account originally. Pliny, in the place above cited,
expresses his surprise that "the Roman people had always imposed a
tribute in silver on conquered nations; as at the end of the second
Punic war, when they demanded an annual payment in silver for fifty
years, without any gold."
[38] Iron was in great abundance in the bowels of the earth; but this
barbarous people had neither patience, skill, nor industry to dig and
work it. Besides, they made use of weapons of stone, great numbers of
which are found in ancient tombs and barrows.
[39] This is supposed to take its name from _pfriem_ or _priem_, the
point of a weapon. Afterwards, when iron grew more plentiful, the
Germans chiefly used swords.
[40] It appears, however, from Tacitus's Annals, ii. 14, that the length
of these spears rendered them unmanageable in an engagement among trees
and bushes.
[41] Notwithstanding the manner of fighting is so much changed in modern
times, the arms of the ancients are still in use. We, as well as they,
have two kinds of swords, the sharp-pointed, and edged (small sword and
sabre). The broad lance subsisted till lately in the halberd; the spear
and framea in the long pike and spontoon; the missile weapons in the war
hatchet, or North American tomahawk. There are, besides, found in the
old German barrows, perforated stone balls, which they threw by means of
thongs passed through them.
[42] _Nudi_. The Latin nudus, like the Greek _gemnos_, does not point
out a person devoid of all clothing, but merely one without an upper
garment--clad merely in a vest or tunic, and that perhaps a short
one.--_White_.
[43] This decoration at first denoted the valor, afterwards the
nobility, of the bearer; and in process of time gave origin to the
armorial ensigns so famous in the ages of chivalry. The shields of the
private men were simply colored; those of the chieftains had the figures
of animals painted on them.
[44] Plutarch, in his Life of Marius, describes somewhat differently
the arms and equipage of the Cimbri. "They wore (says he) helmets
representing the heads of wild beasts, and other unusual figures, and
crowned with a winged crest, to make them appear taller. They were
covered with iron coats of mail, and carried white glittering shields.
Each had a battle-axe; and in close fight they used large heavy swords."
But the learned Eccard justly observes, that they had procured these
arms in their march; for the Holsatian barrows of that age contain few
weapons of brass, and none of iron; but stone spear-heads, and instead
of swords, the wedgelike bodies vulgarly called thunderbolts.
[46] Casques (_cassis_) are of metal; helmets (_galea_) of
leather--_Isidorus_.
[46] This mode of fighting is admirably described by Caesar. "The
Germans engaged after the following manner:--There were 6,000 horse, and
an equal number of the swiftest and bravest foot; who were chosen,
man by man, by the cavalry, for their protection. By these they were
attended in battle; to these they retreated; and, these, if they were
hard pressed, joined them in the combat. If any fell wounded from their
horses, by these they were covered. If it were necessary to advance or
retreat to any considerable distance, such agility had they acquired by
exercise, that, supporting themselves by the horses' manes, they kept
pace with them."--Bell. Gall. i. 48.
[47] To understand this, it is to be remarked, that the Germans were
divided into nations or tribes,--these into cantons, and these into
districts or townships. The cantons (_pagi_ in Latin) were called by
themselves _gauen_. The districts or townships (_vici_) were called
_hunderte_, whence the English hundreds. The name given to these select
youth, according to the learned Dithmar, was _die hunderte_, hundred
men. From the following passage in Caesar, it appears that in the more
powerful tribes a greater number was selected from each canton. "The
nation of the Suevi is by far the greatest and most warlike of the
Germans. They are said to inhabit a hundred cantons; from each of
which a thousand men are sent annually to make war out of their own
territories. Thus neither the employments of agriculture, nor the use of
arms are interrupted."--Bell. Gall. iv. 1. The warriors were summoned
by the _heribannum_, or army-edict; whence is derived the French
arrière-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 (Mém. 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