The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus
German king, near Dampierre in the Franche-Comte, and pursued his routed
troops with great slaughter thirty miles towards the Rhine, filling all
that space with spoils and dead bodies. (Bell. Gall. i. 33 and 52.)
He had before chastised the Tigurini, who, as already mentioned, had
defeated and killed L. Cassius. Drusus: This was the son of Livia, and
brother of the emperor Tiberius. He was in Germany B.C. 12, 11. His loss
was principally from shipwreck on the coast of the Chauci. See Lynam's
Roman Emperors, i. 37, 45, Nero; _i.e._ Tiberius, afterwards emperor.
His name was Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero. See Lynam's Roman Emperors,
i. 51, 53, 62, 78. Germanicus: He was the son of Drusus, and so nephew
of Tiberius. His victories in Germany took place A.D. 14-16. He too,
like his father, was shipwrecked, and nearly at the same spot. See
Lynam's Roman Emperors, i. 103-118.
[205] In the war of Civilis, related by Tacitus, Hist. iv. and v.
[206] By Domitian, as is more particularly mentioned in the Life of
Agricola.
[207] The Suevi possessed that extensive tract of country lying between
the Elbe, the Vistula, the Baltic Sea, and the Danube. They formerly had
spread still further, reaching even to the Rhine. Hence Strabo, Caesar,
Florus, and others, have referred to the Suevi what related to the
Catti.
[208] Among the Suevi, and also the rest of the Germans, the slaves,
seem to have been shaven; or at least cropped so short that they could
not twist or tie up their hair in a knot.
[209] The Semnones inhabited both banks of the Viadrus (Oder); the
country which is now part of Pomerania, of the Marche of Brandenburg,
and of Lusatia.
[210] In the reign of Augustus, the Langobardi dwelt on this side the
Elbe, between Luneburg and Magdeburg. When conquered and driven beyond
the Elbe by Tiberius, they occupied that part of the country where are
now Prignitz, Ruppin, and part of the Middle Marche. They afterwards
founded the Lombard kingdom in Italy; which, in the year of Christ
774, was destroyed by Charlemagne, who took their king Desiderius, and
subdued all Italy. The laws of the Langobardi are still extant, and may
be met with in Lindenbrog. The Burgundians are not mentioned by Tacitus,
probably because they were then an inconsiderable people. Afterwards,
joining with the Langobardi, they settled on the Decuman lands and the
Roman boundary. They from thence made an irruption into Gaul, and seized
that country which is still named from them Burgundy. Their laws are
likewise extant.
[211] From Tacitus's description, the Reudigni must have dwelt in part
of the present duchy of Mecklenburg, and of Lauenburg. They had formerly
been settled on this side the Elbe, on the sands of Luneburg.
[212] Perhaps the same people with those called by Mamertinus, in
his Panegyric on Maximian, the Chaibones. From their vicinity to the
fore-mentioned nations, they must have inhabited part of the duchy of
Mecklenburg. They had formerly dwelt on this side the Elbe, on the banks
of the river Ilmenavia in Luneburg; which is now called Ava; whence,
probably, the name of the people.
[213] Inhabitants of what is now part of Holstein and Sleswig; in which
tract is still a district called Angeln, between Flensborg and Sleswig.
In the fifth century, the Angles, in conjunction with the Saxons,
migrated into Britain, and perpetuated their name by giving appellation
to England.
[214] From the enumeration of Tacitus, and the situation of the other
tribes, it appears that the Eudoses must have occupied the modern Wismar
and Rostock; the Suardones, Stralsund, Swedish Pomerania, and part
of the Hither Pomerania, and of the Uckerane Marche. Eccard, however,
supposes these nations were much more widely extended; and that
the Eudoses dwelt upon the Oder; the Suardones, upon the Warte; the
Nuithones, upon the Netze.
[215] The ancient name of the goddess Herth still subsists in the German
_Erde_, and in the English _Earth_.
[216] Many suppose this island to have been the isle of Rugen in the
Baltic sea. It is more probable, however, that it was an island near
the mouth of the Elbe, now called the isle of Helgeland, or Heiligeland
(Holy Island). Besides the proof arising from the name, the situation
agrees better with that of the nations before enumerated.
[217] Olaus Rudbeck contends that this festival was celebrated in
winter, and still continues in Scandinavia under the appellation of
Julifred, the peace of Juul. (Yule is the term used for Christmas season
in the old English and Scottish dialects.) But this feast was solemnized
not in honor of the Earth, but of the Sun, called by them Thor or
Taranium. The festival of Herth was held later, in the month of
February; as may be seen in Mallet's "Introduction to the History of
Denmark."
[218] _Templo_ here means merely "the consecrated place," _i.e._ the
grove before mentioned, for according to c.9 the Germans built no
temples.
[219] It is supposed that this people, on account of their valor, were
called Heermanner; corrupted by the Romans into Hermunduri. They were
first settled between the Elbe, the Sala, and Bohemia; where now
are Anhalt, Voightland, Saxony, part of Misnia, and of Franconia.
Afterwards, when the Marcomanni took possession of Bohemia, from which
the Boii had been expelled by Maroboduus, the Hermunduri added their
settlements to their own, and planted in them the Suevian name, whence
is derived the modern appellation of that country, Suabia.
[220] They were so at that time; but afterwards joined with the
Marcomanni and other Germans against the Romans in the time of Marcus
Aurelius, who overcame them.
[221] Augusta Vindelicorum, now Augsburg; a famous Roman colony in the
province of Rhaetia, of which Vindelica was then a part.
[222] Tacitus is greatly mistaken if he confounds the source of the
Egra, which is in the country of the Hermuduri, with that of the Elbe,
which rises in Bohemia. The Elbe had been formerly, as Tacitus observes,
well known to the Romans by the victories of Drusus, Tiberius, and
Domitius; but afterwards, when the increasing power of the Germans kept
the Roman arms at a distance, it was only indistinctly heard of. Hence
its source was probably inaccurately laid down in the Roman geographical
tables. Perhaps, however, the Hermunduri, when they had served in the
army of Maroboduus, received lands in that part of Bohemia in which
the Elbe rises; in which case there would be no mistake in Tacitus's
account.
[223] Inhabitants of that part of Bavaria which lies between Bohemia and
the Danube.
[224] Inhabitants of Bohemia.
[225] Inhabitants of Moravia, and the part of Austria between it and
the Danube. Of this people, Ammianus Marcellinus, in his account of the
reign of Valentinian and Valens, thus speaks:--"A sudden commotion arose
among the Quadi; a nation at present of little consequence, but
which was formerly extremely warlike and potent, as their exploits
sufficiently evince."--xxix. 15.
[226] Their expulsion of the Boii, who had given name to Bohemia, has
been already mentioned. Before this period, the Marcomanni dwelt near
the sources of the Danube, where now is the duchy of Wirtemburg; and, as
Dithmar supposes, on account of their inhabiting the borders of Germany,
were called Marcmanner, from _Marc_ (the same with the old English
_March_) a border, or boundary.
[227] These people justified their military reputation by the dangerous
war which, in conjunction with the Marcomanni, they excited against the
Romans, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius.
[228] Of this prince, and his alliance with the Romans against Arminius,
mention is made by Tacitus, Annals, ii.
[229] Thus Vannius was made king of the Quadi by Tiberius. (See Annals,
ii. 63.) At a later period, Antoninus Pius (as appears from a medal
preserved in Spanheim) gave them Furtius for their king. And when they
had expelled him, and set Ariogaesus on the throne, Marcus Aurelius, to
whom he was obnoxious, refused to confirm the election. (Dio, lxxi.)
[230] These people inhabited what is now Galatz, Jagerndorf, and part of
Silesia.
[231] Inhabitants of part of Silesia, and of Hungary.
[232] Inhabitants of part of Hungary to the Danube.
[233] These were settled about the Carpathian mountains, and the sources
of the Vistula.
[234] It is probable that the Suevi were distinguished from the rest
of the Germans by a peculiar dialect, as well as by their dress and
manners.
[235] Ptolemy mentions iron mines in or near the country of the Quadi.
I should imagine that the expression "additional disgrace" (or, more
literally, "which might make them more ashamed") does not refer merely
to the slavery of working in mines, but to the circumstance of their
digging up iron, the substance by means of which they might acquire
freedom and independence. This is quite in the manner of Tacitus. The
word _iron_ was figuratively used by the ancients to signify military
force in general. Thus Solon, in his well-known answer to Croesus,
observed to him, that the nation which possessed more iron would be
master of all his gold.--_Aikin_.
[236] The mountains between Moravia, Hungary, Silesia, and Bohemia.
[237] The Lygii inhabited what is now part of Silesia, of the New
Marche, of Prussia and Poland on this side the Vistula.
[238] These tribes were settled between the Oder and Vistula, where
now are part of Silesia, of Brandenburg, and of Poland. The Elysii are
supposed to have given name to Silesia.
[239] The Greeks and Romans, under the name of the Dioscuri, or Castor
and Pollux, worshipped those meteorous exhalations which, during a
storm, appear on the masts of ships, and are supposed to denote an
approaching calm. A kind of religious veneration is still paid to this
phenomenon by the Roman Catholics, under the appellation of the fire
of St. Elmo. The Naharvali seem to have affixed the same character of
divinity on the _ignis fatuus_; and the name Alcis is probably the same
with that of Alff or Alp, which the northern nations still apply to the
fancied Genii of the mountains. The Sarmatian deities Lebus and Polebus,
the memory of whom still subsists in the Polish festivals, had, perhaps,
the same origin.
[240] No custom has been more universal among uncivilized people than
painting the body, either for the purpose of ornament, or that of
inspiring terror.
[241] Inhabitants of what is now Further Pomerania, the New Marche and
the Western part of Poland, between the Oder and Vistula. They were a
different people from the Goths, though, perhaps, in alliance with them.
[242] These people were settled on the shore of the Baltic, where
now are Colburg, Cassubia, and Further Pomerania. Their name is still
preserved in the town of Rugenwald and Isle of Rugen.
[243] These were also settlers on the Baltic, about the modern Stolpe,
Dantzig, and Lauenburg. The Heruli appear afterwards to have occupied
the settlements of the Lemovii. Of these last no further mention occurs;
but the Heruli made themselves famous throughout Europe and Asia, and
were the first of the Germans who founded a kingdom in Italy under
Odoacer.
[244] The Suiones inhabited Sweden, and the Danish isles of Funen,
Langlaud, Zeeland, Laland, &c. From them and the Cimbri were derived
the Normans, who, after spreading terror through various parts of the
empire, at last seized upon the fertile province of Normandy in France.
The names of Goths, Visigoths, and Ostrogoths, became still more famous,
they being the nations who accomplished the ruin of the Roman empire.
The laws of the Visigoths are still extant; but they depart much from
the usual simplicity of the German laws.
[245] The Romans, who had but an imperfect knowledge of this part of