The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus
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