From Germania by the Roman Tacitus. A Description of the Germans at then End of the 1st Century
The Inhabitants. 0rigins of the Name "Germany. " The Germans themselves I should regard as aboriginal, and not
mixed at all with other races through immigration or intercourse. For, in former times it was not by land but on shipboard
that those who sought to emigrate would arrive; and the boundless and, so to speak, hostile ocean beyond us, is seldom
entered by a sail from our world. And, beside the perils of rough and unknown seas, who would leave Asia, or Africa for
Italy for Germany, with its wild country, its inclement skies, its sullen manners and aspect, unless indeed it were his home?
In their ancient songs, their only way of remembering or recording the past they celebrate an earth-born god Tuisco, and
his son Mannus, as the origin of their race, as their founders. To Mannus they assign three sons, from whose names, they
say, the coast tribes are called Ingaevones; those of the interior, Herminones; all the rest, Istaevones. Some, with the
freedom of conjecture permitted by antiquity, assert that the god had several descendants, and the nation several
appellations, as Marsi, Gambrivii, Suevi, Vandilij, and that these are nine old names. The name Germany, on the other
hand, they say is modern and newly introduced, from the fact that the tribes which first crossed the Rhine and drove out
the Gauls, and are now called Tungrians, were then called Germans. Thus what was the name of a tribe, and not of a
race, gradually prevailed, till all called themselves by this self-invented name of Germans, which the conquerors had first
employed to inspire terror.
The National War-Songs.... They say that Hercules, too, once visited them; and when going into battle, they sing of him
first of all heroes. They have also those songs of theirs, by the recital of which ("baritus," they call it), they rouse their
courage, while from the note they augur the result of the approaching conflict. For, as their line shouts, they inspire or feel
alarm. It is not so much an articulate sound, as a general cry of valor. They aim chiefly at a harsh note and a confused
roar, putting their shields to their mouth, so that, by reverberation, it may swell into a fuller and deeper sound.
Physical Characteristics. For my own part, I agree with those who think that the tribes of Germany are free from all
taint of intermarriages with foreign nations, and that they appear as a distinct, unmixed race, like none but themselves.
Hence, too, the same physical peculiarities throughout so vast a population. All have fierce blue eyes, red hair, huge
frames, fit only for a sudden exertion. They are less able to bear laborious work. Heat and thirst they cannot in the least
endure; to cold and hunger their climate and their soil inure them.
Climate and Soil. Precious Metals. Their country, though somewhat various in appearance, yet generally either bristles
with forests or reeks with swamps; it is more rainy on the side of Gaul, bleaker on that of Noricum and Pannonia. It is
productive of grain, but unfavourable to fruit-bearing trees; it is rich in flocks and herds, but these are for the most part
undersized, and even the cattle have not their usual beauty or noble head. It is number that is chiefly valued; they are in
fact the most highly prized, indeed the only riches of the people. Silver and gold the gods have refused to them, whether in
kindness or in anger I cannot say. I would not, however, affirm that no vein of German soil produces gold or silver, for
who has ever made a search? They care but little to possess or use them. You may see among them vessels of silver,
which have been presented to their envoys and chieftains, held as cheap as those of the clay. The border population,
however, value gold and silver for their commercial utility, and are familiar with, and show preference for, some of our
coins. The tribes of the interior use the simpler and more ancient practice of the barter of commodities. They like the old
and well known money, coins milled, or showing a two-horse chariot. They likewise prefer silver to gold, not from any
special liking, but because a large number of silver pieces is more convenient for use among dealers in cheap and common
articles.
Arms Military Manoeuvres and Discipline Even iron is not plentiful with them, as we infer from the character of their
weapons. But few use swords or long lances. They carry a spear (framea is their name for it), with a narrow and short
head, but so sharp and easy to wield that the same weapon serves, according to circumstances, for close or distant
conflict. As for the horse-soldier, he is satisfied with a shield and spear; the foot-soldiers also scatter showers of missiles
each man having several and hurling them to an immense distance, and being naked or lightly clad with a little cloak. There
is no display about their equipment; their shields alone are marked with very choice colours. A few only have corslets, and
just one or two here and there a metal or leather helmet. Their horses are remarkable neither for beauty nor for fleetness.
Nor are they taught various evolutions after our fashion, but are driven straight forward, or so as to make one wheel to the
right in such a compact body that none is left behind another. On the whole, one would say that their chief strength is in
their infantry, which fights along with the cavalry; admirably adapted to the action of the latter is the swiftness of certain
foot-soldiers, who are picked from the entire youth of their country, and stationed in front of the line. Their number is fixed
-- a hundred from each canton; and from this they take their name among their countrymen, so that what was originally a
mere number has no become a title of distinction. Their line of battle is drawn up in a wedge-like formation. To give
ground, provided you return to the attack, is considered prudence rather than cowardice. The bodies of their slain they
carry off even in indecisive engagements. To abandon your shield is the basest of crimes; nor may a man thus disgraced
be present at the sacred rites, or enter their council; many, indeed, after escaping from battle, have ended their infamy with
the halter.
Government. Influence of Women. They choose their kings by birth, their generals for merit. These kings have not
unlimited or arbitrary power, and the generals do more by example than by authority. If they are energetic, if they are
conspicuous, if they fight in the front, they lead because they are admired. But to reprimand, to imprison, even to flog, is
permitted to the priests alone, and that not as a punishment, or at the general's bidding, but, as it were, by the mandate of
the god whom they believe to inspire the warrior. They also carry with them into battle certain figures and images taken
from their sacred groves. And what most stimulates their courage is, that their squadrons or battalions, instead of being
formed by chance or by a fortuitous gathering, are composed of families and clans. Close by them, too, are those dearest
to them, so that they hear the shrieks of women, the cries of infants. They are to every man the most sacred witnesses of
his bravery-they are his most generous applauders. The soldier brings his wounds to mother and wife, who shrink not
from counting or even demanding them and who administer food and encouragement to the combatants.
Tradition says that armies already wavering and giving way have been rallied by women who, with earnest entreaties and
bosoms laid bare, have vividly represented the horrors of captivity, which the Germans fear with such extreme dread on
behalf of their women, that the strongest tie by which a state can be bound is the being required to give, among the
number of hostages, maidens of noble birth. They even believe that the sex has a certain sanctity and prescience, and they
do not despise their counsels, or make light of their answers. In Vespasian's days we saw Veleda, long regarded by many
as a divinity. In former times, too, they venerated Aurinia, and many other women, but not with servile flatteries, or with
sham deification.
Deities. Mercury is the deity whom they chiefly worship, and on certain days they deem it right to sacrifice to him even
with human victims. Hercules and Mars they appease with more lawful offerings. Some of the Suevi also sacrifice to Isis.
Of the occasion and origin of this foreign rite I have discovered nothing, but that the image, which is fashioned like a light
galley, indicates an imported worship. The Germans, however, do not consider it consistent with the grandeur of celestial
beings to confine the gods within walls, or to liken them to the form of any human countenance. They consecrate woods
and groves, and they apply the names of deities to the abstraction which they see only in spiritual worship.
Auguries and Method of Divination. Augury and divination by lot no people practise more diligently. The use of the lots
is simple. A little bough is lopped off a fruit-bearing tree, and cut into small pieces; these are distinguished by certain
marks, and thrown carelessly and at random over a white garment. In public questions the priest of the particular state, in
private the father of the family, invokes the gods, and, with his eyes toward heaven, takes up each piece three times, and
finds in them a meaning according to the mark previously impressed on them. If they prove unfavourable, there is no
further consultation that day about the matter; if they sanction it, the confirmation of augury is still required. For they are
also familiar with the practice of consulting the notes and flight of birds. It is peculiar to this people to seek omens and
monitions from horses. Kept at the public expense, in these same woods and groves, are white horses, pure from the taint
of earthly labour; these are yoked to a sacred car, and accompanied by the priest and the king, or chief of the tribe, who
note their neighings and snortings. No species of augury is more trusted, not only by the people and by the nobility, but
also by the priests, who regard themselves as the ministers of the gods, and the horses as acquainted with their will. They
have also another method of observing auspices, by which they seek to learn the result of an important war. Having taken,
by whatever means, a prisoner from the tribe with whom they are at war, they pit him against a picked man of their own
tribe, each combatant using the weapons of their country. The victory of the one or the other is accepted as an indication
of the issue.
Councils- About minor matters the chiefs deliberate, about the more important the whole tribe. Yet even when the final
decision rests with the people, the affair is always thoroughly discussed by the chiefs. They assemble, except in the case of
a sudden emergency, on certain fixed days, either at new or at full moon; for this they consider the most auspicious season
for the transaction of business. Instead of reckoning by days as we do, they reckon by nights, and in this manner fix both
their ordinary and their legal appointments. Night they regard as bringing on day. Their freedom has this disadvantage, that
they do not meet simultaneously or as they are bidden, but two or three days are wasted in the delays of assembling.
When the multitude think proper, they sit down armed. Silence is proclaimed by the priests, who have on these occasions
the right of keeping order. Then the king or the chief, according to age, birth, distinction in war, or eloquence, is heard,
more because he has influence to persuade than because he has power to command. If his sentiments displease them, they
reject them with murmurs; if they are satisfied, they brandish their spears. The most complimentary form of assent is to
express approbation with their spears.
Punishments. Administration of Justice. In their councils an accusation may be preferred or a capital crime prosecuted.
Penalties are distinguished according to the offence. Traitors and deserters are hanged on trees; the coward, the
unwarlike, the man stained with abominable vices, is plunged into the mire of the morass with a hurdle put over him. This
distinction in punishment means that crime, they think, ought, in being punished, to be exposed, while infamy ought to be
buried out of sight- Lighter offences, too, have penalties proportioned to them; he who is convicted, is fined in a certain
number of horses or of cattle. Half of the fine is paid to the king or to the state, half to the person whose wrongs are
avenged and to his relatives. In these same councils they also elect the chief magistrates, who administer law in the cantons
and the towns. Each of these has a hundred associates chosen from the people, who support him with their advice and
influence.
Training of Youth They transact no public or private business without being armed. it is not, however, usual for anyone to
wear arms till the state has recognized his power to use them. Then in the presence of the council one of the chiefs, or the
young man's father, or some kinsman, equips him with a shield and a spear. These arms are what the "toga" is with us, the
first honour with which youth is invested. Up to this time he is regarded as a member of a household, after-wards as a
member of the commonwealth. Very noble birth or great services rendered by the father secure for lads the rank of a
chief; such lads attach themselves to men of mature strength and of long approved valour. It is no shame to be seen
among a chief's followers. Even in his escort there are gradations of rank, dependent on the choice of the man to whom
they are attached. These followers vie keenly with each others as to who shall rank first with his chiefs, the chiefs as to
who shall have the most numerous and the bravest followers. It is an honour as well as a source of strength to be thus
always surrounded by a large body of picked youths; it is an ornament in peace and a defence in war. And not only in his
own tribe but also in the neighboring states it is the renown and glory of a chief to be distinguished for the number and
valour of his followers, for such a man is courted by embassies, is honoured with presents, and the very prestige of his
name ofen settles a war.
Warlike Ardour of the People. When they go into battle, it is a disgrace for the chief to be surpassed in valour, a disgrace
for his followers not to equal the valour of the chief. And it is an infamy and a reproach for life to have survived the chief,
and returned from the field. To defend, to protect him, to ascribe one's own brave deeds to his renown, is the height of
loyalty. The chief fights for victory; his vassals fight for their chief. If their native state sinks into the sloth of prolonged
peace and repose, many of its noble youths voluntarily seek those tribes which are waging some war, both because
inaction is odious to their race, and because they win renown more readily in the midst of peril, and cannot maintain a
numerous following except by violence and war. Indeed, men look to the liberality of their chief for their war-horse and
their bloodstained and victorious lance. Feasts and entertainments, which, though inelegant, are plentifully furnished, are
their only pay. The means of this bounty come from war and rapine. Nor are they as easily persuaded to plough the earth
and to wait for the year's produce as to challenge an enemy and earn the honour of wounds. Nay, they actually think it
tame and stupid to acquire by the sweat of toil what they might win by their blood.
Habits in Time of Peace. Whenever they are not fighting, they pass much of their time in the chase, and still more in
idleness, giving themselves up to sleep and to feasting, the bravest and the most warlike doing nothing, and surrendering
the management of the household, of the home, and of the land, to the women, the old men, and all the weakest members
of the family. They themselves lie buried in sloth, a strange combination in their nature that the same men should be so
fond of idleness, so averse to peace. It is the custom of the states to bestow by voluntary and individual contribution on
the chiefs a present of cattle or of grain, which, while accepted as a compliment, supplies their wants. They are particularly
delighted by gifts from neighbouring tribes, which are sent not only by individuals but also by the state, such as choice
steeds, heavy armour, trappings, and neck-chains. We have now taught them to acccept money also.
Arrangement of Their Towns, Subterranean Dwellings It is well known that the nations of Germany have not cities,
and that they do not even tolerate closely contiguous dwellings. They live scattered and apart, just as a spring, a meadow,
or a wood has attracted them. Their village they do not arrange in our fashion, with the buildings connected and joined
together, but every person surrounds his dwelling with an open space, either as a precaution against the disasters of fire,
or because they do not know how to build. No use is made by them of stone or tile; they employ timber for all purposes,
rude masses without ornament or attractiveness. Some parts of their buildings they stain more carefully with a clay so clear
and bright that it resembles painting, or a coloured design. They are wont also to dig out subterranean caves, and pile on
them great heaps of dung shelter from winter and as a receptacle for the year's produce, for by such places they mitigate
the rigour of the cold. And should an enemy approach, he lays waste the open country, while what is hidden and buried is
either not known to exist, or escapes him from the very fact that it has to be searched for.
Dress They all wrap themselves in a cloak which is fastened with a clasp, or, if this is not forthcoming, with a thorn,
leaving the rest of their persons bare. They pass whole days on the hearth by the fire. The wealthiest are distinguished by a
dress which is not flowing like that of the Sarmatae and Parthi, but is tight, and exhibits each limb. They also wear the
skins of wild beasts; the tribes on the Rhine and Danube in a careless fashion, those of the interior with more elegance, as
not obtaining other clothing by commerce. These select certain animals, the hides of which they strip off and vary them
with the spotted skins of beasts, the produce of the outer ocean, and of seas unknown to us. The women have the same
dress as the men except that they generally wrap themselves in linen garments, which they embroider with purple, and do
not lengthen out the upper part of their clothing into sleeves. The upper and lower arm is thus bare, and the nearest part of
the bosom is also exposed.
Marriage Laws. Their marriage code, however, is strict, and indeed no part of their manners is more praiseworthy.
Almost alone among barbarians they are content with one wife, except a very few among them, and these not from
sensuality, but because their noble birth procures for them many offers of alliance. The wife does not bring a dower to the
husband, but the husband to the wife. The parents and relatives are present, and pass judgment on the marriage-gifts, gifts
not meant to suit a woman's taste, nor such as a bride would deck herself with, but oxen, a caparisoned steed, a shield, a
lance, and a sword. With these presents the wife is espoused, and she herself in her turn brings her husband a gift of arms.
This they count their strongest bond of union, these their sacred mysteries, these their gods of marriage. Lest the woman
should think herself to stand apart from aspirations after noble deeds and from the perils of war, she is reminded by the
ceremony which inaugurates marriage that she is her husband's partner in toil and danger, destined to suffer and to dare
with him alike both in in war. The yoked oxen, the harnessed steed, the gift of arms proclaim this fact. She must live and
die with the feeling that she is receiving what she must hand down to her children neither tarnished nor depreciated, what
future daughters-in-law may receive, and may be so passed on to her grandchildren.
Thus with their virtue protected they live uncorrupted by the allurements of public shows or the stimulant of feastings.
Clandestine correspondence is equally unknown to men and women. Very rare for so numerous a population is adultery,
the punishment for which is prompt, and in the husband's power. Having cut off the hair of the adulteress and stripped her
naked, he expels her from the house in the presence of her kinsfolk, and then flogs her through the whole village. The loss
of chastity meets with no indulgence; neither beauty, youth, nor wealth will procure the culprit a husband. No one in
Germany laughs at vice, nor do they call it the fashion to corrupt and to be corrupted. Still better is the condition of those
states in which only maidens are given in marriage, and where the hopes and expectations of a bride are then finally
terminated. They receive one husband, as having one body and one life, that they may have no thoughts beyond, no
further-reaching desires, that they may love not so much the husband as the married state. To limit the number of children
or to destroy any of their subsequent offspring is accounted infamous, and good habits are here more effectual than good
laws elsewhere.
Their Children. Laws Of Succession. In every household the children, naked and filthy, grow up with those stout frames
and limbs which we so much admire. Every mother suckles her own offspring and never entrusts it to servants and nurses.
The master is not distinguished from the slave by being brought up with greater delicacy. Both live amid the same flocks
and lie on the same ground till the freeborn are distinguished by age and recognised by merit. The young men marry late,
and their vigour is thus unimpaired. Nor are the maidens hurried into marriage; the same age and a similar stature is
required; well-matched and vigorous they wed, and the offspring reproduce the strength of the parents. Sister's sons are
held in as much esteem by their uncles as by their fathers; indeed, some regard the relation as even more sacred and
binding, and prefer it in receiving hostages, thinking thus to secure a stronger hold on the affections and a wider bond for
the family. But every man's children are his heirs and successors, and there are no wills. Should there be no issue, the next
in succession to the property are brothers and his uncles on either side. The more relatives he has the more numerous his
connections, the more honoured is his old age; nor are there any advantages in childlessness.
Hereditary Feuds-Fines for Homicide. Hospitality It is a duty among them to adopt the feuds as well as the friendships
of a father or a kinsman. These feuds are not implacable; even homicide is expiated by the payment of a certain number of
cattle and of sheep, and the satisfaction is accepted by the entire family, greatly to the advantage of the state, since feuds
are dangerous in proportion to the people's freedom.
No nation indulges more profusely in entertainments and hospitality. To exclude any human being from their roof is thought
impious; every German, according to his means, receives his guest with a well-furnished table. When his supplies are
exhausted, he who was but now the host becomes the guide and companion to further hospitality, and without invitation
they go to the next house. It matters not; they are entertained with like cordiality. No one distinguishes between an
acquaintance and a stranger, as regards the rights of hospitality. It is usual to give the departing guest whatever he may ask
for, and a present in return is asked with as little hesitation. They are greatly charmed with gifts, but they expect no return
for what they give, nor feel any obligation for what they receive.
Habits of Life. On waking from sleep, which they generally prolong for a late hour of the day, they take a bath, most often
of warm water, which suits a country where winter is the longest of the seasons. After their bath they take their meal, each
having a separate seat and table of his own. Then they go armed to business, or no less often to their festal meetings. To
pass an entire day and night in drinking disgraces no one. Their quarrels, as might be expected with intoxicated people,
are seldom fought out with mere abuse, but commonly with wounds and bloodshed. Yet it is at their feasts that they
generally consult on the reconciliation of enemies, on the forming of matrimonial alliances, on the choice of chiefs, finally
even on peace and wai-, for they think that at no time is the mind more open to simplicity of purpose or more warmed to
noble aspirations. A race without either natural or acquired cunning, they disclose their hidden thoughts in the freedom of
the festivity. Thus the sentiments of all having been discovered and laid bare, the discussion is renewed on the following
day, and from each occasion its own peculiar advantage is derived. They deliberate when they have no power to
dissemble; they resolve when error is impossible.
Food A liquor for drinking is made of barley or other grain, and fermented into a certain resemblance to wine. The
dwellers on the river-bank also buy wine. Their food is of a simple kind, consisting of wild fruit, fresh game, and curdled
milk. They satisfy their hunger without elaborate preparation and without delicacies. In quenching their thirst they are
equally moderate. If you indulge their love of drinking by supplying them with as much as they desire, they will be
overcome by their own vices as easily as by the arms of an enemy.
Sports. Passion for Gambling. One and the same kind of spectacle is always exhibited at every gathering. Naked youths
who practise the sport bound in the dance amid swords and lances that threaten their lives. Experience gives them skill
and skill again gives grace; profit or pay are out of the question; however reckless their pastime, its reward is the pleasure
of the spectators. Strangely enough they make games of hazard a serious occupation even when sober, and so
venturesome are they about gaining or losing, that, when every other resource has failed, on the last and final throw they
stake the freedom of their own persons. The loser goes into voluntary slavery; though the younger and stronger, he suffers
himself to be bound and sold. Such is their stubborn persistency in a bad practice; they themselves call it honour. Slaves
of this kind the owners part with in the way of commerce, and also to relieve themselves from the scandal of such a
victory.
Slavery. The other slaves are not employed after our manner with distinct domestic duties assigned to them, but each one
has the management of a house and home of his own. The master requires from the slave a certain quantity of grain, of
cattle, and of clothing, as he would from a tenant, and this is the limit of subjection. All other household functions are
discharged by the wife and children. To strike a slave or to punish him with bonds or with hard labour is a rare
occurrence. They often kill them, not in enforcing strict discipline, but on the impulse of passion, as they would an enemy,
only it is done with impunity. The freedmen do not rank much above slaves, and are seldom of any weight in the family,
never in the state with the exception of those tribes which are ruled by kings. There indeed they rise above the freeborn
and the noble; elsewhere the inferiority of the freedman marks the freedom of the state.
Occupation of Land. Tillage. Of lending money on interest and increasing it by compounding interest they know
nothing-a more effectual safeguard than if it was prohibited.
Land proportioned to the number of inhabitants is occupied by the whole community in turn, and afterwards divided
among them according to rank. A wide expanse of plains makes the partition easy. They till fresh fields every year, and
they have still more land than enough; with the richness and extent of their soil, they do not laboriously exert themselves in
planting orchards, enclosing meadows and watering gardens. Corn is the only produce required from the earth; hence
even the year itself is not divided by them into as many seasons as with us. Winter, spring, and summer have both a
meaning and a name; the name and blessings of autumn are alike unknown.
Funeral Rites. In their funerals there is no pomp; they simply observe the custom of burning the bodies of illustrious men
with certain kinds of wood. They do not heap garments or spices on the funeral pile. The arms of the dead man and in
some cases his horse are consigned to the fire. A turf mound forms the tomb. Monuments with their lofty elaborate
splendour they reject as oppressive to the dead. Tears and lamentations they soon dismiss; grief and sorrow but slowly. It
is thought becoming for women to bewail, for men to remember, the dead.
Such on the whole is the account which I have received of the origin and manners of the entire German people.