transcriber's note: the numbers in the right margin of the text are from the original book; although nothing in the book says so, it appears that they might be page numbers from the manuscript of which this is a translation. they are preserved in this transcription in the hope that they are indeed page numbers. the origin and deeds of the goths by jordanes in english version part of a thesis presented to the faculty of princeton university for the degree of doctor of philosophy by charles c. mierow princeton note for the first time the story of the goths recorded in the _getica_ of jordanes, a christian goth who wrote his account in the year , probably in constantinople, is now put in english form, as part of an edition of the _getica_ prepared by mr. mierow. those who care for the romance of history will be charmed by this great tale of a lost cause and will not find the simple-hearted exaggerations of the eulogist of the gothic race misleading. he pictured what he believed or wanted to believe, and his employment of fable and legend, as well as the naïve exhibition of his loyal prejudices, merely heightens the interest of his story. those who want coldly scientific narrative should avoid reading jordanes, but should likewise remember the truthful, words of delbrück: "legende und poesie malen darum noch nicht falsch, weil sie mit anderen farben malen als die historie. sie reden nur eine andere sprache, und es handelt sich darum, aus dieser richtig ins historische zu übersetzen." andrew f. west. preface the following version of the getica of jordanes is based upon the text of mommsen, as found in the monumenta germaniae historica, auctores antiquissimi (berlin ). i have adhered closely to his spelling of proper names, especially the gothic names, except in the case of a very few words which are in common use in another form (such as gaiseric and belisarius). i wish to express my sincere thanks to dean andrew f. west of the princeton graduate school for his unfailing interest in my work. it was in one of his graduate courses that the translation was begun, three years ago, and at his suggestion that i undertook the composition of the thesis in its present form. he has read the entire treatise in the manuscript, and has been my constant adviser and critic. thanks are also due to dr. charles g. osgood of the english department of princeton university for reading the translation. charles c. mierow. classical seminary, princeton university, july . the origin and deeds of the goths (preface) though it had been my wish to glide in my little boat by the shore of a peaceful coast and, as a certain writer says, to gather little fishes from the pools of the ancients, you, brother castalius, bid me set my sails toward the deep. you urge me to leave the little work i have in hand, that is, the abbreviation of the chronicles, and to condense in my own style in this small book the twelve volumes of the senator on the origin and deeds of the getae from olden time to the present day, descending through the generations of the kings. truly a hard command, and imposed by one who seems unwilling to realize the burden of the task. nor do you note this, that my utterance is too slight to fill so magnificent a trumpet of speech as his. but above every burden is the fact that i have no access to his books that i may follow his thought. still--and let me lie not--i have in times past read the books a second time by his steward's loan for a three days' reading. the words i recall not, but the sense and the deeds related i think i retain entire. to this i have added fitting matters from some greek and latin histories. i have also put in an introduction and a conclusion, and have inserted many things of my own authorship. wherefore reproach me not, but receive and read with gladness what you have asked me to write. if aught be insufficiently spoken and you remember it, do you as a neighbor to our race add to it, praying for me, dearest brother. the lord be with you. amen. (geographical introduction) [sidenote: ocean and its lesser isles.] i our ancestors, as orosius relates, were of the opinion that the circle of the whole world was surrounded by the girdle of ocean on three sides. its three parts they called asia, europe and africa. concerning this threefold division of the earth's extent there are almost innumerable writers, who not only explain the situations of cities and places, but also measure out the number of miles and paces to give more clearness. moreover they locate the islands interspersed amid the waves, both the greater and also the lesser islands, called cyclades or sporades, as situated in the vast flood of the great sea. but the impassable farther bounds of ocean not only has no one attempted to describe, but no man has been allowed to reach; for by reason of obstructing seaweed and the failing of the winds it is plainly inaccessible and is unknown to any save to him who made it. but the nearer border of this sea, which we call the circle of the world, surrounds its coasts like a wreath. this has become clearly known to men of inquiring mind, even to such as desired to write about it. for not only is the coast itself inhabited, but certain islands off in the sea are habitable. thus there are to the east in the indian ocean, hippodes, iamnesia, solis perusta (which though not habitable, is yet of great length and breadth), besides taprobane, a fair island wherein there are towns or estates and ten strongly fortified cities. but there is yet another, the lovely silefantina, and theros also. these, though not clearly described by any writer, are nevertheless well filled with inhabitants. this same ocean has in its western region certain islands known to almost everyone by reason of the great number of those that journey to and fro. and there are two not far from the neighborhood of the strait of gades, one the blessed isle and another called the fortunate. although some reckon as islands of ocean the twin promontories of galicia and lusitania, where are still to be seen the temple of hercules on one and scipio's monument on the other, yet since they are joined to the extremity of the galician country, they belong rather to the great land of europe than to the islands of ocean. however, it has other islands deeper within its own tides, which are called the baleares; and yet another, mevania, besides the orcades, thirty-three in number, though not all inhabited. and at the farthest bound of its western expanse it has another island named thule, of which the mantuan bard makes mention: "and farthest thule shall serve thee." the same mighty sea has also in its arctic region, that is in the north, a great island named scandza, from which my tale (by god's grace) shall take its beginning. for the race whose origin you ask to know burst forth like a swarm of bees from the midst of this island and came into the land of europe. but how or in what wise we shall explain hereafter, if it be the lord's will. (britain) [sidenote: caesar's two invasions of britain b.c. - ] ii but now let me speak briefly as i can concerning the island of britain, which is situated in the bosom of ocean between spain, gaul and germany. although livy tells us that no one in former days sailed around it, because of its great size, yet many writers have held various opinions of it. it was long unapproached by roman arms, until julius caesar disclosed it by battles fought for mere glory. in the busy age which followed it became accessible to many through trade and by other means. thus it revealed more clearly its position, which i shall here explain as i have found it in greek and latin authors. most of them say it is like a triangle pointing between the north and west. its widest angle faces the mouths of the rhine. then the island shrinks in breadth and recedes until it ends in two other angles. its long doubled side faces gaul and germany. its greatest breadth is said to be over two thousand three hundred and ten stadia, and its length not more than seven thousand one hundred and thirty-two stadia. in some parts it is moorland, in others there are wooded plains, and sometimes it rises into mountain peaks. the island is surrounded by a sluggish sea, which neither gives readily to the stroke of the oar nor runs high under the blasts of the wind. i suppose this is because other lands are so far removed from it as to cause no disturbance of the sea, which indeed is of greater width here than anywhere else. moreover strabo, a famous writer of the greeks, relates that the island exhales such mists from its soil, soaked by the frequent inroads of ocean, that the sun is covered throughout the whole of their disagreeable sort of day that passes as fair, and so is hidden from sight. cornelius also, the author of the annals, says that in the farthest part of britain the night gets brighter and is very short. he also says that the island abounds in metals, is well supplied with grass and is more productive in all those things which feed beasts rather than men. moreover many large rivers flow through it, and the tides are borne back into them, rolling along precious stones and pearls. the silures have swarthy features and are usually born with curly black hair, but the inhabitants of caledonia have reddish hair and large loose-jointed bodies. they are like the gauls or the spaniards, according as they are opposite either nation. hence some have supposed that from these lands the island received its inhabitants, alluring them by its nearness. all the people and their kings are alike wild. yet dio, a most celebrated writer of annals, assures us of the fact that they have all been combined under the name of caledonians and maeatae. they live in wattled huts, a shelter used in common with their flocks, and often the woods are their home. they paint their bodies with iron-red, whether by way of adornment or perhaps for some other reason. they often wage war with one another, either because they desire power or to increase their possessions. they fight not only on horseback or on foot, but even with scythed two-horse chariots, which they commonly call _essedae_. let it suffice to have said thus much on the shape of the island of britain. (scandza) iii let us now return to the site of the island of scandza, which we left above. claudius ptolemaeus, an excellent describer of the world, has made mention of it in the second book of his work, saying: "there is a great island situated in the surge of the northern ocean, scandza by name, in the shape of a juniper leaf with bulging sides that taper down to a point at a long end." pomponius mela also makes mention of it as situated in the codan gulf of the sea, with ocean lapping its shores. this island lies in front of the river vistula, which rises in the sarmatian mountains and flows through its triple mouth into the northern ocean in sight of scandza, separating germany and scythia. the island has in its eastern part a vast lake in the bosom of the earth, whence the vagus river springs from the bowels of the earth and flows surging into the ocean. and on the west it is surrounded by an immense sea. on the north it is bounded by the same vast unnavigable ocean, from which by means of a sort of projecting arm of land a bay is cut off and forms the german sea. here also there are said to be many small islands scattered round about. if wolves cross over to these islands when the sea is frozen by reason of the great cold, they are said to lose their sight. thus the land is not only inhospitable to men but cruel even to wild beasts. now in the island of scandza, whereof i speak, there dwell many and divers nations, though ptolemaeus mentions the names of but seven of them. there the honey-making swarms of bees are nowhere to be found on account of the exceeding great cold. in the northern part of the island the race of the adogit live, who are said to have continual light in midsummer for forty days and nights, and who likewise have no clear light in the winter season for the same number of days and nights. by reason of this alternation of sorrow and joy they are like no other race in their sufferings and blessings. and why? because during the longer days they see the sun returning to the east along the rim of the horizon, but on the shorter days it is not thus seen. the sun shows itself differently because it is passing through the southern signs, and whereas to us the sun seem to rise from below, it seems to go around them along the edge of the earth. there also are other peoples. there are the screrefennae, who do not seek grain for food but live on the flesh of wild beasts and birds' eggs; for there are such multitudes of young game in the swamps as to provide for the natural increase of their kind and to afford satisfaction to the needs of the people. but still another race dwells there, the suehans, who, like the thuringians, have splendid horses. here also are those who send through innumerable other tribes the sappherine skins to trade for roman use. they are a people famed for the dark beauty of their furs and, though living in poverty, are most richly clothed. then comes a throng of various nations, theustes, vagoth, bergio, hallin, liothida. all their habitations are in one level and fertile region. wherefore they are disturbed there by the attacks of other tribes. behind these are the ahelmil, finnaithae, fervir and gauthigoth, a race of men bold and quick to fight. then come the mixi, evagre, and otingis. all these live like wild animals in rocks hewn out like castles. and there are beyond these the ostrogoths, raumarici, aeragnaricii, and the most gentle finns, milder than all the inhabitants of scandza. like them are the vinovilith also. the suetidi are of this stock and excel the rest in stature. however, the dani, who trace their origin to the same stock, drove from their homes the heruli, who lay claim to preëminence among all the nations of scandza for their tallness. furthermore there are in the same neighborhood the grannii, augandzi, eunixi, taetel, rugi, arochi and ranii, over whom roduulf was king not many years ago. but he despised his own kingdom and fled to the embrace of theodoric, king of the goths, finding there what he desired. all these nations surpassed the germans in size and spirit, and fought with the cruelty of wild beasts. (the united goths) [sidenote: how the goths came to scythia] iv now from this island of scandza, as from a hive of races or a womb of nations, the goths are said to have come forth long ago under their king, berig by name. as soon as they disembarked from their ships and set foot on the land, they straightway gave their name to the place. and even to-day it is said to be called gothiscandza. soon they moved from here to the abodes of the ulmerugi, who then dwelt on the shores of ocean, where they pitched camp, joined battle with them and drove them from their homes. then they subdued their neighbors, the vandals, and thus added to their victories. but when the number of the people increased greatly and filimer, son of gadaric, reigned as king--about the fifth since berig--he decided that the army of the goths with their families should move from that region. in search of suitable homes and pleasant places they came to the land of scythia, called oium in that tongue. here they were delighted with the great richness of the country, and it is said that when half the army had been brought over, the bridge whereby they had crossed the river fell in utter ruin, nor could anyone thereafter pass to or fro. for the place is said to be surrounded by quaking bogs and an encircling abyss, so that by this double obstacle nature has made it inaccessible. and even to-day one may hear in that neighborhood the lowing of cattle and may find traces of men, if we are to believe the stories of travellers, although we must grant that they hear these things from afar. this part of the goths, which is said to have crossed the river and entered with filimer into the country of oium, came into possession of the desired land, and there they soon came upon the race of the spali, joined battle with them and won the victory. thence the victors hastened to the farthest part of scythia, which is near the sea of pontus; for so the story is generally told in their early songs, in almost historic fashion. ablabius also, a famous chronicler of the gothic race, confirms this in his most trustworthy account. some of the ancient writers also agree with the tale. among these we may mention josephus, a most reliable relator of annals, who everywhere follows the rule of truth and unravels from the beginning the origin of causes;--but why he has omitted the beginnings of the race of the goths, of which i have spoken, i do not know. he barely mentions magog of that stock, and says they were scythians by race and were called so by name. before we enter on our history, we must describe the boundaries of this land, as it lies. [sidenote: scythia] v now scythia borders on the land of germany as far as the source of the river ister and the expanse of the morsian swamp. it reaches even to the rivers tyra, danaster and vagosola, and the great danaper, extending to the taurus range--not the mountains in asia but our own, that is, the scythian taurus--all the way to lake maeotis. beyond lake maeotis it spreads on the other side of the straits of bosphorus to the caucasus mountains and the river araxes. then it bends back to the left behind the caspian sea, which comes from the north-eastern ocean in the most distant parts of asia, and so is formed like a mushroom, at first narrow and then broad and round in shape. it extends as far as the huns, albani and seres. this land, i say,--namely, scythia, stretching far and spreading wide,--has on the east the seres, a race that dwelt at the very beginning of their history on the shore of the caspian sea. on the west are the germans and the river vistula; on the arctic side, namely the north, it is surrounded by ocean; on the south by persis, albania, hiberia, pontus and the farthest channel of the ister, which is called the danube all the way from mouth to source. but in that region where scythia touches the pontic coast it is dotted with towns of no mean fame:--borysthenis, olbia, callipolis, cherson, theodosia, careon, myrmicion and trapezus. these towns the wild scythian tribes allowed the greeks to build to afford them means of trade. in the midst of scythia is the place that separates asia and europe, i mean the rhipaeian mountains, from which the mighty tanais flows. this river enters maeotis, a marsh having a circuit of one hundred and forty-four miles and never subsiding to a depth of less than eight fathoms. in the land of scythia to the westward dwells, first of all, the race of the gepidae, surrounded by great and famous rivers. for the tisia flows through it on the north and northwest, and on the southwest is the great danube. on the east it is cut by the flutausis, a swiftly eddying stream that sweeps whirling into the ister's waters. within these rivers lies dacia, encircled by the lofty alps as by a crown. near their left ridge, which inclines toward the north, and beginning at the source of the vistula, the populous race of the venethi dwell, occupying a great expanse of land. though their names are now dispersed amid various clans and places, yet they are chiefly called sclaveni and antes. the abode of the sclaveni extends from the city of noviodunum and the lake called mursianus to the danaster, and northward as far as the vistula. they have swamps and forests for their cities. the antes, who are the bravest of these peoples dwelling in the curve of the sea of pontus, spread from the danaster to the danaper, rivers that are many days' journey apart. but on the shore of ocean, where the floods of the river vistula empty from three mouths, the vidivarii dwell, a people gathered out of various tribes. beyond them the aesti, a subject race, likewise hold the shore of ocean. to the south dwell the acatziri, a very brave tribe ignorant of agriculture, who subsist on their flocks and by hunting. farther away and above the sea of pontus are the abodes of the bulgares, well known from the wrongs done to them by reason of our oppression. from this region the huns, like a fruitful root of bravest races, sprouted into two hordes of people. some of these are called altziagiri, others sabiri; and they have different dwelling places. the altziagiri are near cherson, where the avaricious traders bring in the goods of asia. in summer they range the plains, their broad domains, wherever the pasturage for their cattle invites them, and betake themselves in winter beyond the sea of pontus. now the hunuguri are known to us from the fact that they trade in marten skins. but they have been cowed by their bolder neighbors. [sidenote: the three abodes of the goths] we read that on their first migration the goths dwelt in the land of scythia near lake maeotis. on the second migration they went to moesia, thrace and dacia, and after their third they dwelt again in scythia, above the sea of pontus. nor do we find anywhere in their written records legends which tell of their subjection to slavery in britain or in some other island, or of their redemption by a certain man at the cost of a single horse. of course if anyone in our city says that the goths had an origin different from that i have related, let him object. for myself, i prefer to believe what i have read, rather than put trust in old wives' tales. to return, then, to my subject. the aforesaid race of which i speak is known to have had filimer as king while they remained in their first home in scythia near maeotis. in their second home, that is in the countries of dacia, thrace and moesia, zalmoxes reigned, whom many writers of annals mention as a man of remarkable learning in philosophy. yet even before this they had a learned man zeuta, and after him dicineus; and the third was zalmoxes of whom i have made mention above. nor did they lack teachers of wisdom. wherefore the goths have ever been wiser than other barbarians and were nearly like the greeks, as dio relates, who wrote their history and annals with a greek pen. he says that those of noble birth among them, from whom their kings and priests were appointed, were called first tarabostesei and then pilleati. moreover so highly were the getae praised that mars, whom the fables of poets call the god of war, was reputed to have been born among them. hence virgil says: "father gradivus rules the getic fields." now mars has always been worshipped by the goths with cruel rites, and captives were slain as his victims. they thought that he who is the lord of war ought to be appeased by the shedding of human blood. to him they devoted the first share of the spoil, and in his honor arms stripped from the foe were suspended from trees. and they had more than all other races a deep spirit of religion, since the worship of this god seemed to be really bestowed upon their ancestor. in their third dwelling place, which was above the sea of pontus, they had now become more civilized and, as i have said before, were more learned. then the people were divided under ruling families. the visigoths served the family of the balthi and the ostrogoths served the renowned amali. they were the first race of men to string the bow with cords, as lucan, who is more of a historian than a poet, affirms: "they string armenian bows with getic cords." [sidenote: the river don] [sidenote: the dnieper] in earliest times they sang of the deeds of their ancestors in strains of song accompanied by the cithara; chanting of eterpamara, hanala, fritigern, vidigoia and others whose fame among them is great; such heroes as admiring antiquity scarce proclaims its own to be. then, as the story goes, vesosis waged a war disastrous to himself against the scythians, whom ancient tradition asserts to have been the husbands of the amazons. concerning these female warriors orosius speaks in convincing language. thus we can clearly prove that vesosis then fought with the goths, since we know surely that he waged war with the husbands of the amazons. they dwelt at that time along a bend of lake maeotis, from the river borysthenes, which the natives call the danaper, to the stream of the tanais. by the tanais i mean the river which flows down from the rhipaeian mountains and rushes with so swift a current that when the neighboring streams or lake maeotis and the bosphorus are frozen fast, it is the only river that is kept warm by the rugged mountains and is never solidified by the scythian cold. it is also famous as the boundary of asia and europe. for the other tanais is the one which rises in the mountains of the chrinni and flows into the caspian sea. the danaper begins in a great marsh and issues from it as from its mother. it is sweet and fit to drink as far as half-way down its course. it also produces fish of a fine flavor and without bones, having only cartilage as the frame-work of their bodies. but as it approaches the pontus it receives a little spring called exampaeus, so very bitter that although the river is navigable for the length of a forty days' voyage, it is so altered by the water of this scanty stream as to become tainted and unlike itself, and flows thus tainted into the sea between the greek towns of callipidae and hypanis. at its mouth there is an island named achilles. between these two rivers is a vast land filled with forests and treacherous swamps. [sidenote: defeat of vesosis (sesostris)] vi this was the region where the goths dwelt when vesosis, king of the egyptians, made war upon them. their king at that time was tanausis. in a battle at the river phasis (whence come the birds called pheasants, which are found in abundance at the banquets of the great all over the world) tanausis, king of the goths, met vesosis, king of the egyptians, and there inflicted a severe defeat upon him, pursuing him even to egypt. had he not been restrained by the waters of the impassable nile and the fortifications which vesosis had long ago ordered to be made against the raids of the ethiopians, he would have slain him in his own land. but finding he had no power to injure him there, he returned and conquered almost all asia and made it subject and tributary to sornus, king of the medes, who was then his dear friend. at that time some of his victorious army, seeing that the subdued provinces were rich and fruitful, deserted their companies and of their own accord remained in various parts of asia. from their name or race pompeius trogus says the stock of the parthians had its origin. hence even to-day in the scythian tongue they are called parthi, that is, deserters. and in consequence of their descent they are archers--almost alone among all the nations of asia--and are very valiant warriors. now in regard to the name, though i have said they were called parthi because they were deserters, some have traced the derivation of the word otherwise, saying that they were called parthi because they fled from their kinsmen. now when this tanausis, king of the goths, was dead, his people worshipped him as one of their gods. [sidenote: the amazons in asia minor] vii after his death, while the army under his successors was engaged in an expedition in other parts, a neighboring tribe attempted to carry off women of the goths as booty. but they made a brave resistance, as they had been taught to do by their husbands, and routed in disgrace the enemy who had come upon them. when they had won this victory, they were inspired with greater daring. mutually encouraging each other, they took up arms and chose two of the bolder, lampeto and marpesia, to act as their leaders. while they were in command, they cast lots both for the defense of their own country and the devastation of other lands. so lampeto remained to guard their native land and marpesia took a company of women and led this novel army into asia. after conquering various tribes in war and making others their allies by treaties, she came to the caucasus. there she remained for some time and gave the place the name rock of marpesia, of which also virgil makes mention: "like to hard flint or the marpesian cliff." it was here alexander the great afterwards built gates and named them the caspian gates, which now the tribe of the lazi guard as a roman fortification. here, then, the amazons remained for some time and were much strengthened. then they departed and crossed the river halys, which flows near the city of gangra, and with equal success subdued armenia, syria, cilicia, galatia, pisidia and all the places of asia. then they turned to ionia and aeolia, and made provinces of them after their surrender. here they ruled for some time and even founded cities and camps bearing their name. at ephesus also they built a very costly and beautiful temple for diana, because of her delight in archery and the chase--arts to which they were themselves devoted. then these scythian-born women, who had by such a chance gained control over the kingdoms of asia, held them for almost a hundred years, and at last came back to their own kinsfolk in the marpesian rocks i have mentioned above, namely the caucasus mountains. [sidenote: the caucasus] inasmuch as i have twice mentioned this mountain-range, i think it not out of place to describe its extent and situation, for, as is well known, it encompasses a great part of the earth with its continuous chain. beginning at the indian ocean, where it faces the south it is warm, giving off vapor in the sun; where it lies open to the north it is exposed to chill winds and frost. then bending back into syria with a curving turn, it not only sends forth many other streams, but pours from its plenteous breasts into the vasianensian region the euphrates and the tigris, navigable rivers famed for their unfailing springs. these rivers surround the land of the syrians and cause it to be called mesopotamia, as it truly is. their waters empty into the bosom of the red sea. then turning back to the north, the range i have spoken of passes with great bends through the scythian lands. there it sends forth very famous rivers into the caspian sea--the araxes, the cyrus and the cambyses. it goes on in continuous range even to the rhipaeian mountains. thence it descends from the north toward the pontic sea, furnishing a boundary to the scythian tribes by its ridge, and even touches the waters of the ister with its clustered hills. being cut by this river, it divides, and in scythia is named taurus also. such then is the great range, almost the mightiest of mountain chains, rearing aloft its summits and by its natural conformation supplying men with impregnable strongholds. here and there it divides where the ridge breaks apart and leaves a deep gap, thus forming now the caspian gates, and again the armenian or the cilician, or of whatever name the place may be. yet they are barely passable for a wagon, for both sides are sharp and steep as well as very high. the range has different names among various peoples. the indian calls it imaus and in another part paropamisus. the parthian calls it first choatras and afterward niphates; the syrian and armenian call it taurus; the scythian names it caucasus and rhipaeus, and at its end calls it taurus. many other tribes have given names to the range. now that we have devoted a few words to describing its extent, let us return to the subject of the amazons. [sidenote: the amazons] viii fearing their race would fail, they sought marriage with neighboring tribes. they appointed a day for meeting once in every year, so that when they should return to the same place on that day in the following year each mother might give over to the father whatever male child she had borne, but should herself keep and train for warfare whatever children of the female sex were born. or else, as some maintain, they exposed the males, destroying the life of the ill-fated child with a hate like that of a stepmother. among them childbearing was detested, though everywhere else it is desired. the terror of their cruelty was increased by common rumor; for what hope, pray, would there be for a captive, when it was considered wrong to spare even a son? hercules, they say, fought against them and overcame menalippe, yet more by guile than by valor. theseus, moreover, took hippolyte captive, and of her he begat hippolytus. and in later times the amazons had a queen named penthesilea, famed in the tales of the trojan war. these women are said to have kept their power even to the time of aleander the great. [sidenote: reign of telefus and eurypylus] ix but say not "why does a story which deals with the men of the goths have so much to say of their women?" hear, then, the tale of the famous and glorious valor of the men. now dio, the historian and diligent investigator of ancient times, who gave to his work the title "getica" (and the getae we have proved in a previous passage to be goths, on the testimony of orosius paulus)--this dio, i say, makes mention of a later king of theirs named telefus. let no one say that this name is quite foreign to the gothic tongue, and let no one who is ignorant cavil at the fact that the tribes of men make use of many names, even as the romans borrow from the macedonians, the greeks from the romans, the sarmatians from the germans, and the goths frequently from the huns. this telefus, then, a son of hercules by auge, and the husband of a sister of priam, was of towering stature and terrible strength. he matched his father's valor by virtues of his own and also recalled the traits of hercules by his likeness in appearance. our ancestors called his kingdom moesia. this province has on the east the mouths of the danube, on the south macedonia, on the west histria and on the north the danube. now this king we have mentioned carried on wars with the greeks, and in their course he slew in battle thesander, the leader of greece. but while he was making a hostile attack upon ajax and was pursuing ulysses, his horse became entangled in some vines and fell. he himself was thrown and wounded in the thigh by a javelin of achilles, so that for a long time he could not be healed. yet, despite his wound, he drove the greeks from his land. now when telefus died, his son eurypylus succeeded to the throne, being a son of the sister of priam, king of the phrygians. for love of cassandra he sought to take part in the trojan war, that he might come to the help of her parents and his own father-in-law; but soon after his arrival he was killed. [sidenote: cyrus the great b.c. - ] [sidenote: queen tomyris and cyrus b.c. ] x then cyrus, king of the persians, after a long interval of almost exactly six hundred and thirty years (as pompeius trogus relates), waged an unsuccessful war against tomyris, queen of the getae. elated by his victories in asia, he strove to conquer the getae, whose queen, as i have said, was tomyris. though she could have stopped the approach of cyrus at the river araxes, yet she permitted him to cross, preferring to overcome him in battle rather than to thwart him by advantage of position. and so she did. as cyrus approached, fortune at first so favored the parthians that they slew the son of tomyris and most of the army. but when the battle was renewed, the getae and their queen defeated, conquered and overwhelmed the parthians and took rich plunder from them. there for the first time the race of the goths saw silken tents. after achieving this victory and winning so much booty from her enemies, queen tomyris crossed over into that part of moesia which is now called lesser scythia--a name borrowed from great scythia,--and built on the moesian shore of pontus the city of tomi, named after herself. [sidenote: darius b.c. - ] [sidenote: darius repelled] afterwards darius, king of the persians, the son of hystaspes, demanded in marriage the daughter of antyrus, king of the goths, asking for her hand and at the same time making threats in case they did not fulfil his wish. the goths spurned this alliance and brought his embassy to naught. inflamed with anger because his offer had been rejected, he led an army of seven hundred thousand armed men against them and sought to avenge his wounded feelings by inflicting a public injury. crossing on boats covered with boards and joined like a bridge almost the whole way from chalcedon to byzantium, he started for thrace and moesia. later he built a bridge over the danube in like manner, but he was wearied by two brief months of effort and lost eight thousand armed men among the tapae. then, fearing the bridge over the danube would be seized by his foes, he marched back to thrace in swift retreat, believing the land of moesia would not be safe for even a short sojourn there. [sidenote: xerxes b.c. - ] after his death, his son xerxes planned to avenge his father's wrongs and so proceeded to undertake a war against the goths with seven hundred thousand of his own men and three hundred thousand armed auxiliaries, twelve hundred ships of war and three thousand transports. but he did not venture to try them in battle, being overawed by their unyielding animosity. so he returned with his force just as he had come, and without righting a single battle. [sidenote: philip of macedon b.c. - ] [sidenote: siege of odessus] then philip, the father of alexander the great, made alliance with the goths and took to wife medopa, the daughter of king gudila, so that he might render the kingdom of macedon more secure by the help of this marriage. it was at this time, as the historian dio relates, that philip, suffering from need of money, determined to lead out his forces and sack odessus, a city of moesia, which was then subject to the goths by reason of the neighboring city of tomi. thereupon those priests of the goths that are called the holy men suddenly opened the gates of odessus and came forth to meet them. they bore harps and were clad in snowy robes, and chanted in suppliant strains to the gods of their fathers that they might be propitious and repel the macedonians. when the macedonians saw them coming with such confidence to meet them, they were astonished and, so to speak, the armed were terrified by the unarmed. straight-way they broke the line they had formed for battle and not only refrained from destroying the city, but even gave back those whom they had captured outside by right of war. then they made a truce and returned to their own country. after a long time sitalces, a famous leader of the goths, remembering this treacherous attempt, gathered a hundred and fifty thousand men and made war upon the athenians, fighting against perdiccas, king of macedon. this perdiccas had been left by alexander as his successor to rule athens by hereditary right, when he drank his destruction at babylon through the treachery of an attendant. the goths engaged in a great battle with him and proved themselves to be the stronger. thus in return for the wrong which the macedonians had long before committed in moesia, the goths overran greece and laid waste the whole of macedonia. [sidenote: sulla's dictatorship b.c. - ] [sidenote: the wise rule of dicineus] [sidenote: caesar's dictatorship b.c. - ] [sidenote: tiberius a.d. - ] xi then when buruista was king of the goths, dicineus came to gothia at the time when sulla ruled the romans. buruista received dicineus and gave him almost royal power. it was by his advice the goths ravaged the lands of the germans, which the franks now possess. then came caesar, the first of all the romans to assume imperial power and to subdue almost the whole world, who conquered all kingdoms and even seized islands lying beyond our world, reposing in the bosom of ocean. he made tributary to the romans those that knew not the roman name even by hearsay, and yet was unable to prevail against the goths, despite his frequent attempts. soon gaius tiberius reigned as third emperor of the romans, and yet the goths continued in their kingdom unharmed. their safety, their advantage, their one hope lay in this, that whatever their counsellor dicineus advised should by all means be done; and they judged it expedient that they should labor for its accomplishment. and when he saw that their minds were obedient to him in all things and that they had natural ability, he taught them almost the whole of philosophy, for he was a skilled master of this subject. thus by teaching them ethics he restrained their barbarous customs; by imparting a knowledge of physics he made them live naturally under laws of their own, which they possess in written form to this day and call _belagines_. he taught them logic and made them skilled in reasoning beyond all other races; he showed them practical knowledge and so persuaded them to abound in good works. by demonstrating theoretical knowledge he urged them to contemplate the twelve signs and the courses of the planets passing through them, and the whole of astronomy. he told them how the disc of the moon gains increase or suffers loss, and showed them how much the fiery globe of the sun exceeds in size our earthly planet. he explained the names of the three hundred and forty-six stars and told through what signs in the arching vault of the heavens they glide swiftly from their rising to their setting. think, i pray you, what pleasure it was for these brave men, when for a little space they had leisure from warfare, to be instructed in the teachings of philosophy! you might have seen one scanning the position of the heavens and another investigating the nature of plants and bushes. here stood one who studied the waxing and waning of the moon, while still another regarded the labors of the sun and observed how those bodies which were hastening to go toward the east are whirled around and borne back to the west by the rotation of the heavens. when they had learned the reason, they were at rest. these and various other matters dicineus taught the goths in his wisdom and gained marvellous repute among them, so that he ruled not only the common men but their kings. he chose from among them those that were at that time of noblest birth and superior wisdom and taught them theology, bidding them worship certain divinities and holy places. he gave the name of pilleati to the priests he ordained, i suppose because they offered sacrifice having their heads covered with tiaras, which we otherwise call _pillei_. but he bade them call the rest of their race capillati. this name the goths accepted and prized highly and they retain it to this day in their songs. after the death of dicineus, they held comosicus in almost equal honor, because he was not inferior in knowledge. by reason of his wisdom he was accounted their priest and king, and he judged the people with the greatest uprightness. [sidenote: dacia] xii when he too had departed from human affairs, coryllus ascended the throne as king of the goths and for forty years ruled his people in dacia. i mean ancient dacia, which the race of the gepidae now possess. this country lies across the danube within sight of moesia, and is surrounded by a crown of mountains. it has only two ways of access, one by way of the boutae and the other by the tapae. this gothia, which our ancestors called dacia and now, as i have said, is called gepidia, was then bounded on the east by the roxolani, on the west by the iazyges, on the north by the sarmatians and basternae and on the south by the river danube. the iazyges are separated from the roxolani by the aluta river only. [sidenote: the danube] and since mention has been made of the danube, i think it not out of place to make brief notice of so excellent a stream. rising in the fields of the alamanni, it receives sixty streams which flow into it here and there in the twelve hundred miles from its source to its mouths in the pontus, resembling a spine inwoven with ribs like a basket. it is indeed a most vast river. in the language of the bessi it is called the hister, and it has profound waters in its channel to a depth of quite two hundred feet. this stream surpasses in size all other rivers, except the nile. let this much suffice for the danube. but let us now with the lord's help return to the subject from which we have digressed. [sidenote: domitian a.d. - ] [sidenote: war with domitian] xiii now after a long time, in the reign of the emperor domitian, the goths, through fear of his avarrice, broke the truce they had long observed under other emperors. they laid waste the bank of the danube, so long held by the roman empire, and slew the soldiers and their generals. oppius sabinus was then in command of that province, succeeding agrippa, while dorpaneus held command over the goths. thereupon the goths made war and conquered the romans, cut off the head of oppius sabinus, and invaded and boldly plundered many castles and cities belonging to the emperor. in this plight of his countrymen domitian hastened with all his might to illyricum, bringing with him the troops of almost the entire empire. he sent fuscus before him as his general with picked soldiers. then joining boats together like a bridge, he made his soldiers cross the river danube above the army of dorpaneus. but the goths were on the alert. they took up arms and presently overwhelmed the romans in the first encounter. they slew fuscus, the commander, and plundered the soldiers' camp of its treasure. and because of the great victory they had won in this region, they thereafter called their leaders, by whose good fortune they seemed to have conquered, not mere men, but demigods, that is ansis. their genealogy i shall run through briefly, telling the lineage of each and the beginning and the end of this line. and do thou, o reader, hear me without repining; for i speak truly. [sidenote: genealogy of the ansis or amali] xiv now the first of these heroes, as they themselves relate in their legends, was gapt, who begat hulmul. and hulmul begat augis; and augis begat him who was called amal, from whom the name of the amali comes. this amal begat hisarnis. hisarnis moreover begat ostrogotha, and ostrogotha begat hunuil, and hunuil likewise begat athal. athal begat achiulf and oduulf. now achiulf begat ansila and ediulf, vultuulf and hermanaric. and vultuulf begat valaravans and valaravans begat vinitharius. vinitharius moreover begat vandalarius; vandalarius begat thiudimer and valamir and vidimer; and thiudimer begat theodoric. theodoric begat amalasuentha; amalasuentha bore athalaric and mathesuentha to her husband eutharic, whose race was thus joined to hers in kinship. for the aforesaid hermanaric, the son of achiulf, begat hunimund, and hunimund begat thorismud. now thorismud begat beremud, beremud begat veteric, and veteric likewise begat eutharic, who married amalasuentha and begat athalaric and mathesuentha. athalaric died in the years of his childhood, and mathesuentha married vitiges, to whom she bore no child. both of them were taken together by belisarius to constantinople. when vitiges passed from human affairs, germanus the patrician, a cousin of the emperor justinian, took mathesuentha in marriage and made her a patrician ordinary. and of her he begat a son, also called germanus. but upon the death of germanus, she determined to remain a widow. now how and in what wise the kingdom of the amali was overthrown we shall keep to tell in its proper place, if the lord help us. but let us now return to the point whence we made our digression and tell how the stock of this people of whom i speak reached the end of its course. now ablabius the historian relates that in scythia, where we have said that they were dwelling above an arm of the pontic sea, part of them who held the eastern region and whose king was ostrogotha, were called ostrogoths, that is, eastern goths, either from his name or from the place. but the rest were called visigoths, that is, the goths of the western country. [sidenote: maximinus, the goth who became a roman emperor] [sidenote: septimius severus a.d. - ] [sidenote: antoninus caracalla a.d. - ] [sidenote: macrinus a.d. - ] [sidenote: antoninus elagabalus a.d. - ] [sidenote: alexander a.d. - ] [sidenote: maximinus a.d. - ] [sidenote: pupienus a.d. ] xv as already said, they crossed the danube and dwelt a little while in moesia and thrace. from the remnant of these came maximinus, the emperor succeeding alexander the son of mama. for symmachus relates it thus in the fifth book of his history, saying that upon the death of caesar alexander, maximinus was made emperor by the army; a man born in thrace of most humble parentage, his father being a goth named micca, and his mother a woman of the alani called ababa. he reigned three years and lost alike his empire and his life while making war on the christians. now after his first years spent in rustic life, he had come from his flocks to military service in the reign of the emperor severus and at the time when he was celebrating his son's birthday. it happened that the emperor was giving military games. when maximinus saw this, although he was a semi-barbarian youth, he besought the emperor in his native tongue to give him permission to wrestle with the trained soldiers for the prizes offered. severus marvelling much at his great size--for his stature, it is said, was more than eight feet,--bade him contend in wrestling with the camp followers, in order that no injury might befall his soldiers at the hands of this wild fellow. thereupon maximinus threw sixteen attendants with so great ease that he conquered them one by one without taking any rest by pausing between the bouts. so then, when he had won the prizes, it was ordered that he should be sent into the army and should take his first campaign with the cavalry. on the third day after this, when the emperor went out to the field, he saw him coursing about in barbarian fashion and bade a tribune restrain him and teach him roman discipline. but when he understood it was the emperor who was speaking about him, he came forward and began to run ahead of him as he rode. then the emperor spurred on his horse to a slow trot and wheeled in many a circle hither and thither with various turns, until he was weary. and then he said to him "are you willing to wrestle now after your running, my little thracian?" "as much as you like, o emperor," he answered. so severus leaped from his horse and ordered the freshest soldiers to wrestle with him. but he threw to the ground seven very powerful youths, even as before, taking no breathing space between the bouts. so he alone was given prizes of silver and a golden necklace by caesar. then he was bidden to serve in the body guard of the emperor. after this he was an officer under antoninus caracalla, often increasing his fame by his deeds, and rose to many military grades and finally to the centurionship as the reward of his active service. yet afterwards, when macrinus became emperor, he refused military service for almost three years, and though he held the office of tribune, he never came into the presence of macrinus, thinking his rule shameful because he had won it by committing a crime. then he returned to eliogabalus, believing him to be the son of antoninus, and entered upon his tribuneship. after his reign, he fought with marvellous success against the parthians, under alexander the son of mama. when he was slain in an uprising of the soldiers at mogontiacum, maximinus himself was made emperor by a vote of the army, without a decree of the senate. but he marred all his good deeds by persecuting the christians in accordance with an evil vow and, being slain by pupienus at aquileia, left the kingdom to philip. these matters we have borrowed from the history of symmachus for this our little book, in order to show that the race of which we speak attained to the very highest station in the roman empire. but our subject requires us to return in due order to the point whence we digressed. [sidenote: king ostrogotha wars with philip] [sidenote: philip pater a.d. - "the arabian"] [sidenote: philip filius a.d. - ] xvi now the gothic race gained great fame in the region where they were then dwelling, that is in the scythian land on the shore of pontus, holding undisputed sway over great stretches of country, many arms of the sea and many river courses. by their strong right arm the vandals were often laid low, the marcomanni held their footing by paying tribute and the princes of the quadi were reduced to slavery. now when the aforesaid philip--who, with his son philip, was the only christian emperor before constantine--ruled over the romans, in the second year of his reign rome completed its one thousandth year. he withheld from the goths the tribute due them; whereupon they were naturally enraged and instead of friends became his foes. for though they dwelt apart under their own kings, yet they had been allied to the roman state and received annual gifts. and what more? ostrogotha and his men soon crossed the danube and ravaged moesia and thrace. philip sent the senator decius against him. and since he could do nothing against the getae, he released his own soldiers from military service and sent them back to private life, as though it had been by their neglect that the goths had crossed the danube. when, as he supposed, he had thus taken vengeance on his soldiers, he returned to philip. but when the soldiers found themselves expelled from the army after so many hardships, in their anger they had recourse to the protection of ostrogotha, king of the goths. he received them, was aroused by their words and presently led out three hundred thousand armed men, having as allies for this war some of the taifali and astringi and also three thousand of the carpi, a race of men very ready to make war and frequently hostile to the romans. but in later times when diocletian and maximian were emperors, the caesar galerius maximianus conquered them and made them tributary to the roman empire. besides these tribes, ostrogotha had goths and peucini from the island of peucë, which lies in the mouths of the danube where they empty into the sea of pontus. he placed in command argaithus and guntheric, the noblest leaders of his race. they speedily crossed the danube, devastated moesia a second time and approached marcianople, the famed metropolis of that land. yet after a long siege they departed, upon receiving money from the inhabitants. [sidenote: marcianople] [sidenote: the gepidae and their defeat by ostrogotha] now since we have mentioned marcianople, we may briefly relate a few matters in connection with its founding. they say that the emperor trajan built this city for the following reason. while his sister's daughter marcia was bathing in the stream called potamus--a river of great clearness and purity that rises in the midst of the city--she wished to draw some water from it and by chance dropped into its depths the golden pitcher she was carrying. yet though very heavy from its weight of metal, it emerged from the waves a long time afterwards. it surely is not a usual thing for an empty vessel to sink; much less that, when once swallowed up, it should be cast up by the waves and float again. trajan marvelled at hearing this and believed there was some divinity in the stream. so he built a city and called it marcianople after the name of his sister. xvii from this city, then, as we were saying, the getae returned after a long siege to their own land, enriched by the ransom they had received. now the race of the gepidae was moved with envy when they saw them laden with booty and so suddenly victorious everywhere, and made war on their kinsmen. should you ask how the getae and gepidae are kinsmen, i can tell you in a few words. you surely remember that in the beginning i said the goths went forth from the bosom of the island of scandza with berig, their king, sailing in only three ships toward the hither shore of ocean, namely to gothiscandza. one of these three ships proved to be slower than the others, as is usually the case, and thus is said to have given the tribe their name, for in their language _gepanta_ means slow. hence it came to pass that gradually and by corruption the name gepidae was coined for them by way of reproach. for undoubtedly they too trace their origin from the stock of the goths, but because, as i have said, _gepanta_ means something slow and stolid, the word gepidae arose as a gratuitous name of reproach. i do not believe this is very far wrong, for they are slow of thought and too sluggish for quick movement of their bodies. these gepidae were then smitten by envy while they dwelt in the province of spesis on an island surrounded by the shallow waters of the vistula. this island they called, in the speech of their fathers, gepedoios; but it is now inhabited by the race of the vividarii, since the gepidae themselves have moved to better lands. the vividarii are gathered from various races into this one asylum, if i may call it so, and thus they form a nation. so then, as we were saying, fastida, king of the gepidae, stirred up his quiet people to enlarge their boundaries by war. he overwhelmed the burgundians, almost annihilating them, and conquered a number of other races also. he unjustly provoked the goths, being the first to break the bonds of kinship by unseemly strife. he was greatly puffed up with vain glory, but in seeking to acquire new lands for his growing nation, he only reduced the numbers of his own countrymen. for he sent ambassadors to ostrogotha, to whose rule ostrogoths and visigoths alike, that is, the two peoples of the same tribe, were still subject. complaining that he was hemmed in by rugged mountains and dense forests, he demanded one of two things,--that ostrogotha should either prepare for war or give up part of his lands to them. then ostrogotha, king of the goths, who was a man of firm mind, answered the ambassadors that he did indeed dread such a war and that it would be a grievous and infamous thing to join battle with their kin,--but he would not give up his lands. and why say more? the gepidae hastened to take arms and ostrogotha likewise moved his forces against them, lest he should seem a coward. they met at the town of galtis, near which the river auha flows and there both sides fought with great valor; indeed the similarity of their arms and of their manner of fighting turned them against their own men. but the better cause and their natural alertness aided the goths. finally night put an end to the battle as a part of the gepidae were giving way. then fastida, king of the gepidae, left the field of slaughter and hastened to his own land, as much humiliated with shame and disgrace as formerly he had been elated with pride. the goths returned victorious, content with the retreat of the gepidae, and dwelt in peace and happiness in their own land so long as ostrogotha was their leader. [sidenote: king cniva at war with decius] [sidenote: decius a.d. - ] [sidenote: capture of philippopolis a.d. ] [sidenote: death of decius at abrittus a.d. ] xviii after his death, cniva divided the army into two parts and sent some to waste moesia, knowing that it was undefended through the neglect of the emperors. he himself with seventy thousand men hastened to euscia, that is, novae. when driven from this place by the general gallus, he approached nicopolis, a very famous town situated near the iatrus river. this city trajan built when he conquered the sarmatians and named it the city of victory. when the emperor decius drew near, cniva at last withdrew to the regions of haemus, which were not far distant. thence he hastened to philippopolis, with his forces in good array. when the emperor decius learned of his departure, he was eager to bring relief to his own city and, crossing mount haemus, came to beroa. while he was resting his horses and his weary army in that place, all at once cniva and his goths fell upon him like a thunderbolt. he cut the roman army to pieces and drove the emperor, with a few who had succeeded in escaping, across the alps again to euscia in moesia, where gallus was then stationed with a large force of soldiers as guardian of the frontier. collecting an army from this region as well as from oescus, he prepared for the conflict of the coming war. but cniva took philippopolis after a long siege and then, laden with spoil, allied himself to priscus, the commander in the city, to fight against decius. in the battle that followed they quickly pierced the son of decius with an arrow and cruelly slew him. the father saw this, and although he is said to have exclaimed, to cheer the hearts of his soldiers: "let no one mourn; the death of one soldier is not a great loss to the republic", he was yet unable to endure it, because of his love for his son. so he rode against the foe, demanding either death or vengeance, and when he came to abrittus, a city of moesia, he was himself cut off by the goths and slain, thus making an end of his dominion and of his life. this place is to-day called the altar of decius, because he there offered strange sacrifices to idols before the battle. (the goths in the time of gallus, volusianus and aemilianus) [sidenote: gallus a.d. - ] [sidenote: volusianus a.d. - ] [sidenote: aemilianus a.d. ] [sidenote: the plague a.d. - ] [sidenote: gallienus a.d. - ] xix then upon the death of decius, gallus and volusianus succeeded to the roman empire. at this time a destructive plague, almost like death itself, such as we suffered nine years ago, blighted the face of the whole earth and especially devastated alexandria and all the land of egypt. the historian dionysius gives a mournful account of it and cyprian, our own bishop and venerable martyr in christ, also describes it in his book entitled "on mortality". at this time the goths frequently ravaged moesia, through the neglect of the emperors. when a certain aemilianus saw that they were free to do this, and that they could not be dislodged by anyone without great cost to the republic, he thought that he too might be able to achieve fame and fortune. so he seized the rule in moesia and, taking all the soldiers he could gather, began to plunder cities and people. in the next few months, while an armed host was being gathered against him, he wrought no small harm to the state. yet he died almost at the beginning of his evil attempt, thus losing at once his life and the power he coveted. now though gallus and volusianus, the emperors we have mentioned, departed this life after remaining in power for barely two years, yet during this space of two years which they spent on earth they reigned amid universal peace and favor. only one thing was laid to their charge, namely the great plague. but this was an accusation made by ignorant slanderers, whose custom it is to wound the lives of others with their malicious bite. soon after they came to power they made a treaty with the race of the goths. when both rulers were dead, it was no long time before gallienus usurped the throne. [sidenote: the goths plunder asia minor a.d. or ] xx while he was given over to luxurious living of every sort, respa, veduc and thuruar, leaders of the goths, took ship and sailed across the strait of the hellespont to asia. there they laid waste many populous cities and set fire to the renowned temple of diana at ephesus, which, as we said before, the amazons built. being driven from the neighborhood of bithynia, they destroyed chalcedon, which cornelius avitus afterwards restored to some extent. yet even to-day, though it is happily situated near the royal city, it still shows some traces of its ruin as a witness to posterity. after their success, the goths recrossed the strait of the hellespont, laden with booty and spoil, and returned along the same route by which they had entered the lands of asia, sacking troy and ilium on the way. these cities, which had scarce recovered a little from the famous war with agamemnon, were thus destroyed anew by the hostile sword. after the goths had thus devastated asia, thrace next felt their ferocity. for they went thither and presently attacked anchiali, a city at the foot of haemus and not far from the sea. sardanapalus, king of the parthians, had built this city long ago between an inlet of the sea and the base of haemus. there they are said to have stayed for many days, enjoying the baths of the hot springs which are situated about twelve miles from the city of anchiali. there they gush from the depths of their fiery source, and among the innumerable hot springs of the world they are esteemed as specially famous and efficacious for their healing virtues. (the times of diocletian) [sidenote: diocletian - ] [sidenote: masimian - ] xxi after these events, the goths had already returned home when they were summoned at the request of the emperor maximian to aid the romans against the parthians. they fought for him faithfully, serving as auxiliaries. but after caesar maximian by their aid had routed narseus, king of the persians, the grandson of sapor the great, taking as spoil all his possessions, together with his wives and his sons, and when diocletian had conquered achilles in alexandria and maximianus herculius had broken the quinquegentiani in africa, thus winning peace for the empire, they began rather to neglect the goths. [sidenote: constantine i - ] [sidenote: licinius - ] now it had long been a hard matter for the roman army to fight against any nations whatsoever without them. this is evident from the way in which the goths were so frequently called upon. thus they were summoned by constantine to bear arms against his kinsman licinius. later, when he was vanquished and shut up thessalonica and deprived of his power, they slew him with the sword of constantine the victor. in like manner it was the aid of the goths that enabled him to build the famous city that is named after him, the rival of rome, inasmuch as they entered into a truce with the emperor and furnished him forty thousand men to aid him against various peoples. this body of men, namely, the allies, and the service they rendered in war are still spoken of in the land to this day. now at that time they prospered under the rule of their kings ariaric and aoric. upon their death geberich appeared as successor to the throne, a man renowned for his valor and noble birth. [sidenote: geberich conquers the vandals ] xxii for he was the son of hilderith, who was the son of ovida, who was the son of nidada; and by his illustrious deeds he equalled the glory of his race. soon he sought to enlarge his country's narrow bounds at the expense of the race of the vandals and visimar, their king. this visimar was of the stock of the asdingi, which is eminent among them and indicates a most warlike descent, as dexippus the historian relates. he states furthermore that by reason of the great extent of their country they could scarcely come from ocean to our frontier in a year's time. at that time they dwelt in the land where the gepidae now live, near the rivers marisia, miliare, gilpil and the grisia, which exceeds in size all previously mentioned. they then had on the east the goths, on the west the marcomanni, on the north the hermunduli and on the south the hister, which is also called the danube. at the time when the vandals were dwelling in this region, war was begun against them by geberich, king of the goths, on the shore of the river marisia which i have mentioned. here the battle raged for a little while on equal terms. but soon visimar himself, the king of the vandals, was overthrown, together with the greater part of his people. when geberich, the famous leader of the goths, had conquered and spoiled vandals, he returned to his own place whence he had come. then the remnant of the vandals who had escaped, collecting a band of their unwarlike folk, left their ill-fated country and asked the emperor constantine for pannonia. here they made their home for about sixty years and obeyed the commands of the emperors like subjects. a long time afterward they were summoned thence by stilicho, master of the soldiery, ex-consul and patrician, and took possession of gaul. here they plundered their neighbors and had no settled place of abode. [sidenote: conquest of the herculi, venethi and aesti] xxiii soon geberich, king of the goths, departed from human affairs and hermanaric, noblest of the amali, succeeded to the throne. he subdued many warlike peoples of the north and made them obey his laws, and some of our ancestors have justly compared him to alexander the great. among the tribes he conquered were the golthescytha, thiudos, inaunxis, vasinabroncae, merens, mordens, imniscaris, rogas, tadzans, athaul, navego, bubegenae and coldae. but though famous for his conquest of so many races, he gave himself no rest until he had slain some in battle and then reduced to his sway the remainder of the tribe of the heruli, whose chief was alaric. now the aforesaid race, as the historian ablabius tells us, dwelt near lake maeotis in swampy places which the greeks call _hel[=e]_; hence they were named heluri. they were a people swift of foot, and on that account were the more swollen with pride, for there was at that time no race that did not choose from them its light-armed troops for battle. but though their quickness often saved them from others who made war upon them, yet they were overthrown by the slowness and steadiness of the goths; and the lot of fortune brought it to pass that they, as well as the other tribes, had to serve hermanaric, king of the getae. after the slaughter of the heruli, hermanaric also took arms against the venethi. this people, though despised in war, was strong in numbers and tried to resist him. but a multitude of cowards is of no avail, particularly when god permits an armed multitude to attack them. these people, as we started to say at the beginning of our account or catalogue of nations, though off-shoots from one stock, have now three names, that is, venethi, antes and sclaveni. though they now rage in war far and wide, in punishment for our sins, yet at that time they were all obedient to hermanaric's commands. this ruler also subdued by his wisdom and might the race of the aesti, who dwell on the farthest shore of the german ocean, and ruled all the nations of scythia and germany by his own prowess alone. [sidenote: origin and history of the huns] xxiv but after a short space of time, as orosius relates, the race of the huns, fiercer than ferocity itself, flamed forth against the goths. we learn from old traditions that their origin was as follows: filimer, king of the goths, son of gadaric the great, who was the fifth in succession to hold the rule of the getae after their departure from the island of scandza,--and who, as we have said, entered the land of scythia with his tribe,--found among his people certain witches, whom he called in his native tongue haliurunnae. suspecting these women, he expelled them from the midst of his race and compelled them to wander in solitary exile afar from his army. there the unclean spirits, who beheld them as they wandered through the wilderness, bestowed their embraces upon them and begat this savage race, which dwelt at first in the swamps,--a stunted, foul and puny tribe, scarcely human, and having no language save one which bore slight resemblance to human speech. such was the descent of the huns who came to the country of the goths. this cruel tribe, as priscus the historian relates, settled on the farther bank of the maeotic swamp. they were fond of hunting and had no skill in any other art. after they had grown to a nation, they disturbed the peace of neighboring races by theft and rapine. at one time, while hunters of their tribe were as usual seeking for game on the farthest edge of maeotis, they saw a doe unexpectedly appear to their sight and enter the swamp, acting as guide of the way; now advancing and again standing still. the hunters followed and crossed on foot the maeotic swamp, which they had supposed was impassable as the sea. presently the unknown land of scythia disclosed itself and the doe disappeared. now in my opinion the evil spirits, from whom the huns are descended, did this from envy of the scythians. and the huns, who had been wholly ignorant that there was another world beyond maeotis, were now filled with admiration for the scythian land. as they were quick of mind, they believed that this path, utterly unknown to any age of the past, had been divinely revealed to them. they returned to their tribe, told them what had happened, praised scythia and persuaded the people to hasten thither along the way they had found by the guidance of the doe. as many as they captured, when they thus entered scythia for the first time, they sacrificed to victory. the remainder they conquered and made subject to themselves. like a whirlwind of nations they swept across the great swamp and at once fell upon the alpidzuri, alcildzuri, itimari, tuncarsi and boisci, who bordered on that part of scythia. the alani also, who were their equals in battle, but unlike them in civilization, manners and appearance, they exhausted by their incessant attacks and subdued. for by the terror of their features they inspired great fear in those whom perhaps they did not really surpass in war. they made their foes flee in horror because their swarthy aspect was fearful, and they had, if i may call it so, a sort of shapeless lump, not a head, with pin-holes rather than eyes. their hardihood is evident in their wild appearance, and they are beings who are cruel to their children on the very day they are born. for they cut the cheeks of the males with a sword, so that before they receive the nourishment of milk they must learn to endure wounds. hence they grow old beardless and their young men are without comeliness, because a face furrowed by the sword spoils by its scars the natural beauty of a beard. they are short in stature, quick in bodily movement, alert horsemen, broad shouldered, ready in the use of bow and arrow, and have firm-set necks which are ever erect in pride. though they live in the form of men, they have the cruelty of wild beasts. [sidenote: first irruption of the huns as early as ] when the getae beheld this active race that had invaded many nations, they took fright and consulted with their king how they might escape from such a foe. now although hermanaric, king of the goths, was the conqueror of many tribes, as we have said above, yet while he was deliberating on this invasion of the huns, the treacherous tribe of the rosomoni, who at that time were among those who owed him their homage, took this chance to catch him unawares. for when the king had given orders that a certain woman of the tribe i have mentioned, sunilda by name, should be bound to wild horses and torn apart by driving them at full speed in opposite directions (for he was roused to fury by her husband's treachery to him), her brothers sarus and immius came to avenge their sister's death and plunged a sword into hermanaric's side. enfeebled by this blow, he dragged out a miserable existence in bodily weakness. balamber, king of the huns, took advantage of his ill health to move an army into the country of the ostrogoths, from whom the visigoths had already separated because of some dispute. meanwhile hermanaric, who was unable to endure either the pain of his wound or the inroads of the huns, died full of days at the great age of one hundred and ten years. the fact of his death enabled the huns to prevail over those goths who, as we have said, dwelt in the east and were called ostrogoths. (the divided goths: visigoths) [sidenote: valentinian i - ] [sidenote: the visigoths settle in thrace and moesia ] [sidenote: valens - ] xxv the visigoths, who were their other allies and inhabitants of the western country, were terrified as their kinsmen had been, and knew not how to plan for safety against the race of the huns. after long deliberation by common consent they finally sent ambassadors into romania to the emperor valens, brother of valentinian, the elder emperor, to say that if he would give them part of thrace or moesia to keep, they would submit themselves to his laws and commands. that he might have greater confidence in them, they promised to become christians, if he would give them teachers who spoke their language. when valens learned this, he gladly and promptly granted what he had himself intended to ask. he received the getae into the region of moesia and placed them there as a wall of defense for his kingdom against other tribes. and since at that time the emperor valens, who was infected with the arian perfidy, had closed all the churches of our party, he sent as preachers to them those who favored his sect. they came and straightway filled a rude and ignorant people with the poison of their heresy. thus the emperor valens made the visigoths arians rather than christians. moreover from the love they bore them, they preached the gospel both to the ostrogoths and to their kinsmen the gepidae, teaching them to reverence this heresy, and they invited all people of their speech everywhere to attach themselves to this sect. they themselves as we have said, crossed the danube and settled dacia ripensis, moesia and thrace by permission of the emperor. [sidenote: famine - ] xxvi soon famine and want came upon them, as often happens to a people not yet well settled in a country. their princes and the leaders who ruled them in place of kings, that is fritigern, alatheus and safrac, began to lament the plight of their army and begged lupicinus and maximus, the roman commanders, to open a market. but to what will not the "cursed lust for gold" compel men to assent? the generals, swayed by avarice, sold them at a high price not only the flesh of sheep and oxen, but even the carcasses of dogs and unclean animals, so that a slave would be bartered for a loaf of bread or ten pounds of meat. when their goods and chattels failed, the greedy trader demanded their sons in return for the necessities of life. and the parents consented even to this, in order to provide for the safety of their children, arguing that it was better to lose liberty than life; and indeed it is better that one be sold, if he will be mercifully fed, than that he should be kept free only to die. [sidenote: treachery of the romans] now it came to pass in that troublous time that lupicinus, the roman general, invited fritigern, a chieftain of the goths, to a feast and, as the event revealed, devised a plot against him. but fritigern, thinking evil came to the feast with a few followers. while he was dining in the praetorium he heard the dying cries of his ill-fated men, for, by order of the general, the soldiers were slaying his companions who were shut up in another part of the house. the loud cries of the dying fell upon ears already suspicious, and fritigern at once perceived the treacherous trick. he drew his sword and with great courage dashed quickly from the banqueting-hall, rescued his men from their threatening doom and incited them to slay the romans. thus these valiant men gained the chance they had longed for--to be free to die in battle rather than to perish of hunger--and immediately took arms to kill the generals lupicinus and maximus. thus that day put an end to the famine of the goths and the safety of the romans, for the goths no longer as strangers and pilgrims, but as citizens and lords, began to rule the inhabitants and to hold in their own right all the northern country as far as the danube. [sidenote: emperor valens defeated and slain a.d. ] when the emperor valens heard of this at antioch, he made ready an army at once and set out for the country of thrace. here a grievous battle took place and the goths prevailed. the emperor himself was wounded and fled to a farm near hadrianople. the goths, not knowing that an emperor lay hidden in so poor a hut, set fire to it (as is customary in dealing with a cruel foe), and thus he was cremated in royal splendor. plainly it was a direct judgment of god that he should be burned with fire by the very men whom he had perfidiously led astray when they sought the true faith, turning them aside from the flame of love into the fire of hell. from this time the visigoths, in consequence of their glorious victory, possessed thrace and dacia ripensis as if it were their native land. [sidenote: gratian - ] [sidenote: hostile relations with rome ended by a truce] [sidenote: theodosius - ] xxvii now in the place of valens, his uncle, the emperor gratian established theodosius the spaniard in the eastern empire. military discipline was soon restored to a high level, and the goth, perceiving that the cowardice and sloth of former princes was ended, became afraid. for the emperor was famed alike for his acuteness and discretion. by stern commands and by generosity and kindness he encouraged a demoralized army to deeds of daring. but when the soldiers, who had obtained a better leader by the change, gained new confidence, they sought to attack the goths and drive them from the borders of thrace. but as the emperor theodosius fell so sick at this time that his life was almost despaired of, the goths were again inspired with courage. dividing the gothic army, fritigern set out to plunder thessaly, epirus and achaia, while alatheus and safrac with the rest of the troops made for pannonia. now the emperor gratian had at this time retreated from rome to gaul because of the invasions of the vandals. when he learned that the goths were acting with greater boldness because theodosius was in despair of his life, he quickly gathered an army and came against them. yet he put no trust in arms, but sought to conquer them by kindness and gifts. so he entered on a truce with them and made peace, giving them provisions. [sidenote: peace confirmed by theodosius ] [sidenote: death of king athanaric at constantinople ] xxviii when the emperor theodosius afterwards recovered and learned that the emperor gratian had made a compact between the goths and the romans, as he had himself desired, he took it very graciously and gave his assent. he gave gifts to king athanaric, who had succeeded fritigern, made an alliance with him and in the most gracious manner invited him to visit him in constantinople. athanaric very gladly consented and as he entered the royal city exclaimed in wonder "lo, now i see what i have often heard of with unbelieving ears," meaning the great and famous city. turning his eyes hither and thither, he marvelled as he beheld the situation of the city, the coming and going of the ships, the splendid walls, and the people of divers nations gathered like a flood of waters streaming from different regions into one basin. so too, when he saw the army in array, he said "truly the emperor is a god on earth, and whoso raises a hand against him is guilty of his own blood." in the midst of his admiration and the enjoyment of even greater honors at the hand of the emperor, he departed this life after the space of a few months. the emperor had such affection for him that he honored athanaric even more when he was dead than during his life-time, for he not only gave him a worthy burial, but himself walked before the bier at the funeral. now when athanaric was dead, his whole army continued in the service of the emperor theodosius and submitted to the roman rule, forming as it were one body with the imperial soldiery. the former service of the allies under the emperor constantine was now renewed and they were again called allies. and since the emperor knew that they were faithful to him and his friends, he took from their number more than twenty thousand warriors to serve against the tyrant eugenius who had slain gratian and seized gaul. after winning the victory over this usurper, he wreaked his vengeance upon him. [sidenote: alaric i king of the goths - ] [sidenote: stilicho and aurelian consuls in ] xxix but after theodosius, the lover of peace and of the gothic race, had passed from human cares, his sons began to ruin both empires by their luxurious living and to deprive their allies, that is to say the goths, of the customary gifts. the contempt of the goths for the romans soon increased, and for fear their valor would be destroyed by long peace, they appointed alaric king over them. he was of a famous stock, and his nobility was second only to that of the amali, for he came from the family of the balthi, who because of their daring valor had long ago received among their race the name _baltha_, that is, the bold. now when this alaric was made king, he took counsel with his men and persuaded them to seek a kingdom by their own exertions rather than serve others in idleness. in the consulship of stilicho and aurelian he raised an army and entered italy, which seemed to be bare of defenders, and came through pannonia and sirmium along the right side. without meeting any resistance, he reached the bridge of the river candidianus at the third milestone from the royal city of ravenna. [sidenote: description of ravenna] this city lies amid the streams of the po between swamps and the sea, and is accessible only on one side. its ancient inhabitants, as our ancestors relate, were called _ainetoi_, that is, "laudable". situated in a corner of the roman empire above the ionian sea, it is hemmed in like an island by a flood of rushing waters. on the east it has the sea, and one who sails straight to it from the region of corcyra and those parts of hellas sweeps with his oars along the right hand coast, first touching epirus, then dalmatia, liburnia and histria and at last the venetian isles. but on the west it has swamps through which a sort of door has been left by a very narrow entrance. to the north is an arm of the po, called the fossa asconis. on the south likewise is the po itself, which they call the king of the rivers of italy; and it has also the name eridanus. this river was turned aside by the emperor augustus into a very broad canal which flows through the midst of the city with a seventh part of its stream, affording a pleasant harbor at its mouth. men believed in ancient times, as dio relates, that it would hold a fleet of two hundred and fifty vessels in its safe anchorage. fabius says that this, which was once a harbor, now displays itself like a spacious garden full of trees; but from them hang not sails but apples. the city itself boasts of three names and is happily placed in its threefold location. i mean to say the first is called ravenna and the most distant part classis; while midway between the city and the sea is caesarea, full of luxury. the sand of the beach is fine and suited for riding. [sidenote: honorius - ] [sidenote: honorius grants the goths lands in gaul and spain] xxx but as i was saying, when the army of the visigoths had come into the neighborhood of this city, they sent an embassy to the emperor honorius, who dwelt within. they said that if he would permit the goths to settle peaceably in italy, they would so live with the roman people that men might believe them both to be of one race; but if not, whoever prevailed in war should drive out the other, and the victor should henceforth rule unmolested. but the emperor honorius feared to make either promise. so he took counsel with his senate and considered how he might drive them from the italian borders. he finally decided that alaric and his race, if they were able to do so, should be allowed to seize for their own home the provinces farthest away, namely, gaul and spain. for at this time he had almost lost them, and moreover they had been devastated by the invasion of gaiseric, king of the vandals. the grant was confirmed by an imperial rescript, and the goths, consenting to the arrangement, set out for the country given them. [sidenote: stilicho's treacherous attack ] [sidenote: alaric i sacks rome a.d. ] when they had gone away without doing any harm in italy, stilicho, the patrician and father-in-law of the emperor honorius,--for the emperor had married both his daughters, maria and thermantia, in succession, but god called both from this world in their virgin purity--this stilicho, i say, treacherously hurried to pollentia, a city in the cottian alps. there he fell upon the unsuspecting goths in battle, to the ruin of all italy and his own disgrace. when the goths suddenly beheld him, at first they were terrified. soon regaining their courage and arousing each other by brave shouting, as is their custom, they turned to flight the entire army of stilicho and almost exterminated it. then forsaking the journey they had undertaken, the goths with hearts full of rage returned again to liguria whence they had set out. when they had plundered and spoiled it, they also laid waste aemilia, and then hastened toward the city of rome along the flaminian way, which runs between picenum and tuscia, taking as booty whatever they found on either hand. when they finally entered rome, by alaric's express command they merely sacked it and did not set the city on fire, as wild peoples usually do, nor did they permit serious damage to be done to the holy places. thence they departed to bring like ruin upon campania and lucania, and then came to bruttii. here they remained a long time and planned to go to sicily and thence to the countries of africa. [sidenote: death of alaric i a.d. ] [sidenote: athavulf - ] now the land of the bruttii is at the extreme southern bound of italy, and a corner of it marks the beginning of the apennine mountains. it stretches out like a tongue into the adriatic sea and separates it from the tyrrhenian waters. it chanced to receive its name in ancient times from a queen bruttia. to this place came alaric, king of visigoths, with the wealth of all italy which he had taken as spoil, and from there, as we have said, he intended to cross over by way of sicily to the quiet land of africa. but since man is not free to do anything he wishes without the will of god, that dread strait sunk several of his ships and threw all into confusion. alaric was cast down by his reverse and, while deliberating what he should do, was suddenly overtaken by an untimely death and departed from human cares. his people mourned for him with the utmost affection. then turning from its course the river busentus near the city of consentia--for this stream flows with its wholesome waters from the foot of a mountain near that city--they led a band of captives into the midst of its bed to dig out a place for his grave. in the depths of this pit they buried alaric, together with many treasures, and then turned the waters back into their channel. and that none might ever know the place, they put to death all the diggers. they bestowed the kingdom of the visigoths on athavulf his kinsman, a man of imposing beauty and great spirit; for though not tall of stature, he was distinguished for beauty of face and form. [sidenote: deeds of king athavulf] [sidenote: marries galla placidia ] [sidenote: king segeric ] xxxi when athavulf became king, he returned again to rome, and whatever had escaped the first sack his goths stripped bare like locusts, not merely despoiling italy of its private wealth, but even of its public resources. the emperor honorius was powerless to resist even when his sister placidia, the daughter of the emperor theodosius by his second wife, was led away captive from the city. but athavulf was attracted by her nobility, beauty and chaste purity, and so he took her to wife in lawful marriage at forum julii, a city of aemilia. when the barbarians learned of this alliance, they were the more effectually terrified, since the empire and the goths now seemed to be made one. then athavulf set out for gaul, leaving honorius augustus stripped of his wealth, to be sure, yet pleased at heart because he was now a sort of kinsman of his. upon his arrival the neighboring tribes who had long made cruel raids into gaul,--franks and burgundians alike,--were terrified and began to keep within their own borders. now the vandals and the alani, as we have said before, had been dwelling in both pannonias by permission of the roman emperors. yet fearing they would not be safe even here if the goths should return, they crossed over into gaul. but no long time after they had taken possession of gaul they fled thence and shut themselves up in spain, for they still remembered from the tales of their forefathers what ruin geberich, king of the goths, had long ago brought on their race, and how by his valor he had driven them from their native land. and thus it happened that gaul lay open to athavulf when he came. now when the goth had established his kingdom in gaul, he began to grieve for the plight of the spaniards and planned to save them from the attacks of the vandals. so athavulf left at barcelona his treasures and the men who were unfit for war, and entered the interior of spain with a few faithful followers. here he fought frequently with the vandals and, in the third year after he had subdued gaul and spain, fell pierced through the groin by the sword of euervulf, a man whose short stature he had been wont to mock. after his death segeric was appointed king, but he too was slain by the treachery of his own men and lost both his kingdom and his life even more quickly than athavulf. [sidenote: king valia - ] xxxii then valia, the fourth from alaric, was made king, and he was an exceeding stern and prudent man. the emperor honorius sent an army against him under constantius, who was famed for his achievements in war and distinguished in many battles, for he feared that valia would break the treaty long ago made with athavulf and that, after driving out the neighboring tribes, he would again plot evil against the empire. moreover honorius was eager to free his sister placidia from the disgrace of servitude, and made an agreement with constantius that if by peace or war or any means soever he could bring her back to the kingdom, he should have her in marriage. pleased with this promise, constantius set out for spain with an armed force and in almost royal splendor. valia, king of the goths, met him at a pass in the pyrenees with as great a force. here-upon embassies were sent by both sides and it was decided to make peace on the following terms, namely that valia should give up placidia, the emperor's sister, and should not refuse to aid the roman empire when occasion demanded. [sidenote: constantine iii - ] [sidenote: constans - ] [sidenote: jovinus - ] [sidenote: sebastian ] now at that time a certain constantine usurped imperial power in gaul and appointed as caesar his son constans, who was formerly a monk. but when he had held for a short time the empire he had seized, he was himself slain at arelate and his son at vienne. jovinus and sebastian succeeded them with equal presumption and thought they might seize the imperial power; but they perished by a like fate. [sidenote: valia moves against the vandals ] now in the twelfth year of valia's reign the huns were driven out of pannonia by the romans and goths, almost fifty years after they had taken possession of it. then valia found that the vandals had come forth with bold audacity from the interior of galicia, whither athavulf had long ago driven them, and were devastating and plundering everywhere in his own territories, namely in the land of spain. so he made no delay but moved his army against them at once, at about the time when hierius and ardabures had become consuls. [sidenote: valentinian iii - ] [sidenote: the vandals and gaiseric their king - ] xxxiii but gaiseric, king of the vandals, had already been invited into africa by boniface, who had fallen into a dispute with the emperor valentinian and was able to obtain revenge only by injuring the empire. so he invited them urgently and brought them across the narrow strait known as the strait of gades, scarcely seven miles wide, which divides africa from spain and unites the mouth of the tyrrhenian sea with the waters of ocean. gaiseric, still famous in the city for the disaster of the romans, was a man of moderate height and lame in consequence of a fall from his horse. he was a man of deep thought and few words, holding luxury in disdain, furious in his anger, greedy for gain, shrewd in winning over the barbarians and skilled in sowing the seeds of dissension to arouse enmity. such was he who, as we have said, came at the solicitous invitation of boniface to the country of africa. there he reigned for a long time, receiving authority, as they say, from god himself. before his death he summoned the band of his sons and ordained that there should be no strife among them because of desire for the kingdom, but that each should reign in his own rank and order as he survived the others; that is, the next younger should succeed his elder brother, and he in turn should be followed by his junior. by giving heed to this command they ruled their kingdom in happiness for the space of many years and were not disgraced by civil war, as is usual among other nations; one after the other receiving the kingdom and ruling the people in peace. [sidenote: the six kings of the vandals - ] [sidenote: kingdom of the vandals made subject to rome] now this is their order of succession: first, gaiseric who was father and lord, next, huneric, the third gunthamund, the fourth thrasamund, and the fifth ilderich. he was driven from the throne and slain by gelimer, who destroyed his race by disregarding his ancestor's advice and setting up a tyranny. but what he had done did not remain unpunished, for soon the vengeance of the emperor justinian was manifested against him. with his whole family and that wealth over which he gloated like a robber, he was taken to constantinople by that most renowned warrior belisarius, master of the soldiery of the east, ex-consul ordinary and patrician. here he afforded a great spectacle to the people in the circus. his repentance, when he beheld himself cast down from his royal state, came too late. he died as a mere subject and in retirement, though he had formerly been unwilling to submit to private life. thus after a century africa, which in the division of the earth's surface is regarded as the third part of the world, was delivered from the yoke of the vandals and brought back to the liberty of the roman empire. the country which the hand of the heathen had long ago cut off from the body of the roman empire, by reason of the cowardice of emperors and the treachery of generals, was now restored by a wise prince and a faithful leader and to-day is happily flourishing. and though, even after this, it had to deplore the misery of civil war and the treachery of the moors, yet the triumph of the emperor justinian, vouchsafed him by god. brought to a peaceful conclusion what he had begun. but why need we speak of what the subject does not require? let us return to our theme. [sidenote: migration or the amali to the visigoths] [sidenote: theodorid i - ] now valia, king of the goths, and his army fought so fiercely against the vandals that he would have pursued them even into africa, had not such a misfortune recalled him as befell alaric when he was setting out for africa. so when he had won great fame in spain, he returned after a bloodless victory to tolosa, turning over to the roman empire, as he had promised, a number of provinces which he had rid of his foes. a long time after this he was seized by sickness and departed this life. just at that time beremud, the son of thorismud, whom we have mentioned above in the genealogy of the family of the amali, departed with his son veteric from the ostrogoths, who still submitted to the oppression of the huns in the land of scythia, and came to the kingdom of the visigoths. well aware of his valor and noble birth, he believed that the kingdom would be the more readily bestowed upon him by his kinsmen, inasmuch as he was known to be the heir of many kings. and who would hesitate to choose one of the amali, if there were an empty throne? but he was not himself eager to make known who he was, and so upon the death of valia the visigoths made theodorid his successor. beremud came to him and, with the strength of mind for which he was noted, concealed his noble birth by prudent silence, for he knew that those of royal lineage are always distrusted by kings. so he suffered himself to remain unknown, that he might not bring the established order into confusion. king theodorid received him and his son with special honor and made him partner in his counsels and a companion at his board; not for his noble birth, which he knew not, but for his brave spirit and strong mind, which beremud could not conceal. [sidenote: consulship of theodosius ] [sidenote: first breach between theodorid i and the romans] [sidenote: the truce ] xxxiv and what more? valia (to repeat what we have said) had but little success against the gauls, but when he died the more fortunate and prosperous theodorid succeeded to the throne. he was a man of the greatest moderation and notable for vigor of mind and body. in consulship of theodosius and festus the romans broke the truce and took up arms against him in gaul, with the huns as their auxiliaries. for a band of the gallic allies, led by count gaina, had aroused the romans by throwing constantinople into a panic. now at that time the patrician aëtius was in command of the army. he was of the bravest moesian stock, born of his father gaudentius in the city of durostorum. he was a man fitted to endure the toils of war, born expressly to serve the roman state; and by inflicting crushing defeats he had compelled the proud suavi and barbarous franks to submit to roman sway. so then, with the huns as allies under their leader litorius, the roman army moved in array against the goths. when the battle lines of both sides had been standing for a long time opposite each other, both being brave and neither side the weaker, they struck a truce and returned to their ancient alliance. and after the treaty had been confirmed by both and an honest peace was established, they both withdrew. [sidenote: embassy to attila ] during this peace attila was lord over all the huns and almost the sole earthly ruler of all the tribes of scythia; a man marvellous for his glorious fame among all nations. the historian priscus, who was sent to him on an embassy by the younger theodosius, says this among other things: "crossing mighty rivers--namely, the tisia and tibisia and dricca--we came to the place where long ago vidigoia, bravest of the goths, perished by the guile of the sarmatians. at no great distance from that place we arrived at the village where king attila was dwelling,--a village, i say, like a great city in which we found wooden walls made of smooth-shining boards, whose joints so counterfeited solidity that the union of the boards could scarcely be distinguished by close scrutiny. there you might see dining halls of large extent and porticoes planned with great beauty, while the courtyard was bounded by so vast a circuit that its very size showed it was the royal palace." this was the abode of attila, the king of all the barbarian world; and he preferred this as a dwelling to the cities he captured. [sidenote: character of attila king of the huns] [sidenote: attila and bleda joint kings - ] [sidenote: attila sole king - ] xxxv now this attila was the son of mundiuch, and his brothers were octar and ruas who are said to have ruled before attila, though not over quite so many tribes as he. after their death he succeeded to the throne of the huns, together with his brother bleda. in order that he might first be equal to the expedition he was preparing, he sought to increase his strength by murder. thus he proceeded from the destruction of his own kindred to the menace of all others. but though he increased his power by this shameful means, yet by the balance of justice he received the hideous consequences of his own cruelty. now when his brother bleda, who ruled over a great part of the huns, had been slain by his treachery, attila united all the people under his own rule. gathering also a host of the other tribes which he then held under his sway, he sought to subdue the foremost nations of the world--the romans and the visigoths. his army is said to have numbered five hundred thousand men. he was a man born into the world to shake the nations, the scourge of all lands, who in some way terrified all mankind by the dreadful rumors noised abroad concerning him. he was haughty in his walk, rolling his eyes hither and thither, so that the power of his proud spirit appeared in the movement of his body. he was indeed a lover of war, yet restrained in action, mighty in counsel, gracious to suppliants and lenient to those who were once received into his protection. he was short of stature with a broad chest and a large head; his eyes were small, his beard thin and sprinkled with gray; and he had a flat nose and a swarthy complexion, showing the evidences of his origin. and though his temper was such that he always had great self-confidence, yet his assurance was increased by finding the sword of mars, always esteemed sacred among the kings of the scythians. the historian priscus says it was discovered under the following circumstances: "when a certain shepherd beheld one heifer of his flock limping and could find no cause for this wound, he anxiously followed the trail of blood and at length came to a sword it had unwittingly trampled while nibbling the grass. he dug it up and took it straight to attila. he rejoiced at this gift and, being ambitious, thought he had been appointed ruler of the whole world, and that through the sword of mars supremacy in all wars was assured to him." [sidenote: gaiseric incites him to war with the goths] xxxvi now when gaiseric, king of the vandals, whom we mentioned shortly before, learned that his mind was bent on the devastation of the world, he incited attila by many gifts to make war on the visigoths, for he was afraid that theodorid, king of the visigoths, would avenge the injury done to his daughter. she had been joined in wedlock with huneric, the son of gaiseric, and at first was happy in this union. but afterwards he was cruel even to his own children, and because of the mere suspicion that she was attempting to poison him, he cut off her nose and mutilated her ears. he sent her back to her father in gaul thus despoiled of her natural charms. so the wretched girl presented a pitiable aspect ever after, and the cruelty which would stir even strangers still more surely incited her father to vengeance. attila, therefore, in his efforts to bring about the wars long ago instigated by the bribe of gaiseric, sent ambassadors into italy to the emperor valentinian to sow strife between the goths and the romans, thinking to shatter by civil discord those whom he could not crush in battle. he declared that he was in no way violating his friendly relations with the empire, but that he had a quarrel with theodorid, king of the visigoths. as he wished to be kindly received, he had filled the rest of the letter with the visual flattering salutations, striving to win credence for his falsehood. in like manner he despatched a message to theodorid, king of the visigoths, urging him to break his alliance with the romans and reminding him of the battles to which they had recently provoked him. beneath his great ferocity he was a subtle man, and fought with craft before he made war. [sidenote: league of the visigoths and romans against attila ] then the emperor valentinian sent an embassy to the visigoths and their king theodorid, with this message: "bravest of nations, it is the part of prudence for us to unite against the lord of the earth who wishes to enslave the whole world; who requires no just cause for battle, but supposes whatever he does is right. he measures his ambition by his might. license satisfies his pride. despising law and right, he shows himself an enemy to nature herself. and thus he, who clearly is the common foe of each, deserves the hatred of all. pray remember--what you surely cannot forget--that the huns do not overthrow nations by means of war, where there is an equal chance, but assail them by treachery, which is a greater cause for anxiety. to say nothing about ourselves, can you suffer such insolence to go unpunished? since you are mighty in arms, give heed to your own danger and join hands with us in common. bear aid also to the empire, of which you hold a part. if you would learn how needful such an alliance is for us, look into the plans of the foe." [sidenote: the forces of the allies] by these and like arguments the ambassadors of valentinian prevailed upon king theodorid. he answered them, saying "romans, you have attained your desire; you have made attila our foe also. we will pursue him wherever he summons us, and though he is puffed up by his victories over divers races, yet the goths know how to fight this haughty foe. i call no war dangerous save one whose cause is weak; for he fears no ill on whom majesty has smiled." the nobles shouted assent to the reply and the multitude gladly followed. all were fierce for battle and longed to meet the huns, their foe. and so a countless host was led forth by theodorid, king of the visigoths, who sent home four of his sons, namely friderich and eurich, retemer and himnerith, taking with him only the two elder sons, thorismud and theodorid, as partners of his toil. o brave array, sure defense and sweet comradeship! having as its solace the peril of those whose one joy is the endurance of the same dangers. on the side of the romans stood the patrician aëtius, on whom at that time the whole empire of the west depended; a man of such wisdom that he had assembled warriors from everywhere to meet them on equal terms. now these were his auxiliaries: franks, sarmatians, armoricians, liticians, burgundians, saxons, riparians olibriones (once roman soldiers and now the flower of the allied forces), and some other celtic or german tribes. and so they met in the catalaunian plains, which are also called mauriacian, extending in length one hundred _leuva_, as the gauls express it, and seventy in width. now a gallic _leuva_ measures a distance of fifteen hundred paces. that portion of the earth accordingly became the threshing-floor of countless races. the two hosts bravely joined battle. nothing was done under cover, but they contended in open fight. what just cause can be found for the encounter of so many nations, or what hatred inspired them all to take arms against each other? it is proof that the human race lives for its kings, for it is at the mad impulse of one mind a slaughter of nations takes place, and at the whim of a haughty ruler that which nature has taken ages to produce perishes in a moment. [sidenote: the beginning of the strife] xxxvii but before we set forth the order of the battle itself, it seems needful to relate what had already happened in the course of the campaign, for it was not only a famous struggle but one that was complicated and confused. well then, sangiban, king of the alani, smitten with fear of what might come to pass, had promised to surrender to attila, and to give into his keeping aureliani, a city of gaul wherein he then dwelt. when theodorid and aëtius learned of this, they cast up great earthworks around that city before attila's arrival and kept watch over the suspected sangiban, placing him with his tribe in the midst of their auxiliaries. then attila, king of the huns, was taken aback by this event and lost confidence in his own troops, so that he feared to begin the conflict. while he was meditating on flight--a greater calamity than death itself--he decided to inquire into the future through soothsayers. so, as was their custom, they examined the entrails of cattle and certain streaks in bones that had been scraped, and foretold disaster to the huns. yet as a slight consolation they prophesied that the chief commander of the foe they were to meet should fall and mar by his death the rest of the victory and the triumph. now attila deemed the death of aëtius a thing to be desired even at the cost of his own life, for aëtius stood in the way of his plans. so although he was disturbed by this prophecy, yet inasmuch as he was a man who sought counsel of omens in all warfare, he began the battle with anxious heart at about the ninth hour of the day, in order that the impending darkness might come to his aid if the outcome should be disastrous. [sidenote: battle of the catalaunian plains a.d. ] xxxviii the armies met, as we have said, in the catalaunian plains. the battle field was a plain rising by a sharp slope to a ridge, which both armies sought to gain; for advantage of position is a great help. the huns with their forces seized the right side, the romans, the visigoths and their allies the left, and then began a struggle for the yet untaken crest. now theodorid with the visigoths held the right wing and aëtius with the romans the left. they placed in the centre sangiban (who, as said before, was in command of the alani), thus contriving with military caution to surround by a host of faithful troops the man in whose loyalty they had little confidence. for one who has difficulties placed in the way of his flight readily submits to the necessity of fighting. on the other side, however, the battle line of the huns was so arranged that attila and his bravest followers were stationed in the centre. in arranging them thus the king had chiefly his own safety in view, since by his position in the very midst of his race he would be kept out of the way of threatening danger. the innumerable peoples of divers tribes, which he had subjected to his sway, formed the wings. amid them was conspicuous the army of the ostrogoths under the leadership of the brothers valamir, thiudimer and vidimer, nobler even than the king they served, for the might of the family of the amali rendered them glorious. the renowned king of the gepidae, ardaric, was there also with a countless host, and because of his great loyalty to attila, he shared his plans. for attila, comparing them in his wisdom, prized him and valamir, king of the ostrogoths, above all the other chieftains. valamir was a good keeper of secrets, bland of speech and skilled in wiles, and ardaric, as we have said, was famed for his loyalty and wisdom. attila might well feel sure that they would fight against the visigoths, their kinsmen. now the rest of the crowd of kings (if we may call them so) and the leaders of various nations hung upon attila's nod like slaves, and when he gave a sign even by a glance, without a murmur each stood forth in fear and trembling, or at all events did as he was bid. attila alone was king of all kings over all and concerned for all. so then the struggle began for the advantage of position we have mentioned. attila sent his men to take the summit of the mountain, but was outstripped by thorismud and aëtius, who in their effort to gain the top of the hill reached higher ground and through this advantage of position easily routed the huns as they came up. [sidenote: attila addresses his men] xxxix now when attila saw his army was thrown into confusion by this event, he thought it best to encourage them by an extemporaneous address on this wise: "here you stand, after conquering mighty nations and subduing the world. i therefore think it foolish for me to goad you with words, as though you were men who had not been proved in action. let a new leader or an untried army resort to that. it is not right for me to say anything common, nor ought you to listen. for what is war but your usual custom? or what is sweeter for a brave man than to seek revenge with his own hand? it is a right of nature to glut the soul with vengeance. let us then attack the foe eagerly; for they are ever the bolder who make the attack. despise this union of discordant races! to defend oneself by alliance is proof of cowardice. see, even before our attack they are smitten with terror. they seek the heights, they seize the hills and, repenting too late, clamor for protection against battle in the open fields. you know how slight a matter the roman attack is. while they are still gathering in order and forming in one line with locked shields, they are checked, i will not say by the first wound, but even by the dust of battle. then on to the fray with stout hearts, as is your wont. despise their battle line. attack the alani, smite the visigoths! seek swift victory in that spot where the battle rages. for when the sinews are cut the limbs soon relax, nor can a body stand when you have taken away the bones. let your courage rise and your own fury burst forth! now show your cunning, huns, now your deeds of arms! let the wounded exact in return the death of his foe; let the unwounded revel in slaughter of the enemy. no spear shall harm those who are sure to live; and those who are sure to die fate overtakes even in peace. and finally, why should fortune have made the huns victorious over so many nations, unless it were to prepare them for the joy of this conflict. who was it revealed to our sires the path through the maeotian swamp, for so many ages closed secret? who, moreover, made armed men yield to you, when you were as yet unarmed? even a mass of federated nations could not endure the sight of the huns. i am not deceived in the issue;--here is the field so many victories have promised us. i shall hurl the first spear at the foe. if any can stand at rest while attila fights, he is a dead man." inflamed by these words, they all dashed into battle. [sidenote: fierce fighting] xl and although the situation was itself fearful, yet the presence of their king dispelled anxiety and hesitation. hand to hand they clashed in battle, and the fight grew fierce, confused, monstrous, unrelenting--a fight whose like no ancient time has ever recorded. there such deeds were done that a brave man who missed this marvellous spectacle could not hope to see anything so wonderful all his life long. for, if we may believe our elders, a brook flowing between low banks through the plain was greatly increased by blood from the wounds of the slain. it was not flooded by showers, as brooks usually rise, but was swollen by a strange stream and turned into a torrent by the increase of blood. those whose wounds drove them to slake their parching thirst drank water mingled with gore. in their wretched plight they were forced to drink what they thought was the blood they had poured from their own wounds. [sidenote: death of king theodorid i in the battle] here king theodorid, while riding by to encourage his army, was thrown from his horse and trampled under foot by his own men, thus ending his days at a ripe old age. but others say he was slain by the spear of andag of the host of the ostrogoths, who were then under the sway of attila. this was what the soothsayers had told to attila in prophecy, though he understood it of aëtius. then the visigoths, separating from the alani, fell upon the horde of the huns and nearly slew attila. but he prudently took flight and straightway shut himself and his companions within the barriers of the camp, which he had fortified with wagons. a frail defence indeed; yet there they sought refuge for their lives, whom but a little while before no walls of earth could withstand. but thorismud, the son of king theodorid, who with aëtius had seized the hill and repulsed the enemy from the higher ground, came unwittingly to the wagons of the enemy in the darkness of night, thinking he had reached his own lines. as he was fighting bravely, someone wounded him in the head and dragged him from his horse. then he was rescued by the watchful care of his followers and withdrew from the fierce conflict. aëtius also became separated from his men in the confusion of night and wandered about in the midst of the enemy. fearing disaster had happened, he went about in search of the goths. at last he reached the camp of his allies and passed the remainder of the night in the protection of their shields. at dawn on the following day, when the romans saw the fields were piled high with bodies and that the huns did not venture forth, they thought the victory was theirs, but knew that attila would not flee from the battle unless overwhelmed by a great disaster. yet he did nothing cowardly, like one that is overcome, but with clash of arms sounded the trumpets and threatened an attack. he was like a lion pierced by hunting spears, who paces to and fro before the mouth of his den and dares not spring, but ceases not to terrify the neighborhood by his roaring. even so this warlike king at bay terrified his conquerors. therefore the goths and romans assembled and considered what to do with the vanquished attila. they determined to wear him out by a siege, because he had no supply of provisions and was hindered from approaching by a shower of arrows from the bowmen placed within the confines of the roman camp. but it was said that the king remained supremely brave even in this extremity and had heaped up a funeral pyre of horse trappings, so that if the enemy should attack him, he was determined to cast himself into the flames, that none might have the joy of wounding him and that the lord of so many races might not fall into the hands of his foes. [sidenote: results of the battle] xli now during these delays in the siege, the visigoths sought their king and the king's sons their father, wondering at his absence when success had been attained. when, after a long search, they found him where the dead lay thickest, as happens with brave men, they honored him with songs and bore him away in the sight of the enemy. you might have seen bands of goths shouting with dissonant cries and paying the honors of death while the battle still raged. tears were shed, but such as they were accustomed to devote to brave men. it was death indeed, but the huns are witness that it was a glorious one. it was a death whereby one might well suppose the pride of the enemy would be lowered, when they beheld the body of so great a king borne forth with fitting honors. and so the goths, still continuing the rites due to theodorid, bore forth the royal majesty with sounding arms, and valiant thorismud, as befitted a son, honored the glorious spirit of his dear father by following his remains. when this was done, thorismud was eager to take vengeance for his father's death on the remaining huns, being moved to this both by the pain of bereavement and the impulse of that valor for which he was noted. yet he consulted with the patrician aëtius (for he was an older man and of more mature wisdom) with regard to what he ought to do next. but aëtius feared that if the huns were totally destroyed by the goths, the roman empire would be overwhelmed, and urgently advised him to return to his own dominions to take up the rule which his father had left. otherwise his brothers might seize their father's possessions and obtain the power over the visigoths. in this case thorismud would have to fight fiercely and, what is worse, disastrously with his own countrymen. thorismud accepted the advice without perceiving its double meaning, but followed it with an eye toward his own advantage. so he left the huns and returned to gaul. thus while human frailty rushes into suspicion, it often loses an opportunity of doing great things. in this most famous war of the bravest tribes, one hundred and sixty five thousand are said to have been slain on both sides, leaving out of account fifteen thousand of the gepidae and franks, who met each other the night before the general engagement and fell by wounds mutually received, the franks fighting for the romans and the gepidae for the huns. now when attila learned of the retreat of the goths, he thought it a ruse of the enemy,--for so men are wont to believe when the unexpected happens--and remained for some time in his camp. but when a long silence followed the absence of the foe, the spirit of the mighty king was aroused to the thought of victory and the anticipation of pleasure, and his mind turned to the old oracles of his destiny. [sidenote: thorismud - ] thorismud, however, after the death of his father on the catalaunian plains where he had fought, advanced in royal state and entered tolosa. here although the throng of his brothers and brave companions were still rejoicing over the victory he yet began to rule so mildly that no one strove with him for the succession to the kingdom. [sidenote: the siege and fall of aquileia ] xlii but attila took occasion from the withdrawal of the visigoths, observing what he had often desired that his enemies were divided. at length feeling secure, he moved forward his array to attack the romans. as his first move he besieged the city of aquileia, the metropolis of venetia, which is situated on a point or tongue of land by the adriatic sea. on the eastern side its walls are washed by the river natissa, flowing from mount piccis. the siege was long and fierce, but of no avail, since the bravest soldiers of the romans withstood him from within. at last his army was discontented and eager to withdraw. attila chanced to be walking around the walls, considering whether to break camp or delay longer, and noticed that the white birds, namely, the storks, who build their nests in the gables of houses, were bearing their young from the city and, contrary to their custom, were carrying them out into the country. being a shrewd observer of events, he understood this and said to his soldiers: "you see the birds foresee the future. they are leaving the city sure to perish and are forsaking strongholds doomed to fall by reason of imminent peril. do not think this a meaningless or uncertain sign; fear, arising from the things they foresee, has changed their custom." why say more? he inflamed the hearts of his soldiers to attack aquileia again. constructing battering rams and bringing to bear all manner of engines of war, they quickly forced their way into the city, laid it waste, divided the spoil and so cruelly devastated it as scarcely to leave a trace to be seen. then growing bolder and still thirsting for roman blood, the huns raged madly through the remaining cities of the veneti. they also laid waste mediolanum, the metropolis of liguria, once an imperial city, and gave over ticinum to a like fate. then they destroyed the neighboring country in their frenzy and demolished almost the whole of italy. [sidenote: pope leo intervenes to save rome ] attila's mind had been bent on going to rome. but his followers, as the historian priscus relates, took him away, not out of regard for the city to which they were hostile, but because they remembered the case of alaric, the former king of the visigoths. they distrusted the good fortune of their own king, inasmuch as alaric did not live long after the sack of rome, but straightway departed this life. therefore while attila's spirit was wavering in doubt between going and not going, and he still lingered to ponder the matter, an embassy came to him from rome to seek peace. pope leo himself came to meet him in the ambuleian district of the veneti at the well-travelled ford of the river mincius. then attila quickly put aside his usual fury, turned back on the way he had advanced from beyond the danube and departed with the promise of peace. but above all he declared and avowed with threats that he would bring worse things upon italy, unless they sent him honoria, the sister of the emperor valentinian and daughter of augusta placidia, with her due share of the royal wealth. for it was said that honoria, although bound to chastity for the honor of the imperial court and kept in constraint by command of her brother, had secretly despatched a eunuch to summon attila that she might have his protection against he brother's power;--a shameful thing, indeed, to get license for her passion at the cost of the public weal. [sidenote: marcian - ] [sidenote: attila defeated by thorismud] xliii so attila returned to his own country, seeming to regret the peace and to be vexed at the cessation of war. for he sent ambassadors to marcian, emperor of the east, threatening to devastate the provinces, because that which had been promised him by theodosius, a former emperor, was in no wise performed, and saying that he would show himself more cruel to his foes than ever. but as he was shrewd and crafty, he threatened in one direction and moved his army in another; for in the midst of these preparations he turned his face toward the visigoths who had yet to feel his vengeance. but here he had not the same success as against the romans. hastening back by a different way than before, he decided to reduce to his sway that part of the alani which was settled across the river loire, in order that by attacking them, and thus changing the aspect of the war, he might become a more terrible menace to the visigoths. accordingly he started from the provinces of dacia and pannonia, where the huns were then dwelling with various subject peoples, and moved his array against the alani. but thorismud, king of the visigoths, with like quickness of thought perceived attila's trick. by forced marches he came to the alani before him, and was well prepared to check the advance of attila when he came after him. they joined battle in almost the same way as before at the catalaunian plains, and thorismud dashed his hopes of victory, for he routed him and drove him from the land without a triumph, compelling him to flee to his own country. thus while attila, the famous leader and lord of many victories, sought to blot out the fame of his destroyer and in this way to annul what he had suffered at the hands of the visigoths, he met a second defeat and retreated ingloriously. now after the bands of the huns had been repulsed by the alani, without any hurt to his own men, thorismud departed for tolosa. there he established a settled peace for his people and in the third year of his reign fell sick. while letting blood from a vein, he was betrayed to his death by ascalc, a client, who told his foes that his weapons were out of reach. yet grasping a foot-stool in the one hand he had free, he became the avenger of his own blood by slaying several of those that were lying in wait for him. [sidenote: the reign of king theodorid ii - ] [sidenote: battle near the ulbius ] xliv after his death, his brother theodorid succeeded to the kingdom of the visigoths and soon found that riciarius his kinsman, the king of the suavi, was hostile to him. for riciarius, presuming on his relationship to theodorid, believed that he might seize almost the whole of spain, thinking the disturbed beginning of theodorid's reign made the time opportune for his trick. the suavi formerly occupied as their country galicia and lusitania, which extend on the right side of spain along the shore of ocean. to the east is austrogonia, to the west, on a promontory, is the sacred monument of the roman general scipio, to the north ocean, and to the south lusitania and the tagus river, which mingles golden grains in its sands and thus carries wealth in its worthless mud. so then riciarius, king of the suavi, set forth and strove to seize the whole of spain. theodorid, his kinsman, a man of moderation, sent ambassadors to him and told him quietly that he must not only withdraw from the territories that were not his own, but furthermore that he should not presume to make such an attempt, as he was becoming hated for his ambition. but with arrogant spirit he replied: "if you murmur here and find fault with my coming, i shall come to tolosa where you dwell. resist me there, if you can." when he heard this, theodorid was angry and, making a compact with all the other tribes, moved his array against the suavi. he had as his close allies gundiuch and hilperic, kings of the burgundians. they came to battle near the river ulbius, which flows between asturica and hiberia, and in the engagement theodorid with the visigoths, who fought for the right, came off victorious, overthrowing the entire tribe of the suavi and almost exterminating them. their king riciarius fled from the dread foe and embarked upon a ship. but he was beaten back by another foe, the adverse wind of the tyrrhenian sea, and so fell into the hands of the visigoths. thus though he changed from sea to land, the wretched man did not avert his death. when theodorid had become the victor, he spared the conquered and did not suffer the rage of conflict to continue, but placed over the suavi whom he had conquered one of his own retainers, named agrivulf. but agrivulf soon treacherously changed his mind, through the persuasion of the suavi, and failed to fulfil his duty. for he was quite puffed up with tyrannical pride, believing he had obtained the province as a reward for the valor by which he and his lord had recently subjugated it. now he was a man born of the stock of the varni, far below the nobility of gothic blood, and so was neither zealous for liberty nor faithful toward his patron. as soon as theodorid heard of this, he gathered a force to cast him out from the kingdom he had usurped. they came quickly and conquered him in the first battle, inflicting a punishment befitting his deeds. for he was captured, taken from his friends and beheaded. thus at last he was made aware of the wrath of the master he thought might be despised because he was kind. now when the suavi beheld the death of their leader, they sent priests of their country to theodorid as suppliants. he received them with the reverence due their office and not only granted the suavi exemption from punishment, but was moved by compassion and allowed them to choose a ruler of their own race for themselves. the suavi did so, taking rimismund as their prince. when this was done and peace was everywhere assured, theodorid died in the thirteenth year of his reign. [sidenote: king eurich - ] [sidenote: the western empire from the death of valentinian iii to romulus augustulus] [sidenote: maximus ] [sidenote: gaiseric sacks rome ] [sidenote: majorian - ] [sidenote: livius severus - ] [sidenote: leo i - ] [sidenote: anthemius - ] xlv his brother eurich succeeded him with such eager haste that he fell under dark suspicion. now while these and various other matters were happening among the people of the visigoths, the emperor valentinian was slain by the treachery of maximus, and maximus himself, like a tyrant, usurped the rule. gaiseric, king of the vandals, heard of this and came from africa to italy with ships of war, entered rome and laid it waste. maximus fled and was slain by a certain ursus, a roman soldier. after him majorian undertook the government of the western empire at the bidding of marcian, emperor of the east. but he too ruled but a short time. for when he had moved his forces against the alani who were harassing gaul, he was killed at dertona near the river named ira. severus succeeded him and died at rome in the third year of his reign. when the emperor leo, who had succeeded marcian in the eastern empire, learned of this, he chose as emperor his patrician anthemius and sent him to rome. upon his arrival he sent against the alani his son-in-law ricimer, who was an excellent man and almost the only one in italy at that time fit to command the army. in the very first engagement he conquered and destroyed the host of the alani, together with their king, beorg. [sidenote: olybrius ] now eurich, king of the visigoths, perceived the frequent change of roman emperors and strove to hold gaul by his own right. the emperor anthemius heard of it and asked the brittones for aid. their king riotimus came with twelve thousand men into the state of the bituriges by the way of ocean, and was received as he disembarked from his ships. eurich, king of the visigoths, came against them with an innumerable army, and after a long fight he routed riotimus, king of the brittones, before the romans could join him. so when he had lost a great part of his army, he fled with all the men he could gather together, and came to the burgundians, a neighboring tribe then allied to the romans. but eurich, king of the visigoths, seized the gallic city of arverna; for the emperor anthemius was now dead. engaged in fierce war with his son-in-law ricimer, he had worn out rome and was himself finally slain by his son-in-law and yielded the rule to olybrius. [sidenote: glycerius ] [sidenote: nepos ] at that time aspar, first of the patricians and a famous man of the gothic race was wounded by the swords of the eunuchs in his palace at constantinople and died. with him were slain his sons ardabures and patriciolus, the one long a patrician, and the other styled a caesar and son-in-law of the emperor leo. now olybrius died barely eight months after he had entered upon his reign, and glycerius was made caesar at ravenna, rather by usurpation than by election. hardly had a year been ended when nepos, the son of the sister of marcellinus, once a patrician, deposed him from his office and ordained him bishop at the port of rome. [sidenote: romulus augustulus ] when eurich, as we have already said, beheld these great and various changes, he seized the city of arverna, where the roman general ecdicius was at that time in command. he was a senator of most renowned family and the son of avitus, a recent emperor who had usurped the reign for a few days--for avitus held the rule for a few days before olybrius, and then withdrew of his own accord to placentia, where he was ordained bishop. his son ecdicius strove for a long time with the visigoths, but had not the power to prevail. so he left the country and (what was more important) the city of arverna to the enemy and betook himself to safer regions. when the emperor nepos heard of this, he ordered ecdicius to leave gaul and come to him, appointing orestes in his stead as master of the soldiery. this orestes thereupon received the army, set out from rome against the enemy and came to ravenna. here he tarried while he made his son romulus augustulus emperor. when nepos learned of this, he fled to dalmatia and died there, deprived of his throne, in the very place where glycerius, who was formerly emperor, held at that time the bishopric of salona. [sidenote: the rule of odoacer - ] [sidenote: death of bracila ] xlvi now when augustulus had been appointed emperor by his father orestes in ravenna, it was not long before odoacer, king of the torcilingi, invaded italy, as leader of the sciri, the heruli and allies of various races. he put orestes to death, drove his son augustulus from the throne and condemned him to the punishment of exile in the castle of lucullus in campania. thus the western empire of the roman race, which octavianus augustus, the first of the augusti, began to govern in the seven hundred and ninth year from the founding of the city, perished with this augustulus in the five hundred and twenty second year from the beginning of the rule of his predecessors and those before them, and from this time onward kings of the goths held rome and italy. meanwhile odoacer, king of nations, subdued all italy and then at the very outset of his reign slew count bracila at ravenna that he might inspire a fear of himself among the romans. he strengthened his kingdom and held it for almost thirteen years, even until the appearance of theodoric, of whom we shall speak hereafter. [sidenote: leo ii - ] [sidenote: zeno - ] [sidenote: eurich killed ] [sidenote: alaric ii last king of the visigoths - ] xlvii but first let us return to that order from which we have digressed and tell how eurich, king of the visigoths, beheld the tottering of the roman empire and reduced arelate and massilia to his own sway. gaiseric, king of the vandals, enticed him by gifts to do these things, to the end that he himself might forestall the plots which leo and zeno had contrived against him. therefore he stirred the ostrogoths to lay waste the eastern empire and the visigoths the western, so that while his foes were battling in both empires, he might himself reign peacefully in africa. eurich perceived this with gladness and, as he already held all of spain and gaul by his own right, proceeded to subdue the burgundians also. in the nineteenth year of his reign he was deprived of his life at arelate, where he then dwelt. he was succeeded by his own son alaric, the ninth in succession from the famous alaric the great to receive the kingdom of the visigoths. for even as it happened to the line of the augusti, as we have stated above, so too it appears in the line of the alarici, that kingdoms often come to an end in kings who bear the same name as those at the beginning. meanwhile let us leave this subject, and weave together the whole story of the origin of the goths, as we promised. (the divided goths: ostrogoths) [sidenote: the ostrogoths and their subjection to the huns] [sidenote: death of hermanaric or ] xlviii since i have followed the stories of my ancestors and retold to the best of my ability the tale of the period when both tribes, ostrogoths and visigoths, were united, and then clearly treated of the visigoths apart from the ostrogoths, i must now return to those ancient scythian abodes and set forth in like manner the ancestry and deeds of the ostrogoths. it appears that at the death of their king, hermanaric, they were made a separate people by the departure of the visigoths, and remained in their country subject to the sway of the huns; yet vinitharius of the amali retained the insignia of his rule. he rivalled the valor of his grandfather vultuulf, although he had not the good fortune of hermanaric. but disliking to remain under the rule of the huns, he withdrew a little from them and strove to show his courage by moving his forces against the country of the antes. when he attacked them, he was beaten in the first encounter. thereafter he did valiantly and, as a terrible example, crucified their king, named boz, together with his sons and seventy nobles, and left their bodies hanging there to double the fear of those who had surrendered. when he had ruled with such license for barely a year, balamber, king of the huns, would no longer endure it, but sent for gesimund, son of hunimund the great. now gesimund, together with a great part of the goths, remained under the rule of the huns, being mindful of his oath of fidelity. balamber renewed his alliance with him and led his army up against vinitharius. after a long contest, vinitharius prevailed in the first and in the second conflict, nor can any say how great a slaughter he made of the army of the huns. but in the third battle, when they met each other unexpectedly at the river named erac, balamber shot an arrow and wounded vinitharius in the head, so that he died. then balamber took to himself in marriage vadamerca, the grand-daughter of vinitharius, and finally ruled all the people of the goths as his peaceful subjects, but in such a way that one ruler of their own number always held the power over the gothic race, though subject to the huns. [sidenote: king hunimund] [sidenote: king thorismud killed ] and later, after the death of vinitharius, hunimund ruled them, the son of hermanaric, a mighty king of yore; a man fierce in war and of famous personal beauty, who afterwards fought successfully against the race of the suavi. and when he died, his son thorismud succeeded him, in the very bloom of youth. in the second year of his rule he moved an army against the gepidae and won a great victory over them, but is said to have been killed by falling from his horse. when he was dead, the ostrogoths mourned for him so deeply that for forty years no other king succeeded in his place, and during all this time they had ever on their lips the tale of his memory. now as time went on, valamir grew to man's estate. he was the son of thorismud's cousin vandalarius. for his son beremud, as we have said before, at last grew to despise the race of the ostrogoths because of the overlordship of the huns, and so had followed the tribe of the visigoths to the western country, and it was from him veteric was descended. veteric also had a son eutharic, who married amalasuentha, the daughter of theodoric, thus uniting again the stock of the amali which had divided long ago. eutharic begat athalaric and mathesuentha. but since athalaric died in the years of his boyhood, mathesuentha was taken to constantinople by her second husband, namely germanus, a cousin of the emperor justinian, and bore a posthumous son, whom she named germanus. [sidenote: king valamir ?] but that the order we have taken for our history may run its due course, we must return to the stock of vandalarius, which put forth three branches. this vandalarius, the son of a brother of hermanaric and cousin of the aforesaid thorismud, vaunted himself among the race of the amali because he had begotten three sons, valamir, thiudimer and vidimer. of these valamir ascended the throne after his parents, though the huns as yet held the power over the goths in general as among other nations. it was pleasant to behold the concord of these three brothers; for the admirable thiudimer served as a soldier for the empire of his brother valamir, and valamir bade honors be given him, while vidimer was eager to serve them both. thus regarding one another with common affection, not one was wholly deprived of the kingdom which two of them held in mutual peace. yet, as has often been said, they ruled in such a way that they respected the dominion of attila, king of the huns. indeed they could not have refused to fight against their kinsmen the visigoths, and they must even have committed parricide at their lord's command. there was no way whereby any scythian tribe could have been wrested from the power of the huns, save by the death of attila,--an event the romans and all other nations desired. now his death was as base as his life was marvellous. [sidenote: death of attila ] xlix shortly before he died, as the historian priscus relates, he took in marriage a very beautiful girl named ildico, after countless other wives, as was the custom of his race. he had given himself up to excessive joy at his wedding, and as he lay on his back, heavy with wine and sleep, a rush of superfluous blood, which would ordinarily have flowed from his nose, streamed in deadly course down his throat and killed him, since it was hindered in the usual passages. thus did drunkenness put a disgraceful end to a king renowned in war. on the following day, when a great part of the morning was spent, the royal attendants suspected some ill and, after a great uproar, broke in the doors. there they found the death of attila accomplished by an effusion of blood, without any wound, and the girl with downcast face weeping beneath her veil. then, as is the custom of that race, they plucked out the hair of their heads and made their faces hideous with deep wounds, that the renowned warrior might be mourned, not by effeminate wailings and tears, but by the blood of men. moreover a wondrous thing took place in connection with attila's death. for in a dream some god stood at the side of marcian, emperor of the east, while he was disquieted about his fierce foe, and showed him the bow of attila broken in that same night, as if to intimate that the race of huns owed much to that weapon. this account the historian priscus says he accepts upon truthful evidence. for so terrible was attila thought to be to great empires that the gods announced his death to rulers as a special boon. we shall not omit to say a few words about the many ways in which his shade was honored by his race. his body was placed in the midst of a plain and lay in state in a silken tent as a sight for men's admiration. the best horsemen of the entire tribe of the huns rode around in circles, after the manner of circus games, in the place to which he had been brought and told of his deeds in a funeral dirge in the following manner: "the chief of the huns, king attila, born of his sire mundiuch, lord of bravest tribes, sole possessor of the scythian and german realms--powers unknown before--captured cities and terrified both empires of the roman world and, appeased by their prayers, took annual tribute to save the rest from plunder. and when he had accomplished all this by the favor of fortune, he fell, not by wound of the foe, nor by treachery of friends, but in the midst of his nation at peace, happy in his joy and without sense of pain. who can rate this as death, when none believes it calls for vengeance?" when they had mourned him with such lamentations, a _strava_, as they call it, was celebrated over his tomb with great revelling. they gave way in turn to the extremes of feeling and displayed funereal grief alternating with joy. then in the secrecy of night they buried his body in the earth. they bound his coffins, the first with gold, the second with silver and the third with the strength of iron, showing by such means that these three things suited the mightiest of kings; iron because he subdued the nations, gold and silver because he received the honors of both empires. they also added the arms of foemen won in the fight, trappings of rare worth, sparkling with various gems, and ornaments of all sorts whereby princely state is maintained. and that so great riches might be kept from human curiosity, they slew those appointed to the work--a dreadful pay for their labor; and thus sudden death was the lot of those who buried him as well as of him who was buried. [sidenote: dissolution of the kingdom of the huns ] [sidenote: battle of nedao ] l after they had fulfilled these rites, a contest for the highest place arose among attila's successors,--for the minds of young men are wont to be inflamed by ambition for power,--and in their rash eagerness to rule they all alike destroyed his empire. thus kingdoms are often weighed down by a superfluity rather than by a lack of successors. for the sons of attila, who through the license of his lust formed almost a people of themselves, were clamoring that the nations should be divided among them equally and that warlike kings with their peoples should be apportioned to them by lot like a family estate. when ardaric, king of the gepidae, learned this, he became enraged because so many nations were being treated like slaves of the basest condition, and was the first to rise against the sons of attila. good fortune attended him, and he effaced the disgrace of servitude that rested upon him. for by his revolt he freed not only his own tribe, but all the others who were equally oppressed; since all readily strive for that which is sought for the general advantage. they took up arms against the destruction that menaced all and joined battle with the huns in pannonia, near a river called nedao. there an encounter took place between the various nations attila had held under his sway. kingdoms with their peoples were divided, and out of one body were made many members not responding to a common impulse. being deprived of their head, they madly strove against each other. they never found their equals ranged against them without harming each other by wounds mutually given. and so the bravest nations tore themselves to pieces. for then, i think, must have occurred a most remarkable spectacle, where one might see the goths fighting with pikes, the gepidae raging with the sword, the rugi breaking off the spears in their own wounds, the suavi fighting on foot, the huns with bows, the alani drawing up a battle-line of heavy-armed and the heruli of light-armed warriors. finally, after many bitter conflicts, victory fell unexpectedly to the gepidae. for the sword and conspiracy of ardaric destroyed almost thirty thousand men, huns as well as those of the other nations who brought them aid. in this battle fell ellac, the elder son of attila, whom his father is said to have loved so much more than all the rest that he preferred him to any child or even to all the children of his kingdom. but fortune was not in accord with his father's wish. for after slaying many of the foe, it appears that he met his death so bravely that, if his father had lived, he would have rejoiced at his glorious end. when ellac was slain, his remaining brothers were put to flight near the shore of the sea of pontus, where we have said the goths first settled. thus did the huns give way, a race to which men thought the whole world must yield. so baneful a thing is division, that they who used to inspire terror when their strength was united, were overthrown separately. the cause of ardaric, king of the gepidae, was fortunate for the various nations who were unwillingly subject to the rule of the huns, for it raised their long downcast spirits to the glad hope of freedom. many sent ambassadors to the roman territory, where they were most graciously received by marcian, who was then emperor, and took the abodes allotted them to dwell in. but the gepidae by their own might won for themselves the territory of the huns and ruled as victors over the extent of all dacia, demanding of the roman empire nothing more than peace and an annual gift as a pledge of their friendly alliance. this the emperor freely granted at the time, and to this day that race receives its customary gifts from the roman emperor. [sidenote: jordanes] now when the goths saw the gepidae defending for themselves the territory of the huns and the people of the huns dwelling again in their ancient abodes, they preferred to ask for lands from the roman empire rather than invade the lands of others with danger to themselves. so they received pannonia, which stretches in a long plain, being bounded on the east by upper moesia, on the south by dalmatia, on the west by noricum and on the north by the danube. this land is adorned with many cities, the first of which is sirmium and the last vindobona. but the sauromatae, whom we call sarmatians, and the cemandri and certain of the huns dwelt in castra martis, a city given them in the region of illyricum. of this race was blivila, duke of pentapolis, and his brother froila and also bessa, a patrician in our time. the sciri, moreover, and the sadagarii and certain of the alani with their leader, candac by name, received scythia minor and lower moesia. paria, the father of my father alanoviiamuth (that is to say, my grandfather), was secretary to this candac as long as he lived. to his sister's son gunthigis, also called baza, the master of the soldiery, who was the son of andag the son of andela, who was descended from the stock of the amali, i also, jordanes, although an unlearned man before my conversion, was secretary. the rugi, however, and some other races asked that they might inhabit bizye and arcadiopolis. hernac, the younger son of attila, with his followers, chose a home in the most distant part of lesser scythia. emnetzur and ultzindur, kinsmen of his, won oescus and utus and almus in dacia on the bank of the danube, and many of the huns, then swarming everywhere, betook themselves into romania, and from them the sacromontisi and the fossatisii of this day are said to be descended. [sidenote: bishop ulfilas about - ] [sidenote: the lesser goths] li there were other goths also, called the lesser, a great people whose priest and primate was vulfila, who is said to have taught them to write. and to-day they are in moesia, inhabiting the nicopolitan region as far as the base of mount haemus. they are a numerous people, but poor and unwarlike, rich in nothing save flocks of various kinds and pasture-lands for cattle and forests for wood. their country is not fruitful in wheat and other sorts of grain. certain of them do not know that vineyards exist elsewhere, and they buy their wine from neighboring countries. but most of them drink milk. [sidenote: the ostrogoths in pannonia] [sidenote: birth of theodoric the great ] lii let us now return to the tribe with which we started, namely the ostrogoths, who were dwelling in pannonia under their king valamir and his brothers thiudimer and vidimer. although their territories were separate, yet their plans were one. for valamir dwelt between the rivers scarniunga and aqua nigra, thiudimer near lake pelso and vidimer between them both. now it happened that the sons of attila, regarding the goths as deserters from their rule, came against them as though they were seeking fugitive slaves, and attacked valamir alone, when his brothers knew nothing of it. he sustained their attack, though he had but few supporters, and after harassing them a long time, so utterly overwhelmed them that scarcely any portion of the enemy remained. the remnant turned in flight and sought the parts of scythia which border on the stream of the river danaper, which the huns call in their own tongue the var. thereupon he sent a messenger of good tidings to his brother thiudimer, and on the very day the messenger arrived he found even greater joy in the house of thiudimer. for on that day his son theodoric was born, of a concubine erelieva indeed, and yet a child of good hope. [sidenote: his youth spent at constantinople beginning ] now after no great time king valamir and his brothers thiudimer and vidimer sent an embassy to the emperor marcian, because the usual gifts which they received like a new year's present from the emperor, to preserve the compact of peace, were slow in arriving. and they found that theodoric, son of triarius, a man of gothic blood also, but born of another stock, not of the amali, was in great favor, together with his followers. he was allied in friendship with the romans and obtained an annual bounty, while they themselves were merely held in disdain. thereat they were aroused to frenzy and took up arms. they roved through almost the whole of illyricum and laid it waste in their search for spoil. then the emperor quickly changed his mind and returned to his former state of friendship. he sent an embassy to give them the past gifts, as well as those now due, and furthermore promised to give these gifts in future without any dispute. from the goths the romans received as a hostage of peace theodoric, the young child of thiudimer, whom we have mentioned above. he had now attained the age of seven years and was entering upon his eighth. while his father hesitated about giving him up, his uncle valamir besought him to do it, hoping that peace between the romans and the goths might thus be assured. therefore theodoric was given as a hostage by the goths and brought to the city of constantinople to the emperor leo and, being a goodly child, deservedly gained the imperial favor. [sidenote: the goths overwhelm the remnant of the huns] liii now after firm peace was established between goths and romans, the goths found that the possessions they had received from the emperor were not sufficient for them. furthermore, they were eager to display their wonted valor, and so began to plunder the neighboring races round about them, first attacking the sadagis who held the interior of pannonia. when dintzic, king of the huns, a son of attila, learned this, he gathered to him the few who still seemed to have remained under his sway, namely, the ultzinzures, and angisciri, the bittugures and the bardores. coming to bassiana, a city of pannonia, he beleaguered it and began to plunder its territory. then the goths at once abandoned the expedition they had planned against the sadagis, turned upon the huns and drove them so ingloriously from their own land that those who remained have been in dread of the arms of the goths from that time down to the present day. [sidenote: conquest of the suavi] [sidenote: plot of hunimund about ] when the tribe of the huns was at last subdued by the goths, hunimund, chief of the suavi, who was crossing over to plunder dalmatia, carried off some cattle of the goths which were straying over the plains; for dalmatia was near suavia and not far distant from the territory of pannonia, especially that part where the goths were then staying. so then, as hunimund was returning with the suavi to his own country, after he had devastated dalmatia, thiudimer the brother of valamir, king of the goths, kept watch on their line of march. not that he grieved so much over the loss of his cattle, but he feared that if the suavi obtained this plunder with impunity, they would proceed to greater license. so in the dead of night, while they were asleep, he made an unexpected attack upon them, near lake pelso. here he so completely crushed them that he took captive and sent into slavery under the goths even hunimund, their king, and all of his army who had escaped the sword. yet as he was a great lover of mercy, he granted pardon after taking vengeance and became reconciled to the suavi. he adopted as his son the same man whom he had taken captive, and sent him back with his followers into suavia. but hunimund was unmindful of his adopted father's kindness. after some time he brought forth a plot he had contrived and aroused the tribe of the sciri, who then dwelt above the danube and abode peaceably with the goths. so the sciri broke off their alliance with them, took up arms, joined themselves to hunimund and went out to attack the race of the goths. thus war came upon the goths who were expecting no evil, because they relied upon both of their neighbors as friends. constrained by necessity they took up arms and avenged themselves and their injuries by recourse to battle. in this battle, as king valamir rode on his horse before the line to encourage his men, the horse was wounded and fell, overthrowing its rider. valamir was quickly pierced by his enemies' spears and slain. thereupon the goths proceeded to exact vengeance for the death of their king, as well as for the injury done them by the rebels. they fought in such wise that there remained of all the race of the sciri only a few who bore the name, and they with disgrace. thus were all destroyed. [sidenote: success of the goths under hiudimer about ] liv the kings [of the suavi], hunimund and alaric, fearing the destruction that had come upon the sciri, next made war upon the goths, relying upon the aid of the sarmations, who had come to them as auxiliaries with their kings beuca and babai. they summoned the last remnants of the sciri, with edica and hunuulf, their chieftains, thinking they would fight the more desperately to avenge themselves. they had on their side the gepidae also, as well as no small reinforcements from the race of the rugi and from others gathered here and there. thus they brought together a great host at the river bolia in pannonia and encamped there. now when valamir was dead, the goths fled to thiudimer, his brother. although he had long ruled along with his brothers, yet he took the insignia of his increased authority and summoned his younger brother vidimer and shared with him the cares of war, resorting to arms under compulsion. a battle was fought and the party of the goths was found to be so much the stronger that the plain was drenched in the blood of their fallen foes and looked like a crimson sea. weapons and corpses, piled up like hills, covered the plain for more than ten miles. when the goths saw this, they rejoiced with joy unspeakable, because by this great slaughter of their foes they had avenged the blood of valamir their king and the injury done themselves. but those of the innumerable and motley throng of the foe who were able to escape, though they got away, nevertheless came to their own land with difficulty and without glory. [sidenote: thiudimer again wars with the suavi] [sidenote: theodoric sent back to his own people ] [sidenote: capture of belgrade] lv after a certain time, when the wintry cold was at hand, the river danube was frozen over as usual. for a river like this freezes so hard that it will support like a solid rock an army of foot-soldiers and wagons and carts and whatsoever vehicles there may be,--nor is there need of skiffs and boats. so when thiudimer, king of the goths, saw that it was frozen, he led his army across the danube and appeared unexpectedly to the suavi from the rear. now this country of the suavi has on the east the baiovari, on the west the franks, on the south the burgundians and on the north the thuringians. with the suavi there were present the alamanni, then their confederates, who also ruled the alpine heights, whence several streams flow into the danube, pouring in with a great rushing sound. into a place thus fortified king thiudimer led his army in the winter-time and conquered, plundered and almost subdued the race of the suavi as well as the alamanni, who were mutually banded together. thence he returned as victor to his own home in pannonia and joyfully received his son theodoric, once given as hostage to constantinople and now sent back by the emperor leo with great gifts. now theodoric had reached man's estate, for he was eighteen years of age and his boyhood was ended. so he summoned certain of his father's adherents and took to himself from the people his friends and retainers,--almost six thousand men. with these he crossed the danube, without his father's knowledge, and marched against babai, king of the sarmatians, who had just won a victory over camundus, a general of the romans, and was ruling with insolent pride. theodoric came upon him and slew him, and taking as booty his slaves and treasure, returned victorious to his father. next he invaded the city of singidunum, which the sarmatians themselves had seized, and did not return it to the romans, but reduced it to his own sway. [sidenote: vidimer the younger goes to gaul ] lvi then as the spoil taken from one and another of the neighboring tribes diminished, the goths began to lack food and clothing, and peace became distasteful to men for whom war had long furnished the necessaries of life. so all the goths approached their king thiudimer and, with great outcry, begged him to lead forth his army in whatsoever direction he might wish. he summoned his brother and, after casting lots, bade him go into the country of italy, where at this time glycerius ruled as emperor, saying that he himself as the mightier would go to the east against a mightier empire. and so it happened. thereupon vidimer entered the land of italy, but soon paid the last debt of fate and departed from earthly affairs, leaving his son and namesake vidimer to succeed him. the emperor glycerius bestowed gifts upon vidimer and persuaded him to go from italy to gaul, which was then harassed on all sides by various races, saying that their own kinsmen, the visigoths, there ruled a neighboring kingdom. and what more? vidimer accepted the gifts and, obeying the command of the emperor glycerius, pressed on to gaul. joining with his kinsmen the visigoths, they again formed one body, as they had been long ago. thus they held gaul and spain by their own right and so defended them that no other race won the mastery there. [sidenote: thiudimer in macedonia] but thiudimer, the elder brother, crossed the river savus with his men, threatening the sarmatians and their soldiers with war if any should resist him. from fear of this they kept quiet; moreover they were powerless in the face of so great a host. thiudimer, seeing prosperity everywhere awaiting him, invaded naissus, the first city of illyricum. he was joined by his son theodoric and the counts astat and invilia, and sent them to ulpiana by way of castrum herculis. upon their arrival the town surrendered, as did stobi later; and several places of illyricum, inaccessible to them at first, were thus made easy of approach. for they first plundered and then ruled by right of war heraclea and larissa, cities of thessaly. but thiudimer the king, perceiving his own good fortune and that of his son, was not content with this alone, but set forth from the city of naissus, leaving only a few men behind as a guard. he himself advanced to thessalonica, where hilarianus the patrician, appointed by the emperor, was stationed with his army. when hilarianus beheld thessalonica surrounded by an entrenchment and saw that he could not resist attack, he sent an embassy to thiudimer the king and by the offer of gifts turned him aside from destroying the city. then the roman general entered upon a truce with the goths and of his own accord handed over to them those places they inhabited, namely cyrrhus, pella, europus, methone, pydna, beroea, and another which is called dium. so the goths and their king laid aside their arms, consented to peace and became quiet. soon after these events, king thiudimer was seized with a mortal illness in the city of cyrrhus. he called the goths to himself, appointed theodoric his son as heir of his kingdom and presently departed this life. [sidenote: zeno ] [sidenote: theodoric the great ] [sidenote: theodoric honored by zeno ] lvii when the emperor zeno heard that theodoric had been appointed king over his own people, he received the news with pleasure and invited him to come and visit him in the city, appointing an escort of honor. receiving theodoric with all due respect, he placed him among the princes of his palace. after some time zeno increased his dignity by adopting him as his son-at-arms and gave him a triumph in the city at his expense. theodoric was made consul ordinary also, which is well known to be the supreme good and highest honor in the world. nor was this all, for zeno set up before the royal palace an equestrian statue to the glory of this great man. [sidenote: asks to the empire for his rule] [sidenote: theodoric sets out for italy ] now while theodoric was in alliance by treaty with the empire of zeno and was himself enjoying every comfort in the city, he heard that his tribe, dwelling as we have said in illyricum, was not altogether satisfied or content. so he chose rather to seek a living by his own exertions, after the manner customary to his race, rather than to enjoy the advantages of the roman empire in luxurious ease while his tribe lived in want. after pondering these matters, he said to the emperor: "though i lack nothing in serving your empire, yet if your piety deem it worthy, be pleased to hear the desire of my heart." and when as usual he had been granted permission to speak freely, he said: "the western country, long ago governed by the rule of your ancestors and predecessors, and that city which was the head and mistress of the world,--wherefore is it now shaken by the tyranny of the torcilingi and the rugi? send me there with my race. thus if you but say the word, you may be freed from the burden of expense here, and, if by the lord's help i shall conquer, the fame of your piety shall be glorious there. for it is better that i, your servant and your son, should rule that kingdom, receiving it as a gift from you if i conquer, than that one whom you do not recognize should oppress your senate with his tyrannical yoke and a part of the republic with slavery. for if i prevail, i shall retain it as your grant and gift; if i am conquered, your piety will lose nothing--nay, as i have said, it will save the expense i now entail." although the emperor was grieved that he should go, yet when he heard this he granted what theodoric asked, for he was unwilling to cause him sorrow. he sent him forth enriched by great gifts and commended to his charge the senate and the roman people. [sidenote: he conquers odoacer and puts him to death ] therefore theodoric departed from the royal city and returned to his own people. in company with the whole tribe of the goths, who gave him their unanimous consent, he set out for hesperia. he went in straight march through sirmium to the places bordering on pannonia and, advancing into the territory of venetia as far as the bridge of the sontius, encamped there. when he had halted there for some time to rest the bodies of his men and pack-animals, odoacer sent an armed force against him, which he met on the plains of verona and destroyed with great slaughter. then he broke camp and advanced through italy with greater boldness. crossing the river po, he pitched camp near the royal city of ravenna, about the third milestone from the city in the place called pineta. when odoacer saw this, he fortified himself within the city. he frequently harassed the army of the goths at night, sallying forth stealthily with his men, and this not once or twice, but often; and thus he struggled for almost three whole years. but he labored in vain, for all italy at last called theodoric its lord and the empire obeyed his nod. but odoacer, with his few adherents and the romans who were present, suffered daily from war and famine in ravenna. since he accomplished nothing, he sent an embassy and begged for mercy. theodoric first granted it and afterwards deprived him of his life. [sidenote: theodoric founds the ostrogothic kingdom in italy ] it was in the third year after his entrance into italy, as we have said, that theodoric, by advice of the emperor zeno, laid aside the garb of a private citizen and the dress of his race and assumed a costume with a royal mantle, as he had now become the ruler over both goths and romans. he sent an embassy to lodoin, king of the franks, and asked for his daughter audefleda in marriage. lodoin freely and gladly gave her, and also his sons celdebert and heldebert and thiudebert, believing that by this alliance a league would be formed and that they would be associated with the race of the goths. but that union was of no avail for peace and harmony, for they fought fiercely with each other again and again for the lands of the goths; but never did the goths yield to the franks while theodoric lived. [sidenote: of the increase of his power] [sidenote: amalaric - ] lviii now before he had a child from audefleda, theodoric had children of a concubine, daughters begotten in moesia, one named thiudigoto and another ostrogotho. soon after he came to italy, he gave them in marriage to neighboring kings, one to alaric, king of the visigoths, and the other to sigismund, king of the burgundians. now alaric begat amalaric. while his grandfather theodoric cared for and protected him--for he had lost both parents in the years of childhood--he found that eutharic, the son of veteric, grandchild of beremud and thorismud, and a descendant of the race of the amali, was living in spain, a young man strong in wisdom and valor and health of body. theodoric sent for him and gave him his daughter amalasuentha in marriage. and that he might extend his family as much as possible, he sent his sister amalafrida (the mother of theodahad, who was afterwards king) to africa as wife of thrasamund, king of the vandals, and her daughter amalaberga, who was his own niece, he united with herminefred, king of the thuringians. now he sent his count pitza, chosen from among the chief men of his kingdom, to hold the city of sirmium. he got possession of it by driving out its king thrasaric, son of thraustila, and keeping his mother captive. thence he came with two thousand infantry and five hundred horsemen to aid mundo against sabinian, master of the soldiery of illyricum, who at that time had made ready to fight with mundo near the city named margoplanum, which lies between the danube and margus rivers, and destroyed the army of illyricum. for this mundo, who traced his descent from the attilani of old, had put to flight the tribe of the gepidae and was roaming beyond the danube in waste places where no man tilled the soil. he had gathered around him many outlaws and ruffians and robbers from all sides and had seized a tower called herta, situated on the bank of the danube. there he plundered his neighbors in wild license and made himself king over his vagabonds. now pitza came upon him when he was nearly reduced to desperation and was already thinking of surrender. so he rescued him from the hands of sabinian and made him a grateful subject of his king theodoric. [sidenote: thiudis - ] [sidenote: thiudigisclus - ] [sidenote: agil - ] [sidenote: athanagild - ] theodoric won an equally great victory over the franks through his count ibba in gaul, when more than thirty thousand franks were slain in battle. moreover, after the death of his son-in-law alaric, theodoric appointed thiudis, his armor-bearer, guardian of his grandson amalaric in spain. but amalaric was ensnared by the plots of the franks in early youth and lost at once his kingdom and his life. then his guardian thiudis, advancing from the same kingdom, assailed the franks and delivered the spaniards from their disgraceful treachery. so long as he lived he kept the visigoths united. after him thiudigisclus obtained the kingdom and, ruling but a short time, met his death at the hands of his own followers. he was succeeded by agil, who holds the kingdom to the present day. athanagild has rebelled against him and is even now provoking the might of the roman empire. so liberius the patrician is on the way with an army to oppose him. now there was not a tribe in the west that did not serve theodoric while he lived, either in friendship or by conquest. [sidenote: theodoric the great dies ] [sidenote: king athalaric - ] lix when he had reached old age and knew that he should soon depart this life, he called together the gothic counts and chieftains of his race and appointed athalaric as king. he was a boy scarce ten years old, the son of his daughter amalasuentha, and he had lost his father eutharic. as though uttering his last will and testament, theodoric adjured and commanded them to honor their king, to love the senate and roman people and to make sure of the peace and good will of the emperor of the east, as next after god. [sidenote: amalasuentha] [sidenote: theodahad - ] [sidenote: ] they kept this command fully so long as athalaric their king and his mother lived, and ruled in peace for almost eight years. but as the franks put no confidence in the rule of a child and furthermore held him in contempt, and were also plotting war, he gave back to them those parts of gaul which his father and grandfather had seized. he possessed all the rest in peace and quiet. therefore when athalaric was approaching the age of manhood, he entrusted to the emperor of the east both his own youth and his mother's widowhood. but in a short time the ill-fated boy was carried off by an untimely death and departed from earthly affairs. his mother feared she might be despised by the goths on account of the weakness of her sex. so after much thought she decided, for the sake of relationship, to summon her cousin theodahad from tuscany, where he led a retired life at home, and thus she established him on the throne. but he was unmindful of their kinship and, after a little time, had her taken from the palace at ravenna to an island of the bulsinian lake where he kept her in exile. after spending a very few days there in sorrow, she was strangled in the bath by his hirelings. [sidenote: justinian - ] [sidenote: justinian sends belisarius to avenge the death of his wards ] [sidenote: vitiges king - ] lx when justinian, the emperor of the east, heard this, he was aroused as if he had suffered personal injury in the death of his wards. now at that time he had won a triumph over the vandals in africa, through his most faithful patrician belisarius. without delay he sent his army under this leader against the goths at the very time when his arms were yet dripping with the blood of the vandals. this sagacious general believed he could not overcome the gothic nation, unless he should first seize sicily, their nursing-mother. accordingly he did so. as soon as he entered trinacria, the goths, who were besieging the town of syracuse, found that they were not succeeding and surrendered of their own accord to belisarius, with their leader sinderith. when the roman general reached sicily, theodahad sought out evermud, his son-in-law, and sent him with an army to guard the strait which lies between campania and sicily and sweeps from a bend of the tyrrhenian sea into the vast tide of the adriatic. when evermud arrived, he pitched his camp by the town of rhegium. he soon saw that his side was the weaker. coming over with a few close and faithful followers to the side of the victor and willingly casting himself at the feet of belisarius, he decided to serve the rulers of the roman empire. when the army of the goths perceived this, they distrusted theodahad and clamored for his expulsion from the kingdom and for the appointment as king of their leader vitiges, who had been his armor bearer. this was done; and presently vitiges was raised to the office of king on the barbarian plains. he entered rome and sent on to ravenna the men most faithful to him to demand the death of theodahad. they came and executed his command. after king theodahad was slain, a messenger came from the king--for he was already king in the barbarian plains--to proclaim vitiges to the people. [sidenote: the ostrogoths overcome by belisarius] [sidenote: siege of rome - ] [sidenote: surrender of vitiges ] [sidenote: death of vitiges ] [sidenote: mathesuentha marries germanus ] meanwhile the roman army crossed the strait and marched toward campania. they took naples and pressed on to rome. now a few days before they arrived, king vitiges had set forth from rome, arrived at ravenna and married mathesuentha, the daughter of amalasuentha and grand-daughter of theodoric, the former king. while he was celebrating his new marriage and holding court at ravenna, the imperial army advanced from rome and attacked the strongholds in both parts of tuscany. when vitiges learned of this through messengers, he sent a force under hunila, a leader of the goths, to perusia which was beleaguered by them. while they were endeavoring by a long siege to dislodge count magnus, who was holding the place with a small force, the roman army came upon them, and they themselves were driven away and utterly exterminated. when vitiges heard the news, he raged like a lion and assembled all the host of the goths. he advanced from ravenna and harassed the walls of rome with a long siege. but after fourteen months his courage was broken and he raised the siege of the city of rome and prepared to overwhelm ariminum. here he was baffled in like manner and put to flight; and so he retreated to ravenna. when besieged there, he quickly and willingly surrendered himself to the victorious side, together with his wife mathesuentha and the royal treasure. and thus a famous kingdom and most valiant race, which had long held sway, was at last overcome in almost its two thousand and thirtieth year by that conquerer of many nations, the emperor justinian, through his most faithful consul belisarius. he gave vitiges the title of patrician and took him to constantinople, where he dwelt for more than two years, bound by ties of affection to the emperor, and then departed this life. but his consort mathesuentha was bestowed by the emperor upon the patrician germanus, his cousin. and of them was born a son (also called germanus) after the death of his father germanus. this union of the race of the anicii with the stock of the amali gives hopeful promise, under the lord's favor, to both peoples. (conclusion) and now we have recited the origin of the goths, the noble line of the amali and the deeds of brave men. this glorious race yielded to a more glorious prince and surrendered to a more valiant leader, whose fame shall be silenced by no ages or cycles of years; for the victorious and triumphant emperor justinian and his consul belisarius shall be named and known as vandalicus, africanus and geticus. thou who readest this, know that i have followed the writings of my ancestors, and have culled a few flowers from their broad meadows to weave a chaplet for him who cares to know these things. let no one believe that to the advantage of the race of which i have spoken--though indeed i trace my own descent from it--i have added aught besides what i have read or learned by inquiry. even thus i have not included all that is written or told about them, nor spoken so much to their praise as to the glory of him who conquered them. transcribed from the macmillan and co. edition by david price, email ccx @pglaf.org the roman and the teuton a series of lectures delivered before _the university of cambridge_ by charles kingsley, m.a. _new edition_, _with preface_, _by_ professor f. max muller london macmillan and co. [_all rights reserved_] oxford: horace hart, printer to the university. dedicated to the gentlemen of the university who did me the honour to attend these lectures. contents preface by professor f. max muller the forest children the dying empire preface to lecture iii the human deluge the gothic civilizer dietrich's end the nemesis of the goths paulus diaconus the clergy and the heathen the monk a civilizer the lombard laws the popes and the lombards the strategy of prividence appendix--inaugural lecture: the limits of exact science as applied to history preface never shall i forget the moment when for the last time i gazed upon the manly features of charles kingsley, features which death had rendered calm, grand, sublime. the constant struggle that in life seemed to allow no rest to his expression, the spirit, like a caged lion, shaking the bars of his prison, the mind striving for utterance, the soul wearying for loving response,--all that was over. there remained only the satisfied expression of triumph and peace, as of a soldier who had fought a good fight, and who, while sinking into the stillness of the slumber of death, listens to the distant sounds of music and to the shouts of victory. one saw the ideal man, as nature had meant him to be, and one felt that there is no greater sculptor than death. as one looked on that marble statue which only some weeks ago had so warmly pressed one's hand, his whole life flashed through one's thoughts. one remembered the young curate and the saint's tragedy; the chartist parson and alton locke; the happy poet and the sands of dee; the brilliant novel-writer and hypatia and westward-ho; the rector of eversley and his village sermons; the beloved professor at cambridge, the busy canon at chester, the powerful preacher in westminster abbey. one thought of him by the berkshire chalk-streams and on the devonshire coast, watching the beauty and wisdom of nature, reading her solemn lessons, chuckling too over her inimitable fun. one saw him in town-alleys, preaching the gospel of godliness and cleanliness, while smoking his pipe with soldiers and navvies. one heard him in drawing- rooms, listened to with patient silence, till one of his vigorous or quaint speeches bounded forth, never to be forgotten. how children delighted in him! how young, wild men believed in him, and obeyed him too! how women were captivated by his chivalry, older men by his genuine humility and sympathy! all that was now passing away--was gone. but as one looked on him for the last time on earth, one felt that greater than the curate, the poet, the professor, the canon, had been the man himself, with his warm heart, his honest purposes, his trust in his friends, his readiness to spend himself, his chivalry and humility, worthy of a better age. of all this the world knew little;--yet few men excited wider and stronger sympathies. who can forget that funeral on the th jan., , and the large sad throng that gathered round his grave? there was the representative of the prince of wales, and close by the gipsies of the eversley common, who used to call him their patrico-rai, their priest-king. there was the old squire of his village, and the labourers, young and old, to whom he had been a friend and a father. there were governors of distant colonies, officers, and sailors, the bishop of his diocese, and the dean of his abbey; there were the leading nonconformists of the neighbourhood, and his own devoted curates, peers and members of the house of commons, authors and publishers; and outside the church-yard, the horses and the hounds and the huntsman in pink, for though as good a clergyman as any, charles kingsley had been a good sportsman too, and had taken in his life many a fence as bravely as he took the last fence of all, without fear or trembling. all that he had loved, and all that had loved him was there, and few eyes were dry when he was laid in his own yellow gravel bed, the old trees which he had planted and cared for waving their branches to him for the last time, and the grey sunny sky looking down with calm pity on the deserted rectory, and on the short joys and the shorter sufferings of mortal men. all went home feeling that life was poorer, and every one knew that he had lost a friend who had been, in some peculiar sense, his own. charles kingsley will be missed in england, in the english colonies, in america, where he spent his last happy year; aye, wherever saxon speech and saxon thought is understood. he will be mourned for, yearned for, in every place in which he passed some days of his busy life. as to myself, i feel as if another cable had snapped that tied me to this hospitable shore. when an author or a poet dies, the better part of him, it is often said, is left in his works. so it is in many cases. but with kingsley his life and his works were one. all he wrote was meant for the day when he wrote it. that was enough for him. he hardly gave himself time to think of fame and the future. compared with a good work done, with a good word spoken, with a silent grasp of the hand from a young man he had saved from mischief, or with a 'thank you, sir,' from a poor woman to whom he had been a comfort, he would have despised what people call glory, like incense curling away in smoke. he was, in one sense of the word, a careless writer. he did his best at the time and for the time. he did it with a concentrated energy of will which broke through all difficulties. in his flights of imagination, in the light and fire of his language he had few equals, if any; but the perfection and classical finish which can be obtained by a sustained effort only, and by a patience which shrinks from no drudgery, these are wanting in most of his works. however, fame, for which he cared so little, has come to him. his bust will stand in westminster abbey, in the chapel of st. john the baptist, by the side of his friend, frederick maurice; and in the temple of fame which will be consecrated to the period of victoria and albert, there will be a niche for charles kingsley, the author of alton locke and hypatia. sooner or later a complete edition of his works will be wanted, though we may doubt whether he himself would have wished all his literary works to be preserved. from what i knew of him and his marvellous modesty, i should say decidedly not. i doubt more especially, whether he would have wished the present book, _the roman and the teuton_, to be handed down to posterity. none of his books was so severely criticised as this volume of lectures, delivered before the university of cambridge, and published in . he himself did not republish it, and it seems impossible to speak in more depreciatory terms of his own historical studies than he does himself again and again in the course of his lectures. yet these lectures, it should be remembered, were more largely attended than almost any other lectures at cambridge. they produced a permanent impression on many a young mind. they are asked for again and again, and when the publishers wished for my advice as to the expediency of bringing out a new and cheaper edition, i could not hesitate as to what answer to give. i am not so blinded by my friendship for kingsley as to say that these lectures are throughout what academical lectures ought to be. i only wish some one would tell me what academical lectures at oxford and cambridge can be, as long as the present system of teaching and examining is maintained. it is easy to say what these lectures are not. they do not profess to contain the results of long continued original research. they are not based on a critical appreciation of the authorities which had to be consulted. they are not well arranged, systematic or complete. all this the suddenly elected professor of history at cambridge would have been the first to grant. 'i am not here,' he says, 'to teach you history. i am here to teach you how to teach yourselves history.' i must say even more. it seems to me that these lectures were not always written in a perfectly impartial and judicial spirit, and that occasionally they are unjust to the historians who, from no other motive but a sincere regard for truth, thought it their duty to withhold their assent from many of the commonly received statements of mediaeval chroniclers. but for all that, let us see what these lectures are, and whether there is not room for them by the side of other works. first of all, according to the unanimous testimony of those who heard them delivered at cambridge, they stirred up the interest of young men, and made them ask for books which undergraduates had never asked for before at the university libraries. they made many people who read them afterwards, take a new interest in old and half-forgotten kings and battles, and they extorted even from unfriendly critics the admission that certain chapters, such as, for instance, 'the monk as a civiliser,' displayed in an unexpected way his power of appreciating the good points in characters, otherwise most antipathic to the apostle of manly christianity. they contain, in fact, the thoughts of a poet, a moralist, a politician, a theologian, and, before all, of a friend and counsellor of young men, while reading for them and with them one of the most awful periods in the history of mankind, the agonies of a dying empire and the birth of new nationalities. history was but his text, his chief aim was that of the teacher and preacher, and as an eloquent interpreter of the purposes of history before an audience of young men to whom history is but too often a mere succession of events to be learnt by heart, and to be ready against periodical examinations, he achieved what he wished to achieve. historians by profession would naturally be incensed at some portions of this book, but even they would probably admit by this time, that there are in it whole chapters full of excellence, telling passages, happy delineations, shrewd remarks, powerful outbreaks of real eloquence, which could not possibly be consigned to oblivion. nor would it have been possible to attempt to introduce any alterations, or to correct what may seem to be mistakes. the book is not meant as a text-book or as an authority, any more than schiller's history of the thirty years' war; it should be read in future, as what it was meant to be from the first, kingsley's thoughts on some of the moral problems presented by the conflict between the roman and the teuton. one cannot help wishing that, instead of lectures, kingsley had given us another novel, like hypatia, or a real historical tragedy, a dietrich von bern, embodying in living characters one of the fiercest struggles of humanity, the death of the roman, the birth of the german world. let me quote here what bunsen said of kingsley's dramatic power many years ago: 'i do not hesitate (he writes) to call these two works, the _saint's tragedy_ and _hypatia_, by far the most important and perfect of this genial writer. in these more particularly i find the justification of a hope which i beg to be allowed to express--that kingsley might continue shakspeare's historical plays. i have for several years made no secret of it, that kingsley seems to me the genius of our century, called to place by the side of that sublime dramatic series from _king john_ to _henry viii_, another series of equal rank, from _edward vi_ to the _landing of william of orange_. this is the only historical development of europe which unites in itself all vital elements, and which we might look upon without overpowering pain. the tragedy of _st. elizabeth_ shows that kingsley can grapple, not only with the novel, but with the more severe rules of dramatic art. and _hypatia_ proves, on the largest scale, that he can discover in the picture of the historical past, the truly human, the deep, the permanent, and that he knows how to represent it. how, with all this, he can hit the fresh tone of popular life, and draw humourous characters and complications with shakspearian energy, is proved by all his works. and why should he not undertake this great task? there is a time when the true poet, the prophet of the present, must bid farewell to the questions of the day, which seem so great because they are so near, but are, in truth, but small and unpoetical. he must say to himself, "let the dead bury their dead"--and the time has come that kingsley should do so.' a great deal has been written on mistakes which kingsley was supposed to have made in these lectures, but i doubt whether these criticisms were always perfectly judicial and fair. for instance, kingsley's using the name of dietrich, instead of theodoric, was represented as the very gem of a blunder, and some critics went so far as to hint that he had taken theodoric for a greek word, as an adjective of theodorus. this, of course, was only meant as a joke, for on page kingsley had said, in a note, that the name of _theodoric_, _theuderic_, _dietrich_, signifies 'king of nations.' he therefore knew perfectly well that _theodoric_ was simply a greek adaptation of the gothic name _theode-reiks_, _theod_ meaning people, _reiks_, according to grimm, _princeps_ { }. but even if he had called the king theodorus, the mistake would not have been unpardonable, for he might have appealed to the authority of gregory of tours, who uses not only theodoricus, but also theodorus, as the same name. a more serious charge, however, was brought against him for having used the high-german form _dietrich_, instead of the original form _theodereiks_ or _theoderic_, or even _theodoric_. should i have altered this? i believe not; for it is clear to me that kingsley had his good reasons for preferring dietrich to theodoric. he introduces him first to his hearers as 'theodoric, known in german song as dietrich of bern.' he had spoken before of the visi-gothic theodoric, and of him he never speaks as dietrich. then, why should he have adopted this high-german name for the great theodoric, and why should he speak of attila too as etzel? one of the greatest of german historians, johannes von muller, does the same. he always calls theodoric, dietrich of bern; and though he gives no reasons for it, his reasons can easily be guessed. soon after theodoric's death, the influence of the german legends on history, and of history on the german legends, became so great that it was impossible for a time to disentangle two characters, originally totally distinct, viz. _thjodrekr_ of the edda, the _dietrich_ of the german poetry on one side, and the king of the goths, _theodoric_, on the other. what had long been said and sung about thjodrekr and dietrich was believed to have happened to king theodoric, while at the same time historical and local elements in the life of theodoric, residing at verona, were absorbed by the legends of thjodrekr and dietrich. the names of the legendary hero and the historical king were probably identical, though even that is not quite certain { }; but at all events, after theodoric's death, all the numerous dialectic varieties of the name, whether in high or in low-german, were understood by the people at large, both of the hero and of the king. few names have had a larger number of alias'. they have been carefully collected by graff, grimm, forstemann, pott, and others. i here give the principal varieties of this name, as actually occurring in mss., and arranged according to the changes of the principal consonants:-- ( ) with _th-d_: theudoricus, theudericus, [greek text], thiodiricus, thiodericus, thiodric, thiodricus, thiodrih, theodoricus, theodericus, theoderic, theodrich, thiadric, thiadrich, thiedorik, thiederic, thiederik, thiederich, thiedorich, thiedric, thiedrich, thideric, thiederich, thidrich, thodericus, thiaedric, thieoderich, thederich, thedric. ( ) with _t-d_: teudericus, teudricus, tiodericus, teodoricus, teodericus, teodric, teodrich, tiadric, tiedrik, tiedrich, tiedric, tidericus, tiderich, tederich. ( ) with _d-d_: [greek text], diodericus, deoderich, deodrich, diederich, diderich. ( ) with _th-t_: thiotiricus, thiotirih, thiotiricus, thiotrih, theotoricus, theotericus, theoterih, theotrih, theotrich, thiatric, thieterich, thietrih, thietrich, theatrih. ( ) with _t-t_: teutrich, teoterih, teotrich, teotrih, tieterich, teatrih, tiheiterich. ( ) with _d-t_: dioterih, diotericus, diotricus, deotrich, deotrih, dieterih, dieterich, dietrich, diterih, ditricus. ( ) with _th-th_: theotherich, theothirich. ( ) with _t-th_: _deest_. ( ) with _d-th_: dietherich. it is quite true that, strictly speaking, the forms with th-d, are low- german, and those with d-t, high-german, but before we trust ourselves to this division for historical purposes, we must remember three facts: ( ) that proper names frequently defy grimm's law; ( ) that in high-german mss. much depends on the locality in which they are written; ( ) that high-german is not in the strict sense of the word a corruption of low- german, and, at all events, not, as grimm supposed, chronologically posterior to low-german, but that the two are parallel dialects, like doric and aeolic, the low-german being represented by the earliest literary documents, gothic and saxon, the high-german asserting its literary presence later, not much before the eighth century, but afterwards maintaining its literary and political supremacy from the time of charlemagne to the present day. when theodoric married odeflede, the daughter of childebert, and a sister of chlodwig, i have little doubt that, at the court of chlodwig or clovis, his royal brother-in-law was spoken of in conversation as dioterih, although in official documents, and in the history of gregory of tours, he appears under his classical name of theodoricus, in jornandes theodericus. those who, with grimm { }, admit a transition of low into high-german, and deny that the change of gothic _th_ into high- german _d_ took place before the sixth or seventh century, will find it difficult to account, in the first century, for the name of deudorix, a german captive, the nephew of melo the sigambrian, mentioned by strabo { }. in the oldest german poem in which the name of dietrich occurs, the song of hildebrand and hadebrand, written down in the beginning of the ninth century { }, we find both forms, the low-german _theotrih_, and the high-german _deotrih_, used side by side. very soon, however, when high-german became the more prevalent language in germany, german historians knew both of the old legendary hero and of the ost-gothic king, by one and the same name, the high-german _dietrich_. if therefore johannes von muller spoke of theodoric of verona as dietrich von bern, he simply intended to carry on the historical tradition. he meant to remind his readers of the popular name which they all knew, and to tell them,--this dietrich with whom you are all acquainted from your childhood, this dietrich of whom so much is said and sung in your legendary stories and poems, the famous dietrich of bern, this is really the theoderic, the first german who ruled italy for thirty-three years, more gloriously than any roman emperor before or after. i see no harm in this, as long as it is done on purpose, and as long as the purpose which johannes von muller had in his mind, was attained. no doubt the best plan for an historian to follow is to call every man by the name by which he called himself. theodoric, we know, could not write, but he had a gold plate { } made in which the first four letters of his name were incised, and when it was fixed on the paper, the king drew his pen through the intervals. those four letters were [greek text], and though we should expect that, as a goth, he would have spelt his name _thiudereik_, yet we have no right to doubt, that the vowels were _eo_, and not _iu_. but again and again historians spell proper names, not as they were written by the people themselves, but as they appear in the historical documents through which they became chiefly known. we speak of plato, because we have roman literature between us and greece. american names are accepted in history through a spanish, indian names through an english medium. the strictly old high-german form of carolus magnus would be charal, a. s. carl; yet even in the oaths of strassburg ( ) the name appears as karlus and as karl, and has remained so ever since { }. in the same document we find ludher for lothar, ludhuwig and lodhuvig for ludovicus, the oldest form being chlodowich: and who would lay down the law, which of these forms shall be used for historical purposes? i have little doubt that kingsley's object in retaining the name dietrich for the ost-gothic king was much the same as johannes von muller's. you know, he meant to say, of dietrich of bern, of all the wonderful things told of him in the nibelunge and other german poems. well, that is the dietrich of the german people, that is what the germans themselves have made of him, by transferring to their great gothic king some of the most incredible achievements of one of their oldest legendary heroes. they have changed even his name, and as the children in the schools of germany { } still speak of him as their dietrich von bern, let him be to us too dietrich, not simply the ost-gothic theoderic, but the german dietrich. i confess i see no harm in that, though a few words on the strange mixture of legend and history might have been useful, because the case of theodoric is one of the most luculent testimonies for that blending of fact and fancy in strictly historical times which people find it so difficult to believe, but which offers the key, and the only true key, for many of the most perplexing problems, both of history and of mythology. originally nothing could be more different than the dietrich of the old legend and the dietrich of history. the former is followed by misfortune through the whole of his life. he is oppressed in his youth by his uncle, the famous ermanrich { }; he has to spend the greater part of his life (thirty years) in exile, and only returns to his kingdom after the death of his enemy. yet whenever he is called dietrich of bern, it is because the real theodoric, the most successful of gothic conquerors, ruled at verona. when his enemy was called otacher, instead of sibich, it is because the real theodoric conquered the real odoacer. when the king, at whose court he passes his years of exile, is called etzel, it is because many german heroes had really taken refuge in the camp of attila. that attila died two years before theodoric of verona was born, is no difficulty to a popular poet, nor even the still more glaring contradiction between the daring and ferocious character of the real attila and the cowardice of his namesake etzel, as represented in the poem of the nibelunge. thus was legend quickened by history. on the other hand, if historians, such as gregory i (dial. iv. ) { }, tell us that an italian hermit had been witness in a vision to the damnation of theodoric, whose soul was plunged, by the ministers of divine vengeance, into the volcano of lipari, one of the flaming mouths of the infernal world, we may recognise in the heated imagination of the orthodox monk some recollection of the mysterious end of the legendary dietrich { }. later on, the legendary and the real hero were so firmly welded together that, as early as the twelfth century, chroniclers are at their wits' end how to reconcile facts and dates. ekkehard, in his chronicon universale { }, which ends a.d., points out the chronological contradiction between jornandes, who places the death of ermanrich long before attila, and the popular story which makes him and dietrich, the son of dietmar, his contemporaries. otto von freising { }, in the first half of the twelfth century, expresses the same perplexity when he finds that theodoric is made a contemporary of hermanricus and attila, though it is certain that attila ruled long after hermanric, and that, after the death of attila, theodoric, when eight years old, was given by his father as a hostage to the emperor leo. gottfried von viterbo { }, in the second half of the twelfth century, expresses his difficulties in similar words. all these chroniclers who handed down the historical traditions of germany were high-germans, and thus it has happened that in germany theodoric the great became dietrich, as strataburgum became strassburg, or turicum, zurich. whether because english belongs to the low german branch, it is less permissible to an english historian than to a german to adopt these high-german names, i cannot say: all i wished to point out was that there was a very intelligible reason why kingsley should have preferred the popular and poetical name of dietrich, even though it was high-german, either to his real gothic name, theodereik, or to its classical metamorphosis, theodoricus or theodorus. some other mistakes, too, which have been pointed out, did not seem to me so serious as to justify their correction in a posthumous edition. it was said, for instance, that kingsley ought not to have called odoacer and theodoric, kings of italy, as they were only lieutenants of the eastern caesar. cassiodorus, however, tells us that odoacer assumed the name of king (nomen regis odoacer assumpsit), and though gibbon points out that this may only mean that he assumed the abstract title of a king, without applying it to any particular nation or country, yet that great historian himself calls odoacer, king of italy, and shows how he was determined to abolish the useless and expensive office of vicegerent of the emperor. kingsley guesses very ingeniously, that odoacer's assumed title, king of nations, may have been the gothic _theode-reiks_, the very name of theodoric. as to theodoric himself, kingsley surely knew his real status, for he says: 'why did he not set himself up as caesar of rome? why did he always consider himself as son-in-arms, and quasi-vassal of the caesar of constantinople?' lastly, in speaking of the extinction of the western empire with romulus augustulus, kingsley again simply followed the lead of gibbon and other historians; nor can it be said that the expression is not perfectly legitimate, however clearly modern research may have shown that the roman empire, though dead, lived. so much in defence, or at all events, in explanation, of expressions and statements which have been pointed out as most glaring mistakes in kingsley's lectures. i think it must be clear that in all these cases alterations would have been impossible. there were other passages, where i should gladly have altered or struck out whole lines, particularly in the ethnological passages, and in the attempted etymologies of german proper names. neither the one nor the other, i believe, are kingsley's own, though i have tried in vain to find out whence he could possibly have taken them. these, however, are minor matters which are mentioned chiefly in order to guard against the impression that, because i left them unchanged, i approved of them. the permanent interest attaching to these lectures does not spring from the facts which they give. for these, students will refer to gibbon. they will be valued chiefly for the thoughts which they contain, for the imagination and eloquence which they display, and last, not least, for the sake of the man, a man, it is true, of a warm heart rather than of a cold judgment, but a man whom, for that very reason, many admired, many loved, and many will miss, almost every day of their life. m. m. lecture i--the forest children. i wish in this first lecture to give you some general conception of the causes which urged our teutonic race to attack and destroy rome. i shall take for this one lecture no special text-book: but suppose you all to be acquainted with the germania of tacitus, and with the th chapter of gibbon. and i shall begin, if you will allow me, by a parable, a myth, a saga, such as the men of whom i am going to tell you loved; and if it seem to any of you childish, bear in mind that what is childish need not therefore be shallow. i know that it is not history. these lectures will not be, in the popular sense, history at all. but i beg you to bear in mind that i am not here to teach you history. no man can do that. i am here to teach you how to teach yourselves history. i will give you the scaffolding as well as i can; you must build the house. fancy to yourself a great troll-garden, such as our forefathers dreamed of often fifteen hundred years ago;--a fairy palace, with a fairy garden; and all around the primaeval wood. inside the trolls dwell, cunning and wicked, watching their fairy treasures, working at their magic forges, making and making always things rare and strange; and outside, the forest is full of children; such children as the world had never seen before, but children still: children in frankness, and purity, and affectionateness, and tenderness of conscience, and devout awe of the unseen; and children too in fancy, and silliness, and ignorance, and caprice, and jealousy, and quarrelsomeness, and love of excitement and adventure, and the mere sport of overflowing animal health. they play unharmed among the forest beasts, and conquer them in their play; but the forest is too dull and too poor for them; and they wander to the walls of the troll-garden, and wonder what is inside. one can conceive easily for oneself what from that moment would begin to happen. some of the more adventurous clamber in. some, too, the trolls steal and carry off into their palace. most never return: but here and there one escapes out again, and tells how the trolls killed all his comrades: but tells too, of the wonders he has seen inside, of shoes of swiftness, and swords of sharpness, and caps of darkness; of charmed harps, charmed jewels, and above all of the charmed wine: and after all, the trolls were very kind to him--see what fine clothes they have given him--and he struts about awhile among his companions; and then returns, and not alone. the trolls have bewitched him, as they will bewitch more. so the fame of the troll- garden spreads; and more and more steal in, boys and maidens, and tempt their comrades over the wall, and tell of the jewels, and the dresses, and the wine, the joyous maddening wine, which equals men with gods; and forget to tell how the trolls have bought them, soul as well as body, and taught them to be vain, and lustful, and slavish; and tempted them, too often, to sins which have no name. but their better nature flashes out at times. they will not be the slaves and brutes in human form, which the evil trolls would have them; and they rebel, and escape, and tell of the horrors of that fair foul place. and then arises a noble indignation, and war between the trolls and the forest-children. but still the trolls can tempt and bribe the greedier or the more vain; and still the wonders inside haunt their minds; till it becomes a fixed idea among them all, to conquer the garden for themselves and bedizen themselves in the fine clothes, and drink their fill of the wine. again and again they break in: but the trolls drive them out, rebuild their walls, keep off those outside by those whom they hold enslaved within; till the boys grow to be youths, and the youths men: and still the troll-garden is not conquered, and still it shall be. and the trolls have grown old and weak, and their walls are crumbling away. perhaps they may succeed this time--perhaps next. and at last they do succeed--the fairy walls are breached, the fairy palace stormed--and the trolls are crouching at their feet, and now all will be theirs, gold, jewels, dresses, arms, all that the troll possesses--except his cunning. for as each struggles into the charmed ground, the spell of the place falls on him. he drinks the wine, and it maddens him. he fills his arms with precious trumpery, and another snatches it from his grasp. each envies the youth before him, each cries--why had i not the luck to enter first? and the trolls set them against each other, and split them into parties, each mad with excitement, and jealousy, and wine, till, they scarce know how, each falls upon his fellow, and all upon those who are crowding in from the forest, and they fight and fight, up and down the palace halls, till their triumph has become a very feast of the lapithae, and the trolls look on, and laugh a wicked laugh, as they tar them on to the unnatural fight, till the gardens are all trampled, the finery torn, the halls dismantled, and each pavement slippery with brothers' blood. and then, when the wine is gone out of them, the survivors come to their senses, and stare shamefully and sadly round. what an ugly, desolate, tottering ruin the fairy palace has become! have they spoilt it themselves? or have the trolls bewitched it? and all the fairy treasure--what has become of it? no man knows. have they thrown it away in their quarrel? have the cunningest hidden it? have the trolls flown away with it, to the fairy land beyond the eastern mountains? who can tell? nothing is left but recrimination and remorse. and they wander back again into the forest, away from the doleful ruin, carrion-strewn, to sulk each apart over some petty spoil which he has saved from the general wreck, hating and dreading each the sound of his neighbour's footstep. what will become of the forest children, unless some kind saint or hermit comes among them, to bind them in the holy bonds of brotherhood and law? this is my saga, gentlemen; and it is a true one withal. for it is neither more nor less than the story of the teutonic tribes, and how they overthrew the empire of rome. menzel, who though he may not rank very high as a historian, has at least a true german heart, opens his history with a striking passage. 'the sages of the east were teaching wisdom beneath the palms; the merchants of tyre and carthage were weighing their heavy anchors, and spreading their purple sails for far seas; the greek was making the earth fair by his art, and the roman founding his colossal empire of force, while the teuton sat, yet a child, unknown and naked among the forest beasts: and yet unharmed and in his sport he lorded it over them; for the child was of a royal race, and destined to win glory for all time to come.' to the strange and complicated education which god appointed for this race; and by which he has fitted it to become, at least for many centuries henceforth, the ruling race of the world, i wish to call your attention in my future lectures. to-day, i wish to impress strongly on your minds this childishness of our forefathers. for good or for evil they were great boys; very noble boys; very often very naughty boys--as boys with the strength of men might well be. try to conceive such to yourselves, and you have the old markman, allman, goth, lombard, saxon, frank. and the notion may be more than a mere metaphor. races, like individuals, it has been often said, may have their childhood, their youth, their manhood, their old age, and natural death. it is but a theory--perhaps nothing more. but at least, our race had its childhood. their virtues, and their sad failings, and failures, i can understand on no other theory. the nearest type which we can see now is i fancy, the english sailor, or the english navvy. a great, simple, honest, baby--full of power and fun, very coarse and plain spoken at times: but if treated like a human being, most affectionate, susceptible, even sentimental and superstitious; fond of gambling, brute excitement, childish amusements in the intervals of enormous exertion; quarrelsome among themselves, as boys are, and with a spirit of wild independence which seems to be strength; but which, till it be disciplined into loyal obedience and self-sacrifice, is mere weakness; and beneath all a deep practical shrewdness, an indomitable perseverance, when once roused by need. such a spirit as we see to this day in the english sailor--that is the nearest analogue i can find now. one gets hints here and there of what manner of men they were, from the evil day, when, one hundred and two years before christ, the kempers and teutons, ranging over the alps toward italy, , armed men and , mailed knights with broad sword and lances, and in their helmets the same bulls'-horns, wings, and feathers, which one sees now in the crests of german princes, stumbled upon marius and his romans, and were destroyed utterly, first the men, then the women, who like true women as they were, rather than give up their honour to the romans, hung themselves on the horns of the waggon-oxen, and were trampled to death beneath their feet; and then the very dogs, who fought on when men and women were all slain--from that fatal day, down to the glorious one, when, five hundred years after, alaric stood beneath the walls of rome, and to their despairing boast of the roman numbers, answered, 'come out to us then, the thicker the hay, the easier mowed,'--for five hundred years, i say, the hints of their character are all those of a boy-nature. they were cruel at times: but so are boys--much more cruel than grown men, i hardly know why--perhaps because they have not felt suffering so much themselves, and know not how hard it is to bear. there were varieties of character among them. the franks were always false, vain, capricious, selfish, taking part with the romans whenever their interest or vanity was at stake--the worst of all teutons, though by no means the weakest--and a miserable business they made of it in france, for some five hundred years. the goths, salvian says, were the most ignavi of all of them; great lazy lourdans; apt to be cruel, too, the visigoths at least, as their spanish descendants proved to the horror of the world: but men of honour withal, as those old spaniards were. the saxons were famed for cruelty--i know not why, for our branch of the saxons has been, from the beginning of history, the least cruel people in europe; but they had the reputation--as the vandals had also--of being the most pure; castitate venerandi. and among the uncivilized people coldness and cruelty go often together. the less passionate and sensitive the nature, the less open to pity. the caribs of the west indies were famed for both, in contrast to the profligate and gentle inhabitants of cuba and hispaniola; and in double contrast to the red indian tribes of north america, who combined, from our first acquaintance with them, the two vices of cruelty and profligacy, to an extent which has done more to extirpate them than all the fire-water of the white man. but we must be careful how we compare our forefathers with these, or any other savages. those who, like gibbon, have tried to draw a parallel between the red indian and the primaeval teuton, have done so at the expense of facts. first, they have overlooked the broad fact, that while the red indians have been, ever since we have known them, a decreasing race, the teutons have been a rapidly increasing one; in spite of war, and famine, and all the ills of a precarious forest life, proving their youthful strength and vitality by a reproduction unparalleled, as far as i know, in history, save perhaps by that noble and young race, the russian. these writers have not known that the teuton had his definite laws, more simple, doubtless, in the time of tacitus than in that of justinian, but still founded on abstract principles so deep and broad that they form the groundwork of our english laws and constitution; that the teuton creed concerning the unseen world, and divine beings, was of a loftiness and purity as far above the silly legends of hiawatha as the teuton morals were above those of a sioux or a comanche. let any one read honest accounts of the red indians; let him read catlin, james, lewis and clarke, shoolbred; and first and best of all, the old 'travaile in virginia,' published by the hakluyt society: and then let him read the germania of tacitus, and judge for himself. for my part, i believe that if gibbon was right, and if our forefathers in the german forests had been like powhattan's people as we found them in the virginian forests, the romans would not have been long in civilizing us off the face of the earth. no. all the notes which tacitus gives us are notes of a young and strong race; unconscious of its own capabilities, but possessing such capabilities that the observant romans saw at once with dread and awe that they were face to face with such a people as they had never met before; that in their hands, sooner or later, might be the fate of rome. mad caracalla, aping the teuton dress and hair, listening in dread to the songs of the allman alrunas, telling the teutons that they ought to come over the rhine and destroy the empire, and then, murdering the interpreters, lest they should repeat his words, was but babbling out in an insane shape the thought which was brooding in the most far-seeing roman minds. he felt that they could have done the deed; and he felt rightly, madman as he was. they could have done it then, if physical power and courage were all that was needed, in the days of the allman war. they could have done it a few years before, when the markmen fought marcus aurelius antoninus; on the day when the caesar, at the advice of his augurs, sent two lions to swim across the danube as a test of victory; and the simple markmen took them for big dogs, and killed them with their clubs. from that day, indeed, the teutons began to conquer slowly, but surely. though antoninus beat the markmen on the danube, and recovered , roman prisoners, yet it was only by the help of the vandals; from that day the empire was doomed, and the teutons only kept at bay by bribing one tribe to fight another, or by enlisting their more adventurous spirits into the roman legions, to fight against men of their own blood;--a short-sighted and suicidal policy; for by that very method they were teaching the teuton all he needed, the discipline and the military science of the roman. but the teutons might have done it a hundred years before that, when rome was in a death agony, and vitellius and vespasian were struggling for the purple, and civilis and the fair velleda, like barak and deborah of old, raised the teuton tribes. they might have done it before that again, when hermann slew varus and his legions in the teutoburger wald; or before that again, when the kempers and teutons burst over the alps, to madden themselves with the fatal wines of the rich south. and why did the teutons _not_ do it? because they were boys fighting against cunning men. boiorich, the young kemper, riding down to marius' camp, to bid him fix the place and time of battle--for the teuton thought it mean to use surprises and stratagems, or to conquer save in fair and open fight--is the type of the teuton hero; and one which had no chance in a struggle with the cool, false, politic roman, grown grey in the experience of the forum and of the camp, and still as physically brave as his young enemy. because, too, there was no unity among them; no feeling that they were brethren of one blood. had the teuton tribes, at any one of the great crises i have mentioned, and at many a crisis afterwards, united for but three years, under the feeling of a common blood, language, interest, destiny, rome would have perished. but they could not learn that lesson. they could not put aside their boyish quarrels. they never learnt the lesson till after their final victory, when the gospel of christ--of a being to whom they all owed equal allegiance, in whose sight they were all morally equal--came to unite them into a christendom. and it was well that they did not learn it sooner. well for them and for the world, that they did not unite on any false ground of interest or ambition, but had to wait for the true ground of unity, the knowledge of the god-man, king of all nations upon earth. had they destroyed rome sooner, what would not they have lost? what would not the world have lost? christianity would have been stifled in its very cradle; and with christianity all chance--be sure of it--of their own progress. roman law, order, and discipline, the very things which they needed to acquire by a contact of five hundred years, would have been swept away. all classic literature and classic art, which they learnt to admire with an almost superstitious awe, would have perished likewise. greek philosophy, the germs of physical science, and all that we owe to the ancients, would have perished; and we should have truly had an invasion of the barbarians, followed by truly dark ages, in which europe would have had to begin all anew, without the help of the generations which had gone before. therefore it was well as it was, and god was just and merciful to them and to the human race. they had a glorious destiny, and glorious powers wherewith to fulfil it: but they had, as every man and people has, before whom there is a noble future, to be educated by suffering. there was before them a terrible experience of sorrow and disappointment, sin and blood, by which they gained the first consciousness of what they could do and what they could not. like adam of old, like every man unto this day, they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and were driven out of the paradise of unconsciousness; had to begin again sadder and wiser men, and eat their bread in the sweat of their brow; and so to rise, after their fall, into a nobler, wiser, more artificial, and therefore more truly human and divine life, than that from which they had at first fallen, when they left their german wilds. one does not, of course, mean the parallel to fit in all details. the fall of the teuton from the noble simplicity in which tacitus beheld and honoured him, was a work of four centuries; perhaps it was going on in tacitus' own time. but the culminating point was the century which saw italy conquered, and rome sacked, by visigoth, by ostrogoth, by vandal, till nothing was left save fever-haunted ruins. then the ignorant and greedy child, who had been grasping so long after the fair apples of sodom, clutched them once and for all, and found them turn to ashes in his hands. yes--it is thus that i wish you to look at the invasion of the barbarians, immigration of the teutons, or whatsoever name you may call it. before looking at questions of migration, of ethnology, of laws, and of classes, look first at the thing itself; and see with sacred pity--and awe, one of the saddest and grandest tragedies ever performed on earth. poor souls! and they were so simple withal. one pities them, as one pities a child who steals apples, and makes himself sick with them after all. it is not the enormous loss of life which is to me the most tragic part of the story; it is that very simplicity of the teutons. bloodshed is a bad thing, certainly; but after all nature is prodigal of human life--killing her twenty thousand and her fifty thousand by a single earthquake; and as for death in battle--i sometimes am tempted to think, having sat by many death beds, that our old forefathers may have been right, and that death in battle may be a not unenviable method of passing out of this troublesome world. besides, we have no right to blame those old teutons, while we are killing every year more of her majesty's subjects by preventible disease, than ever they killed in their bloodiest battle. let us think of that, and mend that, ere we blame the old german heroes. no, there are more pitiful tragedies than any battlefield can shew; and first among them, surely, is the disappointment of young hopes, the degradation of young souls. one pities them, i say. and they pitied themselves. remorse, shame, sadness, mark the few legends and songs of the days which followed the fall of rome. they had done a great work. they had destroyed a mighty tyranny; they had parted between them the spoils wrung from all the nations; they had rid the earth of a mighty man-devouring ogre, whose hands had been stretched out for centuries over all the earth, dragging all virgins to his den, butchering and torturing thousands for his sport; foul, too, with crimes for which their language, like our own (thank god) has scarcely found a name. babylon the great, drunken with the blood of the saints, had fallen at last before the simple foresters of the north: but if it looks a triumph to us, it looked not such to them. they could only think how they had stained their hands in their brothers' blood. they had got the fatal nibelungen hoard: but it had vanished between their hands, and left them to kill each other, till none was left. you know the nibelungen lied? that expresses, i believe, the key-note of the old teuton's heart, after his work was done. siegfried murdered by his brother-in-law; fair chriemhild turned into an avenging fury; the heroes hewing each other down, they scarce know why, in hunnish etzel's hall, till hagen and gunther stand alone; dietrich of bern going in, to bind the last surviving heroes; chriemhild shaking hagen's gory head in gunther's face, himself hewed down by the old hildebrand, till nothing is left but stark corpses and vain tears:--while all the while the nibelungen hoard, the cause of all the woe, lies drowned in the deep rhine until the judgment day.--what is all this, but the true tale of the fall of rome, of the mad quarrels of the conquering teutons? the names are confused, mythic; the dates and places all awry: but the tale is true--too true. mutato nomine fabula narratur. even so they went on, killing, till none were left. deeds as strange, horrible, fratricidal, were done, again and again, not only between frank and goth, lombard and gepid, but between lombard and lombard, frank and frank. yes, they were drunk with each other's blood, those elder brethren of ours. let us thank god that we did not share their booty, and perish, like them, from the touch of the fatal nibelungen hoard. happy for us englishmen, that we were forced to seek our adventures here, in this lonely isle; to turn aside from the great stream of teutonic immigration; and settle here, each man on his forest-clearing, to till the ground in comparative peace, keeping unbroken the old teutonic laws, unstained the old teutonic faith and virtue, cursed neither with poverty nor riches, but fed with food sufficient for us. to us, indeed, after long centuries, peace brought sloth, and sloth foreign invaders and bitter woes: but better so, than that we should have cast away alike our virtue and our lives, in that mad quarrel over the fairy gold of rome. lecture ii--the dying empire. it is not for me to trace the rise, or even the fall of the roman empire. that would be the duty rather of a professor of ancient history, than of modern. all i need do is to sketch, as shortly as i can, the state in which the young world found the old, when it came in contact with it. the roman empire, toward the latter part of the fourth century, was in much the same condition as the chinese or the turkish empire in our own days. private morality (as juvenal and persius will tell you), had vanished long before. public morality had, of course, vanished likewise. the only powers really recognised were force and cunning. the only aim was personal enjoyment. the only god was the divus caesar, the imperial demigod, whose illimitable brute force gave him illimitable powers of self-enjoyment, and made him thus the paragon and ideal of humanity, whom all envied, flattered, hated, and obeyed. the palace was a sink of corruption, where eunuchs, concubines, spies, informers, freedmen, adventurers, struggled in the basest plots, each for his share of the public plunder. the senate only existed to register the edicts of their tyrant, and if need be, destroy each other, or any one else, by judicial murders, the willing tools of imperial cruelty. the government was administered (at least since the time of diocletian) by an official bureaucracy, of which professor goldwin smith well says, 'the earth swarmed with the consuming hierarchy of extortion, so that it was said that they who received taxes were more than those who paid them.' the free middle class had disappeared, or lingered in the cities, too proud to labour, fed on government bounty, and amused by government spectacles. with them, arts and science had died likewise. such things were left to slaves, and became therefore, literally, servile imitations of the past. what, indeed, was not left to slaves? drawn without respect of rank, as well as of sex and age, from every nation under heaven by an organized slave-trade, to which our late african one was but a tiny streamlet compared with a mighty river; a slave-trade which once bought , human beings in delos in a single day; the 'servorum nationes' were the only tillers of the soil, of those 'latifundia' or great estates, 'quae perdidere romam.' denied the rights of marriage, the very name of humanity; protected by no law, save the interest or caprice of their masters; subjected, for slight offences, to cruel torments, they were butchered by thousands in the amphitheatres to make a roman holiday, or wore out their lives in 'ergastula' or barracks, which were dens of darkness and horror. their owners, as 'senatores,' 'clarissimi,' or at least 'curiales,' spent their lives in the cities, luxurious and effeminate, and left their slaves to the tender mercy of 'villici,' stewards and gang-drivers, who were themselves slaves likewise. more pampered, yet more degraded, were the crowds of wretched beings, cut off from all the hopes of humanity, who ministered to the wicked pleasures of their masters, even in the palaces of nominally christian emperors--but over that side of roman slavery i must draw a veil, only saying, that the atrocities of the romans toward their slaves--especially of this last and darkest kind--notably drew down on them the just wrath and revenge of those teutonic nations, from which so many of their slaves were taken. { } and yet they called themselves christians--to whom it had been said, 'be not deceived, god is not mocked. for these things cometh the wrath of god on the children of disobedience.' and the wrath did come. if such were the morals of the empire, what was its political state? one of complete disorganization. the only uniting bond left seems to have been that of the bureaucracy, the community of tax-gatherers, who found it on the whole safer and more profitable to pay into the imperial treasury a portion of their plunder, than to keep it all themselves. it stood by mere vi inertiae, just because it happened to be there, and there was nothing else to put in its place. like an old tree whose every root is decayed, it did not fall, simply because the storm had not yet come. storms, indeed, had come; but they had been partial and local. one cannot look into the pages of gibbon, without seeing that the normal condition of the empire was one of revolt, civil war, invasion--pretenders, like carausius and allectus in britain, setting themselves up as emperors for awhile--bands of brigands, like the bagaudae of gaul, and the circumcelliones of africa, wandering about, desperate with hunger and revenge, to slay and pillage--teutonic tribes making forays on the frontier, enlisted into the roman armies, and bought off, or hired to keep back the tribes behind them, and perish by their brethren's swords. what kept the empire standing, paradoxical as it may seem, was its own innate weakness. from within, at least, it could not be overthrown. the masses were too crushed to rise. without unity, purpose, courage, they submitted to inevitable misery as to rain and thunder. at most they destroyed their own children from poverty, or, as in egypt, fled by thousands into the caves and quarries, and turned monks and hermits; while the upper classes, equally without unity or purpose, said each to himself, 'let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.' the state of things at rome, and after the rise of byzantium under constantine at byzantium likewise, was one altogether fantastic, abnormal, utterly unlike anything that we have seen, or can imagine to ourselves without great effort. i know no better method of illustrating it, than quoting, from mr. sheppard's excellent book, _the fall of rome and the rise of new nationalities_, a passage in which he transfers the whole comi-tragedy from italy of old to england in . 'i have not thought it necessary to give a separate and distinct reply to the theory of mr. congreve, that roman imperialism was the type of all good government, and a desirable precedent for ourselves. those who feel any penchant for the notion, i should strongly recommend to read the answer of professor g. smith, in the _oxford essays_ for , which is as complete and crushing as that gentleman's performances usually are. but in order to convey to the uninitiated some idea of the state of society under caesarian rule, and which a caesarian rule, so far as mere government is concerned, if it does not produce, has never shewn any tendency to prevent, let us give reins to imagination for a moment, and picture to ourselves a few social and political analogies in our own england of the nineteenth century. 'an entire revolution has taken place in our principles, manners, and form of government. parliaments, meetings, and all the ordinary expressions of the national will, are no longer in existence. a free press has shared their fate. there is no accredited organ of public opinion; indeed there is no public opinion to record. lords and commons have been swept away, though a number of the richest old gentlemen in london meet daily at westminster to receive orders from buckingham palace. but at the palace itself has broken out one of those sanguinary conspiracies which have of late become unceasing. the last heir of the house of brunswick is lying dead with a dagger in his heart, and everything is in frightful confusion. the armed force of the capital are of course "masters of the situation," and the guards, after a tumultuous meeting at windsor or knightsbridge, have sold the throne to baron rothschild, for a handsome donation of pounds a-piece. lord clyde, however, we may be sure, is not likely to stand this, and in a few months will be marching upon london at the head of the indian army. in the mean time the channel fleet has declared for its own commander, has seized upon plymouth and portsmouth, and intends to starve the metropolis by stopping the imports of "bread-stuffs" at the mouth of the thames. and this has become quite possible; for half the population of london, under the present state of things, subsist upon free distributions of corn dispensed by the occupant of the throne for the time being. but a more fatal change than even this has come over the population of the capital and of the whole country. the free citizens and 'prentices of london; the sturdy labourers of dorsetshire and the eastern counties; and the skilful artizans of manchester, sheffield and birmingham; the mariners and shipwrights of liverpool, have been long ago drafted into marching regiments, and have left their bones to bleach beneath indian suns and polar snows. their place has been supplied by countless herds of negro slaves, who till the fields and crowd the workshops of our towns, to the entire exclusion of free labour; for the free population, or rather the miserable relics of them, disdain all manual employment: they divide their time between starvation and a degrading debauchery, the means for which are sedulously provided by the government. the time-honoured institutions of the bull-bait, the cockpit, and the ring, are in daily operation, under the most distinguished patronage. hyde park has been converted into a gigantic arena, where criminals from newgate "set-to" with the animals from the zoological gardens. every fortnight there is a derby day, and the whole population pour into the downs with frantic excitement, leaving the city to the slaves. and then the moral condition of this immense mass! of the doings about the palace we should be sorry to speak. but the lady patronesses of almack's still more assiduously patronize the prize-fights, and one of them has been seen within the ropes, in battle array, by the side of sayers himself. no tongue may tell the orgies enacted, with the aid of french cooks, italian singers, and foreign artists of all sorts, in the gilded saloons of park lane and mayfair. suffice to say, that in them the worst passions of human nature have full swing, unmodified by any thought of human or divine restraints, and only dashed a little now and then by the apprehension that the slaves may rise, and make a clean sweep of the metropolis with fire and steel. but _n'importe_--_vive la bagatelle_! mario has just been appointed prime minister, and has made a chorus singer from the opera duke of middlesex and governor-general of india. all wise men and all good men despair of the state, but they are not permitted to say anything, much less to act. mr. disraeli lost his head a few days ago; lords palmerston and derby lie in the tower under sentence of death; lord brougham, the archbishop of canterbury, and mr. gladstone, opened their veins and died in a warm bath last week. foreign relations will make a still greater demand on the reader's imagination. we must conceive of england no longer as "a precious stone set in the silver sea, which serves it in the office of a wall, or as a moat defensive of a house." but rather as open to the inroad of every foe whom her aggressive and colonizing genius has provoked. the red man of the west, the caffre, the sikh, and the sepoy, chinese braves, and fierce orientals of all sorts, are hovering on her frontiers in "numbers numberless," as the flakes of snow in the northern winter. they are not the impotent enemy which we know, but vigorous races, supplied from inexhaustible founts of population, and animated by an insatiate appetite for the gold and silver, purple and fine linen, rich meats and intoxicating drinks of our effete civilization. and we can no longer oppose them with those victorious legions which have fought and conquered in all regions of the world. the men of waterloo and inkermann are no more. we are compelled to recruit our armies from those very tribes before whose swords we are receding! 'doubtless the ordinary reader will believe this picture to be overcharged, drawn with manifest exaggeration, and somewhat questionable taste. _every single statement which it contains_ may be paralleled by the circumstances and events of the decadence of the roman empire. the analogous situation was with the subjects of this type of all good government, _always a possible_, often an actual, state of things. we think this disposes of the theory of mr. congreve. with it may advantageously be contrasted the opinion of a man of more statesman-like mind. "the benefits of despotism are short-lived; it poisons the very springs which it lays open; if it display a merit, it is an exceptional one; if a virtue, it is created of circumstances; and when once this better hour has passed away, all the vices of its nature break forth with redoubled violence, and weigh down society in every direction." so writes m. guizot. is it the language of prophecy as well as of personal experience?' mr. sheppard should have added, to make the picture complete, that the irish have just established popery across st. george's channel, by the aid of re-immigrants from america; that free kirk and national kirk are carrying on a sanguinary civil war in scotland; that the devonshire wesleyans have just sacked exeter cathedral, and murdered the bishop at the altar, while the bishop of london, supported by the jews and the rich churchmen (who are all mixed up in financial operations with baron rothschild) has just commanded all dissenters to leave the metropolis within three days, under pain of death. i must add yet one more feature to this fearful, but accurate picture, and say how, a few generations forward, an even uglier thing would be seen. the english aristocracy would have been absorbed by foreign adventurers. the grandchildren of these slaves and mercenaries would be holding the highest offices in the state and the army, naming themselves after the masters who had freed them, or disguising their barbarian names by english endings. the de fung-chowvilles would be dukes, the little- grizzly-bear-joe-smiths earls, and the fitz-stanleysons, descended from a king of the gipsies who enlisted to avoid transportation, and in due time became commander-in-chief, would rule at knowsley in place of the earl of derby, having inherited the same by the summary process of assassination. beggars on horseback, only too literally; married, most of them, to englishwomen of the highest rank; but looking on england merely as a prey; without patriotism, without principle; they would destroy the old aristocracy by legal murders, grind the people, fight against their yet barbarian cousins outside, as long as they were in luck: but the moment the luck turned against them, would call in those barbarian cousins to help them, and invade england every ten years with heathen hordes, armed no more with tulwar and matchlock, but with enfield rifle and whitworth cannon. and that, it must be agreed, would be about the last phase of the british empire. if you will look through the names which figure in the high places of the roman empire, during the fourth and fifth centuries, you will see how few of them are really roman. if you will try to investigate, not their genealogies--for they have none--not a grandfather among them--but the few facts of their lives which have come down to us; you will see how that nemesis had fallen on her which must at last fall on every nation which attempts to establish itself on slavery as a legal basis. rome had become the slave of her own slaves. it is at this last period, the point when rome has become the slave of her own slaves, that i take up the story of our teutonic race. i do not think that anyone will call either mr. sheppard's statements, or mine, exaggerated, who knows the bitter complaints of the wickedness and folly of the time, which are to be found in the writings of the emperor julian. pedant and apostate as he was, he devoted his short life to one great idea, the restoration of the roman empire to what it had been (as he fancied) in the days of the virtuous stoic emperors of the second century. he found his dream a dream, owing to the dead heap of frivolity, sensuality, brutality, utter unbelief, not merely in the dead pagan gods whom he vainly tried to restore, but in any god at all, as a living, ruling, judging, rewarding, punishing power. no one, again, will call these statements exaggerated who knows the roman history of his faithful servant and soldier, ammianus marcellinus, and especially the later books of it, in which he sets forth the state of the empire after julian's death, under jovian, procopius, valentinian, (who kept close to his bed-chamber two she-bears who used to eat men, one called golden camel, and the other innocence--which latter, when she had devoured a sufficiency of his living victims, he set free in the forests as a reward for her services--a brutal tyrant, whose only virtue seems to have been his chastity); and valens, the shameless extortioner who perished in that great battle of adrianople, of which more hereafter. the last five remaining books of the honest soldier's story are a tissue of horrors, from reading which one turns away as from a slaughter-house or a witches' sabbath. no one, again, will think these statements exaggerated who knows salvian's de gubernatione dei. it has been always and most justly held in high esteem, as one great authority of the state of gaul when conquered by the franks and goths and vandals. salvian was a christian gentleman, born somewhere near treves. he married a pagan lady of cologne, converted her, had by her a daughter, and then persuaded her to devote herself to celibacy, while he did the like. his father-in-law, hypatius, quarrelled with him on this account; and the letter in which he tries to soothe the old man is still extant, a curious specimen of the style of cultivated men in that day. salvian then went down to the south of france and became a priest at marseilles, and tutor to the sons of eucherius, the bishop of lyons. eucherius, himself a good man, speaks in terms of passionate admiration of salvian, his goodness, sanctity, learning, talents. gennadius (who describes him as still living when he wrote, about ) calls him among other encomiums, the master of bishops; and both mention familiarly this very work, by which he became notorious in his own day, and which he wrote about or , during the invasion of the britons. so that we may trust fully that we have hold of an authentic contemporaneous work, written by a good man and true. let me first say a few words on the fact of his having--as many good men did then--separated from his wife in order to lead what was called a religious life. it has a direct bearing on the history of those days. one must not praise him because he (in common with all christians of his day) held, no doubt, the belief that marriage was a degradation in itself; that though the church might mend it somewhat by exalting it into a sacrament, still, the less of a bad thing the better:--a doctrine against which one need not use (thank god) in england, the same language which michelet has most justly used in france. we, being safe from the poison, can afford to talk of it calmly. but i boldly assert, that few more practically immoral doctrines than that of the dignity of celibacy and the defilement of marriage (which was the doctrine of all christian devotees for years) have, as far as i know, ever been preached to man. that is a strong statement. it will be answered perhaps, by the patent fact, that during those very years the morality of europe improved more, and more rapidly, than it had ever done before. i know it; and i thank god for it. but i adhere to my statement, and rejoin--and how much more rapidly have the morals of europe improved, since that doctrine has been swept away; and woman, and the love of woman, have been restored to their rightful place in the education of man? but if we do not praise salvian, we must not blame him, or any one else who meant to be an honest and good man. such did not see to what their celibate notions would lead. if they had, we must believe that they would have acted differently. and what is more, their preference for celibacy was not fancy, but common sense of a very lofty kind. be sure that when two middle-aged christian people consider it best to part, they have very good reasons for such a solemn step, at which only boys or cynics will laugh. and the reasons, in salvian's case, and many more in his day, are patent to common human understanding. do not fancy that he had any private reason, such as we should very fairly assign now: public reasons, and those, such as god grant no living man may see, caused wise men to thank god that they were not burdened with wife and child. remember the years in which salvian lived--from perhaps to . it was a day of the lord such as joel saw; 'a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains; a great people and strong; there had not been ever the like, neither should be any more after it: the land was a garden of eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness: yea, and nothing should escape them.' all things were going to wrack; the country was overrun by foreign invaders; bankruptcy, devastation, massacre, and captivity were for perhaps years the normal state of gaul, and of most other countries besides. i have little doubt that salvian was a prudent man, when he thought fit to bring no more human beings into the world. that is an ugly thought--i trust that you feel how ugly, unnatural, desperate a thought it is. if you do not, think over it till you do, till it frightens you. you will gain a great step thereby in human sympathy, and therefore in the understanding of history. for many times, and in many places, men have said, rightly or wrongly, 'it is better to leave none behind me like myself. the miseries of life (and of what comes after this life) are greater than its joys. i commit an act of cruelty by bringing a fresh human being into the world.' i wish you to look at that thought steadily, and apply it for yourselves. it has many applications: and has therefore been a very common one. but put to yourselves--it is too painful for me to put to you--the case of a married gentleman who sees his country gradually devastated and brought to utter ruin by foreign invaders; and who feels--as poor salvian felt, that there is no hope or escape; that the misery is merited, deserved, fairly _earned_ (for that is the true meaning of those words), and therefore must come. conceive him seeing around him estates destroyed, farms burnt, ladies and gentlemen, his own friends and relations, reduced in an hour to beggary, plundered, stript, driven off in gangs--i do not choose to finish the picture: but ask yourselves, would an honourable man wish to bring sons--much more daughters--into the world to endure that? put yourselves in salvian's place. forget for a few minutes that you are englishmen, the freest and bravest nation upon earth, strong in all that gives real strength, and with a volunteer army which is now formidable by numbers and courage--which, did the terrible call come, might be increased ten times in as many months. forget all that awhile; and put yourselves in salvian's place, the gentleman of gaul, while franks and goths, burgunds and vandals were sweeping, wave after wave, over that lovely land; and judge him rationally, and talk as little as possible of his superstition, and as much as possible of his human feeling, prudence, self-control, and common sense. believe me, neither celibacy, nor any other seemingly unnatural superstition would have held its ground for a generation if there had not been some practical considerations of common sense to back them. we wonder why men in old times went into monasteries. the simplest answer is, common sense sent them thither. they were tired of being the slaves of their own passions; they were tired of killing, and of running the chance of being killed. they saw society, the whole world, going to wrack, as they thought, around them: what could they do better, than see that their own characters, morals, immortal souls did not go to wrack with the rest. we wonder why women, especially women of rank, went into convents; why, as soon as a community of monks was founded, a community of nuns sprung up near them. the simplest answer is, common sense sent them thither. the men, especially of the upper fighting classes, were killed off rapidly; the women were not killed off, and a large number always remained, who, if they had wished to marry, could not. what better for them than to seek in convents that peace which this world could not give? they may have mixed up with that simple wish for peace the notion of being handmaids of god, brides of christ, and so forth. be it so. let us instead of complaining, thank heaven that there was some motive, whether quite right or not, to keep alive in them self-respect, and the feeling that they were not altogether useless and aimless on earth. look at the question in this light, and you will understand two things; first, how horrible the times were, and secondly, why there grew up in the early middle age a passion for celibacy. salvian, in a word, had already grown up to manhood and reason, when he saw a time come to his native country, in which were fulfilled, with fearful exactness, the words of the prophet isaiah:-- 'behold, the lord maketh the land empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. and it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the seller, so with the buyer; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. the land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the lord hath spoken this word.' and salvian desired to know the reason why the lord had spoken that word, and read his bible till he found out, and wrote thereon his book de gubernatione dei, of the government of god; and a very noble book it is. he takes his stand on the ground of scripture, with which he shews an admirable acquaintance. the few good were expecting the end of the world. christ was coming to put an end to all these horrors: but why did he delay his coming? the many weak were crying that god had given up the world; that christ had deserted his church, and delivered over christians to the cruelties of heathen and arian barbarians. the many bad were openly blaspheming, throwing off in despair all faith, all bonds of religion, all common decency, and crying, let us eat and drink, for to- morrow we die. salvian answers them like an old hebrew prophet: 'the lord's arm is not shortened. the lord's eyes are not closed. the lord is still as near as ever. he is governing the world as he has always governed it: by the everlasting moral laws, by which the wages of sin are death. your iniquities have withheld good things from you. you have earned exactly what god has paid you. yourselves are your own punishment. you have been wicked men, and therefore weak men; your own vices, and not the goths, have been your true conquerors.' as i said in my inaugural lecture--that is after all the true theory of history. men may forget it in piping times of peace. god grant that in the dark hour of adversity, god may always raise up to them a prophet, like good old salvian, to preach to them once again the everlasting judgments of god; and teach them that not faulty constitutions, faulty laws, faulty circumstances of any kind, but the faults of their own hearts and lives, are the causes of their misery. m. guizot, in his elaborate work on the history of civilization in france, has a few curious pages, on the causes of the decline of civil society in roman gaul, and its consequent weakness and ruin. he tells you how the senators or clarissimi did not constitute a true aristocracy, able to lead and protect the people, being at the mercy of the emperor, and nominated and removed at his pleasure. how the curiales, or wealthy middle class, who were bound by law to fulfil all the municipal offices, and were responsible for the collection of the revenue, found their responsibilities so great, that they by every trick in their power, avoided office. how, as m. guizot well puts it, the central despotism of rome stript the curiales of all they earned, to pay its own functionaries and soldiers; and gave them the power of appointing magistrates, who were only after all the imperial agents of that despotism, for whose sake they robbed their fellow-citizens. how the plebs, comprising the small tradesmen and free artizans, were utterly unable to assert their own opinions or rights. how the slave population, though their condition was much improved, constituted a mere dead weight of helpless brutality. and then he says, that the roman empire was dying. very true: but often as he quotes salvian, he omits always to tell us what roman society was dying of. salvian says, that it was dying of vice. not of bad laws and class arrangements, but of bad men. m. guizot belongs to a school which is apt to impute human happiness and prosperity too exclusively to the political constitution under which they may happen to live, irrespectively of the morality of the people themselves. from that, the constitutionalist school, there has been of late a strong reaction, the highest exponent, nay the very coryphaeus of which is mr. carlyle. he undervalues, even despises, the influence of laws and constitutions: with him private virtue, from which springs public virtue, is the first and sole cause of national prosperity. my inaugural lecture has told you how deeply i sympathize with his view--taking my stand, as mr. carlyle does, on the hebrew prophets. there is, nevertheless, a side of truth in the constitutionalist view, which mr. carlyle, i think, overlooks. a bad political constitution does produce poverty and weakness: but only in as far as it tends to produce moral evil; to make men bad. that it can help to do. it can put a premium on vice, on falsehood, on peculation, on laziness, on ignorance; and thus tempt the mass to moral degradation, from the premier to the slave. russia has been, for two centuries now but too patent a proof of the truth of this assertion. but even in this case, the moral element is the most important, and just the one which is overlooked. to have good laws, m. guizot is apt to forget, you must first have good men to make them; and second, you must have good men to carry them out, after they are made. bad men can abuse the best of laws, the best of constitutions. look at the working of our parliaments during the reigns of william iii and anne, and see how powerless good constitutions are, when the men who work them are false and venal. look, on the other hand, at the roman empire from the time of vespasian to that of the antonines, and see how well even a bad constitution will succeed, when good men are working it. bad laws, i say, will work tolerably under good men, if fitted to the existing circumstances by men of the world, as all roman laws were. if they had not been such, how was the roman empire, at least in its first years, a blessing to the safety, prosperity, and wealth of every country it enslaved? but when defective roman laws began to be worked by bad men, and that for years, then indeed came times of evil. let us take, then, salvian's own account of the cause of roman decay. he, an eye-witness, imputes it all to the morals of roman citizens. they were, according to him, of the very worst. to the general dissoluteness he attributes, in plain words, the success of the frank and gothic invaders. and the facts which he gives, and which there is no reason to doubt, are quite enough to prove him in the right. every great man's house, he says, was a sink of profligacy. the women slaves were at the mercy of their master; and the slaves copied his morals among themselves. it is an ugly picture: but common sense will tell us, if we but think a little, that such will, and must, be the case in slave-holding countries, wherever christianity is not present in its purest and strongest form, to control the passions of arbitrary power. but there was not merely profligacy among these gauls. that alone would not have wrought their immediate ruin. morals were bad enough in old greece and rome; as they were afterwards among the turks: nevertheless as long as a race is strong; as long as there is prudence, energy, deep national feeling, outraged virtue does not avenge itself at once by general ruin. but it avenges itself at last, as salvian shews--as all experience shews. as in individuals so in nations, unbridled indulgence of the passions must produce, and does produce, frivolity, effeminacy, slavery to the appetite of the moment, a brutalized and reckless temper, before which, prudence, energy, national feeling, any and every feeling which is not centered in self, perishes utterly. the old french noblesse gave a proof of this law, which will last as a warning beacon to the end of time. the spanish population of america, i am told, gives now a fearful proof of this same terrible penalty. has not italy proved it likewise, for centuries past? it must be so, gentlemen. for national life is grounded on, is the development of, the life of the family. and where the root is corrupt, the tree must be corrupt likewise. it must be so. for asmodeus does not walk alone. in his train follow impatience and disappointment, suspicion and jealousy, rage and cruelty, and all the passions which set man's hand against his fellow-man. it must be so. for profligacy is selfishness; and the family, and the society, the nation, exists only by casting away selfishness and by obeying law:--not only the outward law, which says in the name of god, 'thou shalt not,' but the inward law, the law of christ, which says, 'thou must;' the law of self- sacrifice, which selfish lust tramples under foot, till there is no more cohesion left between man and man, no more trust, no more fellow-help, than between the stags who fight for the hinds; and god help the nation which has brought itself to that! no wonder, therefore, if salvian's accounts of gaulish profligacy be true, that gaulish recklessness reached at last a pitch all but incredible. it is credible, however shocking, that as he says, he himself saw, both at treves, and another great city (probably cologne, colonia agrippina, or 'the colony' par excellence) while the destruction of the state was imminent, 'old men of rank, decrepit christians, slaves to gluttony and lust, rabid with clamour, furious with bacchanalian orgies.' it is credible, however shocking, that all through gaul the captivity was 'foreseen, yet never dreaded.' and 'so when the barbarians had encamped almost in sight, there was no terror among the people, no care of the cities. all was possest by carelessness and sloth, gluttony, drunkenness, sleep, according to that which the prophet saith: a sleep from the lord had come over them.' it is credible, however shocking, that though treves was four times taken by the barbarians, it remained just as reckless as ever; and that--i quote salvian still--when the population was half destroyed by fire and sword, the poor dying of famine, corpses of men and women lying about the streets breeding pestilence, while the dogs devoured them, the few nobles who were left comforted themselves by sending to the emperor to beg for circensian games. those circensian games, and indeed all the public spectacles, are fresh proofs of what i said just now; that if a bad people earn bad government, still a bad government makes a bad people. they were the most extraordinary instance which the world ever saw, of a government setting to work at a vast expense to debauch its subjects. whether the roman rulers set that purpose consciously before them, one dare not affirm. their notion probably was (for they were as worldly wise as they were unprincipled) that the more frivolous and sensual the people were, the more quietly they would submit to slavery; and the best way to keep them frivolous and sensual, the romans knew full well; so well, that after the empire became christian, and many heathen matters were done away with, they did not find it safe to do away with the public spectacles. the temples of the gods might go: but not the pantomimes. in one respect, indeed, these government spectacles became worse, not better, under christianity. they were less cruel, no doubt: but also they were less beautiful. the old custom of exhibiting representations of the old greek myths, which had something of grace and poetry about them, and would carry back the spectators' thoughts to the nobler and purer heroic ages, disappeared before christianity; but the old vice did not. that was left; and no longer ennobled by the old heroic myths round which it had clustered itself, was simply of the silliest and most vulgar kind. we know in detail the abominations, as shameless and ridiculous, which went on a century after salvian, in the theatres of constantinople, under the eyes of the most christian emperor justinian, and which won for that most infamous woman, theodora, a share in his imperial crown, and the right to dictate doctrine to the christian bishops of the east, and to condemn the soul of origen to everlasting damnation, for having exprest hopes of the final pardon of sinners. we can well believe, therefore, salvian's complaints of the wickedness of those pantomimes of which he says, that 'honeste non possunt vel accusari;' he cannot even accuse them without saying what he is ashamed to say; i believe also his assertion, that they would not let people be modest, even if they wished; that they inflamed the passions, and debauched the imaginations of young and old, man and woman, and--but i am not here to argue that sin is sin, or that the population of london would be the worse if the most shameless persons among them were put by the government in possession of drury lane and covent garden; and that, and nothing less than that, did the roman pantomimes mean, from the days of juvenal till those of the most holy and orthodox empress theodora. 'who, knowing the judgment of god, that they who do such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.' now in contrast to all these abominations, old salvian sets, boldly and honestly, the superior morality of the barbarians. that, he says, is the cause of their strength and our weakness. we, professing orthodoxy, are profligate hypocrites. they, half heathens, half arians, are honester men, purer men than we. there is no use, he says, in despising the goths as heretics, while they are better men than we. they are better christians than the romans, because they are better men. they pray to god for success, and trust in him, and we presumptuously trust in ourselves. we swear by christ: but what do we do but blaspheme him, when we swear 'per christum tollo eum,' 'i will make away with him,' 'per christum hunc jugulo,' 'i will cut his throat,' and then believe ourselves bound to commit the murder which we have vowed? . . . 'the saxons,' he says, 'are fierce, the franks faithless, the gepidae inhuman, the huns shameless. but is the frank's perfidy as blameable as ours? is the alman's drunkenness, or the alan's rapacity, as damnable as a christian's? if a hun or a gepid deceives you, what wonder? he is utterly ignorant that there is any sin in falsehood. but what of the christian who does the same? the barbarians,' he says, 'are better men than the christians. the goths,' he says, 'are perfidious, but chaste. the alans unchaste, but less perfidious. the franks are liars, but hospitable; the saxons ferociously cruel, but venerable for their chastity. the visigoths who conquered spain,' he says, 'were the most "ignavi" (heavy, i presume he means, and loutish) of all the barbarians: but they were chaste, and therefore they conquered.' in africa, if we are to believe salvian, things stood even worse, at the time of the invasion of the vandals. in his violent invectives against the africans, however, allowance must be made. salvian was a great lover of monks; and the africans used, he says, to detest them, and mob them wherever they appeared; for which offence, of course, he can find no words too strong. st. augustine, however, himself a countryman of theirs, who died, happily, just before the storm burst on that hapless land, speaks bitterly of their exceeding profligacy--of which he himself in his wild youth, had had but too sad experience. salvian's assertion is, that the africans were the most profligate of all the romans; and that while each barbarian tribe had (as we have just seen) some good in them, the africans had none. but there were noble souls left among them, lights which shone all the more brightly in the surrounding darkness. in the pages of victor vitensis, which tell the sad story of the persecution of the african catholics by the arian vandals, you will find many a moving tale which shews that god had his own, even among those degraded carthaginians. the causes of the arian hatred to the catholics is very obscure. you will find all that is known in dean milman's history of latin christianity. a simple explanation may be found in the fact that the catholics considered the arians, and did not conceal their opinion, as all literally and actually doomed to the torments of everlasting fire; and that, as gibbon puts it, 'the heroes of the north, who had submitted with some reluctance, to believe that all their ancestors were in hell, were astonished and exasperated to learn, that they themselves had only changed the mode of their eternal condemnation.' the teutons were (salvian himself confesses it) trying to serve god devoutly, in chastity, sobriety, and honesty, according to their light. and they were told by the profligates of africa, that this and no less, was their doom. it is not to be wondered at, again, if they mistook the catholic creed for the cause of catholic immorality. that may account for the vandal custom of re-baptizing the catholics. it certainly accounts for the fact (if after all it be a fact) which victor states, that they tortured the nuns to extort from them shameful confessions against the priests. but the history of the african persecution is the history of all persecutions, as confest again and again by the old fathers, as proved by the analogies of later times. the sins of the church draw down punishment, by making her enemies confound her doctrine and her practice. but in return, the punishment of the church purifies her, and brings out her nobleness afresh, as the snake casts his skin in pain, and comes out young and fair once more; and in every dark hour of the church, there flashes out some bright form of human heroism, to be a beacon and a comfort to all future time. victor, for instance, tells the story of dionysia, the beautiful widow whom the vandals tried to torture into denying the divinity of our lord.--how when they saw that she was bolder and fairer than all the other matrons, they seized her, and went to strip her: and she cried to them, 'qualiter libet occidite: verecunda tamen membra nolite nudare,' but in vain. they hung her up by the hands, and scourged her till streams of blood ran down every limb. her only son, a delicate boy, stood by trembling, knowing that his turn would come next; and she saw it, and called to him in the midst of her shame and agony. 'he had been baptized into the name of the blessed trinity; let him die in that name, and not lose the wedding-garment. let him fear the pain that never ends, and cling to the life that endures for ever.' the boy took heart, and when his turn came, died under the torture; and dionysia took up the little corpse, and buried it in her own house; and worshipped upon her boy's grave to her dying day. yes. god had his own left, even among those fallen africans of carthage. but neither there, nor in spain, could the vandals cure the evil. 'now-a- days,' says salvian, 'there are no profligates among the goths, save romans; none among the vandals, save romans. blush, roman people, everywhere, blush for your morals. there is hardly a city free from dens of sin, and none at all from impurity, save those which the barbarians have begun to occupy. and do we wonder if we are surpassed in power, by an enemy who surpasses us in decency? it is not the natural strength of their bodies which makes them conquer us. we have been conquered only by the vices of our own morals.' yes. salvian was right. those last words were no mere outburst of national vanity, content to confess every sin, save that of being cowards. he was right. it was not the mere muscle of the teuton which enabled him to crush the decrepit and debauched slave-nations, gaul and briton, iberian and african, as the ox crushes the frogs of the marsh. the 'sera juvenum venus, ideoque inexhausta pubertas,' had given him more than his lofty stature, and his mighty limbs. had he had nought but them, he might have remained to the end a blind samson, grinding among the slaves in caesar's mill, butchered to make a roman holiday. but it had given him more, that purity of his; it had given him, as it may give you, gentlemen, a calm and steady brain, and a free and loyal heart; the energy which springs from health; the self-respect which comes from self- restraint; and the spirit which shrinks from neither god nor man, and feels it light to die for wife and child, for people, and for queen. preface to lecture iii.--on dr. latham's 'germania.' if i have followed in these lectures the better known and more widely received etymology of the name goth, i have done so out of no disrespect to dr. latham; but simply because his theory seems to me adhuc sub judice. it is this, as far as i understand it. that 'goth' was not the aboriginal name of the race. that they were probably not so called till they came into the land of the getae, about the mouths of the danube. that the teutonic name for the ostrogoths was grutungs, and that of the visigoths (which he does not consider to mean west-goths) thervings, thuringer. that on reaching the land of the getae they took their name; 'just as the kentings of anglo-saxon england took name from the keltic country of kent;' and that the names goth, gothones, gothini were originally given to lithuanians by their sclavonic neighbours. i merely state the theory, and leave it for the judgment of others. the principal points which dr. latham considers himself to have established, are-- that the area and population of the teutonic tribes have been, on the authority of tacitus, much overrated; many tribes hitherto supposed to be teutonic being really sclavonic, &c. this need not shock our pride, if proved--as it seems to me to be. the nations who have influenced the world's destiny have not been great, in the modern american sense of 'big;' but great in heart, as our forefathers were. the greeks were but a handful at salamis; so were the romans of the republic; so were the spaniards of america; so, probably, were the aztecs and incas whom they overthrew; and surely our own conquerors and re-conquerers of hindostan have shewn enough that it is not numbers, but soul, which gives a race the power to rule. neither need we object to dr. latham's opinion, that more than one of the tribes which took part in the destruction of the empire were not aboriginal germans, but sclavonians germanized, and under german leaders. it may be so. the custom of enslaving captives would render pure teutonic blood among the lower classes of a tribe the exception and not the rule; while the custom of chiefs choosing the 'thegns,' 'gesitha,' or 'comites,' who lived and died as their companions-in-arms, from among the most valiant of the unfree, would tend to produce a mixed blood in the upper classes also, and gradually assimilate the whole mass to the manners and laws of their teutonic lords. only by some such actual superiority of the upper classes to the lower can i explain the deep respect for rank and blood, which distinguishes, and will perhaps always distinguish, the teutonic peoples. had there even been anything like a primaeval equality among our race, a hereditary aristocracy could never have arisen, or if arising for a while, never could have remained as a fact which all believed in, from the lowest to the highest. just, or unjust, the institution represented, i verily believe, an ethnological fact. the golden-haired hero said to his brown-haired bondsman, 'i am a gentleman, who have a "gens," a stamm, a pedigree, and know from whom i am sprung. i am a garding, an amalung, a scylding, an osing, or what not. i am a son of the gods. the blood of the asas is in my veins. do you not see it? am i not wiser, stronger, more virtuous, more beautiful than you? you must obey me, and be my man, and follow me to the death. then, if you prove a worthy thane, i will give you horse, weapons, bracelets, lands; and marry you, it may be, to my daughter or my niece. and if not, you must remain a son of the earth, grubbing in the dust of which you were made.' and the bondsman believed him; and became his lord's man, and followed him to the death; and was thereby not degraded, but raised out of selfish savagery and brute independence into loyalty, usefulness, and self-respect. as a fact, that is the method by which the thing was done: done;--very ill indeed, as most human things are done; but a method inevitable--and possibly right; till (as in england now) the lower classes became ethnologically identical with the upper, and equality became possible in law, simply because it existed in fact. but the part of dr. latham's 'germania' to which i am bound to call most attention, because i have not followed it, is that interesting part of the prolegomena, in which he combats the generally received theory, that, between the time of tacitus and that of charlemagne, vast masses of germans had migrated southward from between the elbe and the vistula; and that they had been replaced by the sclavonians who certainly were there in charlemagne's days. dr. latham argues against this theory with a great variety of facts and reasons. but has he not overstated his case on some points? need the migrations necessary for this theory have been of 'unparalleled magnitude and rapidity'? as for the 'unparalleled completeness' on which he lays much stress, from the fact that no remnants of teutonic population are found in the countries evacuated: is it the fact that 'history only tells us of german armies having advanced south'? do we not find four famous cases--the irruption of the cimbri and teutons into italy; the passage of the danube by the visigoths; and the invasions of italy first by the ostrogoths, then by the lombards--in which the nations came with men, women, and children, horses, cattle, and dogs, bag and baggage? may not this have been the custom of the race, with its strong feeling for the family tie; and may not this account for no traces of them being left behind? does not dr. latham's theory proceed too much on an assumption that the sclavonians dispossest the teutons by force? and is not this assumption his ground for objecting that the movement was effected improbably 'by that division of the european population (the sclavonic and lithuanian) which has, within the historic period, receded before the germanic'? are these migrations, though 'unrepresented in any history' (i.e. contemporaneous), really 'unrepresented in any tradition'? do not the traditions of jornandes and paulus diaconus, that the goths and the lombards came from scandinavia, represent this very fact?--and are they to be set aside as naught? surely not. myths of this kind generally embody a nucleus of truth, and must be regarded with respect; for they often, after all arguments about them are spent, are found to contain the very pith of the matter. are the 'phenomena of replacement and substitution' so very strange--i will not say upon the popular theory, but at least on one half-way between it and dr. latham's? namely-- that the teutonic races came originally, as some of them say they did, from scandinavia, denmark, the south baltic, &c. that they forced their way down, wave after wave, on what would have been the line of least resistance--the marches between the gauls, romanized or otherwise, and the sclavonians. and that the alps and the solid front of the roman empire turned them to the east, till their vanguard found itself on the danube. this would agree with dr. latham's most valuable hint, that markmen, 'men of the marches,' was perhaps the name of many german tribes successively. that they fought, as they went, with the sclavonian and other tribes (as their traditions seem to report), and rolled them back to the eastward; and that as each teutonic tribe past down the line, the sclavonians rolled back again, till the last column was past. that the teutons also carried down with them, as slaves or allies, a portion of this old sclavonic population (to which dr. latham will perhaps agree); and that this fact caused a hiatus, which was gradually filled by tribes who after all were little better than nomad hunters, and would occupy (quite nominally) a very large tract with a small population. would not this theory agree at once tolerably with the old traditions and with dr. latham's new facts? the question still remains--which is the question of all. what put these germanic peoples on going south? were there no causes sufficient to excite so desperate a resolve? ( ) did they all go? is not paulus diaconus' story that one-third of the lombards was to emigrate by lot, and two-thirds remain at home, a rough type of what generally happened--what happens now in our modern emigrations? was not the surplus population driven off by famine toward warmer and more hopeful climes? ( ) are not the teutonic populations of england, north germany, and the baltic, the descendants, much intermixed, and with dialects much changed, of the portions which were left behind? this is the opinion, i believe, of several great ethnologists. is it not true? if philological objections are raised to this, i ask (but in all humility), did not these southward migrations commence long before the time of tacitus? if so, may they not have commenced before the different teutonic dialects were as distinct as they were in the historic period? and are we to suppose that the dialects did not alter during the long journeyings through many nations? is it possible that the thervings and grutungs could have retained the same tongue on the danube, as their forefathers spoke in their native land? would not the moeso-gothic of ulfilas have been all but unintelligible to the goth who, upon the old theory, remained in gothland of sweden? ( ) but were there not more causes than mere want, which sent them south? had the peculiar restlessness of the race nothing to do with it? a restlessness not nomadic, but migratory: arising not from carelessness of land and home, but from the longing to found a home in a new land, like the restlessness of us, their children? as soon as we meet them in historic times, they are always moving, migrating, invading. were they not doing the same in pre-historic times, by fits and starts, no doubt with periods of excitement, periods of collapse and rest? when we recollect the invasion of the normans; the wholesale eastward migration of the crusaders, men, women, and children; and the later colonization by teutonic peoples, of every quarter of the globe, is there anything wonderful in the belief that similar migratory manias may have seized the old tribes; that the spirit of woden, 'the mover,' may have moved them, and forced them to go ahead, as now? doubtless the theory is strange. but the teutons were and are a strange people; so strange, that they have conquered--one may almost say that they are--all nations which are alive upon the globe; and we may therefore expect them to have done strange things even in their infancy. the romans saw them conquer the empire; and said, the good men among them, that it was on account of their superior virtue. but beside the virtue which made them succeed, there must have been the adventurousness which made them attempt. they were a people fond of 'avanturen,' like their descendants; and they went out to seek them; and found enough and to spare. ( ) but more, had they never heard of rome? surely they had, and at a very early period of the empire. we are apt to forget, that for every discovery of the germans by the romans, there was a similar discovery of the romans by the germans, and one which would tell powerfully on their childish imagination. did not one single kemper or teuton return from marius' slaughter, to spread among the tribes (niddering though he may have been called for coming back alive) the fair land which they had found, fit for the gods of valhalla; the land of sunshine, fruits and wine, wherein his brothers' and sisters' bones were bleaching unavenged? did no gay gaul of the legion of the lark, boast in a frontier wine-house to a german trapper, who came in to sell his peltry, how he himself was a gentleman now, and a civilized man, and a roman; and how he had followed julius caesar, the king of men, over the rubicon, and on to a city of the like of which man never dreamed, wherein was room for all the gods of heaven? did no captive tribune of varus' legions, led with horrid shouts round thor's altar in the teutoburger wald, ere his corpse was hung among the horses and goats on the primaeval oaks, turn to bay like a roman, and tell his wild captors of the eternal city, and of the might of that caesar who would avenge every hair upon his head with a german life; and receive for answer a shout of laughter, and the cry--'you have come to us: and some day we will go to you?' did no commissary, bargaining with a german for cattle to be sent over the frontier by such a day of the week, and teaching him to mistranslate into those names of thor, woden, freya, and so forth, which they now carry, the jewish-assyrian-roman days of the se'nnight, amuse the simple forester by telling him how the streets of rome were paved with gold, and no one had anything to do there but to eat and bathe at the public expense, and to go to the theatre, and see , gladiators fight at once? did no german 'regulus,' alderman, or king, enter rome on an embassy, and come back with uplifted eyes and hands, declaring that he had seen things unspeakable--a 'very fine plunder,' as blucher said of london; and that if it were not for the walls, they might get it all; for not only the ladies, but the noblemen, went about in litters of silver and gold, and wore gauze dresses, the shameless wretches, through which you might see every limb, so that as for killing them, there was no more fear of them than of a flock of sheep: but that he did not see as well as he could have wished how to enter the great city, for he was more or less the worse for liquor the whole time, with wondrous stuff which they called wine? or did no captive, escaped by miracle from the butcheries of the amphitheatre, return to tell his countrymen how all the rest had died like german men; and call on them to rise and avenge their brothers' blood? yes, surely the teutons knew well, even in the time of tacitus, of the 'micklegard,' the great city and all its glory. every fresh tribe who passed along the frontier of gaul or of noricum would hear more and more of it, see more and more men who had actually been there. if the glory of the city exercised on its own inhabitants an intoxicating influence, as of a place omnipotent, superhuman, divine--it would exercise (exaggerated as it would be) a still stronger influence on the barbarians outside: and what wonder if they pressed southwards at first in the hope of taking the mighty city; and afterwards, as her real strength became more known, of at least seizing some of those colonial cities, which were as superhuman in their eyes as rome itself would have been? in the crusades, the children, whenever they came to a great town, asked their parents if that was not jerusalem. and so, it may be, many a gallant young teuton, on entering for the first time such a city as cologne, lyons, or vienna, whispered half trembling to his lord--'surely this must be rome.' some such arguments as these might surely be brought in favour of a greater migration than dr. latham is inclined to allow: but i must leave the question for men of deeper research and wider learning, than i possess. lecture iii.--the human deluge 'i have taken in hand,' said sir francis drake once to the crew of the immortal pelican, 'that which i know not how to accomplish. yea, it hath even bereaved me of my wits to think of it.' and so i must say on the subject of this lecture. i wish to give you some notion of the history of italy for nearly one hundred years; say from to . but it is very difficult. how can a man draw a picture of that which has no shape; or tell the order of absolute disorder? it is all a horrible 'fourmillement des nations,' like the working of an ant- heap; like the insects devouring each other in a drop of water. teuton tribes, sclavonic tribes, tartar tribes, roman generals, empresses, bishops, courtiers, adventurers, appear for a moment out of the crowd, dim phantoms--nothing more, most of them--with a name appended, and then vanish, proving their humanity only by leaving behind them one more stain of blood. and what became of the masses all the while? of the men, slaves the greater part of them, if not all, who tilled the soil, and ground the corn--for man must have eaten, then as now? we have no hint. one trusts that god had mercy on them, if not in this world, still in the world to come. man, at least, had none. taking one's stand at rome, and looking toward the north, what does one see for nearly one hundred years? wave after wave rising out of the north, the land of night, and wonder, and the terrible unknown; visible only as the light of roman civilization strikes their crests, and they dash against the alps, and roll over through the mountain passes, into the fertile plains below. then at last they are seen but too well; and you discover that the waves are living men, women, and children, horses, dogs, and cattle, all rushing headlong into that great whirlpool of italy: and yet the gulf is never full. the earth drinks up the blood; the bones decay into the fruitful soil; the very names and memories of whole tribes are washed away. and the result of an immigration which may be counted by hundreds of thousands is this--that all the land is waste. the best authorities which i can give you (though you will find many more in gibbon) are--for the main story, jornandes, de rebus geticis. himself a goth, he wrote the history of his race, and that of attila and his huns, in good rugged latin, not without force and sense. then claudian, the poet, a bombastic panegyrist of contemporary roman scoundrels; but full of curious facts, if one could only depend on them. then the earlier books of procopius de bello gothico, and the chronicle of zosimus. salvian, ennodius and sidonius apollinaris, as christians, will give you curious details, especially as to south france and north italy; while many particulars of the first sack of rome, with comments thereon which express the highest intellects of that day, you will find in st. jerome's letters, and st. augustine's city of god. but if you want these dreadful times _explained_ to you, i do not think you can do better than to take your bibles, and to read the revelations of st. john the apostle. i shall quote them, more than once, in this lecture. i cannot help quoting them. the words come naturally to my lips, as fitter to the facts than any words of my own. i do not come here to interpret the book of revelations. i do not understand that book. but i do say plainly, though i cannot interpret the book, that the book has interpreted those times to me. its awful metaphors give me more living and accurate pictures of what went on than any that gibbon's faithful details can give. you may see, if you have spiritual eyes wherewith to see, the dragon, the serpent, symbol of political craft and the devilish wisdom of the roman, giving authority to the beast, the symbol of brute power; to mongrel aetiuses and bonifaces, barbarian stilichos, ricimers and aspars, and a host of similar adventurers, whose only strength was force. you may see the world wondering after the beast, and worshipping brute force, as the only thing left to believe in. you may see the nations of the world gnawing their tongues for pain, and blaspheming god, but not repenting of their deeds. you may see the faith and patience of the saints--men like augustine, salvian, epiphanius, severinus, deogratias of carthage, and a host more, no doubt, whose names the world will never hear--the salt of the earth, which kept it all from rotting. you may see babylon the great fallen, and all the kings and merchants of the earth bewailing her afar off, and watching the smoke of her torment. you may see, as st. john warns you, that--after her fall, mind--if men would go on worshipping the beast, and much more his image--the phantom and shadow of brute force, after the reality had passed away--they should drink of the wine of the wrath of god, and be tormented for ever. for you may see how those degenerate romans did go on worshipping the shadow of brute force, and how they were tormented for ever; and had no rest day or night, because they worshipped the beast and his image. you may see all the fowl of the heavens flocking together to the feast of the great god, to eat the flesh of kings and captains, horse and rider, bond and free.--all carrion-birds, human as well as brute--all greedy villains and adventurers, the scoundreldom of the whole world, flocking in to get their share of the carcass of the dying empire; as the vulture and the raven flock in to the carrion when the royal eagles have gorged their fill. and lastly, you may see, if god give you grace, one who is faithful and true, with a name which no man knew, save himself, making war in righteousness against all evil; bringing order out of disorder, hope out of despair, fresh health and life out of old disease and death; executing just judgment among all the nations of the earth; and sending down from heaven the city of god, in the light of which the nations of those who are saved should walk, and the kings of the earth should bring their power and their glory into it; with the tree of life in the midst of it, whose leaves should be for the healing of the nations. again, i say, i am not here to interpret the book of revelations; but this i say, that that book interprets those times to me. leaving, for the present at least, to better historians than myself the general subject of the teutonic immigrations; the conquest of north gaul by the franks, of britain by the saxons and angles, of burgundy by the burgundians, of africa by the vandals, i shall speak rather of those teutonic tribes which actually entered and conquered italy; and first, of course, of the goths. especially interesting to us english should their fortunes be, for they are said to be very near of kin to us; at least to those jutes who conquered kent. as goths, geats, getae, juts, antiquarians find them in early and altogether mythic times, in the scandinavian peninsula, and the isles and mainland of denmark. their name, it is said, is the same as one name for the supreme being. goth, guth, yuth, signifies war. 'god' is the highest warrior, the lord of hosts, and the progenitor of the race, whether as an 'eponym hero' or as the supreme deity. physical force was their rude notion of divine power, and tiu, tiv, or tyr, in like manner, who was originally the god of the clear sky, the zeus or jove of the greeks and romans, became by virtue of his warlike character, identical with the roman mars, till the dies martis of the roman week became the german tuesday. working their way down from gothland and jutland, we know not why nor when, thrusting aside the cognate burgunds, and the sclavonic tribes whom they met on the road, they had spread themselves, in the third century, over the whole south of russia, and westward over the danubian provinces, and hungary. the ostrogoths (east-goths) lay from the volga to the borysthenes, the visigoths (west-goths?) from the borysthenes to the theiss. behind them lay the gepidae, a german tribe, who had come south- eastward with them, and whose name is said to signify the men who had 'bided' (remained) behind the rest. what manner of men they were it is hard to say, so few details are left to us. but we may conceive them as a tall, fair-haired people, clothed in shirts and smocks of embroidered linen, and gaiters cross-strapped with hide; their arms and necks encircled with gold and silver rings; the warriors, at least of the upper class, well horsed, and armed with lance and heavy sword, with chain-mail, and helmets surmounted with plumes, horns, towers, dragons, boars, and the other strange devices which are still seen on the crests of german nobles. this much we can guess; for in this way their ancestors, or at least relations, the war-geats, appear clothed in the grand old song of beowulf. their land must have been tilled principally by slaves, usually captives taken in war: but the noble mystery of the forge, where arms and ornaments were made, was an honourable craft for men of rank; and their ladies, as in the middle age, prided themselves on their skill with the needle and the loom. their language has been happily preserved to us in ulfilas' translation of the scriptures. for these goths, the greater number of them at least, were by this time christians, or very nearly such. good bishop ulfilas, brought up a christian and consecrated by order of constantine the great, had been labouring for years to convert his adopted countrymen from the worship of thor and woden. he had translated the bible for them, and had constructed a gothic alphabet for that purpose. he had omitted, however (prudently as he considered) the books of kings, with their histories of the jewish wars. the goths, he held, were only too fond of fighting already, and 'needed in that matter the bit, rather than the spur.' he had now a large number of converts, some of whom had even endured persecution from their heathen brethren. athanaric, 'judge,' or alderman of the thervings, had sent through the camp--so runs the story--the waggon which bore the idol of woden, and had burnt, with their tents and their families, those who refused to worship. they, like all other german tribes, were ruled over by two royal races, sons of woden and the asas. the ostrogoth race was the amalungs--the 'heavenly,' or 'spotless' race; the visigoth race was the balthungs--the 'bold' or 'valiant' race; and from these two families, and from a few others, but all believed to be lineally descended from woden, and now much intermixed, are derived all the old royal families of europe, that of the house of brunswick among the rest. that they were no savages, is shewn sufficiently by their names, at least those of their chiefs. such names as alaric, 'all rich' or 'all powerful,' ataulf, 'the helping father,' fridigern, 'the willing peace- maker,' and so forth--all the names in fact, which can be put back into their native form out of their romanized distortions, are tokens of a people far removed from that barbarous state in which men are named after personal peculiarities, natural objects, or the beasts of the field. on this subject you may consult, as full of interest and instruction, the list of teutonic names given in muratori. they had broken over the roman frontier more than once, and taken cities. they had compelled the emperor gratian to buy them off. they had built themselves flat-bottomed boats without iron in them and sailed from the crimea round the shores of the black sea, once and again, plundering trebizond, and at last the temple itself of diana at ephesus. they had even penetrated into greece and athens, plundered the parthenon, and threatened the capitol. they had fought the emperor decius, till he, and many of his legionaries, were drowned in a bog in the moment of victory. they had been driven with difficulty back across the danube by aurelian, and walled out of the empire with the allemanni by probus's 'teufels-mauer,' stretching from the danube to the rhine. their time was not yet come by a hundred years. but they had seen and tasted the fine things of the sunny south, and did not forget them amid the steppes and snows. at last a sore need came upon them. about there was a great king among them, ermanaric, 'the powerful warrior,' comparable, says jornandes, to alexander himself, who had conquered all the conquered tribes around. when he was past years old, a chief of the roxolani (ugrians, according to dr. latham; men of ros, or russia), one of these tribes, plotted against him, and sent for help to the new people, the huns, who had just appeared on the confines of europe and asia. old ermanaric tore the traitor's wife to pieces with wild horses: but the huns came nevertheless. a magic hind, the goths said, guided the new people over the steppes to the land of the goths, and then vanished. they fought with the goths, and defeated them. old ermanaric stabbed himself for shame, and the hearts of the goths became as water before the tempest of nations. they were supernatural creatures, the goths believed, engendered of witches and demons on the steppes; pig-eyed hideous beings, with cakes instead of faces, 'offam magis quam faciem,' under ratskin caps, armed with arrows tipped with bone, and lassos of cord, eating, marketing, sleeping on horseback, so grown into the saddle that they could hardly walk in their huge boots. with them were acatzirs, painted blue, hair as well as skin; alans, wandering with their waggons like the huns, armed with heavy cuirasses of plaited horn, their horses decked with human scalps; geloni armed with a scythe, wrapt in a cloak of human skin; bulgars who impaled their prisoners--savages innumerable as the locust swarms. who could stand against them? in the year , the west goths came down to the danube-bank and entreated the romans to let them cross. there was a christian party among them, persecuted by the heathens, and hoping for protection from rome. athanaric had vowed never to set foot on roman soil, and after defending himself against the huns, retired into the forests of 'caucaland.' good bishop ulfilas and his converts looked longingly toward the christian empire. surely the christians would receive them as brothers, welcome them, help them. the simple german fancied a roman even such a one as themselves. ulfilas went on embassy to antioch, to valens the emperor. valens, low- born, cruel, and covetous, was an arian, and could not lose the opportunity of making converts. he sent theologians to meet ulfilas, and torment him into arianism. when he arrived, valens tormented him himself. while the goths starved he argued, apostasy was the absolute condition of his help, till ulfilas, in a weak moment, gave his word that the goths should become arians, if valens would give them lands on the south bank of the danube. then they would be the emperor's men, and guard the marches against all foes. from that time arianism became the creed, not only of the goths, but of the vandals, the sueves, and almost all the teutonic tribes. it was (if the story be true) a sinful and foolish compact, forced from a good man by the sight of his countrymen's extreme danger and misery. it avenged itself, soon enough, upon both goths and romans. to the goths themselves the change must have seemed not only unimportant, but imperceptible. unaccustomed to that accuracy of thought, which is too often sneered at by gibbon as 'metaphysical subtlety,' all of which they would have been aware was the change of a few letters in a creed written in an unknown tongue. they could not know, (ulfilas himself could not have known, only two years after the death of st. athanasius at alexandria; while the nicaean creed was as yet received by only half of the empire; and while he meanwhile had been toiling for years in the danubian wilds, ignorant perhaps of the controversy which had meanwhile convulsed the church)--neither the goths nor he, i say, could have known that the arianism, which they embraced, was really the last, and as it were apologetic, refuge of dying polytheism; that it, and not the catholic faith, denied the abysmal unity of the godhead; that by making the son inferior to the father, as touching his godhead, it invented two gods, a greater and a lesser, thus denying the absoluteness, the infinity, the illimitability, by any category of quantity, of that one eternal, of whom it is written, that god is a spirit. still less could they have guessed that when arius, the handsome popular preacher (whose very name, perhaps, ulfilas never heard) asked the fine ladies of alexandria--'had you a son before that son was born?'--'no.' 'then god could have no son before that son was begotten, &c.'--that he was mingling up the idea of time with the idea of that eternal god who created time, and debasing to the accidents of before and after that timeless and eternal generation, of which it is written, 'thou art my son, this day have i begotten thee.' still less could ulfilas, or his goths, have known, that the natural human tendency to condition god by time, would be, in later ages, even long after arianism was crushed utterly, the parent of many a cruel, gross, and stupid superstition. to them it would have been a mere question whether woden, the all-father, was superior to one of his sons, the asas: and the catholic faith probably seemed to them an impious assumption of equality, on the part of one of those asas, with woden himself. of the battle between arianism and orthodoxy i have said enough to shew you that i think it an internecine battle between truth and falsehood. but it has been long ago judged by wager of battle: by the success of that duel of time, of which we must believe (as our forefathers believed of all fair duels) that god defends the right. so the goths were to come over the danube stream: but they must give up their arms, and deliver their children (those of rank, one supposes), as hostages, to be educated by the romans, as romans. they crossed the fatal river; they were whole days in crossing; those set to count them gave it up in despair; ammianus says: 'he who wishes to know their number,' 'libyci velit aequoris idem discere quam multae zephyro volvuntur arenae.' and when they were across, they gave up the children. they had not the heart to give up the beloved weapons. the roman commissioners let them keep the arms, at the price of many a gothic woman's honour. ugly and foul things happened, of which we have only hints. then they had to be fed for the time being, till they could cultivate their land. lupicinus and maximus, the two governors of thrace pocketed the funds which valens sent, and starved the goths. the markets were full of carrion and dogs' flesh. anything was good enough for a barbarian. their fringed carpets, their beautiful linens, all went. a little wholesome meat cost pounds of silver. when all was gone, they had to sell their children. to establish a slave-trade in the beautiful boys and girls was just what the wicked romans wanted. at last the end came. they began to rise. fridigern, their king, kept them quiet till the time was ripe for revenge. the romans, trying to keep the west goths down, got so confused, it seems, that they let the whole nation of the east goths (of whom we shall hear more hereafter) dash across the danube, and establish themselves in the north of the present turkey, to the east of the west goths. then at marcianopolis, the capital of lower moesia, lupicinus asked fridigern and his chiefs to a feast. the starving goths outside were refused supplies from the market, and came to blows with the guards. lupicinus, half drunk, heard of it, and gave orders for a massacre. fridigern escaped from the palace, sword in hand. the smouldering embers burst into flame, the war-cry was raised, and the villain lupicinus fled for his life. then began war south of the danube. the roman legions were defeated by the goths, who armed themselves with the weapons of the dead. moesia was overrun with fire and sword. adrianople was attacked, but in vain. the slaves in the gold mines were freed from their misery, and shewed the goths the mountain-passes and the stores of grain. as they went on, the goths recovered their children. the poor things told horrid tales; and the goths, maddened, avenged themselves on the romans of every age and sex. 'they left,' says st. jerome, 'nothing alive--not even the beasts of the field; till nothing was left but growing brambles and thick forests.' valens, the emperor, was at antioch. now he hurried to constantinople, but too late. the east goths had joined the west goths; and hordes of huns, alans, and taifalae (detestable savages, of whom we know nothing but evil) had joined fridigern's confederacy. gratian, valens' colleague and nephew, son of valentinian the bear-ward, had just won a great victory over the allemanni at colmar in alsace; and valens was jealous of his glory. he is said to have been a virtuous youth, whose monomania was shooting. he fell in love with the wild alans, in spite of their horse-trappings of scalps, simply because of their skill in archery; formed a body-guard of them, and passed his time hunting with them round paris. nevertheless, he won this great victory by the help, it seems, of one count ricimer ('ever-powerful'), count of the domestics, whose name proclaims him a german. valens was jealous of gratian's fame; he was stung by the reproaches of the mob of constantinople; and he undervalued the goths, on account of some successes of his lieutenants, who had recovered much of the plunder taken by them, and had utterly overpowered the foul taifalae, transporting them to lands about modena and parma in italy. he rejected count ricimer's advice to wait till gratian reinforced him with the victorious western legions, and determined to give battle a few miles from adrianople. had he waited for gratian, the history of the whole world might have been different. for on the ninth of august, a.d. , the fatal day, the second cannae, from which rome never recovered as from that first, the young world and the old world met, and fought it out; and the young world won. the light roman cavalry fled before the long lances and heavy swords of the german knights. the knights turned on the infantry, broke them, hunted them down by charge after charge, and left the footmen to finish the work. two-thirds of the roman army were destroyed; four counts of the empire; generals and officers without number. valens fled wounded to a cottage. the goths set it on fire, and burned him and his staff therein, ignorant that they had in their hands the emperor of rome. verily there is a god who judgeth the earth. so thought the catholics of that day, who saw in the fearful death of valens a punishment for his having forced the goths to become arians. 'it was just,' says one, 'that he should burn on earth, by whose counsels so many barbarians will burn in hell for ever.' there are (as i have shewn) still darker counts in the conduct of the romans toward the goths; enough (if we believe our bibles) to draw down on the guilty the swift and terrible judgments of god. at least, this was the second cannae, the death-wound of rome. from that day the end was certain, however slow. the teuton had at last tried his strength against the roman. the wild forest-child had found himself suddenly at death-grips with the enchanter whom he had feared, and almost worshipped, for so long; and behold, to his own wonder, he was no more a child, but grown into a man, and the stronger, if not the cunninger of the two. there had been a spell upon him; the 'romani nominis umbra.' but from that day the spell was broken. he had faced a roman emperor, a divus caesar, the man-god by whose head all nations swore, rich with the magic wealth, wise with the magic cunning, of centuries of superhuman glory; and he had killed him, and behold he died, like other men. that he had done. what was there left for him now that he could not do? the stronger he was, but not yet the cunninger of the two. the goths could do no more. they had to leave adrianople behind them, with the emperor's treasures safe within its walls; to gaze with childish wonder at the bosphorus and its palaces; to recoil in awe from the 'long walls' of constantinople, and the great stones which the engines thereon hurled at them by 'arsmetricke and nigromancy,' as their descendants believed of the roman mechanicians, even five hundred years after; to hear (without being able to avenge) the horrible news, that the gothic lads distributed throughout asia, to be educated as romans, had been decoyed into the cities by promises of lands and honours, and then massacred in cold blood; and then to settle down, leaving their children unavenged, for twenty years on the rich land which we now call turkey in europe, waiting till the time was come. waiting, i say, till the time was come. the fixed idea that rome, if not constantinople, could be taken at last, probably never left the minds of the leading goths after the battle of adrianople. the altered policy of the caesars was enough of itself to keep that idea alive. so far from expelling them from the country which they had seized, the new emperor began to flatter and to honour them. they had been heretofore regarded as savages, either to be driven back by main force, or tempted to enlist in the roman ranks. theodosius regarded them as a nation, and one which it was his interest to hire, to trust, to indulge at the expense of his roman subjects. theodosius has received the surname of great--seemingly by comparison; 'inter caecos luscus rex;' and it was highly creditable to a roman emperor in those days to be neither ruffian nor villain, but a handsome, highbred, courteous gentleman, pure in his domestic life, an orthodox christian, and sufficiently obedient to the church to forgive the monks who had burnt a jewish synagogue, and to do penance in the cathedral of milan for the massacre of thessalonica. that the morals of the empire (if zosimus is to be at all believed) grew more and more effeminate, corrupt, reckless; that the soldiers (if vegetius is to be believed) actually laid aside, by royal permission, their helmets and cuirasses, as too heavy for their degenerate bodies; that the roman heavy infantry, which had conquered the world, ceased to exist, while its place was taken by that teutonic heavy cavalry, which decided every battle in europe till the english yeoman, at crecy and poictiers, turned again the balance of arms in favour of the men who fought on foot; that the goths became the 'foederati' or allies of the empire, paid to fight its battles against maximus the spaniard, and arbogast the frank, the rebels who, after the murder of young gratian, attempted to set up a separate empire in the west; that stilicho the vandal was the emperor's trusted friend, and master of the horse; that alaric the balth, and other noble goths, were learning to combine with their native courage those roman tactics which they only needed to become masters of the world; that in all cities, even in the royal palace, the huge goth swaggered in roman costume, his neck and arms heavy with golden torcs and bracelets; or even (as in the case of fravitta and priulf) stabbed his enemy with impunity at the imperial table; that [greek text], to disturb the goths, was a deadly offence throughout the empire: all these things did not prevent a thousand new statues from rising in honour of the great caesar, and excited nothing more than grumblings of impotent jealousy from a people whose maxim had become, 'let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.' three anecdotes will illustrate sufficiently the policy of theodosius toward his inconvenient guests. towards the beginning of his reign, when the goths, after the death of the great fridigern, were broken up, and quarreling among themselves, he tempted a royal amal, modar by name, by the title of master-general, to attack and slaughter in their sleep a rival tribe of goths, and carry off an immense spoil to the imperial camp. to destroy the german by the german was so old a method of the roman policy, that it was not considered derogatory to the 'greatness' of theodosius. the old athanaric, the therving--he who had sworn never to set foot on roman soil, and had burnt them who would not fall down and worship before woden's waggon, came over the danube, out of the forests of 'caucaland,' and put himself at the head of the goths. the great caesar trembled before the heathen hero; and they made peace together; and old athanaric went to him at constantinople, and they became as friends. and the romani nominis umbra, the glamour of the roman name, fell on the old man, too feeble now to fight; and as he looked, says jornandes, on the site of the city, and on the fleets of ships, and the world-famous walls, and the people from all the nations upon earth, he said, 'now i behold what i have often heard tell, and never believed. the kaiser is a god on earth, and he who shall lift his hand against him, is guilty of his own blood.' the old hero died in constantinople, and the really good-natured emperor gave him a grand funeral, and a statue, and so delighted the simple goths, that the whole nation entered his service bodily, and became the emperor's men. the famous massacre of thessalonica, and the penance of theodosius, immortalized by the pencil of vandyke, is another significant example of the relation between goth and roman. one botheric (a vandal or other teuton by his name) was military commandant of that important post. he put in prison a popular charioteer of the circus, for a crime for which the teutonic language had to borrow a foreign name, and which the teutons, like ourselves, punished with death, though it was committed with impunity in any roman city. at the public games, the base mob clamoured, but in vain, for the release of their favourite; and not getting him, rose on botheric, murdered him and his officers, and dragged their corpses through the streets. this was indeed [greek text]; and theodosius, partly in honest indignation, partly perhaps in fear of the consequences, issued orders from milan which seem to have amounted to a permission to the goths to avenge themselves. the populace were invited as usual to the games of the circus, and crowded in, forgetful of their crime, heedless of danger, absorbed in the one greed of frivolous, if not sinful pleasure. the gothic troops concealed around entered, and then began a 'murder grim and great.' for three hours it lasted. every age and sex, innocent or guilty, native or foreigner, to the number of at least , , perished, or are said to have perished; and the soul of botheric had 'good company on its way to valhalla.' the goths, doubtless, considered that they were performing an act of public justice upon villains: but the bishops of the church looked at the matter in another light. the circumstances of treachery, the confusion of the innocent with the guilty, the want of any judicial examination and sentence, aroused their sense of humanity and justice. the offence was aggravated by the thought that the victims were roman and orthodox, the murderers barbarians and arians; st. ambrose, with a noble courage, stopped the emperor at the door of the basilica of milan, and forbad him to enter, till he had atoned for the fatal order by public penance. the caesar submitted nobly to the noble demand; and the repentance of theodosius is the last scene in the downward career of the caesars, which can call forth a feeling of admiration and respect. in january theodosius died; and after him came the deluge. the empire was parted between his two worthless sons. honorius had the west, arcadius the east; while the real master of the empire was stilicho the vandal, whose virtues and valour and mighty stature are sung (and not undeservedly) in the pompous verses of claudian. of the confusion which ensued; of the murder (well-deserved) of rufinus, the infamous minister whose devout hypocrisy had so long cajoled theodosius; of the revolt and atrocities of gildo in africa, you must read in the pages of gibbon. these lectures confine themselves, at present, to the history of the goths. in january , i said, theodosius died. before the end of the winter the goths were in arms, with alaric the balth at their head. they had been refused, at least for the time, the payment of their usual subsidy. he had been refused the command of the roman armies. any excuse was sufficient. the fruit was ripe for plucking. the wrongs of centuries were to be avenged. other tribes crost the danube on the ice, and joined the goths; and the mighty host swept down through greece, passing thermopylae unopposed, ransoming athens (where alaric enjoyed a greek bath and a public banquet, and tried to behave for a day like a roman gentleman); sacking corinth, argos, sparta, and all the cities and villages far and wide, and carrying off plunder inestimable, and troops of captive women. stilicho threw himself into the peloponnese at corinth to cut off the goths, and after heavy fighting, alaric, who seems to have been a really great general, out-manoeuvred him, crost the gulf of corinth at rhium, with all his plunder and captives, and got safe away into northern greece. there arcadius, the terrified emperor of the east, punished him for having devastated greece, by appointing him master-general of the very country which he had ravaged. the end was coming very near. the goths lifted him on the shield, and proclaimed him king of the west goths; and there he staid, somewhere about the head of the adriatic, poised like an eagle in mid-air, watching rome on one side, and byzant on the other, uncertain on which quarry he should swoop. he made up his mind for rome. he would be the man to do the deed at last. there was a saga in which he trusted. claudian gives it in an hexameter, 'alpibus italiae ruptis penetrabis ad urbem.' yes, he would take the city, and avenge the treachery of valens, and all the wrongs which teutons had endured from the romans for now four centuries. and he did it. but not the first time. he swept over the alps. honorius fled to asta, and alaric besieged him there. the faithful stilicho came to the rescue; and alaric was driven to extremities. his warriors counselled him to retreat. no, he would take rome, or die. but at pollentia, stilicho surprised him, while he and his goths were celebrating easter sunday, and a fearful battle followed. the romans stormed his camp, recovered the spoils of greece, and took his wife, decked in the jewels in which she meant to enter rome. one longs to know what became of her. at least, so say the romans: the goths tell a very different story; and one suspects that pollentia may be one more of those splendid paper victories, in which the teutons were utterly exterminated, only to rise out of the ground, seemingly stronger and more numerous than ever. at least, instead of turning his head to the alps, he went on toward rome. stilicho dared not fight him again, and bought him off. he turned northward toward gaul, and at verona stilicho got him at an advantage, and fought him once more, and if we are to believe rosino and claudian, beat him again. 'taceo de alarico, saepe victo, saepe concluso, semperque dimisso.' 'it is ill work trapping an eagle,' says some one. when you have caught him, the safest thing very often is to let him go again. meanwhile poured down into italy, as far as florence (a merely unimportant episode in those fearful days), another wave of german invaders under one radogast, , strong. under the walls of florence they sat down, and perished of wine, and heat, and dysentery. like water they flowed in, and like water they sank into the soil: and every one of them a human soul. stilicho and honorius went to rome, and celebrated their triumph over the goths, with (for the last time in history) gladiatorial sports. three years past, and then stilicho was duly rewarded for having saved rome, in the approved method for every great barbarian who was fool enough to help the treacherous roman; namely, by being murdered. alaric rose instantly, and with him all the gothic tribes. down through italy he past, almost without striking a blow. ravenna, infamous, according to sidonius, for its profligacy, where the emperor's court was, he past disdainfully, and sat down before the walls of rome. he did not try to storm it. probably he could not. he had no such machines, as those with which the romans battered walls. quietly he sat, he and his goths, 'as wolves wait round the dying buffalo;' waiting for the romans within to starve and die. they did starve and die; men murdered each other for food; mothers ate their own babes; but they sent out embassies, boasting of their strength and numbers. alaric laughed,--'the thicker the hay, the easier it is mowed.' what terms would he take? 'all your gold, all your silver, the best of your precious things. all your barbarian slaves.' that last is significant. he would deliver his own flesh and blood. the teuton man should be free. the trolls should drag no more of the forest children into their accursed den. 'what then will you leave us?' 'your lives.' they bought him off with a quaint ransom: pounds weight of gold, , of silver, robes of silk, pieces of scarlet cloth, and lbs. of pepper, possibly spices of all kinds. gold, and finery, and spices--gifts fit for children, such as those goths were. but he got, too, , teuton slaves safe out of the evil place, and embodied them into his army. he had now , fighting men. why did he not set up as king of italy? was it that the awe of the place, the prestige of the roman name, cowed him? it cowed each of the teutonic invaders successively. to make themselves emperors of rome was a thing of which they dared not dream. be that as it may, all he asked was, to be received as some sort of vassal of the emperor. the master-generalship of italy, subsidies for his army, an independent command in the tyrolese country, whence he had come, were his demand. overblown with self-conceit, the romans refused him. they would listen to no conditions. they were in a thoroughly chinese temper. you will find the byzantine empire in the same temper centuries after; blinded to present weakness by the traditions of their forefathers' strength. they had worshipped the beast. now that only his image was left, they worshipped that. alaric seized ostia, and cut off their supplies. they tried to appease him by dethroning honorius, and setting up some puppet attalus. alaric found him plotting; or said that he had done so; and degraded him publicly at rimini before his whole army. again he offered peace. the insane romans proclaimed that his guilt precluded him for ever from the clemency of the empire. then came the end. he marched on rome. the salarian gate was thrown open at midnight, probably by german slaves within; and then, for five dreadful days and nights, the wicked city expiated in agony the sins of centuries. and so at last the nibelungen hoard was won. 'and the kings of the earth who had lived delicately with her, and the merchants of the earth who were made rich by her, bewailed her, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, and crying, alas! alas, that great babylon! for in one hour is thy judgment come.' st. john passes in those words from the region of symbol to that of literal description. a great horror fell upon all nations, when the news came. rome taken? surely the end of all things was at hand. the wretched fugitives poured into egypt and syria--especially to jerusalem; perhaps with some superstitious hope that christ's tomb, or even christ himself, might save them. st. jerome, as he saw day by day patrician men and women who had passed their lives in luxury, begging their bread around his hermitage at bethlehem, wrote of the fall of rome as a man astonied. st. augustine, at hippo, could only look on it as the end of all human power and glory, perhaps of the earth itself. babylon the great had fallen, and now christ was coming in the clouds of heaven to set up the city of god for ever. in that thought he wrote his de civitate dei. read it, gentlemen--especially you who are to be priests--not merely for its details of the fall of rome, but as the noblest theodicy which has yet proceeded from a human pen. followed by long trains of captives, long trains of waggons bearing the spoils of all the world, alaric went on south, 'with the native instinct of the barbarian,' as dr. sheppard well says. always toward the sun. away from muspelheim and the dark cold north, toward the sun, and valhalla, where odin and the asas dwell in everlasting light. he tried to cross into sicily: but a storm wrecked his boats, and the goths were afraid of the sea. and after a while he died. and the wild men made a great mourning over him. they had now no plan left; no heart to go south, and look for odin over the sea. but of one thing they were resolved, that the base romans should not dig up alaric out of his barrow and scatter his bones to the winds. so they put no barrow over the great king; but under the walls of cosenza they turned the river-bed, and in that river-bed they set alaric, armed and mailed, upright upon his horse, with gold, and jewels, and arms, and it may be captive youths and maids, that he might enter into valhalla in royal pomp, and make a worthy show among the heroes in odin's hall. and then they turned back the river into its bed, and slew the slaves who had done the work, that no man might know where alaric lies: and no man does know till this day. as i said, they had no plan left now. two years they stayed in campania, basking in the villas and gardens, drinking their fill of the wine; and then flowed away northward again, no one knows why. they had no wish to settle, as they might have done. they followed some god-given instinct, undiscoverable now by us. ataulf, alaric's kinsman, married placidia, the emperor's beautiful young sister, and accepted from him some sort of commission to fight against his enemies in gaul. so to the south of gaul they went, and then into spain, crushing before them alans, sueves, and vandals, and quarrelling among themselves. ataulf was murdered, and all his children; placidia put to shame. then she had her revenge. to me it is not so much horrible as pitiful. they had got the nibelungen hoard; and with it the nibelungen curse. a hundred years afterwards, when the franks pillaged the gothic palace of narbonne, they found the remnants of it. things inestimable, indescribable; tables of solid emerald; the missorium, a dish lbs. weight, covered with all the gems of india. they had been in solomon's temple, fancied the simple franks--as indeed some of them may well have been. the arabs got the great emerald table at last, with its three rows of great pearls. where are they all now? what is become, gentlemen, of the treasures of rome? jewels, recollect, are all but indestructible; recollect, too, that vast quantities were buried from time to time, and their places forgotten. perhaps future generations will discover many such hoards. meanwhile, many of those same jewels must be in actual use even now. many a gem which hangs now on an english lady's wrist saw alaric sack rome--and saw before and since--what not? the palaces of the pharaohs, or of darius; then the pomp of the ptolemies, or of the seleucids--came into europe on the neck of some vulgar drunken wife of a roman proconsul, to glitter for a few centuries at every gladiator's butchery in the amphitheatre; then went away with placidia on a gothic ox- waggon, to pass into an arab seraglio at seville; and then, perhaps, back from sultan to sultan again to its native india, to figure in the peacock- throne of the great mogul, and be bought at last by some armenian for a few rupees from an english soldier, and come hither--and whither next? when england shall be what alexandria and rome are now, that little stone will be as bright as ever.--an awful symbol, if you will take it so, of the permanence of god's works and god's laws, amid the wild chance and change of sinful man. then followed for rome years of peace,--such peace as the wicked make for themselves--a troubled sea, casting up mire and dirt. wicked women, wicked counts (mayors of the palace, one may call them) like aetius and boniface, the real rulers of a nominal empire. puppet valentinian succeeded his father, puppet honorius. in his days appeared another great portent--another comet, sweeping down out of infinite space, and back into infinite space again.--attila and his huns. they lay in innumerable hordes upon the danube, until honoria, valentinian's sister, confined in a convent at constantinople for some profligacy, sent her ring to attila. he must be her champion, and deliver her. he paused a while, like alaric before him, doubting whether to dash on constantinople or rome, and at last decided for rome. but he would try gaul first; and into gaul he poured, with all his tartar hordes, and with them all the teuton tribes, who had gathered in his progress, as an avalanche gathers the snow in its course. at the great battle of chalons, in the year , he fought it out: hun, sclav, tartar, and finn, backed by teutonic gepid and herule, turkling, east goth and lombard, against roman and west goth, frank and burgund, and the bretons of armorica. wicked aetius shewed himself that day, as always, a general and a hero--the marlborough of his time--and conquered. attila and his hordes rolled away eastward, and into italy for rome. that is the hunnenschlacht; 'a battle,' as jornandes calls it, 'atrox, multiplex, immane, pertinax.' antiquity, he says, tells of nothing like it. no man who had lost that sight could say that he had seen aught worth seeing.--a fight gigantic, supernatural in vastness and horror, and the legends which still hang about the place. you may see one of them in von kaulbach's immortal design--the ghosts of the huns and the ghosts of the germans rising from their graves on the battle-night in every year, to fight it over again in the clouds, while the country far and wide trembles at their ghostly hurrah. no wonder men remember that hunnenschlacht. many consider that it saved europe; that it was one of the decisive battles of the world. not that attila was ruined. within the year he had swept through germany, crossed the alps, and devastated italy almost to the walls of rome. and there the great pope leo, 'the cicero of preaching, the homer of theology, the aristotle of true philosophy,' met the wild heathen: and a sacred horror fell upon attila, and he turned, and went his way, to die a year or two after no man knows how. over and above his innumerable wives, he took a beautiful german girl. when his people came in the morning, the girl sat weeping, or seeming to weep; but etzel, the scourge of god, lay dead in a pool of gore. she said that he had burst a blood- vessel. the teutons whispered among themselves, that like a free-born teuton, she had slain her tyrant. one longs to know what became of her. and then the hordes broke up. ardarich raised the teuton gepids and ostrogoths. the teutons who had obeyed attila, turned on their tartar conquerors, the only people who had ever subdued german men, and then only by brute force of overpowering numbers. at netad, upon the great plain between the drave and the danube, they fought the second hunnenschlacht, and the germans conquered. thirty thousand huns fell on that dreadful day, and the rest streamed away into the heart of asia, into the infinite unknown deserts from whence the foul miscreants had streamed forth, and left the teutons masters of the world. the battle of netad; that, and not chalons, to my mind, was the saving battle of europe. so rome was saved; but only for a few years. puppet valentinian rewarded aetius for saving rome, by stabbing with his own hand in his own palace, the hero of chalons; and then went on to fill up the cup of his iniquity. it is all more like some horrible romance than sober history. neglecting his own wife eudoxia, he took it into his wicked head to ravish her intimate friend, the wife of a senator. maximus stabbed him, retaliated on the beautiful empress, and made himself emperor. she sent across the seas to africa, to genseric the vandal, the cruel tyrant and persecutor. he must come and be her champion, as attila had been honoria's. and he came, with vandals, moors, naked ausurians from the atlas. the wretched romans, in their terror, tore maximus in pieces; but it was too late. eudoxia met genseric at the gates in royal robes and jewels. he stript her of her jewels on the spot, and sacked rome; and that was her reward. this is the second sack. more dreadful far than the first-- is its date. then it was that the statues, whose fragments are still found, were hurled in vain on the barbarian assailants. not merely gold and jewels, but the art-treasures of rome were carried off to the vandal fleet, and with them the golden table and the seven-branched candlestick which titus took from the temple of jerusalem. how had these things escaped the goths forty years before? we cannot tell. perhaps the gothic sack, which only lasted five days, was less complete than this one, which went on for fourteen days of unutterable horrors. the plunderers were not this time sturdy honest goths; not even german slaves, mad to revenge themselves on their masters: they were moors, ausurian black savages, and all the pirates and cut-throats of the mediterranean. sixty thousand prisoners were carried off to carthage. all the statues were wrecked on the voyage to africa, and lost for ever. and yet rome did not die. she lingered on; her emperor still calling himself an emperor, her senate a senate; feeding her lazy plebs, as best she could, with the remnant of those revenues which former emperors had set aside for their support--their public bread, public pork, public oil, public wine, public baths,--and leaving them to gamble and quarrel, and listen to the lawyers in rags and rascality, and to rise and murder ruler after ruler, benefactor after benefactor, out of base jealousy and fear of any one less base than themselves. and so 'the smoke of her torment went up continually.' but if rome would not die, still less would she repent; as it is written--'the remnant of the people repented not of their deeds, but gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the god of heaven.' as the century runs on, the confusion becomes more and more dreadful. anthemius, olybrius, orestes, and the other half-caste romans with greek names who become quasi-emperors and get murdered; ricimer the sueve, the king-maker and king-murderer; even good majorian, who as puppet emperor set up by ricimer, tries to pass a few respectable laws, and is only murdered all the sooner. none of these need detain us. they mean nothing, they represent no idea, they are simply kites and crows quarrelling over the carcase, and cannot possibly teach us anything, but the terrible lesson, that in all revolutions the worst men are certain to rise to the top. but only for a while, gentlemen, only for a while. villany is by its very essence self-destructive, and if rogues have their day, the time comes when rogues fall out, and honest men come by their own. that day, however, was not come for wretched rome. a third time she was sacked by ricimer her own general; and then more villains ruled her; and more kites and crows plundered her. the last of them only need keep us a while. he is odoacer, the giant herule, houd-y-wacker, as some say his name really is, a soubriquet perhaps from his war-cry, 'hold ye stoutly,' 'stand you steady.' his father was aedecon, attila's secretary, chief of the little turkling tribe, who, though teutonic, had clung faithfully to attila's sons, and after the battle of netad, came to ruin. there are strange stories of odoacer. one from the lives of st. severinus, how odoacer and his brothers started over the alps, knapsacks at back, to seek their fortunes in italy, and take service with the romans; and how they came to st. severinus' cell near vienna, and went in, heathens as they probably were, to get a blessing from the holy hermit; and how odoacer had to stoop, and stand stooping, so huge he was. and how the saint saw that he was no common lad, and said, 'go into italy, clothed in thy ragged sheep-skins: thou shalt soon give greater gifts to thy friends.' so he went, and his brother with him. one of them at least ought to interest us. he was onulf, hunwulf, wulf, guelph, the wolf-cub, who went away to constantinople, and saw strange things, and did strange things likewise, and at last got back to germany, and settled in bavaria, and became the ancestor of all the guelphs, and of victoria, queen of england. his son, wulfgang, fought under belisarius against the goths; his son again, ulgang, under belisarius against persian and lombard; his son or grandson was queen brunhilda's confidant in france, and became duke of burgundy; and after that the fortunes of his family were mixed up with the merovingian kings of france, and then again with the lombards in italy, till one of them emerges as guelf, count of altorf, the ancestor of our guelphic line. but to return to odoacer. he came to rome, seeking his fortune. there he found in power orestes, his father's old colleague at attila's court, the most unprincipled turn-coat of his day; who had been the emperor's man, then attila's man, and would be anybody's man if needed: but who was now his own man, being king-maker for the time being, and father of the puppet emperor, romulus augustulus, a pretty little lad, with an ominous name. odoacer took service under orestes in the bodyguards, became a great warrior and popular; watched his time; and when orestes refused the mercenaries, herules, rugians, scyrings, turklings and alans--all the weak or half-caste frontier tribes who had as yet little or no share in the spoils of italy--their demand of the third of the lands of italy, he betrayed his benefactor; promised the mercenaries to do for them what orestes would not, and raises his famous band of confederates. at last he called himself king of nations, burnt pavia, and murdered orestes, as a due reward for his benefits. stript of his purple, the last emperor of rome knelt crying at the feet of the german giant, and begged not to be murdered like his father. and the great wild beast's hard heart smote him, and he sent the poor little lad away, to live in wealth and peace in lucullus' villa at misenum, with plenty of money, and women, and gewgaws, to dream away his foolish life looking out over the fair bay of naples--the last emperor of rome. then odoacer set to work, and not altogether ill. he gave his confederates the third of italy, in fief under himself as king, and for fourteen years (not without the help of a few more murders) he kept some sort of rude order and justice in the wretched land. remember him, for, bad man as he is, he does represent a principle. he initiated, by that gift of the lands to his soldiers, the feudal system in italy. i do not mean that he invented it. it seems rather to be a primaeval german form, as old as the days of tacitus, who describes, if you will recollect, the german war-kings as parting the conquered lands among their 'comites,' thanes, or companions in arms. so we leave odoacer king of italy, for fourteen years, little dreaming, perhaps, of the day when as he had done unto others so should it be done to him. but for that tale of just and terrible retribution you must wait till the next lecture. and now, to refresh us with a gleam of wholesome humanity after all these horrors, let us turn to our worthy west goth cousins for a while. they have stopt cutting each other's throats, settled themselves in north spain and south france, and good bishop sidonius gets to like them. they are just and honest men on the whole, kindly, and respectable in morals, living according to their strange old gothic law. but above all sidonius likes their king--theodoric is his name. a man of blood he has been in his youth: but he has settled down, like his people; and here is a picture of him. a real photograph of a live old goth, nearly years ago. gibbon gives a good translation of it. i will give you one, but sidonius is prolix and florid, and i have had to condense. a middle-sized, stout man, of great breadth of chest, and thickness of limb, a large hand, and a small foot, curly haired, bushy eye-browed, with remarkably large eyes and eyelids, hook-nosed, thin-lipped; brilliant, cheerful, impassioned, full of health and strength in mind and body. he goes to chapel before day-light, sits till eight doing justice, while the crowd, let into a latticed enclosure, is admitted one by one behind a curtain into the presence. at eight he leaves the throne, and goes either to count his money, or look at his horses. if he hunts, he thinks it undignified to carry his bow, and womanish to keep it strung, a boy carries it behind him; and when game gets up, he asks you (or the bishop, who seems to have gone hunting with him) what you would wish him to aim at; strings his bow, and then (says sidonius) never misses his shot. he dines at noon, quietly in general, magnificently on saturdays; drinks very little, and instead of sleeping after dinner, plays at tables and dice. he is passionately fond of his game, but never loses his temper, joking and talking to the dice, and to every one round him, throwing aside royal severity, and bidding all be merry (says the bishop); for, to speak my mind, what he is afraid of is, that people should be afraid of him. if he wins he is in immense good humour; then is the time to ask favours of him; and, says the crafty bishop, many a time have i lost the game, and won my cause thereby. at three begins again the toil of state. the knockers return, and those who shove them away return too; everywhere the litigious crowd murmurs round; and follows him at evening, when he goes to supper, or gets its matters settled by the officers of the court, who have to stay there till bed- time. at supper, though there are but rarely 'mimici sales,' which i cannot translate--some sort of jesting: but biting and cruel insults (common at the feasts of the roman emperors) are never allowed. his taste in music is severe. no water-organs, flute-player, lyrist, cymbal or harp-playing woman is allowed. all he delights in is the old teutonic music, whose virtue (says the bishop) soothes the soul no less than does its sound the ear. when he rises from table the guards for the night are set, and armed men stand at all the doors, to watch him through the first hours of sleep. lecture iv.--the gothic civilizer let us follow the fortunes of italy and of rome. they are not only a type of the fortunes of the whole western world, but the fortunes of that world, as you will see, depend on rome. you must recollect, meanwhile, that by the middle of the fifth century, the western empire had ceased to exist. the angles and saxons were fighting their way into britain. the franks were settled in north france and the lower rhineland. south of them, the centre of gaul still remained roman, governed by counts of cities, who were all but independent sovereigns, while they confessed a nominal allegiance to the emperor of constantinople. their power was destined soon to be annihilated by the conquests of clovis and his franks--as false and cruel ruffians as their sainted king, the first-born son of the church. the history of gaul for some centuries becomes henceforth a tissue of internecine horrors, which you must read for yourselves in the pages of m. sismondi, or of gregory of tours. the allemanni (whose name has become among the franks the general name for germans) held the lands from the maine to the rhaetian alps. the burgunds, the lands to the south- west of them, comprising the greater part of south-east gaul. the west goths held the south-west of gaul, and the greater part of spain, having thrust the sueves, and with them some alans, into gallicia, asturias, and portugal; and thrust, also, the vandals across the straits of gibraltar, to found a prosperous kingdom along the northern shore of africa. the east goths, meanwhile, after various wanderings to the north of the alps, lay in the present austria and in the danube lands, resting after their great struggle with the huns, and their crowning victory of netad. to follow the fortunes of italy, we must follow those of these east goths, and especially of one man among them, theodoric, known in german song as dietrich of bern or verona. interesting exceedingly to us should this great hero be. no man's history better shows the strange relations between the teutons and the dying empire: but more; his life is the first instance of a teuton attempting to found a civilized and ordered state, upon experience drawn from roman sources; of the young world trying to build itself up some sort of dwelling out of the ruins of the old. dietrich failed, it is true. but if the thing had been then possible, he seems to have been the man to have done it. he lived and laboured like what he was--a royal amal, a true son of woden. unable to write, he founded a great kingdom by native virtue and common sense. called a barbarian, he restored prosperity to ruined italy, and gave to it (and with it to the greater part of the western world), peace for three and thirty years. brought up among hostile sects, he laid down that golden law of religious liberty which the nineteenth century has not yet courage and humanity enough to accept. but if his life was heroic, his death was tragic. he failed after all in his vast endeavours, from causes hidden from him, but visible, and most instructive, to us; and after having toiled impartially for the good of conquerors and of conquered alike, he died sadly, leaving behind him a people who, most of them, believed gladly the news that a holy hermit had seen his soul hurled down the crater of stromboli, as a just punishment for the inexpiable crime of being wiser than his generation. some have complained of gibbon's 'hero-worship' of dietrich--i do not. the honest and accurate cynic so very seldom worshipped a hero, or believed in the existence of any, that we may take his good opinion as almost final and without appeal. one author, for whose opinion i have already exprest a very high respect, says that he was but a wild man of the woods to the last; polished over skin-deep with roman civilization; 'scratch him, and you found the barbarian underneath { }.' it may be true. if it be true, it is a very high compliment. it was not from his roman civilization, but from his 'barbarian' mother and father, that he drew the 'vive intelligence des choses morales, et ces inspirations elevees et heroiques,' which m. thierry truly attributes to him. if there was, as m. thierry truly says, another nature struggling within him--is there not such in every man? and are not the struggles the more painful, the temptations more dangerous, the inconsistencies too often the more shameful, the capacities for evil as well as for good, more huge, just in proportion to the native force and massiveness of the soul? the doctrine may seem dangerous. it is dangerous, like many truths; and woe to those who, being unlearned and unstable, wrest it to their own destruction; and presume upon it to indulge their own passions under byronic excuses of 'genius,' or 'muscular christianity.' but it is true nevertheless: so at least the bible tells us, in its wonderful delineations of david, 'the man after god's own heart,' and of st. peter, the chief of the apostles. and there are points of likeness between the character of dietrich, and that of david, which will surely suggest themselves to any acute student of human nature. m. thierry attributes to him, as his worse self, 'les instincts les plus violents; la cruaute, l'astuce, l'egoisme impitoyable.' the two first counts are undeniable--at least during his youth: they were the common vices of the age. the two latter i must hold as not proven by facts: but were they proven, they would still be excusable, on the simple ground of his greek education. 'cunning and pitiless egotism' were the only moral qualities which dietrich is likely to have seen exercised at the court of constantinople: and what wonder, if he was somewhat demoralized by the abominable atmosphere which he breathed from childhood? dietrich is an illustration of the saga with which these lectures began. he is the very type of the forest child, bewitched by the fine things of the wicked troll garden. the key to the man's character, indeed the very glory of it, is the long struggle within him, between the teutonic and the greek elements. dazzled and debauched, at times, by the sinful glories of the bosphorus, its palaces, its gold, and its women, he will break the spell desperately. he will become a wild goth and an honest man once more; he will revenge his own degradation on that court and empire which he knows well enough to despise, distrust and hate. again and again the spell comes over him. his vanity and his passions make him once more a courtier among the greeks; but the blood of odin is strong within him still; again and again he rises, with a noble shame, to virtue and patriotism, trampling under foot selfish luxury and glory, till the victory is complete; and he turns away in the very moment of the greatest temptation, from the bewitching city, to wander, fight, starve, and at last conquer a new land for himself and for his nation; and shew, by thirty years of justice and wisdom, what that true dietrich was, which had been so long overlaid by the false dietrich of his sinful youth. look at the facts of his history, as they stand, and see whether they do not bear out this, and no other, theory of his character. the year was , two years after attila's death. near vienna a boy was born, of theodemir one of the gothic kings and his favourite erleva. he was sent when eight years old to constantinople as a hostage. the emperor leo had agreed to pay the goths pounds of gold every year, if they would but leave him in peace; and young dietrich was the pledge of the compact. there he grew up amid all the wisdom of the romans, watching it all, and yet never even learning to write. it seems to some that the german did not care to learn; it seems to me rather that they did not care to teach. he came back to his people at eighteen, delighted them by his strength and stature, and became, to all appearance, a goth of the goths; going adventures with six thousand volunteers against the sarmatae, who had just defeated the greeks, and taken a city--which he retook, but instead of restoring it to the emperor, kept himself. food becoming scarce in austria, the ostrogoths moved some into italy, some down on illyria and thessaly; and the emperor gracefully presented them with the country of which they had already taken possession. in every case, you see, this method went on. the failing emperors bought off the teutons where they could; submitted to them where they could not; and readily enough turned on them when they had a chance. the relations between the two parties can be hardly better explained, than by comparing them to those between the english adventurers in hindostan and the falling rajahs and sultans of the last century. after a while theodoric, or dietrich, found himself, at his father's death, sole king of the ostrogoths. this period of his life is very obscure: but one hint at least we have, which may explain his whole future career. side by side with him and with his father before him, there was another dietrich--dietrich the one-eyed, son of triar, a low- born adventurer, who had got together the remnants of some low-caste tribes, who were called the goths of thrace, and was swaggering about the court of constantinople, as, when the east goths first met him, what we call warden of the marches, with some annual pay for his goths. he was insolent to theodemir and his family, and they retaliated by bitter hatred. it was intolerable for them, amals, sons of odin, to be insulted by this upstart. so they went on for years, till the miserable religious squabble fell out--you may read it in gibbon--which ended in the emperor zeno, a low-born and cunning man, suspected of the murder of his own son by the princess ariadne, being driven out of constantinople by basiliscus. we need not enter into such matters, except as far as they bear on the history of dietrich the amal. dietrich the one-eyed helped basiliscus--and then zeno seems to have sent for dietrich the amal to help him. he came, but too late. basiliscus' party had already broken up; basiliscus and his family had taken refuge in a church, from whence zeno enticed him, on the promise of shedding no blood, which he did not: but instead, put him, his wife and children, in a dry cistern, walled it up and left them. dietrich the amal rose into power and great glory, and became 'son-in- arms' to the emperor. but the young amal longed for adventures. he offered to take his ostrogoths into italy, drive out odoacer, and seat on the throne of the west, nepos, one of the many puppets who had been hurled off it a few years before. zeno had need of the young hero nearer home, and persuaded him to stay in constantinople, eat, drink, and be merry. whereon odoacer made romulus agustulus and the roman senate write to zeno that they wanted no emperor save him at constantinople; that they were very happy under the excellent odoacer, and that they therefore sent to zeno, as the rightful owner, all the imperial insignia and ornaments; things which may have been worn, some of them, by augustus himself. and so ended, even in name, the empire of rome. all which the amal saw, and, as will appear, did not forget. zeno gave the amal all that the one-eyed had had before him, and paid the ostrogoths yearly as he had paid the one-eye's men. the one-eyed was banished to his cantonments, and of course revolted. zeno wanted to buy him off, but the amal would not hear of it; he would not help the romans against his rival, unless they swore perpetual enmity against him. they did so, and he marched to the assistance of the wretched empire. he was to be met by roman reinforcements at the haemus. they never came; and the amal, disgusted and disheartened, found himself entangled in the defiles of the haemus, starving and worn out; with the one-eyed entrenched on an inaccessible rock, where he dared not attack him. then followed an extraordinary scene. the one-eyed came down again and again from his rock, and rode round the amal's camp, shouting to him words so true, that one must believe them to have been really spoken. 'perjured boy, madman, betrayer of your race--do you not see that the roman plan is as always to destroy goths by goths? whichever of us falls, they, not we, will be the stronger. they never met you as they promised, at the cities, nor here. they have sent you out here to perish in the desert.' then the east goths raised a cry. 'the one-eyed is right. the amal cares not that these men are goths like ourselves.' then the one-eyed appeals to the goths themselves, as he curses the amal. 'why are you killing your kinsmen? why have you made so many widows? where is all their wealth gone, they who set out to fight for you? each of them had two or three horses: but now they are walking on foot behind you like slaves,--free-men as well-born as yourself:--and you promised to measure them out gold by the bushel.' was it not true? if young dietrich had in him (and he shewed that he had in after years) a teuton's heart, may not that strange interview have opened his eyes to his own folly, and taught him that the teuton must be his own master, and not the mercenary of the romans? the men cried out that it was true. he must make peace with the one-eyed, or they would do it themselves; and peace was made. they both sent ambassadors to zeno; the amal complaining of treachery; the one-eyed demanding indemnity for all his losses. the emperor was furious. he tried to buy off the amal by marrying him to a princess of the blood royal, and making him a caesar. dietrich would not consent; he felt that it was a snare. zeno proclaimed the one-eyed an enemy to the empire; and ended by reinstating him in his old honours, and taking them from the amal. the amal became furious, burnt villages, slaughtered the peasants, even (the greeks say) cut off the hands of his captives. he had broken with the romans at last. the roman was astride of him, and of all teutons, like sindbad's old man of the sea. the only question, as with sindbad, was whether he should get drunk, and give them a chance of throwing the perfidious tyrant. and now the time was come. he was compelled to ask himself, not--what shall i be in relation to myself: but what shall i be in relation to the kaiser of the romans--a mercenary, a slave, or a conqueror--for one of the three i must be? so it went on, year after year--sometimes with terrible reverses for dietrich, till the year . then the old one-eyed died, in a strange way. mounting a wild horse at the tent-door, the beast reared before he could get his seat; afraid of pulling it over by the curb, he let it go. a lance, in gothic fashion, was hanging at the tent-door, and the horse plunged the one-eyed against it. the point went deep into his side, and the old fighting man was at rest for ever. and then came a strange peripeteia for the amal. zeno, we know not why, sent instantly for him. he had been ravaging, pursuing, defeating roman troops, or being defeated by them. now he must come to rome. his goths should have the lower danube. he should have glory and honour to spare. he came. his ideal, at this time, seems actually to have been to live like a roman citizen in constantinople, and help to govern the empire. recollect, he was still little more than five and twenty years old. so he went to constantinople, and i suppose with him the faithful mother, and faithful sister, who had been with him in all his wanderings. he had a triumph decreed him at the emperor's expense, was made consul ordinarius ('which,' saith jornandes, 'is accounted the highest good and chief glory in the world') and master-general, and lodged in the palace. what did it all mean? dietrich was dazzled by it, at least for a while. what it meant, he found out too soon. he was to fight the emperor's battles against all rebels, and he fought them, to return irritated, complaining (justly or unjustly) of plots against his life; to be pacified, like a child, with the honour of an equestrian statue; then to sink down into byzantine luxury for seven inglorious years, with only one flashing out of the ancient spirit, when he demanded to go alone against the bulgars, and killed their king with his own hand. what woke him from his dream? the cry of his starving people. the goths, settled on the lower danube, had been living, as wild men and mercenaries live, recklessly from hand to mouth, drinking and gambling till their families were in want. they send to the amal. 'while thou art revelling at roman banquets, we are starving--come back ere we are ruined.' they were jealous, too, of the success of odoacer and his mercenaries. he was growing now to be a great power; styling himself 'king of nations { },' giving away to the visigoths the narbonnaise, the last remnant of the western empire; collecting round him learned romans like symmachus, boethius, and cassiodorus; respecting the catholic clergy; and seemingly doing his best to govern well. his mercenaries, however, would not be governed. under their violence and oppression agriculture and population were both failing; till pope gelasius speaks of 'aemilia, tuscia, ceteraeque provinciae in quibus nullus prope hominum existit.' meanwhile there seems to have been a deep hatred on the part of the goths to odoacer and his mercenaries. dr. sheppard thinks that they despised him himself as a man of low birth. but his father aedecon had been chief of the turklings, and was most probably of royal blood. it is very unlikely, indeed, that so large a number of teutons would have followed any man who had not odin's blood in his veins. was there a stain on odoacer from his early connexion with attila? or was the hatred against his men more than himself, contempt especially of the low-caste herules,--a question of race, springing out of those miserable tribe-feuds, which kept the teutons always divided and weak? be that as it may, odoacer had done a deed which raised this hatred to open fury. he had gone over the alps into rugiland (then noricum, and the neighbourhood of vienna) and utterly destroyed those of the rugier who had not gone into italy under his banner. they had plundered, it is said, the cell of his old friend st. severinus, as soon as the saint died, of the garments laid up for the poor, and a silver cup, and the sacred vessels of the mass. be that as it may, odoacer utterly exterminated them, and carried their king feletheus, or fava, back to italy, with gisa his 'noxious wife;' and with them many roman christians, and (seemingly) the body of st. severinus himself. but this had been a small thing, if he had not advised himself to have a regular roman triumph, with fava, the captive king, walking beside his chariot; and afterwards, in the approved fashion of the ancient romans on such occasions, to put fava to death in cold blood. the records of this feat are to be found, as far as i know them, in one short chapter (i. xix.) of paulus diaconus, and in muratori's notes thereto; but however small the records, the deed decided the fate of italy. frederic, son of fava, took refuge with the ostrogoths, and demanded revenge in the name of his royal race; and it is easy to conceive that the sympathies of the goths would be with him. an attack (seemingly unprovoked) on an ancient teutonic nation by a mere band of adventurers was--or could easily be made--a grievous wrong, and clear casus belli, over and above the innate teutonic lust for fighting and adventures, simply for the sake of 'the sport.' dietrich went back, and from that day, the dream of eastern luxury was broken, and young dietrich was a goth again, for good and for evil. he assembled the goths, and marched straight on constantinople, burning and pillaging as he went. so say, at least, the greek historians, of whom, all through this strange story, no one need believe more than he likes. had the goths had the writing of the life of dietrich, we should have heard another tale. as it is, we have, as it were, a life of lord clive composed by the court scribes of delhi. to no roman would he tell what was in his mind. five leagues from constantinople he paused. some say that he had compassion on the city where he had been brought up. who can tell? he demanded to speak to zeno alone, and the father in arms and his wild son met once more. there was still strong in him the old teutonic feudal instinct. he was 'zeno's man,' in spite of all. he asked (says jornandes) zeno's leave to march against odoacer, and conquer italy. procopius and the valesian fragment say that zeno sent him, and that in case of success, he was to reign there till zeno came. zeno was, no doubt, glad to get rid of him at any price. as ennodius well says, 'another's honour made him remember his own origin, and fear the very legions which obeyed him--for that obedience is suspected which serves the unworthy.' rome was only nominally under zeno's dominion; and it mattered little to him whether herule or gothic adventurer called himself his representative. then was held a grand function. dietrich, solemnly appointed 'patrician,' had italy ceded to him by a 'pragmatic' sanction, and zeno placed on his head the sacrum velamen, a square of purple, signifying in constantinople things wonderful, august, imperial--if they could only be made to come to pass. and he made them come to pass. he gathered all teutonic heroes of every tribe, as well as his own; and through roumelia, and through the alps, a long and dangerous journey, went dietrich and his goths, with their wives and children, and all they had, packed on waggons; living on their flocks and herds, grinding their corn in hand- mills, and hunting as they went, for seven hundred miles of march; fighting as they went with bulgars and sarmatians, who had swarmed into the waste marches of hungary and carniola, once populous, cultivated, and full of noble cities; fighting a desperate battle with the gepidae, up to their knees in a morass; till over the passes of the julian alps, where icicles hung upon their beards, and their clothes cracked with frost, they poured into the venetian plains. it was a daring deed; and needed a spirit like dietrich's to carry it through. odoacer awaited him near the ruins of aquileia. on the morning of the fight, as he was arming, dietrich asked his noble mother to bring him some specially fine mantle, which she had embroidered for him, and put it over his armour, 'that all men may see how he goes gayer into the fight than ever he did into feast. for this day she shall see whether she have brought a man-child into the world, or no.' and in front of verona (where the plain was long white with human bones), he beat odoacer, and after a short and sharp campaign, drove him to ravenna. but there, roman fortifications, and roman artillery, stopped, as usual, the goth; and odoacer fulfilled his name so well, and stood so stout, that he could only be reduced by famine; and at last surrendered on terms, difficult now to discover. gibbon says, that there was a regular compact that they should enjoy equal authority, and refers to procopius: but procopius only says, that they should live together peaceably 'in that city.' be that as it may, odoacer and his party were detected, after awhile, conspiring against dietrich, and put to death in some dark fashion. gibbon, as advocatus diaboli, of course gives the doubt against dietrich, by his usual enthymeme--all men are likely to be rogues, ergo, dietrich was one. rather hard measure, when one remembers that the very men who tell the story are dietrich's own enemies. by far the most important of them, the author of the valesian fragment, who considers dietrich damned as an arian, and the murderer of boethius and symmachus, says plainly that odoacer plotted against his life. but it was a dark business at best. be that as it may, dietrich the amal found himself in one day king of all italy, without a peer. and now followed a three and thirty years' reign of wisdom, justice, and prosperity, unexampled in the history of those centuries. between the days of the antonines and those of charlemagne, i know no such bright spot in the dark history of europe. as for his transferring the third of the lands of italy, which had been held by odoacer's men, to his own goths,--that was just or unjust (even putting out of the question the rights of conquest), according to what manner of men odoacer's mercenaries were, and what right they had to the lands. at least it was done so, says cassiodorus, that it notoriously gave satisfaction to the romans themselves. one can well conceive it. odoacer's men had been lawless adventurers; and now law was installed as supreme. dietrich, in his long sojourn at the emperor's court, had discovered the true secret of roman power, which made the empire terrible even in her fallen fortunes; and that was law. law, which tells every man what to expect, and what is expected of him; and so gives, if not content, still confidence, energy, industry. the goths were to live by the gothic law, the romans by the roman. to amalgamate the two races would have been as impossible as to amalgamate english and hindoos. the parallel is really tolerably exact. the goth was very english; and the over-civilized, learned, false, profligate roman was the very counterpart of the modern brahmin. but there was to be equal justice between man and man. if the goths were the masters of much of the roman soil, still spoliation and oppression were forbidden; and the remarkable edict or code of theodoric, shews how deeply into his great mind had sunk the idea of the divineness of law. it is short, and of draconic severity, especially against spoliation, cheating, false informers, abuse by the clergy of the rights of sanctuary, and all offences against the honour of women. i advise you all to study it, as an example of what an early teutonic king thought men ought to do, and could be made to do. the romans were left to their luxury and laziness; and their country villas (long deserted) were filled again by the owners. the goths were expected to perform military service, and were drilled from their youth in those military evolutions which had so often given the disciplined roman the victory over the undisciplined goth, till every pomoerium (boulevard), says ennodius, might be seen full of boys and lads, learning to be soldiers. everything meanwhile was done to soothe the wounded pride of the conquered. the senate of rome was still kept up in name (as by odoacer), her nobles flattered by sonorous titles, and the officers of the kingdom and the palace bore the same names as they would have done under roman emperors. the whole was an attempt to develop dietrich's own goths by the only civilization which he knew, that of constantinople: but to engraft on it an order, a justice, a freedom, a morality, which was the 'barbarian' element. the treasures of roman art were placed under the care of government officers; baths, palaces, churches, aqueducts, were repaired or founded; to build seems to have been dietrich's great delight; and we have left us, on a coin, some image of his own palace at verona, a strange building with domes and minarets, something like a turkish mosque; standing, seemingly, on the arcades of some older roman building. dietrich the goth may, indeed, be called the founder of 'byzantine' architecture throughout the western world. meanwhile, agriculture prospered once more; the pontine marshes were drained; the imperial ports restored, and new cities sprang up. 'the new ones,' says machiavelli, 'were venice, siena, ferrara, aquileia; and those which became extended were florence, genoa, pisa, milan, naples, and bologna.' of these the great sea-ports, especially venice, were founded not by goths, but by roman and greek fugitives: but it was the security and liberality of dietrich's reign which made their existence possible; and venice really owes far more to the barbarian hero, than to the fabled patronage of st. mark. 'from this devastation and new population,' continues machiavelli, 'arose new languages, which, partaking of the native idiom of the new people, and of the old roman, formed a new manner of discourse. besides, not only were the names of provinces changed, but also of lakes, rivers, seas, and men; for france, spain, and italy are full of fresh names, wholly different from the ancient.' this reign of dietrich was, in fact, the birth-hour of modern italy; and, as machiavelli says, 'brought the country to such a state of greatness, that her previous sufferings were unrecognizable.' we shall see hereafter how the great goth's work was all undone; and (to their everlasting shame) by whom it was undone. the most interesting records of the time are, without doubt, the letters of cassiodorus, the king's secretary and chancellor, which have come down to us in great numbers. there are letters among them on all questions of domestic and foreign policy: to the kings of the varni, kings of the herules, kings of the thuringer (who were still heathens beyond the black forest), calling on them all to join him and the burgundians, and defend his son-in-law alaric ii., king of the visigoths, against clovis and his franks. there are letters, too, bearing on the religious feuds of the roman population, and on the morals and social state of rome itself, of which i shall say nothing in this lecture, having cause to refer to them hereafter. but if you wish to know the times, you must read cassiodorus thoroughly. in his letters you will remark how most of the so-called roman names are greek. you will remark, too, as a sign of the decadence of taste and art, that though full of wisdom and practical morality, the letters are couched in the most wonderful bombast to be met with, even in that age of infimae latinitatis. one can only explain their style by supposing that king dietrich, having supplied the sense, left it for cassiodorus to shape it as he thought best; and when the letter was read over to him, took for granted (being no scholar) that that was the way in which roman caesars and other cultivated personages ought to talk; admired his secretary's learning; and probably laughed in his sleeve at the whole thing, thinking that ten words of honest german would have said all that he meant. as for understanding these flights of rhetoric, it is impossible that dietrich could have done so: perhaps not even cassiodorus himself. take as one example, such a letter as this.--after a lofty moral maxim, which i leave for you to construe--'in partem pietatis recidit mitigata districtio; et sub beneficio praestat, qui poenam debitam moderatione considerata palpaverit,'--jovinus the curial is informed, after the most complex method, that having first quarrelled with a fellow-curial, and then proceeded to kill him, he is banished for life to the isle of volcano, among the liparis. as a curial is a gentleman and a government magistrate, the punishment is just enough; but why should cassiodorus (certainly not king dietrich) finish a short letter by a long dissertation on volcanoes in general, and stromboli in particular, insisting on the wonder that the rocks, though continually burnt, are continually renewed by 'the inextricable potency of nature;' and only returning to jovinus to inform him that he will henceforth follow the example of a salamander, which always lives in fire, 'being so contracted by natural cold, that it is tempered by burning flame. it is a thin and small animal, connected with worms, and clothed with a yellow colour;' . . . cassiodorus then returns to the main subject of volcanoes, and ends with a story of stromboli having broken out just as hannibal poisoned himself at the court of prusias;--information which may have been interesting, though not consoling, to poor jovinus, in the prospect of living there; but of which one would like to have had king dietrich's opinion. did he felicitate himself like a simple teuton, on the wonderful learning and eloquence of his greek-roman secretary? or did he laugh a royal laugh at the whole letter, and crack a royal joke at cassiodorus and all quill-driving schoolmasters and lawyers--the two classes of men whom the goths hated especially, and at the end to which they by their pedantries had brought imperial rome? one would like to know. for not only was dietrich no scholar himself, but he had a contempt for the very scholarship which he employed, and forbade the goths to learn it--as the event proved, a foolish and fatal prejudice. but it was connected in his mind with chicanery, effeminacy, and with the cruel and degrading punishments of children. perhaps the ferula had been applied to him at constantinople in old days. if so, no wonder that he never learnt to write. 'the boy who trembles at a cane,' he used to say, 'will never face a lance.' his mother wit, meanwhile, was so shrewd that 'many of his sayings (says the unknown author of the invaluable valesian fragment) remain among us to this day.' two only, as far as i know, have been preserved, quaint enough: 'he that hath gold, or a devil, cannot hide it.' and 'the roman, when poor, apes the goth: the goth, when rich, apes the roman.' there is a sort of solomon's judgment, too, told of him, in the case of a woman who refused to acknowledge her own son, which was effectual enough; but somewhat too homely to repeat. as for his personal appearance, it was given in a saga; but i have not consulted it myself, and am no judge of its authenticity. the traditional description of him is that of a man almost beardless--a rare case among the goths--with masses of golden ringlets, and black eyebrows over 'oculos caesios,' the blue grey eyes common to so many conquerors. a complexion so peculiar, that one must believe it to be truly reported. his tragic death, and the yet more tragic consequences thereof, will be detailed in the next lecture. lecture v--dietrich's end. i have now to speak to you on the latter end of dietrich's reign--made so sadly famous by the death of boethius--the last roman philosopher, as he has been called for centuries, and not unjustly. his de consolatione philosophiae is a book good for any man, full of wholesome and godly doctrine. for centuries it ranked as high as the highest classics; higher perhaps at times than any book save the bible, among not merely scholars, but statesmen. it is the last legacy of the dying old world to the young world which was trampling it out of life; and therefore it is full of sadness. but beneath the sadness there is faith and hope; for god is just, and virtue must be triumphant and immortal, and the absolute and only good for man. the whole story is very sad. dietrich was one of those great men, who like henry viii, elizabeth, napoleon, or the late czar nicholas, have lived too long for their own honour. the old heathen would have attributed his misadventures to a [greek text], an envy of the gods, who will not abide to see men as prosperous as they themselves are. we may attribute it more simply and more piously to the wear and tear of frail humanity. for it may be that very few human souls can stand for many years the strain of a great rule. i do not mean that they break down from overwork, but that they are pulled out of shape by it; and that, especially, the will becomes enormously developed at the expense of the other powers of the soul, till the man becomes, as he grows older, imperious, careless of, or irritated by counsel, determined to have his own way because it is his own way. we see the same tendency in all accustomed for a long while to absolute rule, even in petty matters;--in the old ship's captain, the old head of a factory, the old master of hounds; and we do not blame them for it. it is a disease incident to their calling, as pedantry is to that of a scholar, or astuteness to that of an attorney. but it is most dangerous in the greatest minds, and in the highest places; and only to be kept off by them, as by us, each in our place, by honest self-examination, diligent prayer, and the grace of god which comes thereby. once or twice in the world's history a great ruler, like charles the fifth, cuts the gordian knot, and escapes into a convent: but how few can or ought to do that? there are those who must go on ruling, or see their country ruined; for all depends on them. so had queen elizabeth to do; so had dietrich of bern likewise. after them would come the deluge, and did come; and they must endure to the last, whatever it may cost to their own health of character, or peace of mind. but most painful, and most dangerous to the veteran sovereign, is it to have learnt to suspect, perhaps to despise, those whom he rules; to have thrown away all his labour upon knaves and fools; to have cast his pearls before swine, and find them turning again and rending him. that feeling, forced from queen elizabeth, in her old age, that tragic cry, 'i am a miserable forlorn woman. there is none about me whom i can trust.' she was a woman, always longing for some one to love; and her heart broke under it all. but do you not see that where the ruler is not an affectionate woman, but a strong proud man, the effect may be very different, and very terrible?--how, roused to indignation, scorn, suspicion, rage, he may turn to bay against his own subjects, with 'scoundrels! you have seen the fair side of my character, and in vain. now you shall see the foul, and beware for yourselves.' even so, i fancy, did old dietrich turn to bay, and did deeds which have blackened his name for ever. heaven forgive him! for surely he had provocation enough and to spare. i have told you of the simple, half-superstitious respect which the teuton had for the prestige of rome. dietrich seems to have partaken of it, like the rest. else why did he not set himself up as caesar of rome? why did he always consider himself as son-in-arms, and quasi-vassal, of the caesar of constantinople? he had been in youth overawed by the cunning civilization which he had seen in the great city. he felt, with a noble modesty, that he could not emulate it. he must copy it afar off. he must take to his counsels men like cassiodorus, symmachus, boethius, born and bred in it; trained from childhood in the craft by which, as a patent fact, the kaisers of rome had been for centuries, even in their decay and degradation, the rulers of the nations. yet beneath that there must have been a perpetual under-current of contempt for it and for rome--the 'colluvies gentium'--the sink of the nations, with its conceit, its pomposity, its beggary, its profligacy, its superstition, its pretence of preserving the roman law and rights, while practically it cared for no law nor right at all. dietrich had had to write letter upon letter, to prevent the green and blue factions cutting each other's throats at the public spectacles; letters to the tribunus voluptatum, who had to look after the pantomimes and loose women, telling him to keep the poor wretches in some decent order, and to set them and the city an example of a better life, by being a chaste and respectable man himself. letter upon letter of cassiodorus', written in dietrich's name, disclose a state of things in rome on which a goth could look only with disgust and contempt. and what if he discovered (or thought that he discovered) that these prating coxcombs--who were actually living on government bounty, and had their daily bread, daily bath, daily oil, daily pork, daily wine, found for them at government expense, while they lounged from the theatre to the church, and the church to the theatre--were plotting with justin the scoundrel and upstart emperor at constantinople, to restore forsooth the liberties of rome? and that that was their answer to his three and thirty years of good government, respect, indulgence, which had raised them up again out of all the miseries of domestic anarchy and foreign invasion? and what if he discovered (or thought that he discovered) that the catholic clergy, with pope john at their head, were in the very same plot for bringing in the emperor of constantinople, on the grounds of religion; because he was persecuting the arian goths at constantinople, and therefore would help them to persecute them in italy? and that that was their answer to his three and thirty years of unexampled religious liberty? would not those two facts (even the belief that they were facts) have been enough to drive many a wise man mad? how far they were facts, we never shall exactly know. almost all our information comes from catholic historians--and he would be a rash man who would pin his faith on any statement of theirs concerning the actions of a heretic. but i think, even with no other help than theirs, we may see why dietrich would have looked with horror on any intimacy between the church of rome and the court of constantinople. we must remember first what the greek empire was then, and who was the new emperor. anastasius the poor old emperor, dying at eighty with his heart broken by monks and priests, had an ugly dream; and told it to amantius the eunuch and lord chamberlain. whereon amantius said he had had a dream too;--how a great hog flew at him as he was in waiting in the very presence, and threw him down and eat him fairly up. which came true--though not in the way amantius expected. on the death of anastasius he determined to set up as emperor a creature of his own. for this purpose he must buy the guards; to which noble end he put a large sum of treasure into the hands of justin, senator, and commander-in-chief of the said guards, who takes the money, and spends it on his own account; so that the miserable eunuch finds, not his man, but justin himself, emperor, and his hard-earned money spent against him. the mere rise of this unscrupulous swindler and his still more unscrupulous nephew, justinian, would have been enough to rouse dietrich's suspicion, if not fear. deep and unspeakable must have been the royal amal's contempt for the man. for he must have known him well at constantinople in his youth; known how he was a goth or other teuton after all, though he was called a dardanian; how his real name was uprauda (upright), the son of stock--which uprauda he had latinized into justinus. the amal knew well how he had entered the emperor's guard; how he had intrigued and fought his way up (for the man did not lack courage and conduct) to his general's commission; and now, by a crowning act of roguery, to the empire. he had known too, most probably, the man's vulgar peasant wife, who, in her efforts to ape royalty, was making herself the laughing-stock of the people, and who was urging on her already willing husband to persecute. and this man he saw ready to convulse his own empire by beginning a violent persecution against the arians. he was dangerous enough as a villain, doubly dangerous as a bigot also. we must remember next what the greek church was then; a chaos of intrigue, villainy, slander, and wild fury, tearing to pieces itself and the whole empire by religious feuds, in which the doctrine in question becomes invisible amid the passions and crimes of the disputants, while the lords of the church were hordes of wild monks, who swarm out of their dens to head the lowest mobs, or fight pitched battles with each other. the ecclesiastical history of the fifth century in the eastern empire is one, which not even the genius of a gibbon or a milman can make interesting, or even intelligible. recollect that dietrich had seen much of this with his own eyes; had seen actually, as i told you, the rebellion of basiliscus and the eutychian bishops headed by the mad daniel the stylite against his foster father the emperor zeno; had seen that emperor (as dean milman forcibly puts it) 'flying before a naked hermit, who had lost the use of his legs by standing sixteen years upon a column.' recollect that dietrich and his goths had helped to restore that emperor to his throne; and then understand in what a school he had learnt his great ideas of religious toleration: how deep must have been the determination to have no such doings in his kingdom; how deep, too, the dread of any similar outbreak at rome. recollect, also, that now in his old age he had just witnessed the same iniquities again rending the eastern empire; the old emperor anastasius hunted to death by armies of mad monks about the monophysite heresy; the cities, even the holiest places of the east, stained with christian blood; everywhere mob-law, murder, treachery, assassination even in the house of god; and now the new emperor justin was throwing himself into the party of the orthodox with all the blind rage of an ignorant peasant; persecuting, expelling, shutting up the arian churches of the goths, refusing to hear dietrich's noble appeals; and evidently organizing a great movement against those peaceable arians, against whom, during the life-time of dietrich, their bitterest enemies do not allege a single case of persecution. remember, too, that dietrich had had experience of similar outbreaks of fanaticism at rome; that the ordination of two rival popes had once made the streets run with blood; that he had seen priests murdered, monasteries fired, nuns insulted, and had had to interfere with the strong arm of the law, and himself decide in favour of the pope who had the most votes, and was first chosen; and that in the quarrels, intrigues, and slanders, which followed that election, he had had too good proof that the ecclesiastics and the mob of rome, if he but let them, could behave as ill as that of constantinople; and, moreover, that this new pope john, who seems to have been a hot-headed fanatic, had begun his rule by whipping and banishing manichees--by whose permission, does not appear. recollect too, that for some reason or other, dietrich, when he had interfered in eastern matters, had been always on the side of the orthodox and the council of chalcedon. he had fought for the orthodox against basiliscus. he had backed the orthodox and vitalianus their champion, against the late emperor anastasius; and now as soon as the orthodox got into power under justin, this was the reward of his impartiality. if he did not distrust and despise the church and emperor of the east, he must have been not a hero, but a saint. recollect, too, that in those very days, catholic bigotry had broken out in a general plunder of the jews. at rome, at milan, and genoa their houses had been sacked, and their synagogues burnt; and dietrich, having compelled the catholics to rebuild them at their own expense, had earned the hatred of a large portion of his subjects. and now pope john was doing all he could to thwart him. dietrich bade him go to constantinople, and plead with justin for the persecuted arians. he refused. dietrich shipt him off, nolentem volentem. but when he got to constantinople he threw his whole weight into the emperor's scale. he was received by justin as if he was st. peter himself, the emperor coming out to meet him with processions and wax-lights, imploring his blessing; he did exactly the opposite to what dietrich bade him do; and published on his return a furious epistle to the bishops of italy, calling upon them to oppress and extirpate the arian perfidy, so that no root of it is left: to consecrate the arian churches wheresoever he found them, pleading the advice of the most pious and christian emperor justin, talking of dietrich as tainted inwardly and wrapt up outwardly with the pest of heresy. on which cochlaeus (who religiously believes that dietrich was damned for his arianism, and that all his virtues went for nothing because he had not charity, which exists, he says, alone within the pale of the church), cannot help the naive comment, that if the pontiff did really write that letter, he cannot wonder at dietrich's being a little angry. kings now, it is true, can afford to smile at such outbursts; they could not afford to do so in dietrich's days. such words meant murder, pillage, civil war, dethronement, general anarchy; and so dietrich threw pope john into prison. he had been in bad health before he sailed to constantinople, and in a few months he died, and was worshipped as a saint. as for the political conspiracy, we shall never know the truth of it. the 'anonymus valesii,' meanwhile says, that when cyprian accused albinus, boethius answered, 'it is false: but if albinus has done it, so have i, and the whole senate, with one consent. it is false, my lord king!' whatever such words may prove, they prove at least this, that boethius, as he says himself, was the victim of his own chivalry. to save albinus, and the senate, he thrust himself into the fore-front of the battle, and fell at least like a brave man. whether albinus, boethius, and symmachus did plot to bring in justin; whether the senate did send a letter to him, i cannot tell. boethius, in his de consolatione, denies it all; and boethius was a good man. he says that the letters in which he hoped for the liberty of rome were forged; how could he hope for the impossible? but he adds, 'would that any liberty could have been hoped for! i would have answered the king as cassius did, when falsely accused of conspiring by caligula: "if i had known of it, you should not."' one knows not whether dietrich ever saw those words: but they prove at least that all his confidence, justice, kindness to the patrician philosopher, had not won him from the pardonable conceit about the romani nominis umbram. boethius' story is most probably true. one cannot think that that man would die with a lie in his mouth. one cannot pass by, as the utterances of a deliberate hypocrisy, those touching appeals to his guiding mistress, that heavenly wisdom who has led him so long upon the paths of truth and virtue, and who seems to him, in his miserable cell, to have betrayed him in his hour of need. heaven forbid. better to believe that dietrich committed once in his life, a fearful crime, than that good boethius' famous book is such another as the eikon basilike. boethius, again, says that the gothic courtiers hated him, and suborned branded scoundrels to swear away his life and that of the senate, because he had opposed 'the hounds of the palace,' amigast, trigulla, and other greedy barbarians. there was, of course, a gothic party and a roman party about the court; and each hated the other bitterly. dietrich had favoured the romans. but the goths could not have seen such men as symmachus and boethius the confidants and counsellors of the amal, without longing for their downfall; and if, as boethius and the catholic historians say, the whole tragedy arose out of a gothic plot to destroy the roman party, such things have happened but too often in the world's history. the only facts which make against the story are, that cyprianus the accuser was a roman, and that cassiodorus, who must have belonged to the roman party, not only is never mentioned during the whole tragedy, but was high in power under theodatus and athalaric afterwards. add to this, that there were vague but wide-spread reports that the goths were in danger; that dietrich at least could not be ignorant of the ambition and the talents of that terrible justinian, justin's nephew, who was soon to alter, for a generation, the fortunes of the whole empire, and to sweep the goths from italy; that men's minds must have been perplexed with fear of change, when they recollected that dietrich was seventy years old, without a son to succeed him, and that a woman and a child would soon rule that great people in a crisis, which they could not but foresee. we know that the ruin came; is it unreasonable to suppose that the goths foresaw it, and made a desperate, it may be a treacherous, effort to crush once and for all, the proud and not less treacherous senators of rome? so, maddened with the fancied discovery that the man whom he had honoured, trusted, loved, was conspiring against him, dietrich sent boethius to prison. he seems, however, not to have been eager for his death; for boethius remained there long enough to write his noble book. however, whether fresh proofs of his supposed guilt were discovered or not, the day came when he must die. a cord was twisted round his head (probably to extort confession), till his eyes burst from their sockets, and then he was put out of his misery by a club; and so ended the last roman philosopher. symmachus, his father-in-law, was beheaded; and pope john, as we have heard, was thrown into prison on his return, and died after a few months. these are the tragedies which have stained for ever the name of 'theodoric the great.' pope john seems to have fairly earned his imprisonment. for the two others, we can only, i fear, join in the sacred pity in which their memories have been embalmed to all succeeding generations. but we must recollect, that after all, we know but one side of the question. the romans could write; the goths could not: they may have been able to make out a fair case for themselves; they may have believed truly in the guilt of boethius; and if they did, nothing less could have happened, by such rules of public law and justice as were then in vogue, than did happen. be that as it may, the deed was done; and the punishment, if deserved, came soon enough. sitting at dinner (so the story runs), the head of a fish took in dietrich's fancy the shape of symmachus' head, the upper teeth biting the lip, the great eyes staring at him. he sprang up in horror; took to his bed; and there, complaining of a mortal chill, wrapping himself up in heaps of blankets, and bewailing to his physician the death of his two victims, he died sadly in a few days. and a certain holy hermit, name not given, nor date of the vision, saw the ghosts of boethius and symmachus lead the amal's soul up the cone of stromboli, and hurl him in, as the english sailors saw old boots, the wapping usurer, hurled into the same place, for offences far more capable of proof. so runs the story of dietrich's death. it is perfectly natural, and very likely true. his contemporaries, who all believed it, saw in it proof of his enormous guilt, and the manifest judgment of god. we shall rather see in it a proof of the earnest, child-like, honest nature of the man, startled into boundless horror and self-abasement, by the sudden revelation of his crime. truly bad men die easier deaths than that; and go down to the grave, for the most part, blind and self-contented, and, as they think, unpunished; and perhaps forgiven. after dietrich came the deluge. the royal head was gone. the royal heart remained in amalasuentha 'the heavenly beauty,' a daughter worthy of her father. one of her first acts was to restore to the widows and children of the two victims the estates which dietrich had confiscated. that may, or may not, prove that she thought the men innocent. she may have only felt it royal not to visit the sins of the fathers on the children; and those fathers, too, her own friends and preceptors. beautiful, learned, and wise, she too was, like her father, before her age. she, the pupil of boethius, would needs bring up her son athalaric in roman learning, and favour the romans in all ways; never putting to death or even fining any of them, and keeping down the rough goths, who were ready enough, now dietrich's hand was off them, to ill-use the conquered italians. the goths soon grew to dislike her, and her roman tendencies, her roman education of the lad. one day she boxed his ears for some fault. he ran crying out into the heldensaal, and complained to the heroes. they sent a deputation to amalasuentha, insolent enough. 'the boy should not be made a scholar of.' 'she meant to kill the boy and marry again. had not old dietrich forbidden free goths to go to schoolmasters, and said, that the boy who was taught to tremble at a cane, would never face a lance?' so they took the lad away from the women, and made a ruffian of him. what with drink, women, idleness, and the company of wild young fellows like himself, he was early ruined, body and soul. poor amalasuentha, not knowing whither to turn, took the desperate resolution of offering italy to the emperor justinian. she did not know that her cousin theodatus had been beforehand with her--a bad old man, greedy and unjust, whose rapacity she had had to control again and again, and who hated her in return. both send messages to justinian. the wily emperor gave no direct answer: but sent his ambassador to watch the course of events. the young prince died of debauchery, and the goths whispered that his mother had poisoned him. meanwhile theodatus went on from bad to worse; accusations flowed in to amalasuentha of his lawless rapacity: but he was too strong for her; and she, losing her head more and more, made the desperate resolve of marrying him, as the only way to keep him quiet. he was the last male heir of the royal amalungs. the marriage would set him right in the eyes of the goths, while it would free her from the suspicion of having murdered her son, in order to reign alone. theodatus meanwhile was to have the name of royalty; but she was to keep the power and the money--a foolish, confused plan, which could have but one ending. theodatus married her of course, and then cast her into prison, seized all her treasures, and threw himself into the arms of that party among the goths, who hated amalasuentha for having punished their oppressions. the end was swift and sad. by the time that justinian's ambassador landed, amalasuentha was strangled in her bath; and all that peter the ambassador had to do was, to catch at the cause of quarrel, and declare 'inexpiable war' on the part of justinian, as the avenger of the queen. and then began that dreadful east goth war, which you may read for yourselves in the pages of an eye-witness, procopius;--a war which destroyed utterly the civilization of dietrich's long and prosperous reign, left italy a desert, and exterminated the roman people. that was the last woe: but of it i must tell you in my next lecture. lecture vi--the nemesis of the goths. of this truly dreadful gothic war i can give you but a hasty sketch; of some of the most important figures in it, not even a sketch. i cannot conceive to myself, and therefore cannot draw for you, the famous belisarius. was he really the strange compound of strength and weakness which procopius, and after him gibbon, represent him?--a caricature, for good and evil, of our own famous marlborough? you must read and judge for yourselves. i cannot, at least as yet, offer you any solution of the enigma. still less can i conceive to myself narses, living till his grey hairs in the effeminate intrigues of the harem, and then springing forth a general; the warrior eunuch; the misanthrope avenging his great wrong upon all mankind in bloody battle-fields; dark of counsel, and terrible of execution; him to whom in after years the empress sophia sent word that he was more fit to spin among maids than to command armies, and he answered, that he would spin her such a thread as she could not unravel; and kept his word (as legends say) by inviting the lombards into italy. least of all can i sketch justinian the great, the half-teuton peasant, whom his uncle justin sent for out of the dardanian hills, to make him a demigod upon earth. men whispered in after years that he was born of a demon, a demon himself, passing whole days without food, wandering up and down his palace corridors all night, resolving dark things, and labouring all day with herculean force to carry them out. no wonder he was thought to be a demon, wedded to a demon-wife. the man is unfathomable, inexplicable;--marrying deliberately the wickedest of all women, plainly not for mere beauty's sake, but possibly because he saw in her a congenial intellect;--faithful and loving to her and she to him, amid all the crimes of their following years;--pious with exceeding devotion and orthodoxy, and yet with a piety utterly divorced from, unconscious of, the commonest morality;--discerning and using the greatest men, belisarius and narses for example, and throwing them away again, surely not in weak caprice, whenever they served him too well;--conquering persians, vandals, goths; all but re-conquering, in fact, the carcase roman empire;--and then trying (with a deep discernment of the value of roman law) to put a galvanic life into the carcase by codifying that law. in whatever work i find this man, during his long life, he is to me inexplicable. louis xi of france is the man most like justinian whom i know, but he, too, is a man not to be fathomed by me. all the facts about justinian you will find in gibbon. i have no theory by which to arrange and explain them, and therefore can tell you no more than gibbon does. so to this gothic war; which, you must remember, became possible for justinian by belisarius' having just destroyed the vandals out of africa. it began by belisarius invading the south of italy. witigis was elected war-king of the goths, 'the man of witty counsels,' who did not fulfil his name; while theodatus (theod-aht 'esteemed by the people' as his name meant) had fallen into utter disesteem, after some last villainy about money; had been struck down in the road by the man he had injured; and there had his throat cut, 'resupinus instar victimae jugulatus.' he had consulted a jew diviner just before, who had given him a warning. thirty pigs, signifying the unclean gentiles, the jew shut up in three sties; naming ten goths, ten romans, and ten imperialists of belisarius' army, and left them to starve. at the end they found dead all the goths but two, hardly any of the imperialists, and half the romans: but the five roman pigs who were left had lost their bristles--bare to the skin, as the event proved. after that theodatus had no heart to fight, and ended his dog's life by a dog's death, as we have seen. note also this, that there was a general feeling of coming ruin; that there were quaint signs and omens. we have heard of the pigs which warned the goths. here is another. there was a mosaic picture of theodoric at naples; it had been crumbling to pieces at intervals, and every fresh downfall had marked the death of an amal. now the last remains went down, to the very feet, and the romans believed that it foretold the end of the amal dynasty. there was a sibylline oracle too; 'quintili mense roma nihil geticum metuet.' here, too, we find the last trace of heathenism, of that political mythology which had so inextricably interwoven itself with the life and history of the city. the shrine of janus was still standing, all of bronze, only just large enough, procopius says, to contain the bronze image of janus bifrons. the gates, during christian centuries, had never been opened, even in war time. now people went by night, and tried to force them open: but hardly succeeded. belisarius garrisoned rome, and the goths attacked it, but in vain. you must read the story of that famous siege in the really brilliant pages of old procopius, the last good historian of the old world. moreover, and this is most important, belisarius raised the native population against the goths. as he had done in africa, when in one short campaign he utterly destroyed the now effeminate aristocracy of the vandals, so he did in italy. by real justice and kindness; by proclaiming himself the deliverer of the conquered from the yoke of foreign tyrants, he isolated the slave-holding aristocracy of the goths from the mass of the inhabitants of italy. belisarius and the goths met, and the goths conquered. but to take rome was beyond their power; and after that a long miserable war struggled and wrangled up and down over the wretched land; city after city was taken and destroyed, now by roman, now by goth. the lands lay waste, the people disappeared in tens of thousands. all great dietrich's work of thirty years was trampled into mud. there were horrible sieges and destructions by both parties;--sack of milan by goths, sack of rimini and the country round by romans; horrors of famine at auximum; two women who kept an inn, killing and eating seventeen men, till the eighteenth discovered the trap and killed them. everywhere, as i say, good dietrich's work of thirty years trampled into gory mud. then theudebert and his false franks came down to see what they could get; all (save a few knights round the king) on foot, without bow or lance; but armed with sword, shield, and heavy short-handled double-edged francisc, or battle-axe. at the bridge over the ticinus they (nominal catholics) sacrificed gothic women and children with horrid rites, fought alike goths and romans, lost a third of their army by dysentery, and went home again. at last, after more horrors, vitigis and his goths were driven into ravenna. justinian treated for peace; and then followed a strange peripeteia, which we have, happily, from an eye-witness, procopius himself. the roman generals outside confessed their chance of success hopeless. the goths inside, tired of the slow vitigis, send out to the great belisarius, will he be their king? king over them there in italy? he promised, meaning to break his promise; and to the astonishment and delight of the romans, the simple and honest barbarians opened the gates of ravenna, and let in him and his romans, to find themselves betrayed and enslaved. 'when i saw our troops march in,' says procopius, 'i felt it was god's doing, so to turn their minds. the goths,' he says, 'were far superior in numbers and in strength; and their women, who had fancied these romans to be mighty men of valour, spit in the faces of their huge husbands, and pointing to the little romans, reproached them with having surrendered to such things as that.' but the folly was committed. belisarius carried them away captive to constantinople, and so ended the first act of the gothic war. in the moment of victory the envy of the byzantine court undid all that it had done. belisarius returned with his captives to rome, not for a triumph, but for a disgrace; and italy was left open to the goths, if they had men and heart to rise once more. and they did rise. among the remnant of the race was left a hero, totila by name;--a teuton of the ancient stamp. totilas, 'free from death'--'the deathless one,' they say his name means. under him the nation rose once more as out of the ground. a teuton of the ancient stamp he was, just and merciful exceedingly. take but two instances of him, and know the man by them. he retook naples. the romans within were starving. he fed them; but lest they should die of the sudden repletion, he kept them in by guards at each gate, and fed them up more and more each day, till it was safe to let them out, to find food for themselves in the country. a roman came to complain that a goth had violated his daughter. he shall die, said totila. he shall not die, said the goths. he is a valiant hero. they came clamouring to the king. he answered them quietly and firmly. they may choose to-day, whether to let this man go unpunished, or to save the gothic nation and win the victory. do they not recollect how at the beginning of the war, they had brave soldiers, famous generals, countless treasures, horses, weapons, and all the forts of italy? and yet under theodatus, a man who loved gold better than justice, they had so angered god by their unrighteous lives, that--what had happened they knew but too well. now god had seemed to have avenged himself on them enough. he had begun a new course with them. they must begin a new course with him; and justice was the only path. as for the man's being a valiant hero: let them know that the unjust and the ravisher were never brave in fight; but that according to a man's life, such was his luck in battle. his noble words came all but true. the feeble generals who were filling belisarius's place were beaten one by one, and almost all italy was reconquered. belisarius had to be sent back again to italy: but the envy, whether of justinian himself, or of the two wicked women who ruled his court, allowed him so small a force that he could do nothing. totila and the goths came down once more to rome. belisarius in agony sent for reinforcements, and got them; but too late. he could not relieve rome. the goths had massed themselves round the city, and belisarius, having got to ostia (portus) at the tiber's mouth, could get no further. this was the last woe; the actual death-agony of ancient rome. the famine grew and grew. the wretched romans cried to bessas and his garrison, either to feed them or to kill them out of their misery. they would do neither. they could hardly at last feed themselves. the romans ate nettles off the ruins, and worse things still. there was not a dog or a rat left. they even killed themselves. one father of five children could bear no longer their cries for food. he wrapped his head in his mantle, and sprang into the tiber, while the children looked on. the survivors wandered about like spectres, brown with hunger, and dropped dead with half-chewed nettles between their lips. to this, says procopius, had fortune brought the roman senate and people. nay, not fortune, but wickedness. they had wished to play at being free, while they themselves were the slaves of sin. and still belisarius was coming,--and still he did not come. he was forcing his way up the tiber; he had broken totila's chain, burnt a tower full of goths, and the city was on the point of being relieved, when one isaac made a fool of himself, and was taken by the goths. belisarius fancied that portus, his base of operations, with all his supplies, and antonia, the worthless wife on whom he doted, were gone. he lost his head, was beaten terribly, fell back on ostia, and then the end came. isaurians from within helped in goths by night. the asinarian gate was opened, and rome was in the hands of the goths. and what was left? what of all the pomp and glory, the spoils of the world, the millions of inhabitants? five or six senators, who had taken refuge in st. peter's, and some five hundred of the plebs; pope pelagius crouching at totila's feet, and crying for mercy; and rusticiana, daughter of symmachus, boethius' widow, with other noble women, in slaves' rags, knocking without shame at door after door to beg a bit of bread. and that was what was left of rome. gentlemen, i make no comment. i know no more awful page in the history of europe. through such facts as these god speaks. let man be silent; and look on in fear and trembling, knowing that it was written of old time--the wages of sin are death. the goths wanted to kill rusticiana. she had sent money to the roman generals; she had thrown down dietrich's statues, in revenge for the death of her father and her husband. totila would not let them touch her. neither maid, wife, nor widow, says procopius, was the worse for any goth. next day he called the heroes together. he is going to tell them the old tale, he says--how in vitigis' time at ravenna, greeks had conquered and robbed of kingdom and liberty , rich and well-armed goths. and now that they were raw levies, few, naked, wretched, they had conquered more than , of the enemy. and why? because of old they had looked to everything rather than to justice; they had sinned against each other and the romans. therefore they must choose, and be just men henceforth, and have god with them, or unjust, and have god against them. then he sends for the wretched remnant of the senators and tells them the plain truth:--how the great dietrich and his successors had heaped them with honour and wealth; and how they had returned his benefits by bringing in the greeks. and what had they gained by changing dietrich for justinian? logothetes, who forced them by blows to pay up the money which they had already paid to their gothic rulers; and revenue exacted alike in war and in peace. slaves they deserve to be; and slaves they shall be henceforth. then he sends to justinian. he shall withdraw his army from italy, and make peace with him. he will be his ally and his son in arms, as dietrich had been to the emperors before him, or if not, he will kill the senate, destroy rome, and march into illyricum. justinian leaves it to belisarius. then totila begins to destroy rome. he batters down the walls, he is ready to burn the town. he will turn the evil place into a sheep-pasture. belisarius flatters and cajoles him from his purpose, and he marches away with all his captives, leaving not a living soul in rome. but totila shews himself a general unable to cope with that great tactician. he divides his forces, and allows belisarius to start out of ostia and fortify himself in rome. the goths are furious at his rashness: but it is too late, and the war begins again, up and down the wretched land, till belisarius is recalled by some fresh court intrigue of his wicked wife, and another and even more terrible enemy appears on the field, narses the eunuch, avenging his wrong upon his fellow-men by cunning and courage almost preternatural. he comes upon them with a mighty host: but not of romans alone. he has gathered the teuton tribes;--herules, the descendants probably of odoacer's confederates; gepids, who have a long blood-feud against the goths; and most terrible of all, alboin with his five thousand more burgundians, of whom you will hear enough hereafter. we read even of multitudes of huns, and even of persian deserters from the chosroo. but narses' policy is the old roman one--teuton must destroy teuton. and it succeeds. in spite of some trouble with the franks, who are holding venetia, he marches down victorious through the wasted land, and totila marches to meet him in the apennines. the hero makes his last speech. he says, 'there will be no need to talk henceforth. this day will end the war. they are not to fear these hired huns, herules, lombards, fighting for money. let them hold together like desperate men.' so they fight it out. the goths depending entirely on the lance, the romans on a due use of every kind of weapon. the tremendous charge of the gothic knights is stopped by showers of hun and herule arrows, and they roll back again and again in disorder on the foot: but in spite of the far superior numbers of the romans, it is not till nightfall that narses orders a general advance of his line. the goths try one last charge; but appalled by the numbers of the enemy, break up, and, falling back on the foot, throw them into confusion, and all is lost. the foot are cut down flying. the knights ride for their lives. totila and five horsemen are caught up by asbad the gepid chief. asbad puts his lance in rest, not knowing who was before him. 'dog,' cries totila's page, 'wilt thou strike thy lord?' but it is too late. asbad's lance goes through his back, and he drops on his horse's neck. scipwar (shipward) the goth wounds asbad, and falls wounded himself. the rest carry off totila. he dies that night, after reigning eleven stormy years. the goths flee across the po. there is one more struggle for life, and one more hero left. teia by name, 'the slow one,' slow, but strong. he shall be king now. they lift him on the shield, and gather round him desperate, but determined to die hard. he finds the treasure of totila, hid in pisa. he sends to theudebald and his franks. will they help him against the roman, and they shall have the treasure; the last remnant of the nibelungen hoard. no. the luegenfelden will not come. they will stand by and see the butchery, on the chance of getting all italy for themselves. narses storms rome--or rather a little part of it round hadrian's mole, which the goths had fortified; and the goths escape down into campania, mad with rage. that victory of narses, says procopius, brought only a more dreadful destruction on the roman senate and people. the goths, as they go down, murder every roman they meet. the day of grace which totila had given them is over. the teutons in narses' army do much the same. what matter to burgunds and herules who was who, provided they had any thing to be plundered of? totila has allowed many roman senators to live in campania. they hear that narses has taken rome, they begin to flock to the ghastly ruin. perhaps there will be once again a phantom senate, phantom consuls, under the romani nominis umbram. the goths catch them, and kill them to a man. and there is an end of the senatus populusque romanus. the end is near now. and yet these terrible goths cannot be killed out of the way. on the slopes of vesuvius, by nuceria, they fortify a camp; and as long as they are masters of the neighbouring sea, for two months they keep narses at bay. at last he brings up an innumerable fleet, cuts off their supplies; and then the end comes. the goths will die like desperate men on foot. they burst out of camp, turn their horses loose, after the fashion of german knights--one hears of the fashion again and again in the middle age,--and rush upon the enemy in deep solid column. the romans have hardly time to form some sort of line; and then not the real romans, i presume, but the burgunds and gepids, turn their horses loose like the goths. there is no need for tactics; the fight is hand to hand; every man, says procopius, rushing at the man nearest him. for a third of the day teia fights in front, sheltered by his long pavisse, stabbing with a mighty lance at the mob which makes at him, as dogs at a boar at bay. procopius is awed by the man. most probably he saw him with his own eyes. second in valour, he says, to none of the heroes. again and again his shield is full of darts. without moving a foot, without turning an inch right or left, says procopius, he catches another from his shield-bearer, and fights on. at last he has twelve lances in his shield, and cannot move it: coolly he calls for a fresh one, as if he were fixed to the soil, thrusts back the enemy with his left hand, and stabs at them with his right. but his time is come. as he shifts his shield for a moment his chest is exposed, and a javelin is through him. and so ends the last hero of the east goths. they put his head upon a pole, and carry it round the lines to frighten the goths. the goths are long past frightening. all day long, and all the next day, did the germans fight on, burgund and gepid against goth, neither giving nor taking quarter, each man dying where he stood, till human strength could bear up no longer, while narses sat by, like an ugly troll as he was, smiling to see the teuton slay the teuton, for the sake of their common enemy. then the goths sent down to narses. they were fighting against god. they would give in, and go their ways peaceably, and live with some other teuton nations after their own laws. they had had enough of italy, poor fellows, and of the nibelungen hoard. only narses, that they might buy food on the journey back, must let them have their money, which he had taken in various towns of italy. narses agreed. there was no use fighting more with desperate men. they should go in peace. and he kept his faith with them. perhaps he dared not break it. he let them go, like a wounded lion crawling away from the hunter, up through italy, and over the po, to vanish. they and their name became absorbed in other nations, and history knows the east goths no more. so perished, by their own sins, a noble nation; and in perishing, destroyed utterly the roman people. after war and famine followed as usual dreadful pestilence, and italy lay waste for years. henceforth the italian population was not roman, but a mixture of all races, with a most powerful, but an entirely new type of character. rome was no more senatorial, but papal. and why did these goths perish, in spite of all their valour and patriotism, at the hands of mercenaries? they were enervated, no doubt, as the vandals had been in africa, by the luxurious southern climate, with its gardens, palaces, and wines. but i have indicated a stronger reason already:--they perished because they were a slave-holding aristocracy. we must not blame them. all men then held slaves: but the original sin was their ruin, though they knew it not. it helped, doubtless, to debauch them; to tempt them to the indulgence of those fierce and greedy passions, which must, in the long run, lower the morality of slaveholders; and which, as totila told them, had drawn down on them the anger of heaven. but more; though they reformed their morals, and that nobly, under the stern teaching of affliction, that could not save them. they were ruined by the inherent weakness of all slaveholding states; the very weakness which had ruined, in past years, the roman empire. they had no middle class, who could keep up their supplies, by exercising for them during war the arts of peace. they had no lower class, whom they dare entrust with arms, and from whom they might recruit their hosts. they could not call a whole population into the field, and when beaten in that field, carry on, as britain would when invaded, a guerilla warfare from wood to wood, and hedge to hedge, as long as a coign of vantage-ground was left. they found themselves a small army of gentlemen, chivalrous and valiant, as slaveholders of our race have always been; but lessening day by day from battle and disease, with no means of recruiting their numbers; while below them and apart from them lay the great mass of the population, helpless, unarmed, degraded, ready to side with any or every one who would give them bread, or let them earn it for themselves (for slaves must eat, even though their masters starve), and careless of, if not even hostile to, their masters' interests, the moment those masters were gone to the wars. in such a case, nothing was before them, save certain defeat at last by an enemy who could pour in ever fresh troops of mercenaries, and who had the command of the seas. i may seem to be describing the case of a modern and just as valiant and noble a people. i do not mention its name. the parallel, i fear, is too complete, not to have already suggested itself to you. lecture vii--paulus diaconus and now i come to the final settlement of italy and the lombard race; and to do that well, i must introduce you to-day to an old chronicler--a very valuable, and as far as we know, faithful writer--paul warnefrid, alias paul the deacon. i shall not trouble you with much commentary on him; but let him, as much as possible, tell his own story. he may not be always quite accurate, but you will get no one more accurate. in the long run, you will know nothing about the matter, save what he tells you; so be content with what you can get. let him shew you what sort of an account of his nation, and the world in general, a lombard gentleman and clergyman could give, at the end of the th century. you recollect the lombards, of whom tacitus says, 'longobardos paucitas nobilitat.' paulus warnefrid was one of their descendants, and his history carries out the exact truth of tacitus' words. he too speaks of them as a very small tribe. he could not foresee how much the 'nobilitat' meant. he knew his folk as a brave semi-feudal race, who had conquered the greater part of italy, and tilled and ruled it well; who were now conquered by charlemagne, and annexed to the great frank empire, but without losing anything of their distinctive national character. he did not foresee that they would become the architects, the merchants, the goldsmiths, the bankers, the scientific agriculturists of all europe. we know it. whenever in london or any other great city, you see a 'lombard street,' an old street of goldsmiths and bankers--or the three golden balls of lombardy over a pawnbroker's shop--or in the country a field of rye-grass, or a patch of lucerne--recollect this wise and noble people, and thank the lombards for what they have done for mankind. paulus is a garrulous historian, but a valuable one, just because he is garrulous. though he turned monk and deacon in middle life, he has not sunk the man in the monk, and become a cosmopolite, like most roman ecclesiastics, who have no love or hate for human beings save as they are friends or enemies of the pope, or their own abbey. he has retained enough of the lombard gentleman to be proud of his family, his country, and the old legends of his race, which he tells, half-ashamed, but with evident enjoyment. he was born at beautiful friuli, with the jagged snow-line of the alps behind him, and before him the sun and the sea, and the plains of po; he was a courtier as a boy in desiderius' court at pavia, and then, when charlemagne destroyed the lombard monarchy, seems to have been much with the great king at aix. he certainly ended his life as a benedictine monk, at monte casino, about ; having written a life of st. gregory; homilies long and many; the appendix to eutropius (the historia miscella, as it is usually called) up to justinian's time; and above all, this history of the lombards, his forefathers, which i shall take as my text. to me, and i believe to the great german antiquaries, his history seems a model history of a nation. you watch the people and their story rise before you out of fable into fact; out of the dreary darkness of the unknown north, into the clear light of civilized roman history. the first chapter is 'of germany, how it nourishes much people, and therefore many nations go forth of it.' the reason which he gives for the immense population is significant. the further to the north, and the colder, the more healthy he considers the world to be, and more fit for breeding human beings; whereas the south, being nearer to the heat of the sun, always abounds with diseases. the fact really is, i presume, that italy (all the south which he knew), and perhaps most of the once roman empire, were during the th and th centuries pestilential. ruined cities, stopt watercourses, cultivated land falling back into marsh and desert, a soil too often saturated with human corpses--offered all the elements for pestilence. if the once populous campagna of rome be now uninhabitable from malaria, what must it have been in paul warnefrid's time? be that as it may, this is his theory. then he tells us how his people were at first called winils; and how they came out of scania insula. sweden is often, naturally, an island with the early chroniclers; only the south was known to them. the north was magical, unknown, quenland, the dwelling-place of yotuns, elves, trolls, scratlings, and all other uncanny inhumanities. the winils find that they are growing too many for scanland, and they divide into three parties. two shall stay behind, and the third go out to seek their fortunes. which shall go is to be decided by lot. the third on whom the lot falls choose as war-kings, two brothers, ayo and ibor, and with them their mother, gambara, the alruna-wife, prudent and wise exceedingly--and they go forth. but before paul can go too, he has a thing or two to say, which he must not forget, about the wild mysterious north from which his forefathers came. first how, in those very extreme parts of germany, in a cave on the ocean shore, lie the seven sleepers. how they got thither from ephesus, i cannot tell, still less how they should be at once there on the baltic shore, and at ephesus--as mohammed himself believed, and edward the confessor taught--and at marmoutier by tours, and probably elsewhere beside. be that as it may, there they are, the seven martyrs, sleeping for ever in their roman dresses, which some wild fellow tried to pull off once, and had his arms withered as a punishment. and paul trusts that they will awake some day, and by their preaching save the souls of the heathen wends and finns who haunt those parts. the teutonic knights, however, and not the seven sleepers, did that good work. only their dog is not with them, it appears;--the sacred dog which watches them till the judgment day, when it is to go up to heaven, with noah's dove, and balaam's ass, and alborah the camel, and all the holy beasts. the dog must have been left behind at ephesus. then he must tell us about the scritofinns of the bothnia gulf; wild lapps and finns, who have now retreated before the teutonic race. in paul warnefrid's eyes they are little wild hopping creatures--whence they derive their name, he says--scritofinns, the hopping, or scrambling finns. scrattels, skretles, often figure in the norse tales as hopping dwarfs, half magical { }. the norse discoverers of america recognized the skraellings in the esquimaux, and fled from them in panic terror; till that furious virago freydisa, thorvard's wife, and eirek the red's daughter, caught up a dead man's sword, and put to flight, single-handed, the legion of little imps. others, wiser, or too wise, say that paul is wrong; that skrikfins is the right name, so called from their 'screeking', screaming, and jabbering, which doubtless the little fellows did, loudly enough. be that as it may, they appear to paul (or rather to his informants, wendish merchants probably, who came down to charlemagne's court at aix, to sell their amber and their furs) as hopping about, he says, after the rein-deer, shooting them with a little clumsy bow, and arrows tipt with bone, and dressing themselves in their skins. procopius knew these scritfins too (but he has got (as usual) addled in his geography, and puts them in ultima thule or shetland), and tells us, over and above the reindeer-skin dresses, that the women never nursed their children, but went out hunting with their husbands, hanging the papoose up to a tree, as the lapps do now, with a piece of deer's marrow in its mouth to keep it employed; and moreover, that they sacrificed their captives to a war- god (mars he calls him) in cruel ugly ways. all which we may fully believe. then paul has to tell us how in the scritfin country there is little or no night in midsummer, little or no day in winter; and how the shadows there are exceeding long, and shorten to nothing as they reach the equator,--where he puts not merely egypt, but jerusalem. and how on christmas days a man's shadow is nine feet long in italy, whereas at totonis villam (thionville), as he himself has measured, it is nineteen feet and a half. because, he says, shrewdly enough, the further you go from the sun, the nearer the sun seems to the horizon. of all which if you answer--but this is not history: i shall reply--but it is better than history. it is the history of history. it helps you to see how the world got gradually known; how history got gradually to be written; how each man, in each age, added his little grain to the great heap of facts, and gave his rough explanation thereof; and how each man's outlook upon this wondrous world grew wider, clearer, juster, as the years rolled on. and therefore i have no objection at all to listen to paul in his next chapter, concerning the two navels of the ocean, one on each side britain--abysses which swallow up the water twice a day, and twice a day spout it up again. paul has seen, so he seems to say, the tide, the [greek text], that inexplicable wonder of the old greeks and romans, running up far inland at the mouths of the seine and loire; and he has to get it explained somehow, before he can go forward with a clear conscience. one of the navels seems to be the mahlstrom in norway. of the place of the other there is no doubt. it is close to evodia insula, seemingly alderney. for a high noble of the french told him so; he was sucked into it, ships and all, and only escaped by clinging to a rock. and after awhile the margins of that abyss were all left bare, leaving the frenchman high and dry, 'palpitating so with fear,' says paul, 'that he could hardly keep his seat.' but when all the water had been sucked in, out and up it came pouring again, in huge mountains, and upon them the frenchman's ships, to his intense astonishment, reappeared out of the bottomless pit; into one of which he jumped; being, like a true frenchman, thoroughly master of the situation; and got safe home to tell paul the deacon. it is not quite the explanation of the tides which one would have wished for: but if a french nobleman of high rank will swear that he saw it with his own eyes, what can paul do, in common courtesy, but believe him? paul has observed, too, which is a fact, that there is a small tide in his own adriatic; and suggests modestly that there may be a similar hole in the bottom of that sea, only a little one, the tide being very little. after which, 'his praelibatis,' he will return, he says, to his story. and so he goes back to the famous langbard saga, the old story, which he has turned out of living teutonic verse into dead latin prose, and calls de woden et frea quaedam ridicula fabula; but can't help for the life of him telling it, apologizing all the time. how the winils (his own folk) went out to fight the wendels, many more than them in number; and how gambara, the alruna-wife, cried to freia the goddess, and freia told her that whichsoever of the two armies first greeted woden at the sunrise should win. but the winils are far away on the war-road, and there is no time to send to them. so freia bids her take the winil women, and dress them as warriors, and plait their tresses over their lips for beards, and cry to woden; and woden admires their long beards, and thinks them such valiant 'war-beasts,' that he grants them the victory. then freia tells him how he has been taken in, and the old god laughs till the clouds rattle again, and the winils are called langbardr ever after. but then comes in the antiquary, and says that the etymology is worthless, and that langbardr means long axes--(bard=an axe)--a word which we keep in halbert, a hall-axe, or guard's pole-axe; and perhaps the antiquary is right. but again comes in a very learned man, dr. latham { }, and more than hints that the name is derived from the lange borde, the long meadows by the side of the elbe: and so a good story crumbles to pieces, and 'all charms do fly beneath the touch of cold philosophy.' then follows another story, possibly from another saga. how by reason of a great famine they had to leave scoringia, the shore-land, and go into mauringia, a word which mr. latham connects with the merovingi, or meerwing conquerors of gaul. others say that it means the moorland, others something else. all that they will ever find out we may see for ourselves already.--a little tribe of valiant fair-haired men, whether all teutons, or, as mr. latham thinks, sclavonians with teuton leaders, still intimately connected with our own english race both by their language and their laws, struggling for existence on the bleak brown bogs and moors, sowing a little barley and flax, feeding a few rough cattle, breeding a few great black horses; generation after generation fighting their way southward, as they exhausted the barren northern soils, or became too numerous for their marches, or found land left waste in front of them by the emigration of some suevic, vandal, or burgund tribe. we know nothing about them, and never shall know, save that they wore white linen gaiters, and carried long halberts, or pole-axes, and had each an immortal soul in him, as dear to god as yours or mine, with immense unconscious capabilities, which their children have proved right well. then comes another saga, how they met the assipitti, of whom, whether they were tacitus's usipetes, of the lower rhine, or asabiden, the remnant of the asen, who went not to scandinavia with odin, we know not, and need not know; and how the assipitti would not let them pass; and how they told the lombards that they had dogheaded men in their tribe who drank men's blood, which mr. latham well explains by pointing out, in the traveller's song, a tribe of hundings (houndings) sons of the hound; and how the lombards sent out a champion, who fought the champion of the assipitti, and so gained leave to go on their way. forward they go, toward the south-east, seemingly along the german marches, the debateable land between teuton and sclav, which would, mechanically speaking, be the line of least resistance. we hear of gothland--wherever that happened to be just then; of anthaib, the land held by the sclavonian anten, and bathaib, possibly the land held by the gepidae, or remnant of the goths who bided behind (as wessex men still say), while the goths moved forward; and then of burgundhaib, wherever the burgunds might be then. i know not; and i will dare to say, no man can exactly know. for no dates are given, and how can they be? the lombards have not yet emerged out of the dismal darkness of the north into the light of roman civilization; and all the history they have are a few scraps of saga. at last they take a king of the family of the gungings, agilmund, son of ayo, like the rest of the nations, says jornandes; for they will be no more under duces, elective war-kings. and then follows a fresh saga (which repeats itself in the myths of several nations), how a woman has seven children at a birth, and throws them for shame into a pond; and agilmund the king, riding by, stops to see, and turns them over with his lance; and one of the babes lays hold thereof; and the king says, 'this will be a great man;' and takes him out of the pond, and calls him lamissohn, 'the son of the fishpond,' (so it is interpreted;) who grows to be a mighty kemper-man, and slays an amazon. for when they come to a certain river, the amazons forbid them to pass, unless they will fight their she-champion; and lamissohn swims over and fights the war-maiden, and slays her; and they go on and come into a large land and quiet, somewhere about silesia, it would seem, and abode there a long while. then down on them come the savage bulgars by night, and slay king agilmund, and carry off his daughter; and lamissohn follows them, and defeats them with a great slaughter, and is made king; and so forth: till at last they have got--how we shall never know--near history and historic lands. for when odoacer and his turklings and other confederates went up into rugiland, the country north of vienna, and destroyed the rugians, and fava their king, then the lombards went down into the waste land of the rugians, because it was fertile, and abode there certain years. then they moved on again, we know not why, and dwelt in the open plains, which are called feld. one says 'moravia;' but that they had surely left behind. rather it is the western plain of hungary about comorn. be that as it may, they quarrelled there with the heruli. eutropius says that they paid the herules tribute for the land, and offered to pay more, if the herules would not attack them. paul tells a wild saga, or story, of the lombard king's daughter insulting a herule prince, because he was short of stature: he answered by some counter-insult; and she, furious, had him stabbed from behind through a window as he sat with his back to it. then war came. the herules, old and practised warriors, trained in the roman armies, despised the wild lombards, and disdained to use armour against them, fighting with no clothes save girdles. rodulf their king, too certain of victory, sat playing at tables, and sent a man up a tree to see how the fight went, telling him that he would cut his head off if he said that the herules fled; and then, touched by some secret anxiety as to the end, spoke the fatal words himself; and a madness from god came on the herules; and when they came to a field of flax, they took the blue flowers for water, and spread out their arms to swim through, and were all slaughtered defencelessly. then they fought with the suevi; and their kings' daughters married with the kings of the franks; and then ruled aldwin (a name which dr. latham identifies with our english eadwin, or edwin, 'the noble conqueror,' though grotius translates it audwin, 'the old or auld conqueror'), who brought them over the danube into pannonia, between the danube and the drave, about the year . procopius says, that they came by a grant from the emperor justinian, who gave as wife to aldwin a great niece of dietrich the good, carried captive with witigis to byzant. thus at last they too have reached the forecourt of the roman empire, and are waiting for their turn at the nibelungen hoard. they have one more struggle, the most terrible of all; and then they will be for a while the most important people of the then world. the gepidae are in hungary before them, now a great people. ever since they helped to beat the huns at netad, they have been holding attila's old kingdom for themselves and not attempting to move southward into the empire; so fulfilling their name. there is continual desultory war; justinian, according to procopius' account, playing false with each, in order to make them destroy each other. then, once (this is procopius' story, not paul's) they meet for a great fight; and both armies run away by a panic terror; and aldwin the lombard and thorisend the gepid are left alone, face to face.--it is the hand of god, say the two wild kings--god does not mean these two peoples to destroy each other. so they make a truce for two years. then the gepidae call in cutuguri, a hunnic tribe, to help them; then, says procopius, aldwin, helped by roman mercenaries, under amalfrid the goth, theodoric's great nephew, and brother-in-law of aldwin, has a great fight with the gepidae. but paul knows naught of all this: with him it is not aldwin, but alboin his son, who destroys the gepidae. alboin, grotius translates as albe-win, 'he who wins all:' but dr. latham, true to his opinion that the lombards and the angles were closely connected, identifies it with our aelfwine, 'the fairy conqueror.' aldwin, paul says, and thorisend fought in the asfeld,--wherever that may be,--and alboin the lombard prince slew thorisend the gepid prince, and the gepidae were defeated with a great slaughter. then young alboin asked his father to let him sit at the table with him. no, he could not do that, by lombard custom, till he has become son-at- arms to some neighbouring king. young alboin takes forty thanes, and goes off to thorisend's court, as the guest of his enemy. the rites of hospitality are sacred. the king receives him, feasts him, seats him, the slayer of his son, in his dead son's place. and as he looks on him he sighs; and at last he can contain no longer. the seat, he says, i like right well: but not the man who sits in it. one of his sons takes fire, and begins to insult the lombards and their white gaiters. you lombards have white legs like so many brood mares. a lombard flashes up. go to the asfeld, and you will see how lombard mares can kick. your brother's bones are lying about there like any sorry nag's. this is too much; swords are drawn; but old thorisend leaps up. he will punish the first man who strikes. guests are sacred. let them sit down again, and drink their liquor in peace. and after they have drunk, he gives alboin his dead son's weapons, and lets them go in peace, like a noble gentleman. this grand old king dies in peace. aldwin dies likewise, and to them succeed their sons, alboin and cunimund--the latter probably the prince who made the jest about the brood-mares--and they two will fight the quarrel out. cunimund, says paul, began the war--of course that is his story. alboin is growing a great man; he has married a daughter of clotaire, king of the franks: and now he takes to his alliance the avars, who have just burst into the empire, wild people who afterwards founded a great kingdom in the danube lands, and they ravage cunimund's lands. he will fight the lombards first, nevertheless: he can settle the avars after. he and his, says paul, are slain to a man. alboin makes a drinking-cup of his skull, carries off his daughter rosamund ('rosy-mouth'), and a vast multitude of captives and immense wealth. the gepidae vanish from history; to this day (says paul) slaves either of the lombards or the huns (by whom he rather means avars); and alboin becomes the hero of his time, praised even to paul's days in sagas, saxon and bavarian as well as lombard, for his liberality and his glory. we shall see now how he has his chance at the nibelungen hoard. he has heard enough (as all teutons have) of italy, its beauty, and its weakness. he has sent five thousand chosen warriors to narses, to help him against totila and the ostrogoths; and they have told him of the fair land and large, with its vineyards, olive-groves, and orchards, waste by war and pestilence, and crying out for human beings to come and till it once more. there is no force left in italy now, which can oppose him. hardly any left in the roman world. the plague is come; to add its horrors to all the other horrors of the time--the true old plague, as far as i can ascertain; bred, men say, from the serbonian bog; the plague which visited athens in the time of socrates, and england in the seventeenth century: and after the plague a famine; woe on woe, through all the dark days of justinian the demon-emperor. the ostrogoths, as you know, were extinct as a nation. the two deluges of franks and allmen, which, under the two brothers buccelin and lothaire, all on foot (for the french, as now, were no horsemen), had rolled into italy during the gothic war, had been swallowed up, as all things were, in the fatal gulf of italy. lothaire and his army, returning laden with plunder, had rotted away like sheep by lake benacus (garda now) of drink, and of the plague. buccelin, entrenched among his plunder-waggons by the volturno stream in the far south, had waited in vain for that dead brother and his dead host, till narses came on him, with his army of trained herules and goths; the francisc axe and barbed pike had proved useless before the arrows and the cavalry of the romans; and no more than five allmen, says one, remained of all that mighty host. awful to think of: , men, they say, in one column, , in the other: and like water they flowed over the land; and like water they sank into the ground, and left no trace. and now narses, established as exarch of ravenna, a sort of satrap, like those of the persian emperors, and representing the emperor of constantinople, was rewarded for all his conquests and labours by disgrace. eunuch-like, he loved money, they said; and eunuch-like, he was harsh and cruel. the empress sophia, listening too readily to court- slanders, bade him 'leave to men the use of arms, and come back to the palace, to spin among the maids.'--'tell her,' said the terrible old imp, 'i will spin her such a thread as she shall not unravel.' he went, superseded by longinus; but not to constantinople. from naples he sent (so says paul the deacon) to alboin, and bade him come and try his fortune as king of italy. he sent, too, (so says old paul) presents to tempt the simple lombard men--such presents as children would like--all fruits which grew in italian orchards. though the gold was gone, those were still left. great babies they were, these teutons, as i told you at the first; and narses knew it well, and had used them for his ends for many a year. then were terrible signs seen in italy by night; fiery armies fighting in the sky, and streams of blood aloft, foreshadowing the blood which should be shed. sent for or not, king alboin came; and with him all his army, and a mighty multitude, women, and children, and slaves; bavarians, gepidae, bulgars, sarmatae, pannonians, sueves, and noricans; whose names (says paul) remain unto this day in the names of the villages where they settled. with alboin, too, came saxons, twenty thousand of them at the least, with wife and child. and sigebert king of the franks put suevic settlers into the lands which the saxons had left. alboin gave up his own hungarian land to his friends the avars, on the condition that he should have them back if he had to return. but return he never did, he nor his lombard host. this is the end. the last invasion of italy. the sowing, once for all, of an italian people. fresh nations were still pressing down to the rear of the alps, waiting for their turn to enter the fairy land--not knowing, perhaps, that nothing was left therein, but ashes and blood:--but their chance was over now: a people were going into italy who could hold what they got. on easter tuesday, in the year of grace , they came, seemingly by the old road; the path of alaric and dietrich and the rest; the pass from carniola, through which the rail runs now from laybach to trieste. it must have been white, in those days, with the bones of nigh years. and they found bisons, aurochsen, in the mountains, paul says, and is not surprised thereat, because there are plenty of them in hungary near by. an old man told him he had seen a skin in which fifteen men might lie side by side. none, you must know, are left now, save a very few in the lithuanian forests. paul goes out of his way to note this fact, and so shall i. alboin left a strong guard in friuli, and paul's ancestor among them, under gisulf his nephew, and marphrais or master of the horse, who now became duke of friuli and warden of the marches, bound to prevent the avars following them into their new abode. then the human deluge spread itself slowly over the lombard plains. none fought with them, and none gainsaid; for all the land was waste. the plague of three years before, and the famine which followed it had, says paul, reduced the world into primaeval silence. the villages had no inhabitants but dogs; the sheep were pasturing without a shepherd; the wild birds swarmed unhurt about the fields. the corn was springing self-sown under the april sun, the vines sprouting unpruned, the lucerne fields unmown, when the great lombard people flowed into that waste land, and gave to it their own undying name. the scanty population, worn out with misery, fled to rocks and islands in the lakes, and to the seaport towns; but they seem to have found the lombards merciful masters, and bowed their necks meekly to the inevitable yoke. the towns alone seem to have offered resistance. pavia alboin besieged three years, and could not take. he swore some wild oath of utter destruction to all within, and would have kept it. at last they capitulated. as alboin rode in at st. john's gate, his horse slipped up; and could not rise, though the grooms beat him with their lance-butts. a ghostly fear came on the lombards. 'remember, lord king, thy cruel oath, and cancel it; for there are christian folk in the city.' alboin cancelled his oath, and the horse rose at once. so alboin spared the people of pavia, and entered the palace of old dietrich the ostrogoth, as king of italy, as far as the gates of rome and ravenna. and what was his end? such an end as he deserved; earned and worked out for himself. a great warrior, he had destroyed many nations, and won a fair land. a just and wise governor, he had settled north italy on some rough feudal system, without bloodshed or cruelty. a passionate savage, he died as savages deserve to die. you recollect rosamund his gepid bride? in some mad drinking-bout (perhaps cherishing still his old hatred of her family) he sent her her father's skull full of wine, and bade her drink before all. she drank, and had her revenge. the story has become world-famous from its horror: but i suppose i must tell it you in its place.--how she went to helmichis the shield-bearer, and he bade her get peredeo the kemper-man to do the deed: and how peredeo intrigued with one of her bower-maidens, and how rosamund did a deed of darkness, and deceived peredeo; and then said to him, i am thy mistress; thou must slay thy master, or thy master thee. and how he, like gyges in old herodotus's tale, preferred to survive; and how rosamund bound the king's sword to his bedstead as he slept his mid-day sleep, and peredeo did the deed; and how alboin leapt up, and fought with his footstool, but in vain. and how, after he was dead, rosamund became helmichis' leman, as she had been peredeo's, and fled with him to ravenna, with all the treasure and alpswintha, alboin's daughter by the frankish wife; and how longinus the exarch persuaded her to poison helmichis, and marry him; and how she gave helmichis the poisoned cup as he came out of the bath, and he saw by the light of her wicked eyes that it was poison, and made her drink the rest; and so they both fell dead. and then how peredeo and the treasure were sent to the emperor at constantinople; and how peredeo slew a great lion in the theatre; and how tiberius, when he saw that he was so mighty a man of his hands, bade put his eyes out; and how he hid two knives in his sleeves, and slew with them two great chamberlains of the emperor; and so died, like samson, says old paul, having got good weregeld for the loss of his eyes--a man for either eye. and old narses died at rome, at a great age; and they wrapt him in lead, and sent him to byzant with all his wealth. but some say that while he was still alive, he hid his wealth in a great cistern, and slew all who knew of it save one old man, and swore him never to reveal the place. but after narses' death that old man went to constantinople to tiberius the caesar, and told him how he could not die with that secret on his mind; and so tiberius got all the money, so much that it took many days to carry away, and gave it all to the poor, as was his wont. a myth--a fable: but significant, as one more attempt to answer the question of all questions in a teuton's mind--what had become of the nibelungen hoard? what had become of all the wealth of rome? lecture viii--the clergy and the heathen i asked in my first lecture, 'what would become of the forest children, unless some kind saint or hermit took pity on them?' i used the words saint and hermit with a special purpose. it was by the influence, actual or imaginary, of such, that the teutons, after the destruction of the roman empire, were saved from becoming hordes of savages, destroying each other by continual warfare. what our race owes, for good and for evil, to the roman clergy, i shall now try to set before you. to mete out to them their due share of praise and blame is, i confess, a very difficult task. it can only be fulfilled by putting oneself, as far as possible, in their place, and making human allowance for the circumstances, utterly novel and unexpected, in which they found themselves during the teutonic invasions. thus, perhaps, we may find it true of some of them, as of others, that 'wisdom is justified of all her children.' that is a hard saying for human nature. justified of her children she may be, after we have settled which are to be her children and which not: but of all her children? that is a hard saying. and yet was not every man from the beginning of the world, who tried with his whole soul to be right, and to do good, a child of wisdom, of whom she at least will be justified, whether he is justified or not? he may have had his ignorances, follies, weaknesses, possibly crimes: but he served the purpose of his mighty mother. he did, even by his follies, just what she wanted done; and she is justified of all her children. this may sound like optimism: but it also sounds like truth to any one who has fairly studied that fantastic page of history, the contrast between the old monks and our own heathen forefathers. the more one studies the facts, the less one is inclined to ask, 'why was it not done better?'--the more inclined to ask, 'could it have been done better?' were not the celibate clergy, from the fifth to the eighth centuries, exceptional agents fitted for an exceptional time, and set to do a work which in the then state of the european races, none else could have done? at least, so one suspects, after experience of their chronicles and legends, sufficient to make one thoroughly detest the evil which was in their system: but sufficient also to make one thoroughly love many of the men themselves. a few desultory sketches, some carefully historical, the rest as carefully compiled from common facts, may serve best to illustrate my meaning. the monk and clergyman, whether celibate or not, worked on the heathen generally in one of three capacities: as tribune of the people; as hermit or solitary prophet; as colonizer; and in all three worked as well as frail human beings are wont to do, in this most piecemeal world. let us look first at the hermits. all know what an important part they play in old romances and ballads. all are not aware that they played as important a part in actual history. scattered through all wildernesses from the cliffs of the hebrides to the sclavonian marches, they put forth a power, uniformly, it must be said, for good. every one knows how they appear in the old romances.--how some sir bertrand or other, wearied with the burden of his sins, stumbles on one of these einsiedler, 'settlers alone,' and talks with him; and goes on a wiser and a better man. how he crawls, perhaps, out of some wild scuffle, 'all-to bebled,' and reeling to his saddlebow; and 'ever he went through a waste land, and rocks rough and strait, so that it him seemed he must surely starve; and anon he heard a little bell, whereat he marvelled; and betwixt the water and the wood he was aware of a chapel, and an hermitage; and there a holy man said mass, for he was a priest, and a great leech, and cunning withal. and sir bertrand went in to him and told him all his case--how he fought sir marculf for love of the fair ellinore, and how the king bade part them, and how marculf did him open shame at the wineboard, and how he went about to have slain him privily, but could not; and then how he went and wasted marculf's lands, house with byre, kine with corn, till a strong woman smote him over the head with a quern-stone, and all-to broke his brain-pan;' and so forth--the usual story of mad passion, drink, pride, revenge. 'and there the holy man a-read him right godly doctrine, and shrived him, and gave him an oath upon the blessed gospels, that fight he should not, save in his liege lord's quarrel, for a year and a day. and there he abode till he was well healed, he and his horse.' must not that wild fighting bertrand have gone away from that place a wiser and a better man? is it a matter to be regretted, or otherwise, that such men as the hermit were to be found in that forest, to mend bertrand's head and his morals, at the same time? is it a matter to be regretted, or otherwise, that after twenty or thirty years more of fighting and quarrelling and drinking, this same sir bertrand--finding that on the whole the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, were poor paymasters, and having very sufficient proof, in the ends of many a friend and foe, that the wages of sin are death--'fell to religion likewise, and was a hermit in that same place, after the holy man was dead; and was made priest of that same chapel; and died in honour, having succoured many good knights, and wayfaring men'? one knows very well that it would not be right now; that it is not needed now. it is childish to repeat that, when the question is, was it right then--or, at least, as right as was possible then? was it needed then--or, at least, the nearest thing to that which was needed? if it was, why should not wisdom be justified of all her children? one hopes that she was; for certainly, if any men ever needed to be in the right, lest they should be of all men most miserable, it was these same old hermits. praying and preaching continually, they lived on food which dogs would not eat, in dens in which dogs ought not to live. they had their reasons. possibly they knew their own business best. possibly also they knew their neighbour's business somewhat; they knew that such generations as they lived in could not be taught, save by some extravagant example of this kind, some caricature, as it were, of the doctrines which were to be enforced. nothing less startling, perhaps, could have touched the dull hearts, have convinced the dull brains, of fierce, ignorant, and unreasoning men. ferocity, lawlessness, rapine, cruelty, and--when they were glutted and debauched by the spoils of the roman empire--sensuality, were the evils which were making europe uninhabitable for decent folk, and history--as milton called it--a mere battle of kites and crows. what less than the example of the hermit--especially when that hermit was a delicate and high-born woman--could have taught men the absolute superiority of soul to body, of spiritual to physical force, of spiritual to physical pleasure, and have said to them, not in vain words, but solid acts--'all that you follow is not the way of life. the very opposite to it is the way of life. the wages of sin are death; and you will find them so,--in this life the victims of your own passions, and of the foes whom your crimes arouse, and in life to come of hell for ever. but i tell you i have no mind to go to hell. i have a mind to go to heaven; and i know my mind right well. if the world is to be such as this, and the rulers thereof such as you, i will flee from you. i will not enter into the congregation of sinners, neither will i cast in my lot with the bloodthirsty. i will be alone with god and his universe. i will go to the mountain cave or to the ocean cliff, and there, while the salt wind whistles through my hair, i will be stronger than you, safer than you, richer than you, happier than you. richer than you, for i shall have for my companion the beatific vision of god, and of all things and beings god- like, fair, noble, just, and merciful. stronger than you, because virtue will give me a power over the hearts of men such as your force cannot give you; and you will have to come to my lonely cell, and ask me to advise you, and teach you, and help you against the consequences of your own sins. safer than you, because god in whom i trust will protect me: and if not, i have still the everlasting life of heaven, which this world cannot give or take away. so go your ways, fight and devour one another, the victims of your own lusts. i am minded to be a good man; and to be that, i will give up--as you have made all other methods impossible for me--all which seems to make life worth having'? oh! instead of finding fault with such men; instead of, with vulturine beak, picking out the elements of manichaeism, of conceit, of discontent, of what not human frailty and ignorance, which may have been in them, let us honour the enormous moral force which enabled them so to bear witness that not the mortal animal, but the immortal spirit, is the man; and that when all which outward circumstance can give is cast away, the man still lives for ever, by god, and in god. and they did teach that lesson. they were good, while other men were bad; and men saw the beauty of goodness, and felt the strength of it, and worshipped it in blind savage admiration. read roswede's vitae patrum eremiticorum; read the legends of the hermits of the german forests; read colgan's lives of the irish saints; and see whether, amid all fantastic, incredible, sometimes immoral myths, the goodness of life of some one or other is not the historic nucleus, round which the myths, and the worship of the saint, have crystallized and developed. take, for instance, the exquisite hymn of st. bridget, which colgan attributes to the sixth century: though it is probably much later; that has nothing to do with the argument:-- 'bridget, the victorious, she loved not the world; she sat on it as a gull sits on the ocean; she slept the sleep of a captive mother, mourning after her absent child. she suffered not much from evil tongues; she held the blessed faith of the trinity; bridget, the mother of my lord of heaven, the best among the sons of the lord. she was not querulous, nor malevolent; she loved not the fierce wrangling of women; she was not a backbiting serpent, or a liar; she sold not the son of god for that which passes away. she was not greedy of the goods of this life; she gave away without gall, without slackness; she was not rough to wayfaring men; she handled gently the wretched lepers. she built her a town in the plains (of kildare); and dead, she is the patroness of many peoples.' i might comment much on this quotation. i might point out how st. bridget is called the mother of the lord, and by others, the mary of the irish, the 'automata coeli regina,' and seems to have been considered at times as an avatar or incarnation of the blessed virgin. i might more than hint how that appellation, as well as the calling of christ 'the best of the sons of the lord,' in an orthodox catholic hymn, seems to point to the remnants of an older creed, possibly buddhist, the transition whence towards catholic christianity was slow and imperfect. i might make merry over the fact that there are many bridgets, some say eleven; even as there are three or four st. patricks; and raise learned doubts as to whether such persons ever existed, after that straussian method of pseudo-criticism which cometh not from above, from the spirit of god, nor yet indeed from below, from the sound region of fact, but from within, out of the naughtiness of the heart, defiling a man. i might weaken, too, the effect of the hymn by going on with the rest of it, and making you smile at its childish miracles and portents; but i should only do a foolish thing, by turning your minds away from the broad fact that st. bridget, or various persons who got, in the lapse of time, massed together under the name of st. bridget, were eminently good women. it matters little whether these legends are historically correct. their value lies in the moral of them. and as for their real historical correctness, the straussian argument that no such persons existed, because lies are told of them, is, i hold, most irrational. the falsehood would not have been invented unless it had started in a truth. the high moral character ascribed to them would never have been dreamed of by persons who had not seen living instances of that character. man's imagination does not create; it only reproduces and recombines its own experience. it does so in dreams. it does so, as far as the moral character of the saint is concerned, in the legend; and if there had not been persons like st. bridget in ireland, the wild irish could never have imagined them. therefore it matters little to a wise man, standing on the top of croagh patrick, the grandest mountain perhaps, with the grandest outlook, in these british isles, as he looks on the wild irish there on pattern days, up among the atlantic clouds, crawling on bare and bleeding knees round st. patrick's cell,--it matters little, i say, to the wise man, whether st. patrick himself owned the ancient image which is worshipped on that mountain peak, or the ancient bell which till late years hung in the sanctuary,--such a strange oblong bell as the irish saints carried with them to keep off the demons--the magic bells which appear (as far as i am aware) in the legends of no country till you get to tartary and the buddhists;--such a bell as came (or did not come) down from heaven to st. senan; such a bell as st. fursey sent flying through the air to greet st. cuanady at his devotions when he could not come himself; such a bell as another saint, wandering in the woods, rang till a stag came out of the covert, and carried his burden for him on his horns. it matters as little to the wise man whether that bell belonged to st. patrick, as whether all these child's dreams are dreams. it matters little to him, too, whether st. patrick did, or did not stand on that mountain peak, 'in the spirit and power of elias' (after whom it was long named), fasting, like elias, forty days and forty nights, wrestling with the demons of the storm, and the snakes of the fen, and the peishta-more (the monstrous python of the lakes), which assembled at the magic ringing of his bell, till he conquered not by the brute force of a hercules and theseus, and the monster-quellers of old greece, but by the spiritual force of which (so the text was then applied) it is written, 'this kind cometh not out but by prayer and fasting,' till he smote the evil things with 'the golden rod of jesus,' and they rolled over the cliff, in hideous rout, and perished in the atlantic far below. but it matters much to a wise man that under all these symbols (not childish at all, but most grand, to the man who knows the grand place of which they are told), there is set forth the victory of a good and beneficent man over evil, whether of matter or of spirit. it matters much to him that that cell, that bell, that image are tokens that if not st. patrick, some one else, at least, did live and worship on that mountain top, in remote primaeval times, in a place in which we would not, perhaps could not, endure life a week. it matters much to him that the man who so dwelt there, gained such a power over the minds of the heathen round him, that five millions of their christian descendants worship him, and god on account of him, at this day. st. ita, again. it matters little that she did not--because she could not--perform the miracles imputed to her. it matters little whether she had or not--as i do not believe her to have had--a regularly organized convent of nuns in ireland during the sixth century. it matters little if the story which follows is a mere invention of the nuns in some after- century, in order to make a good title for the lands which they held--a trick but too common in those days. but it matters much that she should have been such a person, that such a story as this, when told of her, should have gained belief:--how the tribes of hy-connell, hearing of her great holiness, came to her with their chiefs, and offered her all the land about her cell. but she, not wishing to be entangled with earthly cares, accepted but four acres round her cell, for a garden of herbs for her and her nuns. and the simple wild irish were sad and angry, and said, 'if thou wilt not take it alive, thou shalt take it when thou art dead. so they chose her then and there for their patroness, and she blessed them with many blessings, which are fulfilled unto this day; and when she migrated to the lord they gave her all the land, and her nuns hold it to this day, the land of hy-connell on the east shannon bank, at the roots of luachra mountain.' what a picture! one hopes that it may be true, for the sake of its beauty and its pathos. the poor, savage, half-naked, and, i fear, on the authority of st. jerome and others, now and then cannibal celts, with their saffron scarfs, and skenes, and darts, and glibs of long hair hanging over their hypo-gorillaceous visages, coming to the prophet maiden, and asking her to take their land, for they could make no decent use of it themselves; and look after them, body and soul, for they could not look after themselves; and pray for them to her god, for they did not know how to pray to him themselves. if any man shall regret that such an event happened to any savages on this earth, i am, i confess, sorry for him. st. severinus, again, whom i have mentioned to you more than once:--none of us can believe that he made a dead corpse (silvinus the priest, by name) sit up and talk with him on its road to burial. none of us need believe that he stopped the plague at vienna by his prayers. none of us need attribute to anything but his sagacity the divine revelations whereby he predicted the destruction of a town for its wickedness, and escaped thence, like lot, alone; or by which he discovered, during the famine of vienna, that a certain rich widow had much corn hidden in her cellars: but there are facts enough, credible and undoubted, concerning st. severinus, the apostle of austria, to make us trust that in him, too, wisdom was justified of all her children. you may remark, among the few words which have been as yet said of st. severinus, a destruction, a plague, and a famine. those words are a fair sample of st. severinus's times, and of the circumstances into which he voluntarily threw himself. about the middle of the fifth century there appears in the dying roman province of noricum (austria we now call it) a strange gentleman, eloquent and learned beyond all, and with the strangest power of melting and ruling the hearts of men. who he is he will not tell, save that his name is severinus, a right noble name without doubt. gradually it oozes out that he has been in the far east, through long travels and strange dangers, through many cities and many lands; but he will tell nothing. he is the servant of god, come hither to try to be of use. he certainly could have come for no other reason, unless to buy slaves; for austria was at that time the very highway of the nations, the centre of the human mahlstrom, in which huns, gepiden, allmannen, rugen, and a dozen wild tribes more, wrestled up and down round the starving and beleaguered roman towns of that once fertile and happy province. a man who went there for his own pleasure, or even devotion, would have been as wise as one who had built himself last summer a villa on the rappahannock, or retired for private meditation to the orchard of hougoumont during the battle of waterloo. nevertheless, there severinus stayed till men began to appreciate him; and called him, and not unjustly, saint. why not? he preached, he taught, he succoured, he advised, he fed, he governed; he turned aside the raids of the wild german kings; he gained a divine power over their hearts; he taught them something of god and of christ, something of justice and mercy; something of peace and unity among themselves; till the fame ran through all the alps, and far away into the hungarian marches, that there was a prophet of god arisen in the land; and before the unarmed man, fasting and praying in his solitary cell on the mountain above vienna, ten thousand knights and champions trembled, who never had trembled at the sight of armed hosts. who would deny that man the name of saint? and who, if by that sagacity which comes from the combination of intellect and virtue, he sometimes seemed miraculously to foretell coming events, would deny him the name of prophet also? if st. severinus be the type of the monk as prophet, st. columba may stand as the type of the missionary monk; the good man strengthened by lonely meditation; but using that strength not for selfish fanaticism, but for the good of men; going forth unwillingly out of his beloved solitude, that he may save souls. round him, too, cluster the usual myths. he drives away with the sign of the cross a monster which attacks him at a ford. he expels from a fountain the devils who smote with palsy and madness all who bathed therein. he sees by a prophetic spirit, he sitting in his cell in ireland, a great italian town destroyed by a volcano. his friends behold a column of light rising from his head as he celebrates mass. yes; but they also tell of him, 'that he was angelical in look, brilliant in speech, holy in work, clear in intellect, great in council.' that he 'never passed an hour without prayer, or a holy deed, or reading of the scriptures (for these old monks had bibles, and knew them by heart too, in spite of all that has been written to the contrary), that he was of so excellent a humility and charity, bathing his disciples' feet when they came home from labour, and carrying corn from the mill on his own back, that he fulfilled the precept of his master, 'he that will be the greatest among you, let him be as your servant.' they also tell of him (and this is fact and history) how he left his monastery of derm each, 'the field of oaks,' which we call derry, and went away at the risk of his life to preach to the wild picts of galloway, and founded the great monastery of iona, and that succession of abbots from whom christianity spread over the south of scotland and north of england, under his great successor aidan. aidan has his myths likewise. they tell of him how he stilled the sea- waves with holy oil; how he turned back on penda and his saxons the flames with which the heathen king was trying to burn down bamborough walls. but they tell, too (and bede had heard it from those who had known aidan in the flesh) of 'his love of peace and charity, his purity and humility, his mind superior to avarice or pride, his authority, becoming a minister of christ, in reproving the haughty and powerful, and his tenderness in relieving the afflicted, and defending the poor.' who, save one who rejoiceth in evil, instead of rejoicing in the truth, will care to fix his eyes for a moment upon the fairy tales which surround such a story, as long as there shines out from among them clear and pure, in spite of all doctrinal errors, the grace of god, the likeness of jesus christ our lord? let us look next at the priest as tribune of the people, supported usually by the invisible, but most potent presence of the saint, whose relics he kept. one may see that side of his power in raphael's immortal design of attila's meeting with the pope at the gates of rome, and recoiling as he sees st. peter and st. paul floating terrible and threatening above the holy city. is it a myth, a falsehood? not altogether. such a man as attila probably would have seen them, with his strong savage imagination, as incapable as that of a child from distinguishing between dreams and facts, between the subjective and the objective world. and it was on the whole well for him and for mankind, that he should think that he saw them, and tremble before the spiritual and the invisible; confessing a higher law than that of his own ambition and self-will; a higher power than that of his brute tartar hordes. raphael's design is but a famous instance of an influence which wrought through the length and breadth of the down-trodden and dying roman empire, through the four fearful centuries which followed the battle of adrianople. the wild licence, the boyish audacity, of the invading teutons was never really checked, save by the priest and the monk who worshipped over the bones of some old saint or martyr, whose name the teutons had never heard. then, as the wild king, earl, or comes, with his wild reiters at his heels, galloped through the land, fighting indiscriminately his roman enemies, and his teutonic rivals--harrying, slaughtering, burning by field and wild--he was aware at last of something which made him pause. some little walled town, built on the ruins of a great roman city, with its byzantine minster towering over the thatched roofs, sheltering them as the oak shelters the last night's fungus at its base. more than once in the last century or two, has that same town been sacked. more than once has the surviving priest crawled out of his hiding-place when the sound of war was past, called the surviving poor around him, dug the dead out of the burning ruins for christian burial, built up a few sheds, fed a few widows and orphans, organized some form of orderly life out of the chaos of blood and ashes, in the name of god and st. quemdeusvult whose bones he guards; and so he has established a temporary theocracy, and become a sort of tribune of the people, magistrate and father--the only one they have. and now he will try the might of st. quemdeusvult against the wild king, and see if he can save the town from being sacked once more. so out he comes--a bishop perhaps, with priests, monks, crucifixes, banners, litanies. the wild king must come no further. that land belongs to no mortal man, but to st. quemdeusvult, martyred here by the heathen five hundred years ago. some old kaiser of rome, or it may be some former gothic king, gave that place to the saint for ever, and the saint will avenge his rights. he is very merciful to those who duly honour him: but very terrible in his wrath if he be aroused. has not the king heard how the count of such a place, only forty years before, would have carried off a maiden from st. quemdeusvult's town; and when the bishop withstood him, he answered that he cared no more for the relics of the saint than for the relics of a dead ass, and so took the maiden and went? but within a year and a day, he fell down dead in his drink, and when they came to lay out the corpse, behold the devils had carried it away, and put a dead ass in its place. all which the bishop would fully believe. why not? he had no physical science to tell him that it was impossible. morally, it was in his eyes just, and therefore probable; while as for testimony, men were content with very little in those days, simply because they could get very little. news progressed slowly in countries desolate and roadless, and grew as it passed from mouth to mouth, as it did in the highlands a century ago, as it did but lately in the indian mutiny; till after a fact had taken ten years in crossing a few mountains and forests, it had assumed proportions utterly fantastic and gigantic. so the wild king and his wild knights pause. they can face flesh and blood: but who can face the quite infinite terrors of an unseen world? they are men of blood too, men of evil lives; and conscience makes them cowards. they begin to think that they have gone too far. could they see the saint, and make it up with him somewhat? no. the saint they cannot see. to open his shrine would be to commit the sin of uzzah. palsy and blindness would be the least that would follow. but the dome under which he lies all men may see; and perhaps the saint may listen, if they speak him fair. they feel more and more uncomfortable. this saint, in heaven at god's right hand, and yet there in the dom-church--is clearly a mysterious, ubiquitous person, who may take them in the rear very unexpectedly. and his priests, with their book-learning, and their sciences, and their strange dresses and chants--who knows what secret powers, magical or other, they may not possess? they bluster at first: being (as i have said) much of the temper and habits, for good and evil, of english navvies. but they grow more and more uneasy, full of childish curiosity, and undefined dread. so into the town they go, on promise (which they will honourably keep, being german men) of doing no harm to the plebs, the half roman artisans and burghers who are keeping themselves alive here--the last dying remnants of the civilization, and luxury, and cruelty, and wickedness, of a great roman colonial city; and they stare at arts and handicrafts new to them; and are hospitably fed by bishops and priests; and then they go, trembling and awkward, into the great dom-church; and gaze wondering at the frescoes, and the carvings of the arcades--marbles from italy, porphyries from egypt, all patched together out of the ruins of roman baths, and temples, and theatres; and at last they arrive at the saint's shrine itself--some marble sarcophagus, most probably covered with vine and ivy leaves, with nymphs and satyrs, long since consecrated with holy water to a new and better use. inside that lies the saint, asleep, yet ever awake. so they had best consider in whose presence they are, and fear god and st. quemdeusvult, and cast away the seven deadly sins wherewith they are defiled; for the saint is a righteous man, and died for righteousness' sake; and those who rob the orphan and the widow, and put the fatherless to death, them he cannot abide; and them he will watch like an eagle of the sky, and track like a wolf of the wood, fill he punishes them with a great destruction. in short, the bishop preaches to the king and his men a right noble and valiant sermon, calling things by their true names without fear or favour, and assuming, on the mere strength of being in the right, a tone of calm superiority which makes the strong armed men blush and tremble before the weak and helpless one. yes. spirit is stronger than flesh. 'meekly bend thy neck, sicamber!' said st. remigius to the great conquering king clovis, when he stept into the baptismal font--(not 'most gracious majesty,' or 'illustrious caesar,' or 'by the grace of god lord of the franks,' but sicamber, as a missionary might now say maori, or caffre,--and yet st. remigius's life was in clovis's hand then and always),--'burn what thou hast adored, and adore what thou hast burned!' and the terrible clovis trembled and obeyed. so does the wild king at the shrine of st. quemdeusvult. he takes his bracelet, or his jewel, and offers it civilly enough. will the bishop be so good as to inform the great earl st. quemdeusvult, that he was not aware of his rights, or even of his name; that perhaps he will deign to accept this jewel, which he took off the neck of a roman general--that--that on the whole he is willing to make the amende honorable, as far as is consistent with the feelings of a nobleman; and trusts that the saint, being a nobleman too, will be satisfied therewith. after which, probably, it will appear to the wild king that this bishop is the very man that he wants, the very opposite to himself and his wild riders; a man pure, peaceable, just, and brave; possessed, too, of boundless learning; who can read, write, cipher, and cast nativities; who has a whole room full of books and parchments, and a map of the whole world; who can talk latin, and perhaps greek, as well as one of those accursed man-eating grendels, a roman lawyer, or a logothete from ravenna; possessed, too, of boundless supernatural power;--would the bishop be so good as to help him in his dispute with the count boso, about their respective marches in such and such a forest? if the bishop could only settle that without more fighting, of course he should have his reward. he would confirm to the saint and his burg all the rights granted by constantine the kaiser; and give him moreover all the meadow land in such and such a place, with the mills and fisheries, on service of a dish of trout from the bishop and his successors, whenever he came that way: for the trout there were exceeding good, that he knew. and so a bargain would be struck, and one of those curious compromises between the spiritual and temporal authorities take root, of which one may read at length in the pages of m. guizot, or sir james stephen. and after a few years, most probably, the king would express a wish to be baptized, at the instance of his queen who had been won over by the bishop, and had gone down into the font some years before; and he would bid his riders be baptized also; and they would obey, seeing that it could do them no harm, and might do them some good; and they would agree to live more or less according to the laws of god and common humanity; and so one more christian state would be formed; one more living stone (as it was phrased in those days) built into the great temple of god which was called christendom. so the work was done. can we devise any better method of doing it? if not, let us be content that it was done somehow, and believe that wisdom is justified of all her children. we may object to the fact, that the dom-church and its organization grew up (as was the case in the vast majority of instances) round the body of a saint or martyr; we may smile at the notion of an invisible owner and protector of the soil: but we must not overlook the broad fact, that without that prestige the barbarians would never have been awed into humanity; without that prestige the place would have been swept off the face of the earth, till not one stone stood on another: and he who does not see what a disaster for humanity that would have been, must be ignorant that the civilization of europe is the child of the towns; and also that our teutonic forefathers were by profession destroyers of towns, and settlers apart from each other on country freeholds. lonely barbarism would have been the fate of europe, but for the monk who guarded the relics of the saint within the walled burg. this good work of the church, in the preservation and even resuscitation of the municipal institutions of the towns, has been discust so well and fully by m. guizot, m. sismondi, and sir james stephen, that i shall say no more about it, save to recommend you to read what they have written. i go on to point out to you some other very important facts, which my ideal sketch exemplifies. the difference between the clergy and the teuton conquerors was more than a difference of creed, or of civilization. it was an actual difference of race. they were romans, to whom the teuton was a savage, speaking a different tongue, obeying different laws, his whole theory of the universe different from the roman. and he was, moreover, an enemy and a destroyer. the teuton was to them as a hindoo is to us, with the terrible exception, that the positions were reversed; that the teuton was not the conquered, but the conqueror. it is easy for us to feel humanity and christian charity toward races which we have mastered. it was not so easy for the roman priest to feel them toward a race which had mastered him. his repugnance to the 'barbarian' must have been at first intense. he never would have conquered it; he never would have become the willing converter of the heathen, had there not been in him the spirit of god, and firm belief in a catholic church, to which all men of all races ought alike to belong. this true and glorious idea, the only one which has ever been or ever will be able to break down the barriers of race, and the animal antipathy which the natural man has to all who are not of his own kin: this idea was the sole possession of the roman clergy; and by it they conquered, because it was true, and came from god. but this very difference of race exposed the clergy to great temptations. they were the only civilized men left, west of constantinople. they looked on the teuton not as a man, but as a child; to be ruled; to be petted when he did right, punished when he did wrong; and too often cajoled into doing right, and avoiding wrong. craft became more and more their usual weapon. there were great excuses for them. their lives and property were in continual danger. craft is the natural weapon of the weak against the strong. it seemed to them, too often, to be not only natural, but spiritual also, and therefore just and right. again, the clergy were the only organic remnants of the roman empire. they claimed their privileges and lands as granted to them by past roman emperors, under the roman law. this fact made it their interest, of course, to perpetuate that roman law, and to introduce it as far as they could among their conquerors, to the expulsion of the old teutonic laws; and they succeeded on the whole. of that more hereafter. observe now, that as their rights dated from times which to the teutons were pre-historic, their statements could not be checked by conquerors who could not even read. thence rose the temptation to forge; to forge legends, charters, dotations, ecclesiastical history of all kinds--an ugly and world-famous instance of which you will hear of hereafter. to that temptation they yielded more and more as the years rolled on, till their statements on ecclesiastical history became such as no historian can trust, without the most plentiful corroboration. there were great excuses for them, in this matter, as in others. they could not but look on the teuton as--what in fact and law he was--an unjust and intrusive usurper. they could not but look on their roman congregations, and on themselves, as what in fact and law they were, the rightful owners of the soil. they were but defending or recovering their original rights. would not the end justify the means? but more. out of this singular position grew a doctrine, which looks to us irrational now, but was by no means so then. if the church derived her rights from the extinct roman caesars, how could the teuton conquerors interfere with those rights? if she had owed allegiance to constantine or theodosius, she certainly owed none to dietrich, alboin, or clovis. she did not hold their lands of them; and would pay them, if she could avoid it, neither tax nor toll. she did not recognize the sovereignty of these teutons as 'ordained by god.' out of this simple political fact grew up vast consequences. the teuton king was a heathen or arian usurper. he was not a king de jure, in the eyes of the clergy, till he was baptized into the church, and then lawfully anointed king by the clergy. thus the clergy gradually became the makers of kings; and the power of making involved a corresponding power of unmaking, if the king rebelled against the church, and so cut himself off from christendom. at best, he was one of 'the princes of this world,' from whom the church was free, absolutely in spiritual matters, and in temporal matters, also de jure, and therefore de facto as far as she could be made free. to keep the possessions of the church from being touched by profane hands, even that they might contribute to the common needs of the nation, became a sacred duty, a fixed idea, for which the clergy must struggle, anathematize, forge if need be: but also--to do them justice--die if need be as martyrs. the nations of this world were nothing to them. the wars of the nations were nothing. they were the people of god, 'who dwelt alone, and were not reckoned among the nations;' their possessions were the inheritance of god: and from this idea, growing (as i have shewn) out of a political fact, arose the extra- national, and too often anti-national position, which the roman clergy held for many ages, and of which the instinct, at least, lingers among them in many countries. out of it arose, too, all after struggles between the temporal and ecclesiastical powers. becket, fighting to the death against henry ii., was not, as m. thierry thinks, the anglo-saxon defying the norman. he was the representative of the christian roman defying the teuton, on the ground of rights which he believed to have existed while the teuton was a heathen in the german forests. gradually, as the nations of europe became really nations, within fixed boundaries, and separate christian organizations, these demands of the church became intolerable in reason, because unnecessary in fact. but had there not been in them at the first an instinct of right and justice, they would never have become the fixed idea of the clerical mind; the violation of them the one inexpiable sin; and the defence of them (as may be seen by looking through the romish calendar) the most potent qualification for saintship. yes. the clergy believed that idea deeply enough to die for it. st. alphege at canterbury had been, it is said, one of the first advisers of the ignominious payment of the danegeld: but there was one thing which he would not do. he would advise the giving up of the money of the nation: but the money of his church he would not give up. the danes might thrust him into a filthy dungeon: he would not take the children's bread and cast it unto the dogs. they might drag him out into their husting, and threaten him with torture: but to the drunken cry of 'gold! bishop! gold!' his only answer would be--not a penny. he could not rob the poor of christ. and when he fell, beaten to death with the bones and horns of the slaughtered oxen, he died in faith; a martyr to the great idea of that day, that the gold of the church did not belong to the conquerors of this world. but st. alphege was an englishman, and not a roman. true in the letter: but not in the spirit. the priest or monk, by becoming such, more or less renounced his nationality. it was the object of the church to make him renounce it utterly; to make him regard himself no longer as englishman, frank, lombard, or goth: but as the representatives by an hereditary descent, considered all the more real because it was spiritual and not carnal, of the roman church; to prevent his being entangled, whether by marriage or otherwise, in the business of this life; out of which would flow nepotism, simony, and erastian submission to those sovereigns who ought to be the servants, not the lords of the church. for this end no means were too costly. st. dunstan, in order to expel the married secular priests, and replace them by benedictine monks of the italian order of monte casino, convulsed england, drove her into civil war, paralysed her monarchs one after the other, and finally left her exhausted and imbecile, a prey to the invading northmen: but he had at least done his best to make the royal house of cerdic, and the nations which obeyed that house, understand that the church derived its rights not from them, but from rome. this hereditary sense of superiority on the part of the clergy may explain and excuse much of their seeming flattery. the most vicious kings are lauded, if only they have been 'erga servos dei benevoli;' if they have founded monasteries; if they have respected the rights of the church. the clergy too often looked on the secular princes as more or less wild beasts, of whom neither common decency, justice, or mercy was to be expected; and they had too often reason enough to do so. all that could be expected of the kings was, that if they would not regard man, they should at least fear god; which if they did, the proof of 'divine grace' on their part was so unexpected, as well as important, that the monk chroniclers praised them heartily and honestly, judging them by what they had, not by what they had not. thus alone can one explain such a case as that of the monastic opinion of dagobert the second, king of the franks. we are told in the same narrative, seemingly without any great sense of incongruity, how he murdered his own relations and guests, and who not?--how he massacred bulgars to whom he had given hospitality; how he kept a harem of three queens, and other women so numerous that fredegarius cannot mention them; and also how, accompanied by his harem, he chanted among the monks of st. denis; how he founded many rich convents; how he was the friend, or rather pupil, of st. arnulf of metz, st. omer, and above all of st. eloi--whose story i recommend you to read, charmingly told, in mr. maitland's 'dark ages,' pp. - . the three saints were no hypocrites--god forbid! they were good men and true, to whom had been entrusted the keeping of a wild beast, to be petted and praised whenever it shewed any signs of humanity or obedience. but woe to the prince, however useful or virtuous in other respects, who laid sacrilegious hands on the goods of the church. he might, like charles martel, have delivered france from the pagans on the east, and from the mussulmen on the south, and have saved christendom once and for all from the dominion of the crescent, in that great battle on the plains of poitiers, where the arab cavalry (says isidore of beja) broke against the immoveable line of franks, like 'waves against a wall of ice.' but if, like charles martel, he had dared to demand of the church taxes and contributions toward the support of his troops, and the salvation both of church and commonweal, then all his prowess was in vain. some monk would surely see him in a vision, as st. eucherius, bishop of orleans, saw charles martel (according to the council of kiersy), 'with cain, judas, and caiaphas, thrust into the stygian whirlpools and acherontic combustion of the sempiternal tartarus.' those words, which, with slight variations, are a common formula of cursing appended to monastic charters against all who should infringe them, remind us rather of the sixth book of virgil's aeneid than of the holy scriptures; and explain why dante naturally chooses that poet as a guide through his inferno. the cosmogony from which such an idea was derived was simple enough. i give, of course, no theological opinion on its correctness: but as professor of modern history, i am bound to set before you opinions which had the most enormous influence on the history of early europe. unless you keep them in mind, as the fixed and absolute background of all human thought and action for more than years, you will never be able to understand the doings of european men. this earth, then, or at least the habitable part of it, was considered as most probably a flat plane. below that plane, or in the centre of the earth, was the realm of endless fire. it could be entered (as by the welsh knight who went down into st. patrick's purgatory) by certain caves. by listening at the craters of volcanoes, which were its mouths, the cries of the tortured might be heard in the depths of the earth. in that 'tartarus' every human being born into the world was doomed to be endlessly burnt alive: only in the church, 'extra quam nulla salus,' was there escape from the common doom. but to that doom, excommunication, which thrust a man from the pale of the church, condemned the sinner afresh, with curses the most explicit and most horrible. the superior clergy, therefore, with whom the anathematizing power lay, believed firmly that they could, proprio motu, upon due cause shewn, cause any man or woman to be burned alive through endless ages. and what was more, the teutonic laity, with that intense awe of the unseen which they had brought with them out of the wilderness, believed it likewise, and trembled. it paralysed the wisest, as well as the fiercest, that belief. instead of disgusting the kings of the earth, it gave them over, bound hand and foot by their own guilty consciences, into the dominion of the clergy; and the belief that charles martel was damned, only knit (as m. sismondi well remarks) his descendants the carlovingians more closely to the church which possest so terrible a weapon. whether they were right or wrong in these beliefs is a question not to be discussed in this chair. my duty is only to point out to you the universal existence of those beliefs, and the historic fact that they gave the clergy a character supernatural, magical, divine, with a reserve of power before which all trembled, from the beggar to the king; and also, that all struggles between the temporal and spiritual powers, like that between henry and becket, can only be seen justly in the light of the practical meaning of that excommunication which becket so freely employed. i must also point out to you that so enormous a power (too great for the shoulders of mortal man) was certain to be, and actually was, fearfully abused, not only by its direct exercise, but also by bargaining with men, through indulgences and otherwise, for the remission of that punishment, which the clergy could, if they would, inflict; and worst of all, that out of the whole theory sprang up that system of persecution, in which the worst cruelties of heathen rome were imitated by christian priests, on the seemingly irrefragable ground that it was merciful to offenders to save them, or, if not, at least to save others through them, by making them feel for a few hours in this world what they would feel for endless ages in the next. lecture ix--the monk a civilizer historians are often blamed for writing as if the history of kings and princes were the whole history of the world. 'why do you tell us,' is said, 'of nothing but the marriages, successions, wars, characters, of a few royal races? we want to know what the people, and not the princes, were like. history ought to be the history of the masses, and not of kings.' the only answer to this complaint seems to be, that the defect is unavoidable. the history of the masses cannot be written, while they have no history; and none will they have, as long as they remain a mass; ere their history begins, individuals, few at first, and more and more numerous as they progress, must rise out of the mass, and become persons, with fixed ideas, determination, conscience, more or less different from their fellows, and thereby leavening and elevating their fellows, that they too may become persons, and men indeed. then they will begin to have a common history, issuing out of each man's struggle to assert his own personality and his own convictions. till that point is reached, the history of the masses will be mere statistic concerning their physical well-being or ill-being, which (for the early ages of our race) is unwritten, and therefore undiscoverable. the early history of the teutonic race, therefore, is, and must always remain, simply the history of a few great figures. of the many of the masses, nothing is said; because there was nothing to say. they all ate, drank, married, tilled, fought, and died, not altogether brutally, we will hope, but still in a dull monotony, unbroken by any struggle of principles or ideas. we know that large masses of human beings have so lived in every age, and are living so now--the tartar hordes, for instance, or the thriving negroes of central africa: comfortable folk, getting a tolerable living, son after father, for many generations, but certainly not developed enough, or afflicted enough, to have any history. i believe that the masses, during the early middle age, were very well off; quite as well off as they deserved; that is, earned for themselves. they lived in a rough way, certainly: but roughness is not discomfort, where the taste has not been educated. a red indian sleeps as well in a wigwam as we in a spring bed; and the irish babies thrive as well among the peat ashes as on a brussels carpet. man is a very well constructed being, and can live and multiply anywhere, provided he can keep warm, and get pure water and enough to eat. indeed, our teutonic fathers must have been comfortably off, or they could not have multiplied as they did. even though their numbers may have been overstated, the fact is patent, that howsoever they were slaughtered down, by the romans or by each other, they rose again as out of the soil, more numerous than ever. again and again you read of a tribe being all but exterminated by the romans, and in a few years find it bursting over the pfalzgrab or the danube, more numerous and terrible than before. never believe that a people deprest by cold, ill-feeding, and ill-training, could have conquered europe in the face of centuries of destructive war. those very wars, again, may have helped in the long run the increase of population, and for a reason simple enough, though often overlooked. war throws land out of cultivation; and when peace returns, the new settlers find the land fallow, and more or less restored to its original fertility; and so begins a period of rapid and prosperous increase. in no other way can i explain the rate at which nations after the most desolating wars spring up, young and strong again, like the phoenix, from their own funeral pile. they begin afresh as the tillers of a virgin soil, fattened too often with the ashes of burnt homesteads, and the blood of the slain. another element of comfort may have been the fact, that in the rough education of the forest, only the strong and healthy children lived, while the weakly died off young, and so the labour-market, as we should say now, was never overstocked. this is the case with our own gipsies, and with many savage tribes--the red indians, for instance--and accounts for their general healthiness: the unhealthy being all dead, in the first struggle for existence. but then these gipsies, and the red indians, do not increase in numbers, but the contrary; while our forefathers increased rapidly. on the other hand, we have, at least throughout the middle ages, accounts of such swarms of cripples, lepers, deformed, and other incapable persons, as to make some men believe that there were more of them, in proportion to the population, than there are now. and it may have been so. the strongest and healthiest men always going off to be killed in war, the weakliest only would be left at home to breed; and so an unhealthy population might spring up. and again--and this is a curious fact--as law and order enter a country, so will the proportion of incapables, in body and mind, increase. in times of war and anarchy, when every one is shifting for himself, only the strongest and shrewdest can stand. woe to those who cannot take care of themselves. the fools and cowards, the weakly and sickly, are killed, starved, neglected, or in other ways brought to grief. but when law and order come, they protect those who cannot protect themselves, and the fools and cowards, the weakly and sickly, are supported at the public expense, and allowed to increase and multiply as public burdens. i do not say that this is wrong, heaven forbid! i only state the fact. a government is quite right in defending all alike from the brute competition of nature, whose motto is--woe to the weak. to the church of the middle age is due the preaching and the practice of the great christian doctrine, that society is bound to protect the weak. so far the middle age saw: but no further. for our own times has been reserved the higher and deeper doctrine, that it is the duty of society to make the weak strong; to reform, to cure, and above all, to prevent by education, by sanitary science, by all and every means, the necessity of reforming and of curing. science could not do that in the middle age. but if science could not do it, religion would at least try to do the next best thing to it. the monasteries were the refuges, whither the weak escaped from the competition of the strong. thither flocked the poor, the crippled, the orphan, and the widow, all, in fact, who could not fight for themselves. there they found something like justice, order, pity, help. even the fool and the coward, when they went to the convent-door, were not turned away. the poor half-witted rascal, who had not sense enough to serve the king, might still serve the abbot. he would be set to drive, plough, or hew wood--possibly by the side of a gentleman, a nobleman, or even a prince--and live under equal law with them; and under, too, a discipline more strict than that of any modern army; and if he would not hew the wood, or drive the bullocks, as he ought, then the abbot would have him flogged soundly till he did; which was better for him, after all, than wandering about to be hooted by the boys, and dying in a ditch at last. the coward, too--the abbot could make him of use, even though the king could not. there were, no doubt, in those days, though fewer in number than now, men who could not face physical danger, and the storm of the evil world,--delicate, nervous, imaginative, feminine characters; who, when sent out to battle, would be very likely to run away. our forefathers, having no use for such persons, used to put such into a bog- hole, and lay a hurdle over them, in the belief that they would sink to the lowest pool of hela for ever more. but the abbot had great use for such. they could learn to read, write, sing, think; they were often very clever; they might make great scholars; at all events they might make saints. whatever they could not do, they could pray. and the united prayer of those monks, it was then believed, could take heaven by storm, alter the course of the elements, overcome divine justice, avert from mankind the anger of an offended god. whether that belief were right or wrong, people held it; and the man who could not fight with carnal weapons, regained his self-respect, and therefore his virtue, when he found himself fighting, as he held, with spiritual weapons against all the powers of darkness { }. the first light in which i wish you to look at the old monasteries, is as defences for the weak against the strong. but what has this to do with what i said at first, as to the masses having no history? this:--that through these monasteries the masses began first to have a history; because through them they ceased to be masses, and became first, persons and men, and then, gradually, a people. that last the monasteries could not make them: but they educated them for becoming a people; and in this way. they brought out, in each man, the sense of individual responsibility. they taught him, whether warrior or cripple, prince or beggar, that he had an immortal soul, for which each must give like account to god. do you not see the effect of that new thought? treated as slaves, as things and animals, the many had learnt to consider themselves as things and animals. and so they had become 'a mass,' that is, a mere heap of inorganic units, each of which has no spring of life in itself as distinguished from a whole, a people, which has one bond, uniting each to all. the 'masses' of the french had fallen into that state, before the revolution of . the 'masses' of our agricultural labourers,--the 'masses' of our manufacturing workmen, were fast falling into that state in the days of our grandfathers. whether the french masses have risen out of it, remains to be seen. the english masses, thanks to almighty god, have risen out of it; and by the very same factor by which the middle-age masses rose--by religion. the great methodist movement of the last century did for our masses, what the monks did for our forefathers in the middle age. wesley and whitfield, and many another noble soul, said to nailsea colliers, cornish miners, and all manner of drunken brutalized fellows, living like the beasts that perish,--'each of you--thou--and thou--and thou--stand apart and alone before god. each has an immortal soul in him, which will be happy or miserable for ever, according to the deeds done in the body. a whole eternity of shame or of glory lies in you--and you are living like a beast.' and in proportion as each man heard that word, and took it home to himself, he became a new man, and a true man. the preachers may have mixed up words with their message with which we may disagree, have appealed to low hopes and fears which we should be ashamed to bring into our calculations;--so did the monks: but they got their work done somehow; and let us thank them, and the old methodists, and any man who will tell men, in whatever clumsy and rough fashion, that they are not things, and pieces of a mass, but persons, with an everlasting duty, an everlasting right and wrong, an everlasting god in whose presence they stand, and who will judge them according to their works. true, that is not all that men need to learn. after they are taught, each apart, that he is a man, they must be taught, how to be an united people: but the individual teaching must come first; and before we hastily blame the individualizing tendencies of the old evangelical movement, or that of the middle-age monks, let us remember, that if they had not laid the foundation, others could not build thereon. besides, they built themselves, as well as they could, on their own foundation. as soon as men begin to be really men, the desire of corporate life springs up in them. they must unite; they must organize themselves. if they possess duties, they must be duties to their fellow- men; if they possess virtues and graces, they must mix with their fellow- men in order to exercise them. the solitaries of the thebaid found that they became selfish wild beasts, or went mad, if they remained alone; and they formed themselves into lauras, 'lanes' of huts, convents, under a common abbot or father. the evangelical converts of the last century formed themselves into powerful and highly organized sects. the middle-age monasteries organized themselves into highly artificial communities round some sacred spot, generally under the supposed protection of some saint or martyr, whose bones lay there. each method was good, though not the highest. none of them rises to the idea of a people, having one national life, under one monarch, the representative to each and all of that national life, and the dispenser and executor of its laws. indeed, the artificial organization, whether monastic or sectarian, may become so strong as to interfere with national life, and make men forget their real duty to their king and country, in their self-imposed duty to the sect or order to which they belong. the monastic organization indeed had to die, in many countries, in order that national life might develop itself; and the dissolution of the monasteries marks the birth of an united and powerful england. they or britain must have died. an imperium in imperio--much more many separate imperia--was an element of national weakness, which might be allowed in times of peace and safety, but not in times of convulsion and of danger. you may ask, however, how these monasteries became so powerful, if they were merely refuges for the weak? even if they were (and they were) the homes of an equal justice and order, mercy and beneficence, which had few or no standing-places outside their walls, still, how, if governed by weak men, could they survive in the great battle of life? the sheep would have but a poor life of it, if they set up hurdles against the wolves, and agreed at all events not to eat each other. the answer is, that the monasteries were not altogether tenanted by incapables. the same causes which brought the low-born into the monasteries, brought the high-born, many of the very highest. the same cause which brought the weak into the monasteries, brought the strong, many of the very strongest. the middle-age records give us a long list of kings, princes, nobles, who having done (as they held) their work in the world outside, went into those convents to try their hands at what seemed to them (and often was) better work than the perpetual coil of war, intrigue, and ambition, which was not the crime, but the necessary fate, of a ruler in the middle ages. tired of work, and tired of life; tired too, of vain luxury and vain wealth, they fled to the convent, as to the only place where a man could get a little peace, and think of god, and his own soul; and recollected, as they worked with their own hands by the side of the lowest-born of their subjects, that they had a human flesh and blood, a human immortal soul, like those whom they had ruled. thank god that the great have other methods now of learning that great truth; that the work of life, if but well done, will teach it to them: but those were hard times, and wild times; and fighting men could hardly learn, save in the convent, that there was a god above who watched the widows' and the orphans' tears, and when he made inquisition for blood, forgot not the cause of the poor. such men and women of rank brought into the convent, meanwhile, all the prestige of their rank, all their superior knowledge of the world; and became the patrons and protectors of the society; while they submitted, generally with peculiar humility and devotion, to its most severe and degrading rules. their higher sensibilities, instead of making them shrink from hardship, made them strong to endure self-sacrifices, and often self-tortures, which seem to us all but incredible; and the lives, or rather living deaths, of the noble and princely penitents of the early middle age, are among the most beautiful tragedies of humanity. to these monasteries, too, came the men of the very highest intellect, of whatsoever class. i say, of the very highest intellect. tolerably talented men might find it worth while to stay in the world, and use their wits in struggling upward there. the most talented of all would be the very men to see a better 'carriere ouverte aux talens' than the world could give; to long for deeper and loftier meditation than could be found in the court; for a more divine life, a more blessed death, than could be found in the camp and the battle-field. and so it befals, that in the early middle age the cleverest men were generally inside the convent, trying, by moral influence and superior intellect, to keep those outside from tearing each other to pieces. but these intellects could not remain locked up in the monasteries. the daily routine of devotion, even of silent study and contemplation, was not sufficient for them, as it was for the average monk. there was still a reserve of force in them, which must be up and doing; and which, in a man inspired by that spirit which is the spirit of love to man as well as to god, must needs expand outwards in all directions, to christianize, to civilize, to colonize. to colonize. when people talk loosely of founding an abbey for superstitious uses, they cannot surely be aware of the state of the countries in which those abbeys were founded; either primaeval forest, hardly-tilled common, or to be described by that terrible epithet of domesday-book, 'wasta'--wasted by war. a knowledge of that fact would lead them to guess that there were almost certainly uses for the abbey which had nothing to do with superstition; which were as thoroughly practical as those of a company for draining the bog of allen, or running a railroad through an american forest. such, at least, was the case, at least for the first seven centuries after the fall of rome; and to these missionary colonizers europe owes, i verily believe, among a hundred benefits, this which all englishmen will appreciate; that roman agriculture not only revived in the countries which were once the empire, but spread from thence eastward and northward, into the principal wilderness of the teuton and sclavonic races. i cannot, i think, shew you better what manner of men these monk-colonizers were, and what sort of work they did, than by giving you the biography of one of them; and out of many i have chosen that of st. sturmi, founder whilome of the great abbey of fulda, which lies on the central watershed of germany, about equidistant, to speak roughly, from frankfort, cassel, gotha, and coburg. his life is matter of history, written by one eigils (sainted like himself), who was his disciple and his friend. naturally told it is, and lovingly; but if i recollect right, without a single miracle or myth; the living contemporaneous picture of such a man, living in such a state of society, as we shall never (and happily need never) see again, but which is for that very reason worthy to be preserved, for a token that wisdom is justified of all her children. it stands at length in pertz's admirable 'monumenta historica,' among many another like biography, and if i tell it here somewhat at length, readers must forgive me. every one has heard of little king pepin, and many may have heard also how he was a mighty man of valour, and cut off a lion's head at one blow; and how he was a crafty statesman, and first consolidated the temporal power of the popes, and helped them in that detestable crime of overthrowing the noble lombard kingdom, which cost italy centuries of slavery and shame, and which has to be expiated even yet, it would seem, by some fearful punishment. but every one may not know that pepin had great excuses--if not for helping to destroy the lombards--yet still for supporting the power of the popes. it seemed to him--and perhaps it was--the only practical method of uniting the german tribes into one common people, and stopping the internecine wars by which they were tearing themselves to pieces. it seemed to him--and perhaps it was--the only practical method for civilizing and christianizing the still wild tribes, frisians, saxons, and sclaves, who pressed upon the german marches, from the mouth of the elbe to the very alps. be that as it may, he began the work; and his son charlemagne finished it; somewhat well, and again somewhat ill--as most work, alas! is done on earth. now in the days of little king pepin there was a nobleman of bavaria, and his wife, who had a son called sturmi; and they brought him to st. boniface, that he might make him a priest. and the child loved st. boniface's noble english face, and went with him willingly, and was to him as a son. and who was st. boniface? that is a long story. suffice it that he was a man of devon, brought up in a cloister at exeter; and that he had crossed over into frankenland, upon the lower rhine, and become a missionary of the widest and loftiest aims; not merely a preacher and winner of souls, though that, it is said, in perfection; but a civilizer, a colonizer, a statesman. he, and many another noble englishman and scot (whether irish or caledonian) were working under the frank kings to convert the heathens of the marches, and carry the cross into the far east. they led lives of poverty and danger; they were martyred, half of them, as st. boniface was at last. but they did their work; and doubtless they have their reward. they did their best, according to their light. god grant that we, to whom so much more light has been given, may do our best likewise. under this great genius was young sturmi trained. trained (as was perhaps needed for those who had to do such work in such a time) to have neither wife, nor child, nor home, nor penny in his purse; but to do all that he was bid, learn all that he could, and work for his living with his own hands; a life of bitter self-sacrifice. such a life is not needed now. possibly, nevertheless, it was needed then. so st. boniface took sturmi about with him in his travels, and at last handed him over to wigbert, the priest, to prepare him for the ministry. 'under whom,' says his old chronicler, 'the boy began to know the psalms thoroughly by heart; to understand the holy scriptures of christ with spiritual sense; took care to learn most studiously the mysteries of the four gospels, and to bury in his heart, by assiduous reading, the treasures of the old and new testament. for his meditation was in the law of the lord day and night; profound in understanding, shrewd of thought, prudent of speech, fair of face, sober of carriage, honourable in morals, spotless in life, by sweetness, humility, and alacrity, he drew to him the love of all.' he grew to be a man; and in due time he was ordained priest, 'by the will and consent of all;' and he 'began to preach the words of christ earnestly to the people;' and his preaching wrought wonders among them. three years he preached in his rhineland parish, winning love from all. but in the third year 'a heavenly thought' came into his mind that he would turn hermit and dwell in the wild forest. and why? who can tell? he may, likely enough, have found celibacy a fearful temptation for a young and eloquent man, and longed to flee from the sight of that which must not be his. and that, in his circumstances, was not a foolish wish. he may have wished to escape, if but once, from the noise and crowd of outward things, and be alone with god and christ, and his own soul. and that was not a foolish wish. john bunyan so longed, and found what he wanted in bedford jail, and set it down and printed it in a pilgrim's progress, which will live as long as man is man. george fox longed for it, and made himself clothes of leather which would not wear out, and lived in a hollow tree, till he, too, set down the fruit of his solitude in a diary which will live likewise as long as man is man. perhaps, again, young sturmi longed to try for once in a way what he was worth upon god's earth; how much he could endure; what power he had of helping himself, what courage to live by his own wits, and god's mercy, on roots and fruits, as wild things live. and surely that was not altogether a foolish wish. at least, he longed to be a hermit; but he kept his longing to himself, however, till st. boniface, his bishop, appeared; and then he told him all his heart. and st. boniface said: 'go; in the name of god;' and gave him two comrades, and sent him into 'the wilderness which is called buchonia, the beech forest, to find a place fit for the servants of the lord to dwell in. for the lord is able to provide his people a home in the desert.' so those three went into the wild forest. and 'for three days they saw nought but earth and sky and mighty trees. and they went on, praying christ that he would guide their feet into the way of peace. and on the third day they came to the place which is called hersfelt (the hart's down?), and searched it round, and prayed that christ would bless the place for them to dwell in; and then they built themselves little huts of beech-bark, and abode there many days, serving god with holy fastings, and watchings, and prayers.' is it not a strange story? so utterly unlike anything which we see now;--so utterly unlike anything which we ought to see now? and yet it may have been good in its time. it looks out on us from the dim ages, like the fossil bone of some old monster cropping out of a quarry. but the old monster was good in his place and time. god made him and had need of him. it may be that god made those three poor monks, and had need of them likewise. as for their purposes being superstitious, we shall be better able to judge of that when we have seen what they were--what sort of a house they meant to build to god. as for their having self-interest in view, no doubt they thought that they should benefit their own souls in this life, and in the life to come. but one would hardly blame them for that, surely? one would not blame them as selfish and sordid if they had gone out on a commercial speculation? why, then, if on a religious one? the merchant adventurer is often a noble type of man, and one to whom the world owes much, though his hands are not always clean, nor his eye single. the monk adventurer of the middle age is, perhaps, a still nobler type of man, and one to whom the world owes more, though his eye, too, was not always single, nor his hands clean. as for selfishness, one must really bear in mind that men who walked away into that doleful 'urwarld' had need to pray very literally 'that christ would guide their feet into the way of peace;' and must have cared as much for their wordly interests as those who march up to the cannon's mouth. their lives in that forest were not worth twenty-four hours' purchase, and they knew it. it is an ugly thing for an unarmed man, without a compass, to traverse the bush of australia or new zealand, where there are no wild beasts. but it was uglier still to start out under the dark roof of that primaeval wood. knights, when they rode it, went armed cap-a-pie, like sintram through the dark valley, trusting in god and their good sword. chapmen and merchants stole through it by a few tracks in great companies, armed with bill and bow. peasants ventured into it a few miles, to cut timber, and find pannage for their swine, and whispered wild legends of the ugly things therein--and sometimes, too, never came home. away it stretched from the fair rhineland, wave after wave of oak and alder, beech and pine, god alone knew how far, into the land of night and wonder, and the infinite unknown; full of elk and bison, bear and wolf, lynx and glutton, and perhaps of worse beasts still. worse beasts, certainly, sturmi and his comrades would have met, if they had met them in human form. for there were waifs and strays of barbarism there, uglier far than any waif and stray of civilization, border ruffian of the far west, buccaneer of the tropic keys, cimaroon of the panama forests; men verbiesterte, turned into the likeness of beasts, wildfanger, huner, ogres, wehr-wolves, strong thieves and outlaws, many of them possibly mere brutal maniacs; naked, living in caves and coverts, knowing no law but their own hunger, rage, and lust; feeding often on human flesh; and woe to the woman or child or unarmed man who fell into their ruthless clutch. orson, and such like human brutes of the wilderness, serve now to amuse children in fairy tales; they were then ugly facts of flesh and blood. there were heathens there, too, in small colonies: heathen saxons, cruelest of all the tribes; who worshipped at the irmensul, and had an old blood-feud against the franks; heathen thuringer, who had murdered st. kilian the irishman at wurzburg; heathen slaves, of different tribes, who had introduced into europe the custom of impaling their captives: and woe to the christian priest who fell into any of their hands. to be knocked on the head before some ugly idol was the gentlest death which they were like to have. they would have called that martyrdom, and the gate of eternal bliss; but they were none the less brave men for going out to face it. and beside all these, and worse than all these, there were the terrors of the unseen world; very real in those poor monks' eyes, though not in ours. there were nixes in the streams, and kobolds in the caves, and tannhauser in the dark pine-glades, who hated the christian man, and would lure him to his death. there were fair swan-maidens and elf-maidens; nay, dame venus herself, and herodias the dancer, with all their rout of revellers; who would tempt him to sin, and having made him sell his soul, destroy both body and soul in hell. there was satan and all the devils, too, plotting to stop the christian man from building the house of the lord, and preaching the gospel to the heathen; ready to call up storms, and floods, and forest fires; to hurl the crag down from the cliffs, or drop the rotting tree on their defenceless heads--all real and terrible in those poor monks' eyes, as they walked on, singing their psalms, and reading their gospels, and praying to god to save them, for they could not save themselves; and to guide them, for they knew not, like abraham, whither they went; and to show them the place where they should build the house of the lord, and preach righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy spirit to the heathen round. we talk still, thank heaven, of heroes, and understand what that great word should mean. but were not these poor monks heroes? knights-errant of god, doing his work as they best knew how. we have a purer gospel than they: we understand our bibles better. but if they had not done what they did, where would have been now our gospel, and our bible? we cannot tell. it was a wise old saw of our forefathers--'do not speak ill of the bridge which carries you over.' if sturmi had had a 'holy longing' to get into the wild wood, now he had a 'holy longing' to go back; and to find st. boniface, and tell him what a pleasant place hersfelt was, and the quality of the soil, and the direction of the watershed, and the meadows, and springs, and so forth, in a very practical way. and st. boniface answered, that the place seemed good enough; but that he was afraid for them, on account of the savage heathen saxons. they must go deeper into the forest, and then they would be safe. so he went back to his fellow-hermits, and they made to themselves a canoe; and went paddling up and down the fulda stream, beneath the alder boughs, 'trying the mouths of the mountain-streams, and landing to survey the hills and ridges,'--pioneers of civilization none the less because they pioneered in the name of him who made earth and heaven: but they found nothing which they thought would suit the blessed st. boniface, save that they stayed a little at the place which is called ruohen-bah, 'the rough brook,' to see if it would suit; but it would not. so they went back to their birch huts to fast and pray once more. st. boniface sent for sturmi after awhile, probably to maintz, to ask of his success; and sturmi threw himself on his face before him; and boniface raised him up, and kissed him, and made him sit by his side--which was a mighty honour; for st. boniface, the penniless monk, was at that moment one of the most powerful men of europe; and he gave sturmi a good dinner, of which, no doubt, he stood in need; and bade him keep up heart, and seek again for the place which god had surely prepared, and would reveal in his good time. and this time sturmi, probably wiser from experience, determined to go alone; but not on foot. so he took to him a trusty ass, and as much food as he could pack on it; and, axe in hand, rode away into the wild wood, singing his psalms. and every night, before he lay down to sleep, he cut boughs, and stuck them up for a ring fence round him and the ass, to the discomfiture of the wolves, which had, and have still, a great hankering after asses' flesh. it is a quaint picture, no doubt; but let us respect it, while we smile at it; if we, too, be brave men. then one day he fell into a great peril. he came to the old road (a roman one, i presume; for the teutons, whether in england or elsewhere, never dreamed of making roads till three hundred years ago, but used the old roman ones), which led out of the thuringen land to maintz. and at the ford over the fulda he met a great multitude bathing, of sclavonian heathens, going to the fair at maintz. and they smelt so strong, the foul miscreants, that sturmi's donkey backed, and refused to face them; and sturmi himself was much of the donkey's mind, for they began to mock him (possibly he nearly went over the donkey's head), and went about to hurt him. 'but,' says the chronicler, 'the power of the lord held them back.' then he went on, right thankful at having escaped with his life, up and down, round and round, exploring and surveying--for what purpose we shall see hereafter. and at last he lost himself in the place which is called aihen-loh, 'the glade of oaks;' and at night-fall he heard the plash of water, and knew not whether man or wild beast made it. and not daring to call out, he tapped a tree-trunk with his axe (some backwoodsman's sign of those days, we may presume), and he was answered. and a forester came to him, leading his lord's horse; a man from the wetterau, who knew the woods far and wide, and told him all that he wanted to know. and they slept side by side that night; and in the morning they blest each other, and each went his way. yes, there were not merely kings and wars, popes and councils, in those old days;--there were real human beings, just such as we might meet by the wayside any hour, with human hearts and histories within them. and we will be thankful if but one of them, now and then, starts up out of the darkness of twelve hundred years, like that good forester, and looks at us with human eyes, and goes his way again, blessing, and not unblest. and now sturmi knew all that he needed to know; and after awhile, following the counsel of the forester, he came to 'the blessed place, long ago prepared of the lord. and when he saw it, he was filled with immense joy, and went on exulting; for he felt that by the merits and prayers of the holy bishop boniface that place had been revealed to him. and he went about it, and about it, half the day; and the more he looked on it the more he gave god thanks;' and those who know fulda say, that sturmi had reason to give god thanks, and must have had a keen eye, moreover, for that which man needs for wealth and prosperity, in soil and water, meadow and wood. so he blessed the place, and signed it with the sign of the cross (in token that it belonged thenceforth neither to devils nor fairies, but to his rightful lord and maker), and went back to his cell, and thence a weary journey to st. boniface, to tell him of the fair place which he had found at last. and st. boniface went his weary way, either to paris or to aix, to pepin and carloman, kings of the franks; and begged of them a grant of the aihen-loh, and all the land for four miles round, and had it. and the nobles about gave up to him their rights of venison, and vert, and pasture, and pannage of swine; and sturmi and seven brethren set out thither, 'in the year of our lord , in the first month (april, presumably), in the twelfth day of the month, unto the place prepared of the lord,' that they might do what? that they might build an abbey. yes; but the question is, what building an abbey meant, not three hundred, nor five hundred, but eleven hundred years ago--for centuries are long matters, and men and their works change in them. and then it meant this: clearing the back woods for a christian settlement; an industrial colony, in which every man was expected to spend his life in doing good--all and every good which he could for his fellow-men. whatever talent he had he threw into the common stock; and worked, as he was found fit to work, at farming, gardening, carpentering, writing, doctoring, teaching in the schools, or preaching to the heathen round. in their common church they met to worship god; but also to ask for grace and strength to do their work, as christianizers and civilizers of mankind. what christianity and civilization they knew (and they knew more than we are apt now to believe) they taught it freely; and therefore they were loved, and looked up to as superior beings, as modern missionaries, wherever they do their work even decently well, are looked up to now. so because the work could be done in that way, and (as far as men then, or now, can see) in no other way, pepin and carloman gave boniface the glade of oaks, that they might clear the virgin forest, and extend cultivation, and win fresh souls to christ, instead of fighting, like the kings of this world, for the land which was already cleared, and the people who were already christian. in two months' time they had cut down much of the forest; and then came st. boniface himself to see them, and with him a great company of workmen, and chose a place for a church. and st. boniface went up to the hill which is yet called bishop's mount, that he might read his bible in peace, away from kings and courts, and the noise of the wicked world; and his workmen felled trees innumerable, and dug peat to burn lime withal; and then all went back again, and left the settlers to thrive and work. and thrive and work they did, clearing more land, building their church, ploughing up their farm, drawing to them more and more heathen converts, more and more heathen school-children; and st. boniface came to see them from time to time, whenever he could get a holiday, and spent happy days in prayer and study, with his pupil and friend. and ten years after, when st. boniface was martyred at last by the friesland heathens, and died, as he had lived, like an apostle of god, then all the folk of maintz wanted to bring his corpse home to their town, because he had been archbishop there. but he 'appeared in a dream to a certain deacon, and said: "why delay ye to take me home to fulda, to my rest in the wilderness which god bath prepared for me?"' so st. boniface sleeps at fulda,--unless the french republican armies dug up his bones, and scattered them, as they scattered holier things, to the winds of heaven. and all men came to worship at his tomb, after the fashion of those days. and fulda became a noble abbey, with its dom-church, library, schools, workshops, farmsteads, almshouses, and all the appanages of such a place, in the days when monks were monks indeed. and sturmi became a great man, and went through many troubles and slanders, and conquered in them all, because there was no fault found in him, as in daniel of old; and died in a good old age, bewept by thousands, who, but for him, would have been heathens still. and the aihen-loh became rich corn-land and garden, and fulda an abbey borough and a principality, where men lived in peace under mild rule, while the feudal princes quarrelled and fought outside; and a great literary centre, whose old records are now precious to the diggers among the bones of bygone times; and at last st. sturmi and the aihen-lob had so developed themselves, that the latest record of the abbots of fulda which i have seen is this, bearing date about :-- 'the arms of the most illustrious lord and prince, abbot of fulda, archchancellor of the most serene empress, primate of all germany and gaul, and prince of the holy roman empire.' developed, certainly: and not altogether in the right direction. for instead of the small beer, which they had promised st. boniface to drink to the end of the world, the abbots of fulda had the best wine in germany, and the best table too. be that as it may, to have cleared the timber off the aihen-lob, and planted a christian colony instead, was enough to make st. sturmi hope that he had not read his bible altogether in vain. surely such men as st. sturmi were children of wisdom, put what sense on the word you will. in a dark, confused, lawless, cut-throat age, while everything was decided by the sword, they found that they could do no good to themselves, or any man, by throwing their swords into either scale. they would be men of peace, and see what could be done so. was that not wise? so they set to work. they feared god exceedingly, and walked with god. was not that wise? they wrought righteousness, and were merciful and kind, while kings and nobles were murdering around them; pure and temperate, while other men were lustful and drunken; just and equal in all their ways, while other men were unjust and capricious; serving god faithfully, according to their light, while the people round them were half or wholly heathen; content to do their work well on earth, and look for their reward in heaven, while the kings and nobles, the holders of the land, were full of insane ambition, every man trying to seize a scrap of ground from his neighbour, as if that would make them happier. was that not wise? which was the wiser, the chief killing human beings, to take from them some few square miles which men had brought into cultivation already, or the monk, leaving the cultivated land, and going out into the backwoods to clear the forest, and till the virgin soil? which was the child of wisdom, i ask again? and do not tell me that the old monk worked only for fanatical and superstitious ends. it is not so. i know well his fanaticism and his superstition, and the depths of its ignorance and silliness: but he had more in him than that. had he not, he would have worked no lasting work. he was not only the pioneer of civilization, but he knew that he was such. he believed that all knowledge came from god, even that which taught a man to clear the forest, and plant corn instead; and he determined to spread such knowledge as he had wherever he could. he was a wiser man than the heathen saxons, even than the christian franks, around him; a better scholar, a better thinker, better handicraftsman, better farmer; and he did not keep his knowledge to himself. he did not, as some tell you, keep the bible to himself. it is not so; and those who say so, in this generation, ought to be ashamed of themselves. the monk knew his bible well himself, and he taught it. those who learnt from him to read, learnt to read their bibles. those who did not learn (of course the vast majority, in days when there was no printing), he taught by sermons, by pictures, afterward by mystery and miracle plays. the bible was not forbidden to the laity till centuries afterwards--and forbidden then, why? because the laity throughout europe knew too much about the bible, and not too little. because the early monks had so ingrained the mind of the masses, throughout christendom, with bible stories, bible personages, the great facts, and the great doctrines, of our lord's life, that the masses knew too much; that they could contrast too easily, and too freely, the fallen and profligate monks of the th and th centuries, with those bible examples, which the old monks of centuries before had taught their forefathers. then the clergy tried to keep from the laity, because it testified against themselves, the very book which centuries before they had taught them to love and know too well. in a word, the old monk missionary taught all he knew to all who would learn, just as our best modern missionaries do; and was loved, and obeyed, and looked on as a superior being, as they are. of course he did not know how far civilization would extend. he could not foretell railroads and electric telegraphs, any more than he could political economy, or sanitary science. but the best that he knew, he taught--and did also, working with his own hands. he was faithful in a few things, and god made him ruler over many things. for out of those monasteries sprang--what did not spring? they restored again and again sound law and just government, when the good old teutonic laws, and the roman law also, was trampled underfoot amid the lawless strife of ambition and fury. under their shadow sprang up the towns with their corporate rights, their middle classes, their artizan classes. they were the physicians, the alms-givers, the relieving officers, the schoolmasters of the middle-age world. they first taught us the great principle of the division of labour, to which we owe, at this moment, that england is what she is, instead of being covered with a horde of peasants, each making and producing everything for himself, and starving each upon his rood of ground. they transcribed or composed all the books of the then world; many of them spent their lives in doing nothing but writing; and the number of books, even of those to be found in single monasteries, considering the tedious labour of copying, is altogether astonishing. they preserved to us the treasures of classical antiquity. they discovered for us the germs of all our modern inventions. they brought in from abroad arts and new knowledge; and while they taught men to know that they had a common humanity, a common father in heaven taught them also to profit by each other's wisdom instead of remaining in isolated ignorance. they, too, were the great witnesses against feudal caste. with them was neither high-born nor low-born, rich nor poor: worth was their only test; the meanest serf entering there might become the lord of knights and vassals, the counsellor of kings and princes. men may talk of democracy--those old monasteries were the most democratic institutions the world had ever till then seen. 'a man's a man for a' that,' was not only talked of in them, but carried out in practice--only not in anarchy, and as a cloak for licentiousness: but under those safeguards of strict discipline, and almost military order, without which men may call themselves free, and yet be really only slaves to their own passions. yes, paradoxical as it may seem, in those monasteries was preserved the sacred fire of modern liberty, through those feudal centuries when all the outside world was doing its best to trample it out. remember, as a single instance, that in the abbot's lodging at bury st. edmunds, the magna charta was drawn out, before being presented to john at runymede. i know what they became afterwards, better than most do here; too well to defile my lips, or your ears, with tales too true. they had done their work, and they went. like all things born in time, they died; and decayed in time; and the old order changed, giving place to the new; and god fulfilled himself in many ways. but in them, too, he fulfilled himself. they were the best things the world had seen; the only method of christianizing and civilizing semi-barbarous europe. like all human plans and conceptions, they contained in themselves original sin; idolatry, celibacy, inhuman fanaticism; these were their three roots of bitterness; and when they bore the natural fruit of immorality, the monasteries fell with a great and just destruction. but had not those monasteries been good at first, and noble at first; had not the men in them been better and more useful men than the men outside, do you think they would have endured for centuries? they would not even have established themselves at all. they would soon, in those stormy times, have been swept off the face of the earth. ill used they often were, plundered and burnt down. but men found that they were good. their own plunderers found that they could not do without them; and repented, and humbled themselves, and built them up again, to be centres of justice and mercy and peace, amid the wild weltering sea of war and misery. for all things endure, even for a generation, only by virtue of the good which is in them. by the spirit of god in them they live, as do all created things; and when he taketh away their breath they die, and return again to their dust. and what was the original sin of them? we can hardly say that it was their superstitious and partially false creed: because that they held in common with all europe. it was rather that they had identified themselves with, and tried to realize on earth, one of the worst falsehoods of that creed--celibacy. not being founded on the true and only ground of all society, family life, they were merely artificial and self-willed arrangements of man's invention, which could not develop to any higher form. and when the sanctity of marriage was revindicated at the reformation, the monasteries, having identified themselves with celibacy, naturally fell. they could not partake in the reformation movement, and rise with it into some higher form of life, as the laity outside did. i say, they were altogether artificial things. the abbot might be called the abba, father, of his monks: but he was not their father--just as when young ladies now play at being nuns, they call their superior, mother: but all the calling in the world will not make that sacred name a fact and a reality, as they too often find out. and celibacy brought serious evils from the first. it induced an excited, hysterical tone of mind, which is most remarkable in the best men; violent, querulous, suspicious, irritable, credulous, visionary; at best more womanly than manly; alternately in tears and in raptures. you never get in their writings anything of that manly calmness, which we so deservedly honour, and at which we all aim for ourselves. they are bombastic; excited; perpetually mistaking virulence for strength, putting us in mind for ever of the allocutions of the popes. read the writings of one of the best of monks, and of men, who ever lived, the great st. bernard, and you will be painfully struck by this hysterical element. the fact is, that their rule of life, from the earliest to the latest,--from that of st. benedict of casino, 'father of all monks,' to that of loyola the jesuit, was pitched not too low, but too high. it was an ideal which, for good or for evil, could only be carried out by new converts, by people in a state of high religious excitement, and therefore the history of the monastic orders is just that of the protestant sects. we hear of continual fallings off from their first purity; of continual excitements, revivals, and startings of new orders, which hoped to realize the perfection which the old orders could not. you must bear this in mind, as you read mediaeval history. you will be puzzled to know why continual new rules and new orders sprung up. they were so many revivals, so many purist attempts at new sects. you will see this very clearly in the three great revivals which exercised such enormous influence on the history of the th, the th and the th centuries,--i mean the rise first of the franciscans and dominicans, next of the jesuits, and lastly of the port royalists. they each professed to restore monachism to what it had been at first; to realize the unnatural and impossible ideal. another serious fault of these monasteries may be traced to their artificial celibate system. i mean their avarice. only one generation after st. sturmi, charlemagne had to make indignant laws against abbots who tried to get into their hands the property of everybody around them: but in vain. the abbots became more and more the great landholders, till their power was intolerable. the reasons are simple enough. an abbey had no children between whom to divide its wealth, and therefore more land was always flowing in and concentrating, and never breaking up again; while almost every abbot left his personalities, all his private savings and purchases, to his successor. then again, in an unhappy hour, they discovered that the easiest way of getting rich was by persuading sinners, and weak persons, to secure the safety of their souls by leaving land to the church, in return for the prayers and masses of monks; and that shameful mine of wealth was worked by them for centuries, in spite of statutes of mortmain, and other checks which the civil power laid on them, very often by most detestable means. one is shocked to find good men lending themselves to such base tricks: but we must recollect, that there has always been among men a public and a private conscience, and that these two, alas! have generally been very different. it is an old saying, that 'committees have no consciences;' and it is too true. a body of men acting in concert for a public purpose will do things which they would shrink from with disgust, if the same trick would merely put money into their private purses; and this is too often the case when the public object is a good one. then the end seems to sanctify the means, to almost any amount of chicanery. so it was with those old monks. an abbey had no conscience. an order of monks had no conscience. a benedictine, a dominican, a franciscan, who had not himself a penny in the world, and never intended to have one, would play tricks, lie, cheat, slander, forge, for the honour and the wealth of his order; when for himself, and in himself, he may have been an honest god-fearing man enough. so it was; one more ugly fruit of an unnatural attempt to be not good men, but something more than men; by trying to be more than men, they ended by being less than men. that was their sin, and that sin, when it had conceived, brought forth death. lecture x--the lombard laws i have tried to shew you how the teutonic nations were christianized. i have tried to explain to you why the clergy who converted them were, nevertheless, more or less permanently antagonistic to them. i shall have, hereafter, to tell you something of one of the most famous instances of that antagonism: of the destruction of the liberties of the lombards by that latin clergy. but at first you ought to know something of the manners of these lombards; and that you may learn best by studying their code. they are valuable to you, as giving you a fair specimen of the laws of an old teutonic people. you may profitably compare them with the old gothic, franco-salic, burgundian, anglo-saxon, and scandinavian laws, all formed on the same primaeval model, agreeing often in minute details, and betokening one primaeval origin, of awful antiquity. by studying them, moreover, you may gain some notion of that primaeval liberty and self- government, common at first to all the race, but preserved alone by england;--to which the descendants of these very lombards are at this very moment so manfully working their way back. these laws were collected and published in writing by king rothar, a.d. , years after alboin came into italy. the cause, he says, was the continual wearying of the poor, and the superfluous exactions, and even violence, of the strong against those who were weak. they are the 'laws of our fathers, as far as we have learnt them from ancient men, and are published with the counsel and consent of our princes, judges, and all our most prosperous army,' i.e. the barons, or freemen capable of bearing arms; 'and are confirmed according to the custom of our nation by garathinx,' that is, as far as i can ascertain from grimm's german law, by giving an earnest, garant, or warrant of the bargain. among these lombards, as among our english forefathers, when a man thingavit, i.e. donavit, a gift or bequest to any one, it was necessary, according to law clxxii., to do it before gisiles, witnesses, and to give a garathinx, or earnest, of his bequest--a halm of straw, a turf, a cup of drink, a piece of money--as to this day a drover seals his bargain with a shilling, and a commercial traveller with a glass of liquor. whether rothar gave the garathinx to his barons, or his barons to him, i do not understand: but at least it is clear from the use of this one word that the publication of these laws was a 'social contract'--a distinct compact between king and people. from all which you will perceive at once that these lombards, like all teutons, were a free people, under a rough kind of constitutional monarchy. they would have greeted with laughter the modern fable of the divine right of kings, if by that they were expected to understand that the will of the king was law, or that the eldest son of a certain family had any god-given ipso-facto right to succeed his father. sixteen kings, says the preface, had reigned from agilmund to rothar; and seven times had the royal race been changed. that the king should belong to one of the families who derived their pedigree from wodin, and that a son should, as natural, succeed his father, were old rules: but the barons would, as all history shews, make little of crowning a younger son instead of an elder, if the younger were a hero, and the elder an 'arga'--a lazy loon; and little, also, would they make of setting aside the whole royal family, and crowning the man who would do their business best. the king was, as this preface and these laws shew, the commander in chief of the exercitus, the militia, and therefore of every free man in the state; (for all were bound to fight when required). he was also the supreme judge, the head of the executive, dispenser and fountain of law: but with no more power of making the law, of breaking the law, or of arbitrarily depriving a man of his property, than an english sovereign has now; and his power was quamdiu se bene gesserit, and no longer, as history proves in every page. the doctrine of the divine right of kings as understood in england in the seventeenth century, and still in some continental countries, was, as far as i can ascertain, invented by the early popes, not for the purpose of exalting the kings, but of enslaving them, and through them the nations. a king and his son's sons had divine 'right to govern wrong' not from god, but from the vicar of god and the successor of st. peter, to whom god had given the dominion of the whole earth, and who had the right to anoint, or to depose, whomsoever he would. even in these old laws, we see that new idea obtruding itself. 'the king's heart,' says one of them 'is in the hand of god.' that is a text of scripture. what it was meant to mean, one cannot doubt, or by whom it was inserted. the 'chancellor,' or whoever else transcribed those laws in latin, was, of course, a cleric, priest or monk. from his hand comes the first hint of arbitrary power; the first small blot of a long dark stain of absolutism, which was to darken and deepen through centuries of tyranny and shame. but to plead the divine right of kings, in a country which has thrown off its allegiance to the pope, is to assert the conclusion of a syllogism, the major and minor premiss of which are both denied by the assertor. the arguments for such a right drawn from the old testament, which were common among the high-church party from james i. to james ii. and the nonjurors, are really too inconsequent to require more than a passing smile. how can you prove that a king has the power to make laws, from the history of the jewish nation, when that very history represents it all through as bound by a primaeval and divinely revealed law, to which kings and people were alike subject? how can you prove that the eldest son's eldest son has a divine right to wear the crown as 'god's anointed,' when the very persons to whom that title is given are generally either not eldest sons, or not of royal race at all? the rule that the eldest son's eldest son should succeed, has been proved by experience to be in practice a most excellent one: but it rests, as in england, so in lombardy, or spain, or frankreich of old time, simply upon the consent of the barons, and the will of the thing or parliament. there is a sentimental admiration of 'imperialism' growing up now-a-days, under the pretentious titles of 'hero-worship,' and 'strong government;' and the british constitution is represented as a clumsy and artificial arrangement of the year . after christ? before christ would be nearer the mark. it is as old, in its essentials, as the time when not only all the teutons formed one tribe, but when teutons and scandinavians were still united--and when that was, who dare say? we at least brought the british constitution with us out of the bogs and moors of jutland, along with our smock-frocks and leather gaiters, brown bills and stone axes; and it has done us good service, and will do, till we have carried it right round the world. as for these lombard kings, they arose on this wise. after alboin's death the lombards were for ten years under dukes, and evil times came, every man doing what was right in his own eyes; enlarging their frontier by killing the roman landholders, and making the survivors give them up a portion of their lands, as odoacer first, and the ostrogoths next, had done. at last, tired of lawlessness, dissension and weakness, and seemingly dreading an invasion from childebert, king of the franks, they chose a king, autharis the son of cleph, and called him flavius, by which roman title the lombard kings were afterwards known. moreover, they agreed to give him (i conclude only once for all) the half of all their substance, to support the kingdom. there were certain tributes afterwards paid into the king's treasury every three years; and certain fines, and also certain portions of the property of those who died without direct heirs, seem to have made up the revenue. whereon, paul says, perfect peace and justice followed. now for the laws, which were reduced into writing about sixty years afterwards. the first thing that you will remark about these laws, is that duel, wager of battle under shield, 'diremptio causae per pugnam sub uno scuto,' is the earliest form of settling a lawsuit. if you cannot agree, fight it out fairly, either by yourself or per campionem, a champion or kemper man, and god defend the right. then follows 'faida,' blood-feud, from generation to generation. to stop which a man is allowed to purge himself by oath; his own and that of certain neighbours, twelve in general, who will swear their belief in his innocence. this was common to the northern nations, and was the origin of our trial by jury. if guilty, the offender has to pay the weregeld, or legal price, set upon the injury he has inflicted. when the composition is paid, there is an end of the feud; if after taking the composition the plaintiff avenges himself, he has to pay it back. hence our system of fines. this method of composition by fines runs through all the teutonic laws; and makes the punishment of death, at least among freemen, very rare. punishments by stripes, by imprisonment, or by cruel or degrading methods, there are none. the person of a freeman is sacred, 'vincire et verberare nefas,' as tacitus said of these germans years before. the offences absolutely punishable by death seem to be, treason against the king's life; cowardice in battle; concealment of robbers; mutinies and attempts to escape out of the realm; and therefore (under the then military organization) to escape from the duty of every freeman, to bear arms in defence of the land. more than a hundred of these laws define the different fines, or 'weregelds,' by which each offence is to be compounded for, from solidi aurei, gold pieces, for a murder, downwards to the smallest breach of the peace. each limb has its special price. for the loss of an eye, half the price of the whole man is to be paid. a front tooth is worth s., solidi aurei; their loss being a disfigurement; but a back tooth is worth only s. a slave's tooth, on the other hand, is worth but s.; and in every case, the weregeld of a slave is much less than that of a freeman. the sacredness of the household, and the strong sense of the individual rights of property, are to be remarked. one found in a 'court,' courtledge (or homestead), by night (as we say in old english), may be killed. you know, i dare say, that in many teutonic and scandinavian nations the principle that a man's house is his castle was so strongly held that men were not allowed to enter a condemned man's house to carry him off to execution; but if he would not come out, could only burn the house over his head. shooting, or throwing a lance into any man's homestead, costs s. 'oberos,' or 'curtis ruptura,' that is, making violent entry into a man's homestead, costs s. also. nay, merely to fetch your own goods out of another man's house secretly, and without asking leave, was likewise punished as oberos. so of personal honour. 'schelte' or insult, for instance, to call a man arga, i.e. a lazy loon, is a serious offence. if the defendant will confess that he said it in a passion, and will take oath that he never knew the plaintiff to be arga, he must still pay _s._; but if he will stand to his word, then he must fight it out by duel, sub uno scuto. the person, for the same reason, was sacred. if a man had lain in wait for a freeman, 'cum virtute et solatio,' with valour and comfort, i.e. with armed men to back him, and had found him standing or walking simply, and had shamefully held him, or 'battiderit,' committed assault and battery on him, he must pay half the man's weregeld; the 'turpiter et ridiculum' being considered for a freeman as half as bad as death. here you find in private life, as well as in public, the vincire et verberare nefas. if, again, one had a mind to lose shillings of gold, he need but to commit the offence of 'meerworphin,' a word which will puzzle you somewhat, till you find it to signify 'mare warping,' to warp, or throw one's neighbour off his mare or horse. a blow with the closed fist, again, costs three shillings: but one with the open hand, six. the latter is an insult as well as an injury. a freeman is struck with the fist, but a slave with the palm of the hand. breaking a man's head costs six solidi. but if one had broken his skull, then (as in the alemannic laws) one must pay twelve shillings, and twelve more for each fracture up to three--after which they are not counted. but a piece of bone must come out which will make a sound when thrown into a shield twelve feet off; which feet are to be measured by that of a man of middle stature. from which strange law may be deduced, not only the toughness of the lombard brain-pan, but the extreme necessity of defining each particular, in order to prevent subsequent disputes, followed up by a blood-feud, which might be handed down from father to son. for by accepting the legal fine, the injured man expressly renounced his primaeval right of feud. then follow some curious laws in favour of the masters of como, magistri comacenes, who seem to have been a guild of architects, perhaps the original germ of the great society of free-masons--belonging, no doubt, to the roman population--who were settled about the lake of como, and were hired, on contract, (as the laws themselves express,) to build for the lombards, who of course had no skill to make anything beyond a skin- tent or a log-hall. then follow laws against incendiaries; a fine for damage by accidental house-fire, if the offender have carried fire more than nine feet from the hearth; a law against leaving a fire alight on a journey, as in the australian colonies now. then laws to protect mills; important matters in those days, being unknown to the lombards before their entrance into italy. then laws of inheritance; on which i shall remark, that natural sons, if free, are to have a portion of their father's inheritance; but less than the legitimate sons: but that a natural son born of a slave remains a slave, 'nisi pater liberum thingaverit.' this cruel law was the law of rome and of the church; our anglo-saxon forefathers, to their honour, held the reverse rule. 'semper a patre, non a matre, generationis ordo texitur.' next, it is to be remarked, that no free woman can live in lombardy, or, i believe, in any teutonic state, save under the 'mundium' of some one. you should understand this word 'mund.' among most of the teutonic races, women, slaves, and youths, at least not of age to carry arms, were under the mund of some one. of course, primarily the father, head of the family, and if he died, an uncle, elder brother, &c. the married woman was, of course, under the mund of her husband. he was answerable for the good conduct of all under his mund; he had to pay their fines if they offended; and he was bound, on the other hand, to protect them by all lawful means. this system still lingers in the legal status of women in england, for good and evil; the husband is more or less answerable for the wife's debts; the wife, till lately, was unable to gain property apart from her husband's control; the wife is supposed, in certain cases of law, to act under the husband's compulsion. all these, and many others, are relics of the old system of mund for women; and that system has, i verily believe, succeeded. it has called out, as no other system could have done, chivalry in the man. it has made him feel it a duty and an honour to protect the physically weaker sex. it has made the woman feel that her influence, whether in the state or in the family, is to be not physical and legal, but moral and spiritual; and that it therefore rests on a ground really nobler and deeper than that of the man. the modern experiments for emancipating women from all mund, and placing them on a physical and legal equality with the man, may be right, and may be ultimately successful. we must not hastily prejudge them. but of this we may be almost certain; that if they succeed, they will cause a wide- spread revolution in society, of which the patent danger will be, the destruction of the feeling of chivalry, and the consequent brutalization of the male sex. then follow laws relating to marriage and women, of which i may remark, that (as in tacitus' time), the woman brings her dowry, or 'fader fee,' to her husband; and that the morning after the wedding she receives from him, if he be content with her, her morgen gap, or morning gift; which remains her own private property, unless she misbehaves. the honour of women, whether in fact or merely in fame, is protected by many severe laws, among which i shall only notice, that the calling a free woman 'striga' (witch) is severely punishable. if any one does so who has the mund of her, except her father or brother, he loses his mund. on the whole, woman's condition seems inferior to man's on some points: but superior on others. e.g. a woman's weregeld--the price of her life--is solidi; while the man's is only . for he can defend himself, but she cannot. on the other hand, if a man kill his wife, he pays only the solidi, and loses her dowry: but if she kill him, she dies. again. if a free man be caught thieving, up to the amount of siliquae, beans, _i.e._ one gold piece--though pope gregory makes the solidus (aureus) siliquae--he replaces the theft, and pays solidi, or dies; and a slave one half, or dies. but if a free woman is taken in theft, she only replaces it; for she has suffered for her wrong-doing, and must lay it to her own shame, that she has tried to do 'operam indecentem,' a foul deed. and if an aldia or slave-woman steals, her master replaces the theft, and pays solidi, minus the value of the stolen goods--and beats her afterwards, i presume, if he chooses. and now concerning slaves, who seem to have been divided into three classes. the aldius and aldia, masculine and feminine, who were of a higher rank than other slaves. the aldius could marry a free woman, while the slave marrying a free woman is punishable by death; and, as experimentum crucis, if an aldius married an aldia or a free woman, the children followed the father. if he married a slave, the children followed the mother, and became slaves of his lord. the aldius, again, may not sell his lord's land or slaves, which indicates that he held land and slaves under his lord. what the word means, grimm does not seem to know. he thinks it synonymous with 'litus,' of whom we hear as early as tacitus' time, as one of the four classes, nobles, freemen, liti, slaves; and therefore libertus, a freedman. but the word does not merely mean, it appears, a slave half freed by his master; but one rather hereditarily half free, and holding a farm under his lord. dio, however, is said to be an old german word for a slave; and it is possible that aldius (a word only known, seemingly, in lombardy) may have signified originally an old slave, an old roman colonus, or peasant of some sort, found by the conquerors in possession of land, and allowed to retain, and till it, from father to son. we, in england, had the same distinction between 'laet,' or 'villains' settled on the land, glebae adscripti, and mere thralls or theows, slaves pure and simple. no doubt such would have better terms than the mere mancipia--slaves taken in war, or bought--for the simple reason, that they would be agriculturists, practised in the roman tillage, understanding the mysteries of irrigation, artificial grasses, and rotation of crops, as well as the culture of vines, fruit, and olives. next to them you have different sorts of slaves; servus massarius, who seems to be also rusticanus, one who takes care of his lord's 'massa' or farm, and is allowed a peculium, it seems, some animals of his own, which he may not sell, though he may give them away. and again, servus doctus, an educated household slave, whose weregeld is higher than that of others. the laws relating to fugitive slaves seem as merciful as such things can be; and the lombards have always had the credit of being kind and easy masters. connected with fugitive slaves are laws about portunarii, ferrymen, who appear, as you know, in the old ballads as very important, and generally formidable men. the fight between von troneg hagen and the old ferryman in the nibelungen lied, is a famous instance of the ancient ferrymen's prowess. one can easily understand how necessary strict laws were, to prevent these ferrymen carrying over fugitive slaves, outlaws, and indeed any one without due caution; for each man was bound to remain in his own province, that he might be ready when called on for military service; and a traveller to foreign parts was looked on as a deserter from his liege- lord and country. then follow a great number of laws, to me both amusing and instructive, as giving us some glimpse of the country life of those lombards in the th century. scattered in the vast woodlands and marshes lie small farms, enclosed by ditches and posts and rails, from which if you steal a rail, you are fined s., if you steal a post, s. there were stake fences, which you must be careful in making, for if a horse stakes himself by leaping in, you pay nothing; but if he does so by leaping out, you pay the price of the horse. moreover, you must leave no sharp stakes standing out of the hedge; for if a man or beast wounds himself thereby in passing, you have to pay full weregeld. walking over sown land, or sending a woman of your mundium to do so, in accordance with an ancient superstition, is a severe offence; so is injuring a vineyard, or taking more than tres uvae (bunches of grapes, i presume) from the vine. injuring landmarks cut on the trees (theclaturas and signaturas) or any other boundary mark, is severely punishable either in a slave, or in a freeman. in the vast woods range herds of swine, and in the pastures, horses, cared for by law; for to take a herd of swine or brood mares as pledge, without the king's leave, is punishable by death, or a fine of _s._ oxen or horses used to the yoke can be taken as pledge; but only by leave of the king, or of the schuldhais (local magistrate), on proof that the debtor has no other property; for by them he gets his living. if, however, you find pigs routing in your enclosure, you may kill one, under certain restrictions, but not the 'sornpair,' sounder boar, who 'battit et vincit' all the other boars in the sounder (old english for herd). rival swineherds, as is to be supposed, 'battidunt inter se,' and 'scandalum faciunt,' often enough. whereon the law advises them to fight it out, and then settle the damage between them. horses are cared for. to ride another man's horse costs s.; to dock or crop him, eight-fold the damage; and so on of hurting another man's horse. moreover, if your neighbour's dog flies at you, you may hit him with a stick or little sword, and kill him, but if you throw a stone after him and kill him, you being then out of danger, you must give the master a new dog. then there are quaint laws about hunting; and damage caused by wild beasts caught in snares or brought to bay. a wounded stag belongs to the man who has wounded it for twenty-four hours: but after that to anyone. tame deer, it is observable, are kept; and to kill a doe or fawn costs s., to kill a buck, s. tame hawks, cranes, and swans, if taken in snares, cost s. but any man may take flying hawks out of his neighbour's wood, but not out of the gaias regis, the king's gehage, haies, hedges, or enclosed parks. and now, i have but one more law to mention--would god that it had been in force in later centuries-- 'let no one presume to kill another man's aldia or ancilla, as a striga, witch, which is called masca; because it is not to be believed by christian minds, that a woman can eat up a live man from within; and if any one does so he shall pay s. as her price, and for his fault, half to her master, and half to the king.' this last strange law forces on us a serious question, one which may have been suggesting itself to you throughout my lecture. if these were the old teutonic laws, this the old teutonic liberty, the respect for man as man, for woman as woman, whence came the opposite element? how is it that these liberties have been lost throughout almost all europe? how is it that a system of law prevailed over the whole continent, up to the french revolution, and prevails still in too many countries, the very opposite of all this? i am afraid that i must answer, mainly through the influence of the roman clergy during the middle age. the original difference of race between the clergy and the teutonic conquerors, which i have already pointed out to you, had a curious effect, which lingers to this day. it placed the church in antagonism, more or less open, to the civil administration of justice. the criminal was looked on by the priest rather as a sufferer to be delivered, than an offender to be punished. all who are conversant with the lives of saints must recollect cases in which the saint performs even miracles on behalf of the condemned. mediaeval tales are full of instances of the same feeling which prompted the italian brigands, even in our own times, to carry a leaden saint's image in his hat as a safeguard. in an old french fabliau, for instance, we read how a certain highway-robber was always careful to address his prayers to the blessed virgin, before going out to murder and steal; and found the practice pay him well. for when he was taken and hanged, our lady put her 'mains blanches' under his feet, and supported him invisibly for a whole day, till the executioner, finding it impossible to kill him, was forced to let him retire peaceably into a monastery, where he lived and died devoutly. we may laugh at such fancies; or express, if we will, our abhorrence of their immorality: but it will be more useful to examine into the causes which produced them. they seem to have been twofold. in the first place, the church did not look on the teutonic laws, whether frank, burgund, goth or lombard, as law at all. her law, whether ecclesiastical or civil, was formed on the roman model; and by it alone she wished herself, and those who were under her protection, to be judged. next--and this count is altogether to her honour--law, such as it was, was too often administered, especially by the franks, capriciously and brutally; while the servile population, always the great majority, can hardly be said to have been under the protection of law at all. no one can read the pages of fredegarius, or gregory of tours, without seeing that there must have been cases weekly, even daily, which called on the clergy, in the name of justice and humanity, to deliver if possible, the poor from him that spoiled him; which excused fully the rise of the right of sanctuary, and of benefit of clergy, afterwards so much abused; which made it a pious duty in prelates to work themselves into power at court, and there, as the 'chancellors' of princes, try to get something like regular justice done; and naturally enough, to remodel the laws of each nation on the time-honoured and scientific roman form. nevertheless, the antagonism of the church to the national and secular law remained for centuries. it died out first perhaps, in england, after the signature of magna charta. for then the english prelates began to take up that truly protestant and national attitude which issued in the great reformation: but it lingers still in ireland and in italy. it lingered in france up to the french revolution, as may be seen notably in the account of the execution of the marquise de brinvilliers, by the priest who attended her. horror at her atrocious crimes is quite swallowed up, in the mind of the good father, by sympathy with her suffering; and the mob snatch her bones from the funeral pile, and keep them as the relics of a saint. but more. while the roman clergy did real good to europe, in preserving the scientific elements of roman law, they did harm by preserving therewith other elements--roman chicane, and roman cruelty. in that respect, as in others, 'rome conquered her conquerors;' and the descendants of those roman lawyers, whom the honest teutons called adders, and as adders killed them down, destroyed, in course of time, teutonic freedom. but those descendants were, alas! the clergy. weak, they began early to adopt those arms of quibbling and craft, which religious men too often fancy are the proper arms of 'the saints' against 'the world.' holding human nature in suspicion and contempt, they early gave way to the maxim of the savage, that every one is likely to be guilty till proved innocent, and therefore licensed the stupid brutalities of torture to extract confession. holding self-degradation to be a virtue, and independence as a carnal vice; glorying in being slaves themselves, till to become, under the name of holy obedience, 'perinde ac cadaver,' was the ideal of a good monk; and accustomed, themselves, to degrading corporal punishment; they did not shrink from inflicting, even on boys and women, tortures as dastardly as indecent. looking on the world, and on the future of the human race, through a medium compared with which the darkest fancies of a modern fanatic are bright and clear, they did not shrink from inflicting penalties, the very mention of which makes the blood run cold. suspecting, if not alternately envying and despising, all women who were not nuns; writing openly of the whole sex (until unsexed) as the snare and curse of mankind; and possessed by a manichaean belief in the power and presence of innumerable demons, whose especial victims were women; they erected witch-hunting into a science; they pandered to, and actually formalized, and justified on scientific grounds, the most cruel and cowardly superstitions of the mob; and again and again raised literal crusades against women, torturing, exposing, burning, young and old, not merely in the witch-mania of the th century, but through the whole middle age. it is a detestable page of history. i ask those who may think my statement exaggerated, to consult the original authorities. let them contrast rothar's law about the impossibility of witchcraft, with the pages of the malleus maleficarum, nider's fornicarium, or delrio the jesuit, and see for themselves who were the false teachers. and if they be told, that the cruelties of the inquisition were only those in vogue according to the secular law of the day, let them recollect that the formulizers of that law were none other than the celibate roman clergy. i do not deny that there was in all this a just, though a terrible, nemesis. what was the essential fault of these lombard laws--indeed of all the teutonic codes? this--that there was one law for the free man, another for the slave. ecclesiastical dominion was necessary, to make one law for all classes, even though it were a law of common slavery. as the free had done to the slave, even so, and far worse, would the roman clergy do to them. the albigense persecutors, burning sixty ladies in one day; conrad of marpurg scourging his own sovereign, st. elizabeth; shaving the count of saiym's head; and burning noble ladies almost without trial; sprenger and his compeers, offering up female hecatombs of the highest blood thoughout germany; english bishops burning in smithfield anne askew, the hapless court-beauty, and her fellow-courtier mr. lascelles, just as if they had been essex or berkshire peasants;--all these evildoers were welding the different classes of the european nations, by a community of suffering, into nations; into the belief that free and slave had one blood, one humanity, one conscience, one capacity of suffering; and at last, one capacity of rebelling, and making common cause, high and low alike, against him who reigned in italy under the 'romani nominis umbram.' and if our english law, our english ideas of justice and mercy, have retained, more than most european codes, the freedom, the truthfulness, the kindliness, of the old teutonic laws, we owe it to the fact, that england escaped, more than any other land, the taint of effete roman civilization; that she therefore first of the lands, in the th century, rebelled against, and first of them, in the th century, threw off, the ultramontane yoke. and surely it will be so, in due time, with the descendants of these very lombards. we have seen them in these very years arise out of the dust and shame of centuries, and determine to be lombards once again. we have seen a hero arise among them of the true old teuton stamp, bearing worthily the name which his forefathers brought over the alps with alboin--garibald, the 'bold in war.' may they succeed in the same noble struggle as that in which we succeeded, and returning, not in letter, but in spirit, to the old laws of rothar and their free forefathers, become the leading race of a free and united italy! lecture xi--the popes and the lombards 'our lady the mother of god, even virgin maria, together with us, protests to you, adjuring you with great obligations, and admonishes and commands you, and with her the thrones, dominations, all the heavenly angels, the martyrs and confessors of christ, on behalf of the roman city, committed to us by the lord god, and the sheep of the lord dwelling in it. defend and free it speedily from the hands of the persecuting lombards, lest my body which suffered torments for christ, and my home in which it rests by the command of god, be contaminated by the people of the lombards, who are guilty of such iniquitous perjury, and are proud transgressors of the divine scripture. so will i at the day of judgment reward you with my patronage, and prepare for you in the kingdom of god most shining and glorious tabernacles, promising you the reward of eternal retribution, and the infinite joys of paradise. 'run, by the true and living god i exhort you, run, and help; before the living fountain, whence you were consecrated and born again, shall dry up: before the little spark remaining of that brilliant flame, from which you knew the light, be extinguished; before your spiritual mother, the holy church of god, in which you hope to receive eternal life, shall be humiliated, invaded, violated, and defiled by the impious. 'but if not, may your provinces in return, and your possessions, be invaded by people whom you know not. separate not yourselves from my roman people; so you will not be aliens, and separate from the kingdom of god, and eternal life. for whatever you shall ask of me, i will surely give you, and be your patron. assist my roman people, your brothers; and strive more perfectly; for it is written, no man receiveth the crown, unless he strive lawfully. 'i conjure you, most beloved, by the living god, leave not this my city of rome to be any longer torn by the lombards, lest your bodies and souls be torn and tormented for ever, in inextinguishable and tartarian fire with the devil and his pestiferous angels; and let not the sheep of the lord's flock, which are the roman people, be dispersed any more, lest the lord disperse you, and cast you forth as the people of israel was dispersed.' you will conclude, doubtless, that this curious document can be nothing but a papal allocution. its peculiar scriptural style (wrongly supposed to have been invented by the puritans, who merely learnt it from the old roman clergy), as well as the self-conceit, which fancies the fate of the whole world to depend on the prosperity of a small half-ruined city in italy, will be to you sufficient marks of the roman hand. but you will be somewhat mistaken. it is hardly an epistle from the successor of st. peter. it professes to be an epistle from st. peter himself, and sent by him through the hands of pope stephen iii. to pepin the king of the franks, in the year . you will have concluded also from it, that catholic christianity is in its extreme agony; that the worship and name of our lord, and the fountains of sacramental grace are about to be extinguished for ever, and that nothing but heresy or heathendom can follow. then you will be quite mistaken. these lombards are pious catholics. builders of churches and monasteries, they are taking up the relics of the roman martyrs, to transfer them to the churches of milan and pavia. they have just given pope stephen the most striking proof of their awe of his person and office. but they are quarrelling with him about the boundaries of his estates for the patrimony of st. peter. they consider that he and his predecessors have grossly wronged them at different times; and now last of all, by calling in foreign invaders; and they are at the gates of rome laying waste the country, and demanding a poll-tax as ransom. that is all. the causes which led to this quarrel must be sought far back in history. the original documents in which you will find the facts will be paulus diaconus, as far as king luitprand's death; then the life and writings of gregory the great; and then baronius' annals, especially his quotations from anastasius' life of stephen iii., bearing in mind that, as with the ostrogoths, we have only the roman papal story; that the lombards have never stated their case, not even through paulus diaconus, who, being a clergyman, prudently holds his tongue about the whole matter. but by far the best account is to be found in dean milman's 'latin christianity,' vols. i. and ii. rome, you must understand, has become gradually the patrimony of st. peter; the popes are the practical kings of rome, possessing, in the name of the church, much land round rome, and many estates scattered throughout italy, and even in sicily, gaul, africa, and the east--estates probably bequeathed by pious people. they have succeeded to this jurisdiction simply by default. they rule rome, because there is no one else to rule it. we find st. gregory the great feeding the pauper-masses of rome, on the first day of every month, from the fruitful corn-bearing estates in sicily; keeping up the 'panem;' but substituting, thank heaven, for the 'circenses' at least the services of the church. of course, the man who could keep the roman people alive must needs become, ipso facto, their monarch. the pope acknowledges, of course, a certain allegiance to the emperor at constantinople, and therefore to his representative, the exarch of ravenna: that is to say, he meets them with flattery when they are working on his side; with wrath when they oppose him. he intrigues with them, too, whenever he can safely do so, against the lombards. thus the pope has become, during the four centuries which followed the destruction of the western empire, the sole surviving representative of that empire. he is the head of the 'gens togata;' of the 'senatus populusque romanus.' in him rome has risen again out of her grave, to awe the peoples once more by the romani nominis umbra; and to found a new empire; not as before, on physical force, and the awe of visible power; but on the deeper and more enduring ground of spiritual force, and the awe of the invisible world. an empire, i say. the popes were becoming, from the th to the th centuries, not merely the lords of rome, but the lords of the western church. their spiritual empire, to do them justice, was not so much deliberately sought by them, as thrust upon them. as the clergy were, all over the empire, the representatives of the down-trodden romans, so they naturally gravitated toward the eternal city, their ancient mistress. like all disciplined and organized bodies they felt the need of unity, of monarchy. where could they find it, save at rome? rome was still, practically and in fact, the fountain of their doctrine, of their superior civilization; and to submit themselves to the pope of rome was their only means of keeping up one faith, one practice, and the strength which comes from union. to seat the pope upon the throne of the caesars; to attribute to him powers weightier than all which the caesars had possest . . . it was a magnificent idea. a politic idea, too; for it would cover the priesthood with all the prestige of ancient rome, and enable them to face the barbarian in the name of that great people whose very memory still awed him; whose baths, aqueducts, palaces, he looked on as the work of demons; whose sages and poets were to him enchanters; whose very gems, dug out of the ruins by night, in fear and trembling, possest magic influence for healing, for preservation, for good fortune in peace or war. politic; and in their eyes, true. easy enough to be believed honestly, by men who already believed honestly in their own divine mission. they were the representatives of christ on earth. of that fact there could be then, or can be now, no doubt whatsoever. whatsoever truth, light, righteousness, there was in the west, came to it through them. and christ was the king of kings. but he delayed his coming: at moments, he seemed to have deserted the earth, and left mankind to tear itself in pieces, with wild war and misrule. but it could not be so. if christ were absent, he must at least have left an authority behind him to occupy till he came; a head and ruler for his opprest and distracted church. and who could that be, if not the pope of rome? it ought to be so.--it must be so--thought they. and to men in that mood, proofs that it was so soon came to hand, and accumulated from generation to generation; till the pope at last found himself proclaiming, and what was more, believing, that god had given the whole world to st. peter, and through st. peter to him; and that he was the only source of power, law, kingship, who could set up and pull down whom he would, as the vicegerent of god on earth. such pretensions, of course, grew but slowly. it was not, i believe, till the year , years after the time of which i am speaking, that pope john viii. distinctly asserted his right, as representative of the ancient roman empire, to create the caesar; and informed the synod of pavia that he had 'elected and approved charles the bald, with the consent of his brothers the bishops, of the other ministers of the holy roman church, and' (significant, though empty words) 'of the roman senate and people.' at the time of which i speak, the power was still in embryo, growing, through many struggles: but growing surely and strongly, and destined speedily to avenge the fall of rome on the simple barbarians who were tearing each other to pieces over her spoils. it is not easy to explain the lasting and hereditary hatred of the popes to the lombards. its origin is simple enough: but not so its continuance. why they should be nefandissimi in the eyes of pope gregory the great one sees: but why years afterwards, they should be still nefandissimi, and 'non dicenda gens langobardorum,' not to be called a nation, is puzzling. at first, of course, the pope could only look on them as a fresh horde of barbarous conquerors; half heathen, half arian. their virtuous and loyal life within the boundaries of alboin's conquests--of which paulus diaconus says, that violence and treachery were unknown--that no one oppressed, no one plundered--that the traveller went where he would in perfect safety--all this would be hid from the pope by the plain fact, that they were continually enlarging their frontier toward rome; that they had founded two half-independent dukedoms of beneventum and spoleto, that autharis had swept over south italy, and ridden his horse into the sea at reggio, to strike with his lance a column in the waves, and cry, 'here ends the lombard kingdom.' the pope (gregory the great i am speaking of) could only recollect, again, that during the lawless interregnum before autharis' coronation, the independent lombard dukes had plundered churches and monasteries, slain the clergy, and destroyed the people, who had 'grown up again like corn.' but as years rolled on, these arian lombards had become good catholics; and that in the lifetime of gregory the great. theodelinda, the bavarian princess, she to whom autharis had gone in disguise to her father's court, and only confessed himself at his departure, by rising in his stirrups, and burying his battle-axe in a tree stem with the cry, 'thus smites autharis the lombard,'--this theodelinda, i say, had married after his death agilwulf his cousin, and made him king of the lombards. she was a catholic; and through her gregory the great converted autharis, and the lombard nation. to her he addressed those famous dialogues of his, full alike of true piety and earnestness, and of childish superstition. but in judging them and him we must bear in mind, that these lombards became at least by his means catholics, and that arians would have believed in the superstitions just as much as catholics. and it is surely better to believe a great truth, plus certain mistakes which do not affect it in the least, than a great lie, plus the very same mistakes likewise. which is best, to believe that the road to london lies through bishopstortford, and that there are dog-headed men on the road: or that it lies through edinburgh, but that there are dog-headed men on that road too? theodelinda had built at modicaea, twelve miles above milan, a fair basilica to john the baptist, enriched by her and the lombard kings and dukes, 'crowns, crosses, golden tables adorned with emeralds, hyacinths, amber, carbuncles and pearls, gold and silver altar-cloths, and that admirable cup of sapphire,' all which remained till the eighteenth century. there, too, was the famous iron crown of lombardy, which austria still claims as her own; so called from a thin ring of iron inserted in it, made from a nail of the true cross which gregory had sent agilwulf; just as he sent childebert, the frankish king, some filings of st. peter's chains; which however, he says, did not always allow their sacred selves to be filed. in return, agilwulf had restored the church-property which he had plundered, had reinstated the bishops; and why did not all go well? why are these lombards still the most wicked of men? again, in the beginning of the eighth century came the days of the good luitprand, 'wise and pious, a lover of peace, and mighty in war; merciful to offenders, chaste and modest, instant in prayer, bountiful in alms, equal to the philosophers, though he knew no letters, a nourisher of his people, an augmenter of the laws.' he it was, who, when he had quarrelled with pope gregory ii., and marched on rome, was stopped at the gates of the vatican by the pontiff's prayers and threats. and a sacred awe fell on him; and humbly entering st. peter's, he worshipped there, and laid on the apostle's tomb his royal arms, his silver cross and crown of gold, and withdrawing his army, went home again in peace. but why were this great king's good deeds towards the pope and the catholic faith rewarded, by what we can only call detestable intrigue and treachery? again; leo the iconoclast emperor destroyed the holy images in the east, and sent commands to the exarch of ravenna to destroy them in western italy. pope gregory ii. replied by renouncing allegiance to the emperor of constantinople; and by two famous letters which are still preserved; in which he tells the iconoclast emperor, that, 'if he went round the grammar-schools at rome, the children would throw their horn-books at his head . . . that he implored christ to send the emperor a devil, for the destruction of his body and the salvation of his soul . . . that if he attempted to destroy the images in rome, the pontiff would take refuge with the lombards, and then he might as well chase the wind that the popes were the mediators of peace between east and west, and that the eyes of the nations were fixed on the pope's humility, and adored as a god on earth the apostle st. peter. and that the pious barbarians, kindled into rage, thirsted to avenge the persecution of the east.' then luitprand took up the cause of the pope and his images, and of the mob, who were furious at the loss of their idols; and marched on ravenna, which opened her gates to him, so that he became master of the whole pentapolis; and image-worship, to which some plainspoken people give a harsher name, was saved for ever and a day in italy. why did gregory ii. in return, call in orso, the first venetian doge, to expel from ravenna the very luitprand who had fought his battles for him, and to restore that exarchate of ravenna, of which it was confessed, that its civil quarrels, misrule, and extortions, made it the most miserable government in italy? and why did he enter into secret negotiations with the franks to come and invade italy? again, when luitprand wanted to reduce the duchies of beneventum and spoleto, which he considered as rebels against him, their feudal suzerain; why did the next pope, gregory iii., again send over the alps to charles martel to come and invade italy, and deliver the church and christ's people from ruin? and who were these franks, the ancestors of that magnificent, but profligate aristocracy whose destruction our grandfathers beheld in ? i have purposely abstained from describing them, till they appear upon the stage of italy, and take part in her fortunes--which were then the fortunes of the world. they appear first on the roman frontier in a.d. , and from that time are never at rest till they have conquered the north of gaul. they are supposed (with reason) not to have been a race or tribe at all; but a confederation of warriors, who were simply 'franken,' 'free;' 'free companions,' or 'free lances,' as they would have been called a few centuries later; who recruited themselves from any and every tribe who would join them in war and plunder. if this was the case; if they had thrown away, as adventurers, much of the old teutonic respect for law, for the royal races, for family life, for the sacred bonds of kindred, many of their peculiarities are explained. falsehood, brutality, lawlessness, ignorance, and cruelty to the conquered romans, were their special sins; while their special, and indeed only virtue, was that indomitable daring which they transmitted to their descendants for so many hundred years. the buccaneers of the young world, they were insensible to all influences save that of superstition. they had become, under clovis, orthodox christians: but their conversion, to judge from the notorious facts of history, worked little improvement on their morals. the pages of gregory of tours are comparable, for dreary monotony of horrors, only to those of johnson's history of the pyrates. but, as m. sismondi well remarks, their very ignorance and brutality made them the more easily the tools of the roman clergy: 'cette haute veneration pour l'eglise, et leur severe orthodoxie, d'autant plus facile a conserver que, ne faisant aucune etude, et ne disputant jamais sur la foi, ils ne connaissaient pas meme les questions controversees, leur donnerent dans le clerge de puissants auxiliaires. les francs se montrerent disposes a hair les ariens, a les combattres, et les depouiller sans les entendre; les eveques, en retour, ne se montrerent pas scrupuleux sur le reste des enseignements moraux de la religion: ils fermerent les yeux sur les violences, le meurtre, le dereglement des moeurs; ils autoriserent en quelque sorte publiquement la poligamie, et ils precherent le droit divin des rois et le devoir le l'obeissance pour les peuples { }.' a painful picture of the alliance: but, i fear, too true. the history of these franks you must read for yourselves. you will find it well told in the pages of sismondi, and in mr. perry's excellent book, 'the franks.' it suffices now to say, that in the days of luitprand these franks, after centuries of confusion and bloodshed, have been united into one great nation, stretching from the rhine to the loire and the sea, and encroaching continually to the southward and eastward. the government has long passed out of the hands of their faineant meerwing kings into that of the semi-hereditary majores domus, or mayors of the palace; and charles martel, perhaps the greatest of that race of great men, has just made himself mayor of austrasia (the real teutonic centre of frank life and power), neustria and burgundy. he has crushed eudo, the duke of romanized aquitaine, and has finally delivered france and christendom from the invading saracens. on his franks, and on the lombards of italy, rest, for the moment, the destinies of europe. for meanwhile another portent has appeared, this time out of the far east. another swarm of destroyers has swept over the earth. the wild arabs of the desert, awakening into sudden life and civilization under the influence of a new creed, have overwhelmed the whole east, the whole north of africa, destroying the last relics of roman and greek civilization, and with them the effete and semi-idolatrous christianity of the empire. all the work of narses and belisarius is undone. arab emirs rule in the old kingdom of the vandals. the new human deluge has crossed the straits into europe. the visigoths, enervated by the luxurious climate of spain, have recoiled before the mussulman invaders. roderick, the last king of the goths, is wandering as an unknown penitent in expiation of his sin against the fair cava, which brought down (so legends and ballads tell) the scourge of god upon the hapless land; and the remnants of the old visigoths and sueves are crushed together into the mountain fastnesses of asturias and gallicia, thence to reissue, after long centuries, as the noble spanish nation, wrought in the forges of adversity into the likeness of tempered steel; and destined to reconquer, foot by foot, their native land from the moslem invader. but at present the crescent was master of the cross; and beyond the pyrenees all was slavery and 'miscreance.' the arabs, invading france in , in countless thousands, had been driven back at the great fight of tours, with a slaughter so great, that the excited imagination of paulus diaconus sees , miscreants dead upon the field, while only franks had perished. but home troubles had prevented 'the hammer of the moors' from following up his victory. the saracens had returned in force in , and again in . they still held narbonne. the danger was imminent. there was no reason why they should not attempt a third invasion. why should they not spread along the shores of the mediterranean, establishing themselves there, as they were already doing in sicily, and menacing rome from north as well as south? to unite, therefore, the two great catholic teutonic powers, the frank and the lombard, for the defence of christendom, should have been the policy of him who called himself the chief pontiff in christendom. yet the pope preferred, in the face of that great danger, to set the teutonic nations on destroying each other, rather than to unite them against the moslem. the bribe offered to the frank was significant--the title of roman consul; beside which he was to have filings of st. peter's chains, and the key of his tomb, to preserve him body and soul from all evil. charles would not come. frank though he was, he was too honourable to march at a priest's bidding against luitprand, his old brother in arms, to whom he had sent the boy pepin, his son, that luitprand might take him on his knee, and cut his long royal hair, and become his father-in-arms, after the good old teuton fashion; luitprand, who with his lombards had helped him to save christendom a second time from the mussulman in . the pope, one would think, should have remembered that good deed of the good lombard's whereof his epitaph sings, 'deinceps tremuere feroces usque saraceni, quos dispulit impiger, ipsos cum premerent gallos, karolo poscente juvari.' so charles martel took the title of patrician from the pope, but sent him no armies; and the quarrel went on; while charles filled up the measure of his iniquity by meddling with that church-property in gaul which his sword had saved from the hordes of the saracens; and is now, as st. eucherius (or bishop hincmar) saw in a vision, writhing therefore in the lowest abyss of hell. so one generation more passes by; and then pepin le bref, grown to manhood, is less scrupulous than his father. he is bound to the pope by gratitude. the pope has confirmed him as king, allowing him to depose the royal house of the merovingians, and so assumed the right of making kings.--a right which future popes will not forget. meanwhile the pope has persuaded the lombard king rachis to go into a monastery. astulf seizes the crown, and attacks ravenna. the pope succeeding, stephen iii., opposes him; and he marches on rome, threatening to assault it, unless the citizens redeem their lives by a poll-tax. stephen determines to go himself to pepin to ask for help: and so awful has the name and person of a pope become, that he is allowed to do it; allowed to pass safely and unarmed through the very land upon which he is going to let loose all the horrors of invading warfare. it is a strange, and instructive figure, that. the dread of the unseen, the fear of spiritual power, has fallen on the wild teutons; on frank and on lombard alike. the pope and his clergy are to them magicians, against whom neither sword nor lance avails; who can heal the sick and blast the sound; who can call to their aid out of the clouds that pantheon of demi- gods, with which, under the name of saints, they have peopled heaven; who can let loose on them the legions of fiends who dwell in every cave, every forest, every ruin, every cloud; who can, by the sentence of excommunication, destroy both body and soul in hell. they were very loth to fear god, these wild teutons; therefore they had instead, as all men have who will not fear god, to fear the devil. so pope stephen goes to pepin, the eldest son of the church. he promises to come with all his franks. stephen's conscience seems to have been touched: he tries to have no fighting, only negotiation: but it is too late now. astolf will hear of no terms; pepin sweeps over the alps, and at the gates of pavia dictates his own terms to the lombards. the old lombard spirit seems to have past away. pepin goes back again, and astolf refuses to fulfil his promises. the pope sends pepin that letter from st. peter himself with which this lecture commenced. astolf has marched down, as we heard, to the walls of rome, laying the land waste; cutting down the vines, carrying off consecrated vessels, insulting the sacrament of the altar. the lombards have violated nuns; and tried to kill them, the pope says; though, if they had really tried, one cannot see why they should not have succeeded. in fact, pope stephen's hysterical orations to pepin must be received with extreme caution. no catholic historian of that age cares to examine the truth of a fact which makes for him; nothing is too bad to say of an enemy: and really the man who would forge a letter from st. peter might dare to tell a few lesser falsehoods into the bargain. pepin cannot but obey so august a summons; and again he is in italy, and the lombards dare not resist him. he seizes not only all that astolf had taken from the pope, but the pentapolis and exarchate, the property, if of any one, of the greek emperors, and bestows them on stephen, the pope, and 'the holy roman republic.' the pope's commissioners received the keys of the towns, which were placed upon the altar of st. peter; and this, the dotation of pepin, the dotation of the exarchate, was the first legal temporal sovereignty of the popes:--born in sin, and conceived in iniquity, as you may see. the lombard rule now broke up rapidly. the lombards of spoleto yielded to the double pressure of franks and romans, asked to be 'taken into the service of st. peter,' and clipt their long german locks after the roman fashion. charlemagne, in his final invasion, had little left to do. he confirmed pepin's gift, and even, though he hardly kept his promise, enlarged it to include the whole of italy, from lombardy to the frontier of naples, while he himself became king of lombardy, and won the iron crown. and so by french armies--not for the last time--was the pope propt up on his ill-gotten throne. but the mere support of french armies was not enough to seat the pope securely upon the throne of the western caesars. documentary evidence was required to prove that they possessed rome, not as the vassals of the frankish kaisers, or of any barbarian teutons whatsoever; but in their own right, as hereditary sovereigns of rome. and the documents, when needed, were forthcoming. under the name of st. isidore, some ready scribe produced the too-famous 'decretals,' and the 'donation of constantine,' and pope adrian i. saw no reason against publishing them to charlemagne and to the world. it was discovered suddenly, by means of these remarkable documents, that constantine the great had been healed of leprosy, and afterwards baptized, by pope sylvester; that he had, in gratitude for his cure, resigned to the popes his western throne, and the patrimony of st. peter, and the sovereignty of italy and the west; and that this was the true reason of his having founded constantinople, as a new seat of government for the remnant of his empire. this astounding falsehood was, of course, accepted humbly by the unlettered teutons; and did its work well, for centuries to come. it is said--i trust not truly--to be still enrolled among the decrees of the canon law, though reprobated by all enlightened roman catholics. be that as it may, on the strength of this document the popes began to assume an all but despotic sovereignty over the western world, and--the teutonic peoples, and rome's conquest of her conquerors was at last complete. what then were the causes of the papal hatred of a race who were good and devout catholics for the last years of their rule? there were deep political reasons (in the strictest, and i am afraid lowest sense of the word); but over and above them there were evidently moral reasons, which lay even deeper still. a free, plain-spoken, practical race like these lombards; living by their own laws; disbelieving in witchcraft; and seemingly doing little for monasticism, were not likely to find favour in the eyes of popes. they were not the material which the papacy could mould into the neapolitan ideal of 'little saints,--and little asses.' these lombards were not a superstitious race; they did not, like the franks and anglo-saxons, crowd into monasteries. i can only find four instances of lombard sovereigns founding monasteries in all paulus' history. one of them, strangely enough, is that of the very astulf against whom the pope fulminated so loudly the letter from st. peter which i read you. moreover, it must be said in all fairness--the lombards despised the romans exceedingly. so did all the teutons. 'we lombards,' says bishop luitprand, 'saxons, franks, lorrainers, bavarians, sueves, burgunds, consider it a sufficient insult to call our enemy a roman; comprehending in that one name of roman, whatever is ignoble, cowardly, avaricious, luxurious, false, in a word, every vice.' if this was--as it very probably was--the feeling of the whole teutonic race; and if it was repaid--as it certainly was--on the part of the roman, by contempt for the 'barbarism' and 'ignorance' of the teuton; what must have been the feeling between roman and lombard? contact must have embittered mutual contempt into an utter and internecine hatred, in which the pope, as representative of the roman people, could not but share. as for the political reasons, they are clear enough. it is absurd to say that they wished to free italy from lombard tyrants. what did they do but hand her over to frankish tyrants instead? no. the true reason was this. gradually there had arisen in the mind of all popes, from gregory the great onward, the idea of a spiritual supremacy, independent of all kings of the earth. it was a great idea, as the event proved: it was a beneficent one for europe; but a ruinous one for italy. for the popes were not content with spiritual power. they could not conceive of it as separated from temporal power, and temporal power meant land. how early they set their hearts on the exarchate of ravenna, we shall never know: the fact is patent, that it was a naboth's vineyard to them; and that to obtain it they called in the franks. their dread was, evidently, lest the lombards should become masters of the whole of italy. a united italy suited their views then, no more than it does now. not only did they conceive of rome as still the centre of the western world, but more, their stock in trade was at rome. the chains of st. peter, the sepulchres of st. peter and st. paul, the catacombs filled with the bones of innumerable martyrs;--these were their stock in trade. by giving these, selling these, working miracles with these, calling pilgrims from all parts of christendom to visit these in situ, they kept up their power and their wealth. i do not accuse them of misusing that power and that wealth in those days. they used them, on the contrary, better than power and wealth had been ever used in the world before. but they were dependent on the sanctity attached to a particular spot; and any power, which, like the lombard, tended to give italy another centre than rome, they dreaded and disliked. that lombard basilica, near milan, with all its treasures, must have been in their eyes, a formidable rival. still more frightful must it have been to them to see astulf, when he encamped before the walls of rome, searching for martyrs' relics, and carrying them off to milan. that, as a fact, seems to have been the exciting cause of stephen's journey to pepin. this astulf was a good catholic. he founded a nunnery, and put his own daughters in it. what could a man do more meritorious in the eyes of the pope? but he took away the lands of the church, and worse, the relics, the reserved capital by which the church purchased lands. this was indeed a crime only to be expiated by the horrors of a frank invasion. on the same principle the popes supported the exarchs of ravenna, and the independent duchies of spoleto and beneventum. well or ill ruled, iconoclast or not, they were necessary to keep italy divided and weak. and having obtained what they wanted from pepin and charlemagne, it was still their interest to pursue the same policy; to compound for their own independence, as they did with charlemagne and his successors, by defending the pretences of foreign kings to the sovereignty of the rest of italy. this has been their policy for centuries. it is their policy still; and that policy has been the curse of italy. this fatal gift of the patrimony of st. peter--as dante saw--as machiavelli saw,--as all clear-sighted italians have seen,--as we are seeing it now in these very days--has kept her divided, torn by civil wars, conquered and reconquered by foreign invaders. unable, as a celibate ecclesiastic, to form his dominions into a strong hereditary kingdom; unable, as the hierophant of a priestly caste, to unite his people in the bonds of national life; unable, as borgia tried to do, to conquer the rest of italy for himself; and form it into a kingdom large enough to have weight in the balance of power; the pope has been forced, again and again, to keep himself on his throne by intriguing with foreign princes, and calling in foreign arms; and the bane of italy, from the time of stephen iii. to that of pius ix., has been the temporal power of the pope. but on the popes, also, the nemesis came. in building their power on the roman relics, on the fable that rome was the patrimony of peter, they had built on a lie; and that lie avenged itself. had they been independent of the locality of rome; had they been really spiritual emperors, by becoming cosmopolitan, journeying, it may be, from nation to nation in regular progresses, then their power might have been as boundless as they ever desired it should be. having committed themselves to the false position of being petty kings of a petty kingdom, they had to endure continual treachery and tyranny from their foreign allies; to see not merely italy, but rome itself insulted, and even sacked, by faithful catholics; and to become more and more, as the centuries rolled on, the tools of those very kings whom they had wished to make their tools. true, they defended themselves long, and with astonishing skill and courage. their sources of power were two, the moral, and the thaumaturgic; and they used them both: but when the former failed, the latter became useless. as long as their moral power was real; as long as they and their clergy were on the whole, in spite of enormous faults, the best men in europe; so long the people believed in them, and in their thaumaturgic relics likewise. but they became by no means the best men in europe. then they began to think that after all it was more easy to work the material than the moral power--easier to work the bones than to work righteousness. they were deceived. behold! when the righteousness was gone, the bones refused to work. people began to question the virtues of the bones, and to ask, we can believe that the bones may have worked miracles for good men, but for bad men? we will examine whether they work any miracles at all. and then, behold, it came out that the bones did not work miracles, and that possibly they were not saints' bones at all; and then the storm came: and the lie, as all lies do, punished itself. the salt had lost its savour. the teutonic intellect appealed from its old masters to god, and to god's universe of facts, and emancipated itself once and for all. they who had been the light of europe, became its darkness; they who had been first, became last; a warning to mankind until the end of time, that on truth and virtue depends the only abiding strength. lecture xii--the strategy of providence i no not know whether any of you know much of the theory of war. i know very little myself. but something of it one is bound to know, as professor of history. for, unfortunately, a large portion of the history of mankind is the history of war; and the historian, as a man who wants to know how things were done--as distinct from the philosopher, the man who wants to know how things ought to have been done--ought to know a little of the first of human arts--the art of killing. what little i know thereof i shall employ to-day, in explaining to you the invasion of the teutons, from a so-called mechanical point of view. i wish to shew you how it was possible for so small and uncivilized a people to conquer one so vast and so civilized; and what circumstances (which you may attribute to what cause you will: but i to god) enabled our race to conquer in the most vast and important campaign the world has ever seen. i call it a campaign rather than a war. though it lasted years and more, it seems to me (it will, i think, seem to you) if you look at the maps, as but one campaign: i had almost said, one battle. there is but one problem to be solved; and therefore the operations of our race take a sort of unity. the question is, how to take rome, and keep it, by destroying the roman empire. let us consider the two combatants--their numbers, and their position. one glance at the map will shew you which are the most numerous. when you cast your eye over the vastness of the roman empire from east to west--italy, switzerland, half austria, turkey and greece, asia minor, syria, egypt, north africa, spain, france, britain--and then compare it with the narrow german strip which reaches from the mouth of the danube to the mouth of the rhine, the disparity of area is enormous; ten times as great at least; perhaps more, if you accept, as i am inclined to do, the theory of dr. latham, that we were always 'markmen,' men of the marches, occupying a narrow frontier between the slavs and the roman empire; and that tacitus has included among germans, from hearsay, many tribes of the interior of bohemia, prussia, and poland, who were slavs or others; and that the numbers and area of our race has been, on tacitus' authority, greatly overrated. what then were the causes of the success of the teutons? native courage and strength? they had these: but you must recollect what i have told you, that those very qualities were employed against them; that they were hired, in large numbers, into the roman armies, to fight against their own brothers. unanimity? of that, alas! one can say but little. the great teutonic army had not only to fight the romans, but to fight each brigade the brigade before it, to make them move on; and the brigade behind it likewise, to prevent their marching over them; while too often two brigades quarrelled like children, and destroyed each other on the spot. what, then, was the cause of their success? i think a great deal of it must be attributed to their admirable military position. look at a map of europe; putting yourself first at the point to be attacked--at rome, and looking north, follow the german frontier from the euxine up the danube and down the rhine. it is a convex arc: but not nearly as long as the concave arc of the roman frontier opposed to it. the roman frontier overlaps it to the north-west by all britain, to the south-west by part of turkey and the whole of asia minor. that would seem to make it weak, and liable to be outflanked on either wing. in reality it made it strong. both the german wings rested on the sea; one on the euxine, one on the north sea. that in itself would not have given strength; for the roman fleets were masters of the seas. but the lands in the rear, on either flank, were deserts, incapable of supporting an army. what would have been the fate of a force landed at the mouth of the weser on the north, or at the mouth of the dnieper at the west? starvation among wild moors, and bogs, and steppes, if they attempted to leave their base of operations on the coast. the romans saw this, and never tried the plan. to defend the centre of their position was the safest and easiest plan. look at this centre. it is complicated. the roman position is guarded by the walls of italy, the gigantic earthwork of the alps. to storm them, is impossible. but right and left of them, the german position has two remarkable points--strategic points, which decided the fate of the world. they are two salient angles, promontories of the german frontier. the one is north-east of switzerland; the allman country, between the head- waters of the danube and the upper rhine, basle is its apex. mentz its northern point, ratisbon its southern. that triangle encloses the end of the schwartzwald; the black forest of primaeval oak. those oaks have saved europe. the advantages of a salient angle of that kind, in invading an enemy's country, are manifest. you can break out on either side, and return at once into your own country on 'lines of interior operation;' while the enemy has to march round the angle, three feet for your one, on 'lines of exterior operation.' the early german invaders saw that, and burst again and again into gaul from that angle. the romans saw it also (admirable strategists as they were) and built hadrian's wall right across it, from the maine to the danube, to keep them back. and why did not hadrian's wall keep them back? on account of the black forest. the roman never dared to face it; to attempt to break our centre, and to save italy by carrying the war into the heart of germany. they knew (what the invaders of england will discover to their cost) that a close woodland is a more formidable barrier than the alps themselves. the black forest, i say, was the key of our position, and saved our race. from this salient angle, and along the whole rhine above it, the western teutons could throw their masses into gaul; franks, vandals, alans, suevi, following each other in echellon. you know what an echellon means? when bodies of troops move in lines parallel to each other, but each somewhat in the rear of the other, so that their whole position resembles an echelle--a flight of steps. this mode of attack has two great advantages. it cannot be outflanked by the enemy; and he dare not concentrate his forces on the foremost division, and beat the divisions in detail. if he tries to do so, he is out-flanked himself; and he is liable to be beaten in detail by continually fresh bodies of troops. thus only a part of his line is engaged at a time. now it was en echellon, from necessity, that the tribes moved down. they could not follow immediately in each other's track, because two armies following each other would not have found subsistence in the same country. they had to march in parallel lines; those nearest to italy moving first; and thus forming a vast echellon, whose advanced left rested on, and was protected by, the alps. but you must remember (and this is important) that all these western attacks along the rhine and rhone were mistakes, in as far as they were aimed at rome. the teutons were not aware, i suppose, that the alps turned to the south between gaul and italy, and ran right down to the mediterranean. there they found themselves still cut off from rome by them. hannibal's pass over the mont cenis they seem not to have known. they had to range down to the mediterranean; turn eastward along the genoese coast at nice; and then, far away from their base of operations, were cut off again and again, just as the cimbri and teutons were cut off by marius. all attempts to take rome from the piedmontese entrance into italy failed. but these western attacks had immense effects. they cut the roman position in two. and then came out the real weakness of that great ill-gotten empire, conquered for conquering's sake. to the north-west, the romans had extended their line far beyond what they could defend. the whole of north gaul was taken by the franks. britain was then isolated, and had to be given up to its fate. south gaul, being nearer to italy their base, they could defend, and did, like splendid soldiers as they were; but that defence only injured them. it thrust the foremost columns of the enemy on into spain. spain was too far from their base of operation to be defended, and was lost likewise, and seized by vandals and suevi. the true point of attack was at the other salient angle of our position, on the roman right centre. you know that the danube as you ascend it lies east and west from the black sea to belgrade; but above the point where the save enters it, it turns north almost at right angles. this is the second salient point; the real key of the whole roman empire. for from this point the germans could menace--equally, constantinople and turkey on the right (i speak always as standing at rome and looking north), and italy and rome on the left. the danube once crossed, between them and constantinople was nothing but the rich rolling land of turkey; between them and rome nothing but the easy passes of the carnic alps, laybach to trieste. trieste was the key of the roman position. it was, and always will be, a most important point. it might be the centre of a great kingdom. the nation which has it ought to spend its last bullet in defending it. the teutons did cross the danube, as you know, in , and had a great victory, of which nothing came but moral force. they waited long in moesia before they found out the important step which they had made. the genius of alaric first discovered the key of the roman position, and discovered that it was in his own hands. i do not say that no germans had crossed the laybach pass before him. on the contrary, markmen, quadi, vandals, seem to have come over it as early as , and appeared under the walls of aquileia. of course, some one must have gone first, or alaric would not have known of it. there were no maps then, at least among our race. their great generals had to feel their way foot by foot, trusting to hearsays of old adventurers, deserters, and what not, as to whether a fruitful country or an impassable alp, a great city or the world's end, was twenty miles a-head of them. yes, they had great generals among them, and alaric, perhaps, the greatest. if you consider alaric's campaigns, from a.d. to a.d. , you will see that the eye of a genius planned them. he wanted rome, as all teutons did. he was close to italy, in the angle of which i just spoke; but instead of going hither, he resolved to go south, and destroy greece, and he did it. thereby, if you will consider, he cut the roman empire in two. he paralysed and destroyed the right wing of its forces, which might, if he had marched straight for italy, have come up from greece and turkey, to take him in flank and rear. he prevented their doing that; he prevented also their succouring italy by sea by the same destruction. and then he was free to move on rome, knowing that he leaves no strong place on his left flank, save constantinople itself; and that the ostrogoths, and other tribes left behind, would mask it for him. then he moved into italy over the carnic alps, and was repulsed the first time at pollentia. he was not disheartened; he retired upon hungary, waited five years, tried it again, and succeeded, after a campaign of two years. yes. he was a great general. to be able to move vast masses of men safely through a hostile country and in face of an enemy's army (beside women and children) requires an amount of talent bestowed on few. alaric could do it. dietrich the ostrogoth could do it. alboin the lombard could do it, though not under such fearful disadvantages. there were generals before marlborough or napoleon. and do not fancy that the work was easy; that the romans were degenerate enough to be an easy prey. alaric had been certainly beaten out of italy, even though the victory of pollentia was exaggerated. and in , radagast with , men had tried to take rome by alaric's route, and had simply, from want of generalship, been forced to capitulate under the walls of florence, and the remnant of his army sold for slaves. why was alaric more fortunate? because he was a great genius. and why when he died, did the goths lose all plan, and wander wildly up italy, and out into spain? because the great genius was gone. native teuton courage could ensure no permanent success against roman discipline and strategy, unless guided by men like alaric or dietrich. you might fancy the campaign over now: but it was not. along the country of the danube, from the euxine to the alps, the teutons had still the advantage of interior lines, and vast bodies of men--herules, gepids, ostrogoths, lombards--were coming down in an enormous echellon similar to that which forced the rhine; to force italy at the same fatal point--venetia. the party who could command the last reserve would win, as is the rule. and the last reserves were with our race. they must win. but not yet. they had, in the mean time, taken up a concave line; a great arc running round the whole west of the mediterranean from italy, france, spain, algeria, as far as carthage. they could not move forces round that length of coast, as fast as the romans could move them by sea; and they had no fleets. although they had conquered the western empire, they were in a very dangerous position, and were about to be very nearly ruined. for you see, the romans in turn had changed front at more than a right angle. they lay at first north-west and south-east. they lay in justinian's time, north and south. their right was constantinople; their left pentapolis; between those two points they held greece, asia minor, syria and egypt; a position of wealth incalculable. meanwhile, as we must remember always, they were masters of the sea, and therefore of the interior lines of operation. they had been forced into this position; but, like romans, they had accepted it. with the boundless common sense of the race (however fallen, debauched, pedantic), they worked it out, and with terrible effect. their right in constantinople was so strong that they cared nothing for it, though it was the only exposed point. they would defend it by hiring the barbarians, and when they could not pay them, setting them on to kill down each other; while they quietly drew into constantinople the boundless crops of asia, syria and egypt. the strength of constantinople was infinite--commanding two seas and two continents. it is, as the genius of constantinople saw--as the genius of the czar nicholas saw--the strongest spot, perhaps, in the world. that fact was what enabled justinian's empire to arise again, and enabled belisarius and narses to reconquer africa and italy. remember that, and see how strong the romans were still. the teutons meanwhile had changed their front, by conquering the western mediterranean, and were becoming weak, because scattered on exterior lines, to their extreme danger. i cannot exaggerate the danger of that position. it enabled the romans by rapid movements of their fleets, to reconquer africa and italy. it might have enabled them to do much more. belisarius, with great wisdom, began by attacking the vandals at carthage on the extreme right. they had put themselves into an isolated position, and were destroyed without help. then he moved on italy and the ostrogoths. he was going to force the positions in detail, and drive them back behind the alps. what he did not finish, narses did; and the teutons were actually driven back behind the alps for some years. but narses had to stop at italy. even if not recalled, he could have gone no further. the next move should have been on spain, if he had really had strength in italy. but to attack spain from constantinople, would have been to go too far from home. the franks would have crost the pyrenees, and fallen on his flank. the visigoths, even if beaten, would have been only pushed across the straits of gibraltar, to reconquer the vandal coast of africa; while to take troops from italy for any such purpose, would have been to let in the lombards--who came, let in or not. there were reserves in germany still, of which narses knew full well; for he had seen lombards, besides herules, and huns, and avars, fight for him at nuceria, and destroy the ostrogoths; and he knew well that they could, if they chose, fight against him. on the other hand, the roman empire had no reserves; while the campaign had just come to that point at which he who can bring up the last reserve wins. ours were so far from being exhausted, that the heaviest of them, the franks, came into action, stronger than ever, years after. but the roman reserves were gone. if greece, if asia minor, if egypt, had been the holds of a hardy people, the romans might have done still--heaven alone knows what. at least, they might have extended their front once more to the line of carthage, sicily, italy. but the people of syria and egypt, were--what they were. no recruits, as far as i know, were drawn from them. had they been, they would have been face to face with a frank, or a lombard, or a visigoth, much what--not a sikh, a rohilla, or a ghoorka, but a bengalee proper--would be face to face with an englishman. one thousand varangers might have walked from constantinople to alexandria without fighting a pitched battle, if they had had only greeks and syrians to face. thus the romans were growing weak. if we had lost, so had they. every wild teuton who came down to perish, had destroyed a roman, or more than one, before he died. each column which the admirable skill and courage of the romans had destroyed, had weakened them as much, perhaps more, than its destruction weakened the teutons; and had, by harrying the country, destroyed the roman's power of obtaining supplies. italy and turkey at last became too poor to be a fighting ground at all. but now comes in one of the strangest new elements in this strange epic--mohammed and his arabs. suddenly, these arab tribes, under the excitement of the new mussulman creed, burst forth of the unknown east. they take the eastern empire in the rear; by such a rear attack as the world never saw before or since; they cut it in two; devour it up: and save europe thereby. that may seem a strange speech. i must explain it. i have told you how the eastern empire and its military position was immensely strong; that constantinople was a great maritime base of operations, mistress of the mediterranean. what prevented the romans from reconquering all the shores of that sea, and establishing themselves in strength in the morea, or in sicily, or in carthage, or in any central base of operations? what forced them to cling to constantinople, and fight a losing campaign thenceforth. simply this; the mussulman had forced their position from the rear, and deprived them of syria, egypt, africa. but the teutons could not have opposed them. during the th century the lombards in italy were lazy and divided; the goths in spain lazier and more divided still; the franks were tearing themselves in pieces by civil war. the years from a.d. to a.d. and the rise of the carlovingian dynasty, were a period of exhaustion for our race, such as follows on great victories, and the consequent slaughter and collapse. this was the critical period of the teutonic race; little talked of, because little known: but very perilous. nevertheless, whatever the eastern empire might have done, the saracens prevented its doing; and if you hold (with me) that the welfare of the teutonic race is the welfare of the world; then, meaning nothing less, the saracen invasion, by crippling the eastern empire, saved europe and our race. and now, gentlemen, was this vast campaign fought without a general? if trafalgar could not be won without the mind of a nelson, or waterloo without the mind of a wellington, was there no one mind to lead those innumerable armies, on whose success depended the future of the whole human race? did no one marshal them in that impregnable convex front, from the euxine to the north sea? no one guide them to the two great strategic centres, of the black forest and trieste? no one cause them, blind barbarians without maps or science, to follow those rules of war, without which victory in a protracted struggle is impossible; and by the pressure of the huns behind, force on their flagging myriads to an enterprise which their simplicity fancied at first beyond the powers of mortal men? believe it who will: but i cannot. i may be told that they gravitated into their places, as stones and mud do. be it so. they obeyed natural laws of course, as all things do on earth, when they obeyed the laws of war: those too are natural laws, explicable on simple mathematical principles. but while i believe that not a stone or a handful of mud gravitates into its place without the will of god; that it was ordained, ages since, into what particular spot each grain of gold should be washed down from an australian quartz reef, that a certain man might find it at a certain moment and crisis of his life;--if i be superstitious enough (as thank god i am) to hold that creed, shall i not believe that though this great war had no general upon earth, it may have had a general in heaven? and that in spite of all their sins, the hosts of our forefathers were the hosts of god? appendix: the limits of exact science as applied to history. it is with a feeling of awe, i had almost said of fear, that i find myself in this place, upon this errand. the responsibility of a teacher of history in cambridge is in itself very heavy: but doubly heavy in the case of one who sees among his audience many men as fit, it may be some more fit, to fill this chair: and again, more heavy still, when one succeeds to a man whose learning, like his virtues, one can never hope to equal. but a professor, i trust, is like other men, capable of improvement; and the great law, 'docendo disces,' may be fulfilled in him, as in other men. meanwhile, i can only promise that such small powers as i possess will be honestly devoted to this professorate; and that i shall endeavour to teach modern history after a method which shall give satisfaction to the rulers of this university. i shall do that best, i believe, by keeping in mind the lessons which i, in common with thousands more, have learnt from my wise and good predecessor. i do not mean merely patience in research, and accuracy in fact. they are required of all men: and they may be learnt from many men. but what sir james stephen's life and writings should especially teach us, is the beauty and the value of charity; of that large-hearted humanity, which sympathizes with all noble, generous, earnest thought and endeavour, in whatsoever shape they may have appeared; a charity which, without weakly or lazily confounding the eternal laws of right and wrong, can make allowances for human frailty; can separate the good from the evil in men and in theories; can understand, and can forgive, because it loves. who can read sir james stephen's works without feeling more kindly toward many a man, and many a form of thought, against which he has been more or less prejudiced; without a more genial view of human nature, a more hopeful view of human destiny, a more full belief in the great saying, that 'wisdom is justified of all her children'? who, too, can read those works without seeing how charity enlightens the intellect, just as bigotry darkens it; how events, which to the theorist and the pedant are merely monstrous and unmeaning, may explain themselves easily enough to the man who will put himself in his fellow-creatures' place; who will give them credit for being men of like passions with himself; who will see with their eyes, feel with their hearts, and take for his motto, 'homo sum, nil humani a me alienum puto'? i entreat gentlemen who may hereafter attend my lectures to bear in mind this last saying. if they wish to understand history, they must first try to understand men and women. for history is the history of men and women, and of nothing else; and he who knows men and women thoroughly will best understand the past work of the world, and be best able to carry on its work now. the men who, in the long run, have governed the world, have been those who understood the human heart; and therefore it is to this day the statesman who keeps the reins in his hand, and not the mere student. he is a man of the world; he knows how to manage his fellow-men; and therefore he can get work done which the mere student (it may be) has taught him ought to be done; but which the mere student, much less the mere trader or economist, could not get done; simply because his fellow-men would probably not listen to him, and certainly outwit him. of course, in proportion to the depth, width, soundness, of his conception of human nature, will be the greatness and wholesomeness of his power. he may appeal to the meanest, or to the loftiest motives. he may be a fox or an eagle; a borgia, or a hildebrand; a talleyrand, or a napoleon; a mary stuart, or an elizabeth: but however base, however noble, the power which he exercises is the same in essence. he makes history, because he understands men. and you, if you would understand history, must understand men. if, therefore, any of you should ask me how to study history, i should answer--take by all means biographies: wheresoever possible, autobiographies; and study them. fill your minds with live human figures; men of like passions with yourselves; see how each lived and worked in the time and place in which god put him. believe me, that when you have thus made a friend of the dead, and brought him to life again, and let him teach you to see with his eyes, and feel with his heart, you will begin to understand more of his generation and his circumstances, than all the mere history-books of the period would teach you. in proportion as you understand the man, and only so, will you begin to understand the elements in which he worked. and not only to understand, but to remember. names, dates, genealogies, geographical details, costumes, fashions, manners, crabbed scraps of old law, which you used, perhaps, to read up and forget again, because they were not rooted, but stuck into your brain, as pins are into a pincushion, to fall out at the first shake--all these you will remember; because they will arrange and organize themselves around the central human figure: just as, if you have studied a portrait by some great artist, you cannot think of the face in it, without recollecting also the light and shadow, the tone of colouring, the dress, the very details of the background, and all the accessories which the painter's art has grouped around; each with a purpose, and therefore each fixing itself duly in your mind. who, for instance, has not found that he can learn more french history from french memoirs, than even from all the truly learned and admirable histories of france which have been written of late years? there are those, too, who will say of good old plutarch's lives (now-a-days, i think, too much neglected), what some great man used to say of shakspeare and english history--that all the ancient history which they really knew, they had got from plutarch. i am free to confess that i have learnt what little i know of the middle-ages, what they were like, how they came to be what they were, and how they issued in the reformation, not so much from the study of the books about them (many and wise though they are), as from the thumbing over, for years, the semi-mythical saints' lives of surius and the bollandists. without doubt history obeys, and always has obeyed, in the long run, certain laws. but those laws assert themselves, and are to be discovered, not in things, but in persons; in the actions of human beings; and just in proportion as we understand human beings, shall we understand the laws which they have obeyed, or which have avenged themselves on their disobedience. this may seem a truism: if it be such, it is one which we cannot too often repeat to ourselves just now, when the rapid progress of science is tempting us to look at human beings rather as things than as persons, and at abstractions (under the name of laws) rather as persons than as things. discovering, to our just delight, order and law all around us, in a thousand events which seemed to our fathers fortuitous and arbitrary, we are dazzled just now by the magnificent prospect opening before us, and fall, too often, into more than one serious mistake. first; students try to explain too often all the facts which they meet by the very few laws which they know; and especially moral phaenomena by physical, or at least economic laws. there is an excuse for this last error. much which was thought, a few centuries since, to belong to the spiritual world, is now found to belong to the material; and the physician is consulted, where the exorcist used to be called in. but it is a somewhat hasty corollary therefrom, and one not likely to find favour in this university, that moral laws and spiritual agencies have nothing at all to do with the history of the human race. we shall not be inclined here, i trust, to explain (as some one tried to do lately) the crusades by a hypothesis of over-stocked labour-markets on the continent. neither, again, shall we be inclined to class those same crusades among 'popular delusions,' and mere outbursts of folly and madness. this is a very easy, and i am sorry to say, a very common method of disposing of facts which will not fit into the theory, too common of late, that need and greed have been always, and always ought to be, the chief motives of mankind. need and greed, heaven knows, are powerful enough: but i think that he who has something nobler in himself than need and greed, will have eyes to discern something nobler than them, in the most fantastic superstitions, in the most ferocious outbursts, of the most untutored masses. thank god, that those who preach the opposite doctrine belie it so often by a happy inconsistency; that he who declares self-interest to be the mainspring of the world, can live a life of virtuous self-sacrifice; that he who denies, with spinoza, the existence of free- will, can disprove his own theory, by willing, like spinoza, amid all the temptations of the world, to live a life worthy of a roman stoic; and that he who represents men as the puppets of material circumstance, and who therefore has no logical right either to praise virtue, or to blame vice, can shew, by a healthy admiration of the former, a healthy scorn of the latter, how little his heart has been corrupted by the eidola specus, the phantoms of the study, which have oppressed his brain. but though men are often, thank heaven, better than their doctrines, yet the goodness of the man does not make his doctrine good; and it is immoral as well as unphilosophical to call a thing hard names simply because it cannot be fitted into our theory of the universe. immoral, because all harsh and hasty wholesale judgments are immoral; unphilosophical, because the only philosophical method of looking at the strangest of phaenomena is to believe that it too is the result of law, perhaps a healthy result; that it is not to be condemned as a product of disease before it is proven to be such; and that if it be a product of disease, disease has its laws, as much as health; and is a subject, not for cursing, but for induction; so that (to return to my example) if every man who ever took part in the crusades were proved to have been simply mad, our sole business would be to discover why he went mad upon that special matter, and at that special time. and to do that, we must begin by recollecting that in every man who went forth to the crusades, or to any other strange adventure of humanity, was a whole human heart and brain, of like strength and weakness, like hopes, like temptations, with our own; and find out what may have driven him mad, by considering what would have driven us mad in his place. may i be permitted to enlarge somewhat on this topic? there is, as you are aware, a demand just now for philosophies of history. the general spread of inductive science has awakened this appetite; the admirable contemporary french historians have quickened it by feeding it; till, the more order and sequence we find in the facts of the past, the more we wish to find. so it should be (or why was man created a rational being?) and so it is; and the requirements of the more educated are becoming so peremptory, that many thinking men would be ready to say (i should be sorry to endorse their opinion), that if history is not studied according to exact scientific method, it need not be studied at all. a very able anonymous writer has lately expressed this general tendency of modern thought in language so clear and forcible that i must beg leave to quote it:-- 'step by step,' he says, 'the notion of evolution by law is transforming the whole field of our knowledge and opinion. it is not one order of conception which comes under its influence: but it is the whole sphere of our ideas, and with them the whole system of our action and conduct. not the physical world alone is now the domain of inductive science, but the moral, the intellectual, and the spiritual are being added to its empire. two co-ordinate ideas pervade the vision of every thinker, physicist or moralist, philosopher or priest. in the physical and the moral world, in the natural and the human, are ever seen two forces--invariable rule, and continual advance; law and action; order and progress; these two powers working harmoniously together, and the result, inevitable sequence, orderly movement, irresistible growth. in the physical world indeed, order is most prominent to our eyes; in the moral world it is progress, but both exist as truly in the one as in the other. in the scale of nature, as we rise from the inorganic to the organic, the idea of change becomes even more distinct; just as when we rise through the gradations of the moral world, the idea of order becomes more difficult to grasp. it was the last task of the astronomer to show eternal change even in the grand order of our solar system. it is the crown of philosophy to see immutable law even in the complex action of human life. in the latter, indeed, it is but the first germs which are clear. no rational thinker hopes to discover more than some few primary actions of law, and some approximative theory of growth. much is dark and contradictory. numerous theories differing in method and degree are offered; nor do we decide between them. we insist now only upon this, that the principle of development in the moral, as in the physical, has been definitely admitted; and something like a conception of one grand analogy through the whole sphere of knowledge, has almost become a part of popular opinion. most men shrink from any broad statement of the principle, though all in some special instances adopt it. it surrounds every idea of our life, and is diffused in every branch of study. the press, the platform, the lecture-room, and the pulpit ring with it in every variety of form. unconscious pedants are proving it. it flashes on the statistician through his registers; it guides the hand of simple philanthropy; it is obeyed by the instinct of the statesman. there is not an act of our public life which does not acknowledge it. no man denies that there are certain, and even practical laws of political economy. they are nothing but laws of society. the conferences of social reformers, the congresses for international statistics and for social science bear witness of its force. everywhere we hear of the development of the constitution, of public law, of public opinion, of institutions, of forms of society, of theories of history. in a word, whatever views of history may be inculcated on the universities by novelists or epigrammatists, it is certain that the best intellects and spirits of our day are labouring to see more of that invariable order, and of that principle of growth in the life of human societies and of the great society of mankind which nearly all men, more or less, acknowledge, and partially and unconsciously confirm.' this passage expresses admirably, i think, the tendencies of modern thought for good and evil. for good. for surely it is good, and a thing to thank god for, that men should be more and more expecting order, searching for order, welcoming order. but for evil also. for young sciences, like young men, have their time of wonder, hope, imagination, and of passion too, and haste, and bigotry. dazzled, and that pardonably, by the beauty of the few laws they may have discovered, they are too apt to erect them into gods, and to explain by them all matters in heaven and earth; and apt, too, as i think this author does, to patch them where they are weakest, by that most dangerous succedaneum of vague and grand epithets, which very often contain, each of them, an assumption far more important than the law to which they are tacked. such surely are the words which so often occur in this passage--'invariable, continual, immutable, inevitable, irresistible.' there is an ambiguity in these words, which may lead--which i believe does lead--to most unphilosophical conclusions. they are used very much as synonyms; not merely in this passage, but in the mouths of men. are you aware that those who carelessly do so, blink the whole of the world- old arguments between necessity and free-will? whatever may be the rights of that quarrel, they are certainly not to be assumed in a passing epithet. but what else does the writer do, who tells us that an inevitable sequence, an irresistible growth, exists in the moral as well as in the physical world; and then says, as a seemingly identical statement, that it is the crown of philosophy to see immutable law, even in the complex action of human life? the crown of philosophy? doubtless it is so. but not a crown, i should have thought, which has been reserved as the special glory of these latter days. very early, at least in the known history of mankind, did philosophy (under the humble names of religion and common sense) see most immutable, and even eternal, laws, in the complex action of human life, even the laws of right and wrong; and called them the everlasting judgments of god, to which a confused and hard-worked man was to look; and take comfort, for all would be well at last. by fair induction (as i believe) did man discover, more or less clearly, those eternal laws: by repeated verifications of them in every age, man has been rising, and will yet rise, to clearer insight into their essence, their limits, their practical results. and if it be these, the old laws of right and wrong, which this author and his school call invariable and immutable, we shall, i trust, most heartily agree with them; only wondering why a moral government of the world seems to them so very recent a discovery. but we shall not agree with them, i trust, when they represent these invariable and immutable laws as resulting in any inevitable sequence, or irresistible growth. we shall not deny a sequence--reason forbids that; or again, a growth--experience forbids that: but we shall be puzzled to see why a law, because it is immutable itself, should produce inevitable results; and if they quote the facts of material nature against us, we shall be ready to meet them on that very ground, and ask:--you say that as the laws of matter are inevitable, so probably are the laws of human life? be it so: but in what sense are the laws of matter inevitable? potentially, or actually? even in the seemingly most uniform and universal law, where do we find the inevitable or the irresistible? is there not in nature a perpetual competition of law against law, force against force, producing the most endless and unexpected variety of results? cannot each law be interfered with at any moment by some other law, so that the first law, though it may struggle for the mastery, shall be for an indefinite time utterly defeated? the law of gravity is immutable enough: but do all stones inevitably fall to the ground? certainly not, if i choose to catch one, and keep it in my hand. it remains there by laws; and the law of gravity is there too, making it feel heavy in my hand: but it has not fallen to the ground, and will not, till i let it. so much for the inevitable action of the laws of gravity, as of others. potentially, it is immutable; but actually it can be conquered by other laws. i really beg your pardon for occupying you here with such truisms: but i must put the students of this university in mind of them, as long as too many modern thinkers shall choose to ignore them. even if then, as it seems to me, the history of mankind depended merely on physical laws, analogous to those which govern the rest of nature, it would be a hopeless task for us to discover an inevitable sequence in history, even though we might suppose that such existed. but as long as man has the mysterious power of breaking the laws of his own being, such a sequence not only cannot be discovered, but it cannot exist. for man can break the laws of his own being, whether physical, intellectual, or moral. he breaks them every day, and has always been breaking them. the greater number of them he cannot obey till he knows them. and too many of them he cannot know, alas, till he has broken them; and paid the penalty of his ignorance. he does not, like the brute or the vegetable, thrive by laws of which he is not conscious: but by laws of which he becomes gradually conscious; and which he can disobey after all. and therefore it seems to me very like a juggle of words to draw analogies from the physical and irrational world, and apply them to the moral and rational world; and most unwise to bridge over the gulf between the two by such adjectives as 'irresistible' or 'inevitable,' such nouns as 'order, sequence, law'--which must bear an utterly different meaning, according as they are applied to physical beings or to moral ones. indeed, so patent is the ambiguity, that i cannot fancy that it has escaped the author and his school; and am driven, by mere respect for their logical powers, to suppose that they mean no ambiguity at all; that they do not conceive of irrational beings as differing from rational beings, or the physical from the moral, or the body of man from his spirit, in kind and property; and that the immutable laws which they represent as governing human life and history have nothing at all to do with those laws of right and wrong, which i intend to set forth to you, as the 'everlasting judgments of god.' in which case, i fear, they must go their way; while we go ours; confessing that there is an order, and there is a law, for man; and that if he disturb that order, or break that law in anywise, they will prove themselves too strong for him, and reassert themselves, and go forward, grinding him to powder if he stubbornly try to stop their way. but we must assert too, that his disobedience to them, even for a moment, has disturbed the natural course of events, and broken that inevitable sequence, which we may find indeed, in our own imaginations, as long as we sit with a book in our studies: but which vanishes the moment that we step outside into practical contact with life; and, instead of talking cheerfully of a necessary and orderly progress, find ourselves more inclined to cry with the cynical man of the world: 'all the windy ways of men, are but dust that rises up; and is lightly laid again.' the usual rejoinder to this argument is to fall back upon man's weakness and ignorance, and to take refuge in the infinite unknown. man, it is said, may of course interfere a little with some of the less important laws of his being: but who is he, to grapple with the more vast and remote ones? because he can prevent a pebble from falling, is he to suppose that he can alter the destiny of nations, and grapple forsooth with 'the eternities and the immensities,' and so forth? the argument is very powerful: but addrest rather to the imagination than the reason. it is, after all, another form of the old omne ignotum pro magnifico; and we may answer, i think fairly--about the eternities and immensities we know nothing, not having been there as yet; but it is a mere assumption to suppose, without proof, that the more remote and impalpable laws are more vast, in the sense of being more powerful (the only sense which really bears upon the argument), than the laws which are palpably at work around us all day long; and if we are capable of interfering with almost every law of human life which we know of already, it is more philosophical to believe (till disproved by actual failure) that we can interfere with those laws of our life which we may know hereafter. whether it will pay us to interfere with them, is a different question. it is not prudent to interfere with the laws of health, and it may not be with other laws, hereafter to be discovered. i am only pleading that man can disobey the laws of his being; that such power has always been a disturbing force in the progress of the human race, which modern theories too hastily overlook; and that the science of history (unless the existence of the human will be denied) must belong rather to the moral sciences, than to that 'positive science' which seems to me inclined to reduce all human phaenomena under physical laws, hastily assumed, by the old fallacy of [greek text], to apply where there is no proof whatsoever that they do or even can apply. as for the question of the existence of the human will--i am not here, i hope, to argue that. i shall only beg leave to assume its existence, for practical purposes. i may be told (though i trust not in this university), that it is, like the undulatory theory of light, an unphilosophical 'hypothesis.' be that as it may, it is very convenient (and may be for a few centuries to come) to retain the said 'hypothesis,' as one retains the undulatory theory; and for the simple reason, that with it one can explain the phaenomena tolerably; and without it cannot explain them at all. a dread (half-unconscious, it may be) of this last practical result, seems to have crossed the mind of the author on whom i have been commenting; for he confesses, honestly enough (and he writes throughout like an honest man) that in human life 'no rational thinker hopes to discover more than some few primary actions of law, and some approximative theory of growth.' i have higher hopes of a possible science of history; because i fall back on those old moral laws, which i think he wishes to ignore: but i can conceive that he will not; because he cannot, on his own definitions of law and growth. they are (if i understand him aright) to be irresistible and inevitable. i say that they are not so, even in the case of trees and stones; much more in the world of man. facts, when he goes on to verify his theories, will leave him with a very few primary actions of law, a very faint approximative theory; because his theories, in plain english, will not work. at the first step, at every step, they are stopped short by those disturbing forces, or at least disturbed phaenomena, which have been as yet, and probably will be hereafter, attributed (as the only explanation of them) to the existence, for good and evil, of a human will. let us look in detail at a few of these disturbances of anything like inevitable or irresistible movement. shall we not, at the very first glance, confess--i am afraid only too soon--that there always have been fools therein; fools of whom no man could guess, or can yet, what they were going to do next or why they were going to do it? and how, pray, can we talk of the inevitable, in the face of that one miserable fact of human folly, whether of ignorance or of passion, folly still? there may be laws of folly, as there are laws of disease; and whether there are or not, we may learn much wisdom from folly; we may see what the true laws of humanity are, by seeing the penalties which come from breaking them: but as for laws which work of themselves, by an irresistible movement,--how can we discover such in a past in which every law which we know has been outraged again and again? take one of the highest instances--the progress of the human intellect--i do not mean just now the spread of conscious science, but of that unconscious science which we call common sense. what hope have we of laying down exact laws for its growth, in a world wherein it has been ignored, insulted, crushed, a thousand times, sometimes in whole nations and for whole generations, by the stupidity, tyranny, greed, caprice of a single ruler; or if not so, yet by the mere superstition, laziness, sensuality, anarchy of the mob? how, again, are we to arrive at any exact laws of the increase of population, in a race which has had, from the beginning, the abnormal and truly monstrous habit of slaughtering each other, not for food--for in a race of normal cannibals, the ratio of increase or decrease might easily be calculated--but uselessly, from rage, hate, fanaticism, or even mere wantonness? no man is less inclined than i to undervalue vital statistics, and their already admirable results: but how can they help us, and how can we help them, in looking at such a past as that of three- fourths of the nations of the world? look--as a single instance among too many--at that most noble nation of germany, swept and stunned, by peasant wars, thirty years' wars, french wars, and after each hurricane, blossoming up again into brave industry and brave thought, to be in its turn cut off by a fresh storm ere it could bear full fruit: doing nevertheless such work, against such fearful disadvantages, as nation never did before; and proving thereby what she might have done for humanity, had not she, the mother of all european life, been devoured, generation after generation, by her own unnatural children. nevertheless, she is their mother still; and her history, as i believe, the root-history of europe: but it is hard to read--the sibylline leaves are so fantastically torn, the characters so blotted out by tears and blood. and if such be the history of not one nation only, but of the average, how, i ask, are we to make calculations about such a species as man? many modern men of science wish to draw the normal laws of human life from the average of humanity: i question whether they can do so; because i do not believe the average man to be the normal man, exhibiting the normal laws: but a very abnormal man, diseased and crippled, but even if their method were correct, it could work in practice, only if the destinies of men were always decided by majorities: and granting that the majority of men have common sense, are the minority of fools to count for nothing? are they powerless? have they had no influence on history? have they even been always a minority, and not at times a terrible majority, doing each that which was right in the sight of his own eyes? you can surely answer that question for yourselves. as far as my small knowledge of history goes, i think it may be proved from facts, that any given people, down to the lowest savages, has, at any period of its life, known far more than it has done; known quite enough to have enabled it to have got on comfortably, thriven, and developed; if it had only done, what no man does, all that it knew it ought to do, and could do. st. paul's experience of himself is true of all mankind--'the good which i would, i do not; and the evil which i would not, that i do.' the discrepancy between the amount of knowledge and the amount of work, is one of the most patent and most painful facts which strikes us in the history of man; and one not certainly to be explained on any theory of man's progress being the effect of inevitable laws, or one which gives us much hope of ascertaining fixed laws for that progress. and bear in mind, that fools are not always merely imbecile and obstructive; they are at times ferocious, dangerous, mad. there is in human nature what goethe used to call a demoniac element, defying all law, and all induction; and we can, i fear, from that one cause, as easily calculate the progress of the human race, as we can calculate that of the vines upon the slopes of aetna, with the lava ready to boil up and overwhelm them at any and every moment. let us learn, in god's name, all we can, from the short intervals of average peace and common sense: let us, or rather our grandchildren, get precious lessons from them for the next period of sanity. but let us not be surprised, much less disheartened, if after learning a very little, some unexpected and truly demoniac factor, anabaptist war, french revolution, or other, should toss all our calculations to the winds, and set us to begin afresh, sadder and wiser men. we may learn, doubtless, even more of the real facts of human nature, the real laws of human history, from these critical periods, when the root-fibres of the human heart are laid bare, for good and evil, than from any smooth and respectable periods of peace and plenty: nevertheless their lessons are not statistical, but moral. but if human folly has been a disturbing force for evil, surely human reason has been a disturbing force for good. man can not only disobey the laws of his being, he can also choose between them, to an extent which science widens every day, and so become, what he was meant to be, an artificial being; artificial in his manufactures, habits, society, polity--what not? all day long he has a free choice between even physical laws, which mere things have not, and which make the laws of mere things inapplicable to him. take the simplest case. if he falls into the water, he has his choice whether he will obey the laws of gravity and sink, or by other laws perform the (to him) artificial process of swimming, and get ashore. true, both would happen by law: but he has his choice which law shall conquer, sink or swim. we have yet to learn why whole nations, why all mankind may not use the same prudential power as to which law they shall obey,--which, without breaking it, they shall conquer and repress, as long as seems good to them. it is true, nature must be obeyed in order that she may he conquered: but then she is to be conquered. it has been too much the fashion of late to travestie that great dictum of bacon's into a very different one, and say, nature must be obeyed because she cannot be conquered; thus proclaiming the impotence of science to discover anything save her own impotence--a result as contrary to fact, as to bacon's own hopes of what science would do for the welfare of the human race. for what is all human invention, but the transcending and conquering one natural law by another? what is the practical answer which all mankind has been making to nature and her pretensions, whenever it has progressed one step since the foundation of the world: by which all discoverers have discovered, all teachers taught: by which all polities, kingdoms, civilizations, arts, manufactures, have established themselves; all who have raised themselves above the mob have faced the mob, and conquered the mob, crucified by them first and worshipped by them afterwards: by which the first savage conquered the natural law which put wild beasts in the forest, by killing them; conquered the natural law which makes raw meat wholesome, by cooking it; conquered the natural law which made weeds grow at his hut door, by rooting them up, and planting corn instead; and won his first spurs in the great battle of man against nature, proving thereby that he was a man, and not an ape? what but this?--'nature is strong, but i am stronger. i know her worth, but i know my own. i trust her and her laws, but my trusty servant she shall be, and not my tyrant; and if she interfere with my ideal, even with my personal comfort, then nature and i will fight it out to the last gasp, and heaven defend the right!' in forgetting this, in my humble opinion, lay the error of the early, or laissez faire school of political economy. it was too much inclined to say to men: 'you are the puppets of certain natural laws. your own freewill and choice, if they really exist, exist merely as a dangerous disease. all you can do is to submit to the laws, and drift whithersoever they may carry you, for good or evil.' but not less certainly was the same blame to be attached to the french socialist school. it, though based on a revolt from the philosophie du neant, philosophie de la misere, as it used to term the laissez faire school, yet retained the worst fallacy of its foe, namely, that man was the creature of circumstances; and denied him just as much as its antagonist the possession of freewill, or at least the right to use freewill on any large scale. the laissez faire school was certainly the more logical of the two. with them, if man was the creature of circumstances, those circumstances were at least defined for him by external laws which he had not created: while the socialists, with fourier at their head (as it has always seemed to me), fell into the extraordinary paradox of supposing that though man was the creature of circumstances, he was to become happy by creating the very circumstances which were afterwards to create him. but both of them erred, surely, in ignoring that self-arbitrating power of man, by which he can, for good or for evil, rebel against and conquer circumstance. i am not, surely, overstepping my province as professor of history, in alluding to this subject. just notions of political economy are absolutely necessary to just notions of history; and i should wish those young gentlemen who may attend my lectures, to go first, were it possible, to my more learned brother, the professor of political economy, and get from him not merely exact habits of thought, but a knowledge which i cannot give, and yet which they ought to possess. for to take the very lowest ground, the first fact of history is, bouche va toujours; whatever men have or have not done, they have always eaten, or tried to eat; and the laws which regulate the supply of the first necessaries of life are, after all, the first which should be learnt, and the last which should be ignored. the more modern school, however, of political economy while giving due weight to circumstance, has refused to acknowledge it as the force which ought to determine all human life; and our greatest living political economist has, in his essay on liberty, put in a plea unequalled since the areopagitica of milton, for the self-determining power of the individual, and for his right to use that power. but my business is not with rights, so much as with facts; and as a fact, surely, one may say, that this inventive reason of man has been, in all ages, interfering with any thing like an inevitable sequence or orderly progress of humanity. some of those writers, indeed, who are most anxious to discover an exact order, are most loud in their complaints that it has been interfered with by over-legislation; and rejoice that mankind is returning to a healthier frame of mind, and leaving nature alone to her own work in her own way. i do not altogether agree with their complaints; but of that i hope to speak in subsequent lectures. meanwhile, i must ask, if (as is said) most good legislation now-a-days consists in repealing old laws which ought never to have been passed; if (as is said) the great fault of our forefathers was that they were continually setting things wrong, by intermeddling in matters political, economic, religious, which should have been let alone, to develop themselves in their own way, what becomes of the inevitable laws, and the continuous progress, of the human mind? look again at the disturbing power, not merely of the general reason of the many, but of the genius of the few. i am not sure, but that the one fact, that genius is occasionally present in the world, is not enough to prevent our ever discovering any regular sequence in human progress, past or future. let me explain myself. in addition to the infinite variety of individual characters continually born (in itself a cause of perpetual disturbance), man alone of all species has the faculty of producing, from time to time, individuals immeasurably superior to the average in some point or other, whom we call men of genius. like mr. babbage's calculating machine, human nature gives millions of orderly respectable common-place results, which any statistician can classify, and enables hasty philosophers to say--it always has gone on thus; it must go on thus always; when behold, after many millions of orderly results, there turns up a seemingly disorderly, a certainly unexpected, result, and the law seems broken (being really superseded by some deeper law) for that once, and perhaps never again for centuries. even so it is with man, and the physiological laws which determine the earthly appearance of men. laws there are, doubt it not; but they are beyond us: and let our induction be as wide as it may, they will baffle it; and great nature, just as we fancy we have found out her secret, will smile in our faces as she brings into the world a man, the like of whom we have never seen, and cannot explain, define, classify--in one word, a genius. such do, as a fact, become leaders of men into quite new and unexpected paths, and, for good or evil, leave their stamp upon whole generations and races. notorious as this may be, it is just, i think, what most modern theories of human progress ignore. they take the actions and the tendencies of the average many, and from them construct their scheme: a method not perhaps quite safe were they dealing with plants or animals; but what if it be the very peculiarity of this fantastic and altogether unique creature called man, not only that he develops, from time to time, these exceptional individuals, but that they are the most important individuals of all? that his course is decided for him not by the average many, but by the extraordinary few; that one mahommed, one luther, one bacon, one napoleon, shall change the thoughts and habits of millions?--so that instead of saying that the history of mankind is the history of the masses, it would be much more true to say, that the history of mankind is the history of its great men; and that a true philosophy of history ought to declare the laws--call them physical, spiritual, biological, or what we choose--by which great minds have been produced into the world, as necessary results, each in his place and time. that would be a science indeed; how far we are as yet from any such, you know as well as i. as yet, the appearance of great minds is as inexplicable to us as if they had dropped among us from another planet. who will tell us why they have arisen when they did, and why they did what they did, and nothing else? i do not deny that such a science is conceivable; because each mind, however great or strange, may be the result of fixed and unerring laws of life: and it is conceivable, too, that such a science may so perfectly explain the past, as to be able to predict the future; and tell men when a fresh genius is likely to arise and of what form his intellect will be. conceivable: but i fear only conceivable; if for no other reason, at least for this one. we may grant safely that the mind of luther was the necessary result of a combination of natural laws. we may go further, and grant, but by no means safely, that luther, was the creature of circumstances, that there was no self- moving originality in him, but that his age made him what he was. to some modern minds these concessions remove all difficulty and mystery: but not, i trust, to our minds. for does not the very puzzle de quo agitur remain equally real; namely, why the average of augustine monks, the average of german men, did not, by being exposed to the same average circumstances as luther, become what luther was? but whether we allow luther to have been a person with an originally different character from all others, or whether we hold him to have been the mere puppet of outside influences, the first step towards discovering how he became what he was, will be to find out what he was. it will be more easy, and, i am sorry to say, more common to settle beforehand our theory, and explain by it such parts of luther as will fit it; and call those which will not fit it hard names. history is often so taught, and the method is popular and lucrative. but we here shall be of opinion, i am sure, that we only can learn causes through their effects; we can only learn the laws which produced luther, by learning luther himself; by analyzing his whole character; by gauging all his powers; and that--unless the less can comprehend the greater--we cannot do till we are more than luther himself. i repeat it. none can comprehend a man, unless he be greater than that man. he must be not merely equal to him, because none can see in another elements of character which he has not already seen in himself: he must be greater; because to comprehend him thoroughly, he must be able to judge the man's failings as well as his excellencies; to see not only why he did what he did, but why he did not do more: in a word, he must be nearer than his object is to the ideal man. and if it be assumed that i am quibbling on the words 'comprehend' and 'greater,' that the observer need be greater only potentially, and not in act; that all the comprehension required of him, is to have in himself the germs of other men's faculties, without having developed those germs in life; i must still stand to my assertion. for such a rejoinder ignores the most mysterious element of all character, which we call strength: by virtue of which, of two seemingly similar characters, while one does nothing, the other shall do great things; while in one the germs of intellect and virtue remain comparatively embryonic, passive, and weak, in the other these same germs shall develop into manhood, action, success. and in what that same strength consists, not even the dramatic imagination of a shakespeare could discover. what are those heart-rending sonnets of his, but the confession that over and above all his powers he lacked one thing, and knew not what it was, or where to find it--and that was--to be strong? and yet he who will give us a science of great men, must begin by having a larger heart, a keener insight, a more varying human experience, than shakespeare's own; while those who offer us a science of little men, and attempt to explain history and progress by laws drawn from the average of mankind, are utterly at sea the moment they come in contact with the very men whose actions make the history, to whose thought the progress is due. and why? because (so at least i think) the new science of little men can be no science at all: because the average man is not the normal man, and never yet has been; because the great man is rather the normal man, as approaching more nearly than his fellows to the true 'norma' and standard of a complete human character; and therefore to pass him by as a mere irregular sport of nature, an accidental giant with six fingers and six toes, and to turn to the mob for your theory of humanity, is (i think) about as wise as to ignore the apollo and the theseus, and to determine the proportions of the human figure from a crowd of dwarfs and cripples. no, let us not weary ourselves with narrow theories, with hasty inductions, which will, a century hence, furnish mere matter for a smile. let us confine ourselves, at least in the present infantile state of the anthropologic sciences, to facts; to ascertaining honestly and patiently the thing which has been done; trusting that if we make ourselves masters of them, some rays of inductive light will be vouchsafed to us from him who truly comprehends mankind, and knows what is in man, because he is the son of man; who has his own true theory of human progress, his own sound method of educating the human race, perfectly good, and perfectly wise, and at last, perfectly victorious; which nevertheless, were it revealed to us to-morrow, we could not understand; for if he who would comprehend luther must be more than luther, what must he be, who would comprehend god? look again, as a result of the disturbing force of genius, at the effects of great inventions--how unexpected, complex, subtle, all but miraculous--throwing out alike the path of human history, and the calculations of the student. if physical discoveries produced only physical or economic results--if the invention of printing had only produced more books, and more knowledge--if the invention of gunpowder had only caused more or less men to be killed--if the invention of the spinning-jenny had only produced more cotton-stuffs, more employment, and therefore more human beings,--then their effects would have been, however complex, more or less subjects of exact computation. but so strangely interwoven is the physical and spiritual history of man, that material inventions produce continually the most unexpected spiritual results. printing becomes a religious agent, causes not merely more books, but a protestant reformation; then again, through the jesuit literature, helps to a romanist counter-reformation; and by the clashing of the two, is one of the great causes of the thirty years' war, one of the most disastrous checks which european progress ever suffered. gunpowder, again, not content with killing men, becomes unexpectedly a political agent; 'the villanous saltpetre,' as ariosto and shakespeare's fop complain, 'does to death many a goodly gentleman,' and enables the masses to cope, for the first time, with knights in armour; thus forming a most important agent in the rise of the middle classes; while the spinning-jenny, not content with furnishing facts for the political economist, and employment for millions, helps to extend slavery in the united states, and gives rise to moral and political questions, which may have, ere they be solved, the most painful consequences to one of the greatest nations on earth. so far removed is the sequence of human history from any thing which we can call irresistible or inevitable. did one dare to deal in epithets, crooked, wayward, mysterious, incalculable, would be those which would rather suggest themselves to a man looking steadily not at a few facts here and there, and not again at some hasty bird's-eye sketch, which he chooses to call a whole, but at the actual whole, fact by fact, step by step, and alas! failure by failure, and crime by crime. understand me, i beg. i do not wish (heaven forbid!) to discourage inductive thought; i do not wish to undervalue exact science. i only ask that the moral world, which is just as much the domain of inductive science as the physical one, be not ignored; that the tremendous difficulties of analyzing its phenomena be fairly faced; and the hope given up, at least for the present, of forming any exact science of history; and i wish to warn you off from the too common mistake of trying to explain the mysteries of the spiritual world by a few roughly defined physical laws (for too much of our modern thought does little more than that); and of ignoring as old fashioned, or even superstitious, those great moral laws of history, which are sanctioned by the experience of ages. foremost among them stands a law which i must insist on, boldly and perpetually, if i wish (as i do wish) to follow in the footsteps of sir james stephen: a law which man has been trying in all ages, as now, to deny, or at least to ignore; though he might have seen it if he had willed, working steadily in all times and nations. and that is--that as the fruit of righteousness is wealth and peace, strength and honour; the fruit of unrighteousness is poverty and anarchy, weakness and shame. it is an ancient doctrine, and yet one ever young. the hebrew prophets preached it long ago, in words which are fulfilling themselves around us every day, and which no new discoveries of science will abrogate, because they express the great root-law, which disobeyed, science itself cannot get a hearing. for not upon mind, gentlemen, not upon mind, but upon morals, is human welfare founded. the true subjective history of man is the history not of his thought, but of his conscience; the true objective history of man is not that of his inventions, but of his vices and his virtues. so far from morals depending upon thought, thought, i believe, depends on morals. in proportion as a nation is righteous,--in proportion as common justice is done between man and man, will thought grow rapidly, securely, triumphantly; will its discoveries be cheerfully accepted, and faithfully obeyed, to the welfare of the whole commonweal. but where a nation is corrupt, that is, where the majority of individuals in it are bad, and justice is not done between man and man, there thought will wither, and science will be either crushed by frivolity and sensuality, or abused to the ends of tyranny, ambition, profligacy, till she herself perishes, amid the general ruin of all good things; as she had done in greece, in rome, in spain, in china, and many other lands. laws of economy, of polity, of health, of all which makes human life endurable, may be ignored and trampled under foot, and are too often, every day, for the sake of present greed, of present passion; self-interest may become, and will become, more and more blinded, just in proportion as it is not enlightened by virtue; till a nation may arrive, though, thank god, but seldom, at that state of frantic recklessness which salvian describes among his roman countrymen in gaul, when, while the franks were thundering at their gates, and starved and half-burnt corpses lay about the unguarded streets, the remnant, like that in doomed jerusalem of old, were drinking, dicing, ravishing, robbing the orphan and the widow, swindling the poor man out of his plot of ground, and sending meanwhile to the tottering caesar at rome, to ask, not for armies, but for circensian games. we cannot see how science could have bettered those poor gauls. and we can conceive, surely, a nation falling into the same madness, and crying 'let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die,' in the midst of railroads, spinning-jennies, electric telegraphs, and crystal palaces, with infinite blue-books and scientific treatises ready to prove to them, what they knew perfectly well already, that they were making a very unprofitable investment, both of money and of time. for science indeed is great: but she is not the greatest. she is an instrument, and not a power; beneficent or deadly, according as she is wielded by the hand of virtue or of vice. but her lawful mistress, the only one which can use her aright, the only one under whom she can truly grow, and prosper, and prove her divine descent, is virtue, the likeness of almighty god. this, indeed, the hebrew prophets, who knew no science in one sense of the word, do not expressly say: but it is a corollary from their doctrine, which we may discover for ourselves, if we will look at the nations round us now, if we will look at all the nations which have been. even voltaire himself acknowledged that; and when he pointed to the chinese as the most prosperous nation upon earth, ascribed their prosperity uniformly to their virtue. we now know that he was wrong in fact: for we have discovered that chinese civilization is one not of peace and plenty, but of anarchy and wretchedness. but that fact only goes to corroborate the belief, which (strange juxtaposition!) was common to voltaire and the old hebrew prophets at whom he scoffed, namely, that virtue is wealth, and vice is ruin. for we have found that these chinese, the ruling classes of them at least, are an especially unrighteous people; rotting upon the rotting remnants of the wisdom and virtue of their forefathers, which now live only on their lips in flowery maxims about justice and mercy and truth, as a cloak for practical hypocrisy and villany; and we have discovered also, as a patent fact, just what the hebrew prophets would have foretold us--that the miseries and horrors which are now destroying the chinese empire, are the direct and organic results of the moral profligacy of its inhabitants. i know no modern nation, moreover, which illustrates so forcibly as china the great historic law which the hebrew prophets proclaim; and that is this:--that as the prosperity of a nation is the correlative of their morals, so are their morals the correlative of their theology. as a people behaves, so it thrives; as it believes, so it behaves. such as his gods are, such will the man be; down to that lowest point which too many of the chinese seem to have reached, where, having no gods, he himself becomes no man; but (as i hear you see him at the australian diggings) abhorred for his foul crimes even by the scum of europe. i do not say that the theology always produces the morals, any more than that the morals always produce the theology. each is, i think, alternately cause and effect. men make the gods in their own likeness; then they copy the likeness they have set up. but whichever be cause, and whichever effect, the law, i believe, stands true, that on the two together depends the physical welfare of a people. history gives us many examples, in which superstition, many again in which profligacy, have been the patent cause of a nation's deoradation. it does not, as far as i am aware, give us a single case of a nation's thriving and developing when deeply infected with either of those two vices. these, the broad and simple laws of moral retribution, we may see in history; and (i hope) something more than them; something of a general method, something of an upward progress, though any thing but an irresistible or inevitable one. for i have not argued that there is no order, no progress--god forbid. were there no order to be found, what could the student with a man's reason in him do, but in due time go mad?--were there no progress, what could the student with a man's heart within him do, but in due time break his heart, over the sight of a chaos of folly and misery irredeemable?--i only argue that the order and the progress of human history cannot be similar to those which govern irrational beings, and cannot (without extreme danger) be described by metaphors (for they are nothing stronger) drawn from physical science. if there be an order, a progress, they must be moral; fit for the guidance of moral beings; limited by the obedience which those moral beings pay to what they know. and such an order, such a progress as that, i have good hope that we shall find in history. we shall find, as i believe, in all the ages, god educating man; protecting him till he can go alone, furnishing him with the primary necessaries, teaching him, guiding him, inspiring him, as we should do to our children; bearing with him, and forgiving him too, again and again, as we should do: but teaching him withal (as we shall do if we be wise) in great part by his own experience, making him test for himself, even by failure and pain, the truth of the laws which have been given him; discover for himself, as much as possible, fresh laws, or fresh applications of laws; and exercising his will and faculties, by trusting him to himself wherever he can be trusted without his final destruction. this is my conception of history, especially of modern history--of history since the revelation of our lord jesus christ. i express myself feebly enough, i know. and even could i express what i mean perfectly, it would still be but a partial analogy, not to be pushed into details. as i said just now, were the true law of human progress revealed to us to- morrow, we could not understand it. for suppose that the theory were true, which dr. temple of rugby has lately put into such noble words: suppose that, as he says, 'the power whereby the present ever gathers into itself the results of the past, transforms the human race into a colossal man, whose life reaches from the creation to the day of judgment. the successive generations of men, are days in this man's life. the discoveries and inventions which characterize the different epochs of the world, are this man's works. the creeds and doctrines, the opinions and principles of the successive ages, are his thoughts. the state of society at different times, are his manners. he grows in knowledge, in self-control, in visible size, just as we do.' suppose all this; and suppose too, that god is educating this his colossal child, as we educate our own children; it will hardly follow from thence that his education would be, as dr. temple says it is, precisely similar to ours. analogous it may be, but not precisely similar; and for this reason: that the collective man, in the theory, must be infinitely more complex in his organization than the individuals of which he is composed. while between the educator of the one and of the other, there is simply the difference between a man and god. how much more complex then must his education be! how all-inscrutable to human minds much in it!--often as inscrutable as would our training of our children seem to the bird brooding over her young ones in the nest. the parental relations in all three cases may be--the scriptures say that they are--expansions of the same great law; the key to all history may be contained in those great words--'how often would i have gathered thy children as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings.' yet even there the analogy stops short--'but thou wouldest not' expresses a new element, which has no place in the training of the nestling by the dam, though it has place in our training of our children; even that self-will, that power of disobedience, which is the dark side of man's prerogative as a rational and self-cultivating being. here that analogy fails, as we should have expected it to do; and in a hundred other points it fails, or rather transcends so utterly its original type, that mankind seems, at moments, the mere puppet of those laws of natural selection, and competition of species, of which we have heard so much of late; and, to give a single instance, the seeming waste, of human thought, of human agony, of human power, seems but another instance of that inscrutable prodigality of nature, by which, of a thousand acorns dropping to the ground, but one shall become the thing it can become, and grow into a builder oak, the rest be craunched up by the nearest swine. yet these dark passages of human life may be only necessary elements of the complex education of our race; and as much mercy under a fearful shape, as ours when we put the child we love under the surgeon's knife. at least we may believe so; believe that they have a moral end, though that end be unseen by us; and without any rash or narrow prying into final causes (a trick as fatal to historic research as bacon said it was to science), we may justify god by faith, where we cannot justify him by experience. surely this will be the philosophic method. if we seem to ourselves to have discovered a law, we do not throw it away the moment we find phaenomena which will not be explained by it. we use those phaenomena to correct and to expand our law. and this belief that history is 'god educating man,' is no mere hypothesis; it results from the observation of thousands of minds, throughout thousands of years. it has long seemed--i trust it will seem still--the best explanation of the strange deeds of that strange being, man: and where we find in history facts which seem to contradict it, we shall not cast away rashly or angrily either it or them: but if we be bacon's true disciples, we shall use them patiently and reverently to correct and expand our notions of the law itself, and rise thereby to more deep and just conceptions of education, of man, and--it may be--of god himself. in proportion as we look at history thus; searching for effective, rather than final causes, and content to see god working everywhere, without impertinently demanding of him a reason for his deeds, we shall study in a frame of mind equally removed from superstition on the one hand, and necessitarianism on the other. we shall not be afraid to confess natural agencies: but neither shall we be afraid to confess those supernatural causes which underlie all existence, save god's alone. we shall talk of more than of an over-ruling providence. that such exists, will seem to us a patent fact. but it will seem to us somewhat manichaean to believe that the world is ill made, mankind a failure, and that all god has to do with them, is to set them right here and there, when they go intolerably wrong. we shall believe not merely in an over- ruling providence, but (if i may dare to coin a word) in an under-ruling one, which has fixed for mankind eternal laws of life, health, growth, both physical and spiritual; in an around-ruling providence, likewise, by which circumstances, that which stands around a man, are perpetually arranged, it may be, are fore-ordained, so that each law shall have at least an opportunity of taking effect on the right person, in the right time and place; and in an in-ruling providence. too, from whose inspiration comes all true thought, all right feeling; from whom, we must believe, man alone of all living things known to us inherits that mysterious faculty of perceiving the law beneath the phaenomena, by virtue of which he is a _man_. but we can hold all this, surely, and equally hold all which natural science may teach us. hold what natural science teaches? we shall not dare not to hold it. it will be sacred in our eyes. all light which science, political, economic, physiological, or other, can throw upon the past, will be welcomed by us, as coming from the author of all light. to ignore it, even to receive it suspiciously and grudgingly, we shall feel to be a sin against him. we shall dread no 'inroads of materialism;' because we shall be standing upon that spiritual ground which underlies--ay, causes--the material. all discoveries of science, whether political or economic, whether laws of health or laws of climate, will be accepted trustfully and cheerfully. and when we meet with such startling speculations as those on the influence of climate, soil, scenery on national character, which have lately excited so much controversy, we shall welcome them at first sight, just because they give us hope of order where we had seen only disorder, law where we fancied chance: we shall verify them patiently; correct them if they need correction; and if proven, believe that they have worked, and still work, [greek text], as factors in the great method of him who has appointed to all nations their times, and the bounds of their habitation, if haply they might feel after him, and find him: though he be not far from any one of them; for in him we live, and move, and have our being, and are the offspring of god himself. i thus end what it seemed to me proper to say in this, my inaugural lecture; thanking you much for the patience with which you have heard me: and if i have in it too often spoken of myself, and my own opinions, i can only answer that it is a fault which has been forced on me by my position, and which will not occur again. it seemed to me that some sort of statement of my belief was necessary, if only from respect to a university from which i have been long separated, and to return to which is to me a high honour and a deep pleasure; and i cannot but be aware (it is best to be honest) that there exists a prejudice against me in the minds of better men than i am, on account of certain early writings of mine. that prejudice, i trust, with god's help, i shall be able to dissipate. at least whatever i shall fail in doing, this university will find that i shall do one thing; and that is, obey the apostolic precept, 'study to be quiet, and to do your own business.' footnotes: { } grimm, grammatik, ii. p. . { } see grimm, grammatik, ( nd edit.) vol. i. p. ; vol. ii. p. . { } lectures on the science of language, vol. ii. p. . { } forstemann mentions a latin inscription of the third century found near wiesbaden with the dative toutiorigi. { } german classics, by m. m. p. . { } anonym. valesian. ad calcem ann. marcellin. p. . gibbon, cap. xxxix; now known, through mommsen, as the annals of ravenna. { } grimm thinks that charle-maigne and charlemagne were originally corruptions of karlo-man, and were interpreted later as carolus magnus. grimm, grammatik, ii. ; iii. . { } weber, lehrbuch der weltgeschichte, section : 'bei verona von theoderich (daher dietrich von bern) besiegt, barg sich odoaker hinter die mauern von ravenna.' it is much more objectionable when simrock in his translation of the edda renders thjodrekr by dietrich, though he retains theodolf and similar names. but it shows at the same time the wide popularity of that name. { } grimm, heldensage, p. . { } gibbon, chap. xxxix. sub fin. { } otto von freising, in the first half of the twelfth century (chronicon , ), takes the opposite view, and thinks the fable derived from history: 'ob ea non multis post diebus, xxx imperii sui anno, subitanea morte rapitur ac juxta beati gregorii dialogum ( , ) a joanne et symmacho in aetnam praecipitatus, a quodam homine dei cernitur. hinc puto fabulam illam traductam, qua vulgo dicitur: _theodoricus vivus equo sedens ad inferos descendit_. { } grimm, deutsche heldensage, p. . chronicon urspergense, a: haec jordanis quidam grammaticus, ex eorundem stirpe gothorum progenitus, de getarum origine et amalorum nobilitate non omnia, quae de eis scribuntur et referuntur, ut ipse dicit, complexus exaravit, sed brevius pro rerum notitia huic opusculo inseruimus. his perlectis diligenterque perspectis perpendat, qui discernere noverit, quomodo illud ratum teneatur, quod non solum _vulgarifabulatione_ et _cantilenarum modulatione_ usitatur, verum etiam in _quibusdam chronicis_ annotatur; scilicet quod _hermenricus_ tempore martiani principis super omnes gothos regnaverit, et _theodoricum dietmari filium_, _patruelem_ suum, ut dicunt, _instimulante odoacre_, item, ut ajunt, _patruele suo de verona pulsum_, apud _attilam hunorum regem exulare coegerit_, cum historiographus narret, ermenricum regem gothorum multis regibus dominantem tempore valentiniani et valentis fratrum regnasse et a _duobus fratribus saro_ et _ammio_, quos conjicimus eos fuisse, qui _vulgariter sarelo et hamidiecus_ dicuntur, vulneratum in primordio egressionis hunorum per maeotidem paludem, quibus rex fuit valamber, tam vulneris quam hunorum irruptionis dolore defunctum fuisse, attilam vero postea ultra lxx annos sub martiano et valentiniano cum romanis et wisigothis aetioque duce romanorum pugnasse et sub eisdem principibus regno vitaque decessisse. . . . hinc rerum diligens inspector perpendat, quomodo _ermenricus theodoricum dietmari filium apud attilam exulare coegerit_, cum juxta hunc historiographum contemporalis ejus non fuit. igitur aut hic falsa conscripsit, aut _vulgaris opinio fallitur_ et _fallit_, aut alius ermenricus et alms theodoricus dandi sunt attilae contemporanei, in quibus hujus modi rerum convenientia rata possit haberi. hic enim ermenricus longe ante attilam legitur defunctus. { } chronicon, , : quod autem rursum narrant, eum hermanarico attilaeque contemporaneum fuisse, omnino stare non potest, dum attilam longe post hermanaricum constat exercuisse tyrannidem istumque post mortem attilae octennem a patre obsidem leoni augusto traditum. { } chronicon, , : quod autem quidam dicunt, ipsum theodoricum fuisse hermenrico veronensi et attilae contemporaneum, non est verum. constat enim attilam longe post hermenricum fuisse theodoricum etiam longe post mortem attilae, quum esset puer octennis, leoni imperatori in obsidem datum fuisse. { } the early romancers, and especially achilles tatius, give pictures of roman praedial slavery too painful to quote. roman domestic slavery is not to be described by the pen of an englishman. and i must express my sorrow, that in the face of such notorious facts, some have of late tried to prove american slavery to be as bad as, or even worse than, that of rome. god forbid! whatsoever may have been the sins of the southern gentleman, he is at least a teuton, and not a roman; a whole moral heaven above the effeminate wretch, who in the th and th centuries called himself a senator and a clarissimus. { } dr. sheppard, p. . { } had he actually taken the name of theodoric, theuderic, dietrich, which signifies much the same thing as 'king of nations'? { } with west-countrymen, to 'scrattle' still means to scramble, or shuffle about. { } english language, vol. i. p. . { } cf. montalembert. 'moines d'occident.' { } sismondi _hist. de la chute de l'empire romain_, p. . the reign of tiberius, out of the first six annals of tacitus with his account of germany, and life of agricola by tacitus translated by thomas gordon and edited by arthur galton "alme sol, curru nitido diem qui promis et celas, aliusque et idem nasceris, possis nihil urbe roma visere maius." contents introduction the annals, book i the annals, book ii the annals, book iii the annals, book iv the annals, book v the annals, book vi a treatise of the situation, customs, and people of germany the life of agricola; with an account of the situation, climate, and people of britain introduction "i am going to offer to the publick the translation of a work, which, for wisdom and force, is in higher fame and consideration, than almost any other that has yet appeared amongst men:" it is in this way, that thomas gordon begins the discourses, which he has inserted into his rendering of tacitus; and i can find none better to introduce this volume, which my readers owe to gordon's affectionate and laborious devotion. caius cornelius tacitus, the historian, was living under those emperors, who reigned from the year to the year , of the christian era; but the place and the date of his birth are alike uncertain, and the time of his death is not accurately known. he was a friend of the younger pliny, who was born in the year ; and, it is possible, they were about the same age. some of pliny's letters were written to tacitus: the most famous, describes that eruption of mount vesuvius, which caused the death of old pliny, and overwhelmed the cities of pompeii and of herculaneum. the public life of tacitus began under vespasian; and, therefore, he must have witnessed some part of the reign of nero: and we read in him, too, that he was alive after the accession of the emperor trajan. in the year , julius agricola, then consul, betrothed his daughter to tacitus; and they were married in the following year. in , tacitus was praetor; and at the secular games of domitian, he was one of the _quindecimviri_: these were sad and solemn officers, guardians of the sibylline verse; and intercessors for the roman people, during their grave centenaries of praise and worship. _quaeque aventinum tenet algidumque, quindecim diana preces virorum curet; et vobis pueorum amicas applicet aures._ from a passage in "the life of agricola," we may believe that tacitus attended in the senate; for he accuses himself as one of that frightened assembly, which was an unwilling participator in the cruelties of domitian. in the year , when the consul virginius rufus died, tacitus' was made _consul suffectus_; and he delivered the funeral oration of his predecessor: pliny says, that "it completed the good fortune of rufus, to have his panegyric spoken by so eloquent a man." from this, and from other sayings, we learn that tacitus was a famous advocate; and his "dialogue about illustrious orators" bears witness to his admirable taste, and to his practical knowledge of roman eloquence: of his own orations, however, not a single fragment has been left. we know not, whether tacitus had children; but the emperor tacitus, who reigned in , traced his genealogy to the historian. "if we can prefer personal merit to accidental greatness," gibbon here observes, "we shall esteem the birth of tacitus more truly noble than that of kings. he claimed his descent from the philosophic historian, whose writings will instruct the last generations of mankind. from the assiduous study of his immortal ancestor, he derived his knowledge of the roman constitution and of human nature." this emperor gave orders, that the writings of tacitus should be placed in all the public libraries; and that ten copies should be taken annually, at the public charge. notwithstanding the imperial anxiety, a valuable part of tacitus is lost: indeed we might argue, from the solicitude of the emperor, as well as from his own "distinction," that tacitus could not be generally popular; and, in the sixteenth century, a great portion of him was reduced to the single manuscript, which lay hidden within a german monastery. of his literary works, five remain; some fairly complete, the rest in fragments. complete, are "the life of julius agricola," "the dialogue on orators," and "the account of germany": these are, unfortunately, the minor works of tacitus. his larger works are "the history," and "the annals." "the history" extended from the second consulship of galba, in the year , to the murder of domitian, in the year ; and tacitus desired to write the happy times of nerva, and of trajan: we are ignorant, whether infirmity or death prevented his design. of "the history," only four books have been preserved; and they contain the events of a single year: a year, it is true, which, saw three civil wars, and four emperors destroyed; a year of crime, and accidents, and prodigies: there are few sentences more powerful, than tacitus' enumeration of these calamities, in the opening chapters. the fifth book is imperfect; it is of more than common interest to some people, because tacitus mentions the siege of jerusalem by titus; though what he says about the chosen people, here and elsewhere, cannot be satisfactory to them nor gratifying to their admirers. with this fragment, about revolts in the provinces of gaul and syria, "the history" ends. "the annals" begin with the death of augustus, in the year ; and they were continued until the death of nero, in . the reign of tiberius is nearly perfect, though the fall of sejanus is missing out of it. the whole of caligula, the beginning of claudius, and the end of nero, have been destroyed: to those, who know the style of tacitus and the lives and genius of caligula and nero, the loss is irreparable; and the admirers of juvenal must always regret, that from the hand of tacitus we have only the closing scene, and not the golden prime, of messalina. the works of tacitus are too great for a camelot volume; and, therefore, i have undertaken a selection of them. i give entire, "the account of germany" and "the life of agricola": these works are entertaining, and should have a particular interest for english readers. i have added to them, the greater portion of the first six books of "the annals"; and i have endeavoured so to guide my choice, that it shall present the history of tiberius. in this my volume, the chapters are not numbered: for the omission, i am not responsible; and i can only lament, what i may not control. but scholars, who know their tacitus, will perceive what i have left out; and to those others, who are not familiar with him, the omission can be no affront. i would say briefly, that i have omitted some chapters, which describe criminal events and legal tragedies in rome: but of these, i have retained every chapter, which preserves an action or a saying of tiberius; and what i have inserted is a sufficient specimen of the remainder. i have omitted many chapters, which are occupied with wearisome disputes between the royal houses of parthia and armenia: and i have spared my readers the history of tacfarinas, an obscure and tedious rebel among the moors; upon whose intricate proceedings tacitus appears to have relied, when he was at a loss for better material. to reject any part of tacitus, is a painful duty; because the whole of him is good and valuable: but i trust, that i have maintained the unity of my selection, by remembering that it is to be an history of tiberius. tiberius claudius nero caesar, the third master of the roman world, derived his origin, by either parent, from the claudian race; the proudest family, and one of the most noble and illustrious, in the ancient commonwealth: the pages of livy exhibit the generosity, the heroism, and the disasters, of the claudii; who were of unequal fortune indeed, but always magnificent, in the various events of peace and war. suetonius enumerates, among their ancestral honours, twenty-eight consulships, five dictators, seven censorial commissions, and seven triumphs: their _cognomen_ of nero, he says, means in the sabine tongue "vigorous and bold," _fortis et strenuus_; and the long history of the claudian house does not belie their gallant name. immediately after the birth of tiberius, or perhaps before it, his mother livia was divorced from claudius, and married by augustus: the empress is revealed mysteriously and almost as a divine being, in the progress of "the annals." the emperor adopted the offspring of claudius: among the romans, these legal adoptions were as valid as descent by blood; and tiberius was brought up to be the son of caesar. his natural parts were improved and strengthened, by the training of the forum and the camp. tiberius became a good orator; and he gained victory and reputation, in his wars against the savages of germany and dalmatia: but his peculiar talent was for literature; in this, "he was a great purist, and affected a wonderful precision about his words." he composed some greek poems, and a latin elegy upon lucius caesar: he also wrote an account of his own life, an _apologia_; a volume, which the emperor domitian was never tired of reading. but the favourite pursuit of tiberius was greek divinity; like some of the mediaeval doctors, he frequented the by-ways of religion, and amused his leisure with the more difficult problems in theology: "who was hecuba's mother?" "what poetry the sirens chaunted?" "what was achilles' name, when he lay hid among the women?" the writings of tiberius have all perished; and in these days, we have only too much cause to regret, that nothing of his "precision" has come down to us. the battles of tiberius are celebrated in the odes of horace: one of the epistles is addressed to him; and in another, written to julius florus, an officer with tiberius, horace enquires about the learned occupations of the imperial cohort. _quid studiosa cohors operum struit? hoc quoque curo._ it was from his commerce with the ancients, as i always think, that george buchanan derived his opinion, strange to modern ears, that "a great commander must of necessity have all the talents of an author." velleius paterculus, who served with tiberius in his campaigns, tells us of his firm discipline, and of his kindness to the soldiers. the caesars caius and lucius, grandsons of augustus, marcellus his nephew, and drusus the brother of tiberius, all died: they died young, rich in promise, the darlings of the roman people; "breves et infaustos populi romani amores;" and thus, in the procession of events, tiberius became the heir. "the annals" open with his accession, and tacitus has narrated the vicissitudes of his reign. velleius paterculus has written its happier aspects: he describes how the "pax augusta," the "roman peace," delivered every quarter of the world from violence. he celebrates the return of justice and prosperity, of order, of mild and equable taxation, of military discipline and magisterial authority. it is like the saturnian reign, which virgil sings in the eclogue "pollio." the first action of tiberius was to canonise his father, and augustus was translated to the banquet of the gods: _quos inter augustus recumbens, purpureo bibit ore nectar._ augustus was his great example; "he not only called him, but considered him, divine;" "non appelavit eum, sed facit deum." the latin of paterculus is here so elegant and happy, that, for the pleasure of the learned, i transcribe it: for others, i have already given something of the sense. "revocata in forum fides; submota e foro seditio, ambitio campo, discordia curia: sepultaeque ac situ obsitae, justitia, aequitas, industria, civitati, redditae; accessit magistratibus auctoritas, senatui majestas, judiciis gravitas; compressa theatralis seditio; recte faciendi, omnibus aut incussa voluntas aut imposita necessitas. honorantur recta, prava puniuntur. suspicit potentem humilis, non timet. antecedit, non contemnit, humiliorem potens. quando annona moderatior? quando pax laetior? diffusa in orientis occidentisque tractus, quidquid meridiano aut septentrione finitur, pax augusta, per omnes terrarum orbis angulos metu servat immunes. fortuita non civium tantummodo, sed urbium damna, principis munificentia vindicat. restitutae urbes asiae: vindictae ab injuriis magistratuum provinciae. honor dignis paratissimus: poena in malos sera, sed aliqua. superatur aequitate gratia, ambitio virtute: nam facere recte cives suos, princeps optimus faciendo docet; cumque sit imperio maximus, exemplo major est." tiberius reigned from the year , to the year . he died in the villa of lucullus, and he was buried in the mausoleum of the caesars. the manner of his death is variously related: tacitus gives one account; suetonius, another. according to the last writer, he died like george ii., alone, having just risen from his bed; and he was thus found by his attendants: "seneca cum scribit subito vocatis ministris, ac nemine respondente, consurrexisse; nec procul a lectulo, deficientibus viribus, concidisse." tiberius was tall, and beautiful. suetonius tells us of his great eyes, which could see in the dark; of his broad shoulders, his martial bearing, and the fine proportion of his limbs: he describes, too, the unusual strength of his hands and fingers, especially of the left hand. his health was good; because, from his thirtieth year, he was his own physician. "valetudine prosperrima usus est, tempore quidem principatus paene toto prope illesa; quamvis a trigesimo aetatis anno arbitratu eam suo rexerit, sine adjutamento consiliove medicorum." the emperor julian describes him "severe and grim; with a statesman's care, and a soldier's frankness, curiously mingled:" this was in his old age. _down the pale cheek, long lines of shadow slope; which years, and curious thought, and suffering give._ at rome, is a sculpture of tiberius; he is represented young, seated, crowned with rays, exceedingly handsome and majestic: if the figure were not known to be a caesar, the beholder would say it was a god. there is another personage in "the annals," whose history there is mutilated, and perhaps dissembled; of whose character my readers may like to know something more, than tacitus has told them: i mean sejanus, a man always to be remembered; because whatever judgment we may form about his political career, and on this question the authorities are divided, yet it is admitted by them all, that he introduced those reforms among the praetorian cohorts, which made them for a long time, proprietors of the throne, and the disposers of the imperial office. to this minister, paterculus attributes as many virtues as he has bestowed upon tiberius: "a man grave and courteous," he says, "with 'a fine old-fashioned grace'; leisurely in his ways, retiring, modest; appearing to be careless, and therefore gaining all his ends; outwardly polite and quiet, but an eager soul, wary, inscrutable, and vigilant." whatever he may have been in reality, he was at one time valued by tiberius. "the whole senate," bacon says, "dedicated an altar to friendship as to a goddess, in respect of the great dearness of friendship between them two:" and in the essay "of friendship," bacon has many deep sentences about the favourites of kings, their "participes curarum." i would summon out of "the annals," that episode of tiberius imprisoned within the falling cave, and shielded by sejanus from the descending roof. "coelo musa beat:" sejanus has propitiated no muse; and although something more, than the "invida taciturnitas" of the poet, lies heavy upon his reputation, he shall find no apologist in me. but over against the hard words of tacitus, it is only fair to place the commendations of paterculus, and even tacitus remarks, that after the fall of sejanus, tiberius became worse; like henry viii., after the fall of wolsey. livia and sejanus are said by tacitus, to have restrained the worst passions of the emperor. the two best authorities contradict one another; they differ, as much as our political organs differ, about the characters of living statesmen: and who are we, to decide absolutely, from a distance of two thousand years, at our mere caprice, and generally without sufficient evidence, that one ancient writer is correct; and another, dishonest or mistaken? this is only less absurd, than to prefer the groping style and thoughts of a modern pedant, usually a german as well, to the clear words of an old writer, who may be the sole remaining authority for the statements we presume to question; or for those very facts, upon which our reasonings depend. and how easy it is to misunderstand what we read in ancient histories, to be deceived by the plainest records, or to put a sinister interpretation upon events, which in their own time were passed over in silence or officially explained as harmless! let me take an illustration, of what i mean, from something recent. every one must remember the last hours of the emperor frederick: the avenues to his palace infested by armed men; the gloom and secrecy within; without, an impatient heir, and the posting to and fro of messengers. we must own, that the ceremonials of the prussian court departed in a certain measure from the ordinary mild usage of humanity; but we attributed this to nothing more, than the excitement of a youthful emperor, or the irrepressible agitation of german officials. but if these events should find a place in history, or if the annals of the kings of prussia should be judged worth reading by a distant age; who could blame an historian for saying, that these precautions were not required for the peaceful and innocent devolution of the crown from a father to his son. would not our historian be justified, if he referred to the tumults and intrigues of a praetorian election; if he compared these events to the darkest pages in suetonius, or reminded his readers of the most criminal narratives in the authors of the "augustan history"? from sejanus and the emperor william, i return once more to tiberius; from the present _kaiser_, to a genuine caesar. it is not my purpose here to abridge tacitus, to mangle his translator, nor to try and say what is better said in the body of the volume: but when my readers have made themselves acquainted with tiberius, they may be glad to find some discussion about him, as he is presented to us in "the annals"; and among all the personages of history, i doubt if there be a more various or more debated character. mr. matthew arnold thus describes him: _cruel, but composed and bland, dumb, inscrutable and grand; so tiberius might have sat, had tiberius been a cat._ and these verses express the popular belief, with great felicity: i must leave my readers, to make their own final judgment for themselves. whether tacitus will have helped them to a decision, i cannot guess: he seems to me, to deepen the mystery of tiberius. at a first reading, and upon the surface, he is hostile to the emperor; there is no doubt, that he himself remained hostile, and that he wished his readers to take away a very bad impression: but, as we become familiar with his pages, as we ponder his words and compare his utterances, we begin to suspect our previous judgment; another impression steals upon us, and a second, and a third, until there grows imperceptibly within us a vision of something different. out of these dim and floating visions, a clearer image is gradually formed, with lineaments and features; and, at length, a new tiberius is created within our minds: just as we may have seen a portrait emerge under the artist's hand, from the intricate and scattered lines upon an easel. then it dawns upon us, that, after all, tacitus was not really an intimate at capri; that he never received the secret confidences of tiberius, nor attended upon his diversions. and at last it is borne in upon us, as we read, that, if we put aside rumours and uncertain gossip, whatever tiberius does and says is unusually fine: but that tacitus is not satisfied with recording words and actions; that he supplies motives to them, and then passes judgment upon his own assumptions: that the evidence for the murder of germanicus, for instance, would hardly be accepted in a court of law; and that if piso were there found guilty, the emperor could not be touched. at any rate, we find it stated in "the annals," that "tiberius by the temptations of money was incorruptible;" and he refused the legacies of strangers, or of those who had natural heirs. "he wished to restore the people to severer manners," like many sovereigns; unlike the most of them, "in his own household, he observed the ancient parsimony." besides the "severa paupertas" of camillus and fabricius, he had something of their primitive integrity; and he declined, with scorn, to be an accomplice in the proposed assassination of arminius: "non fraude neque occultis, sed palam et armatum, populum romanum hostes suos ulcisci." he protected magistrates and poor suitors, against the nobles. he refused to add to the public burdens, by pensioning needy senators: but he was charitable to poor debtors; and lavish to the people, whether romans or provincials, in times of calamity and want. not least admirable was his quiet dignity, in periods of disturbance and of panic: he refused to hurry to the mutinous legions, or to a mean rebellion in gaul; and he condescended to reason excellently about his behaviour, when his people were sane enough to listen. he was both sensible and modest: he restrained the worship of augustus, "lest through being too common it should be turned into an idle ceremony;" he refused the worship of himself, except in one temple dedicated equally to the senate and to the emperor. tiberius could be pathetic, too: "i bewail my son, and ever shall bewail him," he says of germanicus; and again, "eloquence is not measured by fortune, and it is a sufficient honour, if he be ranked among the ancient orators." "princes are mortal;" he says again, "the commonwealth, eternal." then his wit, how fine it was; how quick his humour: when he answered the tardy condolences from troy, by lamenting the death of hector: when he advised an eager candidate, "not to embarrass his eloquence by impetuosity;" when he said of another, a low, conceited person, "he gives himself the airs of a dozen ancestors," "videtur mihi ex se natus:" when he muttered in the senate, "o homines ad servitutem paratos:" when he refused to become a persecutor; "it would be much better, if the gods were allowed to manage their own affairs," "deorum injurias dis curae." in all this; in his leisured ways, in his dislike of parade and ceremonial, in his mockery of flatterers and venal "patriots"; how like to charles ii., "the last king of england who was a man of parts." and no one will deny "parts" to tiberius; he was equal to the burden of imperial cares: the latest researches have discovered, that his provincial administration was most excellent; and even tacitus admits, that his choice of magistrates "could not have been better." he says, in another passage, "the emperor's domains throughout italy, were thin; the behaviour of his slaves modest; the freed-men, who managed his house, few; and, in his disputes with particulars, the courts were open and the law equal." this resembles the account of antoninus pius, by marcus aurelius; and it is for this modesty, this careful separation between private and public affairs, that tacitus has praised agricola. i am well contented, with the virtues of the antonines; but there are those, who go beyond. i have seen a book entitled "the history of that inimitable monarch tiberius, who in the xiv year of his reign requested the senate to permit the worship of jesus christ; and who suppressed all opposition to it." in this learned volume, it is proved out of the ancients, that tiberius was the most perfect of all sovereigns; and he is shown to be nothing less than the forerunner of saint peter, the first apostle and the nursing-father of the christian church. the author was a cambridge divine, and one of their professors of mathematics: "a science," goldsmith says, "to which the meanest intellects are equal." upon the other hand, we have to consider that view of tiberius, which is thus shown by milton; _this emperor hath no son, and now is old; old and lascivious: and from rome retired to capreae, an island small but strong, on the campanian shore; with purpose there, his horrid lusts in private to enjoy._ this theme is enlarged by suetonius, and evidently enjoyed: he represents tiberius, as addicted to every established form of vice; and as the inventor of new names, new modes, and a new convenience, for unheard-of immoralities. these propensities of the emperor are handled by tacitus with more discretion, though he does not conceal them. i wish neither to condemn nor to condone tiberius: i desire, if it be possible, to see him as he is; and whether he be good or bad, he is very interesting. i have drawn attention to what is good in "the annals," because tacitus leans with all his weight upon the bad; and either explains away what is favourable, or passes over it with too light a stroke. at the end, i must conclude, as i began, that the character of tiberius is a mystery. it is a commonplace, that no man is entirely good nor entirely evil; but the histories of tiberius are too contradictory, to be thus dismissed by a platitude. it is not easy to harmonise paterculus with suetonius: it is impossible to reconcile tacitus with himself; or to combine the strong, benevolent ruler with the minotaur of capri. the admirers of an almost perfect prose, must be familiar with a story, which is not the highest effort of that prose: they will remember a certain man with a double nature, like all of us; but, unlike us, able to separate his natures, and to personate at will his good or evil genius. tiberius was fond of magic, and of the curious arts: it may be, that he commanded the secrets of which mr. stevenson has dreamed! the readers of "the annals" have seen enough of blood, of crime, and of tiberius; and i would now engage their attention upon a more pleasing aspect of imperial affairs: i wish to speak about the empire itself; about its origin, its form, its history: and, if my powers were equal to the task, i would sketch a model emperor; marcus aurelius, or the elder antonine. gibbon has described the limits of the roman empire; which "comprised the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilised portion of mankind." its boundaries were "the rhine and danube, on the north; the euphrates, on the east; towards the south, the sandy deserts of arabia and africa;" and upon the west, the atlantic ocean. it was over this extensive monarchy, that caesar reigned; by the providence of caesar, was the whole defended and administered. _quis parthum paveat? quis gelidum scythen quis, germania quos horrida parturit fetus, incolumi caesare?_ the frontiers of the empire, and its richest provinces, had been obtained for the most part in the long wars of the republic. the conquest of gaul, and the establishment of the empire, was achieved by julius caesar; and to him, the civilised world is indebted for that majestic "roman peace," under which it lived and prospered for nearly nineteen centuries: the eastern empire was maintained in constantinople, until ; and the empire of the west continued, though in waning splendour, until the last caesar abdicated his throne at the order of napoleon. the nations of modern europe were developed out of the ruin of caesar's empire; and from that, the more civilised among them have obtained the politer share of their laws, their institutions, and their language: and to caesar, we are indebted for those inestimable treasures of antiquity, which the roman empire and the roman church have preserved from the barbarians, and have handed on for the delight and the instruction of modern times. there are those, who can perceive in caesar nothing but a demagogue, and a tyrant; and in the regeneration of the commonwealth, nothing but a vulgar crime: among these, i am sorry to inscribe the name of thomas gordon. the supporters of this view are generally misled, by the specious allurements of the term "republic." tiberius, it may be, was not a perfect ruler, and other sovereigns were even more ferocious; but the excesses of the most reckless emperor are hardly to be compared to the wholesale massacres and spoliations, which attended the last agonies of the expiring commonwealth. after the macedonian and asiatic wars, we find a turbulent and servile crowd, instead of the old families and tribes of roman citizens; instead of allies, oppressed and plundered provinces; instead of the heroes of the young republic, a set of worn-out, lewd, and greedy nobles. by these, the spoils of the world were appropriated, and its government abused: caesar gave the helpless peoples a legal sovereign, and preserved them from the lawless tyranny of a thousand masters. he narrates himself, that "he found the romans enslaved by a faction, and he restored their liberty:" "caesar interpellat; ut populum romanum, paucorum factione oppressum, in libertatem vindicat." the march of caesar into italy was a triumphal progress; and there can be no doubt, that the common people received him gladly. again he says, "nihil esse rempublicam; appellationem modo, sine corpore et specie;" "the republic is nothing but an empty name, a phantom and a shadow." that caesar should have seen this, is the highest evidence of his genius: that cicero did not see it, is to himself, and to his country, the great misfortune of his career; and to his admirers, one of the most melancholy events in roman history. the opinions of tacitus were not far removed from the opinions of cicero, but they were modified by what he saw of nerva and of trajan: he tells us, how agricola looked forward to the blessings of a virtuous prince; and his own thoughts and writings would have been other, than they are, had he witnessed the blameless monarchy of hadrian and the antonines. the victims of a bad emperor were taken usually from among the nobles; many of them were little better, than their destroyer; and his murders were confined, almost invariably, within the walls of rome: but the benefits of the imperial system were extended into all the provinces; and the judgment-seat of caesar was the protection of innumerable citizens. many were the mistakes, many the misfortunes, deplorable the mischiefs, of the imperial administration; i wish neither to deny, nor to conceal them: but here i must content myself with speaking broadly, with presenting a superficial view of things; and, upon the whole, the system of the emperors was less bad than the decayed and inadequate government, out of which it was developed. for the change from the republic to the empire was hardly a revolution; and the venerable names and forms of the old organisation were religiously preserved. still, the consuls were elected, the senate met and legislated, praetors and legates went forth into the provinces, the legions watched upon the frontiers, the lesser magistrates performed their office; but above them was caesar, directing all things, controlling all things; the _imperator_ and universal tribune, in whose name all was done; the "praesens divus," on whom the whole depended; at once the master of the imperial commonwealth, and the minister of the roman people. "the annals," and the history of tiberius, have detained us, for the most part, within the capital: "the agricola" brings us into a province of the empire; and "the account of germany" will take us among the savages beyond the frontier. i need scarcely mention, that our country was brought within the roman influence by julius caesar; but that caesar's enterprise was not continued by augustus, nor by tiberius; though caligula celebrated a fictitious triumph over the unconquered britons: that a war of about forty years was undertaken by claudius, maintained by nero, and terminated by domitian; who were respectively "the most stupid, the most dissolute, and the most timid of all the emperors." it was in the british wars, that vespasian began his great career, "monstratus fatis"; but the island was not really added to the empire, until agricola subdued it for domitian. "the life of agricola" is of general interest, because it preserves the memory of a good and noble roman: to us, it is of special interest, because it records the state of britain when it was a dependency of the caesars; "adjectis britannis imperio." our present fashions in history will not allow us to think, that we have much in common with those natives, whom tacitus describes: but fashions change, in history as in other things; and in a wiser time we may come to know, and be proud to acknowledge, that we have derived a part of our origin, and perhaps our fairest accomplishments, from the celtic britons. the narrative of tacitus requires no explanation; and i will only bring to the memory of my readers, cowper's good poem on boadicea. we have been dwelling upon the glories of the roman empire: it may be pardonable in us, and it is not unpleasing, to turn for a moment, i will not say to "the too vast orb" of our fate, but rather to that empire which is more extensive than the roman; and destined to be, i hope, more enduring, more united, and more prosperous. horace will hardly speak of the britons, as humane beings, and he was right; in his time, they were not a portion of the roman world, they had no part in the benefits of the roman government: he talks of them, as beyond the confines of civility, "in ultimos orbis britannos;" as cut off by "the estranging sea," and there jubilant in their native practices, "visum britannos hospitibus feros." but cowper says, no less truly, of a despised and rebel queen; _regions caesar never knew, thy posterity shall sway; where his eagles never flew, none invincible as they._ the last battles of agricola were fought in scotland; and, in the pages of tacitus, he achieved a splendid victory among the grampian hills. gibbon remarks, however, "the native caledonians preserved in the northern extremity of the island their wild independence, for which they were not less indebted to their poverty than to their valour. their incursions were frequently repelled and chastised; but their country was never subdued. the masters of the fairest and most wealthy climates of the globe turned with contempt from gloomy hills assailed by the winter tempest, from lakes concealed in a blue mist, and from cold and lonely heaths, over which the deer of the forest were chased by a troop of naked barbarians." the scotch themselves are never tired of asserting, and of celebrating, their "independence"; scotland imposed a limit to the victories of the roman people, scaliger says in his compliments to buchanan: _imperii fuerat romani scotia lines._ but it may be questioned, whether it were an unmixed blessing, to be excluded from the empire; and to offer a sullen resistance to its inestimable gifts of humane life, of manners, and of civility. to these things, the germans also have manifested a strong dislike; and they are more censurable than the scotch, because all their knowledge of the romans was not derived from the intercourse of war. "the germany" of tacitus is a document, that has been much discussed; and these discussions may be numbered among the most flagrant examples of literary intemperance: but this will not surprise us, when we allow for the structure of mind, the language, and the usual productions of those, to whom the treatise is naturally of the greatest importance. in the description of the germans, tacitus goes out of his way to laugh at the "licentia vetustatis," "the debauches of pedants and antiquarians;" as though he suspected the fortunes of his volume, and the future distinctions of the teutonic genius. for sane readers, it will be enough to remark, that the germany of tacitus was limited, upon the west, by the natural and proper boundary of the rhine; that it embraced a portion of the low countries; and that, although he says it was confined within the danube, yet the separation is not clear between the true germans and those obscurer tribes, whose descendants furnish a long enumeration of titles to the present melancholy sovereign of the house of austria. gibbon remarks, with his usual sense, "in their primitive state of simplicity and independence, the germans were surveyed by the discerning eye, and delineated by the masterly pencil of tacitus, the first historian who supplied the science of philosophy to the study of facts. the expressive conciseness of his descriptions has deserved to exercise the diligence of innumerable antiquarians, and to excite the genius and penetration of the philosophic historians of our own time." upon a few sentences out of the "germania"; which relate to the kings, to the holding of land, to the public assemblies, and to the army; an imposing structure of english constitutional history has been erected: our modern historians look upon this treatise with singular approval; because it shows them, they say, the habits of their own forefathers in their native settlements. they profess to be enchanted with all they read; and, in their works, they betray their descent from the ancestors they admire. gibbon says, prettily, "whenever tacitus indulges himself in those beautiful episodes, in which he relates some domestic transaction of the germans or of the parthians, his principal object is to relieve the attention of the reader from an uniform scene of vice and misery." whether he succeeds, i must leave my readers to decide. tacitus describes the quarrels of the germans; fought, then with weapons; now, with words: their gambling, their sloth, their drunkenness. "strong beer, a liquor extracted with very little art from wheat or barley, and _corrupted_ (as it is strongly expressed by tacitus) into a certain semblance of wine, was sufficient for the gross purposes of german debauchery." tacitus informs us, too, "that they sleep far into the day; that on rising they take a bath, usually of warm water; then they eat." to pass an entire day and night in drinking, disgraces no one: "dediti somno ciboque," he says; a people handed over to sloth and gluttony. some of these customs are now almost obsolete; the baths, for instance. in others, there has been little alteration since the age of tacitus; and the germans have adhered, with obstinate fidelity, to their primitive habits. tacitus thought less of their capacity, upon the whole, than it is usual to think now: "the chatti," he says, "for germans, have much intelligence;" "leur intelligence et leur finesse étonnent, dans des germains." but let us forget these "tedeschi lurchi, non ragionam di lor;" and pass on to those manly virtues, which tacitus records: to abandon your shield, is the basest of crimes, "relicta non bene parmula;" nor may a man thus disgraced be present at their sacred rites, nor enter their council; many, indeed, after escaping from battle, have ended their infamy with the halter. and to more shameful crimes, they awarded a sterner punishment: _behind flock'd wrangling up a piteous crew greeted of none, disfeatured and forlorn: cowards, who were in sloughs interr'd alive; and round them still the wattled hurdles hung wherewith they stamp'd them down, and trod them deep, to hide their shameful memory from men._ having now surveyed the compositions in this volume, it is proper that we should at length devote some of our notice to gordon himself, and to his manner of presenting tacitus. thomas gordon was born in scotland; the date has not yet been ascertained. he is thought to have been educated at a northern university, and to have become an advocate. later, he went to london; and taught languages. two pamphlets on the bangorian controversy brought him into notice; and he wrote many religious and political dissertations. "a defence of primitive christianity, against the exhorbitant claims of fanatical and dissaffected clergymen;" "tracts on religion, and on the jacobite rebellion of ' ;" "the pillars of priestcraft and orthodoxy shaken;" "a cordial for low spirits;" are the titles of some of his compositions. in politics, and in theology, he was a republican and free-thinker: he translated and edited "the spirit of ecclesiastics in all ages;" he was a contributor to "the independent whig;" and in a series of "cato's letters," he discoursed at ease upon his usual topics. the tacitus was published in , in two volumes folio: long dissertations are inserted in either volume; the literature in them excellent, the politics not so good: the volumes, as well as the several parts of them, are dedicated to some royal and many noble patrons. gordon has also turned sallust into english: the book was published in , in one handsome quarto; "with political discourses upon that author and translations of cicero's four orations against cataline." walpole made gordon the first commissioner of wine licences. it is handed down, that gordon was a burly person, "large and corpulent." it is believed, that he found his way into "the dunciad," and that he is immortalised there among the "canaille Ã�crivante;" the line _where tindal dictates and silenus snores_, is taken to be pope's description of him. gordon died in ; at the same time as dr. middleton, the elegant biographer of cicero: lord bolingbroke is said to have observed, when the news was told him, "then is the best writer in england gone, and the worst." that bolingbroke should have disliked gordon and his politics, does not surprise me; but i cannot understand for what reason he, and other good judges, despised his writings. "the chief glory of every people arises from its authors," dr. johnson says; and happy the people, i would assert, who have no worse writers than thomas gordon. i wish to draw attention to gordon's correct vocabulary, to his bold and pregnant language, and to his scholarly punctuation. among our present writers, the art of punctuation is a lost accomplishment; and it is usual now to find writings with hardly anything but full stops; colons and semicolons are almost obsolete; commas are neglected, or misused; and our slovenly pages are strewn with dashes, the last resources of an untidy thinker, the certain witnesses to a careless and unfinished sentence. how different, and how superior, is the way of gordon; who, though he can be homely and familiar, never lays aside the well-bred and courteous manners of a polished age. in his writings, the leading clauses of a sentence are distinguished by their colons: the minor clauses, by their semicolons; the nice meaning of the details is expressed, the pleasure and the convenience of his readers are alike increased, by his right and elegant use of commas. the comma, with us, is used as a loop or bracket, and for little else: by the more accurate scholars of the last age, it was employed to indicate a finer meaning; to mark an emphasis, or an elision; to introduce a relative clause; to bring out the value of an happy phrase, or the nice precision of an epithet. and thus the authors of the great century of prose, that orderly and spacious time, assembled their words, arranged their sentences, and marshalled them into careful periods: without any loss to the subtile meaning of their thought, or any sacrifice of vigour, they exposed their subject in a dignified procession of stately paragraphs; and when the end is reached we look back upon a perfect specimen of the writer's art. we have grown careless about form, we have little sense for balance and proportion, and we have sacrificed the good manners of literature to an ill-bred liking for haste and noise: it has been decided, that the old way of writing is cumbersome and slow; as well might some guerilla chieftain have announced to his fellow-barbarians, that caesar's legions were not swift and beautiful in their manoeuvres, nor irresistible in their advance. i have spoken of our long sentences, with nothing but full stops: they are variegated, here and there, with shorter sentences, sometimes of two words; this way of writing is common in macaulay or in the histories of mr. green, and i have seen it recommended in primers of literature and manuals of composition. with the jolting and unconnected fragments of these authorities, i would contrast the musical and flowing periods of dr. johnson's "lives of the poets": to study these works in solitude, will probably be sufficient to justify my preference; but to hear them read aloud, should convert the most unwilling listener into an advocate of my opinion. dr. birkbeck hill, in the delightful preface to his boswell, explains how he was turned by a happy chance to the study of the literature of the eighteenth century; and how he read on and on in the enchanting pages of "the spectator." "from addison in the course of time i passed on," he continues, "to the other great writers of his and the succeeding age, finding in their exquisitely clear style, their admirable common-sense, and their freedom from all the tricks of affectation, a delightful contrast to so many of the eminent authors of our own time." these words might be used of gordon: i do not claim for him the style of addison, nor the accomplished negligence of goldsmith; these are graces beyond the reach of art; but he exhibits the common-sense, and the clear style, of the eighteenth century. like all the good writers of his time, he is unaffected and "simplex munditiis"; he has the better qualities of pyrrha, and is "plain in his neatness." in mr. ward's edition of the english poets, there may be read side by side a notice of collins and of gray; the one by mr. swinburne, the other by mr. matthew arnold: i make no allusion here to the greatness of either poet, to the merits of either style, nor to the value of either criticism. but the essay upon gray is quiet in tone; it has an unity of treatment, and never deserts the principal subject; it is suffused with light, and full of the most delicate allusions: the essay on collins, by being written in superlatives and vague similes, deafens and perplexes the reader; and the author, by squandering his resources, has no power to make fine distinctions, nor to exalt one part of his thesis above another. these two performances illustrate the last quality in gordon, and in the old writers, to which i shall draw attention: they were always restrained in their utterances, and therefore they could be discriminating in their judgments; they could be emphatic without noise, and deep without obscurity, ornamental but not vulgar, carefully arranged but not stiff or artificial. they exhibit the three indispensable gifts of the finest authorship: "simplicitas munditiis," "lucidus ordo," "curiosa felicitas." in this volume, gordon's punctuation has been generally followed: his orthography has been modernised a little, though not by my hands, nor with my consent; and i have observed without regret, that some of gordon's original spellings have eluded the vigilance of the printer: that stern official would by no means listen to my entreaties for the long "ss," the turn-over words, or the bounteous capitals, which add so much to the seductive and sober dignity of an eighteenth-century page; but, on the whole, we have given a tolerable reproduction of gordon's folio. in the second edition, he himself made more changes than improvements. i will not say, that gordon has always conveyed the exact meaning of the sentences of tacitus: but he has done what is better, and more difficult; he has grasped the broad meaning of his author, and caught something of his lofty spirit. "a translation," he says, "ought to read like an original;" and gordon has not failed, i think, to reach this perfection. it is not commonly attained among translators: gordon says, of one rendering of tacitus, "'tis not the fire of tacitus, but his embers; quenched with english words, cold and gothick." of the author of another version, he says "learning is his chief accomplishment, and thence his translation is a very poor one." this judgment is true of most modern translations from the ancients; they may be correct versions, but are miserable english: the authors, while studying the most perfect models of the art of writing, have produced copies which are not literature at all. from this low company, i would rescue sir charles bowen's "virgil": a delightful poem, to those who are ignorant of latin; an exquisite production, and an amazing triumph, to those who converse with the original. there are many english translations of tacitus: the first, by sir henry savile and "one greenway"; the former, says gordon, "has performed like a schoolmaster, the latter like a school-boy." anthony à wood writes in another strain, in the "athenae oxonienis": "a rare translation it is, and the work of a very great master indeed, both in our tongue and that story. for if we consider the difficulty of the original, and the age wherein the translation lived, it is both for the exactness of the version, and the chastity of the language, one of the most accurate and perfect translations that ever were made into english." there is a rendering by murphy, diffuse and poor; a dilution of gordon, worthy neither of tacitus nor of the english tongue. there are translations, too, into almost every modern language: i would give the highest praise to davanzati; a scholar of tuscany, who lived in the sixteenth century. in french, i cannot but admire the labours of m. burnouf: although the austere rules, the precise constructions, and the easy comportment of the french prose are not suited to the style of tacitus, and something of his weight and brevity are lost; yet the translator never loses the depth and subtilty of his author's meaning; his work is agreeable to read, and very useful to consult. the maps and the genealogical tables in the three volumes of messrs. church and brodribb's translation are also of the greatest service, and the notes are sometimes most amusing. of tacitus himself, there is little for me to say: those, who know him, can judge for themselves; to those who do not, no words are able to convey an adequate impression. "who is able to infuse into me," cardinal newman asks, "or how shall i imbibe, a sense of the peculiarities of the style of cicero or virgil, if i have not read their writings? no description, however complete, could convey to my mind an exact likeness of a tune, or an harmony, which i have never heard; and still less of a scent, which i have never smelled: and if i said that mozart's melodies were as a summer sky, or as the breath of zephyr, i shall be better understood by those who knew mozart, than by those who did not." these truths are little remembered by modern critics: though, indeed, it is not possible to convey to a reader adequate notions about the style of an author, whom that reader has not pondered for himself; about his thoughts or his subjects, it may be different. still, i may write something about the manner of tacitus, which will not violate cardinal newman's laws, nor be an outrage to taste and common-sense. "it is the great excellence of a writer," says dr. johnson, "to put into his book as much as it will hold:" and if this judgment be sound, then is tacitus the greatest of all writers in prose. gordon says of him, "he explains events with a redundancy of images, and a frugality of words: his images are many, but close and thick; his words are few, but pointed and glowing; and even his silence is instructive and affecting. whatever he says, you see; and all, that you see, affects you. let his words be ever so few, his thought and matter are always abundant. his imagination is boundless, yet never outruns his judgment; his wisdom is solid and vast, yet always enlivened by his imagination. he starts the idea, and lets the imagination pursue it; the sample he gives you is so fine, that you are presently curious to see the whole piece, and then you have your share in the merit of the discovery; a compliment, which some able writers have forgot to pay to their readers." i would remark here, that many of the old writers give me the sense of handling things, they are definite and solid; while some of the moderns appear to play with words only, and never to come up with the objects of their pursuit: "we are too often ravished with a sonorous sentence," as dr. johnson says, "of which, when the noise is past, the meaning does not long remain." but of tacitus, gordon says, "his words and phrases are admirably adapted to his matter and conceptions, and make impressions sudden and wonderful upon the mind of man. stile is a part of genius, and tacitus had one peculiar to himself; a sort of language of his own, one fit to express the amazing vigour of his spirit, and that redundancy of reflections which for force and frequency are to be equalled by no writer before nor since." dr. johnson, however, says in another place, "tacitus, sir, seems to me rather to have made notes for an historical work, than to have written a history:" i must own, that upon the subject of tacitus, i prefer the sentiments of gordon; and montaigne would agree with me, for he says, "i do not know any author, who, in a work of history, has taken so broad a view of human events, or given a more just analysis of particular characters." the impressions of tacitus are indeed wonderful: i doubt, whether volumes could bring us nearer to the mutinous legions, than the few chapters in which he records their history. i am always delighted by gordon's way of telling the battle, in which the iron men of sacrovir were overthrown; the account begins on page . then how satisfying is the narrative of the wars in germany, of the shipwreck, of the funeral of varus and the slaughtered legions; how pleasing the description of germanicus' antiquarian travels in egypt, and in greece. though tacitus is not a maker of "descriptions," in our modern sense: there is but one "description" in "the annals," so far as i remember, it is of capri; and it is not the sort, that would be quoted by a reviewer, as a "beautiful cameo of description." with tacitus, a field of battle is not an occasion for "word-painting," as we call it; the battle is always first, the scenery of less importance. he tells, what it is necessary to know; but he is too wise to think, that we can realise from words, a place which we have never seen; and too sound in his taste, to forget the wholesome boundaries between poetry and prose. this is the way of all the ancient writers. in a work on "landscape," i remember that mr. hamerton mourns over the commentaries of caesar; because they do not resemble the letters of a modern war-correspondent; ascham, on the other hand, a man of real taste and learning, says of the commentaries, "all things be most perfectly done by him; in caesar only, could never yet fault be found." i agree with ascham: i think i prefer the commentaries as they are, chaste and quiet; i really prefer them to mr. kinglake's "crimean war," or to mr. forbes' despatches, or even to the most effusive pages of mr. stanley's book on africa. in "the life of agricola," i would mention the simplicity of the treatment and the excellence of the taste. tacitus does not recite the whole of roman history, nor assemble all the worthies out of plutarch. agricola is not compared to the pyramids, to the flavian circus, nor to any works of art and literature: these flights of imagination were not known to the ancients; but in a learned modern, i have seen dante compared to wagner's operas, to the parthenon and st. peter's, and to justinian's code. the sanctities of private life are not violated; yet we know everything, that it is decent to know, about agricola. lord coleridge has given a beautiful rendering of the closing passages of "the agricola," in his account of mr. matthew arnold: these elegant papers are not only models of good english; but are conspicuous, among recent obituary notices, for their fine taste and their becoming reticence. from the excesses of modern biographers, tacitus was in little danger; thanks to his roman sense, and to the qualities of the roman language. "economy," says mr. symonds, "is exhibited in every element of this athletic tongue. like a naked gladiator all bone and muscle, it relies upon bare sinewy strength." that author speaks of "the austere and masculine virtues of latin, the sincerity and brevity of roman speech;" and tacitus is, beyond any doubt, the strongest, the austerest, the most pregnant of all the romans. "sanity," says mr. matthew arnold, in conclusion, "that is the great virtue of the ancient literature; the want of that is the great defect of the modern, in spite of all its variety and power." "it is impossible to read the great ancients, without losing something of our caprice and eccentricity. i know not how it is, but their commerce with the ancients appears to me to produce, in those who constantly practise it, a steadying and composing effect upon the judgment, not of literary works only, but of men and events in general. they are like persons who have had a very weighty and impressive experience; they are more truly than others under the empire of facts, and more independent of the language current among those with whom they live." it has been told of cardinal newman, that he never liked to pass a single day, without rendering an english sentence into latin. to converse with the roman authors, to handle their precise and sparing language, is, i can well believe it, a most wholesome discipline; and the most efficient remedy against those faults of diffuseness, of obscurity, and of excess, which are only too common among the writers of our day. it may have been to this practice, that cardinal newman owed something of his clearness, and of his exquisite simplicity: and for his style, he should be idolised by every one who has a taste for literature. i have said many things in praise of the ancient authors: it pleases me, as i finish, to offer my humble tribute to an author who is quite our own; to one, who in all his writings has bequeathed us perfect models of chaste, of lucid, and of melodious prose. new college, oxford: _september_ , . the first six books of the annals of tacitus: being an history of the emperor tiberius the annals of tacitus book i a.d. and . kings were the original magistrates of rome: lucius brutus founded liberty and the consulship: dictators were chosen occasionally, and used only in pressing exigencies. little more than two years prevailed the supreme power of the decemvirate, and the consular jurisdiction of the military tribunes not very many. the domination of cinna was but short, that of sylla not long. the authority of pompey and crassus was quickly swallowed up in caesar; that of lepidus and anthony in augustus. the commonwealth, then long distressed and exhausted by the rage of her civil dissensions, fell easily into his hands, and over her he assumed a sovereign dominion; yet softened with a venerable name, that of prince or chief of the senate. but the several revolutions in the ancient free state of rome, and all her happy or disastrous events, are already recorded by writers of signal renown. nor even in the reign of augustus were there wanting authors of distinction and genius to have composed his story; till by the prevailing spirit of fear, flattery, and abasement they were checked. as to the succeeding princes, tiberius, caligula, claudius, and nero; the dread of their tyranny, whilst they yet reigned, falsified their history; and after their fall, the fresh detestation of their cruelties inflamed their historians. hence my own design of recounting briefly certain incidents in the reign of augustus, chiefly towards his latter end, and of entering afterwards more fully into that of tiberius and the other three; unbiassed as i am in this undertaking by any resentment, or any affection; all the influences of these personal passions being far from me. when, after the fall of brutus and cassius, there remained none to fight for the commonwealth, and her arms were no longer in her own hands; when sextus pompeius was utterly defeated in sicily, lepidus bereft of his command. marc anthony slain; and of all the chiefs of the late dictator's party, only octavius his nephew was left; he put off the invidious name of triumvir, and styling himself consul, pretended that the jurisdiction attached to the tribuneship was his highest aim, as in it the protection of the populace was his only view: but when once he had laid his foundations wider, secured the soldiery by liberality and donations, gained the people by store of provisions, and charmed all by the blessings and sweetness of public peace, he began by politic gradations to exalt himself, to extend his domination, and with his own power to consolidate the authority of the senate, jurisdiction of the magistrate, and weight and force of the laws; usurpations in which he was thwarted by no man: all the bravest republicans and his most daring foes were slain in battle, or gleaned up by the late sanguinary proscriptions; and for the surviving nobility, they were covered with wealth, and distinguished with public honours, according to the measure of their debasement, and promptness to bondage. add, that all the creatures of this new power, who in the loss of public freedom had gained private fortunes, preferred a servile condition, safe and possessed, to the revival of ancient liberty with personal peril. neither were the provinces averse to the present revolution, and sovereignty of one; since under that of the people and senate they had lived in constant fear and mistrust, sorely rent and harassed as they were by the raging competition amongst our grandees, as well as by the grievous rapine and exactions of our magistrates; in vain too, under these their oppressions, had been their appeal to the protection of the laws, which were utterly enfeebled and borne down by might and violence, by faction and parties; nay, even by subornation and money. moreover, augustus, in order to fortify his domination with collateral bulwarks, raised his sister's son claudius marcellus, a perfect youth, to the dignity of pontiff and that of aedile; preferred marcus agrippa to two successive consulships, a man in truth meanly born but an accomplished soldier, and the companion of his victories; and marcellus, the husband of julia, soon after dying, chose him for his son-in-law. even the sons of his wife, tiberius nero, and claudius drusus, he dignified with high military titles and commands; though his house was yet supported by descendants of his own blood. for into the julian family and name of the caesars he had already adopted lucius and caius, the sons of agrippa; and though they were but children, neither of them seventeen years old, vehement had been his ambition to see them declared princes of the roman youth and even designed to the consulship; while openly, he was protesting against admitting these early honours. presently, upon the decease of agrippa, were these his children snatched away, either by their own natural but hasty fate, or by the deadly fraud of their step-mother livia; lucius on his journey to command the armies in spain; caius in his return from armenia, ill of a wound: and as drusus, one of her own sons, had been long since dead, tiberius remained sole candidate for the succession. upon this object, centred all princely honours; he was by augustus adopted for his son, assumed colleague in the empire, partner in the jurisdiction tribunitial, and presented under all these dignities to the several armies: instances of grandeur which were no longer derived from the secret schemes and plottings of his mother, as in times past, while her husband had unexceptionable heirs of his own, but thenceforth bestowed at her open suit. for as augustus was now very aged, she had over him obtained such absolute sway, that for her pleasure he banished into the isle of planasia his only surviving grandson, agrippa postumus; one, in truth, destitute of laudable accomplishments, in his temper untractable, and stupidly conceited of his mighty strength, but branded with no misdemeanour or transgression. the emperor had withal set germanicus, the son of drusus, over eight legions quartered upon the rhine, and obliged tiberius to adopt him, though tiberius had then a son of his own, one of competent years; but it was the study of augustus, to secure himself and the succession by variety of stays and engraftments. war at that time there was none, except that in germany, kept on foot rather to abolish the disgrace sustained by quinctilius varus, there slain with his army, than from any ambition to enlarge the empire, or for any other valuable advantage. in profound tranquillity were affairs at rome. to the magistrates remained their wonted names; of the romans the younger sort had been born since the battle of actium, and even most of the old during the civil wars: how few were then living who had seen the ancient free state! the frame and economy of rome being thus totally overturned, amongst the romans were no longer found any traces of their primitive spirit, or attachment to the virtuous institutions of antiquity. but as the equality of the whole was extinguished by the sovereignty of one, all men regarded the orders of the prince as the only rule of conduct and obedience; nor felt they any anxiety, while augustus yet retained vigour of life, and upheld the credit of his administration with public peace, and the imperial fortune of his house. but when he became broken with the pressure of age and infirmities; when his end was at hand, and thence a new source of hopes and views was presented, some few there were who began to reason idly about the blessings and recovery of liberty; many dreaded a civil war, others longed for one; while far the greater part were uttering their several apprehensions of their future masters; "that naturally stern and savage was the temper of agrippa, and by his public contumely enraged into fury; and neither in age nor experience was he equal to the weight of empire. tiberius indeed had arrived at fulness of years, and was a distinguished captain, but possessed the inveterate pride entailed upon the claudian race; and many indications of a cruel nature escaped him, in spite of all his arts to disguise it; besides that from his early infancy he was trained up in a reigning house, and even in his youth inured to an accumulation of power and honours, consulships and triumphs: nor during the several years of his abode at rhodes, where, under the plausible name of retirement, a real banishment was covered, did he exercise other occupation than that of meditating future vengeance, studying the arts of treachery, and practising secret, abominable sensualities: add to these considerations, that of his mother, a woman inspired with all the tyranny of her sex; yes, the romans must be under bondage to a woman, and moreover enthralled by two youths, who would first combine to oppress the state, and then falling into dissension, rend it piecemeal." while the public was engaged in these and the like debates, the illness of augustus waxed daily more grievous; and some strongly suspected the pestilent practices of his wife. for there had been, some months before, a rumour abroad, that augustus having singled out a few of his most faithful servants, and taken fabius maximus for his only companion, had, with no other retinue, sailed secretly over to the island of planasia, there to visit his grandson agrippa; that many tears were shed on both sides, many tokens of mutual tenderness shown, and hopes from thence conceived, that the unhappy youth would be restored to his own place in his grandfather's family. that maximus had disclosed it to martia, she to livia; and thence the emperor knew that the secret was betrayed: that maximus being soon after dead (dead, as it was doubted, through fear, by his own hands), martia was observed, in her lamentations and groans at his funeral, to accuse herself as the sad cause of her husband's destruction. whatever truth was in all this, tiberius was scarce entered illyrium, but he was hastily recalled by his mother's letters: nor is it fully known whether at his return to nola, he found augustus yet breathing, or already breathless. for livia had carefully beset the palace, and all the avenues to it, with detachments of the guards; and good news of his recovery were from time to time given out. when she had taken all measures necessary in so great a conjuncture, in one and the same moment was published the departure of augustus, and the accession of tiberius. the first feat of this new reign was the murder of young agrippa: the assassin, a bold and determined centurion, found him destitute of arms, and little apprehending such a destiny, yet was scarce able to despatch him. of this transaction tiberius avoided any mention in the senate: he would have it pass for done by the commands of augustus; as if he had transmitted written orders to the tribune, who guarded agrippa, "to slay him the instant he heard of his grandfather's decease." it is very true that augustus had made many and vehement complaints of the young man's obstinate and unruly demeanour, and even solicited from the senate a decree to authorise his banishment: but he never hardened himself against the sentiments of nature, nor in any instance dipped his hands in his own blood; neither is it credible that he would barbarously sacrifice the life of his grandson for the security and establishment of his step-son. more probable it is, that this hasty murder was purely the work of tiberius and livia; that the young prince, hated and dreaded by both, fell thus untimely, to rid the one of his apprehensions and a rival, and to satiate in the other the rancorous spirit of a step-mother. when the centurion, according to the custom of the army, acquainted tiberius, "that his commands were executed;" he answered, "he had commanded no such execution, and the centurion must appear before the senate, and for it be answerable to them." this alarmed sallustius crispus, who shared in all his secret counsels, and had sent the centurion the warrant: he dreaded that he should be arraigned for the assassination, and knew it equally perilous either to confess the truth, and charge the emperor; or falsely to clear the emperor, and accuse himself. hence he had recourse to livia, and warned her, "never to divulge the secrets of the palace, never to expose to public examination the ministers who advised, nor the soldiers who executed: tiberius should beware of relaxing the authority of the prince, by referring all things to that of the senate; since it was the indispensable prerogative of sovereignty for all men to be accountable only to one." now at rome, consuls, senators, and roman knights, were all rushing with emulation into bondage, and the higher the quality of each the more false and forward the men; all careful so to frame their faces, as to reconcile false joy for the accession of tiberius, with feigned sadness for the loss of augustus: hence they intermingled fears with gladness, wailings with gratulations, and all with servile flattery. sextus pompeius and sextus apuleius, at that time consuls, took first the oath of fidelity to tiberius; then administered it to seius strabo and caius turranius; the former captain of the praetorian guards, the other intendant of the public stores. the oath was next given to the senate, to the people, and to the soldiery: all by the same consuls; for tiberius affected to derive all public transactions from the legal ministry of the consuls, as if the ancient republic still subsisted, and he were yet unresolved about embracing the sovereign rule: he even owned in his edict for summoning the senate, that he issued it by virtue of the tribunitial power, granted him under augustus. the edict, too, was short and unexceptionably modest. it imported that, "they were to consider of the funeral honours proper to be paid his deceased father: for himself he would not depart from the corpse; and further than this edict implied, he claimed no share in the public administration." yet from the moment augustus was dead, he usurped all the prerogatives of imperial state, gave the word to the praetorian cohorts; had soldiers about the palace, guards about his person, went guarded in the street, guarded to the senate, and bore all the marks of majesty: nay, he writ letters to the several armies in the undisguised style of one already their prince: nor did he ever hesitate in expression, or speak with perplexity, but when he spoke to the senate. the chief cause of his obscurity there proceeded from his fear of germanicus: he dreaded that he, who was master of so many legions, of numberless auxiliaries, and of all the allies of rome; he, who was the darling of the people, might wish rather to possess the empire, than to wait for it; he likewise, in this mysterious way of dealing with the senate, sought false glory, and would rather seem by the commonwealth chosen and called to the empire, than to have crept darkly into it by the intrigues of a woman, or by adoption from a superannuated prince. it was also afterwards found, that by this abstruseness and counterfeit irresolution he meant to penetrate into the designs and inclinations of the great men: for his jealous spirit construed all their words, all their looks, into crimes; and stored them up in his heart against a day of vengeance. when he first met the senate, he would bear no other business to be transacted but that about the funeral of augustus. his last will was brought in by the vestal virgins: in it tiberius and livia were appointed his heirs, livia adopted into the julian family, and dignified with the name of augusta: into the next and second degree of heirship he adopted his grandchildren and their children; and in the third degree he named the great men of rome, most of them hated by him, but out of vainglory he named them, and for future renown. his legacies were not beyond the usual bounds; only he left to the roman people four hundred thousand great sesterces, [footnote: £ , .] to the populace or common sort, thirty-five thousand; to every common soldier of the praetorian guards, a thousand small sesterces, [footnote: £ , s. d.] and to every soldier of the roman legions three hundred. [footnote: £ , s.] the funeral honours were next considered. the chief proposed were these: asinius gallus moved that "the funeral should pass through the triumphal gate:" lucius arruntius, "that the titles of all the laws which he had made, and the names of all the nations which he had conquered, should be carried before the corpse:" valerius messala added, that "the oath of allegiance to tiberius should be renewed every year;" and being asked by tiberius, "whether at his instigation he had made that motion?" "i spoke it as my opinion," says messala; "nor will i ever be determined by any but my own, in things which concern the commonweal; let who will be provoked by my freedom." only this new turn was wanting to complete the prevailing flattery of the time. the senators then concurred in a loud cry, "that upon their own shoulders they must bear the body to the pile." but tiberius declined the offer from an arrogant show of moderation. moreover, he cautioned the people by an edict, "not to disturb the funeral functions with a zeal over-passionate, as they had those of julius caesar; nor to insist that the corpse of augustus should be burnt rather in the forum, than in the field of mars, which was the place appointed." on the funeral day the soldiers under arms kept guard; a mighty mockery this to those who had either seen, or heard their fathers describe, the day when caesar the dictator was slain: servitude was then new, its sorrows yet fresh and bitter; and liberty unsuccessfully retrieved by a deed which, while it seemed impious to some, was thought altogether glorious by others, and hence tore rome into tumults and the violence of parties: they who knew that turbulent day, and compared it with the quiet exit of augustus, ridiculed the foppery of "calling an aid of soldiers to secure a peaceable burial to a prince who had grown old in peace and power, and even provided against a relapse into liberty, by a long train of successors." hence much and various matter of observation concerning augustus: the superstitious multitude admired the fortuitous events of his fortune; "that the last day of his life, and the first of his reign, was the same; that he died at nola, in the same village, and in the same house, and in the same chamber, where his father octavius died. they observed to his glory, his many consulships, equal in number to those of valerius corvinus and of caius marius, joined together; that he had exercised the power of the tribuneship seven-and-thirty continued years: that he was one-and-twenty times proclaimed imperator; with many other numerous honours repeated to him, or created for him." men of deeper discernment entered further into his life, but differed about it. his admirers said, "that his filial piety to his father caesar, and the distractions of the republic, where the laws no longer governed, had driven him into a civil war; which, whatever be the first cause, can never be begun or carried, on by just and gentle means." indeed, to be revenged on the murderers of his father, he had made many great sacrifices to the violent genius of anthony; many to lepidus: but when lepidus was become sunk and superannuated in sloth; when anthony was lost headlong in sensuality, there was then no other remedy for the distracted state, rent piecemeal by its chiefs, but the sovereignty of one: augustus, however, never had assumed to be over his country king, or dictator; but settled the government under the legal name of prince, or chief of the senate: he had extended the empire, and set for its bounds the distant ocean and rivers far remote; the several parts and forces of the state, the legions, the provinces, and the navy, were all properly balanced and connected; the citizens lived dutifully under the protection of the law, the allies in terms of respect, and rome itself was adorned with magnificent structures: indeed, in a few instances he had exerted the arbitrary violence of power; and in but a few, only to secure the peace of the whole. in answer to all this, it was urged, that "his filial piety, and the unhappy situation of the republic, were pure pretences; but the ardent lust of reigning, his true and only motive: with this spirit he had solicited into his service, by bribery, a body of veteran soldiers: and though a private youth, without post or magistracy, but, in defiance of law, levied an army: with this spirit he had debauched and bought the roman legions under the consuls, while he was falsely feigning a coalition with pompey's republican party: that soon after, when he had procured from the senate, or rather usurped the honours and authority of the praetorship; and when hirtius and pansa, the two consuls, were slain, he seized both their armies: that it was doubted whether the consuls fell by the enemy, or whether pansa was not killed by pouring poison into his wounds; and hirtius slain by his own soldiers; and whether the young caesar was not the black contriver of this bloody treason: that by terror he had extorted the consulship in spite of the senate; and turned against the commonwealth the very arms with which the commonwealth had trusted him for her defence against anthony. add to all this his cruel proscriptions, and the massacre of so many citizens, his seizing from the public and distributing to his own creatures so many lands and possessions; a violation of property not justified even by those who gained by it. but, allowing him to dedicate to the manes of the dictator the lives of brutus and cassius (though more to his honour had it been to have postponed his own personal hate to public good), did he not betray the young pompey by an insidious peace, betray lepidus by a deceitful show of friendship? did he not next ensnare marc anthony, first by treaties, those of tarentum and brundusium; then by a marriage, that of his sister octavia? and did not anthony at last pay with his life the penalty of that subdolous alliance? after this, no doubt there was peace, but a bloody peace; bloody in the tragical defeat of lollius, and that of varus, in germany; and at rome, the varrones, the egnatii, the julii (those illustrious names) were put to death." nor was his domestic life spared upon this occasion. "he had arbitrarily robbed nero of his wife big with child by her husband; and mocked the gods by consulting the priests; whether religion permitted him to marry her before her delivery, or obliged him to stay till after. his minions, tedius and vedius pollio, had lived in scandalous and excessive luxury: his wife livia, who wholly controlled him, had proved a cruel governess to the commonwealth; and to the julian house, a more cruel step-mother: he had even invaded the incommunicable honours of the gods, and setting up for himself temples like theirs, would like them be adored in the image of a deity, with all the sacred solemnity of priests and sacrifices: nor had he adopted tiberius for his successor, either out of affection for him, or from concern for the public welfare; but having discovered in him a spirit proud and cruel, he sought future glory from the blackest opposition and comparison." for, augustus, when, a few years before, he solicited the senate to grant to tiberius another term of the authority of the tribuneship, though he mentioned him with honour, yet taking notice of his odd humour, behaviour, and manners, dropped some expressions, which, while they seemed to excuse him, exposed and upbraided him. as soon as the funeral of augustus was over, a temple and divine worship were forthwith decreed him. the senate then turned their instant supplications to tiberius, to fill his vacant place; but received an abstruse answer, touching the greatness of the empire and his own distrust of himself; he said that "nothing but the divine genius of augustus was equal to the mighty task: that for himself, who had been called by him into a participation of his cares, he had learnt by feeling them, what a daring, what a difficult toil was that of government, and how perpetually subject to the caprices of fortune: that in a state supported by so many illustrious patriots they ought not to cast the whole administration upon one; and more easy to be administered were the several offices of the government by the united pains and sufficiency of many." a pompous and plausible speech, but in it little faith and sincerity. tiberius, even upon subjects which needed no disguises, used words dark and cautious; perhaps from his diffident nature, perhaps from a habit of dissembling: at this juncture indeed, as he laboured wholly to hide his heart, his language was the more carefully wrapped up in equivoques and obscurity: but the senators, who dreaded nothing so much as to seem to understand him, burst into tears, plaints, and vows; with extended arms they supplicated the gods, invoked the image of augustus, and embraced the knees of tiberius. he then commanded the imperial register to be produced and recited. it contained a summary of the strength and income of the empire, the number of romans and auxiliaries in pay, the condition of the navy, of the several kingdoms paying tribute, and of the various provinces and their revenues, with the state of the public expense, the issues of the exchequer, and all the demands upon the public. this register was all writ by the hand of augustus; and in it he had subjoined his counsel to posterity, that the present boundaries of the empire should stand fixed without further enlargement; but whether this counsel was dictated by fear for the public, or by envy towards his successors, is uncertain. now when the senate was stooping to the vilest importunity and prostrations, tiberius happened to say, that, "as he was unequal to the weight of the whole government; so if they entrusted him with any particular part, whatever it were, he would undertake it." here asinius gallus interposed: "i beg to know, caesar," says he, "what part of the government you desire for your share?" he was astonished with the unexpected question, and, for a short space, mute; but recovering himself, answered, that "it ill became his modesty to choose or reject any particular branch of the administration, when he desired rather to be excused from the whole." gallus, who in his face conjectured sullen signs of displeasure, again accosted him, and said, "by this question i did not mean that you should do an impracticable thing, and share that power which cannot be separated; but i meant to reason you into a confession that the commonwealth is but one body, and can be governed only by one soul." he added an encomium upon augustus, and reminded tiberius himself of his many victories, of the many civil employments which he had long and nobly sustained: nor even thus could he mollify the wrath of tiberius, who had long hated him, for that gallus had married vipsania, daughter of marcus agrippa, and formerly wife to tiberius, who thence suspected that by this match he meant to soar above the rank of a subject, and possessed too the bold and haughty spirit of asinius pollio his father. lucius arruntius incurred his displeasure next, by a speech not much unlike that of gallus: it is true, that towards him tiberius bore no old rancour; but arruntius had mighty opulence, prompt parts, noble accomplishments, with equal popularity, and hence was marked by him with a fell eye of suspicion. for, as augustus, shortly before his decease, was mentioning those among the great men, who were capable of the supreme power, but would not accept it; or unequal to it, yet wished for it; or such, as had both ambition and sufficiency; he had said, that "marcus lepidus was qualified, but would reject it; asinius would be aspiring, but had inferior talents; and that lucius arruntius wanted no sufficiency, and upon a proper occasion would attempt it." that he spoke thus of lepidus and asinius, is agreed; but, instead of arruntius, some writers have transmitted the name of cneius piso: and every one of these great men, except lepidus, were afterwards cut off, under the imputation of various crimes, all darkly framed by tiberius. quintus haterius and mamercus scaurus did thereafter incense his distrustful spirit; the first by asking him, "how long, caesar, wilt thou suffer the commonwealth to remain destitute of a head?" scaurus, because he had said "there was room to hope that the prayers of the senate would not prove abortive, since he had not opposed as tribune, nor rendered invalid, as he might, the motion of the consuls in his behalf." with haterius he fell into instant rage; towards scaurus his resentment was more deep and implacable, and in profound silence he hid it. wearied at last with public importunity and clamour, and with particular expostulations, he began to unbend a little; not that he would own his undertaking the empire, but only avoid the uneasiness of perpetually rejecting endless solicitations. it is known how haterius, when he went next day to the palace to implore pardon, and throwing himself at the feet of tiberius embraced his knees, narrowly escaped being slain by the soldiers; because tiberius, who was walking, tumbled down, whether by chance, or whether his legs were entangled in the arms of haterius: neither was he a jot mollified by the danger which threatened so great a man, who was at length forced to supplicate augusta for protection; nor could even she obtain it, but after the most laboured entreaties. towards livia, too, exorbitant was the flattering court of the senate. some were for decreeing her the general title of mother; others the more particular one of mother of her country; and almost all moved, that to the name of tiberius should be added, the son of julia: tiberius urged in answer, that "public honours to women ought to be warily adjudged, and with a sparing hand; and that with the same measure of moderation he would receive such as were presented to himself." in truth, full of envy as he was, and anxious lest his own grandeur should sink as that of his mother rose, he would not suffer so much as a lictor to be decreed her, and even forbade the raising her an altar upon her late adoption, or paying her any such solemnities. but for germanicus he asked the proconsular power; and to carry him that dignity, honourable deputies were sent, as also to mollify his sorrow for the death of augustus. if for drusus he demanded not the same honour, it was because drusus was present and already consul designed. he then named twelve candidates for the praetorship; the same number settled by augustus; and though the senate requested him to increase it, by an oath he bound himself never to exceed. the privilege of creating magistrates was now first translated from the assemblies of the people to the senate; for though the emperor had before conducted all affairs of moment at his pleasure; yet till that day some were still transacted by the tribes, and carried by their bent and suffrages. neither did the regret of the people for the seizure of these their ancient rights rise higher than some impotent grumbling. the senate too liked the change; as by it they were released from the charge of buying votes, and from the shame of begging them: and so moderate was tiberius, that of the twelve candidates he only reserved to himself the recommendation of four, to be accepted without opposition or caballing. at the same time, the tribunes of the people asked leave to celebrate at their own expense certain plays in honour of augustus, such as were to be called after his name, and inserted in the calendar. but it was decreed, that out of the exchequer the charge should be defrayed, and the tribunes should in the circus wear the triumphal robe; but to be carried in chariots was denied them. the annual celebration of these plays was, for the future, transferred to one of the praetors, him in particular to whom should fall the jurisdiction of deciding suits between citizens and strangers. thus stood affairs at rome when a sedition seized the legions in pannonia; without any fresh grounds, save that from a change of princes, they meant to assume a warrant for licentiousness and tumult, and from a civil war hoped great earnings and acquisitions: they were three legions encamped together, all commanded by junius blesus, who, upon notice of the death of augustus and the accession of tiberius, had granted the soldiers a recess from their wonted duties for some days, as a time either of public mourning or festivity. from being idle they waxed wanton, quarrelsome, and turbulent; greedily listened to mutinous discourses; the most profligate amongst them had most credit with them, and at last they became passionate for a life of sloth and riot, utterly averse to all military discipline and every fatigue of the camp. in the camp was one percennius; formerly a busy leader in the embroilments of the theatre, and now a common soldier; a fellow of a petulant, declaiming tongue, and by inflaming parties in the playhouse, well qualified to excite and infatuate a crowd. this incendiary practised upon the ignorant and unwary, such as were solicitous what might prove their future usage, now augustus was dead. he engaged them in nightly confabulations, and by little and little incited them to violence and disorders; and towards the evening, when the soberest and best affected were withdrawn, he assembled the worst and most turbulent. when he had thus ripened them for sedition, and other ready incendiaries were combined with him, he personated the character of a lawful commander, and thus questioned and harangued them: "why did they obey, like slaves, a few centurions and a fewer tribunes? when would they be bold enough to demand redress of their heavy grievances, unless they snatched the present occasion, while the emperor was yet new and his authority wavering, to prevail with him by petition, or by arms to force him? they had already by the misery of many years paid dear for their patient sloth and stupid silence, since decrepit with age and maimed with wounds, after a course of service for thirty or forty years, they were still doomed to carry arms: nor even to those who were discharged was there any end of the misery of warfare; they were still kept tied to the colours, and under the creditable title of veterans endured the same hardships, and underwent the same labours. but suppose any of them escaped so many dangers, and survived so many calamities, where was their reward at last? why, a long and weary march remained yet to be taken into countries far remote and strange; where, under the name of lands given them to cultivate, they had unhospitable bogs to drain, and the wild wastes of mountains to manure. severe and ungainful of itself was the occupation of war: ten asses [footnote: about d.] a day the poor price of their persons and lives; out of this, they must buy clothes, and tents, and arms; out of this, bribe the cruel centurions for a forbearance of blows, and occasional exemption from hard duty: but stripes from their officers, and wounds from their enemies, hard winters and laborious summers, bloody wars and barren peace, were miseries without end: nor remained there other cure or relief than to refuse to enlist but upon conditions certain, and fixed by themselves; particularly, that their pay be a denarius or sixteen asses a day, [footnote: about - / d.] sixteen years be the utmost term of serving; when discharged, to be no longer obliged to follow the colours, but have their reward in ready money, paid them in the camp where they earned it. did the praetorian guards, they who had double pay, they who after sixteen years' service were paid off and sent home, bear severer difficulties, undergo superior dangers? he did not mean to detract from the merit of their brethren the city guards; their own lot however it was, to be placed amongst horrid and barbarous nations, nor could they look from their tents, but they saw the foe." the whole crowd received this harangue with shouts of applause; but from various instigations. some displayed upon their bodies the obvious impressions of stripes, others their hoary heads, many their vestments ragged and curtailed, with backs utterly bare; as did all, their various griefs, in the bitterness of reproach. at length to such excessive fury they grew, that they proposed to incorporate the three legions into one; nor by aught but emulation was the project defeated: for to his own legion every man claimed the prerogative of swallowing and denominating the other two. they took another method, and placed the three eagles of the legions, with the standards of the several cohorts, altogether without rank or priority; then forthwith digged turf and were rearing a tribunal, one high enough to be seen at a distance. in this hurry arrived blesus, who, falling into sore rebukes, and by force interrupting particulars, called with vehemence to all: "dip your hands rather in my blood: to murder your general will be a crime less shameful and heinous than to revolt from your prince; for determined i am, either to preserve the legions in their faith and obedience, if you kill me not for my intended good office; or my death, if i fall by your hands, shall hasten your remorse." for all this, turfs were accumulated, and the work was already breast high, when, at last, overcome by his spirit and perseverance, they forbore. blesus was an able speaker: he told them "that sedition and mutiny were not the methods of conveying to the emperor the pretensions of the soldiers; their demands too were new and singular; such as neither the soldiers of old had ever made to the ancient generals, nor they themselves to the deified augustus: besides, their claims were ill-timed, when the prince, just upon his accession, was already embarrassed with the weight and variety of other cares. if, however, they meant to try to gain in full peace those concessions, which, even after a civil war, the conquerors never claimed; yet why trample upon duty and obedience, why reject the laws of the army, and rules of discipline? and if they meant to petition, why meditate violence? they might at least appoint deputies; and in his presence trust them with their pretensions." here they all cried out, "that the son of blesus, one of their tribunes, should execute that deputation; and demand in their name that, after sixteen years' service they should be discharged: they said they would give him new orders, when he had succeeded in these." after the departure of the young officer, a moderate recess ensued; the soldiers however exulted to have carried such a point: the sending the son of their general, as the public advocate for their cause, was to them full proof that they had gained by force and terror that which by modesty and gentle means they would never have gained. in the meantime those companies which, before the sedition began, were sent to nauportum [footnote: over-laybach, in carniola.] to mend roads and bridges, and upon other duties, no sooner heard of the uproar in the camp, but they cast off all obedience, tore away the ensigns, and plundered the neighbouring villages; even nauportum itself, which for greatness resembled a municipal town, was plundered. the endeavours of the centurions to restrain this violence, were first returned with mockery and contempt, then with invectives and contumelies, at last with outrage and blows. their vengeance was chiefly bent against the camp-marshal, aufidienus rufus: him they dragged from his chariot, and, loading him with baggage, drove him before the first ranks; they then insulted him, and asked in scorn, "whether he would gladly bear such enormous burdens, whether endure such immense marches?" rufus had been long a common soldier, then became a centurion, and afterwards camp-marshal; a severe restorer of primitive strictness and discipline; an indefatigable observer of every military duty, which he exacted from others with the more rigour, as he had himself undergone them all with patience. by the arrival of this tumultuous band the sedition was again awakened to its former outrage, and the seditious, roving abroad without control, ravaged the country on every side. blesus, for an example of terror to the rest, commanded those who were most laden with plunder, to be punished with stripes and cast into prison: for the general was still dutifully obeyed by the centurions, and by all the soldiers of any merit; but the criminals refused to submit, and even struggled with the guard who were carrying them off; they clasped the knees of the bystanders, implored help from their fellows, now calling upon every individual, and conjuring them by their particular names; then appealed to them in a body, and supplicated the company, the cohort, the legion to which they belonged; warning and proclaiming that the same ignominy and chastisement hung over them all. with the same breath they heaped invectives without measure upon their general, and called upon heaven and all the gods to be their witnesses and avengers; nor left they aught unattempted to raise effectual hatred, compassion, terror, and every species of fury. hence the whole body rushed to their relief, burst open the prison, unbound and rescued the prisoners: thus they owned for their brethren, and incorporated with themselves, infamous revolters, and traitors convict and condemned. hence the violence became more raging, and hence more sedition from more leaders. there was particularly one vibulenus, a common soldier, who, exalted on the shoulders of his comrades, before the tribunal of blesus, thus declaimed in the ears of a multitude already outrageous, and eager to hear what he had to say. "to these innocents," says he, "to these miserable sufferers, our fellow-soldiers, you have indeed restored breath and liberty: but who will restore life to my poor brother; who my poor brother to me? he was sent hither by the german armies, with propositions for our common good; and for this, was last night butchered by that same blesus, who in the murder employed his gladiators, bloody men, whom he purposely entertains and arms for our common execution. where, oh where, blesus, hast thou thrown his unoffending and mangled corpse? even open enemies do not inhumanly deny burial to the slain: when i have satiated my sorrow with a thousand kisses, and a flood of tears; command me also to be murdered, that these our brethren may together bury my poor brother and me, slaughtered both as victims, yet both guiltless of any crime but that of studying the common interest of the legions." he inflamed those his complaints and expostulations with affecting sighs and lamentations, beat his breast, tore his face, and showed all the symptoms of anguish. then those who carried him giving way, he threw himself headlong at the feet of his companions; and thus prostrate and supplicating, in them raised such a spirit of commiseration and such a storm of vengeance, that one party of them instantly seized and bound the general's gladiators; another, the rest of his family; while many ran and dispersed themselves to search for the corpse: and had it not been quickly manifest that there was no corpse to be found, that the slaves of blesus had upon the rack cleared themselves, and that vibulenus never had any brother; they had gone nigh to have sacrificed the general. as it was, they expulsed the camp-marshal and tribunes; and as they fled, plundered their baggage: they likewise put to death lucilius the centurion, whom they had sarcastically named _cedo alteram_, because when upon the back of a soldier he had broken one wand, he was wont to call for another, and then a third. the other centurions lurked in concealment, all but julius clemens, who for his prompt capacity was saved, in order to manage the negotiations of the soldiers: even two of the legions, the eighth and the fifteenth, were ready to turn their swords upon each other; and had, but for the ninth: one sirpicus, a centurion, was the subject of the quarrel; him the eighth required to be put to death, and the fifteenth protected him; but the ninth interposed with entreaties to both, and with threats to those who would not listen to prayers. tiberius, however, close and impenetrable, and ever labouring to smother all melancholy tidings, was yet driven by those from pannonia, to despatch his son drusus thither, accompanied by the principal nobility and guarded by two praetorian cohorts; but charged with no precise instructions, only to adapt his measures to the present exigency: the cohorts were strengthened with an extraordinary addition of chosen men, with the greatest part of the praetorian horse, and main body of the german, then the emperor's guards. aelius sejanus, lately joined with his father strabo in the command of the praetorian bands, was also sent, not only as governor to the young prince, but as his credit with the emperor was known to be mighty, to deal with the revolters by promises and terrors. when drusus approached, the legions, for show of respect, marched out to meet him; not with the usual symptoms and shouts of joy, nor with gay ensigns and arms glittering, but in a dress and accoutrements hideous and squalid: in their countenances too, though composed to sadness, were seen greater marks of sullenness and contumacy. as soon as he was within the camp, they secured the entrances with guards, and in several quarters of it placed parties upon duty: the rest crowded about the tribunal of drusus, who stood beckoning with his hand for silence. here as often as they surveyed their own numbers and met one another's resentful looks, they uttered their rage in horrible cries: again, when upon the tribunal they beheld caesar, awe and trembling seized them: now, there prevailed an hollow and inarticulate murmur; next, a furious clamour; then suddenly a dead silence: so that, by a hasty succession of opposite passions, they were at once dismayed and dreadful. when at last the uproar was stayed, he read his father's letters, who in them declared, "that he would take an affectionate care of the brave and invincible legions by whom he had sustained successfully so many wars; and, as soon as his grief was a little abated, deal with the senate about their demands; in the meantime he had sent them his son, on purpose to make them forthwith all the concessions, which could instantly be made them: the rest were to be reserved for the senate, the proper distributers of rewards and punishments by a right altogether unalienable." the assembly answered, that to julius clemens they had intrusted what to speak in their name: he began with their demands, "to be discharged after sixteen years' service, to have the reward which, for past services upon that discharge, they claimed; their pay to be increased to a roman denarius; the veterans to be no longer detained under their ensigns." when drusus urged, that wholly in the judgment of the senate and his father, these matters rested he was interrupted by their clamours: "to what purpose came he; since he could neither augment their pay, nor alleviate their grievances? and while upon them every officer was allowed to inflict blows and death, the son of their emperor wanted power to relieve them by one beneficent action. the policy this of the late reign, when tiberius frustrated every request of the soldiers, by referring all to augustus; now drusus was come with the same artifices to delude them: were they never to have a higher visit than from the children of their prince? it was, indeed, unaccountable, that to the senate the emperor should leave no part in the direction of the army, only the rewarding of the soldiery: ought not the same senate to be consulted as often as a battle was to be fought, or a private man to be punished? or, were their recompenses to be adjudged by many masters, but their punishments to remain without any restraint or moderator whatsoever?" at last they abandoned the tribunal, and with menaces and insults fell upon all they met belonging to drusus, either as guards or friends; meditating thus to provoke a quarrel, and an introduction to blood. chiefly enraged they were against cneius lentulus, as one for years and warlike renown superior to any about the person of drusus, and thence suspected to have hardened the prince, and been himself the foremost to despise these outrages in the soldiery: nor was it long after, that as he was leaving drusus, and from the foresight of danger returning to the winter quarters, they surrounded him and demanded "whither he went? to the emperor or senate? there also to exercise his enmity to the legions, and oppose their interest?" and instantly assaulted him with stones. he was already covered with wounds and blood, and awaiting certain assassination, when the troops attending drusus flew to his assistance and saved him. the following night had a formidable aspect, and threatened the speedy eruption of some tragical vengeance; when a phenomenon intervened and assuaged all. the moon, in the midst of a clear sky, seemed to the soldiers suddenly to sicken; and they, who were ignorant of the natural cause, took this for an omen foreboding the issue of their present adventures: to their own labours, they compared the eclipse of the planet; and prophesied, "that if to the distressed goddess should be restored her wonted brightness and vigour, equally successful would be the issue of these their struggles." hence they strove to charm and revive her with sounds, and by ringing upon brazen metal, and an uproar of trumpets and cornets, made a vehement bellowing. as she appeared brighter or darker, they exulted or lamented; but when gathering clouds had utterly bereft them of her sight, and they believed her now buried in everlasting darkness; then, as minds once thoroughly dismayed are pliant to superstition, they bewailed "their own eternal sufferings thus portended, and that against their misdeeds the angry deities were contending." drusus, who thought it behoved him to improve this disposition of theirs, and to reap the fruits of wisdom from the operations of chance; ordered certain persons to go round, and apply to them from tent to tent. for this purpose, he called and employed the centurion julius clemens, and whoever else were by honest methods acceptable to the multitude. these insinuated themselves everywhere, with those who kept watch, or were upon patrol, or guarded the gates; soothing all with hopes, and by terrors rousing them. "how long," said they, "shall we hold the son of our emperor thus besieged? where will our broils and wild contentions end? shall we swear allegiance to percennius and vibulenus? will vibulenus and percennius support us with pay during our service, and reward us with lands when dismissed? in short, shall two common men dispossess the neros and the drusi, and to themselves assume the empire of the roman people? let us be wiser; and as we were the last to revolt, be the first to relent. such demands, as comprise terms for all, are ever slowly accorded; but particulars may, when they please, merit instant favour, and instantly receive it." these reasonings alarmed them, and filled them with mutual jealousies. presently the fresh soldiers forsook the veterans, and one legion separated from another; then by degrees returned the love of duty and obedience. they relinquished the guard of the gates: and the eagles and other ensigns, which in the beginning of the tumult they had thrown together, were now restored each to its distinct station. drusus, as soon as it was day, summoned an assembly, and though unskilled in speaking, yet with a haughtiness inherent in his blood, rebuked their past and commended their present behaviour. "with threats and terrors," he said, "it was impossible to subdue him; but if he saw them reclaimed to submission, if from them he heard the language of supplicants, he would send to his father to accept with a reconciled spirit the petitions of the legions," hence, at their entreaty, for their deputy to tiberius the same blesus was again despatched, and with him lucius apronius, a roman knight of the cohort of drusus; and justus catonius, a centurion of the first order. there followed great debates in the council of drusus, while some advised "to suspend all proceeding till the return of the deputies, and by a course of courtesy the while to soothe the soldiers; others maintained, that remedies more potent must needs be applied: in a multitude, was to be found nothing on this side extremes; always imperious where they are not awed, and to be without danger despised when frightened: to their present terror from superstition was to be added the dread of their general, by his dooming to death the authors of the sedition." rather prompt to rigorous counsels was the genius of drusus: vibulenus and percennius were produced, and by his command executed; it is by many recounted, that in his own tent they were secretly despatched and buried; by others, that their bodies were ignominiously thrown over the entrenchments, for a public spectacle of terror. search was then made for other remarkable incendiaries. some were caught skulking without the camp, and there by the centurions or praetorian soldiers slain; others were by their several companies delivered up, as a proof of their own sincere faith. the consternation of the soldiers was heightened by the precipitate accession of winter, with rains incessant and so violent, that they were unable to stir from their tents, or maintain common intercourse, nay, scarce to preserve their standards, assaulted continually by tempestuous winds and raging floods. dread besides of the angry gods still possessed them; nor was it at random, they thought, that such profane traitors were thus visited with black eclipses and roaring tempests; neither against these their calamities was there other relief than the relinquishing of a camp by impiety contaminated and accursed, and after expiation of their guilt returning to their several garrisons. the eighth legion departed first; and then the fifteenth: the ninth, with earnest clamours, pressed for continuing there till the letters from tiberius arrived; but when deserted by the other two, their courage failed, and by following of their own accord, they prevented the shame of being forced. drusus seeing order and tranquillity restored, without staying for the return of the deputies, returned himself to rome. almost at the same time, and from the same causes, the legions in germany raised an insurrection, with greater numbers, and thence with more fury. passionate too were their hopes that germanicus would never brook the rule of another, but yield to the spirit of the legions, who had force sufficient to bring the whole empire under his sway. upon the rhine were two armies; that called the higher, commanded by caius silius, lieutenant-general; the lower, by aulus caecina: the command in chief rested in germanicus, then busy collecting the tribute in gaul. the forces however under silius, with cautious ambiguity, watched the success of the revolt which others began: for the soldiers of the lower army had broken out into open outrages, which took its rise from the fifth legion, and the one-and-twentieth; who after them drew the first, and twentieth. these were altogether upon the frontiers of the ubians, passing the campaign in utter idleness or light duty: so that upon the news that augustus was dead, the whole swarm of new soldiers lately levied in the city, men accustomed to the effeminacies of rome, and impatient of every military hardship, began to possess the ignorant minds of the rest with many turbulent expectations, "that now was presented the lucky juncture for veterans to demand entire dismission; the fresh soldiers, larger pay; and all, some mitigation of their miseries; as also to return due vengeance for the cruelties of the centurions." these were not the harangues of a single incendiary, like percennius amongst the pannonian legions; nor uttered, as there, in the ears of men who, while they saw before their eyes armies greater than their own, mutinied with awe and trembling: but here was a sedition of many mouths, filled with many boasts, "that in their hands lay the power and fate of rome; by their victories the empire was enlarged, and from them the caesars took, as a compliment, the surname of germanicus." neither did caecina strive to restrain them. a madness so extensive had bereft him of all his bravery and firmness. in this precipitate frenzy they rushed at once, with swords drawn, upon the centurions, the eternal objects of their resentment, and always the first victims to their vengeance. them they dragged to the earth, and upon each bestowed a terrible portion of sixty blows; a number proportioned to that of centurions in a legion. then bruised, mangled, and half expiring, as they were, they cast them all out of the camp, some into the stream of the rhine. septimius, who had for refuge fled to the tribunal of caecina, and lay clasping his feet, was demanded with such imperious vehemence, that he was forced to be surrendered to destruction. cassius cherea (afterwards famous to posterity for killing caligula), then a young man of undaunted spirit, and one of the centurions, boldly opened himself a passage with his sword through a crowd of armed foes striving to seize him. after this no further authority remained to the tribunes, none to the camp-marshals. the seditious soldiers were their own officers; set the watch, appointed the guard, and gave all orders proper in the present exigency; hence those who dived deepest into the spirit of the soldiery, gathered a special indication how powerful and obdurate the present insurrection was like to prove; for in their conduct were no marks of a rabble, where every man's will guides him, or the instigation of a few controls the whole. here, all at once they raged, and all at once kept silence; with so much concert and steadiness, that you would have believed them under the sovereign direction of one. to germanicus the while, then receiving, as i have said, the tribute in gaul, news were brought of the decease of augustus; whose grand-daughter agrippina he had to wife, and by her many children: he was himself the grandson of livia, by her son drusus, the brother of tiberius; but ever under heavy anxiety from the secret hate which his uncle and grandmother bore him: hate the more virulent as its grounds were altogether unrighteous; for, dear and adored was the memory of his father drusus amongst the roman people, and from him was firmly expected that had he succeeded to the empire, he would have restored public liberty: hence their zeal for germanicus, and of him the same hopes conceived; as from his youth he possessed a popular spirit, and marvellous affability utterly remote from the comportment and address of tiberius, ever haughty and mysterious. the animosities too between the ladies administered fresh fuel; while towards agrippina, livia was actuated by the despite natural to step-mothers: and over-tempestuous was the indignation of agrippina; only that her known chastity and love for her husband, always gave her mind, however vehement, a virtuous turn. but germanicus, the nearer he stood to supreme rule, the more vigour he exerted to secure it to tiberius: to him he obliged the sequanians, a neighbouring people, as also the several belgic cities, to swear present allegiance; and the moment he learnt the uproar of the legions, posted thither: he found them advanced without the camp to receive him, with eyes cast down, in feigned token of remorse. after he entered the entrenchments, instantly his ears were filled with plaints and grievances, uttered in hideous and mixed clamours: nay, some catching his hand, as if they meant to kiss it, thrust his fingers into their mouths, to feel their gums destitute of teeth; others showed their limbs enfeebled, and bodies stooping under old age. as he saw the assembly mixed at random, he commanded them "to range themselves into companies, thence more distinctly to hear his answers; as also to place before them their several ensigns, that the cohorts at least might be distinguished." with slowness and reluctance it was, that they obeyed him; then beginning with an encomium upon the "venerable memory of augustus," he proceeded to the "many victories and many triumphs of tiberius," and with peculiar praises celebrated the "glorious and immortal deeds, which with these very legions in germany he had accomplished;" he next boasted the quiet state of things, the consent of all italy, the loyal faith of both the gauls: and every quarter of the roman state exempt from disaffection and turbulence. thus far they listened with silence, at least with moderate murmuring; but the moment he touched their sedition and questioned, "where now was the wonted modesty of soldiers? where the glory of ancient discipline? whither had they chased their tribunes, whither their centurions?" to a man, they stripped themselves to the skin, and there exposed the seams of their wounds and bruises of their chastisements, in the rage of reproach. then in the undistinguished voice of uproar, they urged "the exactions for occasional exemptions, their scanty pay, and their rigorous labours;" which they represented in a long detail: "ramparts to be reared, entrenchments digged, trees felled and drawn, forage cut and carried, fuel prepared and fetched," with every other article of toil required by the exigencies of war, or to prevent idleness in the soldiery. above all, from the veterans arose a cry most horrible: they enumerated thirty years or upwards undergone in the service; "and besought that to men utterly spent he would administer respite, nor suffer them to be beholden to death for the last relief from their toils; but discharge them from a warfare so lasting and severe, and grant them the means of a comfortable recess." nay, some there were who of him required the money bequeathed them by augustus; and towards germanicus uttering zealous vows, with omens of happy fortune, declared their cordial attachment to his cause if he would himself assume the empire. here, as if already stained with their treason, he leaped headlong from the tribunal; but with swords drawn they opposed his departure, and threatened his life, if he refused to return: yet, with passionate protestations that "he would rather die than be a traitor," he snatched his sword from his side, and aiming full at his breast, would have buried it there, had not those who were next him seized his hand and by force restrained him. a cluster of soldiers in the extremity of the assembly exhorted him, nay, what is incredible to hear, some particulars advancing nearer, exhorted him _to strike home_: in truth one calusidius, a common soldier, presented him his naked sword, and added, "it is sharper than your own;" a behaviour which to the rest, outrageous as they were, seemed savage, and of horrid example: hence the friends of germanicus had time to snatch him away to his tent. it was here consulted what remedy to apply: for it was advised, that "ministers of sedition were preparing to be despatched to the other army, to draw them too into a confederacy in the revolt; that the capital of the ubians was destined to be sacked; and if their hands were once inured to plunder, they would break in, and ravage all gaul." this dread was augmented by another: the enemy knew of the sedition in the roman army, and were ready to invade the empire, if its barrier the rhine were left unguarded. now, to arm the allies and the auxiliaries of rome, and lead them against the departing legions, was to rouse a civil war: severity was dangerous: the way of largesses infamous; and alike threatening it was to the state to grant the turbulent soldiers nothing, or yield them everything. after revolving every reason and objection, the result was, to feign letters and directions from tiberius, "that those who had served twenty years should be finally discharged; such as served sixteen be under the ensign and privileges of veterans, released from every duty but that of repulsing the enemy; and the legacy, which they demanded, should be paid and doubled." the soldiers, who perceived that, purely to evade present difficulty, the concessions were forged, insisted to have them forthwith executed; and instantly the tribunes despatched the discharge of the veterans: that of the money was adjourned to their several winter quarters; but the fifth legion, and the one-and-twentieth, refused to stir, till in that very camp they were paid; so that out of the money reserved by himself and his friends for travailing expenses, germanicus was obliged to raise the sum. caecina, lieutenant-general, led the first legion and twentieth back to the capital of the ubians: an infamous march, when the plunder of their general's coffers was carried amidst the ensigns and roman eagles. germanicus, the while, proceeding to the army in higher germany, brought the second, thirteenth, and sixteenth legions to swear allegiance without hesitation: to the fourteenth, who manifested some short suspense, he made unasked a tender of their money, and a present discharge. but a party of veterans which belonged to the disorderly legions, and then in garrison among the chaucians, as they began a sedition there, were somewhat quelled by the instant execution of two of their body: an execution this, commanded by maenius, camp-marshal, and rather of good example, than done by competent authority. the tumult, however, swelling again with fresh rage, he fled, but was discovered; so that, finding no safety in lurking, from his own bravery he drew his defence, and declared "that to himself, who was only their camp-marshal, these their outrages were not done, but done to the authority of germanicus, their general, to the majesty of tiberius their emperor." at the same time, braving and dismaying all that would have stopped him, he fiercely snatched the colours, faced about towards the rhine, and pronouncing the doom of traitors and deserters to every man who forsook his ranks, brought them back to their winter quarters, mutinous, in truth, but not daring to mutiny. in the meantime the deputies from the senate met germanicus at the altar of the ubians [footnote: cologne.], whither in his return he was arrived. two legions wintered there, the first and twentieth, with the soldiers lately placed under the standard of veterans; men already under the distractions of guilt and fear: and now a new terror possessed them, that these senators were come armed with injunctions to cancel every concession which they had by sedition extorted; and, as it is the custom of the crowd to be ever charging somebody with the crimes suggested by their own false alarms, the guilt of this imaginary decree they laid upon minutius plancus, a senator of consular dignity, and at the head of this deputation. in the dead of night, they began to clamour aloud for the purple standard placed in the quarters of germanicus, and, rushing tumultuously to his gate, burst the doors, dragged the prince out of his bed, and, with menaces of present death, compelled him to deliver the standard. then, as they roved about the camp, they met the deputies, who, having learnt the outrage, were hastening to germanicus: upon them they poured a deluge of contumelies, and to present slaughter were devoting them, plancus chiefly, whom the dignity of his character had restrained from flight; nor in this mortal danger had he other refuge than the quarters of the first legion, where, embracing the eagle and other ensigns, he sought sanctuary from the religious veneration ever paid them. but, in spite of religion, had not calpurnius, the eagle-bearer, by force defeated the last violence of the assault, in the roman camp had been slain an ambassador of the roman people, and with his blood had been stained the inviolable altars of the gods; a barbarity rare even in the camp of an enemy. at last, day returning, when the general, and the soldiers, and their actions could be distinguished, germanicus entered the camp, and commanding plancus to be brought, seated him by himself upon the tribunal: he then inveighed against the late "pernicious frenzy, which in it, he said, had fatality, and was rekindled by no despite in the soldiers, but by that of the angry gods." he explained the genuine purposes of that embassy, and lamented with affecting eloquence "the outrage committed upon plancus, altogether brutal and unprovoked; the foul violence done to the sacred person of an ambassador, and the mighty disgrace from thence derived upon the legion." yet as the assembly showed more stupefaction than calmness, he dismissed the deputies under a guard of auxiliary horse. during this affright, germanicus was by all men censured, "that he retired not to the higher army, whence he had been sure of ready obedience, and even of succour against the revolters: already he had taken wrong measures more than enow, by discharging some, rewarding all, and other tender counsels; if he despised his own safety, yet why expose his infant son, why his wife big with child, to the fury of outrageous traitors, wantonly violating all the most sacred rights amongst men? it became him at least to restore his wife and son safe to tiberius and to the state." he was long unresolved; besides agrippina was averse to leave him, and urged, that "she was the grand-daughter of augustus, and it was below her spirit to shrink in a time of danger." but embracing her and their little son, with great tenderness and many tears, he prevailed with her to depart. thus there marched miserably along a band of helpless women: the wife of a great commander fled like a fugitive, and upon her bosom bore her infant son: about her a troop of other ladies, dragged from their husbands, and drowned in tears, uttering their heavy lamentations; nor weaker than theirs was the grief felt by all who remained. these groans and tears, and this spectacle of woe, the appearances rather of a city stormed and sacked, than of a roman camp, that of germanicus caesar, victorious and flourishing, awakened attention and inquiry in the soldiers: leaving their tents, they cried, "whence these doleful wailings? what so lamentable! so many ladies of illustrious quality, travelling thus forlorn; not a centurion to attend them; not a soldier to guard them; their general's wife amongst them, undistinguished by any mark of her princely dignity; destitute of her ordinary train; frightened from the roman legions, and repairing, like an exile, for shelter to treves, there to commit herself to the faith of foreigners." hence shame and commiseration seized them, and the remembrance of her illustrious family, with that of her own virtues; the brave agrippa her father; the mighty augustus her grandfather; the amiable drusus her father-in-law, herself celebrated for a fruitful bed, and of signal chastity: add the consideration of her little son, born in the camp, nursed in the arms of the legions, and by themselves named caligula, a military name from the boots which of the same fashion with their own, in compliment to them, and to win their affections, he frequently wore. but nothing so effectually subdued them as their own envy towards the inhabitants of treves: hence they all besought, all adjured, that she would return to themselves, and with themselves remain: thus some stopped agrippina; but the main body returned with their entreaties to germanicus, who, as he was yet in the transports of grief and anger, addressed himself on this wise to the surrounding crowd. "to me neither is my wife or son dearer than my father and the commonwealth. but him doubtless the majesty of his name will defend; and there are other armies, loyal armies, to defend the roman state. as to my wife and children, whom for your glory i could freely sacrifice, i now remove them from your rage; that by my blood alone may be expiated whatever further mischief your fury meditates; and that the murder of the great grandson of augustus, the murder of the daughter-in-law of tiberius, may not be added to mine, nor to the blackness of your past guilt. for, during these days of frenzy what has been too horrid for you to commit? what so sacred that you have not violated? to this audience what name shall i give? can i call you _soldiers_? you who have beset with arms the son of your emperor, confined him in your trenches, and held him in a siege? _roman citizens_ can i call you? you who have trampled upon the supreme authority of the roman senate? laws religiously observed by common enemies, you have profaned; violated the sacred privileges, and persons of ambassadors; broken the laws of nations. the deified julius caesar quelled a sedition in his army by a single word: he called all who refused to follow him, _townsmen_. the deified augustus, when, after the battle of actium, the legions who won it lapsed into mutiny, terrified them into submission by the dignity of his presence and an awful look. these, it is true, are mighty and immortal names, whom i dare not emulate; but, as i am their descendant, and inherit their blood, should the armies in syria and spain reject my orders, and contemn my authority, i should think their behaviour strange and base: are not the present legions under stronger ties than those in syria and spain? you are the first and the twentieth legions; the former enrolled by tiberius himself; the other his constant companions in so many battles, his partners in so many victories, and by him enriched with so many bounties! is this the worthy return you make your emperor, and late commander, for the distinction he has shown you, for the favour he has done you, and for his liberalities towards you? and shall i be the author of such tidings to him; such heavy tidings in the midst of congratulations and happy accounts from every province in the empire? must it be my sad task to acquaint him that his own new levies, as well as his own veterans who long fought under him; these not appeased by their discharge, and neither of them satiated with the money given them, are both still combined in a furious mutiny? must i tell him that here and only here the centurions are butchered, the tribunes driven away, the ambassadors imprisoned; that with blood the camp is stained, and the rivers flow with blood; and that for me his son, i hold a precarious life at the mercy of men, who owe me duty, and practise enmity? "why did you the other day, oh unseasonable and too officious friends! why did you leave me at their mercy by snatching from me my sword, when with it i would have put myself out of their power? he who offered me his own sword showed greater kindness, and was more my friend. i would then have fallen happy; happy that my death would have hid from mine eyes so many horrible crimes since committed by my own army; and for you, you would have chosen another general, such a general, no doubt, as would have left my death unpunished, but still one who would have sought vengeance for that of varus and the three legions; for the gods are too just to permit that ever the belgians, however generously they offer their service, shall reap the credit and renown of retrieving the glory of the roman name, and of reducing in behalf of rome the german nations her foes. filled with this passion for the glory of rome, i here invoke thy spirit now with the gods, oh deified augustus; and thy image interwoven in the ensigns, and thy memory, oh deceased father. let thy revered spirit, oh augustus, let thy loved image and memory, oh drusus, still dear to these legions, vindicate them from this guilty stain, this foul infamy of leaving to foreigners the honour of defending and avenging the roman state. they are romans; they already feel the remorses of shame; they are already stimulated with a sense of honour: improve, oh improve this generous disposition in them; that thus inspired they may turn the whole tide of their civil rage to the destruction of their common enemy. and for you, my fellow-soldiers, in whom i behold all the marks of compunction, other countenances, and minds happily changed; if you mean to restore to the senate its ambassadors; to your emperor your sworn obedience; to me, your general, my wife and son; be it the first instance of your duty, to fly the contagious company of incendiaries, to separate the sober from the seditious: this will be a faithful sign of remorse, this a firm pledge of fidelity." these words softened them into supplicants: they confessed that all his reproaches were true; they besought him to punish the guilty and malicious, to pardon the weak and misled, and to lead them against the enemy; to recall his wife, to bring back his son, nor to suffer the fosterling of the legions to be given in hostage to the gauls. against the recalling of agrippina he alleged the advance of winter, and her approaching delivery; but said, that his son should return, and that to themselves he left to execute what remained further to be executed. instantly, with changed resentments, they ran, and seizing the most seditious, dragged them in bonds to caius cretonius, commander of the first legion, who judged and punished them in this manner. the legions, with their swords drawn, surrounded the tribunal; from thence the prisoner was by a tribune exposed to their view, and if they proclaimed him guilty, cast headlong down, and executed even by his fellow-soldiers, who rejoiced in the execution, because by it they thought their own guilt to be expiated: nor did germanicus restrain them, since on themselves remained the cruelty and reproach of the slaughter committed without any order of his. the veterans followed the same example of vengeance, and were soon after ordered into rhetia, in appearance to defend that province against the invading suevians; in reality, to remove them from a camp still horrible to their sight, as well in the remedy and punishment, as from the memory of their crime. germanicus next passed a scrutiny upon the conduct and characters of the centurions: before him they were cited singly; and each gave an account of his name, his company, country, the length of his service, exploits in war, and military presents, if with any he had been distinguished: if the tribunes or his legion bore testimony of his diligence and integrity, he kept his post; upon concurring complaint of his avarice or cruelty, he was degraded. thus were the present commotions appeased; but others as great still subsisted, from the rage and obstinacy of the fifth and twenty-first legions. they were in winter quarters sixty miles off, in a place called the old camp, [footnote: xanten.] and had first began the sedition: nor was there any wickedness so horrid, that they had not perpetrated; nay, at this time, neither terrified by the punishment, nor reclaimed by the reformation of their fellow-soldiers, they persevered in their fury. germanicus therefore determined to give them battle, if they persisted in their revolt; and prepared vessels, arms, and troops to be sent down the rhine. before the issue of the sedition in illyricum was known at rome, tidings of the uproar in the german legions arrived; hence the city was filled with much terror; and hence against tiberius many complaints, "that while with feigned consultations and delays he mocked the senate and people, once the great bodies of the estate, but now bereft of power and armies, the soldiery were in open rebellion, one too mighty and stubborn to be quelled by two princes so young in years and authority: he ought at first to have gone himself, and awed them with the majesty of imperial power, as doubtless they would have returned to duty upon the sight of their emperor, a prince of consummate experience, the sovereign disposer of rewards and severity. did augustus, even under the pressure of old age and infirmities, take so many journeys into germany? and should tiberius, in the vigour of his life, when the same or greater occasions called him thither, sit lazily in the senate to watch senators and cavil at words? he had fully provided for the domestic servitude of rome; he ought next to cure the licentiousness of the soldiers, to restrain their turbulent spirits, and reconcile them to a life of peace." but all these reasonings and reproaches moved not tiberius: he was determined not to depart from the capital, the centre of power and affairs; nor to chance or peril expose his person and empire. in truth, many and contrary difficulties pressed and perplexed him: "the german army was the stronger; that of pannonia nearer; the power of both the gauls supported the former; the latter was at the gates of italy. now to which should he repair first? and would not the last visited be inflamed by being postponed? but by sending one of his sons to each, the equal treatment of both was maintained; as also the majesty of the supreme power, which from distance ever derived most reverence. besides, the young princes would be excused, if to their father they referred such demands as were for them improper to grant; and if they disobeyed germanicus and drusus, his own authority remained to appease or punish them: but if once they had contemned their emperor himself, what other resource was behind?" however, as if he had been upon the point of marching, he chose his attendance, provided his equipage, and prepared a fleet: but by various delays and pretences, sometimes that of the winter, sometimes business, he deceived for a time even the wisest men; much longer the common people, and the provinces for a great while. germanicus had already drawn together his army, and was prepared to take vengeance on the seditious: but judging it proper to allow space for trial, whether they would follow the late example, and consulting their own safety do justice upon one another, he sent letters to caecina, "that he himself approached, with a powerful force; and if they prevented him not, by executing the guilty, he would put all indifferently to the slaughter." these letters caecina privately read to the principal officers, and such of the camp as the sedition had not tainted; besought them "to redeem themselves from death, and all from infamy; urged that in peace alone reason was heard and merit distinguished; but in the rage of war the blind steel spared the innocent no more than the guilty." the officers, having tried those they believed for their purpose, and found the majority still to persevere in their duty, did, in concurrence with the general, settle the time for falling with the sword upon the most notoriously guilty and turbulent. upon a particular signal given they rushed into their tents and butchered them, void as they were of all apprehension; nor did any but the centurions and executioners know whence the massacre began, or where it would end. this had a different face from all the civil slaughters that ever happened: it was a slaughter not of enemies upon enemies, nor from different and opposite camps, nor in a day of battle; but of comrades upon comrades, in the same tents where they ate together by day, where they slept together by night. from this state of intimacy they flew into mortal enmity, and friends launched their darts at friends: wounds, outcries, and blood were open to view; but the cause remained hid: wild chance governed the rest, and several innocents were slain. for the criminals, when they found against whom all this fury was bent, had also betaken themselves to their arms; neither did caecina, nor any of the tribunes, intervene to stay the rage; so that the soldiers had full permission to vengeance, and a licentious satiety of killing. germanicus soon after entered the camp now full of blood and carcasses, and lamenting with many tears that "this was not a remedy, but cruelty and desolation," commanded the bodies to be burnt. their minds, still tempestuous and bloody, were transported with sudden eagerness to attack the foe, as the best expiation of their tragical fury: nor otherwise, they thought, could the ghosts of their butchered brethren be appeased, than by receiving in their own profane breasts a chastisement of honourable wounds. germanicus fell in with the ardour of the soldiers, and laying a bridge upon the rhine, marched over twelve thousand legionary soldiers, twenty-six cohorts of the allies, and eight regiments of horse; men all untainted in the late sedition. the germans rejoiced, not far off, at this vacation of war, occasioned first by the death of augustus, and afterwards by intestine tumults in the camp; but the romans by a hasty march passed through the caesian woods, and levelling the barrier formerly begun by tiberius, upon it pitched their camp. in the front and rear they were defended by a palisade; on each side by a barricade of the trunks of trees felled. from thence, beginning to traverse gloomy forests, they stopped to consult which of two ways they should choose, the short and frequented, or the longest and least known, and therefore unsuspected by the foe: the longest way was chosen; but in everything else despatch was observed; for by the scouts intelligence was brought that the germans did, that night, celebrate a festival with great mirth and revelling. hence caecina was commanded to advance with the cohorts without their baggage, and to clear a passage through the forest: at a moderate distance followed the legions; the clearness of the night facilitated the march, and they arrived at the villages of the marsians, which with guards they presently invested. the germans were even yet under the effects of their debauch, scattered here and there, some in bed, some lying by their tables; no watch placed, no apprehension of an enemy. so utterly had their false security banished all order and care; and they were under no dread of war, without enjoying peace, other than the deceitful and lethargic peace of drunkards. the legions were eager for revenge; and germanicus, to extend their ravage, divided them into four battalions. the country was wasted by fire and sword fifty miles round; nor sex nor age found mercy; places sacred and profane had the equal lot of destruction, all razed to the ground, and with them the temple of tanfana, of all others the most celebrated amongst these nations: nor did all this execution cost the soldiers a wound, while they only slew men half asleep, disarmed, or dispersed. this slaughter roused the bructerans, the tubantes, and the usipetes; and they beset the passes of the forest, through which the army was to return: an event known to germanicus, and he marched in order of battle. the auxiliary cohorts and part of the horse led the van, followed close by the first legion; the baggage was in the middle; the twenty-first legion closed the left wing, and the fifth the right; the twentieth defended the rear; and after them marched the rest of the allies. but the enemy stirred not, till the body of the army entered the wood: they then began lightly to insult the front and wings; and at last, with their whole force, fell upon the rear. the light cohorts were already disordered by the close german bands, when germanicus riding up to the twentieth legion, and exalting his voice, "this was the season," he cried, "to obliterate the scandal of sedition: hence they should fall resolutely on, and into sudden praise convert their late shame and offence." these words inflamed them: at one charge they broke the enemy, drove them out of the wood, and slaughtered them in the plain. in the meanwhile, the front passed the forest, and fortified the camp: the rest of the march was uninterrupted; and the soldiers, trusting to the merit of their late exploits, and forgetting at once past faults and terrors, were placed in winter quarters. the tidings of these exploits affected tiberius with gladness and anguish: he rejoiced that the sedition was suppressed; but that germanicus had, by discharging the veterans, by shortening the term of service to the rest, and by largesses to all, gained the hearts of the army, as well as earned high glory in war, proved to the emperor matter of torture. to the senate, however, he reported the detail of his feats, and upon his valour bestowed copious praises, but in words too pompous and ornamental to be believed dictated by his heart. it was with more brevity that he commended drusus, and his address in quelling the sedition of illyricum, but more cordially withal, and in language altogether sincere; and even to the pannonian legions he extended all the concessions made by germanicus to his own. there was this year an admission of new rites, by the establishment of another college of priests, one sacred to the deity of augustus; as formerly titus tatius, to preserve the religious rites of the sabines, had founded the fraternity of titian priests. to fill the society, one-and-twenty, the most considerable romans were drawn by lot, and to them added tiberius, drusus, claudius, and germanicus. the games in honour of augustus began then first to be embroiled by emulation among the players, and the strife of parties in their behalf. augustus had countenanced these players and their art, in complaisance to maecenas, who was mad in love with bathyllus the comedian; nor to such favourite amusements of the populace had he any aversion himself; he rather judged it an acceptable courtesy to mingle with the multitude in these their popular pleasures. different was the temper of tiberius, different his politics: to severer manners, however, he durst not yet reduce the people, so many years indulged in licentious gaieties. in the consulship of drusus caesar and caius norbanus, a triumph was decreed to germanicus, while the war still subsisted. he was preparing with all diligence to prosecute it the following summer; but began much sooner by a sudden irruption early in the spring into the territories of the cattans: an anticipation of the campaign, which proceeded from the hopes given him of dissension amongst the enemy, caused by the opposite parties of arminius and segestes; two men signally known to the romans upon different accounts; the last for his firm faith, the first for faith violated. arminius was the incendiary of germany; but by segestes had been given repeated warnings of an intended revolt, particularly during the festival immediately preceding the insurrection: he had even advised varus "to secure himself and arminius, and all the other chiefs; for that the multitude, thus bereft of their leaders, would dare to attempt nothing; and varus have time to distinguish crimes and such as committed none." but by his own fate, and the sudden violence of arminius, varus fell. segestes, though by the weight and unanimity of his nation he was forced into the war, yet remained at constant variance with arminius: a domestic quarrel too heightened their hate, as arminius had carried away the daughter of segestes, already betrothed to another; and the same relations, which amongst friends prove bonds of tenderness, were fresh stimulations of wrath to an obnoxious son and an offended father. upon these encouragements, germanicus to the command of caecina committed four legions, five thousand auxiliaries, and some bands of germans, dwellers on this side the rhine, drawn suddenly together; he led himself as many legions with double the number of allies, and erecting a fort in mount taunus, [footnote: near homburg.] upon the old foundations of one raised by his father, rushed full march against the cattans; having behind him left lucius apronius, to secure the ways from the fury of inundations: for as the roads were then dry and the rivers low, events in that climate exceeding rare, he had without check expedited his march; but against his return apprehended the violence of rains and floods. upon the cattans he fell with such surprise, that all the weak through sex or age were instantly taken or slaughtered: their youth, by swimming over the adrana, [footnote: eder.] escaped, and attempted to force the romans from building a bridge to follow them, but by dint of arrows and engines were repulsed; and then, having in vain tried to gain terms of peace, some submitted to germanicus; the rest abandoned their villages and dwellings, and dispersed themselves in the woods. mattium, [footnote: maden.] the capital of the nation, he burnt, ravaged all the open country, and bent his march to the rhine; nor durst the enemy harass his rear, an usual practice of theirs, when sometimes they fly more through craft than affright. the cheruscans indeed were addicted to assist the cattans, but terrified from attempting it by caecina, who moved about with his forces from place to place; and by routing the marsians who had dared to engage him, restrained all their efforts. soon after arrived deputies from segestes, praying relief against the combination and violence of his countrymen, by whom he was held besieged; as more powerful amongst them than his was the credit of arminius, since it was he who had advised the war. the genius this of barbarians, to judge that men are to be trusted in proportion as they are fierce, and in public commotions ever to prefer the most resolute. to the other deputies segestes had added segimundus, his son; but the young man faltered a while, as his own heart accused him; for that the year when germany revolted, he, who had been by the romans created priest of the altar of the ubians, rent the sacerdotal tiara and fled to the revolters: yet, encouraged by the roman clemency, he undertook the execution of his father's orders, was himself graciously received, and then conducted with a guard to the frontiers of gaul. germanicus led back his army to the relief of segestes, and was rewarded with success. he fought the besiegers, and rescued him with a great train of his relations and followers; amongst them too were ladies of illustrious rank, particularly the wife of arminius, the same who was the daughter of segestes: a lady more of the spirit of her husband than that of her father; a spirit so unsubdued, that from her eyes captivity forced not a tear, nor from her lips a breath in the style of a supplicant: not a motion of her hands, nor a look escaped her; but, fast across her breast she held her arms, and upon her heavy womb her eyes were immovably fixed. there were likewise carried roman spoils taken at the slaughter of varus and his army, and then divided as prey amongst many of those who were now prisoners: at the same time appeared segestes, of superior stature; and from a confidence in his good understanding with the romans, undaunted. in this manner he spoke: "it is not the first day this, that to the roman people i have approved my faith and adherence: from the moment i was by the deified augustus presented with the freedom of the city, i have continued by your interest to choose my friends, by your interest to denominate my enemies; from no hate of mine to my native country (for odious are traitors even to the party they embrace), but because the same measures were equally conducing to the benefit of the romans and of the germans; and i was rather for peace than war. for this reason to varus, the then general, i applied, with an accusation against arminius, who from me had ravished my daughter, and with you violated the faith of leagues: but growing impatient with the slowness and inactivity of varus, and well apprised how little security was to be hoped from the laws, i pressed him to seize myself, and arminius, and his accomplices: witness that fatal night, to me i wish it had been the last! more to be lamented than defended are the sad events which followed. i moreover cast arminius into irons, and was myself cast into irons by his faction; and as soon as to you, caesar, i could apply, you see i prefer old engagements to present violence, and tranquillity to combustions, with no view of my own to interest or reward, but to banish from me the imputation of perfidiousness. for the german nation, too, i would thus become a mediator, if peradventure they will choose rather to repent than be destroyed: for my son, i intreat you, have mercy upon his youth, and pardon his error; that my daughter is your prisoner by force i own: in your breast it wholly lies under which character you will treat her, whether as one by arminius impregnated, or by me begotten." the answer of germanicus was gracious: he promised indemnity to his children and kindred, and to himself a safe retreat in one of the old provinces; then returned with his army, and by the direction of tiberius, received the title of _imperator_. the wife of arminius brought forth a male child, and the boy was brought up at ravenna; his unhappy conflicts afterwards, with the contumelious insults of fortune, will be remembered in their place. the desertion of segestes being divulged, with his gracious reception from germanicus, affected his countrymen variously; with hope or anguish, as they were prone or averse to the war. naturally violent was the spirit of arminius, and now, by the captivity of his wife, by the fate of his child doomed to bondage though yet unborn, enraged even to distraction: he flew about amongst the cheruscans, calling them to arms; to arm against segestes, to arm against germanicus. invectives followed his fury; "a blessed father this segestes," he cried! "a mighty general this germanicus! invincible warriors these romans! so many troops have made prisoner of a woman. it is not thus that i conquer; before me three legions fell, and three lieutenant-generals. open and honourable is my method of war, nor waged with big-bellied women, but against men and arms; and treason is none of my weapons. still to be seen are the roman standards in the german groves, there by me hung up and devoted to our country gods. let segestes live a slave in a conquered province; let him to his son recover a foreign priesthood: with the german nations he can never obliterate his reproach, that through him they have seen between the elbe and rhine rods and axes, and the roman toga. to other nations who know not the roman domination, executions and tributes are also unknown; evils which we too have cast off, in spite of that augustus now dead and enrolled with the deities; in spite too of tiberius, his chosen successor: let us not after this dread a mutinous army, and a boy without experience, their commander; but if you love your country, your kindred, your ancient liberty and laws, better than tyrants and new colonies, let arminius rather lead you to liberty and glory, than the wicked segestes to the infamy of bondage." by these stimulations, not the cheruscans only were roused, but all the neighbouring nations; and into the confederacy was drawn inguiomerus, paternal uncle to arminius, a man long since in high credit with the romans: hence a new source of fear to germanicus, who, to avoid the shock of their whole forces, and to divert the enemy, sent caecina with forty roman cohorts to the river amisia, [footnote: ems.] through the territories of the bructerans. pedo the prefect led the cavalry by the confines of the frisians: he himself, on the lake, [footnote: the zuyder zee.] embarked four legions; and upon the bank of the said river the whole body met, foot, horse, and fleet. the chaucians, upon offering their assistance, were taken into the service; but the bructerans, setting fire to their effects and dwellings, were routed by stertinius, by germanicus despatched against them with a band lightly armed. as this party were engaged between slaughter and plunder, he found the eagle of the nineteenth legion lost in the overthrow of varus. the army marched next to the farthest borders of the bructerans, and the whole country between the rivers amisia and luppia [footnote: lippe.] was laid waste. not far hence lay the forest of teutoburgium, and in it the bones of varus and the legions, by report still unburied. hence germanicus became inspired with a tender passion to pay the last offices to the legions and their leader; the like tenderness also affected the whole army. they were moved with compassion, some for the fate of their friends, others for that of their relations here tragically slain; they were struck with the doleful casualties of war, and the sad lot of humanity. caecina was sent before to examine the gloomy recesses of the forest; to lay bridges over the pools; and upon the deceitful marshes, causeways. the army entered the doleful solitude, hideous to sight, hideous to memory. first they saw the camp of varus, wide in circumference; and the three distinct spaces, allotted to the different eagles, showed the number of the legions. further, they beheld the ruinous entrenchment, and the ditch nigh choked up: in it the remains of the army were supposed to have made their last effort, and in it to have found their graves. in the open fields lay their bones all bleached and bare, some separate, some on heaps; just as they had happened to fall, flying for their lives, or resisting unto death. here were scattered the limbs of horses, there pieces of broken javelins; and the trunks of trees bore the skulls of men. in the adjacent groves were the savage altars; where, of the tribunes and principal centurions, the barbarians had made a horrible immolation. those who survived the slaughter, having escaped from captivity and the sword, related the sad particulars to the rest: "here the commanders of the legions were slain; there we lost the eagles; here varus had his first wound; there he gave himself another, and perished by his own unhappy hand. in that place, too, stood the tribunal whence arminius harangued; in this quarter, for the execution of his captives, he erected so many gibbets; in that such a number of funeral trenches were digged; and with these circumstances of pride and despite he insulted the ensigns and eagles." thus the roman army buried the bones of the three legions, six years after the slaughter: nor could any one distinguish whether he gathered the particular remains of a stranger, or those of a kinsman; but all considered the whole as their friends, the whole as their relations; with heightened resentments against the foe, at once sad and revengeful. in this pious office, so acceptable to the dead, germanicus was a partner in the woe of the living; and upon the common tomb laid the first sod: a proceeding not liked by tiberius; whether it were that upon every action of germanicus he put a perverse meaning, or believed that the affecting spectacle of the unburied slain would sink the spirit of the army, and heighten their terror of the enemy; as also that "a general vested, as augur, with the intendency of religious rites, became defiled by touching the solemnities of the dead." arminius, retiring into desert and pathless places, was pursued by germanicus; who, as soon as he reached him, commanded the horse to advance, and dislodge the enemy from the post they had possessed. arminius, having directed his men to keep close together, and draw near to the woods, wheeled suddenly about, and to those whom he had hid in the forest gave the signal to rush out: the roman horse, now engaged by a new army, became disordered, and to their relief some cohorts were sent, but likewise broken by the press of those that fled; and great was the consternation so many ways increased. the enemy too were already pushing them into the morass, a place well known to the pursuers, as to the unapprised romans it had proved pernicious, had not germanicus drawn out the legions in order of battle. hence the enemy became terrified, our men reassured, and both retired with equal loss and advantage. germanicus presently after returning with the army to the river amisia, reconducted the legions, as he had brought them, in the fleet: part of the horse were ordered to march along the sea-shore to the rhine. caecina, who led his own men, was warned, that though he was to return through unknown roads, yet he should with all speed pass the causeway called the long bridges: it is a narrow track this, between vast marshes, and formerly raised by lucius domitius. the marshes themselves are of an uncertain soil, here full of mud, there of heavy sticking clay, or traversed with various currents. round about are woods which rise gently from the plain, and were already filled with soldiers by arminius; who, by shorter ways and a running march, had arrived there before our men, who were loaded with arms and baggage. caecina, who was perplexed how at once to repair the causeway decayed by time, and to repulse the foe, resolved at last to encamp in the place, that whilst some were employed in the work, others might maintain the fight. the barbarians strove violently to break our station, and to fall upon the entrenchers: they harassed our men, assaulted the works, changed their attacks, and pushed everywhere. with the shouts of the assailants, the cries of the workmen were confusedly mixed; and all things equally combined to distress the romans: the place deep with ooze sinking under those who stood, slippery to such as advanced; their armour heavy; the waters deep, nor could they in them launch their javelins. the cheruscans, on the contrary, were inured to encounters in the bogs; their persons tall, their spears long, such as could wound at a distance. at last the legions, already yielding, were by night redeemed from an unequal combat; but night interrupted not the activity of the germans, become by success indefatigable. without refreshing themselves with sleep, they diverted all the courses of the springs which rise in the neighbouring mountains, and turned them into the plains: thus the roman camp was flooded, the work, as far as they had carried it, overturned, and the labour of the poor soldiers renewed and doubled. to caecina this year proved the fortieth of his sustaining as officer or soldier the functions of arms; a man in all the vicissitudes of war, prosperous or disastrous, well experienced and thence undaunted. weighing, therefore, with himself all probable events and expedients, he could devise no other than that of restraining the enemy to the woods, till he had sent forward the wounded men and baggage; for, from the mountains to the marshes there stretched a plain fit only to hold a little army: to this purpose the legions were thus appointed; the fifth had the right wing, and the one-and-twentieth the left; the first led the van; the twentieth defended the rear. a restless night it was to both armies, but in different ways; the barbarians feasted and caroused, and with songs of triumph, or with horrid and threatening cries, filled all the plain and echoing woods. amongst the romans were feeble fires, sad silence, or broken words; they leaned drooping here and there against the pales, or wandered disconsolately about the tents, like men without sleep, but not quite awake. a frightful dream too terrified the general; he thought he heard and saw quinctilius varus, rising out of the marsh all besmeared with blood, stretching forth his hand, and calling upon him; but that he rejected the call and pushed him away. at break of day, the legions posted on the wings, through contumacy or affright, deserted their stations, and took sudden possession of a field beyond the bogs. neither did arminius fall straight upon them, however open they lay to his assault; but, when he perceived the baggage set fast in mire and ditches, the soldiers above it disorderly and embarrassed, the ranks and ensigns in confusion, and, as usual in a time of distress, every one in haste to save himself, but slow to obey his officer, he then commanded his germans to break in, "behold," he vehemently cried; "behold again varus and his legions subdued by the same fate." thus he cried, and instantly with a select body broke quite through our forces, and chiefly against the horse directed his havoc; so that the ground becoming slippery by their blood and the slime of the marsh, their feet flew from them, and they cast their riders; then galloping and stumbling amongst the ranks, they overthrew all they met, and trod to death all they overthrew. the greatest difficulty was to maintain the eagles; a storm of darts made it impossible to advance them, and the rotten ground impossible to fix them. caecina, while he sustained the fight, had his horse shot, and having fallen was nigh taken; but the first legion saved him. our relief came from the greediness of the enemy, who ceased slaying to seize the spoil: hence the legions had respite to struggle into the fair field and firm ground. nor was here an end of their miseries: a palisade was to be raised, an entrenchment digged; their instruments too for throwing up and carrying earth, and their tools for cutting turf, were almost all lost; no tents for the soldiers; no remedies for the wounded; and their food all defiled with mire or blood. as they shared it in sadness amongst them, they lamented that mournful night, they lamented the approaching day, to so many thousand men the last. it happened that a horse, which had broke his collar as he strayed about, became frightened with noise, and ran over some that were in his way: this raised such a consternation in the camp, from a persuasion that the germans in a body had forced an entrance, that all rushed to the gates, especially to the postern, as the farthest from the foe, and safer for flight. caecina having found the vanity of their dread, but unable to stop them, either by his authority, or by his prayers, or indeed by force, flung himself at last across the gate. this prevailed; their awe and tenderness of their general restrained them from running over his body; and the tribunes and centurions satisfied them the while, that it was a false alarm. then calling them together, and desiring them to hear him with silence, he reminded them of their difficulties, and how to conquer them: "that for their lives they must be indebted to their arms, but force was to be tempered with art; they must therefore keep close within their camp, till the enemy, in hopes of taking it by storm, advanced; then make a sudden sally on every side, and by this push they should break through the enemy, and reach the rhine. but if they fled, more forests remained to be traversed, deeper marshes to be passed, and the cruelty of a pursuing foe to be sustained." he laid before them the motives and fruits of victory, public rewards and glory, with every tender domestic consideration, as well as those of military exploits and praise. of their dangers and sufferings he said nothing. he next distributed horses, first his own, then those of the tribunes and leaders of the legions, to the bravest soldiers impartially; that thus mounted they might begin the charge, followed by the foot. amongst the germans there was not less agitation, from hopes of victory, greediness of spoil, and the opposite counsels of their leaders. arminius proposed "to let the romans march off, and to beset them in their march, when engaged in bogs and fastnesses." the advice of inguiomerus was fiercer, and thence by the barbarians more applauded: he declared "for forcing the camp, for that the victory would be quick, there would be more captives, and entire plunder." as soon, therefore, as it was light, they rushed out upon the camp, cast hurdles into the ditch, attacked and grappled the palisade. upon it few soldiers appeared, and these seemed frozen with fear; but as the enemy was in swarms, climbing the ramparts, the signal was given to the cohorts; the cornets and trumpets sounded, and instantly, with shouts and impetuosity, they issued out and begirt the assailants. "here are no thickets," they scornfully cried; "no bogs; but an equal field and impartial gods." the enemy, who imagined few romans remaining, fewer arms, and an easy conquest, were struck with the sounding trumpets, with the glittering armour; and every object of terror appeared double to them who expected none. they fell like men who, as they are void of moderation in prosperity, are also destitute of conduct in distress. arminius forsook the fight unhurt; inguiomerus grievously wounded; their men were slaughtered as long as day and rage lasted. in the evening the legions returned, in the same want of provisions, and with more wounds; but in victory they found all things, health, vigour, and abundance. in the meantime a report had flown, that the roman forces were routed, and an army of germans upon full march to invade gaul; so that under the terror of this news there were those whose cowardice would have emboldened them to have demolished the bridge upon the rhine, had not agrippina restrained them from that infamous attempt. in truth, such was the undaunted spirit of the woman, that at this time she performed all the duties of a general, relieved the necessitous soldiers, upon the wounded bestowed medicines, and upon others clothes. caius plinius, the writer of the german wars, relates that she stood at the end of the bridge, as the legions returned, and accosted them with thanks and praises; a behaviour which sunk deep into the spirit of tiberius: "for that all this officiousness of hers," he thought, "could not be upright; nor that it was against foreigners only she engaged the army. to the direction of the generals nothing was now left, when a woman reviewed the companies, attended the eagles, and to the men distributed largesses: as if before she had shown but small tokens of ambitious designs, in carrying her child (the son of the general) in a soldier's coat about the camp, with the title of caesar caligula: already in greater credit with the army was agrippina than the leaders of the legions, in greater than their generals; and a woman had suppressed sedition, which the authority of the emperor was not able to restrain." these jealousies were inflamed, and more were added, by sejanus; one who was well skilled in the temper of tiberius, and purposely furnished him with sources of hatred, to lie hid in his heart, and be discharged with increase hereafter. germanicus, in order to lighten the ships in which he had embarked his men, and fit their burden to the ebbs and shallows, delivered the second and fourteenth legions to publius vitellius, to lead them by land. vitellius at first had an easy march on dry ground, or ground moderately overflowed by the tide, when suddenly the fury of the north wind swelling the ocean (a constant effect of the equinox) the legions were surrounded and tossed with the tide, and the land was all on flood; the sea, the shore, the fields, had the same tempestuous face; no distinction of depths from shallows; none of firm, from deceitful, footing. they were overturned by the billows, swallowed down by the eddies; and horses, baggage, and drowned men encountered each other, and floated together. the several companies were mixed at random by the waves; they waded, now breast high, now up to the chin, and as the ground failed them, they fell, some never more to rise. their cries and mutual encouragements availed them nothing against the prevailing and inexorable waves; no difference between the coward and the brave, the wise and the foolish; none between circumspection and chance; but all were equally involved in the invincible violence of the flood. vitellius, at length struggling on to an eminence, drew the legions thither, where they passed the cold night without fire, and destitute of every convenience; most of them naked or lamed; not less miserable than men enclosed by an enemy; for even to such remained the consolation of an honourable death; but here was destruction every way void of glory. the land returned with the day, and they marched to the river vidrus, [footnote: weser.] whither germanicus had gone with the fleet. there the two legions were again embarked, when fame had given them for drowned; nor was their escape believed till germanicus and the army were seen to return. stertinius, who in the meanwhile had been sent before to receive sigimerus, the brother of segestes (a prince willing to surrender himself) brought him and his son to the city of the ubians. both were pardoned; the father freely, the son with more difficulty, because he was said to have insulted the corpse of varus. for the rest, spain, italy, and both the gauls strove with emulation to supply the losses of the army; and offered arms, horses, money, according as each abounded. germanicus applauded their zeal; but accepted only the horses and arms for the service of the war. with his own money he relieved the necessities of the soldiers: and to soften also by his kindness the memory of the late havoc, he visited the wounded, extolled the exploits of particulars, viewed their wounds, with hopes encouraged some, with a sense of glory animated others; and by affability and tenderness confirmed them all in devotion to himself and to his fortune in war. the ornaments of triumph were this year decreed to aulus caecina, lucius apronius, and caius silius, for their services under germanicus. the title of father of his country, so often offered by the people to tiberius, was rejected by him; nor would he permit swearing upon his acts, though the same was voted by the senate. against it he urged "the instability of all mortal things, and that the higher he was raised the more slippery he stood." but for all this ostentation of a popular spirit, he acquired not the reputation of possessing it, for he had revived the law concerning violated majesty; a law which, in the days of our ancestors, had indeed the same name, but implied different arraignments and crimes, namely, those against the state; as when an army was betrayed abroad, when seditions were raised at home; in short, when the public was faithlessly administered and the majesty of the roman people was debased: these were actions, and actions were punished, but words were free. augustus was the first who brought libels under the penalties of this wrested law, incensed as he was by the insolence of cassius severus, who had in his writings wantonly defamed men and ladies of illustrious quality. tiberius too afterwards, when pompeius macer, the praetor, consulted him "whether process should be granted upon this law?" answered, "that the laws must be executed." he also was exasperated by satirical verses written by unknown authors and dispersed; exposing his cruelty, his pride, and his mind naturally alienated from his mother. it will be worth while to relate here the pretended crimes charged upon falanius and rubrius, two roman knights of small fortunes; that hence may be seen from what beginnings, and by how much dark art of tiberius, this grievous mischief crept in; how it was again restrained; how at last it blazed out and consumed all things. to falanius was objected by his accusers, that "amongst the adorers of augustus, who went in fraternities from house to house, he had admitted one cassius, a mimic and prostitute; and having sold his gardens, had likewise with them sold the statue of augustus." the crime imputed to rubrius was, "that he had sworn falsely by the divinity of augustus." when these accusations were known to tiberius, he wrote to the consuls, "that heaven was not therefore decreed to his father, that the worship of him might be a snare to the citizens of rome; that cassius, the player, was wont to assist with others of his profession at the interludes consecrated by his mother to the memory of augustus: neither did it affect religion, that his effigies, like other images of the gods, were comprehended in the sale of houses and gardens. as to the false swearing by his name, it was to be deemed the same as if rubrius had profaned the name of jupiter; but to the gods belonged the avenging of injuries done to the gods." not long after, granius marcellus, praetor of bithynia, was charged with high treason by his own quaestor, cepio crispinus; romanus hispo, the pleader, supporting the charge. this cepio began a course of life which, through the miseries of the times and the bold wickedness of men, became afterwards famous: at first needy and obscure, but of a busy spirit, he made court to the cruelty of the prince by occult informations; and presently, as an open accuser, grew terrible to every distinguished roman. this procured him credit with one, hatred from all, and made a precedent to be followed by others, who from poverty became rich; from being contemned, dreadful; and in the destruction which they brought upon others, found at last their own. he accused marcellus of "malignant words concerning tiberius," an inevitable crime! when the accuser, collecting all the most detestable parts of the prince's character, alleged them as the expressions of the accused; for, because they were true, they were believed to have been spoken. to this, hispo added, "that the statue of marcellus was by him placed higher than those of the caesars; and that, having cut off the head of augustus, he had in the room of it set the head of tiberius." this enraged him so, that breaking silence, he cried, "he would himself, in this cause, give his vote explicitly and under the tie of an oath." by this he meant to force the assent of the rest of the senate. there remained even then some faint traces of expiring liberty. hence cneius piso asked him, "in what place, caesar, will you choose to give your opinion? if first, i shall have your example to follow; if last, i fear i may ignorantly dissent from you." the words pierced him, but he bore them, the rather as he was ashamed of his unwary transport; and he suffered the accused to be acquitted of high treason. to try him for the public money was referred to the proper judges. nor sufficed it tiberius to assist in the deliberations of the senate only: he likewise sat in the seats of justice; but always on one side, because he would not dispossess the praetor of his chair; and by his presence there, many ordinances were established against the intrigues and solicitations of the grandees. but while private justice was thus promoted, public liberty was overthrown. about this time, pius aurelius, the senator, whose house, yielding to the pressure of the public road and aqueducts, had fallen, complained to the senate and prayed relief: a suit opposed by the praetors who managed the treasury; but he was relieved by tiberius, who ordered him the price of his house; for he was fond of being liberal upon honest occasions: a virtue which he long retained, even after he had utterly abandoned all other virtues. upon propertius celer, once praetor, but now desiring leave to resign the dignity of senator, as a burden to his poverty, he bestowed a thousand great sesterces; [footnote: £ .] upon ample information, that celer's necessities were derived from his father. others, who attempted the same thing, he ordered to lay their condition before the senate; and from an affectation of severity was thus austere even where he acted with uprightness. hence the rest preferred poverty and silence to begging and relief. the same year the tiber, being swelled with continual rains, overflowed the level parts of the city; and the common destruction of men and houses followed the returning flood. hence asinius callus moved "that the sibylline books might be consulted." tiberius opposed it, equally smothering all inquiries whatsoever, whether into matters human or divine. to ateius capito, however, and lucius arruntius, was committed the care of restraining the river within its banks. the provinces of achaia and macedon, praying relief from their public burdens, were for the present discharged of their proconsular government, and subjected to the emperor's lieutenants. in the entertainment of gladiators at rome, drusus presided: it was exhibited in the name of germanicus, and his own; and at it he manifested too much lust of blood, even of the blood of slaves: a quality terrible to the populace; and hence his father was said to have reproved him. his own absence from these shows was variously construed: by some it was ascribed to his impatience of a crowd; by others to his reserved and solitary genius, and his fear of an unequal comparison with augustus, who was wont to be a cheerful spectator. but, that he thus purposely furnished matter for exposing the cruelty of his son there, and for raising him popular hate, is what i would not believe; though this too was asserted. the dissensions of the theatre, begun last year, broke out now more violently, with the slaughter of several, not of the people only, but of the soldiers, with that of a centurion. nay, a tribune of a praetorian cohort was wounded, whilst they were securing the magistrates from insults, and quelling the licentiousness of the rabble. this riot was canvassed in the senate, and votes were passing for empowering the praetors to whip the players. haterius agrippa, tribune of the people, opposed it; and was sharply reprimanded by a speech of asinius gallus. tiberius was silent, and to the senate allowed these empty apparitions of liberty. the opposition, however, prevailed, in reverence to the authority of augustus; who, upon a certain occasion, had given his judgment, "that players were exempt from stripes:" nor would tiberius assume to violate any words of his. to limit the wages of players, and restrain the licentiousness of their partisans, many decrees were made: the most remarkable were, "that no senator should enter the house of a pantomime; no roman knight attend them abroad; they should show nowhere but in the theatre; and the praetors should have power to punish any insolence in the spectators with exile." the spaniards were, upon their petition, permitted to build a temple to augustus in the colony of tarragon; an example this for all the provinces to follow. in answer to the people, who prayed to be relieved from the _centesima_, a tax of one in the hundred, established at the end of the civil wars, upon all vendible commodities; tiberius by an edict declared, "that upon this tax depended the fund for maintaining the army; nor even thus was the commonwealth equal to the expense, if before their twentieth year the veterans were dismissed." so that the concessions made them during the late sedition, to discharge them finally at the end of sixteen years, as they were made through necessity, were for the future abolished. it was next proposed to the senate, by arruntius and ateius, whether, in order to restrain the overflowing of the tiber, the channels of the several rivers and lakes by which it was swelled, must not be diverted. upon this question the deputies of several cities and colonies were heard. the florentines besought, "that the bed of the clanis [footnote: chiana.] might not be turned into their river arnus; [footnote: arno.] for that the same would prove their utter ruin." the like plea was urged by the interamnates; [footnote: terni.] "since the most fruitful plains in italy would be lost, if, according to the project, the nar, branched out into rivulets, overflowed them." nor were the reatinians less earnest against stopping the outlets of the lake velinus into the nar; "otherwise," they said, "it would break over its banks, and stagnate all the adjacent country; the direction of nature was best in all natural things: it was she that to rivers had appointed their courses and discharges, and set them their limits as well as their sources. regard too was to be paid to the religion of our latin allies, who, esteeming the rivers of their country sacred, had to them dedicated priests, and altars, and groves; nay, the tiber himself, when bereft of his auxiliary streams, would flow with diminished grandeur." now, whether it were that the prayers of the colonies, or the difficulty of the work, or the influence of superstition prevailed, it is certain the opinion of piso was followed; namely, that nothing should be altered, to poppeus sabinus was continued his province of mesia; and to it was added that of achaia and macedon. this too was part of the politics of tiberius, to prolong governments, and maintain the same men in the same armies, or civil employments, for the most part, to the end of their lives; with what view, is not agreed. some think "that from an impatience of returning cares, he was for making whatever he once liked perpetual." others, "that from the malignity of his invidious nature, he regretted the preferring of many." there are some who believe, "that as he had a crafty penetrating spirit, so he had an understanding ever irresolute and perplexed." so much is certain, that he never courted any eminent virtue, yet hated vice; from the best men he dreaded danger to himself, and disgrace to the public from the worst. this hesitation mastered him so much at last that he committed foreign governments to some, whom he meant never to suffer to leave rome. concerning the management of consular elections, either then or afterwards under tiberius, i can affirm scarce anything: such is the variance about it, not only amongst historians, but even in his own speeches. sometimes, not naming the candidates, he described them by their family, by their life and manners, and by the number of their campaigns; so as it might be apparent whom he meant. again, avoiding even to describe them, he exhorted the candidates not to disturb the election by their intrigues, and promised himself to take care of their interests. but chiefly he used to declare, "that to him none had signified their pretensions, but such whose names he had delivered to the consuls; others too were at liberty to offer the like pretensions, if they trusted to the favour of the senate or their own merits." specious words! but entirely empty, or full of fraud; and by how much they were covered with the greater guise of liberty, by so much threatening a more hasty and devouring bondage. book ii a.d. - . the commotions in the east happened not ungratefully to tiberius, since then he had a colour for separating germanicus from his old and faithful legions; for setting him over strange provinces, and exposing him at once to casual perils and the efforts of fraud. but he, the more ardent he found the affections of the soldiers, and the greater the hatred of his uncle, so much the more intent upon a decisive victory, weighed with himself all the methods of that war, with all the disasters and successes which had befallen him in it to this his third year. he remembered "that the germans were ever routed in a fair battle, and upon equal ground; that woods and bogs, short summers, and early winters, were their chief resources; that his own men suffered not so much from their wounds, as from tedious marches, and the loss of their arms. the gauls were weary of furnishing horses; long and cumbersome was his train of baggage, easily surprised, and with difficulty defended; but, if we entered the country by sea, the invasion would be easy, and the enemy unapprised. besides, the war would be earlier begun; the legions and provisions would be carried together; and the cavalry brought with safety, through the mouths and channels of the rivers, into the heart of germany." on that method therefore he fixed: whilst publius vitellius and publius cantius were sent to collect the tribute of the gauls; silius, anteius, and caecina had the direction of building the fleet. a thousand vessels were thought sufficient, and with despatch finished: some were short, sharp at both ends, and wide in the middle, the easier to endure the agitations of the waves; some had flat bottoms, that without damage they might bear to run aground; several had helms at each end, that by suddenly turning the oars only they might work either way. many were arched over, for carrying the engines of war. they were fitted for holding horses and provisions, to fly with sails, to run with oars, and the spirit and alacrity of the soldiers heightened the show and terror of the fleet. they were to meet at the isle of batavia, which was chosen for its easy landing, for its convenience to receive the forces, and thence to transport them to the war. for the rhine, flowing in one continual channel, or only broken by small islands, is, at the extremity of batavia, divided as it were into two rivers; one running still through germany, and retaining the same name and violent current, till it mixes with the ocean; the other, washing the gallic shore, with a broader and more gentle stream, is by the inhabitants called by another name, the wahal, which it soon after changes for that of the river meuse, by whose immense mouth it is discharged into the same ocean. while the fleet sailed, germanicus commanded silius, his lieutenant, with a flying band, to invade the cattans; and he himself, upon hearing that the fort upon the river luppia [footnote: lippe.] was besieged, led six legions thither: but the sudden rains prevented silius from doing more than taking some small plunder, with the wife and daughter of arpus, prince of the cattans; nor did the besiegers stay to fight germanicus, but upon the report of his approach stole off and dispersed. as they had, however, thrown down the common tomb lately raised over the varian legions, and the old altar erected to drusus, he restored the altar; and performed in person with the legions the funeral ceremony of running courses to the honour of his father. to replace the tomb was not thought fit; but all the space between fort aliso and the rhine, he fortified with a new barrier. the fleet was now arrived, the provisions were sent forward; ships were assigned to the legions and the allies; and he entered the canal cut by drusus, and called by his name. here he invoked his father "to be propitious to his son attempting the same enterprises; to inspire him with the same counsels, and animate him by his example." hence he sailed fortunately through the lakes and the ocean to the river amisia, [footnote: ems.] and at the town of amisia the fleet was left upon the left shore; and it was a fault that it sailed no higher, for he landed the army on the right shore, so that in making bridges many days were consumed. the horse and the legions passed over without danger, as it was yet ebb; but the returning tide disordered the rear, especially the batavians, while they played with the waves, and showed their dexterity in swimming; and some were drowned. whilst germanicus was encamping, he was told of the revolt of the angrivarians behind him, and thither he despatched a body of horse and light foot, under stertinius, who with fire and slaughter took vengeance on the perfidious revolters. between the romans and the cheruscans flowed the river visurgis, [footnote: weser.] and on the banks of it stood arminius, with the other chiefs: he inquired whether germanicus was come; and being answered that he was there, he prayed leave to speak with his brother. this brother of his was in the army, his name flavius; one remarkable for his lasting faith towards the romans, and for the loss of an eye in the war under tiberius. this request was granted: flavius stepped forward, and was saluted by arminius, who, having removed his own attendance, desired that our archers ranged upon the opposite banks might retire. when they were withdrawn, "how came you," says he to his brother, "by that deformity in your face?" the brother having informed him where, and in what fight, was next asked, "what reward he had received?" flavius answered, "increase of pay, the chain, the crown, and other military gifts;" all which arminius treated with derision, as the vile wages of servitude. here began a warm contest: flavius pleaded "the grandeur of the roman empire, the power of the emperor, the roman clemency to submitting nations, the heavy yoke of the vanquished; and that neither the wife nor son of arminius was used like a captive." arminius to all this opposed "the natural rights of their country, their ancient liberty, the domestic gods of germany; he urged the prayers of their common mother joined to his own, that he would not prefer the character of a deserter, that of a betrayer of his family, his countrymen, and kindred, to the glory of being their commander." by degrees they fell into reproaches; nor would the interposition of the river have restrained them from blows, had not stertinius hasted to lay hold on flavius, full of rage, and calling for his arms and his horse. on the opposite side was seen arminius, swelling with ferocity and threats, and denouncing battle. for, of what he said, much was said in latin, having as the general of his countrymen served in the roman armies. next day, the german army stood embattled beyond the visurgis. germanicus, who thought it became not a general to endanger the legions, till for their passage and security he had placed bridges and guards, made the horse ford over. they were led by stertinius, and aemilius, lieutenant-colonel of a legion; and these two officers crossed the river in distant places, to divide the foe. cariovalda, captain of the batavians, passed it where most rapid, and was by the cheruscans, who feigned flight, drawn into a plain surrounded with woods, whence they rushed out upon him and assaulted him on every side; overthrew those who resisted, and pressed vehemently upon those who gave way. the distressed batavians formed themselves into a ring, but were again broken, partly by a close assault, partly by distant showers of darts. cariovalda, having long sustained the fury of the enemy, exhorted his men to draw up into platoons, and break through the prevailing host; he himself forced his way into their centre, and fell with his horse under a shower of darts, and many of the principal batavians round him; the rest were saved by their own bravery, or rescued by the cavalry under stertinius and aemilius. germanicus, having passed the visurgis, learned from a deserter, that arminius had marked out the place of battle; that more nations had also joined him; that they rendezvoused in a wood sacred to hercules, and would attempt to storm our camp by night. the deserter was believed; the enemy's fires were discerned; and the scouts having advanced towards them, reported that they had heard the neighing of horses, and the hollow murmur of a mighty and tumultuous host. in this important conjuncture, upon the approach of a decisive battle, germanicus thought it behoved him to learn the inclinations and spirit of the soldiers and deliberated with himself how to be informed without fraud: "for the reports of the tribunes and centurions used to be oftener pleasing than true; his freedmen had still slavish souls, incapable of free speech; friends were apt to flatter; there was the same uncertainty in an assemble, where the counsel proposed by a few was wont to be echoed by all; in truth, the minds of the soldiery were then best known, when they were least watched; when free and over their meals, they frankly disclosed their hopes and fears." in the beginning of night, he went out at the augural gate, with a single attendant; himself disguised with the skin of a wild beast hanging over his shoulders; and choosing secret ways, he escaped the notice of the watch, entered the lanes of the camp, listened from tent to tent, and enjoyed the pleasing display of his own popularity and fame; as one was magnifying the imperial birth of his general; another, his graceful person; and all, his patience, condescension, and the equality of his soul in every temper, pleasant or grave: they confessed the gratitude due to so much merit, and that in battle they ought to express it, and to sacrifice at the same time to glory and revenge these perfidious germans, who for ever violated stipulations and peace. in the meantime one of the enemy who understood latin rode up to the palisades, and with a loud voice offered, in the name of arminius, to every deserter a wife and land, and as long as the war lasted an hundred sesterces a day. [footnote: s. d.] this contumely kindled the wrath of the legions: "let day come," they cried, "let battle be given: the soldiers would seize and not accept the lands of the germans; take and not receive german wives; they, however, received the offer as an omen of victory, and considered the money and women as their destined prey." near the third watch of the night, they approached and insulted the camp; but without striking a blow, when they found the ramparts covered thick with cohorts, and no advantage given. germanicus had the same night a joyful dream: he thought he sacrificed, and, in place of his own robe besmeared with the sacred blood, received one fairer from the hands of his grandmother augusta; so that elevated by the omen, and by equal encouragement from the auspices, he called an assembly, where he opened his deliberations concerning the approaching battle with all the advantages contributing to victory: "that to the roman soldiers not only plains and dales, but, with due circumspection, even woods and forests were commodious for an engagement. the huge targets, the enormous spears, of the barbarians could never be wielded amongst thickets and trunks of trees like roman swords and javelins, and armour adjusted to the shape and size of their bodies, so that with these tractable arms they might thicken their blows, and strike with certainty at the naked faces of the enemy, since the germans were neither furnished with headpiece nor coat of mail, nor were their bucklers bound with leather or fortified with iron, but all bare basket-work or painted boards; and though their first ranks were armed with pikes, the rest had only stakes burnt at the end, or short and contemptible darts; for their persons, as they were terrible to sight and violent in the onset, so they were utterly impatient of wounds, unaffected with their own disgrace, unconcerned for the honour of their general, whom they ever deserted and fled; in distress cowards, in prosperity despisers of all divine, of all human laws. in fine, if the army, after their fatigues at sea and their tedious marches by land, longed for an utter end of their labour, by this battle they might gain it. the elbe was now nearer than the rhine; and if they would make him a conqueror in those countries where his father and his uncle had conquered, the war was concluded." the ardour of the soldiers followed the speech of the general, and the signal for the onset was given. neither did arminius or the other chiefs neglect to declare to their several bands that "these romans were the cowardly fugitives of the varian army, who, because they could not endure to fight, had afterwards chosen to rebel. that some with backs deformed by wounds, some with limbs maimed by tempests, forsaken of hope, and the gods against them, were once more presenting their lives to their vengeful foes. hitherto a fleet, and unfrequented seas, had been the resources of their cowardice against an assaulting or a pursuing enemy; but now that they were to engage hand to hand, vain would be their relief from wind and oars after a defeat. the germans needed only remember their rapine, cruelty, and pride; and that to themselves nothing remained but either to maintain their native liberty, or by death to prevent bondage." the enemy, thus inflamed and calling for battle, were led into a plain called idistavisus: [footnote: near minden.] it lies between the visurgis and the hills, and winds unequally along, as it is straitened by the swellings of the mountains or enlarged by the circuits of the river. behind rose a forest of high trees, thick of branches above but clear of bushes below. the army of barbarians kept the plain, and the entrances of the forest. the cheruscans alone sat down upon the mountain, in order to pour down from thence upon the romans as soon as they became engaged in the fight. our army marched thus: the auxiliary gauls and germans in front, after them the foot archers, next four legions, and then germanicus with two praetorian cohorts and the choice of the cavalry; then four legions more, and the light foot with archers on horseback and the other troops of the allies; the men all intent to march in order of battle and ready to engage as they marched. as the impatient bands of cheruscans were now perceived descending fiercely from the hills, germanicus commanded a body of the best horse to charge them in the flank, and stertinius with the rest to wheel round to attack them in the rear, and promised to be ready to assist them in person. during this a joyful omen appeared: eight eagles were seen to fly toward the wood, and to enter it; a presage of victory to the general. "_advance_," he cried, "_follow the roman birds; follow the tutelar deities of the legions!_" instantly the foot charged the enemy's front, and instantly the detached cavalry attacked their flank and rear: this double assault had a strange event; the two divisions of their army fled opposite ways; that in the woods ran to the plain; that in the plain rushed into the woods. the cheruscans, between both, were driven from the hills; amongst them arminius, remarkably brave, who with his hand, his voice, and distinguished wounds was still sustaining the fight. he had assaulted the archers, and would have broken through them, but the cohorts of the retians, the vindelicians, and the gauls marched to their relief; however, by his own vigour and the force of his horse, he escaped, his face besmeared with his own blood to avoid being known. some have related that the chaucians, who were amongst the roman auxiliaries, knew him, and let him go; the same bravery or deceit procured inguiomerus his escape; the rest were everywhere slain; and great numbers attempting to swim the visurgis were destroyed in it, either pursued with darts, or swallowed by the current, or overwhelmed with the weight of the crowd, or buried under the falling banks; some seeking a base refuge on the tops of trees, and concealment amongst the branches, were shot in sport by the archers, or squashed as the trees were felled: a mighty victory this, and to us far from bloody! this slaughter of the foe, from the fifth hour of the day till night, filled the country for ten miles with carcasses and arms: amongst the spoils, chains were found, which, sure of conquering, they had brought to bind the roman captives. the soldiers proclaimed tiberius _imperator_ upon the field of battle, and raising a mount, placed upon it as trophies the german arms, with the names of all the vanquished nations inscribed below. this sight filled the germans with more anguish and rage than all their wounds, past afflictions, and slaughters. they, who were just prepared to abandon their dwellings, and flit beyond the elbe, meditate war and grasp their arms: people, nobles, youth, aged, all rush suddenly upon the roman army in its march and disorder it. they next chose their camp, a strait and moist plain shut in between a river and a forest, the forest too surrounded with a deep marsh, except on one side, which was closed with a barrier raised by the angrivarians between them and the cheruscans. here stood their foot; their horse were distributed and concealed amongst the neighbouring groves, thence, by surprise, to beset the legions in the rear as soon as they had entered the wood. nothing of all this was a secret to germanicus: he knew their counsels, their stations, what steps they pursued, what measures they concealed; and, to the destruction of the enemy, turned their own subtilty and devices. to seius tubero, his lieutenant, he committed the horse and the field; the infantry so disposed, that part might pass the level approaches into the wood, and the rest force the ramparts; this was the most arduous task, and to himself he reserved it; the rest he left to his lieutenants. those who had the even ground to traverse, broke easily in; but they who were to assail the rampart, were as grievously battered from above, as if they had been storming a wall. the general perceived the inequality of this close attack, and drawing off the legions a small distance, ordered the slingers to throw, and the engineers to play, to beat off the enemy: immediately showers of darts were poured from the engines, and the defenders of the barrier, the more bold and exposed they were, with the more wounds they were beaten down. germanicus, having taken the rampart, first forced his way, at the head of the praetorian cohorts, into the woods, and there it was fought foot to foot; behind, the enemy were begirt with the morass, the romans with the mountains or the rivers; no room for either to retreat, no hope but in valour, no safety but in victory. the germans had no inferior courage, but they were exceeded in the fashion of arms and art of fighting. their mighty multitude, hampered in narrow places, could not push nor recover their long spears, nor practise in a close combat their usual boundings and velocity of limbs. on the contrary, our soldiers, with handy swords, and their breasts closely guarded with a buckler, delved the large bodies and naked faces of the barbarians, and opened themselves a way with a havoc of the enemy: besides, the activity of arminius now failed him, either spent through his continual efforts or slackened by a wound just received. inguiomerus was everywhere upon the spur, animating the battle, but fortune rather than courage deserted him. germanicus, to be the easier known, pulled off his helmet, and exhorted his men "to prosecute the slaughter; they wanted no captives," he said; "only the cutting off that people root and branch would put an end to the war." it was now late in the day, and he drew off a legion to make a camp; the rest glutted themselves till night, with the blood of the foe; the horse fought with doubtful success. germanicus, in a speech from the tribunal, praised his victorious army, and raised a monument of arms with a proud inscription: "that the army of tiberius caesar, having vanquished entirely the nations between the rhine and the elbe, had consecrated that monument to mars, to jupiter, and to augustus." of himself, he made no mention, either fearful of provoking envy, or that he thought it sufficient praise to have deserved it. he had next commanded stertinius to carry the war amongst the angrivarians; but they instantly submitted; and these supplicants, by yielding without articles, obtained pardon without reserve. the summer now declining, some of the legions were sent back into winter quarters by land; more were embarked with germanicus upon the river amisia, to go from thence by the ocean. the sea at first was serene, no sound or agitation but from the oars or sails of a thousand ships; but suddenly a black host of clouds poured a storm of hail; furious winds roared on every side, and the tempest darkened the deep, so that all prospect was lost; and it was impossible to steer. the soldiers too, unaccustomed to the terrors of the sea, in the hurry of fear disordered the mariners, or interrupted the skilful by unskilful help. at last the south wind, mastering all the rest, drove the ocean and the sky: the tempest derived new force from the windy mountains and swelling rivers of germany, as well as from an immense train of clouds; and contracting withal fresh vigour from the boisterous neighbourhood of the north, it hurled the ships and tossed them into the open ocean, or against islands shored with rocks or dangerously beset with covered shoals. the ships by degrees, with great labour and the change of the tide, were relieved from the rocks and sands, but remained at the mercy of the winds; their anchors could not hold them; they were full of water, nor could all their pumps discharge it: hence, to lighten and raise the vessels swallowing at their decks the invading waves, the horses, beasts, baggage, and even the arms were cast into the deep. by how much the german ocean is more outrageous than the rest of the sea, and the german climate excels in rigour, by so much this ruin was reckoned to exceed in greatness and novelty. they were engaged in a tempestuous sea, believed deep without bottom, vast without bounds, or no shores near but hostile shores: part of the fleet were swallowed up; many were driven upon remote islands void of human culture, where the men perished through famine, or were kept alive by the carcasses of horses cast in by the flood. only the galley of germanicus landed upon the coast of the chaucians, where wandering sadly, day and night, upon the rocks and prominent shore, and incessantly accusing himself as the author of such mighty destruction, he was hardly restrained by his friends from casting himself desperately into the same hostile floods. at last, with the returning tide and an assisting gale, the ships began to return, all maimed, almost destitute of oars, or with coats spread for sails; and some, utterly disabled, were dragged by those that were less. he repaired them hastily, and despatched them to search the islands; and by this care many men were gleaned up; many were by the angrivarians, our new subjects, redeemed from their maritime neighbours and restored; and some, driven into great britain, were sent back by the little british kings. those who had come from afar, recounted wonders at their return, "the impetuosity of whirlwinds; wonderful birds; sea monsters of ambiguous forms, between man and beasts." strange sights these! or the effects of imagination and fear. the noise of this wreck, as it animated the germans with hopes of renewing the war, awakened germanicus also to restrain them: he commanded caius silius, with thirty thousand foot and three thousand horse, to march against the cattans: he himself, with a greater force, invaded the marsians, where he learnt from malovendus, their general, lately taken into our subjection, that the eagle of one of varus's legions was hid underground in a neighbouring grove, and kept by a slender guard. instantly two parties were despatched; one to face the enemy and provoke them from their post; the other to beset their rear and dig up the eagle; and success attended both. hence germanicus advanced with great alacrity, laid waste the country, and smote the foe, either not daring to engage, or, wherever they engaged, suddenly defeated. nor, as we learnt from the prisoners, were they ever seized with greater dismay: "the romans," they cried, "are invincible: no calamities can subdue them: they have wrecked their fleet; their arms are lost; our shores are covered with the bodies of their horses and men; and yet they attack us with their usual ferocity, with the same firmness, and with numbers as it were increased." the army was from thence led back into winter quarters, full of joy to have balanced, by this prosperous expedition, their late misfortune at sea; and by the bounty of germanicus, their joy was heightened, since to each sufferer he caused to be paid as much as each declared he had lost; neither was it doubted but the enemy were humbled, and concerting measures for obtaining peace, and that the next summer would terminate the war. but tiberius by frequent letters urged him "to come home, there to celebrate the triumph already decreed him; urged that he had already tried enough of events, and tempted abundant hazards: he had indeed fought great and successful battles; but he must likewise remember his losses and calamities, which, however, owing to wind and waves, and no fault of the general, were yet great and grievous. he himself had been sent nine times into germany by augustus, and effected much more by policy than arms: it was thus he had brought the sigambrians into subjection, thus drawn the suevians and king maroboduus under the bonds of peace. the cheruscans too, and the other hostile nations, now the roman vengeance was satiated, might be left to pursue their own national feuds." germanicus besought one year to accomplish his conquest; but tiberius assailed his modesty with a new bait and fresh opportunity, by offering him another consulship, for the administration of which he was to attend in person at rome. he added, "that if the war was still to be prosecuted, germanicus should leave a field of glory to his brother drusus, to whom there now remained no other; since the empire had nowhere a war to maintain but in germany, and thence only drusus could acquire the title of imperator, and merit the triumphal laurel." germanicus persisted no longer; though he knew that this was all feigned and hollow, and saw himself invidiously torn away from a harvest of ripe glory. decrees of the senate were made for driving astrologers and magicians out of italy; and one of the herd, lucius pituanius, was precipitated from the tarpeian rock: publius marcius, another, was, by the judgment of the consuls, at the sound of trumpet executed without the esquiline gate, according to the ancient form. next time the senate sat, long discourses against the luxury of the city were made by quintus haterius, a consular, and by octavius fronto, formerly praetor; and a law was passed "against using table-plate of solid gold, and against men debasing themselves with gorgeous and effeminate silks." fronto went further, and desired that "the quantities of silver plate, the expense of furniture, and the number of domestics might be limited;" for it was yet common for senators to depart from the present debate and offer, as their advice, whatever they judged conducing to the interest of the commonweal. against him it was argued by asinius callus, "that with the growth of the empire private riches were likewise grown, and it was no new thing for citizens to live according to their conditions, but agreeable to the most primitive usage: the ancient fabricii and the later scipios, having different wealth, lived differently; but all suitably to the several stages of the commonwealth. public property was accompanied with domestic; but when the state rose to such a height of magnificence, the magnificence of particulars rose too. as to plate, and train, and expense, there was no standard of excess or frugality, but from the fortunes of men. the law, indeed, had made a distinction between the fortunes of senators and knights; not for any natural difference between them, but that they who excelled in place, rank, and civil pre-eminence, might excel too in other particulars, such as conduced to the health of the body or to the peace and solacement of the soul; unless it were expected, that the most illustrious citizens should sustain the sharpest cares, and undergo the heaviest fatigues and dangers, but continue destitute of every alleviation of fatigue and danger and care." gallus easily prevailed, whilst under worthy names he avowed and supported popular vices in an assembly engaged in them. tiberius too had said, "that it was not a season for reformation; or, if there were any corruption of manners, there would not be wanting one to correct them." during these transactions, lucius piso, after he had declaimed bitterly in the senate against "the ambitious practices and intrigues of the forum, the corruption of the tribunals, and the inhumanity of the pleaders breathing continual terror and impeachments," declared "he would entirely relinquish rome, and retire into a quiet corner of the country, far distant and obscure." with these words he left the senate; tiberius was provoked; and yet not only soothed him with gentle words, but likewise obliged piso's relations, by their authority or entreaties, to retain him. the same piso gave soon after an equal instance of the indignation of the free spirit, by prosecuting a suit against urgulania; a lady whom the partial friendship of livia had set at defiance with the laws. urgulania being carried, for protection, to the palace, despised the efforts of piso; so that neither did she submit; nor would he desist, notwithstanding the complaints and resentments of livia, that in the prosecution "violence and indignity were done to her own person." tiberius promised to attend the trial, and assist urgulania; but only promised in civility to his mother, for so far he thought it became him; and thus left the palace, ordering his guards to follow at a distance. people the while crowded about him, and he walked with a slow and composed air: as he lingered, and prolonged the time and way with various discourse, the trial went on. piso would not be mollified by the importunity of his friends; and hence at last the empress ordered the payment of the money claimed by him. this was the issue of the affair: by it, piso lost no renown; and it signally increased the credit of tiberius. the power, however, of urgulania was so exorbitant to the state, that she disdained to appear a witness in a certain cause before the senate: and, when it had been always usual even for the vestal virgins to attend the forum and courts of justice, as oft as their evidence was required; a praetor was sent to examine urgulania at her own house. the procrastination which happened this year in the public affairs, i should not mention, but that the different opinions of cneius piso and asinius gallus about it, are worth knowing. their dispute was occasioned by a declaration of tiberius; "that he was about to be absent," and it was the motion of piso, "that for that very reason, the prosecution of public business was the rather to be continued; since, as in the prince's absence, the senate and equestrian order might administer their several parts, the same would redound to the honour of the commonwealth." this was a declaration for liberty, and in it piso had prevented gallus, who now in opposition said, "that nothing sufficiently illustrious, nor suiting the dignity of the roman people, could be transacted but under the immediate eye of the emperor, and therefore the conflux of suitors and affairs from italy and the provinces must by all means be reserved for his presence." tiberius heard and was silent, while the debate was managed on both sides with mighty vehemence; but the adjournment was carried. a debate too arose between gallus and the emperor: for gallus moved "that the magistrates should be henceforth elected but once every five years; that the legates of the legions, who had never exercised the praetorships, should be appointed praetors; and that the prince should nominate twelve candidates every year." it was not doubted but this motion had a deeper aim, and that by it the secret springs and reserves of imperial power were invaded. but tiberius, as if he rather apprehended the augmentation of his power, argued "that it was a heavy task upon his moderation, to choose so many magistrates, and to postpone so many candidates. that disgusts from disappointments were hardly avoided in yearly elections; though, for their solacement, fresh hopes remained of approaching success in the next; now how great must be the hatred, how lasting the resentment of such whose pretensions were to be rejected beyond five years? and whence could it be foreseen that, in so long a tract of time, the same men would continue to have the same dispositions, the same alliances and fortunes? even an annual designation to power made men imperious; how imperious would it make them, if they bore the honour for five years! besides, it would multiply every single magistrate into five, and utterly subvert the laws which had prescribed a proper space for exercising the diligence of the candidates, and for soliciting as well as enjoying preferments." by this speech, in appearance popular, he still retained the spirit and force of the sovereignty. he likewise sustained by gratuities, the dignity of some necessitous senators: hence it was the more wondered, that he received with haughtiness and repulse the petition of marcus hortalus, a young man of signal quality and manifestly poor. he was the grandson of hortensius the orator; and had been encouraged by the deified augustus, with a bounty of a thousand great sestertia, [footnote: £ .] to marry for posterity; purely to prevent the extinction of a family most illustrious and renowned. the senate were sitting in the palace, and hortalus having set his four children before the door, fixed his eyes, now upon the statue of hortensius, placed amongst the orators; then upon that of augustus; and instead of speaking to the question, began on this wise: "conscript fathers, you see there the number and infancy of my children; not mine by my own choice, but in compliance with the advice of the prince: such too was the splendour of my ancestors, that it merited to be perpetuated in their race; but for my own particular, who, marred by the revolution of the times, could not raise wealth, nor engage popular favour, nor cultivate the hereditary fortune of our house, the fortune of eloquence: i deemed it sufficient if, in my slender circumstances, i lived no disgrace to myself, no burden to others. commanded by the emperor, i took a wife; behold the offspring of so many consuls; behold the descendants of so many dictators! nor is this remembrance invidiously made, but made to move mercy. in the progress of your reign, caesar, these children may arrive at the honours in your gift; defend them in the meantime from want: they are the great-grandsons of hortensius; they are the foster sons of augustus." the inclination of the senate was favourable; an incitement this to tiberius the more eagerly to thwart hortalus. these were in effect his words: "if all that are poor recur hither for a provision of money to their children, the public will certainly fail, and yet particulars never be satiated. our ancestors, when they permitted a departure from the question, to propose somewhat more important to the state, did not therefore permit it, that we might here transact domestic matters, and augment our private rents: an employment invidious both in the senate and the prince; since, whether they grant or deny the petitioned bounties, either the people or the petitioners will ever be offended. but these, in truth, are not petitions; they are demands made against order, and made by surprise: while you are assembled upon other affairs, he stands up and urges your pity, by the number and infancy of his children; with the same violence, he charges the attack to me, and as it were bursts open the exchequer; but if by popular bounties we exhaust it, by rapine and oppression we must supply it. the deified augustus gave you money, hortalus; but without solicitation he gave it, and on no condition that it should always be given: otherwise diligence will languish; sloth will prevail; and men having no hopes in resources of their own, no anxiety for themselves, but all securely relying on foreign relief, will become private sluggards and public burdens." these and the like reasonings of tiberius were differently received; with approbation by those whose way it is to extol, without distinction, all the doings of princes, worthy and unworthy; by most, however, with silence, or low and discontented murmurs. tiberius perceived it, and having paused a little, said "his answer was particularly to hortalus; but if the senate thought fit, he would give his sons two hundred great sestertia each." [footnote: £ .] for this all the senators presented their thanks; only hortalus said nothing; perhaps through present awe, or perhaps possessed, even in poverty, with the grandeur of his ancient nobility. nor did tiberius ever show further pity, though the house of hortensius was fallen into shameful distress. at the end of the year, a triumphal arch was raised near the temple of saturn; a monument this for the recovery of the varian eagles, under the conduct of germanicus, under the auspices of tiberius. a temple was dedicated to happy fortune near the tiber, in the gardens bequeathed to the roman people by caesar, the dictator. a chapel was consecrated to the julian family, and statues to the deified augustus, in the suburbs called bovillae. in the consulship of caius celius and lucius pomponius, the six-and-twentieth of may, germanicus caesar triumphed over the cheruscans, the cattans, the angrivarians, and the other nations as far as the elbe. in the triumph were carried all the spoils and captives, with the representations of mountains, of rivers, and of battles; so that his conquests, because he was restrained from completing them, were taken for complete. his own graceful person, and his chariot filled with his five children, heightened the show and the delight of the beholders; yet they were checked with secret fears, as they remembered "that popular favour had proved malignant to his father drusus; that his uncle marcellus was snatched, in his youth, from the burning affections of the populace; and that ever short-lived and unfortunate were the favourites of the roman people." tiberius distributed to the people, in the name of germanicus, three hundred sesterces a man, [footnote: £ , s.] and named himself his colleague in the consulship. nor even thus did he gain the opinion of tenderness and sincerity: in effect, on pretence of investing the young prince with fresh preferment and honours, he resolved to alienate him from rome; and, to accomplish it, craftily framed an occasion, or snatched such an one as chance presented. archelaus had enjoyed the kingdom of cappadocia now fifty years; a prince under the deep displeasure of tiberius, because, in his retirement at rhodes, the king had paid him no sort of court or distinction: an omission this which proceeded from no disdain, but from the warnings given him by the confidents of augustus; for that the young caius caesar, the presumptive heir to the sovereignty, then lived, and was sent to compose and administer the affairs of the east; hence the friendship of tiberius was reckoned then dangerous. but when, by the utter fall of the family of the caesars, he had gained the empire, he enticed archelaus to rome, by means of letters from his mother, who, without dissembling her son's resentment, offered the king his mercy, provided he came and in person implored it. he, who was either ignorant of the snare, or dreaded violence if he appeared to perceive it, hastened to the city, where he was received by tiberius with great sternness and wrath, and soon after accused as a criminal in the senate. the crimes alleged against him were mere fictions; yet, as equal treatment is unusual to kings, and to be treated like malefactors intolerable; archelaus, who was broken with grief as well as age, by choice or fate ended his life; his kingdom was reduced into a province, and by its revenues tiberius declared the tax of a hundredth penny would be abated, and reduced it for the future to the two hundredth. at the same time died antiochus, king of comagena, as also philopator, king of cilicia; and great combustions shook these nations; whilst of the people many desired roman government, and many were addicted to domestic monarchy. the provinces, too, of syria and judea, as they were oppressed with impositions, prayed an abatement of tribute. these affairs, and such as i have above related concerning armenia, tiberius represented to the fathers, and "that the commotions of the east could only be settled by the wisdom and abilities of germanicus; for himself, his age now declined, and that of drusus was not yet sufficiently ripe." the provinces beyond the sea were thence decreed to germanicus, with authority superior to all those who obtained provinces by lot, or the nomination of the prince; but tiberius had already taken care to remove from the government of syria creticus silanus, one united to germanicus in domestic alliance, by having to nero, the eldest son of germanicus, betrothed his daughter. in his room he had preferred cneius piso, a man of violent temper, incapable of subjection, and heir to all the ferocity and haughtiness of his father piso; the same who, in the civil war, assisted the reviving party against caesar in africa with vehement efforts; and then followed brutus and cassius, but had at last leave to come home, yet disdained to sue for any public offices; nay, was even courted by augustus to accept the consulship. his son, besides his hereditary pride and impetuosity, was elevated with the nobility and wealth of plancina his wife; scarce yielded he to tiberius, and, as men far beneath him, despised the sons of tiberius; neither did he doubt but he was set over syria on purpose to thwart the measures and defeat all the views of germanicus. some even believed that he had to this purpose secret orders from tiberius, as it was certain that livia directed plancina to exert the spirit of the sex, and by constant emulation and indignities persecute agrippina. for the whole court was rent, and their affections secretly divided between drusus and germanicus. tiberius was partial to drusus, as his own son by generation; others loved germanicus; the more for the aversion of his uncle, and for being by his mother of more illustrious descent; as marc anthony was his grandfather, and augustus his great-uncle. on the other side, pomponius atticus, a roman knight, by being the great-grandfather of drusus, seemed thence to have derived a stain upon the images of the claudian house; besides, agrippina, the wife of germanicus, did in the fruitfulness of her body and the reputation of her virtue far excel livia, the wife of drusus. yet the two brothers lived in amiable dearness and concord, no wise shaken or estranged by the reigning contention amongst their separate friends and adherents. drusus was soon after sent into illyricum in order to inure him to war, and gain him the affections of the army; besides, tiberius thought that the youth, who loved wantoning in the luxuries of rome, would be reformed in the camp, and that his own security would be enlarged when both his sons were at the head of the legions. but the pretence of sending him was the protection of the suevians, who were then imploring assistance against the powers of the cheruscans. for these nations, who since the departure of the romans saw themselves no longer threatened with terrors from abroad, and were then particularly engaged in a national competition for glory, had relapsed, as usual, into their old intestine feuds, and turned their arms upon each other. the two people were equally powerful, and their two leaders equally brave; but differently esteemed, as the title of king upon maroboduus had drawn the hate and aversion of his countrymen; whilst arminius, as a champion warring for the defence of liberty, was the universal object of popular affection. hence not only the cheruscans and their confederates, they who had been the ancient soldiery of arminius, took arms; but to him too revolted the semnones and langobards, both suevian nations, and even subjects of maroboduus; and by their accession he would have exceeded in puissance, but inguiomerus with his band of followers deserted to maroboduus; for no other cause than disdain, that an old man and an uncle like himself should obey arminius, a young man, his nephew. both armies were drawn out, with equal hopes; nor disjointed, like the old german battles, into scattered parties for loose and random attacks; for by long war with us they had learnt to follow their ensigns, to strengthen their main body with parties of reserves, and to observe the orders of their generals. arminius was now on horseback viewing all the ranks: as he rode through them he magnified their past feats; "their liberty recovered; the slaughtered legions; the spoils of arms wrested from the romans; monuments of victory still retained in some of their hands." upon maroboduus he fell with contumelious names, as "a fugitive, one of no abilities in war; a coward who had sought defence from the gloomy coverts of the hercynian woods, and then by gifts and solicitations courted the alliance of rome; a betrayer of his country, and a lifeguard-man of caesar's, worthy to be exterminated with no less hostile vengeance than in the slaughter of quinctilius varus they had shown. let them only remember so many battles bravely fought; the events of which, particularly the utter expulsion of the romans, were sufficient proofs with whom remained the glory of the war." neither did maroboduus fail to boast himself and depreciate the foe. "in the person of inguiomerus," he said (holding him by the hand), "rested the whole renown of the cheruscans; and from his counsels began all their exploits that ended in success. arminius, a man of a frantic spirit, and a novice in affairs, assumed to himself the glory of another, for having by treachery surprised three legions, which expected no foe, and their leader, who feared no fraud; a base surprise, revenged since on germany with heavy slaughters, and on arminius himself with domestic infamy, while his wife and his son still bore the bonds of captivity. for himself, when attacked formerly by tiberius at the head of twelve legions, he had preserved unstained the glory of germany, and on equal terms ended the war. nor did he repent of the treaty, since it was still in their hands to wage anew equal war with the romans, or save blood and maintain peace." the armies, besides the incitements from these speeches, were animated by national stimulations of their own. the cheruscans fought for their ancient renown; the langobards for their recent liberty; and the suevians and their king, on the contrary, were struggling for the augmentation of their monarchy. never did armies make a fiercer onset; never had onset a more ambiguous event; for both the right wings were routed, and hence a fresh encounter was certainly expected, till maroboduus drew off his army and encamped upon the hills; a manifest sign this that he was humbled. frequent desertions too leaving him at last naked of forces, he retired to the marcomannians, and thence sent ambassadors to tiberius to implore succours. they were answered, "that he had no right to invoke aid of the roman arms against the cheruscans, since to the romans, while they were warring with the same foe, he had never administered any assistance." drusus was, however, sent away, as i have said, with the character of a negotiator of peace. the same year twelve noble cities of asia were overturned by an earthquake: the ruin happened in the night, and the more dreadful as its warnings were unobserved; neither availed the usual sanctuary against such calamities, namely, a flight to the fields, since those who fled, the gaping earth devoured. it is reported "that mighty mountains subsided, plains were heaved into high hills: and that with flashes and eruptions of fire, the mighty devastation was everywhere accompanied." the sardians felt most heavily the rage of the concussion, and therefore most compassion: tiberius promised them an hundred thousand great sesterces, [footnote: £ , .] and remitted their taxes for five years. the inhabitants of magnesia, under mount sipylus, were held the next in sufferings, and had proportionable relief. the temnians, philadelphians, the aegeatans, apollonians, with those called the mostenians or macedonians of hyrcania, the cities too of hierocaesarea, cyme, and tmolus, were all for the same term eased of tribute. it was likewise resolved to send one of the senate to view the desolations and administer proper remedies: marcus aletus was therefore chosen, one of praetorian rank; because, a consular senator then governing asia, had another of the like quality been sent, an emulation between equals was apprehended, and consequently opposition and delays. the credit of this noble bounty to the public, he increased by private liberalities, which proved equally popular: the estate of the wealthy aemilia musa, claimed by the exchequer, as she died intestate, he surrendered to aemilius lepidus, to whose family she seemed to belong; as also to marcus servilius the inheritance of patuleius, a rich roman knight, though part of it had been bequeathed to himself; but he found servilius named sole heir in a former and well-attested will. he said such was "the nobility of both, that they deserved to be supported." nor did he ever to himself accept any man's inheritance, but where former friendship gave him a title. the wills of such as were strangers to him, and of such as, from hate and prejudice to others, had appointed the prince their heir, he utterly rejected. but, as he relieved the honest poverty of the virtuous, so he degraded from the senate (or suffered to quit it of their own accord) vibidius varro, marius nepos, appius appianus, cornelius sylla, and quintus vitellius, all prodigals, and only through debauchery indigent. about this time tiberius finished and consecrated what augustus began, the temples of the gods consumed by age or fire: that near the great circus, vowed by aulus posthumius the dictator, to bacchus, proserpina, and ceres. in the same place the temple of flora, founded by lucius publicius and marcus publicius while they were aediles. the temple of janus, built in the herb market by caius duillius, who first signalised the roman power at sea, and merited a naval triumph over the carthaginians. that of hope was dedicated by germanicus: this temple atilius had vowed in the same war. the consuls for the following year were, tiberius the third time, germanicus the second. this dignity overtook germanicus at nicopolis, a city of achaia, whither he arrived by the coast of illyricum, from visiting his brother drusus, then abiding in dalmatia; and had suffered a tempestuous passage, both in the adriatic and ionian sea: he therefore spent a few days to repair his fleet, and viewed the while the bay of actium renowned for the naval victory there; as also the spoils consecrated by augustus, and the camp of anthony, with an affecting remembrance of these his ancestors; for anthony, as i have said, was his great uncle, augustus his grandfather; hence this scene proved to germanicus a mighty source of images pleasing and sad. next he proceeded to athens, where in concession to that ancient city, allied to rome, he would use but one lictor. the greeks received him with the most elaborate honours, and to dignify their personal flattery, carried before him tablatures of the signal deeds and sayings of his ancestors. hence he sailed to eubea, thence to lesbos, where agrippina was delivered of julia, who proved her last birth; then he kept the coast of asia and visited perinthus and byzantium, cities of thrace, and entered the straits of propontis, and the mouth of the euxine; fond of beholding ancient places long celebrated by fame: he relieved at the same time, the provinces wherever distracted with intestine factions, or aggrieved with the oppressions of their magistrates. in his return he strove to see the religious rites of the samothracians, but by the violence of the north wind was repulsed from the shore. as he passed, he saw troy and her remains, venerable for the vicissitude of her fate, and for the birth of rome: regaining the coast of asia, he put in at colophon, to consult there the oracle of the clarian apollo: it is no pythoness that represents the god here, as at delphos, but a priest, one chosen from certain families, chiefly of miletus; neither requires he more than just to hear the names and numbers of the querists, and then descends into the oracular cave; where, after a draught of water from a secret spring, though ignorant for the most part of letters and poetry, he yet utters his answers in verse, which has for its subject the conceptions and wishes of each consultant. he was even said to have sung to germanicus his hastening fate, but as oracles are wont, in terms dark and doubtful. but cneius piso, hurrying to the execution of his purposes, terrified the city of athens by a tempestuous entry, and reproached them in a severe speech, with oblique censure of germanicus, "that debasing the dignity of the roman name, he had paid excessive court, not to the athenians by so many slaughters long since extinct, but to the then mixed scum of nations there; for that these were they who had leagued with mithridates against sylla, and with anthony against augustus." he even charged them with the errors and misfortunes of ancient athens; her impotent attempts against the macedonians; her violence and ingratitude to her own citizens. he was also an enemy to their city from personal anger; because they would not pardon at his request one theophilus condemned by the areopagus for forgery. from thence sailing hastily through the cyclades, and taking the shortest course, he overtook germanicus at rhodes, but was there driven by a sudden tempest upon the rocks: and germanicus, who was not ignorant with what malignity and invectives he was pursued, yet acted with so much humanity, that when he might have left him to perish, and to casualty have referred the destruction of his enemy; he despatched galleys to rescue him from the wreck. this generous kindness however assuaged not the animosity of piso; and scarce could he brook a day's delay with germanicus, but left him in haste to arrive in syria before him: nor was he sooner there, and found himself amongst the legions, than he began to court the common men by bounties and caresses, to assist them with his countenance and credit, to form factions, to remove all the ancient centurions and every tribune of remarkable discipline and severity, and, in their places, to put dependents of his own, or men recommended only by their crimes; he permitted sloth in the camp, licentiousness in the towns, a rambling and disorderly soldiery, and carried the corruption so high, that in the discourses of the herd, he was styled _father of the legions_. nor did plancina restrain herself to a conduct seemly in her sex, but frequented the exercises of the cavalry, and attended the decursions of the cohorts; everywhere inveighing against agrippina, everywhere against germanicus; and some even of the most deserving soldiers became prompt to base obedience, from a rumour whispered abroad, "that all this was not unacceptable to tiberius." these doings were all known to germanicus; but his more instant care was to visit armenia, an inconstant and restless nation this from the beginning; inconstant from the genius of the people, as well as from the situation of their country, which bordering with a large frontier on our provinces, and stretching thence quite to media, is enclosed between the two great empires, and often at variance with them; with the romans through antipathy and hatred, with the parthians through competition and envy. at this time and ever since the removal of vonones, they had no king; but the affections of the nations leaned to zeno, son of polemon, king of pontus, because by an attachment, from his infancy, to the fashions and customs of the armenians, by hunting, feasting, and other usages practised and renowned amongst the barbarians, he had equally won the nobles and people. upon his head therefore, at the city of artaxata, with the approbation of the nobles, in a great assembly, germanicus put the regal diadem; and the armenians doing homage to their king, saluted him, _artaxias_, a name which from that of their city, they gave him. the cappadocians, at this time reduced into the form of a province, received for their governor quintus veranius; and to raise their hopes of the gentler dominion of rome, several of the royal taxes were lessened. quintus servaeus was set over the comagenians, then first subjected to the jurisdiction of a praetor. from the affairs of the allies, thus all successfully settled, germanicus reaped no pleasure, through the perverseness and pride of piso, who was ordered to lead by himself or his son, part of the legions into armenia, but contemptuously neglected to do either. they at last met at cyrrum, the winter quarters of the tenth legion, whither each came with a prepared countenance; piso to betray no fear, and germanicus would not be thought to threaten. he was indeed, as i have observed, of a humane and reconcilable spirit: but, officious friends expert at inflaming animosities, aggravated real offences, added fictitious, and with manifold imputations charged piso, plancina, and their sons. to this interview germanicus admitted a few intimates, and began his complaints in words such as dissembled resentment dictates. piso replied with disdainful submissions; and they parted in open enmity. piso hereafter came rarely to the tribunal of germanicus; or, if he did, sate sternly there, and in manifest opposition: he likewise published his spite at a feast of the nabathean king's, where golden crowns of great weight were presented to germanicus and agrippina; but to piso and the rest, such as were light: "this banquet," he said, "was made for the son of a roman prince, not of a parthian monarch:" with these words, he cast away his crown, and uttered many invectives against luxury: sharp insults and provocations these to germanicus; yet he bore them. in the consulship of marcus silanus and lucius norbanus, germanicus travelled to egypt, to view the famous antiquities of the country; though for the motives of the journey, the care and inspection of the province were publicly alleged: and, indeed, by opening the granaries, he mitigated the price of corn, and practised many things grateful to the people; walking without guards, his feet bare, and his habit the same with that of the greeks; after the example of publius scipio, who, we are told, was constant in the same practices in sicily, even during the rage of the punic war there. for these his assumed manners and foreign habit, tiberius blamed him in a gentle style, but censured him with great asperity for violating an establishment of augustus, and entering alexandria without consent of the prince. for augustus, amongst other secrets of power, had appropriated egypt, and restrained the senators, and dignified roman knights from going thither without licence; as he apprehended that italy might be distressed with famine by any who seized that province, the key to the empire by sea and land, and defensible by a light band of men against potent armies. germanicus, not yet informed that his journey was censured, sailed up the nile, beginning at canopus, [footnote: near aboukir.] one of its mouths: it was built by the spartans, as a monument to canopus, a pilot buried there, at the time when menelaus returning to greece was driven to different seas and the lybian continent. hence he visited the next mouth of the river sacred to hercules: him the nations aver to have been born amongst them; that he was the most ancient of the name, and that all the rest, who with equal virtue followed his example, were, in honour, called after him. next he visited the mighty antiquities of ancient thebes; [footnote: karnak and luxor.] where upon huge obelisks yet remained egyptian characters, describing its former opulency: one of the oldest priests was ordered to interpret them; he said they related "that it once contained seven hundred thousand fighting men; that with that army king rhamses had conquered lybia, ethiopia, the medes and persians, the bactrians and scythians; and to his empire had added the territories of the syrians, armenians, and their neighbours the cappadocians; a tract of countries reaching from the sea of bithynia to that of lycia:" here also was read the assessment of tribute laid on the several nations; what weight of silver and gold; what number of horses and arms; what ivory and perfumes, as gifts to the temples; what measures of grain; what quantities of all necessaries, were by each people paid; revenues equally grand with those exacted by the denomination of the parthians, or by the power of the romans. germanicus was intent upon seeing other wonders: the chief were; the effigies of memnon, a colossus of stone, yielding when struck by the solar rays, a vocal sound; the pyramids rising, like mountains, amongst rolling and almost impassable waves of sand; monuments these of the emulation and opulency of egyptian kings; the artificial lake, a receptacle of the overflowing nile; and elsewhere abysses of such immense depth, that those, who tried, could never fathom. thence he proceeded to elephantina and syene, two islands, formerly frontiers of the roman empire, which is now widened to the red sea. whilst germanicus spent this summer in several provinces, drusus was sowing feuds amongst the germans, and thence reaped no light renown; and, as the power of maroboduus was already broken, he engaged them to persist and complete his ruin. amongst the gotones was a young man of quality, his name catualda, a fugitive long since from the violence of maroboduus, but now in his distress, resolved on revenge: hence with a stout band, he entered the borders of the marcomannians, and corrupting their chiefs into his alliance, stormed the regal palace, and the castle situate near it. in the pillage were found the ancient stores of prey accumulated by the suevians; as also many victuallers and traders from our provinces; men who were drawn hither from their several homes, first by privilege of traffic, then retained by a passion to multiply gain, and at last, through utter oblivion of their own country, fixed, like natives, in a hostile soil. to maroboduus on every side forsaken, no other refuge remained but the mercy of caesar: he therefore passed the danube where it washes the province of norica, and wrote to tiberius; not however in the language of a fugitive or supplicant, but with a spirit suitable to his late grandeur, "that many nations invited him to them, as a king once so glorious; but he preferred to all the friendship of rome." the emperor answered, "that in italy he should have a safe and honourable retreat, and, when his affairs required his presence, the same security to return." but to the senate he declared, "that never had philip of macedon been so terrible to the athenians; nor pyrrhus, nor antiochus to the roman people." the speech is extant: in it he magnifies "the greatness of the man, the fierceness and bravery of the nations his subjects; the alarming nearness of such an enemy to italy, and his own artful measures to destroy him." maroboduus was kept at ravenna, for a check and terror to the suevians; as if, when at any time they grew turbulent, he were there in readiness to recover their subjection: yet in eighteen years he left not italy, but grew old in exile there; his renown too became eminently diminished; such was the price he paid for an over-passionate love of life. the same fate had catualda, and no other sanctuary; he was soon after expulsed by the forces of the hermundurans led by vibilius, and being received under the roman protection, was conveyed to forum julium, a colony in narbon gaul. the barbarians their followers, lest, had they been mixed with the provinces, they might have disturbed their present quiet, were placed beyond the danube, between the rivers marus and cusus, and for their king had assigned them vannius, by nation a quadian. as soon as it was known at rome, that artaxias was by germanicus given to the armenians for their king, the fathers decreed to him and drusus the lesser triumph: triumphal arches were likewise erected, on each side of the temple of mars the avenger, supporting the statues of these two caesars; and for tiberius, he was more joyful to have established peace by policy, than if by battles and victories he had ended the war. germanicus returning from egypt, learned that all his orders left with the legions, and the eastern cities, were either entirely abolished, or contrary regulations established: a ground this for his severe reproaches and insults upon piso. nor less keen were the efforts and machinations of piso against germanicus; yet piso afterwards determined to leave syria, but was detained by the following illness of germanicus: again when he heard of his recovery, and perceived that vows were paid for his restoration; the lictors, by his command, broke the solemnity, drove away the victims already at the altars; overturned the apparatus of the sacrifice; and scattered the people of antioch employed in celebrating the festival. he then departed to seleucia, waiting the event of the malady which had again assaulted germanicus. his own persuasion too, that poison was given him by piso, heightened the cruel vehemence of the disease: indeed, upon the floors and walls were found fragments of human bodies, the spoils of the grave; with charms and incantations; and the name of germanicus graved on sheets of lead; carcasses half burnt, besmeared with gore; and other witchcrafts, by which souls are thought doomed to the infernal gods: besides there were certain persons, charged as creatures of piso, purposely sent and employed to watch the progress and efforts of the disease. these things filled germanicus with apprehensions great as his resentment: "if his doors," he said, "were besieged, if under the eyes of his enemies he must render up his spirit, what was to be expected to his unhappy wife, what to his infant children?" the progress of poison was thought too slow; piso was impatient, and urging with eagerness to command alone the legions, to possess alone the province: but germanicus was not sunk to such lowness and impotence, that the price of his murder should remain with the murderer: and by a letter to piso, he renounced his friendship: some add, that he commanded him to depart the province. nor did piso tarry longer, but took ship; yet checked her sailing in order to return with the more quickness, should the death of germanicus the while leave the government of syria vacant. germanicus, after a small revival, drooping again; when his end approached, spoke on this wise to his attending friends: "were i to yield to the destiny of nature; just, even then, were my complaints against the gods, for hurrying me from my parents, my children, and my country, by a hasty death, in the prime of life: now shortened in my course by the malignity of piso, and his wife, to your breasts i commit my last prayers: tell my father, tell my brother, with what violent persecutions afflicted, with what mortal snares circumvented, i end a most miserable life by death of all others the worst. all they whose hopes in my fortune, all they whose kindred blood, and even they whose envy, possessed them with impressions about me whilst living, shall bewail me dead; that once great in glory, and surviving so many wars, i fell at last by the dark devices of a woman. to you will be place left to complain in the senate, and place to invoke the aid and vengeance of the laws. to commemorate the dead with slothful wailings, is not the principal office of friends: they are to remember his dying wishes, to fulfil his last desires. even strangers will lament germanicus: you are my friends: if you loved me rather than my fortune, you will vindicate your friendship: show the people of rome my wife, her who is the grand-daughter of augustus, and enumerate to them our six children. their compassion will surely attend you who accuse; and the accused, if they pretend clandestine warrants of iniquity, will not be believed; if believed, not pardoned." his friends, as a pledge of their fidelity, touching the hand of the dying prince, swore that they would forego their lives sooner than their revenge. then turning to his wife, he besought her "that in tenderness to his memory, in tenderness to their common children, she would banish her haughty spirit, yield to her hostile fortune, nor, upon her return to rome, by an impotent competition for ruling, irritate those who were masters of rule." so much openly, and more in secret; whence he was believed to have warned her of guile and danger from tiberius. soon after he expired, to the heavy sorrow of the province, and of all the neighbouring countries; insomuch that remote nations and foreign kings were mourners: such had been his complacency to our confederates; such his humanity to his enemies! alike venerable he was, whether you saw him or heard him; and without ever departing from the grave port and dignity of his sublime rank, he yet lived destitute of arrogance and untouched by envy. the funeral, which was performed without exterior pomp or a procession of images, drew its solemnity from the loud praises and amiable memory of his virtues. there were those who from his loveliness, his age, his manner of dying, and even from the proximity of places where both departed, compared him in the circumstances of his fate, to great alexander: "each of a graceful person, each of illustrious descent; in years neither much exceeding thirty; both victims to the malice and machinations of their own people, in the midst of foreign nations: but germanicus gentle towards his friends; his pleasures moderate; confined to one wife; all his children by one bed; nor less a warrior, though not so rash, and however hindered from a final reduction of germany, broken by him in so many victories, and ready for the yoke: so that had he been sole arbiter of things, had he acted with the sovereignty and title of royalty, he had easier overtaken him in the glory of conquests, as he surpassed him in clemency, in moderation, and in other virtues." his body, before its commitment to the pile, was exhibited naked in the forum of antioch, the place where the pile was erected: whether it bore the marks of poison, remained undecided: for, people as they were divided in their affections, as they pitied germanicus, and presumed the guilt of piso, or were partial to him, gave opposite accounts. it was next debated amongst the legates of the legions and the other senators there, to whom should be committed the administration of syria: and after the faint effort of others, it was long disputed between vibius marsus and cneius sentius: marsus at last yielded to sentius, the older man and the more vehement competitor. by him one martina, infamous in that province for practices in poisoning, and a close confidant of plancina, was sent to rome, at the suit of vitellius, veranius, and others, who were preparing criminal articles against piso and plancina, as against persons evidently guilty. agrippina, though overwhelmed with sorrow, and her body indisposed, yet impatient of all delays to her revenge, embarked with the ashes of germanicus, and her children; attended with universal commiseration, "that a lady, in quality a princess, wont to be beheld in her late splendid wedlock with applauses and adorations, was now seen bearing in her bosom her husband's funeral urn, uncertain of vengeance for him and fearful for herself; unfortunate in her fruitfulness, and from so many children obnoxious to so many blows of fortune." piso the while was overtaken at the isle of coös by a message, "that germanicus was deceased," and received it intemperately, slew victims and repaired with thanksgiving to the temples: and yet, however immoderate and undisguised was his joy, more arrogant and insulting proved that of plancina, who immediately threw off her mourning, which for the death of a sister she wore, and assumed a dress adapted to gaiety and gladness. about him flocked the centurions with officious representations, "that upon him particularly were bent the affections and zeal of the legions, and he should proceed to resume the province, at first injuriously taken from him and now destitute of a governor." as he therefore consulted what he had best pursue, his son marcus piso advised "a speedy journey to rome: hitherto," he said, "nothing past expiation was committed; nor were impotent suspicions to be dreaded; nor the idle blazonings of fame: his variance and contention with germanicus was perhaps subject to hate and aversion, but to no prosecution or penalty; and, by bereaving him of the province, his enemies were gratified: but if he returned thither, as sentius would certainly oppose him with arms, a civil war would thence be actually begun: neither would the centurions and soldiers persist in his party; men with whom the recent memory of their late commander, and an inveterate love to the caesarian general, were still prevalent." domitius celer, one in intimate credit with piso, argued on the contrary, "that the present event must by all means be improved; it was piso and not sentius who had commission to govern syria; upon him, were conferred the jurisdiction of praetor, and the badges of magistracy, and with him the legions were instructed: so that if acts of hostility were by his opponents attempted, with how much better warrant could he avow assuming arms in his own right and defence, who was thus vested with the authority of general, and acted under special orders from the emperor. rumours too were to be neglected, and left to perish with time: in truth to the sallies and violence of recent hate the innocent were often unequal: but were he once possessed of the army, and had well augmented his forces, many things, not to be foreseen, would from fortune derive success. are we then preposterously hastening to arrive at rome with the ashes of germanicus, that you may there fall, unheard and undefended, a victim to the wailings of agrippina, a prey to the passionate populace governed by the first impressions of rumour? livia, it is true, is your confederate; tiberius is your friend; but both secretly: and indeed none will more pompously bewail the violent fate of germanicus, than such as for it do most sincerely rejoice." piso of himself prompt to violent pursuits, was with no great labour persuaded into this opinion, and, in a letter transmitted to tiberius, accused germanicus "of luxury and pride: that for himself, he had been expulsed, to leave room for dangerous designs against the state, and now resumed, with his former faith and loyalty, the care of the army." in the meantime he put domitius on board a galley, and ordered him to avoid appearing upon the coasts or amongst the isles, but, through the main sea, to sail to syria. the deserters, who from all quarters were flocking to him in crowds, he formed into companies, and armed all the retainers to the camp; then sailing over to the continent, intercepted a regiment of recruits, upon their march into syria; and wrote to the small kings of cilicia to assist him with present succours: nor was the younger piso slow in prosecuting all the measures of war, though to adventure a war had been against his sentiments and advice. as they coasted lycia and pamphilia, they encountered the ships which carried agrippina, with hostile spirit on each side, and each at first prepared for combat; but as equal dread of one another possessed both, proceeded not further than mutual contumelies. vibius marsus particularly summoned piso, as a criminal, to rome, there to make his defence: he answered with derision "that when the praetor, who was to sit upon poisonings, had assigned a day to the accusers and the accused, he would attend." domitius, the while, landing at laodicea, a city of syria, would have proceeded to the winter quarters of the sixth legion, which he believed to be the most prone to engage in novel attempts, but was prevented by pacuvius, its commander. sentius represented this by letter to piso, and warned him, "at his peril to infect the camp by ministers of corruption; or to assail the province of war;" and drew into a body such as he knew loved germanicus, or such as were averse to his foes: upon them he inculcated with much ardour, that piso was with open arms attacking the majesty of the prince, and invading the roman state; and then marched at the head of a puissant body, equipped for battle and resolute to engage. neither failed piso, though his enterprises had thus far miscarried, to apply the securest remedies to his present perplexities; and therefore seized a castle of cilicia strongly fortified, its name celendris: for, to the auxiliary cilicians, sent him by the petty kings, he had joined his body of deserters, as also the recruits lately intercepted, with all his own and plancina's slaves; and thus in number and bulk had of the whole composed a legion. to them he thus harangued: "i who am the lieutenant of caesar, am yet violently excluded from the province which to me caesar has committed: not excluded by the legions (for by their invitation i am arrived), but by sentius, who thus disguises under feigned crimes against me, his own animosity and personal hate: but with confidence you may stand in battle, where the opposite army, upon the sight of piso, a commander lately by themselves styled their _father_, will certainly refuse to fight; they know too, that were right to decide it, i am the stronger; and of no mean puissance in a trial at arms." he then arrayed his men without the fortifications, on a hill steep and craggy, for all the rest was begirt by the sea: against them stood the veterans regularly embattled, and supported with a body of reserve; so that here appeared the force of men, there only the terror and stubbornness of situation. on piso's side was no spirit, nor hope, nor even weapons save those of rustics, for instant necessity hastily acquired. as soon as they came to blows, the issue was no longer doubtful than while the roman cohorts struggled up the steep: the cilicians then fled, and shut themselves up in the castle. piso having the while attempted in vain to storm the fleet, which rode at a small distance, as soon as he returned, presented himself upon the walls; where, by a succession of passionate complaints and entreaties, now bemoaning in agonies the bitterness of his lot, then calling and cajolling every particular soldier by his name, and by rewards tempting all, he laboured to excite a sedition; and thus much had already effected, that the eagle-bearer of the sixth legion revolted to him with his eagle. this alarmed sentius, and instantly he commanded the cornets and trumpets to sound, a mound to be raised, the ladders placed, and the bravest men to mount, and others to pour from the engines volleys of darts and stones, and flaming torches. the obstinacy of piso was at last vanquished; and he desired "that upon delivering his arms he might remain in the castle till the emperor's pleasure, to whom he would commit the government of syria, were known;" conditions which were not accepted; nor was aught granted him save ships and a passport to rome. after the illness of germanicus grew current there, and all its circumstances, like rumours magnified by distance, were related with many aggravations; sadness seized the people; they burned with indignation, and even poured out in plaints the anguish of their souls. "for this," they said, "he had been banished to the extremities of the empire, for this the province of syria was committed to piso, and these the fruits of livia's mysterious conferences with plancina: truly had our fathers spoken concerning his father drusus; that the possessors of rule beheld with an evil eye the popular spirit of their sons; nor for aught else were they sacrificed, but for their equal treatment of the roman people, and studying to restore the popular state." these lamentations of the populace were, upon the tidings of his death, so inflamed, that, without staying for an edict from the magistrates, without a decree of senate, they by general consent assumed a vacation; the public courts were deserted, private houses shut up, prevalent everywhere were the symptoms of woe, heavy groans, dismal silence; the whole a scene of real sorrow, and nothing devised for form or show; and, though they forbore not to bear the exterior marks and habiliments of mourning; in their souls they mourned still deeper. accidentally some merchants from syria, who had left germanicus still alive, brought more joyful news of his condition: these were instantly believed, and instantly proclaimed: each, as fast as they met, informed others, who forthwith conveyed their light information with improvements and accumulated joy to more, and all flew with exultation through the city; and, to pay their thanks and vows, burst open the temple doors: the night too heightened their credulity, and affirmation was bolder in the dark. nor did tiberius restrain the course of these fictions, but left them to vanish with time: hence with more bitterness they afterwards grieved for him, as if anew snatched from them. honours were invented and decreed to germanicus, various as the affections and genius of the particular senators who proposed them: "that his name should be sung in the salian hymns; curule chairs placed for him amongst the priests of augustus, and over these chairs oaken crowns hung; his statue in ivory precede in the cercensian games; none but one of the julian race be, in the room of germanicus, created flamen or augur:" triumphal arches were added; one at rome; one upon the banks of the rhine; one upon mount amanus, in syria; with inscriptions of his exploits, and a testimony subjoined, "that he died for the commonwealth:" a sepulchre at antioch, where his corpse was burnt; a tribunal at epidaphne, the place where he ended his life. the multitude of statues, the many places where divine honours were appointed to be paid him, would not be easily recounted. they would have also decreed him, as to one of the masters of eloquence, a golden shield, signal in bulk as in metal; but tiberius offered to dedicate one himself, such as was usual and of a like size with others; for that eloquence was not measured by fortune; and it was sufficient glory, if he were ranked with ancient writers. the battalion called after the name of the junii was now, by the equestrian order, entitled the battalion of germanicus, and a rule made that, on every fifteenth of july, these troops should follow, as their standard, the effigies of germanicus: of these honours many continue; some were instantly omitted, or by time are utterly obliterated. in the height of this public sorrow, livia, sister to germanicus, and married to drusus, was delivered of male twins: an event even in middling families, rare and acceptable, and to tiberius such mighty matter of joy, that he could not refrain boasting to the fathers, "that to no roman of the same eminence, before him, were never two children born at a birth:" for to his own glory he turned all things, even things fortuitous. but to the people, at such a sad conjuncture, it brought fresh anguish; as they feared that the family of drusus thus increased, would press heavy upon that of germanicus. the same year the lubricity of women was by the senate restrained with severe laws; and it was provided, "that no woman should become venal, if her father, grandfather or husband, were roman knights." for vistilia, a lady born of a praetorian family, had before the aediles published herself a prostitute; upon a custom allowed by our ancestors, who thought that prostitutes were by thus avowing their infamy, sufficiently punished. titidius labeo too was questioned, that in the manifest guilt of his wife, he had neglected the punishment prescribed by the law; but he alleged that the sixty days allowed for consultation were not elapsed; and it was deemed sufficient to proceed against vistilia, who was banished to the isle of seriphos. measures were also taken for exterminating the solemnities of the jews and egyptians; and by decree of senate four thousand descendants of franchised slaves, all defiled with that superstition, but of proper strength and age, were to be transported to sardinia; to restrain the sardinian robbers; and if, through the malignity of the climate, they perished, despicable would be the loss: the rest were doomed to depart italy, unless by a stated day they renounced their profane rites. after this tiberius represented that, to supply the place of occia, who had presided seven and fifty years with the highest sanctimony over the vestals, another virgin was to be chosen; and thanked fonteius agrippa and asinius pollio, that by offering their daughters, they contended in good offices towards the commonwealth. pollio's daughter was preferred; for nothing else but that her mother had ever continued in the same wedlock: for agrippa, by a divorce, had impaired the credit of his house: upon her who was postponed, tiberius, in consolation, bestowed for her fortune a thousand great sestertia. [footnote: £ .] as the people murmured at the severe dearth of corn, he settled grain at a price certain to the buyer, and undertook to pay fourteenpence a measure to the seller: neither yet would he accept the name of _father of his country_, a title offered him before, and for these bounties, now again; nay, he sharply rebuked such as styled these provisions of his, _divine occupations_, and him, _lord_: hence freedom of speech became cramped and insecure, under such a prince; one who dreaded liberty, and abhorred flattery. i find in the writers of those times, some of them senators, that in the senate were read letters from adgandestrius, prince of the cattans, undertaking to despatch arminius, if in order to it poison were sent him; and an answer returned, "that not by frauds and blows in the dark, but armed and in the face of the sun, the roman people took vengeance on their foes." in this tiberius gained equal glory with our ancient captains, who rejected and disclosed a plot to poison king pyrrhus. arminius however, who upon the departure of the romans and expulsion of maroboduus, aimed at royalty, became thence engaged in a struggle against the liberty of his country; and, in defence of their liberty, his countrymen took arms against him: so that, while with various fortune he contended with them, he fell by the treachery of his own kindred: the deliverer of germany without doubt he was; one who assailed the roman power, not like other kings and leaders, in its first elements, but in its highest pride and elevation; one sometimes beaten in battle, but never conquered in war: thirty-seven years he lived; twelve he commanded; and, amongst these barbarous nations, his memory is still celebrated in their songs; but his name unknown in the annals of the greeks, who only admire their own national exploits and renown; nor even amongst the romans does this great captain bear much distinction, while, overlooking instances of modern prowess and glory, we only delight to magnify men and feats of old. book iii a.d. - . agrippina, notwithstanding the roughness of winter, pursuing without intermission her boisterous voyage, put in at the island corcyra, [footnote: corfu.] situate over against the coasts of calabria. here to settle her spirit, she spent a few days, violent in her grief, and a stranger to patience. her arrival being the while divulged, all the particular friends to her family, mostly men of the sword, many who had served under germanicus, and even many strangers from the neighbouring towns, some in officiousness towards the emperor, more for company, crowded to the city of brundusium, the readiest port in her way and the safest landing. as soon as the fleet appeared in the deep, instantly were filled, not the port alone and adjacent shores, but the walls and roofs, and as far as the eye could go; filled with the sorrowing multitude. they were consulting one from one, how they should receive her landing, "whether with universal silence, or with some note of acclamation." nor was it manifest which they would do, when the fleet stood slowly in, not as usual with joyful sailors and cheerful oars, but all things impressed with the face of sadness. after she descended from the ship, accompanied with her two infants, carrying in her bosom the melancholy urn, with her eyes cast steadily down; equal and universal were the groans of the beholders: nor could you distinguish relations from strangers, nor the wailings of men from those of women, unless that the new-comers, who were recent in their sallies of grief, exceeded agrippina's attendants, wearied out with long lamentations. tiberius had despatched two praetorian cohorts, with directions, that the magistrates of calabria, apulia and campania, should pay their last offices to the memory of his son: upon the shoulders therefore of the tribunes and centurions his ashes were borne; before went the ensigns rough and unadorned, with the fasces reversed. as they passed through the colonies, the populace were in black, the knights in purple; and each place, according to its wealth, burnt precious raiment, perfumes and whatever else is used in funeral solemnities: even they whose cities lay remote attended: to the gods of the dead they slew victims, they erected altars, and with tears and united lamentations, testified their common sorrow. drusus came as far as terracina, with claudius the brother of germanicus, and those of his children who had been left at rome. the consuls marcus valerius and marcus aurelius (just then entered upon their office), the senate, and great part of the people, filled the road; a scattered procession, each walking and weeping his own way: in this mourning, flattery had no share; for all knew how real was the joy, how hollow the grief, of tiberius for the death of germanicus. tiberius and livia avoided appearing abroad: public lamentation they thought below their grandeur; or perhaps they apprehended that their countenances, examined by all eyes, might show deceitful hearts. that antonia, mother to the deceased, bore any part in the funeral, i do not find either in the historians or in the city journals: though, besides agrippina, and drusus, and claudius, his other relations are likewise there recorded by name: whether by sickness she was prevented; or whether her soul vanquished by sorrow, could not bear the representation of such a mighty calamity. i would rather believe her constrained by tiberius and livia, who left not the palace; and affecting equal affliction with her, would have it seem that, by the example of the mother, the grandmother too and uncle were detained. the day his remains were reposited in the tomb of augustus, various were the symptoms of public grief; now the vastness of silence; now the uproar of lamentation; the city in every quarter full of processions; the field of mars on a blaze of torches: here the soldiers under arms, the magistrates without the insignia, the people by their tribes, all cried in concert that "the commonwealth was fallen, and henceforth there was no remain of hope;" so openly and boldly that you would have believed they had forgot, who bore sway. but nothing pierced tiberius more than the ardent affections of the people towards agrippina, while such titles they gave her as "the ornament of her country, the only blood of augustus, the single instance of ancient virtue;" and, while applying to heaven, they implored "the continuance of her issue, that they might survive the persecuting and malignant." there were those who missed the pomp of a public funeral, and compared with this the superior honours and magnificence bestowed by augustus on that of drusus the father of germanicus; "that he himself had travelled, in the sharpness of winter, as far as pavia, and thence, continuing by the corpse, had with it entered the city; round his head were placed the images of the claudii and julii; he was mourned in the forum; his encomium pronounced in the rostras; all sorts of honours, such as were the inventions of our ancestors, or the improvements of their posterity, were heaped upon him. but to germanicus were denied the ordinary solemnities, and such as were due to every distinguished roman. in a foreign country indeed, his corpse because of the long journey, was burnt without pomp; but afterwards, it was but just to have supplied the scantiness of the first ceremony by the solemnity of the last: his brother met him but one day's journey; his uncle not even at the gate. where were those generous observations of the ancients; the effigies of the dead borne on a bed, hymns composed in memory of their virtue, with the oblations of praise and tears? where at least were the ceremonies and even outside of sorrow?" all this was known to tiberius; and, to suppress the discourses of the populace, he published an edict, "that many illustrious romans had died for the commonwealth, but none so vehemently lamented: this however was to the glory of himself and of all men, if a measure were observed. the same things which became private families and small states, became not princes and an imperial people: fresh grief indeed required vent and ease by lamentation; but it was now time to recover and fortify their minds. thus the deified julius, upon the loss of an only daughter; thus the deified augustus, upon the hasty death of his grandsons, had both vanquished their sorrow. more ancient examples were unnecessary; how often the roman people sustained with constancy the slaughter of their armies, the death of their generals, and entire destruction of their noblest families: princes were mortal; the commonwealth was eternal: they should therefore resume their several vocations." and because the megalesian games were at hand, he added, "that they should even apply to the usual festivities." the vacation ended, public affairs were resumed; drusus departed for the army in illyricum, and the minds of all men were bent upon seeing vengeance done upon piso. they repeated their resentments, that while he wandered over the delightful countries of asia and greece, he was stifling, by contumacious and deceitful delays, the evidences of his crimes; for it was bruited abroad, that martina, she who was famous for poisonings, and sent, as i have above related, by cneius sentius towards rome, was suddenly dead at brundusium; that poison lay concealed in a knot of her hair, but upon her body were found no symptoms of self-murder. piso, sending forward his son to rome, with instructions how to soften the emperor, proceeded himself to drusus: him he hoped to find less rigid for the death of a brother, than favourable for the removal of a rival. tiberius, to make show of a spirit perfectly unbiassed, received the young man graciously, and honoured him with the presents usually bestowed on young noblemen. the answer of drusus to piso was, "that if the current rumours were true, he stood in the first place of grief and revenge; but he hoped they were false and chimerical, and that the death of germanicus would be pernicious to none." this he declared in public, and avoided all privacy: nor was it doubted but the answer was dictated by tiberius; when a youth, otherwise easy and unwary, practised thus the wiles and cunning of age. piso having crossed the sea of dalmatia, and left his ships at ancona, took first the road of picenum and then the flaminian way, following the legion which was going from pannonia to rome, and thence to garrison in africa. this too became the subject of popular censure, that he officiously mixed with the soldiers, and courted them in their march and quarters: he therefore, to avoid suspicion; or, because when men are in dread, their conduct wavers, did at narni embark upon the nar, and thence sailed into the tiber. by landing at the burying-place of the caesars, he heightened the wrath of the populace: besides, he and plancina came ashore, in open day, in the face of the city who were crowding the banks, and proceeded with gay countenances; he attended by a long band of clients, she by a train of ladies. there were yet other provocations to hatred; the situation of his house, proudly overlooking the forum, and adorned and illuminated as for a festival; the banquet and rejoicings held in it, and all as public as the place. the next day fulcinius trio arraigned piso before the consuls, but was opposed by vitellius, veranius, and others, who had accompanied germanicus: they said, "that in this prosecution trio had no part; nor did they themselves act as accusers, but only gathered materials, and, as witnesses, produced the last injunctions of germanicus." trio dropped that accusation; but got leave to call in question his former life: and now the emperor was desired to undertake the trial; a request which the accused did not at all oppose, dreading the inclinations of the people and senate: he knew tiberius, on the contrary, resolute in despising popular rumours, and in guilt confederate with his mother: besides that truth and misrepresentations were easiest distinguished by a single judge, but in assemblies odium and envy often prevailed. tiberius was aware of the weight of the trial, and with what reproaches he was assaulted. admitting therefore a few confidants, he heard the charge of the accusers, as also the apology of the accused; and left the cause entire to the senate. drusus returned the while from illyricum; and though the senate had for the reduction of maroboduus, and other his exploits the summer before, decreed him the triumph of ovation; he postponed the honour, and privately entered the city. piso, for his advocates, desired titus arruntius, fulcinius, asinius gallus, eserninus marcellus, and sextus pompeius: but they all framed different excuses; and he had, in their room, marcus lepidus, lucius piso and liveneius regulus. now earnest were the expectations of all men, "how great would prove the fidelity of the friends of germanicus; what the assurance of the criminal, what the behaviour of tiberius; whether he would sufficiently smother, or betray his sentiments." he never had a more anxious part; neither did the people ever indulge themselves in such secret murmurs against their emperor, nor harbour in silence severer suspicions. when the senate met, tiberius made a speech full of laboured moderation: "that piso had been his father's lieutenant and friend; and lately appointed by himself, at the direction of the senate, coadjutor to germanicus in administering the affairs of the east: whether he had there by contumacy and opposition exasperated the young prince, and exulted over his death, or wickedly procured it, they were then to judge with minds unprejudiced. for, if he who was the lieutenant of my son violated the limits of his commission, cast off obedience to his general, and even rejoiced at his decease and at my affliction; i will detest the man, i will banish him from my house, and for domestic injuries exert domestic revenge; not the revenge of an emperor. but for you; if his guilt of any man's death whatsoever is discovered, show your just vengeance, and by it satisfy yourselves, satisfy the children of germanicus, and us his father and grandmother. consider too especially, whether he vitiated the discipline and promoted sedition in the army; whether he sought to debauch the affections of the soldiers, and to recover the province by arms: or whether these allegations are not published falsely and with aggravations by the accusers, with whose over-passionate zeal, i am justly offended: for, whither tended the stripping the corpse and exposing it to the eyes and examination of the populace; with what view was it proclaimed even to foreign nations, that his death was the effect of poison; if all this was still doubtful, and remains yet to be tried? it is true i bewail my son, and shall ever bewail him: but neither do i hinder the accused to do what in him lies to manifest his innocence, even at the expense of germanicus, if aught blamable was in him. from you i entreat the same impartiality: let not the connection of my sorrow with this cause, mislead you to take crimes for proved because they are imputed. for piso; if the tenderness of kinsmen, if the faith of friends, has furnished him with patrons, let them aid him in his peril, show their utmost eloquence, and exert their best diligence. to the same pains, to the same firmness i exhort the accusers. thus much we will grant to the memory of germanicus, that the inquest concerning his death, be held rather here than in the forum, in the senate than the common tribunals. in all the rest, we will descend to the ordinary methods. let no man in this cause consider drusus's tears; let none regard my sorrow, no more than the probable fictions of calumny against us." two days were then appointed for maintaining the charge; six for preparing the defence, and three for making it. fulcinius began with things stale and impertinent, about the ambition and rapine of piso in his administration of spain: things which, though proved, brought him under no penalty, if acquitted of the present charge; nor, though he had been cleared of former faults, could he escape the load of greater enormities. after him servaeus, veranius, and vitellius, all with equal zeal, but vitellius with great eloquence urged "that piso, in hatred to germanicus, and passionate for innovations, had by tolerating general licentiousness, and the oppression of the allies, corrupted the common soldiers to that degree, that by the most profligate he was styled _father of the legions_: he had, on the contrary, been outrageous to the best men, above all to the friends and companions of germanicus; and, at last, by witchcraft and poison destroyed germanicus himself: hence the infernal charms and immolations practised by him and plancina: he had then attacked the commonwealth with open arms; and, before he could be brought to be tried, they were forced to fight and defeat him." in every article but one his defence was faltering. for, neither his dangerous intrigues in debauching the soldiery, nor his abandoning the province to the most profligate and rapacious, nor even his insults to germanicus, were to be denied. he seemed only to wipe off the charge of poison; a charge which in truth was not sufficiently corroborated by the accusers, since they had only to allege, "that at an entertainment of germanicus, piso, while he sat above him, with his hands poisoned the meat." it appeared absurd that amongst so many attending slaves besides his own, in so great a presence, and under the eye of germanicus, he would attempt it: he himself required that the waiters might be racked, and offered to the rack his own domestics: but the judges were implacable, implacable from different motives; tiberius for the war raised in the province; and the senate could never be convinced that the death of germanicus was not the effect of fraud. some moved for the letters written to piso from rome; a motion opposed by tiberius no less than by piso. from without, at the same time, were heard the cries of the people, "that if he escaped the judgment of the senate, they would with their own hands destroy him." they had already dragged his statues to the place from whence malefactors were precipitated, and there had broken them; but by the orders of tiberius they were rescued and replaced. piso was put into a litter and carried back by a tribune of a praetorian cohort; an attendance variously understood, whether as a guard for his safety, or a minister of death. plancina was under equal public hatred, but had more secret favour: hence it was doubted how far tiberius durst proceed against her. for herself; while her husband's hopes were yet plausible, she professed "she would accompany his fortune, whatever it were, and, if he fell, fall with him." but when by the secret solicitations of livia, she had secured her own pardon, she began by degrees to drop her husband, and to make a separate defence. after this fatal warning, he doubted whether he should make any further efforts; but, by the advice of his sons, fortifying his mind, he again entered the senate: there he found the prosecution renewed, suffered the declared indignation of the fathers, and saw all things cross and terrible; but nothing so much daunted him as to behold tiberius, without mercy, without wrath, close, dark, unmovable, and bent against every access of tenderness. when he was brought home, as if he were preparing for his further defence the next day, he wrote somewhat, which he sealed and delivered to his freedman: he then washed and anointed, and took the usual care of his person. late in the night, his wife leaving the chamber, he ordered the door to be shut; and was found, at break of day, with his throat cut, his sword lying by him. i remember to have heard from ancient men, that in the hands of piso was frequently seen a bundle of writings, which he did not expose, but which, as his friends constantly averred, "contained the letters of tiberius and his cruel orders towards germanicus: that he resolved to lay them before the fathers and to charge the emperor, but was deluded by the hollow promises of sejanus: and that neither did piso die by his own hands, but by those of an express and private executioner." i dare affirm neither; nor yet ought i to conceal the relations of such as still lived when i was a youth. tiberius, with an assumed air of sadness, complained to the senate, that piso, by that sort of death, had aimed to load him with obloquy; and asked many questions how he had passed his last day, how his last night? the freedman answered to most with prudence, to some in confusion. the emperor then recited the letter sent him by piso. it was conceived almost in these words: "oppressed by a combination of my enemies and the imputation of false crimes; since no place is left here to truth and my innocence; to the immortal gods i appeal, that towards you, caesar, i have lived with sincere faith, nor towards your mother with less reverence. for my sons i implore her protection and yours: my son cneius had no share in my late management whatever it were, since, all the while, he abode at rome: and my son marcus dissuaded me from returning to syria. oh that, old as i am, i had yielded to him, rather than he, young as he is, to me! hence more passionately i pray that innocent as he is, he suffer not in the punishment of my guilt: by a series of services for five-and-forty years, i entreat you; by our former fellowship in the consulship; by the memory of the deified augustus, your father; by his friendship to me; by mine to you, i entreat you for the life and fortune of my unhappy son. it is the last request i shall ever make you." of plancina he said nothing. tiberius, upon this, cleared the young man of any crime as to the civil war: he alleged "the orders of his father, which a son could not disobey." he likewise bewailed "that noble house, and even the grievous lot of piso himself, however deserved," for plancina he pleaded with shame and guilt, alleging the importunity of his mother; against whom more particularly the secret murmurs of the best people waxed bitter and poignant. "was it then the tender part of a grandmother to admit to her sight the murderess of her grandson, to be intimate with her, and to snatch her from the vengeance of the senate? to germanicus alone was denied what by the laws was granted to every citizen. by vitellius and veranius, the cause of that prince was mourned and pleaded: by the emperor and his mother, plancina was defended and protected. henceforth she might pursue her infernal arts so successfully tried, repeat her poisonings, and by her arts and poisons assail agrippina and her children; and, with the blood of that most miserable house, satiate the worthy grandmother and uncle." in this mock trial two days were wasted; tiberius, all the while, animating the sons of piso to defend their mother: when the pleaders and witnesses had vigorously pushed the charge, and no reply was made, commiseration prevailed over hatred. the consul aurelius cotta was first asked his opinion: for, when the emperor collected the voices, the magistrates likewise voted. cotta's sentence was, "that the name of piso should be razed from the annals, part of his estate forfeited, part granted to his son cneius, upon changing that name; his son marcus be divested of his dignity, and content with fifty thousand great sestertia, [footnote: £ , .] be banished for ten years: and to plancina, at the request of livia, indemnity should be granted." much of this sentence was abated by the emperor; particularly that of striking piso's name out of the annals, when "that of marc anthony, who made war upon his country; that of julius antonius, who had by adultery violated the house of augustus, continued still there." he also exempted marcus piso from the ignominy of degradation, and left him his whole paternal inheritance; for, as i have already often observed, he was to the temptations of money incorruptible, and from the shame of having acquitted plancina, rendered then more than usually mild. he likewise withstood the motion of valerius messalinus, "for erecting a golden statue in the temple of mars the avenger;" and that of caecina severus, "for founding an altar to revenge." "such monuments as these," he argued, "were only fit to be raised upon foreign victories; domestic evils were to be buried in sadness." messalinus had added, "that to tiberius, livia, antonia, agrippina and drusus, public thanks were to be rendered for having revenged the death of germanicus;" but had omitted to mention claudius. messalinus was asked by lucius asprenas, in the presence of the senate, "whether by design he had omitted him?" and then at last the name of claudius was subjoined. to me, the more i revolve the events of late or of old, the more of mockery and slipperiness appears in all human wisdom and the transactions of men: for, in popular fame, in the hopes, wishes and veneration of the public, all men were rather destined to the empire, than he for whom fortune then reserved the sovereignty in the dark. a few days after, vitellius, veranius and servaeus, were by the senate preferred to the honours of the priesthood, at the motion of tiberius. to fulcinius he promised his interest and suffrage towards preferment, but advised him "not to embarrass his eloquence by impetuosity." this was the end of revenging the death of germanicus; an affair ambiguously related, not by those only who then lived and interested themselves in it, but likewise the following times: so dark and intricate are all the highest transactions; while some hold for certain facts, the most precarious hearsays; others turn facts into falsehood; and both are swallowed and improved by the credulity of posterity. drusus went now without the city, there to renew the ceremony of the auspices, and presently re-entered in the triumph of _ovation_. a few days after died vipsania his mother; of all the children of agrippa, the only one who made a pacific end: the rest manifestly perished, or are believed to have perished, by the sword, poison, or famine. the qualifying of the law papia poppaea was afterwards proposed; a law which, to enforce those of julius caesar, augustus had made when he was old, for punishing celibacy and enriching the exchequer. nor even by this means had marriages and children multiplied, while a passion to live single and childless prevailed: but, in the meantime, the numbers threatened and in danger by it increased daily, while by the glosses and chicane of the impleaders every family was undone. so that, as before the city laboured under the weight of crimes, so now under the pest of laws. from this thought i am led backwards to the first rise of laws, and to open the steps and causes by which we are arrived to the present number and excess; a number infinite and perplexed. the first race of men, free as yet from every depraved passion, lived without guile and crimes, and therefore without chastisements or restraints; nor was there occasion for rewards, when of their own accord they pursued righteousness: and as they courted nothing contrary to justice, they were debarred from nothing by terrors. but, after they had abandoned their original equality, and from modesty and shame to do evil, proceeded to ambition and violence; lordly dominion was introduced and arbitrary rule, and in many nations grew perpetual. some, either from the beginning, or after they were surfeited with kings, preferred the sovereignty of laws; which, agreeable to the artless minds of men, were at first short and simple. the laws in most renown were those framed for the cretans by minos; for the spartans by lycurgus; and afterwards such as solon delivered to the athenians, now greater in number and more exquisitely composed. to the romans justice was administered by romulus according to his pleasure: after him, numa managed the people by religious devices and laws divine. some institutions were made by tullus hostilius, some by ancus martius; but above all our laws were those founded by servius tullius; they were such as even our kings were bound to obey. upon the expulsion of tarquin; the people, for the security of their freedom against the encroachment and factions of the senate, and for binding the public concord, prepared many ordinances: hence were created the decemviri, and by them were composed the twelve tables, out of a collection of the most excellent institutions found abroad. the period this of all upright and impartial laws. what laws followed, though sometimes made against crimes and offenders, were yet chiefly made by violence, through the animosity of the two estates, and for seizing unjustly withholden offices or continuing unjustly in them, or for banishing illustrious patriots, and to other wicked ends. hence the gracchi and saturnini, inflamers of the people; and hence drusus vying, on behalf of the senate, in popular concessions with these inflamers; and hence the corrupt promises made to our italian allies, promises deceitfully made, or, by the interposition of some tribune, defeated. neither during the war of italy, nor during the civil war, was the making of regulations discontinued; many and contradictory were even then made. at last sylla the dictator, changing or abolishing the past, added many of his own, and procured some respite in this matter, but not long; for presently followed the turbulent pursuits and proposals of lepidus, and soon after were the tribunes restored to their licentious authority of throwing the people into combustions at pleasure. and now laws were not made for the public only, but for particular men particular laws; and corruption abounding in the commonwealth, the commonwealth abounded in laws. pompey was, now in his third consulship, chosen to correct the public enormities; and his remedies proved to the state more grievous than its distempers. he made laws such as suited his ambition, and broke them when they thwarted his will; and lost by arms the regulations which by arms he had procured. henceforward for twenty years discord raged, and there was neither law nor settlement; the most wicked found impunity in the excess of their wickedness; and many virtuous men, in their uprightness met destruction. at length, augustus caesar in his sixth consulship, then confirmed in power without a rival, abolished the orders which during the triumvirate he had established, and gave us laws proper for peace and a single ruler. these laws had sanctions severer than any heretofore known: as their guardians, informers were appointed, who by the law papia poppaea were encouraged with rewards, to watch such as neglected the privileges annexed to marriage and fatherhood, and consequently could claim no legacy or inheritance, the same, as vacant, belonging to the roman people, who were the public parent. but these informers struck much deeper: by them the whole city, all italy, and the roman citizens in every part of the empire, were infested and persecuted: numbers were stripped of their entire fortunes, and terror had seized all; when tiberius, for a check to this evil, chose twenty noblemen, five who were formerly consuls, five who were formerly praetors, with ten other senators, to review that law. by them many of its intricacies were explained, its strictness qualified; and hence some present alleviation was yielded. tiberius about this time, to the senate recommended nero, one of the sons of germanicus, now seventeen years of age, and desired "that he might be exempted from executing the office of the vigintivirate, [footnote: officers for distributing the public lands; for regulating the mint, the roads, and the execution of criminals.] and have leave to sue for the quaestorship five years sooner than the laws directed." a piece of mockery, this request to all who heard it: but, tiberius pretended "that the same concessions had been decreed to himself and his brother drusus, at the request of augustus." nor do i doubt, but there were then such who secretly ridiculed that sort of petitions from augustus: such policy was however natural to that prince, while he was but yet laying the foundations of the imperial power, and while the republic and its late laws were still fresh in the minds of men: besides, the relation was lighter between augustus and his wife's sons, than between a grandfather and his grandsons. to the grant of the quaestorship was added a seat in the college of pontiffs; and the first day he entered the forum in his manly robe, a donative of corn and money was distributed to the populace, who exulted to behold a son of germanicus now of age. their joy was soon heightened by his marriage with julia, the daughter of drusus. but as these transactions were attended with public applauses; so the intended marriage of the daughter of sejanus with the son of claudius was received with popular indignation. by this alliance the nobility of the claudian house seemed stained; and by it sejanus, already suspected of aspiring views, was lifted still higher. at the end of this year died lucius volusius and sallustius crispus; great and eminent men. the family of volusius was ancient, but, in the exercise of public offices, rose never higher than the praetorship; it was he, who honoured it with the consulship: he was likewise created censor for modelling the classes of the equestrian order; and first accumulated the wealth which gave that family such immense grandeur. crispus was born of an equestrian house, great nephew by a sister to caius sallustius, the renowned roman historian, and by him adopted: the way to the great offices was open to him; but, in imitation of maecenas, he lived without the dignity of senator, yet outwent in power many who were distinguished with consulships and triumphs: his manner of living, his dress and daintiness were different from the ways of antiquity; and, in expense and affluence, he bordered rather upon luxury. he possessed however a vigour of spirit equal to great affairs, and exerted the greater promptness for that he hid it in a show of indolence and sloth: he was therefore, in the time of maecenas, the next in favour, afterwards chief confidant in all the secret counsels of augustus and tiberius, and privy and consenting to the order for slaying agrippa posthumus. in his old age he preserved with the prince rather the outside than the vitals of authority: the same had happened to maecenas. it is the fate of power, which is rarely perpetual; perhaps from satiety on both sides, when princes have no more to grant, and ministers no more to crave. next followed the consulship of tiberius and drusus; to tiberius the fourth, to drusus the second: a consulship remarkable, for that in it the father and son were colleagues. there was indeed the same fellowship between tiberius and germanicus, two years before; but besides the distastes of jealousy in the uncle, the ties of blood were not so near. in the beginning of the year, tiberius, on pretence of his health, retired to campania; either already meditating a long and perpetual retirement; or to leave to drusus, in his father's absence, the honour of executing the consulship alone: and there happened a thing which, small in itself, yet as it produced mighty contestation, furnished the young consul with matter of popular affection. domitius corbulo, formerly praetor, complained to the senate of lucius sylla, a noble youth, "that in the show of gladiators, sylla would not yield him place." age, domestic custom, and the ancient men were for corbulo: on the other side, mamercus scaurus, lucius arruntius, and others laboured for their kinsman sylla: warm speeches were made, and the examples of our ancestors were urged, "who by severe decrees had censured and restrained the irreverence of the youth." drusus interposed with arguments proper for calming animosities, and corbulo had satisfaction made him by scaurus, who was to sylla both father-in-law and uncle, and the most copious orator of that age. the same corbulo, exclaiming against "the condition of most of the roads through italy, that through the fraud of the undertakers and negligence of the overseers, they were broken and unpassable;" undertook of his own accord the cure of that abuse; an undertaking which he executed not so much to the advantage of the public as to the ruin of many private men in their fortunes and reputation, by his violent mulcts and unjust judgments and forfeitures. upon this occasion caecina severus proposed, "that no magistrate should go into any province accompanied by his wife." he introduced this motion with a long preface, "that he lived with his own in perfect concord, by her he had six children; and what he offered to the public he had practised himself, having during forty years' service left her still behind him, confined to italy. it was not indeed, without cause, established of old, that women should neither be carried by their husbands into confederate nations nor foreign. a train of women introduced luxury in peace, by their fears retarded war, and made a roman army resemble, in their march, a mixed host of barbarians. the sex was not tender only and unfit for travel, but, if suffered, cruel, aspiring, and greedy of authority: they even marched amongst the soldiers, and were obeyed by the officers. a woman had lately presided at the exercises of the troops, and at the decursions of the legions. the senate themselves might remember, that as often as any of the magistrates were charged with plundering the provinces, their wives were always engaged in the guilt. to the ladies, the most profligate in the province applied; by them all affairs were undertaken, by them transacted: at home two distinct courts were kept, and abroad the wife had her distinct train and attendance. the ladies, too, issued distinct orders, but more imperious and better obeyed. such feminine excesses were formerly restrained by the oppian, and other laws; but now these restraints were violated, women ruled all things, their families, the forum, and even the armies." this speech was heard by few with approbation, and many proclaimed their dissent; "for, that neither was that the point in debate, nor was caecina considerable enough to censure so weighty an affair." he was presently answered by valerius messalinus, who was the son of messala, and inherited a sparkling of his father's eloquence: "that many rigorous institutions of the ancients were softened and changed for the better: for, neither was rome now, as of old, beset with wars, nor italy with hostile provinces; and a few concessions were made to the conveniences of women, who were so far from burdening the provinces, that to their own husbands there they were no burden. as to honours, attendance and expense, they enjoyed them in common with their husbands, who could receive no embarrassment from their company in time of peace. to war indeed we must go equipped and unencumbered; but after the fatigues of war, what was more allowable than the consolations of a wife? but it seemed the wives of some magistrates had given a loose to ambition and avarice. and were the magistrates themselves free from these excesses? were not most of them governed by many exorbitant appetites? did we therefore send none into the provinces? it was added, that the husbands were corrupted by their corrupt wives: and were therefore all single men uncorrupt? the oppian laws were once thought necessary, because the exigencies of the state required their severity: they were afterwards relaxed and mollified, because that too was expedient for the state. in vain we covered our own sloth with borrowed names: if the wife broke bounds, the husband ought to bear the blame. it was moreover unjustly judged, for the weak and uxorious spirit of one or a few, to bereave all others of the fellowship of their wives, the natural partners of their prosperity and distress. besides, the sex, weak by nature, would be left defenceless, exposed to the luxurious bent of their native passions, and a prey to the allurements of adulterers: scarce under the eye and restraint of the husband was the marriage bed preserved inviolate: what must be the consequence, when by an absence of many years, the ties of marriage would be forgot, forgot as it were in a divorce? it became them, therefore, so to cure the evils abroad as not to forget the enormities at rome." to this drusus added somewhat concerning his own wedlock. "princes," he said, "were frequently obliged to visit the remote parts of the empire: how often did the deified augustus travel to the east, how often to the west, still accompanied with livia? he himself too had taken a progress to illyricum, and, if it were expedient, was ready to visit other nations; but not always with an easy spirit, if he were to be torn from his dear wife, her by whom he had so many children." thus was caecina's motion eluded. when the senate met next, they had a letter from tiberius. in it he affected to chide the fathers, "that upon him they cast all public cares;" and named them m. lepidus and junius blesus, to choose either for proconsul of africa. they were then both heard as to this nomination: lepidus excused himself with earnestness; he pleaded "his bodily frailty, the tender age of his children, and a daughter fit for marriage." there was another reason too, of which he said nothing; but it was easily understood: blesus was uncle to sejanus, and therefore had the prevailing interest. blesus too made a show of refusing, but not with the like positiveness, and was heard with partiality by the flatterers of power. the same year the cities of gaul, stimulated by their excessive debts, began a rebellion. the most vehement incendiaries were julius florus and julius sacrovir; the first amongst those of treves, the second amongst the aeduans. they were both distinguished by their nobility, and by the good services of their ancestors, who thence had acquired of old the right of roman citizens; a privilege rare in those days, and then only the prize of virtue. when by secret meetings, they had gained those who were most prompt to rebel; with such as were desperate through indigence, or, from guilt of past crimes, forced to commit more; they agreed that florus should begin the insurrection in belgia; sacrovir amongst the neighbouring gauls. in order to this, they had many consultations and cabals, where they uttered seditious harangues; they urged "their tribute without end, their devouring usury, the pride and cruelty of their governors: that they had now a glorious opportunity to recover their liberty; for that since the report of the murder of germanicus, discord had seized the roman soldiery: they need only consider their own strength and numbers; while italy was poor and exhausted; the roman populace weak and unwarlike, the roman armies destitute of all vigour but that derived from foreigners." scarce one city remained untainted with the seeds of this rebellion; but it first broke at angiers and tours. the former were reduced by acilius aviola, a legate, with the assistance of a cohort drawn from the garrison at lyons. those of tours were suppressed by the same aviola, assisted with a detachment sent from the legions, by visellius varro, lieutenant-governor of lower germany. some of the chiefs of the gauls had likewise joined him with succours, the better to disguise their defection, and to push it with more effect hereafter. even sacrovir was beheld engaged in fight for the romans, with his head bare, a _demonstration_, he pretended, _of his bravery_; but the prisoners averred, that "he did it to be known to his countrymen, and to escape their darts." an account of all this was laid before tiberius, who slighted it, and by hesitation fostered the war. florus the while pushed his designs, and tried to debauch a regiment of horse, levied at treves, and kept under our pay and discipline: he would have engaged them to begin the war, by putting to the sword the roman merchants; and some few were corrupted, but the body remained in their allegiance. a rabble however, of his own followers and desperate debtors, took arms and were making to the forest of arden, when the legions sent from both armies by visellius and caius silius, through different routes to intercept them, marred their march: and julius indus, one of the same country with florus, at enmity with him, and therefore more eager to engage him, was despatched forward with a chosen band, and broke the ill-appointed multitude. florus by lurking from place to place, frustrated the search of the conquerors: but at last, when he saw all the passes beset with soldiers, he fell by his own hands. this was the issue of the insurrection at treves. amongst the aeduans the revolt was stronger, as much stronger as the state was more opulent; and the forces to suppress it were to be brought from afar. augustodunum, [footnote: autun.] the capital of the nation, was seized by sacrovir, and in it all the noble youth of gaul, who were there instructed in the liberal arts. by securing these pledges he aimed to bind in his interest their parents and relations; and at the same time distributed to the young men the arms, which he had caused to be secretly made. he had forty thousand men, the fifth part armed like our legions, the rest with poles, hangers, and other weapons used by hunters. to the number were added such of the slaves as had been appointed to be gladiators; these were covered, after the fashion of the country, with a continued armour of iron; and styled _crupellarii_; a sort of militia unwieldy at exercising their own weapons, and impenetrable by those of others. these forces were still increased by volunteers from the neighbouring cities, where, though the public body did not hitherto avow the revolt, yet the zeal of particulars was manifest: they had likewise leisure to increase from the contention of the two roman generals; a contention for some time undecided, while each demanded the command in that war. at length varro, old and infirm, yielded to the superior vigour of silius. now at rome, "not only the insurrection of treves and of the aeduans, but likewise, that threescore and four cities of gaul had revolted; that the germans had joined in the revolt, and that spain fluctuated;" were reports all believed with the usual aggravations of fame. the best men grieved in sympathy for their country: many from hatred of the present government and thirst of change, rejoiced in their own perils: they inveighed against tiberius, "that in such a mighty uproar of rebellion, he was only employed in perusing the informations of the state accusers." they asked, "did he mean to surrender julius sacrovir to the senate, to try him for treason?" they exulted, "that there were at last found men, who would with arms restrain his bloody orders for private murders." and declared "that even war was a happy change for a most wretched peace." so much the more for this, tiberius affected to appear wrapped up in security and unconcern; he neither changed place nor countenance, but behaved himself at that time as at other times; whether from elevation of mind, or whether he had learned that the state of things was not alarming, and only heightened by vulgar representation. silius the while sending forward a band of auxiliaries, marched with two legions, and in his march ravaged the villages of the sequanians, next neighbours to the aeduans, and their associates in arms. he then advanced towards augustodunum; a hasty march, the standard-bearers mutually vying in expedition, and the common men breathing ardour and eagerness: they desired, "that no time might be wasted in the usual refreshments, none of their nights in sleep; let them only see and confront the foe: they wanted no more, to be victorious." twelve miles from augustodunum, sacrovir appeared with his forces upon the plains: in the front he had placed the iron troop; his cohorts in the wings; the half-armed in the rear: he himself, upon a fine horse, attended by the other chiefs, addressed himself to them from rank to rank; he reminded them "of the glorious achievements of the ancient gauls; of the victorious mischiefs they had brought upon the romans; of the liberty and renown attending victory; of their redoubled and intolerable servitude, if once more vanquished." a short speech; and an unattentive, and disheartened audience! for, the embattled legions approached; and the crowd of townsmen, ill appointed and novices in war, stood astonished, bereft of the present use of eyes and hearing. on the other side, silius, though he presumed the victory, and thence might have spared exhortations, yet called to his men, "that they might be with reason ashamed that they, the conquerors of germany, should be thus led against a rabble of gauls as against an equal enemy: one cohort had newly defeated the rebels of tours; one regiment of horse, those of treves; a handful of this very army had routed the sequanians: the present aeduans, as they are more abounding in wealth, as they wallow more in voluptuousness, are by so much more soft and unwarlike: this is what you are now to prove, and your task to prevent their escape." his words were returned with a mighty cry. instantly the horse surrounded the foe; the foot attacked their front, and the wings were presently routed: the iron band gave some short obstruction, as the bars of their coats withstood the strokes of sword and pike: but the soldiers had recourse to their hatchets and pick-axes; and, as if they had battered a wall, hewed their bodies and armour: others with clubs, and some with forks, beat down the helpless lumps, who as they lay stretched along, without one struggle to rise, were left for dead. sacrovir fled first to augustodunum; and thence, fearful of being surrendered, to a neighbouring town, accompanied by his most faithful adherents. there he slew himself; and the rest, one another: having first set the town on fire, by which they were all consumed. now at last tiberius wrote to the senate about this war, and at once acquainted them with its rise and conclusion, neither aggravating facts nor lessening them; but added "that it was conducted by the fidelity and bravery of his lieutenants, guided by his counsels." he likewise assigned the reasons why neither he, nor drusus, went to that war; "that the empire was an immense body; and it became not the dignity of a prince, upon the revolt of one or two towns, to desert the capital, whence motion was derived to the whole: but since the alarm was over, he would visit those nations and settle them." the senate decreed vows and supplications for his return, with other customary honours. only cornelius dolabella, while he strove to outdo others, fell into ridiculous sycophancy, and moved "that from campania he should enter rome in the triumph of ovation." this occasioned a letter from tiberius: in it he declared, "he was not so destitute of glory, that after having in his youth subdued the fiercest nations, and enjoyed or slighted so many triumphs, he should now in his old age seek empty honours from a short progress about the suburbs of rome." caius sulpitius and decimus haterius were the following consuls. their year was exempt from disturbances abroad; but at home some severe blow was apprehended against luxury, which prevailed monstrously in all things that create a profusion of money. but as the more pernicious articles of expense were covered by concealing their prices; therefore from the excesses of the table, which were become the common subject of daily animadversion, apprehensions were raised of some rigid correction from a prince, who observed himself the ancient parsimony. for, caius bibulus having begun the complaint, the other aediles took it up, and argued "that the sumptuary laws were despised; the pomp and expense of plate and entertainments, in spite of restraints, increased daily, and by moderate penalties were not to be stopped." this grievance thus represented to the senate, was by them referred entire to the emperor. tiberius having long weighed with himself whether such an abandoned propensity to prodigality could be stemmed; whether the stemming it would not bring heavier evils upon the public; how dishonourable it would be to attempt what could not be effected, or at least effected by the disgrace of the nobility, and by the subjecting illustrious men to infamous punishments; wrote at last to the senate in this manner: "in other matters, conscript fathers, perhaps it might be more expedient for you to consult me in the senate; and for me to declare there, what i judge for the public weal: but in the debate of this affair, it was best that my eyes were withdrawn; lest, while you marked the countenances and terror of particulars charged with scandalous luxury, i too should have observed them, and, as it were, caught them in it. had the vigilant aediles first asked counsel of me, i know not whether i should not have advised them rather to have passed by potent and inveterate corruptions, than only make it manifest, what enormities are an overmatch for us: but they in truth have done their duty, as i would have all other magistrates fulfil theirs. but for myself, it is neither commendable to be silent; nor does it belong to my station to speak out; since i neither bear the character of an aedile, nor of a praetor, nor of a consul: something still greater and higher is required of a prince. every one is ready to assume to himself the credit of whatever is well done, while upon the prince alone are thrown the miscarriages of all. but what is it, that i am first to prohibit, what excess retrench to the ancient standard? am i to begin with that of our country seats, spacious without bounds; and with the number of domestics, a number distributed into nations in private families? or with the quantity of plate, silver, and gold? or with the pictures, and works, and statues of brass, the wonders of art? or with the gorgeous vestments, promiscuously worn by men and women? or with what is peculiar to the women, those precious stones, for the purchase of which our corn is carried into foreign and hostile nations. "i am not ignorant that at entertainments and in conversation, these excesses are censured, and a regulation is required: and yet if an equal law were made, if equal penalties were prescribed, these very censurers would loudly complain, _that the state was utterly overturned, that snares and destruction were prepared for every illustrious house, that no men could be guiltless, and all men would be the prey of informers_. and yet bodily diseases grown inveterate and strengthened by time, cannot be checked but by medicines rigid and violent: it is the same with the soul: the sick and raging soul, itself corrupted and scattering its corruption, is not to be qualified but by remedies equally strong with its own flaming lusts. so many laws made by our ancestors, so many added by the deified augustus; the former being lost in oblivion, and (which is more heinous) the latter in contempt, have only served to render luxury more secure. when we covet a thing yet unforbid, we are apt to fear that it may be forbid; but when once we can with impunity and defiance overleap prohibited bounds, there remains afterwards nor fear nor shame. how therefore did parsimony prevail of old? it was because, every one was a law to himself; it was because we were then only masters of one city: nor afterwards, while our dominion was confined only to italy, had we found the same instigations to voluptuousness. by foreign conquests, we learned to waste the property of others; and in the civil wars, to consume our own. what a mighty matter is it that the aediles remonstrate! how little to be weighed in the balance with others? it is wonderful that nobody represents, that italy is in constant want of foreign supplies; that the lives of the roman people are daily at the mercy of uncertain seas and of tempests: were it not for our supports from the provinces; supports, by which the masters, and their slaves, and their estates, are maintained; would our own groves and villas maintain us? this care therefore, conscript fathers, is the business of the prince; and by the neglect of this care, the foundations of the state would be dissolved. the cure of other defects depends upon our own private spirits: some of us, shame will reclaim; necessity will mend the poor; satiety the rich. or if any of the magistrates, from a confidence of his own firmness and perseverance, will undertake to stem the progress of so great an evil; he has both my praises, and my acknowledgment, that he discharges me of part of my fatigues: but if such will only impeach corruptions, and when they have gained the glory, would leave upon me the indignation (indignation of their own raising); believe me, conscript fathers, i am not fond of bearing resentments: i already suffer many for the commonwealth; many that are grievous and almost all unjust; and therefore with reason i intreat that i may not be loaded with such as are wantonly and vainly raised, and promise no advantage to you nor to me." the senate, upon reading the emperor's letter, released the aediles from this pursuit: and the luxury of the table which, from the battle of actium till the revolution made by galba, flowed, for the space of an hundred years, in all profusion; at last gradually declined. the causes of this change are worth knowing. formerly the great families, great in nobility or abounding in riches, were carried away with a passion for magnificence: for even then it was allowed to court the good graces of the roman people, with the favour of kings, and confederate nations; and to be courted by them: so that each was distinguished by the lustre of popularity and dependances, in proportion to his affluence, the splendour of his house, and the figure he made. but after imperial fury had long raged in the slaughter of the grandees, and the greatness of reputation was become the sure mark of destruction; the rest grew wiser: besides, new men frequently chosen senators from the municipal towns, from the colonies, and even from the provinces, brought into the senate their own domestic parsimony; and though, by fortune or industry, many of them grew wealthy as they grew old, yet their former frugal spirit continued. but above all, vespasian proved the promoter of thrifty living, being himself the pattern of ancient economy in his person and table: hence the compliance of the public with the manners of the prince, and an emulation to practise them; an incitement more prevalent than the terrors of laws and all their penalties. or perhaps all human things go a certain round; and, as in the revolutions of time, there are also vicissitudes in manners: nor indeed have our ancestors excelled us in all things; our own age has produced many excellences worthy of praise and the imitation of posterity. let us still preserve this strife in virtue with our forefathers. tiberius having gained the fame of moderation; because, by rejecting the project for reforming luxury, he had disarmed the growing hopes of the accusers; wrote to the senate, to desire the _tribunitial power_ for drusus. augustus had devised this title, as best suiting the unbounded height of his views; while avoiding the odious name of _king_ or _dictator_, he was yet obliged to use some particular appellation, under it to control all other powers in the state. he afterwards assumed marcus agrippa into a fellowship in it; and, upon his death, tiberius; that none might doubt, who was to be his successor. by this means, he conceived, he should defeat the aspiring views of others: besides, he confided in the moderation of tiberius, and in the mightiness of his own authority. by his example, tiberius now advanced drusus to the supreme magistracy; whereas, while germanicus yet lived, he acted without distinction towards both. in the beginning of his letter he besought the gods "that by his counsels the republic might prosper," and then added a modest testimony concerning the qualities and behaviour of the young prince, without aggravation or false embellishments; "that he had a wife and three children, and was of the same age with himself, when called by the deified augustus to that office: that drusus was not now by him adopted a partner in the toils of government, precipitately; but after eight years' experience made of his qualifications; after seditions suppressed, wars concluded, the honour of triumph, and two consulships." the senators had foreseen this address; hence they received it with the more elaborate adulation. however, they could devise nothing to decree, but "statues to the two princes, altars to the gods, arches," and other usual honours: only that marcus silanus strove to honour the princes by the disgrace of the consulship: he proposed "that all records public and private should, for their date, be inscribed no more with the names of the consuls, but of those who exercised the tribunitial power." but haterius agrippa, by moving to have "the decrees of that day engraved in letters of gold, and hung up in the senate," became an object of derision; for that, as he was an ancient man, he could reap from his most abominable flattery no other fruit but that of infamy. tiberius, while he fortified the vitals of his own domination, afforded the senate a shadow of their ancient jurisdiction; by referring to their examination petitions and claims from the provinces. for there had now prevailed amongst the greek cities a latitude of instituting sanctuaries at pleasure. hence the temples were filled with the most profligate fugitive slaves: here debtors found protection against their creditors; and hither were admitted such as were pursued for capital crimes. nor was any force of magistracy or laws sufficient to bridle the mad zeal of the people, who confounding the sacred villainies of men with the worship peculiar to the gods, seditiously defended these profane sanctuaries. it was therefore ordered that these cities should send deputies to represent their claims. some of the cities voluntarily relinquished the nominal privileges, which they had arbitrarily assumed: many confided in their rights; a confidence grounded on the antiquity of their superstitions, or on the merits of their kind offices to the roman people. glorious to the senate was the appearance of that day, when the grants from our ancestors, the engagements of our confederates, the ordinances of kings, such kings who had reigned as yet independent of the roman power; and when even the sacred worship of the gods were now all subjected to their inspection, and their judgment free, as of old, to ratify or abolish with absolute power. first of all the ephesians applied. they alleged, that "diana and apollo were not, according to the credulity of the vulgar, born at delos: in their territory flowed the river cenchris; where also stood the ortygian grove: there the big-bellied latona, leaning upon an olive tree, which even then remained, was delivered of these deities; and thence by their appointment the grove became sacred. thither apollo himself, after his slaughter of the cyclops, retired for a sanctuary from the wrath of jupiter: soon after, the victorious bacchus pardoned the suppliant amazons, who sought refuge at the altar of diana: by the concession of hercules, when he reigned in lydia, her temple was dignified with an augmentation of immunities; nor during the persian monarchy were they abridged: they were next maintained by the macedonians, and then by us." the magnesians next asserted their claim, founded on an establishment of lucius scipio, confirmed by another of sylla: the former after the defeat of antiochus; the latter after that of mithridates, having, as a testimony of the faith and bravery of the magnesians, dignified their temple of the leucophrynaean diana with the privileges of an inviolable sanctuary. after them, the aphrodisians and stratoniceans produced a grant from caesar the dictator, for their early services to his party; and another lately from augustus, with a commendation inserted, "that with zeal unshaken towards the roman people, they had borne the irruption of the parthians." but these two people adored different deities: aphrodisium was a city devoted to venus; that of stratonicea maintained the worship of jupiter and of diana trivia. those of hierocaesarea exhibited claims of higher antiquity, "that they possessed the persian diana, and her temple consecrated by king cyrus." they likewise pleaded the authorities of perpenna, isauricus, and of many more roman captains, who had allowed the same sacred immunity not to the temple only, but to a precinct two miles round it. those of cyprus pleaded right of sanctuary to three of their temples: the most ancient founded by aerias to the paphian venus; another by his son amathus to the amathusian venus; the third to the salaminian jupiter by teucer, the son of telamon, when he fled from the fury of his father. the deputies too of other cities were heard. but the senate tired with so many, and because there was a contention begun amongst particular parties for particular cities; gave power to the consuls "to search into the validity of their several pretensions, and whether in them no fraud was interwoven;" with orders "to lay the whole matter once more before the senate." the consuls reported that, besides the cities already mentioned, "they had found the temple of aesculapius at pergamus to be a genuine sanctuary: the rest claimed upon originals, from the darkness of antiquity, altogether obscure. smyrna particularly pleaded an oracle of apollo, in obedience to which they had dedicated a temple to venus stratonices; as did the isle of tenos an oracular order from the same god, to erect to neptune a statue and temple. sardis urged a later authority, namely, a grant from the great alexander; and miletus insisted on one from king darius: as to the deities of these two cities; one worshipped diana; the other, apollo. and crete too demanded the privilege of sanctuary, to a statue of the deified augustus." hence diverse orders of senate were made, by which, though great reverence was expressed towards the deities, yet the extent of the sanctuaries was limited; and the several people were enjoined "to hang up in each temple the present decree engraven in brass, as a sacred memorial, and a restraint against their lapsing, under the colour of religion, into the abuses and claims of superstition." at the same time, a vehement distemper having seized livia, obliged the emperor to hasten his return to rome; seeing hitherto the mother and son lived in apparent unanimity; or perhaps mutually disguised their hate: for, not long before, livia, having dedicated a statue to the deified augustus, near the theatre of marcellus, had the name of tiberius inscribed after her own. this he was believed to have resented heinously, as a degrading the dignity of the prince; but to have buried his resentment under dark dissimulation. upon this occasion, therefore, the senate decreed "supplications to the gods; with the celebration of the greater roman games, under the direction of the pontifs, the augurs, the college of fifteen, assisted by the college of seven, and the fraternity of augustal priests." lucius apronius had moved, that "with the rest might preside the company of heralds." tiberius opposed it; he distinguished between the jurisdiction of the priests and theirs; "for that at no time had the heralds arrived to so much pre-eminence: but for the augustal fraternity, they were therefore added, because they exercised a priesthood peculiar to that family for which the present vows and solemnities were made," it is no part of my purpose to trace all the votes of particular men, unless they are memorable for integrity, or for notorious infamy: this i conceive to be the principal duty of an historian, that he suppress no instance of virtue; and that by the dread of future infamy and the censures of posterity, men may be deterred from detestable actions and prostitute speeches. in short, such was the abomination of those times, so prevailing the contagion of flattery, that not only the first nobles, whose obnoxious splendour found protection only in obsequiousness; but all who had been consuls, a great part of such as had been praetors, and even many of the unregistered senators, strove for priority in the vileness and excess of their votes. there is a tradition, that tiberius, as often as he went out of the senate, was wont to cry out in greek, _oh men prepared for bondage!_ yes, even tiberius, he who could not bear public liberty, nauseated this prostitute tameness of slaves. book iv a.d. - . when caius asinius and caius antistius were consuls, tiberius was in his ninth year; the state composed, and his family flourishing (for the death of germanicus he reckoned amongst the incidents of his prosperity) when suddenly fortune began to grow boisterous, and he himself to tyrannise, or to furnish others with the weapons of tyranny. the beginning and cause of this turn arose from aelius sejanus, captain of the praetorian cohorts. of his power i have above made mention; i shall now explain his original, his manners, and by what black deeds he strove to snatch the sovereignty. he was born at vulsinii, son to sejus strabo, a roman knight; in his early youth, he was a follower of caius caesar (grandson of augustus) and lay then under the contumely of having for hire exposed himself to the constupration of apicius; a debauchee wealthy and profuse: next by various artifices he so enchanted tiberius, that he who to all others was dark and unsearchable, became to sejanus alone destitute of all restraint and caution: nor did he so much accomplish this by any superior efforts of policy (for at his own stratagems he was vanquished by others) as by the rage of the gods against the roman state, to which he proved alike destructive when he flourished and when he fell. his person was hardy and equal to fatigues; his spirit daring but covered; sedulous to disguise his own counsels, dexterous to blacken others; alike fawning and imperious; to appearance exactly modest; but in his heart fostering the lust of domination; and, with this view, engaged at one time in profusion, largesses, and luxury; and again, often laid out in application and vigilance; qualities no less pernicious, when personated by ambition for the acquiring of empire. the authority of his command over the guards, which was but moderate before his time, he extended, by gathering into one camp all the praetorian cohorts then dispersed over the city; that thus united, they might all at once receive his orders, and by continually beholding their own numbers and strength, conceive confidence in themselves and prove a terror to all other men. he pretended, "that the soldiers, while they lived scattered, lived loose and debauched; that when gathered into a body, there could, in any hasty emergency, be more reliance upon their succour; and that when encamped, remote from the allurements of the town, they would in their discipline be more exact and severe." when the encampment was finished, he began gradually to allure the affections of the soldiers, by all the ways of affability, court, and familiarity: it was he too who chose the centurions, he who chose the tribunes. neither in his pursuits of ambition did the senate escape him; but by distinguishing his followers in it with offices and provinces, he cultivated power and a party there: for, to all this tiberius was entirely resigned; and even so passionate for him, that not in conversation only, but in public, in his speeches to the senate and people, he treated and extolled him, as _the sharer of his burdens_; nay, allowed his effigies to be publicly adored, in the several theatres, in all places of popular convention, and even amongst the eagles of the legions. but to his designs were many retardments: the imperial house was full of caesars; the emperor's son a grown man, and his grandsons of age: and because the cutting them off all at once, was dangerous; the treason he meditated, required a gradation of murders. he however chose the darkest method, and to begin with drusus; against whom he was transported with a fresh motive of rage. for, drusus impatient of a rival, and in his temper inflammable, had upon some occasional contest, shaken his fist at sejanus, and, as he prepared to resist, given him a blow on the face. as he therefore cast about for every expedient of revenge, the readiest seemed to apply to livia his wife: she was the sister of germanicus, and from an uncomely person in her childhood, grew afterwards to excel in loveliness. as his passion for this lady was vehement, he tempted her to adultery, and having fulfilled the first iniquity (nor will a woman, who has sacrificed her chastity, stick at any other) he carried her greater lengths, to the views of marriage, a partnership in the empire, and even the murder of her husband. thus she, the niece of augustus, the daughter-in-law of tiberius, the mother of children by drusus, defiled herself, her ancestors, and her posterity, with a municipal adulterer; and all to exchange an honourable condition possessed, for pursuits flagitious and uncertain. into a fellowship in the guilt was assumed eudemus, physician to livia; and, under colour of his profession, frequently with her in private. sejanus too, to avoid the jealousy of the adulteress, discharged from his bed apicata his wife, her by whom he had three children. but still the mightiness of the iniquity terrified them, and thence created caution, delays, and frequently opposite counsels. during this, in the beginning of the year, drusus one of the sons of germanicus, put on the manly robe; and upon him the senate conferred the same honours decreed before to his brother nero. a speech was added by tiberius with a large encomium upon his son, "that with the tenderness of a father he used the children of his brother." for, drusus, however rare it be for power and unanimity to subsist together, was esteemed benevolent, certainly not ill-disposed, towards these youths. now again was revived by tiberius the proposal of a progress into the provinces; a stale proposal, always hollow, but often feigned. he pretended "the multitude of veterans discharged, and thence the necessity of recruiting the armies; that volunteers were wanting, or if already such there were, they were chiefly the necessitous and vagabonds, and destitute of the like modesty and courage." he likewise cursorily recounted the number of the legions, and what countries they defended: a detail which i think it behoves me also to repeat; that thence may appear what was then the complement of the roman forces, what kings their confederates, and how much more narrow the limits of the empire. italy was on each side guarded by two fleets; one at misenum, one at ravenna; and the coast joining to gaul, by the galleys taken by augustus at the battle of actium, and sent powerfully manned to forojulium. [footnote: fréjus.] but the chief strength lay upon the rhine; they were eight legions, a common guard upon the germans and the gauls. the reduction of spain, lately completed, was maintained by three. mauritania was possessed by king juba; a realm which he held as a gift from the roman people: the rest of africa by two legions; and egypt by the like number. four legions kept in subjection all the mighty range of country, extending from the next limits of syria, as far as the euphrates, and bordering upon the iberians, albanians, and other principalities, who by our might are protected against foreign powers. thrace was held by rhoemetalces, and the sons of cotys; and both banks of the danube by four legions; two in pannonia, two in moesia. in dalmatia likewise were placed two; who, by the situation of the country, were at hand to support the former, and had not far to march into italy, were any sudden succours required there: though rome too had her peculiar soldiery; three city cohorts, and nine praetorian, enlisted chiefly out of etruria and umbria, or from the ancient latium and the old roman colonies. in the several provinces, besides, were disposed, according to their situation and necessity, the fleets of the several confederates, with their squadrons and battalions; a number of forces not much different from all the rest: but the particular detail would be uncertain; since, according to the exigency of times, they often shifted stations, with numbers sometimes enlarged, sometimes reduced. it will, i believe, fall in properly here to review also the other parts of the administration, and by what measures it was hitherto conducted, till with the beginning of this year the government of tiberius began to wax worse. first then, all public, and every private business of moment, was determined by the senate: to the great men he allowed liberty of debate: those who in their debates lapsed into flattery, he checked: in conferring preferments, he was guided by merit, by ancient nobility, renown in war abroad, by civil accomplishments at home; insomuch that it was manifest, his choice could not have been better. there remained to the consuls, there remained to the praetors the useful marks of their dignities; to inferior magistrates the independent exercise of their charges; and the laws, where the power of the prince was not concerned, were in proper force. the tributes, duties, and all public receipts, were directed by companies of roman knights: the management of his own revenue he committed only to those of the most noted qualifications; mostly known by himself, and to some known by reputation alone: and when once taken, they were continued, without all restriction of term; since most grew old in the same employments. the populace were indeed aggrieved by the dearth of provisions; but without any fault of the prince: nay, he spared no possible expense nor pains to remedy the effects of barrenness in the earth, and of wrecks at sea. he provided that the provinces should not be oppressed with new impositions; and that no extortion, or violence should be committed by the magistrates in raising the old: there were no infamous corporal punishments, no confiscations of goods. the emperor's possessions through italy, were thin; the behaviour of his slaves modest; the freedmen who managed his house, few; and in his disputes with particulars, the courts were open and the law equal. all which restraints he observed, not, in truth, in the ways of complaisance and popularity; but always stern, and for the most part terrible; yet still he retained them, till by the death of drusus they were abandoned: for, while he lived they continued; because sejanus, while he was but laying the foundations of his power, studied to recommend himself by good counsels. he then had besides, an avenger to dread, one who disguised not his enmity, but was frequent in his complaints; "that when the son was in his prime, another was called, as coadjutor, to the government; nay, how little was wanting to his being declared colleague in the empire? that the first advances to sovereignty are steep and perilous; but, once you are entered, parties and instruments are ready to espouse you. already a camp for the guards was formed, by the pleasure and authority of the captain: into whose hands the soldiers were delivered: in the theatre of pompey his statue was beheld: in his grandchildren would be mixed the blood of the drusi with that of sejanus. after all this what remained but to supplicate his modesty to rest contented." nor was it rarely that he uttered these disgusts, nor to a few; besides, his wife being debauched, all his secrets were betrayed. sejanus therefore judging it time to despatch, chose such a poison as by operating gradually, might preserve the appearances of a casual disease. this was administered to drusus by lygdus the eunuch, as, eight years after, was learnt. now during all the days of his illness, tiberius disclosed no symptoms of anguish (perhaps from ostentation of a firmness of spirit) nay, when he had expired, and while he was yet unburied, he entered the senate; and finding the consuls placed upon a common seat, as a testimony of their grief; he admonished them of their dignity and station: and as the senators burst into tears, he smothered his rising sighs, and, by a speech uttered without hesitation, animated them. "he, in truth, was not ignorant," he said, "that he might be censured, for having thus in the first throbs of sorrow, beheld the face of the senate; when most of those who feel the fresh pangs of mourning, can scarce endure the soothings of their kindred, scarce behold the day: neither were such to be condemned of weakness: but for himself, he had more powerful consolations; such as arose from embracing the commonwealth, and pursuing her welfare." he then lamented "the extreme age of his mother, the tender years of his grandsons, his own days in declension;" and desired that, "as the only alleviation of the present evils, the children of germanicus might be introduced." the consuls therefore went for them, and having with kind words fortified their young minds, presented them to the emperor. he took them by the hand and said, "conscript fathers, these infants, bereft of their father, i committed to their uncle; and besought him that, though he had issue of his own, he would rear and nourish them no otherwise than as the immediate offspring of his blood; that he would appropriate them as stays to himself and posterity. drusus being snatched from us, to you i address the same prayers; and in the presence of the gods, in the face of your country, i adjure you, receive into your protection, take under your tuition the great-grandchildren of augustus; children, descended from ancestors the most glorious in the state: towards them fulfil your own, fulfil my duty. to you, nero; to you, drusus, these senators are in the stead of a father; and such is the situation of your birth, that on the commonwealth must light all the good and evil which befalls you." all this was heard with much weeping, and followed with propitious prayers and vows: and had he only gone thus far, and in his speech observed a medium, he had left the souls of his hearers full of sympathy and applause. but, by renewing an old project, always chimerical and so often ridiculed, about "restoring the republic, reinstating it again in the consuls, or whoever else would undertake the administration;" he forfeited his faith even in assertions which were commendable and sincere. to the memory of drusus were decreed the same solemnities as to that of germanicus; with many super-added; agreeably to the genius of flattery, which delights in variety and improvements. most signal was the lustre of the funeral in a conspicuous procession of images; when at it appeared in a pompous train, aeneas, father of the julian race; all the kings of alba, and romulus founder of rome; next the sabine nobility, attus clausus, and his descendants of the claudian family. in relating the death of drusus, i have followed the greatest part of our historians, and the most faithful: i would not however omit a rumour which in those times was so prevailing that it is not extinguished in ours; "that sejanus having by adultery gained livia to the murder, had likewise engaged by constupration the affections and concurrence of lygdus the eunuch; because lygdus was, for his youth and loveliness, dear to his master, and one of his chief attendants: that when the time and place of poisoning, were by the conspirators concerted; the eunuch carried his boldness so high, as to charge upon drusus a design of poisoning tiberius; and secretly warning the emperor of this, advised him to shun the first draught offered him in the next entertainment at his son's: that the old man possessed with this fictitious treason, after he had sate down to table, having received the cup delivered it to drusus, who ignorantly and gaily drank it off: that this heightened the jealousy and apprehensions of tiberius, as if through fear and shame his son had swallowed the same death, which for his father he had contrived." these bruitings of the populace, besides that they are supported by no certain author, may be easily refuted. for, who of common prudence (much less tiberius so long practised in great affairs) would to his own son, without hearing him, present the mortal bane; with his own hands too, and cutting off for ever all possibility of retraction? why would he not rather have tortured the minister of the poison? why not inquired into the author of the poison? why not observed towards his only son, a son hitherto convicted of no iniquity, that slowness and hesitation, which, even in his proceedings against strangers, was inherent in him? but as sejanus was reckoned the framer of every wickedness, therefore, from the excessive fondness of tiberius towards him, and from the hatred of all others towards both, things the most fabulous and direful were believed of them; besides that common fame is ever most fraught with tales of horror upon the departure of princes: in truth, the plan and process of the murder were first discovered by apicata, wife of sejanus, and laid open upon the rack by eudemus and lygdus. nor has any writer appeared so outrageous to charge it upon tiberius; though in other instances they have sedulously collected and inflamed every action of his. my own purpose in recounting and censuring this rumour, was to blast, by so glaring an example, the credit of groundless tales; and to request of those into whose hands our present undertaking shall come, that they would not prefer hearsays, void of credibility and rashly swallowed, to the narrations of truth not adulterated with romance. to proceed; whilst tiberius was pronouncing in public the panegyric of his son, the senate and people assumed the port and accent of mourners, rather in appearance than cordially; and in their hearts exulted to see the house of germanicus begin to revive. but this dawn of fortune, and the conduct of agrippina, ill disguising her hopes, quickened the overthrow of that house. for sejanus, when he saw the death of drusus pass unrevenged upon his murderers, and no public lamentation following it; undaunted as he was in villainy since his first efforts had succeeded; cast about in himself, how he might destroy the sons of germanicus, whose succession to the empire was now unquestionable. they were three; and, from the distinguished fidelity of their governors, and incorruptible chastity of agrippina, could not be all circumvented by poison. he therefore chose to attack her another way; to raise alarms from the haughtiness and contumacy of her spirit; to rouse the old hatred of livia the elder, and the guilty mind of his late accomplice, livia the younger; that to the emperor they might represent her "as elated with the credit and renown of her fruitfulness; and that confiding in it, and in the zeal of the populace, she grasped with open arms at the empire." the young livia acted in this engagement by crafty calumniators; amongst whom she had particularly chosen julius posthumus, a man every way qualified for her purposes; as he was the adulterer of mutilia prisca, and thence a confidant of her grandmother's; (for over the mind of the empress, prisca had powerful influence) and by their means the old woman, in her own nature tender and anxious of power, was rendered utterly irreconcilable to the widow of her grandson. such too as were nearest the person of agrippina, were promoted to be continually enraging her tempestuous heart by perverse representations. this year also brought deputations from the grecian cities; one from the people of samos; one from those of coös; the former to request that the ancient right of sanctuary in the temple of juno might be confirmed; the latter to solicit the same confirmation for that of aesculapius. the samians claimed upon a decree of the council of amphictyons, the supreme judicature of greece, at the time when the greeks by their cities founded in asia, possessed the maritime coasts. nor had they of coös a weaker title to antiquity; to which likewise accrued the pretensions of the place to the friendship of rome: for they had lodged in the temple of aesculapius all the roman citizens there, when by the order of king mithridates, such were universally butchered throughout all the cities of asia and the isles. and now after many complaints from the praetors, for the most part ineffectual, the emperor at last made a representation to the senate, concerning the licentiousness of the players; "that in many instances they raised seditious tumults, and violated the public peace; and, in many, promoted debauchery in private families: that the _oscan farce_, formerly only the contemptible delight of the vulgar, was risen to such a prevailing pitch of credit and enormity, that it required the authority of the senate to check it." the players therefore were driven out of italy. the same year carried off one of the twins of drusus, and thence afflicted the emperor with fresh woe; nor with less for the death of a particular friend. it was lucillius longus, the inseparable companion of all the traverses of his fortune smiling or sad; and, of all the senators, the only one who accompanied him in his retirement at rhodes. for this reason, though but a new man, the senate decreed him a public funeral; and a statue to be placed, at the expense of the treasury, in the square of augustus. for by the senate, even yet, all affairs were transacted; insomuch that lucillius capito, the emperor's comptroller in asia, was, at the accusation of the province, brought upon his defence before them: the emperor too upon this occasion protested with great earnestness, "that from him lucillius had no authority but over his slaves, and in collecting his domestic rents: that if he had usurped the jurisdiction of praetor, and employed military force, he had so far violated his orders; they should therefore hear the allegations of the province." thus the accused was upon trial condemned. for this just vengeance, and that inflicted the year before on caius silanus, the cities of asia decreed a temple to tiberius, and his mother, and the senate; and obtained leave to build it. for this concession nero made a speech of thanks to the senators and his grandfather; a speech which charmed the affections of his hearers, who, as they were full of the memory of germanicus, fancied it was him they heard, and him they saw. there was also in the youth himself an engaging modesty, and a gracefulness becoming a princely person: ornaments which, by the known hatred that threatened him from sejanus, became still more dear and adored. i am aware that most of the transactions which i have already related, or shall hereafter relate, may perhaps appear minute, and too trivial to be remembered. but, none must compare these my annals with the writings of those who compiled the story of the ancient roman people. they had for their subjects mighty wars, potent cities sacked, great kings routed and taken captive: or if they sometimes reviewed the domestic affairs of rome, they there found the mutual strife and animosities of the consuls and tribunes; the agrarian and frumentary laws, pushed and opposed; and the lasting struggles between the nobles and populace. large and noble topics these, at home and abroad, and recounted by the old historians with full room and free scope. to me remains a straitened task, and void of glory; steady peace, or short intervals of war; the proceedings at rome sad and affecting; and a prince careless of extending the empire: nor yet will it be without its profit to look minutely into such transactions, as however small at first view, give rise and motion to great events. for, all nations and cities are governed either by the populace, by the nobility, or by single rulers. as to the frame of a state chosen and compacted out of all these three, it is easier applauded than accomplished; or if accomplished, cannot be of long duration. so that, as during the republic, either when the power of the people prevailed, or when the senate bore the chief sway; it was necessary to know the genius of the commonalty, and by what measures they were to be humoured and restrained; and such too who were thoroughly acquainted with the spirit of the senate and leading men, came to be esteemed skilful in the times, and men of prowess: so now when that establishment is changed, and the present situation such as if one ruled all; it is of advantage to collect and record these later incidents, as matters of public example and instruction; since few can by their own wisdom distinguish between things crooked and upright; few between counsels pernicious and profitable; and since most men are taught by the fate of others. but the present detail, however instructive, yet brings scanty delight. it is by the descriptions and accounts of nations; by the variety of battles; by the brave fall of illustrious captains, that the soul of the reader is engaged and refreshed. for myself, i can only give a sad display of cruel orders, incessant accusations, faithless friendships, the destruction of innocents, and endless trials, all attended with the same issue, death and condemnation: an obvious round of repetition and satiety! besides that the old historians are rarely censured; nor is any man now concerned whether they chiefly magnify the roman or carthaginian armies. but, of many who under tiberius suffered punishment, or were marked with infamy, the posterity are still subsisting; or if the families themselves are extinct, there are others found, who from a similitude of manners, think that, in reciting the evil doings of others, they themselves are charged: nay, even virtue and a glorious name create foes, as they expose in a light too obvious the opposite characters. but i return to my undertaking. whilst cornelius cossus and asinius agrippa were consuls, cremutius cordus was arraigned for that, "having published annals and in them praised brutus, he had styled cassius the last of the romans:" a new crime, then first created. satrius secundus and pinarius natta were his accusers; creatures of sejanus: a mortal omen this to the accused; besides that tiberius received his defence with a countenance settled into cruelty. he began it on this wise, casting away all hopes of life: "as to facts, i am so guiltless, conscript fathers, that my words only are accused: but neither are any words of mine pointed against the emperor, or his mother; who are the only persons comprehended in the law concerning violated majesty. it is alleged that i have praised brutus and cassius; men whose lives and actions have been compiled by a cloud of writers, and their memory treated by none but with honour. titus livius, an historian eminently famous for eloquence and veracity, signalised pompey with such abundant encomiums, that he was thence by augustus named pompeianus; nor did this prejudice their common friendship. neither scipio, nor afranius, nor even this same cassius, nor this same brutus, are anywhere mentioned by him as _traitors_ and _parricides_, the common nicknames now bestowed on them; but often, as great and memorable men. the writings of asinius pollio have conveyed down the memory of the same men, under honourable characters. corvinus messala gloried to have had cassius for his general: and yet both pollio and corvinus became signally powerful in wealth and honours under augustus. that book of cicero's, in which he exalted cato to the skies; what other animadversion did it draw from caesar the dictator, than a written reply, in the same style and equality as if before his judges he had made it? the letters of marc anthony; the speeches of brutus, are full of reproaches, and recriminations against augustus; false in truth, but urged with signal asperity: the poems of bibaculus and those of catullus, stuffed with virulent satires against the caesars, are still read. but even the deified julius, even the deified augustus, bore all these invectives and disdained them; whether with greater moderation or wisdom, i cannot easily say. for, if they are despised, they fade away; if you wax wroth, you seem to avow them to be just. "instances from the greeks i bring none: with them not the freedom only, but even the licentiousness of speech, is unpunished: or if any correction is returned, it is only by revenging words with words. it has been ever allowed, without restriction or rebuke, to pass our judgment upon those whom death has withdrawn from the influence of affection and hate. are cassius and brutus now in arms? do they at present fill with armed troops the fields of philippi? or do i fire the roman people, by inflammatory harangues, with the spirit of civil rage? brutus and cassius, now above seventy years slain, are still known in their statues, which even the conqueror did not abolish: and as these exhibit their persons, why not the historian their characters? impartial posterity to every man repays his proper praise: nor will there be wanting such as, if my death is determined, will not only revive the story of cassius and brutus, but even my story." having thus said he withdrew from the senate, and ended his life by abstinence. the fathers condemned the books to be by the aediles burned; but they still continued concealed and dispersed: hence we may justly mock the stupidity of those, who imagine that they can, by present power, extinguish the lights and memory of succeeding times: for, quite otherwise, the punishment of writers exalts the credit of the writings: nor did ever foreign kings, or any else, reap other fruit from it, than infamy to themselves, and glory to the sufferers. to proceed; for this whole year there was such an incessant torrent of accusations, that even during the solemnity of the latin festival, when drusus for his inauguration, as governor of rome, had ascended the tribunal, he was accosted by calpurnius salvianus with a charge against sextus marius: a proceeding openly resented by the emperor, and thence salvianus was banished. the city of cyzicus was next accused, "of not observing the established worship of the deified augustus;" with additional crimes, "of violences committed upon some roman citizens." thus that city lost her liberties; which by her behaviour during the mithridatic war, she had purchased; having in it sustained a siege; and as much by her own bravery, as by the aid of lucullus, repulsed the king, but fonteius capito, who had as proconsul governed asia, was acquitted, upon proof that the crimes brought against him by vibius serenus were forged: and yet the forgery drew no penalty upon serenus: nay, the public hate rendered him the more secure: for, every accuser, the more eager and incessant he was, the more sacred and inviolable he became: the sorry and impotent were surrendered to chastisement. about the same time, the furthermost spain besought the senate by their ambassadors, "that after the example of asia, they might erect a temple to tiberius and his mother." upon this occasion, the emperor, always resolute in contemning honours, and now judging it proper to confute those, who exposed him to the popular censure, of having deviated into ambition; spoke in this manner: "i know, conscript fathers, that it is generally blamed, and ascribed to a defect of firmness in me, that when the cities of asia petitioned for this very thing, i withstood them not. i shall therefore now unfold at once the motives of my silence then, and the rules which for the future i am determined to observe. since the deified augustus had not opposed the founding at pergamus a temple to himself and the city of rome; i, with whom all his actions and sayings have the force of laws, followed an example already approved; and followed it the more cheerfully, because to the worship bestowed upon me, that of the senate was annexed. but as the indulging of this, in one instance, will find pardon; so a general latitude of being adored through every province, under the sacred representations of the deities, would denote a vain spirit; a heart swelled with ambition. the glory too of augustus will vanish, if by the promiscuous courtship of flattery it comes to be vulgarly prostituted. "for myself, conscript fathers, i am a mortal man; i am confined to the functions of human nature; and if i well supply the principal place amongst you, it suffices me. this i acknowledge to you; and this acknowledgment, i would have posterity to remember. they will do abundant right to my memory, if they believe me to have been worthy of my ancestors; watchful of the roman state; unmoved in perils, and in maintaining the public interest, fearless of private enmities. these are the temples which in your breasts i would raise; these the fairest portraitures, and such as will endure. as to temples and statues of stone, if the idol adored in them comes to be hated by posterity, they are despised as his sepulchres. hence it is i here invoke the gods, that to the end of my life they would grant me a spirit undisturbed, and discerning in duties human and divine: and hence too i here implore our citizens and allies, that whenever my dissolution comes, they would with approbation and benevolent testimonies of remembrance, celebrate my actions and retain the odour of my name." and thenceforward he persevered in slighting upon all occasions, and even in private conversation, this divine worship of himself. a conduct which was by some ascribed to modesty; by many to a conscious diffidence; by others to degeneracy of spirit. "since the most sublime amongst men naturally covet the most exalted honours: thus hercules and bacchus amongst the greeks, and with us romulus, were added to the society of the gods: augustus too had chosen the nobler part, and hoped for deification: all the other gratifications of princes were instantly procured: one only was to be pursued insatiably; the praise and perpetuity of their name. for by contemning fame, the virtues that procure it, are contemned." now sejanus, intoxicated with excess of fortune, and moreover stimulated by the importunity of livia, who, with the restless passion of a woman, craved the promised marriage, composed a memorial to the emperor. for, it was then the custom to apply to him in writing, though he were present. this of sejanus was thus conceived: "that such had been towards him the benevolence of augustus; such and so numerous, since, the instances of affection from tiberius, that he was thence accustomed, without applying to the gods, to carry his hopes and prayers directly to the emperors: yet of them he had never sought a blaze of honours: watching and toils like those of common soldiers, for the safeguard of the prince, had been his choice and ambition. however what was most glorious for him he had attained; to be thought worthy of alliance with the emperor: hence the source of his present hopes: and, since he had heard that augustus, in the disposal of his daughter, had not been without thoughts even of some of the roman knights; he begged that if a husband were sought for livia, tiberius would remember his friend; one whose ambition aimed no higher than the pure and disinterested glory of the affinity: for that he would never abandon the burden of his present trust; but hold it sufficient to be, by that means, enabled to support his house against the injurious wrath of agrippina; and in this he only consulted the security of his children. for himself; his own life would be abundantly long, whenever finally spent in the ministry of such a prince." for a present answer, tiberius praised the loyalty of sejanus; recapitulated cursorily the instances of his own favours towards him, and required time, as it were for a thorough deliberation. at last he made this reply: "that all other men were, in their pursuits, guided by the notions of convenience: far different was the lot and situation of princes, who were in their action to consider chiefly the applause and good liking of the public: he therefore did not delude sejanus with an obvious and plausible answer; that livia could herself determine whether, after drusus, she ought again to marry, or still persist his widow, and that she had a mother and grandmother, nearer relations and more interested to advise. he would deal more candidly with him: and first as to the enmity of agrippina; it would flame out with fresh fury, if by the marriage of livia, the family of the caesars were rent as it were into two contending parties: that even as things stood, the emulation of these ladies broke into frequent sallies, and, by their animosities, his grandsons were instigated different ways. what would be the consequence, if, by such a marriage, the strife were inflamed? for you are deceived, sejanus, if you think to continue then in the same rank as now; or that livia, she who was first the wife of the young caius caesar, and afterwards the wife of drusus, will be of a temper to grow old with a husband no higher than a roman knight: nay, allowing that i suffered you afterwards to remain what you are; do you believe that they who saw her father, they who saw her brother, and the ancestors of our house, covered with the supreme dignities, will ever suffer it? you in truth propose, yourself, to stand still in the same station: but the great magistrates and grandees of the state, those very magistrates and grandees who, in spite of yourself, break in upon you, and in all affairs court you as their oracle, make no secret of maintaining that you have long since exceeded the bounds of the equestrian order, and far outgone in power all the confidants of my father; and from their hatred to you, they also censure me. but still, augustus deliberated about giving his daughter to a roman knight. where is the wonder, if perplexed with a crowd of distracting cares, and apprised to what an unbounded height above others he raised whomsoever he dignified with such a match, he talked of proculeius, and some like him; remarkable for the retiredness of their life, and nowise engaged in the affairs of state? but if we are influenced by the hesitation of augustus, how much more powerful is the decision; since he bestowed his daughter on agrippa, and then on me? these are considerations which in friendship i have not withheld: however, neither your own inclinations, nor those of livia, shall be ever thwarted by me. the secret and constant purposes of my own heart towards you, and with what further ties of affinity, i am contriving to bind you still faster to me; i at present forbear to recount. thus much only i will declare, that there is nothing so high but those abilities, and your singular zeal and fidelity towards me, may justly claim: as when opportunity presents, either in senate, or in a popular assembly, i shall not fail to testify." in answer to this, sejanus no longer soliciting the marriage, but filled with higher apprehensions, besought him "to resist the dark suggestions of suspicion; to despise the pratings of the vulgar, nor to admit the hostile breath of envy." and as he was puzzled about the crowds which incessantly haunted his house; lest by keeping them off he might impair his power; or by encouraging them, furnish a handle for criminal imputations; he came to this result, that he would urge the emperor out of rome, to spend his life remote from thence in delightful retirements. from this counsel he foresaw many advantages: upon himself would depend all access to the emperor; all letters and expresses would, as the soldiers were the carriers, be in great measure under his direction; in a little time, the prince, now in declining age, and then softened by recess, would more easily transfer upon him the whole charge of the empire: he should be removed from the multitude of such as to make their court, attended him at rome; and thence one source of envy would be stopped. so that by discharging the empty phantoms of power, he should augment the essentials. he therefore began by little and little to rail at the hurry of business at rome, the throng of people, the flock of suitors: he applauded "retirement and quiet; where, while they were separate from irksome fatigues, nor exposed to the discontents and resentments of particulars, all affairs of moment were best despatched." next were heard ambassadors from the lacedaemonians and messenians, about the right that each people claimed to the temple of diana limenetis; which the lacedaemonians asserted to be theirs, "founded in their territory, and dedicated by their ancestors," and offered as proofs the ancient authority of their annals, and the hymns of the old poets. "it had been in truth taken from them by the superior force of philip of macedon, when at war with him; but restored afterwards by the judicial decision of julius caesar and marc anthony." the messenians, on the contrary, pleaded, "the ancient partition of peloponnesus amongst the descendants of hercules; whence the territory where the temple stood, had fallen to their king; and the monuments of that allotment still remained, engraven in stone and old tables of brass; but, if the testimony of histories and poets were appealed to; they themselves had the most and the fullest. nor had philip, in his decision, acted by power, but from equity: the same afterwards was the adjudgment of king antigonus; the same that of the roman commander mummius. thus too the milesians had awarded, they who were by both sides chosen arbitrators: and thus lastly it had been determined by atidius geminus, praetor of achaia." the messenians therefore gained the suit. the citizens also of segestum applied on behalf of "the temple of venus on mount eryx; which fallen through age, they desired might be restored." they represented the story of its origin and antiquity; a well-pleasing flattery to tiberius; who frankly took upon himself the charge, as kinsman to the goddess. then was discussed the petition from the citizens of marseilles; and what they claimed, according to the precedent of publius rutilius, was approved: for rutilius, though by a law expelled from rome, had been by those of smyrna adopted a citizen: and as volcatius moschus, another exile, had found at marseilles the same privilege and reception, he had to their republic, as to his country, left his estate. during the same consuls, a bloody assassination was perpetrated in the nethermost spain, by a boor in the territory of termes. by him, lucius piso, governor of the province, as he travelled careless and unattended, relying on the established peace, was surprised, and despatched at one deadly blow. the assassin however escaped to a forest, by the fleetness of his horse; and there dismissed him: from thence travelling over rocks and pathless places, he baffled his pursuers: but their ignorance of his person was soon removed; for his horse being taken and shown through the neighbouring villages, it was thence learned who was the owner; so that he too was found; but when put to the rack to declare his accomplices, he proclaimed with a mighty and assured voice, in the language of his country, "that in vain they questioned him; his associates might stand safely by and witness his constancy: and that no force of torture could be so exquisite as from him to extort a discovery." next day as he was dragged back to the rack, he burst with a vehement effort from his guard, and dashed his head so desperately against a stone, that he instantly expired. piso is believed to have been assassinated by a plot of the termestinians; as in exacting the repayment of some money, seized from the public, he acted with more asperity, than a rough people could bear. in the consulship of lentulus getulicus and caius calvisius, the triumphal ensigns were decreed to poppeus sabinus for having routed some clans of thracians, who living wildly on the high mountains, acted thence with the more outrage and contumacy. the ground of their late commotion, not to mention the savage genius of the people, was their scorn and impatience, to have recruits raised amongst them, and all their stoutest men enlisted in our armies; accustomed as they were not even to obey their native kings further than their own humour, nor to aid them with forces but under captains of their own choosing, nor to fight against any enemy but their own borderers. their discontents too were inflamed by a rumour which then ran current amongst them; that they were to be dispersed into different regions; and exterminated from their own, to be mixed with other nations. but before they took arms and began hostilities, they sent ambassadors to sabinus, to represent "their past friendship and submission, and that the same should continue, if they were provoked by no fresh impositions: but, if like a people subdued by war, they were doomed to bondage; they had able men and steel, and souls determined upon liberty or death." the ambassadors at the same time pointed to their strongholds founded upon precipices; and boasted that they had thither conveyed their wives and parents; and threatened a war intricate, hazardous and bloody. sabinus amused them with gentle answers till he could draw together his army; while pomponius labeo was advancing with a legion from moesia, and king rhoemetalces with a body of thracians who had not renounced their allegiance. with these, and what forces he had of his own, he marched towards the foe, now settled in the passes of the forest: some more bold presented themselves upon the hills: against the last, the roman general first bent his forces in battle, and without difficulty drove them thence, but with small slaughter of the barbarians, because of their immediate refuge. here he straight raised an encampment, and with a stout band took possession of a hill, which extended with an even narrow ridge to the next fortress, which was garrisoned by a great host of armed men and rabble: and as the most resolute were, in the way of the nation, rioting without the fortification in dances and songs, he forthwith despatched against them his select archers. these, while they only poured in volleys of arrows at a distance did thick and extensive execution; but, approaching too near, were by a sudden sally put in disorder. they were however supported by a cohort of the sigambrians, purposely posted by sabinus in readiness against an exigency; a people these, equally terrible in the boisterous and mixed uproar of their voices and arms. he afterwards pitched his camp nearer to the enemy; having in his former entrenchments left the thracians, whom i have mentioned to have joined us. to them too was permitted "to lay waste, burn, and plunder; on condition that their ravages were confined to the day; and that, at nights, they kept within the camp, secure under guard." this restriction was at first observed; but, anon lapsing into luxury, and grown opulent in plunder, they neglected their guards, and resigned themselves to gaiety and banquetting, to the intoxication and sloth of wine and sleep. the enemy therefore apprised of their negligence, formed themselves into two bands; one to set upon the plunderers; the other to assault the roman camp, with no hopes of taking it; but only that the soldiers alarmed with shouts and darts, and all intent upon their own defence, might not hear the din of the other battle: moreover to heighten the terror, it was to be done by night. those who assailed the lines of the legions were easily repulsed: but, the auxiliary thracians were terrified with the sudden encounter, as they were utterly unprepared. part of them lay along the entrenchments; many were roaming abroad; and both were slain with the keener vengeance, as they were upbraided "for fugitives and traitors, who bore arms to establish servitude over their country and themselves." next day sabinus drew up his army in view of the enemy, on ground equal to both; to try, if elated with their success by night, they would venture a battle: and, when they still kept within the fortress, or on the cluster of hills, he began to begird them with a siege; and strengthening his old lines and adding new, enclosed a circuit of four miles. then to deprive them of water and forage, he straitened his entrenchment by degrees, and hemmed them in still closer. a bulwark was also raised, whence the enemy now within throw, were annoyed with discharges of stones, darts, and fire. but nothing aggrieved them so vehemently as thirst, whilst only a single fountain remained amongst a huge multitude of armed men and families: their horses too and cattle, penned up with the people, after the barbarous manner of the country, perished for want of provender: amongst the carcasses of beasts lay those of men; some dead of thirst, some of their wounds; a noisome mixture of misery and death; all was foul and tainted with putrefaction, stench, and filthy contamination. to these distresses also accrued another, and of all calamities the most consummate, the calamity of discord: some were disposed to surrender; others proposed present death, and to fall upon one another. there were some too who advised a sally, and to die avenging their deaths. nor were these last mean men, though dissenting from the rest. but there was one of their leaders, his name dinis, a man stricken in years, who, by long experience, acquainted with the power and clemency of the romans, argued, "that they must lay down their arms, the same being the sole cure for their pressing calamities;" and was the first who submitted, with his wife and children to the conqueror. there followed him all that were weak through sex or age, and such as had a greater passion for life than glory. the young men were parted between tarsa and turesis; both determined to fall with liberty: but tarsa declared earnestly "for instant death; and that by it all hopes and fears were at once to be extinguished;" and setting an example, buried his sword in his breast. nor were there wanting some who despatched themselves the same way. turesis and his band stayed for night: of which our general was aware. the guards were therefore strengthened with extraordinary reinforcements: and now with the night, darkness prevailed, its horror heightened by outrageous rain; and the enemy with tumultuous shouts, and by turns with vast silence, alarmed and puzzled the besiegers. sabinus therefore going round the camp, warned the soldiers, "that they should not be misguided by the deceitful voice of uproar, nor trust to a feigned calm, and thence open an advantage to the enemy, who by these wiles sought it; but keep immovably to their several posts; nor throw their darts at random." just then came the barbarians, pouring in distinct droves: here, with stones, with wooden javelins hardened in the fire, and with the broken limbs of trees, they battered the palisade: there with hurdles, faggots and dead bodies, they filled the trench: by others, bridges and ladders, both before framed, were planted against the battlements; these they violently grappled and tore, and struggled hand to hand with those who opposed them. the romans, on the other side, beat them back with their bucklers, drove them down with darts, and hurled upon them great mural stakes and heaps of stones. on both sides were powerful stimulations: on ours the hopes of victory almost gained, if we persisted; and thence the more glaring infamy, if we recoiled: on theirs, the last struggle for their life; most of them, too, inspired with the affecting presence of their mothers and wives, and made desperate by their dolorous wailings. the night was an advantage to the cowardly and the brave; by it, the former became more resolute; by it, the latter hid their fear: blows were dealt, the striker knew not upon whom; and wounds received, the wounded knew not whence: such was the utter indistinction of friend and foe. to heighten the general jumble and blind confusion, the echo from the cavities of the mountain represented to the romans the shouts of the enemy as behind them: hence in some places they deserted their lines, as believing them already broken and entered: and yet such of the enemy, as broke through, were very few. all the rest, their most resolute champions being wounded or slain, were at the returning light driven back to their fort; where they were at length forced to surrender; as did the places circumjacent of their own accord. the remainder could then be neither forced nor famished; as they were protected by a furious winter, always sudden about mount haemus. at rome, discord shook the prince's family: and, to begin the series of destruction, which was to end in agrippina, claudia pulchra her cousin was accused; domitius afer the accuser. this man, just out of the praetorship, in estimation small, but hasty to signalise himself by some notable exploit however heinous, alleged against her the "crimes of prostitution, of adultery with furnius, of magical execrations and poison prepared against the life of the emperor." agrippina ever vehement, and then in a flame for the peril of her kinswoman, flew to tiberius, and by chance found him sacrificing to the emperor his father. having got this handle for upbraiding him, she told him "that it ill became the same man to slay victims to the deified augustus and to persecute his children: his divine spirit was not transfused into dumb statues: the genuine images of augustus were the living descendants from his celestial blood: she herself was one; one sensible of impending danger, and now in the mournful state of a supplicant. in vain were foreign crimes pretended against pulchra; when the only cause of her concerted overthrow was her affection for agrippina, foolishly carried even to adoration; forgetful as she was of the fate of sosia, a condemned sufferer for the same fault." all these bitter words drew small answer from the dark breast of tiberius: he rebuked her by quoting a greek verse; "that she was therefore aggrieved, because she did not reign:" pulchra and furnius were condemned. afer, having thus displayed his genius, and gained a declaration from tiberius, pronouncing him _eloquent in his own independent right_, was ranked with the most celebrated orators: afterwards in prosecuting accusations, or in protecting the accused, he flourished more in the fame of eloquence than in that of uprightness: however, old age eminently sunk the credit and vigour of his eloquence; while, with parts decayed, he still retained a passion for haranguing. [footnote: dum fessa mente, retinet silentii inpatientiam.] agrippina still fostering her wrath, and seized too with a bodily disorder, received the emperor, come purposely to see her, with many tears and long silence. at last she accosted him with invidious expostulations and prayers; "that he would relieve her solitude, and give her a husband. she was still endowed with proper youth; to virtuous women there was no consolation but that of marriage; and rome afforded illustrious men who would readily assent to entertain the wife of germanicus, and his children." tiberius was not ignorant to what mighty power in the state, that demand tended; but, that he might betray no tokens of resentment or fear, he left her, though instant with him, without an answer. this passage, not related by the authors of our annals, i found in the commentaries of her daughter agrippina; her, who was the mother of the emperor nero, and has published her own life with the fortunes of her family. as to agrippina; still grieving and void of foresight, she was yet more sensibly dismayed by an artifice of sejanus, who employed such, as under colour of friendship warned her, "that poison was prepared for her, and that she must shun eating at her father-in-law's table." she was a stranger to all dissimulation: so that as she sat near him at table, she continued stately and unmoved; not a word, not a look escaped her, and she touched no part of the meat. tiberius observed her, whether accidentally, or that he was before apprised; and, to be convinced by a more powerful experiment, praising the apples that stood before him, presented some with his own hand to his daughter-in-law. this only increased the suspicion of agrippina; and, without ever putting them to her mouth, she delivered them to the servants. for all this, the reserved tiberius let not a word drop from him openly; but, turning to his mother; "there was no wonder," he said, "if he had really taken harsh measures with her, who thus charged him as a poisoner." hence a rumour spread, "that her doom was contrived; and that the emperor not daring to pursue it publicly, chose to have her despatched in secret." tiberius, as a means to divert upon other matters the popular talk, attended assiduously the deliberations of the senate; and there heard for many days the several ambassadors from asia, mutually contending, "in what city should be built the temple lately decreed." for this honour eleven cities strove, with equal ambition, though different in power: nor did the pleas urged by all, greatly vary; namely, "the antiquity of their original, and their distinguished zeal for the roman people, during their several wars with perseus, aristonicus, and other kings." but the trallians, the laodiceans, the magnesians and those of the hypaepis, were at once dismissed, as insufficient for the charge. nor, in truth, had they of ilium, who represented, "that troy was the mother of rome," any superior advantage, besides the glory of antiquity. the plea of the halicarnassians took some short consideration: they asserted, "that for twelve hundred years, no earthquake had shaken their town; and that they would fix in a solid rock the foundations of the temple." the same considerations were urged by the inhabitants of pergamus; where already was erected a temple to augustus; a distinction which was judged sufficient for them. the cities too of ephesus and miletus seemed fully employed in the ceremonies of their own distinct deities; the former in those of diana; the other, in those of apollo. thus the dispute was confined to sardis and smyrna. the first recited a decree of the etrurians, which owned them for kinsmen: "for that tyrrhenus and lydus, sons of king atys, having between them divided their people, because of their multitude, lydus re-settled in his native country; and it became the lot of tyrrhenus to find out a fresh residence; and by the names of these chiefs the parted people came afterwards to be called, lydians in asia, tyrrhenians in italy. that the opulence of the lydians spread yet farther, by their colonies sent under pelops into greece, which from him afterwards took its name." they likewise urged "the letters of our generals; their mutual leagues with us during the war of macedon; their plenty of rivers, temperate climate, and the fertility of the circumjacent country." the smyrnaeans having likewise recounted their ancient establishment, "whether tantalus, the son of jupiter; or theseus, the son also of a god; or one of the old amazons, were their founder;" proceeded to considerations in which they chiefly trusted; their friendly offices to the roman people, having aided them with a naval force, not in their foreign wars only, but in those which infested italy. "it was they who first reared a temple to the city of rome, in the consulship of marcus porcius; then, in truth, when the power of the roman people was already mighty, but however not yet raised to its highest glory; for the city of carthage still stood, and potent kings governed asia. witness too their generosity to sylla, when the condition of his army ready to famish in a cruel winter and a scarcity of clothes, being related to the citizens of smyrna then assembled; all that were present divested themselves of their raiments, and sent them to our legions." thus when the votes of the senators were gathered, the pretensions of smyrna were preferred. it was also moved by vibius marsus, that lentulus, to whom had fallen the province of asia, should be attended by a legate extraordinary, to supervise the building of the temple; and as lentulus himself through modesty declined to choose one, several who had been praetors were drawn by lot, and the lot fell upon valerius naso. in the meantime, according to a purpose long meditated, and from time to time deferred, tiberius at last retired to campania; in profession, to dedicate a temple to jupiter at capua, and one at nola to augustus; but in truth determined to remove, for ever, from rome. the cause of his departure, i have before referred to the stratagems of sejanus; but though in it i have followed most of our authors; yet, since after the execution of sejanus, he persisted for six years in the like dark recess; i am rather influenced by a stronger probability, that the ground of his absence is more justly to be ascribed to his own spirit, while he strove to hide in the shades of solitude, what in deeds he proclaimed, the rage of his cruelty and lust. there were those who believed that, in his old age, he was ashamed of the figure of his person; for he was very lean, long and stooping, his head bald, his face ulcerous, and for the most besmeared with salves: he was moreover wont, during his recess at rhodes, to avoid the public, and cover his debauches in secrecy. it is also related that he was driven from rome by the restless aspiring of his mother, whom he scorned to admit a partner in the sovereignty; nor yet could entirely seclude, since as her gift he had received the sovereignty itself. for, augustus had deliberated about setting germanicus at the head of the roman state; his sister's grandson, and one adored by all men: but subdued by the solicitations of his wife, he adopted tiberius; and caused tiberius to adopt germanicus. with this grandeur of her own procuring, livia upbraided her son; and even reclaimed it. his going was narrowly accompanied; by one senator, cocceius nerva, formerly consul, and accomplished in the knowledge of the laws; and, besides sejanus, by one dignified roman knight, curtius atticus. the rest were men of letters, chiefly greeks; whose conversation pleased and amused him. the skilled in astrology declared, "that he had left rome in such a conjunction of the planets, as for ever to exclude his return." hence a source of destruction to many, who conjectured his end to be at hand, and published their conjectures: for, it was an event too incredible to be foreseen, that for eleven years he should of choice be withdrawn from his country. the sequel discovered the short bounds between the art and the falsehood of the art, and what obscurities perplex even the facts it happens to foretell. _that he should never return to rome_, proved not to be falsely said: as to everything else about him they were perfectly in the dark; since he still lived, never far distant, sometimes in the adjacent champain, sometimes on the neighbouring shore, often under the very walls of the city; and died at last in the fulness and extremity of age. there happened to tiberius, about that time, an accident, which, as it threatened his life, fired the empty prognostics at rome; but to himself proved matter of more confidence in the friendship and faith of sejanus. they were eating in a cave at a villa, thence called _spelunca_, between the amyclean sea and the mountains of fondi: it was a native cave, and its mouth fell suddenly in, and buried under it some of the attendants: hence dread seized all, and they who were celebrating the entertainment fled: as to sejanus; he covered the emperor's body with his own, and stooping upon his knees and hands, exposed himself to the descending ruin; such was the posture he was found in by the soldiers, who came to their relief. he grew mightier from thence; and being now considered by tiberius as one regardless of himself, all his counsels, however bloody and destructive, were listened to with blind credulity: so that he assumed the office of a judge against the offspring of germanicus, and suborned such as were to act the parts of accusers, and especially to pursue and blacken nero, the next in succession; a young prince modest indeed, but forgetful of that restraint and circumspection which his present situation required. he was misguided by his freedmen and the retainers to his house; who eager to be masters of power, animated him with intemperate counsels; "that he would show a spirit resolute and assured; it was what the roman people wished, what the armies longed for: nor would sejanus dare then to resist; though he now equally insulted the tameness of an old man and the sloth of a young one." while he listened to these and the like suggestions, there escaped him, no expressions, in truth, of any criminal purpose; but sometimes such as were resentful and unguarded: these were catched up by the spies placed upon him, and charged against him with aggravations; neither was he allowed the privilege of clearing himself. several threatening appearances moreover dismayed him: some avoided to meet him; others having just paid him the salute, turned instantly away: many, in the midst of conversation, broke off and left him; while the creatures of sejanus stood still fearlessly by and sneered upon him. for tiberius; he always entertained him with a stern face, or a hollow smile; and whether the youth spoke or said nothing, there were crimes in his words, crimes in his silence: nor was he safe even at the dead of night; since his uneasiness and watchings, nay, his very sighs and dreams were, by his wife, divulged to her mother livia, and by livia to sejanus; who had also drawn his brother drusus into the combination, by tempting him with the immediate prospect of empire, if his elder brother, already sinking, were once set effectually aside. the genius of druses naturally furious, instigated besides by a passion for power, and by the usual hate and competition between brothers, was further kindled by the partiality of agrippina, who was fonder of nero. however, sejanus did not so far favour drusus, but that against him too he was even then ripening the studied measures of future destruction; as he knew him to be violent, and thence more obnoxious to snares. in the end of the year departed these eminent persons; asinius agrippa, of ancestors more illustrious than ancient, and in his own character not unworthy of them: and quintus haterius, of a senatorian family, and himself, while he yet lived, famous for eloquence: but the monuments of his genius, since published, are not equally esteemed. in truth, he prevailed more by rapidity than accuracy: insomuch that, as the elaborate compositions of others flourish after them; so that enchanting melody of voice in haterius, with that fluency of words which was personal to him, died with him. in the consulship of marcus licinius and lucius calpurnius, the casualty of an instant, its beginning unforeseen, and ended as soon as begun, equalled in calamity the slaughter and overthrow of mighty armies. one atilius had undertaken to erect an amphitheatre at fidena, [footnote: castel giubileo, near rome.] there to exhibit a combat of gladiators: he was of the race of freedmen, and as he began it from no exuberance of wealth, nor to court popularity amongst the inhabitants, but purely for the meanness of gain, he neither established solid foundations, nor raised the timber-work with sufficient compactness. thither thronged from rome those of every sex and age, eager for such shows; as during the reign of tiberius they were debarred from diversions at home; and, the nearer the place, the greater the crowds: hence the calamity was the more dreadful; for, as the theatre was surcharged with the multitude, the structure burst, and sinking violently in, while its extremities rushed impetuously out, huge was the press of people, who intent upon the gladiators within, or gathered round the walls, were crushed by the deadly ruin, and even buried under it. and verily, they who in the first fury of the havoc were smitten with final death, escaped as far as in such a doleful disaster they could escape, the misery of torture: much more to be lamented were those, who bereft of joints and pieces of their body, were yet not forsaken of life; those who by day could with their eyes behold their wives and children imprisoned in the same ruins; and by night could distinguish them by their groans, and howlings. now others from abroad excited by the sad tidings, found here their several sorrows: one bewailed his brother, one his kinsman, another his parents: even they whose friends or kindred were absent on a different account, were yet terrified: for, as it was not hitherto distinctly known upon whom the destruction had lighted, the dread was widened by uncertainty. when the ruins began to be removed, great about the dead was the concourse of the living; frequent the kisses and embraces of tenderness and sorrow: and even frequent the contention about the propriety of the dead; where the features distorted by death or bruises, or where parity of age or resemblance of person, had confounded the slain, and led into mistakes their several claimers. fifty thousand souls were destroyed or maimed by this sad stroke: it was therefore for the future provided by a decree of senate, "that no man under the qualification of four hundred thousand sesterces, [footnote: £ , .] should exhibit the spectacle of gladiators; and no amphitheatre should be founded but upon ground manifestly solid." atilius was punished with exile. to conclude; during the fresh pangs of this calamity, the doors of the grandees were thrown open; medicines were everywhere furnished; they who administered medicines, were everywhere employed to attend: and at that juncture the city though sorrowful of aspect, seemed to have recalled the public spirit of the ancient romans; who, after great battles, constantly relieved the wounded, sustained them by liberality, and restored them with care. the public agonies from this terrible blow, were not yet deadened, when another supervened; and the city felt the affliction and violence of fire, which with uncommon rage utterly consumed mount caelius. "it was a deadly and mournful year," they said, "and under boding omens the prince had formed the design of his absence." it is the way this of the multitude; who to malignant counsels are wont to ascribe events altogether fortuitous. but the emperor dissipated their murmurs, by bestowing on each sufferer money to the value of his sufferings: hence he had the thanks of men of rank, in the senate; and was by the populace rewarded with applauses, "for that without the views of ambition, without the application of friends, he had of his own accord even sought out the unknown, and by his bounty relieved them." it was likewise moved and decreed in senate, "that mount caelius should be for the future styled _mount augustus_, since there the statue of tiberius, standing in the house of junius the senator, escaped unhurt in the flames, though devouring all round them:" it was remembered, that the same rare exemption had formerly happened to claudia pulchra; that her statue being twice spared by the fury of fire, had thence been placed and consecrated by our ancestors in the temple of the mother of the gods. thus sacred were the claudian race, and dear to the deities; and therefore the place, where the gods had testified such mighty honour towards the prince, ought to be dignified with consecration. it will not be impertinent to insert here, that this mount was of old named _querquetulanus_, from a grove of oak which grew thick upon it. it was afterwards called _mount caelius_, from caeles vibenna, who having led to rome a body of tuscan auxiliaries, was presented with that settlement by tarquinius priscus, or some other of our kings; for in this particular, writers differ: about other circumstances there remains no dispute; that these forces were very numerous, and extended their dwellings all along the plain below, as far as the forum. hence the _tuscan street_, so called after these strangers. tiberius, having dedicated the temples in campania; though he had by an edict warned the public, "that none should interrupt his quiet;" and though soldiers were posted to keep off all confluence from the neighbouring towns; nevertheless, hating the towns themselves, and the colonies, and every part in the continent, imprisoned himself in capreae, [footnote: capri.] an island disjoined from the point of the cape of surrentum by a channel of three miles. i should chiefly believe that he was taken with its solitude, as the sea above it is void of havens, as the stations for the smallest vessels are few and difficult, and as none could put in unperceived by the guards. the genius of the climate is mild in winter, from the shelter of a mountain which intercepts the rigour of the winds: its summers are refreshed by gales from the west; and the sea open all round it, makes a delightful view: from thence too was beheld a most lovely landscape, before the eruptions of mount vesuvius had changed the face of the prospect. it is the tradition of fame that the greeks occupied the opposite region, and that capreae was particularly inhabited by the teleboi. however it were, tiberius then confined his retirement to twelve villas, their names famous of old and their structure sumptuous. and the more intent he had formerly been upon public cares, he became now so much the more buried in dark debauches, and resigned over to mischievous privacy: for, there remained still in him his old bent to suspicions, and rash faith in informers; qualities which even at rome sejanus had always fostered, and here inflamed more vigorously; his devices against agrippina and nero being no longer a secret. about them guards were placed, by whom every petty circumstance, the messages they sent or received, their visits and company, their open behaviour, their private conversation, were all as it were minuted into journals: there were others, too, instructed to warn them to fly to the armies in germany; or that embracing the statue of the deified augustus in the great forum, they would there implore the aid and protection of the senate and people of rome. and these counsels, though rejected by them, were fathered and charged upon them, as just ripe for execution. book v a.d. - . in the consulship of rubellius and fusius, each surnamed geminus, died julia augusta, the mother of tiberius, in the extremity of age. she was descended from the claudian house; adopted through her father into the livian family; into the julian, by augustus; and both by adoption and descent, signally noble: her first marriage was with tiberius nero; and by him she had children: her husband, after the surrender of perusia, [footnote: perugia.] in the civil war, became a fugitive; but, upon peace made between sextus pompeius and the triumvirate, returned to rome. afterwards, octavius caesar smitten with her beauty, snatched her from her husband; whether with or against her own inclinations, is uncertain; but with such precipitation, that, without staying for her delivery, he married her yet big with child by tiberius. henceforward she had no issue; but, by the marriage of germanicus and agrippina, her blood came to be mixed with that of augustus in their great-grandchildren. in her domestic deportment, she conformed to the venerable model of antiquity; but with more complaisance than was allowed by the ladies of old: an easy courteous wife, an ambitious mother; and well comporting with the nice arts of her husband, and the dissimulation of her son: her funeral was moderate, and her last will lay long unfulfilled: her encomium was pronounced in public by caligula, her grandson, [footnote: great-grandson.] afterwards emperor. tiberius by a letter excused himself to the senate, for not having paid his last offices to his mother; and, though he rioted in private luxury without abatement, pleaded "the multitude of public affairs." he likewise abridged the honours decreed to her memory, and, of a large number, admitted but very few: for this restriction he pretended modesty, and added, "that no religious worship should be appointed her; for that the contrary was her own choice." nay, in a part of the same letter, he censured _feminine friendships_; obliquely upbraiding the consul fusius, a man highly distinguished by the favour of augusta, and dexterous to engage and cajole the affections of women; a gay talker, and one accustomed to play upon tiberius with biting sarcasms; the impressions of which never die in the hearts of princes. from this moment, the domination waxed completely outrageous and devouring: for while she lived, some refuge still remained, as the observance of tiberius towards his mother was ever inviolate; nor durst sejanus arrogate precedence of the authority of a parent: but now, as let loose from all restraint, they broke out with unbridled fury: so that letters were despatched avowedly against agrippina and nero; and as they were read in the senate soon after the death of augusta, the people believed them to have been sent before and by her suppressed. the expressions were elaborately bitter; and yet by them no hostile purpose of taking arms, no endeavour to change the state, was objected to the youth; but only "the love of boys, and other impure pleasures:" against agrippina he durst not even feign so much; and therefore arraigned "her haughty looks, her impetuous and stubborn spirit." the senate were struck with deep silence and affright: but, as particular men will always be drawing personal favour from public miseries, there were some who, having no hopes founded upon uprightness, demanded that "they should proceed upon the letters:" amongst these the foremost in zeal was cotta messalinus, with a terrible motion: but, the other leading men, and chiefly the magistrates, were embarrassed by fear: for tiberius, though he had sent them a flaming invective, left all the rest a riddle. in the senate was one junius rusticus, appointed by the emperor to keep a journal of their proceedings, and therefore thought well acquainted with his purposes. this man, by some fatal impulse (for he had never before shown any instance of magnanimity) or blinded by deceitful policy, while forgetful of present and impending dangers, he dreaded future possibilities, joined the party that hesitated, and even warned the consuls "not to begin the debate:" he argued "that in a short moment the highest affairs might take a new turn: and an interval ought to be allowed to the old man to change his passion into remorse." at the same time, the people, carrying with them the images of agrippina and nero, gathered about the senate, and proclaiming their good wishes for the prosperity of the emperor, cried earnestly, "that the letters were counterfeit; and, against the consent of the prince, the doom of his family was pursued:" so that nothing tragical was that day transacted. there were also dispersed amongst them several speeches, said to have been uttered in senate by the consulars, as their motions and advices against sejanus; but all framed, and with the more petulance as the several authors exercised their satirical wit in the dark. hence sejanus boiled with greater rage, and hence had a handle for branding the senate, "that by them the anguish and resentments of the prince were despised: the people were revolted; popular and disaffected harangues were publicly read and listened to: new and arbitrary acts of senate were passed and published: what more remained, but to arm the populace and place at their head, as leaders and imperial commanders, those whose images they had already chosen for standards?" tiberius having therefore repeated his reproaches against his grandson and daughter-in-law: having chastised the people by an edict, and complained to the senate, "that by the fraud of a single senator the imperial dignity should be battled and insulted, required that the whole affair should be left to himself, entire and untouched." the senate hesitated no longer, but instantly proceeded, not now in truth to decree penalties and capital vengeance; for that was forbid them; but to testify "how ready they were to inflict just punishments, and that they were only interrupted by the power and pleasure of the prince."... [_here begins a lamentable chasm in this "annal" for almost three years; and by it we have lost the detail of the most remarkable incidents in this reign, the exile of agrippina into the isle of pandataria; of nero, into that of pontia; and the murder of both there by the orders of tiberius: the conspiracy and execution of sejanus, with that of all his friends and dependents: the further wickedness of livia, and her death._] now though the rage of the populace was expiring, and though most men were mollified by former executions; it was determined to condemn the other children of sejanus. they were therefore carried both to prison, the boy sensible of his impending doom; but the girl so ignorant, that she frequently asked; "for what offence? and whither did they drag her? she would do so no more; and they might take the rod and whip her." the writers of that time relate, "that as it was a thing unheard, for a virgin to suffer capital punishment, she was deflowered by the executioner just before he tied the rope; and that being both strangled, the tender bodies of these children were cast into the place where the carcasses of malefactors are exposed, before they are flung into the tiber."... book vi a.d. - . cneius domitius and camillus scribonianus had begun their consulship, when the emperor, having crossed the channel between capreae [footnote: capri.] and surrentum, [footnote: sorrento.] sailed along the shore of campania; unresolved whether he should proceed to rome; or counterfeiting a show of coming, because he had determined not to come. he often approached to the neighbourhood of the city, and even visited the gardens upon the tiber; but at last resumed his old retirement, the gloomy rocks and solitude of the sea, ashamed of his cruelties, and abominable lusts; in which he rioted so outrageously, that after the fashion of royal tyrants, the children of ingenuous parentage became the objects of his pollution: nor in them was he struck with a lovely face only, or the graces of their persons; but in some their amiable and childish innocence, in others their nobility and the glory of their ancestors, became the provocatives of his unnatural passion. then likewise were devised the filthy names, till then unknown, of the _sellarii_ and _spintriae_, expressing the odious lewdness of the place, and the manifold postures and methods of prostitution practised in it. for supplying his lust with these innocent victims, he entertained, in his service professed procurers, to look them out and carry them off. the willing they encouraged with presents, the backward they terrified with threats; and upon such parents or kindred as withheld the infants, they exercised force, seizure, and, as upon so many captives, every species of licentious rage. at rome in the beginning of the year, as if the iniquities of livia had been but just discovered, and not even long since punished, furious orders were passed against her statues too, and memory; with another, "that the effects of sejanus should be taken from the public treasury, and placed in that of the emperor:" as if this vain translation could any wise avail the state. and yet such was the motion of these great names, the scipios, the silani, and the cassii; who urged it, each almost in the same words, but all with mighty zeal and earnestness: when all on a sudden, togonius gallus, while he would be thrusting his own meanness amongst names so greatly illustrious, became the object of derision: for he besought the prince "to choose a body of senators of whom twenty, drawn by lot and under arms, should wait upon him and defend his person, as often as he entered the senate." he had been weak enough to credit a letter from the emperor, requiring "the guard and protection of one of the consuls, that he might return in safety from capreae to rome." tiberius however returned thanks to the senate for such an instance of affection; but as he was wont to mix pleasantry with things serious, he asked, "how was it to be executed? what senators were to be chosen? who to be omitted? whether always the same, or a continued succession? whether young senators, or such as had borne dignities? whether those who were magistrates, or those exercising no magistracy? moreover what a becoming figure they would make, grave senators, men of the gown, under arms at the entrance of the senate! in truth he held not his life of such importance, to have it thus protected by arms." so much in answer to togonius, without asperity of words; nor did he farther, than this, press them to cancel the motion. but junius gallio escaped not thus. he had proposed "that the praetorian soldiers, having accomplished their term of service, should thence acquire the privilege of sitting in the fourteen rows of the theatre allotted to the roman knights." upon him tiberius fell with violent wrath, and, as if present, demanded, what business had he with the soldiers? men whose duty bound them to observe only the orders of the emperor, and from the emperor alone to receive their rewards. gallio had forsooth discovered a recompense which had escaped the sagacity of the deified augustus? or was it not rather a project started by a mercenary of sejanus, to raise sedition and discord; a project tending to debauch the rude minds of the soldiers with the show and bait of new honour; to corrupt their discipline, and set them loose from military restrictions? this reward, had the studied flattery of gallio; who was instantly expelled the senate, and then italy: nay, it became a charge upon him, that his exile would be too easy, having for the place of it chosen lesbos, an island noble and delightful; he was therefore haled back to rome and confined a prisoner in the house of a magistrate. tiberius in the same letter demanded the doom of sextus paconianus, formerly praetor, to the extreme joy of the senate, as he was a man bold and mischievous, one armed with snares, and continually diving into the purposes and secret transactions of all men; and one chosen by sejanus, for plotting the overthrow of caligula. when this was now laid open, the general hate and animosities long since conceived against him, broke violently out, and had he not offered to make a discovery, he had been instantly condemned to death. the next impeached was cotta messalinus, the author of every the most bloody counsel, and thence long and intensely hated. the first opportunity was therefore snatched to fall upon him with a combination of crimes; as that he had called caius caligula by the feminine name of _caia caligula_, and branded him with constuprations of both kinds; that when he celebrated among the priests the birthday of augusta, he had styled the entertainment a _funeral supper_; and that complaining of the great sway of marcus lepidus, and of lucius arruntius, with whom he had a suit about money, he had added; "they indeed will be supported by the senate, but i by my little tiberius." [footnote: tiberiolus meus.] of all this he stood exposed to conviction by men of the first rank in rome; who being earnest to attack him, he appealed to caesar: from whom soon after a letter was brought in behalf of cotta; in it he recounted "the beginning of their friendship," repeated "his many good services to himself," and desired "that words perversely construed, and humorous tales told at an entertainment, might not be wrested into crimes." most remarkable was the beginning of that letter; for in these words he introduced it: "what to write you, conscript fathers, or in what manner to write, or what at all not to write at this instant; if i can determine, may all the deities, gods and goddesses, doom me still to more cruel agonies than those under which i feel myself perishing daily." so closely did the bloody horror of his cruelties and infamy haunt this man of blood, and became his torturers! nor was it at random what the wisest of all men [footnote: socrates.] was wont to affirm, that if the hearts of tyrants were displayed, in them might be seen deadly wounds and gorings, and all the butcheries of fear and rage; seeing what the severity of stripes is to the body, the same to the soul is the bitter anguish of cruelty, lust, and execrable pursuits. to tiberius not his imperial fortune, not his gloomy and inaccessible solitudes could ensure tranquillity; nor exempt him from feeling and even avowing the rack in his breast and the avenging furies that pursued him. after this, it was left to the discretion of the senate to proceed as they listed against caecilianus the senator, "who had loaded cotta with many imputations;" and it was resolved, "to subject him to the same penalties inflicted upon aruseius and sanquinius, the accusers of lucius annuntius." a more signal instance of honour than this had never befallen cotta; who noble in truth, but through luxury indigent, and, for the baseness of his crimes, detestable, was by the dignity of this amends equalled in character to the most venerable reputation and virtues of arruntius. about the same time died lucius piso, the pontiff; and, by a felicity, then rare in so much splendour and elevation, died by the course of nature. the author he never himself was of any servile motion, and ever wise in moderating such motions from others, where necessity enforced his assent. that his father had sustained the sublime office of censor, i have before remembered: he himself lived to fourscore years, and for his warlike feats in thrace, had obtained the glory of triumph. but from hence arose his most distinguished glory, that being created governor of rome, a jurisdiction newly instituted, and the more difficult, as not yet settled into public reverence, he tempered it wonderfully and possessed it long. for, of old, to supply the absence of the kings, and afterwards of the consuls, that the city might not remain without a ruler, a temporary magistrate was appointed to administer justice, and watch over exigencies: and it is said that by romulus was deputed denter romulius; numa marcius, by tullus hostilius; and by tarquin the proud, spurius lucretius. the same delegation was made by the consuls; and there remains still a shadow of the old institution, when during the latin festival, one is authorised to discharge the consular function. moreover, augustus during the civil wars, committed to cilnius maecenas of the equestrian order, the government of rome and of all italy. afterwards, when sole master of the empire, and moved by the immense multitude of people and the slowness of relief from the laws, he chose a consular to bridle the licentiousness of the slaves, and to awe such turbulent citizens as are only quiet from the dread of chastisement. messala corvinus was the first invested with this authority, and in a few days dismissed, as a man insufficient to discharge it. it was then filled by taurus statilius, who, though very ancient, sustained it with signal honour. after him piso held it for twenty years, with a credit so high and uninterrupted, that he was distinguished with a public funeral, by decree of the senate. a motion was thereafter made in senate by quinctilianus, tribune of the people, concerning a book of the sibyl, which caninius gallus, one of the college of fifteen, had prayed "might be received by a decree amongst the rest of that prophetess." the decree passed without opposition, but was followed by letters from tiberius. in them having gently chid the tribune, "as young and therefore unskilled in the ancient usages," he upbraided gallus, "that he who was so long practised in the science of sacred ceremonies, should without taking the opinion of his own college, without the usual reading and deliberation with the other priests, deal, by surprise, with a thin senate, to admit a prophetic book of an uncertain author." he also advertised them "of the conduct of augustus, who, to suppress the multitude of fictious predictions everywhere published under the solemn name of the sibyl, had ordained, that within a precise day, they should be carried to the city praetor; and made it unlawful to keep them in private hands." the same had likewise been decreed by our ancestors, when after the burning of the capitol in the social war, the rhymes of the sibyl (whether there were but one, or more) were everywhere sought, in samos, ilium, and erythrae, through africa too and sicily and all the roman colonies, with injunctions to the priests, that, as far as human wit could enable them, they would separate the genuine. therefore, upon this occasion also, the book was subjected to the inspection of the quindecimvirate. under the same consuls, the dearth of corn had nigh raised a sedition. the populace for many days urged their wants and demands in the public theatre, with a licentiousness towards the emperor, higher than usual. he was alarmed with this bold spirit, and censured the magistrates and senate, "that they had not by the public authority quelled the people." he recounted "the continued supplies of grain which he had caused to be imported; from what provinces, and in how much greater abundance than those procured by augustus." so that for correcting the populace, a decree passed framed in the strain of ancient severity: nor less vigorous was the edict published by the consuls. his own silence, which he hoped would be taken by the people as an instance of moderation, was by them imputed to his pride. in the meanwhile, the whole band of accusers broke loose upon those who augmented their wealth by usury, in contradiction to a law of caesar the dictator, "for ascertaining the terms of lending money, and holding mortgages in italy;" a law waxed long since obsolete, through the selfish passions of men, sacrificing public good to private gain. usury was, in truth, an inveterate evil in rome, and the eternal cause of civil discord and seditions, and therefore restrained even in ancient times, while the public manners were not yet greatly corrupted. for, first it was ordained by a law of the twelve tables, "that no man should take higher interest than twelve in the hundred;" when, before, it was exacted at the pleasure of the rich. afterwards by a regulation of the tribunes it was reduced to six, and at last was quite abolished. by the people, too, repeated statutes were made, for obviating all elusions, which by whatever frequent expedients repressed, were yet through wonderful devices still springing up afresh. gracchus the praetor was therefore now appointed to inquire into the complaints and allegations of the accusers; but, appalled with the multitude of those threatened by the accusation, he had recourse to the senate. the fathers also were dismayed (for of this fault not a soul was guiltless) and sought and obtained impunity from the prince; and a year and six months were granted for balancing all accounts between debtors and creditors, agreeably to the direction of the law. hence a great scarcity of money: for, besides that all debts were at once called in; so many delinquents were condemned, that by the sale of their effects, the current coin was swallowed up in the public treasury, or in that of the emperor. against this stagnation, the senate had provided, "that two-thirds of the debts should by every creditor be laid out upon lands in italy." but the creditors warned in the whole; [footnote: demanded payment in full.] nor could the debtors without breach of faith divide the payment. so that at first, meetings and entreaties were tried; and at last it was contested before the praetor. and the project applied as a remedy; namely, that the debtor should sell, and the creditor buy, had a contrary operation: for the usurers hoarded up all their treasure for purchasing of lands, and the plenty of estates to be sold, miserably sinking the price; the more men were indebted, the more difficult they found it to sell. many were utterly stripped of their fortunes; and the ruin of their private patrimony drew headlong with it that of their reputation and all public preferment. the destruction was going on, when the emperor administered relief, by lending a hundred thousand great sesterces [footnote: about £ , .] for three years, without interest; provided each borrower pawned to the people double the value in inheritance. [footnote: gave a security to the state, on landed property.] thus was credit restored; and by degrees private lenders too were found. about the same time, claudia, daughter to marcus silanus, was given in marriage to caligula, who had accompanied his grandfather to capreae, having always hid under a subdolous guise of modesty, his savage and inhuman spirit: even upon the condemnation of his mother, even for the exile of his brothers, not a word escaped him, not a sigh, nor groan. so blindly observant of tiberius, that he studied the bent of his temper and seemed to possess it; practised his looks, imitated the change and fashion of his dress, and affected his words and manner of expression. hence the observation of passienus the orator, grew afterwards famous, "that never lived a better slave nor a worse master." neither would i omit the presage of tiberius concerning galba, then consul. having sent for him and sifted him upon several subjects, he at last told him in greek, "and thou, galba, shalt hereafter taste of empire;" signifying his late and short sovereignty. this he uttered from his skill in astrology, which at rhodes he had leisure to learn; and thrasullus for his teacher, whose capacity he proved by this following trial. as often as he consulted this way concerning any affair, he retired to the roof of the house, attended by one freedman trusted with the secret. this man strong of body, but destitute of letters, guided along the astrologer, whose art tiberius meant to try, over solitary precipices (for upon a rock the house stood) and, as he returned, if any suspicion arose that his predictions were vain, or that the author designed fraud, cast him headlong into the sea, to prevent his making discoveries. thrasullus being therefore led over the same rocks, and minutely consulted, his answers were full, and struck tiberius; as approaching empire and many future revolutions were specifically foretold him. the artist was then questioned, "whether he had calculated his own nativity, and thence presaged what was to befall him that same year, nay, that very day?" thrasullus surveying the positions of the stars, and calculating their aspects, began at first to hesitate, then to quake, and the more he meditated, being more and more dismayed with wonder and dread, he at last cried out, "that over him just then hung a boding danger and well-nigh fatal." forthwith tiberius embraced him, congratulated him "upon his foresight of perils, and his security from them;" and esteeming his predictions as so many oracles, held him thenceforward in the rank of his most intimate friends. for myself, while i listen to these and the like relations, my judgment wavers, whether things human are in their course and rotation determined by fate and immutable necessity, or left to roll at random. for upon this subject the wisest of the ancients and those addicted to their sects, are of opposite sentiments. [footnote: the epicureans.] many are of opinion "that to the gods neither the generation of us men nor our death, and in truth neither men nor the actions of men, are of any importance or concernment: and thence such numberless calamities afflict the upright, while pleasure and prosperity surround the wicked." others [footnote: the stoics.] hold the contrary position, and believe "a fate to preside over events; a fate however not resulting from wandering stars, but coeval with the first principles of things, and operating by the continued connection of natural causes. yet their philosophy leaves our course of life in our own free option; but that after the choice is made, the chain of consequences is inevitable: neither is that good or evil, which passes for such in the estimation of the vulgar: many, who seem wounded with adversity, are yet happy; numbers, that wallow in wealth, are yet most wretched: since the first often bear with magnanimity the blows of fortune; and the latter abuse her bounty in baneful pursuits." for the rest, it is common to multitudes of men "to have each their whole future fortunes determined from the moment of their birth: or if some events thwart the prediction, it is through the mistakes of such as pronounce at random, and thence debase the credit of an art, which, both in ages past and our own, hath given signal instances of its certainty." for, to avoid lengthening this digression, i shall remember in its order, how by the son of this same thrasullus the empire was predicted to nero. during the same consulship flew abroad the death of asinius gallus: that he perished through famine was undoubted; but whether of his own accord, or by constraint, was held uncertain. the pleasure of the emperor being consulted, "whether he would suffer him to be buried;" he was not ashamed to grant such a piece of mock mercy, nor even to blame the anticipations of casualty, which had withdrawn the criminal, before he was publicly convicted: as if during three intermediate years between his accusation and his death, there wanted time for the trial of an ancient consular, and the father of so many consulars. next perished drusus, condemned by his grandfather to be starved; but by gnawing the weeds upon which he lay, he by that miserable nourishment protracted life the space of nine days. some authors relate that, in case sejanus had resisted and taken arms, macro had instructions to draw the young man out of confinement (for he was kept in the palace) and set him at the head of the people: afterwards because a report ran, "that the emperor was about to be reconciled to his daughter-in-law and grandson;" he chose rather to gratify himself by cruelty, than the public by relenting. tiberius not satiated with the death of drusus, even after death pursued him with cruel invectives, and, in a letter to the senate, charged him with "a body foul with prostitution; with a spirit breathing destruction to his own family, and rage against the republic;" and ordered to be recited "the minutes of his words and actions, which had been long and daily registered," a proceeding more black with horror could not be devised! that for so many years, there should be those expressly appointed, who were to note down his looks, his groans, his secret and extorted murmurs; that his grandfather should delight to hear the treacherous detail, to read it, and to the public expose it, would appear a series of fraud, meanness and amazement beyond all measure of faith, were it not for the letters of actius the centurion, and didymus the freedman; who in them declare, particularly, the names of the slaves set purposely to abuse and provoke drusus, with the several parts they acted; how one struck him going out of his chamber, and how another filled him with terrors and dismay. the centurion too repeated, as matter of glory, his own language to drusus, language full of outrage and barbarity, with the words uttered by him under the agonies of famine; that, at first, feigning disorder of spirit, he vented, in the style of a madman, dismal denunciations against tiberius; but after all hopes of life had forsaken him, then, in steady and deliberate imprecations, he invoked the direful vengeance of the gods, "that as he had slaughtered his son's wife, slaughtered the son of his brother, and his son's sons, and with slaughters had filled his own house; so they would in justice to the ancestors of the slain, in justice to their posterity, doom him to the dreadful penalties of so many murders." the senators, in truth, upon this raised a mighty din, under colour of detesting these imprecations: but it was dread which possessed them, and amazement, that he who had been once so dark in the practice of wickedness, and so subtle in the concealment of his bloody spirit, was arrived at such an utter insensibility of shame, that he could thus remove, as it were, the covert of the walls, and represent his own grandson under the ignominious chastisement of a centurion, torn by the barbarous stripes of slaves, and imploring in vain the last sustenance of life. before the impressions of this grief were worn away, the death of agrippina was published. i suppose she had lived thus long upon the hopes, which from the execution of sejanus she had conceived; but, feeling afterwards no relaxation of cruelty, death grew her choice: unless she were bereaved of nourishment, and her decease feigned to have been of her own seeking. for, tiberius raged against her with abominable imputations, reproaching her "with lewdness; as the adulteress of asinius gallus; and that upon his death she became weary of life." but these were none of her crimes: agrippina impatient of an equal lot, and eager for rule, had thence sacrificed to masculine ambition all the passions and vices of women. the emperor added, "that she departed the same day on which sejanus had suffered as a traitor two years before, and that the same ought to be perpetuated by a public memorial." nay, he boasted of his clemency, in "that she had not been strangled, and her body cast into the charnel of malefactors." for this, as for an instance of mercy the senate solemnly thanked him, and decreed "that, on the seventeenth of october, the day of both their deaths, a yearly offering should be consecrated to jupiter for ever." not long after, cocceius nerva, in full prosperity of fortune, in perfect vigour of body, formed a purpose of dying. as he was the incessant companion of the prince, and accomplished in the knowledge of all laws divine and humane, tiberius having learnt his design, was earnest to dissuade him, examined his motives, joined entreaties, and even declared, "how grievous to his own spirit it would prove, how grievous to his reputation, if the nearest of his friends should relinquish life, without any cause for dying." nerva rejected his reasoning, and completed his purpose by abstinence. it was alleged, by such as knew his thoughts, that the more he saw into the dreadful source and increase of public miseries, the more transported with indignation and fear, he resolved to make an honest end, in the bloom of his integrity, e'er his life and credit were assaulted. moreover the fall of agrippina, by a reverse hardly credible, procured that of plancina. she was formerly married to cneius piso; and, though she exulted publicly for the death of germanicus, yet when piso fell, she was protected by the solicitations of augusta, nor less by the known animosity of agrippina. but as favour and hate were now withdrawn, justice prevailed, and being questioned for crimes long since sufficiently manifest, she executed with her own hand that vengeance, which was rather too slow than too severe, in the consulship of paulus fabius and lucius vitellius, after a long vicissitude of ages, the phoenix arrived in egypt, and furnished the most learned of the natives and greeks with matter of large and various observations concerning that miraculous bird. the circumstances in which they agree, with many others, that, however disputed, deserve to be known, claim a recital here. that it is a creature sacred to the sun, and in the fashion of its head, and diversity of feathers, distinct from other birds, all who have described its figure, are agreed; about the length of its life, relations vary. it is by the vulgar tradition fixed at five hundred years: but there are those, who extend it to one thousand four hundred and sixty-one; and assert that the three former phoenixes appeared in reigns greatly distant, the first under sesostris, the next under amasis; and that one was seen under ptolomy the third king of egypt of the macedonian race, and flew to the city of heliopolis, accompanied by a vast host of other birds gazing upon the wonderful stranger. but these are, in truth, the obscure accounts of antiquity: between ptolomy and tiberius the interval was shorter, not two hundred and fifty years: hence some have believed that the present was a spurious phoenix, and derived not its origin from the territories of arabia, since it observed nothing of the instinct which ancient tradition attributes to the genuine: for that the latter having completed his course of years, just before his death builds a nest in his native land, and upon it sheds a generative power, from whence arises a young one, whose first care, when he is grown, is to bury his father: neither does he undertake it unadvisedly, but by collecting and fetching loads of myrrh, tries his strength in great journeys; and as soon as he finds himself equal to the burden, and fit for the long flight, he rears upon his back his father's body, carries it quite to the altar of the sun, and then flies away. these are uncertain tales, and their uncertainty heightened by fables; but that this bird has been sometimes seen in egypt, is not questioned. the same year the city suffered the grievous calamity of fire, which burnt down that part of the circus contiguous to mount aventine and the mount itself: a loss which turned to the glory of the prince, as he paid in money the value of the houses destroyed. a hundred thousand great sesterces [footnote: about £ , .] he expended in this bounty, which proved the more grateful to the people as he was ever sparing in private buildings: in truth, his public works never exceeded two, the temple of augustus and the scene [footnote: the stage.] of pompey's theatre; nor, when he had finished both, did he dedicate either, whether obstructed by old age, or despising popularity. for ascertaining the damage of particulars, the four sons-in-law of tiberius were appointed, cneius domitius, cassius longinus, marcus vincinus and rubellius blandus; assisted by publius petronius, nominated by the consuls. to the emperor likewise were decreed several honours, variously devised according to the different drift and genius of such as proposed them. which of these he meant to accept, or which to reject, the approaching issue of his days, has buried in uncertainty. for not long after, cneius acerronius and caius pontius commenced consuls; the last under tiberius. the power of macro was already excessive; who, as he had at no time neglected the favour of caligula, courted it now more and more earnestly every day. after the death of claudia, whom i have mentioned to have been espoused to the young prince, he constrained ennia his own wife to stimulate the affections of caligula and to secure him by a promise of marriage. the truth is, he was one that denied nothing that opened his way to sovereignty; for although of a tempestuous genius, he had yet in the school of his grandfather, well acquired all the hollow guises of dissimulation. his spirit was known to the emperor; hence he was puzzled about bequeathing the empire: and first as to his grandsons; the son of drusus was nearer in blood, and dearer in point of affection, but as yet a child; the son of germanicus had arrived at the vigour of youth, and the zeal of the people followed him, a motive this to his grandfather, only to hate him. he had even debates with himself concerning claudius, because of solid age and naturally inclined to honest pursuits; but the defect of his faculties withstood the choice. in case he sought a successor apart from his own family, he dreaded lest the memory of augustus, lest the name of the caesars should come to be scorned and insulted. for, it was not so much any study of his, to gratify the present generation and secure the roman state, as to perpetuate to posterity the grandeur of his race. so that his mind still wavering and his strength decaying, to the decision of fortune he permitted a counsel to which he was now unequal. yet he dropped certain words whence might be gathered that he foresaw the events and revolutions which were to come to pass after him: for, he upbraided macro, by no dark riddle, "that he forsook the setting sun and courted the rising:" and of caligula, who upon some occasional discourse ridiculed sylla, he foretold, "that he would have all sylla's vices, and not one of his virtues." moreover, as he was, with many tears, embracing the younger of his grandsons, and perceived the countenance of caligula implacable and provoked; "thou," said he, "wilt slay him, and another shall slay thee." but, however his illness prevailed, he relinquished nothing of his vile voluptuousness; forcing patience, and feigning health. he was wont too to ridicule the prescriptions of physicians, and all men who, after the age of thirty, needed to be informed by any one else, what helped or hurted their constitutions. at rome, the while, were sown the sanguinary seeds of executions to be perpetrated even after tiberius. laelius balbus had with high treason charged acutia, some time the wife of publius vitellius; and, as the senate were, after her condemnation, decreeing a reward to the accuser, the same was obstructed by the interposition of junius otho, tribune of the people: hence their mutual hate, which ended in the exile of otho. thereafter albucilla, who had been married to satrius secundus, him that revealed the conspiracy of sejanus, and herself famous for many amours, was impeached of impious rites devised against the prince. in the charge were involved, as her associates and adulterers, cneius domitius, vibius marsus, and lucius arruntius. the noble descent of domitius i have above declared: marsus too was distinguished by the ancient dignities in his house, and himself illustrious for learning. the minutes, however, transmitted to the senate imported, "that in the examination of the witnesses, and torture of the slaves, macro had presided:" neither came these minutes accompanied with any letter from the emperor against the accused. hence it was suspected, that, while he was ill, and perhaps without his privacy, the accusations were in great measure forged by macro, in consequence of his notorious enmity to arruntius. domitius therefore by preparing for his defence, and marsus by seeming determined to famish, both protracted their lives. arruntius chose to die; and to the importunity of his friends, urging him to try delays and evasions, he answered, "that the same measures were not alike honourable to all men: his own life was abundantly long; nor had he wherewithal to reproach himself, save that he had submitted to bear thus far an old age loaded with anxieties, exposed to daily dangers, and the cruel sport of power; long hated as he was by sejanus, now by macro, always by some reigning minister; hated through no fault of his own, but as one irreconcilable to baseness and the iniquities of power. he might, in truth, outlive and avoid the few and last days of tiberius: but how escape the youth of his heir? if upon tiberius at such an age, and after such consummate experience, the violent spirit of unbridled dominion had wrought with such efficacy, as entirely to transport and change him; was it likely that caligula, he who had scarce outgrown his childhood, a youth ignorant of all things, or nursed and principled in the worst, would follow a course more righteous under the guidance of macro; the same macro, who, for destroying sejanus, was employed as the more wicked of the two, and had since by more mischiefs and cruelties torn and afflicted the commonweal? for himself; he foresaw a servitude yet more vehement, and therefore withdrew at once from the agonies of past and of impending tyranny." uttering these words, with the spirit of a prophet, he opened his veins. how wisely arruntius anticipated death, the following times will terribly demonstrate. for albucilla; she aimed at her own life, but the blow being impotent, she was by order of senate dragged to execution in the prison. against the ministers of her lusts it was decreed, "that grasidius sacerdos, formerly praetor, should be exiled into an island; pontius fregellanus be degraded from the senate; and that upon laelius balbus the same penalty be inflicted:" his punishment particularly proved matter of joy, as he was accounted a man of pestilent eloquence, and prompt to attack the innocent. about the same time, sextus papinius of a consular family, chose on a sudden a frightful end, by a desperate and precipitate fall. the cause was ascribed to his mother, who, after many repulses, had by various allurements and the stimulations of sensuality, urged him to practices and embarrassments from whence, only by dying, he could devise an issue. she was therefore accused in the senate; and, though in a prostrate posture she embraced the knees of the fathers, and pleaded "the tenderness and grief of a mother, the imbecility of a woman's spirit under such an affecting calamity;" with other motives of pity in the same doleful strain; she was banished rome for ten years, till her younger son were past the age of lubricity. as to tiberius; already his body, already his spirits failed him; but his dissimulation failed him not. he exerted the same vigour of mind, the same energy in his looks and discourse; and even sometimes studied to be gay, by it to hide his declension however notorious. so that, after much shifting of places, he settled at the promontory of misenum, in a villa of which lucullus was once lord. there it was discovered that his end was at hand, by this device. in his train was a physician, his name charicles, signal in his profession, one, in truth, not employed to govern the prince's health, but wont however to afford his counsel and skill. charicles, as if he were departing to attend his own affairs, under the appearance of paying duty and kissing his hands, touched his pulse. but the artifice beguiled not tiberius; for he instantly ordered the entertainment to be served up; whether incensed, and thence the more smothering his wrath, is uncertain: but, at table he continued beyond his wont, as if he meant that honour only for a farewell to his friend. but for all this charicles satisfied macro, "that the flame of life was expiring, and could not outlast two days." hence the whole court was filled with close consultations, and expresses were despatched to the generals and armies. on the th of march, so deep a swoon seized him, that he was believed to have paid the last debt of mortality: insomuch that caligula, in the midst of a great throng, paying their congratulations, was already appearing abroad, to assume the first offices of sovereignty, when sudden notice came, "that tiberius had recovered his sight and voice, and, to strengthen his fainting spirits, had called for some refreshment." hence dread seized all, and the whole concourse about caligula dispersed, every man resuming false sorrow, or feigning ignorance: he himself was struck speechless, and thus fallen from the highest hopes, waited for present death. macro continued undismayed, and ordering the apartment to be cleared, caused the feeble old man to be smothered with a weight of coverings. thus expired tiberius in the seventy-eighth year of his age. he was the son of nero, and on both sides a branch of the claudian house; though his mother had been ingrafted by adoptions into the livian, and next into the julian stock. from his first infancy, his life was chequered by various turns and perils: for, then he followed, like an exile, his proscribed father; and when taken in quality of a step-son into the family of augustus, he long struggled there with many potent rivals, during the lives of marcellus and agrippa; next of the young caesars, caius and lucius. his brother drusus too eclipsed him, and possessed more eminently the hearts of the roman people. but above all, his marriage with julia, most egregiously threatened and distressed him; whether he bore the prostitutions of his wife, or relinquished the daughter of augustus. upon his return thereafter from rhodes, he occupied for twelve years the prince's family, now bereft of heirs, and nigh four-and-twenty ruled the roman state. his manners also varied with the several junctures of his fortune: he was well esteemed while yet a private man; and, in discharging public dignities under augustus, of signal reputation: covert and subdolous in feigning virtue so long as germanicus and drusus survived: a mixed character of good and evil during the days of his mother: detestably cruel; but secret in his lewdness, while he loved or feared sejanus: at last he abandoned himself, at once, to the rage of tyranny and the sway of his lusts: for, he had then conquered all the checks of shame and fear, and thenceforth followed only the bent of his own abominable spirit. a treatise of the situation, customs, and people of germany. the whole of germany is thus bounded; separated from gaul, from rhoetia and pannonia, by the rivers rhine and danube; from sarmatia and dacia by mutual fear, or by high mountains: the rest is encompassed by the ocean, which forms huge bays, and comprehends a tract of islands immense in extent: for we have lately known certain nations and kingdoms there, such as the war discovered. the rhine rising in the rhoetian alps from a summit altogether rocky and perpendicular, after a small winding towards the west, is lost in the northern ocean. the danube issues out of the mountain abnoba, one very high but very easy of ascent, and traversing several nations, falls by six streams into the euxine sea; for its seventh channel is absorbed in the fenns. the germans, i am apt to believe, derive their original from no other people; and are nowise mixed with different nations arriving amongst them: since anciently those who went in search of new dwellings, travelled not by land, but were carried in fleets; and into that mighty ocean so boundless, and, as i may call it, so repugnant and forbidding, ships from our world rarely enter. moreover, besides the dangers from a sea tempestuous, horrid and unknown, who would relinquish asia, or africa, or italy, to repair to germany, a region hideous and rude, under a rigorous climate, dismal to behold or to manure; [footnote: to cultivate.] unless the same were his native country? in their old ballads (which amongst them are the only sort of registers and history) they celebrate _tuisto_, a god sprung from the earth, and _mannus_ his son, as the fathers and founders of the nation. to _mannus_ they assign three sons, after whose names so many people are called; the ingaevones, dwelling next the ocean; the herminones, in the middle country; and all the rest, istaevones. some, borrowing a warrant from the darkness of antiquity, maintain that the god had more sons, that thence came more denominations of people, the marsians, cambrians, suevians, and vandalians, and that these are the names truly genuine and original. for the rest, they affirm germany to be a recent word, lately bestowed: for that those who first passed the rhine and expulsed the gauls, and are now named tungrians, were then called germans: and thus by degrees the name of a tribe prevailed, not that of the nation; so that by an appellation at first occasioned by terror and conquest, they afterwards chose to be distinguished, and assuming a name lately invented were universally called _germans_. they have a tradition that hercules also had been in their country, and him above all other heroes they extol in their songs when they advance to battle. amongst them too are found that kind of verses by the recital of which (by them called _barding_) they inspire bravery; nay, by such chanting itself they divine the success of the approaching fight. for, according to the different din of the battle, they urge furiously, or shrink timorously. nor does what they utter, so much seem to be singing as the voice and exertion of valour. they chiefly study a tone fierce and harsh, with a broken and unequal murmur, and therefore apply their shields to their mouths, whence the voice may by rebounding swell with greater fulness and force. besides there are some of opinion, that ulysses, whilst he wandered about in his long and fabulous voyages, was carried into this ocean and entered germany, and that by him asciburgium was founded and named, a city at this day standing and inhabited upon the bank of the rhine: nay, that in the same place was formerly found an altar dedicated to ulysses, with the name of his father laertes added to his own, and that upon the confines of germany and rhoetia are still extant certain monuments and tombs inscribed with greek characters. traditions these which i mean not either to confirm with arguments of my own or to refute. let every one believe or deny the same according to his own bent. for myself, i concur in opinion with such as suppose the people of germany never to have mingled by inter-marriages with other nations, but to have remained a people pure, and independent, and resembling none but themselves. hence amongst such a mighty multitude of men, the same make and form is found in all, eyes stern and blue, yellow hair, huge bodies, but vigorous only in the first onset. of pains and labour they are not equally patient, nor can they at all endure thrift and heat. to bear hunger and cold they are hardened by their climate and soil. their lands, however somewhat different in aspect, yet taken all together consist of gloomy forests or nasty marshes; lower and moister towards the confines of gaul, more mountainous and windy towards noricum and pannonia; very apt to bear grain, but altogether unkindly to fruit trees; abounding in flocks and herds, but generally small of growth. nor even in their oxen is found the usual stateliness, no more than the natural ornaments and grandeur of head. in the number of their herds they rejoice; and these are their only, these their most desirable riches. silver and gold the gods have denied them, whether in mercy or in wrath, i am unable to determine. yet i would not venture to aver that in germany no vein of gold or silver is produced; for who has ever searched? for the use and possession, it is certain they care not. amongst them indeed are to be seen vessels of silver, such as have been presented to their princes and ambassadors, but holden in no other esteem than vessels made of earth. the germans however adjoining to our frontiers value gold and silver for the purposes of commerce, and are wont to distinguish and prefer certain of our coins. they who live more remote are more primitive and simple in their dealings, and exchange one commodity for another. the money which they like is the old and long known, that indented, [footnote: with milled edges.] or that impressed with a chariot and two horses. silver too is what they seek more than gold, from no fondness or preference, but because small pieces are more ready in purchasing things cheap and common. neither in truth do they abound in iron, as from the fashion of their weapons may be gathered. swords they rarely use, or the larger spear. they carry javelins or, in their own language, _framms_, pointed with a piece of iron short and narrow, but so sharp and manageable, that with the same weapon they can fight at a distance or hand to hand, just as need requires. nay, the horsemen also are content with a shield and a javelin. the foot throw likewise weapons missive, each particular is armed with many, and hurls them a mighty space, all naked or only wearing a light cassock. in their equipment they show no ostentation; only that their shields are diversified and adorned with curious colours. with coats of mail very few are furnished, and hardly upon any is seen a headpiece or helmet. their horses are nowise signal either in fashion or in fleetness; nor taught to wheel and bound, according to the practice of the romans: they only move them forward in a line, or turn them right about, with such compactness and equality that no one is ever behind the rest. to one who considers the whole it is manifest, that in their foot their principal strength lies, and therefore they fight intermixed with the horse: for such is their swiftness as to match and suit with the motions and engagements of the cavalry. so that the infantry are elected from amongst the most robust of their youth, and placed in front of the army. the number to be sent is also ascertained, out of every village _an hundred_, and by this very name they continue to be called at home, _those of the hundred band_: thus what was at first no more than a number, becomes thenceforth a title and distinction of honour. in arraying their army, they divide the whole into distinct battalions formed sharp in front. to recoil in battle, provided you return again to the attack, passes with them rather for policy than fear. even when the combat is no more than doubtful, they bear away the bodies of their slain. the most glaring disgrace that can befall them, is to have quitted their shield; nor to one branded with such ignominy is it lawful to join in their sacrifices, or to enter into their assemblies; and many who had escaped in the day of battle, have hanged themselves to put an end to this their infamy. in the choice of kings they are determined by the splendour of their race, in that of generals by their bravery. neither is the power of their kings unbounded or arbitrary: and their generals procure obedience not so much by the force of their authority as by that of their example, when they appear enterprising and brave, when they signalise themselves by courage and prowess; and if they surpass all in admiration and pre-eminence, if they surpass all at the head of an army. but to none else but the priests is it allowed to exercise correction, or to inflict bonds or stripes. nor when the priests do this, is the same considered as a punishment, or arising from the orders of the general, but from the immediate command of the deity, him whom they believe to accompany them in war. they therefore carry with them when going to fight, certain images and figures taken out of their holy groves. what proves the principal incentive to their valour is, that it is not at random nor by the fortuitous conflux of men that their troops and pointed battalions are formed, but by the conjunction of whole families, and tribes of relations. moreover, close to the field of battle are lodged all the nearest and most interesting pledges of nature. hence they hear the doleful howlings of their wives, hence the cries of their tender infants. these are to each particular the witnesses whom he most reverences and dreads; these yield him the praise which affect him most. their wounds and maims they carry to their mothers, or to their wives, neither are their mothers or wives shocked in telling, or in sucking their bleeding sores. [footnote: nec illae numerare aut exigere plagas pavent.] nay, to their husbands and sons whilst engaged in battle, they administer meat and encouragement. in history we find, that some armies already yielding and ready to fly, have been by the women restored, through their inflexible importunity and entreaties, presenting their breasts, and showing their impending captivity; an evil to the germans then by far most dreadful when it befalls their women. so that the spirit of such cities as amongst their hostages are enjoined to send their damsels of quality, is always engaged more effectually than that of others. they even believe them endowed with something celestial and the spirit of prophecy. neither do they disdain to consult them, nor neglect the responses which they return. in the reign of the deified vespasian, we have seen _veleda_ for a long time, and by many nations, esteemed and adored as a divinity. in times past they likewise worshipped _aurinia_ and several more, from no complaisance or effort of flattery, nor as deities of their own creating. of all the gods, mercury is he whom they worship most. to him on certain stated days it is lawful to offer even human victims. hercules and mars they appease with beasts usually allowed for sacrifice. some of the suevians make likewise immolations to _isis_, concerning the cause and original of this foreign sacrifice i have found small light; unless the figure of her image formed like a galley, show that such devotion arrived from abroad. for the rest, from the grandeur and majesty of beings celestial, they judge it altogether unsuitable to hold the gods enclosed within walls, or to represent them under any human likeness. they consecrate whole woods and groves, and by the names of the gods they call these recesses; divinities these, which only in contemplation and mental reverence they behold. to the use of lots and auguries, they are addicted beyond all other nations. their method of divining by lots is exceeding simple. from a tree which bears fruit they cut a twig, and divide it into two small pieces. these they distinguish by so many several marks, and throw them at random and without order upon a white garment. then the priest of the community, if for the public the lots are consulted, or the father of a family if about a private concern, after he has solemnly invoked the gods, with eyes lifted up to heaven, takes up every piece thrice, and having done thus forms a judgment according to the marks before made. if the chances have proved forbidding, they are no more consulted upon the same affair during the same day: even when they are inviting, yet, for confirmation, the faith of auguries too is tried. yea, here also is the known practice of divining events from the voices and flight of birds. but to this nation it is peculiar, to learn presages and admonitions divine from horses also. these are nourished by the state in the same sacred woods and groves, all milk-white and employed in no earthly labour. these yoked in the holy chariot, are accompanied by the priest and the king, or the chief of the community, who both carefully observe his actions and neighing. nor in any sort of augury is more faith and assurance reposed, not by the populace only, but even by the nobles, even by the priests. these account themselves the ministers of the gods, and the horses privy to his will. they have likewise another method of divination, whence to learn the issue of great and mighty wars. from the nation with whom they are at war they contrive, it avails not how, to gain a captive: him they engage in combat with one selected from amongst themselves, each armed after the manner of his country, and according as the victory falls to this or to the other, gather a presage of the whole. affairs of smaller moment the chiefs determine: about matters of higher consequence the whole nation deliberates; yet in such sort, that whatever depends upon the pleasure and decision of the people, is examined and discussed by the chiefs. where no accident or emergency intervenes, they assemble upon stated days, either when the moon changes, or is full: since they believe such seasons to be the most fortunate for beginning all transactions. neither in reckoning of time do they count, like us, the number of days but that of nights. in this style their ordinances are framed, in this style their diets appointed; and with them the night seems to lead and govern the day. from their extensive liberty this evil and default flows, that they meet not at once, nor as men commanded and afraid to disobey; so that often the second day, nay often the third, is consumed through the slowness of the members in assembling. they sit down as they list, promiscuously, like a crowd, and all armed. it is by the priests that silence is enjoined, and with the power of correction the priests are then invested. then the king or chief is heard, as are others, each according to his precedence in age, or in nobility, or in warlike renown, or in eloquence; and the influence of every speaker proceeds rather from his ability to persuade than from any authority to command. if the proposition displease, they reject it by an inarticulate murmur: if it be pleasing, they brandish their javelins. the most honourable manner of signifying their assent, is to express their applause by the sound of their arms. in the assembly it is allowed to present accusations, and to prosecute capital offences. punishments vary according to the quality of the crime. traitors and deserters they hang upon trees. cowards, and sluggards, and unnatural prostitutes they smother in mud and bogs under an heap of hurdles. such diversity in their executions has this view, that in punishing of glaring iniquities, it behoves likewise to display them to sight: but effeminacy and pollution must be buried and concealed. in lighter transgressions too the penalty is measured by the fault, and the delinquents upon conviction are condemned to pay a certain number of horses or cattle. part of this mulct accrues to the king or to the community, part to him whose wrongs are vindicated, or to his next kindred. in the same assemblies are also chosen their chiefs or rulers, such as administer justice in their villages and boroughs. to each of these are assigned an hundred persons chosen from amongst the populace, to accompany and assist him, men who help him at once with their authority and their counsel. without being armed they transact nothing, whether of public or private concernment. but it is repugnant to their custom for any man to use arms, before the community has attested his capacity to wield them. upon such testimonial, either one of the rulers, or his father, or some kinsman dignify the young man in the midst of the assembly, with a shield and javelin. this amongst them is the _manly robe_, this the first degree of honour conferred upon their youth. before this they seem no more than part of a private family, but thenceforward part of the commonweal. the princely dignity they confer even upon striplings, whose race is eminently noble, or whose fathers have done great and signal services to the state. for about the rest, who are more vigorous and long since tried, they crowd to attend: nor is it any shame to be seen amongst the followers of these. nay, there are likewise degrees of followers, higher or lower, just as he whom they follow judges fit. mighty too is the emulation amongst these followers, of each to be first in favour with his prince; mighty also the emulation of the princes, to excel in the number and valour of followers. this is their principal state, this their chief force, to be at all times surrounded with a huge band of chosen young men, for ornament and glory in peace, for security and defence in war. nor is it amongst his own people only, but even from the neighbouring communities, that any of their princes reaps so much renown and a name so great, when he surpasses in the number and magnanimity of his followers. for such are courted by embassies, and distinguished with presents, and by the terror of their fame alone often dissipate wars. in the day of battle, it is scandalous to the prince to be surpassed in feats of bravery, scandalous to his followers to fail in matching the bravery of the prince. but it is infamy during life, and indelible reproach, to return alive from a battle where their prince was slain. to preserve their prince, to defend him, and to ascribe to his glory all their own valorous deeds, is the sum and most sacred part of their oath. the princes fight for victory; for the prince his followers fight. many of the young nobility, when their own community comes to languish in its vigour by long peace and inactivity, betake themselves through impatience to other states which then prove to be in war. for, besides that this people cannot brook repose, besides that by perilous adventures they more quickly blazon their fame, they cannot otherwise than by violence and war support their huge train of retainers. for from the liberality of their prince, they demand and enjoy that _war-horse_ of theirs, with that _victorious javelin_ dyed in the blood of their enemies. in the place of pay, they are supplied with a daily table and repasts; though grossly prepared, yet very profuse. for maintaining such liberality and munificence, a fund is furnished by continual wars and plunder. nor could you so easily persuade them to cultivate the ground, or to await the return of the seasons and produce of the year, as to provoke the foe and to risk wounds and death: since stupid and spiritless they account it, to acquire by their sweat what they can gain by their blood. upon any recess from war, they do not much attend the chase. much more of their time they pass in indolence, resigned to sleep and repasts. [footnote: "dediti somno, ciboque:" handed over to sloth and gluttony.] all the most brave, all the most warlike, apply to nothing at all; but to their wives, to the ancient men, and to every the most impotent domestic, trust all the care of their house, and of their lands and possessions. they themselves loiter. [footnote: are rude and lazy.] such is the amazing diversity of their nature, that in the same men is found so much delight in sloth, with so much enmity to tranquillity and repose. the communities are wont, of their own accord and man by man, to bestow upon their princes a certain number of beasts, or a certain portion of grain; a contribution which passes indeed for a mark of reverence and honour, but serves also to supply their necessities. they chiefly rejoice in the gifts which come from the bordering countries, such as are sent not only by particulars but in the name of the state; curious horses, splendid armour, rich harness, with collars of silver and gold. now too they have learnt, what we have taught them, to receive money. that none of the several people in germany live together in cities, is abundantly known; nay, that amongst them none of their dwellings are suffered to be contiguous. they inhabit apart and distinct, just as a fountain, or a field, or a wood happened to invite them to settle. they raise their villages in opposite rows, but not in our manner with the houses joined one to another. every man has a vacant space quite round his own, whether for security against accidents from fire, or that they want the art of building. with them in truth, is unknown even the use of mortar and of tiles. in all their structures they employ materials quite gross and unhewn, void of fashion and comeliness. some parts they besmear with an earth so pure and resplendent, that it resembles painting and colours. they are likewise wont to scoop caves deep in the ground, and over them to lay great heaps of dung. thither they retire for shelter in the winter, and thither convey their grain: for by such close places they mollify the rigorous and excessive cold. besides when at any time their enemy invades them, he can only ravage the open country, but either knows not such recesses as are invisible and subterraneous; or must suffer them to escape him, on this very account that he is uncertain where to find them. for their covering a mantle is what they all wear, fastened with a clasp or, for want of it, with a thorn. as far as this reaches not they are naked, and lie whole days before the fire. the most wealthy are distinguished with a vest, not one large and flowing like those of sarmatians and parthians, but girt close about them and expressing the proportion of every limb. they likewise wear the skins of savage beasts, a dress which those bordering upon the rhine use without any fondness or delicacy, but about which such who live further in the country are more curious, as void of all apparel introduced by commerce. they choose certain wild beasts, and, having flayed them, diversify their hides with many spots, as also with the skins of monsters from the deep, such as are engendered in the distant ocean and in seas unknown. neither does the dress of the women differ from that of the men, save that the women are orderly attired in linen embroidered with purple, and use no sleeves, so that all their arms are bare. the upper part of their breast is withal exposed. yet the laws of matrimony are severely observed there; nor in the whole of their manners is ought more praiseworthy than this: for they are almost the only barbarians contented with one wife, excepting a very few amongst them; men of dignity who marry divers wives, from no wantonness or lubricity, but courted for the lustre of their family into many alliances. to the husband, the wife tenders no dowry; but the husband, to the wife. the parents and relations attend and declare their approbation of the presents, not presents adapted to feminine pomp and delicacy, nor such as serve to deck the new married woman; but oxen and horse accoutred, and a shield, with a javelin and sword. by virtue of these gifts, she is espoused. she too on her part brings her husband some arms. this they esteem the highest tie, these the holy mysteries, and matrimonial gods. that the woman may not suppose herself free from the considerations of fortitude and fighting, or exempt from the casualties of war, the very first solemnities of her wedding serve to warn her, that she comes to her husband as a partner in his hazards and fatigues, that she is to suffer alike with him, to adventure alike, during peace or during war. this the oxen joined in the same yoke plainly indicate, this the horse ready equipped, this the present of arms. 'tis thus she must be content to live, thus to resign life. the arms which she then receives she must preserve inviolate, and to her sons restore the same, as presents worthy of them, such as their wives may again receive, and still resign to her grandchildren. they therefore live in a state of chastity well secured; corrupted by no seducing shows and public diversions, by no irritations from banqueting. of learning and of any secret intercourse by letters, they are all equally ignorant, men and women. amongst a people so numerous, adultery is exceeding rare; a crime instantly punished, and the punishment left to be inflicted by the husband. he, having cut off her hair, expells her from his house naked, in presence of her kindred, and pursues her with stripes throughout the village. for, to a woman who has prostituted her person, no pardon is ever granted. however beautiful she be, however young, however abounding in wealth, a husband she can never find. in truth, nobody turns vices into mirth there, nor is the practice of corrupting and of yielding to corruption, called the custom of the age. better still do those communities, in which none but virgins marry, and where to a single marriage all their views and inclinations are at once confined. thus, as they have but one body and one life, they take but one husband, that beyond him they may have no thought, no further wishes, nor love him only as their husband but as their marriage. [footnote: "sed tamquam matrimonium ament."] to restrain generation and the increase of children, is esteemed an abominable sin, as also to kill infants newly born. and more powerful with them are good manners, than with other people are good laws. in all their houses the children are reared naked and nasty; and thus grow into those limbs, into that bulk, which with marvel we behold. they are all nourished with the milk of their own mothers, and never surrendered to handmaids and nurses. the lord you cannot discern from the slave, by any superior delicacy in rearing. amongst the same cattle they promiscuously live, upon the same ground they without distinction lie, till at a proper age the free-born are parted from the rest, and their bravery recommend them to notice. slow and late do the young men come to the use of women, and thus very long preserve the vigour of youth. neither are the virgins hastened to wed. they must both have the same sprightly youth, the like stature, and marry when equal and able-bodied. thus the robustness of the parents is inherited by the children. children are holden in the same estimation with their mother's brother, as with their father. some hold this tie of blood to be most inviolable and binding, and in receiving of hostages, such pledges are most considered and claimed, as they who at once possess affections the most unalienable, and the most diffuse interest in their family. to every man, however, his own children are heirs and successors: wills they make none: for want of children his next akin inherits; his own brothers, those of his father, or those of his mother. to ancient men, the more they abound in descendants, in relations and affinities, so much the more favour and reverence accrues. from being childless, no advantage nor estimation is derived. all the enmities of your house, whether of your father or of your kindred, you must necessarily adopt; as well as all their friendships. neither are such enmities unappeasable and permanent: since even for so great a crime as homicide, compensation is made by a fixed number of sheep and cattle, and by it the whole family is pacified to content. a temper this, wholesome to the state; because to a free nation, animosities and faction are always more menacing and perilous. in social feasts, and deeds of hospitality, no nation upon earth was ever more liberal and abounding. to refuse admitting under your roof any man whatsoever, is held wicked and inhuman. every man receives every comer, and treats him with repasts as large as his ability can possibly furnish. when the whole stock is consumed, he who had treated so hospitably guides and accompanies his guest to a new scene of hospitality; and both proceed to the next house, though neither of them invited. nor avails it, that they were not: they are there received, with the same frankness and humanity. between a stranger and an acquaintance, in dispensing the rules and benefits of hospitality, no difference is made. upon your departure, if you ask anything, it is the custom to grant it; and with the same facility, they ask of you. in gifts they delight, but neither claim merit from what they give, nor own any obligation for what they receive. their manner of entertaining their guests is familiar and kind. the moment they rise from sleep, which they generally prolong till late in the day, they bathe, most frequently in warm water; as in a country where the winter is very long and severe. from bathing, they sit down to meat; every man apart, upon a particular seat, and at a separate table. they then proceed to their affairs, all in arms; as in arms, they no less frequently go to banquet. to continue drinking night and day without intermission, is a reproach to no man. frequent then are their broils, as usual amongst men intoxicated with liquor; and such broils rarely terminate in angry words, but for the most part in maimings and slaughter. moreover in these their feasts, they generally deliberate about reconciling parties at enmity, about forming affinities, choosing of princes, and finally about peace and war. for they judge, that at no season is the soul more open to thoughts that are artless and upright, or more fired with such as are great and bold. this people, of themselves nowise subtile or politic, from the freedom of the place and occasion acquire still more frankness to disclose the most secret motions and purposes of their hearts. when therefore the minds of all have been once laid open and declared, on the day following the several sentiments are revised and canvassed; and to both conjectures of time, due regard is had. they consult, when they know not how to dissemble; they determine, when they cannot mistake. for their drink, they draw a liquor from barley or other grain; and ferment the same, so as to make it resemble wine. nay, they who dwell upon the bank of the rhine deal in wine. their food is very simple; wild fruit, fresh venison, or coagulated milk. they banish hunger without formality, without curious dressing and curious fare. in extinguishing thirst, they use not equal temperance. if you will but humour their excess in drinking, and supply them with as much as they covet, it will be no less easy to vanquish them by vices than by arms. of public diversions they have but one sort, and in all their meetings the same is still exhibited. young men, such, as make it their pastime, fling themselves naked and dance amongst sharp swords and the deadly points of javelins. from habit they acquire their skill, and from their skill a graceful manner; yet from hence draw no gain or hire: though this adventurous gaiety has its reward, namely, that of pleasing the spectators. what is marvellous, playing at dice is one of their most serious employments; and even sober, they are gamesters: nay, so desperately do they venture upon the chance of winning or losing, that when their whole substance is played away, they stake their liberty and their persons upon one and the last throw. the loser goes calmly into voluntary bondage. however younger he be, however stronger, he tamely suffers himself to be bound and sold by the winner. such is their perseverance in an evil course: they themselves call it honour. slaves of this class, they exchange away in commerce, to free themselves too from the shame of such a victory. of their other slaves they make not such use as we do of ours, by distributing amongst them the several offices and employments of the family. each of them has a dwelling of his own, each a household to govern. his lord uses him like a tenant, and obliges him to pay a quantity of grain, or of cattle, or of cloth. thus far only the subserviency of the slave extends. all the other duties in a family, not the slaves, but the wives and children discharge. to inflict stripes upon a slave, or to put him in chains, or to doom him to severe labour, are things rarely seen. to kill them they sometimes are wont, not through correction or government, but in heat and rage, as they would an enemy, save that no vengeance or penalty follows. the freedmen very little surpass the slaves, rarely are of moment in the house; in the community never, excepting only such nations where arbitrary dominion prevails. for there they bear higher sway than the free-born, nay, higher than the nobles. in other countries the inferior condition of freedmen is a proof of public liberty. to the practice of usury and of increasing money by interest, they are strangers; and hence is found a better guard against it, than if it were forbidden. they shift from land to land; and, still appropriating a portion suitable to the number of hands for manuring, anon parcel out the whole amongst particulars according to the condition and quality of each. as the plains are very spacious, the allotments are easily assigned. every year they change, and cultivate a fresh soil; yet still there is ground to spare. for they strive not to bestow labour proportionable to the fertility and compass of their lands, by planting orchards, by enclosing meadows, by watering gardens. from the earth, corn only is exacted. hence they quarter not the year into so many seasons. winter, spring, and summer, they understand; and for each have proper appellations. of the name and blessings of autumn, they are equally ignorant. in performing their funerals, they show no state or vainglory. this only is carefully observed, that with the corpses of their signal men certain woods be burned. upon the funeral pile they accumulate neither apparel nor perfumes. into the fire, are always thrown the arms of the dead, and sometimes his horse. with sods of earth only the sepulchre is raised. the pomp of tedious and elaborate monuments they contemn, as things grievous to the deceased. tears and wailings they soon dismiss: their affliction and woe they long retain. in women, it is reckoned becoming to bewail their loss; in men, to remember it. this is what in general we have learned, in the original and customs of the whole people of germany. i shall now deduce the institutions and usages of the several people, as far as they vary one from another; as also an account of what nations from thence removed, to settle themselves in gaul. that the gauls were in times past more puissant and formidable, is related by the prince of authors, the deified julius; [footnote: julius caesar.] and hence it is probable that they too have passed into germany. for what a small obstacle must be a river, to restrain any nation, as each grew more potent, from seizing or changing habitations; when as yet all habitations were common, and not parted or appropriated by the founding and terror of monarchies? the region therefore between the hercynian forest and the rivers moenus [footnote: main.] and rhine, was occupied by the helvetians; as was that beyond it by the boians, both nations of gaul. there still remains a place called _boiemum_, which denotes the primitive name and antiquity of the country, although the inhabitants have been changed. but whether the araviscans are derived from the osians, a nation of germans passing into pannonia, or the osians from the araviscans removing from thence into germany, is a matter undecided; since they both still use the language, the same customs and the same laws. for, as of old they lived alike poor and alike free, equal proved the evils and advantages on each side the river, and common to both people. the treverians and nervians aspire passionately to the reputation of being descended from the germans; since by the glory of this original, they would escape all imputation of resembling the gauls in person and effeminacy. such as dwell upon the bank of the rhine, the vangiones, the tribocians, and the nemetes, are without doubt all germans. the ubians are ashamed of their original; though they have a particular honour to boast, that of having merited an establishment as a roman colony, and still delight to be called _agrippinensians_, after the name of their founder: they indeed formerly came from beyond the rhine, and, for the many proofs of their fidelity, were settled upon the very bank of the river; not to be there confined or guarded themselves, but to guard and defend that boundary against the rest of the germans. of all these nations, the batavians are the most signal in bravery. they inhabit not much territory upon the rhine, but possess an island in it. they were formerly part of the cattans, and by means of feuds at home removed to these dwellings; whence they might become a portion of the roman empire. with them this honour still remains, as also the memorials of their ancient association with us: for they are not under the contempt of paying tribute, nor subject to be squeezed by the farmers of the revenue. free from all impositions and payments, and only set apart for the purposes of fighting, they are reserved wholly for the wars, in the same manner as a magazine of weapons and armour. under the same degree of homage are the nation of the mattiacians. for such is the might and greatness of the roman people, as to have carried the awe and esteem of their empire beyond the rhine and the ancient boundaries. thus the mattiacians, living upon the opposite banks, enjoy a settlement and limits of their own; yet in spirit and inclination are attached to us: in other things resembling the batavians, save that as they still breathe their original air, still possess their primitive soil, they are thence inspired with superior vigour and keenness. amongst the people of germany i would not reckon those who occupy the lands which are under decimation, though they be such as dwell beyond the rhine and the danube. by several worthless and vagabond gauls, and such as poverty rendered daring, that region was seized as one belonging to no certain possessor: afterwards it became a skirt of the empire and part of a province, upon the enlargement of our bounds and the extending of our garrisons and frontier. beyond these are the cattans, whose territories begin at the hercynian forest, and consist not of such wide and marshy plains, as those of the other communities contained within the vast compass of germany; but produce ranges of hills, such as run lofty and contiguous for a long tract, then by degrees sink and decay. moreover the hercynian forest attends for a while its native cattans, then suddenly forsakes them. this people are distinguished with bodies more hardy and robust, compact limbs, stern countenances, and greater vigour of spirit. for germans, they are men of much sense and address. [footnote: "leur intelligence et leur finesse étonnent, dans des germains."] they dignify chosen men, listen to such as are set over them, know how to preserve their post, to discern occasions, to rebate their own ardour and impatience; how to employ the day, how to entrench themselves by night. they account fortune amongst things slippery and uncertain, but bravery amongst such as are never-failing and secure; and, what is exceeding rare nor ever to be learnt but by a wholesome course of discipline, in the conduct of the general they repose more assurance than in the strength of the army. their whole forces consist of foot, who besides their arms carry likewise instruments of iron and their provisions. you may see other germans proceed equipped to battle, but the cattans so as to conduct a war. [footnote: "alios ad proelium ire videas, chattos ad bellum."] they rarely venture upon excursions or casual encounters. it is in truth peculiar to cavalry, suddenly to conquer, or suddenly to fly. such haste and velocity rather resembles fear. patience and deliberation are more akin to intrepidity. moreover a custom, practised indeed in other nations of germany, yet very rarely and confined only to particulars more daring than the rest, prevails amongst the cattans by universal consent. as soon as they arrive to maturity of years, they let their hair and beards continue to grow, nor till they have slain an enemy do they ever lay aside this form of countenance by vow sacred to valour. over the blood and spoil of a foe they make bare their face. they allege, that they have now acquitted themselves of the debt and duty contracted by their birth, and rendered themselves worthy of their country, worthy of their parents. upon the spiritless, cowardly and unwarlike, such deformity of visage still remains. [footnote: "manet squalor."] all the most brave likewise wear an iron ring (a mark of great dishonour this in that nation) and retain it as a chain; till by killing an enemy they become released. many of the cattans delight always to bear this terrible aspect; and, when grown white through age, become awful and conspicuous by such marks, both to the enemy and their own countrymen. by them in all engagements the first assault is made: of them the front of the battle is always composed, as men who in their looks are singular and tremendous. for even during peace they abate nothing in the grimness and horror of their countenance. they have no house to inhabit, no land to cultivate, nor any domestic charge or care. with whomsoever they come to sojourn, by him they are maintained; always very prodigal of the substance of others, always despising what is their own, till the feebleness of old age overtakes them, and renders them unequal to the efforts of such rigid bravery. next to the cattans, dwell the usipians and tencterians; upon the rhine now running in a channel uniform and certain, such as suffices for a boundary. the tencterians, besides their wonted glory in war, surpass in the service and discipline of their cavalry. nor do the cattans derive higher applause from their foot, than the tencterians from their horse. such was the order established by their forefathers, and what their posterity still pursue. from riding and exercising of horses, their children borrow their pastimes; in this exercise the young men find matter for emulating one another, and in this the old men take pleasure to persevere. horses are by the father bequeathed as part of his household and family, horses are conveyed amongst the rights of succession, and as such the son receives them; but not the eldest son, like other effects, by priority of birth, but he who happens to be signal in boldness and superior in war. contiguous to the tencterians formerly dwelt the bructerians, in whose room it is said the chamavians and angrivarians are now settled; they who expulsed and almost extirpated the bructerians, with the concurrence of the neighbouring nations: whether in detestation of their arrogance, or allured by the love of spoil, or through the special favour of the gods towards us romans. they in truth even vouchsafed to gratify us with the sight of the battle. in it there fell above sixty thousand souls, without a blow struck by the romans; but, what is a circumstance still more glorious, fell to furnish them with a spectacle of joy and recreation. may the gods continue and perpetuate amongst these nations, if not any love for us, yet by all means this their animosity and hate towards each other: since whilst the destiny of the empire thus urges it, fortune cannot more signally befriend us, than in sowing strife amongst our foes. the angrivarians and chamavians are enclosed behind, by the dulgibinians and chasuarians; and by other nations not so much noted: before, the frisians face them. the country of frisia is divided into two; called the greater and lesser, according to the measure of their strength. both nations stretch along the rhine, quite to the ocean; and surround vast lakes such as once have borne roman fleets. we have moreover even ventured out from thence into the ocean, and upon its coasts common fame has reported the pillars of hercules to be still standing: whether it be that hercules ever visited these parts, or that to his renowned name we are wont to ascribe whatever is grand and glorious everywhere. neither did drusus who made the attempt, want boldness to pursue it: but the roughness of the ocean withstood him, nor would suffer discoveries to be made about itself, no more than about hercules. thenceforward the enterprise was dropped: nay, more pious and reverential it seemed, to believe the marvellous feats of the gods than to know and to prove them. [footnote: "coelum ipsum petimus stultitia."] hitherto, i have been describing germany towards the west. to the northward, it winds away with an immense compass. and first of all occurs the nation of the chaucians: who though they begin immediately at the confines of the frisians, and occupy part of the shore, extend so far as to border upon all the several people whom i have already recounted; till at last, by a circuit, they reach quite to the boundaries of the cattans. a region so vast, the chaucians do not only possess but fill; a people of all the germans the most noble, such as would rather maintain their grandeur by justice than violence. they live in repose, retired from broils abroad, void of avidity to possess more, free from a spirit of domineering over others. they provoke no wars, they ravage no countries, they pursue no plunder. of their bravery and power, the chief evidence arises from hence, that, without wronging or oppressing others, they are come to be superior to all. yet they are all ready to arm, and if an exigency require, armies are presently raised, powerful and abounding as they are in men and horses; and even when they are quiet and their weapons laid aside, their credit and name continue equally high. along the side of the chaucians and cattans dwell the cheruscans; a people who finding no enemy to rouse them, were enfeebled by a peace overlasting and uniform, but such as they failed not to nourish. a conduct which proved more pleasing than secure; since treacherous is that repose which you enjoy amongst neighbours that are very powerful and very fond of rule and mastership. when recourse is once had to the sword, modesty and fair dealing will be vainly pleaded by the weaker; names these which are always assumed by the stronger. thus the cheruscans, they who formerly bore the character of _good and upright_, are now called _cowards and fools_; and the fortune of the cattans who subdued them, grew immediately to be wisdom. in the ruin of the cheruscans, the fosians, also their neighbours, were involved; and in their calamities bore an equal share, though in their prosperity they had been weaker and less considered. in the same winding tract of germany live the cimbrians, close to the ocean; a community now very small, but great in fame. nay, of their ancient renown, many and extensive are the traces and monuments still remaining; even their entrenchments upon either shore, so vast in compass that from thence you may even now measure the greatness and numerous bands of that people, and assent to the account of an army so mighty. it was on the six hundred and fortieth year of rome, when of the arms of the cimbrians the first mention was made, during the consulship of caecilius metellus and papirius carbo. if from that time we count to the second consulship of the emperor trajan, the interval comprehends near two hundred and ten years; so long have we been conquering germany. in a course of time, so vast between these two periods, many have been the blows and disasters suffered on each side. in truth neither from the samnites, nor from the carthaginians, nor from both spains, nor from all the nations of gaul, have we received more frequent checks and alarms; nor even from the parthians: for, more vigorous and invincible is the liberty of the germans than the monarchy of the arsacides. indeed, what has the power of the east to allege to our dishonour; but the fall of crassus, that power which was itself overthrown and abased by ventidius, with the loss of the great king pacorus bereft of his life? but by the germans the roman people have been bereft of five armies, all commanded by consuls; by the germans, the commanders of these armies, carbo, and cassius, and scaurus aurelius, and servilius caepio, as also marcus manlius, were all routed or taken: by the germans even the emperor augustus was bereft of varus and three legions. nor without difficulty and loss of men were they defeated by caius marius in italy, or by the deified julius in gaul, or by drusus or tiberius or germanicus in their native territories. soon after, the mighty menaces of caligula against them ended in mockery and derision. thenceforward they continued quiet, till taking advantage of our domestic division and civil wars, they stormed and seized the winter entrenchments of the legions, and aimed at the dominion of gaul; from whence they were once more expulsed, and in the times preceding the present, we gained a triumph over them rather than a victory. i must now proceed to speak of the suevians, who are not, like the cattans and tencterians, comprehended in a single people; but divided into several nations all bearing distinct names, though, in general they are entitled suevians, and occupy the larger share of germany. this people are remarkable for a peculiar custom, that of twisting their hair and binding it up in a knot. it is thus the suevians are distinguished from the other germans, thus the free suevians from their slaves. in other nations, whether from alliance of blood with the suevians, or, as is usual, from imitation, this practice is also found, yet rarely, and never exceeds the years of youth. the suevians, even when their hair is white through age, continue to raise it backwards in a manner stern and staring; and often tie it upon the top of their head only. that of their princes, is more accurately disposed, and so far they study to appear agreeable and comely; but without any culpable intention. for by it, they mean not to make love or to incite it: they thus dress when proceeding to war, and deck their heads so as to add to their height and terror in the eyes of the enemy. of all the suevians, the semnones recount themselves to be the most ancient and most noble. the belief of their antiquity is confirmed by religious mysteries. at a stated time of the year, all the several people descended from the same stock, assemble by their deputies in a wood; consecrated by the idolatries of their forefathers, and by superstitious awe in times of old. there by publicly sacrificing a man, they begin the horrible solemnity of their barbarous worship. to this grove another sort of reverence is also paid. no one enters it otherwise than bound with ligatures, thence professing his subordination and meanness, and the power of the deity there. if he fall down, he is not permitted to rise or be raised, but grovels along upon the ground. and of all their superstition, this is the drift and tendency; that from this place the nation drew their original, that here god, the supreme governor of the world, resides, and that all things else whatsoever are subject to him and bound to obey him. the potent condition of the semnones has increased their influence and authority, as they inhabit an hundred towns; and from the largeness of their community it comes, that they hold themselves for the head of the suevians. what on the contrary ennobles the langobards is the smallness of their number, for that they, who are surrounded with very many and very powerful nations, derive their security from no obsequiousness or plying; but from the dint of battle and adventurous deeds. there follow in order the reudignians, and aviones, and angles, and varinians, and eudoses, and suardones and nuithones; all defended by rivers or forests. nor in one of these nations does aught remarkable occur, only that they universally join in the worship of _herthum_; that is to say, the mother earth. her they believe to interpose in the affairs of men, and to visit countries. in an island of the ocean stands the wood _castum_; in it is a chariot dedicated to the goddess, covered over with a curtain, and permitted to be touched by none but the priest. whenever the goddess enters this her holy vehicle, he perceives her; and with profound veneration attends the motion of the chariot, which is always drawn by yoked cows. then it is that days of rejoicing always ensue, and in all places whatsoever which she descends to honour with a visit and her company, feasts and recreation abound. they go not to war; they touch no arms; fast laid up is every hostile weapon; peace and repose are then only known, then only beloved, till to the temple the same priest reconducts the goddess when well tired with the conversation of mortal beings. anon the chariot is washed and purified in a secret lake, as also the curtains; nay, the deity herself too, if you choose to believe it. in this office it is slaves who minister, and they are forthwith doomed to be swallowed up in the same lake. hence all men are possessed with mysterious terror; as well as with a holy ignorance what that must be, which none see but such as are immediately to perish. moreover this quarter of the suevians stretches to the middle of germany. the community next adjoining, is that of the hermondurians; (that i may now follow the course of the danube, as a little before i did that of the rhine) a people this, faithful to the romans. so that to them alone of all the germans, commerce is permitted; not barely upon the bank of the rhine, but more extensively, and even in that glorious colony in the province of rhoetia. they travel everywhere at their own discretion and without a guard; and when to other nations, we show no more than our arms and encampments, to this people we throw open our houses and dwellings, as to men who have no longing to possess them. in the territories of the hermondurians rises the elbe, a river very famous and formerly well known to us; at present we only hear it named. close by the hermondurians reside the nariscans, and next to them the marcomanians and quadians. amongst these the marcomanians are most signal in force and renown; nay, their habitation itself they acquired by their bravery, as from thence they formerly expulsed the boians. nor do the nariscans or quadians degenerate in spirit. now this is as it were the frontier of germany, as far as germany is washed by the danube. to the times within our memory the marcomanians and quadians were governed by kings, who were natives of their own, descended from the noble line of maroboduus and tudrus. at present they are even subject to such as are foreigners. but the whole strength and sway of their kings is derived from the authority of the romans. from our arms, they rarely receive any aid; from our money very frequently. nor less powerful are the several people beyond them; namely, the marsignians, the gothinians, the osians and the burians, who altogether enclose the marcomanians and quadians behind. of those, the marsignians and the burians in speech and dress resemble the suevians. from the gallic language spoken by the gothinians, and from that of pannonia by the osians, it is manifest that neither of these people are germans; as it is also from their bearing to pay tribute. upon them as upon aliens their tribute is imposed, partly by the sarmatians, partly by the quadians. the gothinians, to heighten their disgrace, are forced to labour in the iron mines. by all these several nations but little level country is possessed: they are seated amongst forests, and upon the ridges and declivities of mountains. for, suevia is parted by a continual ridge of mountains; beyond which, live many distinct nations. of these the lygians are most numerous and extensive, and spread into several communities. it will suffice to mention the most puissant; even the arians, helvicones, manimians; elysians and naharvalians. amongst the naharvalians is shown a grove, sacred to devotion extremely ancient. over it a priest presides apparelled like a woman; but according to the explication of the romans, 'tis _castor_ and _pollux_ who are here worshipped. this divinity is named _alcis_. there are indeed no images here, no traces of an extraneous superstition: yet their devotion is addressed to young men and to brothers. now the aryans, besides their forces, in which they surpass the several nations just recounted, are in their persons stern and truculent; and even humour and improve their natural grimness and ferocity by art and time. they wear black shields, their bodies are painted black, they choose dark nights for engaging in battle; and by the very awe and ghastly hue of their army, strike the enemy with dread, as none can bear this their aspect so surprising and as it were quite infernal. for, in all battles the eyes are vanquished first. beyond the lygians dwell the gothones, under the rule of a king; and thence held in subjection somewhat stricter than the other german nations, yet not so strict as to extinguish all their liberty. immediately adjoining are the rugians and lemovians upon the coast of the ocean, and of these several nations the characteristics are a round shield, a short sword and kingly government. next occur the communities of the suiones, situated in the ocean itself; and besides their strength in men and arms, very powerful at sea. the form of their vessels varies thus far from ours, that they have prows at each end, so as to be always ready to row to shore without turning; nor are they moved by sails, nor on their sides have benches of oars placed, but the rowers ply here and there in all parts of the ship alike, as in some rivers is done, and change their oars from place to place, just as they shift their course hither or thither. to wealth also, amongst them, great veneration is paid, and thence a single ruler governs them, without all restriction of power, and exacting unlimited obedience. neither here, as amongst other nations of germany, are arms used indifferently by all, but shut up and warded under the care of a particular keeper, who in truth too is always a slave: since from all sudden invasions and attacks from their foes, the ocean protects them: besides that armed bands, when they are not employed, grow easily debauched and tumultuous. the truth is, it suits not the interest of an arbitrary prince, to trust the care and power of arms either with a nobleman or with a freeman, or indeed with any man above the condition of a slave. beyond the suiones is another sea, one very heavy and almost void of agitation; and by it the whole globe is thought to be bounded and environed, for that the reflection of the sun, after his setting, continues till his rising, so bright as to darken the stars. to this, popular opinion has added, that the tumult also of his emerging from the sea is heard, that forms divine are then seen, as likewise the rays about his head. only thus far extend the limits of nature, if what fame says be true. upon the right of the suevian sea the aestyan nations reside, who use the same customs and attire with the suevians; their language more resembles that of britain. they worship the mother of the gods. as the characteristic of their national superstition, they wear the images of wild boars. this alone serves them for arms, this is the safeguard of all, and by this every worshipper of the goddess is secured even amidst his foes. rare amongst them is the use of weapons of iron, but frequent that of clubs. in producing of grain and the other fruits of the earth, they labour with more assiduity and patience than is suitable to the usual laziness of germans. nay, they even search the deep, and of all the rest are the only people who gather _amber_. they call it _glasing_, and find it amongst the shallows and upon the very shore. but, according to the ordinary incuriosity and ignorance of barbarians, they have neither learnt, nor do they inquire, what is its nature, or from what cause it is produced. in truth it lay long neglected amongst the other gross discharges of the sea; till from our luxury, it gained a name and value. to themselves it is of no use: they gather it rough, they expose it in pieces coarse and unpolished, and for it receive a price with wonder. you would however conceive it to be a liquor issuing from trees, for that in the transparent substance are often seen birds and other animals, such as at first stuck in the soft gum, and by it, as it hardened, became quite enclosed. i am apt to believe that, as in the recesses of the east are found woods and groves dropping frankincense and balms, so in the isles and continent of the west such gums are extracted by the force and proximity of the sun; at first liquid and flowing into the next sea, then thrown by winds and waves upon the opposite shore. if you try the nature of amber by the application of fire, it kindles like a torch; and feeds a thick and unctuous flame very high scented, and presently becomes glutinous like pitch or rosin. upon the suiones, border the people sitones; and, agreeing with them in all other things, differ from them in one, that here the sovereignty is exercised by a woman. so notoriously do they degenerate not only from a state of liberty, but even below a state of bondage. here end the territories of the suevians. whether amongst the sarmatians or the germans i ought to account the peucinians, the venedians, and the fennians, is what i cannot determine; though the peucinians, whom some call basstarnians, speak the same language with the germans, use the same attire, build like them, and live like them, in that dirtiness and sloth so common to all. somewhat they are corrupted into the fashion of the sarmatians by the intermarriages of the principal sort with that nation: from whence the venedians have derived very many of their customs and a great resemblance. for they are continually traversing and infesting with robberies all the forests and mountains lying between the peucinians and fennians. yet they are rather reckoned amongst the germans, for that they have fixed houses, and carry shields, and prefer travelling on foot, and excel in swiftness. usages these, all widely differing from those of the sarmatians, who live on horseback and dwell in waggons. in wonderful savageness live the nation of the fennians, and in beastly poverty, destitute of arms, of horses, and of homes; their food, the common herbs; their apparel, skins; their bed, the earth; their only hope in their arrows, which for want of iron they point with bones. their common support they have from the chase, women as well as men; for with these the former wander up and down, and crave a portion of the prey. nor other shelter have they even for their babes, against the violence of tempests and ravening beasts, than to cover them with the branches of trees twisted together: this a reception for the old men, and hither resort the young. such a condition they judge more happy than the painful occupation of cultivating the ground, than the labour of rearing houses, than the agitations of hope and fear attending the defence of their own property or the seizing that of others. secure against the designs of men, secure against the malignity of the gods, they have accomplished a thing of infinite difficulty; that to them nothing remains even to be wished. what further accounts we have are fabulous: as that the hellusians and oxiones have the countenances and aspect of men, with the bodies and limbs of savage beasts. this, as a thing about which i have no certain information, i shall leave untouched. the life of agricola, with an account of the situation, climate, and people of britain. amongst the ancients, it was common to transmit to posterity the characters and exploits of memorable men: nor in truth in our own times has the age, however indifferent about what concerns itself, failed to observe the like usage, whenever any spirit eminent for great and signal virtue has vanquished and triumphed over the blindness of such as cannot distinguish right from wrong, as well as over the spite of malignants; for, spite and blindness are evils common to great states and to small. but, as in those early times there was found greater propensity to feats of renown, and more scope to perform them; so whoever excelled in a happy genius was naturally led to display the merits and memory of the virtuous dead, without all view to court favour, or to gain advantages, but only by the motives and recompense flowing from a benevolent and conscientious mind. indeed there were several who, in recounting their own lives, concluded, that they thence showed rather a confidence in their own integrity and demeanour than any mark of arrogance. neither was the account which rutilius and scaurus gave of themselves, thence the less credited or the more censured. so true it is, that the several virtues are best understood and most prized, during the same times in which they are most easily produced. but to myself, who am going to relate the life of a person deceased, i find pardon necessary; which i should not have asked, were i not about to revive and traverse times so sanguinary, and baneful to all virtue. we find it recorded, that for celebrating the praises of paetus thrasea, arulenus rusticus suffered a deadly doom; as did herennius senesce, for those of helvidius priscus. nor upon the persons of the authors only was this cruelty inflicted, but also upon the books themselves; since to the triumvirate of justice orders were sent, that in the forum and place of popular elections, the works of men so illustrious for parts and genius should be burned. yes, in this very fire they imagined, that they should abolish the voice and utterance of the roman people, with the liberty of the senate, and all the ideas and remembrances of humankind. for, they had besides expelled all the professors of philosophy, [footnote: when vespasian's worthless son "cleared rome of what most sham'd him:" domitian banished epictetus, and the other philosophers.] and driven every laudable science into exile, that nought which was worthy and honest might anywhere be seen. mighty surely was the testimony which we gave of our patience; and as our forefathers had beheld the ultimate consummation of liberty, so did we of bondage, since through dread of informers and inquisitions of state, we were bereft of the common intercourse of speech and attention. nay, with our utterance we had likewise lost our memory; had it been equally in our power to forget, as to be silent. now indeed at length our spirit returns. yet, though from the first dawn of this very happy age begun by the reign of nerva, he blended together two things once found irreconcilable, public liberty and sovereign power; and though trajan his adopted successor be daily augmenting the felicity of the state; insomuch that for the general security not only hopes and vows are conceived, but even firm assurance follows these vows, and their full accomplishment is seen; such however is the frailty of man and its effects, that much more slow is the progress of the remedies than of the evils; and as human bodies attain their growth by tedious degrees, and are subject to be destroyed in an instant, so it is much easier to suppress than to revive the efforts of genius and study. for, upon the mind there steals a pleasure even in sloth and remissness, and that very inactivity which was at first hated, is at last loved. will it not be found that during a course of fifteen years (a mighty space in the age of mortal man) numbers perished through fortuitous disasters, and all men noted for promptness and spirit were cut off by the cruelty of the emperor? few we are, who have escaped; and if i may so speak, we have survived not only others but even ourselves, when from the middle of our life so many years were rent; whence from being young we are arrived at old age, from being old we are nigh come to the utmost verge of mortality, all in a long course of awful silence. i shall however find no cause of regret from having framed an historical deduction of our former bondage, as also a testimony of the public blessings which at present we enjoy; though, in doing it, my style be negligent and unpolished. to the honour of agricola my wife's father, this present book is in the meantime dedicated; and, as 'tis a declaration of filial duty and affection, will thence be commended, at least excused. * * * * * a.d. . cnaeus julius agricola was born in the ancient and illustrious colony of forojulium, [footnote: fréjus.] and both his grandfathers were procurators to the emperors; a dignity peculiar to the equestrian order. his father julius graecinus was a senator, and noted for eloquence and philosophy. by these his virtues, he earned the wrath of caligula. for, he was by him ordered to accuse marcus silanus, and put to death for refusing. his mother was julia procilla, a lady of singular chastity. under her eye and tender care he was reared, and spent his childhood and youth in the continual pursuit and cultivation of worthy accomplishments. what guarded him from the allurements of the vicious (besides his own virtuous disposition and natural innocence) was, that for the seat and nursery of his studies, whilst yet very little, he had the city of marseilles; a place well tempered and framed, as in it all the politeness of the greeks and all the provincial parsimony are blended together. i remember he was wont to declare, that in his early youth he studied philosophy and the law with more avidity than was allowable to a roman and a senator; till the discretion of his mother checked his spirit, engaged with passion and ardour in the pursuit. in truth, his superior and elevated genius thirsted, with more vehemence than caution, after the loveliness and lustre of a name and renown so mighty and sublime. reason and age afterwards qualified his heat; and, what is a task extremely hard, he satisfied himself with a limited measure of philosophy. a.d. - . the first rudiments of war he learnt in britain, under that prudent and vigilant commander suetonius paulinus; by whom he was chosen and distinguished, as his domestic companion. neither did agricola behave licentiously, after the manner of young men, who turn warfare into riot; nor assumed the title and office of a tribune without the sufficiency, in order to use it slothfully in feats of pleasure and absence from duty, but to know the province, to be known to the army, to learn of such as had experience, to follow such as were worthy and brave, to seek for no exploits for ostentation, to refuse none through fear, and in all his pursuits was equally zealous and active. indeed at no time had britain been under greater combustions, nor our affairs there more precarious. our veterans were slaughtered, our colonies burned down, our armies surprised and taken. at that juncture the struggle was for life; afterwards, for victory. now though all these affairs were transacted by the counsels and conduct of another than agricola, and though the stress of the whole, with the glory of recovering the province, accrued to the general; they all however proved to the young man matters of skill, of experience and stimulation; and there seized his soul a passion for military glory, a spirit disgustful to the times, when of men signally eminent a malignant opinion was entertained, and when as much peril arose from a great character as from a bad. a.d. - . departing from hence to rome for the exercise of public dignities, he there married domitia decidiana, a lady splendid in her descent; and to him, who was aspiring to higher honours, this marriage proved a great ornament and support. in marvellous unanimity they also lived, in a course of mutual tenderness and mutual preference; a temper commendable in both, only that the praise of a good wife rises in proportion to the contumely of a bad. his lot as quaestor fell upon asia, where he had salvius titianus for proconsul. but neither the province nor the proconsul corrupted his probity, though the country was very rich, nay, prepared as a prey for men corruptly disposed; and titianus, a man bent upon all acts of rapine, was ready, upon the smallest encouragement, to have purchased a mutual connivance in iniquity. in asia he was enriched by the birth of a daughter, tending at once to his consolation and the support of his family; for the son born to him before, he very soon lost. the interval between his bearing the office of quaestor and that of tribune of the people, and even the year of his tribuneship, he passed in repose and inactivity; as well aware of the spirit of the times under nero, when sloth and heaviness served for wisdom. with the like indolence he held the praetorship, and in the same quiet and silence. for upon him the jurisdiction of that dignity fell not. the public pastimes and the empty gaieties of the office, he exhibited according to the rules of good sense and to the measure of his wealth, in a manner though remote from prodigality, yet deserving popular applause. as he was next appointed by galba to make research into the gifts and oblations appertaining to the temples, he proceeded with such diligence and an examination so strict, that the state suffered from no sacrilege save that of nero. a.d. and . in the year following he suffered a grievous blow in his spirit and family. for, otho's fleet, which continued roving upon the coast and pursuing rapine, whilst they were ravaging intemelium [footnote: vinitimiglia.] (a part of liguria) slew the mother of agricola upon her estate there, and plundered the estate itself with a great part of her treasure, which had indeed proved the cause of the murder. as he therefore went from rome to solemnise her funeral, he had tidings upon the road that vespasian was pursuing the sovereignty, and instantly espoused his party. in the beginning of this reign all the exercise of power and the government of the city, were entirely in the hands of mucianus; for, domitian was yet extremely young, and, of the imperial fortune of his father, assumed nothing further than a latitude for debauchery. mucianus, who had despatched agricola to levy forces, and found him to have acted in that trust with uprightness and magnanimity, preferred him to the command of the twentieth legion; as soon as he was informed, that he who commanded it before was engaged in seditious practices. indeed that legion had with great slowness and reluctance been brought to swear allegiance to vespasian, nay, was grown over mighty and even formidable to the commanders-in-chief: so that their own commander was found void of authority to control them; though it is uncertain whether from the temper of the man or from that of the soldiers. thus agricola was chosen, at once to succeed him, and to punish delinquency in them; and exercising moderation altogether rare, would rather have it thought, that he had found them unblamable than made them so. a.d. . over britain at that juncture vettius bolanus bore rule, but with more complacency than suited a province so fierce and untamed. hence agricola restrained his own heat, and held within bounds the ardour of his spirit, as he was well skilled how to show his obedience, and had thoroughly learned to blend what was honourable with what was profitable: soon after this, britain received for its governor petilius cerialis, one of consular quality. the virtue and abilities of agricola had now ample space for producing suitable effects. but to him at first cerialis communicated only the dangers and fatigues: with him anon he likewise shared the glory; frequently, for trial of his prowess, committed to his conduct a part of the army; sometimes, according to the measure of his success, set him at the head of forces still larger. nor did agricola ever vaunt his exploits to blazon his own fame. to his general, as to the author of all, he, as his instrument and inferior, still ascribed his good fortune. thus from his bravery in the execution of his orders, from his modesty in recounting his deeds of bravery, he escaped envy, yet failed not to gain glory. a.d. - . upon his return from commanding a legion, the deified vespasian raised him to the rank of a patrician, and afterwards invested him with the government of the province of aquitaine; a government of the foremost dignity, and given as previous to the consulship, to which that prince had destined him. there are many who believe, that to military men subtilty of spirit is wanting; for that in camps the direction of process and authority, is rather rough and void of formality; and that where hands and force are chiefly used, there the address and refinements usual to courts are not exercised. yet agricola, assisted by his natural prudence, though he was then engaged only with men of peace and the robe, acquitted himself with great facility and great uprightness. he carefully distinguished the seasons of business and the seasons of recess. whenever he sat in council or upon the tribunals of justice, he was grave, attentive, awful, generally addicted to compassion. the moment he had fulfilled the duties of his office, he personated no longer the man of power: he had then cast off all sternness, all airs of state, and all rigour. nay, what is very rarely to be seen, his complaisance neither weakened his authority, nor did his severity make him less amiable. it were an injury to the virtues of so great a man, to particularise his just dealings, his temperance, and the cleanness of his hands. [footnote: "integritatem atque abstinentiam referre."] in truth glory itself was what he pursued, not by any ostentation of bravery, nor by any strain of artifice or address; though of that pursuit even the best men are often fond. thus he was far from maintaining any competition with his equals in station, far from any contest with the procurators of the prince: since, to conquer in this contention he judged to be no glory; and to be crushed by them were disgrace. his administration here lasted hardly three years, ere he was recalled to the present possession of the consulship. with this employment there accrued the public opinion, that for his province britain would be assigned him, from no words which had dropped from him about it, but because he was deemed equal to the office. common fame does not always err; sometimes it even directs the public choice. to myself yet very young, whilst he was consul, he contracted his daughter, a young lady even then of excellent hopes, and, at the end of his consulship, presented her in marriage. he was then forthwith promoted to the government of britain, as also invested with the honour of the pontificate. the account which i shall here present of the situation and people of britain, a subject about which many authors have written, comes not from any design of setting up my own exactness and genius against theirs, but only because the country was then first thoroughly subdued. so that such matters as former writers have, without knowing them, embellished with eloquence, will by me be recounted according to the truth of evidence and discoveries. of all the islands which have reached the knowledge of the romans, britain is the largest. it extends towards germany to the east, towards spain to the west. to the south it looks towards gaul. its northern shore, beyond which there is no land, is beaten by a sea vast and boundless. [footnote: "belluosus, qui remotis obstrepit oceanus britannis."] britain is by livy and fabius rusticus, the former the most eloquent of the ancient historians, the latter of the moderns, compared in shape to an oblong shield, or a broad knife with two edges. and such in effect is its figure on this side caledonia, whence common opinion has thus also fashioned the whole. but a tract of territory huge and unmeasurable stretches forward to the uttermost shore, and straitening by degrees, terminates like a wedge. round the coast of this sea, which beyond it has no land, the roman fleet now first sailed, and thence proved britain to be an island, as also discovered and subdued the isles of orkney till then unknown. thule was likewise descried, hitherto hid by winter under eternal snow. this sea they report to be slow and stagnate, difficult to the rowers, and indeed hardly to be raised by the force of winds. this i conjecture to be because land and mountains, which are the cause and materials of tempests, very rarely occur in proportion to the mighty mass of water, a mass so deep and uninterrupted as not to be easily agitated. an inquiry into the nature of the ocean and of the tide, is not the purpose of this work, and about it many have written. one thing i would add, that nowhere is the power of the sea more extensive than here, forcing back the waters of many rivers, or carrying them away with its own; nor is its flux and ebbings confined to the banks and shore; but it works and winds itself far into the country, nay forms bays in rocks and mountains, as if the same were its native bed. for the rest; who were the first inhabitants of britain, whether natives of its own, or foreigners, can be little known amongst a people thus barbarous. in their looks and persons they vary; from whence arguments and inferences are formed. for, the red hair of the caledonians and their large limbs, testify their descent to be from germany. the swarthy complexion of the silures, and their hair, which is generally curled, with their situation opposite to the coast of spain, furnish ground to believe, that the ancient iberians had arrived from thence here, and taken possession of the territory. they who live next to gaul are also like the gauls; whether it be that the spirit of the original stock from which they sprang, still remains, or whether in countries near adjoining, the genius of the climate confers the same form and disposition upon the bodies of men. to one who considers the whole, it seems however credible, that the gauls at first occupied this their neighbouring coast. that their sacred rites are the same, you may learn from their being possessed with the same superstition of every sort. their speech does not much vary. in daring and dangers they are prompted by the like boldness, and with the like affright avoid them when they approach. in the britons however superior ferocity and defiance is found, as in a people not yet softened by a long peace. for we learn from history, that the gauls too flourished in warlike prowess and renown: amongst them afterwards, together with peace and idleness, there entered effeminacy; and thus with the loss of their liberty they lost their spirit and magnanimity. the same happened to those of the britons who were conquered long ago. the rest still continue such as the gauls once were. their principal force consists in their foot. some nations amongst them make also war in chariots. the more honourable person always drives: under his leading his followers fight. they were formerly subject to kings. they are now swayed by several chiefs, and rent into factions and parties, according to the humour and passions of those their leaders. nor against nations thus powerful does aught so much avail us, as that they consult not in a body for the security of the whole. it is rare that two or three communities assemble and unite to repulse any public danger threatening to all. so that whilst only a single community fought at a time, they were every one vanquished. the sky from frequent clouds and rain is dull and hazy. excessive cold they feel not. their days in length surpass ours. their nights are very clear, and at the extremity of the country, very short; so that between the setting and return of the day, you perceive but small interval. they affirm, that were it not for the intervention of clouds, the rays of the sun would be seen in the night, and that he doth not rise and fall, but only pass by: for that the extremities of the earth, which are level, yielding but a low shadow, prevent darkness from rising high and spreading; and thence night is far short of reaching the stars and the sky. the soil is such, that except the olive and the vine, and other vegetables, which are wont to be raised in hotter climes, it readily bears all fruits and grain, and is very fertile. it quickly produces, but its productions ripen slowly; and of both these effects there is the same cause, the extreme humidity of the earth and of the sky. britain yields gold and silver, with other metals, all which prove the prize and reward of the conquerors. the sea also breeds pearls, but of a dark and livid hue, a defect by some ascribed to the unskilfulness of such as gather them. for, in the red sea they are pulled from the rocks alive and vigorous. in britain they are gathered at random, such as the sea casts them upon the shore. for myself; i am much apter to believe, that nature has failed to give the pearls perfection, than that we fail in avarice. [footnote: "ego facilius crediderim naturam margaritis de esse; quam nobis avaritiam."] the britons themselves are a people who cheerfully comply with the levies of men, and with the imposition of taxes, and with all the duties enjoined by government; provided they receive no illegal treatment and insults from their governors: those they bear with impatience. nor have the romans any further subdued them than only to obey just laws, but never to submit to be slaves. even the deified julius caesar, the first of all the romans who entered britain with an army, though by gaining a battle he frightened the natives, and became master of the coast; [footnote: caesar conquered to the north of the thames.] yet may be thought to have rather presented posterity with a view of the country, than to have conveyed down the possession. anon the civil wars ensued, and against the commonwealth were turned the arms of her own chiefs and leaders. thus britain was long forgot, and continued to be so even during peace. this was what augustus called _reason of state_, but what tiberius styled the _ordinance of augustus_. that caligula meditated an invasion of britain in person, is well known: but he possessed a spirit, as precipitate and wild, so presently surfeited with any design whatever; besides that all his mighty efforts against germany were quite baffled. the deified claudius accomplished the undertaking; having thither transported the legions, with a number of auxiliary forces, and associated vespasian into the direction of the design: an incident which proved the introduction to his approaching fortune. there, nations were subdued, kings taken captive, and vespasian placed to advantage in the eye of the fates. the first governor of consular quality, was aulus plautius, then ostorius scapula, both signal in war: and by degrees the nearest part of britain was reduced into the condition of a province. to secure it, a colony of veterans was likewise settled. to the british king cogidunus certain communities were given, a prince who even till our times continued in perfect fidelity to us. for, with the roman people it is a custom long since received, and practised of old, that for establishing the bondage of nations, they are to employ even kings as their instruments. afterwards followed didius gallus, and just preserved what acquisitions his predecessors had made; only that further in the island he raised some forts, and very few they were, purely for the name and opinion of having enlarged his government. next to didius came veranius, and died in less than a year. then immediately succeeded suetonius paulinus, who during two years commanded with success, subdued fresh nations and established garrisons. trusting to these he went to assail the isle of anglesey, as a place which supplied the revolters with succours, and thus left the country behind him exposed to the enemy. for, the britons, when through the absence of the governor they were eased of their fear, began to commune together concerning the miseries of bondage, to recount their several grievances, and so to construe and heighten their injuries as effectually to inflame their resentments. "their patience," they said, "availed them nothing, further than to invite the imposition of heavier burdens upon a people who thus tamely bore any. in times past they had only a single king: they were now surrendered to two. one of these the governor-general, tyrannised over their bodies and lives; the imperial procurator, who was the other, over their substance and fortunes. equally pernicious to their subjects was any variance between these their rulers, as their good intelligence and unanimity. against them the one employed his own predatory bands, as did the other his centurions and their men; and both exercised violence alike, both treated them with equal insults and contumely. to such height was oppression grown, that nothing whatever was exempt from their avarice, nothing whatever from their lust. he who in the day of battle spoiled others, was always stronger than they. but here it was chiefly by the cowardly and effeminate that their houses were seized, their children forced away, and their men obliged to enlist; as if their country were the only thing for which the britons knew not how to die. in truth, what a small force would all the soldiers arrived in the island appear; would the britons but compute their own numbers? it was from this consideration that germany had thrown off the same yoke, though a country defended only by a river, and not like this, by the ocean. to animate themselves to take arms, they had their country, their wives, their parents; whilst these their oppressors were prompted by nothing but their avarice and sensuality: nor would they fail to withdraw from the island, as even the deified julius had withdrawn, would the natives but imitate the bravery of their forefathers, and not be dismayed with the issue of an encounter or two. amongst people like themselves reduced to misery, superior ardour was ever found, as also greater firmness and perseverance. towards the britons, at this juncture even the gods manifested compassion, since they thus kept the roman general at such a distance, thus held the roman army confined in another island. nay, already they themselves had gained a point the most difficult to be gained, that they could now deliberate about measures common to all: for, doubtless more perilous it were to be discovered forming such counsels, than openly to put them in execution." when with these and the like reasons they had instigated one another, they unanimously took arms under the leading of boudicea, [footnote: boadicea.] a woman of royal descent; for, in conferring sovereignty, they make no distinction of sexes. they then forthwith assailed on every side the soldiers dispersed here and there in forts, and having stormed and sacked the several garrisons, fell upon the colony itself, as the seat and centre of public servitude: nor was any kind of cruelty omitted, with which rage and victory could possibly inspire the hearts of barbarians. in truth, had not paulinus, upon learning the revolt of the province, come with notable speed to its relief, britain had been lost. yet by the success of a single battle, he reduced the country to its old subjection, though several continued in arms, such namely as were conscious of inciting the rebellion, and under personal dread from the spirit of the governor. he, though otherwise a signal commander, yet treated such as had surrendered themselves in a manner very imperious; and, as one who likewise avenged his own particular injury, thence exerted the greater rigour. insomuch that in his room petronius turpilianus was sent, as one whose behaviour would prove more relenting, one who being unacquainted with the delinquencies of the enemies, would be more gentle in accepting their remorse and submission. turpilianus, when he had quite appeased the late commotions, ventured upon nothing further, and then delivered the province to trebellius maximus. he, still more unwarlike and inactive than his predecessor, and nowise trained in camps and armies, maintained the tranquillity of the province by a method of softness and complaisance. the barbarians had now likewise learned to forgive such vices as humoured them in pleasure and ease. moreover, the civil wars which then intervened, furnished a proper excuse for the lazy behaviour of the governor. but he found himself greatly embarrassed with faction and discord; for that the soldiers, who had ever been inured to expeditions and feats in the field, were through idleness grown turbulent and licentious. trebellius, by flight and lurking, escaped the present fury of the army: he afterwards resumed the command, but with an authority altogether precarious, without all spirit and destitute of all dignity; as if between him and them articles had been settled, that the soldiers should retain their licentious behaviour, and the general be permitted to enjoy his life. during this mutiny no blood was spilled. neither did vettius bolanus, as the civil war yet subsisted, exert any discipline in britain. towards the enemy there still remained the same sloth and negligence, with the same insolent spirit in the camp: this difference only there was, that bolanus was a man perfectly innocent; and being subject to no hate, as he was free from all crimes, he had instead of authority over them, only gained their affections. but, when vespasian had, with the possession of the world, also recovered britain, in it were seen great commanders, noble armies, and the hopes of the enemy quite abated, petilius cerialis, particularly, at his first entrance, struck them at once with general terror, by attacking the community of the brigantes, reckoned the most populous of the whole province. there followed many encounters, such as sometimes proved very bloody. so that he held most part of their country as his conquest, or continued to ravage it by war. in truth, though the exploits of cerialis would have eclipsed the vigilance and fame of any other successor, yet julius frontinus sustained in his turn the mighty task; and, as he was a man as great and able as he found scope and safety to be, he by the sword utterly subdued the powerful and warlike nation of the silures; though besides the bravery of the enemy, he was likewise obliged to struggle with the difficulties of places and situation. a.d. . such was the condition in which agricola found britain, such to have been the vicissitudes of the war there, upon his arrival about the middle of summer, a time when the roman soldiers, supposing the service of the season to be concluded, were securely bent upon inaction and repose, as were the enemy upon any opportunity to annoy the romans. the community of the ordovicans had not long before his coming slaughtered, almost entirely, a band of horse stationed upon their confines; and by an essay so notable the province in general became roused; while such as were intent upon present war, commended the action as an example and a call to the whole, and others were for delaying till they had discovered the spirit of the new lieutenant-general. now though the summer was over, though the troops were severed and lay dispersed over the province, though the soldiers had assured themselves of rest for the residue of the year (a heavy obstacle and very discouraging to one who is commencing war), nay, though many judged it better only to guard the places which were threatened and precarious; yet agricola determined to meet the danger. hence drawing together the choice bands of the legions, with a small body of auxiliaries, he led them against the ordovicans; and as these dared not descend into equal ground, he, who by sharing equal danger, would inspire his men with equal courage, marching in person before his army, conducted them to the encounter upon the ascent. almost the whole nation was here cut off; but as he was well aware, that it behoved him to urge and maintain this his fame, and that with the issue of his first attempts all the rest would correspond, he conceived a design to reduce the isle of anglesey, a conquest from which paulinus was recalled by the general revolt of britain, as above i have recounted. but, as this counsel was suddenly concerted, and therefore ships were found wanting, such was the firmness and capacity of the general, that without ships he transported his men. from the auxiliaries he detached all their chosen men, such as knew the fords, and according to the usage of their country were dexterous in swimming, so as, in the water, at once to manage themselves, and their horses and arms. these, unencumbered with any of their baggage, he caused to make a descent and onset so sudden, that the enemy were quite struck with consternation, as men who apprehended nothing but a fleet and transports, and a formal invasion by sea, and now believed no enterprise difficult and insurmountable to such as came thus determined to war. thus they sued for peace and even surrendered the island; and thence agricola was already considered as a very great and even renowned commander: for that, at his first entrance into the province, a time which other governors are wont to waste in show and parade, or in courting compliment and addresses, he preferred feats of labour and of peril. nor did he apply this his good fortune and success to any purpose of vainglory: so that upon the bridling of such as were vanquished before, he would not bestow the title of an expedition or of victory; nor in truth would he so much as with the bare honour of the laurel distinguish these his exploits. but even by disguising his fame, he enlarged it; as men considered how vast must be his future views, when he thus smothered in silence deeds so noble. for the rest; as he was acquainted with the temper of the people in his province; as he had also learned from the conduct and experience of others, that little is gained by arms where grievances and oppressions follow, he determined to cut off all the causes of war. beginning therefore with himself and those appertaining to him, he checked and regulated his own household; a task which to many proves not less difficult than that of governing a province. by none of his domestics, bond or freed, was aught that concerned the public transacted. in raising the soldiers to a superior class, he was swayed by no personal interest or partiality, nor by the recommendation and suit of the centurions, but by his own opinion and persuasion, that the best soldiers were ever the most faithful. all that passed he would know; though all that was amiss he would not punish. upon small offences he bestowed pardon; for such as were great he exercised proportionable severity. nor did he always exact the punishment assigned, but frequently was satisfied with compunction and remorse. in conferring offices and employments he rather chose men who would not transgress, than such as he must afterwards condemn for transgressing. though the imposition of tribute and of grain had been augmented, yet he softened it by causing a just and equal distribution of all public burdens; since he abolished whatever exactions had been devised for the lucre of particulars, and were therefore borne with more regret than the tribute itself. for, the inhabitants were forced to bear the mockery of attending at their own barns, locked up by the publicans, and of purchasing their own corn of the monopolists, nay, of selling it afterwards back again at a poor price. they were moreover enjoined to take long journeys, and carry grain across the several countries to places extremely distant; insomuch that the several communities, instead of supplying the winter-quarters which lay adjoining, must furnish such as were remote and difficultly travelled, to the end, that what was easy to be had by all, might produce gain to a few. a.d. . by suppressing these grievances immediately in his first year, he gained a high character to a state of peace; a state which, either through the neglect or connivance of his predecessors, was till then dreaded no less than that of war. but, upon the coming of summer, he assembled his army; then proceeded to commend such of the men who in marching observed their duty and rank, and to check such as were loose and straggling. he himself always chose the ground for encamping: the salt marshes, friths, and woods he himself always first examined, and to the enemies all the while allowed not a moment's quiet or recess, but was ever distressing them with sudden incursions and ravages. then, having sufficiently alarmed and terrified them, his next course was to spare them, thus to tempt them with the sweetness and allurements of peace. by this conduct, several communities which till that day had asserted a state of equality and independence, came to lay down all hostility, gave hostages, and were begirt with garrisons and fortresses, erected with such just contrivance and care, that no part of britain hitherto known escaped thenceforward from being annoyed by them. the following winter was employed in measures extremely advantageous and salutary. for, to the end that these people, thus wild and dispersed over the country, and thence easily instigated to war, might by a taste of pleasures be reconciled to inactivity and repose, he first privately exhorted them, then publicly assisted them, to build temples, houses and places of assembling. upon such as were willing and assiduous in these pursuits he heaped commendations, and reproofs upon the lifeless and slow. so that a competition for this distinction and honour, had all the force of necessity. he was already taking care to have the sons of their chiefs taught the liberal sciences, already preferring the natural capacity of the britons to the studied acquirements of the gauls; and such was his success, that they who had so lately scorned to learn the roman language, were become fond of acquiring the roman eloquence. thence they began to honour our apparel, and the use of the roman gown grew frequent amongst them. [footnote: "inde etiam habitus nostri honor, et frequens toga."] by degrees they proceeded to the incitements and charms of vice and dissoluteness, to magnificent galleries, sumptuous bagnios, and all the stimulations and elegance of banqueting. nay, all this innovation was by the unexperienced styled politeness and humanity, when it was indeed part of their bondage. a.d. . during the third year of his command, in pursuit of his conquests he discovered new people, by continuing his devastations through the several nations quite to the mouth of the tay: so the frith is called. whence such terror seized the foe, that they durst not attack our army though sorely shaken and annoyed by terrible tempests: nay, the romans had even time to secure possession by erecting forts. it was observed of agricola by men of experience, that never had any captain more sagely chosen his stations for commodiousness and situation; for that no place of strength founded by him, was ever taken by violence, or abandoned upon articles or despair. from these their strongholds frequent excursions were made; for, against any long siege they were supplied with provisions for a year. thus they passed the winter there without all apprehension: every single fort defended itself. so that in all their attempts upon them the enemies were baffled, and thence reduced to utter despair; for that they could not, as formerly they were wont, repair their losses in the summer by their success in the winter; since now whether it were winter or summer, they were equally defeated. neither did agricola ever arrogate to himself the glory of exploits performed by others: were he a centurion or were he commander of a legion, in the general he was sure to find a sincere witness of his achievements. by some he is said to have been over sharp in his reproofs, since he was one who, as to them that were good he abounded in courtesy, appeared withal stern and unpleasant to the bad. but from his anger no spleen remained. in him you had no dark reserves, no boding silence to fear. more honourable he thought it to give open offence than to foster secret hate. a.d. . the fourth summer was employed in settling and securing what territories he had overrun: indeed would the bravery of the armies and the glory of the roman name, have suffered it, there had been then found in britain itself a boundary to our conquests there. for, into the rivers glota and bodotria [footnote: the clyde and forth.] the tide from each opposite sea flows so vastly far up the country, that their heads are parted only by a narrow neck of land, which was now secured with garrisons. thus of all on this side we were already masters; since the enemy were driven as it were into another island. a.d. . in the fifth year of the war, agricola passing the frith, himself in the first ship that landed, in many and successful encounters subdued nations till that time unknown, and placed forces in that part of britain which fronts ireland, more from future views than from any present fear. in truth ireland, as it lies just between britain and spain, and is capable of an easy communication with the coast of gaul, would have proved of infinite use in linking together these powerful limbs of the empire. in size it is inferior to britain, but surpasses the islands in our sea. in soil and climate, as also in the temper and manners of the natives, it varies little from britain. its ports and landings are better known, through the frequency of commerce and merchants. a petty king of the country, expelled by domestic dissension, was already received into protection by agricola, and under the appearance of friendship, reserved for a proper occasion. by him i have often heard it declared, that with a single legion and a few auxiliaries ireland might be conquered and preserved; nay, that such an acquisition were of moment for the securing of britain, if, on all sides the roman arms were seen, and all national liberty banished as it were out of sight. a.d. . for the rest; on the summer which began the sixth year of his administration, as it was apprehended, that the nations forward would universally take arms, and that the ways were all infested with the enemy's host, his first step was to coast and explore the large communities beyond bodotria [footnote: the forth.] by the means of his fleet, which was from the beginning employed by him as part of his forces, and in attending him at this time made a glorious appearance, when thus by sea and land the war was urged. in truth, the same camp often contained the foot and the horse and the marines, all intermixed, and rejoicing in common, severally magnifying their own feats, their own hazards and adventures: here were displayed the horrors of steep mountains and dismal forests; there the outrages of waves and tempests. these boasted their exploits by land and against the foe: those the vanquished ocean; all vying together according to the usual vaunts and ostentation of soldiers. upon the britons also, as from the captives was learned, the sight of the fleet brought much consternation and dismay; as if, now that their solitary ocean and recesses of the deep were disclosed and invaded, the last refuge of the vanquished was cut off. to action and arms, the several people inhabiting caledonia had immediate recourse, and advanced with great parade, made still greater by common rumour (as usual in things that are unknown), for that they daringly assailed our forts, and by thus insulting and defying us, created much fear and alarm. nay, there were some who covering real cowardice under the guise of prudence and counsel, exhorted a return to the nether side of bodotria, [footnote: to retreat south of the forth.] for that it were more eligible to retire back than to be driven. he was apprised the while, that the enemy meant to attack him in divers bands: so that, as they surpassed him in numbers and in the knowledge of the country, he too divided his army into three parts, and thus marched, to prevent their surrounding him. as soon as this disposition of his was known to the enemy, they suddenly changed theirs, and all in a body proceeded to fall upon the ninth legion as the least sufficient and weakest of all; and, as the assault was in the night they slew the guards and entered the trenches, aided by the general sleep or general dismay there. they were already pursuing the fight in the camp itself, when agricola having from his spies learnt what route the enemy had taken, and closely following their track, commanded the lightest of his foot and cavalry to charge them, whilst yet engaged, in the rear, and the whole army presently after to give a mighty shout. moreover at break of day, the roman banners were beheld refulgent. thus were the britons dismayed with double peril and distress; and to the romans their courage returned. hence seeing their lives secure, they now maintained the conflict for glory. they even returned the attack upon the enemy: insomuch that in the very gates of the camp a bloody encounter ensued, till the enemy were quite routed; for both these our armies exerted their might, the one contending to show that they had brought relief, the other to appear not to have wanted assistance. indeed, had not the woods and marshes served for shelter to the fugitives, by this victory the war had been determined. by this success, with such valour gained, and followed with such renown, the army was become elated and resolute. with fierce din they cried, "that to their bravery nothing could prove insurmountable. they must penetrate into the heart of caledonia, and advance in a continual succession of battles, till they had at last found the utmost limits of britain." thus it was that they, who a little before had been so wary and so wise, were now, after the event was determined, grown full of boasts and intrepidity. such is the lot of warfare, very unequal and unjust: in success all men assume part: the disasters are all imputed to one. now the britons, conjecturing the victory to proceed not from superior courage, but from circumstances improved and the address of our general, lost nothing of their spirit and defiance, but armed their young men, removed their wives and children into places of security, and in general conventions of their several communities engaged them in a league ratified by solemn sacrifices. and thus they mutually retired for the winter, with minds on both sides abundantly irritated. during the same summer, a cohort of usipians levied in germany and thence transported to britain, adventured upon a feat very desperate and memorable. when they had slain the centurion and soldiers placed amongst them for training them in discipline, and to serve them for patterns and directors, they embarked in three pinnaces, forcing the pilots to conduct them; and since one of these forsook them and fled away, they suspected and therefore killed the other two. as the attempt was not yet divulged, their launching into the deep was beheld as a wonder. anon they were tossed hither and thither at the mercy of the waves: and, as they often engaged for spoil with several of the britons, obliging them to defend their property thus invaded, in which conflicts they frequently proved victorious, and were sometimes defeated, they were at last reduced to want so pressing, as to feed upon one another, first upon the weakest, then upon whomsoever the lot fell. in this manner were they carried round about britain, and having lost their vessels through ignorance how to manage them, they were accounted robbers and pirates, and fell into the hands first of the suevians, afterwards of the frisians. nay, as they were bought and sold for slaves, some of them, through change of masters, were brought over to our side of the rhine, and grew famous from the discovery of an adventure so extraordinary. a.d. . in the beginning of the summer, agricola suffered a sore blow in his family, by losing his son born about a year before. a misfortune which he neither bore with an ostentation of firmness and unconcern, like many other men of magnanimity, nor with lamentations and tears worthy only of women. besides that for this affliction, war proved one of his remedies. when therefore he had sent forward the navy, which by committing devastations in several places, would not fail to spread a mighty and perplexing terror, he put himself at the head of his army lightly equipped, and to it had added some of the bravest britons, such as had been well proved through a long course of peace. thus he arrived at the grampian hills, upon which the enemy were already encamped. for, the britons, nothing daunted by the issue of the former battle, and boldly waiting either to take vengeance or to suffer bondage, taught withal at last, that a general union was the best way to repel common danger, had by embassies and confederacies drawn together the forces of all their communities. even then were to be seen thirty thousand men in arms, and their youth from every quarter were still continuing to flock in, as were also such of their elderly men as were yet vigorous and hale, they who were signal in war, and now carried with them their several ensigns of honour formerly gained in the field. and now galgacus, he who amongst their several leaders surpassed all in valour and descent, is said to have spoke in this strain to the multitude all very pressing for battle, "whenever i contemplate the causes of the war, and the necessity to which we are reduced, great is my confidence that this day and this union of yours will prove the beginning of universal liberty to britain. for, besides that bondage is what we have never borne, we are so beset that beyond us there is no further land; nor in truth is there any security left us from the sea whilst the roman fleet is hovering upon our coasts. thus the same expedient which proves honourable to brave men, is to cowards too become the safest of all others, even present recourse to battle and arms. the other britons, in their past conflicts with the romans, whence they found various success, had still a remaining source of hope and succour in this our nation. for, of all the people of britain we are the noblest, and thence placed in its innermost regions, and, as we behold not so much as the coasts of such as are slaves, we thus preserve even our eyes free and unprofaned by the sight of lawless and usurped rule. to us who are the utmost inhabitants of the earth, to us the last who enjoy liberty, this extremity of the globe, this remote tract unknown even to common fame, has to this day proved the only protection and defence. at present the utmost boundary of britain is laid open; and to conquer parts unknown, is thought matter of great pomp and boasting. beyond us no more people are found, nor aught save seas and rocks; and already the romans have advanced into the heart of our country. against their pride and domineering you will find it in vain to seek a remedy or refuge from any obsequiousness or humble behaviour of yours. plunderers of the earth these, who in their universal devastations finding countries to fail them, investigate and rob even the sea. if the enemy be wealthy, he inflames their avarice; if poor, their ambition. they are general spoilers, such as neither the eastern world nor the western can satiate. they only of all men thirst after acquisitions both poor and rich, with equal avidity and passion. to spoil, to butcher, and to commit every kind of violence, they style by a lying name, _government_; and when they have spread a general desolation, they call it _peace_. [footnote: "ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant."] "dearest to every man are his children and kindred, by the contrivance and designation of nature. these are snatched from us for recruits, and doomed to bondage in other parts of the earth. our wives and sisters, however they escape rapes and violence as from open enemies, are debauched under the appearance and privilege of friendship and hospitality. our fortunes and possessions they exhaust for tribute, our grain for their provisions. even our bodies and limbs are extenuated and wasted, while we are doomed to the drudgery of making cuts through woods, and drains in bogs, under continual blows and outrages. such as are born to be slaves are but once sold, and thenceforward nourished by their lords. britain is daily paying for its servitude, is daily feeding it. moreover, as in a tribe of household slaves, he who comes last serves for sport to all his fellows; so in this ancient state of slavery to which the world is reduced, we, as the freshest slaves and thence held the most contemptible, are now designed to destruction. for, we have no fields to cultivate, nor mines to dig, nor ports to make; works for which they might be tempted to spare us alive: besides that ever distasteful to rulers is magnanimity and a daring spirit in their subjects. indeed our very situation, so solitary and remote, the more security it affords to us, does but raise the greater jealousy in them. seeing therefore you are thus bereft of all hopes of mercy, rouse now at last all your courage, both you to whom life is dearest, and you to whom glory. the brigantes, even under the leading of a woman, burned their colony, stormed their entrenchments, and, had not such success degenerated into sloth, might have quite cast off the yoke of slavery. let us who still preserve our forces entire, us who are still unsubdued, and want not to acquire liberty but only to secure it, manifest at once, upon the first encounter, what kind of men they are that caledonia has reserved for her own vindication and defence. "do you indeed believe the romans to be equally brave and vigorous in war, as during peace they are vicious and dissolute? from our quarrels and divisions it is that they have derived their renown, and thus convert the faults of their enemies to the glory of their own army; an army compounded of many nations so different, that as it is success alone which holds them together, misfortunes and disasters will surely dissolve them. unless you suppose that the germans there, that the gauls, and many of the britons (whom with shame i mention), men who however have been all much longer their enemies than their slaves, are yet attached to them by any real fidelity and affection, whilst presenting their blood to establish a domination altogether foreign and unnatural to them all. what restrains them is no more than awe and terror, frail bonds of endearment; and when these are removed, such who cease to fear, will immediately begin to manifest their hate. amongst us is found whatever can stimulate men to victory. the romans have no wives to hearten and to urge them. they have here no fathers and mothers to upbraid them for flying. many of them have no country at all, or at least their country is elsewhere. but a few in number they are, ignorant of the region and thence struck with dread, whilst to their eyes, whatever they behold around them, is all wild and strange, even the air and sky, with the woods and the sea; so that the gods have in some sort delivered them enclosed and bound into our hands. "be not dismayed with things of mere show, and with a glare of gold and of silver: this is what can neither wound, nor save. in the very host of the enemy we shall find bands of our own. the britons will own and espouse their own genuine cause. the gauls will recollect their former liberty. what the usipians have lately done, the other germans will do, and abandon the romans. thereafter nothing remains to be feared. their forts are ungarrisoned; their colonies replenished with the aged and infirm; and between the people and their magistrates, whilst the former are averse to obedience, and the latter rule with injustice, the municipal cities are weakened and full of dissensions. here you see a general, here an army: there you may behold tributes and the mines, with all the other train of calamities and curses ever pursuing men enslaved. whether all these are to be for ever imposed, or whether we forthwith avenge ourselves for the attempt, this very field must determine. as therefore you advance to battle, look back upon your ancestors, look forward to your posterity." they received his speech joyfully, with chantings, and terrible din, and many dissonant shouts, after the manner of barbarians. already too their bands moved, and the glittering of their arms appeared, as all the most resolute were running to the front: moreover the army was forming in battle array; when agricola; who indeed saw his soldiers full of alacrity, and hardly to be restrained even by express cautions, yet chose to discourse to them in the following strain. "it is now the eighth year, my fellow-soldiers, since through the virtue and auspicious fortune of the roman empire, and by your own services and fidelity you have been pursuing the conquest of britain. in so many expeditions that you have undertaken, in so many battles as you have fought, you have still had constant occasion either to be exerting your bravery against the foe, or your patience and pains even against the obstacles of nature. neither, during all these struggles, have we found any cause of mutual regret, i to have conducted such soldiers, or you to have followed such a captain. we have both passed the limits which we found, i those known to the ancient governors, you those of former armies; and we possess the very extremity of britain, not only in the bruitings of fame and vulgar rumour, but possess it with our camps and arms. britain is entirely discovered, and entirely subdued. in truth, as the army has been marching, whilst in passing morasses and mountains and rivers you have been fatigued and distressed, i was wont to hear every man remarkably brave ask, _when shall we see the enemy, when be led to battle?_ already they are come, roused from their fastnesses and lurking holes. here you see the end of all your wishes, here scope for all your valour, and all things promising and propitious, if you conquer; but all cross and disastrous, should you be vanquished. for, as to have thus marched over a tract of country so immense, to have passed through gloomy forests, to have crossed arms of the deep, is matter of glory and applause whilst we advance against the enemy; so if we fly before them, whatever is now most in our favour, will then prove most to our peril. we know not the situation of the country so well as they know it; we have not provisions so abundant as they have: but we have limbs and arms; and in these, all things. for myself; it is a rule long since settled by me, that safety there is none either to the army or to the general, in turning their backs upon the foe. hence it is not only more eligible to lose life honourably than to save it basely, but security and renown both arise from the same source. neither would it be a fate void of glory to fall in this the utmost verge of earth and of nature. "were the people now arrayed against you such as were new to you, were you to engage with bands never before tried, i should animate you by the examples of other armies. at present, only recollect and enumerate your own signal exploits, only ask and consult your own eyes. these are they whom but the last year you utterly discomfited, only by the terror of your shouting, when, trusting to the darkness of the night, they by stealth attacked a single legion. these are they who of all the britons are the most abandoned to fear and flight, and thence happen thus long to survive all the rest. it is with us as with those who make inroads into woods and forests. as beasts of the greatest strength there, are driven thence by the superior force of such as pursue them, and as the timorous and spiritless fly even at the cry of the pursuers: in like manner, all the bravest britons are long since fallen by the sword. they that remain are only a crowd, fearful and effeminate: nor can you consider them as men whom you have therefore reached, because they have persisted to oppose you, but as such whom you have surprised as the last and forlorn of all, who struck with dread and bereft of spirit, stand benumbed in yonder field, whence you may gain over them a glorious and memorable victory. here complete all your expeditions and efforts: here close a struggle of fifty years with one great and important day, so that to the army may not be imputed either the procrastination of the war, or any cause for reviving it." apparent, even whilst agricola spoke, was the ardour of the soldiers, mighty their transport and applause at the end of his speech, and instantly they flew to their arms. thus inflamed and urging to engage, he formed them so that the strong band of auxiliary foot, who were eight thousand men, composed the centre. the wings were environed with three thousand horse. the legions without advancing stood embattled just without the entrenchment; for that mighty would be the glory of the victory, were it, by sparing them, gained without spilling any roman blood; and they were still a sure stay and succour, should the rest be repulsed. the british host was ranged upon the rising grounds, at once for show and terror, in such sort that the first band stood upon the plain, and the rest rose successively upon the brows of the hills, one rank close above another, as if they had been linked together. their cavalry and chariots of war filled the interjacent field with great tumult and boundings to and fro. agricola then, fearing from the surpassing multitude of the enemy, that he might be beset at once in the front and on each flank, opened and extended his host. yet, though thence his ranks must prove more relaxed, and many advised him to bring on the legions, he, who rather entertained a spirit of hope, and in all difficulties was ever firm, dismissed his horse and advanced on foot before the banners. in the beginning of the onset the conflict was maintained at a distance. the britons, they who were possessed at once of bravery and skill, armed with their huge swords and small bucklers, quite eluded our missive weapons, or beat them quite off, whilst of their own they poured a torrent upon us, till agricola encouraged three batavian cohorts and two of the tungrians, to close with the enemy and bring them to an engagement hand to hand; as what was with those veteran soldiers a long practice, and become familiar, but to the enemy very uneasy and embarrassing, as they were armed with very little targets and with swords of enormous size. for, the swords of the britons, which are blunt at the end, are unfit for grapling and cannot support a close encounter. hence the batavians thickened their blows, wounded them with the iron bosses of their bucklers, mangled their faces, and, bearing down all who withstood them upon the plain, were already carrying the attack up to the hills: insomuch that the rest of the cohorts, incited by emulation and sudden ardour, joined with those and made havoc of all whom they encountered. nay, such was the impetuosity and hurry of the victory, that many were left behind but half dead, others not so much as wounded. in the meantime their troops of cavalry took to flight: the chariots of war mingled with the battalions of foot; and though they had so lately struck terror, were now themselves beset and entangled with our thick bands, as also with the unevenness and intricacy of the place. of a combat of cavalry this bore not the least appearance: since here, standing obstinately foot to foot, they pressed to overthrow each other by the weight and bodies of their horses. moreover the war-chariots, now abandoned and straggling, as also the horses destitute of managers and thence wild and affrighted, were running hither and thither just as the next fright drove them; insomuch that all of their own side, who met them or crossed their way, were beaten down by them. now those of the britons who were lodged upon the ridges of the hills and had hitherto no share in the encounter, like men yet pressed by no peril looked with scorn upon our forces as but few in number, and began to descend softly and to surround them in the rear, whilst they were urging their victory. but agricola, who had apprehended this very design, despatched to engage them four squadrons of horse, such as he had reserved near him for the sudden exigencies of the field; and by this providence of his, the more furiously they had advanced, the more keenly were they repulsed and utterly routed. thus against the britons themselves their own devices were turned; and by the order of the general, the squadrons of cavalry which charged in front, wheeled about and assailed the enemy behind. then in truth, all over the open fields was to be seen a spectacle prodigious and tragical, incessant pursuits, wounds and captivity, and the present captives always slaughtered, as often as others occurred to be taken. now the enemy behaved just as they happened to be prompted by their several humours. sometimes they fled in large troops with all their arms, before a smaller number that pursued them: others, quite unarmed, rushed into peril, and desperately presented themselves to instant death. on all sides lay scattered arms and carcasses, and mangled limbs, and the ground was dyed with blood. nay, now and then even by the vanquished was exerted notable wrath and bravery. when once they drew near the woods, they rejoined and rallied, and thus circumvented the foremost pursuers, such as, without knowing the country, had rashly ventured too far. whence we must have suffered some notable disaster, from such confidence void of caution, had not agricola who was assiduously visiting every quarter, ordered the stoutest cohorts lightly equipped to range themselves in the form of a toil [footnote: a net or web, to encompass them; such as herodotus describes, for clearing out a vanquished enemy.] to invest them, also some of the cavalry to dismount, and enter the strait passes, and the rest of the horse, at the same time, to beat the more open and passable parts of the woods. now, as soon as they perceived our forces to continue the pursuit with ranks regular and close, they betook themselves to open flight, in no united bands as before, no one man regarding or awaiting another; but quite scattered, and each shunning any companion, they all made to places far remote and desert. what ended the pursuit was night and a satiety of slaughter. of the enemy were slain ten thousand. there fell of our men three hundred and forty, amongst these aulus atticus, commander of a cohort; one by his own youthful heart, as also by a fiery horse, hurried into the midst of the enemies. it was indeed a night of great joy to the conquerors, both from victory and spoil. the britons, who wandered in despair, men and women uttering in concert their dismal wailings, dragged along their wounded, called to such as were unhurt, deserted their houses, nay, in rage even set them on fire; made choice of lurking holes, then instantly forsook them; then met to consult, and from their counsels gathered some hope: sometimes, upon beholding their dearest pledges of nature, their spirits became utterly sunk and dejected; sometimes, by the same sight, they were roused into resolution and fury. nay, 'tis very certain, that some murdered their children and wives, as an act of compassion and tenderness. the next day produced a more ample display of the victory; on all sides a profound silence, solitary hills, thick smoke rising from the houses on fire, and not a living soul to be found by the scouts. when from these, who had been despatched out every way, it was learnt, that whither the enemy had fled no certain traces could be discovered, and that they had nowhere rallied in bodies; when the summer was likewise passed and thence an impossibility of extending the operations of war, he conducted his army into the borders of the horestians. after he had there received hostages, he ordered the admiral of the fleet to sail round britain. for this expedition he was furnished with proper forces, and before him was already gone forth the terror of the roman power: he himself the while led on his foot and horse with a slow pace, that thus the minds of these new nations might be awed and dismayed even by prolonging his march through them: he then lodged his army in garrisons for the winter. the fleet too having found a favourable sea, entered with great fame, into the harbour of rhutupium: [footnote: supposed to be sandwich haven.] for, from thence it had sailed, and coasting along the nethermost shore of britain, thither returned. with this course and situation of things agricola by letters acquainted the emperor; tidings which, however modestly recounted, without all ostentation, or any pomp of words, domitian received as with joy in his countenance, so with anguish in his soul: such was his custom. his heart indeed smote him for his late mock triumph over the germans, which he knew to be held in public derision; as to adorn it he had purchased a number of slaves, who were so decked in their habits and hair, as to resemble captives in war. but here a victory mighty and certain, gained by the slaughter of so many thousands of the enemy, was universally sounded by the voice of fame, and received with vast applause. terrible above all things it was to him, that the name of a private man should be exalted above that of the prince. in vain had he driven from the public tribunals all pursuits of popular evidence and fame, in vain smothered the lustre of every civil accomplishment, if any other than himself possessed the glory of excelling in war: nay, however he might dissemble every other distaste, yet to the person of the emperor properly appertained the virtue and praise of being a great general. tortured with these anxious thoughts, and indulging his humour of being shut up in secret, a certain indication that he was fostering some sanguinary purpose, he at last judged it the best course, upon this occasion, to hide and reserve his rancour till the first flights of fame were passed, and the affection of the army cooled. for, agricola held yet the administration of britain. to him therefore he caused to be decreed in senate the triumphal ornaments, a statue crowned with laurel, with whatever else is bestowed instead of a real triumph, and heightened this his compliment with many expressions full of esteem and honour. he directed moreover a general expectation to be raised, that to agricola was destined the province of syria, a government then vacant by the death of atilius rufus, a man of consular quality, since the same was reserved only for men of illustrious rank. many there were who believed, that an imperial freedman, one much trusted with the secret designs of his master, was by him despatched to carry the instrument appointing agricola governor of syria, with orders to deliver it to him, were he still in britain; that the freedman met agricola crossing the channel, and without once speaking to him, returned directly to domitian. it is uncertain whether this account be true, or only a fiction framed in conformity to the character and genius of the prince. to his successor, in the meantime, agricola had surrendered the province now settled in perfect peace and security. moreover, to prevent all remarks upon the manner of his entry into rome, from any popular distinction paid him, and any concourse of people to meet him, he utterly declined this observance of his friends, and came into the city by night; and by night, as he was directed, went to the palace. he was there received by the emperor, with a short embrace, but without a word said; then passed, undistinguished, amongst the crowd of servile courtiers. now in order to soften with other and different virtues the reputation of a military man, a name ever distasteful to those who live themselves in idleness, he resigned himself entirely to indolence and repose. in his dress he was modest; in his conversation courteous and free, and never found accompanied with more than one or two of his friends. insomuch that many, such especially as are wont to judge of great men by their retinue and parade, all calculated to gain popular admiration, when they had beheld and observed agricola, sought to know whence proceeded his mighty fame: there were indeed but few who could account for the motives of his conduct. frequently, during the course of that time, was he accused in his absence before domitian, and in his absence also acquitted. what threatened his life was no crime of his, nor complaint of any particular for injuries received, nor aught else save the glorious character of the man, and the spirit of the emperor hating all excellence and every virtue. with these causes there concurred the most mischievous sort of all enemies, they who extolled him in order to destroy him. moreover in the commonwealth there ensued such times as would not permit the name of agricola to remain unmentioned: so many were the armies which we had lost in moesia, in dacia, in germany, in pannonia; all by the wretched conduct of our generals, either altogether impotent or foolhardy: so many withal were the brave officers, with so many bands of men overthrown and taken. neither was the question and contest now about maintaining the limits of the empire and guarding the rivers which served for its boundaries, but about defending the standing encampments of the legions and preserving our own territories. thus, when public misfortunes were following one another in a continual train, when every year was become signal for calamities and slaughters, agricola was by the common voice of the populace required for the command of our armies. for, all men were comparing his vigour, his firmness, and his mind trained in war, with the sloth and timidity of the others. with discourses of this strain, it is certain that even the ears of domitian himself were teased; whilst all the best of his freedmen advised and pressed him to this choice, out of pure affection and duty, as did the worst out of virulence and envy; and to whatever appeared most malignant that prince was ever prone. in this manner was agricola, as well through his own virtues as through the base management of others, pushed upon a precipice even of glory. a.d. . the year was now arrived when to the lot of agricola was to fall the proconsulship of asia or of africa: and, as civica had been lately murdered (even whilst proconsul of the former province), agricola was neither unprepared what course to pursue, nor domitian unfurnished with an example to follow. it happened too, that certain persons, men apprised of the secret purposes of the prince, made it their business to accost agricola and ask him, whether he meant in earnest to take possession of his province. nay, they began, at first indeed with some reserve, to extol a life of tranquillity and repose; anon they proffered their good offices to procure his demission and excuse: at last, throwing off all disguise, and proceeding at once to dissuade and to intimidate him, they prevailed with him to be carried, with this as his suit, to domitian. he, already prepared to dissemble his sentiments, and assuming a mien of haughtiness, not only received the petition of agricola to be excused, but when he had granted it, suffered himself to be presented with formal thanks, nor was he ashamed of conferring a grace so unpopular and odious. to agricola however he gave not the salary which was wont to be paid to proconsuls, and which he himself had continued to some. whether he were affronted that it was not asked, or whether restrained by his own guilty mind, lest he might seem to have purchased with money what he had hindered by his interposition and power. it is the nature of men, that whomsoever they injure they hate. now domitian was in his temper apt to be suddenly transported into rage, and, in proportion as he smothered his vengeance, the more irreconcilable he always certainly proved. yet by the prudence and moderation of agricola, he was softened. for, by no contumacy of his, nor by any vain ostentation of a spirit of liberty ill-timed, did he court fame or urge his fate. let such who are wont to admire things daring and forbidden, know, that even under evil princes great men may be produced, and that by the means of modesty and observance, provided these be accompanied with application and vigour, they may rise to an equal measure of public estimation and praise with that of many, who through a conduct very stubborn and precipitate, but of no advantage to the commonweal, have distinguished themselves by dying only to gain a great name. a.d. . afflicting to us his family proved the end of his life, sorrowful to his friends; and even to foreigners and such as knew him not, matter of trouble and condolence. the commonalty likewise, and such people as were void of employment, [footnote: or it may be thus translated: "the body of the people though chiefly intent upon such affairs as concerned not the state."--gordon. burnouf is better: "ce peuple, qu'occupent d'autres intérêts."] were not only frequent in their visits to his house, but in all public places, in all particular companies made him the subject of their conversation. nor, when his death was divulged, was there a soul found who either rejoiced at it, or presently forgot it. what heightened the public commiseration and concern, was a prevailing rumour that he was despatched by poison. that there was any proof of this, i dare not aver. yet it is true, that during the whole course of his illness, domitian caused frequent visits to be made him, indeed much more frequent than princes are wont to make, both by his favourite freedmen and most trusty physicians; whether through real concern for his health, or solicitude to learn the probability of his death. it is well known that on the day in which he expired, continual accounts were, by messengers purposely placed, every instant transmitted to the emperor, how fast his end was approaching; and no one believed, that he would thus quicken such tidings, had he been to feel any sorrow from hearing them. in his face however and even in his spirit, he affected to show some guise of grief; for, he was now secure against the object of his hate, and could more easily dissemble his present joy, than lately his fear. it was abundantly notorious how much it rejoiced him, upon reading the last will of agricola, to find himself left joint heir with his excellent wife and tender daughter. this he took to have been done out of judgment and choice, and in pure honour to himself. so blind and corrupt was his mind rendered by continual flattery, as not to know, that to no prince but a bad one will any good father bequeath his fortune. agricola was born on the th of june, during the third consulship of the emperor caligula. he died on the th of august, during the consulship of collega and priscus, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. if posterity be desirous to know his make and stature; in his person he was rather genteel and regular than tall. [footnote: decentior quam sublimior fuit.] in his aspect there was nothing terrible. his looks were extremely graceful and pleasing. a good man you would have readily believed him, and been glad to have found that he was a great man. nay, though he was snatched away whilst his age was yet in full vigour, if however his life be measured by his glory, he attained to a mighty length of days. for, every true felicity and acquisition, namely, all such as arise from virtue, he had already enjoyed to the full. as he had been likewise dignified with the consular and triumphal honours, what more could fortune add to his lustre and renown? after enormous wealth he sought not: an honourable share he possessed. as behind him he left surviving his daughter and his wife, he may be even accounted happy; since by dying whilst his credit was nowise impaired, his fame in its full splendour, his relations and friends yet in a state of security, he escaped the evils to come. for, as before us he was wont to express his wishes, that he might survive to see this truly blessed age, and trajan swaying the sovereignty, wishes which he uttered with presages as of what would surely ensue; so it was a wondrous consolation attending the quickness of his death, that thence he evaded the misery of the latter times, when domitian, who had ceased to exert his tyranny by starts only and intermissions, was come now to rend the commonwealth by cruelties without all respite, and to overthrow it as it were by one great and deadly stroke. for, agricola saw not the court of the senate besieged, nor the senate enclosed by armed men, nor the butchery of so many men of consular dignity, nor the flight and exile of so many ladies of the prime nobility, all effected in one continued havoc. till then carus metius, the accuser, was only considerable for having been victorious in one bloody process; till then the cruel motions of messallinus rang only within the palace at alba; [footnote: a country palace of domitian.] and in those days massa bebius (afterwards so exercised in arraigning the innocent) was himself arraigned as a criminal. presently after we, with our own hands, dragged helvidius to prison and execution: we beheld the melancholy doom of mauricus and rusticus: we found ourselves besprinkled with the innocent blood of senecio. even nero withheld his eyes from scenes of cruelty, he indeed ordered murders to be perpetrated, but saw not the perpetration. the principal part of our miseries under domitian, was to be obliged to see him and be seen by him, at a time when all our sighs and sorrows were watched and marked down for condemnation; when that cruel countenance of his, always covered with a settled red, whence he hardened himself against all shame and blushing, served him to mark and recount all the pale horrors at once possessing so many men. thou therefore, agricola, art happy, not only as thy life was glorious, but as thy death was seasonable. according to the account of such who heard thy last words, thou didst accept thy fate cheerfully and with firmness, as if thou thus didst thy part to show the emperor to be guiltless. but to myself and thy daughter, besides the anguish of having our father snatched from us, it proves a fresh accession of sorrow, that we had not an opportunity to attend thee in thy sickness, to solace thy sinking spirits, to please ourselves with seeing thee, please ourselves with embracing thee. doubtless, we should have greedily received thy instructions and sayings, and engraved them for ever upon our hearts. this is our woe, this a wound to our spirit, that by the lot of long absence from thee thou wast already lost to us for four years before thy death. there is no question, excellent father, but that with whatever thy condition required thou wast honourably supplied, as thou wast attended by thy wife, one so full of tenderness for her husband: yet fewer tears accompanied thy course, and during thy last moments somewhat was wanting to satisfy thine eyes. if for the _manes_ of the just any place be found; if, as philosophers hold, great spirits perish not with the body, pleasing be thy repose. moreover, recall us thy family from this our weakness in regretting thee, and from these our effeminate wailings, to the contemplation of thy virtues, for which it were unjust to lament or to mourn. let us rather adorn thy memory with deathless praises and (as far as our infirmities will allow) by pursuing and adopting thy excellencies. this is true honour, this the natural duty incumbent upon every near relation. this is also what i would recommend to thy daughter and thy wife, so to reverence the memory of a father, and a husband, as to be ever ruminating upon all his doings, upon all his sayings, and rather to adore his immortal name, rather the image of his mind than that of his person. not that i mean to condemn the use of statues, such as are framed of marble or brass. but as the persons of men are frail and perishing, so are likewise the portraitures of men. the form of the soul is eternal, such as you cannot represent and preserve by the craft of hands or by materials foreign to its nature, nor otherwise than by a similitude and conformity of manners. whatever we loved in agricola, whatever we admired, remains, and will for ever remain implanted in the hearts of men, through an eternity of ages, and conveyed down in the voice of fame, in the record of things. for, many of the great ancients, by being buried in oblivion, have thence reaped the fate of men altogether mean and inglorious: but agricola shall ever survive in his history here composed and transmitted to posterity. the germania and agricola of caius cornelius tacitus with notes for colleges by w. s. tyler professor of the greek and latin languages in amherst college preface. this edition of the germania and agricola of tacitus is designed to meet the following wants, which, it is believed, have been generally felt by teachers and pupils in american colleges. . a latin text, approved and established by the essential concurrence of all the more recent editors. the editions of tacitus now in use in this country abound in readings purely conjectural, adopted without due regard to the peculiarities of the author, and in direct contravention of the critical canon, that, other things being equal, the more difficult reading is the more likely to be genuine. the recent german editions labor to exhibit and explain, so far as possible, the reading of the best mss. . a more copious illustration of the grammatical constructions, also of the rhetorical and poetical usages peculiar to tacitus, without translating, however, to such an extent as to supersede the proper exertions of the student. few books require so much illustration of this kind, as the germania and agricola of tacitus; few have received more in germany, yet few so little here. in a writer so concise and abrupt as tacitus, it has been deemed necessary to pay particular regard to the connexion of thought, and to the particles, as the hinges of that connexion. . a comparison of the writer and his cotemporaries with authors of the augustan age, so as to mark concisely the changes which had been already wrought in the language and taste of the roman people. it is chiefly with a view to aid such a comparison, that it has been thought advisable to prefix a life of tacitus, which is barren indeed of personal incidents, but which it is hoped may serve to exhibit the author in his relation to the history, and especially to the literature, of his age. . the department in which less remained to be done than any other, for the elucidation of tacitus, was that of geography, history, and archaeology. the copious notes of gordon and murphy left little to be desired in this line; and these notes are not only accessible to american scholars in their original forms, but have been incorporated, more or less, into all the college editions. if any peculiar merit attaches to this edition, in this department, it will be found in the frequent references to such classic authors as furnish collateral information, and in the illustration of the private life of the romans, by the help of such recent works as becker's gallus. the editor has also been able to avail himself of sharon turner's history of the anglo saxons, which sheds not a little light on the manners of the germans. . many of the ablest commentaries on the germania and agricola have appeared within a comparatively recent period, some of them remarkable examples of critical acumen and exegetical tact, and others, models of school and college editions. it has been the endeavor of the editor to bring down the literature pertaining to tacitus to the present time, and to embody in small compass the most valuable results of the labors of such recent german editors as grimm, günther, gruber, kiessling, dronke, roth, ruperti, and walther. the text is, in the main, that of walther, though the other editors just named have been consulted; and in such minor differences as exist between them, i have not hesitated to adopt the reading which seemed best to accord with the usage and genius of tacitus, especially when sanctioned by a decided preponderance of critical suffrage. other readings have been referred to in the notes, so far as they are of any considerable importance, or supported by respectable authority. partly for convenience, but chiefly as a matter of taste, i have ventured to follow the german editions in dispensing entirely with diacritical marks, and in some peculiarities of less importance, which if not viewed with favor, it is hoped, will not be judged with severity. the punctuation is the result of a diligent comparison of the best editions, together with a careful study of the connexion of language and of thought. the german editions above mentioned, together with several french, english, and american works, have not only been constantly before me, but have been used with great freedom, and credit awarded to them accordingly. some may think their names should have appeared less frequently; others that they should have received credit to a still greater extent. suffice it to say, i have never intended to quote the language, or borrow the thoughts of an author, without giving his name; and in matters of fact or opinion, i have cited authorities not only when i have been indebted to them for the suggestion, but whenever, in a case of coincidence of views, i thought the authorities would be of any interest to the student. i have not considered it needful, with german scrupulosity, to distinguish between my own references and those of others. it may safely be taken for granted, that the major, perhaps the better, part of them have been derived from foreign sources. but no references have been admitted on trust. they have been carefully verified, and it is hoped that numerous as they are, they will be found pertinent and useful, whether illustrative of things, or of mere verbal usage. some, who use the book, will doubtless find occasion to follow them out either in whole or in part; and those who do not, will gain a general impression as to the sources from which collateral information may be obtained, that will be of no small value. the frequent references to the notes of professor kingsley, will show the estimation in which i hold them. perhaps i have used them too freely. my only apology is, that so far as they go, they are just what is wanted; and if i had avoided using them to a considerable extent, i must have substituted something less perfect of my own. had they been more copious, and extended more to verbal and grammatical illustrations, these notes never would have appeared. the editor is convinced, from his experience as a teacher, that the student of tacitus will not master the difficulties, or appreciate the merits, of so peculiar an author, unless his peculiarities are distinctly pointed out and explained. indeed, the student, in reading any classic author, needs, not to be carried along on the broad shoulders of an indiscriminate translator, but to be guided at every step in learning his lessons, by a judicious annotator, who will remove his difficulties, and aid his progress; who will point out to him what is worthy of attention, and guard him against the errors to which he is constantly exposed; for first impressions are lively and permanent, and the errors of the study, even though corrected in the recitation, not unfrequently leave an impression on the mind which is never effaced. besides the aid derived from books, to which the merit of this edition, if it have any merit, will be chiefly owing, the editor takes this opportunity to acknowledge his many obligations to those professors and other literary gentlemen, who have extended to him assistance and encouragement. to prof. h. b. hackett, of newton theological seminary, especially, he is indebted for favors, which, numerous and invaluable in themselves, as the results of a singularly zealous and successful devotion to classical learning, are doubly grateful as the tokens of a personal friendship, which began when we were members of the same class in college. the work was commenced at his suggestion, and has been carried forward with his constant advice and co-operation. his ample private library, and, through his influence, the library of the seminary, have been placed at my disposal; and the notes passed under his eye and were improved in not a few particulars, at his suggestion, though he is in no way responsible for their remaining imperfections. i have also received counsel and encouragement in all my labors from my esteemed colleague, prof. n. w. fiske, whose instructions in the same department which has since been committed to my charge, first taught me to love the greek and latin classics. i have only to regret that his ill health and absence from the country have prevented me from deriving still greater advantages from his learning and taste. an unforeseen event has, in like manner, deprived me of the expected cooperation of prof. lyman coleman, now of nassau hall college in n. j., in concert with whom this work was planned, and was to have been executed, and on whose ripe scholarship, and familiarity with the german language and literature, i chiefly relied for its successful accomplishment. i should not do justice to my feelings, were i to omit the expression of my obligations to the printer and publishers for the unwearied patience with which they have labored to perfect the work, under all the disadvantages attending the superintendance of the press, at such a distance. if there should still be found in it inaccuracies and blemishes, it will not be because they have spared any pains to make it a correct and beautiful book. it is with unfeigned diffidence that i submit to the public this first attempt at literary labor. i am fully sensible of its many imperfections, at the same time i am conscious of an ability to make it better at some future day, should it meet the favorable regard of the classical teachers of our land, to whom it is dedicated as an humble contribution to that cause in which they are now laboring, with such unprecedented zeal. should it contribute in any measure to a better understanding, or a higher appreciation by our youthful countrymen of a classic author, from whom, beyond almost any other, i have drawn instruction and delight, i shall not have labored in vain. _amherst college, june , _. preface to the revised edition the text of this edition has been carefully revised and compared with those of döderlein, halle, , orelli, zurich, , and ritter, bonn and cambridge, . the notes also have been re-examined and, to a considerable extent, re-written; partly to correspond with the progress of my own mind, partly in accordance with suggestions derived from the above named editions, and from friendly criticisms either by letter or in the public journals. among the journals, i am particularly indebted to the bibliotheca sacra and the new-englander; and for communications by letter, i am under especial obligations to professors crosby and sanborn of dartmouth college, robbins of middlebury, and lincoln of brown university. in revising the geography of the germania, i have consulted, without however entering much into detail, ukert's invaluable treatise on the geography of the greeks and romans, whose volume on germany contains a translation and running commentary on almost the entire work of tacitus. particular attention has been paid to the ethnology of the tribes and nations, in reference to whose origin and early history tacitus is among the best authorities. in this department the works of prichard and latham have been my chief reliance. grimm and zeuss, though often referred to, i regret to say i have been able to consult only at second hand. in sending out this revised edition of these most delightful treatises of an author, in the study of whose works i never tire, i cannot but express the hope, that it has been not a little improved by these alterations and additions, while it will be found to have lost none of the essential features by which the first edition was commended to so good a measure of public favor. w. s. tyler. _amherst, may_, life of tacitus. it is the office of genius and learning, as of light, to illustrate other things, and not itself. the writers, who, of all others perhaps, have told us most of the world, just as it has been and is, have told us least of themselves. their character we may infer, with more or less exactness, from their works, but their history is unwritten and must for ever remain so. homer, though, perhaps, the only one who has been argued out of existence, is by no means the only one whose age and birthplace have been disputed. the native place of tacitus is mere matter of conjecture. his parentage is not certainly known. the time of his birth and the year of his death are ascertained only by approximation, and very few incidents are recorded in the history of his life; still we know the period in which he lived, the influences under which his character was developed and matured, and the circumstances under which he wrote his immortal works. in short, we know his times, though we can scarcely gather up enough to denominate his life; and the times in which an author lived, are often an important, not to say, essential means of elucidating his writings. caius cornelius tacitus was born in the early part of the reign of nero, and near the middle of the first century in the christian era. the probability is, that he was the son of cornelius tacitus, a man of equestrian rank, and procurator of belgic gaul under nero; that he was born at interamna in umbria, and that he received a part of his education at massilia (the modern marseilles), which was then the athens of the west, a grecian colony, and a seat of truly grecian culture and refinement. it is not improbable that he enjoyed also the instructions of quintilian, who for twenty years taught at rome that pure and manly eloquence, of which his institutes furnish at once such perfect rules, and so fine an example. if we admit the dialogue de claris oratoribus to be the work of tacitus, his beau-idéal of the education proper for an orator was no less comprehensive, no less elevated, no less liberal, than that of cicero himself; and if his theory of education was, like cicero's, only a transcript of his own education, he must have been disciplined early in all the arts and sciences--in all the departments of knowledge which were then cultivated at rome; a conclusion in which we are confirmed also by the accurate and minute acquaintance which he shows, in his other works, with all the affairs, whether civil or military, public or private, literary or religious, both of greece and rome. the boyhood and youth of tacitus did, indeed, fall on evil times. monsters in vice and crime had filled the throne, till their morals and manners had infected those of all the people. the state was distracted, and apparently on the eve of dissolution. the public taste, like the general conscience, was perverted. the fountains of education were poisoned. degenerate grecian masters were inspiring their roman pupils with a relish for a false science, a frivolous literature, a vitiated eloquence, an epicurean creed, and a voluptuous life. but with sufficient discernment to see the follies and vices of his age, and with sufficient virtue to detest them, tacitus must have found his love of wisdom and goodness, of liberty and law, strengthened by the very disorders and faults of the times. if the patriot ever loves a well-regulated freedom, it will be in and after the reign of a tyrant, preceded or followed by what is still worse, anarchy. if the pure and the good ever reverence purity and goodness, it will be amid the general prevalence of vice and crime. if the sage ever pants after wisdom, it is when the fountains of knowledge have become corrupted. the reigns of nero and his immediate successors were probably the very school, of all others, to which we are most indebted for the comprehensive wisdom, the elevated sentiments, and the glowing eloquence of the biographer of agricola, and the historian of the roman empire. his youth saw, and felt, and deplored the disastrous effects of nero's inhuman despotism, and of the anarchy attending the civil wars of galba, otho, and vitellius. his manhood saw, and felt, and exulted in the contrast furnished by the reigns of vespasian and titus, though the sun of the latter too soon went down, in that long night of gloom, and blood, and terror, the tyranny of domitian. and when, in the reigns of nerva and trajan, he enjoyed the rare felicity of thinking what he pleased, and speaking what he thought, he was just fitted in the maturity of his faculties, and the extent of his observation and reflections, "to enroll slowly, year after year, that dreadful reality of crimes and sufferings, which even dramatic horror, in all its license of wild imagination, can scarcely reach, the long unvarying catalogue of tyrants and executioners, and victims that return thanks to the gods and die, and accusers rich with their blood, and more mighty as more widely hated, amid the multitudes of prostrate slaves, still looking whether there may not yet have escaped some lingering virtue which it may be a merit to destroy, and having scarcely leisure to feel even the agonies of remorse in the continued sense of the precariousness of their own gloomy existence." [brown's philosophy of the mind.] tacitus was educated for the bar, and continued to plead causes, occasionally at least, and with not a little success, even after he had entered upon the great business of his life, as a writer of history. we find references to his first, and perhaps his last appearance, as an advocate, in the letters of pliny, which are highly complimentary. the first was, when pliny was nineteen, and tacitus a little older (how much we are not informed), when tacitus distinguished himself, so as to awaken the emulation and the envy, though not in a bad sense, of pliny. the last was some twenty years later, when tacitus and pliny, the tried friends of a whole life, the brightest ornaments of literature and of the forum, were associated by the choice of the senate, and pleaded together at the bar of the senate, and in the presence of the emperor trajan, for the execution of justice upon marius priscus, who was accused of maladministration in the proconsulship of africa. pliny says, that tacitus spoke with singular gravity and eloquence, and the senate passed a unanimous vote of approbation and thanks to both the orators, for the ability and success with which they had managed the prosecution (plin. epis. ii. ) we have also the comments of pliny on a panegyrical oration, which tacitus pronounced, when consul, upon his predecessor in the consular office, verginius rufus, perhaps the most remarkable man of his age, distinguished alike as a hero, a statesman, and a scholar, and yet so modest or so wise that he repeatedly refused the offer of the imperial purple. "fortune," says pliny, "always faithful to verginius, reserved for her last favor, such an orator to pronounce a eulogium on such virtues. it was enough to crown the glory of a well spent life" (plin. epis. ii. ). the speeches in the historical works of tacitus, though rather concise and abstract for popular orations, are full of force and fire. some of them are truly demosthenic in their impassioned and fiery logic. the speech of galgacus before the briton army, when driven into the extremity of caledonia by the romans under agricola, can hardly be surpassed for patriotic sentiments, vigorous reasoning, and burning invective. the address of germanicus to his mutinous soldiers (in the annals) is not less remarkable for tender pathos. the sage and yet soldierlike address of the aged galba to his adopted son piso, the calm and manly speech of piso to the body guard, the artful harangue of the demagogue otho to his troops, the no less crafty address of mucianus to vespasian, the headlong rapidity of antonius' argument for immediate action, the plausible plea of marcellus eprius against the honest attack of helvidius priscus, and the burning rebukes of the intrepid vocula to his cowardly and treacherous followers--all these, in the histories, show no ordinary degree of rhetorical skill and versatility. indeed, the entire body of his works is animated with the spirit of the orator, as it is tinged also with the coloring of the poet. for this reason, they are doubtless deficient in the noble simplicity of the earlier classical histories; but for the same reason they may be a richer treasure for the professional men at least of modern times. of his marriage with the daughter of agricola, and its influence on his character and prospects, as also of his passing in regular gradation through the series of public honors at rome, beginning with the quaestorship under vespasian, and ending with the consulship under nerva, tacitus informs us himself (a. , his. i. ), barely alluding to them, however, in the general, and leaving all the details to mere conjecture. we learn to our surprise, that he not only escaped the jealousy of the tyrant domitian, but was even promoted by him to the office of quindecimvir and praetor (ann. ii. ). beyond these vague notices, we know little or nothing of his course of life, except that pliny says (epist. iv. ), he was much esteemed by the learned and the great at rome, who went in crowds to his levees. of the time of his death, we can only conjecture, that he died before the emperor trajan, but after his friend pliny--the former, because, had he outlived the emperor, he would probably have executed his purpose of writing the history of his reign (his. i. ); the latter, because, if he had not survived his friend, pliny, who lamented the death of so many others, would not have failed to pay the last tribute to the memory of tacitus. it is generally admitted, though without direct testimony, that tacitus died not without issue. that excellent prince, m. claudius tacitus, deduced his pedigree from the historian, and ordered his image to be set up, and a complete collection of his works to be placed in the public archives, with a special direction that twelve copies should be made every year at the public expense. it is greatly to be regretted that such praiseworthy precautions should have failed to preserve for us that treasure entire! the age of tacitus is usually styled the silver age of roman literature; and it merits no higher title, when compared with the golden age of augustus. it was the good fortune of augustus to gain the supremacy at rome, when society had reached its maximum of refinement, and was just ready to enter upon its stage of corruption and decline. hence his name is identified with that proud era in literature, in producing which he bore at best only an accidental and secondary part. in the literature of the augustan age, we admire the substance of learning and philosophy without the show, the cultivation of taste without the parade of criticism, the fascination of poetry without its corruption, and the use of eloquence without its abuse. grecian refinement was no longer despised; grecian effeminacy had not yet prevailed. the camp was not now the home of the romans; neither were the theatres and the schools. they had ceased to be a nation of soldiers, and had not yet become a nation of slaves. at no other period could rome have had her cicero, her livy, and her virgil. the silver age produced no men who "attained unto these first three." but there are not wanting other bright names to associate with tacitus, though most of them lived a little earlier than he. there was seneca, the philosopher, whose style, with its perpetual antitheses, is the very worst of the age, but his sentiments, perhaps more or less under the influence of christianity, approach nearer to the christian code of morals than those of any other latin author. there were martial and juvenal, whose satires made vice tremble in its high places, and helped to confer on the romans the honor of originating one species of literary composition, unknown to the greeks. there were suetonius and plutarch; the one natural, simple, and pure in his style, far beyond his age, but without much depth or vigor of thought; the other involved and affected in his manner, but in his matter of surpassing richness and incalculable worth. there was the elder pliny, a prodigy of learning and industry, whose researches in natural history cost him his life, in that fatal eruption of vesuvius which buried herculaneum and pompeii. there was also the judicious quintilian, at once neat and nervous in his language, delicate and correct in his criticisms, a man of genius and a scholar, a teacher and an exemplar of eloquence. finally, there were the younger pliny and tacitus, rival candidates for literary and professional distinction, yet cherishing for each other the most devoted and inviolable attachment, each viewing the other as the ornament of their country, each urging the other to write the history of their age, and each relying chiefly on the genius of the other for his own immortality (plin. epis. vii. ). their names were together identified by their contemporaries with the literature of the age of trajan: "i never was touched with a more sensible pleasure," says pliny, in one of his beautiful letters [eleven of these are addressed to tacitus, and two or three are written expressly for the purpose of furnishing materials for his history.] (which rival cicero's in epistolary ease and elegance), "than by an account which i lately received from cornelius tacitus. he informed me, that at the last circensian games, he sat next a stranger, who, after much discourse on various topics of learning, asked him whether he was an italian or a provincial. tacitus replied, 'your acquaintance with literature must have informed you who i am.' 'aye,' said the man, 'is it then tacitus or pliny i am talking with?' i cannot express how highly i am pleased to find, that our names are not so much the proper appellations of individuals, as a designation of learning itself" (plin. epis. ix. ). critics are not agreed to which of these two literary friends belongs the delicate encomium of quintilian, when, after enumerating the principal writers of the day, he adds, "there is another ornament of the age, who will deserve the admiration of posterity. i do not mention him at present; his name will be known hereafter." pliny, tacitus, and quintilian, are also rival candidates for the honor of having written the dialogue de claris oratoribus, one of the most valuable productions in ancient criticism. as a writer, tacitus was not free from the faults of his age. the native simplicity of greek and latin composition had passed away. an affected point and an artificial brilliancy were substituted in their place. the rhetoric and philosophy of the schools had infected all the departments of literature. simple narrative no longer suited the pampered taste of the readers or the writers of history. it must be highly seasoned with sentimentalism and moralizing, with romance and poetry. tacitus, certainly, did not escape the infection. in the language of macaulay, "he carries his love of effect far beyond the limits of moderation. he tells a fine story finely, but he cannot tell a plain story plainly. he stimulates, till stimulants lose their power." [see a fine article on history, ed. her., . also in macaulay's miscellanies.] we have taken occasion in the notes to point out not a few examples of rhetorical pomp, and poetical coloring, and even needless multiplication of words, where plainness and precision would have been much better, and which may well surprise us in a writer of so much conciseness. lord monboddo, in a very able, though somewhat extravagant critique on tacitus, has selected numerous instances of what he calls the ornamented dry style, many of which are so concise, so rough, and so broken, that he says, they do not deserve the name of composition, but seem rather like the raw materials of history, than like history itself (orig. and prog. of lang., vol iii. chap. ). still, few readers can fail to pronounce tacitus, as macaulay affirms, and even lord monboddo admits him to be, the greatest of latin historians, superior to thucydides himself in the moral painting of his best narrative scenes, and in the delineation of character without a rival among historians, with scarcely a superior among dramatists and novelists. the common style of his narrative is, indeed, wanting in simplicity, and sometimes in perspicuity. he does not deal enough in the specific and the picturesque, the where, the when and the how. but when his subject comes up to the grandeur of his conceptions, and the strength of his language, his descriptions are graphic and powerful. no battle scenes are more grand and terrific than those of tacitus. military men and scholars have also remarked their singular correctness and definiteness. the military evolutions, the fierce encounter, the doubtful struggle, the alternations of victory and defeat, the disastrous rout and hot pursuit, the carnage and blood, are set forth with the warrior's accuracy and the poet's fire; while, at the same time, the conflicting passions and emotions of the combatants are discerned, as it were, by the eye of a seer--their hidden springs of action, and the lowest depths of their hearts laid bare, as if by the wand of a magician. in the painting of large groups, in the moral portraiture of vast bodies of men under high excitement and in strenuous exertion, we think that tacitus far surpasses all other historians. whether it be a field of battle or a captured city, a frightened senate or a flattering court, a mutiny or a mob, that he describes, we not only see in a clear and strong light the outward actions, but we look into the hearts of all the mixed multitude, and gaze with wonder on the changing emotions and conflicting passions by which they are agitated. his delineations of individual character are also marked by the same profound insight into the human soul. like the old latin poet, he might have said, "homo sum; nihil _humani_ a me alienum puto." there is scarcely a landscape picture in his whole gallery. it is full of portraits of _men_, in groups and as individuals, every grade of condition, every variety of character, performing all kinds of actions, exhibiting every human passion, the colors laid on with a bold hand, the principal features presented in a strong light, the minuter strokes omitted, the soft and delicate finish despised. we feel, that we have gained not a little insight into the character of those men, who are barely introduced in the extant books of tacitus, but whose history is given in the books that are lost. men of inferior rank even, who appear on the stage only for a short time, develope strongly marked characters, which are drawn with dramatic distinctness and power, while yet the thread of history is never broken, the dignity of history never sacrificed. and those emperors, whose history is preserved entire,--with them we feel acquainted, we know the controlling principles, as well as the leading events of their lives, and we feel sure that we could predict how they would act, under almost any imaginable circumstances. in a faithful portraiture of the private and public life of the degenerate romans, there was much to call for the hand of a master in _satire_. and we find in the glowing sketches of our author, all the vigor and point of a juvenal, without his vulgarity and obscenity; all the burning indignation which the latin is so peculiarly capable of expressing, with all the vigor and stateliness by which the same language is equally characterized. tacitus has been sometimes represented as a very diogenes, for carping and sarcasm--a very aristophanes, to blacken character with ridicule and reproach. but he is as far removed from the cynic or the buffoon, as from the panegyrist or the flatterer. he is not the indiscriminate admirer that plutarch was. nor is he such a universal hater as sallust. it is the fault of the times that he is obliged to deal so much in censure. if there ever were perfect monsters on earth, such were several of the roman emperors. yet tacitus describes few, if any, of them without some of the traits of humanity. he gives us in his history neither demons nor gods, but veritable men and women. in this respect, as also in his descriptions of battles, tacitus is decidedly superior to livy. the characters of livy are distinguishable only as classes--the good all very good, the bad very bad, the indifferent very indifferent. you discover no important difference between a fabius and a marcellus, further than it lies on the face of their actions. in tacitus, the characters are all individuals. each stands out distinctly from the surrounding multitude, and not only performs his own proper actions, but is governed by his own peculiar motives. livy places before us the statues of heroes and gods; tacitus conducts us through the crowd of living men. in an attempt to sketch the most striking features of tacitus, as a writer, no critic can omit to mention his sage and pithy maxims. apothegms abound on every page--sagacious, truthful, and profound in sentiment, in style concise, antithetic and sententious. doubtless he is excessively fond of pointed antithesis. perhaps he is too much given to moralizing and reflection. it was, as we have said, the fault of his age. but no one, who is familiar with seneca, will severely censure tacitus. he will only wonder that he should have risen so far above the faults of his contemporaries. indeed, tacitus interweaves his reflections with so much propriety, and clothes his apothegms with so much dignity--he is so manifestly competent to instruct the world by maxims, whether in civil, social, or individual life, that we are far from wishing he had indulged in it less. his reflections do not interrupt the thread of his narrative. they grow naturally out of his incidents. they break forth spontaneously from the lips of his men. his history is indeed philosophy teaching by examples; and his pithy sayings are truly lessons of wisdom, embodied in the form most likely to strike the attention, and impress the memory. we should love to see a collection of apothegms from the pen of tacitus. it would make an admirable book of laconics. no book would give you more ideas in fewer words. nowhere could you gain so much knowledge, and lose so little time. the reader of tacitus, who will study him with pen in hand, to mark, or refer to the most striking passages, will soon find himself master of a text book in moral and political science, we might say a text book in human nature, singularly concise and sententious, and what is not always true even of concise and sententious writers, as singularly wise and profound. in such a book, many of the _speeches_ would find a place entire; for many of them are little else than a series of condensed, well-timed, and most instructive apothegms. [e.g. the speech of galba to piso. his. i. , .] but the scholar, who is on the lookout, will find lurking in every section, and almost every sentence, some important truth in morals, in politics, in the individual or social nature of man. neither the editor nor the teacher can be expected to develope these sentiments, nor even, in many instances, to point them out. that labor must be performed by the scholar; and his will be the reward. no hasty perusal, no single reading of tacitus, will give a just conception of the surpassing richness of his works. they must be studied profoundly to be duly appreciated. they are a mine of wisdom, of vast extent and unknown depth, whose treasures lie chiefly beneath the surface, imbedded in the solid rock which must be entered with mining implements, explored with strong lights, and its wealth brought up by severe toil and sweat. c. corn. tacitus de situ, moribus et populis germaniae breviarium libelli. cap. . germaniae situs: . incolae indigenae: auctores gentis: nominis origo: hercules. . baritus: ara ulixis. . germani, gens sincera: habitus corporum. . terrae natura: non aurum, non argentum, nec aestimatum. . germanorum arma, equitatus, peditatus, ordo militiae: . reges, duces, sacerdotes: . feminarum virtus et veneratio: veleda: aurinia. . dii, sacra, simulacra nulla. . auspicia, sortes: ex equis, e captivo praesagia. . consultationes publicae et conventus. . accusationes, poenae, jus redditum. . scuto frameaque ornati juvenes, principum comites: eorum virtus et fama. . gentis bellica studia. . in pace, venatio, otium: collata principibus munera. . urbes nullae: vici, domus, specus suffugium hiemi et receptaculum frugibus. . vestitus hominum, feminarum. . matrimonia severa: dos a marito oblata. . pudicitia. adulterii poena: monogamia: liberorum numerus non finitus. . liberorum educatio: successionis leges. . patris, propinqui, amicitiae, inimicitiaeque susceptae: homicidii pretium: hospitalitas. . lotio, victus, ebriorum rixae: consultatio in conviviis. . potus, cibus. . spectacula: aleae furor. . servi, libertini. . fenus ignotum: agricultura: anni tempora. . funera, sepulcra, luctus. . singularum gentium instituta: galli, olim valida gens, in germaniam transgressi, helvetii, boii: aravisci, osi, incertum genus: germanicae originis populi treveri, nervii, vangiones, triboci, nemetes, ubii. . batavi, cattorum proles: mattiaci: decumates agri. , . cattorum regio, habitus, disciplina militaris; vota, virtutis incentiva. . usipii, tencteri, equitatu praestantes. . bructerorum sedes, a chamavis et angrivariis occupatae. . dulgibini: chasvari: frisii. . chauci, pacis studio, justitia, et virtute nobiles. . cherusci et fosi, a cattis victi. . cimbrorum parva civitas, gloria ingens: romanorum clades; germani triumphati magis quam victi. . suevorum numerus, mores. . semnonum religio, victimae humanae . longobardi: reudigni: aviones: angli: varini: eudoses: suardones: nuithones: herthae cultus communis. . hermunduri. . narisci: marcomanni: quadi. . marsigni: gothini: osi: burii: lygiorum civitates, arii, helvecones, manimi, elysii, naharvali; horum numen alcis: gotones: rugii: lemovii. . suiones, classibus valentes. . mare pigrum: aestyi, matris deum cultores, succinum legunt: sitonibus femina imperat. . peucini, venedi, fenni, germani, an sarmatae? eorum feritas, paupertas: hominum monstra, hellusii, oxiones. i. germania omnis a gallis rhaetisque et pannoniis rheno et danubio fluminibus, a sarmatis dacisque mutuo metu aut montibus separatur: cetera oceanus ambit, latos sinus et insularum immensa spatia complectens, nuper cognitis quibusdam gentibus ac regibus, quos bellum aperuit. rhenus, rhaeticarum alpium inaccesso ac praecipiti vertice ortus, modico flexu in occidentem versus, septentrionali oceano miscetur. danubius, molli et clementer edito montis abnobae jugo effusus, plures populos adit, donec in ponticum mare sex meatibus erumpat: septimum os paludibus hauritur. ii. ipsos germanos indigenas crediderim, minimeque aliarum gentium adventibus et hospitiis mixtos; quia nec terra olim, sed classibus advehebantur, qui mutare sedes quaerebant, et immensus ultra, utque sic dixerim, adversus oceanus raris ab orbe nostro navibus aditur. quis porro, praeter periculum horridi et ignoti maris, asia aut africa aut italia relicta, germaniam peteret, informem terris, asperam coelo, tristem cultu aspectuque, nisi si patria sit? celebrant carminibus antiquis (quod unum apud illos memoriae et annalium genus est) tuisconem deum terra editum, et filium mannum, originem gentis conditoresque. manno tres filios assignant, e quorum nominibus proximi oceano ingaevones, medii hermiones, ceteri istaevones vocentur. quidam autem, ut in licentia vetustatis, plures deo ortos pluresque gentis appellationes, marsos, gambrivios, suevos, vandalios, affirmant; eaque vera et antiqua nomina. ceterum germaniae vocabulum recens et nuper additum; quoniam, qui primi rhenum transgressi gallos expulerint, ac nunc tungri, tunc germani vocati sint: ita nationis nomen, non gentis evaluisse paulatim, ut omnes primum a victore ob metum, mox a seipsis invento nomine germani vocarentur. iii. fuisse apud eos et herculem memorant, primumque omnium virorum fortium ituri in proelia canunt. sunt illis haec quoque carmina, quorum relatu, quem baritum vocant, accendunt animos, futuraeque pugnae fortunam ipso cantu augurantur: terrent enim trepidantve, prout sonuit acies. nec tam voces illae, quam virtutis concentus videntur. affectatur praecipue asperitas soni et fractum murmur, objectis ad os scutis, quo plenior et gravior vox repercussu intumescat. ceterum et ulixem quidam opinantur longo illo et fabuloso errore in hunc occanum delatum, adisse germaniae terras, asciburgiumque, quod in ripa rheni situm hodieque incolitur, ab illo constitutum nominatumque. aram quin etiam ulixi consecratam, adjecto laertae patris nomine, eodem loco olim repertam, monumentaque et tumulos quosdam graecis litteris inscriptos in confinio germaniae rhaetiaeque adhuc exstare: quae neque confirmare argumentis, neque refellere in animo est: ex ingenio suo quisque demat, vel addat fidem. iv. ipse eorum opinionibus accedo, qui germaniae populos nullis aliis aliarum nationum connubiis infectos propriam et sinceram et tantum sui similem gentem exstitisse arbitrantur: unde habitus quoque corporum, quanquam in tanto hominum numero, idem omnibus; truces et cacrulei oculi, rutilae comae, magna corpora et tantum ad impetum valida; laboris atque operum non eadem patientia: minimeque sitim aestumque tolerare, frigora atque inediam coelo solove assueverunt. v. terra, etsi aliquanto specie differt, in universum tamen aut silvis horrida aut paludibus foeda: humidior, qua gallias; ventosior, qua noricum ac pannoniam aspicit: satis ferax; frugiferarum arborum impatiens: pecorum fecunda, sed plerumque improcera; ne armentis quidem suus honor, aut gloria frontis: numero gaudent; eaeque solae et gratissimae opes sunt. argentum et aurum propitii an irati dii aegaverint, dubito. nec tamen affirmaverim, nullam germaniae venam argentum aurumve gignere: quis enim scrutatus est? possessione et usu haud perinde afficiuntur. est videre apud illos argentea vasa, legatis et principibus eorum muneri data, non in alia vilitate, quam quae humo finguntur quanquam proximi, ob usum commerciorum, aurum et argentum in pretio habent, formasque quasdam nostrae pecuniae agnoscunt atque eligunt: interiores simplicius et antiquius permutatione mercium utuntur. pecuniam probant veterem et diu notam, serratos bigatosque. argentum quoque, magis quam aurum sequuntur, nulla affectione animi, sed quia numerus argenteorum facilior usui est promiscua ac vilia mercantibus. vi. ne ferrum quidem superest, sicut ex genere telorum colligitur. rari gladiis aut majoribus lanceis utuntur: hastas, vel ipsorum vocabulo frameas gerunt, angusto et brevi ferro sed ita acri et ad usum habili, ut eodem telo, prout ratio poscit, vel cominus vel eminus pugnent: et eques quidem scuto frameaque contentus est: pedites et missilia spargunt, plura singuli, atque in immensum vibrant, nudi aut sagulo leves. nulla cultus jactatio; scuta tantum lectissimis coloribus distinguunt: paucis loricae: vix uni alterive cassis aut galea. equi non forma, non velocitate conspicui: sed nec variare gyros in morem nostrum docentur. in rectum, aut uno flexu dextros agunt ita conjuncto orbe, ut nemo posterior sit. in universum aestimanti, plus penes peditem roboris: eoque mixti proeliantur, apta et congruente ad equestrem pugnam velocitate peditum, quos ex omni juventute delectos ante aciem locant. definitur et numerus: centeni ex singulis pagis sunt: idque ipsum inter suos vocantur; et quod primo numerus fuit, jam nomen et honor est. acies per cuneos componitur. cedere loco, dummodo rursus instes, consilii quam formidinis arbitrantur. corpora suorum etiam in dubiis proeliis referunt. scutum reliquisse, praecipuum flagitium; nec aut sacris adesse, aut concilium inire, ignominioso fas; multique superstites bellorum infamiam laqueo finierunt. vii. reges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute sumunt. nec regibus infinita aut libera potestas: et duces exemplo potius, quam imperio, si prompti, si conspicui, si ante aciem agant, admiratione praesunt. ceterum neque animadvertere neque vincire, ne verberare quidem, nisi sacerdotibus permissum; non quasi in poenam, nec ducis jussu, sed velut deo imperante, quem adesse bellantibus credunt: effigiesque et signa quaedam, detracta lucis, in proelium ferunt. quodque praecipuum fortitudinis incitamentum est, non casus nec fortuita conglobatio turmam aut cuneum facit, sed familiae et propinquitates, et in proximo pignora, unde feminarum ululatus audiri, unde vagitus infantium: hi cuique sanctissimi testes, hi maximi laudatores. ad matres, ad conjuges vulnera ferunt; nec illae numerare, aut exigere plagas pavent; cibosque et hortamina pugnantibus gestant. viii. memoriae proditur, quasdam acies, inclinatas jam et labantes, a feminis restitutas, constantia precum et objectu pectorum et monstrata cominus captivitate, quam longe impatientius feminarum suarum nomine timent: adeo ut efficacius obligentur animi civitatum, quibus inter obsides puellae quoque nobiles imperantur. inesse quin etiam sanctum aliquid et providum putant: nec aut consilia earum aspernantur, aut responsa negligunt. vidimus sub divo vespasiano veledam diu apud plerosque numinis loco habitam. sed et olim auriniam et complures alias venerati sunt non adulatione, nec tanquam facerent deas. ix. deorum maxime mercurium colunt, cui certis diebus humanis quoque hostiis litare fas habent. herculem ac martem concessis animalibus placant: pars suevorum et isidi sacrificat. unde causa et origo peregrino sacro parum comperi, nisi quod signum ipsum, in modum liburnae figuratum, docet advectam religionem. ceterum nec cohibere parietibus deos, neque in ullam humani oris speciem assimulare, ex magnitudine coelestium arbitrantur: lucos ac nemora consecrant, deorumque nominibus appellant secretum illud, quod sola reverentia vident. x. auspicia sortesque, ut qui maxime, observant. sortium consuetudo simplex: virgam, frugiferae arbori decisam, in surculos amputant, eosque, notis quibusdam discretos, super candidam vestem temere ac fortuito spargunt: mox, si publice consuletur, sacerdos civitatis, sin privatim, ipse paterfamiliae, precatus deos coelumque suspiciens, ter singulos tollit, sublatos secundum impressam ante notam interpretatur. si prohibuerunt, nulla de eadem re in eundem diem consultatio; sin permissum, auspiciorum adhuc fides exigitur. et illud quidem etiam hic notum, avium voces volatusque interrogare: proprium gentis, equorum quoque praesagia ac monitus experiri; publice aluntur iisdem nemoribus ac lucis candidi et nullo mortali opere contacti: quos pressos sacro curru sacerdos ac rex vel princeps civitatis comitantur, hinnitusque ac fremitus observant. nec ulli auspicio major fides non solum apud plebem, sed apud proceres, apud sacerdotes; se enim ministros deorum, illos conscios putant. est et alia observatio auspiciorum, qua gravium bellorum eventus explorant; ejus gentis, cum qua bellum est, captivum, quoquo modo interceptum, cum electo popularium suorum, patriis quemque armis, committunt: victoria hujus vel illius pro praejudicio accipitur. xi. de minoribus rebus principes consultant; de majoribus omnes: ita tamen, ut ea quoque, quorum penes plebem arbitrium est, apud principes pertractentur. coeunt, nisi quid fortuitum et subitum inciderit, certis diebus, cum aut inchoatur luna aut impletur: nam agendis rebus hoc auspicatissimum initium credunt. nec dierum numerum, ut nos, sed noctium computant. sic constituunt, sic condicunt: nox ducere diem videtur. illud ex libertate vitium, quod non simul, nec ut jussi conveniunt, sed et alter et tertius dies cunctatione coeuntium absumitur. ut turbae placuit, considunt armati. silentium per sacerdotes, quibus tum et coercendi jus est, imperatur. mox rex vel princeps, prout aetas cuique, prout nobilitas, prout decus bellorum, prout facundia est, audiuntur, auctoritate suadendi magis, quam jubendi potestate. si displicuit sententia, fremitu aspernantur; sin placuit, frameas concutiunt. honoratissimum assensus genus est, armis laudare. xii. licet apud concilium accusare quoque et discrimen capitis intendere. distinctio poenarum ex delicto: proditores et transfugas arboribus suspendunt; ignavos et imbelles et corpore infames coeno ac palude, injecta insuper crate, mergunt. diversitas supplicii illuc respicit, tanquam scelera ostendi oporteat, dum puniuntur, flagitia abscondi. sed et levioribus delictis, pro modo poenarum, equorum pecorumque numero convicti mulctantur: pars mulctae regi vel civitati, pars ipsi, qui vindicatur, vel propinquis ejus exsolvitur. eliguntur in iisdem conciliis et principes, qui jura per pagos vicosque reddunt. centeni singulis ex plebe comites, consilium simul et auctoritas, adsunt. xiii. nihil autem neque publicae neque privatae rei, nisi armati agunt. sed arma sumere non ante cuiquam moris, quam civitas suffecturum probaverit. tum in ipso concilio, vel principum aliquis vel pater vel propinquus scuto frameaque juvenem ornant: haec apud illos toga, hic primus juventae honos: ante hoc domus pars videntur, mox reipublicae. insignis nobilitas, aut magna patrum merita, principis dignationem etiam adolescentulis assignant: ceteris robustioribus ac jampridem probatis aggregantur; nec rubor, inter comites aspici. gradus quin etiam et ipse comitatus habet judicio ejus, quem sectantur: magnaque et comitum aemulatio, quibus primus apud principem suum locus, et principum, cui plurimi et acerrimi comites. haec dignitas, hae vires, magno semper electorum juvenum globo circumdari, in pace decus, in bello praesidium. nec solum in sua gente cuique, sed apud finitimas quoque civitates id nomen, ea gloria est, si numero ac virtute comitatus emineat: expetuntur enim legationibus et muneribus ornantur et ipsa plerumque fama bella profligant. xiv. cum ventum in aciem, turpe principi virtute vinci, turpe comitatui, virtutem principis non adaequare. jam vero infame in omnem vitam ac probrosum, superstitem principi suo ex acie recessisse. illum defendere, tueri, sua quoque fortia facta gloriae ejus assignare, praecipuum sacramentum est. principes pro victoria pugnant; comites pro principe. si civitas, in qua orti sunt, longa pace et otio torpeat plerique nobilium adolescentium petunt ultro eas nationes, quae tum bellum aliquod gerunt; quia et ingrata genti quies, et facilius inter ancipitia clarescunt, magnumque comitatum non nisi vi belloque tuentur: exigunt enim principis sui liberalitate illum bellatorem equum, illam cruentam victricemque frameam. nam epulae et, quanquam incompti, largi tamen apparatus pro stipendio cedunt: materia munificentiae per bella et raptus. nec arare terram, aut expectare annum, tam facile persuaseris, quam vocare hostes et vulnera mereri. pigrum quinimmo et iners videtur, sudore acquirere, quod possis sanguine parare. xv. quotiens bella non ineunt, non multum venatibus, plus per otium transigunt, dediti somno ciboque, fortissimus quisque ac bellicosissimus nihil agens, delegata domus et penatium et agrorum cura feminis senibusque et infirmissimo cuique ex familia: ipsi hebent; mira diversitate naturae, cum iidem homines sic ament inertiam et oderint quietem. mos est civitatibus ultro ac viritim conferre principibus vel armentorum vel frugum, quod pro honore acceptum, etiam necessitatibus subvenit. gaudent praecipue finitimarum gentium donis, quae non modo a singulis, sed publice mittuntur: electi equi, magna arma, phalerae, torquesque. jam et pecuniam accipere docuimus. xvi. nullas germanorum populis urbes habitari, satis notum est: ne pati quidem inter se junctas sedes. colunt discreti ac diversi, ut fons, ut campus, ut nemus placuit. vicos locant, non in nostrum morem, connexis et cohaerentibus aedificiis: suam quisque domum spatio circumdat, sive adversus casus ignis remedium, sive inscitia aedificandi. ne caementorum quidem apud illos aut tegularum usus: materia ad omnia utuntur informi et citra speciem aut delectationem. quaedam loca diligentius illinunt terra ita pura ac splendente, ut picturam ac lineamenta colorum imitetur. solent et subterraneos specus aperire, eosque multo insuper fimo onerant, suffugium hiemi et receptaculum frugibus: quia rigorem frigorum ejusmodi locis molliunt: et, si quando hostis advenit, aperta populatur, abdita autem et defossa aut ignorantur, aut eo ipso fallunt, quod quaerenda sunt. xvii. tegumen omnibus sagum, fibula, aut, si desit, spina consertum: cetera intecti totos dies juxta focum atque ignem agunt. locupletissimi veste distinguuntur, non fluitante, sicut sarmatae ac parthi, sed stricta et singulos artus exprimente. gerunt et ferarum pelles, proximi ripae negligenter, ulteriores exquisitius, ut quibus nullus per commercia cultus. eligunt feras, et detracta velamina spargunt maculis pellibusque belluarum, quas exterior oceanus atque ignotum mare gignit. nec alius feminis quam viris habitus, nisi quod feminae saepius lineis amictibus velantur, eosque purpura variant, partemque vestitus superioris in manicas non extendunt, nudae brachia ac lacertos: sed et proxima pars pectoris patet. xviii. quanquam severa illic matrimonia; nec ullam morum partem magis laudaveris: nam prope soli barbarorum singulis uxoribus contenti sunt, exceptis admodum paucis, qui non libidine, sed ob nobilitatem, plurimis nuptiis ambiuntur, dotem non uxor marito, sed uxori maritus offert. intersunt parentes et propinqui, ac munera probant: munera non ad delicias muliebres quaesita, nec quibus nova nupta comatur: sed boves et frenatum equum et scutum cum framea gladioque. in haec munera uxor accipitur: atque invicem ipsa armorum aliquid viro affert: hoc maximum vinculum, haec arcana sacra, hos conjugales deos arbitrantur. ne se mulier extra virtutum cogitationes extraque bellorum casus putet, ipsis incipientis matrimonii auspiciis admonetur, venire se laborum periculorumque sociam, idem in pace, idem in proelio passuram ausuramque: hoc juncti boves, hoc paratus equus, hoc data arma denuntiant; sic vivendum, sic pereundum: accipere se, quae liberis inviolata ac digna reddat, quae nurus accipiant rursus, quae ad nepotes referantur. xix. ergo septa pudicitia agunt, nullis spectaculorum illecebris, nullis conviviorum irritationibus corruptae. litterarum secreta viri pariter ac feminae ignorant. paucissima in tam numerosa gente adulteria; quorum poena praesens et maritis permissa. accisis crinibus, nudatam, coram propinquis, expellit domo maritus, ac per omnem vicum verbere agit: publicatae enim pudicitiae nulla venia: non forma, non aetate, non opibus maritum invenerit. neme enim illic vitia ridet: nec corrumpere et corrumpi saeculum vocatur. melius quidem adhuc eae civitates, in quibus tantum virgines nubunt, et cum spe votoque uxoris semel transigitur. sic unum accipiunt maritum, quo modo unum corpus unamque vitam, ne ulla cogitatio ultra, ne longior cupiditas, ne tanquam maritum, sed tanquam matrimonium ament. numerum liberorum finire, aut quenquam ex agnatis necare, flagitium habetur: plusque ibi boni mores valent, quam alibi bonae leges. xx. in omni domo nudi ac sordidi, in hos artus, in haec corpora, quae miramur, excrescunt. sua quemque mater uberibus alit, nec ancillis ac nutricibus delegantur. dominum ac servum nullis educationis deliciis dignoscas: inter eadem pecora, in eadem humo degunt; donec aetas separet ingenuos, virtus agnoscat. sera juvenum venus; eoque inexhausta pubertas: nec virgines festinantur; eadem juventa, similis proceritas: pares validaeque miscentur; ac robora parentum liberi referunt. sororum filiis idem apud avunculum, qui ad patrem honor. quidam sanctiorem arctioremque hunc nexum sanguinis arbitrantur, et in accipiendis obsidibus magis exigunt; tanquam et in animum firmius, et domum latius teneant. heredes tamen successoresque sui cuique liberi: et nullum testamentum. si liberi non sunt, proximus gradus in possessione fratres, patrui, avunculi. quanto plus propinquorum, quo major affinium numerus, tanto gratiosior senectus, nec ulla orbitatis pretia. xxi. suscipere tam inimicitias, seu patris, seu propinqui, quam amicitias, necesse est: nec implacabiles durant. luitur enim etiam homicidium certo armentorum ac pecorum numero, recipitque satisfactionem universa domus: utiliter in publicum; quia periculosiores sunt inimicitiae juxta libertatem. convictibus et hospitiis non alia gens effusius indulget. quemcunque mortalium arcere tecto, nefas habetur: pro fortuna quisque apparatis epulis excipit. cum defecere, qui modo hospes fuerat, monstrator hospitii et comes: proximam domum non invitati adeunt: nec interest; pari humanitate accipiuntur. notum ignotumque, quantum ad jus hospitis, nemo discernit. abeunti, si quid poposcerit, concedere moris: et poscendi invicem eadem facilitas. gaudent muneribus: sed nec data imputant, nec acceptis obligantur. victus inter hospites comis. xxii. statim e somno, quem plerumque in diem extrahunt, lavantur, saepius calida, ut apud quos plurimum hiems occupat. lauti cibum capiunt: separatae singulis sedes et sua cuique mensa: tum ad negotia, nec minus saepe ad convivia, procedunt armati. diem noctemque continuare potando, nulli probrum. crebrae, ut inter vinolentos, rixae, raro conviciis, saepius caede et vulneribus transiguntur. sed et de reconciliandis invicem inimicis et jungendis affinitatibus et asciscendis principibus, de pace denique ac bello plerumque in conviviis consultant: tanquam nullo magis tempore aut ad simplices cogitationes pateat animus, aut ad magnas incalescat. gens non astuta nec callida aperit adhuc secreta pectoris licentia joci. ergo detecta et nuda omnium mens postera die retractatur, et salva utriusque temporis ratio est: deliberant, dum fingere nesciunt; constituunt, dum errare non possunt. xxiii. potui humor ex hordeo aut frumento, in quandam similitudinem vini corruptus. proximi ripae et vinum mercantur. cibi simplices; agrestia poma, recens fera, aut lac concretum. sine apparatu, sine blandimentis, expellunt famem. adversus sitim non eadem temperantia. si indulseris ebrietati suggerendo quantum concupiscunt, haud minus facile vitiis, quam armis vincentur. xxiv. genus spectaculorum unum atque in omni coetu idem. nudi juvenes, quibus id ludicrum est, inter gladios se atque infestas frameas saltu jaciunt. exercitatio artem paravit, ars decorem: non in quaestum tamen aut mercedem; quamvis audacis lasciviae pretium est voluptas spectantium. aleam, quod mirere, sobrii inter seria exercent tanta lucrandi perdendive temeritate, ut, cum omnia defecerunt, extremo ac novissimo jactu de libertate ac de corpore contendant. victus voluntariam servitutem adit: quamvis juvenior, quamvis robustior, alligari se ac venire patitur: ea est in re prava pervicacia: ipsi fidem vocant. servos conditionis hujus per commercia tradunt, ut se quoque pudore victoriae exsolvant. xxv. ceteris servis, non in nostrum morem descriptis per familiam ministeriis, utuntur. suam quisque sedem, suos penates regit. frumenti modum dominus, aut pecoris aut vestis, ut colono, injungit: et servus hactenus paret; cetera domus officia uxor ac liberi exsequuntur. verberare servum ac vinculis et opere coercere, rarum. occidere solent, non disciplina et severitate, sed impetu et ira, ut inimicum, nisi quod impune. liberti non multum supra servos sunt, raro aliquod momentum in domo, nunquam in civitate; exceptis duntaxat iis gentibus, quae regnantur: ibi enim et super ingenuos et super nobiles ascendunt: apud ceteros impares libertini libertatis argumentum sunt. xxvi. fenus agitare et in usuras extendere, igno tum: ideoque magis servatur, quam si vetitum esset. agri pro numero cultorum ab universis in vices occupantur, quos mox inter se secundum dignationem partiuntur: facilitatem partiendi camporum spatia praestant. arva per annos mutant: et superest ager; nec enim cum ubertate et amplitudine soli labore contendunt, ut pomaria conserant et prata separent et hortos rigent: sola terrae seges imperatur. unde annum quoque ipsum non in totidem digerunt species hiems et ver et aestas intellectum ac vocabula habent autumni perinde nomen ac bona ignorantur. xxvii. funerum nulla ambitio; id solum observatur, ut corpora clarorum virorum certis lignis crementur. struem rogi nec vestibus nec odoribus cumulant: sua cuique arma, quorundam igni et equus adjicitur. sepulcrum caespes erigit; monumentorum arduum et operosum honorem, ut gravem defunctis, aspernantur. lamenta ac lacrimas cito, dolorem et tristitiam tarde ponunt. feminis lugere honestum est; viris meminisse. haec in commune de omnium germanorum origine ac moribus accepimus: nunc singularum gentium instituta ritusque, quatenus differant, quae nationes e germania in gallias commigraverint, expediam. xxviii. validiores olim gallorum res fuisse, summus auctorum divus julius tradit: eoque credibile est etiam gallos in germaniam transgressos. quantulum enim amnis obstabat, quo minus, ut quaeque gens evaluerat, occuparet permutaretque sedes, promiscuas adhuc et nulla regnorum potentia divisas? igitur inter hercyniam sylvam rhenumque et moenum amnes helvetii, ulteriora boii, gallica utraque gens, tenuere. manet adhuc _boihemi_ nomen, signatque loci veterem memoriam, quamvis mutatis cultoribus. sed utrum aravisci in pannoniam ab osis, germanorum natione, an osi ab araviscis in germaniam commigraverint, cum eodem adhuc sermone, institutis, moribus utantur, incertum est: quia, pari olim inopia ac libertate, eadem utriusque ripae bona malaque erant. treveri et nervii circa affectationem germanicae originis ultro ambitiosi sunt, tanquam per hanc gloriam sanguinis a similitudine et inertia gallorum separentur. ipsam rheni ripam haud dubie germanorum populi colunt, vangiones, triboci, nemetes. ne ubii quidem, quanquam romana colonia esse meruerint ac libentius agrippinenses conditoris sui nomine vocentur, origine erubescunt, transgressi olim et experimento fidei super ipsam rheni ripam collocati, ut arcerent, non ut custodirentur. xxix. omnium harum gentium virtute praecipui batavi, non multum ex ripa, sed insulam rheni amnis colunt, chattorum quondam populus et seditione domestica in eas sedes transgressus, in quibus pars romani imperii fierent. manet honos et antiquae societatis insigne: nam nec tributis contemnuntur, nec publicanis atterit: exempti oneribus et collationibus et tantum in usum proeliorum sepositi, velut tela atque arma, bellis reservantur. est in eodem obsequio et mattiacorum gens; protulit enim magnitudo populi romani ultra rhenum, ultraque veteres terminos, imperii reverentiam. ita sede finibusque in sua ripa, mente animoque nobiscum agunt, cetera similes batavis, nisi quod ipso adhuc terrae suae solo et coelo acrius animantur. non numeraverim inter germaniae populos, quanquam trans rhenum danubiumque consederint, eos, qui decumates agros exercent. levissimus quisque gallorum et inopia audax, dubiae possessionis solum occupavere. mox limite acto promotisque praesidiis, sinus imperii et pars provinciae habentur. xxx. ultra hos chatti initium sedis ab hercynio saltu inchoant, non ita effusis ac palustribus locis ut ceterae civitates, in quas germania patescit; durant siquidem colles, paulatim rarescunt, et chattos suos saltus hercynius prosequitur simul atque deponit. duriora genti corpora, stricti artus, minax vultus et major animi vigor. multum, ut inter germanos, rationis ac solertiae: praeponere electos, audire praepositos, nosse ordines, intelligere occasiones, differre impetus, disponere diem, vallare noctem, fortunam inter dubia, virtutem inter certa numerare: quodque rarissimum nec nisi ratione disciplinae concessum, plus reponere in duce, quam exercitu. omne robur in pedite, quem, super arma, ferramentis quoque et copiis onerant. alios ad proelium ire videas, chattos ad bellum. rari excursus et fortuita pugna; equestrium sane virium id proprium, cito parare victoriam, cito cedere: velocitas juxta formidinem, cunctatio propior constantiae est. xxxi. et aliis germanorum populis usurpatum rara et privata cujusque audentia apud chattos in consensum vertit, ut primum adoleverint, crinem barbamque submittere, nec, nisi hoste caeso, exuere votivum obligatumque virtuti oris habitum. super sanguinem et spolia revelant frontem, seque tum demum pretia nascendi retulisse, dignosque patria ac parentibus ferunt. ignavis et imbellibus manet squalor. fortissimus quisque ferreum insuper annulum (ignominiosum id genti) velut vinculum gestat, donec se caede hostis absolvat. plurimis chattorum hic placet habitus. jamque canent insignes, et hostibus simul suisque monstrati. omnium penes hos initia pugnarum: haec prima semper acies, visu nova; nam ne in pace quidem vultu mitiore mansuescunt. nulli domus aut ager aut aliqua cura: prout ad quemque venere, aluntur: prodigi alieni, contemptores sui donec exsanguis senectus tam durae virtuti impares faciat. xxxii. proximi chattis certum jam alveo rhenum, quique terminus esse sufficiat, usipii ac tencteri colunt. tencteri, super solitum bellorum decus, equestris disciplinae arte praecellunt: nec major apud chattos peditum laus, quam tencteris equitum. sic instituere majores, posteri imitantur; hi lusus infantium, haec juvenum aemulatio, perseverant senes inter familiam et penates et jura successionum equi traduntur; excipit filius, non, ut cetera, maximus natu, sed prout ferox bello et melior. xxxiii. juxta tencteros bructeri olim occurrebant: nunc chamavos et angrivarios immigrasse narratur, pulsis bructeris ac penitus excisis vicinarum consensu nationum, seu superbiae odio, seu praedae dulcedine, seu favore quodam erga nos deorum: nam ne spectaculo quidem proelii invidere: super sexaginta millia, non armis telisque romanis, sed, quod magnificentius est, oblectationi oculisque ceciderunt. maneat, quaeso, duretque gentibus, si non amor nostri, at certe odium sui: quando, urgentibus imperii fatis, nihil jam praestare fortuna majus potest, quam hostium discordiam. xxxiv. angrivarios et chamavos a tergo dulgibini et chasuarii cludunt aliaeque gentes, haud perinde memoratae. a fronte frisii excipiunt. majoribus minoribusque frisiis vocabulum est ex modo virium: utraeque nationes usque ad oceanum rheno praetexuntur, ambiuntque immensos insuper lacus et romanis classibus navigatos. ipsum quin etiam oceanum illa tentavimus: et superesse adhuc herculis columnas fama vulgavit; sive adiit hercules, seu, quicquid ubique magnificum est, in claritatem ejus referre consensimus. nec defuit audentia druso germanico: sed obstitit oceanus in se simul atque in herculem inquiri. mox nemo tentavit; sanctiusque ac reverentius visum, de actis deorum credere, quam scire. xxxv. hactenus in occidentem germaniam novimus. in septentrionem ingenti flexu redit. ac primo statim chaucorum gens, quanquam incipiat a frisiis ac partem littoris occupet, omnium, quas exposui, gentium lateribus obtenditur, donec in chattos usque sinuetur. tam immensum terrarum spatium non tenent tantum chauci, sed et implent: populus inter germanos nobilissimus, quique magnitudinem suam malit justitia tueri: sine cupiditate, sine impotentia, quieti secretique, nulla provocant bella, nullis raptibus aut latrociniis populantur. id praecipuum virtutis ac virium argumentum est, quod, ut superiores agant, non per injurias assequuntur. prompta tamen omnibus arma, ac, si res poscat, exercitus, plurimum virorum equorumque: et quiescentibus eadem fama. xxxvi. in latere chaucorum chattorumque cherusci nimiam ac marcentem diu pacem illacessiti nutrierunt; idque jucundius, quam tutius, fuit: quia inter impotentes et validos falso quiescas; ubi manu agitur, modestia ac probitas nomina superioris sunt. ita, qui olim boni aequique cherusci, nunc inertes ac stulti vocantur: chattis victoribus fortuna in sapientiam cessit. tracti ruina cheruscorum et fosi, contermina gens, adversarum rerum ex aequo socii, cum in secundis minores fuissent. xxxvii. eundem germaniae sinum proximi oceano cimbri tenent, parva nunc civitas, sed gloria ingens; veterisque famae lata vestigia manent, utraque ripa castra ac spatia, quorum ambitu nunc quoque metiaris molem manusque gentis et tam magni exitus fidem. sexcentesimum et quadragesimum annum urbs nostra agebat, cum primum cimbrorum audita sunt arma, caecilio metello et papirio carbone consulibus. ex quo si ad alterum imperatoris trajani consulatum computemus, ducenti ferme et decem anni colliguntur; tamdiu germania vincitur. medio tam longi aevi spatio, multa invicem damna: non samnis, non poeni, non hispaniae galliaeve, ne parthi quidem saepius admonuere: quippe regno arsacis acrior est germanorum libertas. quid enim aliud nobis, quam caedem crassi, amisso et ipse pacoro, infra ventidium dejectus oriens objecerit? at germani, carbone et cassio et scauro aurelio et servilio caepione, m. quoque manlio fusis vel captis, quinque simul consulares exercitus populo romano, varum, tresque cum eo legiones, etiam caesari abstulerunt: nec impune c. marius in italia, divus julius in gallia, drusus ac nero et germanicus in suis eos sedibus perculerunt. mox ingentes c. caesaris minae in ludibrium versae. inde otium, donec occasione discordiae nostrae et civilium armorum, expugnatis legionum hibernis, etiam gallias affectavere: ac rursus pulsi, inde proximis temporibus triumphati magis quam victi sunt. xxxviii. nunc de suevis dicendum est, quorum non una, ut chattorum tencterorumve, gens: majorem enim germaniae partem obtinent, propriis adhuc nationibus nominibusque discreti, quanquam in commune suevi vocentur. insigne gentis obliquare crinem nodoque substringere: sic suevi a ceteris germanis, sic suevorum ingenui a servis separantur in aliis gentibus, seu cognatione aliqua suevorum, seu quod saepe accidit, imitatione, rarum et intra juventae spatium; apud suevos, usque ad canitiem, horrentem capillum retro sequuntur, ac saepe in ipso solo vertice religant. principes et ornatiorem habent: ea cura formae, sed innoxiae: neque enim ut ament amenturve; in altitudinem quandam et terrorem, adituri bella, compti, ut hostium oculis, ornantur. xxxix. vetustissimos se nobilissimosque suevorum semnones memorant. fides antiquitatis religione firmatur. stato tempore in silvam auguriis patrum et prisca formidine sacram, omnes ejusdem sanguinis populi legationibus coeunt, caesoque publice homine celebrant barbari ritus horrenda primordia. est et alia luco reverentia. nemo nisi vinculo ligatus ingreditur, ut minor et potestatem numinis prae se ferens, si forte prolapsus est, attolli et insurgere haud licitum: per humum evolvuntur: eoque omnis superstitio respicit, tanquam inde initia gentis, ibi regnator omnium deus, cetera subjecta atque parentia. adjicit auctoritatem fortuna semnonum: centum pagis habitantur; magnoque corpore efficitur, ut se suevorum caput credant. xl. contra langobardos paucitas nobilitat: plurimis ac valentissimis nationibus cincti, non per obsequium, sed proeliis et periclitando tuti sunt. reudigni deinde et aviones et anglii et varini et eudoses et suardones et nuithones fluminibus aut silvis muniuntur: nec quidquam notabile in singulis, nisi quod in commune nerthum, id est terram matrem colunt, eamque intervenire rebus hominum, invehi populis arbitrantur. est in insula oceani castum nemus, dicatumque in eo vehiculum, veste contectum attingere uni sacerdoti concessum. is adesse penetrali deam intelligit, vectamque bubus feminis multa cum veneratione prosequitur. laeti tunc dies, festa loca, quaecumque adventu hospitioque dignatur. non bella ineunt, non arma sumunt; clausum omne ferrum: pax et quies tunc tantum nota, tunc tantum amata, donec idem sacerdos satiatam conversatione mortalium deam templo reddat. mox vehiculum et vestes, et, si credere velis, numen ipsum secreto lacu abluitur. servi ministrant, quos statim idem lacus haurit; arcanus hinc terror sanctaque ignorantia, quid sit illud, quod tantum perituri vident. xli. et haec quidem pars suevorum in secretiora germaniae porrigitur. propior, ut quo modo paulo ante rhenum, sic nunc danubium sequar, hermundurorum civitas, fida romanis, eoque solis germanorum non in ripa commercium, sed penitus, atque in splendidissima rhaetiae provinciae colonia. passim et sine custode transeunt: et, cum ceteris gentibus arma modo castraque nostra ostendamus, his domos villasque patefecimus non concupiscentibus. in hermunduris albis oritur, flumen inclitum et notum olim; nunc tantum auditur. xlii. juxta hermunduros narisci, ac deinde marcomanni et quadi agunt. praecipua marcomannorum gloria viresque, atque ipsa etiam sedes, pulsis olim boiis, virtute parta. nec narisci quadive degenerant. eaque germaniae velut frons est, quatenus danubio peragitur. marcomannis quadisque usque ad nostram memoriam reges manserunt ex gente ipsorum, nobile marobodui et tudri genus: jam et externos patiuntur. sed vis et potentia regibus ex auctoritate romana: raro armis nostris, saepius pecunia juvantur, nec minus valent. xliii. retro marsigni, gothini, osi, burii, terga marcomannorum quadorumque claudunt: e quibus marsigni et burii sermone cultuque suevos referunt gothinos gallica, osos pannonica lingua coarguit non esse germanos, et quod tributa patiuntur. partem tributorum sarmatae, partem quadi, ut alienigenis, imponunt. gothini, quo magis pudeat, et ferrum effodiunt. omnesque hi populi pauca campestrium, ceterum saltus et vertices montium jugumque insederunt. dirimit enim scinditque sueviam continuum montium jugum, ultra quod plurimae gentes agunt: ex quibus latissime patet lygiorum nomen in plures civitates diffusum. valentissimas nominasse sufficiet, arios, helveconas, manimos, elysios, naharvalos. apud naharvalos antiquae religionis lucus ostenditur. praesidet sacerdos muliebri ornatu: sed deos, interpretatione romana, castorem pollucemque memorant: ea vis numini; nomen alcis. nulla simulacra, nullum peregrinae superstitionis vestigium: ut fratres tamen, ut juvenes, venerantur. ceterum arii super vires, quibus enumeratos paulo ante populos antecedunt, truces, insitae feritati arte ac tempore lenocinantur. nigra scuta, tincta corpora: atras ad proelia noctes legunt: ipsaque formidine atque umbra feralis exercitus terrorem inferant, nullo hostium sustinente novum ac velut infernum aspectum: nam primi in omnibus proeliis oculi vincuntur. trans lygios gothones regnantur, paulo jam adductius, quam ceterae germanorum gentes, nondum tamen supra libertatem. protinus deinde ab oceano rugii et lemovii omniumque harum gentium insigne, rotunda scuta, breves gladii, et erga reges obsequium. xliv. suionum hinc civitates, ipso in oceano, praeter viros armaque classibus valent: forma navium eo differt, quod utrimque prora paratam semper appulsui frontem agit: nec velis ministrantur, nec remos in ordinem lateribus adjungunt. solutum, ut in quibusdam fluminum, et mutabile, ut res poscit, hinc vel illinc remigium. est apud illos et opibus honos; eoque unus imperitat, nullis jam exceptionibus, non precario jure parendi. nec arma, ut apud ceteros germanos, in promiscuo, sed clausa sub custode et quidem servo: quia subitos hostium incursus prohibet oceanus, otiosa porro armatorum manus facile lasciviunt: enimvero neque nobilem neque ingenuum ne libertinum quidem, armis praeponere regia utilitas est. xlv. trans suionas aliud mare, pigrum ac prope immotum, quo cingi cludique terrarum orbem hinc fides, quod extremus cadentis jam solis fulgor in ortus edurat adeo clarus, ut sidera hebetet; sonum insuper audiri, formasque deorum et radios capitis aspici persuasio adjicit. illuc usque, et fama vera, tantum natura. ergo jam dextro suevici maris littore aestyorum gentes alluuntur: quibus ritus habitusque suevorum; lingua britannicae propior. matrem deum venerantur: insigne superstitionis, formas aprorum gestant; id pro armis omnique tutela: securum deae cultorem etiam inter hostes praestat. rarus ferri, frequens fustium usus. frumenta ceterosque fructus patientius, quam pro solita germanorum inertia, laborant. sed et mare scrutantur, ac soli omnium succinum, quod ipsi glesum vocant inter vada atque in ipso littore legunt. nec, quae natura quaeve ratio gignat, ut barbaris, quaesitum compertumve. diu quin etiam inter cetera ejectamenta maris jacebat, donec luxuria nostra dedit nomen: ipsis in nullo usu: rude legitur, informe perfertur, pretiumque mirantes accipiunt. succum tamen arborum esse intelligas, quia terrena quaedam atque etiam volucria animalia plerumque interlucent, quae implicata humore, mox, durescente materia, cluduntur. fecundiora igitur nemora lucosque, sicut orientis secretis, ubi thura balsamaque sudantur, ita occidentis insulis terrisque inesse, crediderim; quae vicini solis radiis expressa atque liquentia in proximum mare labuntur, ac vi tempestatum in adversa littora exundant. si naturam succini admoto igne tentes, in modum taedae accenditur, alitque flammam pinguem et olentem: mox ut in picem resinamve lentescit. suionibus sitonum gentes continuantur. cetera similes, uno differunt, quod femina dominatur: in tantum non modo a libertate, sed etiam a servitute degenerant. xlvi. hic sueviae finis. peucinorum vene dorumque et fennorum nationes germanis an sarmatis ascribam, dubito: quanquam peucini, quos quidam bastarnas vocant, sermone, cultu, sede ac domiciliis, ut germani, agunt. sordes omnium ac torpor procerum: connubiis mixtis, nonnihil in sarmatarum habitum foedantur. venedi multum ex moribus traxerunt. nam quidquid inter peucinos fennosque silvarum ac montium erigitur, latrociniis pererrant. hi tamen inter germanos potius referuntur, quia et domos figunt et scuta gestant et pedum usu ac pernicitate gaudent; quae omnia diversa sarmatis sunt, in plaustro equoque viventibus. fennis mira feritas, foeda paupertas: non arma, non equi, non penates: victui herba, vestitui pelles, cubile humus: sola in sagittis spes, quas, inopia ferri, ossibus asperant. idemque venatus viros pariter ac feminas alit. passim enim comitantur, partemque praedae petunt. nec aliud infantibus ferarum imbriumque suffugium, quam ut in aliquo ramorum nexu contegantur: huc redeunt juvenes, hoc senum receptaculum. sed beatius arbitrantur, quam ingemere agris, illaborare domibus, suas alienasque fortunas spe metuque versare. securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos, rem difficillimam assecuti sunt, ut illis ne vote quidem opus esset. cetera jam fabulosa: hellusios et oxionas ora hominum vultusque, corpora atque artus ferarum, gerere: quod ego, ut incompertum, in medium relinquam. cn. julii agricolae vita. breviarium. cap. . scribendi clarorum virorum vitam mos antiquus, . sub malis principibus periculosus, . sub trajano in honorem agricolae repetitus a tacito, qui non eloquentiam, at pietatem pollicetur. . agricolae stirps, educatio, studia. . positis in britannia primis castrorum rudimentis, . uxorem ducit: fit quaestor, tribunus, praetor: recognoscendis templorum donis praefectus. . othoniano bello matrem partemque patrimonii amittit. . in vespasiani partes transgressus, legioni vicesimae in britannia praepositus, alienae famae cura promovet suam. . redux inter patricios ascitus aquitaniam regit. consul factus tacito filiam despondet. britanniae praeficitur. . britanniae descriptio. thule cognita: mare pigrum. . britannorum origo, habitus, sacra, sermo, mores, . militia, regimen, rarus conventus: coelum, solum, metalla, margarita. . victae gentis ingenium. caesarum in britanniam expeditiones. . consularium legatorum res gestae. . britanniae rebellio, . boadicea duce coepta, a suet. paullino compressa. huic succedunt ignavi. . rem restituunt petilius cerialis et julius frontinus; hic silures, ille brigantes vincit; . agricola ordovices et monam. totam provinciam pacat, et , . moderatione, prudentia, abstinentia, aequitate in obsequio retinet, . animosque artibus et voluptatibus mollit. , . nova expeditio novas gentes aperit, quae praesidio firmantur. agricolae candor in communicanda gloria. . consilium de occupanda hibernia. - . civitates trans bodotriam sitae explorantur. caledonii, romanos aggressi, consilio ductuque agricolae pulsi, sacrificiis conspirationem civitatum sanciunt. . usipiorum cohors miro casu britanniam circumvecta. agricolae filius obit. . bellum britanni reparant calgaco duce, cujus - . oratio ad suos. , . romanos quoque hortatur agricola. - . atrox et cruentum proelium. . penes romanos victoria. agricola britanniam circumvehi praecipit. . domitianus, fronte laetus, pectore anxius, nuntium victoriae excipit. . honores tamen agricolae decerni jubet, condito odio, donec provincia decedat agricola. is redux modeste agit. . periculum ab accusatoribus et laudatoribus. . excusat se, ne provinciam sortiatur proconsul. . obit non sine veneni suspicione, a domitiano dati. . ejus aetas, habitus, honores, opes. . mortis opportunitas ante domitiani atrocitates. . questus auctoris et ex virtute solatia. fama agricolae ad posteros transmissa. i. clarorum virorum facta moresque posteris tradere, antiquitus usitatum, ne nostris quidem temporibus quanquam incuriosa suorum aetas omisit, quotiens magna aliqua ac nobilis virtus vicit ac supergressa est vitium parvis magnisque civitatibus commune, ignorantiam recti et invidiam. sed apud priores, ut agere digna memoratu pronum magisque in aperto erat, ita celeberrimus quisque ingenio ad prodendam virtutis memoriam, sine gratia aut ambitione, bonae tantum conscientiae pretio ducebatur. ac plerique suam ipsi vitam narrare fiduciam potius morum, quam arrogantiam arbitrati sunt: nec id rutilio et scauro citra fidem aut obtrectationi fuit: adeo virtutes iisdem temporibus optime aestimantur, quibus facillime gignuntur. at nunc narraturo mihi vitam defuncti hominis, venia opus fuit: quam non petissem incursaturus tam saeva et infesta virtutibus tempora. ii. legimus, cum aruleno rustico paetus thrasea, herennio senecioni priscus helvidius laudati essent, capitale fuisse: neque in ipsos modo auctores, sed in libros quoque eorum saevitum, delegato triumviris ministerio, ut monumenta clarissimorum ingeniorum in comitio ac foro urerentur. scilicet illo igne vocem populi romani et libertatem senatus et conscientiam generis humani aboleri arbitrabantur, expulsis insuper sapientiae professoribus atque omni bona arte in exilium acta, ne quid usquam honestum occurreret. dedimus profecto grande patientiae documentum: et sicut vetus aetas vidit, quid ultimum in libertate esset, ita nos, quid in servitute, adempto per inquisitiones et loquendi audiendique commercio. memoriam quoque ipsam cum voce perdidissemus, si tam in nostra potestate esset oblivisci, quam tacere. iii. nunc demum redit animus: et quanquam primo statim beatissimi saeculi ortu nerva caesar res olim dissociabiles miscuerit, principatum ac libertatem, augeatque quotidie felicitatem imperii nerva trajanus, nec spem modo ac votum securitas publica, sed ipsius voti fiduciam ac robur assumpserit; natura tamen infirmitatis humanae tardiora sunt remedia, quam mala; et, ut corpora nostra lente augescunt, cito exstinguuntur, sic ingenia studiaque oppresseris facilius, quam revocaveris. subit quippe etiam ipsius inertiae dulcedo: et invisa primo desidia postremo amatur. quid, si per quindecim annos, grande mortalis aevi spatium, multi fortuitis casibus, promptissimus quisque saevitia principis interciderunt? pauci, et, ut ita dixerim, non modo aliorum, sed etiam nostri superstites sumus, exemptis e media vita tot annis, quibus juvenes ad senectutem, senes prope ad ipsos exactae aetatis terminos per silentium venimus. non tamen pigebit vel incondita ac rudi voce memoriam prioris servitutis ac testimonium praesentium bonorum composuisse. hic interim liber honori agricolae soceri mei destinatus, professione pietatis aut laudatus erit aut excusatus. iv. cnaeus julius agricola, veteri et illustri forojuliensium colonia ortus, utrumque avum procuratorem caesarum habuit: quae equestris nobilitas est. pater julius graecinus, senatorii ordinis, studio eloquentiae sapientiaeque notus, iisque ipsis virtutibus iram caii caesaris meritus: namque m. silanum accusare jussus et, quia abnuerat, interfectus est. mater julia procilla fuit, rarae castitatis: in hujus sinu indulgentiaque educatus, per omnem honestarum artium cultum pueritiam adolescentiamque transegit. arcebat eum ab illecebris peccantium, praeter ipsius bonam integramque naturam, quod statim parvulus sedem ac magistram studiorum massiliam habuit, locum graeca comitate et provinciali parsimonia mistum ac bene compositum. memoria teneo solitum ipsum narrare, se in prima juventa studium philosophiae acrius, ultra quam concessum romano ac senatori, hausisse, ni prudentia matris incensum ac flagrantem animum coercuisset. scilicet sublime et erectum ingenium pulchritudinem ac speciem excelsae magnaeque gloriae vehementius, quam caute, appetebat: mox mitigavit ratio et aetas: retinuitque, quod est difficillimum, ex sapientia modum. v. prima castrorum rudimenta in britannia suetonio paullino, diligenti ac moderato duci, approbavit, electus, quem contubernio aestimaret. nec agricola licenter more juvenum, qui militiam in lasciviam vertunt, neque segniter ad voluptates et commeatus titulum tribunatus et inscitiam retulit: sed noscere provinciam, nosci exercitui, discere a peritis, sequi optimos, nihil appetere jactatione, nihil ob formidinem recusare, simulque et anxius et intentus agere. non sane alias exercitatior magisque in ambiguo britannia fuit: trucidati veterani, incensae coloniae, intercepti exercitus; tum de salute, mox de victoria, certavere. quae cuncta, etsi consiliis ductuque alterius agebantur ac summa rerum et recuperatae provinciae gloria in ducem cessit, artem et usum et stimulos addidere juveni; intravitque animum militaris gloriae cupido ingrata temporibus, quibus sinistra erga eminentes interpretatio, nec minus periculum ex magna fama, quam ex mala. vi. hinc ad capessendos magistratus in urbem digressus, domitiam decidianam, splendidis natalibus ortam, sibi junxit; idque matrimonium ad majora nitenti decus ac robur fuit; vixeruntque mira concordia, per mutuam caritatem et invicem se anteponendo: nisi quod in bona uxore tanto major laus, quanto in mala plus culpae est. sors quaesturae provinciam asiam, proconsulem salvium titianum dedit: quorum neutro corruptus est; quanquam et provincia dives ac parata peccantibus, et proconsul in omnem aviditatem pronus, quantalibet facilitate redempturus esset mutuam dissimulationem mali. auctus est ibi filia, in subsidium simul et solatium: nam filium ante sublatum brevi amisit. mox inter quaesturam ac tribunatum plebis atque etiam ipsum tribunatus annum quiete et otio transiit, gnarus sub nerone temporum, quibus inertia pro sapientia fuit. idem praeturae tenor et silentium; nec enim jurisdictio obvenerat: ludos et inania honoris medio rationis atque abundantiae duxit, uti longe a luxuria, ita famae propior. tum electus a galba ad dona templorum recognoscenda, diligentissima conquisitione fecit, ne cujus alterius sacrilegium respublica, quam neronis sensisset. vii. sequens annus gravi vulnere animum domumque ejus afflixit: nam classis othoniana, licenter vaga, dum intemelios (liguriae pars est) hostiliter populatur, matrem agricolae in praediis suis interfecit: praediaque ipsa et magnam patrimonii partem diripuit, quae causa caedis fuerat. igitur ad solemnia pietatis profectus agricola, nuntio affectati a vespasiano imperii deprehensus ac statim in partes transgressus est. initia principatus ac statim urbis mucianus regebat, juvene admodum domitiano et ex paterna fortuna tantum licentiam usurpante. is missum ad delectus agendos agricolam integreque ac strenue versatum, vicesimae legioni, tarde ad sacramentum transgressae; praeposuit, ubi decessor seditiose agere narrabatur: quippe legatis quoque consularibus nimia ac formidolosa erat. nec legatus praetorius ad cohibendum potens, incertum, suo an militum ingenio: ita successor simul et ultor electus, rarissima moderatione maluit videri invenisse bonos, quam fecisse. viii. praeerat tunc britanniae vettius bolanus placidius, quam feroci provincia dignum est: temperavit agricola vim suam ardoremque compescuit, ne incresceret; peritus obsequi eruditusque utilia honestis miscere. brevi deinde britannia consularem petilium cerialem accepit. habuerunt virtutes spatium exemplorum. sed primo cerialis labores modo et discrimina, mox et gloriam communicabat: saepe parti exercitus in experimentum, aliquando majoribus copiis ex eventu praefecit: nec agricola unquam in suam famam gestis exsultavit; ad auctorem et ducem, ut minister, fortunam referebat: ita virtute in obsequendo, verecundia in praedicando, extra invidiam, nec extra gloriam erat. ix. revertentem ab legatione legionis divus vespasianus inter patricios ascivit, ac deinde provinciae aquitaniae praeposuit, splendidae in primis dignitatis, administratione ac spe consulatus, cui destinarat. credunt plerique militaribus ingeniis subtilitatem deesse, quia castrensis jurisdictio secura et obtusior ac plura manu agens calliditatem fori non exerceat. agricola naturali prudentia, quamvis inter togatos, facile justeque agebat. jam vero tempora curarum remissionumque divisa: ubi conventus ac judicia poscerent, gravis, intentus, severus, et saepius misericors; ubi officio satisfactum, nulla ultra potestatis persona: tristitiam et arrogantiam et avaritiam exuerat: nec illi, quod est rarissimum, aut facilitas auctoritatem aut severitas amorem deminuit. integritatem atque abstinentiam in tanto viro referre, injuria virtutum fuerit. ne famam quidem, cui etiam saepe boni indulgent, ostentanda virtute, aut per artem quaesivit: procul ab aemulatione adversus collegas, procul a contentione adversus procuratores, et vincere inglorium, et atteri sordidum arbitrabatur. minus triennium in ea legatione detentus ac statim ad spem consulatus revocatus est, comitante opinione britanniam ei provinciam dari nullis in hoc suis sermonibus sed quia par videbatur. haud semper errat fama, aliquando et elegit. consul egregiae tum spei filiam juveni mihi despondit ac post consulatum collocavit, et statim britanniae praepositus est, adjecto pontificatus sacerdotio. x. britanniae situm populosque, multis scriptoribus memoratos non in comparationem curae ingeniive referam; sed quia tum primum perdomita est. ita quae priores nondum comperta eloquentia percoluere, rerum fide tradentur. britannia, insularum quas romana notitia complectitur, maxima, spatio ac coelo in orientem germaniae, in occidentem hispaniae obtenditur: gallis in meridiem etiam inspicitur: septemtrionalia ejus, nullis contra terris, vasto atque aperto mari pulsantur. formam totius britanniae livius veterum, fabius rusticus recentium eloquentissimi auctores, oblongae scutulae vel bipenni assimulavere: et est ea facies citra caledoniam, unde et in universum fama est transgressa: sed immensunt et enorme spatium procurrentium extremo jam littore terrarum, velut in cuneum tenuatur. hanc oram novissimi maris tunc primum romana classis circumvecta insulam esse britanniam affirmavit, ac simul incognitas ad id tempus insulas, quas orcadas vocant, invenit domuitque. dispecta est et thule, nam hactenus jussum, et hiems appetebat; sed mare pigrum et grave remigantibus; perhibent ne ventis quidem perinde attolli: credo, quod rariores terrae montesque, causa ac materia tempestatum, et profunda moles continui maris tardius impellitur. naturam oceani atque aestus neque quaerere hujus operis est, ac multi retulere; unum addiderim: nusquam latius dominari mare, multum fluminum huc atque illuc ferre, nec littore tenus accrescere aut resorberi, sed influere penitus atque ambire, et jugis etiam atque montibus inseri velut in suo. xi. ceterum britanniam qui mortales initio coluerint, indigenae an advecti, ut inter barbaros, parum compertum. habitus corporum varii: atque ex eo argumenta; namque rutilae caledoniam habitantium comae, magni artus, germanicam originem asseverant. silurum colorati vultus et torti plerumque crines et posita contra hispania iberos veteres trajecisse easque sedes occupasse fidem faciunt. proximi gallis et similes sunt; seu durante originis vi, seu, procurrentibus in diversa terris, positio coeli corporibus habitum dedit: in universum tamen aestimanti, gallos vicinam insulam occupasse credibile est. eorum sacra deprehendas superstitionum persuasione: sermo haud multum diversus; in deposcendis periculis eadem audacia et, ubi advenere, in detrectandis eadem formido. plus tamen ferociae britanni praeferunt, ut quos nondum longa pax emollierit: nam gallos quoque in bellis floruisse accepimus: mox segnitia cum otio intravit, amissa virtute pariter ac libertate; quod britannorum olim victis evenit: ceteri manent, quales galli fuerunt. xii. in pedite robur: quaedam nationes et curru proeliantur: honestior auriga, clientes propugnant. olim regibus parebant, nunc per principes factionibus et studiis trahuntur: nec aliud adversus validissimas gentes pro nobis utilius, quam quod in commune non consulunt. rarus duabus tribusve civitatibus ad propulsandum commune periculum conventus: ita, dum singuli pugnant, universi vincuntur. coelum crebris imbribus ac nebulis foedum: asperitas frigorum abest. dierum spatia ultra nostri orbis mensuram, et nox clara et extrema britanniae parte brevis, ut finem atque initium lucis exiguo discrimine internoscas. quod si nubes non officiant, aspici per noctem solis fulgorem, nec occidere et exsurgere, sed transire affirmant. scilicet extrema et plana terrarum, humili umbra, non erigunt tenebras, infraque coelum et sidera nox cadit. solum, praeter oleam vitemque et cetera calidioribus terris oriri sueta, patiens frugum, fecundum. tarde mitescunt, cito proveniunt: eadem utriusque rei causa, multus humor terrarum coelique. fert britannia aurum et argentum et alia metalla, pretium victoriae: gignit et oceanus margarita, sed subfusca ac liventia. quidam artem abesse legentibus arbitrantur: nam in rubro mari viva ac spirantia saxis avelli, in britannia, prout expulsa sint, colligi: ego facilius crediderim naturam margaritis deesse, quam nobis avaritiam. xiii. ipsi britanni delectum ac tributa et injuncta imperii munera impigre obeunt, si injuriae absint: has aegre tolerant, jam domiti ut pareant, nondum ut serviant. igitur primus omnium romanorum divus julius cum exercitu britanniam ingressus, quanquam prospera pugna terruerit incolas ac littore potitus sit, potest videri ostendisse posteris, non tradidisse. mox bella civilia et in rempublicam versa principum arma, ac longa oblivio britanniae etiam in pace. consilium id divus augustus vocabat, tiberius praeceptum. agitasse c. caesarem de intranda britannia satis, constat, ni velox ingenio, mobilis poenitentiae, et ingentes adversus germaniam conatus frustra fuissent. divus claudius auctor operis, transvectis legionibus auxiliisque et assumpto in partem rerum vespasiano: quod initium venturae mox fortunae fuit: domitae gentes, capti reges, et monstratus fatis vespasianus. xiv. consularium primus aulus plautius praepositus, ac subinde ostorius scapula, uterque bello egregius: redactaque paulatim in formam provinciae proxima pars britanniae: addita insuper veteranorum colonia: quaedam civitates cogiduno regi donatae (is id nostram usque memoriam fidissimus mansit) ut vetere ac jam pridem recepta populi romani consuetudine, haberet instrumenta servitutis et reges. mox didius gallus parta a prioribus continuit, paucis admodum castellis in ulteriora promotis, per quae fama aucti officii quaereretur. didium veranius excepit, isque intra annum exstinctus est. suetonius hinc paullinus biennio prosperas res habuit, subactis nationibus firmatisque praesidiis: quorum fiducia monara insulam, ut vires rebellibus ministrantem, aggressus, terga occasioni patefecit. xv. namque absentia legati remoto metu, britanni agitare inter se mala servitutis, conferre injurias et interpretando accendere: nihil profici patientia, nisi ut graviora, tanquam ex facili toleratibus, imperentur: singulos sibi olim reges fuisse, nunc binos imponi: e quibus legatus in sanguinem, procurator in bona saeviret. aeque discordiam praepositorum, aeque concordiam, subjectis exitiosam: alterius manus centuriones, alterius servos vim et contumelias miscere. nihil jam cupiditati, nihil libidini exceptum: in proelio fortiorem esse, qui spoliet; nunc ab ignavis plerumque et imbellibus eripi domos, abstrahi liberos, injungi delectus, tanquam mori tantum pro patria nescientibus: quantulum enim transisse militum, si sese britanni numerent? sic germanias excussisse jugum: et flumine, non oceano, defendi: sibi patriam, conjuges, parentes, illis avaritiam et luxuriam causas belli esse. recessuros, ut divus julius recessisset, modo virtutes majorum suorum aemularentur. neve proelii unius aut alterius eventu pavescerent: plus impetus, majorem constantiam, penes miseros esse. jam britannorum etiam deos misereri, qui romanum ducem absentem, qui relegatum in alia insula exercitum detinerent: jam ipsos, quod difficillimum fuerit, deliberare: porro in ejusmodi consiliis periculosius esse deprehendi, quam audere. xvi. his atque talibus invicem instincti, boudicea, generis regii femina, duce (neque enim sexum in imperiis discernunt) sumpsere universi bellum: ac sparsos per castella milites consectati, expugnatis praesidiis, ipsam coloniam invasere, ut sedem servitutis: nec ullum in barbaris saevitiae genus omisit ira et victoria. quod nisi paullinus, cognito provinciae motu, propere subvenisset, amissa britannia foret: quam unius proelii fortuna veteri patientiae restituit, tenentibus arma plerisque, quos conscientia defectionis et propius ex legato timor agitabat, ne, quanquam egregius cetera, arroganter in deditos et, ut suae quoque injuriae ultor, durius consuleret. missus igitur petronius turpilianus, tanquam exorabilior: et delictis hostium novus, eoque poenitentiae mitior, compositis prioribus, nihil ultra ausus, trebellio maximo provinciam tradidit. trebellius segnior, et nullis castrorum experimentis, comitate quadam curandi provinciam tenuit. didicere jam barbari quoque ignoscere vitiis blandientibus: et interventus civilium armorum praebuit justam segnitiae excusationem: sed discordia laboratum, cum assuetus expeditionibus miles otio lasciviret. trebellius fuga ac latebris vitata exercitus ira, indecorus atque humilis, precario mox praefuit: ac velut pacti, exercitus licentiam, dux salutem; et seditio sine sanguina stetit. nec vettius bolanus, manentibus adhuc civilibus bellis, agitavit britanniam disciplina: eadem inertia erga hostes, similis petulantia castrorum: nisi quod innocens bolanus et nullis delictis invisus, caritatem paraverat loco auctoritatis. xvii. sed, ubi cum cetero orbe vespasianus et britanniam recuperavit, magni duces, egregii exercitus, minuta hostium spes. et terrorem statira intulit petilius cerialis, brigantum civitatem, quae numerosissima provinciae totius perhibetur, aggressus. multa proelia, et aliquando non incruenta magnamque brigantum partem aut victoria amplexus est aut bello. et, cum cerialis quidem alterius successoris curam famamque obruisset, sustinuit quoque molem julius frontinus, vir magnus quantum licebat, validamque et pugnacem silurum gentem armis subegit, super virtutem hostium, locorum quoque difficultates eluctatus. xviii. hunc britanniae statum, has bellorum vices media jam aestate transgressus agricola invenit, cum et milites, velut omissa expeditione, ad securitatem, et hostes ad occasionem verterentur. ordovicum civitas, haud multo ante adventum ejus, alam, in finibus suis agentem, prope universam obtriverat eoque initio erecta provincia: et, quibus bellum volentibus erat, probare exemplum, ac recentis legati animum opperiri, cum agricola, quanquam transvecta aestas, sparsi per provinciam numeri, praesumpta apud militem illius anni quies, tarda et contraria bellum inchoaturo, et plerisque custodiri suspecta potius videbatur, ire obviam discrimini statuit: contractisque legionum vexillis et modica auxiliorum manu, quia in aequum degredi ordovices non audebant, ipse ante agmen, quo ceteris par animus simili periculo esset, erexit aciem: caesaque prope universa gente, non ignarus instandum famae, ac, prout prima cessissent, terrorem ceteris fore, monam insulam, cujus possessione revocatum paullinum rebellione totius britanniae supra memoravi, redigere in potestatem animo intendit. sed, ut in dubiis consiliis, naves deerant: ratio et constantia ducis transvexit. depositis omnibus sarcinis, lectissimos auxiliarium, quibus nota vada et patrius nandi usus, quo simul seque et arma et equos regunt, ita repente immisit, ut obstupefacti hostes, qui classem, qui naves, qui mare expectabant, nihil arduum aut invictum crediderint sic ad bellum venientibus. ita petita pace ac dedita insula, clarus ac magnus haberi agricola: quippe cui ingredienti provinciam, quod tempus alii per ostentationem aut officiorum ambitum transigunt, labor et periculum placuisset. nec agricola, prosperitate rerum in vanitatem usus, expeditionem aut victoriam vocabat victos continuisse: ne laureatis quidem gesta prosecutus est: sed ipsa dissimulatione famae famam auxit, aestimantibus, quanta futuri spe tam magna tacuisset. xix. ceterum animorum provinciae prudens, simulque doctus per aliena experimenta parum profici armis, si injuriae sequerentur, causas bellorum statuit excidere. a se suisque orsus, primum domum suam coercuit; quod plerisque haud minus arduum est, quam provinciam regere. nihil per libertos servosque publicae rei: non studiis privatis nec ex commendatione aut precibus centurionum milites ascire, sed optimum quemque fidissimum putare: omnia scire, non omnia exsequi: parvis peccatis veniam, magnis severitatem commodare: nec poena semper, sed saepius poenitentia contentus esse: officiis et administrationibus potius non peccaturos praeponere, quam damnare, cum peccassent. frumenti et tributorum auctionem aequalitate munerum mollire, circumcisis, quae, in quaestum reperta, ipso tributo gravius tolerabantur: namque per ludibrium assidere clausis horreis et emere ultro frumenta, ac vendere pretio cogebantur: devortia itinerum et longinquitas regionum indicebatur, ut civitates a proximis hibernis in remota et avia referrent, donec, quod omnibus in promptu erat, paucis lucrosum fieret. xx. haec primo statim anno comprimendo, egregiam famam paci circumdedit; quae vel incuria vel intolerantia priorum haud minus quam bellum timebatur. sed, ubi aestas advenit, contracto exercitu, multus in agmine laudare modestiam, disjectos coercere: loca castris ipse capere, aestuaria ac silvas ipse praetentare; et nihil interim apud hostes quietum pati, quo minus subitis excursibus popularetur: atque, ubi satis terruerat, parcendo rursus irritamenta pacis ostentare. quibus rebus multae civitates, quae in illum diem ex aequo egerant, datis obsidibus, iram posuere, et praesidiis castellisque circumdatae tanta ratione curaque, ut nulla ante britanniae nova pars illacessita transierit. xxi. sequens hiems saluberrimis consiliis absumpta: namque, ut homines dispersi ac rudes, eoque in bella faciles, quieti et otio per voluptates assuescerent, hortari privatim, adjuvare publice, ut templa, fora, domus exstruerent, laudando promptos et castigando segnes: ita honoris aemulatio pro necessitate erat. jam vero principum filios liberalibus artibus erudire, et ingenia britannorum studiis gallorum anteferre, ut, qui modo linguam romanam abnuebant, eloquentiam concupiscerent. inde etiam habitus nostri honor et frequens toga: paulatimque discessum ad delenimenta vitiorum, porticus et balnea et conviviorum elegantiam: idque apud imperitos humanitas vocabatur, cum pars servitutis esset. xxii. tertius expeditionum annus novas gentes aperuit, vastatis usque ad taum (aestuario nomen est) nationibus: qua formidine territi hostes quanquam conflictatum saevis tempestatibus exercitum lacessere non ausi; ponendisque insuper castellis spatium fuit. annotabant periti non alium ducem opportunitates locorum sapientius legisse: nullum ab agricola positum castellum aut vi hostium expugnatum aut pactione ac fuga desertum. crebrae eruptiones: nam adversus moras obsidionis annuis copiis firmabantur: ita intrepida ibi hiems, et sibi quisque praesidio, irritis hostibus eoque desperantibus, quia soliti plerumque damna aestatis hibernis eventibus pensare, tum aestate atque hieme juxta pellebantur. nec agricola unquam per alios gesta avidus intercepit: seu centurio seu praefectus, incorruptum facti testem habebat. apud quosdam acerbior in conviciis narrabatur; ut erat comis bonis, adversus malos injucundus: ceterum ex iracundia nihil supererat; secretum et silentium ejus non timeres: honestius putabat offendere, quam odisse. xxiii. quarta aestas obtinendis, quae percurrerat, insumpta: ac, si virtus exercituum et romani nominis gloria pateretur, inventus in ipsa britannia terminus. nam clota et bodotria, diversi maris aestibus per immensum revectae, angusto terrarum spatio dirimuntur: quod tum praesidiis firmabatur: atque omnis propior sinus tenebatur, summotis velut in aliam insulam hostibus. xxiv. quinto expeditionum anno, nave prima transgressus, ignotas ad id tempus gentes crebris simul ac prosperis proeliis domuit: eamque partem britanniae, quae hiberniam aspicit, copiis instruxit in spem magis quam ob formidinem; si quidem hibernia, medio inter britanniam atque hispaniam sita et gallico quoque mari opportuna, valentissimam imperii partem magnis invicem usibus miscuerit. spatium ejus, si britanniae comparetur, angustius, nostri maris insulas superat. solum coelumque et ingenia cultusque hominum haud multum a britannia differunt: in melius aditus portusque per commercia et negotiatores cogniti. agricola expulsum seditione domestica unum ex regulis gentis exceperat ac specie amicitiae in occasionem retinebat. saepe ex eo audivi, legione una et modicis auxiliis debellari obtinerique hiberniam posse. idque etiam adversus britanniam profuturum, si romana ubique arma, et velut e conspectu libertas tolleretur. xxv. ceterum aestate, qua sextum officii annum inchoabat, amplexus civitates trans bodotriam sitas, quia motus universarum ultra gentium et infesta hostilis exercitus itinera timebantur, portus classe exploravit: quae, ab agricola primum assumpta in partem virium, sequebatur egregia specie, cum simul terra, simul mari bellum impelleretur, ac saepe iisdem castris pedes equesque et nauticus miles, mixti copiis et laetitia, sua quisque facta, suos casus attollerent: ac modo silvarum ac montium profunda, modo tempestatum ac fluctuum adversa, hinc terra et hostis, hinc victus oceanus militari jactantia compararentur. britannos quoque, ut ex captivis audiebatur, visa classis obstupefaciebat, tanquam, aperto maris sui secreto, ultimum victis perfugium clauderetur. ad manus et arma conversi caledoniam incolentes populi, paratu magno, majore fama, uti mos est de ignotis, oppugnasse ultro, castella adorti, metum, ut provocantes, addiderant: regrediendumque citra bodotriam, et excedendum potius, quam pellerentur, specie prudentium ignavi admonebant: cum interim cognoscit hostes pluribus agminibus irrupturos. ac, ne superante numero et peritia locorum circumiretur, diviso et ipse in tres partes exercitu incessit. xxvi. quod ubi cognitum hosti, mutato repente consilio, universi nonam legionem, ut maxime invalidam, nocte aggressi, inter somnum ac trepidationem caesis vigilibus, irrupere. jamque in ipsis castris pugnabant, cum agricola, iter hostium ab exploratoribus edoctus et vestigiis insecutus, velocissimos equitum peditumque assultare tergis pugnantium jubet, mox ab universis adjici clamorem; et propinqua luce fulsere signa: ita ancipiti malo territi britanni: et romanis redit animus, ac, securi pro salute, de gloria certabant. ultro quin etiam erupere: et fuit atrox in ipsia portarum angustiis proelium, donec pulsi hostes; utroque exercitu certante, his, ut tulisse opem, illis, ne eguisse auxilio viderentur. quod nisi paludes et silvae fugientes texissent, debellatum illa victoria foret. xxvii. cujus conscientia ac fama ferox exercitus nihil virtuti suae invium: penetrandam caledoniam, inveniendumque tandem britanniae terminum continuo proeliorum cursu, fremebant: atque illi modo cauti ac sapientes, prompti post eventum ac magniloqui erant. iniquissima haec bellorum conditio est: prospera omnes sibi vindicant, adversa uni imputantur. at britanni non virtute, sed occasione et arte ducis rati, nihil ex arrogantia remittere, quo minus juventutem armarent, conjuges ac liberos in loca tuta transferrent, coetibus ac sacrificiis conspirationem civitatum sancirent: atque ita irritatis utrimque animis discessum. xxviii. eadem aestate cohors usipiorum, per germanias conscripta, in britanniam transmissa, magnum ac memorabile facinus ausa est. occiso centurione ac militibus, qui ad tradendam disciplinam immixti manipulis exemplum et rectores habebantur, tres liburnicas, adactis per vim gubernatoribus, ascendere: et uno remigante, suspectis duobus eoque interfectis, nondum vulgato rumore ut miraculum praevehebantur: mox hac atque illa rapti, et cum plerisque britannorum, sua defensantium, proelio congressi, ac saepe victores, aliquando pulsi, eo ad extremum inopiae venere, ut infirmissimos suorum, mox sorte ductos, vescerentur. atque circumvecti britanniam, amissis per inscitiam regendi navibus, pro praedonibus habiti, primum a suevis, mox a frisiis intercepti sunt: ac fuere, quos per commercia venumdatos et in nostram usque ripam mutatione ementium adductos, indicium tanti casus illustravit. xxix. initio aestatis agricola, domestico vulnere ictus, anno ante natum filum amisit. quem casum neque, ut plerique fortium virorum, ambitiose, neque per lamenta rursus ac moerorem muliebriter tulit: et in luctu bellum inter remedia erat. igitur praemissa classe, quae pluribus locis praedata, magnum et incertum terrorem faceret, expedito exercitu, cui ex britannis fortissimos et longa pace exploratos addiderat, ad montem grampium pervenit, quem jam hostis insederat. nam britanni, nihil fracti pugnae prioris eventu, et ultionem aut servitium exspectantes, tandemque docti commune periculum concordia propulsandum, legationibus et foederibus omnium civitatum vires exciverant. jamque super triginta millia armatorum aspiciebantur, et adhuc affluebat omnis juventus et quibus cruda ac viridis senectus, clari bello et sua quisque decora gestantes: cum inter plures duces virtute et genere praestans, nomine calgacus, apud contractam multitudinem proelium poscentem, in hunc modum locutus fertur: xxx. "quotiens causas belli et necessitatem nostram intueor, magnus mihi animus est hodiernum diem consensumque vestrum initium libertatis totius britanniae fore. nam et universi servitutis expertes, et nullae ultra terrae, ac ne mare quidem securum, imminente nobis classe romana: ita proelium atque arma, quae fortibus honesta, eadem etiam ignavis tutissima sunt. priores pugnae, quibus adversus romanos varia fortuna certatum est, spem ac subsidium in nostris manibus habebant: quia nobilissimi totius britanniae eoque in ipsis penetralibus siti, nec servientium littora aspicientes, oculos quoque a contactu dominationis inviolatos habebamus. nos terrarum ac libertatis extremos, recessus ipse ac sinus famae in hunc diem defendit: nunc terminus britanniae patet; atque omne ignotum pro magnifico est. sed nulla jam ultra gens, nihil nisi fluctus et saxa, et infestiores romani: quorum superbiam frustra per obsequium et modestiam effugeris. raptores orbis, postquam cuncta vastantibus defuere terrae, et mare scrutantur: si locuples hostis est, avari; si pauper, ambitiosi: quos non oriens, non occidens, satiaverit. soli omnium opes atque inopiam pari affectu concupiscunt. auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant." xxxi. "liberos cuique ac propinquos suos natura carissimos esse voluit; hi per delectus, alibi servituri, auferuntur conjuges sororesque, etsi hostilem libidinem effugiant, nomine amicorum atque hospitum polluuntur. bona fortunasque in tributum egerunt, annos in frumentum: corpora ipsa ac manus silvis ac paludibus emuniendis inter verbera ac contumelias conterunt. nata servituti mancipia semel veneunt, atque ultro a dominis aluntur: britannia servitutem suam quotidie emit, quotidie pascit. ac, sicut in familia recentissimus quisque servorum et conservis ludibrio est, sic in hoc orbis terrarum vetere famulatu novi nos et viles in excidium petimur. neque enim arva nobis aut metalla aut portus sunt, quibus exercendis reservemur. virtus porro ac ferocia subjectorum ingrata imperantibus: et longinquitas ac secretum ipsum quo tutius, eo suspectius. ita, sublata spe veniae, tandem sumite animum, tam quibus salus, quam quibus gloria carissima est. trinobantes, femina duce, exurere coloniam, expugnare castra, ac, nisi felicitas in socordiam vertisset, exuere jugum potuere: nos integri et indomiti et libertatem non in poenitentiam laturi, primo statim congressu nonne ostendamus, quos sibi caledonia viros seposuerit? an eandem romanis in bello virtutem, quam in pace lasciviam adesse creditis?" xxxii. "nostris illi dissensionibus ac discordiis clari, vitia hostium in gloriam exercitus sui vertunt: quem contractum ex diversissimis gentibus, ut secundae res tenent, ita adversae dissolvent: nisi si gallos et germanos et (pudet dictu) britannorum plerosque, licet dominationi alienae sanguinem commodent, diutius tamen hostes quam servos, fide et affectu teneri putatis: metus et terror est, infirma vincula caritatis quae ubi removeris, qui timere desierint, odisse incipient. omnia victoriae incitamenta pro nobis sunt: nullae romanos conjuges accendunt; nulli parentes fugam exprobraturi sunt; aut nulla plerisque patria, aut alia est. paucos numero, trepidos ignorantia, coelum ipsum ac mare et silvas, ignota omnia circumspectantes, clausos quodammodo ac vinctos dii nobis tradiderunt. ne terreat vanus aspectus et auri fulgor atque argenti, quod neque tegit neque vulnerat. in ipsa hostium acie inveniemus nostras manus: agnoscent britanni suam causam: recordabuntur galli priorem libertatem: deserent illos ceteri germani, tanquam nuper usipii reliquerunt. nec quidquam ultra formidinis: vacua castella, senum coloniae, inter male parentes et injuste imperantes aegra municipia et discordantia: hic dux, hic exercitus: ibi tributa et metalla et ceterae servientium poenae: quas in aeternum perferre aut statim ulcisci in hoc campo est. proinde ituri in aciem et majores vestros et posteros cogitate." xxxiii. excepere orationem alacres, ut barbaris moris, cantu et fremitu clamoribusque dissonis. jam que agmina, et armorum fulgores audentissimi cujusque procursu: simul instruebantur acies: cum agricola, quanquam laetum et vix munimentis coercitum militem adhortatus, ita disseruit: "octavus annus est, commilitones, ex quo virtute et auspiciis imperii romani fide atque opera vestra britanniam vicistis: tot expeditionibus, tot proeliis, seu fortitudine adversus hostes seu patientia ac labore paene adversus ipsam rerum naturam opus fuit, neque me militum neque vos ducis poenituit. ergo egressi, ego veterum legatorum, vos priorum exercituum terminos, finem britanniae non fama nec rumore, sed castris et armis tenemus. inventa britannia et subacta. equidem saepe in agmine, cum vos paludes montesve et flumina fatigarent, fortissimi cujusque voces audiebam, quando dabitur hostis, quando acies? veniunt, e latebris suis extrusi: et vota virtusque in aperto, omniaque prona victoribus, atque eadem victis adversa. nam, ut superasse tantum itineris, silvas evasisse, transisse aestuaria pulchrum ac decorum in frontem; ita fugientibus periculosissima, quae hodie prosperrima sunt. neque enim nobis aut locorum eadem notitia aut commeatuum eadem abundantia: sed manus et arma et in his omnia. quod ad me attinet, jam pridem mihi decretum est, neque exercitus neque ducis terga tuta esse. proinde et honesta mors turpi vita potior; et incolumitas ac decus eodem loco sita sunt: nec inglorium fuerit, in ipso terrarum ac naturae fine cecidisse." xxxiv. "si novae gentes atque ignota acies constitisset, aliorum exercituum exemplis vos hortarer: nunc vestra decora recensete, vestros oculos interrogate. ii sunt, quos proximo anno, unam legionem furto noctis aggressos, clamore debellastis: ii ceterorum britannorum fugacissimi, ideoque tam diu superstites. quomodo silvas saltusque penetrantibus fortissimum quodque animal contra ruere, pavida et inertia ipso agminis sono pelluntur, sic acerrimi britannorum jam pridem ceciderunt: reliquus est numerus ignavorum et metuentium, quos quod tandem invenistis, non restiterunt, sed deprehensi sunt: novissimae res et extremo metu corpora defixere aciem in his vestigiis, in quibus pulchram et spectabilem victoriam ederetis. transigite cum expeditionibus: imponite quinquaginta annis magnum diem: approbate reipublicae nunquam exercitui imputari potuisse aut moras belli aut causas rebellandi." xxxv. et alloquente adhuc agricola, militum ardor eminebat, et finem orationis ingens alacritas consecuta est, statimque ad arma discursum. instinctos ruentesque ita disposuit, ut peditum auxilia, quae octo millia erant, mediam aciem firmarent, equitum tria millia cornibus affunderentur: legiones pro vallo stetere, ingens victoriae decus citra romanum sanguinem bellanti, et auxilium, si pellerentur. britannorum acies, in speciem simul ac terrorem, editioribus locis constiterat ita, ut primum agmen aequo, ceteri per acclive jugum connexi velut insurgerent: media campi covinarius et eques strepitu ac discursu complebat. tum agricola superante hostium multitudine veritus, ne simul in frontem, simul et latera suorum pugnaretur, diductis ordinibus, quanquam porrectior acies futura erat et arcessendas plerique legiones admonebant, promptior in spem et firmus adversis, dimisso equo pedes ante vexilla constitit. xxxvi. ac primo congressu eminus certabatur simul constantia, simul arte britanni ingentibus gladiis et brevibus cetris missilia nostrorum vitare vel excutere, atque ipsi magnam vim telorum superfundere: donec agricola batavorum cohortes ac tungrorum duas cohortatus est, ut rem ad mucrones ac manus adducerent: quod et ipsis vetustate militiae exercitatum, et hostibus inhabile parva scuta et enormes gladios gerentibus: nam britannorum gladii sine mucrone complexum armorum et in aperto pugnam non tolerabant. igitur, ut batavi miscere ictus, ferire umbonibus, ora foedare, et stratis qui in aequo obstiterant, erigere in colles aciem coepere, ceterae cohortes, aemulatione et impetu commistae, proximos quosque caedere; ac plerique semineces aut integri festinatione victoriae relinquebantur. interim equitum turmae fugere, covinarii peditum se proelio miscuere: et, quanquam recentem terrorem intulerant, densis tamen hostium agminibus et inaequalibus locis haerebant: minimeque equestris ea pugnae facies erat, cum aegre diu stantes simul equorum corporibus impellerentur, ac saepe vagi currus, exterriti sine rectoribus equi, ut quemque formido tulerat, transversos aut obvios incursabant. xxxvii. et britanni, qui adhuc pugnae expertes summa collium insederant et paucitatem nostrorum vacui spernebant, degredi paulatim et circumire terga vincentium coeperant: ni id ipsum veritus agricola, quatuor equitum alas, ad subita belli retentas, venientibus opposuisset, quantoque ferocius accurrerant, tanto acrius pulsos in fugam disjecisset. ita consilium britannorum in ipsos versum: transvectaeque praecepto ducis a fronte pugnantium alae, aversam hostium aciem invasere. tum vero patentibus locis grande et atrox spectaculum: sequi, vulnerare, capere atque eosdem, oblatis aliis, trucidare. jam hostium, prout cuique ingenium erat, catervae armatorum paucioribus terga praestare, quidam inermes ultro ruere ac se morti offerre; passim arma et corpora et laceri artus et cruenta humus: et aliquando etiam victis ira virtusque; postquam silvis appropinquarunt, collecti primos sequentium incautos et locorum ignaros circumveniebant. quod ni frequens ubique agricola validas et expeditas cohortes indaginis modo, et, sicubi arctiora erant, partem equitum dimissis equis, simul rariores silvas equitem persultare jussisset, acceptum aliquod vulnus per nimiam fiduciam foret. ceterum, ubi compositos firmis ordinibus sequi rursus videre, in fugam versi, non agminibus, ut prius, nec alius alium respectantes, rari et vitabundi invicem, longinqua atque avia petiere. finis sequendi nox et satietas fuit: caesa hostium ad decem millia: nostrorum trecenti sexaginta cecidere: in quis aulus atticus praefectus cohortis, juvenili ardore et ferocia equi hostibus illatus. xxxviii. et nox quidem gaudio praedaque laeta victoribus: britanni palantes, mixtoque virorum mulierumque ploratu, trahere vulneratos, vocare integros, deserere domos ac per iram ultro incendere: eligere latebras et statim relinquere: miscere invicem consilia aliqua, dein separare: aliquando frangi aspectu pignorum suorum, saepius concitari: satisque constabat, saevisse quosdam in conjuges ac liberos, tanquam misererentur. proximus dies faciem victoriae latius aperuit: vastum ubique silentium, secreti colles, fumantia procul tecta, nemo exploratoribus obvius: quibus in omnem partem dimissis, ubi incerta fugae vestigia neque usquam conglobari hostes compertum et exacta jam aestate spargi bellum nequibat, in fines horestorum exercitum deducit. ibi acceptis obsidibus, praefecto classis circumvehi britanniam praecepit. datae ad id vires, et praecesserat terror. ipse peditem atque equites lento itinere, quo novarum gentium animi ipsa transitus mora terrerentur, in hibernis locavit. et simul classis secunda tempestate ac fama trutulensem portum tenuit, unde proximo latere britanniae lecto omni redierat. xxxix. hunc rerum cursum, quanquam nulla verborum jactantia epistolis agricolae actum, ut domitiano moris erat, fronte laetus, pectore anxius excepit. inerat conscientia derisui fuisse nuper falsum e germania triumphum, emptis per commercia, quorum habitus et crines in captivorum speciem formarentur: at nunc veram magnamque victoriam, tot millibus hostium caesis, ingenti fama celebrari. id sibi maxime formidolosum, privati hominis nomen supra principis attolli: frustra studia fori et civilium artium decus in silentium acta, si militarem gloriam alius occuparet: et cetera utcumque facilius dissimulari: ducis boni imperatoriam virtutem esse. talibus curis exercitus, quodque saevae cogitationis indicium erat, secreto suo satiatus, optimum in praesentia statuit reponere odium, donec impetus famae et favor exercitus languesceret: nam etiam tum agricola britanniam obtinebat. xl. igitur triumphalia ornamenta et illustris statuae honorem et quidquid pro triumpho datur, multo verborum honore cumulata, decerni in senatu jubet; addique insuper opinionem, syriam provinciam agricolae destinari, vacuam tum morte atilii rufi consularis et majoribus reservatam. credidere plerique libertum ex secretioribus ministeriis missum ad agricolam codicillos, quibus ei syria dabatur, tulisse cum praecepto, ut, si in britannia foret, traderentur: eumque libertum in ipso freto oceani obvium agricolae, ne appellato quidem eo, ad domitianum remeasse: sive verum istud, sive ex ingenio principis fictum ac compositum est. tradiderat interim agricola successori suo provinciam quietam tutamque. ac, ne notabilis celebritate et frequentia occurrentium introitus esset, vitato amicorum officio, noctu in urbem, noctu in palatium, ita ut praeceptum erat, venit: exceptusque brevi osculo et nullo sermone turbae servientium immixtus est. ceterum, ut militare nomen, grave inter otiosos, aliis virtutibus temperaret, tranquillitatem atque otium penitus auxit, cultu modicus, sermone facilis, uno aut altero amicorum comitatus; adeo ut plerique quibus magnos viros per ambitionem aestimare mos est, viso aspectoque agricola, quaererent famam, pauci interpretarentur. xli. crebro per eos dies apud domitianum absens accusatus, absens absolutus est. causa periculi non crimen ullum aut querela laesi cujusquam, sed infensus virtutibus princeps et gloria viri ac pessimum inimicorum genus, laudantes. et ea insecuta sunt reipublicae tempora, quae sileri agricolam non sinerent: tot exercitus in moesia daciaque et germania pannoniaque, temeritate aut per ignaviam ducum amissi: tot militares viri cum tot cohortibus expugnati et capti: nec jam de limite imperii et ripa, sed de hibernis legionum et possessione dubitatum. ita, cum damna damnis continuarentur atque omnis annus funeribus et cladibus insigniretur, poscebatur ore vulgi dux agricola: comparantibus cunctis vigorem, constantiam et expertum bellis animum cum inertia et formidine ceterorum. quibus sermonibus satis constat domitiani quoque aures verberatas, dum optimus quisque libertorum amore et fide, pessimi malignitate et livore, pronum deterioribus principem exstimulabant. sic agricola simul suis virtutibus, simul vitiis aliorum, in ipsam gloriam praeceps agebatur. xlii. aderat jam annus, quo proconsulatum asiae et africae sortiretur, et occiso civica nuper nec agricolae consilium deerat, nec domitiano exemplum. accessere quidam cogitationum principis periti, qui, iturusne esset in provinciam, ultro agricolam interrogarent: ac primo occultius quietem et otium laudare, mox operam suam in approbanda excusatione offerre: postremo non jam obscuri, suadentes simul terrentesque, pertraxere ad domitianum; qui paratus simulatione, in arrogantiam compositus, et audiit preces excusantis, et, cum annuisset, agi sibi gratias passus est: nec erubuit beneficii invidia. salarium tamen, proconsulari solitum offerri et quibusdam a se ipso concessum, agricolae non dedit: sive offensus non petitum, sive ex conscientia, ne, quod vetuerat, videretur emisse. proprium humani ingenii est, odisse quem laeseris: domitiani vero natura praeceps in iram, et quo obscurior, eo irrevocabilior, moderatione tamen prudentiaque agricolae leniebatur: quia non contumacia neque inani jactatione libertatis famam fatumque provocabat. sciant. quibus moris illicita mirari, posse etiam sub malis principibus magnos viros esse: obsequiumque ac modestiam, si industria ac vigor adsint, eo laudis excedere, quo plerique per abrupta, sed in nullum reipublicae usum, ambitiosa morte inclaruerunt. xliii. finis vitae ejus nobis luctuosus, amicis tristis, extraneis etiam ignotisque non sine cura fuit. vulgus quoque et hic aliud agens populus et ventitavere ad domum, et per fora et circulos locuti sunt: nec quisquam audita morte agricolae aut laetatus est aut statim oblitus. augebat miserationem constans rumor, veneno interceptum. nobis nihil comperti affirmare ausim: ceterum per omnem valetudinem ejus, crebrius quam ex more principatus per nuntios visentis, et libertorum primi et medicorum intimi venere: sive cura illud sive inquisitio erat. supremo quidem die, momenta deficientis per dispositos cursores nuntiata constabat, nullo credente sic accelerari, quae tristis audiret. speciem tamen doloris animo vultuque prae se tulit, securus jam odii, et qui facilius dissimularet gaudium, quam metum. satis constabat, lecto testamento agricolae, quo cohaeredem optimae uxori et piissimae filiae domitianum scripsit, laetatum eum velut honore judicioque: tam caeca et corrupta mens assiduis adulationibus erat, ut nesciret a bono patre non scribi haeredem, nisi malum principem. xliv. natus erat agricola, caio caesare tertium consule, idibus juniis: excessit sexto et quinquagesimo anno, decimo kalendas septembris, collega priscoque consulibus. quod si habitum quoque ejus posteri noscere velint, decentior quam sublimior fuit; nihil metus in vultu, gratia oris supererat bonum virum facile crederes, magnum libenter. et ipse quidem, quanquam medio in spatio integrae aetatis ereptus, quantum ad gloriam, longissimum aevum peregit. quippe et vera bona, quae in virtutibus sita sunt, impleverat, et consulari ac triumphalibus ornamentis praedito, quid aliud adstruere fortuna poterat? opibus nimiis non gaudebat; speciosae contigerant. filia atque uxore superstitibus, potest videri etiam beatus; incolumi dignitate, florente fama, salvis affinitatibus et amicitiis, futura effugisse. nam sicuti durare in hac beatissimi saeculi luce ac principem trajanum videre, quod augurio votisque apud nostras aures ominabatur, ita festinatae mortis grande solatium tulit, evasisse postremum illud tempus, quo domitianus non jam per intervalla ac spiramenta temporum, sed continuo et velut uno ictu rempublicam exhausit. xlv. non vidit agricola obsessam curiam, et clausum armis senatum, et eadem strage tot consularium caedes, tot nobilissimarum feminarum exsilia et fugas. una adhuc victoria carus metius censebatur, et intra albanam arcem sententia messalini strepebat, et massa bebius jam tum reus erat. mox nostrae duxere helvidium in carcerem manus: nos maurici rusticique visus, nos innocenti sanguine senecio perfudit. nero tamen subtraxit oculos jussitque scelera, non spectavit: praecipua sub domitiano miseriarum pars erat videre et aspici: cum suspiria nostra subscriberentur; cum denotandis tot hominum palloribus sufficeret saevus ille vultus et rubor, quo se contra pudorem muniebat. tu vero felix, agricola, non vitae tantum claritate, sed etiam opportunitate mortis. ut perhibent qui interfuerunt novissimis sermonibus tuis, constans et libens fatum excepisti; tanquam pro virili portione innocentiam principi donares. sed mihi filiaeque ejus, praeter acerbitatem parentis erepti, auget moestitiam, quod assidere valetudini, fovere deficientem, satiari vultu, complexu, non contigit: excepissemus certe mandata vocesque, quas penitus animo figeremus. noster hic dolor, nostrum vulnus: nobis tam longae absentiae conditione ante quadriennium amissus est. omnia sine dubio, optime parentum, assidente amantissima uxore, superfuere honori tuo: paucioribus tamen lacrimis compositus es, et novissima in luce desideravere aliquid oculi tui. xlvi. si quis piorum manibus locus, si, ut sapientibus placet, non cum corpore exstinguuntur magnae animae, placide quiescas, nosque, domum tuam, ab infirmo desiderio et muliebribus lamentis ad contemplationem virtutum tuarum voces, quas neque lugeri neque plangi fas est: admiratione te potius, te immortalibus laudibus, et, si natura suppeditet, similitudine decoremus. is verus honos, ea conjunctissimi cujusque pietas. id filiae quoque uxorique praeceperim, sic patris, sic mariti memoriam venerari, ut omnia facta dictaque ejus secum revolvant, formamque ac figuram animi magis quam corporis complectantur: non quia intercedendum putem imaginibus, quae marmore aut aere finguntur; sed ut vultus hominum, ita simulacra vultus imbecilla ac mortalia sunt; forma mentis aeterna, quam tenere et exprimere non per alienam materiam et artem, sed tuis ipse moribus possis. quidquid ex agricola amavimus, quidquid mirati sumus, manet mansurumque est in animis hominum, in aeternitate temporum, fama rerum. nam multos veterum, velut inglorios, et ignobiles, oblivio obruet: agricola posteritati narratus et traditus superstes erit. notes table of abbreviations. several words, which occur most frequently in the notes, are abbreviated. of these the following classes may require explanation. the other abbreviations are either familiar or sufficiently obvious of themselves. . works of tacitus. a. agricola. ann. annals. g. germania. h. histories. t. tacitus. . annotators cited as authorities. br. brotier. d. or död. döderlein. dr. dronke. e. ernesti. gr. gruber. gün. günther. k. kiessling. ky. kingsley. mur. murphy. or. orelli. pass. passow. r. roth. rhen. rhenanus. rit. ritter. rup. ruperti. w. walch. wr. walther. . other authorities. h. harkness' latin grammar. beck. gall. becker's gallus. böt. lex. tac. bötticher's lexicon taciteun. for. and fac. forcellini and facciolati's latin lexicon. tur. his. ang. sax. turner's history of the anglo-saxons. z. zumpt's latin grammar. germania. the treatise de situ, moribus et populis germaniae, was written (as appears from the treatise itself see § ) in the second consulship of the emperor trajan, a.u.c. , a.d. . the design of the author in its publication has been variously interpreted. from the censure which it frequently passes upon the corruption and degeneracy of the times, it has been considered as a mere satire upon roman manners, in the age of tacitus. but to say nothing of the ill adaptation of the whole plan to a satirical work, there are large parts of the treatise, which must have been prepared with great labor, and yet can have no possible bearing on such a design. satires are not wont to abound in historical notices and geographical details, especially touching a foreign and distant land. the same objection lies against the _political_ ends, which have been imputed to the author, such as the persuading of trajan to engage, or _not_ to engage, in a war with the germans, as the most potent and dangerous enemy of rome. for both these aims have been alleged, and we might content ourselves with placing the one as an offset against the other. but aside from the neutralizing force of such contradictions, wherefore such an imposing array of geographical research, of historical lore, of political and moral philosophy, for the accomplishment of so simple a purpose? and why is the purpose so scrupulously concealed, that confessedly it can be gathered only from obscure intimations, and those of ambiguous import? besides, there are passages whose tendency must have been directly counter to either of these alleged aims (cf. note § ). the author does indeed, in the passage just cited, seem to appreciate with almost prophetic accuracy, those dangers to the roman empire, which were so fearfully illustrated in its subsequent fall beneath the power of the german tribes; and he utters, as what true roman would not in such forebodings, the warnings and the prayers of a patriot sage. but he does this only in episodes, which are so manifestly incidental, and yet arise so naturally out of the narrative or description, that it is truly surprising it should ever have occurred to any reader, to seek in them the key to the whole treatise. the entire warp and woof of the work is obviously _historical_ and _geographical_. the satire, the political maxims, the moral sentiments, and all the rest, are merely incidental, interwoven for the sake of instruction and embellishment, inwrought because a mind so thoughtful and so acute as that of tacitus, could not leave them out. tacitus had long been collecting the materials for his roman histories. in so doing, his attention was necessarily drawn often and with special interest to a people, who, for two centuries and more, had been the most formidable enemy of the roman state. in introducing them into his history, he would naturally wish to give some preliminary account of their origin, manners, and institutions, as he does in introducing the jews in the fifth book of his histories, which happens to be, in part, preserved. nor would it be strange, if he should, with this view, collect a mass of materials, which he could not incorporate entire into a work of such compass, and which any slight occasion might induce him to publish in a separate form, perhaps as a sort of forerunner to his histories. [it has even been argued by highly respectable scholars, that the germania of tacitus is itself only such a collection of materials, not published by the author, and never intended for publication in that form. but it is quite too methodical, too studied, and too finished a work to admit of that supposition (cf. prolegom. of k.).] such an occasion now was furnished in the campaigns and victories of trajan, who, at the time of his elevation to the imperial power, was at the head of the roman armies in germany, where he also remained for a year or more after his accession to the throne, till he had received the submission of the hostile tribes and wiped away the disgrace which the germans, beyond any other nation of that age, had brought upon the roman arms. such a people, at such a time, could not fail to be an object of deep interest at rome. this was the time when tacitus published his work on germany; and such are believed to have been the motives and the circumstances, which led to the undertaking. his grand object was not to point a satire or to compass a political end, but as he himself informs us (§ ), to treat of the origin and manners, the geography and history, of the german tribes. the same candor and sincerity, the same correctness and truthfulness, which characterize the histories, mark also the work on germany. the author certainly aimed to speak the truth, and nothing but the truth, on the subject of which he treats. moreover, he had abundant means of knowing the truth, on all the main points, in the character and history of the germans. it has even been argued from such expression as _vidimus_ (§ ), that tacitus had himself been in germany, and could, therefore, write from personal observation. bnt the argument proceeds on a misinterpretation of his language (cf. note in _loc. cit_.). and the use of _accepimus_ (as in § ), shows that he derived his information from others. but the romans had been in constant intercourse and connection, civil or military, with the germans, for two hundred years. germany furnished a wide theatre for their greatest commanders, and a fruitful theme for their best authors, some of whom, as julius caesar (to whom tacitus particularly refers, ), were themselves the chief actors in what they relate. these authors, some of whose contributions to the history of germany are now lost (e.g. the elder pliny, who wrote twenty books on the german wars), must have all been in the hands of tacitus, and were, doubtless, consulted by him; not, however, as a servile copyist, or mere compiler (for he sometimes differs from his authorities, from caesar even, whom he declares to be the best of them), but as a discriminating and judicious inquirer. the account of german customs and institutions may, therefore, be relied on, from the intrinsic credibility of the author. it receives confirmation, also, from its general accordance with other early accounts of the germans, and with their better known subsequent history, as well as from its strong analogy to the well-known habits of our american aborigines, and other tribes in a like stage of civilization (cf. note, § ). the geographical details are composed with all the accuracy which the ever-shifting positions and relations of warring and wandering tribes rendered possible in the nature of the case (cf. note, § ). in sentiment, the treatise is surpassingly rich and instructive, like all the works of this prince of philosophical historians. in style, it is concise and nervous, yet quite rhetorical, and in parts, even poetical to a fault (see notes passim, cf. also, monboddo's critique on the style of tacitus). "the work," says la bletterie, "is brief without being superficial. within the compass of a few pages, it comprises more of ethics and politics, more fine delineations of character, more substance and pith (_suc_), than can be collected from many a ponderous volume. it is not one of those barely agreeable descriptions, which gradually diffuse their influence over the soul, and leave it in undisturbed tranquillity. it is a picture in strong light, like the subject itself, full of fire, of sentiment, of lightning-flashes, that go at once to the heart. we imagine ourselves in germany; we become familiar with these so-called barbarians; we pardon their faults, and almost their vices, out of regard to their virtues; and in our moments of enthusiasm, we even wish we were germans." the following remarks of murphy will illustrate the value of the treatise, to modern europeans and their descendants. "it is a draught of savage manners, delineated by a masterly hand; the more interesting, as the part of the world which it describes was the seminary of the modern european nations, the vagina gentium, as historians have emphatically called it. the work is short but, as montesquieu observes, it is the work of a man who abridged every thing, because he knew every thing. a thorough knowledge of the transactions of barbarous ages, will throw more light than is generally imagined on the laws of modern times. wherever the barbarians, who issued from their northern hive, settled in new habitations, they carried with them their native genius, their original manners, and the first rudiments of the political system which has prevailed in different parts of europe. they established monarchy and liberty, subordination and freedom, the prerogative of the prince and the rights of the subject, all united in so bold a combination, that the fabric, in some places, stands to this hour the wonder of mankind. the british constitution, says montesquieu, came out of the woods of germany. what the state of this country (britain) was before the arrival of our saxon ancestors, tacitus has shown in the life of agricola. if we add to his account of the germans and britons, what has been transmitted to us, concerning them, by julius caesar, we shall see the origin of the anglo-saxon government, the great outline of that gothic constitution under which the people enjoy their rights and liberties at this hour. montesquieu, speaking of his own country, declares it impossible to form an adequate notion of the french monarchy, and the changes of their government, without a previous inquiry into the manners, genius, and spirit of the german nations. much of what was incorporated with the institutions of those fierce invaders, has flowed down in the stream of time, and still mingles with our modern jurisprudence. the subject, it is conceived, is interesting to every briton. in the manners of the germans, the reader will see our present frame of government, as it were, in its cradle, _gentis cunabula nostrae_! in the germans themselves, a fierce and warlike people, to whom this country owes that spirit of liberty, which, through so many centuries, has preserved our excellent form of government, and raised the glory of the british nation: ------genus unde latinum, albanique patres, atque altae moenia romae." chap. i. _germania_ stands first as the emphatic word, and is followed by _omnis_ for explanation. _germania omnis_ here does not include germania prima and secunda, which were roman provinces on the left bank of the rhine (so called because settled by germans). it denotes _germany proper_, as a _whole_, in distinction from the provinces just mentioned and from the several tribes, of which tacitus treats in the latter part of the work. so caesar (b.g. , ) uses _gallia omnis_, as exclusive of the roman provinces called gaul and inclusive of the three _parts_, which he proceeds to specify. _gallis--pannoniis_. people used for the countries. cf. his. , : _phoenices. gaul_, now france; _rhaetia_, the country of the grisons and the tyrol, with part of bavaria; _pannonia_, lower hungary and part of austria. germany was separated from gaul by the rhine; from rhaetia and pannonia, by the danube.--_rheno et danubio_. rhine and rhone are probably different forms of the same root (rh-n). danube, in like manner, has the same root as dnieper (dn-p); perhaps also the same as don and dwina (d-n). probably each of these roots was originally a generic name for river, water, stream. so there are several _avons_ in england and scotland. cf. latham's germania sub voc. _sarmatis dacisque_. the slavonic tribes were called sarmatians by the ancients. _sarmatia_ included the country north of the carpathian mountains, between the vistula and the don in europe, together with the adjacent part of asia, without any definite limits towards the north, which was terra incognita to the ancients--in short, sarmatia was _russia_, as far as known at that time. _dacia_ lay between the carpathian mountains on the north, and the danube on the south, including upper hungary, transylvania, wallachia, and moldavia. _mutuo metu_. rather a poetical boundary! observe also the alliteration. at the same time, the words are not a bad description of those wide and solitary wastes, which, as caesar informs us (b.g. , ), the germans delighted to interpose between themselves and other nations, so that it might appear that _no one dared to dwell near them.--montibus_. the carpathian.--_cetera_. ceteram germaniae partem. _sinus_. this word denotes any thing with a curved outline (cf. , also a. ); hence bays, peninsulas, and prominent bends or borders, whether of land or water. here _peninsulas_ (particularly that of jutland, now denmark), for it is to the author's purpose here to speak of land rather than water, and the ocean is more properly said to _embrace peninsulas_, than _gulfs_ and _bays_. its association with _islands_ here favors the same interpretation. so passow, or., rit. others, with less propriety, refer it to the _gulfs_ and _bays_, which so mark the baltic and the german oceans.--_oceanus_ here, includes both the baltic sea, and the german ocean (oceanus septentrionalis). _insularum--spatia. islands of vast extent_, viz. funen, zealand, &c. scandinavia also (now sweden and norway) was regarded by the ancients as an island, cf. plin. nat. his. iv. : quarum (insularum) clarissima scandinavia est, incompertae magnitudinis. _nuper--regibus_. understand with this clause _ut compertum est_. the above mentioned features of the northern ocean had been _discovered_ in the prosecution of the late wars, of the romans, among the tribes and kings previously unknown. _nuper_ is to be taken in a general sense==recentioribus temporibus, cf. _nuper additum_, § , where it goes back one hundred and fifty years to the age of julius caesar.--_bellum_. war in general, no particular war.--_versus_. this word has been considered by some as an adverb, and by others as a preposition. it is better however to regard it as a participle, like _ortus_, with which it is connected, though without a conjunction expressed. ritter omits _in_. _molli et clementer edito. of gentle slope and moderate elevation_ in studied antithesis to _inaccesso ac praecipiti, lofty and steep_. in like manner, _jugo, ridge, summit_, is contrasted with _vertice, peak, height_, cf. virg. ecl. , : _molli clivo_; ann. , : _colles clementer assurgentes_. the _rhaetian_ alps, now the mountains of the grisons. _alp_ is a celtic word==hill. _albion_ has the same root==_hilly country. mons abnoba_ (al. arnoba) is the northern part of the schwartzwald, or black forest.--_erumpat_, al. erumpit. but the best mss. and all the recent editions have _erumpat_: and tacitus never uses the pres. ind. after _donec, until_, cf. rup. & rit. in loc. whenever he uses the present after _donec, until_, he seems to have conceived the relation of the two clauses, which it connects, as that of a means to an end, or a condition to a result, and hence to have used the subj. cf. chap. : _separet_; : _absolvat_; : _sinuetur_; ann. , : _misceatur_. the two examples last cited, like this, describe the course of a river and boundary line. for the general rule of the modes after _donec_, see h. ; z. . see also notes h. , . .--_septimum_. according to the common understanding, the danube had _seven_ mouths. so strabo, mela, ammian, and ovid; pliny makes six. t. reconciles the two accounts. the _enim_ inserted after _septimum_ in most editions is not found in the best mss. and is unnecessary. or. & rit. omit it. ii. _ipsos_ marks the transition from the country to the people--_the germans themselves_. so a. : _ipsi britanni_. _crediderim_. subj. attice. a modest way of expressing his opinion, like our: i should say, i am inclined to think. h. , i. ; z. . _adventibus et hospitiis. immigrants and visitors. adventibus_ certae sedes, _hospitiis_ preregrinationes significantur. gün. both abstract for concrete. död. compares [greek: epoikoi] and [greek: metoikoi]. _terra--advehebantur_. zeugma for _terra adveniebant_, classibus advehebantur. h. , i. ; z. . _nec--et_. these correlatives connect the members more closely than et--et; as in greek oute-te. the sentiment here advanced touching colonization (as by sea, rather than by land), though true of carthage, sicily, and most _grecian_, colonies, is directly the reverse of the general fact; and germany itself is now known to have received its population by land emigration, from western asia. the germans, as we learn from affinities of languages and occasional references of historians and geographers, belonged to the same great stock of the human family with the goths and scythians, and may be traced back to that hive of nations, that primitive residence of mankind, the country east and south of the caspian sea and in the vicinity of mount ararat: cf. tur. his. ang. sax. b. ii. c. ; also donaldson's new cratylus, b. i. chap. . latham's dogmatic skepticism will hardly shake the now established faith on this subject. the science of ethnography was unknown to the ancients. tacitus had not the remotest idea, that all mankind were sprung from a common ancestry, and diffused themselves over the world from a common centre, a fact asserted in the scriptures, and daily receiving fresh confirmation from literature and science. hence he speaks of the germans as _indigenas_, which he explains below by _editum terra_, sprung from the earth, like the mutum et turpe pecus of hor. sat. . , . cf. a. . _mutare quaerebant. quaerere_ with inf. is poet. constr., found, however, in later prose writers, and once in cic. (de fin. : quaeris scire, enclosed in brackets in tauchnitz's edition), to avoid repetition of _cupio_. _cupio_ or _volo mutare_ would be regular classic prose. _adversus_. that the author here uses _adversus_ in some unusual and recondite sense, is intimated by the clause: _ut sic dixerim_. it is understood by some, of a sea _unfriendly to navigation_. but its connexion by _que_ with _immensus ultra_, shows that it refers to _position_, and means _lying opposite_, i.e., belonging, as it were, to another hemisphere or world from ours; for so the romans regarded the northern ocean and britain itself, cf. a : ultra _nostri orbis_ mensuram; g. : _exterior_ oceanus. so cic. (som. scip. .) says: homines partim obliquos, partim aversos, partim etiam _adversos_, stare vobis. this interpretation is confirmed by _ab orbe nostra_ in the antithesis. on the use of _ut sic dixerim_ for _ut sic dicam_, which is peculiar to the silver age, see z. . _asia_, sc. minor. _africa_, sc. the roman province of that name, comprising the territory of carthage.--_peteret_. the question implies a negative answer, cf. z. . the subj. implies a protasis understood: if he could, or the like. h. . _sit_. praesens, ut de re vera. gün. _nisi si_ is nearly equivalent to _nisi forte: unless perchance_; unless if we may suppose the case. cf. wr. note on ann. , , and hand's tursellinus, , . _memoriae et annalium_. properly opposed to each other as _tradition_ and _written history_, though we are not to infer that written books existed in germany in the age of tacitus. _carminibus_. _songs, ballads_ (from cano). songs and rude poetry have been, in all savage countries, the memorials of public transactions, e.g. the runes of the goths, the bards of the britons and celts, the scalds of scandinavia, &c. _tuisconem_. the god from whom tuesday takes its name, as wednesday from woden, thursday from thor, &c., cf. sharon turner's his. of ang. sax. app. to book . chap. . some find in the name of this god the root of the words teutonic, dutch (germ. deutsche or teutsche &c.,) al. tuistonem, tristonem, &c. more likely it has the same root as the latin divus, dius, deus, and the greek theios, dios, theos, cf. grimm's _deutsche mythologie_, sub v. _terra editum==indigena_ above; and gaegenaes and autochthon in greek. _originem_==auctores. it is predicate after _mannum_. _ut in licentia vetustatis. as in the license of antiquity_, i.e. since such license is allowed in regard to ancient times. _ingaevones_. "according to some german antiquaries, the _ingaevones_ are die _einwohner_, those dwelling inwards towards the sea; the _istaevones_ are die _westwohner_, the inhabitants of the western parts; and the _hermiones_ are the _herumwohner_, midland inhabitants," ky. cf. kiessling in loc. others, e.g. zeuss and grimm, with more probability, find in these names the roots of german words significant of _honor_ and _bravery_, assumed by different tribes or confederacies as epithets or titles of distinction. grimm identifies these three divisions with the franks, saxons, and thuringians of a later age. see further, note chap. . _vocentur_. the subj. expresses the opinion of others, not the direct affirmation of the author. h. ; z. . _deo_==hoc deo, sc. mannus--germ. mann, eng. man. _marsos, gambrivios_. under the names of franci and salii these tribes afterwards became formidable to the romans. cf. prichard's researches into the physical history of mankind, vol. iii. chap. , sec. .-- _suevos_, cf. note, .--_vandalios_. the vandals, now so familiar in history. _additum_, sc. esse, depending on _affirmant_. _nunc tungri_, sc. vocentur, cf. his. , , . in confirmation of the historical accuracy of this passage, gr. remarks, that caes. (b.g. , ) does not mention the tungri, but names four tribes on the left bank of the rhine, who, he says, are called by the common name of _germans_; while pliny (nat. his. , ), a century later, gives not the names of these four tribes, but calls them by the new name _tungri_. _ita--vocarentur_. locus vexatissimus! exclaim all the critics. and so they set themselves to amend the text by conjecture. some have written _in nomen gentis_ instead of _non gentis_. others have proposed _a victorum metu_, or _a victo ob metum_, or _a victis ob metum_. but these emendations are wholly conjectural and unnecessary. günther and walch render _a victore, from_ the victorious tribe, i.e. _after the name of_ that tribe. but _a se ipsis_ means _by_ themselves; and the antithesis doubtless requires _a_ to be understood in the same sense in both clauses. grüber translates and explains thus: "in this way the name of a single tribe, and not of the whole people, has come into use, so that all, at first by the victor (the tungri), in order to inspire fear, then by themselves (by the mouth of the whole people), when once the name became known, were called by the name of germans. that is, the tungri called all the kindred tribes that dwelt beyond the rhine, germans, in order to inspire fear by the wide extension of the name, since they gave themselves out to be a part of so vast a people; but at length all the tribes began to call themselves by this name, probably because they were pleased to see the fear which it excited." this is, on the whole, the most satisfactory explanation of the passage, and meets the essential concurrence of wr., or. and död.--_germani_. if of german etymology, this word==gehr or wehr (fr. guerre) and mann, _men of war_; hence the _metus_, which the name carried with it. if it is a latin word corresponding only in _sense_ with the original german, then==_brethren_. it will be seen, that either etymology would accord with grüber's explanation of the whole passage--in either case, the name would inspire fear. the latter, however, is the more probable, cf. ritter in loc. a people often bear quite different names abroad from that by which they call themselves at home. thus the people, whom we call _germans_, call themselves _deutsche_ (dutch), and are called by the french _allemands_, cf. latham. _vocarentur_ is subj. because it stands in a subordinate clause of the oratio obliqua, cf. h. ; z. . _metum_. here taken in an _active_ sense; oftener passive, but used in both senses. quintilian speaks of _metum duplicem_, quem patimur et quem facimus ( , , ). cf. a. : nihil metus in vultu, i.e., nothing to inspire fear in his countenance. in like manner admiratio (§ ) is used for the admiration which one excites, though it usually denotes the admiration which one feels. for _ob_, cf. ann. , : _ob moderandas tiberis exundationes_. _nationis--gentis. gens_ is often used by t. as a synonym with _natio_. but in antithesis, _gens_ is the whole, of which _nationes_ or _populi_ are the parts, e.g. g. : populos--gentem; § : nationes--genti. in like manner, in the civil constitution of rome, a _gens_ included several related _families_. iii. _herculem_. that is, romana interpretatione, cf. § . the romans found _their_ gods everywhere, and ascribed to hercules, quidquid ubique magnificum est, cf. note : _quicquid--consensimus_. that this is a roman account of the matter is evident, from the use of _eos_, for if the germans were the subject of _memorant_, _se_ must have been used. on the use of _et_ here, cf. note . _primum_--ut principem, fortissimum. gün. _haec quoque_. _haec_ is rendered _such_ by ritter. but it seems rather, as or. and död. explain it, to imply nearness and familiarity to the mind of the author and his readers: _these_ well known songs. so : _in haec corpora, quae miramur_. _quoque_, like _quidem_, follows the emphatic word in a clause, h. , iii. ; z. . _relatu_, called _cantus trux_, h. , . a tacitean word. freund. cf. h. , . _baritum_. al. barditum and barritum. but the latter has no ms. authority, and the former seems to have been suggested by the bards of the gauls, of whose existence among the germans however there is no evidence. död. says the root of the word is common to the greek, latin, and german languages, viz. _baren_, i.e. _fremere_, a verb still used by the batavians, and the noun _bar_, i.e. carmen, of frequent occurrence in saxon poetry to this day. _terrent trepidantve. they inspire terror or tremble with fear, according as the line_ (the troops drawn up in battle array) _has sounded_, sc. the _baritus_ or battle cry. thus the batavians perceived, that the _sonitus aciei_ on the part of the romans was more feeble than their own, and pressed on, as to certain triumph. h. , . so the highlanders augured victory, if their shouts were louder than those of the enemy. see murphy in loco. _repercussu_. a post-augustan word. the earlier latin authors would have said _repercussa_, or _repercutiendo_. the later latin, like the english, uses more abstract terms.--_nec tam--videntur. nor do those carmina seem to be so much voices_ (well modulated and harmonized), _as acclamations_ (unanimous, but inarticulate and indistinct) _of courage_. so pliny uses _concentus_ of the acclamations of the people. panegyr. . it is often applied by the poets to the concerts of birds, as in virg. geor. , . it is here plural, cf. or. in loc. the reading _vocis_ is without ms. authority. _ulixem_. "the love of fabulous history, which was the passion of ancient times, produced a new hercules in every country, and made ulysses wander on every shore. tacitus mentions it as a romantic tale; but strabo seems willing to countenance the fiction, and gravely tells us that ulysses founded a city, called odyssey, in spain. lipsius observes, that lisbon, in the name of strabo, had the appellation of ulysippo, or olisipo. at this rate, he pleasantly adds, what should hinder us inhabitants of the low countries from asserting that ulysses built the city of ulyssinga, and circe founded that of circzea or ziriczee?" murphy. _fabuloso errore. storied, celebrated in song_, cf. fabulosus hydaspes. hor. od. , . ulysses having _wandered westward_ gave plausibility to alleged traces of him in gaul, spain and germany--_asciburgium_. now asburg. _quin etiam_, cf. notes, : _quin etiam_, and : _quin immo.--ulixi_, i.e. ab ulixe, cf. ann. , : aedes statoris jovis romulo vota, i.e. by romulus. this usage is especially frequent in the poets and the later prose writers, cf. h. , ii. ; z. ; and in t. above all others, cf. böt. lex. tac. sub _dativus_. wr. and rit. understand however an altar (or monument) consecrated to ulysses, i.e. erected in honor of him by the citizens. _adjecto_. inscribed with the name of his father, as well as his own, i.e. [greek: laertiadae]. _graecis litteris. grecian characters_, cf. caes. b.g. , : in castris _helvetiorum_, tabulae repertae sunt _litteris graecis_ confectae; and ( , ): _galli_ in publicis privatisque rationibus _graecis utuntur litteris_. t. speaks (ann. , ) of alphabetic characters, as passing from phenicia into greece, and strabo ( , ) traces them from the grecian colony at marseilles, into gaul, whence they doubtless passed into germany, and even into britain. iv. _aliis aliarum_. the greek and latin are both fond of a repetition of different cases of the same word, even where one of them is redundant, e.g. [greek: oioden oios] (hom. ii. , ), and particularly in the words [greek: allos] and _alius_. _aliis_ is not however wholly redundant; but brings out more fully the idea: _no intermarriages, one with one nation, and another with another_. walch and ritter omit _aliis_, though it is found in all the mss. _infectos_. things are said _infici_ and _imbui_, which are so penetrated and permeated by something else, that that something becomes a part of its nature or substance, as inficere colore, sanguine, veneno, animum virtutibus. it does not necessarily imply corruption or degeneracy. _propriam--similem_. three epithets not essentially different used for the sake of emphasis==_peculiar, pure, and sui-generis. similis_ takes the gen., when it expresses, as here, an internal resemblance in character; otherwise the dat., cf. z. , h. , . . _habitus_. form and features, external appearance. the physical features of the germans as described by tacitus, though still sufficient to distinguish them from the more southern european nations, have proved less permanent than their mental and social characteristics. _idem omnibus_. cf. juv. , : _caerula_ quis stupuit _germani lumina? flavam caesariem_, et madido torquentem cornua cirro? nempe quod haec illis natura est _omnibus una_. _magna corpora_. "sidonius apollinaris says, that, being in germany and finding the men so very tall, he could not address verses of six feet to patrons who were seven feet high: spernit senipedem stilum thalia, ex quo septipedes vidit patronos." mur. skeletons, in the ancient graves of germany, are found to vary from ft. in. to ft. in. and even ft. cf. ukert, geog. iii. . p. . these skeletons indicate a _strong_ and _well formed_ body. _impetum. temporary exertion_, as opposed to _persevering toil and effort, laboris atque operum_. _eadem_. not so much _patientia_, as _ad impetum valida_. see a like elliptical use of _idem_ § : eadem temperantia; § : iisdem nemoribus. also of totidem § . _minime--assueverunt_. "least of all, are they capable of sustaining thirst and heat; cold and hunger, they are accustomed, by their soil and climate, to endure." ky. the force of _minime_ is confined to the first clause, and the proper antithetic particle is omitted at the beginning of the second. _tolerare_ depends on _assueverunt_, and belongs to both clauses. _ve_ is distributive, referring _coelo_ to _frigora_ and _solo_ to _inediam_. so _vel_ in h. , : strenuis _vel_ ignavis spem metumque addere==strenuis spem, ignavis metum addere. v. _humidior--ventosior. humidior_ refers to _paludibus, ventosior_ to _silvis_; the mountains (which were exposed to sweeping _winds_) being for the most part covered with forests, and the low grounds with marshes. _ventosus_==homeric [greek: aenemoeis], windy, i.e. lofty. h. , : [greek: ilion aenemoessan]. _satis ferax. satis==segetibus_ poetice. _ferax_ is constructed with abl., vid. virg. geor. , : ferax oleo. _impatiens_. not to be taken in the absolute sense, cf. § , , , where fruit trees and fruits are spoken of. _improcera_ agrees with _pecora_ understood. _armentis. pecora_--flocks in general. _armenta_ (from _aro_, to plough), larger cattle in particular. it _may_ include horses. _suus honor_. their proper, i.e. usual size and beauty. _gloria frontis_. poetice for _cornua_. their horns were small. _numero_. emphatic: _number_, rather than _quality_. or, with ritter, _gaudent_ may be taken in the sense of enjoy, possess: _they have a good number of them_. in the same sense he interprets _gaudent_ in a. : _opibus nimiis non gaudebat_. _irati_, sc. quia _opes_ sunt _irritamenta malorum_. ov. met. , .-- _negaverint_. subj. h. ; z. --_affirmaverim_. cf. note, : _crediderim_. _nullam venam_. "mines of gold and silver have since been discovered in germany; the former, indeed, inconsiderable, but the latter valuable." ky. t. himself in his later work (the annals), speaks of the discovery of a silver mine in germany. ann. , . _perinde. not so much as might be expected_, or as the _romans_, and other civilized nations. so gronovius, död. and most commentators. see rup. in loc. others, as or. and rit. allow no ellipsis, and render: _not much_. see hand's tursellinus, vol. iv. p. . we sometimes use _not so much, not so very, not so bad_, &c., for _not very, not much_, and _not bad_. still the form of expression strictly implies a comparison. and the same is true of _haud perinde_, cf. böt. lex. tac. _est videre. est_ for _licet_. graece et poetice. not so used in the earlier latin prose. see z. . _non in alia vilitate_, i.e. eadem vilitate, aeque vilia, _held in the same low estimation.--humo_. abl. of material. _proximi_, sc. ad ripam. nearest to the roman border, opposed to _interiores_. _serratos_. not elsewhere mentioned; probably coins with serrated edges, still found. the word is post-augustan. _bigatos_. roman coins stamped with a biga or two-horse chariot. others were stamped with a quadriga and called quadrigati. the bigati seem to have circulated freely in foreign lands, cf. ukert's geog. of greeks and romans, iii. : trade of germany, and places cited there. "the serrati and bigati were old coins, of purer silver than those of tho emperors." ky. cf. pliny, h. n. , . _sequuntur_. sequi==expetere. so used by cic., sal., and the best writers. compare our word _seek_. _nulla affectione animi. not from any partiality for the silver in itself_ (but for convenience). _numerus_. greater number and consequently less relative value of the silver coins. on _quia_, cf. note, h. , . vi. _ne--quidem_. _not even_, i.e. iron is scarce as well as gold and silver. the weapons found in ancient german graves are of _stone_, and bear a striking resemblance to those of the american indians. cf. ukert, p. . ad verba, cf. note, his. , : _ne--fueris_. the emphatic word always stands between _ne_ and _quidem_. h. , iii. ; z. .-- _superest_. is over and above, i.e. _abounds_. so superest ager, § . _vel_. pro _sive_, ciceroni inauditum. gün. cf. note, . _frameas_. the word is still found in spain, as well as germany. _lancea_. is also a spanish word, cf. freund. _nudi_. cf. § , , and . also caes., b.g. , : magna corporis parte nuda. _sagulo_. dim. of sago. a small short cloak.--_leves_==leviter induti. the clause _nudi--leves_ is added _here_ to show, that their dress is favorable to the use of missiles. _missilia spargunt_. dictio est virgiliana. k. _coloribus_. cf. nigra scuta, § . "hence coats of arms and the origin of heraldry." mur. _cultus_. military equipments. cultus complectitur omnia, quae studio et arte eis, quae natura instituit, adduntur. k. _cassis aut galea_. _cassis_, properly of metal; _galea_ of leather (gr.: galen); though the distinction is not always observed. _equi--conspicui_. cf. caes. b.g. , , , . _sed nec variare_. _but_ (i.e. on the other hand) _they are not even_ (for _nec_ in this sense see ritter in loc.) _taught to vary their curves_ (i.e. as the antithesis shows, to bend now towards the right and now towards the left in their gyrations), _but they drive them straight forward or by a constant bend towards the right in so connected a circle_ (i.e. a complete ring), _that no one is behind_ (for the obvious reason, that there is neither beginning nor end to such a ring). such is on the whole the most satisfactory explanation of this difficult passage, which we can give after a careful examination. a different version was given in the first edition. it refers not to battle, but to equestrian exercises, cf. gerlach, as cited by or. in loc. _aestimanti_. greek idiom. elliptical dative, nearly equivalent to the abl. abs. (nobis aestimantibus), and called by some the dat. abs. in a. ii. the ellipsis is supplied by _credibile est_. cf. bötticher's lex. tac. sub _dativus_. _eoque mixti. eo_, causal particle==for that reason. caesar adopted this arrangement in the battle of pharsalia. b.c. , . the greeks also had [greek: pezoi amippoi]. xen. hellen. , . _centeni_. a hundred is a favorite number with the germans and their descendants. witness the hundred _pagi_ of the suevi (caes. b.g. , ), and of the semnones (g. ), the _cantons_ of switzerland, and the _hundreds_ of our saxon ancestors in england. the _centeni_ here are a military division. in like manner, caesar (b.g. , ) speaks of a _thousand_ men drafted annually from each _pagus_ of the suevi, for military service abroad. _idque ipsum_. predicate nominative after a verb of calling, h. , . ; z. . the division was called a _hundred_, and each man in it a _hundreder_; and such was the estimation in which this service was held, that to be a hundreder, became an honorable distinction, _nomen et honor_==honorificum nomen. _cuneos_. a body of men arranged in the form of a wedge, i.e. narrow in front and widening towards the rear; hence peculiarly adapted to break the lines of the enemy. _consilii quam formidinis_. supply _magis_. the conciseness of t. leads him often to omit one of two correlative particles, cf. note on _minime_, . _referunt. carry into the rear_, and so secure them for burial. _etiam in dubiis proeliis_. even while the battle remains undecided. gün. _finierunt_. in a present or aorist sense, as often in t. so _prohibuerunt_, § ; _placuit_ and _displicuit_, . cf. lex. tac. böt. vii. _reges_, civil rulers; _duces_, military commanders. _ex_== secundum. so _ex ingenio_, § . the government was elective, yet not without some regard to hereditary distinctions. they _chose (sumunt)_ their sovereign, but chose him from the royal family, or at least one of noble extraction. they chose also their commander--the king, if he was the bravest and ablest warrior; if not, they were at liberty to choose some one else. and among the germans, as among their descendants, the franks, the authority of the commander was quite distinct from, and sometimes (in war) paramount to, that of the king. here montesquieu and others find the original of the kings of the first race in the french monarchy, and the _mayors of the palace_, who once had so much power in france. cf. sp. of laws, b. , chap. . _nec_ is correlative to _et. the kings on the one hand do not possess unlimited or unrestrained authority, and the commanders on the other, &c. infinita_==sine modo; _libera_==sine vinculo. wr. _potestas_==rightful power, authority; _potentia_==power without regard to right, ability, force, cf. note, . ad rem, cf. caes. b.g. , . ambiorix tells caesar, that though he governed, yet the people made laws for him, and the supreme power was shared equally between him and them. _exemplo--imperio_. "_dative_ after _sunt==are to set an example, rather than to give command_." so grüber and död. but wr. and rit. with more reason consider them as ablatives of means limiting a verb implied in _duces: commanders_ (command) _more by example, than by authority_ (official power). see the principle well stated and illustrated in döderlein's essay on the style of tacitus, p. , in my edition of the histories. _admiratione praesunt. gain influence, or ascendency, by means of the admiration which they inspire_, cf. note on metus, § . _agant_. subj., ut ad judicium admirantium, non mentem scriptoris trahatur. gün. _animadvertere_==interficere. cf. h. , . . _none but the priests are allowed to put to death, to place in irons, nor even_ (ne quidem) _to scourge_. thus punishment was clothed with divine authority. _effigies et signa. images and standards_, i.e. images, which serve for standards. images of wild beasts are meant, cf. h. , : depromptae silvis lucisve ferarum imagines.--_turmam_, cavalry. _cuneum_, infantry, but sometimes both. _conglobatio_ is found only in writers after the augustan age and rarely in them. it occurs in sen. qu. nat. , , cf. freund. _familiae_ is less comprehensive than _propinquitates. audiri_, sc. solent. cf. a. _ruere_. wr. calls it histor. inf., and rit. pronounces it a gloss. _pignora_. whatever is most dear, particularly mothers, wives, and children.--_unde_, adv. of place, referring to _in proximo_. _vulnera ferunt_, i.e. on their return from battle. _exigere. examine_, and compare, to see who has the most and the most honorable, or perhaps to soothe and dress them.--_cibos et hortamina_. observe the singular juxtaposition of things so unlike. so : _metu aut montibus_; a. : _copiis et laetitia_; : _nox et satietas_; : _gaudio praedaque_. viii. _constantia precum==importunate entreaties_. _objectu pectorum. by opposing their breasts_, not to the enemy but to their retreating husbands, praying for death in preference to captivity. _monstrata--captivitate_. _cominus_ limits _captivitate_, pointing to captivity as just before them.--_impatientius_. _impatienter_ and _impatientia_ (the adv. and the subst.) are post-augustan words. the adj. (impatiens) is found earlier. cf. freund. _feminarum--nomine_, i.e. propter feminas suas. gün. so cic.: tuo nomine et reipublicae==on your account and for the sake of the republic. but it means perhaps more than that here, viz. in the person of. they dreaded captivity more for their women than for themselves. _adeo==insomuch that_. _inesse_, sc. feminis. _they think, there is in their women something sacred and prophetic_. cf. caes. b.g. , , where caesar is informed by the prisoners, that ariovistus had declined an engagement because the _women_ had declared against coming to action before the new moon.-- _consilia, advice_ in general; _responsa, inspired answers_, when consulted. _vidimus_, i.e. she lived in our day--under the reign of vespasian.-- _veledam_. cf. h. , . . _auriniam_. aurinia seems to have been a common name in germany for prophetess or wise woman. perhaps==al-runas, women knowing all things. so _veleda_==wise woman. cf. wr. in loc. _non adulatione_, etc. "not through adulation, nor as if they were raising mortals to the rank of goddesses." ky. this is one of those oblique censures on roman customs in which the treatise abounds. the romans in the excess of their adulation to the imperial family _made_ ordinary women goddesses, as drusilla, sister of caligula, the infant daughter of poppaea (ann. , ), and poppaea herself (dio , ). the germans, on the other hand, really thought some of their wise women to be divine. cf. his. , , and my note ibid. reverence and affection for woman was characteristic of the german tribes, and from them has diffused itself throughout european society. ix. _deorum_. t. here, as elsewhere, applies roman names, and puts a roman construction (romana interpretatione, § ), upon the gods of other nations, cf. § . _mercurium_. so caes. b.g. , : deum maxime mercurium colunt. probably the german _woden_, whose name is preserved in our wednesday, as that of mercury is in the french name of the same day, and who with a name slightly modified (woden, wuotan, odin), was a prominent object of worship among all the nations of northern europe. _mars_ is perhaps the german god of war (tiw, tiu, tuisco) whence tuesday, french mardi, cf. tur. his. ang. sax. app. to b. . chap. . _herculem_ is omitted by ritter on evidence (partly external and partly internal) which is entitled to not a little consideration. hercules is the god of strength, perhaps thor. _certis diebus_. statis diebus. gün. _humanis--hostiis_. even _facere_ in the sense of _sacrifice_ is construed with abl. virg. ec. , . _quoque_==even. for its position in the sentence, cf. note, . _concessis animalibus_. such as the romans and other civilized nations offer, in contradistinction to _human_ sacrifices, which the author regards as _in_-concessa. the attempt has been made to remove from the germans the stain of human sacrifices. but it rests on incontrovertible evidence (cf. tur. his. ang. sax., app. to b. . cap. ), and indeed attaches to them only in common with nearly all uncivilized nations. the gauls and britons, and the celtic nations generally, carried the practice to great lengths, cf. caes. b.g. , . the neighbors of the hebrews offered human victims in great numbers to their gods, as we learn from the scriptures. nay, the reproach rests also upon the greeks and romans in their early history. pliny informs us, that men were sacrificed as late as the year of rome . _isidi_. the egyptian isis in germany! this shows, how far the romans went in comparing the gods of different nations. gr. ritter identifies this goddess with the nertha of chap. , the egyptian isis and nertha being both equivalent to mother earth, the terra or tellus of the romans. _liburnae_. a light galley, so called from the liburnians, a people of illyricum, who built and navigated them. the _signum_, here likened to a galley, was more probably a rude crescent, connected with the worship of the moon, cf. caes. b.g. , : germani deorum numero ducunt solem et _lunam_. _cohibere parietibus_==aedificiis includere, k. t. elsewhere speaks of temples of german divinities (e.g. : templum nerthi; ann. , : templum tanfanae); but a consecrated grove or any other sacred place was called _templum_ by the romans (templum from [greek: temno], cut off, set apart). _ex magnitudine_. _ex_==secundum, cf. _ex nobilitate_, _ex virtute_ § . _ex magnitudine_ is predicate after _arbitrantur: they deem it unbecoming the greatness_, etc. _humani--speciem_. images of the gods existed at a later day in germany (s. tur. his. of ang. sax., app. to b. . cap. ). but this does not prove their existence in the days of t. even as late as a.d. gregory thaumaturgus expressly declares, there were no images among the goths. no traces of temple-walls or images have been discovered in connection with the numerous sites of ancient altars or places of offering which have been exhumed in _germany_, though both these are found on the _borders_, both south and west, cf. ukert, p. . _lucos et nemora_. "lucus (a [greek: lukae], crepusculum) sylva densior, obumbrans; nemus ([greek: nemos]) sylva rarior, in quo jumenta et pecora pascuntur." bredow. _deorumque--vident. they invoke under the name of gods that mysterious existence, which they see_ (not under any human or other visible form, but) _with the eye of spiritual reverence alone_. so gr. and k. others get another idea thus loosely expressed: they give to that sacred recess the name of the divinity that fills the place, which is never profaned by the steps of man. _sola reverentia_, cf. _sola mente_ applied by t. to the spiritual religion of the jews, h. , . the religion of the germans and other northern tribes was more spiritual than that of southern nations, when both were pagan. and after the introduction of christianity, the germans were disinclined to the image-worship of the papists. x. _auspicia sortesque_. _auspicia_ (avis-spicia) properly divination by observing the flight and cry of birds; _sortes_, by drawing lots: but both often used in the general sense of omens, oracles. _ut qui maxime_, sc. _observant_. ellipsis supplied by repeating _observant_==to the greatest extent, none more. _simplex_. sine romana arte, cf. cic. de div. , , k. the scythians had a similar method of divining, herod. , . indeed, the practice of _divining_ by _rods_ has hardly ceased to this day, among the descendants of the german tribes. _temere_, without plan on the part of the diviner.--_fortuito_, under the direction of chance. gr. _si publice consuletur_. if the question to be decided is of a public nature. _consuletur_, fut., because at the time of drawing lots the deliberation and decision are future. or it may refer to the consultation of the gods (cf. ann. , : _consulere deos_): _if it is by the state that the gods are to be consulted_. so ritter in his last edition. _ter singulos tollit_. a three-fold drawing for the sake of certainty. thus ariovistus drew lots three times touching the death of valerius (caes. b.g. , ). so also the romans drew lots three times, tibul. , , : sortes ter sustulit. such is the interpretation of these disputed words by grüber, ritter and many others, and such is certainly their natural and obvious meaning: _he takes up three times one after another_ all the slips he has _scattered_ (_spargere_ is hardly applicable to _three_ only): if the signs are twice or thrice favorable, the thing is permitted; if twice or thrice unfavorable it is prohibited. the language of caesar (in loc. cit.) is still more explicit: _ter sortibus consultum_. but or., wr. and död. understand simply the taking up of three lots one each time. _si prohibuerunt_ sc. sortes==dii. the reading _prohibuerunt_ (al prohibuerint) is favored by the analogy of _si displicuit_, , and other passages. _sin (==si--ne)_ is particularly frequent in antithesis with _si_, and takes the same construction after it. _auspiciorum--exigitur. auspiciorum_, here some other omens, than lots; such as the author proceeds to specify. _adhuc_==ad hoc, praeterea, i.e. in addition to the lots. the sense is: _besides drawing lots, the persuasion produced by auspices is required_. _etiam hic_. in germany also (as well as at rome and other well known countries). _hic_ is referred to rome by some. but it was hardly needful for t. to inform the romans of that custom at rome. _proprium gentis. it is a peculiarity of the german race_. it is not, however, exclusively german. something similar prevailed among the persians, herod. , . , . darius hystaspes was indebted to the neighing of his horse for his elevation to the throne. _iisdem memoribus_, § .--_mortali opere_==hominum opere.--_contacti_. notio contaminandi inest, k.--_pressi curru_. harnessed to the sacred chariot. more common, pressi jugo. poetice. _conscios_ sc. deorum. _the priests consider themselves the servants of the gods, the horses the confidants of the same_. so tibullus speaks of the _conscia_ fibra _deorum_. tibul. , , . _committunt_. con and mitto, send together==_engage in fight_. a technical expression used of gladiators and champions. _praejudicio. sure prognostic_. montesquieu finds in this custom the origin of the duel and of knight-errantry. xi. _apud--pertractentur. are handled_, i.e. discussed, among, i.e. _by the chiefs_, sc. before being referred to the people. _nisi_ refers not to _coeunt_, but to _certis diebus_. _fortuitum_, casual, unforeseen; _subitum_, requiring immediate action. _inchoatur--impletur_. ariovistus would not _fight_ before the new moon, caes. b.g. , . _numerum--noctium_. of which custom, we have a relic and a proof in our seven-_night_ and fort-_night_. so also the gauls. caes. b.g. , . _constituunt_==decree, determine; _condicunt_==proclaim, appoint. the _con_ in both implies _concerted_ or public action. they are forensic terms. _nox--videtur_. so with the athenians, macrob. saturn. , .; and the hebrews, gen. , . _ex libertate_, sc. _ortum, arising from_. gün. _nec ut jussi. not precisely at the appointed time_, but a day or two later, if they choose. _ut turbae placuit. ut_==simul ac, as soon as, _when_. it is the _time of commencing their session_, that depends on the will of the multitude; not their sitting _armed_, for that they always did, cf. _frameas concutiunt_ at the close of the section; also § : nihil neque publicae neque privatae rei nisi armati agunt. to express this latter idea, the order of the words would have been reversed thus: _armati considunt_. _tum et coercendi_. when the session is commenced, _then (tum)_ the priests have the right not merely to command silence, but _also (et) to enforce it_. this use of _et_ for _etiam_ is very rare in cic., but frequent in livy, t. and later writers. see note, his. , . _imperatur. imperare_ plus est, quam _jubere_. see the climax in ter. eun. , , ; jubeo, cogo atque impero. _impero_ is properly military command. k. _prout_ refers, not to the order of speaking, but to the degree of influence they have over the people. gr.--_aetas_. our word _alderman_ (elderman) is a proof, that office and honor were conferred on _age_ by our german ancestors. so _senator_ (senex) among the romans. _armis laudare_, i.e. armis concussis. "montesquieu is of opinion that in this treatise on the manners of the germans, an attentive reader may trace the origin of the british constitution. that beautiful system, he says, was formed in the forests of germany, sp. of laws , . the _saxon_ witena-gemot (parliament) was, beyond all doubt, an improved political institution, grafted on the rights exercised by the people in their own country." murphy, cf. s. tur. his. of ang. sax. b. . cap. xii. _accusare--intendere. to accuse and impeach for capital crimes_. minor offences were tried before the courts described at the end of the section.--_quoque_. in addition to the legislative power spoken of in the previous section, the council exercised _also_ certain judicial functions. _discrimen capitis intendere_, lit. _to endeavor to bring one in danger of losing his life_. _ignavos--infames. the sluggish, the cowardly, and the impure_; for so _corpore infames_ usually means, and there is no sufficient reason for adopting another sense here. _infames_ foeda veneris aversae nota. k. gr. understands those, whose persons were disfigured by dishonorable wounds, or who had mutilated themselves to avoid military duty. gün. includes both ideas: _quocunque_, non tantum _venereo_, corporis abusu contempti. _insuper_==superne. so : multo _insuper_ fimo onerant. _diversitas_ is a post-augustan word, cf. freund, sub v. _illuc respicit. has respect to this principle. scelera==crimes; flagitia==vices, low and base actions. scelus_ poena, _flagitium_ contemptu dignum. gün. _levioribus delictis_. abl. abs.==_when lighter offences are committed_; or abl. of circum.==_in case of lighter offences_. _pro modo poenarum_. such is the reading of all the mss. _pro modo, poena_ is an ingenious _conjecture_ of acidalius. but it is unnecessary. render thus: _in case of lighter offences, the convicted persons are mulcted in a number of horses or cattle, in proportion to the severity of the sentence adjudged to be due_. _qui vindicatur. the injured party_, or _plaintiff_. this principle of pecuniary satisfaction was carried to great lengths among the anglo-saxons. see turner, as cited, . _qui reddunt_. whose _business_ or _custom_ it is to administer justice, etc. e. proposes _reddant_. but it is without authority and would give a less appropriate sense. _centeni_. cf. note, § : centeni ex singulis pagis. "sunt in quibusdam locis germaniae, velut palatinatu, franconia, etc. zentgericht (hundred-courts)," cf. bernegger. _consilia et auctoritas_. abstract for concrete==_his advisers and the supporters of his dignity_. xiii. _nihil nisi armati_. the _romans_ wore arms only in time of war or on a journey. _moris_, sc. est. a favorite expression of t. so : concedere moris (est). and in a. . _suffecturum probaverit. on examination has pronounced him competent_ (sc. to bear arms). subj. after _antequam_. h. , ii.; z. . _ornant. ornat_ would have been more common latin, and would have made better english. but this construction is not unfrequent in t., cf. : rex vel princeps audiuntur. nor is it without precedent in other authors. cf. z. . ritter reads _propinqui_. the attentive reader will discover here traces of many subsequent usages of _chivalry_. _haec toga_. this is the badge of manhood among the germans, as the toga virilis was among the romans. the romans assumed the toga at the age of seventeen. the athenians were reckoned as [greek: ephaeboi] at the same age, xen. cyr, , , . the germans (in their colder climate) not till the th year. caes. b.g. , . _dignationem. rank, title_. it differs from _dignitas_ in being more external. cf. h. , : _dignatio caesaris_; , : _dignatio viri_. ritter reads _dignitatem_. _assignant. high birth or great merits of their fathers assign_ (i.e. mark out, not consign, or fully confer) _the title of chief even to young men_. _gradus--habet_. observe the emphatic position of _gradus_, and the force of _quin etiam ipse: gradations of rank, moreover the retinue itself has_, i.e. the retainers are not only distinguished as a body in following such a leader, _but_ there are _also distinctions_ among _themselves. quin etiam_ seldom occupies the second place. t. is fond of anastrophe. cf. böt. lex. tac. _si--emineat. if he_ (cuique) _stands pre-eminent for the number and valor of his followers. comitatus_ is gen. _emineat_, subj. pres. h. et ; z. . _ceteris--aspici_. these noble youth, thus designated to the rank of chieftains, _attach themselves_ (for a time, with some followers perhaps) _to the other_ chiefs, who are _older and already distinguished, nor are they ashamed to be seen among their attendants_. _quibus--cui_, sc. sit==_who shall have_, etc. _ipsa fama. mere reputation_ or _rumor_ without coming to arms. _profligant_==ad finem perducunt. so kiessling, bötticher and freund. ritter makes it==_propellunt_, frighten away. _profligare bella, proelia_, &c., is tacitean. _profligare hostes_, etc., is the common expression. xiv. _jam vero_==porro. cf. böt. lex. tac. it marks a transition to a topic of special importance. cf. h. , . see död, in loc. _recessisse_. all the best latin writers are accustomed to use the preterite after pudet, taedet, and other words of the like signification. gün. the cause of shame is prior to the shame. _infame_. "when chonodomarus, king of the alemanni, was taken prisoner by the romans, his military companions, to the number of two hundred, and three of the king's most intimate friends, thinking it a most flagitious crime to live in safety after such an event, surrendered themselves to be loaded with fetters. ammian. marcell, , , . there are instances of the same kind in tacitus." mur. cf. also caes. b.g. , . , . _defendere, to defend him_, when attacked; _tueri, to protect him_ at all times. _praecipuum sacramentum. their most sacred duty_, gün. and k.; _or the chief part of their oath_, gr.--_clarescunt--tuentur_. so ritter after the best mss. al. _clarescant--tueantur_, or _tueare_. _non nisi_. in cic. usually separated by a word or a clause. in t. generally brought together. _exigunt. they expect.--illum--illam_. angl. _this--that_, cf. _hinc--hinc_, a. .--_bellatorem equum_. cf. virg. g. , . _incompti--apparatus. entertainments, though inelegant yet liberal. apparatus_ is used in the same way, suet. vitel. and .--_cedunt_== iis dantur. gün. _nec arare_, etc. the whole language of this sentence is poetical, e.g. the use of the inf. after _persuaseris_, of _annum_ for annuam mensem, the sense of _vocare_ and _mereri_, &c. _vocare_, i.e. provocare, cf. h. , , and virg. geor. , . _mereri, earn, deserve_, i.e. by bravery. _pigrum et iners_. piger est natura ad laborem tardus; iners, in quo nihil artis et virtutis. k. render: _a mark of stupidity and incapacity_. _quin immo. nay but, nay more_. these words connect the clause, though not placed at the beginning, as they are by other writers. they seem to be placed after _pigrum_ in order to throw it into an emphatic position. so _gradus quin etiam_, , where see note.--_possis_. you, i.e., any one can. z. . cf. note ii. , : _laudares_. so _persuaseris_ in the preceding sentence. the subj. gives a contingent or potential turn==_can procure_, sc. if you will _would persuade_, sc. if you should try. an indefinite person is always addressed in the subj. in latin, even when the ind. would be used if a definite person were addressed. z. . in the chieftains and their retainers, as described in the last two sections, the reader cannot fail to discover the germ of the feudal system. cf. montesq. sp. of laws, , , ; also robertson's chas. v. xv. _non multum_. the common reading (multum without the negative) is a mere conjecture, and that suggested by a misapprehension of the meaning of t. _non multum_ is to be taken comparatively. though in time of peace they hunt often, yet they spend _so much more time in eating, drinking, and sleeping_, that the former is comparatively small. thus understood, this passage of t. is not inconsistent with the declarations of caesar, b.g. , : vita germanorum omnis in venationibus atque in studiis rei militaris consistit. caesar leaves out of account their periods of inaction, and speaks only of their active employments, which were war and the chase. it was the special object of tacitus, on the contrary, to give prominence to that striking feature of the german character which caesar overlooks; and therein, as wr. well observes, the later historian shows his more exact acquaintance with the germans. _non multum_, as opposed to _plus_, is nearly equivalent to _minus_. _venatibus, per otium_. enallage for _venatibus, otio_, h. , iii. this figure is very frequent in t., e.g. § : per obsequium, proeliis; a. : virtute aut per artem; a. : temeritate aut per ignaviam, &c. seneca, and indeed most latin authors, prefer a _similar_ construction in antithetic clauses; t. seems rather to avoid it. in all such cases however, as the examples just cited show, _per_ with the acc. is not precisely equivalent to the abl. the abl. is more active and implies means, agency; the acc. with _per_ is more passive and denotes manner or occasion. _delegata, transferred_. _familiae. household_, properly of servants (from famel, oscan for servant), as in chapp. and : but sometimes the whole family, as here and in chap. : _familiae et propinquitates_. _ipsi_. the men of middle life, the heads of the _familiae_. _diversitate. contrariety.--ament_. subj. h. , i.; z. .-- _oderint_. perf. in the sense of the pres. h. , i. ; z. . _inertiam. inertiam==idleness_, freedom from business and care (from _in_ and _ars_); _quietem==tranquillity_, a life of undisturbed repose without action or excitement. cf. : _ingrata genti quies_. in this account of the habits of the germans, one might easily fancy, he was reading a description of the manner of life among our american indians. it may be remarked here, once for all, that this resemblance may be traced in very many particulars, e.g. in their personal independence, in the military chieftains and their followers, in their extreme fondness for the hardships and dangers of war, in their strange inactivity, gluttony and drunkenness in peace, in their deliberative assemblies and the power of eloquence to sway their counsels, in their half elective, half hereditary form of government, in the spirituality of their conceptions of god, and some other features of their religion (robertson has drawn out this comparison in his history of charles v). all tribes in a rude and savage state must have many similar usages and traits of character. and this resemblance between the well-known habits of our wandering savages and those which t. ascribes to the rude tribes of germany, may impress us with confidence in the truthfulness of his narrative. _vel armentorum vel frugum_. partitive gen. supply aliquid.-- _vel--vel==whether--or_, merely distinctive; _aut--aut==either--or_, adversative and exclusive. _vel--vel_ (from _volo_) implies, that one may _choose_ between the alternatives or particulars named; _aut--aut_ (from [greek: au, autis]), that if one is affirmed, the other is denied, since both cannot be true at the same time. cf. note, a. : _aut--aut. --pecuniam_. an oblique censure of the romans for purchasing peace and alliance with the germans, cf. h. , . herodian , : [greek: touto gar (sc. chrusio) malista germanoi peithontai, philargyroi te ontes kai taen eiraenaen aei pros tous romaious chrusiou kapaeleuontes]. on _et_, cf. note . xvi. _populis_. dative of the agent instead of the abl. with _a_ or _ab_. cf. note : _ulixi_. _ne--quidem_. these words are always separated, the word on which the emphasis rests being placed between them. h. , iii. ; z. . here however the emphasis seems to belong to the whole clause--_inter se_, sc. _sedes junctas inter se_. _colunt_==in-colunt. both often used intransitively, or rather with an ellipsis of the object,==_dwell_. _discreti ac diversi. separate and scattered_ in different directions, i.e. without regular streets or highways. see or. in loc. _ut fons--placuit_. hence to this day, the names of german towns often end in bach (brook), feld (field), holz (grove), wald (wood), born (spring). on the permanence of names of places, see note h. , . _connexis_, with some intervening link, such as fences, hedges, and outhouses; _cohaerentibus_, in immediate contact. _remedium--inscitia. it may be as a remedy_, etc.--_or it may be through ignorance_, etc. _sive--sive_ expresses an alternative conditionally, or contingently==it may be thus, or it may be thus. compare it with _vel--vel_, chap. , and with _aut--aut_, a . see also ramshorn's synonyms, . _remedium_ is acc. in app. with the foregoing clause. _inscitia_ is abl. of cause==per inscitiam. _caementorum_. properly _hewn_ stone (from caedo), but in usage any building stone.--_tegularum_. tiles, any materials for the _roof_ (tego), whether of brick, stone, or wood. _citra_. properly this side of, hence short of, or _without_, as used by the _later_ latin authors. this word is kindred to _cis_, i.e. _is_ with the demonstrative prefix _ce_. cf. freund sub v. _speciem_ refers more to the _eye, delectationem_ to the _mind_. taken with _citra_, they are equivalent to adjectives, connected to _informi_ and limiting _materia_ (citra speciem==non speciosa, gün.). render: _rude materials, neither beautiful to the eye nor attractive to the taste_. _materia_ is distinctively wood for building. fire-wood is _lignum_. _quaedam loca_. some parts of their houses, e.g. the walls. _terra ita pura_. probably red earth, such as chalk or gypsum. _imitetur. resembles painting and colored outlines_ or figures. _aperire_. poetice==_excavate_. cellars under ground were unknown to the romans. see beck. gal., and smith's dict. ant. _ignorantur--fallunt. they are not known to exist, or else_ (though known to exist) _they escape discovery from the very fact that they must be sought_ (in order to be found). gün. calls attention to the multiform enallage in this sentence: . in number (_populatur, ignorantur, fallunt_); . of the active, passive, and deponent verbs; . in the change of cases (_aperta_, acc.; _abdita_ and _defossa_, nom.). xvii. _sagum_. a short, thick cloak, worn by roman soldiers and countrymen. _fibula_==figibula, any artificial fastening; _spina_==natural. _si desit_. observe the difference between this clause, and _si quando advenit_ in the preceding chapter. this is a mere supposition without regard to fact; that implies an expectation, that the case will sometimes happen. _cetera intecti. uncovered as to the rest of the body_, cf. : nudi aut sagulo leves. _totos dies_. acc. of duration of time.--_agunt_==vivunt. k. _fluitante_. the flowing robe of the southern and eastern nations; _stricta_, the close dress and short clothes of the northern nations. _artus exprimente_. quae tam arte artus includit, ut emineant, earumque lineamenta et forma appareant, k. k. and gr. understand this of coat and vest, as well as breeches; gün. of breeches only. _proximi ripae_. near the banks of the rhine and the danube, so as to have commercial intercourse with the romans. these having introduced the cloth and dress of the romans, attached little importance to the manner of wearing their _skins_. but those in the interior, having no other apparel, valued themselves on the nice adjustment of them. _cultus_, artificial refinement. cf. note, . _maculis pellibusque_, for maculatis pellibus or maculis pellium, perhaps to avoid the concurrence of genitives. _belluarum--gignit. oceanus_==terrae, quas oceanus alluit; and _belluae_==lutrae, mustelae, erminiae, etc., so k. but gr. says _belluae_ cannot mean such small creatures, and agrees with lipsius, in understanding by it marine animals, seadogs, seals, &c. freund connects it in derivation with [greek: thaer], fera (bel==ber==ther==fer), but defines it as properly an animal remarkable for size or wildness. _exterior oceanus_==oceanus extra orbem romanum, further explained by _ignotum mare_. cf. note, : adversus oceanus. _habitus_, here==vestitus; in § .==forma corporis. _saepius, oftener_ than the _men_, who also wore linen more or less. gün. _purpura_. facta e succo plantis et floribus expresso. gün. _nudae--lacertos_. graece et poetice. brachia a manu ad cubitum; lacerti a cubito ad humeros. xviii. _quanquam_==sed tamen, i.e. notwithstanding the great freedom in the dress of german women, yet the marriage relation is sacred. this use of _quanquam_ is not unfrequent in t., and sometimes occurs in cic., often in pliny. see z. , n. _qui ambiuntur_. this passage is construed in two ways: _who are surrounded_ (ambiuntur==circumdantur, cf. ii. , .) _by many wives not to gratify lust, but to increase their rank and influence_ (_ob_ in the sense _for the sake of_, cf. ob metum, ). or thus: _who_ (take many wives) _not to gratify lust, but on account of their rank they are solicited to form many matrimonial alliances_. for _ambio_ in this sense and with the same somewhat peculiar construction after it, see h. , : _tantis sociorum auxiliis ambiri_; also virg. aen. , : connubiis ambire latinum. the latter is preferable, and is adopted by wr., k., gr., &c. the former by gün. and others. ariovistus had two wives. caes. b.g. , . _probant_, cf. probaverit, , note.--_comatur_. subj. denoting the intention of the presents _with which she is to be adorned_. h , ; z. . _frenatum_, bridled, _caparisoned==paratus_ below. _in haec munera_==[greek: epi toutois tois dorois]. _in_==upon the basis of, _on condition of_. so liv.: in has leges, in easdem leges. _hoc--vinculum_, so, § : haec apud illos toga. in both passages the allusion is to roman customs (for which see becker's gallus, exc. . scene ). in germany, _these presents_ take the place of the _confarreatio_ (see fiske's manual, p. . . ed.), and the various other methods of ratifying the marriage contract at rome; _these_, of the religious rites in which the parties mutually engaged on the wedding day (see man., p. ).--_conjugales deos_. certain gods at rome presided over marriage, e.g. jupiter, juno, venus, jugatinus, hymenaeus, diana, &c. _extra_. cic. would have said _expertem_ or _positum extra_. but t. is fond of the adv. used elliptically. _auspiciis==initiatory rites_. _denuntiant, proclaim, denote.--accipere_ depends on _denuntiant_ or _admonetur_. _rursus, quae--referantur_. rhenanus conjectured; rursusque--referant, which has since become the common reading. but _referantur_ is the reading of all the mss., and needs no emendation; and _quae_, with as good authority as _que_, makes the construction more natural and the sense more apposite. the passage, as gr. well suggests, consists of two parts (_accipere--reddat_, and _quae--accipiant--referantur_), _each_ of which includes the _two_ ideas of _receiving_ and _handing down_ to the next generation. render thus: _she is reminded that she receives gifts, which she is to hand over pure and unsullied to her children; which her daughters-in-law are to receive again_ (sc. from her sons, as she did from her husband), _which are to be transmitted by them to her grand-children_. _referantur_. in another writer, we might expect _referant_ to correspond in construction and subject with _accipiant_. but tacitus is fond of varying the construction. cf. bötticher's lex tac., and note, : _ignorantur_. xix. _septa_. so the mss. for the most part. al. _septae_. meaning: _with chastity guarded_, sc. by the sacredness of marriage and the excellent institutions of the germans. _nullis--corruptae_. here, as every where else in this treatise, t. appears as the censor of roman manners. he has in mind those fruitful sources of corruption at rome, public shows, (cf. sen. epist. : _nihil vero est tam damnosum bonis moribus, quam in aliquo spectaculo desidere_), convivial entertainments (cf. hor. od. , , ), and epistolary correspondence between the two sexes. _litterarum secreta_==litteras secretas, _secret correspondence_ between the sexes, for this limitation is obvious from the connexion.-- _praesens. immediate_. _maritis permissa_, sc. as a _domestic_ crime, cf. caes. b.g. , : viri in uxores, sicut in liberos, vitae necisque habent potestatem. cf. beck. gall., exc. . sc. . _accisis crinibus_, as a special mark of _disgrace_, cf. cor. , . so in the laws of the lombards, the punishment of adulteresses was _decalvari et fustigari.--omnem vicum, the whole village_, cf. germania omnis, § .--_aetate==juventa_. _non--invenerit. she would not find, could not expect to find_. this use of the perf. subj., for a softened fut., occurs in negative sentences oftener than in positive ones. cf. arnold's prose comp. , note. _saeculum_==indoles et mores saeculi, _the spirit of the age, the fashion_. _adhuc_ (==ad-hoc) is generally used by cicero, and often by tacitus, in the sense either of _still_ (to this day), or _moreover_ (in addition to this). from these, it passed naturally, in quintilian and the writers after him, into the sense of _even more, still more, even_, especially in connection with the comparative degree; where the authors of the augustan age would have used _etiam_. see z. ; bötticher's lex. tac. sub. voce; and hand's tursellinus, vol. . i. . _melius quidem adhuc==still better even_. for a verb, supply _sunt_ or _agunt_. cf. note a. : _nihil_. _eae civitates_. such as the heruli, among whom the wife was expected to hang herself at once at the grave of her husband, if she would not live in perpetual infamy. at rome, on the contrary, divorces and marriages might be multiplied to any extent, cf. mart. , : _nubit decimo viro_; also beck, as above cited. _semel_, like [greek: apax], _once for all_. _transigitur_. properly a business phrase. the business is _done up, brought to an end_. so a. : transigite cum expeditionibus. _ultra_, sc. primum maritum. so the ellipsis might be supplied. _ultra_ here is equivalent to _longior_ in the next clause, as t. often puts the adverb in place of the adjective, whether qualifying or predicate. _ne tanquam--ament_, sc. maritum: _that they may not love_ a husband _merely as a husband but as_ they love _the married state_. see this and similar examples of _brachylogy_ well illustrated in döderlein's essay on the style of tacitus, h. p. . since but one marriage was allowed, all their love for the married state must be concentrated in one husband. _numerum--finire_. in any way contrary to nature and by design. gün. _quod fiebat etiam abortus procuratione_. k. _ex agnatis. agnati_ hoc loco dicuntur, qui _post familiam constitutam_, ubi haeres jam est, _deinde nascuntur_. hess. to put such to death was a barbarous custom among the romans. cf. ann. , ; see beck. gall. exc. . scene . _alibi_, e.g. at rome.--_boni mores_ vs. _bonae leges_. these words involve a sentiment of great importance, and of universal application. good habits wherever they exist, and especially in a republic, are of far greater value and efficacy than good laws. xx. _nudi_. cf. : nudi aut sagulo leves. not literally naked, but slightly clad, cf. sen. de benef. , : qui _male vestitum_ et pannosum vidit, _nudum_ se vidisse dicit. _sordidi_. gün. understands this of personal filth. but this is inconsistent with the daily practice of bathing mentioned, § . it doubtless refers to the _dress_, as gr. and k. understand it: _nudi ac sordidi==poorly and meanly clad_. so also or. _quae miramur_. cf. : _magna corpora_. see also caes. b.g. , , , . on _haec_, see note, : _haec quoque_. _ancillis ac nutricibus_. so in the dial. de clar. orat., t. animadverts upon the custom here obliquely censured: nunc natus infans delegatur graeculae alicui ancillae. in the early ages of roman history it was not so, see becker's gall. exc. . scene .--_delegantur. delegamus_, quum, quod _ipsi_ facere debebamus, id per _alterum_ fieri curamus. e. _separet_. for the use of the subj. pres. after _donec_, see note, . _erumpat.--agnoscat_==faciat ut agnoscatur. so död., gün. and k. but it is better with gr., to regard the expression as poetical, and _virtus_, as personified: _and valor acknowledge_ them, sc. as brave men and therefore by implication free born. _venus_==concubitus.--_pubertas_==facultas generandi. gr. cf. caes, b.g. , : qui diutissime impuberes permanserunt maximam inter suos ferunt laudem. _virgines festinantur_==nuptiae virginum festinantur, poetice. the words properare, festinare, accelerare are used in both a trans. and intrans. sense, cf. hist. , : festinabantur; , : festinarentur. among the romans, boys of fourteen contracted marriage with girls of twelve. cf. smith's dic. ant. _eadem, similis, pares_. the comparison is between the youth of the two sexes at the time of marriage; they marry at the same age, equal in stature and equal in strength. marriages unequal in these respects, were frequent at rome.--_pares--miscentur_. plene: pares paribus, validae validis miscentur. on this kind of brachylogy, see further in död. essay on style of t., h. p. . _miscentur_ has a middle sense, as the passive often has, particularly in tacitus. cf. note : _obligantur_. _referunt_. cf. virg. aen. , : parvulus aeneas, qui te tamen ore _referret_. see note, : auguriis. _ad patrem_. _ad_ is often equivalent to _apud_ in the best latin authors; e.g. cic. ad att. , : ad me fuit==apud me fuit. rhenanus by conjecture wrote _apud_ patrem to correspond with apud avunculum. but passow restored _ad_ with the best reason. for t. prefers _different_ words and constructions in antithetic clauses. perhaps also a different sense is here intended from that which would have been expressed by _apud_. wr. takes _ad_ in the sense, _in respect to: as in respect to a father_, i.e. as they would have, if he were their father. _exigunt_, sc. hunc nexum==sororum filios. _tanquam_. like greek os to denote the views of others, not of the writer. hence followed by the subj. h. ; z. . _et in animum_. _in_==quod attinet ad, _in respect to_. the commonly received text has _ii et animum_, which is a mere conjecture of rhen. according to k., _teneant_ has for its subject not _sororum filii_, but the same subject as _exigunt_. render: _since, as they suppose, both in respect to the mind_ (the affections), _they hold it more strongly, and in respect to the family, more extensively_. _heredes_ properly refers to property, _successores_ to rank, though the distinction is not always observed.--_liberi_ includes both sons and daughters. _patrui_, paternal uncles; _avunculi_, maternal. _propinqui_, blood relations; _affines_, by marriage. _orbitatis pretia_. _pretia==proemia_. _orbitatis==childlessness_. those who had no children, were courted at _rome_ for the sake of their property. vid. sen. consol. ad marc. : in civitate nostra, plus gratiae orbitas confert, quam eripit. so plutarch de amore prolis says: the childless are entertained by the rich, courted by the powerful, defended gratuitously by the eloquent: many, who had friends and honors in abundance, have been stripped of both by the birth of a single child. xxi. _necesse est_. it is their duty and the law of custom. gün.-- _nec_==non tamen.--_homicidium_. a post-augustan word. _armentorum ac pecorum_. for the distinction between these words, see note, § . the high value which they attached to their herds and flocks, as their _solae et gratissimae opes_, may help to explain the law or usage here specified. moreover, where the individual was so much more prominent than the state, homicide even might be looked upon as a private wrong, and hence to be atoned for by a pecuniary satisfaction, cf. tur. hist. ang. sax., app. no. , chap. . _juxta libertatem_, i.e. _simul cum libertate_, or inter liberos homines. the form of expression is characteristic of the later latin. cf. hand's tursellinus, vol. iii. p. . tacitus is particularly partial to this preposition. _convictibus_, refers to the entertainment of countrymen and friends, _hospitiis_ to that of strangers. _pro fortuna. according to his means_. so ann. , : fortunae inops. _defecere_, sc. epulae. quam exhausta sint, quae apparata erant, cf. : omnia defecerunt. _hospes_. properly _stranger_; and hence either _guest_ or _host_. here the latter.--_comes. guest_. so gün. and the common editions. but most recent editors place a colon after _comes_, thus making it _predicate_, and referring it to the _host_ becoming the guide and _companion_ of his guest to another place of entertainment. _non invitati_, i.e. etiam si non invitati essent. gün. _nec interest_, i.e. whether invited or not. _jus hospitis. the right of the guest_ to a hospitable reception, so cic. tus. quaes., , : jus hominum. _quantum ad_ belongs to the silver age. in the golden age they said: _quod attinet ad_, or simply _ad_. gr. cicero however has _quantum in_, n. d. , ; and ovid, _quantum ad_, a. a. , . cf. freund sub voce. _imputant. make charge or account of_. nearly confined to the later latin. frequent in t. in the reckoning both of debt and credit, of praise and blame. cic. said: _assignare_ alicui aliquid. _obligantur_, i.e. obligatos esse putant. forma passiva ad modum medii verbi graeci. gün. cf. note, : _miscentur_. _victus--comis. the mode of life between host and guest is courteous_. for _victus_==manner of life, cf. cic. inv. , , . xxii. _e_ is not exactly equivalent here to _a_, nor does it mean simply _after_, but immediately on awaking _out of_ sleep.--_lavantur_, wash themselves, i.e. bathe; like gr. louomai. so aggregantur, ; _obligantur_, , et passim. _calida_, sc. aqua, cf. in greek, thermo louesthai, aristoph. nub. . in like manner pliny uses _frigida_, ep. , : semel iterumque _frigidam_ poposcit transitque. other writers speak of the germans as bathing in their rivers, doubtless in the summer; but in the winter they use the warm bath, as more agreeable in that cold climate. so in russia and other cold countries, cf. mur. in loco. _separatae--mensa_. contra romanorum luxuriam, ex more fere _homerici_ aevi. gün. _sedes_, opposed to the triclinia, on which the romans used to _recline_, a practice as unknown to the rude germans, as to the _early_ greeks and hebrews. see coler. stud. of gr. poets, p. (boston, ). _negotia_. plural==_their_ various _pursuits_. so cic. de or. , : _forensia negotia. negotium==nec-otium_, c. and g. being originally identical, as they still are almost _in form.--armati_. cf. note, : _ut turbae placuit_. _continuare_, etc. est diem noctemque jungere potando, sive die nocteque perpotationem continuare. k. _ut_, sc. solet fieri, cf. ut in licentia, § . the clause limits _crebrae_; it is the _frequent occurrence_ of brawls, that is customary among those given to wine. _transiguntur_. see note on transigitur, § . _asciscendis_. i.e. assumendis. _simplices_ manifestly refers to the _expression_ of thought; explained afterwards by _fingere_ nesciunt==_frank, ingenuous_. cf. his. , : _simplicissime loquimur_; ann. , : _simplices curas_. _astuta--callida. astutus_ est natura, _callidus_ multarum rerum peritia. rit. _astutus_, cunning; _callidus_, worldly wise. död. _adhuc. to this day_, despite the degeneracy and dishonesty of the age. so död. and or. rit. says: quae adhuc pectore clausa erant. others still make it==_etiam, even_. cf. note, . _retractatur_. reviewed, _reconsidered_. _salva--ratio est. the proper relation of both times is preserved_, or the advantage of both is secured, as more fully explained in the next member, viz. by _discussing when they are incapable of disguise, and deciding, when they are not liable to mistake_. cf. or. in loc., and bötticher, sub v. passow well remarks, that almost every german usage, mentioned in this chapter, is in marked contrast with roman manners and customs. xxiii. _potui_==pro potu, or in potum, dat. of the end. so : victui herba, vestitui pelles. t. and sallust are particularly fond of this construction. cf. böt. lex. tac., sub _dativus_. _hordeo aut frumento. hordeo==barley; frumento_, properly fruit (frugimentum, fruit [greek: kat exochaen], i.e. grain), grain of any kind, here _wheat_, cf. veget. r.m. , : et milites pro frumento hordeum cogerentur accipere. _similitudinem vini. beer_, for which the greeks and romans had no name. hence herod. ( , ) speaks of [greek: oinos ek kritheon pepoiaemenos], among the egyptians. _corruptus_. cum tacitea indignatione dictum, cf. : _infectos_, so gün. but the word is often used to denote mere change, without the idea of being made worse, cf. virg. geor. , : nec casia liquidi _corrumpitur_ usus olivi. here render _fermented_. _ripae_, sc. of the rhine and danube, i.e. the roman border, as in : proximi ripae. _poma_. fruits of any sort, cf. pliny, n.h. , : arborem vidimus omni genere _pomorum_ onustum, alio ramo _nucibus_, alio _baccis_, aliunde _vite, ficis, piris_, etc. _recens fera. venison_, or other game _fresh_, i.e. _recently taken_, in distinction from the tainted, which better suited the luxurious taste of the romans. _lac concretum_. called _caseus_ by caes. b.g. , . but the germans, though they lived so much on milk, did not understand the art of making cheese, see pliny, n.h. , . "de caseo non cogitandum, potius quod nostrates dicunt dickemilch" (i.e. _curdled milk_). gün. _apparatu. luxurious preparation.--blandimentis. dainties_. _haud minus facile_. litotes for multo facilius. _ebrietati_. like the american aborigines, see note, § . xxiv. _nudi_. see note, § . _quibus id ludicrum. for whom it is a sport_; not whose business it is to furnish the amusement: that would be _quorum est_ k. and gr. _infestas_==porrectas contra saltantes. k.--_decorem_. poetic. _quaestum_==quod quaeritur, _gain_.--_mercedem_, stipulated pay, _wages_. _quamvis_ limits _audacis_==_daring as it is_ (as you please). _sobrii inter seria_. at rome gaming was forbidden, except at the saturnalia, cf. hor. od. , , : vetita legibus alea. the remarkable circumstance (_quod mirere_) in germany was, that they practised it not merely as an amusement at their feasts, but when sober among (_inter_) their ordinary every-day pursuits. _novissimo. the last_ in a series. very frequently in this sense in t., so also in caes. properly newest, then latest, _last_. cf. note, his. , . _extremo_, involving the greatest hazard, like our _extreme: last and final_ (decisive) _throw_. this excessive love of play, extending even to the sacrifice of personal liberty, is seen also among the american indians, see robertson, hist. of america, vol. , pp. - . it is characteristic of barbarous and savage life, cf. mur. in loco. _de libertate ac de corpore_. hendiadys==_personal liberty_. _voluntariam_. an earlier latin author would have used _ipse, ultro_, or the like, limiting the subject of the verb, instead of the object. the latin of the golden age prefers _concrete_ words. the later latin approached nearer to the english, in using more _abstract_ terms. cf. note on _repercussu_, . _juvenior. more youthful_, and therefore more vigorous; not merely younger (_junior_). see död. and rit. in loc. forcellini and freund cite only two other examples of this full form of the comparative (plin. ep. , , and apul. met. , ), in which it does not differ in meaning from the common contracted form. _ea_==talis or tanta. _such_ or _so great_. gr. _pervicacia. pervicaces_ sunt, qui in aliquo certamine _ad vincendum_ perseverant, schol. hor. epod. , . _pudore_. shame, _disgrace_. so also his. , ; contrary to usage of earlier writers, who use it for sense of shame, _modesty_. xxv. _ceteris_. all but those who have gambled away their own liberty, as in § .--_in nostrum morem_, &c., with specific duties distributed through the household (the slave-household, cf. note, ), as explained by the following clause. on the extreme subdivision of office among slaves at _rome_, see beck. gall. exc. . sc. ; and smith's dic. antiq. under servus. _descripta_==dimensa, distributa. gün. _familiam_. here the entire _body of servants_, cf. note, § . _quisque_. each _servant_ has his own house and home. _ut colono_. like the _tenant_ or _farmer_ among the romans; also the vassal in the middle ages, and the serf in modern europe. _hactenus. thus far_, and _no farther_, i.e. if he pays his rent or tax, no more is required of him. _cetera_. the _rest of the duties_ (usually performed by a _roman servant_), viz. those of the _house, the wife and children_ (sc. of the master) _perform_. gr. strangely refers _uxor et liberi_ to the wife and children of the servant. passow also refers _domus_ to the house of the servant, thus making it identical with the _penates_ above, with which it seems rather to be contrasted. with the use of _cetera_ here, compare his. , : _ceterum vulgus_==the rest, viz. the common soldiers, and see the principle well illustrated in döderlein's essay, his. p. . _opere. hard labor_, which would serve as a punishment. the romans punished their indolent and refractory domestics, by sending them to labor in the _country_, as well as by heavy chains (_vinculis_) and cruel flagellations (_verberare_). they had also the power of life and death (_occidere_). beck. gall. exc. . sc. ; smith's dic. ant. as above. _non disciplina--ira_. hendiadys==non disciplinae severitate, sed irae impetu. cf. his. , : _severitate disciplinae_. _nisi--impune_, i.e. without the pecuniary penalty or satisfaction, which was demanded when one put to death an enemy (_inimicum_). cf. . _liberti--libertini_. these words denote the same persons, but with this difference in the idea: _libertus_==the freedman of some particular master, _libertinus_==one in the _condition_ of a freedman without reference to any master. at the time of the decemvirate, and for some time after, liberti==emancipated slaves, libertini==the descendants of such, cf. suet. claud. . _quae regnantur. governed by kings_. ex poetarum more dictum, cf. virg. aen. , : regnata per arva. so : gothones regnantur, and : suiones. gün. _ingenuos_==free born; _nobiles_==high born. _ascendunt_, i.e. ascendere possunt. _ceteros_. by synesis (see gr.) for ceteras, sc. gentes. _impares_, sc. ingenuis et nobilibus. _libertatis argumentum_, inasmuch as they value liberty and citizenship too much to confer it on freedmen and slaves. this whole topic of freedmen is an oblique censure of roman custom in the age of the emperors, whose freedmen were not unfrequently their favorites and prime ministers. xxvi. _fenus agitare. to loan money at interest_. _et in usuras extendere. and to put out that interest again on interest_. the other explanation, viz. that it means simply to put money at interest, makes the last clause wholly superfluous. _servatur. is secured_, sc. abstinence from usury, or the non-existence of usury, which is the essential idea of the preceding clause. _ideo--vetitum esset_, sc. ignoti nulla cupido! cf. : boni mores, vs. bonae leges. gün. the reader cannot fail to recognize here, as usual, the reference to rome, where usury was practised to an exorbitant extent. see fiske's manual, § , . and arnold's his. of rome, vol. , passim. _universis. whole clans_, in distinction from individual owners. _in vices. by turns_. al vices, vice, vicis. död. prefers in vicis; rit. in vicos==for i.e. by villages. but whether we translate by turns or by villages, it comes to the same thing. cf. caes. b.g. , . _camporum, arva, ager, soli, terrae_, &c. these words differ from each other appropriately as follows: _terra_ is opposed to mare et coelum, viz. _earth_. _solum_ is the substratum of any thing, viz. _solid ground or soil_. _campus_ is an extensive plain or level surface, whether of land or water, here _fields_. _ager_ is distinctively the territory that surrounds a city, viz. _the public lands_. _arvum_ is ager _aratus_, viz. _plough lands_. bredow. _superest_. there is enough, and more, cf. § , note. _labore contendunt_. they do not strive emulously to equal the fertility of the soil by their own industry. passow. _imperatur_. just as frumentum, commeatus, obsides, etc., _imperantur, are demanded or expected_. gün. _totidem_, sc. quot romani, cf. idem, , note. tacitus often omits one member of a comparison, as he does also one of two comparative particles. _species. parts_. sometimes the logical divisions of a genus; so used by cic. and quin. (§ , ): cum genus dividitur in species. _intellectum_. a word of the silver age, cf. note on voluntariam, . intellectum--habent==_are understood and named_. "quam distortum dicendi genus!" gün. _autumni--ignorantur_. accordingly in english, spring, summer and winter are saxon words, while autumn is of latin origin (auctumnus). see dübner in loc. still such words as härfest, herpist, harfst, herbst, in other teutonic dialects, apply to the autumnal season, and not, like our word harvest, merely to the fruits of it. xxvii. _funera_, proprie de toto apparatu sepulturae. e. funeral rites were performed with great pomp and extravagance at rome; cf. fiske's man., § ; see also mur. in loco, and beck. gall. exc. sc. . _ambitio_. primarily the solicitation of office by the candidate; then the parade and display that attended it; then _parade_ in general, especially in a bad sense. _certis_, i.e. rite statutis. gün. _cumulant_. structura est poetica, cf. virg. aen. , : _cumulatque_ altaria donis. k. _equus adjicitur_. herodotus relates the same of the scythians ( , ); caesar, of the gauls (b.g. , ). indeed all rude nations bury with the dead those objects which are most dear to them when living, under the notion that they will use and enjoy them in a future state. see robertson's amer. b. , &c., &c. _sepulcrum--erigit_. still poetical; literally: _a turf rears the comb_. cf. his. , : libanum _erigit_. _ponunt_==deponunt. so cic. tusc. qu.: ad ponendum dolorem cf. a. : posuere iram. _feminis--meminisse_. cf. sen. ep.: vir prudens meminisse perseveret, lugere desinat. _accepimus_. ut ab aliis tradita audivimus, non ipsi cognovimus. k. see preliminary remarks, p. . _in commune_. cic. would have said, universe, or de universa origine. gr. cic. uses _in commune_, but in a different sense, viz. for the common weal. see freund, sub voc. _instituta_, political; _ritus_, religious. _quae nationes. and what tribes_, etc.; _quae_ for _quaeque_ by asyndeton, or perhaps, as rit. suggests, by mistake of the copyist.-- _commigraverint_. subj. of the indirect question. gr. , z. . german critics have expended much labor and research, in defining the locality of the several german tribes with which the remainder of the treatise is occupied. in so doing, they rely not only on historical data, but also on the traces of ancient names still attached to cities, forests, mountains, and other localities (cf. note, § ). these we shall sometimes advert to in the notes. but on the whole, these speculations of german antiquarians are not only less interesting to scholars in other countries, but are so unsatisfactory and contradictory among themselves, that, for the most part, we shall pass them over with very little attention. there is manifestly an intrinsic difficulty in defining the ever changing limits of uncivilized and unsettled tribes. hence the irreconcilable contradictions between _ancient authorities_, as well as modern critiques, on this subject. tacitus, and the roman writers generally, betray their want of definite knowledge of germany by the frequency with which they specify the names of mountains and rivers. the following geographical outline is from ukert, and must suffice for the _geography_ of the remainder of the treatise: "in the corner between the rhine and the danube, are the decumates agri, perhaps as far as the mayne, . northward on the rhine dwell the mattiaci, whose neighbors on the east are the chatti, . on the same river farther north are the usipii and the tencteri; then the frisii, - . eastward of the tencteri dwell the chamavi and the angrivarii (earlier the bructeri), and east or southeast of them the dulgibini and chasuarii, . and other small tribes. eastward of the frisii germany juts out far towards the north, . on the coast of the bay thus formed, dwell the chauci, east of the frisii and the above mentioned tribes; on the south, they reach to the chatti. east of the chauci and the chatti are the cherusci, . whose neighbors are the fosi. the cherusci perhaps, according to tacitus, do not reach to the ocean; and in the angle of the above bay, he places the cimbri, . thus tacitus represents the western half of germany. the eastern is of greater dimensions. there are the suevi, . he calls the country suevia, . and enumerates many tribes, which belong there. eastward of the cherusci he places the semnones and langobardi; north of them are the reudigni, aviones, anglii, varini, eudoses, suardones and nuithones; and all these he may have regarded as lying in the interior, and as the most unknown tribes, . he then mentions the tribes that dwell on the danube, eastward from the decumates agri: the hermunduri, in whose country the elbe has its source; the narisci, marcomanni and quadi, - . the marcomanni hold the country which the boii formerly possessed; and northward of them and the quadi, chiefly on the mountains which run through suevia, are the marsigni, gothini, osi and burii, . farther north are the lygii, consisting of many tribes, among which the most distinguished are the arii, helvecones, manimi, elysii and naharvali, . still farther north dwell the gothones, and, at the ocean, the rugii and lemovii. upon islands in the ocean live the suiones, . upon the mainland, on the coast, are the tribes of the aestyi, and near them, perhaps on islands, the sitones, . perhaps he assigned to them the immense islands to which he refers in his first chapter. here ends suevia. whether the peucini, venedi and fenni are to be reckoned as germans or sarmatians, is uncertain, . the hellusii and oxonae are fabulous." the following paragraph from prichard's researches embodies some of the more general conclusions of _ethnographers_, especially of zeuss, on whom prichard, in common with orelli and many other scholars, places great reliance. "along the coast of the german ocean and across the isthmus of the cimbric peninsula to the shore of the baltic, were spread the tribes of the chauci and frisii, the anglii, saxones and the teutones or jutes, who spoke the _low-german_ languages, and formed one of the four divisions of the german race, corresponding as it seems with the _ingaevones_ of tacitus and pliny. in the higher and more central parts, the second great division of the race, that of the _hermiones_, was spread, the tribes of which spoke _upper_ or _high-german_ dialects. beginning in the west with the country of the sigambri on the rhine, and from that of the cherusci and angrivarii near the weser and the hartz, this division comprehended, besides those tribes, the chatti, the langobardi, the hermunduri, the marcomanni and quadi, the lugii, and beyond the vistula the bastarnae, in the neighborhood of the carpathian hills. to the eastward and northward of the last mentioned, near the lower course of the vistula and thence at least as far as the pregel, were the primitive abodes of the goths and their cognate tribes, who are perhaps the _istaevones_." the fourth division of prichard embraced the scandinavians, who spoke a language kindred to the germans and were usually classed with them. those who would examine this subject more thoroughly, will consult adelung, zeuss, grimm, ritter, ukert, prichard, latham, &c., who have written expressly on the geography or the ethnography of germany. xxviii. _summus auctorum_, i.e. omnium scriptorum is, qui plurimum _auctoritatis fideique_ habet. k. cf. sueton. caes. . though t. commends so highly the _authority_ of caesar as a writer, yet he differs from him in not a few matters of fact, as well as opinion; owing chiefly, doubtless, to the increased means of information which he possessed in the age of trajan. _divus julius. divus_==deified, _divine_; an epithet applied to the roman emperors after their decease.--_tradit_. cf. caes. b.g. , : fuit antea tempus, cum _germanos galli_ virtute _superarent_, ultro bella inferrent, propter hominum multitudinem agrique inopiam trans rhenum colonias mitterent. livy probably refers to the same events, when he says (lib. , ), that in the reign of priscus tarquinius, two immense bodies of gauls migrated and took possession, the one of the hercynian forest, the other of upper italy. _amnis. the rhine.--promiscuas. unsettled, ill defined_. _quo minus_ after a verb of hindering is followed by the subj. h. ; z. . _nulla--divisas_, i.e. _not distributed among different and powerful kings_. _hercyniam silvam_. a series of forests and mountains, stretching from helvetia to hungary in a line parallel to the danube, and described by caesar (b.g. , ), as nine day's journey in breadth and more than sixty in length. the name seems to be preserved in the modern _hartz_ forest, which is however far less extensive. _igitur--helvetii_==igitur _regionem_, inter, etc. see note on _colunt_, . _igitur_ seldom stands as the first word in a sentence in cicero. cf. z. ; and kühner's cic. tusc. qu. , , . here it introduces a more particular explanation of the general subject mentioned at the close of the previous chapter. so in a. . when so used, it sometimes stands first in cic., always in t. cf. freund sub v. touching the helvetii, see caes. b.g. , ; t. his. , . _boihemi nomen_. compounded of boii and heim (home of the boii), now bohemia. _heim==ham_ in the termination of so many names of towns, e.g. framing_ham_, notting_ham_. the boii were driven from their country by the marcomanni, . the fugitives are supposed to have carried their name into boioaria, now bavaria. cf. prichard's physical researches, vol. iii. chap. , sec. ; and latham's germany of tacitus in loco. _germanorum natione_, i.e. german in situation, not in origin, for this he expressly denies or disproves in , from the fact that they spoke the pannonian language, and paid tribute. the doubt expressed here has reference only to their original _location_, not to their original stock, and is therefore in no way inconsistent with the affirmation in chapter . _cum==since_. hence followed by subj. h. , i.; z. . _utriusque ripae_. here of the _danube_, the right or pannonian bank of which was occupied by the aravisci, and the left or german bank by the osi. so elsewhere of the _rhine_, , and of both, , and . _treveri_. hence modern _treves_. _circa_. _in respect to_. a use foreign to the golden age of latin composition, but not unfrequent in the silver age. see ann. , . . his. , . cf. z. , and note, h. , . _affectationem_. _eager desire_ to pass for native germans. ad verbum, cf. note, ii. , . _ultro_. radically the same with _ultra_==beyond. properly beyond expectation, beyond necessity, beyond measure, beyond any thing mentioned in the foregoing context. hence unexpectedly, freely, cheerfully, very much, even more. here _very_, _quite_. gr. _inertia gallorum_. t., says gün., is an everlasting persecutor of the gauls, cf. a. . _haud dubie_==haud dubii. it limits germanorum populi. _undoubtedly german tribes_. _meruerint_. not merely deserved, but _earned_, _attained_. for the subj. after _quanquam_, cf. note, . _agrippinenses_. from agrippina, daughter of germanicus and wife of claudius. ann. , . now cologne. _conditoris_. _conditor_ with the earlier latins is an epicene, conditrix being of later date. here used of agrippina. of course _sui_ cannot agree with _conditoris_. it is a reflexive pronoun, the objective gen. after _conditoris_==the founder of _themselves_, i.e. of their state, cf. _odium sui_, . _experimento_. abl. _on_ trial, not _for_; i.e. in consequence of being found faithful. in reference to the ubii, cf. his. , . xxix. _virtute_ sc. bellica. _non multum ex ripa_. _a small tract on the bank, but chiefly an island in the river_. cf. his. , : extrema gallicae orae, simulque insulam, occupavere. _chattorum quondam_. the very name batavi is thought by some to be a corrupted or modified form of chatti. see rit. in loc. _transgressus. when_ is not known, but julius caesar found them already in possession of their new territory. b.g. , . _fierent_. subj. after _eas--quibus==such that_. h. , ; z. . _nec--contemnuntur. are neither dishonored_. so in his. , . the batavians are called _tributorum expertes_. _oneribus. the burdens of regular taxation.--collationibus. extraordinary contributions_. _tela_, offensive; _arma_, defensive armor. _in sua ripa_. on the right or eastern bank of the rhine. _agunt_ is to be taken with _in sua ripa_, as well as with _nobiscum_, which are antithetic to each other. meaning: in situation germans, in feeling romans. _mente animoque. in mind and spirit. mens_ is properly the understanding, _animus_ the feeling part, and both together comprehend the whole soul. _acrius animantur. made more courageous by the influence of their very soil and climate even_ (_adhuc_, cf. note, ). _numeraverim_. subj. cf. note, : _crediderim_. _decumates--exercent. exercent_==colunt, so virg. tellurem, terram, humum, solum, &c., _exercere_. _decumates_==decumanos. occurs only here. tithe-paying lands. for their location, see note, . _dubiae possessionis_, i.e. _insecure_, till confirmed by _limite acto promotisque praesidiis_, i.e. _extending the boundary and advancing the garrisons or outposts_. _sinus. extreme bend_ or _border_. cf. note, . so virg. (geor. ) calls india extremi _sinus_ orbis. _provinciae_. a province, not any particular one. xxx. _initium inchoant_. pleonastic. so initio orto, his. , ; initium coeptum, his. , ; perferre toleraverit, ann. , . _ultra_ is farther back from the rhine. chattorum sedes ubi nunc magnus ducatus et principatus _hassorum_, quorum nomen a chattis deductum. ritter. cha_tt_i==he_ss_ians, as germ. wa_ss_er==eng. wa_t_er, and [greek: prasso==pratto]. _effusis. loca effusa_ sunt, quae _latis campis_ patent. k. this use belongs to the later latin, though horace applies the word with _late_ to the sea: effusi late maria. gr. _durant siquidem_, etc. on the whole, i am constrained to yield to the authority and the arguments of wr., or., död., and rit., and place the pause before _durant_, instead of after it as in the first edition. _durant_ precedes _siquidem_ for the sake of emphasis, just as _quin immo_ (chap. ) and _quin etiam_ ( ) yield their usual place to the emphatic word. these are all departures from established usage. see notes in loc. cit. _que_ must be understood, after _paulatim_: it is inserted in the text by ritter. _rarescunt_. _become fewer_ and farther apart. so virg. aen. , : _angusti rarescent claustra pelori_. _chattos suos_. as if the chatti were the children of the forest, and the forest emphatically their country. passow. _prosequitur, deponit_. begins, continues, and ends with the chatti. poetical==is coextensive with. _duriora_, sc. solito, or his, cf. gr. , .--_stricti, sinewy, strong_, which has the same root as _stringo_. _ut inter germanos_, i.e. pro ingenio germanorum, gün. so we say elliptically: _for germans_. _praeponere_, etc. a series of infinitives without connectives, denoting a hasty enumeration of particulars; elsewhere, sometimes, a rapid succession of events. cf. notes, a. , and h. , . the particulars here enumerated, all refer to _military_ proceedings. _disponere--noctem_. _they distribute the day_, sc. as the period of various labors; _they fortify the night_, sc. as the scene of danger. still highly poetical. _ratione_. _way, manner_. al. _romanae_. _ferramentis_. _iron tools_, axes, mattocks, &c.--_copiis_. _provisions_. _rari_. predicate of _pugna_, as well as _excursus_.--_velocitas_ applies to cavalry, _cunctatio_ to infantry; _juxta_==connected with, allied to, cf. juxta libertatem, . xxxi. _aliis--populis_. dat. after _usurpatum_, which with its adjuncts is the subject of _vertit_. see same construction, his. , : observatum id antiquitus comitiis dirimendis non terruit galbam, etc., cf. also a. .--_audentia_ occurs only thrice in t. (g. . . ann. , ), and once in pliny (ep. , ). it differs from _audacia_ in being a _virtue_. _vertit_. intrans. not so found in cic., but in liv., caes., and sall., not unfrequent. gr. cic. however uses _anno vertente_. _in consensum vertit_. _has become the common custom_. _ut primum_. _just as soon as_. a causal relation is also implied; hence followed by the subj. _crinem--submittere_. we find this custom (_of letting the hair and beard grow long_) later among the lombards and the saxons, cf. turn. his. ang. sax., app. to b. . _super--spolia_, i.e. _over the bloody spoils_ of a slain enemy. _revelant_, i.e. they remove the hair and beard, which have so long _veiled_ the face. _retulisse==repaid, discharged their obligations to those who gave them birth_. _squalor_. this word primarily denotes roughness; secondarily and usually filth: here the deformity of unshorn hair and beard. _insuper_, i.e. besides the long hair and beard. the proper position of _insuper_ is, as here, between the adj. and subs., cf. : immensos _insuper_ lacus; see also _insuper_, . _absolvat_. subj. after _donec_. so _faciat_ below. see note, . _hic--habitus_, sc. _ferreum annulum_, cf. . _plurimis_==permultis, rit. _placet_. antithetic to _ignominiosum genti_. very many of the chatti are _pleased_ with that which is esteemed a disgrace by most germans, and so pleased with it as to retain it to old age, and wear it as a badge of distinction (_canent insignes_). _nova_. al. _torva. strange, unusual_. placed in the _van_ (_prima acies_), because as the author says, § : primi in omnibus proeliis _oculi_ vincuntur. _mansuescunt_. primarily said of wild beasts, _accustomed to the hand of man_ or _tamed_. so _immanis_, _not_ handled, wild, savage. the clause introduced by _nam_ illustrates or enforces _visu nova_, and may be rendered thus: _for not even in time of peace do they grow gentle_ and put on _a milder aspect_. _exsanguis_. usually lifeless or pale. here _languid, feeble_. xxxii. _alveo_==quoad alveum. abl. of respect, h. ; z. . _certum. fixed, well defined_, i.e. not divided and diffused, (so as to form of itself no sufficient border or boundary to the roman empire) as it was nearer its source among the chatti. so this disputed word seems to be explained by the author himself in the following clause; _quique terminus esse sufficiat==and such that it suffices to be a boundary_. _qui==talis ut_; hence followed by the subj. h. , i.; z. . so mela ( , ) contrasts _solidus et certo alveo lapsus_ with _huc et illuc dispergitur_. _tencteris_==apud tencteros, by _enallage_, cf. note on _ad patrem_, , and other references there. the tencteri and usipii seem to have been at length absorbed into the mass of people, who appear under the later name of alemanni. cf. prichard. _familiam. servants_, cf. note on same word, . see also beck gall., exc. . sc. .--penates==our _homestead_. _jura succesionum==heir looms_, all that goes down by hereditary descent. _excipit_. here in the unusual sense of _inherits.--cetera_, sc. _jura successionum_. _bello_. abl. and limits both _ferox_ and _melior_. meaning: _the horses are inherited, not, like the rest of the estate, by the eldest son, but by the bravest_. xxxiii. _occurrebant. met the view, presented themselves_. almost the sense of the corresponding english word. the structure of _narratur_ (as impers.) is very rare in the earlier authors, who would say: _chamavi narrantur_. cf. his. , . . the _chamavi_, &c., were joined afterwards to the franks. cf. prichard. the present town of _ham_ in westphalia probably preserves the name and gives the _original_ locality of the _chamavi_, the present _engern_ that of the _angrivarii_. the termination varii or uarii probably==inhabitants of. thus angrivarii==inhabitants of engern. chasuarii==inhabitants of the river hase. the same element is perhaps contained in the termination of bruct_eri_ and tenct_eri_. see latham in loco. _nos, se_. romanos. _erga_==inclined to (cf. vergo), _towards_. _spectaculo_. ablative. invidere is constructed by the latins in the following ways: invidere alicui aliquid, alicui alicujus rei, alicui aliqua re, alicui in aliqua re. hess. the construction here (with the abl. of the thing, which was the object of envy) belongs to the silver age. cf. quint. (inst. , , ) who contrasts it with the usage of cicero, and considers it as illustrating the fondness of the age for _figurative_ language. _oblectationi oculisque_. hendiadys for ad oblectationem oculorum. the author here exults in the promiscuous slaughter of the german tribes by each other's arms, as a brilliant spectacle to roman eyes--a feeling little congenial to the spirit of christianity, but necessarily nurtured by the gladiatorial shows and bloody amusements of the romans, to say nothing of the habitual hostility which they waged against all other nations, that did not submit to their dominion. _quaeso_, sc. _deos_. though _fortune_ is spoken of below, as controlling the destiny of nations. this passage shows clearly that tacitus, with all his partiality for german manners and morals, still retains the heart of a roman patriot. he loves his country with all her faults, and bears no good-will to her enemies, however many and great their virtues. the passage is important, as illustrating the spirit and design of the whole treatise. the work was not written as a blind panegyric on the germans, or a spleeny satire on the romans. neither was it composed for the purpose of stirring up trajan to war against germany; to such a purpose, such a clause, as _urgentibus imperii fatis_, were quite adverse. least of all was it written for the mere pastime and amusement of roman readers. it breathes the spirit at once of the earnest patriot, and the high-toned moralist. _odium sui_. cf. note, : _conditor. hatred of themselves_; i.e. of one another. so in greek, the reflexive pronoun is often used for the reciprocal. _quando==since_; a subjective reason. cf. note, his. i, ; and z. . --_urgentibus--fatis_, sc. to discord and dissolution, for such were the forebodings of patriotic and sagacious minds ever after the overthrow of the republic, even under the prosperous reign of trajan. xxxiv. _a tergo_, i.e. further back from the rhine, or towards the east-- _a fronte_, nearer the rhine or towards the west. both are to be referred to the angrivarii and chamavi, who had the dulgibini and the chasuarii in their rear (on the east), and the frisii on their front (towards the west or northwest).--_frisii_, the frieslanders. _majoribus--virium. they have the name of greater or less frisii, according to the measure of their strength_. for this sense of _ex_ see note . for the case of _majoribus minoribusque_ see z. , and h. , . _praetexuntur. are bordered by the rhine_ (hemmed, as the toga _praetexta_ by the purple); or, as freund explains, are covered by it, i.e. lie behind it--_immensos lacus_. the bays, or arms of the sea, at the mouth of the rhine (zuyder zee, etc.), taken for lakes by t. and pliny (ann. , . , . n.h. , ). they have been greatly changed by inundations. see mur. in loco. _oceanum_, sc. septentrionalem.--_sua_, sc. parte.--_tentavimus, explored_. _herculis columnas_. "wherever the land terminated, and it appeared impossible to proceed further, ancient maritime nations feigned pillars of hercules. those mentioned in this passage some authors have placed at the extremity of friesland, and others at the entrance of the baltic." ky. cf. note, . _adiit_, i.e. vere adiit, _actually_ visited that part of the world. _quicquid--consensimus_. this passage is a standard illustration of the _romana interpretatione_ (§ ), the roman construction, which the romans put upon the mythology and theology of other nations. it shows that they were accustomed to apply the names of their gods to the gods of other nations on the ground of some resemblance in character, history, worship, &c. sometimes perhaps a resemblance in the _names_ constituted the ground of identification. _druso germanico_. some read druso _et_ germanico; others druso, germanico, as a case of asyndeton (gr. , ( .)); for both drusus and germanicus sailed into the northern ocean, and it is not known that germanicus (the son of drusus and stepson of tiberius, who is by some supposed to be meant here) is ever called _drusus germanicus_. but drusus, the father of germanicus, is called drusus germanicus in the histories ( , ), where he is spoken of as having thrown a mole or dam across the rhine; and it is not improbable that he is the person here intended. so k., or. and wr. _se_, i.e. the ocean. see h. , ii.; z. . _inquiri_. impersonal==_investigation to be made. e_. suggests _inquirenti_, agreeing with _germanico_. but t., unlike the earlier latin authors, not unfrequently places an infin. after a verb of hindering. _credere quam scire_. t. perhaps alluded to the precept of the philosopher, who said: deum cole, atque crede, sed noli quaerere. murphy. xxxv. _in septentrionem_, etc. _on the north, it falls back_, sc. into the ocean, _with_ an immense _bend_ or peninsula. the _flexus_ here spoken of is called _sinus_ in chap. , and describes the cimbric chersonesus, or danish peninsula. see död., or. and rit. in loc.--_ac primo statim. and first immediately_, sc. as we begin to trace the northern coast.--_lateribus_, sc. the eastern. _quanquam_ followed by the subj., seldom in cic., but usually in t., z. , note. cf. note, his. , .--_sinuetur_, sc. southwards. _donec--sinuetur_. cf. note, : _erumpat_. _inter germanos_. considered among the germans, _in the estimation of the germans_. _quique--tueri_. a clause connected to an _adj_. (nobilissimus), cf. certum, quique, . _qui_ in both passages==talis, ut. hence followed by subj. h. , i.; z. . _impotentia, ungoverned passion, [greek: akrateia]. impotentia_ seldom denotes want of power, but usually that unrestrained passion, which results from the want of ability to control one's self. _ut--agant_ depends on _assequuntur_. subj. h. ; z. , _a_. _si res poscat_. some copies read: si res poscat _exercitus_. but posco and postulo seldom have the object expressed in such clauses, cf. : ut res poscit; : prout ratio poscit. so also cic. and sall., pass. _exercitus_ is subject nom., _promptus_ being understood, as pred.; and _plurimum virorum equorumque_ explains or rather enforces _exercitus: and, if the case demand, an army, the greatest abundance of men and horses_. _quiescentibus_, i.e. bellum non gerentibus; _eadem_, i.e. the same, as if engaged in war. xxxvi. _cherusci_. it was their chief, arminius (germ. hermann), who, making head against the romans, was honored as the deliverer of germany, and celebrated in ballad songs, which are preserved to this day. see his achievements in ann. b. , and . this tribe became afterwards the head of the saxon confederacy. _marcentem. enervating_. so _marcentia pocula_, stat. silv. , , . it is usually intransitive, and is taken here by some in the sense of languid, enervate (literally withered).--_illacessiti_ is a post-augustan word. cf. freund. _impotentes_. cf. impotentia, . _falso quiescas_. falleris, dum quiescis. dilthey. cf. note, : _possis_. _ubi manu agitur_. where matters are decided by might rather than right. cf. _manu agens_, a. . _nomina superioris. virtues_ (only) _of the stronger party_, the conqueror. they are deemed vices in the weaker. _chattis--cessit: while to the chatti_, who were _victorious, success was imputed for wisdom_. the antithetic particle at the beginning of the clause is omitted. cf. note, : _minime_. _fuissent_. subj. after _cum_ signifying _although_. h. , ii. xxxvii. _sinum. peninsula_, sc. the cimbric. cf. note, : _flexu_; : _sinus_. _cimbri_. the same with the cimmerii, a once powerful race, who, migrating from western asia, that hive of nations, overran a large part of europe, but their power being broken by the romans, and themselves being overrun and conquered by the gothic or german tribes, they were pushed to the extreme western points of the continent and the british isles, where, and where alone, distinct traces of their language and literature remain to this day. they have left their name indelibly impressed on different localities in their route, e.g. the cimmerian bosphorus, the cimbric chersonesus (now jutland, occupied by the cimbri in the days of t.), cumberland (cumbria, from cimbri) &c. the ancient name of the welsh was also cymri, cf. tur. his. ang. sax. . . _gloria_ is abl. limiting _ingens_. _castra ac spatia_. in apposition with _lata vestigia_==spatiosa castra or castrorum spatia, h. , ii. ; z. . _utraque ripa_, sc. of the rhine, _the_ river and river bank by eminence. _molem manusque. the mass of their population, and the number of their armies_. observe the alliteration, as if he had said: measure the mass and might. _exitus_, i.e. _migrationis_. often used in this sense, cf. caes. b.c. , : salutem et _exitum_ sibi pariebant.--_fidem, proof_. _sexcentesimum--annum_. t. follows the catonian era. according to the varronian era, received by the moderns, the date would be a.u.c. = a.c. . _alterum--consulatum_. the second consulship of trajan (when he was also emperor) was, after the reckoning of tacitus, a.u.c. , according to modern computation, = a.d. . this year doubtless marks the time when this treatise was written, else why selected? _vincitur_. so long is germany in being conquered. (the work was never completed.) cf. liv. , : quem per annos jam prope _triginta vincimus_. _medio--spatio. in the intervening period_, sc. of years. _samnis--galliaeve_. the romans had fought bloody, and some times disastrous battles with the samnites (at the caudine forks, liv. , .), with the carthaginians (in the several punic wars), with the spaniards under viriathus and sertorius (florus, lib. .), with the gauls (caes. b.g. pass.). but none of these were so sanguinary as their wars with the germans. _admonuere_, sc. vulneribus, cladibus==castigavere. _regno--libertas_. liberty and monarchy in studied antithesis. t. means to imply that the former is the stronger principle of the two. _arsacis_. the family name of the parthian kings, as pharaoh and ptolemy of the egyptian, antiochus of the syrian, &c. _amisso et ipse_, sc. _oriens_; the east _itself also lost_ its prince (pacorus), in the engagement, as well as the romans their leader (crassus).--_objecerit, reproach us with_. subj. cf. n. g. : _peteret_. _ventidium_. commander under anthony, and conqueror of the parthians in three battles, a.u.c. . he was raised from the lowest rank and the meanest employment, hence perhaps the expression, _dejectus infra, humbled beneath ventidius_. _carbone--manlio_, cneius papirius carbo defeated at noreja, a.u. (liv. epit. .), l. cassius longinus defeated and slain, (caes. b.g. , . .), m. aurelius scaurus defeated and taken captive, (liv. epit. .), servilius caepio and m. manlius defeated with great slaughter at tolosa, (liv. epit. .), quintilius varus defeated and slain, (suet. oct. .)--all these victories over the romans in their highest strength and glory--either in the time of the _republic (populo romano)_, or of the _empire_ under augustus (_caesari_)--all these attested the courage and military prowess of the germans; and they were still, for the most part, as free and as powerful as ever. _caius marius_ almost annihilated the cimbri at aquae sextiae, a.u.c. . _drusus_. claudius drusus invaded germany four times, - , and finally lost his life by falling from his horse on his return, cf. dio. libb. . . _nero_, commonly known as tiberius (brother of drusus and stepson of augustus), had the command in germany at three different times, - , - , - , cf. suet. tib. . seq. _germanicus_, son of drusus, made four campaigns in germany, a.d. - , cf. ann. b. . and . _c. caesaris_. caligula, cf. suet. calig.; t. his. , . _discordiae--armorum_. the civil wars after the death of nero under galba, otho, and vitellius. _expugnatis--hibernis_. by the batavians under civilis. his. , seq.; a. . _affectavere. aspired to the government of_, cf. note on affectationem, . after _donec_, t. always expresses a single definite past action by the perf. ind., cf. a. : _donec--cohortatus est_; a repeated, or continued past action by the imp. subj. cf. note, a. : _donec--fieret_; and a present action, which is in the nature of the case also a continued action, by the pres. subj. cf. note, : _separet_. _triumphati_. poetice, cf. virg. aen. , : triumphata corintho; hor. od. , , : triumphati medi. the reference here is to the ridiculous triumph of domitian, a. , in which slaves, purchased and dressed out for the purpose, were borne as captives through the streets. xxxviii. _suevis_. in the time of t. a powerful confederacy, embracing all the tribes enumerated in - , and covering all the eastern and larger half of germany. but the confederacy was soon dissolved and seldom appears in subsequent history. we still have a trace of their name in the modern _suabia_. the name is supposed by some philologists (e.g. zeuss) to denote _unsettled wanderers_ (germ. schweben, to wave, to hover, cf. caes. b.g. , : suevis non longius anno remanere uno in loco, etc.); as that of the saxons does settlers, or _fixed residents_ (germ. sassen), and that of the franks, _freemen_. see rup. in loc. an ingenious article in the north american review (july, ), makes the distinction of suevi and non-suevi radical and permanent in the religion and the language of the germans; the suevi becoming orthodox catholics, and the non-suevi arians in ecclesiastical history, and the one high-dutch and the other low-dutch in the development of their language. _adhuc_. cf. note on it, . as to position, cf. _insuper_ , and . the suevi are _still (adhuc)_ divided into distinct tribes bearing distinct names, though united in a confederacy. cf. hand's tursellinus, , . död. renders _besides_, sc. the general designation of suevi. _in commune. in common_. not used in this sense by cic., caes. and liv., though frequent in t. gr. cf. note on the same, . _obliquare. to turn the hair back, or comb it up_ contrary to its natural direction--and then fasten it in a knot on the top of the head (_substringere nodo_); so it seems to be explained by the author himself below: _horrentem capillum retro sequuntur ac in ipso solo vertice religant_. others translate _obliquare_ by _twist_. many ancient writers speak of this manner of tying the hair among the germans, cf. sen. de ira. , .; juv. , . _a servis separantur. separantur_==distinguuntur. servants among the suevi seem to have had their hair shorn. so also it was among the franks at a later date. vid. greg. tur. , . _rarum et intra_, etc. enallage, cf. note _certum quique_, . _retro sequuntur_, i.e. _follow it back_, as it were, in its growth, and _tie it up on the very crown of the head only_, instead of letting it hang down, as it grows (submittere crinem). so k., or. and many others. passow and död. take sequuntur in the sense of _desire, delight in_ (our word _seek_). the word bears that sense, e.g. : argentum magis quam aurum _sequuntur_. but then what is _retro_ sequuntur? for _retro_ must be an adjunct of _sequuntur_ both from position, and because there is no other word which it can limit. _saepe_ implies, that sometimes they made a knot elsewhere, but _often they fasten_ it there, and there _only_. see or. in loc. this whole passage illustrates our author's disposition to avoid technical language. cf. note, ii. , . _innoxiae. harmless_, unlike the beauty cultivated among the _romans_ to dazzle and seduce. _in altitudinem_, etc. _for the sake of_ (increased) _height and terror_, i.e. to appear tall and inspire terror. cf. note, a, : _in jactationem_; a. : _in suam famam_. the antithetic particle is omitted before this clause as it often is by our author. _ut hostium oculis_, to strike with terror the eyes of the enemy, for primi in omnibus proeliis _oculi_ vincuntur, . xxxix. _vetustissimos. oldest_. _vetus_ is _old_, of long _duration_ ([greek; etos], aetas). _antiquus, ancient_, belonging to a _preceding_ age (ante). _recens_ (fresh, young) is opposed to the former: _novus_ (new, modern), to the latter. see ramshorn and freund. _fides antiquitatis. antiquitatis_ is objective gen.==_the belief, or persuasion of their antiquity_. _auguriis--sacram_. the commentators all note the hexameter structure of these words, and many regard them as a quotation from some latin poet. the words themselves are also poetical, e.g. _patrum_ for _majorum_, and _formidine_ for _religione_. the coloring is virgilian. cf. aen. , ; , . see or. in loc. and preliminary remarks to the histories, p. . _legationibus coeunt_. just as we say: _convene by their delegates_, or _representatives_. _publice_==publica auctoritate, cf. same word, . _primordia_. initiatory rites. _minor_, sc. numine. _inferior to the god_. _prae se ferens. expressing in his external appearance, or bearing in his own person an acknowledgment of the power of the divinity_. _evolvuntur_==se evolvunt, cf. ann. , : cum tiberii genua advolveretur; also _lavantur_, . _eo--tanquam. has reference to this point, as if_, i.e. to this opinion, viz. that thence, etc. cf. _illuc respicit tanquam_, .--_inde_ from the grove, or the god of the grove. cf. : _tuisconem ... originem gentis_. _adjicit auctoritatem_, sc. isti superstitioni. _magno corpore_==reipublicae magnitudine. _corpore_, the body politic. so his. , : redisse vos in corpus nomenque germanorum.--_habitantur_. al. habitant and habitantium, by conjecture. the subject is the semnonian _country_ implied in _semnonum: the semnonians inhabit a hundred villages_, is the idea. xl. _langobardos_. the lombards of mediaeval history; so called probably from their long beards (germ, lang and bart). first mentioned by velleius, , : gens etiam germana feritate ferocior. see also ann. , , , - .--_paucitas_ here stands opposed to the _magno corpore_ of the semnones in . _per--periclitando_. three different constructions, cf. notes , . _reudigni_. perhaps the jutes, so intimately associated with the angles in subsequent history. see or. in loc. in like manner, zeuss identifies the _suardones_ with the heruli, and the _nuithones_ with the teutones. _suardones_ perhaps==_sword_-men. _anglii_. the english reader will here recognize the tribe of germans that subsequently invaded, peopled, and gave name to england (==_angl-land_), commonly designated as the anglo-saxons. t. does not mention the _saxons_. they are mentioned by ptolemy and others, as originally occupying a territory in this same part of germany. they became at length so powerful, as to give their name to the entire confederacy (including the angles), which ruled northern germany, as the franks (the founders of the french monarchy) did southern. the angles seem to have dwelt on the right bank of the elbe, near its mouth, in the time of t. _nerthum_. this is the reading of the mss. and the old editions. it cannot be doubted that t. speaks of hertha (see turn. his. ang. sax., app. to b. . chap. ). "but we must take care not to correct our author himself." passow. grimm identifies this deity with niördhr of the edda, and derives the name from nord (north).--_terram matrem_. the earth is worshipped by almost all heathen nations, as the mother of men and the inferior gods. see mur. in loco. cf. : tuisconem deum, _terra editum_; also note, . isidi. _insula_. scholars differ as to the island. probabilities perhaps are in favor of rugen, where the _secretus lacus_ mentioned below is still shown, still associated with superstitious legends. _castum. polluted by nothing profane_. so hor: _castis lucis_. _penetrali_, viz. _the sacred vehicle_. _dignatur_. _deems worthy_ of her visits. _templo_, sc. the sacred grove. templum, like [greek: temenos], denotes any place _set apart_ (from [greek: temno]) for sacred purposes, cf. . _numen ipsum. the goddess herself_, not an image of her; for the germans have no images of their gods, . _abluitur_, as if contaminated by intercourse with mortals. _perituri_, etc. _which can be seen only on penalty of death_. xli. _propior_, sc. to the romans.--_hermundurorum_. ritter identifies the name (_hermun_ being omitted, and _dur_ being==_thur_) and the people with the _thur_ingians. cf. note : _ingaevones_. _non in ripa. not only_ (or _not so much_) _on the border_ (the riverbank), but also within the bounds of the roman empire. _splendidissima--colonia_. this flourishing colony had no distinctive name in the age of t.; called afterwards augusta vindelicorum, now augsburg. _passim_. wherever they chose--_sine custode_. not so others. cf. his. , : ut inermes ac prope nudi, _sub custode_ et pretio coiremus. _cum--ostendamus. cum==while, although_. hence the subj. _non concupiscentibus. since they were not covetous_, gün. gr renders: _though they were not equally desirous of it_. _notum--auditur_. the elbe had been _seen_ and _crossed_ by drusus domitius, and tiberius. but now it was known only by _hearsay_. see a like patriotic complaint at the close of . xlii. _marcomanni_==men of the marches. see latham in loc--_sedes_, sc. bohemia.--_pulsis olim boiis_, cf. . _degenerant_, sc. _a reliquorum virtute_, i.e. the narisci and quadi _are not unworthy, do not fall short_ of the bravery of their neighbors. the marcomanni. _peragitur_. al. _protegitur, porrigitur_, &c. different words are supplied as the subject of _peragitur_, e.g. passow _iter_.; rit. _cursus_; k. _frons_. the last is preferable. the meaning is: _this country_ (sc. of these tribes) _is the front_, so to speak (i.e. the part _facing the romans_) _of germany, so far as it is formed by the danube_, i.e. so far as the danube forms the boundary between germany and the roman empire. _marobodui_. cf. ann. , ; suet. tib. . _externos_, sc. reges, viz. the kings of the hermunduri. ann. , .-- _potentia. power_ irrespective of right. _potestas_ is lawful _authority_. see note, _nec minus valent_, sc. being aided by our money, than they would be if they were reinforced by our arms. this clause in some copies stands at the beginning of . xliii. _retro. back_ from the danube and the roman border.--_referunt. resemble_. poetical, cf. . _et quod patiuntur_, sc. proves that they are not of german origin. they paid tribute as _foreigners_. the gothini were probably a remnant of the expelled boii. cf. note, , and prichard, as there cited. hence their gallic language. _quo magis pudeat_. they have iron beyond even most of the germans (cf. ), but (shame to tell) do not know how to use it in asserting their independence. subj. h. ; z. . _pauca campestrium_. poetical, but not uncommon in the later latin. so : secretiora germaniae; his. , : extrema galliarum. h. , iii. . ; z. . _jugum. a mountain chain.--vertices. distinct summits_. _insederunt_. this word usually takes a dat., or an abl., with _in_. but the poets and later prose writers use it as a transitive verb with the acc.==_have settled, inhabited_. cf. h. , ; z. ; and freund sub voce. observe the comparatively unusual form of the perf. d plur. in _-erunt_ instead of _-ere_. cf. note, his. , . _nomen_==gens. so nomen latinum==latins. liv. pass. _interpretatione romana_. so we are every where to understand roman accounts of the gods of other nations. they transferred to them the names of their own divinities according to some slight, perhaps fancied resemblance. cf. note, : _quicquid consensimus_. _ea vis numini_, i.e. these gods render the same service to the germans, as castor and pollux to the romans. _alcis_, dat. pl. perhaps from the slavonic word holcy==kouros, greek for castor and pollux. referable to no german root. _peregrinae_, sc. greek or roman.--_tamen_. though these gods bear no visible trace of greek or roman origin, _yet_ they are worshipped as brothers, as youth, like the _greek_ and _roman twins_.-- _superstitionis_==religionis. cf. notes, his. , ; , . _lenocinantur. cherish_, increase. used rhetorically; properly, _to pander_.--_arte_, sc. nigra scuta, &c.--_tempore_, sc. atras noctes, &c. --_tincta==tattooed_. _ipsaque formidine_, etc. _and by the very frightfulness and shadow of the deathlike army. umbra_ may be taken of the literal _shadows_ of the men in the night, with rit., or with död. and or., of the general _image_ or _aspect_ of the army. _feralis_, as an adj., is found only in poetry and post-augustan prose. see freund. _gothones_. probably the getae of earlier, and the goths of later history. see or. in loc. and grimm and other authorities as there cited. the _rugii_ have perpetuated their name in an island of the baltic (rugen). _adductius_. lit. with tighter rein, _with more absolute power_ cf. his. , : adductius, quam civili bello, imperitabat. the adv. is used only in the comp.; and the part. adductus is post-augustan. _jam_ and _nondum_ both have reference to the writer's progress in going over the tribes of germany, those tribes growing less and less free as he advances eastward: _already_ under more subjection than the foregoing tribes, but _not yet_ in such abject slavery, as some we shall soon reach, sc. in the next chapter, where see note on _jam_. _supra_. so as to _trample down_ liberty and destroy it. _protinus deinde ab_, etc. _next in order, from the ocean_, i.e. with territory beginning from or at the ocean. xliv. _suionum. swedes_. not mentioned under this name, however, by any other ancient author. _ipso_. the rugii, &c., mentioned at the close of the previous section, dwelt _by_ the ocean (_ab_ oceano); but the _suiones in_ the ocean (_in_ oceano). _ipso_ marks this antithesis. _in oceano_. an island in the baltic. sweden was so regarded by the ancients, cf. , note. _utrimque prora. naves biprorae_. such also had the veneti, caes. b.g. , . such germanicus constructed, his. , . so also the canoes of the n. am. indians. _ministrantur_, sc. naves==_the ships are not furnished with sails_, cf. his. , : _viros armaque ministrant_. or it may be taken in the more literal sense: are served, i.e. worked, mannged. cf. virg. aen. , : velisque ministrat.--_in ordinem. for a row_, i.e. so as to form a row, cf. z. : also rit. and död. in loc. the northmen (danes and swedes) became afterwards still more famous for navigation and piratical excursions, till at length they settled down in great numbers in france and england. _in quibusdam fluminum_. rivers with steep banks require the oars to be removed in order to approach the bank. _est--honos_. contrary to the usual fact in germany, cf. . _exceptionibus_. _limitations_.--_jam_. now, i.e. _here_, opposed to the _foregoing_ accounts of _free states_ and _limited monarchies_. _precario_. properly: _obtained by entreaty_. hence: _dependent on the will of another_, cf. a. .--_parendi_. a gerund with passive sense, lit. _with no precarious right of being obeyed_. so pass., k., wr. and gün. _in promiscuo_. the privilege of wearing arms is not conceded to the mass of the people.--_et quidem_==et eo, _and that too_. _otiosa--manus_. al. _otiosae_ by conjecture. but _manus_, a collective noun sing. takes a pl. verb, cf. h. , ; z. . _regia utilitas est_==regibus utile est. xlv. _pigrum_. cf. a. : pigrum et grave. the northern or frozen ocean, of which t. seems to have heard, though some refer it to the northern part of the baltic. see ky. in loc. _hinc_. _for this reason_, viz. _quod extremus_, etc. _in ortus_. _till the risings_ (pl.) _of the sun_, i.e. from day to day successively. it was known in the age of t. that the longest day grew longer towards the north, till at length it became six months (cf. plin. n.h. , ), though t. supposed it to be thus long at a lower latitude than it really was, cf. a. . _sonum--aspici_. the aurora borealis, some suppose. _persuasio adjicit_. _the common belief adds_, i.e. _it is further believed_, cf. his. , . : persuasio inerat. _illuc--natura_. _tantum_ is to be connected with _illuc usque_. _thus far only nature extends_. so thought the ancients. cf. a. : _in ipso terrarum ac naturae fine_. _et vera fama_ is parenthetic. the _author_ endorses this part of the story. _ergo_ marks a return from the above digression. _suevici maris_. _the baltic_. _aestyorum_==eastern men, modern esthonians. their language was probably neither german nor briton, but slavonic. _matrem deum_. cybele, as the romans interpreted it, cf. . _insigne--gestant_. worn, as _amulets_. _frumenta laborant_, i.e. labor _for_, or _to produce_, corn. cf. hor. epod. , . _laborare_ is transitive only in poetry and post-augustan prose. _elaborare_ would imply too much art for the author's purpose. see rit. in loc. _succinum_. _amber_, an important article of commerce in early ages, combining some vegetable juice (hence the latin name, from _succus_) with some mineral ingredients.--_glesum_. this name was transferred to _glass_, when it came into use. the root is german. compare [greek: chalaza.] död. _nec_==non tamen. _yet it is not_, etc. _ut barbaris_. cf. ut inter barbaros, a. . _barbaris_ is dative in apposition with _iis_, which is understood after _compertum_. _quae--ratio_. _what power or process of nature_. _donec--dedit_. cf. note, : _affectavere_. _plerumque_. _often_; a limited sense of the word peculiar to post-augustan latin. cf. g. : _ipsa plerumque fama bella profligant_; and freund ad v. _quae--expressa_==quorum _succus_ expressus, etc. _in tantum_. _to such a degree_. frequent only in late latin. _a servitute_. they fall short of liberty in not being free, like most of the germans; and they fall below slavery itself, in that they are slaves to a woman. xlvi. _venedorum et fennorum_. modern _vends and finns_, or fen-men. cf. latham in loc.--_ac torpor procerum_. _the chief men are lazy and stupid_, besides being filthy, like all the rest. _foedantur_. cf. infectos, .--_habitum_, here personal appearance, cf. note, .--_ex moribus_, sc. sarmatarum. _erigitur_. middle sense. _raise themselves_, or _rise_, cf. evolvuntur, . _figunt_. have _fixed habitations_, in contrast with the sarmatians, who lived in carts. cf. ann. , : _fixerant domos frisii_. al. _fingunt_. _sarmatis_. the stock of the modern russians, cf. . note. _cubile_. we should expect _cubili_ to correspond with _victui_ and _vestituti_. but cf. note : referantur; : ad patrem, &c. _comitantur_, i.e. feminae comitantur viris. _ingemere--illaborare_. _toil and groan upon houses and lands_, i.e. _in building and tilling them_; though some understand _domibus_ and _agris_ as the places in which they toil. _versare_. _to be constantly employed_ in increasing the fortune of themselves and others, agitated meanwhile by hope and fear. _securi_. because they have nothing to lose. _illis_. emphatic. _they_, unlike others, have no need, &c. cf. _apud illos_, . _in medium relinquam_. leave for the public, i.e. undecided. _relinquere in medio_ is the more common expression. bötticher in his lex. tac. explains it, as equivalent by zeugma to _in medium vocatum relinquam in medio_. so in greek, _en_ and _eis_ often interchange. agricola. the biography of agricola was written early in the reign of trajan (which commenced a.u.c. . a.d. ), consequently about the same time with the germania, though perhaps somewhat later (cf. notes on germania). this date is established by inference from the author's own language in the d and the th sections (see notes). in the former, he speaks of the dawn of a better day, which opened indeed with the reign of nerva, but which is now brightening constantly under the auspices of trajan. the use of the past tense (_miscuerit_) here in respect to nerva, and of the present (_augeat_) in respect to trajan, is quite conclusive evidence, that at the time of writing, the reign of nerva was past, and that of trajan had already begun. the other passage is, if possible, still more clearly demonstrative of the same date. here in drawing the same contrast between past tyranny and present freedom, the author, without mentioning nerva, records the desire and hope, which his father-in-law expressed in his hearing, that he might live to see trajan elevated to the imperial throne--language very proper and courtly, if trajan were already emperor, but a very awkward compliment to nerva, if, as many critics suppose, he were still the reigning prince. it is objected to this date, that if nerva were not still living, tacitus could not have failed to attach to his name (in § .) the epithet _divus_, with which deceased emperors were usually honored. and from the omission of this epithet in connection with the name of _nerva_, together with the terms of honor in which _trajan_ is mentioned, it is inferred that the piece was written in that brief period of three months, which intervened between the adoption of trajan by nerva, and nerva's death (see brotier and many others). but the application of the epithet in question, was not a matter of necessity or of universal practice. its omission in this case might have been accidental, or might have proceeded from unknown reasons. and the bare absence of a single word surely cannot be entitled to much weight, in comparison with the obvious and almost necessary import of the passages just cited. the primary object of the work is sufficiently obvious. it was to honor the memory of the writer's excellent father-in-law, agricola (cf. § : honori agricolae, mei soceri, destinatus). so far from apologizing for writing the life of so near a friend, he feels assured that his motives will be appreciated and his design approved, however imperfect may be its execution; and he deems an apology necessary for having so long delayed the performance of that filial duty. after an introduction of singular beauty and appropriateness (cf. notes), he sketches a brief outline of the parentage, education, and early life of agricola, but draws out more at length the history of his consulship and command in britain, of which the following summary, from hume's history of england, may not be unprofitable to the student in anticipation: "agricola was the general, who finally established the dominion of the romans in this island. he governed it in the reigns of vespasian, titus, and domitian. he carried his victorious arms northward; defeated the britons in every encounter, pierced into the forests and the mountains of caledonia, reduced every state to subjection in the southern parts of the island, and chased before him all the men of fiercer and more intractable spirits, who deemed war and death itself less intolerable than servitude under the victors. he defeated them in a decisive action which they fought under galgacus; and having fixed a chain of garrisons between the friths of clyde and forth, he cut off the ruder and more barren parts of the island and secured the roman province from the incursions of the more barbarous inhabitants. during these military enterprises, he neglected not the arts of peace. he introduced laws and civility among the britons; taught them to desire and raise all the conveniences of life; reconciled them to the roman language and manners; instructed them in letters and science; and employed every expedient to render those chains which he had forged both easy and agreeable to them." (his. of eng. vol. .) the history of agricola during this period is of course the history of britain. accordingly the author prefaces it with an outline of the geographical features, the situation, soil, climate, productions and, so far as known to the romans, the past history of the island. tacitus possessed peculiar advantages for being the historian of the early britons. his father-in-law was the first to subject the whole island to the sway of rome. he traversed the country from south to north at the head of his armies, explored it with his own eyes, and reported what he saw to our author with his own lips. he saw the britons too, in their native nobleness, in their primitive love of liberty and virtue; before they had become the slaves of roman arms, the dupes of roman arts, or the victims of roman vices. a few paragraphs in the concise and nervous style of tacitus, have made us quite acquainted with the britons, as agricola found them; and on the whole, we have no reason to be ashamed of the primaeval inhabitants of the land of our ancestry. they knew their rights, they prized them, they fought for them bravely and died for them nobly. more harmony among themselves might have delayed, but could not have prevented the final catastrophe. rome in the age of trajan was irresistible; and britain became a roman province. this portion of the agricola of tacitus, and the germania of the same author, entitle him to the peculiar affection and lasting gratitude of those, whose veins flow with briton and anglo-saxon blood, as the historian, and the contemporary historian too, of their early fathers. it is a notable providence for us, nay it is a kind providence for mankind, that has thus preserved from the pen of the most sagacious and reflecting of all historians an account, too brief though it be, of the origin and antiquities of the people that of all others now exert the widest dominion whether in the political or the moral world, and that have made those countries which were in his day shrouded in darkness, the radiant points for the moral and spiritual illumination of our race. "the child is father to the man," and if we would at this day investigate the elements of english law, we have it on the authority of sir william blackstone, that we must trace them back to their founders in the customs of the britons and germans, as recorded by caesar and tacitus. with the retirement of agricola from the command in britain, the author falls back more into the province of biography. the few occasional strokes, however, in which the pencil of tacitus has sketched the character of domitian in the background of the picture of agricola are the more to be prized, because his history of that reign is lost. in narrating the closing scenes of agricola's life, tacitus breathes the very spirit of an affectionate son, without sacrificing the impartiality and gravity of the historian, and combines all a mourner's simplicity and sincerity with all the orator's dignity and eloquence. how tenderly he dwells on the wisdom and goodness of his departed father; how artlessly he intersperses his own sympathies and regrets, even as if he were breathing out his sorrows amid a circle of sympathizing friends! at the same time, how instructive are his reflections, how noble his sentiments, and how weighty his words, as if he were pronouncing an eulogium in the hearing of the world and of posterity! the sad experience of the writer in the very troubles through which he follows agricola, conspires with the affectionate remembrance of his own loss in the death of such a father, to give a tinge of melancholy to the whole biography; and we should not know where to look for the composition, in which so perfect a work of art is animated by so warm a heart. in both these respects, it is decidedly superior to the germania. it is marked by the same depth of thought and conciseness in diction, but it is a higher effort of the writer, while, at the same time, it gives us more insight into the character of the man. it has less of satire and more of sentiment. or if it is not richer in refined sentiments and beautiful reflections, they are interwoven with the narrative in a manner more easy and natural. the sentiments seem to be only the language of agricola's virtuous heart, and the reflections, we feel, could not fail to occur to such a mind in the contemplation of such a character. there is also more ease and flow in the language; for concise as it still is and studied as it may appear, it seems to be the very style which is best suited to the subject and most natural to the author. in another writer we might call it labored and ambitious. but we cannot feel that it cost tacitus very much effort. still less can we charge him with an attempt at display. in short, an air of confidence in the dignity of the subject, and in the powers of the author, pervades the entire structure of this fine specimen of biography. and the reader will not deem that confidence ill-grounded. he cannot fail to regard this, as among the noblest, if not the very noblest monument ever reared to the memory of any individual. "we find in it the flower of all the beauties, which t. has scattered through his other works. it is a chef-d'oeuvre, which satisfies at once the judgment and the fancy, the imagination and the heart. it is justly proposed as a model of historical eulogy. the praises bestowed have in them nothing vague or far-fetched, they rise from the simple facts of the narrative. every thing produces attachment, every thing conveys instruction. the reader loves agricola, admires him, conceives a passion for him, accompanies him in his campaigns, shares in his disgrace and profits by his example. the interest goes on growing to the last. and when it seems incapable of further increase, passages pathetic and sublime transport the soul out of itself, and leave it the power of feeling only to detest the tyrant, and to melt into tenderness without weakness over the destiny of the hero." (la bletterie.) * * * * * i. _usitatum_. a participle in the acc. agreeing with the preceding clause, and forming with that clause the object of the verb omisit.-- _nequidem_. cf. g. , note. _incuriosa suorum_. so ann. , : dum vetera extollimus, recentium incuriosi. _incuriosus_ is post-augustan. _virtus vicit--vitium_. alliteration, which is not unfrequent in t. as also homoeoteleuta, words ending with like sounds. dr. _ignorantiam--invidiam_. the gen. _recti_ limits both subs., which properly denote different faults, but since they are usually associated, they are here spoken of as one (_vitium_). _in aperto_. literally, _in the open_ field or way; hence, _free from obstructions_. sal. (jug. ) uses it for _in open_ day, or clear light. but that sense would be inappropriate here. _easy_. not essentially different from _pronum_, which properly means _inclined_, and hence _easy_. these two words are brought together in like manner in other passages of our author, cf. : vota virtusque _in aperto_, omniaque _prona_ victoribus. an inelegant imitation may be thus expressed in english: down-hill and open-ground work. _sine gratia aut ambitione. without courting favor or seeking preferment. gratia_ properly refers more to the present, _ambitio_ to the future. cf. ann. , : tiberio non perinde gratia praesentium, quam in posteros ambitio. _ambitio_ is here used in a bad sense (as it is sometimes in cic.) for still another bad sense of the word, cf. g. . _celeberrimus quisque_. such men as pliny the elder, claudius pollio, and julius secundus, wrote biographies. also rusticus and senecio. see chap. . _plerique_. not most persons, but _many_, or _very many_. cf. his. , , and , , where it denotes a less number than _plures_ and _plurimi_, to which it is allied in its root (ple, ple-us, plus, plerus. see freund ad v.) _suam ipsi vitam. autobiography_. cic. in his epist. to lucceius says: if i cannot obtain this favor from you, i shall perhaps be compelled to write my own biography, _multorum exemplo et clarorum virorum_. when _ipse_ is joined to a possessive pronoun in a reflexive clause, it takes the case of the subject of the clause. cf. z. , note; h. , . _fiduciam morum_. _a mark of conscious integrity_; literally confidence of, i.e. in their morals. _morum_ is objective gen. for the two accusatives (one of which however is the clause _suam--narrare_) after _arbitrati sunt_, see z. ; h. . a gen. may take the place of the latter acc., _esse_ being understood, z. . _rutilio_. rutilius rufus, consul a.u.c. , whom cic. (brut. , .) names as a profound scholar in greek literature and philosophy, and velleius ( , , .) calls the best man, not merely of his own, but of any age. he wrote a roman history in greek. plut. mar. . his autobiography is mentioned only by tacitus. _scauro_. m. aemilius scaurus, consul a.u.c. , who wrote an autobiography, which cic. (brut. , .) compares favorably with the cyropaedia of xenophon. _citra fidem_. cf. note g. .--_aut obtrectationi_. enallage, cf. note, g. . render: _this in the case of rutilius and scaurus did not impair_ (public) _confidence or incur_ (public) _censure_. _adeo_. _to such a degree_, or _so true it is_. _adeo_ conclusiva, et in initio sententiae collocata, ad _mediam_ latinitatem pertinet. dr. livy uses _adeo_ in this way often; cic. uses _tantum_. _at nunc_, etc. _but now_ (in our age so different from those better days) _in undertaking to write_ (i.e. if i had undertaken to write) _the life of a man at the time of his death, i should have needed permission; which i would not have asked_, since in that case _i should have fallen on times so cruel and hostile to virtue_. the reference is particularly to the time of domitian, whose jealousy perhaps occasioned the death of agricola, and would have been offended by the very asking of permission to write his biography. accordingly the historian proceeds in the next chapter to illustrate the treatment, which the biographers of eminent men met with from that cruel tyrant. _opus fuit_ stands instead of _opus fuisset_. cf. his. , : _dignus eram_; , : _ratio fuit_; and z. , . the concise mode of using the future participles _narraturo_ and _incursaturus_ (in place of the verb in the proper mood and with the proper conjunctions, if, when, since) belongs to the silver age, and is foreign to the language of cicero. such is the interpretation, which after a thorough reinvestigation, i am now inclined to apply to this much disputed passage. it is that of ritter. it will be seen that the text also differs slightly from that of the first edition (_in-cursaturus_ instead of _ni cursaturus_). besides the authority of rit., död., freund and others, i have been influenced by a regard to the usage of tacitus, which lends no sanction to a transitive sense of _cursare_. cf. ann. , ; his. , . in many editions, _mihi_ stands before _nunc narraturo_. but _nunc_ is the emphatic word, and should stand first, as it does in the best mss. ii. _legimus_. quis? tacitus ejusdemque aetatis homines alii. ubi? in actis diurnis. wr. these _journals_ (fiske's man. p. ., . ed.) published such events (cf. dio. , ), and were read through the empire (ann. , ). t. was absent from rome when the events here referred to took place (cf. : longae absentiae). hence the propriety of his saying _legimus_, rather than _vidimus_ or _meminimus_, which have been proposed as corrections. _aruleno rustico_. put to death by domitian for writing a memoir or penegyric on paetus thrasea, cf. suet. dom. . _paetus thrasea_. cf. ann. , : trucidatis tot insignibus viris, ad postremum nero _virtutem ipsam_ exscindere concupivit, interfecto thrasea paeto. _herennio senecioni_. cf. plin. (epist. , ), where senecio is said to have written the life of helvidius at the request of fannia, wife of helvidius, who was also banished, as accessory to the crime, but who bore into exile the very books which had been the cause of her exile. for the dat. cf. note, g. : _ulixi_. _priscus helvidius_, son-in-law of thrasea and friend of the younger pliny, was put to death by vespasian. suet. vesp. ; his. , ; juv. sat. , . _laudati essent_. the imp. and plup. subj. are used in narration after _cum_, even when it denotes time merely. here however a causal connection is also intended. h. , ii.; z. , . _triumviris_. the triumviri at rome, like the undecimviri (_oi endeka_) at athens, had charge of the prisons and executions, for which purpose they had eight lictors at their command. _comitio ac foro_. the comitium was a _part_ of the forum. yet the words are often used together (cf. suet. caes. ). the _comitium_ was the proper place for the punishment of criminals, and the word _forum_ suggests the further idea of the publicity of the book-burning in the presence of the assembled people. _conscientiam_, etc. _the consciousness_, i.e. _common knowledge of mankind_; for _conscientia_ denotes what one knows in common with others, as well as what he is conscious of in himself. cf. his. , : _conscientiam facinoris_; cic. cat. . : _omnium horum conscientia_. in his annals ( , ), t. ridicules the stupidity of those who expect by any _present_ power, to extinguish the memory also of the _next_ generation. the sentiment of both passages is just and fine. _sapientiae professoribus. philosophers_, who were banished by domitian, a.d. , on the occasion of rusticus's panegyric on thrasea. t. not unfrequently introduces an _additional circumstance_ by the abl. abs., as here. _ne occurreret. ne_ with the subj. expresses a negative intention; _ut non_ a negative result. h. ; z. . _inquisitiones. a system of espionage_, sc. by the emperor's tools and informers.--_et_==etiam, _even_. cf. note, . al. _etiam_. _memoriam--perdidissemus_, i.e. we should not have _dared_ to remember, if we could have helped it. iii. _et quanquam. et_ pro _sed_. so dr. but _nunc demum animus redit_ implies, that confidence is hardly restored yet; and the reason for so slow a recovery is given in the following clause. hence _et_ is used in its proper copulative or explicative sense. so wr. _demum_ is a lengthened form of the demonstrative _dem_. cf. i-_dem_, tan-_dem_, _dae_. _nunc demum_==_nun dae_. freund. _primo statim. statim_ gives emphasis: _at the very commencement_, etc.; cf. note, .--_dissociabiles, incompatible_. _augeatque--trajanus_. this marks the date of the composition early in the reign of trajan, cf. g. ; also p. supra. _securitas publica. "and public security has assumed not only hopes and wishes, but has seen those wishes arise to confidence and, stability. securitas publica_ was a current expression and wish, and was frequently inscribed on medals." ky. _assumpserit_. this word properly belongs only to _fiduciam ac robur. spem ac votum_ would require rather _conceperit_. zeugma. _subit_. _steals in_, lit. creeps under. cf. note, h. , . _invisa primo--amatur_. the original perhaps of pope's lines vice is a monster, &c. _quindecim annos_. the reign of domitian from a.d. , to a.d. . _fortuitis casibus_. natural and ordinary death, as opposed to death by violence, _saevitia principis_.--_promptissimus quisque. the ablest, or all the ablest_. _quisque_ with a superlative, whether singular or plural, is in general equivalent to _omnes_ with the positive, with the additional idea however of a reciprocal comparison among the persons denoted by _quisque_, z. , . _ut ita dixerim_. an apology for the strong expression _nostri superstites: survivors not of others only, but so to speak, of ourselves also_; for we can hardly be said to have _lived_ under the tyranny of dom., and our present happy life is, as it were, a renewed existence, after being buried for fifteen years. a beautiful conception! the use of _dixerim_ in preference to _dicam_ in this formula is characteristic of the later latin. cf. z. . the _et_ before this clause is omitted by some editors. but it is susceptible of an explanation, which adds spirit to the passage: a few of us survive, _and that_ not merely ourselves, but so to speak, others also. in the augustan age _superstes_ was, for the most part, followed by the dative. _tamen_. notwithstanding the unfavorable circumstances in which i write, after so long a period of deathlike silence, in winch we have almost lost the gift of speech, _yet_ i shall not regret to have composed _even in rude and inelegant language_, etc. for the construction of _pigebit_, cf. z. , and h. , . _memoriam--composuisse_. supposed to refer to his forthcoming history, written, or planned and announced, but not yet published. some understand it of the present treatise. but then _interim_ would have no meaning; nor indeed is the language applicable to his _agricola_. _interim_, sc. _editus_ or vulgatus, _published meanwhile_, i.e. while preparing the history. the reader cannot but be struck with the beauty of this introduction. it is modest, and at the same time replete with the dignity of conscious worth. it is drawn out to considerable length, yet it is all so pertinent and tasteful, that we would not spare a sentence or a word. with all the thoughtful and sententious brevity of the exordiums of sallust, it has far more of natural ease and the beauty of appropriateness. iv. _cnaeus julius agricola_. every roman had at least three names: the nomen or name of the gens, which always ended in _ius_ (julius); the praenomen or individual name ending in _us_ (cnaeus); and the cognomen or family name (agricola). see a brief account of a. in dion cassius , . mentioned only by dion and t. al. gnaeus, c. and g. being originally identical. _forojuliensium colonia_. now _frejus_. a walled town of gallia narbonensis, built by julius caesar, and used as a _naval station_ by augustus (cf. his. , : _claustra maris_). augustus sent thither the beaked ships captured in the battle of actium, ann. , . hence perhaps called _illustris_. _procuratorem caesarum_. collector of imperial revenues in the roman provinces. _quae equestris--est_, i.e. the procurator was, as we say, ex officio, a roman knight. the office was not conferred on senators. _julius graecinus_. cf. sen. de benef. , : si exemplo magni animi opus est, utemur _graecini julii_, viri egregii, quem c. caesar occidit ob hoc unum, quod melior vir esset, quam esse quemquam tyranno expediret. _senatorii ordinis_. pred. after _fuit_ understood, with ellipsis of _vir_. h. , iii.; z. . _sapientiae. philosophy_, cf. .--_caii caesaris_. known in english histories by the name of caligula. _marcum silanum_. father-in-law of caligula, cf. suet. calig. : silanum item _socerum_ ad necem, secandasque novacula fauces compulit. _jussus_. supply _est_. t. often omits _est_ in the first of two passive verbs, cf. : detentus ac statim ... revocatus est. in hand's tursellinus ( , ) however, jussus is explained as a participle, and _quia abnuerat_ as equivalent to another participle==_having been commanded and having refused_. _abnuerat_, lit. _had_ refused, because the refusal was prior to the slaying. we, with less accuracy, say _refused_. z. . _rarae castitatis_. ellipsis of _mulier_. h. , iii.; z. . _in--indulgentiaque. brought up in her bosom and tender love. indulgentia_ is more frequently used to denote excessive tenderness. _arcebat_ has for its subject the clause, _quod statim_, etc. he was guarded against the allurements of vice by the wholesome influences thrown around him in the place of his early education. _massiliam_. now marseilles. it was settled by a colony of phocaeans. hence _graeca comitate_. cf also cicero's account of the high culture and refinement of massilia (cic. pro flacco, ).--_provinciali parsimonia. parsimonia_ in a good sense; _economy_, as opposed to the luxury and extravagance of italy and the city. _locum--mixtum_. enallage for _locus_, in quo mixta erant, etc. h. , iii., cf. : mixti copiis et laetitia.--_bene compositum_ denotes _a happy combination_ of the elements, of which _mixtum_ expresses only the _co-existence_. _acrius_, sc. aequo==too eagerly. h. , , and z. , . note. _concessum--senatori_. military and civil studies were deemed more appropriate to noble roman youth, than literature and philosophy. _senatori_ must of course refer, not to the office of a., but to his rank by birth, cf. _senatorii ordinis_ above. _hausisse, ni--coercuisset_. an analysis of this sentence shows, that there is an ellipsis of _hausurum_ fuisse: _he imbibed_, and would have continued to imbibe, _had not_, &c. in such sentences, which abound in t. but are rarely found in cic., _ni_ is more readily translated by _but_. cf. z. . _b_; and note, his. , . for the application of _haurire_ to the eager study of philosophy, cf. hor. sat. , , : _haurire vitae praecepta beatae_, and note, his. , : _hauserunt animo_. _prudentia matris_. so nero's mother deterred him from the study of philosophy. suet. ner. . _pulchritudinem ac speciem. the beautiful image_, or beau ideal, by hendiadys. cf. cic. or. : _species pulchritudinis_. see rit. in loc. _vehementius quam caute_. for _vehementius quam cautius_, which is the regular latin construction. t. uses both. cf. z. , and note, his. , . _mox_. in t. subsequently, not presently. r. _retinuitque--modum. and, what is most difficult, he retained from philosophy moderation_--moderation in all things, but especially in devotion to philosophy itself, where moderation is difficult in proportion to the excellence of the pursuit, as was shown by the extravagance of the stoics and some other grecian sects. as to the sense of _modum_, cf. hor. sat. , , : _est modus in rebus_; and for the sentiment, hor. ep. , , : _insani sapiens nomen ferat, aequus iniqui, ultra quam satis est virtutem si petat ipsam_. v. _castrorum_. this word is used to express whatever pertains to military life, education, &c., as the context may require. every roman youth who aspired to civil office, must have a military education. _diligenti ac moderato. careful and prudent_, cf. our author's character of the same commander, his. , : _cunctator natura_, etc. _approbavit_==fecit, ut ei probarentur. dr. it is a constructio praegnans. he obtained the first rudiments of a military education under paullinus, and he gained his approbation. _electus--aestimaret. having been chosen as one whom he would estimate_ (i.e. test his merit) _by tenting together_, i.e. by making him his companion and aid. young men of rank and promise were thus associated with roman commanders. cf. suet., caes. . t., as usual, avoids the technical way of expressing the relation. ad verbum, _contubernium_, cf. note, his. , . others make _aestimaret==dignum aestimaret_, and _contubernio_ abl. of price. cf. död. and dr. _licenter--segniter_, sc. agens. _licenter_ refers to _voluptates, segniter_ to _commeatus.--commeatus==furloughs, absence from duty.-- inscitiam_, sc. tribunatus==_ignorance of his official duty or inexperience in war.--retulit. referre ad_ is used very much like the corresponding english, viz. to _refer to_ an object, or devote to an end. sense: _he did not take advantage of his official standing and his military inexperience, to give up his time to ease and pleasure_. wr. takes _retulit_ in the more ordinary sense of brought back, thus: a. did not bring back (to rome) the empty name of tribune and no military experience, there to give himself up to leisure and pleasure. the former version accords better with the language of the whole passage. wr. questions the authority for such a use of _referre_. but it may be found, e.g. plin. epist. , : nihil _ad_ ostentationem, omnia _ad_ conscientiam _refert_. _noscere--nosci_, etc. t. is fond of such a series of inf. depending on some _one_ finite verb understood, and hence closely connected with each other, cf. g. : _praeponere_, etc. _note_. here supply from _retulit_ in the preceding number the idea: _he made it his business or aim to know_, etc. the author's fondness for antithesis is very observable in the several successive pairs here: _noscere--nosci; discere--sequi; appetere--recusare; anxius--intentus_. _in jactationem_. al. jactatione. _in_ denoting the object or purpose, z. : _he coveted no appointment for the sake of display; he declined none through fear_. _anxius_ and _intentus_ qualify _agere_ like adverbs cf. r. exc. , . _he conducted himself both with prudence and with energy_. _exercitatior_==agitatior. so cic. som. scip. : agitatus et exercitatus animus; and hor. epod. , : syrtes noto exercitatas. _incensae coloniae_. camalodunum, londinium and verulamium. cf. ann. , , where however the historian does not expressly say, the last two were _burned_. _in ambiguo_==ambigua, in a critical state. r. _alterius_, sc. ducis.--_artem et usum_. military _science and experience_. _summa ... cessit. the general management_ (cf. notes, h. , . , . ) _and the glory of recovering the province went to the general_ (to his credit). the primary meaning of _cedere_ is _to go_. see freund sub v.--_juveni_, sc. a. _tum_, sc. while veterani trucidarentur, etc.--_mox_, sc. when paullinus and a. came to the rescue. _nec minus_, etc. a remark worthy of notice and too often true. vi. _magistratus_. the regular _course_ of offices and honors at rome. _per--anteponendo_. enallage, cf. g. , note. _per_ here denotes manner, rather than means (cf. _per lamenta_, ); and _anteponendo_ likewise==anteponentes. r. render: _mutually loving and preferring one another.--nisi quod==but_. cf. _ni_, . there is an ellipsis before _nisi quod_, which r. would supply thus: greatly to the credit of both parties --_but more praise belongs to the good wife_, etc. _major_ sc. quam in bono viro. so, after _plus_ supply quam in malo viro: _but more praise belongs to a good wife_, than to a good husband, _by as much as more blame attaches to a bad wife_, than to a bad husband. _sors quaesturae_. the quaestors drew _lots_ for their respective provinces. their number increased with the increase of the empire, till from two they became twenty or more. as at first a quaestor accompanied each consul at the head of an army, so afterwards each proconsul, or governor of a province, had his quaestor to collect and disburse the revenues of the province. the quaestorship was the first in the course of roman honors. it might be entered upon at the age of twenty-four. _salvium titianum_. brother of the emperor otho. see his. b. and . pass. for the office of proconsul, &c., see note, his. , . _parata peccantibus. ready for wicked_ rulers, i.e. affording great facilities for extortion in its corrupt and servile population. _paratus_ with a dat. of the thing, for which there is a preparation, is peculiar to poetry and post-augustan prose. cf. freund ad v. ad rem. cf. cic. epist. ad quint. , , : tam corruptrice provincia, sc. asia; and pro mur. . _quantalibet facilitate_. any indulgence (license) however great. _redempturus esset_. subj. in the apodosis answering to a protasis understood, sc. if a. would have entered into the plot. cf. h. . observe the use of _esset_ rather than _fuisset_ to denote what the proconsul would have been ready to do _at any time_ during their _continuance_ in office. cf. wr. in loc. _dissimulationem_. concealment (of what is true); simulatio, on the other hand, is an allegation of what is false. _auctus est filia_. so cic. ad att. , : filiolo me auctum scito. _ante sublatum. previously born_. for this use of _sublatum_, see lexicon.--brevi amisit, he lost shortly after_; though r. takes _amisit_ as perf. for plup. and renders lost a short time before. _mox inter_, etc., sc. _annum_ inter, supplied from _etiam ipsum ... annum_ below. _tenor et silentium_. hendiadys for continuum silentium, or tenorem silentem. r. _jurisdictio. for the administration of justice in private cases had not fallen to his lot_. only two of the twelve or fifteen praetors, viz. the praetor urbanus (see note h. , ) and the praetor peregrinus (who judged between foreigners and citizens) were said to exercise _jurisdictio_. the adjudication of criminal causes was called _quaestio_, which was now for the most part in the hands of the senate (ann. , ), from whom it might be transferred by appeal to the praefect of the city or the emperor himself. the praetors received the _jurisdictio_ or the _quaestio_ by lot; and in case the former did not fall to them, the office was almost a sinecure; except that they continued to preside over the public games. see further, on the name and office of praetor, his. , , note. for the plup. in _obvenerat_, see note, : _abnuerat_. _et_==et omnino. _the games and in general the pageantry of office (inania honoris)_ expected of the praetor. observe the use of the neuter plural of the adj. for the subst., of which, especially before a gen., t. is peculiarly fond. _medio rationis_. the text is doubtful. the mss. vacillate between _medio ratinois_ and _modo rationis_; and the recent editions, for the most part, follow a third but wholly conjectural reading, viz. _moderationis_. the sense is the same with either reading: _he conducted the games and the empty pageantry of office in a happy mean_ (partaking at once) _of prudence and plenty_. see freund ad _duco_. _uti--propior. as far from luxury, so_ (in the same proportion) _nearer to glory_, i.e. the farther from luxury, the nearer to glory. cf. freund ad _uti_. _longe--propior_. enallage of the adv. and adj. ef. g. : _extra_. _ne sensisset. would not have felt_, etc., i.e. he recovered all the plundered offerings of the temple, but those which had been sacrilegiously taken away by _nero_ for the supply of his vicious pleasures. this explanation supposes a protasis understood, or rather implied in _quam neronis_. (cf h. , . ). the plup. subj. admits perhaps of another explanation, the subj. denoting the end with a view to which _agricola labored_ (h. ; z. ), and the plup. covering all the past down to the time of his labors: he labored that the republic might not have experienced, and _he_ virtually _effected that it had not experienced_, since he restored everything to its former state, the plunder of nero alone excepted. see wr. and or. in loc. perhaps this would not be an unexampled _praegnantia_ for tacitus. for _sentire_ in the sense of _experiencing_ especially _evil_, see hor. od. , , , and other examples in freund sub v. vii. _classis othoniana_. ad rem. cf. his. , , seqq.--_licenter vaga. roaming in quest of plunder.--intemelios_, cf. note, , .--_in praediis suis. on her own estates. praedia_ includes both lands and buildings. _ad solemnia pietatis. to perform the last offices of filial affection_. _nuntio deprehensus_. supply _est_, cf. : jussus. _was overtaken unexpectedly by the news of vespasian's claim (nomination) to the throne.--affectati_. cf. note, g. .--_in partes_, to his (vesp.) _party_. _principatus_, sc. vespasiani.--_mucianus regebat_. vesp. was detained in egypt for some time after his troops had entered rome under mucianus; meanwhile mucianus exercised all the imperial power, cf. his. , . : vis penes mucianum erat. _juvene--usurpante_. dom. was now eighteen years old, cf. his. , : nondum ad curas intentus, sed _stupris et adulteriis filium principis agebat_. _is_, sc. mucianus.--_vicesimae legioni_. one of three legions, at that time stationed in _britain_, which submitted to the government of vesp. _tarde_ and _non sine motu_ (his. , ). _decessor. predecessor_. it was roscius coelius. his. , . _legatis--consularibus. governors_ or proconsuls. the provinces were governed by men who had been consuls (_consulares_), and as _legatus_ meant any commissioned officer, these were distinguished as _legati consulares_. with reference to this consular authority, the same were called _proconsules_. cf. note, h. , . trebellius maximus and vettius bolanus are here intended. cf. . and his. , . , . _nimia_==justo potentior. dr. _legatus praetorius==legatus legionis, commander of the legion_. cf. note, his. , . here the same person as _decessor_. _invenisse quam fecisse_, etc., involves a maxim of policy worth noting. viii. _placidius. with less energy_. see more of bolanus at close of . _dignum est_. a general remark, applicable to any such province. hence the present, for which some would substitute _erat_ or _esset_. _ne incresceret_, sc. ipse: _lest he should become too great_, i.e. rise above his superior and so excite his jealousy. referred by w. to _ardorem_ for its subject. but then _ne incresceret_ would be superfluous. _consularem_, sc. legatum==governor, cf. , note. _petilius cerialis_. cf. . ann. , . his. , . _habuerunt--exemplorum. had room for exertion_ and so for _setting a good example_, cf. ann. , : videbaturque locus virtutibus patefactus. the position of _habuerunt_ is emphatic, as if he had said: _then had virtues_, etc. see rit. in loc. _communicabat_, sc. cum a.--_ex eventu_, from _the event_, i.e. _in consequence of his success_. _in suam famam_. cf. in jactationem, , note. _extra gloriam_ is sometimes put for _sine gloria_, especially by the late writers. his. , : _extra vitia_. hand's turs. , . ix. _revertentem_, etc. returning from his command in britain.--_divus_. cf. notes, g. ; his. , . _vesp.--ascivit_. by virtue of his office as censor, the emperor claimed the right of elevating and degrading the rank of the citizens. inasmuch as the families of the aristocracy always incline to run out and become extinct, there was a necessity for an occasional re-supply of the patrician from the plebeian ranks, e.g. by julius caesar, augustus and claudius (ann. , ), as well as by vespasian (aur. vic. caes. . suet. .)--_provinciae--praeposuit_. aquitania was one of seven provinces, into which augustus distributed gaul, and which with the exception of narbonne gaul, were all subject to the immediate disposal and control of the emperor himself. it was the south-western part of gaul, being enclosed by the rhone, the loire, the pyrenees and the atlantic. _splendidae--destinarat. a province of the first importance both in its government_ (in itself considered), _and the prospect of the consulship, to which he_ (vesp.) _had destined him_ (a.), sc. as soon as his office should have expired. _subtilitatem_==calliditatem, nice discernment, _discrimination_.-- _exerceat_, observe the subj. to express the views of others, not of the author. h. ; z. . _secura--agens. _requiring less anxious thought and mental acumen_, and _proceeding more by physical force. secura_==minus anxia. dr. cf. note, his. , . _obtusior_==minus acuta. _togatos. civilians_ in distinction from military men, like a. the _toga_ was the dress of civil life to some extent in the _provinces_ (cf. , his. , ), though originally worn only in _rome_. (beck. gall., exc. sc. .) _remissionumque_. the greeks and romans both used the pl. of many abstracts, of which we use only the sing. for examples see r. exc. . for the principle cf. z. . _curarum--divisi_. this clause means not merely, that his time was divided between business and relaxation; but that there was a broad line of demarcation between them, as he proceeds to explain. _divisa_==diversa inter se. dr. so virg. georg. , : divisae arboribus patriae==countries are _distinguished from_ each other by their trees. _jam vero_. cf. note, g. . _conventus_, sc. juridici==_courts_. the word designates also the districts in which the courts were held, and into which each province was divided. cf. smith's dict. of ant.: conventus. so pliny (n.h. ; .) speaks of juridici conventus. tacitus, as usual, avoids the technical designation. _ultra_. adv. for adj., cf. _longe_, .--_persona_. . a mask (_per_ and _sono_). . outward show, as here. _tristitiam--exuerat_. some connect this clause by zeugma with the foregoing. but with a misapprehension of the meaning of exuerat, which==_was entirely free from_; lit. had divested himself of. thus understood, the clause is a _general_ remark touching the character of a., in implied contrast with other men or magistrates with whom those vices were so common. so in ann. , , agrippina is said to have divested herself of vices (_vitia exuerat_) which were common among women, but which never attached to her. _facilitas_. opposed to _severitas_==kindness, indulgence. _abstinentiam_. this word, though sometimes denoting temperance in food and drink, more properly refers to the desire and use of money. _abstinentia_ is opposed to _avarice; continentia_ to _sensual pleasure_. cf. plin. epis. , : alieni abstinentissimus. here render honesty, integrity. _cui--indulgent_. see the same sentiment, his. , : quando etiam sapientibus cupido gloriae novissima exuitur. _ostentanda--artem_, cf. : _per--anteponendo_; also g. , note. _collegas_. the governors of other provinces. the word means _chosen together_; hence either those chosen at the same election or those chosen to the same office. cf. h. , . _procuratores_. there was but one at a time in each province. there may have been several however in succession, while a. was proconsul. or we may understand both this clause and the preceding, not of his government in aquitania in particular, but as a general fact in the life of a. so e. for the office, see note, ; and for an instance of a quarrel between the proconsul and the procurator, ann. , . _atteri_==vinci as the antithesis shows, though with more of the implication of dignity _impaired_ (worn off) by conflict with inferiors. _minus triennium. quam_ omitted. see h. , ; z. . _comitante opinione. a general expectation attending him_, as it were, on his return. _nullis sermonibus_. ablative of _cause_. _elegit_. perf. to denote what _has in fact_ taken place. x. _in comparationem_. cf. in suam famam, , note. _perdomita est. completely subdued_. _rerum fide==faithfully and truly_; lit. with fidelity to facts. _britannia_. it has generally been supposed (though gesenius denies it in his phenician paloeography) that britain was known to the phenicians, those bold navigators and enterprising merchants of antiquity, under the name of the _cassiterides_, or tin islands. greek authors make early mention of albion (plural of alp?) and ierne (erin) as british islands. bochart derives the name (britain) from the phenician or hebrew baratanae, "the land of tin;" others from the gallic _britti_, painted, in allusion to the custom among the inhabitants of painting their bodies. but according to the welsh triads, britain derived its name from prydain, a king, who early reigned in the island. cf. turner's his. ang. sax. , , seqq. the geographical description, which follows, cannot be exonerated from the charge of verbiage and grandiloquence. t. wanted the art of saying a plain thing plainly. _spatio ac coelo_. brit. not only stretches out or lies over against these several countries in _situation_, but it approaches them also in _climate_: a circumstance which illustrates the great size of the island (cf. _maxima_, above) and prepares the way for the description of both below. _germaniae_ and _hispaniae_ are dat. after _obtenditur_. the mistaken notion of the relative position of spain and britain is shared with t. by caesar (b.g. ), dion ( , ), and indeed by the ancients in general. it is so represented in maps as late as richard of cirencester. cf. prichard, iii. , . _etiam inspicitur_. it is even _seen_ by the gauls, implying nearer approach to gaul, than to germany or spain. _nullis terris_. abl. abs., _contra_ taking the place of the part., or rather limiting a part. understood. _livius_. in his th book; now lost, except in the epitome. _fabius rusticus_. a friend of seneca, and writer of history in the age of claudius and nero. _oblongae scutulae_. geometrically a trapezium. _et est ea facies. and such is the form, exclusive of caledonia, whence the account has been extended also to the whole island_. _sed--tenuatur. but a vast and irregular extent of lands jutting out here (jam_, cf. note, g. ) _on this remotest shore_ (i.e. widening out again where they seemed already to have come to an end), _is narrowed down as it were into a wedge_. the author likens caledonia to a wedge with its apex at the friths of clyde and forth, and its base widening out on either side into the ocean beyond. _enormis_ is a post-augustan word. _novissimi_==extreme, remotest. g. , note. _affirmavit. established_ the fact, hitherto supposed, but not fully ascertained. this was done in agricola's last campaign in britain, cf. . _orcadas_. the orkneys. their name occurs earlier than this, but they were little known. _dispecta est. was seen_ through the mist, as it were; discovered in the distance and obscurity. cf. note, h. , : dispecturas gallias, etc. _thule_. al. thyle. what island t. meant, is uncertain. it has been referred by different critics, to the shetland, the hebrides, and even to iceland. the account of the island, like that of the surrounding ocean, is obviously drawn from the imagination. _nam hactenus_, etc. _for their orders were_ to proceed _thus far_ only, _and_ (besides) _winter was approaching_. cf. _hactenus_, g. , and _appetere_, ann. , : _appetente jam luce_. the editions generally have _nix_ instead of _jussum_. but rit. and or. with reason follow the oldest and best mss. in the reading _jussum_, which with the slight and obvious amendment of _nam_ for _quam_ by rit. renders this obscure and vexed passage at length easy and clear. _pigrum et grave_. see a similar description of the northern ocean, g. : pigrum ac prope immotum. the modern reader need not be informed, that this is an entire mistake, as to the matter of fact; those seas about britain are never frozen; though the navigators in this voyage might easily have magnified the perils and hardships of their enterprise, by transferring to these waters what they had heard of those further north. _perinde_. al. _proinde_. these two forms are written indiscriminately in the old mss. the meaning of _ne perinde_ here is _not so much_, sc. as other seas. cf. note, g. . _ne ventis--attolli_. directly the reverse of the truth. those seas, are in fact, remarkably tempestuous. _quod--impellitur_. false philosophy to explain a fictitious phenomenon, as is too often the case with the philosophy of the ancients, who little understood natural science, cf. the _astronomy_ of t. in . _neque--ac_. correlatives. the author assigns two reasons why he does not discuss the subject of the _tides_: . it does not suit the design of his work; . the subject has been treated by many others, e.g. strab. , , ; plin. n.h. , , &c. _multum fluminum. multum_ is the object of _ferre_, of which _mare_ is the subject, as it is also of all the infinitives in the sentence. _fluminum_ is not rivers but currents among the islands along the shore. _nec littore tenus_, etc. "_the ebbings and flowings of the tide are not confined to the shore, but the sea penetrates into the heart of the country, and works its way among the hills and mountains, as in its native bed_." ky. a description very appropriate to a coast so cut up by aestuaries, and highly poetical, but wanting in simplicity. _jugis etiam ac montibus. jugis_, cf. g. . _ac. atque_ in the common editions. but _ac_, besides being more frequent before a consonant, is found in the best mss. xi. _indigenae an advecti_. cf. _note_, g. : _indigenas_. _ut inter barbaros_, sc. fieri solet. cf. ut in licentia, g. ; and ut inter germanos, g. . _rutilae--asseverant_. cf. the description of the germans, g. . the inhabitants of caledonia are of the same stock as the other britons. the conclusion, to which our author inclines below, viz. that the britons proceeded from gaul, is sustained by the authority of modern ethnologists. the original inhabitants of britain are found, both by philological and historical evidence, to have belonged to the celtic or cimmerian stock, which once overspread nearly the whole of central europe, but were overrun and pushed off the stage by the gothic or german tribes, and now have their distinct representatives only in the welsh, the irish, the highland scotch, and a few similar remnants of a once powerful race in the extreme west of the continent and the islands of the sea. cf. note on the cimbri, g. . _silurum_. the people of wales. _colorati vultus. dark complexion_. so with the poets, colorati indi, seres, etrusci, &c. _hispania_. nom. subject of _faciunt_, with _crines_, &c. _iberos_. properly a people on the iberus (ebro), who gave their name to the whole spanish peninsula. they belonged to a different race from the celtic, or the teutonic, which seems once to have inhabited italy and sicily, as well as parts of gaul and spain. a dialect is still spoken in the mountainous regions about the bay of biscay, and called the basque or biscayan, which differs from any other dialect in europe. cf. prichard's physical researches, vol. iii. chap. . _proximi gallis_. cf. caes. b.g. , : ex his omnibus longe sunt humanissimi, qui cantium (kent) incolunt, quae regio est maritima omnis, _neque multum a gallica differunt consuetudine. et--also: those nearest the gauls are also like them_. _durante vi. either because the influence of a common origin still continues_, etc. _procurrentibus--terris. or because their territories running out towards one another_, literally, _in opposite directions_, britain towards the south and gaul towards the north, so as to approach each other. see rit., död. in loc., and freund ad _diversus_. _positio--dedit_. the idea of similarity being already expressed in _similes_, is understood here: their situation in the same climate (_coelo_) has given them the _same_ personal appearance. _aestimanti_. indef. dat. after _credibile est_, cf. note, g. . _eorum_ refers to the gauls. you (indef. subject, cf. quiescas, g. ) may discover the religion of the gauls (among the britons) in their full belief of the same superstitions. so caes. b.g. , : disciplina in britannia reperta atque inde in galliam translata esse existimatur; and he adds, that those who wished to gain a more perfect knowledge of the druidical system still went from gaul to britain to learn. sharon turner thinks, the system must have been introduced into britain from the east (perhaps india) by the phenicians, and thence propagated in gaul. his. ang. sax., b. , chap. . _persuasione_. see the same use of the word, his. , : eademque de infernis persuasio. _in--periculis_. the same sentiment is expressed by caesar (b.g. , ). _ferociae_. in a good sense, courage, cf. : virtus ac ferocia. _praeferunt_==prae se ferunt, i.e. _exhibit_. _ut quos. ut qui_, like _qui_ alone, is followed by the subj. to express a reason for what precedes. it may be rendered by _because_ or _since_ with the demonstrative. so _quippe cui placuisset_, . cf. z. and h. , . _gallos floruisse_. cf. g. . _otio_. opposed to _bellis, peace.--amissa virtute_. abl. abs. denoting an additional circumstance. cf. : _expulsis--professoribus_, note.-- _olim_ limits _victis_. xii. _honestior. the more honorable_ (i.e. the man of rank) _is the charioteer, his dependents fight_ (on the chariot). the reverse was true in the trojan war. _factionibus trahuntur_==distrahuntur in factiones. dr., and or. t. is fond of using simple for compound verbs. see note ; also numerous examples in the index to notes on the histories. _civitatibus_. dat. for gen.--_pro nobis_. abl. with prep. for dat. enallage. r.--_conventus. convention_, meeting. _coelum--foedum_. the fog and rain of the british isles are still proverbial.--_dierum spatia_, etc. cf. caes. . _quod si==and if_. from the tendency to connect sentences by relatives arose the use of _quod_ before certain conjunctions, particularly _si_, merely as a copulative. cf. z. . also freund sub v. the fact alleged in this sentence is as false as the philosophy by which it is explained in the next, cf. g. : in ortus, note. _scilicet--cadit_. this explanation proceeds on the assumption that night is caused by the shadow of mountains, behind which the sun sets; and since these do not exist in that level extremity of the earth, the sun has nothing to set behind, and so there is no night. the astronomy of t. is about of a piece with his natural philosophy, cf. .--_extrema-- terrarum_. cf. note, : _inania honoris_. _non erigunt_, lit. do not elevate the darkness, i.e. do not cast their shadow so high (_infraque--cadit_), as the sky and the stars; hence they are bright (_clara_) through the night!! pliny also supposed the heavens (above the moon) to be of themselves perpetually luminous, but darkened at night by the shadow of the earth. n.h. , . _praeter. beyond_. hence either _besides_ or _except_. here the latter.-- _fecundum_. more than _patiens, fruitful even.--proveniunt_. ang. _come forward_. _fert--aurum_, etc. this is also affirmed by strabo, , , , but denied by cic. ad att., , , , and ad div., , . the moderns decide in favor of t. and strabo, though it is only in inconsiderable quantities that gold and silver have ever been found in britain. _margarita_. the neuter form of this word is seldom used, never by cicero. see freund sub v. _rubro mari_. the _red sea_ of the greeks and romans embraced both the arabian and the persian gulfs; and it was in the latter especially, that pearls were found, as they are to this day. cf. plin. n.h. , : praecipue laudantur (margaritae) in _persico sinu maris rubri_. for an explanation of the name (red sea), see anthon's classical dictionary. _expulsa sint. cast out_, i.e. _ashore, by the waves_. subj. in a subordinate clause of the oratio obliqua. h. ; z. . _naturam--avaritiam_. a very characteristic sentence, both for its antithesis and its satire. xiii. _ipsi britanni. ipsi_ marks the transition from the country to the people, cf. ipsos germanos, g. . _obeunt_ properly applies only to _munera_, not to _tributa_ and _delectum_, which would require _tolerant_ or some kindred verb. zeugma. h. , i. ; z. . _igitur==now_. in the first sentence of the section the author has indicated his purpose to speak of the _people_ of britain. and _now in pursuance of that design_, he goes back to the commencement of their history, as related to and known by the romans. cf. note, g. . _divus_. cf. note, g. : d. julius. for julius caesar's campaigns in britain, see caes. b.g. , . seq.; , . seq.; strabo, lib. , &c. _consilium_. his _advice_ (to his successor). see ann. , .-- _praeceptum_. a _command_ (of augustus, which tib. affected to hold sacred). ann. , ; , . _c. caesarem_. caligula, cf. , note.--_agitasse_, etc. cf. . his. , ; suet. calig. . _ni--fuissent_. cf. _ni_, , note. the ellipsis may be supplied thus: he meditated an invasion of brit. and _would have invaded it_, had he not been _velox ingenio_, etc. but in idiomatic eng. _ni_==but. of course _fuisset_ is to be supplied with _velox ingenio_ and _mobilis poenitentiae_. al. poenitentia. but contrary to the mss. _mobilis_ agrees with _poenitentiae_ (cf. liv. , : celerem poenitentiam), which is a qualifying gen. gr. . r. . lit. _of repentance easy to be moved_. render: _fickle of purpose_. _auctor operis_. auctor fuit rei adversus britannos gerendae et feliciter gestae. dr. see on the same subject suet. claud. .--_assumpto vespasiano_, cf. suet vesp. . ii. , . _quod--fuit_. vespasian's participation in the war against brit. was the commencement of his subsequent brilliant fortunes. _monstratus fatis_, i.e. a fatis, _by the fates_. the expression is borrowed perhaps from virg. aen. , : _ostendent_ terris hunc tantum _fata_. xiv. _consularium_. cf. note on it, .--_aulus plautius_. ann. , ; dio. , .--_ostorius scapula_. ann. , - .--_proxima_, sc. romae. _veteranorum colonia_. camolodunum. ann. , . now colchester. dr.--_et reges. kings also_, i.e. besides other means.--_ut vetere_, etc. so in the mss. and earliest editions. rhenanus transferred _ut_ to the place before _haberet_ which it occupies in the common editions. but no change is necessary. render: _that in accordance with their established custom, the roman people might have kings also as the instruments of reducing_ (the britons) _to slavery_. _didius gallus_. cf. ann. , : arcere hostem satis habebat.--_parta a prioribus. the acquisitions (conquests) of his predecessors_. _aucti officii. of enlarging the boundaries of his government. officium_ is used in a like sense, caes. b.c. , : toti officio maritimo praepositus, etc. so wr.; or. and död. understand by it _going beyond_ the mere performance of his _duty_. it was his duty to protect his province: he enlarged it.--_quaereretur_. subj. in a relative clause denoting a purpose. h. ; z. . _veranius_. ann. , .--_paullinus_. ann. , - . _monam insulam_. now anglesey. but the _mona_ of _caesar_ is the isle of man, called by pliny _monapia_. the mona of t. was the chief seat of the druids, hence _ministrantem vires rebellibus_, for the druids animated and led on the briton troops to battle. t. has given (ann. , ) a very graphic sketch of the mixed multitude of armed men, women like furies, and priests with hands uplifted in prayer, that met paullinus on his landing, and, for a time, well nigh paralyzed his soldiers with dismay. in the same connexion, he speaks also of the human sacrifices and other barbarous rites, which were practised by our briton fathers in honor of their gods. xv. _interpretando. by putting their own_, i.e. _the worst construction upon them_. _ex facili_==facile. a frequent form of expression in t., ad graecorum consuetudinem. dr. see r. exc. . _singulos--binos_. distributives==_one for each tribe--two for each tribe_. _aeque--aeque_. like greek correlatives; alike fatal to their subjects in _either case_. so [greek: homoios men] and [greek: homoios de], xen. mem. , , ; plat. symp. . c. _alterius manus centuriones, alterius servos_. this is the reading of the latest editions (dr. wr. or. and r.), and the best mss., though the mss. differ somewhat: _centurions, the hands_ (instruments) _of the one, and servants_, the hands _of the other, added insult to injury_. for the use of _manus_ in the above sense, reference is made to cic. in ver. , , : comites illi tui delecti _manus_ erant tuae. so the _centurions_ of the _legate_ and the _servants_ of the _procurator_ are said by our author to have robbed the briton king prasutagus of his kingdom and his palace, ann. , , which is the best commentary on the passage before us. _ab ignavis. by_ the feeble and cowardly. antithetic to _fortiorem. in battle, it is the braver that plunders us; but now_ (it is a special aggravation of our sufferings, that) _by the feeble and cowardly_, &c. so in contempt, they call the veterans, cf. : _veteranorum colonia_; : _senum colonia_. _tantum_ limits _pro patria_; as if it was for their _country_ only they knew not how to die. _si sese_, etc., i.e. in _comparison_ with their own numbers. _patriam--parentes_, sc. _causas belli esse_. _recessisset_. observe the subj. in the subordinate clauses of the oratio obliqua throughout this chapter. h. ; z. . _neve--pavescerant_. this verb would have been an imperative in the oratio recta, z. , c. _neve_ is appropriate either to the imp. or the subj. xvi. _instincti_, i.e. furore quodam afflati. dr. for a fuller account of this revolt, see ann. , - ; dio. , - . _boudicea_. wife of prasutagus, king of the iceni. when conquered, she ended her life by poison, ann. , . _expugnatis praesidiis. having stormed the fortresses_. the force of _ex_ in this word is seen in that it denotes the _actual carrying_ of a place by assault, whereas _oppugnatus_ only denotes the assault itself. so [greek: ek-poliorkaetheis]==_taken_ in a siege, [greek: poliorkaetheis]==besieged. _ipsam coloniam_. cf. note : veteranorum colonia. _in barbaris_==qualis inter barbaros esse solet. r. exc. . _ira et victoria_. hendiadys. render: _nor did they in the excitement of victory omit_, etc. so dr. r. and wr. _ira_ may, however, refer to their _long cherished resentment. ira_ causam, _victoria_ facultatem explendae saevitiae denotat. rit.--_quod nisi. and had not_, etc. cf. note, : _quod si_. _patientiae_. most latin authors would have said: ad patientiam. r. _patientia_ here==_submission_. _tenentibus--plerisque. though many still retained_, i.e. did not lay down _their arms_. _propius_. al. _proprius_. but that is purely conjectural. adv. for adj., cf. ultra, ; longe, ==propior, like the _propior cura_ of ovid. metamor. , . render: _a more urgent fear_. some would connect _propius_ with _agitabat_ notwithstanding its remote position. _suae quoque_. _his own also_, sc. as well as that of the empire. _durius_, sc. aequo. h. , . cf. : _acrius_, note. _delictis--novus_. _a stranger to their faults_. cf. sil. ital. , : novusque dolori. wr. cf. böt. lex. tac. _dativus_. _poenitentiae mitior_, i.e. mitior erga poenitentiam, or facilior erga poenitentes. _poenitentiae_ dat. of object. _compositis prioribus_. _having restored things to their former quiet state_. _nullis--experimentis_. _undertaking no military expeditions_. or.-- _castrorum_. cf. , note. _comitate--tenuit_. "_retained the province by a popular manner of administering the government_." ky.--_curandi_. note, h. , . _ignoscere_. properly _not to notice_, hence _to view with indulgence, to indulge in_. _vitiis blandientibus_. the reference is to the _luxurious and vicious pleasures_ of the romans, which enervated the britons, cf. , at close, where the idea is brought out more fully. _cum--lasciviret_. _cum==since_. hence the subj. _precario_. cf. note, g. .--_mox_, cf. note . _velut pacti_ implies a _tacit_ compact. it was understood between them, that the army were to enjoy their liberty; the general, his life. supply _sunt_ with _pacti_. död. and wr. supply _essent_; but they read _haec_ for _et_ before _seditio_ contrary to the best mss. _et seditio_. _et==and so_. al. haec seditio. _stetit_. not stopped, but stood, as in our phrase: stood them in so much. so ovid: multo _sanguine_--victoria _stetit_. and t. his. , : majore _damno_--veteres civium discordias reipublicae _stetisse_. render: _cost no blood_. dr. _petulantia_. _insubordination_.--_nisi quod_, but, cf. . _bolanus_. if the reader wishes to know more of the officers named in this chapter, for turpilianus, see ann. , . his. , ; trebellius, his. , ; bolanus, ann. , . his. , . . _caritatem--auctoritatis_. "_had conciliated affection as a substitute for authority_." ky. xvii. _recuperavit_. al. _reciperavit_. the two forms are written indiscriminately in the mss. the word may express either the recovery of what was lost, or the restoration to health of what was diseased. either would make a good sense here. cf. chap. ; also cic. phil. , : _republica recuperata_. or. renders _acquired again_, sc. what had previously belonged, as it were, to him, rather than to the bad emperors who had preceded him. _petilius cerialis_. cf. note, .--_brigantum_. cf. h. , ; ann. , . their territory embraced cumberland, westmoreland, lancashire, durham and yorkshire. _aut victoria aut bello_, i.e. _either received their submission after the victory, or involved them in the calamities of war_. _aut--aut_ generally adversative==either--or on the contrary. _vel--vel_ only disjunctive==whether--or. cf. note on vel--vel, g. . _alterius_. another, than julius frontinus, i.e. by implication, one _different_ from him, _less brave and great_. cf. his. , : tanquam apud alterius civitatis senatum; , , note. _alius_ is the word usually appropriated to express this idea. _alter_ generally implies a _resemblance_ between contrasted objects. see freund, ad v. _obruisset--sustinuit_. these words primarily refer to physical energies, and are exactly counterpart==_crushed--sustained_. _quantum licebat_ limits _vir magnus: as great a man, as it was permitted_ him to be, restricted as he was in his resources, perhaps by the parsimony of the emperor. on julius frontinus, cf. h. , . he was the friend of pliny the younger (plin. ep. , ) and therefore probably of tacitus. his books on stratagems, and on the aqueducts of rome are still extant.--_super_, over and above, i.e. _besides_. xviii. _agentem_, sc. excubias or stationem==stationed in, cf. his. , : copias, quae lugduni agebant. _ala_. cf. note, h. , . _ordovicum civitas_. situated over against the island mona, north of the silures, i.e. in the northern part of what is now wales. _ad--verterentur_. _were turning themselves_ (middle sense) _towards_, i.e. _looking to or for. occasionem. an opportunity_, sc. to attack the romans in their security. al. _uterentur_. _quibus--erat. they who wished for war_. greek idiom for qui bellum volebant. see kühner's greek gram. , , c., cf. his. , : volentibus fuit, etc., and note, ibid. in latin, the idiom occurs chiefly in sallust and t. see z. , and h. , . _ac--opperiri_. al. _aut_ by conjecture. but _ac==ac tamen, and yet_. cf. ann. , : _exauctorari--ac retineri sub vexillo_. _transvecta_. al. transacta. cf. his. , : abiit et _transvectum est tempus_. only t. uses the word in reference to time. _numeri_==cohortes or manipuli, cf. his. , : multi numeri. this use of the word is post-augustan. cf. note, his. , . _tarda et contraria_. in appos. with the foregoing clauses== _circumstances calculated to retard and oppose him in commencing war_. _plerisque_, sc. of the inferior officers. they thought it best that those parts of the country, whose fidelity was questionable (_suspecta_) should be secured by garrisons (_custodiri_). _potius_ is an adj. and goes with _videbatur_==_it seemed preferable_. _legionum vexillis_. some understand this of veteran soldiers who had served out their time (twenty years), but were still _sub vexillis_ (not dismissed). so r. and w. others of parts of the legions detached for a season sub vexillis (under separate standards). so gronovius. the word seems to be used in both senses. see note, h. , . _in aequum_. into the plain. aequus, prim. level, hence aequor, sea. _erexit aciem. led his troops up the steep_. so his. , : erigunt aciem per adversum collem. _ac--ceteris. and that according as the first_ enterprises _went_ (cf. note, : _cessit_), would be the terror in the rest_ of his engagements. cf. h. , : _gnarus, ut initia belli provenissent, famam in cetera fore_. al. _fore universa_. _possessione. taking_ possession, cf. . a _possidere_, i.e. occupare, non a _possidere_, quod est occupatum tenere. rit. for the abl. without _a_, cf. h. , : _syria remeans_. _ut in dubiis consiliis_, sc. fieri solet. generals are not apt to be prepared beforehand for enterprises, not contemplated at all in their original plans. _qui--expectabant. who were looking out for (ex_ and _specto) a fleet, for ships_, in a word _for the sea_, i.e. naval preparations in general, instead of an attack by land. the language is highly rhetorical.-- _crediderint_. livy, nepos and tacitus use the _perf_. subj. after _ut_, denoting a consequence, when a single, specific past act is expressed; when a repeated or continued action, the _imp_. subj. most writers use the imp. in both cases. see h. , , and ; z. ; also z. , note, and note h. , : _dederit_. _officiorum ambitum. "compliments of office."_ ky. _placuisset_. subj. cf. note, : _ut quos_. _expeditionem--continuisse. he did not call it a campaign or a victory to have kept the conquered in subjection_. _laureatis_ sc. litteris. it was customary to communicate the news of victory to the emperor and senate, by letters bound with bay leaves, cf. liv. , : _litterae_ a postumio _laureatae_ sequuntur. without _litterae_, it occurs only here. or. so in h. , . t. avoids the technical expression and employs the word _laurea_, seldom used in this sense. _dissimulatione_. cf. note, .--_aestimantibus_, cf. aestimanti, . the aspiring, and especially the vain, may learn from this passage a lesson of great practical value. compare also § , at the close. xix. _aliena experimenta. the experience of others_. _nihil_. ellipsis of _agere_ (which is inserted without ms. authority in the common editions). so cic. phil. , : nihil per senatum, etc. cf. g. : _adhuc_, note. _ascire_, al. accire. _to receive into regular service_. the reference is to the transfer of soldiers from the raw recruits to the legions. so w. followed by dr. r. and w. the next clause implies, that he took care to receive into the service none but the best men (_optimum quemque_), whom he deemed _trustworthy_ (_fidissimum_) just in _proportion_ as they were _good_. this use of two superlatives mutually related to each other, the former with _quisque_, is frequent in latin and resembles the english use of two comparatives: the better, the more trustworthy. cf. z. , b.; also note, : _promptissmus quisque_. _exsequi_==punire. a sense peculiar to the later latin. cic. and caes. use _persequi_. for a similar use of the word in the expression of a similar sentiment, see suet. jul. : delicta neque observabat omnia neque pro modo exsequebatur. compare our word _execute_. and mark the sentiment, as a maxim in the science of government. _severitatem commodare_. w. with dr. and r. make this an example of zeugma. and in its ordinary acceptation (i.e. in the sense _to give_) the word _commodare_ certainly applies only to _veniam_, and not to _severitatem_. but _commodare_ in its primary signification means to _adapt_; and in this sense, it suits both of its adjuncts: _he adapted_ (awarded) _pardon to small offences, severe punishment to great ones_. so wr. for the series of infinitives, cf. notes, : _nosci_, etc.; g. : _praeponere_, etc. _nec poena--contentus esse. nor was he always content with punishment, but oftener with repentance_. mere punishment without reformation did not satisfy him; reformation without punishment satisfied him better. see död. in loc. here too some have called in the aid of zeugma. _auctionem_. al. exactionem. the former is the reading of the greater part of the mss. and the later german editions. _auctionem tributorum_ refers to the increased tribute exacted by vesp. cf. sueton. vesp. : _auxisse_ tributa provinciis, nonnullis et _duplicasse_. _munerum_. _duties, burdens.--circumcisis_. cf. note, : expulsis. etc., and : amissa virtute. _namque--cogebantur_. the best version we can give of this obscure passage is as follows: _for they were compelled in mockery to sit by the closed granaries and to buy corn needlessly_ (beyond what was necessary, cf. note on _ultro_, g. , when they had enough of their own) _and to sell it at a fixed price_ (prescribed by the purchasers). it has been made a question, whether the granaries of the britons, or those of the romans are here meant. död., dr. and r. advocate the former opinion; walch, wr., or., and rit. the latter. according to the former view, the britons were often obliged to buy corn of the romans, because they were forbidden to use their own, to supply themselves and their families; according to the latter, because they were required (as explained below) to carry their contributions to a quarter so distant from their own granaries, that they were fain to buy the corn rather at some nearer warehouse of the romans. the selling at a fixed price is equally intelligible on either supposition. or. following the best mss. reads _ludere pretio_, which rit. has amended into _colludere pretio_. _ultro_ may well enough be rendered _moreover_ or _even_, thus giving emphasis to _emere_. _devortia itinerum_. _bye roads_, explained by _avia_, as _longinquitas_ is by _remota_. the object of requiring the people to convey their contributions to such distant and inconvenient points, was to compel them to buy of the romans, or to pay almost any sum of money to avoid compliance. the reader of cic. will remember in illustration of this whole passage, the various arts to which verres is said to have had recourse to enrich himself, at the expense of the people of his province (cic. in ver. , , and ), such as refusing to accept the contributions they brought, obliging them to buy of him at his own price, requiring them to carry supplies to points most distant and difficult of access, _ut vecturae difficultate ad quam vellent aestimationem pervenirent_. _omnibus_, sc. et incolis et militibus; _paucis_, sc. praefectis aut publicanis. dr. _donec--fieret_. the subj. here denotes a purpose or object in view, and theretore follows _donec_ according to the rule. h. , ii.; z. . tacitus however always expresses a repeated past action after _donec_ by the imp. subj. cf. note, : affectavere; h. , . . xx. _statim_. emphatic, like [greek: euthus]. cf. thucyd. , : [greek: tou therous euthus archomenou]: at the _very_ beginning of summer. so in § . _intolerantia_, al. tolerantia, but without ms. authority. _incuria_ is _negligence_. intolerantia_ is _insufferable arrogance, severity_, in a word _intolerance_. so cic.: superbia atque intolerantia. _quae--timebatur_. and no wonder, since _ubi solitudinem_ faciunt, _pacem_ appellant, . _multus_, al. militum. _multus_ in the recent editions. _multus_==frequens, cf. sal. jug. : multus ac ferox instare.-- _modestiam--disiectos_. these words are antithetic, though one is abstract and the other concrete. the whole clause may be literally rendered thus: _ever present in the line of march, he commended good order (discipline), the disorderly he restrained_. _popularetur_, sc. a. _quominus_, that not==_but: but he ravaged their country by unexpected invasions_. _irritamenta_. _inducements.--pacis_. ang. _to_ or _for peace_. _ex aequo egerant_, lit. had acted (lived) on an equality, i.e. _had maintained their independence_, cf. his. , : aut ex aequo agetis aut aliis imperitabitis. _iram posuere_. cf. hor. ars poet.: et _iram_ colligit ac _ponit_ temere. see also g. : ponunt dolorem, etc. _ut--transierit_. the clause is obscure. the best that can be made of it is this: _they were encompassed by forts and garrisons with so much skill and care that no part of britain hitherto now went over_ (to the enemy) _with impunity_ (literally unattacked). for the meaning of _nova_, cf. . for _transierit_, cf. _transitio_, h. , ; , ; and freund, sub v. this is walther's interpretation. if, with ernesti, dr. and some others, we might suppose a _sic_, _ita_ or _tam_ to be understood with _illacessita_, we might obtain perhaps a better sense, viz. _came over_ (to the romans) _with so little annoyance_ (from the enemy). in the last edition a meaning was attached to _transierit_ (_remained_, sc. unattacked), for which i now find no sufficient authority. among the many amendments, which have been suggested, the easiest and best is that of susius, followed by wexius, dübner, or. and rit, viz. placing _illacessita transiit_ at the beginning of the next chapter. but this does violence not only to ms. authority, but to latin usage in making the adverb _ut, so as, as_, follow _tanta_. in such a connection, _ut_ must be a conjunction==_so that, that_. see freund sub v. for the _perf_. subj. cf. note, : _crediderint_. _praesidiis castellisque_. gordon, in his itinerarium septentrionale, found more remains of roman works in that part of britain here referred to, than in any other portion of the island. xxi. _ut--assuescerent_. _in order that they might become habituated_, etc.--_in bella faciles. easily inclined to wars_. cf. ann. , : _facili ad gaudia_. al. _in bello, bello_, and _in bellum_.--_otio_. see note, : otio.--_privatim. as a private individual; publice, by public authority, and of course from the public treasury_, cf. note g. : publice.--_jam vero_. _moreover_, cf. g. , note. _anteferre_. wr. takes this word in its primary sense==bear before, i.e. carry beyond: _he carried (advanced) the native talents of the britons beyond the learning of the gauls_. but there is no authority for such a use of the word, when followed by the acc. and dat. it is doubtless used in its more ordinary sense; and the _preference_ which a. expressed for the genius of the britons over the learning of the gauls, _stimulated_ them to greater exertions. it is somewhat curious to observe thus early that mutual emulation and jealousy, which has marked the whole history of britain and france. the national vanity of la bletterie is sorely wounded by this remark of t. see his note in loco, also murphy's.--_toga_. cf. note on _togatos_, . _ut--concupiscerent_. _ut==so that_, denoting a consequence. the verb here denotes a continued or habitual state of mind. hence the _imp_. subj. cf. note, : _crediderit_. _discessum_, sc. a patrum moribus ad vitia varia. dr. _delenimenta_==illa, quibus animi _leniuntur_. dr. _charms, blandishments_. cf. h. , . the word is not found in cic. or caes. _humanitas. civilisation, refinement_. compare the professorships of _humanity_ in european universities. _pars servitutis_. for the sentiment, cf. his. , : voluptatibus, quibus romani plus adversus subjectos, quam armis valent. _cum==while, although_. hence the subj. xxii. _tertius--annus_. _third campaign_. _taum_. the frith of tay.--_nationibus_. here synonymous with _gentes_; sometimes less comprehensive, cf. note, g. . _pactione ac fuga_. al. _aut_ fuga, but without authority. there are but two distinct clauses marked by _aut--aut: either taken by assault or abandoned by capitulation and flight_. _nam--firmabantur_. this clause assigns a reason, why the romans were _able_ to make frequent sorties (_crebrae eruptiones_), viz. supplies of provision so abundant, as to be proof against blockade. _moras obsidionis. a protracted siege_, or _blockade_. _annuis copiis. supplies for a year_. this is the _primary_ signification of _annuus_; that of our word _annual_ is _secondary_. _intrepida--praesidio_==hiberna quieta ac tuta ab hostibus. fac. and for. --_irritis, baffled_. seldom applied to _persons_ by prose writers. cf. h. , . _pensare_. r. remarks a peculiar fondness in t. for the use of the simple verb instead of the compound, e.g. missa for omissa, sistens for resistens, flammare for inflammare, etc. so here _pensare==compensare_. cf. : _trahuntur_, note. _avidus_, sc. laudis==per aviditatem laudis et gloriae. e.: a. never in his eagerness for glory arrogated to himself the honor of the achievements of others.--_seu--seu. every one, whether centurion or praefect_ (commander of a legion, cf. note, h. , .), _was sure to have in him an impartial witness to his deeds_. _acerbior_, cf. note on _durius_, .--_apud quosdam_==a quibusdam. _secretum et silentium. reserve and silence_. so w. and ky. but r. and dr.: _private interviews_ (to be summoned to which by some commanders was alarming), _and neglect of the usual salutations in public_ (which was also often a token of displeasure on the part of a superior officer). the former is the more simple and obvious, though it must be confessed that the latter is favored by the usus loquendi of t., in regard especially to _secretum_, cf. ; ann. , , where _secreto_ is opposed to _palam_; and his. , : incertum, quoniam _secreto eorum_ nemo _adfuit_. xxiii. _obtirendis. securing possession of.--pateretur_, sc. terminum inveniri.--_in ipsa brit_. in the very _nature_ or structure of the island, as described in the sequel. see or. in loc. _clota et bodotria_. frith of clyde and frith of forth. _revectae_, i.e. the natural current being driven back by the tide from the sea on either side. _angusto--spatio_. it is now cut across by a ship canal. _propior sinus_==peninsula on the south side of the friths, cf, note on sinus g. , and . sinus refers particularly to the _curved border_ on _this side_ the aestuaries. this border (wherever the friths were so narrow as to require it), as well as the narrow isthmus, was occupied and secured (_tenebatur_) by garrisons. xxiv. _nave prima_. the first roman ship that ever visited those shores. so br., dr., etc. _the foremost ship_, sc., a. himself, followed by others in a line. so ritter. wr., and some others understand it of a voyage from _rome_, where they suppose him to have passed the winter, and whence he crossed over to britain by the _earliest_ vessel in the spring. w. and r. make _prima_ equivalent to an adv. and render: crossing over _for the first time_ by ship. or. also makes _prima==tum primum_. _copiis_. here troops with their equipments==_forces_, cf. : majoribus copiis.--_medio sita_ lying between, not midway between. e.--_in spem-- formidinem_. more with the hope of invading ireland, than through fear of invasion by the irish.--_valentissimam partem_, viz. gaul, spain and britain. _miscuerit_. the subj. here denotes the aim or purpose of the projector: it would have done so _in his view_. _invicem_==an adj. _mutual.--nostri maris_. the mediterranean. _differunt: in melius_. the authorities differ greatly as to the reading, the pointing and the interpretation of this passage. some copies omit _in_. others insert _nec_ before it. some place the pause before _in melius_, others after. some read _differt_, others _differunt. nec in melius_ would perhaps give the better sense. but the reading is purely conjectural. i have given that, which, on the whole, seems to rest on the best authority, and to make the best sense. the sense is: _the soil, climate, &c., do not differ much from those of britain. but that the harbors and entrances to the country are better_ (lit. _differ for the better, differre in melius), is ascertained through the medium of the merchants, who resort thither for trade_ (for ireland had not yet, like britain, been explored by a roman _army_). so wr. and död. on _in melius_, see note h. , . or. and rit. make the comparison thus: the harbors and entrances are better known, than the soil, climate, &c. the common interpretation is: the harbors, &c., of ireland are better known, than those of britain. but neither of these interpretations accounts for the position of _melius_; and the last is in itself utterly incredible. _ex eo_, sc. a. pass. and dr. understand it of the irish chief, and infer that t. had been in brit. but a. is the subject of the next sentence without the repetition of his name, as it would have been repeated, if this sentence referred to another. xxv. _amplexus_. some supply _bello_, as in : bello amplexus. but better: embracing _in his plan of operations_, i.e. _extending his operations to those tribes_. _hostilis exercitus_. al. hostili exercitu. but _hostilis exercitus_ in the mss. and earliest editions.--_infesta_ is here active: _hostile inroads of the enemy's forces_. _in partem virium_. _for_, i.e. _as a part of his force_. _impelleretur_, was borne on with rapid and resistless power. _profunda--adversa_. cf. note, : _inania honoris_. _mixti copiis et laetitia. uniting their stores and their pleasures_, i.e. their respective means of entertainment. for _mixti_, cf. : locum--mixtum. for _copiis_ in this sense, : annuis copiis. for the other sense, viz. forces, : copiis, note. _hinc--hinc==on this side--on that_. cf. note g. : _illum--illam_.-- _victus_. al. _auctus_. _ad manus et arma_. ang. _to arms_. _oppugnasse_ depends on _fama_. their preparations were great. rumor as usual (_uti mos_, etc.) represented them still greater; for the rumor went abroad, that the caledonians had _commenced offensive operations (oppugnasse ultra).--castella adorti_ is the means by which they _metum addiderant_, i.e. _had inspired additional fear_. _pluribus agminibus. in several divisions_. accordingly it is added: _diviso et ipse_, a. _himself also_, i.e. as well as the britons, _having divided_, etc. _agmen_ (from ago), properly a body of men on the march.--_exercitus_, under military drill (exerceo.) xxvi. _quod ubi_, etc. _when this was known_, etc. latin writers, as well as greek, generally link their sentences, chapters, &c., more closely together, than english. hence we are often obliged to render their relative by our demonstrative. see z. . _ubi_, here adv. of _time_, as in , , et passim. _certabant_. not _fought_ with the enemy, but _vied_ with each other. so below: utroque--certante. hence followed by _de_ gloria, not _pro_ gloria, which some would substitute for it; _secure for_ (in regard to) _safety, they vied with each other in respect to_ (or _in_) _glory_. with _pro salute_, cf. his. , : pro me securior. _erupere. sallied forth_, sc. from the camp. _utroque exercitu_. each of the two _roman_ armies. _quod_. cf. , note.--_debellatum_, lit. the war would have been fought _out_, i.e. _ended_. xxvii. _cujus_ refers to _victoria_ in the previous section (cf. _quod_ , note): _inspirited by the consciousness and the glory of this victory_. _modo cauti_. compare the sentiment with : specie prudentium, etc. _arte--rati_, al. arte _usos_ rati by conjecture. but t. is fond of such ellipses: _the britons, thinking it was not by superior bravery, but by favoring circumstances_ (on the part of the romans) _and the skill of their commander_ (sc. that they had been defeated). rit. reads _superati_. _utrimque_. both the romans and the britons; the romans excited by their victory, the britons by their coetibus ac sacrificiis. _discessum. they separated_, viz. after the battle and at the close of the campaign. xxviii. _cohors usipiorum_. see same story, dio cass. , . _adactis. forced on board.--remiganto_==gubernante, to avoid sameness, with _gubernatoribus_, br. r. supposes that having but one pilot left, only the vessel on which he sailed was _rowed_, while the others were towed by it; and this rowing _under his direction_ is ascribed to _him_. some mss. and many editions read _remigrante_, which some translate: _making his escape_, and others connect with _interfectis_, and suppose that he also was slain in trying to _bring back_ his boat to shore. whether we read _remigante_ or _remigrante_, the signification of either is unusual. _praevehebantur_. sailed along the coast (in sight of land). _inopiae_ is governed by _eo_, which is the old dat.==_to such a degree. --ad extremum==at last_. _vescerentur_ followed by the acc. h. , . ; z. . for the imp. subj. cf. note : _ut--concupiscerent_. _amissis--navibus_. this is regarded by some as proof that _all_ the steersmen were slain or escaped. dr. answers, that it may refer only to the _two_ ships that were without steersmen. _suevis_. a people of northern germany (g. , seq.) whither, after having circumnavigated britain, the usipii came.--_mox, subsequently_, some having escaped the suevi. _per commercia. in trade_, cf. same in . _nostram ripam_. the gallic bank of the rhine, which was the border of the roman empire, cf. g. passim. _quos--indicium--illustravit_. whom the account of so wonderful an adventure rendered illustrious. the rule would require the subj. h. , i. ; z. . xxix. _initio aestatis_, i.e. in the beginning of the _next_ summer (the th campaign, cf. : _aestate, qua sextum_, etc.), as the whole history shows. see especially _proximo anno_, . hence the propriety of commencing a new section here. the common editions begin it below: _igitur_, etc. _plerique_. cf. note on it, .--_fortium virorum_. _military men_. _ambitiose, with affected fortitude, stoically_.--_rursus_==contra, _on the contrary_, showing the antith. between _ambitiose_ and _per lamenta_. --_per lamenta_, cf. : per caritatem.--_igitur_, cf. , note. _quae--faceret_==ut ea faceret. h. ; z. . _incertum_ is explained by _pluribus locis_. render: _general alarm_.--_expedito_==sine impedimentis, armis solis instructo. fac. and for.--_montem grampium_. now _grampian hills_. _cruda--senectus_. cf. virg. aen. , : sed cruda deo viridisque senectus. _crudus_ is rarely found in this sense except in the poets. _crudus_ properly==bloody (_cruor, cruidus_); hence the successive significations, raw, unripe, fresh, vigorous.--_sua decora_==praemia ob virtutem bellicam accepta. e. any and all _badges of distinction_, especially in _arms_. wr., or. and dõd. xxx. _causas belli_. explained by _universi servitutis expertes_ below, to be the defence of their liberties. in like manner, _nostram necessitatem_ is explained by _nullae ultra terrae_: there is no retreat for us, etc.--_animus, confidence_. _proelium--arma_. t. has a passion for _pairs_ of words, especially nouns, of _kindred signification_. see examples in index to histories; and in this chapter, _spem ac subsidium_; _recessus ac sinus_; _obsequiam ac modestiam_. _priores pugnae_, sc. in which the caledonians took no part.--_pugnae_ is here, by a figure put for the _combatants_ themselves, who are represented as looking to the caledonians, as a kind of corps de reserve, or last resource. _eo. for that reason_. the best things are always kept guarded and concealed in the _penetralia_. there may also be a reference to a _fact_ stated by caesar (b.g. , ), that the inhabitants of the interior were aborigines, while those on the coast were immigrants. _terrarum--extremos_. _the remotest of men and last of freemen_. --_recessus--famae_. _our very remoteness and obscurity_. this is the most common and perhaps the most simple translation, making _sinus famae_==seclusion in respect to fame. perhaps, however, it accords as well with the usual signification of the words, and better with the connexion and spirit of the speech, to take _sinus famae_ in the sense, _retreat of glory_, or _glorious retreat_. so wr. his interpretation of the passage and its connexion is as follows: _our very remoteness and our glorious retreat have guarded us till this day. but now the furthest extremity of brit. is laid open_ (i.e. our retreat is no longer a safeguard); _and every thing unknown is esteemed great (i.e. this safeguard also is removed--the romans in our midst no longer magnify our strength). rit. encloses the clause in brackets, as a gloss. he renders _sinus famae, bosom of fame_, fame being personified as a goddess. r., dr., or. make _famae_ dative after _defendit_==has _kept back from fame_. _sed nulla jam_, etc. but now all the above grounds of confidence--our remoteness, our glory, our greatness magnified by the imagination of our enemies, from the very fact that we were unknown to them--all these are removed; we have none behind us to fall back upon, as our countrymen in former battles have leaned upon us--and we are reduced to the necessity of self-defence and self-reliance. the _sed_ seems to be antithetic to the whole as far back as _priores pugnae_; whereas _nunc_ is opposed only to the clause which immediately precedes it, and constitutes an antithesis within an antithesis. _infestiores_, sc. quam fluctus et saxa. _effugeris_. cf. note g. : _non invenerit_; also _satiaverit_ just below. _et mare_. _et==also_. cf. note, g. . _opes atque inopiam_. abs. for conc.==rich and poor nations. _falsis nominibus_ is by some connected with _rapere_. but better with _appellant_. _they call things by false names_, viz. _plunder, empire; and desolation, peace_. xxxi. _annos_==annonam, _yearly produce_, cf. g. : expectare annum. so often in the poets.--_in frumentum. for supplies_. the reading of this clause is much disputed. the text follows that of w. and r. and is approved by freund. for the meaning of _egerunt_, cf. _praedam egesserunt_, h. , . _silvis--emuniendis_==viis per silvas et paludes muniendis. e. _semel_. _once for all_, g. .--_emit_, sc. tributis pendendis; _pascit_, sc. frumento praebendo. e. _portus, quibus exercendis_. w. and dr. explain this of collecting revenue at the ports (i.e. farming them), a thing unknown to the early britons; wr. of rowing, servile labor. why not refer it to the _construction_ or _improvement_ of harbors? by rendering _exercendis, working, improving_, we make it applicable alike to harbors, mines and fields.--_reservemur_. subj. in a relative clause denoting a purpose. h. ; z. . _potuere_. observe the ind., where we use the potential. it is especially frequent with _possum, debeo_, &c. z. and . _nonne_ implies an affirmative answer. z. , and h. , ii. . . _in poenitentiam_, al. in praesentiam. the general idea is essentially the same with either reading. _non in praesentiam==not to obtain our freedom, for the present merely. non in poenitentiam==not about to obtain our freedom merely to regret it_, i.e. in such a manner as the brigantes, who forthwith lost it by their _socordia_. xxxii. _nisi si_==nisi forte, cf. note, g. : nisi si patria. _pudet dictu_. the supine after _pudet_ is found only here. quintilian however has _pudendum dictu_. cf. or. in loc.; and z. . . _commendent_, etc. _although they give up their blood to_ (i.e. _shed it in support of_) _a foreign tyrant_.--_tamen_ is antithetic to _licet_: _although_ they give, _yet longer enemies, than slaves_ (of rome). _metus--est_. _it is fear and terror_ (sc. that keep them in subjection), _weak bonds of affection_. _removeris--desierint_. fut. perf. cf. note, g. : _indulseris_. _nulla--aut alia_. some of the roman soldiers had lost all attachment to country and could not be said to have any country; others had one, but it was not britain, it was far away. _ne terreat_. the third person of the imperative is for the most part avoided in ordinary language; and the pres. subj. is used in its stead. z. , note. _nostras manus_, i.e. those ready to join us and aid our arms, viz. (as he goes on to say), the gauls and germans, as well as the britons now in the roman ranks.--_tamquam_==_just as_ (_tam-quam_). död. renders, _just as certainly as_. _vacua.--destitute of soldiers.--senum_, sc. veterani et emeriti. cf. note, . _aegra==disaffected_. cf. h. , . _hic dux_, etc. _here a general, here an army_ (sc. the roman, awaits you); _there tributes, mines_, &c. (and you must conquer the former or endure the latter--these are your only alternatives). _in hoc campo est_. _depends on this battle field_.--t. has laid out all his strength on this speech. it can hardly be matched for martial force and sententious brevity. it breathes, as it should in the mouth of a briton, an indomitable spirit of liberty, and reminds us, in many features, of the concentrated and fiery eloquence, which has so often roused our american indians to defend their altars and revenge their wrongs. xxxiii. _ut barbaris moris_. al. et barbari moris. but compare : ut domitiano moris erat; his. , : ut moris est. supply _est_ here: _as is the custom of_ (lit. _to_) _barbarians_. z. , & h. , i. _agmina_, sc. conspiciebantur.--_procursu_ is the means by which the gleam of armor was brought into view. _acies_, sc. britannorum. the _roman_ army was still within the camp, cf. _munimentis coercitum_, below. _coercitum_==qui coerceri potest. the part, used in the sense of a verbal. so _monstratus_, g. , which, freund says, is tacitean. the perf. part. pass. with negative prefix _in_ often takes this sense. z. . cf. note, his. , : _inexhaustum_. _octavus annus_. this was agricola's _seventh summer_ in britain. see note : _initio aestatis_. but it being now later in the season, than when he entered britain, he was now entering on his _eighth year_. cf. rit. in loc. _virtute--romani_. _by the valor and favoring auspices of the roman empire_. war was formerly carried on auspiciis _populi_ rom. but after augustus, auspiciis _imperatoris_ or _imperii_ rom. _expeditionibus--proeliis_. these words denote the _time_ of _poenituit_ (_in_ or _during_ so many, etc.)--_patientia_ and _labore_ are abl. after _opus_. _terminos_. acc. after _egressi_ (h. , ): _having transcended the limits_. cf. z. . _fama, rumore_. synonyms. also _castris, armis_. cf. note, . _vota--aperto_. _your vows and your valor now have free scope_ (are in the open field), cf. note : _in aperto_. _in frontem_. antith. to _fugientibus_. hence==progredientibus. _hodie_. _to-day_, i.e. _in our present circumstances of prosperity_. wr. _nec--fuerit_. _nor will it have been inglorious_, sc. when the thing shall have been _done_ and men shall look _back_ upon our achievements. the fut. perf. is appropriate to such a conception. _naturae fine_. cf. note, g. : _illuc usque natura_. xxxiv. _hortarer_. literally, _i would be exhorting you_. the use of the imperf. subj. in hypothetical sentences, where we should use a plup. (i would have exhorted you), is frequent both in greek and latin, even when it denotes a _complete_ past action, cf. z. . when the action is not complete, as here, the latin form is at once more lively and more exact than the english.--_proximo anno_. this same expression may signify either the next year, or the last year. here of course: _the last year_, referring to the battle described in , cf. also note : _initio aestatis_. _furto noctis_. cf. virg. aen. , : fraude noctis. _contra ruere_. _rush forth to meet, penetrantibus_, etc. r. and wr. take _ruere_ for perf. d pl. instead of _ruerunt_, since t. uses the form in _ere_ much more than that in _erunt_. rit. makes it inf. after _solet_ understood, or rather implied in _pelluntur_, which==_pelli solent_. _quos--quod_. _whom, as to the fact that you have at length found (it is not because) they have taken a stand, but they have been overtaken_. cf. wr. and or. in loc. on _deprehensi_, cf. note, . on _quod==as to this, that_, see examples in freund, or in any lexicon. _novissimae--vestigiis_. _the extremity of their circumstances, and their bodies_ (motionless) _with terror have brought them to a stand for battle on this spot_, etc. one ms. reads _novissime_ and omits _aciem_, which reading is followed in the common editions. _extremo metu_ is to be closely connected with _corpora_. for the sense of _defixere_, cf. ann. , : pavore defixis. _ederetis_. subj. cf. h. , ; z. , a. _transigite cum expeditionibus_==finite expeditiones. dr. cf. g. : cum spe--transigitur, note. _quinquaginta annis_. so many years, it might be said to be in round numbers, though actually somewhat _less_ than fifty years, since the dominion of rome was first established in britain under the emperor claudius. cf. , supra.--the speech of a. is not equal to that of galgacus. he had not so good a cause. he could not appeal to the sacred principles of justice and liberty, to the love of home and household gods. but he makes the best of a bad cause. the speech is worthy of a roman commander, and touches with masterly skill all those chords in a roman soldier's breast, that were never touched in vain. xxxv. _et==both_. both while he was speaking and after he had ceased, the soldiers manifested their ardor, etc. _instinctos_. cf. note : instincti. _aciem firmarent_==aciem firmam facerent, of which use there are examples not only in t., but in liv. dr. the auxiliary foot _formea_ or _made up_ (not merely strengthened) _the centre_.--_affunderentur. were attached to_.--_pro vallo. on the rampart_; properly on the fore part of it. cf. note, h. , . _ingens--decus_. in app. with _legiones--stetere_. _bellanti_, sc. agricolae. al. bellandi. _in speciem_. cf. in suam famam, , and in jactationem, . _aequo_. supply consisteret to correspond with _insurgeret_. zeugma. cf. note, : in aequum. _media campi_. _the intervening parts of the plain_, sc. between the two armies.--_covinarius_ is found only in t. _covinarii_==the essedarii of caesar. covinus erat currus belgarum, a quibus cum britanni acceperant. dr. _pedes_. nom. sing, in app. with subject of _constitit_. xxxvi. _indentibus gladiis_, etc. so below: _parva scuta_, etc. the small shield and broad sword of the highlanders. _donec--cohortatus est_. cf. note, g. : _affectavere_.--_batavorum cohortes_. al. _tres--cohortes_. but the number is not specified in the best mss. in the histories, eight cohorts of batavians are often mentioned as constituting the auxiliaries of the th legion, which was now in britain. see rit. in loc. _ad mucrones_. the britons were accustomed to fight with the edge of the sword, and cut and hew the enemy. the romans, on the contrary, made use of the _point_. of course in a close engagement, they would have greatly the advantage. br.--_ad manus_. the opposite of _eminus_, i.e. _a close engagement_. the same thing is expressed below by _complexum armorum_. _in aperto pugnam_. literally a fight in the open field, i.e. a _regular_ pitched _battle_, which with its compact masses would be less favorable to the large swords of the britons, than a battle on ground uncleared of thickets and forests. al. _in arto_. _miscere, ferire_, etc. a series of inf. denoting a rapid succession of events, cf. note, : noscere--nosci; g. : praeponere. _equitum turmae_, sc. britannorum. the word _turmae_ is applicable to such a cavalry as theirs, cf. ann. , : _britannorum_ copiae passim per catervas et _turmas_ exsultabant. br. ky. and others here understand it of the roman cavalry. but r. dr. and wr. apply it to the britons, and with reason, as we shall see below, and as we might infer indeed from its close connexion with _covinarii_, for the _covinarii_ were certainly britons. _peditum proelio, hostium agminibus_. these also both refer to the _britons_. the covinarii were interspersed among their own infantry, and, as the romans advanced, became entangled with them. this is disputed. but the small number of romans slain in the whole battle is alone enough to show, that _their_ cavalry was not routed, nor _their_ infantry broken in upon by the chariots of the enemy. moreover, how could t. properly use the word _hostium_ of his own countrymen? _minimeque_, etc. this is one passage, among a few in t., which is so manifestly corrupt that no sense can be made of it, as it stands in the mss. the reading given in the text is the simplest of all the conjectural readings that have been proposed. it is that of br. and e., and is followed by the common editions. cavalry took a large part in the battle. but the battle wore little the aspect of an equestrian fight; for the britons, after maintaining their position with difficulty for some time, were at length swept away by the bodies (the _mere uncontrolled bodies_) of the horses--in short, the riders had no control over horses or chariots, which rushed on without drivers obliquely athwart, or directly through the lines, as their fears severally impelled them; all which was in marked contrast to a roman's idea of a regular battle of cavalry. xxxvii. _vacui. free from apprehension_. _ni_. cf. note : ni.--_subita belli. unexpected emergencies_ arising in the course of the battle. cf. : _inania honoris_. _grande et atrox spectaculum_, etc. see a similar description in sal. jug. . the series of infinitives and the omission of the connectives (_asyndeton_) make the succession of events very rapid and animated. compare the famous _veni, vidi, vici_, of caesar. _prout--erat_. according to their different natural disposition, i.e. _the timid, though armed, turned their backs before inferior numbers; while the brave, though unarmed, met death in the face_. _praestare terga_ is an expression found only in t. _et aliquando_, etc. _et==ac tamen. and_ yet (notwithstanding the flight of crowds and the passive death of some as above) _sometimes to the conquered also_ there was _anger and bravery_. the language is virgilian, cf. aen. , . _quod_. cf. note .--_ni frequens--fiduciam foret_. "had not a., who was everywhere present, caused some strong and lightly equipped cohorts to encompass the ground, while part of the cavalry having dismounted, made their way through the thickets, and part on horseback scoured the open woods, some disaster would have prcoeeded from this excess of confidence." ky. xxxviii. _gaudio praedaque laeta_. cf. note, g. : _cibos et hortamina_. observe also the juxtaposition of _tempestate_ and _fama_ in this same chapter. _separare_, sc. consilia, i.e. _they sometimes act in concert, sometimes provide only for their individual safety_. _pignorum_. cf. note g. : pignora--_saevisse. laid violent hands_. "this picture of rage and despair, of tenderness, fury, and the tumult of contending passions, has all the fine touches of a master who has studied human nature." mur.--_secreti_==deserti. _ubi. when_, cf. . its direct influence extends to _nequibat_, and with its clause, it expresses the _reason_ why a. drew off his forces into the country of the horesti.--_spargi bellum_==diversis locis, vel diviso exercitu, vel vagando bellum geri. e. _secunda--fama. favored by the weather and the glory of their past achievements_ (lit. the weather and fame _following_ them, _secunda ==sequunda_.) _trutulensem portum_. some port, now unknown, probably near the mouth of the tay or the forth. _unde_ qualifies _lecto_. e. with _redierat_ a corresponding adv. denoting _whither_, is to be supplied: whence it had set sail, and whither, after having surveyed all the nearest coast of britain, it had now returned. _had_ returned, i.e. prior to _entering_ the port; the action of _redierat_, was prior to that of _tenuit_. hence plup. _proximo, nearest_, sc. to the scene of agricola's operations, i.e. the whole northern coast from the forth to the clyde and back again. this was all that was necessary to prove britain to be an island (cf. chap. ), the southern coast having been previously explored. xxxix. _actum_. al. auctum, a conjecture of lipsius. _actum==treated of, reported.--moris erat_. h. , i.; z. , n. . n. . _falsum--triumphum_. he had returned without so much as seeing the enemy (dio cass. , ); and yet he bought slaves, dressed them in german style, had their hair stained red (g. : _rutilae comae_) and left long, so as to resemble germans, and then marched in triumph into rome with his train of pretended captives! caligula had done the same before him. suet. calig. . _formarentur_. subj. in a relative clause denoting a purpose (_quorum==ut eorum_). h. ; z. . _studia--acta_. lawyers and politicians, all public men, had been gagged and silenced by domitian. _alius_. another than the emperor.--_occuparet==pre-occupy_, so as to rob him of it. _utcumque_. somehow, possibly, perhaps. _other things perhaps were more easily concealed; but the merit of a good commander was an imperial prerogative_. _quodque--satiatus_. _and what was a proof of some cruel purpose, wholly absorbed in his retirement_ (where he never plotted any thing but mischief, and where in early life he is said to have amused himself with killing flies, suet. dom. ). cf. plin. panegyr. : nec unquam ex solitudine sua prodeuntem, nisi ut solitudinem faceret. the whole passage in pliny is a graphic picture of the same tyrant, the workings of whose heart are here so laid bare by the pen of pliny's friend tacitus. _secreto--satiatus_ may also be translated: _satisfied with his own secret_, i.e. keeping to himself his cherished hatred and jealousy.-- _languesceret_. subj. after _donec_. cf. note, g. : _affectavere_. _reponere odium_. see lexicon under _repono_ for this phrase. _impetus--exercitus_. _until the freshness of his glory, and his popularity with the army should gradually decline_. _etiam tum obtinebat_, i.e. he was still in _possession of the government_, and of course in command of the army, in britain. xl. _triumphalia ornamenta_. not a real triumph, which from the reign of augustus was conceded only to the emperor or the princes of the imperial family; but triumphal insignia, such as the _corona, laurea, toga praetexta, tunica palmata, sella curulis_, &c. dr. _illustris statuae_. called _laureata_, ann. , ; _triumphalis_, his. , . _quidquid datur_. besides the _ornamenta_ above mentioned, sacrifices and thanksgivings were offered in the name of the victorious commander. dr. _addique_. al. additque. _addique_ is the reading of the mss. and old editions. and it suits better the genius of dom.; he did not express the _opinionem_ himself, for it was not his real intention, but he _ordered_ some one to put it in circulation as if from him, that he might have the credit of it and yet not be bound by it.--_destinari_, sc. by domitian. _majoribus reservatam_. _majoribus_==illustrioribus. syria was the richest province in the empire, and the praefectship of it the most honorable office. _ex secretioribus ministeriis_. _one of his private secretaries, or confidential agents_. _codicillos_. under the emperors this word is used to denote an imperial letter or diploma. properly a billet, diminutive of _codex_, tablet (==_caudex_, trunk of a tree). _syria dabatur_. syria was one of the provinces, that were at the disposal of the emperor. _ex ingenio principis_. _in accordance with_ (cf. _ex_, g. ) _the_ (dissimulating) _genius or policy of domitian_. the design, if not real, at least imputed to him, was to withdraw agricola from his province and his troops at all events, by the offer of the best province in the empire if need be; but that object having been secured by agricola's voluntary retirement, the offer, and even the ordinary civilities of life, especially official life, were deemed unnecessary. compare this with the concluding sentence of the preceding chapter. _celebritate et frequentia_. hendiadys: _by the number of distinguished men who might go out to meet him_ (and escort him into the city). _ fficio_==salutatione. dr.--_brevi osculo_, lit. a _hasty kiss_==_cold and formal salutation_. the kiss was a common mode of salutation among the romans, in the age of the emperors. see becker's gallus, p. . _turbae servientium_. the usual and characteristic associates, as well as attendants of domitian. a severe cut, though quite incidental and very concise. _otiosos_. antith. to _militare_. _men in civil life_, cf. note on _otio_, ii. _otium auxit_. augere otium==sequi altissimum otium. dr. _penitus_==inwardly, i.e. sincerely, _zealously_. so r. but dr.== prorsus, omnino, valde.--_cultu modicus. simple in dress_, cf. note on _cultus_, g. .--_comitatus_, passive, so used by cic. also.--_uno aut altero. one or two_. _per ambitionem_==ex vitae splendore et numeroso comitatu. br. cf. note on _ambitio_, g. . _quaererent--interpretarentur_. _many inquired_ (with wonder) _into the reputation_ (of a man so unassuming), _and few explained_ or _understood_ (the true reason of his humble manner of life). _interpretarentur_, not _famam_ but the facts above mentioned, and the necessity a. was under of living as he did.--_viso aspectoque. on seeing him and directing their attention particularly to him_. xli. _crimen==public accusation_.--_querela==private complaint_.-- _princeps, gloria, genus_. supply, as a predicate, _causa periculi_; these were the causes that put a's life in jeopardy. _militares viri_==duces. so corbulo is called, ann. , . _expugnati et capti_. _defeated and taken captive_, for. and fac. properly _expugnare_ is said of a fortress or city. but _ektoliorkein_ in greek is used in the same way, of persons. compare _expugnatis praesidiis_, , note. the wars particularly referred to are those against decebalus, leader of the dacians, which lasted four years and in which moesia also was invaded by the dacians, and several roman armies with their commanders were lost (suet. dom. .); and that of the pannonian legions against the german tribes of the marcomanni and the quadi (dion, , ). _hibernis--dubitatum_, i.e. the enemy not only met them on the river banks, which formed the borders of the empire, but attacked the winter quarters of their troops, and threatened to take away the territory they had already acquired. _funeribus_, sc. militarium virorum.--_cladibus_, sc. cohortium. dr. _amore et fide_. _out of affection and fidelity_ (sc. to their imperial master).--_malignitate et livore_. _out of envy and hatred_ (sc. towards a.). _pronum deterioribus_. _inclined to the worse measures_, or it may be, to the _worse advisers_. _in ipsam--agebatur_==invito gloria aucta, simulque pernicies accelerata. w. xlii. _asiae et africae_. he drew lots, _which_ he should have, _both_ being put into the lot.--_proconsulatum_. see h. , . note, on proconsul. a. had already been consul, . _sortiretur_. _in which he would, or such that he must, obtain by lot_, etc. cf. h. , i.; z. . _occiso civica_. cf. suet. dom. : complures senatores, et in his aliquot consulares, interemit, ex quibus _civicam cerealem in ipso asiae proconsulate_. _nec agricolae--exemplum_. _a warning was not wanting to a_. (to avoid the dangerous post); _nor a precedent to dom_. (for disposing of a. in the same way if he accepted the office). _iturusne esset_. subj. cf. h. ; z. .--_interrogarent_. h. ; z. . _in--excusatione_. _in urging his request_ (before dom.) _to be excused_. _paratus simulatione_. al. simulationi. _furnished with deceit, armed_, as it were, _with hypocrisy_. _in arrogantiam compositus_. _assuming a proud demeanor_. _beneficii invidia_, lit. _the odium of such a kindness==so odious a favor_. the idea is, he did not blush to let a. return thanks for a signal injury, as if it were a real kindness. "a refinement of cruelty not unfrequently practised by the worst roman emperors." ky. the only peculiarity in the case of dom. was, the unblushing impudence with which he perpetrated the wrong, cf. . see a fine commentary on this passage in sen. de benef. , : quis est, qui non beneficus _videri_ velit? qui non inter scelera et injurias opinionem bonitatis affectet? velit quoque _iis videri beneficium dedisse, quos laesit? gratias itaque agi sibi ab his, quos afflixere, patiuntur_. _salarium_. properly salt-money, i.e. a small allowance to the soldiers for the purchase of salt. cf. _clavarium_, h. , , note. but after augustus, official pay, _salary_. _ne--emisse_. _that he might not appear to have purchased a compliance with his virtual prohibition_ (viz. of a.'s accepting the proconsulship). _proprium humani_, etc. mark the sentiment. _irrevocabilior_. _more implacable_. found in this sense only in t. cf. böt. lex. tac. _illicita_. unlawful, i.e. forbidden by the powers that be. explained by _contumacia_ and _inani jactatione libertatis_ above. t. is animadverting upon the conduct of certain stoics and republicans, who obtruded their opinions upon those in power, and coveted the glory of martyrdom. _eo--excedere_. reach the same height of distinction. _eo_ old dat. cf. _eo inopiae_ , note. _excedere_, lit. come out to, _arrive at_. cf. val. max. , , : _ad summum imperii fastigium excessit_. _per abrupta_. "through abrupt and dangerous paths." ky. _ambitiosa morte_, i.e. morte ultro adita captandae gloriae causa apud posteros. for. and fac. xliii. _luctuosus, afflictive_, is stronger than _tristis, sad_. _vulgus_. the lower classes, _the ignorant and indolent rabble_.-- _populus_. _the common people, tradesmen, mechanics_, and the like. hence, _aliud agens_, which implies that they were too busy with something else of a private nature, to give much attention to public affairs or the concerns of their neighbors.--_populus_ and _vulgus_ are brought together in a similar way, dial. de clar. orat. : vulgus quoque imperitum et tunicatus hic populus, etc. _nobis--ausim_. _i should not dare to affirm that we_ (the friends of a.) _found any conclusive proof_, that he was poisoned.--_ceterum_. _but_. this implies that the circumstantial evidence, which he goes on to specify, convinced the writer and his friends, as well as the public, that poison administered by direction of dom., was really the means of hastening a. out of the world. dion cassius expressly affirms, that he was poisoned, , . _principatus_. the imperial government in general, i.e. former emperors. _momenta ipsa deficientis_. _each successive stage of his decline_. _ipsa_ is omitted in the common editions. but it rests on good authority and it adds to the significance of the clause: _the very moments_, as it were, were reported to dom. _per dispositos cursores_. dom. appears not to have been at rome at this time, but in the alban villa (cf. ), or somewhere else. _constabat_. that was an _admitted point_, about which there was entire _agreement_ (_con_ and _sto_). _animo vultuque_. hendiadys: _he wore in his countenance an expression of heartfelt grief_. _securus odii_. now, that a. was dead, dom. had nothing to fear in regard to the _object of his hatred_, or the _gratification of his hate_. _odii_. gen. of the respect.--_qui--dissimularet_. _qui==talis, ut_, hence the subj. h. , i.; z. . _lecto testamento_. when a.'s _will was read_. _honore judicioque_. as if a mark of honor and esteem. e. says==judicio honorifico.--_piissimae_, devoted, affectionate. _malum principem_. it was customary for rich men at rome, who were anxious to secure any of their property to their heirs, to bequeath a part of their estates to _bad emperors_ in order to secure the remainder from their rapacity. this and several preceding sections present a most graphic _outline_ of the _life and times_ of dom., the more to be prized, because the full _picture_, which t. doubtless drew of him in the histories, is lost. the histories and the annals are a vast portrait gallery full of such pictures drawn to the life. xliv. _natus--excessit_. the dates assigned for a.'s birth and death, do not agree with the age ascribed to him. they may be harmonized in either of two ways, each of which has its advocates: by reading _primum_ instead of _tertium_, or, which is perhaps a more probable amendment, since it only alters the relative position of the two characters, by reading liv instead of lvi. _quod si_. and if, _now if_.--_habitum_. _personal appearance_, cf. g. . _decentior quam sublimior_. _well proportioned, rather than tall_. r. _nihil metus_. _nothing to inspire fear in his countenance_. antith. to _gratia--supererat_: _kindness of expression rather prevailed_. so gr. and r. for this sense of _metus_, see note g. : ob metum. död. distinguishes between _vultus_ and _oris_, making the former refer more to the _eyes_ (as if from _volvo_, the rolling of the eye), to which it belongs to express anger and fierceness; the latter to the mouth, which is more expressive of kindness. _medio--aetatis_. we should hardly say so of a man dying at . but in dial. de clar. orat. t. speaks of years, as _unius hominis aetas_. _et vera bona_. t. has here in mind the distinction made by philosophers, particularly the stoics, between the virtues, which they called the only real good, and the gifts of fortune, which they declared to be indifferent.--_et--et, both--and_, marks the distinction more strongly. _impleverat_. _had enjoyed to the full_. _consulari_. _having attained to the rank of consul_ (the summit of a roman's ambition) _and having been honored with triumphal insignia_. al. consularibus. but _consulari_ has the better authority and makes the better sense. _opibus--contigerant_. _great riches he did not desire; a respectable property it was his good fortune to possess_, cf. : medio rationis atque abundantiae. al. non contigerant. but considerable property is implied in the circumstances attending his will, , also in his not asking the visual salary, . dion cass. says, however, ( , .), that a. spent his last days in want, as well as in disgrace. for another explanation of _gaudebat_, cf. n. g. . _quod--ominabatur_. _quod_ is omitted in the common editions. but it is found in the mss. and it may be explained on the principle of zeugma, by supplying with _durare_ and _videre_ a verb implied in _grande solatium tulit_ thus: _though (sicuti) it would have been a great gratification to a. to behold the dawn of this auspicious age and see trajan emperor, of which he expressed in my hearing a sort of prophetic anticipation and desire, yet (ita)_, etc. cassius affirms ( , ), that by auguries the elevation of trajan to the throne was foretold, as early as a.u.c. , i.e. _two years before the death of a_. the reference to trajan here, as in , marks clearly the date of the composition, cf. note, : augeatque trajanus. _spiramenta_. _breathing-spells_, i.e. intervals to recover and take breath in. the word is found only in poetry and post-augustan prose, and, in the expressive sense in which it is here used, only in ammian. marc. , . see or. and freund. _velut uno ictu_. the commentators illustrate the force of this expression by reference to caligula's wish (vid. sen. de va. , ), that the roman people had but one neck, ut scelera sua in _unum ictum_ et unum diem cogeret. xlv. _non vidit_. did not see, as he would have done, had he lived a few years longer. this passage resembles cic. de orat. , , , too closely to be mere coincidence. imitator tamen, id quod uni tacito contigit, auctore suo praestantior. rit. _consularium_. rhen. collects from suet. the names of several victims of dom.'s displeasure, _who had been consuls_. _feminarum_. pliny has preserved the names of several of this list-- gratilla, wife of rusticus, arria, wife of thrasea, fannia, daughter of thrasea and betrothed to helvidius. their husbands will be remembered as having been mentioned in and . _carus metius_. an infamous informer, cf. plin. epist. , ; juv. , ; mart. , , . _censebatur_. _was honored_, ironice. _censeri_ est aestimari, sive existimationem consequi. dr. _una--victoria_. he had occasioned the death of but one innocent victim.-- _adhuc_. up to the death of a., cf. g. : adhuc, note. _albanam arcem_. a favorite retreat of dom. (situated at the foot of the alban mount, about seventeen miles from rome), where he sometimes convened the senate, and held his court with its troop of informers, cf. note, : cursores. rit. in loc. suggests, that by the use of _arcem_ instead of _palatium_, t. means to represent domitian as shutting himself up, like many tyrants, in a fortified castle, and thence sending forth the emissaries of his jealousy and cruelty. _sententia. his voice_, his sentiment expressed in council before dom.-- _intra albanam arcem_, i.e. _privately_, not _publicly_, as afterwards at rome. _messalini_. fuit inter principea adulatores et delatores. dr. cf. plin. epist. , ; juv. , , seq. _massa bebius_. primus inter pares of domitian's tools. he began his career under vesp. cf. his. , . he was afterwards impeached and condemned at the instance of the province of baetica, pliny and senecio advocates for the impeachment, plin. epist , ; , ; , .--_jam tum. at that very time_ on trial, not merely _already at that time_. cf. hand's tursel. , . _nostra_, sc. of the senate, of which t. was a member, though abroad at the time. helvidius was arrested _in the senate house_, cf. plin. ep. , . this was helvidius the _son_, who was put to death by dom. (suet. ), as his father was by vesp. (suet. ). _visus_. al. divisus. _visus_==species, adspectus, wr.--_perfudit_. zeugma. understand in the first clause _horrore perfudit_ (dr.) or probro affecit (r.): _the spectacle of mauricus and rusticus_ (hurried away, the one to exile, the other to death), _filled us with horror; we were stained by the innocent blood of senecio_. of rusticus and senecio, see , note. of mauricus, see plin. ep. , : quo viro nihil firmius, nihil verius. also plin. ep. , . _videre_, sc. domitianum.--_aspici_, sc. a domitiano. for difference in the signification in these words, cf. : viso aspectoque, note. _suspiria--subscriberentur. when our sighs_ (of sympathy with the condemned) _were registered against us_ (by spies and informers, as a ground of accusation before the emperor). _rubor_. redness, referring to the complexion of dom., which was such as to conceal a blush, cf. suet. dom. : vultu ruboris pleno. _opportunitate mortis_. an expression of cic., in the similar passage above cited (de orat. , , ), touching the death of crassus. _pro virili portione_, lit. for one man's share, referring primarily to pecuniary assessments. here: _for thy part--so far as thou wast concerned_. a. died with a calmness which would scarcely admit of the supposition, that he felt himself to be a victim of poison and imperial jealousy. _filiaque ejus_. the apostrophe is here dropped to be resumed at _optime parentum_. so the mss. for they read _ejus_ here, and _amissus est_ below. rhenanus omitted _ejus_, and wrote _es_ for _est_; and he has been followed in the common editions since. _conditione_. by the circumstance, or by virtue of our long absence. t. and his wife had parted with a. four years before his death, and had been absent from rome ever since, where or why does not appear. _superfuere_. cf. _superest_, g. , note. xlvi. _sapientibus_. cf. _sapientiae professoribus_, , note.--_te immortalibus laudibus_. i feel constrained to recur to the reading of lipsius and ritter, it is so much more spirited than _quam temporalibus_. _potius_ manifestly should refer back to _lugeri_ and _plangi_. the comparison contained in the more common reading is uncalled for in the connection, and of little significance in itself. the mss. read _temporalibus laudibus_ without _quam_ and this may be more easily resolved into _te immortalibus_, than _quam_ can be supplied.-- _similitudine_. al. aemulatione. for such a use of similitudo, cf. cic. tusc. quaest. , , : quorum (sc. curii, fabricii, scipionum, etc.), _similitudinem_ aliquam qui arripuerit, etc. _decoremus_. ennius (cited by cic. tusc. q. , , , and de senect. , ), uses the same word in expressing the same sentiment: nemo me lacrumis _decoret_ nec funera fletu faxit. cf. also g. . _formam_. this makes the sense so much better (than _famam_), that e. dr. wr. r. and most others have adopted it against the authority of the mss. cf. _forma mentis_, below, and cic. passim. _intercedendum. to be prohibited_. properly said of a _veto interposed_ by the tribunes; then of any prohibition.--_non quia==not that_, is characteristic of late writers. it is followed by the subj. z. , and note h. , . _manet, mansurumque est_. cf. vell. paterc. , , : vivit, vivetque per omnem saeculorum memoriam. the periphrastic form (_mansurum est_) differs however from the future (_manebit_), as our _is to remain_ from _will remain_. see z. . _oblivio obruet_, sc. for want of a historian, carent quia _vate sacro_, cf. hor. od. , , , seq. by _multos veterum_, t. means many ancients of _real worth_. so _velut_ implies. a. is to be immortalized through his biographer. this is implied in _narratus et traditus_. ancient authors thought it not improper to express a calm consciousness of merit and a proud confidence of immortality. t. is very modest and delicate in the manner of intimating his expectations. but the sentiment of these last words is substantially the same with the line of horace: exegi monumentum aere perennius. the whole peroration of this biography is one of singular beauty and moral elevation. pathetic, yet calm, rich in noble sentiments and animated by the purest and loftiest spirit, it is a fit topstone to that monument, in respect to which t. felt so well founded an assurance, which still _manet mansurumque est in animis hominum, in aeternitate temporum, fama rerum_. there is scarcely an educated youth in christendom who is not as familiar with the name of agricola, as with that of aeneas and ulysses. and the only reason why we know anything of these heroes, is the genius of their respective biographers. there had been other agricolas before the age of trajan, as there had been other heroes like aeneas, and other wandering sages like ulysses, before the war of troy. but they found no tacitus, virgil, and homer to record their adventurous and virtuous deeds. it is the prerogative of eminent writers to confer immortality; and though alexander would prefer to be achilles rather than homer, we should have known little of his achievements, had he not encouraged scholars as well as warriors, and rewarded genius no less than valor. the end tacitus on germany translated by thomas gordon preparer's note this text was prepared from a edition, published by p. f. collier & son company, new york. introductory note the dates of the birth and death of tacitus are uncertain, but it is probable that he was born about a. d. and died after . he was a contemporary and friend of the younger pliny, who addressed to him some of his most famous epistles. tacitus was apparently of the equestrian class, was an advocate by training, and had a reputation as an orator, though none of his speeches has survived. he held a number of important public offices, and married the daughter of agricola, the conqueror of britain, whose life he wrote. the two chief works of tacitus, the "annals" and the "histories," covered the history of rome from the death of augustus to a. d. ; but the greater part of the "histories" is lost, and the fragment that remains deals only with the year and part of . in the "annals" there are several gaps, but what survives describes a large part of the reigns of tiberius, claudius, and nero. his minor works, besides the life of agricola, already mentioned, are a "dialogue on orators" and the account of germany, its situation, its inhabitants, their character and customs, which is here printed. tacitus stands in the front rank of the historians of antiquity for the accuracy of his learning, the fairness of his judgments, the richness, concentration, and precision of his style. his great successor, gibbon, called him a "philosophical historian, whose writings will instruct the last generations of mankind"; and montaigne knew no author "who, in a work of history, has taken so broad a view of human events or given a more just analysis of particular characters." the "germany" is a document of the greatest interest and importance, since it gives us by far the most detailed account of the state of culture among the tribes that are the ancestors of the modern teutonic nations, at the time when they first came into account with the civilization of the mediterranean. tacitus on germany the whole of germany is thus bounded; separated from gaul, from rhoetia and pannonia, by the rivers rhine and danube; from sarmatia and dacia by mutual fear, or by high mountains: the rest is encompassed by the ocean, which forms huge bays, and comprehends a tract of islands immense in extent: for we have lately known certain nations and kingdoms there, such as the war discovered. the rhine rising in the rhoetian alps from a summit altogether rocky and perpendicular, after a small winding towards the west, is lost in the northern ocean. the danube issues out of the mountain abnoba, one very high but very easy of ascent, and traversing several nations, falls by six streams into the euxine sea; for its seventh channel is absorbed in the fenns. the germans, i am apt to believe, derive their original from no other people; and are nowise mixed with different nations arriving amongst them: since anciently those who went in search of new dwellings, travelled not by land, but were carried in fleets; and into that mighty ocean so boundless, and, as i may call it, so repugnant and forbidding, ships from our world rarely enter. moreover, besides the dangers from a sea tempestuous, horrid and unknown, who would relinquish asia, or africa, or italy, to repair to germany, a region hideous and rude, under a rigorous climate, dismal to behold or to manure [to cultivate] unless the same were his native country? in their old ballads (which amongst them are the only sort of registers and history) they celebrate _tuisto_, a god sprung from the earth, and _mannus_ his son, as the fathers and founders of the nation. to _mannus_ they assign three sons, after whose names so many people are called; the ingaevones, dwelling next the ocean; the herminones, in the middle country; and all the rest, instaevones. some, borrowing a warrant from the darkness of antiquity, maintain that the god had more sons, that thence came more denominations of people, the marsians, gambrians, suevians, and vandalians, and that these are the names truly genuine and original. for the rest, they affirm germany to be a recent word, lately bestowed: for that those who first passed the rhine and expulsed the gauls, and are now named tungrians, were then called germans: and thus by degrees the name of a tribe prevailed, not that of the nation; so that by an appellation at first occasioned by terror and conquest, they afterwards chose to be distinguished, and assuming a name lately invented were universally called _germans_. they have a tradition that hercules also had been in their country, and him above all other heroes they extol in their songs when they advance to battle. amongst them too are found that kind of verses by the recital of which (by them called _barding_) they inspire bravery; nay, by such chanting itself they divine the success of the approaching fight. for, according to the different din of the battle they urge furiously, or shrink timorously. nor does what they utter, so much seem to be singing as the voice and exertion of valour. they chiefly study a tone fierce and harsh, with a broken and unequal murmur, and therefore apply their shields to their mouths, whence the voice may by rebounding swell with greater fulness and force. besides there are some of opinion, that ulysses, whilst he wandered about in his long and fabulous voyages, was carried into this ocean and entered germany, and that by him asciburgium was founded and named, a city at this day standing and inhabited upon the bank of the rhine: nay, that in the same place was formerly found an altar dedicated to ulysses, with the name of his father laertes added to his own, and that upon the confines of germany and rhoetia are still extant certain monuments and tombs inscribed with greek characters. traditions these which i mean not either to confirm with arguments of my own or to refute. let every one believe or deny the same according to his own bent. for myself, i concur in opinion with such as suppose the people of germany never to have mingled by inter-marriages with other nations, but to have remained a people pure, and independent, and resembling none but themselves. hence amongst such a mighty multitude of men, the same make and form is found in all, eyes stern and blue, yellow hair, huge bodies, but vigorous only in the first onset. of pains and labour they are not equally patient, nor can they at all endure thrift and heat. to bear hunger and cold they are hardened by their climate and soil. their lands, however somewhat different in aspect, yet taken all together consist of gloomy forests or nasty marshes; lower and moister towards noricum and pannonia; very apt to bear grain, but altogether unkindly to fruit trees; abounding in flocks and herds, but generally small of growth. nor even in their oxen is found the usual stateliness, no more than the natural ornaments and grandeur of head. in the number of their herds they rejoice; and these are their only, these their most desirable riches. silver and gold the gods have denied them, whether in mercy or in wrath, i am unable to determine. yet i would not venture to aver that in germany no vein of gold or silver is produced; for who has ever searched? for the use and possession, it is certain they care not. amongst them indeed are to be seen vessels of silver, such as have been presented to their princes and ambassadors, but holden in no other esteem than vessels made of earth. the germans however adjoining to our frontiers value gold and silver for the purposes of commerce, and are wont to distinguish and prefer certain of our coins. they who live more remote are more primitive and simple in their dealings, and exchange one commodity for another. the money which they like is the old and long known, that indented [with milled edges], or that impressed with a chariot and two horses. silver too is what they seek more than gold, from no fondness or preference, but because small pieces are more ready in purchasing things cheap and common. neither in truth do they abound in iron, as from the fashion of their weapons may be gathered. swords they rarely use, or the larger spear. they carry javelins or, in their own language, _framms_, pointed with a piece of iron short and narrow, but so sharp and manageable, that with the same weapon they can fight at a distance or hand to hand, just as need requires. nay, the horsemen also are content with a shield and a javelin. the foot throw likewise weapons missive, each particular is armed with many, and hurls them a mighty space, all naked or only wearing a light cassock. in their equipment they show no ostentation; only that their shields are diversified and adorned with curious colours. with coats of mail very few are furnished, and hardly upon any is seen a headpiece or helmet. their horses are nowise signal either in fashion or in fleetness; nor taught to wheel and bound, according to the practice of the romans: they only move them forward in a line, or turn them right about, with such compactness and equality that no one is ever behind the rest. to one who considers the whole it is manifest, that in their foot their principal strength lies, and therefore they fight intermixed with the motions and engagements of the cavalry. so that the infantry are elected from amongst the most robust of their youth, and placed in front of the army. the number to be sent is also ascertained, out of every village _an hundred_, and by this very name they continue to be called at home, _those of the hundred band_: thus what was at first no more than a number, becomes thenceforth a title and distinction of honour. in arraying their army, they divide the whole into distinct battalions formed sharp in front. to recoil in battle, provided you return again to the attack, passes with them rather for policy than fear. even when the combat is no more than doubtful, they bear away the bodies of their slain. the most glaring disgrace that can befall them, is to have quitted their shield; nor to one branded with such ignominy is it lawful to join in their sacrifices, or to enter into their assemblies; and many who had escaped in the day of battle, have hanged themselves to put an end to this their infamy. in the choice of kings they are determined by the splendour of their race, in that of generals by their bravery. neither is the power of their kings unbounded or arbitrary: and their generals procure obedience not so much by the force of their authority as by that of their example, when they appear enterprising and brave, when they signalise themselves by courage and prowess; and if they surpass all in admiration and pre-eminence, if they surpass all at the head of an army. but to none else but the priests is it allowed to exercise correction, or to inflict bonds or stripes. nor when the priests do this, is the same considered as a punishment, or arising from the orders of the general, but from the immediate command of the deity, him whom they believe to accompany them in war. they therefore carry with them when going to fight, certain images and figures taken out of their holy groves. what proves the principal incentive to their valour is, that it is not at random nor by the fortuitous conflux of men that their troops and pointed battalions are formed, but by the conjunction of whole families, and tribes of relations. moreover, close to the field of battle are lodged all the nearest and most interesting pledges of nature. hence they hear the doleful howlings of their wives, hence the cries of their tender infants. these are to each particular the witnesses whom he most reverences and dreads; these yield him the praise which affect him most. their wounds and maims they carry to their mothers, or to their wives, neither are their mothers or wives shocked in telling, or in sucking their bleeding sores. nay, to their husbands and sons whilst engaged in battle, they administer meat and encouragement. in history we find, that some armies already yielding and ready to fly, have been by women restored, through their inflexible importunity and entreaties, presenting their breasts, and showing their impending captivity; an evil to the germans then by far most dreadful when it befalls their women. so that the spirit of such cities as amongst their hostages are enjoined to send their damsels of quality, is always engaged more effectually than that of others. they even believe them endowed with something celestial and the spirit of prophecy. neither do they disdain to consult them, nor neglect the responses which they return. in the reign of the deified vespasian, we have seen _veleda_ for a long time, and by many nations, esteemed and adored as a divinity. in times past they likewise worshipped _aurinia_ and several more, from no complaisance or effort of flattery, nor as deities of their own creating. of all the gods, mercury is he whom they worship most. to him on certain stated days it is lawful to offer even human victims. hercules and mars they appease with beasts usually allowed for sacrifice. some of the suevians make likewise immolations to _isis_. concerning the cause and original of this foreign sacrifice i have found small light; unless the figure of her image formed like a galley, show that such devotion arrived from abroad. for the rest, from the grandeur and majesty of beings celestial, they judge it altogether unsuitable to hold the gods enclosed within walls, or to represent them under any human likeness. they consecrate whole woods and groves, and by the names of the gods they call these recesses; divinities these, which only in contemplation and mental reverence they behold. to the use of lots and auguries, they are addicted beyond all other nations. their method of divining by lots is exceeding simple. from a tree which bears fruit they cut a twig, and divide it into two small pieces. these they distinguish by so many several marks, and throw them at random and without order upon a white garment. then the priest of the community, if for the public the lots are consulted, or the father of a family if about a private concern, after he has solemnly invoked the gods, with eyes lifted up to heaven, takes up every piece thrice, and having done thus forms a judgment according to the marks before made. if the chances have proved forbidding, they are no more consulted upon the same affair during the same day; even when they are inviting, yet, for confirmation, the faith of auguries too is tried. yea, here also is the known practice of divining events from the voices and flight of birds. but to this nation it is peculiar, to learn presages and admonitions divine from horses also. these are nourished by the state in the same sacred woods and grooves, all milk-white and employed in no earthly labour. these yoked in the holy chariot, are accompanied by the priest and the king, or the chief of the community, who both carefully observed his actions and neighing. nor in any sort of augury is more faith and assurance reposed, not by the populace only, but even by the nobles, even by the priests. these account themselves the ministers of the gods, and the horses privy to his will. they have likewise another method of divination, whence to learn the issue of great and mighty wars. from the nation with whom they are at war they contrive, it avails not how, to gain a captive: him they engage in combat with one selected from amongst themselves, each armed after the manner of his country, and according as the victory falls to this or to the other, gather a presage of the whole. affairs of smaller moment the chiefs determine: about matters of higher consequence the whole nation deliberates; yet in such sort, that whatever depends upon the pleasure and decision of the people, is examined and discussed by the chiefs. where no accident or emergency intervenes, they assemble upon stated days, either, when the moon changes, or is full: since they believe such seasons to be the most fortunate for beginning all transactions. neither in reckoning of time do they count, like us, the number of days but that of nights. in this style their ordinances are framed, in this style their diets appointed; and with them the night seems to lead and govern the day. from their extensive liberty this evil and default flows, that they meet not at once, nor as men commanded and afraid to disobey; so that often the second day, nay often the third, is consumed through the slowness of the members in assembling. they sit down as they list, promiscuously, like a crowd, and all armed. it is by the priests that silence is enjoined, and with the power of correction the priests are then invested. then the king or chief is heard, as are others, each according to his precedence in age, or in nobility, or in warlike renown, or in eloquence; and the influence of every speaker proceeds rather from his ability to persuade than from any authority to command. if the proposition displease, they reject it by an inarticulate murmur: if it be pleasing, they brandish their javelins. the most honourable manner of signifying their assent, is to express their applause by the sound of their arms. in the assembly it is allowed to present accusations, and to prosecute capital offences. punishments vary according to the quality of the crime. traitors and deserters they hang upon trees. cowards, and sluggards, and unnatural prostitutes they smother in mud and bogs under an heap of hurdles. such diversity in their executions has this view, that in punishing of glaring iniquities, it behooves likewise to display them to sight; but effeminacy and pollution must be buried and concealed. in lighter transgressions too the penalty is measured by the fault, and the delinquents upon conviction are condemned to pay a certain number of horses or cattle. part of this mulct accrues to the king or to the community, part to him whose wrongs are vindicated, or to his next kindred. in the same assemblies are also chosen their chiefs or rulers, such as administer justice in their villages and boroughs. to each of these are assigned an hundred persons chosen from amongst the populace, to accompany and assist him, men who help him at once with their authority and their counsel. without being armed they transact nothing, whether of public or private concernment. but it is repugnant to their custom for any man to use arms, before the community has attested his capacity to wield them. upon such testimonial, either one of the rulers, or his father, or some kinsman dignify the young man in the midst of the assembly, with a shield and javelin. this amongst them is the _manly robe_, this first degree of honour conferred upon their youth. before this they seem no more than part of a private family, but thenceforward part of the commonweal. the princely dignity they confer even upon striplings, whose race is eminently noble, or whose fathers have done great and signal services to the state. for about the rest, who are more vigorous and long since tried, they crowd to attend; nor is it any shame to be seen amongst the followers of these. nay, there are likewise degrees of followers, higher or lower, just as he whom they follow judges fit. mighty too is the emulation amongst these followers, of each to be first in favour with his prince; mighty also the emulation of the princes, to excel in the number and valour of followers. this is their principal state, this their chief force, to be at all times surrounded with a huge band of chosen young men, for ornament and glory in peace, for security and defence in war. nor is it amongst his own people only, but even from the neighbouring communities, that any of their princes reaps so much renown and a name so great, when he surpasses in the number and magnanimity of his followers. for such are courted by embassies, and distinguished with presents, and by the terror of their fame alone often dissipate wars. in the day of battle, it is scandalous to the prince to be surpassed in feats of bravery, scandalous to his followers to fail in matching the bravery of the prince. but it is infamy during life, and indelible reproach, to return alive from a battle where their prince was slain. to preserve their prince, to defend him, and to ascribe to his glory all their own valorous deeds, is the sum and most sacred part of their oath. the princes fight for victory; for the prince his followers fight. many of the young nobility, when their own community comes to languish in its vigour by long peace and inactivity, betake themselves through impatience in other states which then prove to be in war. for, besides that this people cannot brook repose, besides that by perilous adventures they more quickly blazon their fame, they cannot otherwise than by violence and war support their huge train of retainers. for from the liberality of their prince, they demand and enjoy that _war-horse_ of theirs, with that _victorious javelin_ dyed in the blood of their enemies. in the place of pay, they are supplied with a daily table and repasts; though grossly prepared, yet very profuse. for maintaining such liberality and munificence, a fund is furnished by continual wars and plunder. nor could you so easily persuade them to cultivate the ground, or to await the return of the seasons and produce of the year, as to provoke the foe and to risk wounds and death: since stupid and spiritless they account it, to acquire by their sweat what they can gain by their blood. upon any recess from war, they do not much attend the chase. much more of their time they pass in indolence, resigned to sleep and repasts. all the most brave, all the most warlike, apply to nothing at all; but to their wives, to the ancient men, and to even the most impotent domestic, trust all the care of their house, and of their lands and possessions. they themselves loiter. such is the amazing diversity of their nature, that in the same men is found so much delight in sloth, with so much enmity to tranquillity and repose. the communities are wont, of their own accord and man by man, to bestow upon their princes a certain number of beasts, or a certain portion of grain; a contribution which passes indeed for a mark of reverence and honour, but serves also to supply their necessities. they chiefly rejoice in the gifts which come from the bordering countries, such as are sent not only by particulars but in the name of the state; curious horses, splendid armour, rich harness, with collars of silver and gold. now too they have learnt, what we have taught them, to receive money. that none of the several people in germany live together in cities, is abundantly known; nay, that amongst them none of their dwellings are suffered to be contiguous. they inhabit apart and distinct, just as a fountain, or a field, or a wood happened to invite them to settle. they raise their villages in opposite rows, but not in our manner with the houses joined one to another. every man has a vacant space quite round his own, whether for security against accidents from fire, or that they want the art of building. with them in truth, is unknown even the use of mortar and of tiles. in all their structures they employ materials quite gross and unhewn, void of fashion and comeliness. some parts they besmear with an earth so pure and resplendent, that it resembles painting and colours. they are likewise wont to scoop caves deep in the ground, and over them to lay great heaps of dung. thither they retire for shelter in the winter, and thither convey their grain: for by such close places they mollify the rigorous and excessive cold. besides when at any time their enemy invades them, he can only ravage the open country, but either knows not such recesses as are invisible and subterraneous; or must suffer them to escape him, on this very account that he is uncertain where to find them. for their covering a mantle is what they all wear, fastened with a clasp or, for want of it, with a thorn. as far as this reaches not they are naked, and lie whole days before the fire. the most wealthy are distinguished with a vest, not one large and flowing like those of sarmatians and parthians, but girt close about them and expressing the proportion of every limb. they likewise wear the skins of savage beasts, a dress which those bordering upon the rhine use without any fondness or delicacy, but about which such who live further in the country are more curious, as void of all apparel introduced by commerce. they choose certain wild beasts, and, having flayed them, diversify their hides with many spots, as also with the skins of monsters from the deep, such as are engendered in the distant ocean and in seas unknown. neither does the dress of the women differ from that of the men, save that the women are orderly attired in linen embroidered with purple, and use no sleeves, so that all their arms are bare. the upper part of their breast is withal exposed. yet the laws of matrimony are severely observed there; for in the whole of their manners is aught more praiseworthy than this: for they are almost the only barbarians contented with one wife, excepting a very few amongst them; men of dignity who marry divers wives, from no wantonness or lubricity, but courted for the lustre of their family into many alliances. to the husband, the wife tenders no dowry; but the husband, to the wife. the parents and relations attend and declare their approbation of the presents, not presents adapted to feminine pomp and delicacy, nor such as serve to deck the new married woman; but oxen and horse accoutred, and a shield, with a javelin and sword. by virtue of these gifts, she is espoused. she too on her part brings her husband some arms. this they esteem the highest tie, these the holy mysteries, and matrimonial gods. that the woman may not suppose herself free from the considerations of fortitude and fighting, or exempt from the casualties of war, the very first solemnities of her wedding serve to warn her, that she comes to her husband as a partner in his hazards and fatigues, that she is to suffer alike with him, to adventure alike, during peace or during war. this the oxen joined in the same yoke plainly indicate, this the horse ready equipped, this the present of arms. 'tis thus she must be content to live, thus to resign life. the arms which she then receives she must preserve inviolate, and to her sons restore the same, as presents worthy of them, such as their wives may again receive, and still resign to her grandchildren. they therefore live in a state of chastity well secured; corrupted by no seducing shows and public diversions, by no irritations from banqueting. of learning and of any secret intercourse by letters, they are all equally ignorant, men and women. amongst a people so numerous, adultery is exceeding rare; a crime instantly punished, and the punishment left to be inflicted by the husband. he, having cut off her hair, expells her from his house naked, in presence of her kindred, and pursues her with stripes throughout the village. for, to a woman who has prostituted her person, no pardon is ever granted. however beautiful she may be, however young, however abounding in wealth, a husband she can never find. in truth, nobody turns vices into mirth there, nor is the practice of corrupting and of yielding to corruption, called the custom of the age. better still do those communities, in which none but virgins marry, and where to a single marriage all their views and inclinations are at once confined. thus, as they have but one body and one life, they take but one husband, that beyond him they may have no thought, no further wishes, nor love him only as their husband but as their marriage. to restrain generation and the increase of children, is esteemed an abominable sin, as also to kill infants newly born. and more powerful with them are good manners, than with other people are good laws. in all their houses the children are reared naked and nasty; and thus grow into those limbs, into that bulk, which with marvel we behold. they are all nourished with the milk of their own mothers, and never surrendered to handmaids and nurses. the lord you cannot discern from the slave, by any superior delicacy in rearing. amongst the same cattle they promiscuously live, upon the same ground they without distinction lie, till at a proper age the free-born are parted from the rest, and their bravery recommend them to notice. slow and late do the young men come to the use of women, and thus very long preserve the vigour of youth. neither are the virgins hastened to wed. they must both have the same sprightly youth, the like stature, and marry when equal and able-bodied. thus the robustness of the parents is inherited by the children. children are holden in the same estimation with their mother's brother, as with their father. some hold this tie of blood to be most inviolable and binding, and in receiving of hostages, such pledges are most considered and claimed, as they who at once possess affections the most unalienable, and the most diffuse interest in their family. to every man, however, his own children are heirs and successors: wills they make none: for want of children his next akin inherits; his own brothers, those of his father, or those of his mother. to ancient men, the more they abound in descendants, in relations and affinities, so much the more favour and reverence accrues. from being childless, no advantage nor estimation is derived. all the enmities of your house, whether of your father or of your kindred, you must necessarily adopt; as well as all their friendships. neither are such enmities unappeasable and permanent: since even for so great a crime as homicide, compensation is made by a fixed number of sheep and cattle, and by it the whole family is pacified to content. a temper this, wholesome to the state; because to a free nation, animosities and faction are always more menacing and perilous. in social feasts, and deeds of hospitality, no nation upon earth was ever more liberal and abounding. to refuse admitting under your roof any man whatsoever, is held wicked and inhuman. every man receives every comer, and treats him with repasts as large as his ability can possibly furnish. when the whole stock is consumed, he who has treated so hospitably guides and accompanies his guest to the next house, though neither of them invited. nor avails it, that they were not; they are there received, with the same frankness and humanity. between a stranger and an acquaintance, in dispensing the rules and benefits of hospitality, no difference is made. upon your departure, if you ask anything, it is the custom to grant it; and with the same facility, they ask of you. in gifts they delight, but neither claim merit from what they give, nor own any obligation for what they receive. their manner of entertaining their guests is familiar and kind. the moment they rise from sleep, which they generally prolong till late in the day, they bathe, most frequently in warm water; as in a country where the winter is very long and severe. from bathing, they sit down to meat; every man apart, upon a particular seat, and at a separate table. they then proceed to their affairs, all in arms; as in arms, they no less frequently go to banquet. to continue drinking night and day without intermission, is a reproach to no man. frequent then are their broils, as usual amongst men intoxicated with liquor; and such broils rarely terminate in angry words, but for the most part in maimings and slaughter. moreover in these their feasts, they generally deliberate about reconciling parties at enmity, about forming affinities, choosing of princes, and finally about peace and war. for they judge, that at no season is the soul more open to thoughts that are artless and upright, or more fired with such as are great and bold. this people, of themselves nowise subtile or politic, from the freedom of the place and occasion acquire still more frankness to disclose the most secret motions and purposes of their hearts. when therefore the minds of all have been once laid open and declared, on the day following the several sentiments are revised and canvassed; and to both conjectures of time, due regard is had. they consult, when they know not how to dissemble; they determine, when they cannot mistake. for their drink, they draw a liquor from barley or other grain; and ferment the same so as to make it resemble wine. nay, they who dwell upon the bank of the rhine deal in wine. their food is very simple; wild fruit, fresh venison, or coagulated milk. they banish hunger without formality, without curious dressing and curious fare. in extinguishing thirst, they use not equal temperance. if you will but humour their excess in drinking, and supply them with as much as they covet, it will be no less easy to vanquish them by vices than by arms. of public diversions they have but one sort, and in all their meetings the same is still exhibited. young men, such as make it their pastime, fling themselves naked and dance amongst sharp swords and the deadly points of javelins. from habit they acquire their skill, and from their skill a graceful manner; yet from hence draw no gain or hire: though this adventurous gaiety has its reward, namely, that of pleasing the spectators. what is marvellous, playing at dice is one of their most serious employments; and even sober, they are gamesters: nay, so desperately do they venture upon the chance of winning or losing, that when their whole substance is played away, they stake their liberty and their persons upon one and the last throw. the loser goes calmly into voluntary bondage. however younger he be, however stronger, he tamely suffers himself to be bound and sold by the winner. such is their perseverance in an evil course: they themselves call it honour. slaves of this class, they exchange in commerce, to free themselves too from the shame of such a victory. of their other slaves they make not such use as we do of ours, by distributing amongst them the several offices and employments of the family. each of them has a dwelling of his own, each a household to govern. his lord uses him like a tenant, and obliges him to pay a quantity of grain, or of cattle, or of cloth. thus far only the subserviency of the slave extends. all the other duties in a family, not the slaves, but the wives and children discharge. to inflict stripes upon a slave, or to put him in chains, or to doom him to severe labour, are things rarely seen. to kill them they sometimes are wont, not through correction or government, but in heat and rage, as they would an enemy, save that no vengeance or penalty follows. the freedmen very little surpass the slaves, rarely are of moment in the house; in the community never, excepting only such nations where arbitrary dominion prevails. for there they bear higher sway than the free-born, nay, higher than the nobles. in other countries the inferior condition of freedmen is a proof of public liberty. to the practice of usury and of increasing money by interest, they are strangers; and hence is found a better guard against it, than if it were forbidden. they shift from land to land; and, still appropriating a portion suitable to the number of hands for manuring, anon parcel out the whole amongst particulars according to the condition and quality of each. as the plains are very spacious, the allotments are easily assigned. every year they change, and cultivate a fresh soil; yet still there is ground to spare. for they strive not to bestow labour proportionable to the fertility and compass of their lands, by planting orchards, by enclosing meadows, by watering gardens. from the earth, corn only is extracted. hence they quarter not the year into so many seasons. winter, spring, and summer, they understand; and for each have proper appellations. of the name and blessings of autumn, they are equally ignorant. in performing their funerals, they show no state or vainglory. this only is carefully observed, that with the corpses of their signal men certain woods be burned. upon the funeral pile they accumulate neither apparel nor perfumes. into the fire, are always thrown the arms of the dead, and sometimes his horse. with sods of earth only the sepulchre is raised. the pomp of tedious and elaborate monuments they contemn, as things grievous to the deceased. tears and wailings they soon dismiss: their affliction and woe they long retain. in women, it is reckoned becoming to bewail their loss; in men, to remember it. this is what in general we have learned, in the original and customs of the whole people of germany. i shall now deduce the institutions and usages of the several people, as far as they vary one from another; as also an account of what nations from thence removed, to settle themselves in gaul. that the gauls were in times past more puissant and formidable, is related by the prince of authors, the deified julius [caesar]; and hence it is probable that they too have passed into germany. for what a small obstacle must be a river, to restrain any nation, as each grew more potent, from seizing or changing habitations; when as yet all habitations were common, and not parted or appropriated by the founding and terror of monarchies? the region therefore between the hercynian forest and the rivers moenus and rhine, was occupied by the helvetians; as was that beyond it by the boians, both nations of gaul. there still remains a place called _boiemum_, which denotes the primitive name and antiquity of the country, although the inhabitants have been changed. but whether the araviscans are derived from the osians, a nation of germans passing into pannonia, or the osians from the araviscans removing from thence into germany, is a matter undecided; since they both still use the language, the same customs and the same laws. for, as of old they lived alike poor and alike free, equal proved the evils and advantages on each side the river, and common to both people. the treverians and nervians aspire passionately to the reputation of being descended from the germans; since by the glory of this original, they would escape all imputation of resembling the gauls in person and effeminacy. such as dwell upon the bank of the rhine, the vangiones, the tribocians, and the nemetes, are without doubt all germans. the ubians are ashamed of their original; though they have a particular honour to boast, that of having merited an establishment as a roman colony, and still delight to be called _agrippinensians_, after the name of their founder: they indeed formerly came from beyond the rhine, and, for the many proofs of their fidelity, were settled upon the very bank of the river; not to be there confined or guarded themselves, but to guard and defend that boundary against the rest of the germans. of all these nations, the batavians are the most signal in bravery. they inhabit not much territory upon the rhine, but possess an island in it. they were formerly part of the cattans, and by means of feuds at home removed to these dwellings; whence they might become a portion of the roman empire. with them this honour still remains, as also the memorials of their ancient association with us: for they are not under the contempt of paying tribute, nor subject to be squeezed by the farmers of the revenue. free from all impositions and payments, and only set apart for the purposes of fighting, they are reserved wholly for the wars, in the same manner as a magazine of weapons and armour. under the same degree of homage are the nation of the mattiacians. for such is the might and greatness of the roman people, as to have carried the awe and esteem of their empire beyond the rhine and the ancient boundaries. thus the mattiacians, living upon the opposite banks, enjoy a settlement and limits of their own; yet in spirit and inclination are attached to us: in other things resembling the batavians, save that as they still breathe their original air, still possess their primitive soil, they are thence inspired with superior vigour and keenness. amongst the people of germany i would not reckon those who occupy the lands which are under decimation, though they be such as dwell beyond the rhine and the danube. by several worthless and vagabond gauls, and such as poverty rendered daring, that region was seized as one belonging to no certain possessor: afterwards it became a skirt of the empire and part of a province, upon the enlargement of our bounds and the extending of our garrisons and frontier. beyond these are the cattans, whose territories begin at the hercynian forest, and consist not of such wide and marshy plains, as those of the other communities contained within the vast compass of germany; but produce ranges of hills, such as run lofty and contiguous for a long tract, then by degrees sink and decay. moreover the hercynian forest attends for a while its native cattans, then suddenly forsakes them. this people are distinguished with bodies more hardy and robust, compact limbs, stern countenances, and greater vigour of spirit. for germans, they are men of much sense and address. they dignify chosen men, listen to such as are set over them, know how to preserve their post, to discern occasions, to rebate their own ardour and impatience; how to employ the day, how to entrench themselves by night. they account fortune amongst things slippery and uncertain, but bravery amongst such as are never-failing and secure; and, what is exceeding rare nor ever to be learnt but by a wholesome course of discipline, in the conduct of the general they repose more assurance than in the strength of the army. their whole forces consist of foot, who besides their arms carry likewise instruments of iron and their provisions. you may see other germans proceed equipped to battle, but the cattans so as to conduct a war. they rarely venture upon excursions or casual encounters. it is in truth peculiar to cavalry, suddenly to conquer, or suddenly to fly. such haste and velocity rather resembles fear. patience and deliberation are more akin to intrepidity. moreover a custom, practised indeed in other nations of germany, yet very rarely and confined only to particulars more daring than the rest, prevails amongst the cattans by universal consent. as soon as they arrive to maturity of years, they let their hair and beards continue to grow, nor till they have slain an enemy do they ever lay aside this form of countenance by vow sacred to valour. over the blood and spoil of a foe they make bare their face. they allege, that they have now acquitted themselves of the debt and duty contracted by their birth, and rendered themselves worthy of their country, worthy of their parents. upon the spiritless, cowardly and unwarlike, such deformity of visage still remains. all the most brave likewise wear an iron ring (a mark of great dishonour this in that nation) and retain it as a chain; till by killing an enemy they become released. many of the cattans delight always to bear this terrible aspect; and, when grown white through age, become awful and conspicuous by such marks, both to the enemy and their own countrymen. by them in all engagements the first assault is made: of them the front of the battle is always composed, as men who in their looks are singular and tremendous. for even during peace they abate nothing in the grimness and horror of their countenance. they have no house to inhabit, no land to cultivate, nor any domestic charge or care. with whomsoever they come to sojourn, by him they are maintained; always very prodigal of the substance of others, always despising what is their own, till the feebleness of old age overtakes them, and renders them unequal to the efforts of such rigid bravery. next to the cattans, dwell the usipians and tencterians; upon the rhine now running in a channel uniform and certain, such as suffices for a boundary. the tencterians, besides their wonted glory in war, surpass in the service and discipline of their cavalry. nor do the cattans derive higher applause from their foot, than the tencterians from their horse. such was the order established by their forefathers, and what their posterity still pursue. from riding and exercising of horse, their children borrow their pastimes; in this exercise the young men find matter for emulating one another, and in this the old men take pleasure to persevere. horses are by the father bequeathed as part of his household and family, horses are conveyed amongst the rights of succession, and as such the son receives them; but not the eldest son, like other effects, by priority of birth, but he who continues to be signal in boldness and superior in war. contiguous to the tencterians formerly dwelt the bructerians, in whose room it is said the chamavians and angrivarians are now settled; they who expulsed and almost extirpated the bructerians, with the concurrence of the neighbouring nations: whether in detestation of their arrogance, or allured by the love of spoil, or through the special favour of the gods towards us romans. they in truth even vouchsafed to gratify us with the sight of the battle. in it there fell above sixty thousand souls, without a blow struck by the romans; but, what is a circumstance still more glorious, fell to furnish them with a spectacle of joy and recreation. may the gods continue and perpetuate amongst these nations, if not any love for us, yet by all means this their animosity and hate towards each other: since whilst the destiny of the empire thus urges it, fortune cannot more signally befriend us, than in sowing strife amongst our foes. the angrivarians and chamavians are enclosed behind, by the dulgibinians and chasuarians; and by other nations not so much noted: before the frisians face them. the country of frisia is divided into two; called the greater and lesser, according to the measure of their strength. both nations stretch along the rhine, quite to the ocean; and surround vast lakes such as once have born roman fleets. we have moreover even ventured out from thence into the ocean, and upon its coasts common fame has reported the pillars of hercules to be still standing: whether it be that hercules ever visited these parts, or that to his renowned name we are wont to ascribe whatever is grand and glorious everywhere. neither did drusus who made the attempt, want boldness to pursue it: but the roughness of the ocean withstood him, nor would suffer discoveries to be made about itself, no more than about hercules. thenceforward the enterprise was dropped: nay, more pious and reverential it seemed, to believe the marvellous feats of the gods than to know and to prove them. hitherto, i have been describing germany towards the west. to the northward, it winds away with an immense compass. and first of all occurs the nation of the chaucians; who though they begin immediately at the confines of the frisians, and occupy part of the shore, extend so far as to border upon all the several people whom i have already recounted; till at last, by a circuit, they reach quite to the boundaries of the cattans. a region so vast, the chaucians do not only possess but fill; a people of all the germans the most noble, such as would rather maintain their grandeur by justice than violence. they live in repose, retired from broils abroad, void of avidity to possess more, free from a spirit of domineering over others. they provoke no wars, they ravage no countries, they pursue no plunder. of their bravery and power, the chief evidence arises from hence, that, without wronging or oppressing others, they are come to be superior to all. yet they are all ready to arm, and if an exigency require, armies are presently raised, powerful and abounding as they are in men and horses; and even when they are quiet and their weapons laid aside, their credit and name continue equally high. along the side of the chaucians and cattans dwell the cheruscans; a people who finding no enemy to rouse them, were enfeebled by a peace over lasting and uniform, but such as they failed not to nourish. a conduct which proved more pleasing than secure; since treacherous is that repose which you enjoy amongst neighbours that are very powerful and very fond of rule and mastership. when recourse is once had to the sword, modesty and fair dealing will be vainly pleaded by the weaker; names these which are always assumed by the stronger. thus the cheruscans, they who formerly bore the character of _good and upright_, are now called _cowards and fools_; and the fortune of the cattans who subdued them, grew immediately to be wisdom. in the ruin of the cheruscans, the fosians, also their neighbours, were involved; and in their calamities bore an equal share, though in their prosperity they had been weaker and less considered. in the same winding tract of germany live the cimbrians, close to the ocean; a community now very small, but great in fame. nay, of their ancient renown, many and extensive are the traces and monuments still remaining; even their entrenchments upon either shore, so vast in compass that from thence you may even now measure the greatness and numerous bands of that people, and assent to the account of an army so mighty. it was on the six hundred and fortieth year of rome, when of the arms of the cimbrians the first mention was made, during the consulship of caecilius metellus and papirius carbo. if from that time we count to the second consulship of the emperor trajan, the interval comprehends near two hundred and ten years; so long have we been conquering germany. in a course of time, so vast between these two periods, many have been the blows and disasters suffered on each side. in truth neither from the samnites, nor from the carthaginians, nor from both spains, nor from all the nations of gaul, have we received more frequent checks and alarms; nor even from the parthians: for, more vigorous and invincible is the liberty of the germans than the monarchy of the arsacides. indeed, what has the power of the east to allege to our dishonour; but the fall of crassus, that power which was itself overthrown and abased by ventidius, with the loss of the great king pacorus bereft of his life? but by the germans the roman people have been bereft of five armies, all commanded by consuls; by the germans, the commanders of these armies, carbo, and cassius, and scaurus aurelius, and servilius caepio, as also marcus manlius, were all routed or taken: by the germans even the emperor augustus was bereft of varus and three legions. nor without difficulty and loss of men were they defeated by caius marius in italy, or by the deified julius in gaul, or by drusus or tiberius or germanicus in their native territories. soon after, the mighty menaces of caligula against them ended in mockery and derision. thenceforward they continued quiet, till taking advantage of our domestic division and civil wars, they stormed and seized the winter entrenchments of the legions, and aimed at the dominion of gaul; from whence they were once more expulsed, and in the times preceding the present, we gained a triumph over them rather than a victory. i must now proceed to speak of the suevians, who are not, like the cattans and tencterians, comprehended in a single people; but divided into several nations all bearing distinct names, though in general they are entitled suevians, and occupy the larger share of germany. this people are remarkable for a peculiar custom, that of twisting their hair and binding it up in a knot. it is thus the suevians are distinguished from the other germans, thus the free suevians from their slaves. in other nations, whether from alliance of blood with the suevians, or, as is usual from imitation, this practice is also found, yet rarely, and never exceeds the years of youth. the suevians, even when their hair is white through age, continue to raise it backwards in a manner stern and staring; and often tie it upon the top of their head only. that of their princes, is more accurately disposed, and so far they study to appear agreeable and comely; but without any culpable intention. for by it, they mean not to make love or to incite it: they thus dress when proceeding to war, and deck their heads so as to add to their height and terror in the eyes of the enemy. of all the suevians, the semnones recount themselves to be the most ancient and most noble. the belief of their antiquity is confirmed by religious mysteries. at a stated time of the year, all the several people descended from the same stock, assemble by their deputies in a wood; consecrated by the idolatries of their forefathers, and by superstitious awe in times of old. there by publicly sacrificing a man, they begin the horrible solemnity of their barbarous worship. to this grove another sort of reverence is also paid. no one enters it otherwise than bound with ligatures, thence professing his subordination and meanness, and power of the deity there. if he fall down, he is not permitted to rise or be raised, but grovels along upon the ground. and of all their superstition, this is the drift and tendency; that from this place the nation drew their original, that here god, the supreme governor of the world, resides, and that all things else whatsoever are subject to him and bound to obey him. the potent condition of the semnones has increased their influence and authority, as they inhabit an hundred towns; and from the largeness of their community it comes, that they hold themselves for the head of the suevians. what on the contrary ennobles the langobards is the smallness of their number, for that they, who are surrounded with very many and very powerful nations, derive their security from no obsequiousness or plying; but from the dint of battle and adventurous deeds. there follow in order the reudignians, and aviones, and angles, and varinians, and eudoses, and suardones and nuithones; all defended by rivers or forests. nor in one of these nations does aught remarkable occur, only that they universally join in the worship of _herthum_; that is to say, the mother earth. her they believe to interpose in the affairs of men, and to visit countries. in an island of the ocean stands the wood _castum_: in it is a chariot dedicated to the goddess covered over with a curtain, and permitted to be touched by none but the priest. whenever the goddess enters this her holy vehicle, he perceives her; and with profound veneration attends the motion of the chariot, which is always drawn by yoked cows. then it is that days of rejoicing always ensue, and in all places whatsoever which she descends to honour with a visit and her company, feasts and recreation abound. they go not to war; they touch no arms; fast laid up is every hostile weapon; peace and repose are then only known, then only beloved, till to the temple the same priest reconducts the goddess when well tired with the conversation of mortal beings. anon the chariot is washed and purified in a secret lake, as also the curtain; nay, the deity herself too, if you choose to believe it. in this office it is slaves who minister, and they are forthwith doomed to be swallowed up in the same lake. hence all men are possessed with mysterious terror; as well as with a holy ignorance what that must be, which none see but such as are immediately to perish. moreover this quarter of the suevians stretches to the middle of germany. the community next adjoining, is that of the hermondurians; (that i may now follow the course of the danube, as a little before i did that of the rhine) a people this, faithful to the romans. so that to them alone of all the germans, commerce is permitted; not barely upon the bank of the rhine, but more extensively, and even in that glorious colony in the province of rhoetia. they travel everywhere at their own discretion and without a guard; and when to other nations, we show no more than our arms and encampments, to this people we throw open our houses and dwellings, as to men who have no longing to possess them. in the territories of the hermondurians rises the elbe, a river very famous and formerly well known to us; at present we only hear it named. close by the hermondurians reside the nariscans, and next to them the marcomanians and quadians. amongst these the marcomanians are most signal in force and renown; nay, their habitation itself they acquired by their bravery, as from thence they formerly expulsed the boians. nor do the nariscans or quadians degenerate in spirit. now this is as it were the frontier of germany, as far as germany is washed by the danube. to the times within our memory the marcomanians and quadians were governed by kings, who were natives of their own, descended from the noble line of maroboduus and tudrus. at present they are even subject to such as are foreigners. but the whole strength and sway of their king is derived from the authority of the romans. from our arms, they rarely receive any aid; from our money very frequently. nor less powerful are the several people beyond them; namely, the marsignians, the gothinians, the osians and the burians, who altogether enclose the marcomanians and quadians behind. of those, the marsignians and the burians in speech and dress resemble the suevians. from the gallic language spoken by the gothinians, and from that of pannonia by the osians, it is manifest that neither of these people are germans; as it is also from their bearing to pay tribute. upon them as upon aliens their tribute is imposed, partly by the sarmatians, partly by the quadians. the gothinians, to heighten their disgrace, are forced to labour in the iron mines. by all these several nations but little level country is possessed: they are seated amongst forests, and upon the ridges and declivities of mountains. for, suevia is parted by a continual ridge of mountains; beyond which, live many distinct nations. of these the lygians are most numerous and extensive, and spread into several communities. it will suffice to mention the most puissant; even the arians, helvicones, manimians; elysians and naharvalians. amongst the naharvalians is shown a grove, sacred to devotion extremely ancient. over it a priest presides apparelled like a woman; but according to the explication of the romans, 'tis _castor_ and _pollux_ who are here worshipped. this divinity is named _alcis_. there are indeed no images here, no traces of an extraneous superstition; yet their devotion is addressed to young men and to brothers. now the arians, besides their forces, in which they surpass the several nations just recounted, are in their persons stern and truculent; and even humour and improve their natural grimness and ferocity by art and time. they wear black shields, their bodies are painted black, they choose dark nights for engaging in battle; and by the very awe and ghastly hue of their army, strike the enemy with dread, as none can bear this their aspect so surprising and as it were quite infernal. for, in all battles the eyes are vanquished first. beyond the lygians dwell the gothones, under the rule of a king; and thence held in subjection somewhat stricter than the other german nations, yet not so strict as to extinguish all their liberty. immediately adjoining are the rugians and lemovians upon the coast of the ocean, and of these several nations the characteristics are a round shield, a short sword and kingly government. next occur the communities of the suiones, situated in the ocean itself; and besides their strength in men and arms, very powerful at sea. the form of their vessels varies thus far from ours, that they have prows at each end, so as to be always ready to row to shore without turning nor are they moved by sails, nor on their sides have benches of oars placed, but the rowers ply here and there in all parts of the ship alike, as in some rivers is done, and change their oars from place to place, just as they shift their course hither or thither. to wealth also, amongst them, great veneration is paid, and thence a single ruler governs them, without all restriction of power, and exacting unlimited obedience. neither here, as amongst other nations of germany, are arms used indifferently by all, but shut up and warded under the care of a particular keeper, who in truth too is always a slave: since from all sudden invasions and attacks from their foes, the ocean protects them: besides that armed bands, when they are not employed, grow easily debauched and tumultuous. the truth is, it suits not the interest of an arbitrary prince, to trust the care and power of arms either with a nobleman or with a freeman, or indeed with any man above the condition of a slave. beyond the suiones is another sea, one very heavy and almost void of agitation; and by it the whole globe is thought to be bounded and environed, for that the reflection of the sun, after his setting, continues till his rising, so bright as to darken the stars. to this, popular opinion has added, that the tumult also of his emerging from the sea is heard, that forms divine are then seen, as likewise the rays about his head. only thus far extend the limits of nature, if what fame says be true. upon the right of the suevian sea the aestyan nations reside, who use the same customs and attire with the suevians; their language more resembles that of britain. they worship the mother of the gods. as the characteristic of their national superstition, they wear the images of wild boars. this alone serves them for arms, this is the safeguard of all, and by this every worshipper of the goddess is secured even amidst his foes. rare amongst them is the use of weapons of iron, but frequent that of clubs. in producing of grain and the other fruits of the earth, they labour with more assiduity and patience than is suitable to the usual laziness of germans. nay, they even search the deep, and of all the rest are the only people who gather _amber_. they call it _glasing_, and find it amongst the shallows and upon the very shore. but, according to the ordinary incuriosity and ignorance of barbarians, they have neither learnt, nor do they inquire, what is its nature, or from what cause it is produced. in truth it lay long neglected amongst the other gross discharges of the sea; till from our luxury, it gained a name and value. to themselves it is of no use: they gather it rough, they expose it in pieces coarse and unpolished, and for it receive a price with wonder. you would however conceive it to be a liquor issuing from trees, for that in the transparent substance are often seen birds and other animals, such as at first stuck in the soft gum, and by it, as it hardened, became quite enclosed. i am apt to believe that, as in the recesses of the east are found woods and groves dropping frankincense and balms, so in the isles and continent of the west such gums are extracted by the force and proximity of the sun; at first liquid and flowing into the next sea, then thrown by the winds and waves upon the opposite shore. if you try the nature of amber by the application of fire, it kindles like a torch; and feeds a thick and unctuous flame very high scented, and presently becomes glutinous like pitch or rosin. upon the suiones, border the people sitones; and, agreeing with them in all other things, differ from them in one, that here the sovereignty is exercised by a woman. so notoriously do they degenerate not only from a state of liberty, but even below a state of bondage. here end the territories of the suevians. whether amongst the sarmatians or the germans i ought to account the peucinians, the venedians, and the fennians, is what i cannot determine; though the peucinians, whom some call basstarnians, speak the same language with the germans, use the same attire, build like them, and live like them, in that dirtiness and sloth so common to all. somewhat they are corrupted into the fashion of the sarmatians by the inter-marriages of the principal sort with that nation: from whence the venedians have derived very many of their customs and a great resemblance. for they are continually traversing and infesting with robberies all the forests and mountains lying between the peucinians and fennians. yet they are rather reckoned amongst the germans, for that they have fixed houses, and carry shields, and prefer travelling on foot, and excel in swiftness. usages these, all widely differing from those of the sarmatians, who live on horseback and dwell in waggons. in wonderful savageness live the nation of the fennians, and in beastly poverty, destitute of arms, of horses, and of homes; their food, the common herbs; their apparel, skins; their bed, the earth; their only hope in their arrows, which for want of iron they point with bones. their common support they have from the chase, women as well as men; for with these the former wander up and down, and crave a portion of the prey. nor other shelter have they even for their babes, against the violence of tempests and ravening beasts, than to cover them with the branches of trees twisted together; this a reception for the old men, and hither resort the young. such a condition they judge more happy than the painful occupation of cultivating the ground, than the labour of rearing houses, than the agitations of hope and fear attending the defence of their own property or the seizing that of others. secure against the designs of men, secure against the malignity of the gods, they have accomplished a thing of infinite difficulty; that to them nothing remains even to be wished. what further accounts we have are fabulous: as that the hellusians and oxiones have the countenances and aspect of men, with the bodies and limbs of savage beasts. this, as a thing about which i have no certain information, i shall leave untouched. the germany and the agricola of tacitus. the oxford translation revised, with notes. by tacitus with an introduction by edward brooks, jr. introduction. very little is known concerning the life of tacitus, the historian, except that which he tells us in his own writings and those incidents which are related of him by his contemporary, pliny. his full name was caius cornelius tacitus. the date of his birth can only be arrived at by conjecture, and then only approximately. the younger pliny speaks of him as _prope modum aequales_, about the same age. pliny was born in . tacitus, however, occupied the office of quaestor under vespasian in a.d., at which time he must, therefore, have been at least twenty-five years of age. this would fix the date of his birth not later than a.d. it is probable, therefore, that tacitus was pliny's senior by several years. his parentage is also a matter of pure conjecture. the name cornelius was a common one among the romans, so that from it we can draw no inference. the fact that at an early age he occupied a prominent public office indicates that he was born of good family, and it is not impossible that his father was a certain cornelius tacitus, a roman knight, who was procurator in belgic gaul, and whom the elder pliny speaks of in his "natural history." of the early life of tacitus and the training which he underwent preparatory to those literary efforts which afterwards rendered him a conspicuous figure among roman literateurs we know absolutely nothing. of the events of his life which transpired after he attained man's estate we know but little beyond that which he himself has recorded in his writings. he occupied a position of some eminence as a pleader at the roman bar, and in a.d. married the daughter of julius agricola, a humane and honorable citizen, who was at that time consul and was subsequently appointed governor of britain. it is quite possible that this very advantageous alliance hastened his promotion to the office of quaestor under vespasian. under domitian, in , tacitus was appointed one of fifteen commissioners to preside at the celebration of the secular games. in the same year he held the office of praetor, and was a member of one of the most select of the old priestly colleges, in which a pre-requisite of membership was that a man should be born of a good family. the following year he appears to have left rome, and it is possible that he visited germany and there obtained his knowledge and information respecting the manners and customs of its people which he makes the subject of his work known as the "germany." he did not return to rome until , after an absence of four years, during which time his father-in-law died. some time between the years and he was elected to the senate, and during this time witnessed the judicial murders of many of rome's best citizens which were perpetrated under the reign of nero. being himself a senator, he felt that he was not entirely guiltless of the crimes which were committed, and in his "agricola" we find him giving expression to this feeling in the following words: "our own hands dragged helvidius to prison; ourselves were tortured with the spectacle of mauricus and rusticus, and sprinkled with the innocent blood of senecio." in he was elected to the consulship as successor to virginius rufus, who died during his term of office and at whose funeral tacitus delivered an oration in such a manner to cause pliny to say, "the good fortune of virginius was crowned by having the most eloquent of panegyrists." in tacitus was appointed by the senate, together with pliny, to conduct the prosecution against a great political offender, marius priscus, who, as proconsul of africa, had corruptly mismanaged the affairs of his province. we have his associate's testimony that tacitus made a most eloquent and dignified reply to the arguments which were urged on the part of the defence. the prosecution was successful, and both pliny and tacitus were awarded a vote of thanks by the senate for their eminent and effectual efforts in the management of the case. the exact date of tacitus's death is not known, but in his "annals" he seems to hint at the successful extension of the emperor trajan's eastern campaigns during the years to , so that it is probable that he lived until the year . tacitus had a widespread reputation during his lifetime. on one occasion it is related of him that as he sat in the circus at the celebration of some games, a roman knight asked him whether he was from italy or the provinces. tacitus answered, "you know me from your reading," to which the knight quickly replied, "are you then tacitus or pliny?" it is also worthy of notice that the emperor marcus claudius tacitus, who reigned during the third century, claimed to be descended from the historian, and directed that ten copies of his works should be published every year and placed in the public libraries. the list of the extant works of tacitus is as follows: the "germany;" the "life of agricola;" the "dialogue on orators;" the "histories," and the "annals." the following pages contain translations of the first two of these works. the "germany," the full title of which is "concerning the situation, manners and inhabitants of germany," contains little of value from a historical standpoint. it describes with vividness the fierce and independent spirit of the german nations, with many suggestions as to the dangers in which the empire stood of these people. the "agricola" is a biographical sketch of the writer's father-in-law, who, as has been said, was a distinguished man and governor of britain. it is one of the author's earliest works and was probably written shortly after the death of domitian, in . this work, short as it is, has always been considered an admirable specimen of biography on account of its grace and dignity of expression. whatever else it may be, it is a graceful and affectionate tribute to an upright and excellent man. the "dialogue on orators" treats of the decay of eloquence under the empire. it is in the form of a dialogue, and represents two eminent members of the roman bar discussing the change for the worse that had taken place in the early education of the roman youth. the "histories" relate the events which transpired in rome, beginning with the ascession of galba, in , and ending with the reign of domitian, in . only four books and a fragment of a fifth have been preserved to us. these books contain an account of the brief reigns of galba, otho and vitellius. the portion of the fifth book which has been preserved contains an interesting, though rather biased, account of the character, customs and religion of the jewish nation viewed from the standpoint of a cultivated citizen of rome. the "annals" contain the history of the empire from the death of augustus, in , to the death of nero, in , and originally consisted of sixteen books. of these, only nine have come down to us in a state of entire preservation, and of the other seven we have but fragments of three. out of a period of fifty-four years we have the history of about forty. the style of tacitus is, perhaps, noted principally for its conciseness. tacitean brevity is proverbial, and many of his sentences are so brief, and leave so much for the student to read between the lines, that in order to be understood and appreciated the author must be read over and over again, lest the reader miss the point of some of his most excellent thoughts. such an author presents grave, if not insuperable, difficulties to the translator, but notwithstanding this fact, the following pages cannot but impress the reader with the genius of tacitus. a treatise on the situation, manners and inhabitants of germany. [ ] . germany [ ] is separated from gaul, rhaetia, [ ] and pannonia, [ ] by the rivers rhine and danube; from sarmatia and dacia, by mountains [ ] and mutual dread. the rest is surrounded by an ocean, embracing broad promontories [ ] and vast insular tracts, [ ] in which our military expeditions have lately discovered various nations and kingdoms. the rhine, issuing from the inaccessible and precipitous summit of the rhaetic alps, [ ] bends gently to the west, and falls into the northern ocean. the danube, poured from the easy and gently raised ridge of mount abnoba, [ ] visits several nations in its course, till at length it bursts out [ ] by six channels [ ] into the pontic sea; a seventh is lost in marshes. . the people of germany appear to me indigenous, [ ] and free from intermixture with foreigners, either as settlers or casual visitants. for the emigrants of former ages performed their expeditions not by land, but by water; [ ] and that immense, and, if i may so call it, hostile ocean, is rarely navigated by ships from our world. [ ] then, besides the danger of a boisterous and unknown sea, who would relinquish asia, africa, or italy, for germany, a land rude in its surface, rigorous in its climate, cheerless to every beholder and cultivator, except a native? in their ancient songs, [ ] which are their only records or annals, they celebrate the god tuisto, [ ] sprung from the earth, and his son mannus, as the fathers and founders of their race. to mannus they ascribe three sons, from whose names [ ] the people bordering on the ocean are called ingaevones; those inhabiting the central parts, herminones; the rest, istaevones. some, [ ] however, assuming the licence of antiquity, affirm that there were more descendants of the god, from whom more appellations were derived; as those of the marsi, [ ] gambrivii, [ ] suevi, [ ] and vandali; [ ] and that these are the genuine and original names. [ ] that of germany, on the other hand, they assert to be a modern addition; [ ] for that the people who first crossed the rhine, and expelled the gauls, and are now called tungri, were then named germans; which appellation of a particular tribe, not of a whole people, gradually prevailed; so that the title of germans, first assumed by the victors in order to excite terror, was afterwards adopted by the nation in general. [ ] they have likewise the tradition of a hercules [ ] of their country, whose praises they sing before those of all other heroes as they advance to battle. . a peculiar kind of verses is also current among them, by the recital of which, termed "barding," [ ] they stimulate their courage; while the sound itself serves as an augury of the event of the impending combat. for, according to the nature of the cry proceeding from the line, terror is inspired or felt: nor does it seem so much an articulate song, as the wild chorus of valor. a harsh, piercing note, and a broken roar, are the favorite tones; which they render more full and sonorous by applying their mouths to their shields. [ ] some conjecture that ulysses, in the course of his long and fabulous wanderings, was driven into this ocean, and landed in germany; and that asciburgium, [ ] a place situated on the rhine, and at this day inhabited, was founded by him, and named _askipurgion_. they pretend that an altar was formerly discovered here, consecrated to ulysses, with the name of his father laertes subjoined; and that certain monuments and tombs, inscribed with greek characters, [ ] are still extant upon the confines of germany and rhaetia. these allegations i shall neither attempt to confirm nor to refute: let every one believe concerning them as he is disposed. . i concur in opinion with those who deem the germans never to have intermarried with other nations; but to be a race, pure, unmixed, and stamped with a distinct character. hence a family likeness pervades the whole, though their numbers are so great: eyes stern and blue; ruddy hair; large bodies, [ ] powerful in sudden exertions, but impatient of toil and labor, least of all capable of sustaining thirst and heat. cold and hunger they are accustomed by their climate and soil to endure. . the land, though varied to a considerable extent in its aspect, is yet universally shagged with forests, or deformed by marshes: moister on the side of gaul, more bleak on the side of norieum and pannonia. [ ] it is productive of grain, but unkindly to fruit-trees. [ ] it abounds in flocks and herds, but in general of a small breed. even the beeve kind are destitute of their usual stateliness and dignity of head: [ ] they are, however, numerous, and form the most esteemed, and, indeed, the only species of wealth. silver and gold the gods, i know not whether in their favor or anger, have denied to this country. [ ] not that i would assert that no veins of these metals are generated in germany; for who has made the search? the possession of them is not coveted by these people as it is by us. vessels of silver are indeed to be seen among them, which have been presented to their ambassadors and chiefs; but they are held in no higher estimation than earthenware. the borderers, however, set a value on gold and silver for the purpose of commerce, and have learned to distinguish several kinds of our coin, some of which they prefer to others: the remoter inhabitants continue the more simple and ancient usage of bartering commodities. the money preferred by the germans is the old and well-known species, such as the _serrati_ and _bigati_. [ ] they are also better pleased with silver than gold; [ ] not on account of any fondness for that metal, but because the smaller money is more convenient in their common and petty merchandise. . even iron is not plentiful [ ] among them; as may be inferred from the nature of their weapons. swords or broad lances are seldom used; but they generally carry a spear, (called in their language _framea_, [ ]) which has an iron blade, short and narrow, but so sharp and manageable, that, as occasion requires, they employ it either in close or distant fighting. [ ] this spear and a shield are all the armor of the cavalry. the foot have, besides, missile weapons, several to each man, which they hurl to an immense distance. [ ] they are either naked, [ ] or lightly covered with a small mantle; and have no pride in equipage: their shields only are ornamented with the choicest colors. [ ] few are provided with a coat of mail; [ ] and scarcely here and there one with a casque or helmet. [ ] their horses are neither remarkable for beauty nor swiftness, nor are they taught the various evolutions practised with us. the cavalry either bear down straight forwards, or wheel once to the right, in so compact a body that none is left behind the rest. their principal strength, on the whole, consists in their infantry: hence in an engagement these are intermixed with the cavalry; [ ] so well accordant with the nature of equestrian combats is the agility of those foot soldiers, whom they select from the whole body of their youth, and place in the front of the line. their number, too, is determined; a hundred from each canton: [ ] and they are distinguished at home by a name expressive of this circumstance; so that what at first was only an appellation of number, becomes thenceforth a title of honor. their line of battle is disposed in wedges. [ ] to give ground, provided they rally again, is considered rather as a prudent strategem, than cowardice. they carry off their slain even while the battle remains undecided. the greatest disgrace that can befall them is to have abandoned their shields. [ ] a person branded with this ignominy is not permitted to join in their religious rites, or enter their assemblies; so that many, after escaping from battle, have put an end to their infamy by the halter. . in the election of kings they have regard to birth; in that of generals, [ ] to valor. their kings have not an absolute or unlimited power; [ ] and their generals command less through the force of authority, than of example. if they are daring, adventurous, and conspicuous in action, they procure obedience from the admiration they inspire. none, however, but the priests [ ] are permitted to judge offenders, to inflict bonds or stripes; so that chastisement appears not as an act of military discipline, but as the instigation of the god whom they suppose present with warriors. they also carry with them to battle certain images and standards taken from the sacred groves. [ ] it is a principal incentive to their courage, that their squadrons and battalions are not formed by men fortuitously collected, but by the assemblage of families and clans. their pledges also are near at hand; they have within hearing the yells of their women, and the cries of their children. these, too, are the most revered witnesses of each man's conduct, these his most liberal applauders. to their mothers and their wives they bring their wounds for relief, nor do these dread to count or to search out the gashes. the women also administer food and encouragement to those who are fighting. . tradition relates, that armies beginning to give way have been rallied by the females, through the earnestness of their supplications, the interposition of their bodies, [ ] and the pictures they have drawn of impending slavery, [ ] a calamity which these people bear with more impatience for their women than themselves; so that those states who have been obliged to give among their hostages the daughters of noble families, are the most effectually bound to fidelity. [ ] they even suppose somewhat of sanctity and prescience to be inherent in the female sex; and therefore neither despise their counsels, [ ] nor disregard their responses. [ ] we have beheld, in the reign of vespasian, veleda, [ ] long reverenced by many as a deity. aurima, moreover, and several others, [ ] were formerly held in equal veneration, but not with a servile flattery, nor as though they made them goddesses. [ ] . of the gods, mercury [ ] is the principal object of their adoration; whom, on certain days, [ ] they think it lawful to propitiate even with human victims. to hercules and mars [ ] they offer the animals usually allotted for sacrifice. [ ] some of the suevi also perform sacred rites to isis. what was the cause and origin of this foreign worship, i have not been able to discover; further than that her being represented with the symbol of a galley, seems to indicate an imported religion. [ ] they conceive it unworthy the grandeur of celestial beings to confine their deities within walls, or to represent them under a human similitude: [ ] woods and groves are their temples; and they affix names of divinity to that secret power, which they behold with the eye of adoration alone. . no people are more addicted to divination by omens and lots. the latter is performed in the following simple manner. they cut a twig [ ] from a fruit-tree, and divide it into small pieces, which, distinguished by certain marks, are thrown promiscuously upon a white garment. then, the priest of the canton, if the occasion be public; if private, the master of the family; after an invocation of the gods, with his eyes lifted up to heaven, thrice takes out each piece, and, as they come up, interprets their signification according to the marks fixed upon them. if the result prove unfavorable, there is no more consultation on the same affair that day; if propitious, a confirmation by omens is still required. in common with other nations, the germans are acquainted with the practice of auguring from the notes and flight of birds; but it is peculiar to them to derive admonitions and presages from horses also. [ ] certain of these animals, milk-white, and untouched by earthly labor, are pastured at the public expense in the sacred woods and groves. these, yoked to a consecrated chariot, are accompanied by the priest, and king, or chief person of the community, who attentively observe their manner of neighing and snorting; and no kind of augury is more credited, not only among the populace, but among the nobles and priests. for the latter consider themselves as the ministers of the gods, and the horses, as privy to the divine will. another kind of divination, by which they explore the event of momentous wars, is to oblige a prisoner, taken by any means whatsoever from the nation with whom they are at variance, to fight with a picked man of their own, each with his own country's arms; and, according as the victory falls, they presage success to the one or to the other party. [ ] . on affairs of smaller moment, the chiefs consult; on those of greater importance, the whole community; yet with this circumstance, that what is referred to the decision of the people, is first maturely discussed by the chiefs. [ ] they assemble, unless upon some sudden emergency, on stated days, either at the new or full moon, which they account the most auspicious season for beginning any enterprise. nor do they, in their computation of time, reckon, like us, by the number of days, but of nights. in this way they arrange their business; in this way they fix their appointments; so that, with them, the night seems to lead the day. [ ] an inconvenience produced by their liberty is, that they do not all assemble at a stated time, as if it were in obedience to a command; but two or three days are lost in the delays of convening. when they all think fit, [ ] they sit down armed. [ ] silence is proclaimed by the priests, who have on this occasion a coercive power. then the king, or chief, and such others as are conspicuous for age, birth, military renown, or eloquence, are heard; and gain attention rather from their ability to persuade, than their authority to command. if a proposal displease, the assembly reject it by an inarticulate murmur; if it prove agreeable, they clash their javelins; [ ] for the most honorable expression of assent among them is the sound of arms. . before this council, it is likewise allowed to exhibit accusations, and to prosecute capital offences. punishments are varied according to the nature of the crime. traitors and deserters are hung upon trees: [ ] cowards, dastards, [ ] and those guilty of unnatural practices, [ ] are suffocated in mud under a hurdle. [ ] this difference of punishment has in view the principle, that villainy should be exposed while it is punished, but turpitude concealed. the penalties annexed to slighter offences [ ] are also proportioned to the delinquency. the convicts are fined in horses and cattle: [ ] part of the mulct [ ] goes to the king or state; part to the injured person, or his relations. in the same assemblies chiefs [ ] are also elected, to administer justice through the cantons and districts. a hundred companions, chosen from the people, attended upon each of them, to assist them as well with their advice as their authority. . the germans transact no business, public or private, without being armed: [ ] but it is not customary for any person to assume arms till the state has approved his ability to use them. then, in the midst of the assembly, either one of the chiefs, or the father, or a relation, equips the youth with a shield and javelin. [ ] these are to them the manly gown; [ ] this is the first honor conferred on youth: before this they are considered as part of a household; afterwards, of the state. the dignity of chieftain is bestowed even on mere lads, whose descent is eminently illustrious, or whose fathers have performed signal services to the public; they are associated, however, with those of mature strength, who have already been declared capable of service; nor do they blush to be seen in the rank of companions. [ ] for the state of companionship itself has its several degrees, determined by the judgment of him whom they follow; and there is a great emulation among the companions, which shall possess the highest place in the favor of their chief; and among the chiefs, which shall excel in the number and valor of his companions. it is their dignity, their strength, to be always surrounded with a large body of select youth, an ornament in peace, a bulwark in war. and not in his own country alone, but among the neighboring states, the fame and glory of each chief consists in being distinguished for the number and bravery of his companions. such chiefs are courted by embassies; distinguished by presents; and often by their reputation alone decide a war. . in the field of battle, it is disgraceful for the chief to be surpassed in valor; it is disgraceful for the companions not to equal their chief; but it is reproach and infamy during a whole succeeding life to retreat from the field surviving him. [ ] to aid, to protect him; to place their own gallant actions to the account of his glory, is their first and most sacred engagement. the chiefs fight for victory; the companions for their chief. if their native country be long sunk in peace and inaction, many of the young nobles repair to some other state then engaged in war. for, besides that repose is unwelcome to their race, and toils and perils afford them a better opportunity of distinguishing themselves; they are unable, without war and violence, to maintain a large train of followers. the companion requires from the liberality of his chief, the warlike steed, the bloody and conquering spear: and in place of pay, he expects to be supplied with a table, homely indeed, but plentiful. [ ] the funds for this munificence must be found in war and rapine; nor are they so easily persuaded to cultivate the earth, and await the produce of the seasons, as to challenge the foe, and expose themselves to wounds; nay, they even think it base and spiritless to earn by sweat what they might purchase with blood. . during the intervals of war, they pass their time less in hunting than in a sluggish repose, [ ] divided between sleep and the table. all the bravest of the warriors, committing the care of the house, the family affairs, and the lands, to the women, old men, and weaker part of the domestics, stupefy themselves in inaction: so wonderful is the contrast presented by nature, that the same persons love indolence, and hate tranquillity! [ ] it is customary for the several states to present, by voluntary and individual contributions, [ ] cattle or grain [ ] to their chiefs; which are accepted as honorary gifts, while they serve as necessary supplies. [ ] they are peculiarly pleased with presents from neighboring nations, offered not only by individuals, but by the community at large; such as fine horses, heavy armor, rich housings, and gold chains. we have now taught them also to accept of money. [ ] . it is well known that none of the german nations inhabit cities; [ ] or even admit of contiguous settlements. they dwell scattered and separate, as a spring, a meadow, or a grove may chance to invite them. their villages are laid out, not like ours in rows of adjoining buildings; but every one surrounds his house with a vacant space, [ ] either by way of security against fire, [ ] or through ignorance of the art of building. for, indeed, they are unacquainted with the use of mortar and tiles; and for every purpose employ rude unshapen timber, fashioned with no regard to pleasing the eye. they bestow more than ordinary pains in coating certain parts of their buildings with a kind of earth, so pure and shining that it gives the appearance of painting. they also dig subterraneous caves, [ ] and cover them over with a great quantity of dung. these they use as winter-retreats, and granaries; for they preserve a moderate temperature; and upon an invasion, when the open country is plundered, these recesses remain unviolated, either because the enemy is ignorant of them, or because he will not trouble himself with the search. [ ] . the clothing common to all is a sagum [ ] fastened by a clasp, or, in want of that, a thorn. with no other covering, they pass whole days on the hearth, before the fire. the more wealthy are distinguished by a vest, not flowing loose, like those of the sarmatians and parthians, but girt close, and exhibiting the shape of every limb. they also wear the skins of beasts, which the people near the borders are less curious in selecting or preparing than the more remote inhabitants, who cannot by commerce procure other clothing. these make choice of particular skins, which they variegate with spots, and strips of the furs of marine animals, [ ] the produce of the exterior ocean, and seas to us unknown. [ ] the dress of the women does not differ from that of the men; except that they more frequently wear linen, [ ] which they stain with purple; [ ] and do not lengthen their upper garment into sleeves, but leave exposed the whole arm, and part of the breast. . the matrimonial bond is, nevertheless, strict and severe among them; nor is there anything in their manners more commendable than this. [ ] almost singly among the barbarians, they content themselves with one wife; a very few of them excepted, who, not through incontinence, but because their alliance is solicited on account of their rank, [ ] practise polygamy. the wife does not bring a dowry to her husband, but receives one from him. [ ] the parents and relations assemble, and pass their approbation on the presents--presents not adapted to please a female taste, or decorate the bride; but oxen, a caparisoned steed, a shield, spear, and sword. by virtue of these, the wife is espoused; and she in her turn makes a present of some arms to her husband. this they consider as the firmest bond of union; these, the sacred mysteries, the conjugal deities. that the woman may not think herself excused from exertions of fortitude, or exempt from the casualties of war, she is admonished by the very ceremonial of her marriage, that she comes to her husband as a partner in toils and dangers; to suffer and to dare equally with him, in peace and in war: this is indicated by the yoked oxen, the harnessed steed, the offered arms. thus she is to live; thus to die. she receives what she is to return inviolate [ ] and honored to her children; what her daughters-in-law are to receive, and again transmit to her grandchildren. . they live, therefore, fenced around with chastity; [ ] corrupted by no seductive spectacles, [ ] no convivial incitements. men and women are alike unacquainted with clandestine correspondence. adultery is extremely rare among so numerous a people. its punishment is instant, and at the pleasure of the husband. he cuts off the hair [ ] of the offender, strips her, and in presence of her relations expels her from his house, and pursues her with stripes through the whole village. [ ] nor is any indulgence shown to a prostitute. neither beauty, youth, nor riches can procure her a husband: for none there looks on vice with a smile, or calls mutual seduction the way of the world. still more exemplary is the practice of those states [ ] in which none but virgins marry, and the expectations and wishes of a wife are at once brought to a period. thus, they take one husband as one body and one life; that no thought, no desire, may extend beyond him; and he may be loved not only as their husband, but as their marriage. [ ] to limit the increase of children, [ ] or put to death any of the later progeny [ ] is accounted infamous: and good habits have there more influence than good laws elsewhere. [ ] . in every house the children grow up, thinly and meanly clad, [ ] to that bulk of body and limb which we behold with wonder. every mother suckles her own children, and does not deliver them into the hands of servants and nurses. no indulgence distinguishes the young master from the slave. they lie together amidst the same cattle, upon the same ground, till age [ ] separates, and valor marks out, the free-born. the youths partake late of the pleasures of love, [ ] and hence pass the age of puberty unexhausted: nor are the virgins hurried into marriage; the same maturity, the same full growth is required: the sexes unite equally matched [ ] and robust; and the children inherit the vigor of their parents. children are regarded with equal affection by their maternal uncles [ ] as by their fathers: some even consider this as the more sacred bond of consanguinity, and prefer it in the requisition of hostages, as if it held the mind by a firmer tie, and the family by a more extensive obligation. a person's own children, however, are his heirs and successors; and no wills are made. if there be no children, the next in order of inheritance are brothers, paternal and maternal uncles. the more numerous are a man's relations and kinsmen, the more comfortable is his old age; nor is it here any advantage to be childless. [ ] . it is an indispensable duty to adopt the enmities [ ] of a father or relation, as well as their friendships: these, however, are not irreconcilable or perpetual. even homicide is atoned [ ] by a certain fine in cattle and sheep; and the whole family accepts the satisfaction, to the advantage of the public weal, since quarrels are most dangerous in a free state. no people are more addicted to social entertainments, or more liberal in the exercise of hospitality. [ ] to refuse any person whatever admittance under their roof, is accounted flagitious. [ ] every one according to his ability feasts his guest: when his provisions are exhausted, he who was late the host, is now the guide and companion to another hospitable board. they enter the next house uninvited, and are received with equal cordiality. no one makes a distinction with respect to the rights of hospitality, between a stranger and an acquaintance. the departing guest is presented with whatever he may ask for; and with the same freedom a boon is desired in return. they are pleased with presents; but think no obligation incurred either when they give or receive. . [ ] [their manner of living with their guest is easy and affable] as soon as they arise from sleep, which they generally protract till late in the day, they bathe, usually in warm water, [ ] as cold weather chiefly prevails there. after bathing they take their meal, each on a distinct seat, and a a separate table. [ ] then they proceed, armed, to business, and not less frequently to convivial parties, in which it is no disgrace to pass days and nights, without intermission, in drinking. the frequent quarrels that arise amongst them, when intoxicated, seldom terminate in abusive language, but more frequently in blood. [ ] in their feasts, they generally deliberate on the reconcilement of enemies, on family alliances, on the appointment of chiefs, and finally on peace and war; conceiving that at no time the soul is more opened to sincerity, or warmed to heroism. these people, naturally void of artifice or disguise, disclose the most secret emotions of their hearts in the freedom of festivity. the minds of all being thus displayed without reserve, the subjects of their deliberation are again canvassed the next day; [ ] and each time has its advantages. they consult when unable to dissemble; they determine when not liable to mistake. . their drink is a liquor prepared from barley or wheat [ ] brought by fermentation to a certain resemblance of wine. those who border on the rhine also purchase wine. their food is simple; wild fruits, fresh venison, [ ] or coagulated milk. [ ] they satisfy hunger without seeking the elegances and delicacies of the table. their thirst for liquor is not quenched with equal moderation. if their propensity to drunkenness be gratified to the extent of their wishes, intemperance proves as effectual in subduing them as the force of arms. [ ] . they have only one kind of public spectacle, which is exhibited in every company. young men, who make it their diversion, dance naked amidst drawn swords and presented spears. practice has conferred skill at this exercise; and skill has given grace; but they do not exhibit for hire or gain: the only reward of this pastime, though a hazardous one, is the pleasure of the spectators. what is extraordinary, they play at dice, when sober, as a serious business: and that with such a desperate venture of gain or loss, that, when everything else is gone, they set their liberties and persons on the last throw. the loser goes into voluntary servitude; and, though the youngest and strongest, patiently suffers himself to be bound and sold. [ ] such is their obstinacy in a bad practice--they themselves call it honor. the slaves thus acquired are exchanged away in commerce, that the winner may get rid of the scandal of his victory. . the rest of their slaves have not, like ours, particular employments in the family allotted them. each is the master of a habitation and household of his own. the lord requires from him a certain quantity of grain, cattle, or cloth, as from a tenant; and so far only the subjection of the slave extends. [ ] his domestic offices are performed by his own wife and children. it is usual to scourge a slave, or punish him with chains or hard labor. they are sometimes killed by their masters; not through severity of chastisement, but in the heat of passion, like an enemy; with this difference, that it is done with impunity. [ ] freedmen are little superior to slaves; seldom filling any important office in the family; never in the state, except in those tribes which are under regal government. [ ] there, they rise above the free-born, and even the nobles: in the rest, the subordinate condition of the freedmen is a proof of freedom. . lending money upon interest, and increasing it by usury, [ ] is unknown amongst them: and this ignorance more effectually prevents the practice than a prohibition would do. the lands are occupied by townships, [ ] in allotments proportional to the number of cultivators; and are afterwards parcelled out among the individuals of the district, in shares according to the rank and condition of each person. [ ] the wide extent of plain facilitates this partition. the arable lands are annually changed, and a part left fallow; nor do they attempt to make the most of the fertility and plenty of the soil, by their own industry in planting orchards, inclosing meadows, and watering gardens. corn is the only product required from the earth: hence their year is not divided into so many seasons as ours; for, while they know and distinguish by name winter, spring, and summer, they are unacquainted equally with the appellation and bounty of autumn. [ ] . their funerals are without parade. [ ] the only circumstance to which they attend, is to burn the bodies of eminent persons with some particular kinds of wood. neither vestments nor perfumes are heaped upon the pile: [ ] the arms of the deceased, and sometimes his horse, [ ] are given to the flames. the tomb is a mound of turf. they contemn the elaborate and costly honours of monumental structures, as mere burthens to the dead. they soon dismiss tears and lamentations; slowly, sorrow and regret. they think it the women's part to bewail their friends, the men's to remember them. . this is the sum of what i have been able to learn concerning the origin and manners of the germans in general. i now proceed to mention those particulars in which they differ from each other; and likewise to relate what nations have migrated from germany into gaul. that great writer, the deified julius, asserts that the gauls were formerly the superior people; [ ] whence it is probable that some gallic colonies passed over into germany: for how small an obstacle would a river be to prevent any nation, as it increased in strength, from occupying or changing settlements as yet lying in common, and unappropriated by the power of monarchies! accordingly, the tract betwixt the hercynian forest and the rivers rhine and mayne was possessed by the helvetii: [ ] and that beyond, by the boii; [ ] both gallic tribes. the name of boiemum still remains, a memorial of the ancient settlement, though its inhabitants are now changed. [ ] but whether the aravisci [ ] migrated into pannonia from the osi, [ ] a german nation; or the osi into germany from the aravisci; the language, institutions, and manners of both being still the same, is a matter of uncertainty; for, in their pristine state of equal indigence and equal liberty, the same advantages and disadvantages were common to both sides of the river. the treveri [ ] and nervii [ ] are ambitious of being thought of german origin; as if the reputation of this descent would distinguish them from the gauls, whom they resemble in person and effeminacy. the vangiones, triboci, and nemetes, [ ] who inhabit the bank of the rhine, are without doubt german tribes. nor do the ubii, [ ] although they have been thought worthy of being made a roman colony, and are pleased in bearing the name of agrippinenses from their founder, blush to acknowledge their origin from germany; from whence they formerly migrated, and for their approved fidelity were settled on the bank of the rhine, not that they might be guarded themselves, but that they might serve as a guard against invaders. . of all these people, the most famed for valor are the batavi; whose territories comprise but a small part of the banks of the rhine, but consist chiefly of an island within it. [ ] these were formerly a tribe of the catti, who, on account of an intestine division, removed to their present settlements, in order to become a part of the roman empire. they still retain this honor, together with a memorial of their ancient alliance; [ ] for they are neither insulted by taxes, nor oppressed by farmers of the revenue. exempt from fiscal burthens and extraordinary contributions, and kept apart for military use alone, they are reserved, like a magazine of arms, for the purposes of war. the nation of the mattiaci [ ] is under a degree of subjection of the same kind: for the greatness of the roman people has carried a reverence for the empire beyond the rhine and the ancient limits. the mattiaci, therefore, though occupying a settlement and borders [ ] on the opposite side of the river, from sentiment and attachment act with us; resembling the batavi in every respect, except that they are animated with a more vigorous spirit by the soil and air of their own country. [ ] i do not reckon among the people of germany those who occupy the decumate lands, [ ] although inhabiting between the rhine and danube. some of the most fickle of the gauls, rendered daring through indigence, seized upon this district of uncertain property. afterwards, our boundary line being advanced, and a chain of fortified posts established, it became a skirt of the empire, and part of the roman province. [ ] . beyond these dwell the catti, [ ] whose settlements, beginning from the hercynian forest, are in a tract of country less open and marshy than those which overspread the other states of germany; for it consists of a continued range of hills, which gradually become more scattered; and the hercynian forest [ ] both accompanies and leaves behind, its catti. this nation is distinguished by hardier frames, [ ] compactness of limb, fierceness of countenance, and superior vigor of mind. for germans, they have a considerable share of understanding and sagacity; they choose able persons to command, and obey them when chosen; keep their ranks; seize opportunities; restrain impetuous motions; distribute properly the business of the day; intrench themselves against the night; account fortune dubious, and valor only certain; and, what is extremely rare, and only a consequence of discipline, depend more upon the general than the army. [ ] their force consists entirely in infantry; who, besides their arms, are obliged to carry tools and provisions. other nations appear to go to a battle; the catti, to war. excursions and casual encounters are rare amongst them. it is, indeed, peculiar to cavalry soon to obtain, and soon to yield, the victory. speed borders upon timidity; slow movements are more akin to steady valor. . a custom followed among the other german nations only by a few individuals, of more daring spirit than the rest, is adopted by general consent among the catti. from the time they arrive at years of maturity they let their hair and beard grow; [ ] and do not divest themselves of this votive badge, the promise of valor, till they have slain an enemy. over blood and spoils they unveil the countenance, and proclaim that they have at length paid the debt of existence, and have proved themselves worthy of their country and parents. the cowardly and effeminate continue in their squalid disguise. the bravest among them wear also an iron ring [ ] (a mark of ignominy in that nation) as a kind of chain, till they have released themselves by the slaughter of a foe. many of the catti assume this distinction, and grow hoary under the mark, conspicuous both to foes and friends. by these, in every engagement, the attack is begun: they compose the front line, presenting a new spectacle of terror. even in peace they do not relax the sternness of their aspect. they have no house, land, or domestic cares: they are maintained by whomsoever they visit: lavish of another's property, regardless of their own; till the debility of age renders them unequal to such a rigid course of military virtue. [ ] . next to the catti, on the banks of the rhine, where, now settled in its channel, it is become a sufficient boundary, dwell the usipii and tencteri. [ ] the latter people, in addition to the usual military reputation, are famed for the discipline of their cavalry; nor is the infantry of the catti in higher estimation than the horse of the tencteri. their ancestors established it, and are imitated by posterity. horsemanship is the sport of their children, the point of emulation of their youth, and the exercise in which they persevere to old age. horses are bequeathed along with the domestics, the household gods, and the rights of inheritance: they do not, however, like other things, go to the eldest son, but to the bravest and most warlike. . contiguous to the tencteri were formerly the bructeri; [ ] but report now says that the chamavi and angrivarii, [ ] migrating into their country, have expelled and entirely extirpated them, [ ] with the concurrence of the neighboring nations, induced either by hatred of their arrogance, [ ] love of plunder, or the favor of the gods towards the romans. for they even gratified us with the spectacle of a battle, in which above sixty thousand germans were slain, not by roman arms, but, what was still grander, by mutual hostilities, as it were for our pleasure and entertainment. [ ] may the nations retain and perpetuate, if not an affection for us, at least an animosity against each other! since, while the fate of the empire is thus urgent, [ ] fortune can bestow no higher benefit upon us, than the discord of our enemies. . contiguous to the angrivarii and chamavi backwards lie the dulgibini, chasauri, [ ] and other nations less known. [ ] in front, the frisii [ ] succeed; who are distinguished by the appellations of greater and lesser, from their proportional power. the settlements of both stretch along the border of the rhine to the ocean; and include, besides, vast lakes, [ ] which have been navigated by roman fleets. we have even explored the ocean itself on that side; and fame reports that columns of hercules [ ] are still remaining on that coast; whether it be that hercules was ever there in reality, or that whatever great and magnificent is anywhere met with is, by common consent, ascribed to his renowned name. the attempt of drusus germanicus [ ] to make discoveries in these parts was sufficiently daring; but the ocean opposed any further inquiry into itself and hercules. after a while no one renewed the attempt; and it was thought more pious and reverential to believe the actions of the gods, than to investigate them. . hitherto we have traced the western side of germany. it turns from thence with a vast sweep to the north: and first occurs the country of the chauci, [ ] which, though it begins immediately from frisia, and occupies part of the seashore, yet stretches so far as to border on all the nations before mentioned, till it winds round so as to meet the territories of the catti. this immense tract is not only possessed, but filled by the chauci; a people the noblest of the germans, who choose to maintain their greatness by justice rather than violence. without ambition, without ungoverned desires, quiet and retired, they provoke no wars, they are guilty of no rapine or plunder; and it is a principal proof of their power and bravery, that the superiority they possess has not been acquired by unjust means. yet all have arms in readiness; [ ] and, if necessary, an army is soon raised: for they abound in men and horses, and maintain their military reputation even in inaction. . bordering on the chauci and catti are the cherusci; [ ] who, for want of an enemy, long cherished a too lasting and enfeebling peace: a state more flattering than secure; since the repose enjoyed amidst ambitious and powerful neighbors is treacherous; and when an appeal is made to the sword, moderation and probity are names appropriated by the victors. thus, the cherusci, who formerly bore the titles of just and upright, are now charged with cowardice and folly; and the good fortune of the catti, who subdued them, has grown into wisdom. the ruin of the cherusci involved that of the fosi, [ ] a neighboring tribe, equal partakers of their adversity, although they had enjoyed an inferior share of their prosperity. . in the same quarter of germany, adjacent to the ocean, dwell the cimbri; [ ] a small [ ] state at present, but great in renown. [ ] of their past grandeur extensive vestiges still remain, in encampments and lines on either shore, [ ] from the compass of which the strength and numbers of the nation may still be computed, and credit derived to the account of so prodigious an army. it was in the th year of rome that the arms of the cimbri were first heard of, under the consulate of caecilius metellus and papirius carbo; from which era to the second consulate of the emperor trajan [ ] is a period of nearly years. so long has germany withstood the arms of rome. during this long interval many mutual wounds have been inflicted. not the samnite, the carthaginian, spain, gaul, or parthia, have given more frequent alarms; for the liberty of the germans is more vigorous than the monarchy of the arsacidae. what has the east, which has itself lost pacorus, and suffered an overthrow from ventidius, [ ] to boast against us, but the slaughter of crassus? but the germans, by the defeat or capture of carbo, [ ] cassius, [ ] scaurus aurelius, [ ] servilius caepio, and cneius manlius, [ ] deprived the roman people of five consular armies; [ ] and afterwards took from augustus himself varus with three legions. [ ] nor did caius marius [ ] in italy, the deified julius [ ] in gaul, or drusus, [ ] nero, [ ] or germanicus [ ] in their own country, defeat then without loss. the subsequent mighty threats of caligula terminated in ridicule. then succeeded tranquillity; till, seizing the occasion of our discords and civil wars, they forced the winter-quarters of the legions, [ ] and even aimed at the possession of gaul; and, again expelled thence, they have in latter times been rather triumphed over [ ] than vanquished. . we have now to speak of the suevi; [ ] who do not compose a single state, like the catti or tencteri, but occupy the greatest part of germany, and are still distributed into different names and nations, although all hearing the common appellation of suevi. it is a characteristic of this people to turn their hair sideways, and tie it beneath the poll in a knot. by this mark the suevi are distinguished from the rest of the germans; and the freemen of the suevi from the slaves. [ ] among other nations, this mode, either on account of some relationship with the suevi, or from the usual propensity to imitation, is sometimes adopted; but rarely, and only during the period of youth. the suevi, even till they are hoary, continue to have their hair growing stiffly backwards, and often it is fastened on the very crown of the head. the chiefs dress it with still greater care: and in this respect they study ornament, though of an undebasing kind. for their design is not to make love, or inspire it; they decorate themselves in this manner as they proceed to war, in order to seem taller and more terrible; and dress for the eyes of their enemies. . the semnones [ ] assert themselves to be the most ancient and noble of the suevi; and their pretensions are confirmed by religion. at a stated time, all the people of the same lineage assemble by their delegates in a wood, consecrated by the auguries of their forefathers and ancient terror, and there by the public slaughter of a human victim celebrate the horrid origin of their barbarous rites. another kind of reverence is paid to the grove. no person enters it without being bound with a chain, as an acknowledgment of his inferior nature, and the power of the deity residing there. if he accidentally fall, it is not lawful for him to be lifted or to rise up; they roll themselves out along the ground. the whole of their superstition has this import: that from this spot the nation derives its origin; that here is the residence of the deity, the governor of all, and that everything else is subject and subordinate to him. these opinions receive additional authority from the power of the semnones, who inhabit a hundred cantons, and, from the great body they compose, consider themselves as the head of the suevi. . the langobardi, [ ] on the other hand, are ennobled by, the smallness of their numbers; since though surrounded by many powerful nations, they derive security, not from obsequiousness, but from their martial enterprise. the neighboring reudigni, [ ] and the avions, [ ] angli, [ ] varini, eudoses, suardones, and nuithones, [ ] are defended by rivers or forests. nothing remarkable occurs in any of these; except that they unite in the worship of hertha, [ ] or mother earth; and suppose her to interfere in the affairs of men, and to visit the different nations. in an island [ ] of the ocean stands a sacred and unviolated grove, in which is a consecrated chariot, covered with a veil, which the priest alone is permitted to touch. he becomes conscious of the entrance of the goddess into this secret recess; and with profound veneration attends the vehicle, which is drawn by yoked cows. at this season, [ ] all is joy; and every place which the goddess deigns to visit is a scene of festivity. no wars are undertaken; arms are untouched; and every hostile weapon is shut up. peace abroad and at home are then only known; then only loved; till at length the same priest reconducts the goddess, satiated with mortal intercourse, to her temple. [ ] the chariot, with its curtain, and, if we may believe it, the goddess herself, then undergo ablution in a secret lake. this office is performed by slaves, whom the same lake instantly swallows up. hence proceeds a mysterious horror; and a holy ignorance of what that can be, which is beheld only by those who are about to perish. this part of the suevian nation extends to the most remote recesses of germany. . if we now follow the course of the danube, as we before did that of the rhine, we first meet with the hermunduri; [ ] a people faithful to the romans, [ ] and on that account the only germans who are admitted to commerce, not on the bank alone, but within our territories, and in the flourishing colony [ ] established in the province of rhaetia. they pass and repass at pleasure, without being attended by a guard; and while we exhibit to other nations our arms and camps alone, to these we lay open our houses and country seats, which they behold without coveting. in the country of the hermunduri rises the elbe; [ ] a river formerly celebrated and known among us, now only heard of by name. . contiguous to the hermunduri are the narisci; [ ] and next to them, the marcomanni [ ] and quadi. [ ] of these, the marcomanni are the most powerful and renowned; and have even acquired the country which they inhabit, by their valor in expelling the boii. [ ] nor are the narisci and quadi inferior in bravery; [ ] and this is, as it were, the van of germany as far as it is bordered by the danube. within our memory the marcomanni and quadi were governed by kings of their own nation, of the noble line of maroboduus [ ] and tudrus. they now submit even to foreigners; but all the power of their kings depends upon the authority of the romans. [ ] we seldom assist them with our arms, but frequently with our money; nor are they the less potent on that account. . behind these are the marsigni, [ ] gothini, [ ] osi, [ ] and burrii, [ ] who close the rear of the marcomanni and quadi. of these, the marsigni and burrii in language [ ] and dress resemble the suevi. the gothini and osi prove themselves not to be germans; the first, by their use of the gallic, the second, of the pannonian tongue; and both, by their submitting to pay tribute: which is levied on them, as aliens, partly by the sarmatians, partly by the quadi. the gothini, to their additional disgrace, work iron mines. [ ] all these people inhabit but a small proportion of champaign country; their settlements are chiefly amongst forests, and on the sides and summits of mountains; for a continued ridge of mountains [ ] separates suevia from various remoter tribes. of these, the lygian [ ] is the most extensive, and diffuses its name through several communities. it will be sufficient to name the most powerful of them--the arii, helvecones, manimi, elysii, and naharvali. [ ] in the country of the latter is a grove, consecrated to religious rites of great antiquity. a priest presides over them, dressed in woman's apparel; but the gods worshipped there are said, according to the roman interpretation, to be castor and pollux. their attributes are the same; their name, alcis. [ ] no images, indeed, or vestiges of foreign superstition, appear in their worship; but they are revered under the character of young men and brothers. the arii, fierce beyond the superiority of strength they possess over the other just enumerated people, improve their natural ferocity of aspect by artificial helps. their shields are black; their bodies painted: [ ] they choose the darkest nights for an attack; and strike terror by the funereal gloom of their sable bands--no enemy being able to sustain their singular, and, as it were, infernal appearance; since in every combat the eyes are the first part subdued. beyond the lygii are the gothones, [ ] who live under a monarchy, somewhat more strict than that of the other german nations, yet not to a degree incompatible with liberty. adjoining to these are the rugii [ ] and lemovii, [ ] situated on the sea-coast--all these tribes are distinguished by round shields, short swords, and submission to regal authority. . next occur the communities of the suiones, [ ] seated in the very ocean, [ ] who, besides their strength in men and arms, also possess a naval force. [ ] the form of their vessels differs from ours in having a prow at each end, [ ] so that they are always ready to advance. they make no use of sails, nor have regular benches of oars at the sides: they row, as is practised in some rivers, without order, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, as occasion requires. these people honor wealth; [ ] for which reason they are subject to monarchical government, without any limitations, [ ] or precarious conditions of allegiance. nor are arms allowed to be kept promiscuously, as among the other german nations: but are committed to the charge of a keeper, and he, too, a slave. the pretext is, that the ocean defends them from any sudden incursions; and men unemployed, with arms in their hands, readily become licentious. in fact, it is for the king's interest not to entrust a noble, a freeman, or even an emancipated slave, with the custody of arms. . beyond the suiones is another sea, sluggish and almost stagnant, [ ] by which the whole globe is imagined to be girt and enclosed, from this circumstance, that the last light of the setting sun continues so vivid till its rising, as to obscure the stars. [ ] popular belief adds, that the sound of his emerging [ ] from the ocean is also heard; and the forms of deities, [ ] with the rays beaming from his head, are beheld. only thus far, report says truly, does nature extend. [ ] on the right shore of the suevic sea [ ] dwell the tribes of the aestii, [ ] whose dress and customs are the same with those of the suevi, but their language more resembles the british. [ ] they worship the mother of the gods; [ ] and as the symbol of their superstition, they carry about them the figures of wild boars. [ ] this serves them in place of armor and every other defence: it renders the votary of the goddess safe even in the midst of foes. their weapons are chiefly clubs, iron being little used among them. they cultivate corn and other fruits of the earth with more industry than german indolence commonly exerts. [ ] they even explore the sea; and are the only people who gather amber, which by them is called _glese_, [ ] and is collected among the shallows and upon the shore. [ ] with the usual indifference of barbarians, they have not inquired or ascertained from what natural object or by what means it is produced. it long lay disregarded [ ] amidst other things thrown up by the sea, till our luxury [ ] gave it a name. useless to them, they gather it in the rough; bring it unwrought; and wonder at the price they receive. it would appear, however, to be an exudation from certain trees; since reptiles, and even winged animals, are often seen shining through it, which, entangled in it while in a liquid state, became enclosed as it hardened. [ ] i should therefore imagine that, as the luxuriant woods and groves in the secret recesses of the east exude frankincense and balsam, so there are the same in the islands and continents of the west; which, acted upon by the near rays of the sun, drop their liquid juices into the subjacent sea, whence, by the force of tempests, they are thrown out upon the opposite coasts. if the nature of amber be examined by the application of fire, it kindles like a torch, with a thick and odorous flame; and presently resolves into a glutinous matter resembling pitch or resin. the several communities of the sitones [ ] succeed those of the suiones; to whom they are similar in other respects, but differ in submitting to a female reign; so far have they degenerated, not only from liberty, but even from slavery. here suevia terminates. . i am in doubt whether to reckon the peucini, venedi, and fenni among the germans or sarmatians; [ ] although the peucini, [ ] who are by some called bastarnae, agree with the germans in language, apparel, and habitations. [ ] all of them live in filth and laziness. the intermarriages of their chiefs with the sarmatians have debased them by a mixture of the manners of that people. [ ] the venedi have drawn much from this source; [ ] for they overrun in their predatory excursions all the woody and mountainous tracts between the peucini and fenni. yet even these are rather to be referred to the germans, since they build houses, carry shields, and travel with speed on foot; in all which particulars they totally differ from the sarmatians, who pass their time in wagons and on horseback. [ ] the fenni [ ] live in a state of amazing savageness and squalid poverty. they are destitute of arms, horses, and settled abodes: their food is herbs; [ ] their clothing, skins; their bed, the ground. their only dependence is on their arrows, which, for want of iron, are headed with bone; [ ] and the chase is the support of the women as well as the men; the former accompany the latter in the pursuit, and claim a share of the prey. nor do they provide any other shelter for their infants from wild beasts and storms, than a covering of branches twisted together. this is the resort of youth; this is the receptacle of old age. yet even this way of life is in their estimation happier than groaning over the plough; toiling in the erection of houses; subjecting their own fortunes and those of others to the agitations of alternate hope and fear. secure against men, secure against the gods, they have attained the most difficult point, not to need even a wish. all our further accounts are intermixed with fable; as, that the hellusii and oxionae [ ] have human faces, with the bodies and limbs of wild beasts. these unauthenticated reports i shall leave untouched. [ ] the life of cnaeus julius agricola. [this work is supposed by the commentators to have been written before the treatise on the manners of the germans, in the third consulship of the emperor nerva, and the second of verginius rufus, in the year of rome , and of the christian era . brotier accedes to this opinion; but the reason which he assigns does not seem to be satisfactory. he observes that tacitus, in the third section, mentions the emperor nerva; but as he does not call him divus nerva, the deified nerva, the learned commentator infers that nerva was still living. this reasoning might have some weight, if we did not read, in section , that it was the ardent wish of agricola that he might live to behold trajan in the imperial seat. if nerva was then alive, the wish to see another in his room would have been an awkward compliment to the reigning prince. it is, perhaps, for this reason that lipsius thinks this very elegant tract was written at the same time with the manners of the germans, in the beginning of the emperor trajan. the question is not very material, since conjecture alone must decide it. the piece itself is admitted to be a masterpiece in the kind. tacitus was son-in-law to agricola; and while filial piety breathes through his work, he never departs from the integrity of his own character. he has left an historical monument highly interesting to every briton, who wishes to know the manners of his ancestors, and the spirit of liberty that from the earliest time distinguished the natives of britain. "agricola," as hume observes, "was the general who finally established the dominion of the romans in this island. he governed, it in the reigns of vespasian, titus, and domitian. he carried his victorious arms northward: defeated the britons in every encounter, pierced into the forests and the mountains of caledonia, reduced every state to subjection in the southern parts of the island, and chased before him all the men of fiercer and more intractable spirits, who deemed war and death itself less intolerable than servitude under the victors. he defeated them in a decisive action, which they fought under galgacus; and having fixed a chain of garrisons between the friths of clyde and forth, he cut off the ruder and more barren parts of the island, and secured the roman province from the incursions of the barbarous inhabitants. during these military enterprises he neglected not the arts of peace. he introduced laws and civility among the britons; taught them to desire and raise all the conveniences of life; reconciled them to the roman language and manners; instructed them in letters and science; and employed every expedient to render those chains, which he had forged, both easy and agreeable to them." (hume's hist. vol. i. p. .) in this passage mr. hume has given a summary of the life of agricola. it is extended by tacitus in a style more open than the didactic form of the essay on the german manners required, but still with the precision, both in sentiment and diction, peculiar to the author. in rich but subdued colors he gives a striking picture of agricola, leaving to posterity a portion of history which it would be in vain to seek in the dry gazette style of suetonius, or in the page of any writer of that period.] . the ancient custom of transmitting to posterity the actions and manners of famous men, has not been neglected even by the present age, incurious though it be about those belonging to it, whenever any exalted and noble degree of virtue has triumphed over that false estimation of merit, and that ill-will to it, by which small and great states are equally infested. in former times, however, as there was a greater propensity and freer scope for the performance of actions worthy of remembrance, so every person of distinguished abilities was induced through conscious satisfaction in the task alone, without regard to private favor or interest, to record examples of virtue. and many considered it rather as the honest confidence of integrity, than a culpable arrogance, to become their own biographers. of this, rutilius and scaurus [ ] were instances; who were never yet censured on this account, nor was the fidelity of their narrative called in question; so much more candidly are virtues always estimated; in those periods which are the most favorable to their production. for myself, however, who have undertaken to be the historian of a person deceased, an apology seemed necessary; which i should not have made, had my course lain through times less cruel and hostile to virtue. [ ] . we read that when arulenus rusticus published the praises of paetus thrasea, and herennius senecio those of priscus helvidius, it was construed into a capital crime; [ ] and the rage of tyranny was let loose not only against the authors, but against their writings; so that those monuments of exalted genius were burnt at the place of election in the forum by triumvirs appointed for the purpose. in that fire they thought to consume the voice of the roman people, the freedom of the senate, and the conscious emotions of all mankind; crowning the deed by the expulsion of the professors of wisdom, [ ] and the banishment of every liberal art, that nothing generous or honorable might remain. we gave, indeed, a consummate proof of our patience; and as remote ages saw the very utmost degree of liberty, so we, deprived by inquisitions of all the intercourse of conversation, experienced the utmost of slavery. with language we should have lost memory itself, had it been as much in our power to forget, as to be silent. . now our spirits begin to revive. but although at the first dawning of this happy period, [ ] the emperor nerva united two things before incompatible, monarchy and liberty; and trajan is now daily augmenting the felicity of the empire; and the public security [ ] has not only assumed hopes and wishes, but has seen those wishes arise to confidence and stability; yet, from the nature of human infirmity, remedies are more tardy in their operation than diseases; and, as bodies slowly increase, but quickly perish, so it is more easy to suppress industry and genius, than to recall them. for indolence itself acquires a charm; and sloth, however odious at first, becomes at length engaging. during the space of fifteen years, [ ] a large portion of human life, how great a number have fallen by casual events, and, as was the fate of all the most distinguished, by the cruelty of the prince; whilst we, the few survivors, not of others alone, but, if i may be allowed the expression, of ourselves, find a void of so many years in our lives, which has silently brought us from youth to maturity, from mature age to the very verge of life! still, however, i shall not regret having composed, though in rude and artless language, a memorial of past servitude, and a testimony of present blessings. [ ] the present work, in the meantime, which is dedicated to the honor of my father-in-law, may be thought to merit approbation, or at least excuse, from the piety of the intention. . cnaeus julius agricola was born at the ancient and illustrious colony of forumjulii. [ ] both his grandfathers were imperial procurators, [ ] an office which confers the rank of equestrian nobility. his father, julius graecinus, [ ] of the senatorian order, was famous for the study of eloquence and philosophy; and by these accomplishments he drew on himself the displeasure of caius caesar; [ ] for, being commanded to undertake the accusation of marcus silanus, [ ]--on his refusal, he was put to death. his mother was julia procilla, a lady of exemplary chastity. educated with tenderness in her bosom, [ ] he passed his childhood and youth in the attainment of every liberal art. he was preserved from the allurements of vice, not only by a naturally good disposition, but by being sent very early to pursue his studies at massilia; [ ] a place where grecian politeness and provincial frugality are happily united. i remember he was used to relate, that in his early youth he should have engaged with more ardor in philosophical speculation than was suitable to a roman and a senator, had not the prudence of his mother restrained the warmth and vehemence of his disposition: for his lofty and upright spirit, inflamed by the charms of glory and exalted reputation, led him to the pursuit with more eagerness than discretion. reason and riper years tempered his warmth; and from the study of wisdom, he retained what is most difficult to compass,--moderation. . he learned the rudiments of war in britain, under suetonius paullinus, an active and prudent commander, who chose him for his tent companion, in order to form an estimate of his merit. [ ] nor did agricola, like many young men, who convert military service into wanton pastime, avail himself licentiously or slothfully of his tribunitial title, or his inexperience, to spend his time in pleasures and absences from duty; but he employed himself in gaining a knowledge of the country, making himself known to the army, learning from the experienced, and imitating the best; neither pressing to be employed through vainglory, nor declining it through timidity; and performing his duty with equal solicitude and spirit. at no other time in truth was britain more agitated or in a state of greater uncertainty. our veterans slaughtered, our colonies burnt, [ ] our armies cut off, [ ]--we were then contending for safety, afterwards for victory. during this period, although all things were transacted under the conduct and direction of another, and the stress of the whole, as well as the glory of recovering the province, fell to the general's share, yet they imparted to the young agricola skill, experience, and incentives; and the passion for military glory entered his soul; a passion ungrateful to the times, [ ] in which eminence was unfavorably construed, and a great reputation was no less dangerous than a bad one. . departing thence to undertake the offices of magistracy in rome, he married domitia decidiana, a lady of illustrious descent, from which connection he derived credit and support in his pursuit of greater things. they lived together in admirable harmony and mutual affection; each giving the preference to the other; a conduct equally laudable in both, except that a greater degree of praise is due to a good wife, in proportion as a bad one deserves the greater censure. the lot of quaestorship [ ] gave him asia for his province, and the proconsul salvius titianus [ ] for his superior; by neither of which circumstances was he corrupted, although the province was wealthy and open to plunder, and the proconsul, from his rapacious disposition, would readily have agreed to a mutual concealment of guilt. his family was there increased by the birth of a daughter, who was both the support of his house, and his consolation; for he lost an elder-born son in infancy. the interval between his serving the offices of quaestor and tribune of the people, and even the year of the latter magistracy, he passed in repose and inactivity; well knowing the temper of the times under nero, in which indolence was wisdom. he maintained the same tenor of conduct when praetor; for the judiciary part of the office did not fall to his share. [ ] in the exhibition of public games, and the idle trappings of dignity, he consulted propriety and the measure of his fortune; by no means approaching to extravagance, yet inclining rather to a popular course. when he was afterwards appointed by galba to manage an inquest concerning the offerings which had been presented to the temples, by his strict attention and diligence he preserved the state from any further sacrilege than what it had suffered from nero. [ ] . the following year [ ] inflicted a severe wound on his peace of mind, and his domestic concerns. the fleet of otho, roving in a disorderly manner on the coast, [ ] made a hostile descent on intemelii, [ ] a part of liguria, in which the mother of agricola was murdered at her own estate, her lands were ravaged, and a great part of her effects, which had invited the assassins, was carried off. as agricola upon this event was hastening to perform the duties of filial piety, he was overtaken by the news of vespasian's aspiring to the empire, [ ] and immediately went over to his party. the first acts of power, and the government of the city, were entrusted to mucianus; domitian being at that time very young, and taking no other privilege from his father's elevation than that of indulging his licentious tastes. mucianus, having approved the vigor and fidelity of agricola in the service of raising levies, gave him the command of the twentieth legion, [ ] which had appeared backward in taking the oaths, as soon as he had heard the seditious practices of his commander. [ ] this legion had been unmanageable and formidable even to the consular lieutenants; [ ] and its late commander, of praetorian rank, had not sufficient authority to keep it in obedience; though it was uncertain whether from his own disposition, or that of his soldiers. agricola was therefore appointed as his successor and avenger; but, with an uncommon degree of moderation, he chose rather to have it appear that he had found the legion obedient, than that he had made it so. . vettius bolanus was at that time governor of britain, and ruled with a milder sway than was suitable to so turbulent a province. under his administration, agricola, accustomed to obey, and taught to consult utility as well as glory, tempered his ardor, and restrained his enterprising spirit. his virtues had soon a larger field for their display, from the appointment of petilius cerealis, [ ] a man of consular dignity, to the government. at first he only shared the fatigues and dangers of his general; but was presently allowed to partake of his glory. cerealis frequently entrusted him with part of his army as a trial of his abilities; and from the event sometimes enlarged his command. on these occasions, agricola was never ostentatious in assuming to himself the merit of his exploits; but always, as a subordinate officer, gave the honor of his good fortune to his superior. thus, by his spirit in executing orders, and his modesty in reporting his success, he avoided envy, yet did not fail of acquiring reputation. . on his return from commanding the legion he was raised by vespasian to the patrician order, and then invested with the government of aquitania, [ ] a distinguished promotion, both in respect to the office itself, and the hopes of the consulate to which it destined him. it is a common supposition that military men, habituated to the unscrupulous and summary processes of camps, where things are carried with a strong hand, are deficient in the address and subtlety of genius requisite in civil jurisdiction. agricola, however, by his natural prudence, was enabled to act with facility and precision even among civilians. he distinguished the hours of business from those of relaxation. when the court or tribunal demanded his presence, he was grave, intent, awful, yet generally inclined to lenity. when the duties of his office were over, the man of power was instantly laid aside. nothing of sternness, arrogance, or rapaciousness appeared; and, what was a singular felicity, his affability did not impair his authority, nor his severity render him less beloved. to mention integrity and freedom from corruption in such a man, would be an affront to his virtues. he did not even court reputation, an object to which men of worth frequently sacrifice, by ostentation or artifice: equally avoiding competition with, his colleagues, [ ] and contention with the procurators. to overcome in such a contest he thought inglorious; and to be put down, a disgrace. somewhat less than three years were spent in this office, when he was recalled to the immediate prospect of the consulate; while at the same time a popular opinion prevailed that the government of britain would be conferred upon him; an opinion not founded upon any suggestions of his own, but upon his being thought equal to the station. common fame does not always err, sometimes it even directs a choice. when consul, [ ] he contracted his daughter, a lady already of the happiest promise, to myself, then a very young man; and after his office was expired i received her in marriage. he was immediately appointed governor of britain, and the pontificate [ ] was added to his other dignities. . the situation and inhabitants of britain have been described by many writers; [ ] and i shall not add to the number with the view of vying with them in accuracy and ingenuity, but because it was first thoroughly subdued in the period of the present history. those things which, while yet unascertained, they embellished with their eloquence, shall here be related with a faithful adherence to known facts. britain, the largest of all the islands which have come within the knowledge of the romans, stretches on the east towards germany, on the west towards spain, [ ] and on the south it is even within sight of gaul. its northern extremity has no opposite land, but is washed by a wide and open sea. livy, the most eloquent of ancient, and fabius rusticus, of modern writers, have likened the figure of britain to an oblong target, or a two-edged axe. [ ] and this is in reality its appearance, exclusive of caledonia; whence it has been popularly attributed to the whole island. but that tract of country, irregularly stretching out to an immense length towards the furthest shore, is gradually contracted in form of a wedge. [ ] the roman fleet, at this period first sailing round this remotest coast, gave certain proof that britain was an island; and at the same time discovered and subdued the orcades, [ ] islands till then unknown. thule [ ] was also distinctly seen, which winter and eternal snow had hitherto concealed. the sea is reported to be sluggish and laborious to the rower; and even to be scarcely agitated by winds. the cause of this stagnation i imagine to be the deficiency of land and mountains where tempests are generated; and the difficulty with which such a mighty mass of waters, in an uninterrupted main, is put in motion. [ ] it is not the business of this work to investigate the nature of the ocean and the tides; a subject which many writers have already undertaken. i shall only add one circumstance: that the dominion of the sea is nowhere more extensive; that it carries many currents in this direction and in that; and its ebbings and flowings are not confined to the shore, but it penetrates into the heart of the country, and works its way among hills and mountains, as though it were in its own domain. [ ] . who were the first inhabitants of britain, whether indigenous [ ] or immigrants, is a question involved in the obscurity usual among barbarians. their temperament of body is various, whence deductions are formed of their different origin. thus, the ruddy hair and large limbs of the caledonians [ ] point out a german derivation. the swarthy complexion and curled hair of the silures, [ ] together with their situation opposite to spain, render it probable that a colony of the ancient iberi [ ] possessed themselves of that territory. they who are nearest gaul [ ] resemble the inhabitants of that country; whether from the duration of hereditary influence, or whether it be that when lands jut forward in opposite directions, [ ] climate gives the same condition of body to the inhabitants of both. on a general survey, however, it appears probable that the gauls originally took possession of the neighboring coast. the sacred rites and superstitions [ ] of these people are discernible among the britons. the languages of the two nations do not greatly differ. the same audacity in provoking danger, and irresolution in facing it when present, is observable in both. the britons, however, display more ferocity, [ ] not being yet softened by a long peace: for it appears from history that the gauls were once renowned in war, till, losing their valor with their liberty, languor and indolence entered amongst them. the same change has also taken place among those of the britons who have been long subdued; [ ] but the rest continue such as the gauls formerly were. . their military strength consists in infantry; some nations also make use of chariots in war; in the management of which, the most honorable person guides the reins, while his dependents fight from the chariot. [ ] the britons were formerly governed by kings, [ ] but at present they are divided in factions and parties among their chiefs; and this want of union for concerting some general plan is the most favorable circumstance to us, in our designs against so powerful a people. it is seldom that two or three communities concur in repelling the common danger; and thus, while they engage singly, they are all subdued. the sky in this country is deformed by clouds and frequent rains; but the cold is never extremely rigorous. [ ] the length of the days greatly exceeds that in our part of the world. [ ] the nights are bright, and, at the extremity of the island, so short, that the close and return of day is scarcely distinguished by a perceptible interval. it is even asserted that, when clouds do not intervene, the splendor of the sun is visible during the whole night, and that it does not appear to rise and set, but to move across. [ ] the cause of this is, that the extreme and flat parts of the earth, casting a low shadow, do not throw up the darkness, and so night falls beneath the sky and the stars. [ ] the soil, though improper for the olive, the vine, and other productions of warmer climates, is fertile, and suitable for corn. growth is quick, but maturation slow; both from the same cause, the great humidity of the ground and the atmosphere. [ ] the earth yields gold and silver [ ] and other metals, the rewards of victory. the ocean produces pearls, [ ] but of a cloudy and livid hue; which some impute to unskilfulness in the gatherers; for in the red sea the fish are plucked from the rocks alive and vigorous, but in britain they are collected as the sea throws them up. for my own part, i can more readily conceive that the defect is in the nature of the pearls, than in our avarice. . the britons cheerfully submit to levies, tributes, and the other services of government, if they are not treated injuriously; but such treatment they bear with impatience, their subjection only extending to obedience, not to servitude. accordingly julius caesar, [ ] the first roman who entered britain with an army, although he terrified the inhabitants by a successful engagement, and became master of the shore, may be considered rather to have transmitted the discovery than the possession of the country to posterity. the civil wars soon succeeded; the arms of the leaders were turned against their country; and a long neglect of britain ensued, which continued even after the establishment of peace. this augustus attributed to policy; and tiberius to the injunctions of his predecessor. [ ] it is certain that caius caesar [ ] meditated an expedition into britain; but his temper, precipitate in forming schemes, and unsteady in pursuing them, together with the ill success of his mighty attempts against germany, rendered the design abortive. claudius [ ] accomplished the undertaking, transporting his legions and auxiliaries, and associating vespasian in the direction of affairs, which laid the foundation of his future fortune. in this expedition, nations were subdued, kings made captive, and vespasian was held forth to the fates. . aulus plautius, the first consular governor, and his successor, ostorius scapula, [ ] were both eminent for military abilities. under them, the nearest part of britain was gradually reduced into the form of a province, and a colony of veterans [ ] was settled. certain districts were bestowed upon king cogidunus, a prince who continued in perfect fidelity within our own memory. this was done agreeably to the ancient and long established practice of the romans, to make even kings the instruments of servitude. didius gallus, the next governor, preserved the acquisitions of his predecessors, and added a very few fortified posts in the remoter parts, for the reputation of enlarging his province. veranius succeeded, but died within the year. suetonius paullinus then commanded with success for two years, subduing various nations, and establishing garrisons. in the confidence with which this inspired him, he undertook an expedition against the island mona, [ ] which had furnished the revolters with supplies; and thereby exposed the settlements behind him to a surprise. . for the britons, relieved from present dread by the absence of the governor, began to hold conferences, in which they painted the miseries of servitude, compared their several injuries, and inflamed each other with such representations as these: "that the only effects of their patience were more grievous impositions upon a people who submitted with such facility. formerly they had one king respectively; now two were set over them, the lieutenant and the procurator, the former of whom vented his rage upon their life's blood, the latter upon their properties; [ ] the union or discord [ ] of these governors was equally fatal to those whom they ruled, while the officers of the one, and the centurions of the other, joined in oppressing them by all kinds of violence and contumely; so that nothing was exempted from their avarice, nothing from their lust. in battle it was the bravest who took spoils; but those whom _they_ suffered to seize their houses, force away their children, and exact levies, were, for the most part, the cowardly and effeminate; as if the only lesson of suffering of which they were ignorant was how to die for their country. yet how inconsiderable would the number of invaders appear did the britons but compute their own forces! from considerations like these, germany had thrown off the yoke, [ ] though a river [ ] and not the ocean was its barrier. the welfare of their country, their wives, and their parents called them to arms, while avarice and luxury alone incited their enemies; who would withdraw as even the deified julius had done, if the present race of britons would emulate the valor of their ancestors, and not be dismayed at the event of the first or second engagement. superior spirit and perseverence were always the share of the wretched; and the gods themselves now seemed to compassionate the britons, by ordaining the absence of the general, and the detention of his army in another island. the most difficult point, assembling for the purpose of deliberation, was already accomplished; and there was always more danger from the discovery of designs like these, than from their execution." . instigated by such suggestions, they unanimously rose in arms, led by boadicea, [ ] a woman of royal descent (for they make no distinction between the sexes in succession to the throne), and attacking the soldiers dispersed through the garrisons, stormed the fortified posts, and invaded the colony [ ] itself, as the seat of slavery. they omitted no species of cruelty with which rage and victory could inspire barbarians; and had not paullinus, on being acquainted with the commotion of the province, marched speedily to its relief, britain would have been lost. the fortune of a single battle, however, reduced it to its former subjection; though many still remained in arms, whom the consciousness of revolt, and particular dread of the governor, had driven to despair. paullinus, although otherwise exemplary in his administration, having treated those who surrendered with severity, and having pursued too rigorous measures, as one who was revenging his own personal injury also, petronius turpilianus [ ] was sent in his stead, as a person more inclined to lenity, and one who, being unacquainted with the enemy's delinquency, could more easily accept their penitence. after having restored things to their former quiet state, he delivered the command to trebellius maximus. [ ] trebellius, indolent, and inexperienced in military affairs, maintained the tranquillity of the province by popular manners; for even the barbarians had now learned to pardon under the seductive influence of vices; and the intervention of the civil wars afforded a legitimate excuse for his inactivity. sedition however infected the soldiers, who, instead of their usual military services, were rioting in idleness. trebellius, after escaping the fury of his army by flight and concealment, dishonored and abased, regained a precarious authority; and a kind of tacit compact took place, of safety to the general, and licentiousness to the army. this mutiny was not attended with bloodshed. vettius bolanus, [ ] succeeding during the continuance of the civil wars, was unable to introduce discipline into britain. the same inaction towards the enemy, and the same insolence in the camp, continued; except that bolanus, unblemished in his character, and not obnoxious by any crime, in some measure substituted affection in the place of authority. . at length, when vespasian received the possession of britain together with the rest of the world, the great commanders and well-appointed armies which were sent over abated the confidence of the enemy; and petilius cerealis struck terror by an attack upon the brigantes, [ ] who are reputed to compose the most populous state in the whole province. many battles were fought, some of them attended with much bloodshed; and the greater part of the brigantes were either brought into subjection, or involved in the ravages of war. the conduct and reputation of cerealis were so brilliant that they might have eclipsed the splendor of a successor; yet julius frontinus, [ ] a truly great man, supported the arduous competition, as far as circumstances would permit. [ ] he subdued the strong and warlike nation of the silures, [ ] in which expedition, besides the valor of the enemy, he had the difficulties of the country to struggle with. . such was the state of britain, and such had been the vicissitudes of warfare, when agricola arrived in the middle of summer; [ ] at a time when the roman soldiers, supposing the expeditions of the year were concluded, were thinking of enjoying themselves without care, and the natives, of seizing the opportunity thus afforded them. not long before his arrival, the ordovices [ ] had cut off almost an entire corps of cavalry stationed on their frontiers; and the inhabitants of the province being thrown into a state of anxious suspense by this beginning, inasmuch as war was what they wished for, either approved of the example, or waited to discover the disposition of the new governor. [ ] the season was now far advanced, the troops dispersed through the country, and possessed with the idea of being suffered to remain inactive during the rest of the year; circumstances which tended to retard and discourage any military enterprise; so that it was generally thought most advisable to be contented with defending the suspected posts: yet agricola determined to march out and meet the approaching danger. for this purpose, he drew together the detachments from the legions, [ ] and a small body of auxiliaries; and when he perceived that the ordovices would not venture to descend into the plain, he led an advanced party in person to the attack, in order to inspire the rest of his troops with equal ardor. the result of the action was almost the total extirpation of the ordovices; when agricola, sensible that renown must be followed up, and that the future events of the war would be determined by the first success, resolved to make an attempt upon the island mona, from the occupation of which paullinus had been summoned by the general rebellion of britain, as before related. [ ] the usual deficiency of an unforeseen expedition appearing in the want of transport vessels, the ability and resolution of the general were exerted to supply this defect. a select body of auxiliaries, disencumbered of their baggage, who were well acquainted with the fords, and accustomed, after the manner of their country, to direct their horses and manage their arms while swimming, [ ] were ordered suddenly to plunge into the channel; by which movement, the enemy, who expected the arrival of a fleet, and a formal invasion by sea, were struck with terror and astonishment, conceiving nothing arduous or insuperable to troops who thus advanced to the attack. they were therefore induced to sue for peace, and make a surrender of the island; an event which threw lustre on the name of agricola, who, on the very entrance upon his province, had employed in toils and dangers that time which is usually devoted to ostentatious parade, and the compliments of office. nor was he tempted, in the pride of success, to term that an expedition or a victory; which was only bridling the vanquished; nor even to announce his success in laureate despatches. [ ] but this concealment of his glory served to augment it; since men were led to entertain a high idea of the grandeur of his future views, when such important services were passed over in silence. . well acquainted with the temper of the province, and taught by the experience of former governors how little proficiency had been made by arms, when success was followed by injuries, he next undertook to eradicate the causes of war. and beginning with himself, and those next to him, he first laid restrictions upon his own household, a task no less arduous to most governors than the administration of the province. he suffered no public business to pass through the hands of his slaves or freedmen. in admitting soldiers into regular service, [ ] to attendance about his person, he was not influenced by private favor, or the recommendation or solicitation of the centurions, but considered the best men as likely to prove the most faithful. he would know everything; but was content to let some things pass unnoticed. [ ] he could pardon small faults, and use severity to great ones; yet did not always punish, but was frequently satisfied with penitence. he chose rather to confer offices and employments upon such as would not offend, than to condemn those who had offended. the augmentation [ ] of tributes and contributions he mitigated by a just and equal assessment, abolishing those private exactions which were more grievous to be borne than the taxes themselves. for the inhabitants had been compelled in mockery to sit by their own locked-up granaries, to buy corn needlessly, and to sell it again at a stated price. long and difficult journeys had also been imposed upon them; for the several districts, instead of being allowed to supply the nearest winter quarters, were forced to carry their corn to remote and devious places; by which means, what was easy to be procured by all, was converted into an article of gain to a few. . by suppressing these abuses in the first year of his administration, he established a favorable idea of peace, which, through the negligence or oppression of his predecessors, had been no less dreaded than war. at the return of summer [ ] he assembled his army. on their march, he commended the regular and orderly, and restrained the stragglers; he marked out the encampments, [ ] and explored in person the estuaries and forests. at the same time he perpetually harassed the enemy by sudden incursions; and, after sufficiently alarming them, by an interval of forbearance, he held to their view the allurements of peace. by this management, many states, which till that time had asserted their independence, were now induced to lay aside their animosity, and to deliver hostages. these districts were surrounded with castles and forts, disposed with so much attention and judgment, that no part of britain, hitherto new to the roman arms, escaped unmolested. . the succeeding winter was employed in the most salutary measures. in order, by a taste of pleasures, to reclaim the natives from that rude and unsettled state which prompted them to war, and reconcile them to quiet and tranquillity, he incited them, by private instigations and public encouragements, to erect temples, courts of justice, and dwelling-houses. he bestowed commendations upon those who were prompt in complying with his intentions, and reprimanded such as were dilatory; thus promoting a spirit of emulation which had all the force of necessity. he was also attentive to provide a liberal education for the sons of their chieftains, preferring the natural genius of the britons to the attainments of the gauls; and his attempts were attended with such success, that they who lately disdained to make use of the roman language, were now ambitious of becoming eloquent. hence the roman habit began to be held in honor, and the toga was frequently worn. at length they gradually deviated into a taste for those luxuries which stimulate to vice; porticos, and baths, and the elegancies of the table; and this, from their inexperience, they termed politeness, whilst, in reality, it constituted a part of their slavery. . the military expeditions of the third year [ ] discovered new nations to the romans, and their ravages extended as far as the estuary of the tay. [ ] the enemies were thereby struck with such terror that they did not venture to molest the army though harassed by violent tempests; so that they had sufficient opportunity for the erection of fortresses. [ ] persons of experience remarked, that no general had ever shown greater skill in the choice of advantageous situations than agricola; for not one of his fortified posts was either taken by storm, or surrendered by capitulation. the garrisons made frequent sallies; for they were secured against a blockade by a year's provision in their stores. thus the winter passed without alarm, and each garrison proved sufficient for its own defence; while the enemy, who were generally accustomed to repair the losses of the summer by the successes of the winter, now equally unfortunate in both seasons, were baffled and driven to despair. in these transactions, agricola never attempted to arrogate to himself the glory of others; but always bore an impartial testimony to the meritorious actions of his officers, from the centurion to the commander of a legion. he was represented by some as rather harsh in reproof; as if the same disposition which made him affable to the deserving, had inclined him to austerity towards the worthless. but his anger left no relics behind; his silence and reserve were not to be dreaded; and he esteemed it more honorable to show marks of open displeasure, than to entertain secret hatred. . the fourth summer [ ] was spent in securing the country which had been overrun; and if the valor of the army and the glory of the roman name had permitted it, our conquests would have found a limit within britain itself. for the tides of the opposite seas, flowing very far up the estuaries of clota and bodotria, [ ] almost intersect the country; leaving only a narrow neck of land, which was then defended by a chain of forts. [ ] thus all the territory on this side was held in subjection, and the remaining enemies were removed, as it were, into another island. . in the fifth campaign, [ ] agricola, crossing over in the first ship, [ ] subdued, by frequent and successful engagements, several nations till then unknown; and stationed troops in that part of britain which is opposite to ireland, rather with a view to future advantage, than from any apprehension of danger from that quarter. for the possession of ireland, situated between britain and spain, and lying commodiously to the gallic sea, [ ] would have formed a very beneficial connection between the most powerful parts of the empire. this island is less than britain, but larger than those of our sea. [ ] its soil, climate, and the manners and dispositions of its inhabitants, are little different from those of britain. its ports and harbors are better known, from the concourse of merchants for the purposes of commerce. agricola had received into his protection one of its petty kings, who had been expelled by a domestic sedition; and detained him, under the semblance of friendship, till an occasion should offer of making use of him. i have frequently heard him assert, that a single legion and a few auxiliaries would be sufficient entirely to conquer ireland and keep it in subjection; and that such an event would also have contributed to restrain the britons, by awing them with the prospect of the roman arms all around them, and, as it were, banishing liberty from their sight. . in the summer which began the sixth year [ ] of agricola's administration, extending his views to the countries situated beyond bodotria, [ ] as a general insurrection of the remoter nations was apprehended, and the enemy's army rendered marching unsafe, he caused the harbors to be explored by his fleet, which, now first acting in aid of the land-forces gave the formidable spectacle of war at once pushed on by sea and land. the cavalry, infantry, and marines were frequently mingled in the same camp, and recounted with mutual pleasure their several exploits and adventures; comparing, in the boastful language of military men, the dark recesses of woods and mountains, with the horrors of waves and tempests; and the land and enemy subdued, with the conquered ocean. it was also discovered from the captives, that the britons had been struck with consternation at the view of the fleet, conceiving the last refuge of the vanquished to be cut off, now the secret retreats of their seas were disclosed. the various inhabitants of caledonia immediately took up arms, with great preparations, magnified, however, by report, as usual where the truth is unknown; and by beginning hostilities, and attacking our fortresses, they inspired terror as daring to act offensively; insomuch that some persons, disguising their timidity under the mask of prudence, were for instantly retreating on this side the firth, and relinquishing the country rather than waiting to be driven out. agricola, in the meantime, being informed that the enemy intended to bear down in several bodies, distributed his army into three divisions, that his inferiority of numbers, and ignorance of the country, might not give them an opportunity of surrounding him. . when this was known to the enemy, they suddenly changed their design; and making a general attack in the night upon the ninth legion, which was the weakest, [ ] in the confusion of sleep and consternation they slaughtered the sentinels, and burst through the intrenchments. they were now fighting within the camp, when agricola, who had received information of their march from his scouts, and followed close upon their track, gave orders for the swiftest of his horse and foot to charge the enemy's rear. presently the whole army raised a general shout; and the standards now glittered at the approach of day. the britons were distracted by opposite dangers; whilst the romans in the camp resumed their courage, and secure of safety, began to contend for glory. they now in their turns rushed forwards to the attack, and a furious engagement ensued in the gates of the camp; till by the emulous efforts of both roman armies, one to give assistance, the other to appear not to need it, the enemy was routed: and had not the woods and marshes sheltered the fugitives, that day would have terminated the war. . the soldiers, inspirited by the steadfastness which characterized and the fame which attended this victory, cried out that "nothing could resist their valor; now was the time to penetrate into the heart of caledonia, and in a continued series of engagements at length to discover the utmost limits of britain." those even who had before recommended caution and prudence, were now rendered rash and boastful by success. it is the hard condition of military command, that a share in prosperous events is claimed by all, but misfortunes are imputed to one alone. the britons meantime, attributing their defeat not to the superior bravery of their adversaries, but to chance, and the skill of the general, remitted nothing of their confidence; but proceeded to arm their youth, to send their wives and children to places of safety, and to ratify the confederacy of their several states by solemn assemblies and sacrifices. thus the parties separated with minds mutually irritated. . during the same summer, a cohort of usipii, [ ] which had been levied in germany, and sent over into britain, performed an extremely daring and memorable action. after murdering a centurion and some soldiers who had been incorporated with them for the purpose of instructing them in military discipline, they seized upon three light vessels, and compelled the masters to go on board with them. one of these, however, escaping to shore, they killed the other two upon suspicion; and before the affair was publicly known, they sailed away, as it were by miracle. they were presently driven at the mercy of the waves; and had frequent conflicts, with various success, with the britons, defending their property from plunder. [ ] at length they were reduced to such extremity of distress as to be obliged to feed upon each other; the weakest being first sacrificed, and then such as were taken by lot. in this manner having sailed round the island, they lost their ships through want of skill; and, being regarded as pirates, were intercepted, first by the suevi, then by the frisii. some of them, after being sold for slaves, by the change of masters were brought to the roman side of the river, [ ] and became notorious from the relation of their extraordinary adventures. [ ] . in the beginning of the next summer, [ ] agricola received a severe domestic wound in the loss of a son, about a year old. he bore this calamity, not with the ostentatious firmness which many have affected, nor yet with the tears and lamentations of feminine sorrow; and war was one of the remedies of his grief. having sent forwards his fleet to spread its ravages through various parts of the coast, in order to excite an extensive and dubious alarm, he marched with an army equipped for expedition, to which he had joined the bravest of the britons whose fidelity had been approved by a long allegiance, and arrived at the grampian hills, where the enemy was already encamped. [ ] for the britons, undismayed by the event of the former action, expecting revenge or slavery, and at length taught that the common danger was to be repelled by union alone, had assembled the strength of all their tribes by embassies and confederacies. upwards of thirty thousand men in arms were now descried; and the youth, together with those of a hale and vigorous age, renowned in war, and bearing their several honorary decorations, were still flocking in; when calgacus, [ ] the most distinguished for birth and valor among the chieftans, is said to have harangued the multitude, gathering round, and eager for battle, after the following manner:-- . "when i reflect on the causes of the war, and the circumstances of our situation, i feel a strong persuasion that our united efforts on the present day will prove the beginning of universal liberty to britain. for we are all undebased by slavery; and there is no land behind us, nor does even the sea afford a refuge, whilst the roman fleet hovers around. thus the use of arms, which is at all times honorable to the brave, now offers the only safety even to cowards. in all the battles which have yet been fought, with various success, against the romans, our countrymen may be deemed to have reposed their final hopes and resources in us: for we, the noblest sons of britain, and therefore stationed in its last recesses, far from the view of servile shores, have preserved even our eyes unpolluted by the contact of subjection. we, at the furthest limits both of land and liberty, have been defended to this day by the remoteness of our situation and of our fame. the extremity of britain is now disclosed; and whatever is unknown becomes an object of magnitude. but there is no nation beyond us; nothing but waves and rocks, and the still more hostile romans, whose arrogance we cannot escape by obsequiousness and submission. these plunderers of the world, after exhausting the land by their devastations, are rifling the ocean: stimulated by avarice, if their enemy be rich; by ambition, if poor; unsatiated by the east and by the west: the only people who behold wealth and indigence with equal avidity. to ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace. [ ] . "our children and relations are by the appointment of nature the dearest of all things to us. these are torn away by levies to serve in foreign lands. [ ] our wives and sisters, though they should escape the violation of hostile force, are polluted under names of friendship and hospitality. our estates and possessions are consumed in tributes; our grain in contributions. even our bodies are worn down amidst stripes and insults in clearing woods and draining marshes. wretches born to slavery are once bought, and afterwards maintained by their masters: britain every day buys, every day feeds, her own servitude. [ ] and as among domestic slaves every new comer serves for the scorn and derision of his fellows; so, in this ancient household of the world, we, as the newest and vilest, are sought out to destruction. for we have neither cultivated lands, nor mines, nor harbors, which can induce them to preserve us for our labors. the valor too and unsubmitting spirit of subjects only render them more obnoxious to their masters; while remoteness and secrecy of situation itself, in proportion as it conduces to security, tends to inspire suspicion. since then all lopes of mercy are vain, at length assume courage, both you to whom safety and you to whom glory is dear. the trinobantes, even under a female leader, had force enough to burn a colony, to storm camps, and, if success had not damped their vigor, would have been able entirely to throw off the yoke; and shall not we, untouched, unsubdued, and struggling not for the acquisition but the security of liberty, show at the very first onset what men caledonia has reserved for her defence? . "can you imagine that the romans are as brave in war as they are licentious in peace? acquiring renown from our discords and dissensions, they convert the faults of their enemies to the glory of their own army; an army compounded of the most different nations, which success alone has kept together, and which misfortune will as certainly dissipate. unless, indeed, you can suppose that gauls, and germans, and (i blush to say it) even britons, who, though they expend their blood to establish a foreign dominion, have been longer its foes than its subjects, will be retained by loyalty and affection! terror and dread alone are the weak bonds of attachment; which once broken, they who cease to fear will begin to hate. every incitement to victory is on our side. the romans have no wives to animate them; no parents to upbraid their flight. most of them have either no home, or a distant one. few in number, ignorant of the country, looking around in silent horror at woods, seas, and a heaven itself unknown to them, they are delivered by the gods, as it were imprisoned and bound, into our hands. be not terrified with an idle show, and the glitter of silver and gold, which can neither protect nor wound. in the very ranks of the enemy we shall find our own bands. the britons will acknowledge their own cause. the gauls will recollect their former liberty. the rest of the germans will desert them, as the usipii have lately done. nor is there anything formidable behind them: ungarrisoned forts; colonies of old men; municipal towns distempered and distracted between unjust masters and ill-obeying subjects. here is a general; here an army. there, tributes, mines, and all the train of punishments inflicted on slaves; which whether to bear eternally, or instantly to revenge, this field must determine. march then to battle, and think of your ancestors and your posterity." . they received this harangue with alacrity, and testified their applause after the barbarian manner, with songs, and yells, and dissonant shouts. and now the several divisions were in motion, the glittering of arms was beheld, while the most daring and impetuous were hurrying to the front, and the line of battle was forming; when agricola, although his soldiers were in high spirits, and scarcely to be kept within their intrenchments, kindled additional ardor by these words:-- "it is now the eighth year, my fellow-soldiers, in which, under the high auspices of the roman empire, by your valor and perseverance you have been conquering britain. in so many expeditions, in so many battles, whether you have been required to exert your courage against the enemy, or your patient labors against the very nature of the country, neither have i ever been dissatisfied with my soldiers, nor you with your general. in this mutual confidence, we have proceeded beyond the limits of former commanders and former armies; and are now become acquainted with the extremity of the island, not by uncertain rumor, but by actual possession with our arms and encampments. britain is discovered and subdued. how often on a march, when embarrassed with mountains, bogs and rivers, have i heard the bravest among you exclaim, 'when shall we descry the enemy? when shall we be led to the field of battle?' at length they are unharbored from their retreats; your wishes and your valor have now free scope; and every circumstance is equally propitious to the victor, and ruinous to the vanquished. for, the greater our glory in having marched over vast tracts of land, penetrated forests, and crossed arms of the sea, while advancing towards the foe, the greater will be our danger and difficulty if we should attempt a retreat. we are inferior to our enemies in knowledge of the country, and less able to command supplies of provision; but we have arms in our hands, and in these we have everything. for myself, it has long been my principle, that a retiring general or army is never safe. hot only, then, are we to reflect that death with honor is preferable to life with ignominy, but to remember that security and glory are seated in the same place. even to fall in this extremest verge of earth and of nature cannot be thought an inglorious fate. . "if unknown nations or untried troops were drawn up against you, i would exhort you from the example of other armies. at present, recollect your own honors, question your own eyes. these are they, who, the last year, attacking by surprise a single legion in the obscurity of the night, were put to flight by a shout: the greatest fugitives of all the britons, and therefore the longest survivors. as in penetrating woods and thickets the fiercest animals boldly rush on the hunters, while the weak and timorous fly at their very noise; so the bravest of the britons have long since fallen: the remaining number consists solely of the cowardly and spiritless; whom you see at length within your reach, not because they have stood their ground, but because they are overtaken. torpid with fear, their bodies are fixed and chained down in yonder field, which to you will speedily be the scene of a glorious and memorable victory. here bring your toils and services to a conclusion; close a struggle of fifty years [ ] with one great day; and convince your country-men, that to the army ought not to be imputed either the protraction of war, or the causes of rebellion." . whilst agricola was yet speaking, the ardor of the soldiers declared itself; and as soon as he had finished, they burst forth into cheerful acclamations, and instantly flew to arms. thus eager and impetuous, he formed them so that the centre was occupied by the auxiliary infantry, in number eight thousand, and three thousand horse were spread in the wings. the legions were stationed in the rear, before the intrenchments; a disposition which would render the victory signally glorious, if it were obtained without the expense of roman blood; and would ensure support if the rest of the army were repulsed. the british troops, for the greater display of their numbers, and more formidable appearance, were ranged upon the rising grounds, so that the first line stood upon the plain, the rest, as if linked together, rose above one another upon the ascent. the charioteers [ ] and horsemen filled the middle of the field with their tumult and careering. then agricola, fearing from the superior number of the enemy lest he should be obliged to fight as well on his flanks as in front, extended his ranks; and although this rendered his line of battle less firm, and several of his officers advised him to bring up the legions, yet, filled with hope, and resolute in danger, he dismissed his horse and took his station on foot before the colors. . at first the action was carried on at a distance. the britons, armed with long swords and short targets, [ ] with steadiness and dexterity avoided or struck down our missile weapons, and at the same time poured in a torrent of their own. agricola then encouraged three batavian and two tungrian [ ] cohorts to fall in and come to close quarters; a method of fighting familiar to these veteran soldiers, but embarrassing to the enemy from the nature of their armor; for the enormous british swords, blunt at the point, are unfit for close grappling, and engaging in a confined space. when the batavians; therefore, began to redouble their blows, to strike with the bosses of their shields, and mangle the faces of the enemy; and, bearing down all those who resisted them on the plain, were advancing their lines up the ascent; the other cohorts, fired with ardor and emulation, joined in the charge, and overthrew all who came in their way: and so great was their impetuosity in the pursuit of victory, that they left many of their foes half dead or unhurt behind them. in the meantime the troops of cavalry took to flight, and the armed chariots mingled in the engagement of the infantry; but although their first shock occasioned some consternation, they were soon entangled among the close ranks of the cohorts, and the inequalities of the ground. not the least appearance was left of an engagement of cavalry; since the men, long keeping their ground with difficulty, were forced along with the bodies of the horses; and frequently, straggling chariots, and affrighted horses without their riders, flying variously as terror impelled them, rushed obliquely athwart or directly through the lines. [ ] . those of the britons who, yet disengaged from the fight, sat on the summits of the hills, and looked with careless contempt on the smallness of our numbers, now began gradually to descend; and would have fallen on the rear of the conquering troops, had not agricola, apprehending this very event, opposed four reserved squadron of horse to their attack, which, the more furiously they had advanced, drove them back with the greater celerity. their project was thus turned against themselves; and the squadrons were ordered to wheel from the front of the battle and fall upon the enemy's rear. a striking and hideous spectacle now appeared on the plain: some pursuing; some striking: some making prisoners, whom they slaughtered as others came in their way. now, as their several dispositions prompted, crowds of armed britons fled before inferior numbers, or a few, even unarmed, rushed upon their foes, and offered themselves to a voluntary death. arms, and carcasses, and mangled limbs, were promiscuously strewed, and the field was dyed in blood. even among the vanquished were seen instances of rage and valor. when the fugitives approached the woods, they collected, and surrounded the foremost of the pursuers, advancing incautiously, and unacquainted with the country; and had not agricola, who was everywhere present, caused some strong and lightly-equipped cohorts to encompass the ground, while part of the cavalry dismounted made way through the thickets, and part on horseback scoured the open woods, some disaster would have proceeded from the excess of confidence. but when the enemy saw their pursuers again formed in compact order, they renewed their flight, not in bodies as before, or waiting for their companions, but scattered and mutually avoiding each other; and thus took their way to the most distant and devious retreats. night and satiety of slaughter put an end to the pursuit. of the enemy ten thousand were slain: on our part three hundred and sixty fell; among whom was aulus atticus, the praefect of a cohort, who, by his juvenile ardor, and the fire of his horse, was borne into the midst of the enemy. . success and plunder contributed to render the night joyful to the victors; whilst the britons, wandering and forlorn, amid the promiscuous lamentations of men and women, were dragging along the wounded; calling out to the unhurt; abandoning their habitations, and in the rage of despair setting them on fire; choosing places of concealment, and then deserting them; consulting together, and then separating. sometimes, on beholding the dear pledges of kindred and affection, they were melted into tenderness, or more frequently roused into fury; insomuch that several, according to authentic information, instigated by a savage compassion, laid violent hands upon their own wives and children. on the succeeding day, a vast silence all around, desolate hills, the distant smoke of burning houses, and not a living soul descried by the scouts, displayed more amply the face of victory. after parties had been detached to all quarters without discovering any certain tracks of the enemy's flight, or any bodies of them still in arms, as the lateness of the season rendered it impracticable to spread the war through the country, agricola led his army to the confines of the horesti. [ ] having received hostages from this people, he ordered the commander of the fleet to sail round the island; for which expedition he was furnished with sufficient force, and preceded by the terror of the roman name. pie himself then led back the cavalry and infantry, marching slowly, that he might impress a deeper awe on the newly conquered nations; and at length distributed his troops into their winter-quarters. the fleet, about the same time, with prosperous gales and renown, entered the trutulensian [ ] harbor, whence, coasting all the hither shore of britain, it returned entire to its former station. [ ] . the account of these transactions, although unadorned with the pomp of words in the letters of agricola, was received by domitian, as was customary with that prince, with outward expressions of joy, but inward anxiety. he was conscious that his late mock-triumph over germany, [ ] in which he had exhibited purchased slaves, whose habits and hair [ ] were contrived to give them the resemblance of captives, was a subject of derision; whereas here, a real and important victory, in which so many thousands of the enemy were slain, was celebrated with universal applause. his greatest dread was that the name of a private man should be exalted above that of the prince. in vain had he silenced the eloquence of the forum, and cast a shade upon all civil honors, if military glory were still in possession of another. other accomplishments might more easily be connived at, but the talents of a great general were truly imperial. tortured with such anxious thoughts, and brooding over them in secret, [ ] a certain indication of some malignant intention, he judged it most prudent for the present to suspend his rancor, tilt the first burst of glory and the affections of the army should remit: for agricola still possessed the command in britain. . he therefore caused the senate to decree him triumphal ornaments, [ ]--a statue crowned with laurel, and all the other honors which are substituted for a real triumph, together with a profusion of complimentary expressions; and also directed an expectation to be raised that the province of syria, vacant by the death of atilius rufus, a consular man, and usually reserved for persons of the greatest distinction, was designed for agricola. it was commonly believed that one of the freedmen, who were employed in confidential services, was despatched with the instrument appointing agricola to the government of syria, with orders to deliver it if he should be still in britain; but that this messenger, meeting agricola in the straits, [ ] returned directly to domitian without so much as accosting him. [ ] whether this was really the fact, or only a fiction founded on the genius and character of the prince, is uncertain. agricola, in the meantime, had delivered the province, in peace and security, to his successor; [ ] and lest his entry into the city should be rendered too conspicuous by the concourse and acclamations of the people, he declined the salutation of his friends by arriving in the night; and went by night, as he was commanded, to the palace. there, after being received with a slight embrace, but not a word spoken, he was mingled with the servile throng. in this situation, he endeavored to soften the glare of military reputation, which is offensive to those who themselves live in indolence, by the practice of virtues of a different cast. he resigned himself to ease and tranquillity, was modest in his garb and equipage, affable in conversation, and in public was only accompanied by one or two of his friends; insomuch that the many, who are accustomed to form their ideas of great men from their retinue and figure, when they beheld agricola, were apt to call in question his renown: few could interpret his conduct. . he was frequently, during that period, accused in his absence before domitian, and in his absence also acquitted. the source of his danger was not any criminal action, nor the complaint of any injured person; but a prince hostile to virtue, and his own high reputation, and the worst kind of enemies, eulogists. [ ] for the situation of public affairs which ensued was such as would not permit the name of agricola to rest in silence: so many armies in moesia, dacia, germany, and pannonia lost through the temerity or cowardice of their generals; [ ] so many men of military character, with numerous cohorts, defeated and taken prisoners; whilst a dubious contest was maintained, not for the boundaries, of the empire, and the banks of the bordering rivers, [ ] but for the winter-quarters of the legions, and the possession of our territories. in this state of things, when loss succeeded loss, and every year was signalized by disasters and slaughters, the public voice loudly demanded agricola for general: every one comparing his vigor, firmness, and experience in war, with the indolence and pusillanimity of the others. it is certain that the ears of domitian himself were assailed by such discourses, while the best of his freedmen pressed him to the choice through motives of fidelity and affection, and the worst through envy and malignity, emotions to which he was of himself sufficiently prone. thus agricola, as well by his own virtues as the vices of others, was urged on precipitously to glory. . the year now arrived in which the proconsulate of asia or africa must fall by lot upon agricola; [ ] and as civica had lately been put to death, agricola was not unprovided with a lesson, nor domitian with an example. [ ] some persons, acquainted with the secret inclinations of the emperor, came to agricola, and inquired whether he intended to go to his province; and first, somewhat distantly, began to commend a life of leisure and tranquillity; then offered their services in procuring him to be excused from the office; and at length, throwing off all disguise, after using arguments both to persuade and intimidate him, compelled him to accompany them to domitian. the emperor, prepared to dissemble, and assuming an air of stateliness, received his petition for excuse, and suffered himself to be formally thanked [ ] for granting it, without blushing at so invidious a favor. he did not, however, bestow on agricola the salary [ ] usually offered to a proconsul, and which he himself had granted to others; either taking offence that it was not requested, or feeling a consciousness that it would seem a bribe for what he had in reality extorted by his authority. it is a principle of human nature to hate those whom we have injured; [ ] and domitian was constitutionally inclined to anger, which was the more difficult to be averted, in proportion as it was the more disguised. yet he was softened by the temper and prudence of agricola; who did not think it necessary, by a contumacious spirit, or a vain ostentation of liberty, to challenge fame or urge his fate. [ ] let those be apprised, who are accustomed to admire every opposition to control, that even under a bad prince men may be truly great; that submission and modesty, if accompanied with vigor and industry, will elevate a character to a height of public esteem equal to that which many, through abrupt and dangerous paths, have attained, without benefit to their country, by an ambitious death. . his decease was a severe affliction to his family, a grief to his friends, and a subject of regret even to foreigners, and those who had no personal knowledge of him. [ ] the common people too, and the class who little interest themselves about public concerns, were frequent in their inquiries at his house during his sickness, and made him the subject of conversation at the forum and in private circles; nor did any person either rejoice at the news of his death, or speedily forget it. their commiseration was aggravated by a prevailing report that he was taken off by poison. i cannot venture to affirm anything certain of this matter; [ ] yet, during the whole course of his illness, the principal of the imperial freedmen and the most confidential of the physicians was sent much more frequently than was customary with a court whose visits were chiefly paid by messages; whether that was done out of real solicitude, or for the purposes of state inquisition. on the day of his decease, it is certain that accounts of his approaching dissolution were every instant transmitted to the emperor by couriers stationed for the purpose; and no one believed that the information, which so much pains was taken to accelerate, could be received with regret. he put on, however, in his countenance and demeanor, the semblance of grief: for he was now secured from an object of hatred, and could more easily conceal his joy than his fear. it was well known that on reading the will, in which he was nominated co-heir [ ] with the excellent wife and most dutiful daughter of agricola, he expressed great satisfaction, as if it had been a voluntary testimony of honor and esteem: so blind and corrupt had his mind been rendered by continual adulation, that he was ignorant none but a bad prince could be nominated heir to a good father. . agricola was born in the ides of june, during the third consulate of caius caesar; [ ] he died in his fifty-sixth year, on the tenth of the calends of september, when collega and priscus were consuls. [ ] posterity may wish to form an idea of his person. his figure was comely rather than majestic. in his countenance there was nothing to inspire awe; its character was gracious and engaging. you would readily have believed him a good man, and willingly a great one. and indeed, although he was snatched away in the midst of a vigorous age, yet if his life be measured by his glory, it was a period of the greatest extent. for after the full enjoyment of all that is truly good, which is found in virtuous pursuits alone, decorated with consular and triumphal ornaments, what more could fortune contribute to his elevation? immoderate wealth did not fall to his share, yet he possessed a decent affluence. [ ] his wife and daughter surviving, his dignity unimpaired, his reputation flourishing, and his kindred and friends yet in safety, it may even be thought an additional felicity that he was thus withdrawn from impending evils. for, as we have heard him express his wishes of continuing to the dawn of the present auspicious day, and beholding trajan in the imperial seat,--wishes in which he formed a certain presage of the event; so it is a great consolation, that by his untimely end he escaped that latter period, in which domitian, not by intervals and remissions, but by a continued, and, as it were, a single act, aimed at the destruction of the commonwealth. [ ] . agricola did not behold the senate-house besieged, and the senators enclosed by a circle of arms; [ ] and in one havoc the massacre of so many consular men, the flight and banishment of so many honorable women. as yet carus metius [ ] was distinguished only by a single victory; the counsels of messalinus [ ] resounded only through the albanian citadel; [ ] and massa baebius [ ] was himself among the accused. soon after, our own hands [ ] dragged helvidius [ ] to prison; ourselves were tortured with the spectacle of mauricus and rusticus, [ ] and sprinkled with the innocent blood of senecio. [ ] even nero withdrew his eyes from the cruelties he commanded. under domitian, it was the principal part of our miseries to behold and to be beheld: when our sighs were registered; and that stern countenance, with its settled redness, [ ] his defence against shame, was employed in noting the pallid horror of so many spectators. happy, o agricola! not only in the splendor of your life, but in the seasonableness of your death. with resignation and cheerfulness, from the testimony of those who were present in your last moments, did you meet your fate, as if striving to the utmost of your power to make the emperor appear guiltless. but to myself and your daughter, besides the anguish of losing a parent, the aggravating affliction remains, that it was not our lot to watch over your sick-bed, to support you when languishing, and to satiate ourselves with beholding and embracing you. with what attention should we have received your last instructions, and engraven them on our hearts! this is our sorrow; this is our wound: to us you were lost four years before by a tedious absence. everything, doubtless, o best of parents! was administered for your comfort and honor, while a most affectionate wife sat beside you; yet fewer tears were shed upon your bier, and in the last light which your eyes beheld, something was still wanting. . if there be any habitation for the shades of the virtuous; if, as philosophers suppose, exalted souls do not perish with the body; may you repose in peace, and call us, your household, from vain regret and feminine lamentations, to the contemplation of your virtues, which allow no place for mourning or complaining! let us rather adorn your memory by our admiration, by our short-lived praises, and, as far as our natures will permit, by an imitation of your example. this is truly to honor the dead; this is the piety of every near relation. i would also recommend it to the wife and daughter of this great man, to show their veneration of a husband's and a father's memory by revolving his actions and words in their breasts, and endeavoring to retain an idea of the form and features of his mind, rather than of his person. not that i would reject those resemblances of the human figure which are engraven in brass or marbles but as their originals are frail and perishable, so likewise are they: while the form of the mind is eternal, and not to be retained or expressed by any foreign matter, or the artist's skill, but by the manners of the survivors. whatever in agricola was the object of our love, of our admiration, remains, and will remain in the minds of men, transmitted in the records of fame, through an eternity of years. for, while many great personages of antiquity will be involved in a common oblivion with the mean and inglorious, agricola shall survive, represented and consigned to future ages. footnotes a treatise on the situation, manners and inhabitants of germany. [ ] this treatise was written in the year of rome , a.d. ; during the fourth consulate of the emperor nerva, and the third of trajan. [ ] the germany here meant is that beyond the rhine. the germania cisrhenana, divided into the upper and lower, was a part of gallia belgica. [ ] rhaetia comprehended the country of the grisons, with part of suabia and bavaria. [ ] lower hungary, and part of austria. [ ] the carpathian mountains in upper hungary. [ ] "broad promontories." latos sinus. sinus strictly signifies "a bending," especially inwards. hence it is applied to a gulf, or bay, of the sea. and hence, again, by metonymy, to that projecting part of the land, whereby the gulf is formed; and still further to any promontory or peninsula. it is in this latter force it is here used;--and refers especially to the danish peninsula. see livy xxvii, , xxxviii. ; servius on virgil, aen. xi. . [ ] scandinavia and finland, of which the romans had a very slight knowledge, were supposed to be islands. [ ] the mountains of the grisons. that in which the rhine rises is at present called vogelberg. [ ] now called schwartzwald, or the black forest. the name danubius was given to that portion of the river which is included between its source and vindobona (vienna); throughout the rest of its course it was called ister. [ ] _donec erumpat_. the term _erumpat_ is most correctly and graphically employed; for the danube discharges its waters into the euxine with so great force, that its course may be distinctly traced for miles out to sea. [ ] there are now but five. [ ] the ancient writers called all nations _indigenae_ (_i.e._ inde geniti), or _autochthones_, "sprung from the soil," of whose origin they were ignorant. [ ] it is, however, well established that the ancestors of the germans migrated by land from asia. tacitus here falls into a very common kind of error, in assuming a local fact (viz. the manner in which migrations took place in the basin of the mediterranean) to be the expression of a general law.--ed. [ ] drusus, father of the emperor claudius, was the first roman general who navigated the german ocean. the difficulties and dangers which germanicus met with from the storms of this sea are related in the annals, ii. . [ ] all barbarous nations, in all ages, have applied verse to the same use, as is still found to be the case among the north american indians. charlemagne, as we are told by eginhart, "wrote out and committed to memory barbarous verses of great antiquity, in which the actions and wars of ancient kings were recorded." [ ] the learned leibnitz supposes this tuisto to have been the teut or teutates so famous throughout gaul and spain, who was a celto-scythian king or hero, and subdued and civilized a great part of europe and asia. various other conjectures have been formed concerning him and his son mannus, but most of them extremely vague and improbable. among the rest, it has been thought that in mannus and his three sons an obscure tradition is preserved of adam, and his sons cain, abel, and seth; or of noah, and his sons shem, ham, and japhet. [ ] conringius interprets the names of the sons of mannus into ingäff, istäf, and hermin. [ ] pliny, iv. , embraces a middle opinion between these, and mentions five capital tribes. the vindili, to whom belong the burgundiones, varini, carini, and guttones; the ingaevones, including the cimbri, teutoni, and chauci; the istaevones, near the rhine, part of whom are the midland cimbri; the hermiones, containing the suevi, hermunduri, catti, and cherusci; and the peucini and bastarnae, bordering upon the dacians. [ ] the marsi appear to have occupied various portions of the northwest part of germany at various times. in the time of tiberius (a.d. ) they sustained a great slaughter from the forces of germanicus, who ravaged their country for fifty miles with fire and sword, sparing neither age nor sex, neither things profane nor sacred. (see ann. i. .) at this period they were occupying the country in the neighborhood of the rura (ruhr), a tributary of the rhine. probably this slaughter was the destruction of them as a separate people; and by the time that trajan succeeded to the imperial power they seem to have been blotted out from amongst the germanic tribes. hence their name will not be found in the following account of germany. [ ] these people are mentioned by strabo, vii. , . their locality is not very easy to determine. [ ] see note, c. . [ ] the vandals are said to have derived their name from the german word _wendeln_, "to wander." they began to be troublesome to the romans a.d. , in the reigns of aurelius and verus. in a.d. they made themselves masters of spain in conjunction with the alans and suevi, and received for their share what from them was termed vandalusia (andalusia). in a.d. they crossed into africa under genseric, who not only made himself master of byzacium, gaetulia, and part of numidia, but also crossed over into italy, a.d. , and plundered rome. after the death of genseric the vandal power declined. [ ] that is, those of the marsi, gambrivii, etc. those of ingaevones, istaevones, and hermiones, were not so much names of the people, as terms expressing their situation. for, according to the most learned germans, the ingaevones are _die inwohner_, those dwelling inwards, towards the sea; the istaevones, _die westwohner_, the inhabitants of the western parts: and the hermiones, _die herumwohner_, the midland inhabitants. [ ] it is however found in an inscription so far back as the year of rome , before christ , recording the victory of claudius marcellus over the galli insubres and their allies the germans, at clastidium, now chiastezzo in the milanese. [ ] this is illustrated by a passage in caesar, bell. gall. ii. , where, after mentioning that several of the belgae were descended from the germans who had formerly crossed the rhine and expelled the gauls, he says, "the first of these emigrants were the condrusii, eburones, caeresi and paemani, who were called by the common name of germans." the derivation of german is _wehr mann_, a warrior, or man of war. this appellation was first used by the victorious cisrhenane tribes, but not by the whole transrhenane nation, till they gradually adopted it, as equally due to them on account of their military reputation. the tungri were formerly a people of great name, the relics of which still exist in the extent of the district now termed the ancient diocese of tongres. [ ] under this name tacitus speaks of some german deity, whose attributes corresponded in the main with those of the greek and roman hercules. what he was called by the germans is a matter of doubt.--_white_. [ ] _quem barditum vocant_. the word _barditus_ is of gallic origin, being derived from _bardi_, "bards;" it being a custom with the gauls for bards to accompany the army, and celebrate the heroic deeds of their great warriors; so that _barditum_ would thus signify "the fulfilment of the bard's office." hence it is clear that _barditum_ could not be used correctly here, inasmuch as amongst the germans not any particular, appointed, body of men, but the whole army chanted forth the war-song. some editions have _baritum_, which is said to be derived from the german word _beren_, or _baeren_, "to shout;" and hence it is translated in some dictionaries as, "the german war-song." from the following passage extracted from facciolati, it would seem, however, that german critics repudiate this idea: "de _barito_ clamore bellico, seu, ut quaedam habent exemplaria, _bardito_, nihil audiuimus nunc in germaniâ: nisi hoc dixerimus, quòd _bracht_, vel _brecht_, milites germani appellare consueverunt; concursum videlicet certantium, et clamorem ad pugnam descendentium; quem _bar, bar, bar_, sonuisse nonnulli affirmant."--(andr. althameri, schol. in c. tacit de germanis.) ritter, himself a german, affirms that _baritus_ is a reading worth nothing; and that _barritus_ was not the name of the ancient german war-song, but of the shout raised by the romans in later ages when on the point of engaging; and that it was derived "a clamore barrorem, _i.e._ elephantorum." the same learned editor considers that the words "quem barditum vocant" have been originally the marginal annotation of some unsound scholar, and have been incorporated by some transcriber into the text of his ms. copy, whence the error has spread. he therefore encloses them between brackets, to show that, in his judgment, they are not the genuine production of the pen of tacitus.--_white_. [ ] a very curious coincidence with the ancient german opinion concerning the prophetic nature of the war-cry or song, appears in the following passage of the life of sir ewen cameron, in "pennant's tour," , append, p. . at the battle of killicrankie, just before the fight began, "he (sir ewen) commanded such of the camerons as were posted near him to make a great shout, which being seconded by those who stood on the right and left, ran quickly through the whole army, and was returned by the enemy. but the noise of the muskets and cannon, with the echoing of the hills, made the highlanders fancy that their shouts were much louder and brisker than those of the enemy, and lochiel cried out, 'gentlemen, take courage, the day is ours: i am the oldest commander in the army, and have always observed something ominous and fatal in such a dull, hollow and feeble noise as the enemy made in their shout, which prognosticates that they are all doomed to die by our hands this night; whereas ours was brisk, lively and strong, and shows we have vigor and courage.' these words, spreading quickly through the army, animated the troops in a strange manner. the event justified the prediction; the highlanders obtained a complete victory." [ ] now asburg in the county of meurs. [ ] the greeks, by means of their colony at marseilles, introduced their letters into gaul, and the old gallic coins have many greek characters in their inscriptions. the helvetians also, as we are informed by caesar, used greek letters. thence they might easily pass by means of commercial intercourse to the neighboring germans. count marsili and others have found monuments with greek inscriptions in germany, but not of so early an age. [ ] the large bodies of the germans are elsewhere taken notice of by tacitus, and also by other authors. it would appear as if most of them were at that time at least six feet high. they are still accounted some of the tallest people in europe. [ ] bavaria and austria. [ ] the greater degree of cold when the country was overspread with 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. [ ] 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. [ ] mines both of gold and silver have since been discovered in germany; the former, indeed, inconsiderable; but the latter, valuable. [ ] as vice and corruption advanced among the romans, their money became debased and adulterated. thus pliny, xxxiii. , relates, that "livius drusus during his tribuneship, mixed an eighth part of brass with the silver coin;" and ibid. , "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. [ ] 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." [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] it appears, however, from tacitus's annals, ii. , that the length of these spears rendered them unmanageable in an engagement among trees and bushes. [ ] 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. [ ] _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_. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] casques (_cassis_) are of metal; helmets (_galea_) of leather--_isidorus_. [ ] this mode of fighting is admirably described by caesar. "the germans engaged after the following manner:--there were , 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. . [ ] 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. . the warriors were summoned by the _heribannum_, or army-edict; whence is derived the french arrière-ban. [ ] a wedge is described by vegetius (iii. ,) 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. [ ] it was also considered as the height of injury to charge a person with this unjustly. thus, by the _salic_ law, tit. xxxiii, , a fine of denarii (about _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." [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] _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. , 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_. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] she was afterwards taken prisoner by rutilius gallicus. statius, in his sylvae, i. , refers to this event. tacitus has more concerning her in his history, iv. . [ ] 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, , part ii. p. . [ ] 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. , dion. lxiii, ann. xiv. .) there is no contradiction in the present passage to that found at hist. iv. , 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_. [ ] 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. ), 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_. [ ] "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. . "et quibus immitis placatur sanguine diro teutates, horrensque feris altaribus hesus." teutates is mercury, hesus, mars. so also at iii. , &c. "lucus erat longo nunquam violatus ab aevo. ... barbara ritu sacra deum, structae diris altaribus arae, omnis et humanis lustrata cruoribus arbor." [ ] 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_. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] tacitus elsewhere speaks of temples of german divinities (e.g. ; templum nerthae, ann. i. ; templum tanfanae); but a consecrated grove, or any other sacred place, was called templum by the romans. [ ] 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, ) 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." [ ] 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. ) 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. [ ] montesquieu finds in this custom the origin of the duel, and of knight-errantry. [ ] this remarkable passage, so curious in political history, is commented on by montesquieu, in his spirit of laws. vi . 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. . [ ] 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. .) the vestiges of this method of computation still appear in the english language, in the terms se'nnight and fort'night. [ ] _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_. [ ] 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. [ ] the speech of civilis was received with this expression of applause. tacitus, hist. iv. . [ ] gibbeted alive. heavy penalties were denounced against those who should take them down, alive or dead. these are particularized in the salic law. [ ] 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. ) 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. [ ] these were so rare and so infamous among the germans, that barely calling a person by a name significant of them was severely punished. [ ] incestuous people were buried alive in bogs in scotland. pennant's tour in scotland, ; part i. p. ; and part ii. p. . [ ] 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. [ ] 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 , pp. , . [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] even judges were armed on the seat of justice. the romans, on the contrary, never went armed but when actually engaged in military service. [ ] 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. . [ ] 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. ) says, "a native of germany brandishes, while yet a boy, his slender javelin." and again (in his book on anger, i. ), "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?" [ ] 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. [ ] 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. . [ ] hence montesquieu (spirit of laws, xxx, ) 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. [ ] caesar, with less precision, says, "the germans pass their whole lives in hunting and military exercises." (bell. gall, vi. .) 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. [ ] this apparent contradiction is, however, perfectly agreeable to the principles of human nature. among people governed by impulse more than reason, everything is in the extreme: war and peace; motion and rest; love and hatred; none are pursued with moderation. [ ] these are the rudiments of tributes; though the contributions here spoken of were voluntary, and without compulsion. the origin of exchequers is pointed out above, where "part of the mulct" is said to be "paid to the king or state." taxation was taught the germans by the romans, who levied taxes upon them. [ ] so, in after-times, when tributes were customary, oxen or cows were required annually from the saxons by the french kings clothaire i. and pepin. (see eccard, tom. i. pp. , .) honey, corn, and other products of the earth, were likewise received in tribute. (ibid. p. .) [ ] for the expenses of war, and other necessities of state, and particularly the public entertainments. hence, besides the steora, or annual tribute, the osterstuopha, or easter cup, previous to the public assembly of the field of march, was paid to the french kings. [ ] this was a dangerous lesson, and in the end proved ruinous to the roman empire. herodian says of the germans in his time, "they are chiefly to be prevailed upon by bribes; being fond of money, and continually selling peace to the romans for gold."--lib. vi. . [ ] this custom was of long duration; for there is not the mention of a single city in ammianus marcellinus, who wrote on the wars of the romans in germany. the names of places in ptolemy (ii. ) are not, therefore, those of cities, but of scattered villages. the germans had not even what we should call towns, notwithstanding caesar asserts the contrary. [ ] the space surrounding the house, and fenced in by hedges, was that celebrated salic land, which descended to the male line, exclusively of the female. [ ] the danger of fire was particularly urgent in time of war; for, as caesar informs us, these people were acquainted with a method of throwing red-hot clay bullets from slings, and burning javelins, on the thatch of houses. (bell. gall. v. .) [ ] thus likewise mela (ii. ), concerning the sarmatians: "on account of the length and severity of their winters, they dwell under ground, either in natural or artificial caverns." at the time that germany was laid waste by a forty years' war, kircher saw many of the natives who, with their flocks, herds, and other possessions, took refuge in the caverns of the highest mountains. for many other curious particulars concerning these and other subterranean caves, see his mundus subterraneus, viii. , p. . in hungary, at this day, corn is commonly stored in subterranean chambers. [ ] near newbottle, the seat of the marquis of lothian, are some subterraneous apartments and passages cut out of the live rock, which had probably served for the same purposes of winter-retreats and granaries as those dug by the ancient germans. pennant's tour in , to, p. . [ ] this was a kind of mantle of a square form, called also _rheno_. thus caesar (bell. gall. vi. ): "they use skins for clothing, or the short rhenones, and leave the greatest part of the body naked." isidore (xix. ) describes the rhenones as "garments covering the shoulders and breast, as low as the navel, so rough and shaggy that they are impenetrable to rain." mela (iii. ), speaking of the germans, says, "the men are clothed only with the sagum, or the bark of trees, even in the depth of winter." [ ] all savages are fond of variety of colors; hence the germans spotted their furs with the skins of other animals, of which those here mentioned were probably of the seal kind. this practice is still continued with regard to the ermine, which is spotted with black lamb's-skin. [ ] the northern sea, and frozen ocean. [ ] pliny testifies the same thing; and adds, that "the women beyond the rhine are not acquainted with any more elegant kind of clothing."--xix. . [ ] not that rich and costly purple in which the roman nobility shone, but some ordinary material, such as the _vaccinium_, which pliny says was used by the gauls as a purple dye for the garments of the slaves, (xvi. .) [ ] the chastity of the germans, and their strict regard to the laws of marriage, are witnessed by all their ancient codes of law. the purity of their manners in this respect afforded a striking contrast to the licentiousness of the romans in the decline of the empire, and is exhibited in this light by salvian, in his treatise de gubernatione dei, lib. vii. [ ] thus we find in caesar (bell. gall. i. ) that ariovistus had two wives. others had more. this indulgence proved more difficult to abolish, as it was considered as a mark of opulence, and an appendage of nobility. [ ] the germans purchased their wives, as appears from the following clauses in the saxon law concerning marriage: "a person who espouses a wife shall pay to her parents solidi (about _l._ sterling); but if the marriage be without the consent of the parents, the damsel, however, consenting, he shall pay solidi. if neither the parents nor damsel consent, that is, if she be carried off by violence, he shall pay solidi to the parents, and to the damsel, and restore her to her parents." [ ] thus in the saxon law, concerning dowries, it is said: "the ostfalii and angrarii determine, that if a woman have male issue, she is to possess the dower she received in marriage during her life, and transmit it to her sons." [ ] _ergo septae pudicitiâ agunt_. some editions have _septâ pudicitiâ_. this would imply, however, rather the result of the care and watchfulness of their husbands; whereas it seems the object of tacitus to show that this their chastity was the effect of innate virtue, and this is rather expressed by _septae pudicitiâ_, which is the reading of the arundelian ms. [ ] seneca speaks with great force and warmth on this subject: "nothing is so destructive to morals as loitering at public entertainments; for vice more easily insinuates itself into the heart when softened by pleasure. what shall i say! i return from them more covetous ambitious, and luxurious."--epist. vii. [ ] the germans had a great regard for the hair, and looked upon cutting it off as a heavy disgrace; so that this was made a punishment for certain crimes, and was resented as an injury if practised upon an innocent person. [ ] from an epistle of st. boniface, archbishop of mentz, to ethelbald, king of england, we learn that among the saxons the women themselves inflicted the punishment for violated chastity; "in ancient saxony (now westphalia), if a virgin pollute her father's house, or a married woman prove false to her vows, sometimes she is forced to put an end to her own life by the halter, and over the ashes of her burned body her seducer is hanged: sometimes a troop of females assembling lead her through the circumjacent villages, lacerating her body, stripped to the girdle, with rods and knives; and thus, bloody and full of minute wounds, she is continually met by new tormenters, who in their zeal for chastity do not quit her till she is dead, or scarcely alive, in order to inspire a dread of such offences." see michael alford's annales ecclesiae anglo-saxon., and eccard. [ ] a passage in valerius maximus renders it probable that the cimbrian states were of this number: "the wives of the teutones besought marius, after his victory, that he would deliver them as a present to the vestal virgins; affirming that they should henceforth, equally with themselves, abstain from the embraces of the other sex. this request not being granted, they all strangled themselves the ensuing night."--lib. vi. . . [ ] among the heruli, the wife was expected to hang herself at once at the grave of her husband, if she would not live in perpetual infamy. [ ] this expression may signify as well the murder of young children, as the procurement of abortion; both which crimes were severely punished by the german laws. [ ] _quemquam ex agnatis_. by _agnati_ generally in roman law were meant relations by the father's side; here it signifies children born after there was already an heir to the name and property of the father. [ ] justin has a similar thought concerning the scythians: "justice is cultivated by the dispositions of the people, not by the laws." (ii. .) how inefficacious the good laws here alluded to by tacitus were in preventing enormities among the romans, appears from the frequent complaints of the senators, and particularly of minucius felix; "i behold you, exposing your babes to the wild beasts and birds, or strangling the unhappy wretches with your own hands. some of you, by means of drugs, extinguish the newly-formed man within your bowels, and thus commit parricide on your offspring before you bring them into the world." (octavius, c. .) so familiar was this practice grown at rome, that the virtuous pliny apologises for it, alleging that "the great fertility of some women may require such a licence."--xxix. , . [ ] _nudi ac sordidi_ does not mean "in nakedness and filth," as most translators have supposed. personal filth is inconsistent with the daily practice of bathing mentioned c. ; and _nudus_ does not necessarily imply absolute nakedness (see note , p. ). [ ] this age appears at first to have been twelve years; for then a youth became liable to the penalties of law. thus in the salic law it is said, "if a child under twelve commit a fault, 'fred,' or a mulct, shall not be required of him." afterwards the term was fifteen years of age. thus in the ripuary law, "a child under fifteen shall not be responsible." again, "if a man die, or be killed, and leave a son; before he have completed his fifteenth year, he shall neither prosecute a cause, nor be called upon to answer in a suit: but at this term, he must either answer himself, or choose an advocate. in like manner with regard to the female sex." the burgundian law provides to the same effect. this then was the term of majority, which in later times, when heavier armor was used, was still longer delayed. [ ] this is illustrated by a passage in caesar (bell. gall. vi. ): "they who are the latest in proving their virility are most commended. by this delay they imagine the stature is increased, the strength improved, and the nerves fortified. to have knowledge of the other sex before twenty years of age, is accounted in the highest degree scandalous." [ ] equal not only in age and constitution, but in condition. many of the german codes of law annex penalties to those of both sexes who marry persons of inferior rank. [ ] hence, in the history of the merovingian kings of france, so many instances of regard to sisters and their children appear, and so many wars undertaken on their account. [ ] the court paid at rome to rich persons without children, by the haeredipetae, or legacy-hunters, is a frequent subject of censure and ridicule with the roman writers. [ ] avengers of blood are mentioned in the law of moses, numb. xxxv. . in the roman law also, under the head of "those who on account of unworthiness are deprived of their inheritance," it is pronounced, that "such heirs as are proved to have neglected revenging the testator's death, shall be obliged to restore the entire profits." [ ] it was a wise provision, that among this fierce and warlike people, revenge should be commuted for a payment. that this intention might not be frustrated by the poverty of the offender, his whole family were conjointly bound to make compensation. [ ] all uncivilized nations agree in this property, which becomes less necessary as a nation improves in the arts of civil life. [ ] _convictibus et hospitiis_. "festivities and entertainments." the former word applies to friends and fellow-countrymen; the latter, to those not of the same tribe, and foreigners. caesar (bell. gall. vi. ) says, "they think it unlawful to offer violence to their guests, who, on whatever occasion they come to them, are protected from injury, and considered as sacred. every house is open to them, and provision everywhere set before them." mela (iii. ) says of the germans, "they make right consist in force, so that they are not ashamed of robbery: they are only kind to their guests, and merciful to suppliants. the burgundian law lays a fine of three solidi on every man who refuses his roof or hearth to the coming guest." the salic law, however, rightly forbids the exercise of hospitality to atrocious criminals; laying a penalty on the person who shall harbor one who has dug up or despoiled the dead? till he has made satisfaction to the relations. [ ] the clause here put within brackets is probably misplaced; since it does not connect well either with what goes before or what follows.[ ] the russians are at present the most remarkable among the northern nations for the use of warm bathing. some of the north american tribes also have their hypocausts, or stoves. [ ] eating at separate tables is generally an indication of voracity. traces of it may be found in homer, and other writers who have described ancient manners. the same practice has also been observed among the people of otaheite; who occasionally devour vast quantities of food. [ ] the following article in the salic law shows at once the frequency of these bloody quarrels, and the laudable endeavors of the legislature to restrain them;--"if at a feast where there are four or five men in company, one of them be killed, the rest shall either convict one as the offender, or shall jointly pay the composition for his death. and this law shall extend to seven persons present at an entertainment." [ ] the same custom is related by herodotus, i. p. , as prevailing among the persians. [ ] of this liquor, beer or ale, pliny speaks in the following passage: "the western nations have their intoxicating liquor, made of steeped grain. the egyptians also invented drinks of the same kind. thus drunkenness is a stranger in no part of the world; for these liquors are taken pure, and not diluted as wine is. yet, surely, the earth thought she was producing corn. oh, the wonderful sagacity of our vices! we have discovered how to render even water intoxicating."--xiv. . [ ] mela says, "their manner of living is so rude and savage, that they eat even raw flesh; either fresh killed, or softened by working with their hands and feet, after it has grown stiff in the hides of tame or wild animals." (iii. .) florus relates that the ferocity of the cimbri was mitigated by their feeding on bread and dressed meat, and drinking wine, in the softest tract of italy.--iii. . [ ] this must not be understood to have been cheese; although caesar says of the germans, "their diet chiefly consists of milk, cheese and flesh." (bell. gall. vi. .) pliny, who was thoroughly acquainted with the german manners, says more accurately, "it is surprising that the barbarous nations who live on milk should for so many ages have been ignorant of, or have rejected, the preparation of cheese; especially since they thicken their milk into a pleasant tart substance, and a fat butter: this is the scum of milk, of a thicker consistence than what is called the whey. it must not be omitted that it has the properties of oil, and is used as an unguent by all the barbarians, and by us for children."--xi. . [ ] this policy has been practised by the europeans with regard to the north american savages, some tribes of which have been almost totally extirpated by it. [ ] st. ambrose has a remarkable passage concerning this spirit of gaming among a barbarous people:--"it is said that the huns, who continually make war upon other nations, are themselves subject to usurers, with whom they run in debt at play; and that, while they live without laws, they obey the laws of the dice alone; playing when drawn up in line of battle; carrying dice along with their arms, and perishing more by each others' hands than by the enemy. in the midst of victory they submit to become captives, and suffer plunder from their own countrymen, which they know not how to bear from the foe. on this account they never lay aside the business of war, because, when they have lost all their booty by the dice, they have no means of acquiring fresh supplies for play, but by the sword. they are frequently borne away with such a desperate ardor, that, when the loser has given up his arms, the only part of his property which he greatly values, he sets the power over his life at a single cast to the winner or usurer. it is a fact, that a person, known to the roman emperor, paid the price of a servitude which he had by this means brought upon himself, by suffering death at the command of his master." [ ] the condition of these slaves was the same as that of the vassals, or serfs, who a few centuries ago made the great body of the people in every country in europe. the germans, in after times, imitating the romans, had slaves of inferior condition, to whom the name of slave became appropriated; while those in the state of rural vassalage were called _lidi_. [ ] a private enemy could not be slain with impunity, since a fine was affixed to homicide; but a man might kill his own slave without any punishment. if, however, he killed another person's slave, he was obliged to pay his price to the owner. [ ] the amazing height of power and insolence to which freedmen arrived by making themselves subservient to the vices of the prince, is a striking characteristic of the reigns of some of the worst of the roman emperors. [ ] in rome, on the other hand, the practice of usury was, as our author terms it, "an ancient evil, and a perpetual source of sedition and discord."--annals, vi. . [ ] all the copies read _per vices_, "by turns," or alternately; but the connection seems evidently to require the easy alteration of _per vicos_, which has been approved by many learned commentators, and is therefore adopted in this translation. [ ] caesar has several particulars concerning this part of german polity. "they are not studious of agriculture, the greater part of their diet consisting of milk, cheese, and flesh; nor has any one a determinate portion of land, his own peculiar property; but the magistrates and chiefs allot every year to tribes and clanships forming communities, as much land, and in such situations, as they think proper, and oblige them to remove the succeeding year. for this practice they assign several reasons: as, lest they should be led, by being accustomed to one spot, to exchange the toils of war for the business of agriculture; lest they should acquire a passion for possessing extensive domains, and the more powerful should be tempted to dispossess the weaker; lest they should construct buildings with more art than was necessary to protect them from the inclemencies of the weather; lest the love of money should arise amongst them, the source of faction and dissensions; and in order that the people, beholding their own possessions equal to those of the most powerful, might be retained by the bonds of equity and moderation."--bell. gall. vi. . [ ] the germans, not planting fruit-trees, were ignorant of the proper products of autumn. they have now all the autumnal fruits of their climate; yet their language still retains a memorial of their ancient deficiencies, in having no term for this season of the year, but one denoting the gathering in of corn alone--_herbst_, harvest. [ ] in this respect, as well as many others, the manners of the germans were a direct contrast to those of the romans. pliny mentions a private person, c. caecilius claudius isidorus, who ordered the sum of about , _l._ sterling to be expended in his funeral: and in another place he says, "intelligent persons asserted that arabia did not produce such a quantity of spices in a year as nero burned at the obsequies of his poppaea."--xxxiii. , and xii. . [ ] the following lines of lucan, describing the last honors paid by cornelia to the body of pompey the great, happily illustrate the customs here referred to:-- collegit vestes, miserique insignia magni. armaque, et impressas auro, quas gesserat olim exuvias, pictasque togas, velamina summo ter conspecta jovi, funestoque intulit igni.--lib. ix. . "there shone his arms, with antique gold inlaid, there the rich robes which she herself had made, robes to imperial jove in triumph thrice display'd: the relics of his past victorious days, now this his latest trophy serve to raise, and in one common flame together blaze."--rowe. [ ] thus in the tomb of childeric, king of the franks, were found his spear and sword, and also his horse's head, with a shoe, and gold buckles and housings. a human skull was likewise discovered, which, perhaps, was that of his groom. [ ] caesar's account is as follows:--"there was formerly a time when the gauls surpassed the germans in bravery, and made war upon them; and, on account of their multitude of people and scarcity of land, sent colonies beyond the rhine. the most fertile parts of germany, adjoining to the hercynian forest, (which, i observe, was known by report to eratosthenes and others of the greeks, and called by them orcinia,) were accordingly occupied by the volcae and tectosages, who settled there. these people still continue in the same settlements, and have a high character as well for the administration of justice as military prowess: and they now remain in the same state of penury and content as the germans, whose manner of life they have adopted."--bell. gall. vi. . [ ] the inhabitants of switzerland, then extending further than at present, towards lyons. [ ] a nation of gauls, bordering on the helvetii, as appears from strabo and caesar. after being conquered by caesar, the aedui gave them a settlement in the country now called the bourbonnois. the name of their german colony, boiemum, is still extant in bohemia. the aera at which the helvetii and boii penetrated into germany is not ascertained. it seems probable, however, that it was in the reign of tarquinius priscus; for at that time, as we are told by livy, ambigatus, king of the bituriges (people of berry), sent his sister's son sigovesus into the hercynian forest, with a colony, in order to exonerate his kingdom which was overpeopled. (livy, v. ; _et seq._) [ ] in the time of augustus, the boii, driven from boiemum by the marcomanni, retired to noricum, which from them was called boioaria, now bavaria. [ ] this people inhabited that part of lower hungary now called the palatinate of pilis. [ ] towards the end of this treatise, tacitus seems himself to decide this point, observing that their use of the pannonian language, and acquiescence in paying tribute, prove the osi not to be a german nation. they were settled beyond the marcomanni and quadi, and occupied the northern part of transdanubian hungary; perhaps extending to silesia, where is a place called ossen in the duchy of oels, famous for salt and glass works. the learned pelloutier, however, contends that the osi were germans; but with less probability. [ ] the inhabitants of the modern diocese of treves. [ ] those of cambresis and hainault. [ ] those of the dioceses of worms, strasburg, and spires. [ ] those of the diocese of cologne. the ubii, migrating from germany to gaul, on account of the enmity of the catti, and their own attachment to the roman interest, were received under the protection of marcus agrippa, in the year of rome . (strabo, iv. p. .) agrippina, the wife of claudius and mother of nero, who was born among them, obtained the settlement of a colony there, which was called after her name. [ ] now the betuwe, part of the provinces of holland and guelderland. [ ] hence the batavi are termed, in an ancient inscription, "the brothers and friends of the roman people." [ ] this nation inhabited part of the countries now called the weteraw, hesse, isenburg and fulda. in this territory was mattium, now marpurg, and the fontes mattiaci, now wisbaden, near mentz. [ ] the several people of germany had their respective borders, called marks or marches, which they defended by preserving them in a desert and uncultivated state. thus caesar, bell. gall. iv :--"they think it the greatest honor to a nation, to have as wide an extent of vacant land around their dominions as possible; by which it is indicated, that a great number of neighboring communities are unable to withstand them. on this account, the suevi are said to have, on one side, a tract of (some learned men think we should read ) miles desert for their boundaries." in another place caesar mentions, as an additional reason for this policy, that they think themselves thereby rendered secure from the danger of sudden incursions. (bell. gall. vi. .) [ ] the difference between the low situation and moist air of batavia, and the high and dry country of the mattiaci, will sufficiently justify this remark, in the opinion of those who allow anything to the influence of climate. [ ] now swabia. when the marcommanni, towards the end of the reign of augustus, quitting their settlements near the rhine, migrated to bohemia, the lands they left vacant were occupied by some unsettled gauls among the rauraci and sequani. they seem to have been called decumates (decimated), because the inhabitants, liable to the incursions of the germans, paid a tithe of their products to be received under the protection of the romans. adrian defended them by a rampart, which extended from neustadt, a town on the danube near the mouth of the river altmühl, to the neckar near wimpfen; a space of sixty french leagues. [ ] of upper germany. [ ] the catti possessed a large territory between the rhine, mayne and sala, and the hartz forest on this side of the weser; where are now the countries of hesse, thuringia, part of paderborn, of fulda, and of franconia. learned writers have frequently noted, that what caesar, florus and ptolemy have said of the suevi, is to be understood of the catti. leibnitz supposes the catti were so called from the active animal which they resemble in name, the german for cat being _catte_, or _hessen_. [ ] pliny, who was well acquainted with germany, gives a very striking description of the hercynian forest:--"the vast trees of the hercynian forest, untouched for ages, and as old as the world, by their almost immortal destiny exceed common wonders. not to mention circumstances which would not be credited, it is certain that hills are raised by the repercussion of their meeting roots; and where the earth does not follow them, arches are formed as high as the branches, which, struggling, as it were, with each other, are bent into the form of open gates, so wide, that troops of horse may ride under them."--xvi. . [ ] _duriora corpora_. "hardier frames;" _i.e._ than the rest of the germans. at hist. ii . the germans, in general, are said to have _fluxa corpora_; while in c. of this treatise they are described as _tantùm ad impetum valida_. [ ] floras, ii. , well expresses this thought by the sentence "tanti exercitus, quanti imperator." "an army is worth so much as its general is." [ ] thus civilis is said by our author (hist. iv. ), to have let his hair and beard grow in consequence of a private vow. thus too, in paul warnefrid's "history of the lombards," iii. , it is related, that "six thousand saxons who survived the war, vowed that they would never cut their hair, nor shave their beards, till they had been revenged of their enemies, the suevi." a later instance of this custom is mentioned by strada (bell. belg. vii. p. ), of william lume, one of the counts of mark, "who bound himself by a vow not to cut his hair till he had revenged the deaths of egmont and horn." [ ] the iron ring seems to have been a badge of slavery. this custom was revived in later times, but rather with a gallant than a military intention. thus, in the year , john duke of bourbon, in order to ingratiate himself with his mistress, vowed, together with sixteen knights and gentlemen, that they would wear, he and the knights a gold ring, the gentlemen a silver one, round their left legs, every sunday for two years, till they had met with an equal number of knights and gentlemen to contend with them in a tournament. (vertot, mém. de l'acad. des inscr. tom. ii. p. .) [ ] it was this nation of catti, which, about years afterwards, uniting with the remains of the cherusci on this side the weser, the attuarii, sicambri, chamavi, bructeri, and chauci, entered into the francic league, and, conquering the romans, seized upon gaul. from them are derived the name, manners, and laws of the french. [ ] these two tribes, united by a community of wars and misfortunes, had formerly been driven from the settlements on the rhine a little below mentz. they then, according to caesar (bell. gall. iv. , _et seq._), occupied the territories of the menapii on both sides the rhine. still proving unfortunate, they obtained the lands of the sicambri, who, in the reign of augustus, were removed on this side the rhine by tiberius: these were the present counties of berg, mark, lippe, and waldeck; and the bishopric of paderborn. [ ] their settlements were between the rivers rhine, lippe (luppia), and ems (amisia), and the province of friesland; now the countries of westphalia and over-issel. alting (notit. german. infer, p. ) supposes they derived their name from _broeken_, or _bruchen_, marshes, on account of their frequency in that tract of country. [ ] before this migration, the chamavi were settled on the ems, where at present are lingen and osnaburg; the angrivarii, on the weser (visurgis), where are minden and schawenburg. a more ancient migration of the chamavi to the banks of the rhine is cursorily mentioned by tacitus, annal. xiii. . the angrivarii were afterwards called angrarii, and became part of the saxon nation. [ ] they were not so entirely extirpated that no relics of them remained. they were even a conspicuous part of the francic league, as before related. claudian also, in his panegyric on the fourth consulate of honorius, v. , mentions them. venit accola sylvae bructerus hercyniae. "the bructerian, borderer on the hercynian forest, came." after their expulsion, they settled, according to eccard, between cologne and hesse. [ ] the bructeri were under regal government, and maintained many wars against the romans. hence their arrogance and power. before they were destroyed by their countrymen, vestricius spurinna terrified them into submission without an action, and had on that account a triumphal statue decreed him. pliny the younger mentions this fact, book ii. epist. . [ ] an allusion to gladiatorial spectacles. this slaughter happened near the canal of drusus, where the roman guard on the rhine could be spectators of the battle. the account of it came to rome in the first year of trajan. [ ] as this treatise was written in the reign of trajan, when the affairs of the romans appeared unusually prosperous, some critics have imagined that tacitus wrote _vigentibus_, "flourishing," instead of _urgentibus_, "urgent." but it is sufficiently evident, from other passages, that the causes which were operating gradually, but surely, to the destruction of the roman empire, did not escape the penetration of tacitus, even when disguised by the most flattering appearances. the common reading is therefore, probably, right.--_aikin_. [ ] these people first resided near the head of the lippe; and then removed to the settlements of the chamavi and angrivarii, who had expelled the bructeri. they appear to have been the same with those whom velleius paterculus, ii. , calls the attuarii, and by that name they entered into the francic league. strabo calls them chattuarii. [ ] namely, the ansibarii and tubantes. the ansibarii or amsibarii are thought by alting to have derived their name from their neighborhood to the river ems (amisia); and the. tubantes, from their frequent change of habitation, to have been called _tho benten_. or the wandering troops, and to have dwelt where now is drente in over-issel. among these nations, furstenburg (monum. paderborn.) enumerates the ambrones, borderers upon the river ambrus, now emmeren. [ ] the frieslanders. the lesser frisii were settled on this side, the greater, on the other, of the flevum (zuyderzee). [ ] in the time of the romans this country was covered by vast meres, or lakes; which were made still larger by frequent inundations of the sea. of these, one so late as overwhelmed seventy-two villages; and another, still more terrible, in , laid under water great part of the sea-coast of holland, and almost all friesland, in which alone , persons were drowned. [ ] wherever the land seemed to terminate, and it appeared impossible to proceed further, maritime nations have feigned pillars of hercules. those celebrated by the frisians must have been at the extremity of friesland, and not in sweden and the cimmerian promontory, as rudbeck supposes. [ ] drusus, the brother of tiberius, and father of germanicus, imposed a tribute on the frisians, as mentioned in the annals, iv. , and performed other eminent services in germany; himself styled germanicus. [ ] the chauci extended along the seacoast from the ems to the elbe (albis); whence they bordered on all the fore-mentioned nations, between which and the cherusci they came round to the catti. the chauci were distinguished into greater and lesser. the greater, according to ptolemy, inhabited the country between the weser and the elbe; the lesser, that between the weser and ems; but tacitus (annals xi. ) seems to reverse this order. alting supposes the chauci had their name from _kauken_, signifying persons eminent for valor and fidelity, which agrees with the character tacitus gives them. others derive it from _kauk_, an owl, with a reference to the enmity of that animal to cats (_catti_). others, from _kaiten_, daws, of which there are great numbers on their coast. pliny has admirably described the country and manners of the maritime chauci, in his account of people who live without any trees or fruit-bearing vegetables:--"in the north are the nations of chauci, who are divided into greater and lesser. here, the ocean, having a prodigious flux and reflux twice in the space of every day and night, rolls over an immense tract, leaving it a matter of perpetual doubt whether it is part of the land or sea. in this spot, the wretched natives, occupying either the tops of hills, or artificial mounds of turf, raised out of reach of the highest tides, build their small cottages; which appear like sailing vessels when the water covers the circumjacent ground, and like wrecks when it has retired. here from their huts they pursue the fish, continually flying from them with the waves. they do not, like their neighbors, possess cattle, and feed on milk; nor have they a warfare to maintain against wild beasts, for every fruit of the earth is far removed from them. with flags and seaweed they twist cordage for their fishing-nets. for fuel they use a kind of mud, taken up by hand, and dried, rather in the wind than the sun: with this earth they heat their food, and warm their bodies, stiffened by the rigorous north. their only drink is rain-water collected in ditches at the thresholds of their doors. yet this miserable people, if conquered to-day by the roman arms, would call themselves slaves. thus it is that fortune spares many to their own punishment."--hist. nat. xvi. . [ ] on this account, fortified posts were established by the romans to restrain the chauci; who by lucan are called cayci in the following passage: et vos crinigeros bellis arcere caycos oppositi.--phars. i. . "you, too, tow'rds rome advance, ye warlike band, that wont the shaggy cauci to withstand."--rowe [ ] the cherusci, at that time, dwelt between the weser and the elbe, where now are luneburg, brunswick, and part of the marche of brandenburg on this side the elbe. in the reign of augustus they occupied a more extensive tract; reaching even this side the weser, as appears from the accounts of the expedition of drusus given by dio and velleius paterculus: unless, as dithmar observes, what is said of the cherusci on this side the weser relates to the dulgibini, their dependents. for, according to strabo, varus was cut off by the cherusci, and the people subject to them. the brave actions of arminius, the celebrated chief of the cherusci, are related by tacitus in the st and d books of his annals. [ ] cluver, and several others, suppose the fosi to have been the same with the ancient saxons: but, since they bordered on the cherusci, the opinion of leibnitz is nearer the truth, that they inhabited the banks of the river fusa, which enters the aller (allera) at cellae; and were a sort of appendage to the cherusci, as hildesheim now is to brunswick. the name of saxons is later than tacitus, and was not known till the reign of antoninus pius, at which period they poured forth from the cimbric chersonesus, and afterwards, in conjunction with the angles, seized upon britain. [ ] the name of this people still exists; and the country they inhabited is called the cimbric chersonesus, or peninsula; comprehending jutland, sleswig, and holstein. the renown and various fortune of the cimbri is briefly, but accurately, related by mallet in the "introduction" to the "history of denmark." [ ] though at this time they were greatly reduced by migrations, inundations and wars, they afterwards revived; and from this storehouse of nations came forth the franks, saxons, normans, and various other tribes, which brought all europe under germanic sway. [ ] their fame spread through germany, gaul, spain, britain, italy, and as far as the sea of azoph (palus maeotis), whither, according to posidonius, they penetrated, and called the cimmerian or cimbrian bosphorus after their own name. [ ] this is usually, and probably rightly, explained as relating to both shores of the cimbric chersonesus. cluver and dithmar, however, suppose that these encampments are to be sought for either in italy, upon the river athesis (adige), or in narbonnensian gaul near aquae sextiae (aix in provence), where florus (iii. ) mentions that the teutoni defeated by marius took post in a valley with a river running through it. of the prodigious numbers of the cimbri who made this terrible irruption we have an account in plutarch, who relates that their fighting men were , , with a much greater number of women and children. (plut. marius, p. .) [ ] nerva was consul the fourth time, and trajan the second, in the lst year of rome; in which tacitus composed this treatise. [ ] after the defeat of p. decidius saxa, lieutenant of syria, by the parthians, and the seizure of syria by pacorus, son of king orodes, p. ventidius bassus was sent there, and vanquished the parthians, killed pacorus, and entirely restored the roman affairs. [ ] the epitome of livy informs us, that "in the year of rome , the cimbri, a wandering tribe, made a predatory incursion into illyricum, where they routed the consul papirius carbo with his army." according to strabo, it was at noreia, a town of the taurisci, near aquileia, that carbo was defeated. in the succeeding years, the cimbri and teutonia ravaged gaul, and brought great calamities on that country; but at length, deterred by the unshaken bravery of the gauls, they turned another way; as appears from caesar, bell. gal. vii. . they then came into italy, and sent ambassadors to the senate, demanding lands to settle on. this was refused; and the consul m. junius silanus fought an unsuccessful battle with them, in the year of rome . (epitome of livy, lxv.) [ ] "l. cassius the consul, in the year of rome , was cut off with his army in the confines of the allobroges, by the tigurine gauls, a canton of the helvetians (now the cantons of zurich, appenzell, schaffhausen, &c.), who had migrated from their settlements. the soldiers who survived the slaughter gave hostages for the payment of half they were worth, to be dismissed with safety." (ibid.) caesar further relates that the roman army was passed under the yoke by the tigurini:--"this single canton, migrating from home, within the memory of our fathers, slew the consul l. cassius, and passed his army under the yoke."--bell. gall. i. . [ ] m. aurelius scaurus, the consul's lieutenant (or rather consul, as he appears to have served that office in the year of rome ), was defeated and taken by the cimbri; and when, being asked his advice, he dissuaded them from passing the alps into italy, assuring them the romans were invincible, he was slain by a furious youth, named boiorix. (epit. livy, lxvii.) [ ] florus, in like manner, considers these two affairs separately:--"neither could silanus sustain the first onset of the barbarians; nor manlius, the second; nor caepio, the third." (iii. .) livy joins them together:--"by the same enemy (the cimbri) cn. manlius the consul, and q. servilius caepio the proconsul, were defeated in an engagement, and both dispossessed of their camps." (epit. lxvii.) paulus orosius relates the affair more particularly:--"manlius the consul, and q. caepio, proconsul, being sent against the cimbri, teutones, tigurini, and ambronae, gaulish and german nations, who had conspired to extinguish the roman empire, divided their respective provinces by the river rhone. here, the most violent dissensions prevailing between them, they were both overcome, to the great disgrace and danger of the roman name. according to antias, , romans and allies were slaughtered. caepio, by whose rashness this misfortune was occasioned, was condemned, and his property confiscated by order of the roman people." (lib. v. .) this happened in the year of rome ; and the anniversary was reckoned among the unlucky days. [ ] the republic; in opposition to rome when governed by emperors. [ ] this tragical catastrophe so deeply affected augustus, that, as seutonius informs us, "he was said to have let his beard and hair grow for several months; during which he at times struck his head against the doors, crying out, 'varus, restore my legions!' and ever after kept the anniversary as a day of mourning." (aug. s. .) the finest history piece, perhaps, ever drawn by a writer, is tacitus's description of the army of germanicus visiting the field of battle, six years after, and performing funeral obsequies to the scattered remains of their slaughtered countrymen. (annals, i. .) [ ] "after so many misfortunes, the roman people thought no general so capable of repelling such formidable enemies, as marius." nor was the public opinion falsified. in his fourth consulate, in the year of rome . "marius engaged the teutoni beyond the alps near aquae sextiae (aix in province), killing, on the day of battle and the following day, above , of the enemy, and entirely cutting off the teutonic nation." (velleus paterculus, ii. .) livy says there were , slain, and , taken prisoners. the succeeding year he defeated the cimbri, who had penetrated into italy and crossed the adige, in the raudian plain, where now is rubio, killing and taking prisoners upwards of , men. that he did not, however, obtain an unbought victory over this warlike people, may be conjectured from the resistance he met with even from their women. we are told by florus (iii. ) that "he was obliged to sustain an engagement with their wives, as well as themselves; who, entrenching themselves on all sides with wagons and cars, fought from them, as from towers, with lances and poles. their death was no less glorious than their resistance. for, when they could not obtain from marius what they requested by an embassy, their liberty, and admission into the vestal priesthood (which, indeed, could not lawfully be granted); after strangling their infants, they either fell by mutual wounds, or hung themselves on trees or the poles of their carriages in ropes made of their own hair. king boiorix was slain, not unrevenged, fighting bravely in the field." on account of these great victories, marius, in the year of borne , triumphed over the teutoni, ambroni, and cimbri. [ ] in the th year of rome, julius caesar defeated ariovistus, a 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. and .) 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. , . his loss was principally from shipwreck on the coast of the chauci. see lynam's roman emperors, i. , , nero; _i.e._ tiberius, afterwards emperor. his name was tiberius claudius drusus nero. see lynam's roman emperors, i. , , , . germanicus: he was the son of drusus, and so nephew of tiberius. his victories in germany took place a.d. - . he too, like his father, was shipwrecked, and nearly at the same spot. see lynam's roman emperors, i. - . [ ] in the war of civilis, related by tacitus, hist. iv. and v. [ ] by domitian, as is more particularly mentioned in the life of agricola. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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 , 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] the ancient name of the goddess herth still subsists in the german _erde_, and in the english _earth_. [ ] 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. [ ] 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." [ ] _templo_ here means merely "the consecrated place," _i.e._ the grove before mentioned, for according to c. the germans built no temples. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] augusta vindelicorum, now augsburg; a famous roman colony in the province of rhaetia, of which vindelica was then a part. [ ] 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. [ ] inhabitants of that part of bavaria which lies between bohemia and the danube. [ ] inhabitants of bohemia. [ ] 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. . [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] of this prince, and his alliance with the romans against arminius, mention is made by tacitus, annals, ii. [ ] thus vannius was made king of the quadi by tiberius. (see annals, ii. .) 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.) [ ] these people inhabited what is now galatz, jagerndorf, and part of silesia. [ ] inhabitants of part of silesia, and of hungary. [ ] inhabitants of part of hungary to the danube. [ ] these were settled about the carpathian mountains, and the sources of the vistula. [ ] 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. [ ] 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_. [ ] the mountains between moravia, hungary, silesia, and bohemia. [ ] the lygii inhabited what is now part of silesia, of the new marche, of prussia and poland on this side the vistula. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] no custom has been more universal among uncivilized people than painting the body, either for the purpose of ornament, or that of inspiring terror. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] the romans, who had but an imperfect knowledge of this part of 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. .) the memory of the hilleviones is still preserved in the part of sweden named halland. [ ] 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. [ ] this is exactly the form of the indian canoes, which, however, are generally worked with sails as well as oars. [ ] the great opulence of a temple of the suiones, as described by adam of bremen (eccl. hist. ch. ), 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. [ ] hence spener (notit. german. antiq.) rightly concludes that the crown was hereditary, and not elective, among the suiones. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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, :-- audiet herculeo stridentem gurgite solem. "hear the sun hiss in the herculean gulf." [ ] 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. [ ] thus quintus curtius, speaking of the indian ocean, says, "nature itself can proceed no further." [ ] the baltic sea. [ ] 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. [ ] because the inhabitants of this extreme part of germany retained the scythico-celtic language, which long prevailed in britain. [ ] a deity of scythian origin, called frea or fricca. see mallet's introduct. to hist. of denmark. [ ] 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, , p. , engraven from a stone found at the great station at netherby in cumberland. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. . [ ] 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, , p. . [ ] 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. .) [ ] various toys and utensils of amber, such as bracelets, necklaces, rings, cups, and even pillars, were to be met with among the luxurious romans. [ ] in a work by goeppert and berendt, on "amber and the fossil remains of plants contained in it," published at berlin, , 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. [ ] norwegians. [ ] all beyond the vistula was reckoned sarmatia. these people, therefore, were properly inhabitants of sarmatia, though from their manners they appeared of german origin. [ ] 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. .) 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. [ ] the habitations of the peucini were fixed; whereas the sarmatians wandered about in their wagons. [ ] "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. [ ] 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. [ ] this is still the manner of living of the successors of the sarmatians, the nogai tartars. [ ] their country is called by pliny, eningia, now finland. warnefrid (de gest. langobard. i. ) 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. [ ] 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. [ ] the esquimaux and the south sea islanders do the same thing to this day. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] rutilius was consul b.c. ; and for his upright life and great strictness was banished b.c. . 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. , and again b.c. . 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. [ ] _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. ), 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 rather to imply that it was necessary to justify himself for writing it at all, by citing the examples of former distinguished writers of biography, as he had done in the foregoing introduction. but why would it have been unnecessary to apologize for writing the life of agricola, if the times in which he lived had not been so unfriendly to virtue? because then agricola would have had opportunity to achieve victories and honors, which would have demanded narration, but for which the jealousy and cruelty of domitian now gave no scope. this is the explanation of roth; and he supports it by reference to the fact, that the achievements of agricola in the conquest of britain, though doubtless just as tacitus has described them, yet occupy so small a space in general history, that they are not even mentioned by any ancient historian except dio cassius; and he mentions them chiefly out of regard to the discovery made by agricola, for the first time, that britain was an island (vid. r. exc. .) this explanation answers all the demands of grammar and logic; but as a matter of taste and feeling, i cannot receive it. such an apology for the unworthiness of his subject at the commencement of the biography, ill accords with the tone of dignified confidence which pervades the memoir. the best commentary i have seen on the passage is that of walther; and it would not, perhaps, be giving more space to so mooted a question than the scholar requires, to extract it entire:--"_venia_," he says, "is here nothing else than what we, in the language of modesty, call an apology, and has respect to the very justification he has just offered in the foregoing exordium. for tacitus there appeals to the usage, not of remote antiquity only, but of later times also, to justify his design of writing the biography of a distinguished man. there would have been no need of such an apology in other times. in other times, dispensing with all preamble, he would have begun, as in c. , 'cnaeus julius agricola,' &c., assured that no one would question the propriety of his course. but now, after a long and servile silence, when one begins again 'facta moresque posteris tradere,' when he utters the first word where speech and almost memory (c. ) had so long been lost, when he stands forth as the first vindicator of condemned virtue, he seems to venture on something so new, so strange, so bold, that it may well require apology." in commenting upon _cursaturus--tempora_, walther adds: "if there is any boldness in the author's use of words here, that very fact suits the connection, that by the complexion of his language even, he might paint the audacity 'cursandi tam saeva et infesta virtutibus tempora'--of running over (as in a race, for such is walther's interpretation of _cursandi_) times so cruel and so hostile to virtue. not that those times could excite in tacitus any real personal fear, for they were past, and he could now think what he pleased, and speak what he thought (hist. i. ). still he shudders at the recollection of those cruelties; and he treads with trembling footstep, as it were, even the path lately obstructed by them. he looks about him to see whether, even now, he may safely utter his voice, and he timidly asks pardon for venturing to break the reigning silence."--_tyler_. [ ] a passage in dio excellently illustrates the fact here referred to: "he (domitian) put to death rusticus arulenus, because he studied philosophy, and had given thrasea the appellation of holy; and herennius senecio, because, although he lived many years after serving the office of quaestor, he solicited no other post, and because he had written the life of helvidius priscus." (lxvii. p. .) with less accuracy, suetonius, in his life of domitian (s. ), says: "he put to death junius rusticus, because he had published the panegyrics of paetus thrasea and helvidius priscus, and had styled them most holy persons; and on this occasion he expelled all the philosophers from the city, and from. italy." arulenus rusticus was a stoic; on which account he was contumeliously called by m. regulus "the ape of the stoics, marked with the vitellian scar." (pliny, epist. i. .) thrasea, who killed nero, is particularly recorded in the annals, book xvi. [ ] the expulsion of the philosophers, mentioned in the passage above quoted from suetonius. [ ] this truly happy period began when, after the death of domitian, and the recision of his acts, the imperial authority devolved on nerva, whose virtues were emulated by the successive emperors, trajan, hadrian, and both the antonines. [ ] _securitas publica_, "the public security," was a current expression and wish, and was frequently inscribed on medals. [ ] the term of domitian's reign. [ ] it appears that at this time tacitus proposed to write not only the books of his history and annals, which contain the "memorial of past servitude," but an account of the "present blessings" exemplified in the occurrences under nerva and trajan. [ ] there were two roman colonies of this name; one in umbria, supposed to be the place now called friuli; the other in narbonnensian gaul, the modern name of which is frejus. this last was probably the birth-place of agricola. [ ] of the procurators who were sent to the provinces, some had the charge of the public revenue; others, not only of that, but of the private revenue of the emperor. these were the imperial procurators. all the offices relative to the finances were in the possession of the roman knights; of whom the imperial procurators were accounted noble. hence the equestrian nobility of which tacitus speaks. in some of the lesser provinces, the procurators had the civil jurisdiction, as well at the administration of the revenue. this was the case in judaea. [ ] seneca bears a very honorable testimony to this person, "if," says he, "we have occasion for an example of a great mind, let us cite that of julius graecinus, an excellent person, whom caius caesar put to death on this account alone, that he was a better man than could be suffered under a tyrant." (de benef. ii. .) his books concerning vineyards are commended by columella and pliny. [ ] caligula. [ ] marcus silanus was the father of claudia, the first wife of caius. according to the historians of that period, caius was jealous of him, and took every opportunity of mortifying him. tacitus (hist. iv. ) mentions that the emperor deprived him of the military command of the troops in africa in an insulting manner. dion (lix.) states, that when, from his age and rank, silanus was usually asked his opinion first in the senate, the emperor found a pretext for preventing this respect; being paid to ms worth. suetonius (iv. ) records that the emperor one day put to sea in a hasty manner, and commanded silanus to follow him. this, from fear of illness, he declined to do; upon which the emperor, alleging that he stayed on shore in order to get possession of the city in case any accident befell himself, compelled him to cut his own throat. it would seem, from the present passage of tacitus, that there were some legal forms taken in the case of silanus, and that julius graecinus was ordered to be the accuser; and that that noble-minded man, refusing to take part in proceedings so cruel and iniquitous, was himself put to death. [ ] of the part the roman matrons took in the education of youth, tacitus has given an elegant and interesting account, in his dialogue concerning oratory, c. . [ ] now marseilles. this was a colony of the phocaeans; whence it derived that grecian politeness for which it was long famous. [ ] it was usual for generals to admit young men of promising characters to this honorable companionship, which resembled the office of an aide-de-camp in the modern service. thus, suetonius informs us that caesar made his first campaign in asia as tent-companion to marcus thermus the praetor. [ ] this was the fate of the colony of veterans at camalodunum, now colchester or maldon. a particular account of this revolt is given in the th book of the annals. [ ] this alludes to the defeat of petilius cerialis, who came with the ninth legion to succor the colony of camalodunum. all the infantry were slaughtered; and petilius, with the cavalry alone, got away to the camp. it was shortly after this, that suetonius defeated boadicea and her forces. [ ] those of nero. [ ] the office of quaestor was the entrance to all public employments. the quaestors and their secretaries were distributed by lot to the several provinces, that there might be no previous connections between them and the governors, but they might serve as checks upon each other. [ ] brother of the emperor otho. [ ] at the head of the praetors, the number of whom was different at different periods of the empire, were the praetor urbanus, and praetor peregrinus. the first administered justice among the citizens, the second among strangers. the rest presided at public debates, and had the charge of exhibiting the public games, which were celebrated with great solemnity for seven successive days, and at a vast expense. this, indeed, in the times of the emperors, was almost the sole business of the praetors, whose dignity, as tacitus expresses it, consisted in the idle trappings of state; whence boethius justly terms the praetorship "an empty name, and a grievous burthen on the senatorian rank." [ ] nero had plundered the temples for the supply of his extravagance and debauchery. see annals, xv. . [ ] this was the year of rome ; from the birth of christ, . [ ] the cruelties and depredations committed on the coast of italy by this fleet are described in lively colors by tacitus, hist. ii. , . [ ] now the county of vintimiglia. the attack upon the municipal town of this place, called albium intemelium, is particularly mentioned in the passage above referred to. [ ] in the month of july of this year. [ ] the twentieth legion, surnamed the victorious, was stationed in britain at deva, the modern chester, where many inscriptions and other monuments of roman antiquities have been discovered. [ ] roscius caelius. his disputes with the governor of britain, trebellius maximus, are related by tacitus, hist. i. . [ ] the governors of the province, and commanders in chief over all the legions stationed in it. [ ] he had formerly been commander of the ninth legion. [ ] the province of aquitania extended from the pyrenean mountains to the river liger (loire). [ ] the governors of the neighboring provinces. [ ] agricola was consul in the year of rome , a.d. , along with domitian. they succeeded, in the calends of july, the consuls vespasian and titus, who began the year. [ ] he was admitted into the pontifical college, at the head of which was the pontifex maximus. [ ] julius caesar, livy, strabo, fabius rusticus, pomponius mela, pliny, &c. [ ] thus caesar: "one side of britain inclines towards spain, and the setting sun; on which part ireland is situated."--bell. gall. v. . [ ] these, as well as other resemblances suggested by ancient geographers, have been mostly destroyed by the greater accuracy of modern maps. [ ] this is so far true, that the northern extremity of scotland is much narrower than the southern coast of england. [ ] the orkney islands. these, although now first thoroughly known to the romans, had before been heard of, and mentioned by authors. thus mela, in. : "there are thirty of the orcades, separated from each other by narrow straits." and pliny, iv. : "the orcades are forty in number, at a small distance from each other." in the reign of claudius, the report concerning these islands was particularly current, and adulation converted it into the news of a victory. hence hieronymus in his chronicon says, "claudius triumphed over the britons, and added the orcades to the roman empire." [ ] camden supposes the shetland islands to be meant here by thule; others imagine it to have been one of the hebrides. pliny, iv. , mentions thule as the most remote of all known islands; and, by placing it but one day's sail from the frozen ocean, renders it probable that iceland was intended. procopius (bell. goth, ii. ) speaks of another thule, which must have been norway, which many of the ancients thought to be an island. mr. pennant supposes that the thule here meant was foula, a very lofty isle, one of the most westerly of the shetlands, which might easily be descried by the fleet. [ ] as far as the meaning of this passage can be elucidated, it would appear as if the first circumnavigators of britain, to enhance the idea of their dangers and hardships, had represented the northern sea as in such a thickened half solid state, that the oars could scarcely be worked, or the water agitated by winds. tacitus, however, rather chooses to explain its stagnant condition from the want of winds, and the difficulty of moving so great a body of waters. but the fact, taken either way, is erroneous; as this sea is never observed frozen, and is remarkably stormy and tempestuous.--_aiken_. [ ] the great number of firths and inlets of the sea, which almost cut through the northern parts of the island, as well as the height of the tides on the coast, render this observation peculiarly proper. [ ] caesar mentions that the interior inhabitants of britain were supposed to have originated in the island itself. (bell. gall. v. .) [ ] caledonia, now scotland, was at that time overspread by vast forests. thus pliny, iv. , speaking of britain, says, that "for thirty years past the roman arms had not extended the knowledge of the island beyond the caledonian forest." [ ] inhabitants of what are now the counties of glamorgan, monmouth, brecknock, hereford, and radnor. [ ] the iberi were a people of spain, so called from their neighborhood to the river iberus, now ebro. [ ] of these, the inhabitants of kent are honorably mentioned by caesar. "of all these people, by far the most civilized are those inhabiting the maritime country of cantium, who differ little in their manners from the gauls."--bell. gall. v. . [ ] from the obliquity of the opposite coasts of england and france, some part of the former runs further south than the northern extremity of the latter. [ ] particularly the mysterious and bloody solemnities of the druids. [ ] the children were born and nursed in this ferocity. thus solinus, c. , speaking of the warlike nation of britons, says, "when a woman is delivered of a male child, she lays its first food upon the husband's sword, and with the point gently puts it within the little one's mouth, praying to her country deities that his death may in like manner be in the midst of arms." [ ] in the reign of claudius. [ ] the practice of the greeks in the homeric age was the reverse of this. [ ] thus the kings cunobelinus, caractacus, and prasutagus, and the queens cartismandua and boadicea, are mentioned in different parts of tacitus. [ ] caesar says of britain, "the climate is more temperate than that of gaul, the cold being less severe." (bell. gall. v. .) this certainly proceeds from its insular situation, and the moistness of its atmosphere. [ ] thus pliny (ii. ):--"the longest day in italy is of fifteen hours, in britain of seventeen, where in summer the nights are light." [ ] tacitus, through the medium of agricola, must have got this report, either from the men of scandinavia, or from those of the britons who had passed into that country, or been informed to this effect by those who had visited it. it is quite true, that in the further part of norway, and so also again in iceland and the regions about the north pole, there is, at the summer solstice, an almost uninterrupted day for nearly two months. tacitus here seems to affirm this as universally the case, not having heard that, at the winter solstice, there is a night of equal duration. [ ] tacitus, after having given the report of the britons as he had heard it, probably from agricola, now goes on to state his own views on the subject. he represents that, as the far north is level, there is nothing, when the sun is in the distant horizon, to throw up a shadow towards the sky: that the light, indeed, is intercepted from the surface of the earth itself, and so there is darkness upon it; but that the sky above is still clear and bright from its rays. and hence he supposes that the brightness of the upper regions neutralizes the darkness on the earth, forming a degree of light equivalent to the evening twilight or the morning dawn, or, indeed, rendering it next to impossible to decide when the evening closes and the morning begins. compare the following account, taken from a "description of a visit to shetland," in vol. viii. of chambers' miscellany:--"being now in the th degree of north latitude, daylight could scarcely be said to have left us during the night, and at o'clock in the morning, albeit the mist still hung about us, we could see as clearly as we can do in london, at about any hour in a november day." [ ] mr. pennant has a pleasing remark concerning the soil and climate of our island, well agreeing with that of tacitus:--"the climate of great britain is above all others productive of the greatest variety and abundance of wholesome vegetables, which, to crown our happiness, are almost equally diffused through all its parts: this general fertility is owing to those clouded skies, which foreigners mistakenly urge as a reproach on our country: but let us cheerfully endure a temporary gloom, which clothes not only our meadows, but our hills, with the richest verdure."--brit. zool. to. i. . [ ] strabo (iv. ) testifies the same. cicero, on the other hand, asserts, that not a single grain of silver is found on this island. (ep. ad attic, iv. .) if we have recourse to modern authorities, we find camden mentioning gold and silver mines in cumberland, silver in flintshire, and gold in scotland. dr. borlase (hist. of cornwall, p. ) relates, that so late as the year , several pieces of gold were found in what the miners call stream tin; and silver is now got in considerable quantity from several of our lead ores. a curious paper, concerning the gold mines of scotland, is given by mr. pennant in append. (no. x.) to his second part of a "tour in scotland in ," and a much more general account of the mines and ores of great britain in early times, in his "tour in wales of ," pp. - . [ ] camden mentions pearls being found in the counties of caernarvon and cumberland, and in the british sea. mr. pennant, in his "tour in scotland in ," takes notice of a considerable pearl fishery out of the fresh-water mussel, in the vicinity of perth, from whence , _l._ worth of pearls were sent to london from to . it was, however, almost exhausted when he visited the country. see also the fourth volume of mr. pennant's br. zool. (class vi. no. ), where he gives a much more ample account of the british pearls. origen, in his comment. on matthew, pp. , , gives a description of the british pearl, which, he says, was next in value to the indian;--"its surface is of a gold color, but it is cloudy, and less transparent than the indian." pliny speaks of the british unions as follows:--"it is certain that small and discolored ones are produced in britain; since the deified julius has given us to understand that the breastplate which he dedicated to venus genitrix, and placed in her temple, was made of british pearls."--ix. . [ ] caesar's two expeditions into britain were in the years of rome and . he himself gives an account of them, and they are also mentioned by strabo and dio. [ ] it was the wise policy of augustus not to extend any further the limits of the empire; and with regard to britain, in particular, he thought the conquest and preservation of it would be attended with more expense than it could repay. (strabo, ii. , and iv. .) tiberius, who always professed an entire deference for the maxims and injunctions of augustus, in this instance, probably, was convinced of their propriety. [ ] caligula. [ ] claudius invaded britain in the year of rome , a.d. . [ ] in the parish of dinder, near hereford, are yet remaining the vestiges of a roman encampment, called oyster-hill, as is supposed from this ostorius. camden's britain, by gibson, p. . [ ] that of camalodunum, now colchester, or maldon. [ ] the mona of tacitus is the isle of anglesey, that of caesar is the isle of man, called by pliny monapia. [ ] the avarice of catus decidianus the procurator is mentioned as the cause by which the britons were forced into this war, by tacitus, annal. xiv. . [ ] julius classicianus, who succeeded decidianus, was at variance with the governor, but was no less oppressive to the province. [ ] by the slaughter of varus. [ ] the rhine and danube. [ ] boadicea, whose name is variously written boudicea, bonduca, voadicea, &c., was queen of the iceni, or people of suffolk, norfolk, cambridgeshire, and huntingdonshire. a particular account of this revolt is given in the annals, xiv. , and seq. [ ] of camalodunum. [ ] this was in a.d. . according to tac. hist. i. , petronius turpilianus was put to death by galba, a.d. . [ ] the date of his arrival is uncertain. [ ] he was sent to britain by vespasian, a.d. . [ ] the brigantes inhabited yorkshire, lancashire, westmoreland, cumberland, and durham. [ ] the date of his arrival in britain is uncertain. this frontinus is the author of the work on "stratagems," and, at the time of his appointment to the lieutenancy of britain, he was _curator aquarum_ at rome. this, probably, it was that induced him to write his other work on the aqueducts of rome. [ ] this seems to relate to his having been curtailed in his military operations by the parsimony of vespasian, who refused him permission to attack other people than the silures. see c. . [ ] where these people inhabited is mentioned in p. , note . [ ] this was in the year of rome , of christ . [ ] inhabitants of north wales, exclusive of the isle of anglesey. [ ] _i.e._ some were for immediate action, others for delay. instead of _et quibus_, we read with dr. smith's edition (london, ), _ut quibus_. [ ] _vexilla_ is here used for _vexillarii_. "under the empire the name of vexillarii was given to a distinct body of soldiers supposed to have been composed of veterans, who were released from the military oath and regular service, but kept embodied under a separate flag (_vexillum_), to render assistance to the army if required, guard the frontier, and garrison recently conquered provinces; a certain number of these supernumeraries being attached to each legion. (tac. hist. ii. , ; ann. i. .)"--rich, comp. to dict. and lex. s. v. vexillum. [ ] a pass into the vale of clwyd, in the parish of llanarmon, is still called bwlch agrikle, probably from having been occupied by agricola, in his road to mona.--_mr. pennant_. [ ] from this circumstance it would appear that these auxiliaries were batavians, whose skill in this practice is related by tacitus, hist. iv. . [ ] it was customary for the roman generals to decorate with sprigs of laurel the letters in which they sent home the news of any remarkable success. thus pliny, xv. : "the laurel, the principal messenger of joy and victory among the romans, is affixed to letters, and to the spears and javelins of the soldiers." the _laurus_ of the ancients was probably the baytree, and not what we now call laurel. [ ] _ascire_, al. _accire_, "to receive into regular service." the reference is to the transfer of soldiers from the supernumeraries to the legions. so walch, followed by dronke, both, and walther. the next clause implies, that he took care to receive into the service none but the best men (_optimum quemque_), who, he was confident, would prove faithful (_fidelissimum_). [ ] in like manner suetonius says of julius caesar, "he neither noticed nor punished every crime; but while he strictly inquired into and rigorously punished desertion and mutiny, he connived at other delinquencies."--life of julius caesar, s. . [ ] many commentators propose reading "exaction," instead of "augmentation." but the latter may be suffered to remain, especially as suetonius informs us that "vespasian, not contented with renewing some taxes remitted under galba, added new and heavy ones: and augmented the tributes paid by the provinces, even doubling some."--life of vesp. s. . [ ] in the year of rome . a.d. . [ ] many vestiges of these or other roman camps yet remain in different parts of great britain. two principal ones, in the county of annandale, in scotland, called burnswork and middleby, are described at large by gordon in his itiner. septentrion, pp. , . [ ] the year of rome , a.d. . [ ] now the firth of tay. [ ] the principal of these was at ardoch, seated so as to command the entrance into two valleys, strathallan and strathearn. a description and plan of its remains, still in good preservation, are given by mr. pennant in his tour in scotland in , part ii. p. . [ ] the year of rome , a.d. . [ ] the firths of clyde and forth. [ ] the neck of land between these opposite arms of the sea is only about thirty miles over. about fifty-five years after agricola had left the island, lollius urbicus, governor of britain under antoninus pius, erected a vast wall or rampart, extending from old kirkpatrick on the clyde, to caeridden, two miles west of abercorn, on the forth, a space of nearly thirty-seven miles, defended by twelve or thirteen forts. these are supposed to have been on the site of those of agricola. this wall is usually called graham's dike; and some parts of it are now subsisting. [ ] the year of rome , a.d. . [ ] crossing the firth of clyde, or dumbarton bay, and turning to the western coast of argyleshire, or the isles of arran and bute. [ ] the bay of biscay. [ ] the mediterranean. [ ] the year of rome , a.d. . [ ] the eastern parts of scotland, north of the firth of forth, where now are the counties of fife, kinross, perth, angus, &c. [ ] this legion, which had been weakened by many engagements, was afterwards recruited, and then called gemina. its station at this affair is supposed by gordon to have been lochore in fifeshire. mr. pennant rather imagines the place of the attack to have been comerie in perthshire. [ ] for an account of these people see manners of the germans, c. . [ ] mr. pennant had a present made him in skye, of a brass sword and a denarius found in that island. might they not have been lost by some of these people in one of their landings? [ ] the rhine. [ ] this extraordinary expedition, according to dio, set out from the western side of the island. they therefore must have coasted all that part of scotland, must have passed the intricate navigation through the hebrides, and the dangerous strait of pentland firth, and, after coming round to the eastern side, must have been driven to the mouth of the baltic sea, here they lost their ships; and, in their attempt to proceed homeward by land, were seized as pirates, part by the suevi, and the rest by the frisii. [ ] the year of rome , a.d. . [ ] the scene of this celebrated engagement is by gordon (itin. septent.) supposed to be in strathern, near a place now called the kirk of comerie, where are the remains of two roman camps. mr. pennant, however, in his tour in , part ii. p. , gives reasons which appear well founded for dissenting from gordon's opinion. [ ] the more usual spelling of this name is galgacus; but the other is preferred as of better authority. [ ] "peace given to the world" is a very frequent inscription on the roman medals. [ ] it was the roman policy to send the recruits raised in the provinces to some distant country, for fear of their desertion or revolt. [ ] how much this was the fate of the romans themselves, when, in the decline of the empire, they were obliged to pay tribute to the surrounding barbarians, is shown in lively colors by salvian:--"we call that a gift which is a purchase, and a purchase of a condition the most hard and miserable. for all captives, when they are once redeemed, enjoy their liberty: we are continually paying a ransom, yet are never free."--de gubern. dei, vi. [ ] the expedition of claudius into britain was in the year of rome , from which to the period of this engagement only forty-two years were elapsed. the number fifty therefore is given oratorically rather than accurately. [ ] the latin word used here, _covinarius_, signifies the driver of a _covinus_, or chariot, the axle of which was bent into the form of a scythe. the british manner of fighting from chariots is particularly described by caesar, who gives them the name of _esseda_:--"the following is the manner of fighting from _essedae_: they first drive round with them to all parts of the line, throwing their javelins, and generally disordering the ranks by the very alarm occasioned by the horses, and the rattling of the wheels: then, as soon as they have insinuated themselves between the troops of horse, they leap from their chariots and fight on foot. the drivers then withdraw a little from the battle, in order that, if their friends are overpowered by numbers, they may have a secure retreat to the chariots. thus they act with the celerity of horse, and the stability of foot; and by daily use and exercise they acquire the power of holding up their horses at full speed down a steep declivity, of stopping them suddenly, and turning in a short compass; and they accustom themselves to run upon the pole, and stand on the cross-tree, and from thence with great agility to recover their place in the chariot."--bell. gall. iv. . [ ] these targets, called _cetrae_, in the latin, were made of leather. the broad sword and target were till very lately the peculiar arms of the highlanders. [ ] several inscriptions have been found in britain commemorating the tungrian cohorts. [ ] the great conciseness of tacitus has rendered the description of this battle somewhat obscure. the following, however, seems to have been the general course of occurrences in it:--the foot on both sides began the engagement. the first line of the britons which was formed on the plain being broken, the roman auxiliaries advanced up the hill after them. in the meantime the roman horse in the wings, unable to withstand the shock of the chariots, gave way, and were pursued by the british chariots and horse, which then fell in among the roman infantry, these, who at first had relaxed their files to prevent their being out-fronted, now closed, in order better to resist the enemy, who by this means were unable to penetrate them. the chariots and horse, therefore, became entangled amidst the inequalities of the ground, and the thick ranks of the romans; and, no longer able to wheel and career as upon the open plain, gave not the least appearance of an equestrian skirmish: but, keeping their footing with difficulty on the declivity, were pushed off, and scattered in disorder over the field. [ ] people of fifeshire. [ ] where this was does not appear. brotier calls it sandwich, making it the same as _rutupium_: others plymouth or portsmouth. it is clear, however, this cannot be the case, from the subsequent words.--_white_. [ ] this circumnavigation was in a contrary direction to that of the usipian deserters, the fleet setting out from the firth of tay on the eastern coast, and sailing round the northern, western, and southern coasts, till it arrived at the port of sandwich in kent. after staying here some time to refit, it went to its former station, in the firth of forth, or tay. [ ] it was in this same year that domitian made his pompous expedition into germany, from whence he returned without ever seeing the enemy. [ ] caligula in like manner got a number of tall men with their hair dyed red to give credit to a pretended victory over the germans. [ ] thus pliny, in his panegyric on trajan, xlviii., represents domitian as "ever affecting darkness and secrecy, and never emerging from his solitude but in order to make a solitude." [ ] not the triumph itself, which, after the year of rome was no longer granted to private persons, but reserved for the imperial family. this new piece of adulation was invented by agrippa in order to gratify augustus. the "triumphal ornaments" which were still bestowed, were a peculiar garment, statue, and other insignia which had distinguished the person of the triumphing general. [ ] of dover. [ ] domitian, it seems, was afraid that agricola might refuse to obey the recall he forwarded to him, and even maintain his post by force. he therefore despatched one of his confidential freedmen with an autograph letter, wherein he was informed syria was given to him as his province. this, however, was a mere ruse: and hence it was not to be delivered as agricola had already set out on his return. in compliance with these instructions, the freedman returned at once to domitian, when he found agricola on his passage to rome according to dion (liii.), the emperor's lieutenants were required to leave their province immediately upon the arrival of their successor, and return to rome within three months.--_white_. [ ] agricola's successor in britain appears to have been sallustius lucullus, who, as suetonius informs us, was put to death by domitian because he, permitted certain lances of a new construction to be palled lucullean.--life of domitian, s. . [ ] of this worst kind of enemies, who praise a man in order to render him obnoxious, the emperor julian, who had himself suffered greatly by them, speaks feelingly in his th epistle to basilius;--"for we live together not in that state of dissimulation, which, i imagine, you have hitherto experienced: in which those who praise you, hate you with a more confirmed aversion than your most inveterate enemies." [ ] these calamitous events are recorded by suetonius in his life of domitian. [ ] the rhine and danube. [ ] the two senior consulars cast lots for the government of asia and africa. [ ] suetonius relates that civica cerealis was put to death in his proconsulate of asia, on the charge of meditating a revolt. (life of domitian, s. .) [ ] obliging persons to return thanks for an injury was a refinement in tyranny frequently practised by the worst of the roman emperors. thus seneca informs us, that "caligula was thanked by those whose children had been put to death, and whose property had been confiscated." (de tranquil, xiv.) and again;--"the reply of a person who had grown old in his attendance on kings, when he was asked how he had attained a thing so uncommon in courts as old age? is well known. it was, said he, by receiving injuries, and returning thanks."--de ira, ii. . [ ] from a passage in dio, lxxviii. p. , this sum appears to have been _decies sestertium_, about , _l._ sterling. [ ] thus seneca: "little souls rendered insolent by prosperity have this worst property, that they hate those whom they have injured."--de ira, ii. . [ ] several who suffered under nero and domitian erred, though nobly, in this respect. [ ] a greek epigram still extant of antiphilus, a byzantine, to the memory of a certain agricola, is supposed by the learned to refer to the great man who is the subject of this work. it is in the anthologia, lib. i. tit. . [ ] dio absolutely affirms it; but from the manner in which tacitus, who had better means of information, speaks of it, the story was probably false. [ ] it appears that the custom of making the emperor co-heir with the children of the testator was not by any means uncommon. it was done in order to secure the remainder to the family. thus prasutagus, king of the iceni in britain, made nero co-heir with his two daughters. thus when lucius vetus was put to death by nero, his friends urged him to leave part of his property to the emperor, that his grandsons might enjoy the rest. (ann. xvi. .) suetonius (viii. ) mentions that domitian used to seize the estates of persons the most unknown to him, if any one could be found to assert that the deceased had expressed an intention to make the emperor his heir.--_white_. [ ] caligula. this was a.d. , when he was sole consul. [ ] according to this account, the birth of agricola was on june th, in the year of rome , a.d. ; and his death on august d, in the year of rome a.d. : for this appears by the fasti consulares to have been the year of the consulate of collega and priscus. he was therefore only in his fifty-fourth year when he died; so that the copyists must probably have written by mistake lvi. instead of liv. [ ] from this representation, dio appears to have been mistaken in asserting that agricola passed the latter part of his life in dishonor and penury. [ ] juvenal breaks out in a noble strain of indignation against this savage cruelty, which distinguished the latter part of domitian's reign: atque utinam his potius nugis tota illa dedisset tempora saevitiae: claras quibus abstulit urbi illustresque animas impune, et vindice nullo. sed periit, postquam cerdonibus esse timendus coeperat: hoc nocuit lamiarum, caede madenti.--sat. iv. . "what folly this! but oh! that all the rest of his dire reign had thus been spent in jest! and all that time such trifles had employ'd in which so many nobles he destroy'd! he safe, they unrevenged, to the disgrace of the surviving, tame, patrician race! but when he dreadful to the rabble grew, him, who so many lords had slain, they slew."--duke. [ ] this happened in the year of rome . [ ] carus and massa, who were proverbially infamous as informers, are represented by juvenal as dreading a still more dangerous villain, heliodorus. --quem massa timet, quem munere palpat carus.--sat. i. . "whom massa dreads, whom carus soothes with bribes." carus is also mentioned with deserved infamy by pliny and martial. he was a mimic by profession. [ ] of this odious instrument of tyranny, pliny the younger thus speaks: "the conversation turned upon catullus messalinus, whose loss of sight added the evils of blindness to a cruel disposition. he was irreverent, unblushing, unpitying, like a weapon, of itself blind and unconscious, he was frequently hurled by domitian against every man of worth." (iv. .) juvenal launches the thunder of invective against him in the following lines:-- et cum mortifero prudens vejento catullo, qui numquam visae flagrabat amore puellae, grande, et conspicuum nostro quoque tempore monstrum, caecus adulator, dirusque a ponte satelles, dignus aricinos qui mendicaret ad axes, blandaque devexae jactaret basia rhedae.--sat. iv. . "cunning vejento next, and by his side bloody catullus leaning on his guide: decrepit, yet a furious lover he, and deeply smit with charms he could not see. a monster, that ev'n this worst age outvies, conspicuous and above the common size. a blind base flatterer; from some bridge or gate, raised to a murd'ring minister of state. deserving still to beg upon the road, and bless each passing wagon and its load."--duke. [ ] this was a famous villa of domitian's, near the site of the ancient alba, about twelve miles from rome. the place is now called albano, and vast ruins of its magnificent edifices still remain. [ ] tacitus, in his history, mentions this massa baebius as a person most destructive to all men of worth, and constantly engaged on the side of villains. from a letter of pliny's to tacitus, it appears that herennius senecio and himself were joined as counsel for the province of boetica in a prosecution of massa baebius; and that massa after his condemnation petitioned the consuls for liberty to prosecute senecio for treason. [ ] by "our own hands," tacitus means one of our own body, a senator. as publicius certus had seized upon helvidius and led him to prison, tacitus imputes the crime to the whole senatorian order. to the same purpose pliny observes: "amidst the numerous villanies of numerous persons, nothing appeared more atrocious than that in the senate-house one senator should lay hands on another, a praetorian on a consular man, a judge on a criminal."--b. ix. ep. . [ ] helvidius priscus, a friend of pliny the younger, who did not suffer his death to remain unrevenged. see the epistle above referred to. [ ] there is in this place some defect in the manuscripts, which critics have endeavored to supply in different manners. brotier seems to prefer, though he does not adopt in the text, "nos mauricum rusticumque divisimus," "we parted mauricus and rusticus," by the death of one and the banishment of the other. the prosecution and crime of rusticus (arulenus) is mentioned at the beginning of this piece, c. . mauricus was his brother. [ ] herennius senecio. see c. . [ ] thus pliny, in his panegyr. on trajan, xlviii.: "domitian was terrible even to behold; pride in his brow, anger in his eyes, a feminine paleness in the rest of his body, in his face shamelessness suffused in a glowing red." seneca, in epist. xi. remarks, that "some are never more to be dreaded than when they blush; as if they had effused all their modesty. sylla was always most furious when the blood had mounted into his cheeks."