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.
21.
To carry on with the quarrels as well as with the amities of one’s father or kinsman is felt as an obligation. Neither feuds nor friendships are irrevocable, indeed even a homicide can be rectified with an agreed number of catlle and smaller farm animals. The entire family is thus reconciled, an advantage for the whole community since feuding is decidedly dangerous side by side with liberty. No other race is more open to convivial feasting and hospitality. To refuse anyone whatsoever admittance to one’s house is held to be sinful; every man, to the extent of his means, welcomes the guest to his furnished table. If the means are not sufficient, he who just now was the host becomes the guest’s guide and escort to the next house. It is of no importance that both are uninvited: they are received with kindness all the same, whether known or unknown; the right of hospitality is the same and no one is likely to make distinctions. It is also customary to grant a departing guest anything he may desire and just as simple is in turn to ask something of him. All take delight in gifts, both givers and receivers: the ones expect no returns for what they give, the others need not feel obliged for what is given them.
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.
22.
Upon waking up late in the morning – they generally sleep well into the day – they straightaway wash themselves, usually with warm water as winter is longest among them. After ablutions, they take food seated apart, each at his own table. That done, they go armed about their business or just as often go to convivial gatherings. To while away a whole day and night drinking is not shameful in anyone’s eyes. Brawls are frequent, as is to be expected among heavy drinkers, and are not limited to verbal abuse, but more often end up in someone getting killed or wounded. It is at these festive reunions, however, that matters of great import are ordinarily discussed, such as the mutual appeasement of enemies, the forming of family alliances, the selection of tribal chiefs, not to mention matters of war and peace, since on no other occasion the mind lays more open to honest reasoning or is more responsive to noble designs. Thanks to the freedom proper to feasting, these naïve and artless people reveal any secrets they may still harbor in their breast, so that everyone’s thoughts are unveiled and laid bare. The following day the same questions are handled again and the sensible contributions of both sessions are thus secured. They argue the pros and cons when they cannot pretend, they come to a decision when they are least likely to err.
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.
23.
A liquor prepared from barley or wheat, which after being fermented bears a certain resemblance to wine, is their drink, but the tribes living near the Rhine also buy wine. The food they eat is simple, wild fruits, game freshly hunted, curdled milk. They appease hunger without fancy preparation or elaborate refinement. Against thirst they do not show the same moderation. If their drunkenness were encouraged by supplying as much liquor as they desire, their excesses would vanquish them not less easily than the use of arms.
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.
24.
They know of only one kind of entertainment, the same at every get-together: naked youths, for whom this is nothing more than a game, rush in and execute a dance amid swords and lances pointed dangerously at them. Training gives them dexterity and dexterity poise, but their motivation is not gain or recompense. Regardless of the risks involved in the game, their only reward is the pleasure of the spectators. Playing at dice — you may find this surprising — is for the Germans a serious occupation, pursued when sober and with such disregard for winning or losing that, whenever all they have is gone, in one last decisive throw of the dice they wager their own freedom and person. The loser voluntarily becomes a slave: he allows himself to be bound and sold, though he may be younger and stronger than his opponent, so obdurate are they in such a nefarious practice, which they themselves view as a question of honor. The winners quickly dispose of this kind of slave by way of trade, also to evade the censure of a shameful victory.
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.
25.
As to the other slaves, they do not employ them as we do in accordance with well-defined tasks in the household. Each slave is in charge of his own house and family. The master imposes a given quantity of grain, of farm animals, or of clothing, as he would with a tenant, and the slave is obligated only thus far and no further. All other domestic chores are seen to by the master’s wife and children. To beat a slave, put him in chains, or exact forced labor from him is rare. It frequently happens that a slave is killed, not to impose strict discipline, but in a burst of anger, as happens with a personal enemy, except that in this case the deed goes unpunished. Freedmen are not much above slaves, rarely have they influence in the family, never in political affairs, the only exceptions being those tribes that are ruled by kings: there indeed they may rise above the free-born and the nobles. Among the rest of the states, the second-class status of freedmen is an attestation of freedom.
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.
26.
To make one’s capital work and have it bear more fruit by charging interest is something Germans know nothing about, therefore greater is the protection against such activities than if they were prohibited. The land to be worked — one tract after another in succession – is taken over by all communities in a tribe and is proportionate to the number of growers, among whom the fields are then distributed according to social status. The partition is facilitated by the vastness of the plains; though different fields are worked each year, yet space still remains. In fact, they feel no need to exploit to the limit the fertility and abundance of the land by their labor in order to establish orchards, hedge in meadows, and bring water to gardens. Of the soil nothing more is required than grain. For this reason, even the year itself has not as many seasons [as with us]. Winter, spring, and summer they know and have words for: of autumn, the name and its abundance alike are unknown to them.
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.
27.
Funerals are performed without ostentation. Only to this they attend scrupulously, namely that the bodies of eminent men be burned using wood of particular kinds. They do not load the pyre with either garments or perfumes. A man’s arms are added to the fire and in the case of certain persons the horse as well. A barrow of turf serves as a tomb. They are against the testimonial of a monument — which demands great effort and much labor to build — as weighing too heavily on the dead. To lamentations and tears they soon put an end, to heartfelt sorrow and sadness much later. Mourning, they think, becomes a woman, remembrance a man. This much we have learnt about the origins and traditions of the Germans in general. I will next go into the institutions and cults of each tribe, how far they differ from each other and which peoples have emigrated from Germany into the Gallic provinces.
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.
28.
The former supremacy of ths Gauls over the Germans is attested by the divine Julius, the greatest of all historians. This gives also credit to the thesis that the Gauls had passed into Germany. Indeed, how could a small obstacle like a river prevent the Gallic tribes, as they grew in strength, from occupying and exchanging territories that were still available to all and not yet part of any kingdom? Thus, the lands between the Hercynian forest and the rivers Rhine and Moenus were in the hands of the Helvetii, and those beyond were occupied by the Boii, both the one and the other being Gallic tribes. The name Boiemum still endures and testifies to the past of the place, even though it is now settled by other people. But whether the Aravisci moved to Pannonia from the Osi, a German tribe, or the Osi migrated to Germany from the Aravisci (for both nations share to this day the same speech, institutions, and manners), is an uncertain matter, since they were formerly equally poor and free to move either way, and both banks of the Danube had the same attractions and drawbacks. The Treveri and Nervii, on the contrary, eagerly aspire to be seen as belonging to the German race, as if by this blood distinction they would distance themselves from the Gauls, whom they resemble in appearance and indolence. German without a doubt are the tribes that inhabit the bank itself of the Rhine, the Vangiones, the Triboci, the Nemetes. Not even the Ubii, though they have been deemed worthy of being a Roman colony and call themselves Agrippinenses from the name of the founder, are ashamed of their German origin. Having migrated in former days and given proof of their loyalty, they were settled on the very bank of the Rhine not to be kept under close watch, but to be a bulwark against invasions.
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 publicanus 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.
29.
The Batavi stand out among the German tribes for their valor. They occupy but a small part of the bank of the Rhine and are mainly settled on an island in the river itself. They once belonged to the Chatti and as a result of internal divisions removed to the new seat, where they would become a component of the Roman Empire. The honorable status of the ancient pact of alliance has been kept intact in that they are neither humiliated by tribute nor oppressed by tax collectors. Exempt from the burden of taxes and other contributions, selected exclusively for military use, they are held in reserve as weapons of war. The tribe of the Mattiaci is loyal to us in a similar way. The grandeur of the Roman people has really expanded the prestige of the empire beyond the Rhine and the traditional limits. Thus, in respect of location and boundaries the Mattiaci live and act like the Germans on the other side of the Rhine, but their thoughts and feelings are with us. For the rest they resemble the Batavi, only that they are further stimulated by the very soil and climate of a land that is still theirs [and not part of the empire]. I would not include among the German tribes, although they have settled in territories beyond the Rhine and the Danube, those people who cultivate the Decumate fields, Gallic rabble of no consequence, made audacious by extreme want, who possessed themselves of soil of dubious ownership. Recently the frontier of the empire has been redrawn, the line of defence moved forward, and the Decumate fields are now seen as a salient of the empire and part of the province of Upper Germany.
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 Romanaee 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.
30.
Farther on from the Decumate fields, beginning at the Hercynian forest, is the land of the Chatti, a region unlike the flat and swampy country of other tribes into which Germany spreads out on level ground. Chains of hills stretch out in succession, even if they eventually become less frequent, and the Hercynian forest stays with its Chatti to the end of their dominions, then sets them down [at the edge of the plains]. These people are more robust in body than other Germans, have muscular limbs, a menacing countenance, and uncommon mental alertness. They show much method in their thinking and great resourcefulness, at least by German standards. They are good at choosing their leaders and listen to them when in command; they hold on to their place in the line during the fighting and can espy the opportunity of the moment when it offers; they put off an attack if prudent, they set order in the day’s work and dig in for the night, for they have no faith in luck and trust only in their own valor; the rarest thing of all – a prerogative granted only to Roman discipline – is that their confidence centers on the general, less on the army. All their strength is in infantry: the soldiers are required to carry not only their arms, but tools and supplies as well. You may see other tribes march off to battle, the Chatti you see going on a campaign. They rarely engage in raids and chance encounters, which are quite the purview of cavalry forces, that is, to obtain a quick victory or suffer a quick repulse. Speed is next to lack of confidence; slow action is closer to fearlessness.