Transcript

001 - Section 1 · Germania

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Speaker 1: Part one of Tacitus is Germania. This is a LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings were in the public domain. For more
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Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
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Speaker 1: by Andrew Coleman. Germania by Publius Cornelius Tastus, translated by
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Speaker 1: Alfred john Church and William Jackson brodrib Part one. Germany
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Speaker 1: is separated from the galley, the Rishi and Pannoni by
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Speaker 1: the rivers, Rhine and Danube mountain ranges, or the fear,
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Speaker 1: which each feels for the other. Divided from the Sammatai
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Speaker 1: and Decy elsewhere. Ocean girds it, embracing broad peninsulas and
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Speaker 1: islands of unexplored extent, where certain tribes and kingdoms are
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Speaker 1: newly known to us, revealed by war. The Rhine springs
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Speaker 1: from a precipitous and inaccessible height of the Russian Alps,
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Speaker 1: bend slightly westward and mingles with the Northern Ocean. The
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Speaker 1: Danube pours down from the gradual and gently rising slope
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Speaker 1: of Mount Abnoba and visits many nations to force its
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Speaker 1: way at last through six channels into the Pontus. A
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Speaker 1: seventh mouth is lost in marshes. The Germans themselves I
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Speaker 1: should regard as aboriginal and not mixed at all with
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Speaker 1: other races through emigration or intercourse. For in former times
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Speaker 1: it was not by land, but on shipboard that those
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Speaker 1: who sought to emigrate would arrive. And the boundless and
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Speaker 1: so to speak, hostile ocean beyond us is seldom entered
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Speaker 1: by a sail from our world, and beside the perils
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Speaker 1: of rough and unknown seas, who would like Asia, or
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Speaker 1: Africa or Italy for Germany, with its wild country, its
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Speaker 1: inclement skies, its sullen manners and aspect, unless indeed it
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Speaker 1: were his home. In their ancient songs, their only way
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Speaker 1: of remembering or recording the past, they celebrate an earth
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Speaker 1: born god, Teusco and his son Manus, as the origin
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Speaker 1: of their race. As their founders. To Manus, they assign
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Speaker 1: three sons, from whose names, they say their coast tribes
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Speaker 1: are called Ingavones, those of the interior Herminones or the
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Speaker 1: rest Istaivones. Some, with the freedom of conjecture permitted by antiquity,
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Speaker 1: assert that the god had several descendants and the nation's
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Speaker 1: several appellations as Marsi Gambrivi, swavey Vandili, and that these
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Speaker 1: are genuine old names. The name Germany, on the other hand,
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Speaker 1: they say, is morden and newly introduced from the fact
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Speaker 1: that the tribes which first crossed the Rhine and drove
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Speaker 1: out the Gauls and are now called Tungrians, were then
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Speaker 1: called Germans. Thus, what was the name of a tribe
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Speaker 1: and not of a race, gradually prevailed till all called
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Speaker 1: themselves by this self invented name of Germans, which the
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Speaker 1: conquerors had first employed to inspire terror. They say that
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Speaker 1: Hercules too once visited them, and when going into battle
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Speaker 1: they sing of him first of all heroes. They have
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Speaker 1: also those songs of theirs, by the recital of which
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Speaker 1: Barretus they call it, they rouse their courage, while from
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Speaker 1: the note they augur the result of the approaching conflict.
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Speaker 1: For as their line shouts, they inspire or feel alarm,
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Speaker 1: it is not so much an articulate sound as a
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Speaker 1: general cry of valor. They aim chiefly at a harsh note,
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Speaker 1: at a confused roar, putting their shields to their mouth,
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Speaker 1: so that by reverberation it may swell into a fuller
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Speaker 1: and deeper sound. Ulysses too, is believed by some, in
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Speaker 1: his long legendary wanderings, to have found his way into
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Speaker 1: this ocean, and, having visited German soil, to have founded
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Speaker 1: and named the town of Askebergium, which stands on the
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Speaker 1: bank of the Rhine and is to this day inhabited.
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Speaker 1: They even say that an altar dedicated to Ulysses, with
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Speaker 1: the addition of the name of his father Laertes, was
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Speaker 1: formerly discovered on this same spot, and that certain monuments
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Speaker 1: and tombs with Greek inscriptions still exist on the borders
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Speaker 1: of Germany and Russia. These statements I have no intention
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Speaker 1: of sustaining by proofs or of refuting. Everyone may believe
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Speaker 1: or disbelieve them as he feels inclined. For my own part,
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Speaker 1: I agree with those who think that the tribes of
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Speaker 1: Germany are free from all taint of intermarriages with foreign nations,
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Speaker 1: and that they appear as a distinct, unmixed race, like
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Speaker 1: none but themselves. Hence too the same physical peculiarities throughout
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Speaker 1: so vast a population. All have fierce, blue eyes, red hair,
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Speaker 1: huge frames, fit only for a sudden exertion. They are
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Speaker 1: less able to bear laborious work, heat and thirst. They cannot,
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Speaker 1: in the least endure to cold and hunger. Their climate
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Speaker 1: and their soil inure them. Their country, though somewhat various
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Speaker 1: in appearance, yet generally either bristles with forests or reeks
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Speaker 1: with swamps. It is more rainy on the side of
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Speaker 1: gall bleaker on that of Norica and Pannonia. It is
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Speaker 1: productive of grain, but unfavorable to fruit bearing trees. It
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Speaker 1: is rich in flocks and herds, but these are for
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Speaker 1: the most part undersized, and even the cattle have not
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Speaker 1: their usual beauty or noble head. It is number that
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Speaker 1: is chiefly valued. They are, in fact the most highly prized,
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Speaker 1: indeed the only riches of the people. Silver and gold.
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Speaker 1: The gods have refused them, whether in kindness or in anger,
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Speaker 1: I cannot say. I would not, however, affirm that no
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Speaker 1: vein of German soil produces gold or silver, For who
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Speaker 1: has ever made a search They care but little to
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Speaker 1: possess or use them. You may see among them vessels
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Speaker 1: of silver, which have been presented to their envoys and chieftains,
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Speaker 1: held as cheap as those of clay. The border population, however,
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Speaker 1: value gold and silver for their commercial utility, and are
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Speaker 1: familiar with and show preference for some of our coins.
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Speaker 1: The tribes of the interior use the simpler and more
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Speaker 1: ancient practice of the barter of commodities. They like the
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Speaker 1: old and well known money coins milled or showing a
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Speaker 1: two horse chariot. They likewise prefer silver to gold, not
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Speaker 1: from any special liking, but because a large number of
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Speaker 1: silver pieces is more convenient for use among dealers in
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Speaker 1: cheap and common articles. Even iron is not plentiful with them,
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Speaker 1: as we infer from the character of their weapons, but
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Speaker 1: few use sorts or long glances. They carry a spear
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Speaker 1: Fromia is their name for it, with a narrow and
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Speaker 1: short head, but so sharp and easy to wield that
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Speaker 1: the same weapon serves a according to circumstances, for close
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Speaker 1: or distant conflict. As for the horse soldier, he is
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Speaker 1: satisfied with a shield and spear. The foot soldiers also
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Speaker 1: scatter showers of missiles, each man having several and hurling
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Speaker 1: them to an immense distance. And being naked or lightly
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Speaker 1: clad with a little cloak, there is no display about
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Speaker 1: their equipment. Their shields alone are marked with very choice colors.
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Speaker 1: A few only have corselets, and just one or two
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Speaker 1: here and there a metal or leathern helmet. Their horses
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Speaker 1: are remarkable, neither for beauty nor for fleetness, nor are
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Speaker 1: they taught various evolutions after our fashion, but are driven straightforward,
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Speaker 1: or so as to make one wheel to the right,
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Speaker 1: in such a compact body that none is left behind another.
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Speaker 1: On the whole, one would say that the chief strength
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Speaker 1: is in their infantry, which fights along with the cavalry.
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Speaker 1: Admirably adapted to the action of the latter is the
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Speaker 1: swiftness of certain foot soldiers, who are picked from the
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Speaker 1: entire youth of their country and stationed in front of
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Speaker 1: the line. Their number is fixed a hundred from each canton,
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Speaker 1: and from this they take their name among their countrymen,
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Speaker 1: so that what was originally a mere number has now
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Speaker 1: become a title of distinction. Their line of battle is
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Speaker 1: drawn up in a wedge like formation to give ground,
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Speaker 1: provided you return to the attack. Is considered prudence rather
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Speaker 1: than cowardice. The bodies of their slain they carry off,
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Speaker 1: even in indecisive engagements. To abandon your shield is the
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Speaker 1: basest of crimes. Nor may a man thus disgraced be
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Speaker 1: present at the sacred rights or enter their council. Many indeed,
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Speaker 1: after escaping from battle, have ended their infamy with a halter.
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Speaker 1: They choose their kings by birth, their generals for merit.
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Speaker 1: These kings have not unlimited or arbitrary power, and the
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Speaker 1: generals do more by example than by authority. If they
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Speaker 1: are energetic, if they are conspicuous, if they fight in
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Speaker 1: the front, they lead because they are admired. But to
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Speaker 1: reprimand to imprison, even to flog, is permitted to the
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Speaker 1: priests alone, and that not as a punishment or at
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Speaker 1: the general's bidding, but, as it were, by the mandate
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Speaker 1: of the god whom they believe to inspire the warrior.
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Speaker 1: They also carry with them into battle certain figures and
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Speaker 1: images taken from their sacred groves. And what most stimulates
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Speaker 1: their courage is that their squadrons or battalions, instead of
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Speaker 1: being formed by chants or by a fortuitous gathering, are
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Speaker 1: composed of families and clans. Close by them, too, are
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Speaker 1: those dearest to them, so that they hear the shrieks
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Speaker 1: of women, the cries of infants. They are to every
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Speaker 1: man the most sacred witnesses of his bravery. They are
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Speaker 1: his most generous applauders. The soldier brings his wounds to
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Speaker 1: mother and wife, who shrink not from care or even
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Speaker 1: demanding them, and who administer both food and encouragement to
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Speaker 1: the competence. Tradition says that armies already wavering and giving way,
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Speaker 1: have been rallied by women, who, with earnest entreaties and
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Speaker 1: bosoms laid bare, have vividly represented the horrors of captivity,
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Speaker 1: which the Germans fear with such extreme dread on behalf
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Speaker 1: of their women that the strongest tie by which a
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Speaker 1: state can be bound is the being required to give
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Speaker 1: among the number of hostages maidens of noble birth. They
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Speaker 1: even believe that the sex has a certain sanctity and prescience,
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Speaker 1: and they do not despise their councils or make light
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Speaker 1: of their answers. In Vespasian's days, we saw Vlada, long
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Speaker 1: regarded by many as a divinity. In former times. Two
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Speaker 1: they venerated Urinea and many other women, but not with
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Speaker 1: servile flatteries or with sham dear vacation. Mercury is the
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Speaker 1: deity whom they chiefly worship, and on certain days they
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Speaker 1: deem it right to sacrifice to him, even with human victims.
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Speaker 1: Hercules and Mars. They appease with more lawful offerings. Some
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Speaker 1: of the Swavey also sacrifice to isis of the occasion
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Speaker 1: and origin of this foreign right. I have discovered nothing
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Speaker 1: but that the image, which is fashioned like a light galley,
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Speaker 1: indicates an important worship. The Germans, however, do not consider
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Speaker 1: it consistent with the grandeur of celestial beings to confine
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Speaker 1: the gods within walls, or to liken them to the
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Speaker 1: form of any human countenance. They consecrate woods and groves,
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Speaker 1: and they apply the names of deities to the abstraction,
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Speaker 1: which they see only in spiritual worship. Augury and divination
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Speaker 1: by lot. No people practice more diligently. The use of
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Speaker 1: the lots is simple. A little bough is lopped off
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Speaker 1: a fruit bearing tree and cut into small pieces. These
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Speaker 1: are distinguished by certain marks, and thrown carelessly and at
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Speaker 1: random over a white garment in public questions the priest
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Speaker 1: of the particular state. In private, the father of the
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Speaker 1: family invokes the gods, and with his own eyes towards Heaven,
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Speaker 1: takes up each piece three times and finds in them
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Speaker 1: a meaning according to the mark previously impressed on them.
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Speaker 1: If they prove unfavorable, there is no further consultation that
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Speaker 1: day about the matter. If they sanction it. The confirmation
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Speaker 1: of augury is still required, for they are also familiar
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Speaker 1: with the practice of consulting the notes and the flight
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Speaker 1: of birds. It is peculiar to this people to seek
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Speaker 1: omens admonitions from horses kept at the public expense in
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Speaker 1: these same woods and groves are white horses, pure from
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Speaker 1: the taint of earthly labour. These are yoked to a
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Speaker 1: sacred car and accompanied by the priests and the king
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Speaker 1: or chief of the tribe, who know their neighings and snortings.
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Speaker 1: No species of augury is more trusted, not only by
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Speaker 1: the people and by the nobility, but also by the priests,
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Speaker 1: who regard themselves as the ministers of the gods, and
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Speaker 1: the horses as acquainted with their will. They have also
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Speaker 1: another method of observing gosspices, by which they seek to
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Speaker 1: learn the result of an important war. Having taken by
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Speaker 1: whatever means, a prisoner from the tribe with whom they
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Speaker 1: are at war, they pit him against a picked man
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Speaker 1: of their own tribe, each competent using the weapons of
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Speaker 1: their country. The victory of the one or the other
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Speaker 1: is accepted as an indication of the issue. About minor matters,
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Speaker 1: the chiefs deliberate about the more important the whole tribe. Yet,
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Speaker 1: even when the final decision rests with the people, the
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Speaker 1: affair is always thoroughly discussed by the chiefs. They assemble,
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Speaker 1: except in the case of a sudden emergency on certain
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Speaker 1: fixed days, either at new or at full moon. For
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Speaker 1: this they consider the most auspicious season for the transaction
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Speaker 1: of business. Instead of reckoning by days as we do,
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Speaker 1: they reckon by nights, and in this manner fix both
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Speaker 1: their ordinary and their legal appointments. Night they regard as
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Speaker 1: bringing on day. Their freedom has this disadvantage that they
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Speaker 1: do not meet simultaneously or as they are bidden, But
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Speaker 1: two or three days are wasted in the delays of assembling.
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Speaker 1: When the multitude think proper, they sit down armed. Silence
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Speaker 1: is proclaimed by the priests, who have on these occasions
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Speaker 1: the right of keeping order. Then the king or the chief,
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Speaker 1: according to age birth distinction in war or eloquence, is
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Speaker 1: heard more because he has influence to persuade than because
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Speaker 1: he has power to command. If his sentiments displease them,
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Speaker 1: they reject them with murmurs. If they are satisfied, they
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Speaker 1: brandish their spears. The most complimentary form of assent is
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Speaker 1: to express approbation with their weapons. In their councils, an
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Speaker 1: accusation may be preferred, or a capital crime prosecuted. Penalties
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Speaker 1: are distinguished according to the offense. Traitors and deserters are
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Speaker 1: hanged on trees. The coward, the unworn, like the man
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Speaker 1: stained with abominable vices, is plunged into the mar of
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Speaker 1: the morass, with a hurdle put over him. This distinction
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Speaker 1: in punishment means that crime they think ought in being
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Speaker 1: punished to be exposed while infamy or to be buried
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Speaker 1: out of sight. Lighter offenses, too, have penalties proportioned to them.
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Speaker 1: He who is convicted is fined in a certain number
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Speaker 1: of horses or of cattle. Half of the fine is
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Speaker 1: paid to the king or to the state, half to
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Speaker 1: the person whose wrongs are avenged, and to his relatives.
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Speaker 1: In these same councils they also elect the chief magistrates,
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Speaker 1: who administer law in the cantons and the towns. Each
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Speaker 1: of these has a hundred associates, chosen from the people
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Speaker 1: whose support him with their advice and influence. They transact
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Speaker 1: no public or private business without being armed. It is not, however,
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Speaker 1: usual for anyone to wear arms till the state has
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Speaker 1: recognized his power to use them. Then, in the presence
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Speaker 1: of the council, one of the chiefs, or the young
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Speaker 1: man's father, or some kinsman equips him with a shield
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Speaker 1: and a spear. These arms are what the toga is
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Speaker 1: with us, the first honor with which youth is invested.
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Speaker 1: Up to this time he is regarded as a member
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Speaker 1: of a household, afterwards as a member of the commonwealth.
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Speaker 1: Very noble birth or great services rendered by the father
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Speaker 1: secure for lads the rank of a chief. Such lads
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Speaker 1: attach themselves to men of mature strength and of long
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Speaker 1: approved valor. It is no shame to be seen among
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Speaker 1: a chief's followers, even in his escort. There are gradations
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Speaker 1: of rank, dependent on the choice of the man to
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Speaker 1: whom they are attached. These followers vie keenly with each
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Speaker 1: other as to who shall rank first with his chief,
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Speaker 1: the chiefs as to who shall have the most numerous
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Speaker 1: and the bravest followers. It is an honor as well
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Speaker 1: as a source of strength, to be thus always surrounded
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Speaker 1: by a large body of picked youths. It is an
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Speaker 1: ornament in peace and a defense in war, and not
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Speaker 1: only in his own tribe, but also in the neighboring states.
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Speaker 1: It is the renown and glory of a chief to
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Speaker 1: be distinguished for the number and valor of his followers.
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Speaker 1: For such a man is courted by embassies, is honored
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Speaker 1: with presence, and the very prestigiou of his name often
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Speaker 1: settles a war when they go into battle. It is
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Speaker 1: a disgrace for the chief to be surpassed in valor,
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Speaker 1: a disgrace for his followers not to equal the valor
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Speaker 1: of the chief. And it is an infamy and a
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Speaker 1: reproach for life to have survived the chief and returned
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Speaker 1: from the field to defend, to protect him. To ascribe
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Speaker 1: one's own brave deeds to his renown is the height
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Speaker 1: of loyalty. The chief fights for victory, his vassals fight
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Speaker 1: for their chief. If their native states sinks into the
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Speaker 1: sloth of prolonged peace and repose, many of its noble
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Speaker 1: youths voluntarily seek those tribes which are waging some war,
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Speaker 1: both because inaction is odious to their race and because
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Speaker 1: they win renown more readily. In the middle stop peril
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Speaker 1: and cannot maintain a numerous following except by violence and war. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: men look to the liberality of their chief for their
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Speaker 1: war horse, and their blood stained and victorious lance. Feasts
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Speaker 1: and entertainments, which, though inelegant, are plentifully furnished, are their
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Speaker 1: only pay. The means of this bounty come from war
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Speaker 1: and rapine. Nor are they as easily persuaded to plow
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Speaker 1: the earth and to wait for the year's produce as
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Speaker 1: to challenge an enemy and earn the honor of wounds. Nay,
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Speaker 1: they actually think it tame and stupid to acquire by
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Speaker 1: the sweat of toil what they might win by their blood.
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Speaker 1: Whenever they are not fighting, they pass much of their
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Speaker 1: time in the chase, and still more in idleness, giving
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Speaker 1: themselves up to sleep and to feasting. The bravest and
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Speaker 1: the most warlike doing nothing, and surrendering the management of
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Speaker 1: the household, of the home, and of the land to
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Speaker 1: the women, the old men, and all the weakest members
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Speaker 1: of the family. They themselves lie buried in sloth. A
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Speaker 1: strange combination in their nature, that the same men should
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Speaker 1: be so fond of idleness, so averse to peace. It
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Speaker 1: is the custom of the states to bestow by voluntary
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Speaker 1: and individual contribution on the chiefs, a present of cattle
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Speaker 1: or of grain, which, while accepted as a compliment, supplies
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Speaker 1: their wants. They are particularly delighted by gifts from neighboring tribes,
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Speaker 1: which are sent not only by individuals but also by
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Speaker 1: the state, such as choice steeds, heavy armour trappings, and
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Speaker 1: neck chains. We have now taught them to accept money. Also.
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Speaker 1: It is well known that the nations of Germany have
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Speaker 1: no cities, and that they do not even tolerate closely
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Speaker 1: contiguous dwellings. They live scattered and apart, just as a spring,
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Speaker 1: a meadow, or a wood has attracted them their villages.
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Speaker 1: They do not arrange in our fashion where the buildings
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Speaker 1: connected and joined together. But every person surrounds his dwelling
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Speaker 1: with an open space, either as a precaution against the
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Speaker 1: disasters of fire, or because they do not know how
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Speaker 1: to build. No use is made by them of stone
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Speaker 1: or tile. They employ timber for purpose, rude masses without
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Speaker 1: ornament or attractiveness. Some parts of their buildings they stain
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Speaker 1: more carefully with a clay so clear and bright that
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Speaker 1: it resembles painting or a colored design. They are wont
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Speaker 1: also to dig out subterranean caves and parl on them
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Speaker 1: great heaps of dung, as a shelter from winter and
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Speaker 1: as a receptacle for the year's produce, For by such
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Speaker 1: places they mitigate the rigor of the cold, and should
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Speaker 1: an enemy approach, he lays waste the open country, while
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Speaker 1: what is hidden and buried is either not known to exist,
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Speaker 1: or else escapes him from the very fact that it
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Speaker 1: has to be searched for. End of Part one recording
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Speaker 1: by Andrew Coleman,