1 Had previous chroniclers neglected to speak in praise
of History in general, it might perhaps have been necessary for me to recommend
everyone to choose for study and welcome such treatises as the present, since men
have no more ready corrective of conduct than knowledge of the past. 2But all historians, one may say without exception,
and in no half-hearted manner, but making this the beginning and end of their labour, have impressed on us that the soundest education
and training for a life of active politics is the study of History, and that
surest and indeed the only method of learning how to bear bravely the
vicissitudes of fortune, is to recall the calamities of others. 3Evidently
therefore no one, and least of all myself, would think it his duty at this day
to repeat what has been so well and so often said. 4For
the very element of unexpectedness in the events I have chosen as my theme
will be sufficient to challenge and incite everyone, young and old alike, to
peruse my systematic history. 5For who is so worthless or indolent as not
to wish to know by what means and under what system of polity the Romans in
less than fifty-three years have succeeded in subjecting nearly the whole
inhabited world to their sole government — a thing unique in history? 6Or who again is there so
passionately devoted to other spectacles or studies as to regard anything as of
greater moment than the acquisition of this knowledge?
2 How striking and grand is the spectacle presented by the
period with which I purpose to deal, will be most clearly apparent if we
set beside and compare with the Roman dominion the most famous empires of the
past, those which have formed the chief theme of historians. 2Those
worthy of being thus set beside it and compared are these. The Persians for a
certain period possessed a great rule and dominion, but so
often as they ventured to overstep the boundaries of Asia they imperiled not
only the security of this empire, but their own existence. 3The
Lacedaemonians, after having for many years disputed the hegemony of
3 The date from which I propose to begin my
history is the 140th Olympiad [220‑216 B.C.], and the events are the
following: (1) in Greece the so‑called Social War, the first waged
against the Aetolians by the Achaeans in league with and under the leadership
of Philip of Macedon, the son of Demetrius and father of Perseus, (2) in
Asia the war for Coele-Syria between Antiochus and
Ptolemy Philopator, 2(3) in
Italy, Libya, and the adjacent regions, the war between Rome and Carthage,
usually known as the Hannibalic War. These events
immediately succeed those related at the end of the work of Aratus of Sicyon. 3Previously the doings of the world had been, so to
say, dispersed, as they were held together by no unity of initiative, results,
or locality; 4but ever since this date history has
been an organic whole, and the affairs of Italy and Libya have been interlinked
with those of Greece and Asia, all leading up to one end. 5And
this is my reason for beginning their systematic history from that date. 6For it was owing
to their defeat of the Carthaginians in the Hannibalic
War that the Romans, feeling that the chief and most essential step in their
scheme of universal aggression had now been taken, were first emboldened to
reach out their hands to grasp the rest and to cross with an army to Greece and
the continent of Asia. 7Now were we Greeks well
acquainted with the two states which disputed the empire of the world, it would
not perhaps have been necessary for me to deal at all with their previous
history, or to narrate what purpose guided them, and on what sources of
strength they relied, in entering upon such a vast undertaking. 8But
as neither the former power nor the earlier history of Rome and Carthage is
familiar to most of us Greeks, I thought it necessary to prefix this Book
and the next to the actual history, 9in order that
no one after becoming engrossed in the narrative proper may find himself at a
loss, and ask by what counsel and trusting to what power and resources the
Romans embarked on that enterprise which has made them lords over land and sea
in our part of the world; 10but that from these
Books and the preliminary sketch in them, it may be clear to readers that they
had quite adequate grounds for conceiving the ambition of a world-empire and
adequate means for achieving their purpose.
4 For what gives my work its peculiar quality, and what
is most remarkable in the present age, is this. Fortune has guided almost all
the affairs of the world in one direction and has forced them to incline
towards one and the same end; 2a historian should
likewise bring before his readers under one synoptical
view the operations by which she has accomplished her general purpose. Indeed
it was this chiefly that invited and encouraged me to
undertake my task; and secondarily the fact that none of my contemporaries have
undertaken to write a general history, in which case I should have been
much less eager to take this in hand. 3As it is,
I observe that while several modern writers deal with particular wars and
certain matters connected with them, no one, as far as I am aware, has
even attempted to inquire critically when and whence the general and
comprehensive scheme of events originated and how it led up to the end. 4I therefore thought it quite necessary not to
leave unnoticed or allow to pass into oblivion this
the finest and most beneficent of the performances of Fortune. 5For
though she is ever producing something new and ever playing a part in the lives
of men, she has not in a single instance ever accomplished such a work, ever
achieved such a triumph, as in our own times. 6We
can no more hope to perceive this from histories dealing with particular events
than to get at once a notion of the form of the whole world, its disposition
and order, by visiting, each in turn, the most famous cities, or indeed by
looking at separate plans of each: a result by no means likely. 7He indeed who believes that by studying isolated
histories he can acquire a fairly just view of history as a whole, is, as it
seems to me, much in the case of one, who, after having looked at the
dissevered limbs of an animal once alive and beautiful, fancies he has been as
good as an eyewitness of the creature itself in all its action and grace. 8For could anyone put the creature together on the
spot, restoring its form and the comeliness of life, and then show it to the
same man, I think he would quickly avow that he was formerly very far away
from the truth and more like one in a dream. 9For we
can get some idea of a whole from a part, but never knowledge or exact opinion.
10Special histories therefore contribute very
little to the knowledge of the whole and conviction of its truth. 11It
is only indeed by study of the interconnexion of all
the particulars, their resemblances and differences, that we are enabled at
least to make a general survey, and thus derive both benefit and pleasure from
history.
5 I shall adopt as the starting-point of this Book
the first occasion on which the Romans crossed the sea from
PREFACE
[1.Preface]Whether
the task I have undertaken of writing a complete history of the Roman people
from the very commencement of its existence will reward me for the labour spent on it, I neither know for certain, nor if I
did know would I venture to say. For I see that this is an old-established and
a common practice, each fresh writer being invariably persuaded that he will
either attain greater certainty in the materials of his narrative, or surpass
the rudeness of antiquity in the excellence of his style. However this may be,
it will still be a great satisfaction to me to have taken my part, too, in
investing, to the utmost of my abilities, the annals of the foremost nation in
the world with a deeper interest; and if in such a crowd of writers my own
reputation is thrown into the shade, I would console myself with the renown and
greatness of those who eclipse my fame. The subject, moreover, is one that
demands immense labour. It goes back beyond 700 years
and, after starting from small and humble beginnings, has grown to such
dimensions that it begins to be overburdened by its greatness. I have very
little doubt, too, that for the majority of my readers the earliest times and
those immediately succeeding, will possess little
attraction; they will hurry on to these modern days in which the might of a
long paramount nation is wasting by internal decay. I, on the other hand, shall
look for a further reward of my labours in being able
to close my eyes to the evils which our generation has witnessed for so many
years; so long, at least, as I am devoting all my thoughts to retracing those
pristine records, free from all the anxiety which can disturb the historian of
his own times even if it cannot warp him from the truth.
The traditions of what happened prior to the
foundation of the City or whilst it was being built, are more fitted to adorn
the creations of the poet than the authentic records of the historian, and I
have no intention of establishing either their truth or their falsehood. This
much licence is conceded to the ancients, that by
intermingling human actions with divine they may confer a more august dignity
on the origins of states. Now, if any nation ought to be allowed to claim a
sacred origin and point back to a divine paternity that nation is
There is this exceptionally beneficial and
fruitful advantage to be derived from the study of the past,
that you see, set in the clear light of historical truth, examples of
every possible type. From these you may select for yourself and your country
what to imitate, and also what, as being mischievous in its inception and
disastrous in its issues, you are to avoid. Unless, however, I am misled by
affection for my undertaking, there has never existed any commonwealth greater
in power, with a purer morality, or more fertile in good examples; or any state
in which avarice and luxury have been so late in making their inroads, or
poverty and frugality so highly and continuously honoured,
showing so clearly that the less wealth men possessed the less they coveted. In
these latter years wealth has brought avarice in its train, and the unlimited
command of pleasure has created in men a passion for ruining themselves and
everything else through self-indulgence and licentiousness. But criticisms
which will be unwelcome, even when perhaps necessary, must not appear in the
commencement at all events of this extensive work. We should much prefer to
start with favourable omens, and if we could have
adopted the poets' custom, it would have been much pleasanter to commence with
prayers and supplications to gods and goddesses that they would grant a favourable and successful issue to the great task before
us.
Book
1: The Earliest Legends
[1.1]To begin with,
it is generally admitted that after the capture of Troy, whilst the rest of the
Trojans were massacred, against two of them - Aeneas and Antenor - the Achivi refused to exercise the rights of war, partly owing
to old ties of hospitality, and partly because these men had always been in favour of making peace and surrendering Helen. Their
subsequent fortunes were different. Antenor sailed into the furthest part of
the Adriatic, accompanied by a number of Enetians who
had been driven from Paphlagonia by a revolution, and after losing their king Pylaemenes before
From this point there is a twofold tradition.
According to the one, Latinus was defeated in battle,
and made peace with Aeneas, and subsequently a family alliance. According to
the other, whilst the two armies were standing ready to engage and waiting for
the signal, Latinus advanced in front of his lines
and invited the leader of the strangers to a conference. He inquired of him
what manner of men they were, whence they came, what had happened to make them
leave their homes, what were they in quest of when they landed in Latinus' territory. When he heard that the men were
Trojans, that their leader was Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Venus, that
their city had been burnt, and that the homeless exiles were now looking for a
place to settle in and build a city, he was so struck with the noble bearing of
the men and their leader, and their readiness to accept alike either peace or
war, that he gave his right hand as a solemn pledge of friendship for the
future. A formal treaty was made between the leaders and mutual greetings
exchanged between the armies. Latinus received Aeneas
as a guest in his house, and there, in the presence of his tutelary deities,
completed the political alliance by a domestic one, and gave his daughter in
marriage to Aeneas. This incident confirmed the Trojans in the hope that they
had reached the term of their wanderings and won a permanent home. They built a
town, which Aeneas called Lavinium after his wife. In
a short time a boy was born of the new marriage, to whom
his parents gave the name of Ascanius.
[1.2]In a short
time the Aborigines and Trojans became involved in war with Turnus,
the king of the Rutulians. Lavinia had been betrothed
to him before the arrival of Aeneas, and, furious at finding a stranger
preferred to him, he declared war against both Latinus
and Aeneas. Neither side could congratulate themselves on the
result of the battle; the Rutulians were defeated,
but the victorious Aborigines and Trojans lost their leader Latinus.
Feeling their need of allies, Turnus and the Rutulians had recourse to the celebrated power of the
Etruscans and Mezentius, their king, who was reigning
at Caere, a wealthy city in those days. From the
first he had felt anything but pleasure at the rise of the
[1.3]His son, Ascanius,
was not old enough to assume the government; but his throne remained secure
throughout his minority. During that interval - such was Lavinia's force of
character - though a woman was regent, the
Ascanius was succeeded by his son Silvius,
who by some chance had been born in the forest. He became the father of Aeneas
Silvius, who in his turn had a son, Latinus Silvius.
He planted a number of colonies: the colonists were called Prisci
Latini. The cognomen of Silvius was common to all the
remaining kings of Alba, each of whom succeeded his father. Their names are
Alba, Atys, Capys, Capetus, Tiberinus, who was
drowned in crossing the Albula, and his name
transferred to the river, which became henceforth the famous
[1.4]But the Fates
had, I believe, already decreed the origin of this great city and the
foundation of the mightiest empire under heaven. The Vestal was forcibly
violated and gave birth to twins. She named Mars as their father, either
because she really believed it, or because the fault might appear less heinous
if a deity were the cause of it. But neither gods nor men sheltered her or her
babes from the king's cruelty; the priestess was thrown into prison, the boys
were ordered to be thrown into the river. By a heaven-sent chance it happened
that the
[1.5]It is said
that the festival of the Lupercalia, which is still observed, was even in those
days celebrated on the Palatine hill. This hill was originally called Pallantium from a city of the same name in
[1.6]At the
beginning of the fray, Numitor gave out that an enemy
had entered the City and was attacking the palace, in order to draw off the
Alban soldiery to the citadel, to defend it. When he saw the young men coming
to congratulate him after the assassination, he at once called a council of his
people and explained his brother's infamous conduct towards him, the story of
his grandsons, their parentage and bringing up, and how he recognised
them. Then he proceeded to inform them of the tyrant's death and his
responsibility for it. The young men marched in order through the midst of the
assembly and saluted their grandfather as king; their action was approved by
the whole population, who with one voice ratified the title and sovereignty of
the king. After the government of Alba was thus transferred to Numitor,
[1.7]Remus is said
to have been the first to receive an omen: six vultures appeared to him. The
augury had just been announced to
Publius Cornelius
Tacitus (Tacitus)
(c. A.D. 56 - c. 120)
The
Germania
Text Source: Medieval
Sourcebook, Fordham University
Tacitus, an important
Roman historian, wrote the most detailed early description of the Germans at
the end of the first century A.D.. In doing so, be
warned, he was commenting on the Rome of his own time, as much as on the German
themselves.
Note that although this
is most of Tacitus' text, some of the later sections are not in this etext.
The
Inhabitants. 0rigins of the
Name "Germany. " The Germans themselves I should regard as
aboriginal, and not mixed at all with other races through immigration or
intercourse. For, in former times it was not by land but on shipboard that
those who sought to emigrate would arrive; and the boundless and, so to speak, hostile ocean beyond us, is seldom entered by a sail from
our world. And, beside the perils of rough and
unknown seas, who would leave Asia, or Africa for Italy for Germany, with its
wild country, its inclement skies, its sullen manners and aspect, unless indeed
it were his home? In their ancient songs, their only
way of remembering or recording the past they celebrate an earth-born god Tuisco, and his son Mannus, as
the origin of their race, as their founders. To Mannus
they assign three sons, from whose names, they say, the coast tribes are called
Ingaevones; those of the interior, Herminones; all the rest, Istaevones.
Some, with the freedom of conjecture permitted by antiquity, assert that the
god had several descendants, and the nation several appellations, as Marsi, Gambrivii, Suevi, Vandilij, and that these are nine old names. The name
Germany, on the other hand, they say is modern and newly introduced, from the
fact that the tribes which first crossed the Rhine and drove out the Gauls, and are now called Tungrians,
were then called Germans. Thus what was the name of a tribe, and not of a race,
gradually prevailed, till all called themselves by this self-invented name of
Germans, which the conquerors had first employed to inspire terror.
The National War-Songs.... They say that Hercules, too, once visited them;
and when going into battle, they sing of him first of all heroes. They have
also those songs of theirs, by the recital of which ("baritus,"
they call it), they rouse their courage, while from the note they augur the
result of the approaching conflict. For, as their line shouts, they inspire or
feel alarm. It is not so much an articulate sound, as a general cry of valor.
They aim chiefly at a harsh note and a confused roar, putting their shields to their
mouth, so that, by reverberation, it may swell into a fuller and deeper sound.
Physical
Characteristics. For my own part, I agree with those who think that
the tribes of Germany are free from all taint of intermarriages with foreign
nations, and that they appear as a distinct, unmixed race, like none but
themselves. Hence, too, the same physical peculiarities
throughout so vast a population. All have fierce blue eyes, red hair, huge frames, fit only for a sudden exertion. They are less
able to bear laborious work. Heat and thirst they cannot in the least endure;
to cold and hunger their climate and their soil inure them.
Climate
and Soil. Precious Metals. Their country, though somewhat various in appearance,
yet generally either bristles with forests or reeks with swamps; it is more
rainy on the side of Gaul, bleaker on that of Noricum and Pannonia. It is
productive of grain, but unfavourable to
fruit-bearing trees; it is rich in flocks and herds, but these are for the most
part undersized, and even the cattle have not their
usual beauty or noble head. It is number that is chiefly valued; they are in
fact the most highly prized, indeed the only riches of the people. Silver and
gold the gods have refused to them, whether in kindness or in anger I cannot say.
I would not, however, affirm that no vein of German soil produces gold or
silver, for who has ever made a search? They care but little to possess or use
them. You may see among them vessels of silver, which have been presented to
their envoys and chieftains, held as cheap as those of the clay. The border population, however, value gold and silver for their commercial
utility, and are familiar with, and show preference for, some of our
coins. The tribes of the interior use the simpler and more ancient practice of
the barter of commodities. They like the old and well known money, coins
milled, or showing a two-horse chariot. They likewise prefer silver to gold,
not from any special liking, but because a large number of silver pieces is
more convenient for use among dealers in cheap and common articles.
Arms Military Manoeuvres and Discipline Even iron is not plentiful with them, as we infer from the
character of their weapons. But few use swords or long lances. They carry a
spear (framea is their name for it), with
a narrow and short head, but so sharp and easy to wield that the same weapon
serves, according to circumstances, for close or distant conflict. As for the
horse-soldier, he is satisfied with a shield and spear; the foot-soldiers also
scatter showers of missiles each man having several and hurling them to an
immense distance, and being naked or lightly clad with a little cloak. There is
no display about their equipment; their shields alone are marked with very
choice colours. A few only have corslets,
and just one or two here and there a metal or leather helmet. Their horses are
remarkable neither for beauty nor for fleetness. Nor are they taught various
evolutions after our fashion, but are driven straight forward, or so as to make
one wheel to the right in such a compact body that none is left behind another.
On the whole, one would say that their chief strength is in their infantry,
which fights along with the cavalry; admirably adapted to the action of the
latter is the swiftness of certain foot-soldiers, who are picked from the
entire youth of their country, and stationed in front of the line. Their number
is fixed -- a hundred from each canton; and from this they take their name
among their countrymen, so that what was originally a mere number has no become
a title of distinction. Their line of battle is drawn up in a wedge-like
formation. To give ground, provided you return to the attack, is considered
prudence rather than cowardice. The bodies of their slain they carry off even
in indecisive engagements. To abandon your shield is the basest of crimes; nor may a man thus disgraced be present at the sacred rites, or
enter their council; many, indeed, after escaping from battle, have ended their
infamy with the halter.
Government. Influence of Women. They choose their kings by birth, their generals
for merit. These kings have not unlimited or arbitrary power, and the generals
do more by example than by authority. If they are energetic, if they are
conspicuous, if they fight in the front, they lead because they are admired. But to reprimand, to imprison, even to flog, is permitted to the
priests alone, and that not as a punishment, or at the general's bidding, but,
as it were, by the mandate of the god whom they believe to inspire the warrior.
They also carry with them into battle certain figures and images taken from
their sacred groves. And what most stimulates their courage is,
that their squadrons or battalions, instead of being formed by chance or by a
fortuitous gathering, are composed of families and clans. Close by them, too,
are those dearest to them, so that they hear the shrieks of women, the cries of
infants. They are to every man the most sacred witnesses of his bravery-they
are his most generous applauders. The soldier brings his wounds to mother and
wife, who shrink not from counting or even demanding them and who administer
food and encouragement to the combatants.
Tradition says that armies
already wavering and giving way have been rallied by women who, with earnest
entreaties and bosoms laid bare, have vividly represented the horrors of
captivity, which the Germans fear with such extreme dread on behalf of their
women, that the strongest tie by which a state can be bound is the being
required to give, among the number of hostages, maidens of noble birth. They
even believe that the sex has a certain sanctity and prescience, and they do
not despise their counsels, or make light of their answers. In Vespasian's days
we saw Veleda, long regarded by many as a divinity.
In former times, too, they venerated Aurinia, and
many other women, but not with servile flatteries, or with sham deification.
Deities. Mercury is the deity whom they chiefly worship,
and on certain days they deem it right to sacrifice to him even with human
victims. Hercules and Mars they appease with more lawful offerings. Some of the
Suevi also sacrifice to Isis. Of the occasion and origin of this foreign rite I
have discovered nothing, but that the image, which is fashioned like a light
galley, indicates an imported worship. The Germans, however, do not consider it
consistent with the grandeur of celestial beings to confine the gods within
walls, or to liken them to the form of any human countenance. They consecrate
woods and groves, and they apply the names of deities to the abstraction which
they see only in spiritual worship.
Auguries
and Method of Divination. Augury
and divination by lot no people practise more
diligently. The use of the lots is simple. A little bough is lopped off a
fruit-bearing tree, and cut into small pieces; these are distinguished by
certain marks, and thrown carelessly and at random over a white garment. In
public questions the priest of the particular state, in private the father of
the family, invokes the gods, and, with his eyes toward heaven, takes up each
piece three times, and finds in them a meaning according to the mark previously
impressed on them. If they prove unfavourable, there
is no further consultation that day about the matter; if they sanction it, the
confirmation of augury is still required. For they are also
familiar with the practice of consulting the notes and flight of birds.
It is peculiar to this people to seek omens and monitions from horses. Kept at
the public expense, in these same woods and groves, are white horses, pure from
the taint of earthly labour; these are yoked to a
sacred car, and accompanied by the priest and the king, or chief of the tribe,
who note their neighings and snortings.
No species of augury is more trusted, not only by the people and by the
nobility, but also by the priests, who regard themselves as the ministers of
the gods, and the horses as acquainted with their will. They have also another
method of observing auspices, by which they seek to learn the result of an
important war. Having taken, by whatever means, a prisoner from the tribe with
whom they are at war, they pit him against a picked man of their own tribe,
each combatant using the weapons of their country. The victory of the one or
the other is accepted as an indication of the issue.
Councils- About minor matters the chiefs deliberate, about the
more important the whole tribe. Yet even when the final decision rests with the
people, the affair is always thoroughly discussed by the chiefs. They assemble,
except in the case of a sudden emergency, on certain fixed days, either at new
or at full moon; for this they consider the most auspicious season for the
transaction of business. Instead of reckoning by days as we do, they reckon by
nights, and in this manner fix both their ordinary and their legal appointments.
Night they regard as bringing on day. Their freedom has this disadvantage, that
they do not meet simultaneously or as they are bidden, but two or three days
are wasted in the delays of assembling. When the multitude
think proper, they sit down armed. Silence is proclaimed by the priests,
who have on these occasions the right of keeping order. Then the king or the
chief, according to age, birth, distinction in war, or eloquence, is heard,
more because he has influence to persuade than because he has power to command.
If his sentiments displease them, they reject them with murmurs; if they are
satisfied, they brandish their spears. The most complimentary form of assent is
to express approbation with their spears.
Punishments. Administration of Justice. In their councils an accusation may be preferred or a capital crime
prosecuted. Penalties are distinguished according to the offence. Traitors and
deserters are hanged on trees; the coward, the unwarlike, the man stained with
abominable vices, is plunged into the mire of the morass with a hurdle put over
him. This distinction in punishment means that crime, they think, ought, in
being punished, to be exposed, while infamy ought to be buried out of sight-
Lighter offences, too, have penalties proportioned to them; he who is
convicted, is fined in a certain number of horses or of cattle. Half of the
fine is paid to the king or to the state, half to the person whose wrongs are
avenged and to his relatives. In these same councils they also elect the chief
magistrates, who administer law in the cantons and the towns. Each of these has
a hundred associates chosen from the people, who support him with their advice
and influence.
Training of Youth They transact no public or private business
without being armed. it is not, however, usual for
anyone to wear arms till the state has recognized his power to use them. Then
in the presence of the council one of the chiefs, or the young man's father, or
some kinsman, equips him with a shield and a spear. These arms are what the
"toga" is with us, the first honour with
which youth is invested. Up to this time he is regarded as a member of a household, after-wards as a member of the commonwealth.
Very noble birth or great services rendered by the father secure for lads the
rank of a chief; such lads attach themselves to men of mature strength and of
long approved valour. It is no shame to be seen among
a chief's followers. Even in his escort there are gradations of rank, dependent
on the choice of the man to whom they are attached. These followers vie keenly
with each others as to who shall rank first with his
chiefs, the chiefs as to who shall have the most numerous and the bravest
followers. It is an honour as well as a source of
strength to be thus always surrounded by a large body of picked youths; it is
an ornament in peace and a defence in war. And not
only in his own tribe but also in the neighboring states it is the renown and
glory of a chief to be distinguished for the number and valour
of his followers, for such a man is courted by embassies, is honoured with presents, and the very prestige of his name ofen settles a war.
Warlike
Ardour of the People. When
they go into battle, it is a disgrace for the chief to be surpassed in valour, a disgrace for his followers not to equal the valour of the chief. And it is an infamy and a reproach for
life to have survived the chief, and returned from the field. To defend, to
protect him, to ascribe one's own brave deeds to his renown, is the height of
loyalty. The chief fights for victory; his vassals fight for their chief. If
their native state sinks into the sloth of prolonged peace and repose, many of
its noble youths voluntarily seek those tribes which are waging some war, both
because inaction is odious to their race, and because they win renown more
readily in the midst of peril, and cannot maintain a numerous following except
by violence and war. Indeed, men look to the liberality of their chief for
their war-horse and their bloodstained and victorious lance. Feasts and
entertainments, which, though inelegant, are plentifully furnished, are their
only pay. The means of this bounty come from war and rapine. Nor are they as
easily persuaded to plough the earth and to wait for the year's produce as to
challenge an enemy and earn the honour of wounds.
Nay, they actually think it tame and stupid to acquire by the sweat of toil
what they might win by their blood.
Habits
in Time of Peace. Whenever
they are not fighting, they pass much of their time in the chase, and still
more in idleness, giving themselves up to sleep and to feasting, the bravest
and the most warlike doing nothing, and surrendering the management of the
household, of the home, and of the land, to the women, the old men, and all the
weakest members of the family. They themselves lie buried in sloth, a strange
combination in their nature that the same men should be so fond of idleness, so
averse to peace. It is the custom of the states to bestow by voluntary and
individual contribution on the chiefs a present of cattle or of grain, which,
while accepted as a compliment, supplies their wants. They are particularly
delighted by gifts from neighbouring tribes, which
are sent not only by individuals but also by the state, such as choice steeds,
heavy armour, trappings, and neck-chains. We have now
taught them to acccept money also.
Arrangement of Their
Towns, Subterranean Dwellings It
is well known that the nations of Germany have not cities, and that they do not
even tolerate closely contiguous dwellings. They live scattered and apart, just
as a spring, a meadow, or a wood has attracted them. Their village they do not
arrange in our fashion, with the buildings connected and joined together, but
every person surrounds his dwelling with an open space, either as a precaution
against the disasters of fire, or because they do not know how to build. No use
is made by them of stone or tile; they employ timber for all purposes, rude
masses without ornament or attractiveness. Some parts of their buildings they
stain more carefully with a clay so clear and bright
that it resembles painting, or a coloured design.
They are wont also to dig out subterranean caves, and pile on them great heaps
of dung shelter from winter and as a receptacle for the year's produce, for by
such places they mitigate the rigour of the cold. And
should an enemy approach, he lays waste the open country, while what is hidden
and buried is either not known to exist, or escapes him from the very fact that
it has to be searched for.
Dress They all wrap themselves in a cloak which is
fastened with a clasp, or, if this is not forthcoming, with a thorn, leaving
the rest of their persons bare. They pass whole days
on the hearth by the fire. The wealthiest are distinguished by a dress which is
not flowing like that of the Sarmatae and Parthi, but is tight, and exhibits each limb. They also
wear the skins of wild beasts; the tribes on the Rhine and Danube in a careless
fashion, those of the interior with more elegance, as not obtaining other
clothing by commerce. These select certain animals, the hides of which they
strip off and vary them with the spotted skins of beasts, the produce of the
outer ocean, and of seas unknown to us. The women have the same dress as the
men except that they generally wrap themselves in linen garments, which they
embroider with purple, and do not lengthen out the upper part of their clothing
into sleeves. The upper and lower arm is thus bare, and the nearest part of the
bosom is also exposed.
Marriage
Laws. Their marriage code, however, is strict, and indeed
no part of their manners is more praiseworthy. Almost alone among barbarians
they are content with one wife, except a very few among them, and these not
from sensuality, but because their noble birth procures for them many offers of
alliance. The wife does not bring a dower to the husband, but the husband to
the wife. The parents and relatives are present, and pass judgment
on the marriage-gifts, gifts not meant to suit a woman's taste, nor such
as a bride would deck herself with, but oxen, a caparisoned steed, a shield, a
lance, and a sword. With these presents the wife is espoused, and she herself
in her turn brings her husband a gift of arms. This they count their strongest
bond of union, these their sacred mysteries, these their
gods of marriage. Lest the woman should think herself to stand apart from
aspirations after noble deeds and from the perils of war, she is reminded by
the ceremony which inaugurates marriage that she is her husband's partner in
toil and danger, destined to suffer and to dare with him alike both in in war.
The yoked oxen, the harnessed steed, the gift of arms proclaim this fact. She
must live and die with the feeling that she is receiving what she must hand
down to her children neither tarnished nor depreciated, what future
daughters-in-law may receive, and may be so passed on to her grandchildren.
Thus with their virtue
protected they live uncorrupted by the allurements of public shows or the
stimulant of feastings. Clandestine correspondence is equally unknown to men
and women. Very rare for so numerous a population is adultery, the punishment
for which is prompt, and in the husband's power. Having cut off the hair of the
adulteress and stripped her naked, he expels her from the house in the presence
of her kinsfolk, and then flogs her through the whole village. The loss of
chastity meets with no indulgence; neither beauty, youth, nor
wealth will procure the culprit a husband. No one in Germany laughs at
vice, nor do they call it the fashion to corrupt and
to be corrupted. Still better is the condition of those states in which only
maidens are given in marriage, and where the hopes and expectations of a bride
are then finally terminated. They receive one husband, as having one body and
one life, that they may have no thoughts beyond, no
further-reaching desires, that they may love not so much the husband as the
married state. To limit the number of children or to destroy any of their
subsequent offspring is accounted infamous, and good habits are here more
effectual than good laws elsewhere.
Their
Children. Laws Of Succession. In
every household the children, naked and filthy, grow up with those stout frames
and limbs which we so much admire. Every mother suckles her own offspring and
never entrusts it to servants and nurses. The master is not distinguished from
the slave by being brought up with greater delicacy. Both live amid the same
flocks and lie on the same ground till the freeborn are distinguished by age
and recognised by merit. The young men marry late,
and their vigour is thus unimpaired. Nor are the
maidens hurried into marriage; the same age and a similar stature is required; well-matched and vigorous they wed, and the
offspring reproduce the strength of the parents. Sister's sons are held in as
much esteem by their uncles as by their fathers; indeed, some regard the
relation as even more sacred and binding, and prefer it in receiving hostages,
thinking thus to secure a stronger hold on the affections and a wider bond for
the family. But every man's children are his heirs and successors, and there
are no wills. Should there be no issue, the next in succession to the property
are brothers and his uncles on either side. The more relatives he has the more
numerous his connections, the more honoured is his old age; nor are there any advantages in
childlessness.
Hereditary
Feuds-Fines for Homicide.
Hospitality It is a duty among
them to adopt the feuds as well as the friendships of a father or a kinsman.
These feuds are not implacable; even homicide is expiated by the payment of a
certain number of cattle and of sheep, and the satisfaction is accepted by the
entire family, greatly to the advantage of the state, since feuds are dangerous
in proportion to the people's freedom.
No nation indulges more
profusely in entertainments and hospitality. To exclude any human being from
their roof is thought impious; every German, according to his means, receives
his guest with a well-furnished table. When his supplies are exhausted, he who
was but now the host becomes the guide and companion to further hospitality,
and without invitation they go to the next house. It matters not; they are
entertained with like cordiality. No one distinguishes between an acquaintance
and a stranger, as regards the rights of hospitality. It is usual to give the
departing guest whatever he may ask for, and a present in return is asked with
as little hesitation. They are greatly charmed with gifts, but they expect no
return for what they give, nor feel any obligation for what they receive.
Habits
of Life. On waking from sleep, which they generally prolong
for a late hour of the day, they take a bath, most often of warm water, which
suits a country where winter is the longest of the seasons. After their bath
they take their meal, each having a separate seat and table of
his own. Then they go armed to business, or no less often to their
festal meetings. To pass an entire day and night in drinking disgraces no one.
Their quarrels, as might be expected with intoxicated people, are seldom fought
out with mere abuse, but commonly with wounds and bloodshed. Yet it is at their
feasts that they generally consult on the reconciliation of enemies, on the
forming of matrimonial alliances, on the choice of chiefs, finally even on
peace and wai-, for they think that at no time is the
mind more open to simplicity of purpose or more warmed to noble aspirations. A
race without either natural or acquired cunning, they disclose their hidden
thoughts in the freedom of the festivity. Thus the sentiments of all having
been discovered and laid bare, the discussion is renewed on the following day,
and from each occasion its own peculiar advantage is derived. They deliberate
when they have no power to dissemble; they resolve when error is impossible.
Food A liquor for drinking
is made of barley or other grain, and fermented into a certain resemblance to
wine. The dwellers on the river-bank also buy wine. Their food is of a simple
kind, consisting of wild fruit, fresh game, and curdled milk. They satisfy
their hunger without elaborate preparation and without delicacies. In quenching
their thirst they are equally moderate. If you indulge their love of drinking
by supplying them with as much as they desire, they will be overcome by their
own vices as easily as by the arms of an enemy.
Sports. Passion for Gambling. One and the same kind of spectacle is always exhibited at every
gathering. Naked youths who practise the sport bound
in the dance amid swords and lances that threaten their lives. Experience gives
them skill and skill again gives grace; profit or pay are
out of the question; however reckless their pastime, its reward is the pleasure
of the spectators. Strangely enough they make games of hazard a serious
occupation even when sober, and so venturesome are they about gaining or
losing, that, when every other resource has failed, on the last and final throw
they stake the freedom of their own persons. The loser goes into voluntary
slavery; though the younger and stronger, he suffers himself to be bound and
sold. Such is their stubborn persistency in a bad practice; they themselves
call it honour. Slaves of this kind the owners part with in the way of commerce, and also to relieve
themselves from the scandal of such a victory.
Slavery. The
other slaves are not employed after our manner with distinct domestic duties
assigned to them, but each one has the management of a house and home of his own. The master requires from the slave a certain
quantity of grain, of cattle, and of clothing, as he would from a tenant, and
this is the limit of subjection. All other household functions are discharged
by the wife and children. To strike a slave or to punish him with bonds or with
hard labour is a rare occurrence. They often kill
them, not in enforcing strict discipline, but on the impulse of passion, as
they would an enemy, only it is done with impunity. The freedmen do not rank
much above slaves, and are seldom of any weight in the family, never in the
state with the exception of those tribes which are ruled by kings. There indeed
they rise above the freeborn and the noble; elsewhere the inferiority of the
freedman marks the freedom of the state.
Occupation
of Land. Tillage. Of lending money on interest and increasing it by compounding interest
they know nothing-a more effectual safeguard than if it was prohibited.
Land proportioned to the
number of inhabitants is occupied by the whole community in turn, and
afterwards divided among them according to rank. A wide expanse of plains makes
the partition easy. They till fresh fields every year,
and they have still more land than enough; with the richness and extent of
their soil, they do not laboriously exert themselves in planting orchards,
enclosing meadows and watering gardens. Corn is the only produce required from
the earth; hence even the year itself is not divided by them into as many
seasons as with us. Winter, spring, and summer have both a meaning and a name;
the name and blessings of autumn are alike unknown.
Funeral
Rites. In their funerals
there is no pomp; they simply observe the custom of burning the bodies of
illustrious men with certain kinds of wood. They do not heap garments or spices
on the funeral pile. The arms of the dead man and in some cases his horse are
consigned to the fire. A turf mound forms the tomb. Monuments with their lofty
elaborate splendour they reject as oppressive to the
dead. Tears and lamentations they soon dismiss; grief and sorrow but slowly. It
is thought becoming for women to bewail, for men to remember, the dead.
Such on the whole is the
account which I have received of the origin and manners of the entire German
people.
Text to this point from Tacitus, The Agricola
and Germania, A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb,
trans., (London: Macmillan, 1877), pp. 87- 10.
St. Gregory of Tours (A.D. 540-594)
History of the Franks
Book
II, The Conversion of Clovis, or Chlodovechus
(c. 466-511 A.D.)
28. Now the king of
the Burgundians was Gundevech, of the family of king Athanaric the persecutor, whom we have mentioned before. He
had four sons; Gundobad, Godegisel,
Chilperic and Godomar. Gundobad killed his brother Chilperic
with the sword, and sank his wife in water with a stone tied to her neck. His
two daughters he condemned to exile; the older of these, who became a nun, was
called Chrona, and the younger Clotilda. And as
Clovis often sent embassies to Burgundy, the maiden Clotilda was found by his
envoys. And when they saw that she was of good bearing and wise, and learned
that she was of the family of the king, they reported this to King Clovis, and
he sent an embassy to Gundobad without delay asking
her in marriage. And Gundobad was afraid to refuse,
and surrendered her to the men, and they took the girl and brought her swiftly
to the king. The king was very glad when he saw her, and married her, having
already by a concubine a son named Theodoric.
29. He had a
first-born son by queen Clotilda, and as his wife wished to consecrate him in
baptism, she tried unceasingly to persuade her husband, saying: "The gods
you worship are nothing, and they will be unable to help themselves or any one else. For they are graven out of
stone or wood or some metal. And the names you have given them are names
of men and not of gods, as Saturn, who is declared to have fled in fear of
being banished from his kingdom by his son; as Jove himself, the foul
perpetrator of all shameful crimes, committing incest with men, mocking at his
kinswomen, not able to refrain from intercourse with his own sister as she
herself says: Jovisque et soror et conjunx. What could
Mars or Mercury do? They are endowed rather with the magic arts than with the
power of the divine name. But he ought rather to be worshipped who created by
his word heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is out of a state of
nothingness, who made the sun shine, and adorned the heavens with stars, who
filled the waters with creeping things, the earth with living things and the
air with creatures that fly, at whose nod the earth is decked with growing
crops, the trees with fruit, the vines with grapes, by whose hand mankind was
created, by whose generosity all that creation serves and helps man whom he
created as his own." But though the queen said this the spirit of the king
was by no means moved to belief, and he said: "It was at the command of
our gods that all things were created and came forth, and it is plain that your
God has no power and, what is more, he is proven not to belong to the family of
the gods." Meantime the faithful queen made her son ready for baptism; she
gave command to adorn the church with hangings and curtains, in order that he
who could not moved by persuasion might be urged to
belief by this mystery. The boy, whom they named Ingomer,
died after being baptized, still wearing the white garments in which he became
regenerate. At this the king was violently angry, and reproached the queen
harshly, saying: " If the boy had been dedicated
in the name of my gods he would certainly have lived; but as it is, since he
was baptized in the name of your God, he could not live at all." To this
the queen said: "I give thanks to the omnipotent God, creator of all, who
has judged me not wholly unworthy, that he should deign to take to his kingdom
one born from my womb. My soul is not stricken with grief for his sake, because
I know that, summoned from this world as he was in his baptismal garments, he
will be fed by the vision of God."
After this she bore another
son, whom she named Chlodomer at baptism; and when he
fell sick, the king said: "It is impossible that anything else should
happen to him than happened to his brother, namely, that being baptized in the
name of your Christ, should die at once." But
through the prayers of his mother, and the Lord's command, he became well.
30. The queen did
not cease to urge him to recognize the true God and cease worshipping idols.
But he could not be influenced in any way to this belief, until at last a war
arose with the Alamanni, in which he was driven by
necessity to confess what before he had of his free will denied. It came about
that as the two armies were fighting fiercely, there was much slaughter, and Clovis's army began to be in danger of destruction. He saw
it and raised his eyes to heaven, and with remorse in his heart he burst into
tears and cried: "Jesus Christ, whom Clotilda asserts to be the son of the
1iving God, who art said to give aid to those in distress, and to bestow
victory on those who hope in thee, I beseech the glory of thy aid, with the vow
that if thou wilt grant me victory over these enemies, and I shall know that
power which she says that people dedicated in thy name have had from thee, I
will believe in thee and be baptized in thy name. For
I have invoked my own gods but, as I find, they have withdrawn from aiding me;
and therefore I believe that they possess no power, since they do not help those
who obey them. I now call upon thee, I desire to believe thee
only let me be rescued from my adversaries." And when he said thus, the Alamanni turned their backs, and began to disperse in
flight. And when they saw that their king was killed, they submitted to the
dominion of Clovis, saying: "Let not the people perish further, we pray;
we are yours now." And he stopped the fighting, and after encouraging his
men, retired in peace and told the queen how he had had merit to win the
victory by calling on the name of Christ. This happened in the fifteenth year
of his reign.
31. Then the queen
asked saint Remi, bishop of Rheims, to summon Clovis secretly, urging him to
introduce the king to the word of salvation. And the bishop sent for him secretly
and began to urge him to believe in the true God, maker of heaven and earth,
and to cease worshipping idols, which could help neither themselves nor any one else. But the king said: "I gladly hear you,
most holy father; but there remains one thing: the people who follow me cannot
endure to abandon their gods; but I shall go and speak to them according to
your words." He met with his followers, but before he could speak the
power of God anticipated him, and all the people cried out together:/ "O pious king, we reject our mortal gods, and we are
ready to follow the immortal God whom Remi preaches." This was reported to
the bishop, who was greatly rejoiced, and bade them get ready the baptismal
font. The squares were shaded with tapestried canopies, the churches adorned
with white curtains, the baptistery set in order, the aroma of incense spread,
candles of fragrant odor burned brightly, and the whole shrine of the
baptistery was filled with a divine fragrance: and the Lord gave such grace to
those who stood by that they thought they were placed amid the odors of
paradise. And the king was the first to ask to be baptized by the bishop.
Map of the Conquests of Clovis.
The
Venerable Bede (c. A.D. 672-735)
Ecclesiastical History of
the English Nation, Book I
PREFACE
TO THE MOST GLORIOUS KING CEOLWULPH, BEDE, THE SERVANT
OF CHRIST AND PRIEST
FORMERLY, at your request,
most readily transmitted to you the Ecclesiastical History of the English
Nation, which I had newly published, for you to read, and give it your
approbation; and I now send it again to be transcribed and more fully
considered at your leisure. And I cannot but recommend the sincerity and zeal,
with which you not only diligently give ear to hear the words of the Holy
Scripture, but also industriously take care to become acquainted with the
actions and sayings of former men of renown, especially of our own nation. For
if history relates good things of good men, the attentive hearer is excited to
imitate that which is good; or if it mentions evil things of wicked persons,
nevertheless the religious and pious hearer or reader, shunning that which is
hurtful and perverse, is the more earnestly excited to perform those things which
he knows to be good, and worthy of God. Of which you also being deeply
sensible, are desirous that the said history should be more fully made familiar
to yourself, and to those over whom the Divine Authority has appointed you
governor, from your great regard to their general welfare. But to the end that
I may remove all occasion of doubting what I have written, both from yourself
and other readers or hearers of this history, I will take care briefly to
intimate from what authors I chiefly learned the same.
My principal authority and
aid in this work was the learned and reverend Abbot Albinus; who, educated in
the Church of Canterbury by those venerable and learned men, Archbishop
Theodore of blessed memory, and the Abbot Adrian, transmitted to me by Nothelm, the pious priest of the Church of London, either
in writing, or word of mouth of the same Nothelm, all
that he though worthy of memory, that had been done in the province of Kent, or
the adjacent parts, by the disciples of the blessed Pope Gregory, as he had
learned the same either from written records, or the traditions of his
ancestors. The same Notheim, afterwards going to
Rome, having, with leave of the present Pope Gregory, searched into the
archives of the holy Roman Church, found there some epistles of the blessed
Pope Gregory, and other popes and returning home, by the advice of the
aforesaid most reverend father Albinus, brought them to me, to be inserted in
my history. Thus, from the beginning of this volume to the time when the
English nation received the the faith of Christ, have
we collected the writings of our predecessors and from them gathered matter for
our history; but from that time till the present, what was transacted in Church
of Canterbury, by the disciples of St. Gregory or their successors, and under
what kings the same happened, has been conveyed to us by Nothelm
through the industry of the aforesaid Abbot Albinus. They also partly informed
me by what bishops and under what kings the provinces
of the East and West Saxons, as also of the East Angles, and of the
Northumbrians, received the faith of Christ. In short I was chiefly encouraged
to undertake this work by the persuasions of the same Albinus. In like manner,
Daniel, the most reverend Bishop of the West Saxons, who is still living,
communicated to me in writing some things relating to the Ecclesiastical
History of that province, and the next adjoining to it of the South Saxons, as
also of the Isle of Wight. But now, by the pious ministry of Cedd and Ceadda, the province of the
Mercians was brought to the faith of Christ, which
they knew not before, and how that of the East Saxons recovered the same, after
having expelled it, and how those fathers lived and died, we learned from the
brethren of the monastery, which was built by them, and is called Lastingham. What ecclesiastical transactions took place in
the province of the East Angles, was partly made known
to us from the writings and tradition of our ancestors, and partly by relation
of the most reverend Abbot Esius. What was done
towards promoting the faith, and what was the sacerdotal succession in the
province of Lindsey, we had either from the letters of the most reverend
prelate Cunebert, or by word of mouth from other
persons of good credit. But what was done in the Church throughout the province
of the Northumbians, from the time when they received
the faith of Christ till this present, I received not from any particular
author, but by the faithful testimony of innumerable witnesses, who might know
or remember the same, besides what I had of my own knowledge. Wherein it is to
be observed, that what I have written concerning our most holy father, Bishop
Cuthbert, either in this volume, or in my treatise on his life and actions, I
partly took, and faithfully copied from what I found written of him by the
brethren of the Church of Lindisfarne; but at the same time took care to add
such things as I could myself have knowledge of by the faithful testimony of
such as knew him. And I humbly entreat the reader, that, if he shall in this
that we have written find anything not delivered according to the truth, he
will not impute the same to me, who, as the true rule of history requires, have
laboured sincerely to commit to writing such things
as I could gather from common report, for the instruction of posterity.
Moreover, I beseech all men
who shall hear or read this history of our nation, that for my manifold
infirmities both of mind and body, they will offer up frequent supplications to
the throne of Grace. And I further pray, that in recompense for the labour wherewith I have recorded in the several countries
and cities those events which were most worthy of note, and most grateful to
the ears of their inhabitants, I may for my reward have the benefit of their
pious prayers.
BOOK I
CHAPTER I
OF THE SITUATION OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND, AND OF THEIR
ANCIENT INHABITANTS
BRITAIN, an island in the
ocean, formerly called Albion, is situated between the north and west, facing,
though at a considerable distance, the coasts of Germany, France, and Spain,
which form the greatest part of Europe. It extends 800 miles in length towards
the north, and is 200 miles in breadth, except where several promontories
extend further in breadth, by which its compass is made to be 3675 miles. To
the south, as you pass along the nearest shore of the Belgic Gaul, the first
place in Britain which opens to the eye is the city of Rutubi
Portus, by the English corrupted into Reptacestir.
The distance from hence across the sea to Gessoriacum,
the nearest shore of the Morini, is fifty miles, or
as some writers say, 450 furlongs. On the back of the island, where it opens
upon the boundless ocean, it has the islands called Orcades.
Britain excels for grain and trees, and is well adapted for feeding cattle and
beasts of burden. It also produces vines in some places, and has plenty of land
and waterfowls of several sorts; it is remarkable also for rivers abounding in
fish, and plentiful springs. It has the greatest plenty of salmon and eels;
seals are also frequently taken, and dolphins, as also whales; besides many
sorts of shellfish, such as muscles, in which are often found excellent pearls
of all colours, red, purple, violet, and green, but
mostly white. There is also a great abundance of cockles, of which the scarlet
dye is made; a most beautiful colour, which never
fades with the heat of the sun or the washing of the rain; but the older it is,
the more beautiful it becomes. It has both salt and hot springs, and from them
flow rivers which furnish hot baths, proper for all ages and sexes, and
arranged according. For water, as St. Basil says, receives the heating quality,
when it runs along certain metals, and becomes not only hot but scalding.
Britain has also many veins of metals, as copper, iron, lead, and silver; it
has much and excellent jet, which is black and sparkling, glittering at the
fire, and when heated, drives away serpents; being warmed with rubbing, it
holds fast whatever is applied to it, like amber. The island was formerly
embellished with twentyeight noble cities, besides
innumerable castles, which were all strongly secured with walls, towers, gates,
and locks. And, from its lying almost under the North Pole, the nights are
light in summer, so that at midnight the beholders are often in doubt whether the
evening twilight still continues, or that of the morning is coming on; for the
sun, in the night, returns under the earth, through the northern regions at no
great distance from them. For this reason the days are of a great length in
summer, as, on the contrary, the nights are in winter, for the sun then
withdraws into the southern parts, so that the nights are eighteen hours long.
Thus the nights are extraordinarily short in summer, and the days in winter,
that is, of only six equinoctial hours. Whereas, in Armenia,
Macedonia, Italy, and other countries of the same latitude, the longest day or
night extends but to fifteen hours, and the shortest to nine.
This island at present,
following the number of the books in which the Divine law was written, contains
five nations, the English, Britons, Scots, Picts, and Latins, each in its own
peculiar dialect cultivating the sublime study of Divine truth. The Latin
tongue is, by the study of the Scriptures, become common to all the rest. At
first this island had no other inhabitants but the Britons, from whom it
derived its name, and who, coming over into Britain, as is reported, from
Armorica, possessed themselves of the southern parts thereof. When they,
beginning at the south, had made themselves masters of the greatest part of the
island, it happened, that the nation of the Picts, from Scythia, as is
reported, putting to sea, in a few long ships, were driven by the winds beyond
the shores of Britain, and arrived on the northern coast of Ireland, where,
finding the nation of the Scots, they begged to be allowed to settle among
them, but could not succeed in obtaining their request. Ireland is the greatest
island next to Britain, and lies to the west of it; but as it is shorter than
Britain to the north, so, on the other hand, it runs out far beyond it to the
south, opposite to the northern parts of Spain, though a spacious sea lies
between them. The Picts, as has been said, arriving in this island by sea,
desired to have a place granted them in which they might settle. The Scots
answered that the island could not contain them both; but "We can give you
good advice," said they, "what to do; we know there is another
island, not far from ours, to the eastward, which we often see at a distance,
when the days are clear. if you will go thither, you
will obtain settlements; or, if they should oppose you, you shall have our
assistance." The Picts, accordingly, sailing over into Britain, began to
inhabit the northern parts thereof, for the Britons were possessed of the southern.
Now the Picts had no wives, and asked them of the Scots; who would not consent
to grant them upon any other terms, than that when any difficulty should arise,
they should choose a king from the female royal race rather than from the male:
which custom, as is well known, has been observed among the Picts to this day.
In process of time, Britain, besides the Britons and the Picts, received a
third nation the Scots, who, migrating from Ireland under their leader, Reuda, either by fair means, or by force of arms, secured
to themselves those settlements among the Picts which they still possess. From
the name of their commander, they are to this day called Dalreudins;
for, in their language, Dal signifies a part.
Ireland, in breadth, and
for wholesomeness and serenity of climate, far surpasses Britain; for the snow
scarcely ever lies there above three days: no man makes hay in the summer for
winter's provision, or builds stables for his beasts of burden. No reptiles are
found there, and no snake can live there; for, though often carried thither out
of Britain, as soon as the ship comes near the shore, and the scent of the air
reaches them, they die. On the contrary, almost all things in the island are
good against poison. In short, we have known that when some persons have been
bitten by serpents, the scrapings of leaves of books that were brought out of
Ireland, being put into water, and given them to drink, have immediately
expelled the spreading poison, and assuaged the swelling. The island abounds in
milk and honey, nor is there any want of vines, fish, or fowl; and it is
remarkable for deer and goats. It is properly the country of the Scots, who,
migrating from thence, as has been said, added a third nation in Britain to the
Britons and the Picts. There is a very large gulf of the sea, which formerly
divided the nation of the Picts from the Britons; which gulf runs from the west
very far into the land, where, to this day, stands the strong city of the
Britons, called Aicluith. The Scots, arriving on the
north side of this bay, settled themselves there.
CHAPTER II
CAIUS JULIUS CAESAR, THE FIRST ROMAN THAT CAME INTO
BRITAIN
BRITAIN had never been
visited by the Romans, and was, indeed, entirely unknown to them before the
time of Caius Julius Caesar, who, in the year 693 after the building of Rome,
but the sixtieth year before the incarnation of our Lord, was consul with
Lucius Bibulus, and afterwards while he made war upon
the Germans and the Gauls, which were divided only by
the river Rhine, came into the province of the Morini,
from whence is the nearest and shortest passage into Britain. Here, having
provided about eighty ships of burden and vessels with oars, he sailed over
into Britain; where, being first roughly handled in a battle, and then meeting
with a violent storm, he lost a considerable part of his fleet, no small number
of soldiers, and almost all his horses. Returning into Gaul, he put his legions
into winter quarters, and gave orders for building six hundred sail of both
sorts. With these he again passed over early in spring into Britain, but,
whilst he was marching with a large army towards the enemy, the ships, riding
at anchor, were, by a tempest either dashed one against another, or driven upon
the sands and wrecked. Forty of them perished, the rest were, with much
difficulty, repaired. Caesar's cavalry was, at the first charge, defeated by
the Britons, and Labienus, the tribune, slain. In the
second engagement, he, with great hazard to his men, put the Britons to flight.
Thence he proceeded to the river Thames, where an immense multitude of the
enemy had posted themselves on the farthest side of the river, under the
command of Cassibellaun, and fenced the bank of the
river and almost all the ford under water with sharp stakes: the remains of these
are to be seen to this day, apparently about the thickness of a man's thigh,
and being cased with lead, remain fixed immovably in the bottom of the river.
This, being perceived and avoided by the Romans, the barbarians not able to
stand the shock of the legions, hid themselves in the woods, whence they
grievously galled the Romans with repeated sallies. In the meantime, the strong
city of Trinovantum, with its commander Androgeus, surrendered to Caesar, giving him forty
hostages. Many other cities, following their example, made a treaty with the
Romans. By their assistance, Caesar at length, with much difficulty, took Cassibellaun's town, situated between two marshes,
fortified by the adjacent woods, and plentifully furnished with all
necessaries. After this, Caesar returned into Gaul, but he had no sooner put
his legions into winter quarters, than he was suddenly beset and distracted
with wars and tumults raised against him on every side.
