Tacitus on Germany | Page 9

that with the corpses of their signal men certain
woods be burned. Upon the funeral pile they accumulate neither
apparel nor perfumes. Into the fire, are always thrown the arms of the
dead, and sometimes his horse. With sods of earth only the sepulchre is
raised. The pomp of tedious and elaborate monuments they contemn, as
things grievous to the deceased. Tears and wailings they soon dismiss:
their affliction and woe they long retain. In women, it is reckoned
becoming to bewail their loss; in men, to remember it. This is what in
general we have learned, in the original and customs of the whole
people of Germany. I shall now deduce the institutions and usages of
the several people, as far as they vary one from another; as also an
account of what nations from thence removed, to settle themselves in
Gaul.
That the Gauls were in times past more puissant and formidable, is
related by the Prince of authors, the deified Julius [Caesar]; and hence
it is probable that they too have passed into Germany. For what a small
obstacle must be a river, to restrain any nation, as each grew more
potent, from seizing or changing habitations; when as yet all

habitations were common, and not parted or appropriated by the
founding and terror of Monarchies? The region therefore between the
Hercynian Forest and the rivers Moenus and Rhine, was occupied by
the Helvetians; as was that beyond it by the Boians, both nations of
Gaul. There still remains a place called Boiemum, which denotes the
primitive name and antiquity of the country, although the inhabitants
have been changed. But whether the Araviscans are derived from the
Osians, a nation of Germans passing into Pannonia, or the Osians from
the Araviscans removing from thence into Germany, is a matter
undecided; since they both still use the language, the same customs and
the same laws. For, as of old they lived alike poor and alike free, equal
proved the evils and advantages on each side the river, and common to
both people. The Treverians and Nervians aspire passionately to the
reputation of being descended from the Germans; since by the glory of
this original, they would escape all imputation of resembling the Gauls
in person and effeminacy. Such as dwell upon the bank of the Rhine,
the Vangiones, the Tribocians, and the Nemetes, are without doubt all
Germans. The Ubians are ashamed of their original; though they have a
particular honour to boast, that of having merited an establishment as a
Roman Colony, and still delight to be called Agrippinensians, after the
name of their founder: they indeed formerly came from beyond the
Rhine, and, for the many proofs of their fidelity, were settled upon the
very bank of the river; not to be there confined or guarded themselves,
but to guard and defend that boundary against the rest of the Germans.
Of all these nations, the Batavians are the most signal in bravery. They
inhabit not much territory upon the Rhine, but possess an island in it.
They were formerly part of the Cattans, and by means of feuds at home
removed to these dwellings; whence they might become a portion of
the Roman Empire. With them this honour still remains, as also the
memorials of their ancient association with us: for they are not under
the contempt of paying tribute, nor subject to be squeezed by the
farmers of the revenue. Free from all impositions and payments, and
only set apart for the purposes of fighting, they are reserved wholly for
the wars, in the same manner as a magazine of weapons and armour.
Under the same degree of homage are the nation of the Mattiacians. For
such is the might and greatness of the Roman People, as to have carried

the awe and esteem of their Empire beyond the Rhine and the ancient
boundaries. Thus the Mattiacians, living upon the opposite banks, enjoy
a settlement and limits of their own; yet in spirit and inclination are
attached to us: in other things resembling the Batavians, save that as
they still breathe their original air, still possess their primitive soil, they
are thence inspired with superior vigour and keenness. Amongst the
people of Germany I would not reckon those who occupy the lands
which are under decimation, though they be such as dwell beyond the
Rhine and the Danube. By several worthless and vagabond Gauls, and
such as poverty rendered daring, that region was seized as one
belonging to no certain possessor: afterwards it became a skirt of the
Empire and part of a province, upon the enlargement of our bounds and
the extending of our garrisons and frontier.
Beyond these are the Cattans, whose territories begin at the Hercynian
Forest, and consist not of such wide and