The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 | Page 6

two races resembled each other. Both were of vast
stature. The gigantic Gaul derided the Roman soldiers as a band of
pigmies. The German excited astonishment by his huge body and
muscular limbs. Both were fair, with fierce blue eyes, but the Celt had
yellow hair floating over his shoulders, and the German long locks of
fiery red, which he even dyed with woad to heighten the favorite color,
and wore twisted into a war-knot upon the top of his head. Here the
German's love of finery ceased. A simple tunic fastened at his throat
with a thorn, while his other garments defined and gave full play to his
limbs, completed his costume. The Gaul, on the contrary, was so fond
of dress that the Romans divided his race respectively into long-haired,
breeched, and gowned Gaul; (Gallia comata, braccata, togata). He was
fond of brilliant and parti-colored clothes, a taste which survives in the
Highlander's costume. He covered his neck and arms with golden
chains. The simple and ferocious German wore no decoration save his
iron ring, from which his first homicide relieved him. The Gaul was
irascible, furious in his wrath, but less formidable in a sustained
conflict with a powerful foe. "All the Gauls are of very high stature,"
says a soldier who fought under Julian. (Amm. Marcel. xv. 12. 1).
"They are white, golden-haired, terrible in the fierceness of their eyes,
greedy of quarrels, bragging and insolent. A band of strangers could not
resist one of them in a brawl, assisted by his strong blue-eyed wife,
especially when she begins, gnashing her teeth, her neck swollen,
brandishing her vast and snowy arms, and kicking with her heels at the
same time, to deliver her fisticuffs, like bolts from the twisted strings of
a catapult. The voices of many are threatening and formidable. They
are quick to anger, but quickly appeased. All are clean in their persons;
nor among them is ever seen any man or woman, as elsewhere, squalid
in ragged garments. At all ages they are apt for military service. The
old man goes forth to the fight with equal strength of breast, with limbs
as hardened by cold and assiduous labor, and as contemptuous of all
dangers, as the young. Not one of them, as in Italy is often the case,
was ever known to cut off his thumbs to avoid the service of Mars."

The polity of each race differed widely from that of the other. The
government of both may be said to have been republican, but the Gallic
tribes were aristocracies, in which the influence of clanship was a
predominant feature; while the German system, although nominally
regal, was in reality democratic. In Gaul were two orders, the nobility
and the priesthood, while the people, says Caesar, were all slaves. The
knights or nobles were all trained to arms. Each went forth to battle,
followed by his dependents, while a chief of all the clans was appointed
to take command during the war. The prince or chief governor was
elected annually, but only by the nobles. The people had no rights at all,
and were glad to assign themselves as slaves to any noble who was
strong enough to protect them. In peace the Druids exercised the main
functions of government. They decided all controversies, civil and
criminal. To rebel against their decrees was punished by exclusion from
the sacrifices--a most terrible excommunication, through which the
criminal was cut off from all intercourse with his fellow-creatures.
With the Germans, the sovereignty resided in the great assembly of the
people. There were slaves, indeed, but in small number, consisting
either of prisoners of war or of those unfortunates who had gambled
away their liberty in games of chance. Their chieftains, although called
by the Romans princes and kings, were, in reality, generals, chosen by
universal suffrage. Elected in the great assembly to preside in war, they
were raised on the shoulders of martial freemen, amid wild battle cries
and the clash of spear and shield. The army consisted entirely of
volunteers, and the soldier was for life infamous who deserted the field
while his chief remained alive. The same great assembly elected the
village magistrates and decided upon all important matters both of
peace and war. At the full of the moon it was usually convoked. The
nobles and the popular delegates arrived at irregular intervals, for it was
an inconvenience arising from their liberty, that two or three days were
often lost in waiting for the delinquents. All state affairs were in the
hands of this fierce democracy. The elected chieftains had rather
authority to persuade than power to command.
The Gauls were an agricultural people. They were not without many
arts of life. They had extensive flocks and herds; and they even