GERMANIA. Tacitus's 'Germania) was published in 98 A.D. It is a brief treatise on the geography, peoples and institutions of the Germans. The larger portion of the work and by far the most interesting—is devoted to a consideration of those customs and institu, tions which are common to the Germans, as a whole. Thus Tacitus tells us that the govern-, went was democratic. Kings and generals were selected by the people. heir power Was limited, not arbitrary. Minor matters were de termined by the chiefs, but on more important issues the whole tribe deliberated. The men assembled in arms and listened to speeches by the king or military chief, indicating their dis sent by loud murmurs, their by rat tling their spears. As to-day, war was ethe chief industry." In battle it was considered a disgrace to have survived one's chief and to have returned alive from the field. To defend the chieftain, to protect him, to ascribe one's own brave deeds to his renown, was the height of loyalty. °The chief 'fights for victory; the followers fight for the chief." If a tribe sank into a state of prolonged peace, its youth sought service with some chieftain who was at war. Mercury, Hercules and Mars were the chief deities. But there were no graven images. Their gods were rather spiritual ab stractions. Augury and divination by means of bits of twigs were much resorted to. In their jurisprudence, penalties were distinguished according to the offense. Traitors and deserters were hanged on trees. Cowards and those guilty of sexual' transgression were plunged in bogs and hurdles were then laid over the spot. There were no towns or even clusters of con tiguous dwellings. People lived scattered and apart, attracted by the convenience of some spring, meadow or Wood. To store the year's harvest, subterranean caves were constructed. Marriage laws were strict, and a lofty concep tion of the married state prevailed. Monogamy was the rule. Only a few chiefs took more than one wife, and then not from motives of sensual indulgence, but because they were importuned from many quarters to form alliances. •Loss of chastity in a woman was unpardonable. For such a one, marriage became an impossibility: To destroy or limit offspring was held to be infamous. A certain sanctity or prophetic in
stinct was attributed by the Germans to their women. Their counsels and answers were held in the greatest respect. Not long before Tacitas wrote, a certain Veleda was even worshipped as a divinity.
The purpose of the Germania has been dif. ferently conceived by different critics: Sour have thought that Tacitus' object was; by holding before his countrymen a picture of the Germans, to mark the contrast between the two civilizations, German and Roman, and to com mend the rugged simplicity of the one as op. posed to the degeneracy of the other. Others have regarded the treatise as a political paw, phlet, written in support of Trojan, and in tended to justify the attention which that prince was then bestowing upon the problems presented by the tribes of the north. Yet others have thought that the work was prepared as an introduction to the extensive historical writings which Tacitus had already projected. But 'there are serious objections to each of these views. Moreover it seems less probable' that the Germania should have been composed with any or purpose beyond the perfectly natural and 'obvious one of, asumnint ing its readers with accurate details of German geography and institutions. The German peot plc had long, been known to the goinans,, and fora century and a half had furnished a moire or less constant opposition to, the Roman arms. Nor was the subject new; Cxsor,,Livy, Pliny and others had given detailed accounts of this-in teresting • and important rar.e. That Tacitus, therefore, should have undertaken a fresh presentation of, their gepgrophy and customs seems perfectly tratural:- withotit resort ttr-the theory of a special extraneous motive.
Whatever its original purpose, mania must be recognized as a mine of tic information concerning the ancient Ger mans. It is not merely this, but is also a source of first importance for all modern study of Germanic institutions In countries outside of Germany' itself. The 'seeds of many vigotots Anglo-Saxon ' institutions are 'readily recog nizable in the of Tacitus; Trans lotion by Maurice Hutton, in the Loeb Library.' 'CirAittEs E. Professor of Latin, Cornett University..