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A warlike nation like the Germans, without either cities, letters, arts, or money, found some
compensation for this
savage state
in the enjoyment of
liberty. Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters
of despotism. "Among the Suiones (says
Tacitus) riches are held in honor. They are therefore subject to an absolute monarch,
who, instead of intrusting his people with the free use of arms, as is practiced in the rest of Germany, commits them to the safe
custody, not of a citizen, or even of a freedman, but of a slave. The neighbors of the Suiones, the Sitones, are sunk even below
servitude; they obey a woman."
41 In the mention of these exceptions, the great historian sufficiently acknowledges the general theory of
government. We are only at a loss to conceive by what means riches and
despotism could penetrate into a remote
corner of the North, and extinguish the generous flame that blazed with such fierceness on the frontier of the Roman provinces,
or how the ancestors of those
Danes and
Norwegians, so distinguished in latter ages by their unconquered spirit, could thus
tamely resign the great character of German
liberty.
42 Some tribes, however, on the coast of the Baltic, acknowledged the
authority of kings, though without relinquishing the rights of men,
43 but in the far greater part of Germany, the form of
government was a
democracy, tempered, indeed, and controlled, not so much by general and positive laws, as by the
occasional ascendant of birth or valor, of
eloquence or
superstition.
44
Footnote 41: Tacit. German. 44, 45. Freinshemius (who dedicated his supplement to Livy to Christina of Sweden) thinks proper to be very angry with the Roman who expressed so very little reverence for Northern queens. Note: The Suiones and
the Sitones are the ancient inhabitants of Scandinavia, their name may be traced in that of Sweden; they did not belong to the
race of the Suevi, but that of the non-Suevi or Cimbri, whom the Suevi, in very remote times, drove back part to the west, part
to the north; they were afterwards mingled with Suevian tribes, among others the Goths, who have traces of their name and
power in the isle of Gothland. - G
Footnote 42: May we not suspect that superstition was the parent of despotism? The
descendants of Odin, (whose race was not extinct till the year 1060) are said to have reigned in Sweden above a thousand
years. The temple of Upsal was the ancient seat of religion and empire. In the year 1153 I find a singular law, prohibiting the
use and profession of arms to any except the king's guards. Is it not probable that it was colored by the pretence of reviving an
old institution? See Dalin's History of Sweden in the Bibliotheque Raisonneo tom. xl. and xlv.
Footnote 43: Tacit. Germ. c. 43.
Footnote 44: Id. c. 11, 12, 13, & c.
Civil
governments, in their first institution, are voluntary associations for mutual defense. To obtain the desired end, it is
absolutely necessary that each individual should conceive himself obliged to submit his private opinions and actions to the
judgment of the greater number of his associates. The German tribes were contented with this rude but liberal outline of political
society. As soon as a youth, born of free parents, had attained the age of
manhood, he was introduced into the general council
of his countrymen, solemnly invested with a shield and spear, and adopted as an equal and worthy member of the military
commonwealth. The assembly of the warriors of the tribe was convened at stated seasons, or on sudden emergencies. The trial
of public offences, the election of magistrates, and the great business of peace and war, were determined by its independent
voice. Sometimes indeed, these important questions were previously considered and prepared in a more select council of the
principal chieftains.
45 The magistrates might
deliberate and persuade, the people only could resolve and execute; and the
resolutions of the Germans were for the most part hasty and violent. Barbarians accustomed to place their freedom in gratifying
the present passion, and their courage in overlooking all future consequences, turned away with indignant contempt from the
remonstrance of justice and policy, and it was the practice to signify by a hollow murmur their dislike of such timid counsels.
But whenever a more popular orator proposed to vindicate the meanest citizen from either foreign or domestic injury, whenever
he called upon his fellow-countrymen to assert the national honor, or to pursue some enterprise full of danger and glory, a loud
clashing of shields and spears expressed the eager applause of the assembly. For the Germans always met in arms, and it was
constantly to be dreaded, lest an irregular multitude, inflamed with faction and strong liquors, should use those arms to enforce,
as well as to declare, their furious resolves. We may recollect how often the diets of
Poland have been polluted with blood, and
the more numerous party has been compelled to yield to the more violent and
seditious.
46
Footnote 45: Grotius changes an expression of Tacitus, pertractantur into Proetractantur. The correction is equally just and ingenious.
Footnote 46: Even in our ancient parliament, the barons often carried a question, not so much by the number of
votes, as by that of their armed followers.
A general of the tribe was elected on occasions of danger; and, if the danger was pressing and extensive, several tribes
concurred in the choice of the same general. The bravest warrior was named to lead his countrymen into the field, by his
example rather than by his commands. But this power, however limited, was still invidious. It expired with the war, and in time
of peace the German tribes acknowledged not any supreme chief.
47 Princes were, however, appointed, in the general
assembly, to administer
justice, or rather to compose differences,
48 in their respective districts. In the choice of these
magistrates, as much regard was shown to birth as to merit.
49 To each was assigned, by the public, a guard, and a council of a hundred persons, and the first of the princes appears to have enjoyed a preeminence of rank and honor which sometimes
tempted the Romans to compliment him with the
regal title.
50
Footnote 47: Caesar de Bell. Gal. vi. 23.
Footnote 48: Minuunt controversias, is a very happy expression of Caesar's.
Footnote 49: Reges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute sumunt. Tacit Germ. 7
Footnote 50: Cluver. Germ. Ant. l. i. c. 38.
The comparative view of the powers of the
magistrate, in two remarkable instances, is alone sufficient to represent the whole
system of German manners. The disposal of the landed
property within their district was absolutely vested in their hands, and
they distributed it every year according to a new division.
51 At the same time they were not authorized to punish with death,
to imprison, or even to strike a private
citizen.
52 A people thus jealous of their persons, and careless of their possessions,
must have been totally
destitute of industry and the arts, but animated with a high sense of honor and
independence.
Footnote 51: Caesar, vi. 22. Tacit Germ. 26.
Footnote 52: Tacit. Germ. 7.
The
Germans respected only those duties which they imposed on themselves. The most obscure
soldier resisted with disdain
the
authority of the magistrates. The noblest youths blushed not to be numbered among the faithful companions of some
renowned chief, to whom they devoted their arms and service. A
noble emulation prevailed among the companions, to obtain
the first place in the
esteem of their chief; amongst the chiefs, to acquire the greatest number of valiant companions. To be ever
surrounded by a band of select youths was the
pride and strength of the chiefs, their ornament in peace, their defense in war.
The glory of such distinguished heroes diffused itself beyond the narrow limits of their own tribe. Presents and embassies
solicited their friendship, and the fame of their arms often insured victory to the party which they espoused. In the hour of
danger it was shameful for the chief to be surpassed in
valor by his companions; shameful for the companions not to equal the
valor of their chief. To survive his fall in battle, was indelible
infamy. To protect his person, and to adorn his glory with the
trophies of their own exploits, were the most sacred of their duties. The chiefs combated for victory, the companions for the
chief. The noblest warriors, whenever their native country was sunk into the laziness of peace, maintained their numerous bands
in some distant scene of action, to exercise their restless spirit, and to acquire renown by voluntary dangers. Gifts worthy of
soldiers - the warlike steed, the bloody and even victorious lance - were the rewards which the companions claimed from the
liberality of their chief. The rude plenty of his hospitable board was the only pay that he could bestow, or they would accept.
War, rapine, and the free-will offerings of his friends, supplied the materials of this
munificence.
53 This institution, however it might accidentally weaken the several republics, invigorated the general character of the Germans, and even ripened amongst them all the virtues of which barbarians are susceptible; the faith and valor, the hospitality and the courtesy, so conspicuous long afterwards in the ages of
chivalry.
The honorable gifts, bestowed by the chief on his brave companions, have been supposed, by an ingenious writer, to contain
the first rudiments of the fiefs, distributed after the conquest of the Roman provinces, by the barbarian lords among their
vassals, with a similar duty of
homage and military service.
54 These conditions are, however, very repugnant to the maxims of the ancient Germans, who delighted in mutual presents; but without either imposing, or accepting, the weight of obligations.
55
Footnote 53: Tacit. Germ. 13, 14.
Footnote 54: Esprit des Loix, l. xxx. c. 3. The brilliant imagination of Montesquieu is corrected, however, by the dry, cold reason of the Abbe de Mably.
"In the days of chivalry, or more properly of romance, all the men were brave, and all the women were chaste;" and
notwithstanding the latter of these virtues is acquired and preserved with much more difficulty than the former, it is ascribed,
almost without exception, to the wives of the ancient Germans.
Polygamy was not in use, except among the princes, and among
them only for the sake of multiplying their alliances.
Divorce was prohibited by
manners rather than by laws. Adulteries were
punished as rare and inexpiable crimes; nor was seduction justified by example and fashion.
56 We may easily discover that
Tacitus indulges an honest pleasure in the contrast of barbarian virtue with the dissolute conduct of the Roman ladies; yet there
are some striking circumstances that give an air of truth, or at least probability, to the conjugal faith and chastity of the Germans.
Footnote 56: The adulteress was whipped through the village. Neither wealth nor beauty could inspire compassion, or procure her a second husband. 18, 19.
Although the progress of
civilization has undoubtedly contributed to assuage the fiercer passions of human nature, it seems to
have been less favorable to the virtue of chastity, whose most dangerous enemy is the softness of the mind. The refinements of
life corrupt while they polish the intercourse of the sexes. The gross appetite of love becomes most dangerous when it is
elevated, or rather, indeed, disguised by sentimental passion. The elegance of dress, of motion, and of manners, gives a luster to
beauty, and inflames the senses through the imagination.
Luxurious entertainments, midnight dances, and licentious spectacles, present at once temptation and opportunity to female frailty. 57 From such dangers the unpolished wives of the barbarians were secured by poverty, solitude, and the painful cares of a domestic life. The German huts, open, on every side, to the eye of
indiscretion or
jealousy, were a better safeguard of conjugal fidelity, than the walls, the bolts, and the
eunuchs of a
Persian
harem. To this reason another may be added, of a more honorable nature. The Germans treated their women with
esteem and
confidence, consulted them on every occasion of importance, and fondly believed, that in their breasts resided a sanctity and
wisdom more than human. Some of the interpreters of fate, such as Velleda, in the Batavian war, governed, in the name of the
deity, the fiercest nations of Germany.
58 The rest of the sex, without being adored as goddesses, were respected as the free
and equal companions of soldiers; associated even by the marriage ceremony to a life of toil, of danger, and of glory.
59 In
their great invasions, the camps of the barbarians were filled with a multitude of women, who remained firm and undaunted
amidst the sound of arms, the various forms of
destruction, and the honorable wounds of their sons and husbands.
60 Fainting armies of Germans have, more than once, been driven back upon the enemy, by the generous despair of the women, who
dreaded death much less than
servitude. If the day was irrecoverably lost, they well knew how to deliver themselves and their
children, with their own hands, from an insulting victor.
61 Heroines of such a cast may claim our admiration; but they were most assuredly neither lovely, nor very susceptible of love. Whilst they affected to emulate the stern virtues of man, they must
have resigned that attractive softness, in which principally consist the charm and weakness of woman. Conscious pride taught
the German females to suppress every tender emotion that stood in competition with honor, and the first honor of the sex has
ever been that of
chastity. The sentiments and conduct of these high-spirited matrons may, at once, be considered as a cause,
as an effect, and as a proof of the general character of the nation. Female
courage, however it may be raised by
fanaticism, or
confirmed by habit, can be only a faint and imperfect imitation of the manly valor that distinguishes the age or country in which it
may be found.
Footnote 57: Ovid employs two hundred lines in the research of places the most favorable to love. Above all, he considers the theatre as the best adapted to collect the beauties of Rome, and to melt them into tenderness and sensuality.
Footnote 58: Tacit. Germ. iv. 61, 65.
Footnote 59: The marriage present was a yoke of oxen, horses, and arms. See Germ. c. 18. Tacitus is somewhat too florid on the subject.
Footnote 60: The change of exigere into exugere is a most excellent correction.
Footnote 61: Tacit. Germ. c. 7. Plutarch in Mario. Before the wives of the Teutones destroyed themselves and their children, they had offered to surrender, on condition that they should be received as the slaves of the vestal virgin.
The religious system of the Germans (if the wild opinions of savages can deserve that name) was dictated by their wants, their fears, and their ignorance.
62 They adored the great visible objects and agents of nature, the Sun and the Moon, the Fire and the Earth; together with those imaginary deities, who were supposed to preside over the most important occupations of human life. They were persuaded, that, by some ridiculous arts of
divination, they could discover the will of the superior beings, and that human
sacrifices were the most precious and acceptable offering to their altars. Some applause has been hastily bestowed on the
sublime notion, entertained by that people, of the
Deity, whom they neither confined within the walls of the temple, nor
represented by any human figure; but when we recollect, that the Germans were unskilled in
architecture, and totally
unacquainted with the art of
sculpture, we shall readily assign the true reason of a scruple, which arose not so much from a
superiority of reason, as from a want of
ingenuity. The only temples in Germany were dark and ancient groves, consecrated by
the reverence of succeeding generations. Their secret
gloom, the imagined residence of an invisible power, by presenting no
distinct object of fear or
worship, impressed the mind with a still deeper sense of religious
horror;
63 and the priests, rude and
illiterate as they were, had been taught by experience the use of every artifice that could preserve and fortify impressions so well suited to their own interest.
Footnote 62: Tacitus has employed a few lines, and Cluverius one hundred and twenty-four pages, on this obscure subject. The former discovers in Germany the gods of Greece and Rome. The latter is positive, that, under the emblems of the sun, the moon, and the fire, his pious ancestors worshipped the Holy Trinity in unity
Footnote 63: The sacred wood, described with such sublime horror by Lucan, was in the neighborhood of Marseilles; but there were many of the same kind in Germany. Note: The ancient Germans had shapeless idols, and, when they began to build more settled habitations, they raised also temples, such as that to the goddess Teufana, who presided over divination. See Adelung, Hist. of Ane Germans, p 296 - G
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To cite original text:
Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794.
The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. 1st ed. (London : Printed for W. Strahan ; and T. Cadell, 1776-1788.), pp. 227-234.