CHAPTER XI THE GERMANS TO 476 A.D.1 82. Germany and the Germans Physical features of Germany THE Germans were an Indo-European people, as were their neighbors, the Celts of Gaul and Britain. They had lived for many centuries in the wild districts of central Europe north of the Alps and beyond the Danube and the Rhine. This home land of the Germans in ancient times was cheerless and unhealthy. Dense forests or extensive marshes covered the ground. The atmosphere was heavy and humid; in summer clouds and mists brooded over the country; and in winter it was covered with snow and ice. In such a region everything was opposed to civilization. Hence the Germans, though a gifted race, had not advanced as rapidly as the Greek and Italian peoples. the Romans Our earliest notice of the Germans is found in the Commentaries by Julius Cæsar, who twice invaded their country. About a century and a half later the Roman historian, The Germans Tacitus, wrote a little book called Germany, which described by gives an account of the people as they were before coming under the influence of Rome and Christianity. Tacitus describes the Germans as barbarians with many of the usual marks of barbarism. He speaks of their giant size, their fierce, blue eyes, and their blonde or ruddy hair. These physical traits made them seem especially terrible to the smaller and darker Romans. He mentions their love of warfare, the fury of their onset in battle, and the contempt which they had for wounds and even death itself. When not fighting, they passed much of their time in the chase, and still more time in sleep and 1 Webster, Readings in Ancient History, chapter xxiii, "The Germans as Described by Tacitus." gluttonous feasts. They were hard drinkers, too, and so passionately fond of gambling that, when a man's wealth was gone, he would even stake his liberty on a single game. In some of these respects the Germans resembled our own Indian tribes. On the other hand, the Germans had certain attractive qualities not always found even among civilized peoples. They were German morals hospitable to the stranger, they respected their sworn word, they loved liberty and hated restraint. Their chiefs, we are told, ruled rather by persuasion QADFREXP NXIGSBYS ↑ MAX FUTHOR CG W HNIY EO PAS RUNIC ALPHABET The word "rune" comes from a Gothic word meaning a secret thing, a mystery. To the primitive Germans it seemed a mysterious thing that letters could be used to express thought. The art of writing with an alphabet appears to have been introduced into Germanic Europe during the first centuries of our era. Most Runic inscriptions have been found in Denmark and the Scandinavian peninsula. than by authority. Above all, the Germans had a pure family life. "Almost alone among barbarians," writes Tacitus, "they are content with one wife. No one in Germany laughs at vice, nor is it the fashion to corrupt and be corrupted. Good habits are here more effectual than good laws elsewhere." The Germans, then, were strong and brave, hardy, chaste, and free. The Germans, during the three centuries between the time of Tacitus and the beginning of the invasions, had advanced someProgress of what in civilization. They were learning to live in the Germans towns instead of in rude villages, to read and write, to make better weapons and clothes, to use money, and to enjoy many Roman luxuries, such as wine, spices, and ornaments. They were likewise uniting in great confederations of tribes, ruled by kings who were able to lead them in migrations to other lands. During this same period, also, the Germans increased rapidly in numbers. Consequently it was a difficult the Germanic matter for them to live by hunting and fishing, or migrations by such rude agriculture as their country allowed. They could find additional land only in the fertile and well Reasons for 1 Tacitus, Germania, 19. It was this hunger cultivated territories of the Romans. for land, together with the love of fighting and the desire for booty and adventure, which led to their migrations. Rome The German inroads were neither sudden, nor unexpected, nor new. Since the days of Marius and of Julius Cæsar not a century had passed without witnessing some dan- Growing gerous movement of the northern barbarians. weakness of Until the close of the fourth century Rome had always held their swarming hordes at bay. Nor were the invasions which at length destroyed the empire much more formidable than those which had been repulsed many times before. Rome fell because she could no longer resist with her earlier power. If the barbarians were not growing stronger, the Romans themselves were steadily growing weaker. The form of the empire was still the same, but it had lost its vigor and its vitality.1 83. Breaking of the Danube Barrier The Goths North of the Danube lived, near the close of the fourth century, a German people called Visigoths, or West Goths. Their kinsmen, the Ostrogoths, or East Goths, held the land north of the Black Sea between the Danube and the Don. These two nations had been among the most dangerous enemies of Rome. In the third century they made so many expeditions against the eastern territories of the empire that Aurelian at last surrendered to the Visigoths the great province of Dacia.2 The barbarians now came in contact with Roman civilization and began to lead more settled lives. Some of them even accepted Christianity from Bishop Ulfilas, who translated the Bible into the Gothic tongue. The Visigoths cross the The peaceful fusion of Goth and Roman might have gone on indefinitely but for the sudden appearance in Europe of the Huns. They were a nomadic people from central Asia. Entering Europe north of the Caspian Sea, the Huns quickly subdued the Ostrogoths and compelled them to unite in an attack upon their Danube, 376 A.D. German kinsmen. Then the entire nation of Visigoths crowded the banks of the Danube and begged the Roman authorities to allow them to cross that river and place its broad waters between them and their terrible foes. In an evil hour for was in itself a dangerous thing. The danger was increased by the ill treatment which the immigrants received. The Roman officials robbed them of their possessions, withheld the promised supplies of food, and even tried to murder their leaders at a banquet. Finally, the Germans broke out in open revolt. The emperor Valens misjudged their strength and rashly gave them battle near Adrianople in Thrace. The once invincible legions fell an easy prey to their foes, and the emperor himself perished. The defeat at Adrianople is considered one of the few really decisive battles in the world's history. It showed the barbarians that they could face the Romans in open fight and beat |