14 HOMAS AND GREEK ACCOUNT!* <>F TILE NORTHMEN. 



It is certain that the Franks could not have lived on the 

 coast of Frisia, as they did later on, for we know that the 

 country of the Rhine was held by the Romans, and, besides, 

 as we have already seen, Julian refers to the Franks and 

 Saxons as dwelling above the Rhine. Moreover, till they 

 had to give up their conquests, no mention is made by the 

 Romans of native seafaring tribes inhabiting the shores of 

 their northern province, except the Veiieti, and they would 

 have certainly tried to subjugate the roving seamen that 

 caused them so much trouble in their newly-acquired pro- 

 vinces if they had been within their reach. 



From the Roman writers, who have been partially confirmed 

 by archaeology, we know that the tribes which inhabited the 

 country to which they give the vague name of Gerniania were 

 not seafaring people nor possessed of any civilisation. The 

 invaders of Britain, of the Gallic and of the Mediterranean 

 coasts could therefore not have been the German tribes referred 

 to by the Roman writers, who, as we see from Julius Cttsar 

 and other Roman historians, were very far from possessing the 

 civilisation which we know, from the antiquities, to have 

 existed in the North. 



" Their whole life is devoted to hunting and warlike 

 pursuits. From childhood they pay great attention to toil 

 and hardiness ; they bathe all together in the rivers, and wear 

 skins or small reindeer garments, leaving the greater part ot 

 their bodies naked." l 



Tacitus, in recording the speech of Germanicus to his troops 

 before the battle at Idistavisus, bears witness to the uncivilised 

 character of the inhabitants of the country. 



" The huge targets, the enormous spears of the barbarians 

 could never be wielded against trunks of trees and thickets 

 of undenvood shooting up from the ground, like Roman swords 

 and javelins, and armour fitting the body .... the Germans 

 had neither helmet nor coat of mail; their bucklers were not 

 even strengthened with leather, but mere contextures of twigs 



1 " 



Vita omnis in venationibus at<|ue in 

 studiis rei militaris consistit. Al> parvulis 

 labor! ac duritise student ... in Hu- 

 minibus proroiscue perluuntur ft jielli- | 



bus aut parvis rhenonuin tegimentis 

 utuntur magn.t corporis parte nuda " 

 (Cresar De Bello Gallico, vi. 21). 



