The Ma7'k System. 2)1 



conquered Britain with the Sacae,^ that ancient Scythian 

 people so famous in Persian history. Far more interesting is 

 it to learn that they were principally islanders like ourselves, 

 inhabiting Heligoland and other islands, as well as some of 

 the main land about the Elbe's junction with the German 

 ocean. 



The earliest direct historical reference to the Saxons is that 

 of Ptolemy the Alexandrian,^ who lived in the reign of Marcus 

 Aurelius ; but all that his scant allusions establish is, that an 

 insignificant tribe, called " Saxons," existed in these parts of 

 Europe as early as a.d, 141. Forty years before Ptolemy, 

 Tacitus had written his German History ; and though no direct 

 allusion is made by him to this tribe under their name of 

 Saxons, it has been thought that the Fosi to whom he refers '^ 

 may with reason be identified with this particular unit of the 

 six nations which dwelt around the tidal portion of the river 

 Elbe.'* Earlier still by 150 years than Tacitus, Csesar had 

 written his experiences of the Germans ; and though making 

 full allowance for the difference in manners between the 

 piratical tribes of the seaboard and those inhabiting the in- 

 terior, we may reasonably assume that the generalities used 

 by both these historians may be equally applied to Germans, 

 whether occupying lands watered by the Elbe and Weser, or 

 by the Rhine and Danube. 



If we refer to Tacitus, we shall find a somewhat flattering 

 account of their manners, because, as M. Guizot ^ has warned 

 us, it is coloured by the mood in which it was written. The 

 book was intended as a satire on Roman morals, which the 

 author compares unfavourably with those of the barbarian 

 Germans. Nevertheless his facts cannot be termed inaccurate, 

 and provided we bear in mind this vein of optimism, we may 



' Herodotus vii. 64. 



- Vide Sharon Turner, Anglo-Saxons, Book II. chap. i. Ptolemy men- 

 tions both Angles and Saxons, but not Jutes. 



^ Tacitus, Germania, chap, xxxvi. 



•* Ibid. Tacitus, however, mentions the Angli ; vide chap. xl. of his 

 Germania. 



* Guizot, Cours d''Histoire Moderne, t. xi. p. 258. Compare also Stubbs, 

 Constit. Hist., chap. ii. p. 17, in Avhich he treats Guizot's theory as exploded. 



432S31 



