38 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. 



equal to those of the most powerful "). • This fact is further 

 emphasized by the statement that no one has land of his 

 own {neque quisquam agri modum cerium aut fines habef pro- 

 prios)] and he adds that this annual shifting is imperative 

 and under the direction of the government {anno post alio 

 transire cognnt). These last statements are found also 

 in the description of the Suevi (iv. 1) ; privati ac separati 

 agri apud eos nihil est, neque longius anno remaiiere uno in 

 loco incolendi causa licet. " There is among them no private 

 and individual land, nor are they allowed to remain longer 

 than a year in one place for the purpose of habitation." 



In these few clear and positive statements Caesar gives us. 

 the materials for determining precisely the stage of social 

 progress reached by the Germans of his time. They were 

 still in the patriarchal stage, in which kinship rather than 

 territory formed the basis of their organization; but they 

 had passed beyond the stage of nomadic life. The individ- 

 ual had no permanent home, neither had the family, but the 

 nation had. More than this, it would appear that there were 

 already certain fixed and determinate territorial divisions of 

 the territory of the nation, for the assignments of land are- 

 made with absolute authority by the magistrates, who 

 assign lands and compel the annual changes; and these 

 magistrates, as we learn from Chap. 23, have authority over 

 territorial districts {principes regionum cttque pagorum). 

 From this we may infer that the shiftings of occupation 

 were made rigidly under the direction of the magistrates, 

 and within the limits of definite territorial districts. Thus 

 Horace (Od. iii, 24, 12) says of the Getee, a Germanic people: 



Immetata quibus jugera liberas 



Fruges et Cererem ferunt. 

 Nee cultura placet longior annua, 



Defunctiimque laboribus 

 uEguali reereat sorte vicarius. 



Here are clearly indicated the shifting annual occupation,, 

 and the lack of any permanent boundaries to the cultivated 

 fields — no ownership, but temporary occupation and use; 

 perhaps also the alternation of agriculture and service in 

 the field, described by Caesar, B. G., iv. 1. Singula millia 



