in the Temperature of JFuiter. 5d 



-quani, since called Burgundy and Frenche Compte. And 

 Strabo informs us, that a celebrated prince of the Getse, 

 after subduing some nations in Thrace and Panno- 

 iiia, persuaded them to cut up their vbies and live with- 

 out xvine....Lib. 7. Yet Thrace as well as Germany is 

 represented by the Roman and Greek writers, as oppres- 

 sed with intolerable cold. 



That there is much inaccuracy and some exaggeration 

 in the descriptions which ancient writers have given of 

 the winters north of the Alps and the Danube, may be 

 clearly proved by a comparison of these accounts one 

 with another. Tacitus, a writer of great credit, says of 

 Germany, " Terra, etsi aliquanto specie difiert, in univer- 

 sum tamen aut silvis horrida, aut paludibus foeda."..., 

 De Mot Germ. 5. The country is all deformed with 

 woods and morasses. He observes that the soil is " sa- 

 tis ferax," sufficiently fruitful ; but " frugiferarum ar- 

 borum impatiens," not fitted to produce fruit-beai'ing 

 trees ; yet in a subsequent section, he informs us that 

 the inhabitants eat " agrestia poma," wild or unculti- 

 vated apples ; and those who lived near the Rhine, pur- 

 chased wine — " Proximi ripse et vinum mercantur." 

 If neither Gaul nor Germany produced wine, where did 

 the dwellers on the Rhine procure it ? 



Tacitus informs us further, that the Germans cultiva- 

 ted land, chiefly indeed by their servants, old men and 

 women, as the men preferred war to labor. But they 

 raised barley and other grain, not only for food, but for 

 drink ; for their chief liquor was a species of beer or ale, 

 made from fermented barley and other corn. The lands 

 were cultivated by slaves, who lived upon the land, like 

 tenants, and paid to their masters a certain part of the 

 produce. How incompatible are these facts with the 

 assertion that the country was all covered with forest 

 and morasses ! Nor is this account more compatible with 

 the state of pasturage in Germany, which, as all authors 

 agree, supported vast herds of cattle. 



But to close all, Tacitus himself assigns reasons why 

 Germany was not well cultivated, without resorting to 

 the asperity of its climate. After stating that the inhab- 

 itants parcelled out the fields among themselves, accord" 



