HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 13 



abandoning Gallia, penetrated as far as Marseilles, where they encountered 

 and completely routed a Roman legion, 109 B.C. This successful battle 

 was followed by several others, and in the year 105 B.C., on the banks of 

 the Rhone, they overwhelmed the whole of the Roman forces. Again 

 they failed to profit by their good fortune. Instead of a direct invasion 

 of Italy, they marched to Spain to subdue the Celtiberians ; but when 

 they returned, 102 B.C., without accomplishing their object, and now 

 commenced the invasion of Italy, they found the Romans well prepared 

 to meet them, and so unfortunate were their repeated contests for the 

 Teutons, that their forces were almost annihilated. 



The Cimbri followed their brethren in an effort to subjugate Rome 

 (101 B.C.), but met with small success, and finally relinquished the plan. 

 Their defeat terminated the war, and a quiet of several years' duration 

 succeeded. Civil war, however, still prevailed in Germany for some time, 

 until at length the tribes on the Upper Elbe, Vistula, and Danube, formed 

 the confederation known as the Suevian Union, whose power seemed 

 invincible. A branch of it, the Marcomanni, from the district between 

 the Danube and the Neckar, under Ariovistus, 72 B.C., went to the aid of 

 the Sequani and Arverni against the ^dui, both Gallian tribes. Their aid 

 decided the conflict in favor of the Sequani, who were now compelled to 

 give up a third part of the country to their allies, who settled there, and 

 drew after them more Germans, neither Romans nor Gauls daring to 

 interfere. But when they became too troublesome, the helpless Gauls 

 invoked against their oppressors the aid of Julius Caesar, who, when 

 Ariovistus had refused to negotiate, attacked him at Besan^on, 58 B.C., 

 and completely routed the Germans; Ariovistus escaped with a few 

 adherents across the Rhine. Caesar won a similar battle against the 

 German tribes, the Usipiti and Tenchtheri, who had crossed the Rhine. 

 He gave up his idea of penetrating further into the country when he 

 learned that the whole Suevian Union were arnaino; themselves ag-ainst 

 him. Meantime Rome had won many battles in other lands, and had 

 succeeded in gaining the friendship of some German tribes ; several 

 tribes, especially the Ubii, even fought with their forces. When ihe 

 Roman republic was changed into a monarchy, and the idea of a universal 

 dominion had taken deep root in the Romans, they resolved to subjugate 

 the whole of Germany. In the pursuit of this ruling idea, the Roman army 

 soon distinguished itself along the banks of the Danube, subdued Noricum, 

 Rhaetia, and Vindelicia, and reduced them to Roman provinces, 15 B.C. 



We break here the thread of German history, purposing to resume it at a 

 subsequent period. A brief glance at their character and manners may 

 not be uninteresting. 



The ancient Germans were a gigantic race, with fair hair, blue eyes, a 

 clear white skin, and a piercing and haughty glance. From their early 

 youth they w^ere trained to the endurance of hardships, in their rough 

 climate, which rendered them indiflferent to sufferincr and fatigue. Thev 

 possessed an astonishing power of endurance. Immediately after birth, 

 infants were plunged into cold water, in the presence of the family and of 



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