Full text of "Tacitus, the Agricola and Germania"

See other formats

s?^ 

/ st 



THE AGRICOLA AND GERMANIA OF TACITUS 



ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS. 



TACITUS 

THE AGRICOLA AND GERMANIA 



TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH I!Y 



K. B. TOWNSHEND, M.A. 

LATE SCHOLAR OF 
TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE 



METHUEN & co. 

86 ESSEX STEEET, W.C. 

LONDON 

1894 



TO THE MEMORY OK 



FRANK EUSTACE ANDERSON, 



FORMERLY ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF GREEK 



AT HARVARD, MASSACHUSETTS. 



2064992 



PREFACE. 

THE text from which the following translation has been 
made is that of the edition of the Agricola and Germania 
which was brought out by Mr. A. J. Church and Mr. W. 
J. Brodribb in 1869. In the one or two cases where I 
have used a different reading, the reader's attention has 
been called to it in a footnote. I have to express my 
great obligations to the very useful notes appended to 
their work, as well as to the translation of the two 
treatises which they published previously. After I had 
finished my translation, Dr. E. B. Tylor kindly lent me 
an unpublished version of the Germania of which he had 
a copy in his possession, and I obtained permission to 
borrow from it the phrase " these are no boy's lovelocks " 
in the passage where Tacitus is describing the head- 
dress of the Swabian warriors ; the footnotes to it were 
also useful on various points. In the identification of 
the numerous peoples and tribes whom Tacitus mentions, 
I have almost invariably followed Dr. Latham. If his 
great work on the Germania may be considered to be in 
some respects a little out of date, on the other hand 
in it was first suggested, if I am not mistaken, that 



PREFACE 

hypothesis of the European origin of the Aryans which 
now commends itself so strongly to many scientific men. 
I may add that the short footnotes which I have ventured 
to append to some of the names are to be taken as 
stating in the briefest possible manner such conclusions 
as I have been able to arrive at. To have attempted 
more would have swelled the contents of this little book 
far beyond the modest limits assigned to it. It makes 
no pretensions to come into the same class as the last 
German treatise on the Germania, which extends, so it 
is said, to over a thousand pages. 

A translation of the Agricola appeared anonymously 
in 1885 from the press of Messrs. Kegan Paul & Co. 
I had not seen it when I made my version, but I read it 
afterwards with much pleasure on account of its very 
spirited style, and I have taken the liberty of borrowing 
from it one phrase, "in the springtime of her rare 
promise," where Tacitus is speaking of his betrothal to 
Agricola's daughter. 

Finally, I have to express my sincere and hearty 
thanks to Mr. H. F. Fox of Brasenose, for advice and 
assistance generously bestowed ; to the Headmaster of 
Bath College, who most kindly gave up several days to 
the task of going over the whole of the Germania witli 
me ; and to Mr. A. Godley of Magdalen College, who 
was good enough to revise the sheets of the Agricola. 



OXFORD, September, 1894. 

(viii) 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

I. It was the practice of our forefathers to bequeath 
to posterity the history of the deeds and the characters 
of their great men, nor has the practice ceased even at 
the present day. It still obtains, although this age is 
careless of its heroes, in those instances where some 
sublime and distinguished virtue has risen victorious 
over the besetting sin of every community, large or 
small, a blind antipathy to goodness. But of old the 
hero found a ready outlet and a fair field for his energies ; 
while genius hastened to embalm the memory of his 
valour, not with partiality and not with any selfish 
motive, but looking solely to the recompense of a 
good conscience. Not a few men, moreover, thought 
that to be the chroniclers of their own lives was a sign 
of self-respect rather than of conceit ; nor was any impu- 
tation ever made upon this ground against the good 
faith or the good taste of Rutilius and Scaurus : periods 
that were prolific of great men were most capable of ap- 
preciating them. At the present day I feel it neces- 
sary to begin by apologising beforehand for writing the 
biography of one who has passed away, which I need 
scarcely have done were these pages to be devoted to 
some lively satire upon the age in which he lived, an 
age so malignant and hostile to virtue. 

1 (1) 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

II. Death was the reward meted out by Domitian, 
so it is recorded, to Arulenus Rusticus for writing the 
eulogy of Paetus Thrasea, and to Herennius Senecio for 
writing that of Priscus Helvidius ; nor did he glut his 
rage upon their persons alone : their writings also felt 
his fury, and the works in which they had enshrined the 
memory of those great men were ordered to be publicly 
committed to the flames in the place of assembly 
in the forum by the hands of the executioners. Per- 
haps in the smoke of those fires the tyrant and his 
tools flattered themselves that the voice of Rome, 
the independence of the senate, and the conscience of 
mankind were vanishing away ; and they proceeded to 
expel from Rome the teachers of philosophy, and banish 
the members of every honourable profession, so that 
nothing might be left to put them to shame. Colossal, 
indeed, was the exhibition of abjectness offered by us : 
our forefathers had shown the world to what heights 
freedom could soar ; we, when we dared neither speak 
nor listen for terror of the informers, showed to what 
slavishness humanity could sink. Our mouths were 
closed, and even our memories themselves would have 
become a blank had we been as able to forget as we 
were to keep silence. 

III. Now, at last, our courage is reviving. We first 
saw the dawn of a happier epoch when Nerva reconciled 
two things divorced until this time, the rule of the em- 
peror and the liberty of the individual ; and now every 
day of Trajan's reign is adding to the sum of our 
happiness. Public security has not merely been brought 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

within the range of our hopes and prayers but has 
attained to the solid assurance of a prayer fulfilled. 
Nevertheless, from the nature of human weakness reme- 
dies act more slowly than diseases. Our bodily frame 
takes years to grow, but in the twinkling of an eye it 
returns to its dust : so in like manner it is easier to 
quench the generous ardours of the mind than to re- 
kindle them again. Nay, inaction itself benumbs us 
with its charm, and the passiveness we loathe at the 
first becomes a passion in the end. 

Those fifteen years have made a great gap in our 
little span of life. The ordinary chances of man's lot 
have removed not a few of our number, but all our 
boldest spirits were cut off by the ruthless hand of the 
tyrant. We, the survivors of that generation, are but a 
handful, and we, I may say, have survived not only our 
fellows but our very selves. Those years were an 
absolute blank, during which in unbroken silence we 
who were in the prime of life grew old and those of us 
who were already old reached the very verge of the 
grave. Nevertheless, though it be with rude and stam- 
mering tongue, I shall not regret my task when I have 
succeeded in telling the story of our days of bondage 
and bearing my testimony to the blessings of the 
present epoch. In the meantime, this work, which is 
intended as a tribute to my father-in-law Agricola, must 
base upon the filial piety that it displays whatever 
claims it may possess to the indulgence, if not the 
praise, of the reader. 

IV. Gnaeus Julius Agricola was sprung from the old 



THE AG RICO LA OF TACITUS 

and illustrious colony of Forumjulii. 1 Either of his 
grandfathers had held office as the imperial commissioner 
of a province, which confers a title to nobility among 
men of equestrian rank. His father, Julius Graecinus,' 2 
rose to be a senator, and was distinguished for his devo- 
tion to eloquence and philosophy, thereby earning 
destruction for himself at the hands of Caligula ; for he 
was ordered to impeach Marcus Silanus 3 : he declined to 
obey, and he was put to death. 

The mother of Agricola was Julia Procilla, a woman 
of singular virtue. At her side he was brought up with 
fond affection, and spent his boyhood and his youth in the 
acquisition of all honourable accomplishments. He was 
protected from the snares of vice not only by his own 

1 Frejus on the Riviera, about 75 miles east from Marseilles. 

2 Seneca is our authority for the following story of Graecinus. 
He had incurred heavy expenses in exhibiting the public games ; 
and a base creature, Fabius Persicus, sent him a liberal subscrip- 
tion towards defraying them. Graecinus politely returned it, and 
on being remonstrated with by his friends, said : " Shall I allow a 
man to do me a favour whom I would not allow to propose my 
health ? " Another man, equally base, Rebilius, sent him a still 
larger subscription, and was likewise refused. Rebilius would not 
be denied, and sent it in again. It was again declined, with the 
apology : " I must really beg you to excuse me : I have declined 
Persicus' subscription too ". 

3 Caligula's own father-in-law, who was rash enough to give 
the mad emperor good advice. Junia Claudilla, the daughter of 
Silanus, who had been wife to Caligula, was dead when this 
happened. Caligula, after punishing Graecinus with death for 
declining to impeach the old man, sent a message to Silanus, " to 
take his compliments to the spirit of the dead ". Silanus, in order 
to escape the confiscation of his property, committed suicide. 

4 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

good and healthy disposition, but by the fact that 
from a very early age he had Massilia l for the scene and 
guide of his studies ; and Massilia was a place that 
afforded a happy combination of the refinement of Greek 
culture with the simplicity of provincial life. I can well 
remember that he used to say, that as a very young man 
he became absorbed in the study of philosophy with an 
exclusiveness unsuited to the career of a Roman and a 
senator, but that his mother's prudent counsels calmed 
his fevered and over-excited mind. In truth, his 
intellect with its lofty aims and ideals had thirsted for 
the fair guerdon of a noble and exalted fame, with an 
ardour that recked nothing of consequences. Reason 
and experience tempered this excess ere long, and he 
laid to heart the hardest lesson that philosophy has to 
teach, moderation. 

V. He served his military apprenticeship in Britain 
under Suetonius Paulinus, a steady and careful general, 
who admitted him to share his tent, as a member of his 
staff, in order to judge of his capabilities, and was well 
satisfied with them. Agricola did not utilise his rank 
of tribune and his lack of experience, either to indulge 
in vice, like the young men who find in military service 
an opportunity for debauchery, or to idle away his time 
in pleasures and in being absent on leave. On the con- 
trary, he made it his business to know the province and 
to become known to the army, to learn from the experi- 
enced, and to attach himself to the best officers, never to 

1 Marseilles, a colony founded by Ionian Greeks six centuries 
before this time. 

5 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

thrust himself forward for display, never to hang back 
from timidity, and at the same time to combine caution 
with dash. 

As a matter of fact, at no time had Britain been in a 
more excited state, or our position there more doubtful. 
Our veterans had been massacred, our colonies burned, 
our armies isolated. It was a struggle for bare life, but 
it was soon to be changed into a contest for the honours 
of victory. The change was due, not to him, but to the 
strategy and generalship of another, the leader to whom 
fell the direction of affairs and the glory of saving the 
province ; yet campaigning gave the young soldier skill, 
it gave him experience, it roused his pride, and the love 
of military glory entered into his soul, an ill-starred 
passion to awake at an era when every man who came to 
the front was regarded askance, and pre-eminent fame 
was as dangerous as infamy. 

VI. Exchanging the camp for the city in order to 
become a candidate for civil office at Rome, he wedded 
Domitia Decidiana, a lady of noble lineage ; and by this 
union he advanced himself socially, and strengthened his 
position for his future career. Their married life was 
singularly happy, owing to their mutual affection and 
self-sacrifice ; for which let us give due honour to the 
woman, for the severity with which we condemn a bad 
wife should be balanced by a generous appreciation of a 
good one. 

For his quaestorship the chance of the lot assigned to 
him Asia as his province and Salvius Titianus as pro- 
consul. It was a double ordeal, for the province was 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

rich and a tempting prey to the unscrupulous ; and the 
proconsul, a grossly avaricious man, was ready to wink 
at anything in order to purchase connivance in return ; 
nevertheless, Agricola passed through it unscathed. 

While in Asia his wife bore him a daughter, an addi- 
tion to their family that came to them as a consolation, 
for the son previously born to them had been lost in 
infancy. 

On his return to Rome, at the expiry of his quaestor- 
ship, he lived a very retired life during the year that 
intervened before he became tribune of the people ; and 
during the actual year of his tribunate he lived no less 
retired, aware that those were the days of Nero, when 
inactivity was wisdom. During his praetorship he 
persisted in the same retirement, and, indeed, the 
judicial functions of the post did not fall to him : in 
ordering the games and the pageantry of the office he 
kept to a mean between a reasonable and a profuse ex- 
penditure, and gained all the more credit by refraining 
absolutely from extravagance. Subsequently he was 
selected by Galba to investigate the grants of temple 
property, 1 and he scrutinized them with the utmost 
stringency, to the end that the State might ultimately 
be freed from the guilt of every single confiscation 
except Nero's own. 

VII. The year following he suffered a grievous blow 
which affected him both personally and pecuniarily : the 

1 Forced contributions towards the rebuilding of Rome after the 
great fire, which were made under Nero and were largely mis- 
appropriated. 

7 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

fleet of Otho, 1 while marauding at large, ravaged Inte- 
melii, 2 a district of Liguria ; and Agricola's mother was 
murdered at her country seat. Robbery was the object 
of the crime, and the estate itself, and a great part of the 
property coming to Agricola, was plundered. Agricola 
had started on his way to perform his mother's funeral 
rites, when he was overtaken by the news that Vespasian 
had appeared as a claimant for the empire, and there- 
upon he immediately joined his party. 

Mucianus undertook the inauguration of the new 
government and the settlement of affairs at Rome ; 
Vespasian's son, Domitian, being a very young man, and 
merely utilising his father's elevation to indulge in de- 
bauchery. Agricola was despatched to obtain recruits, 
and acted with such energy and fidelity that Mucianus 
appointed him to the command of the twentieth legion, 3 
which had taken the oath to the new emperor reluctantly, 
and whose retiring officer 4 was said to be a centre of dis- 
affection. Even the governors of the province 5 had been 
terrorised by this legion, which was too strong for them ; 
indeed, its own commander was unable to control it, 
though whether his character or that of his men was to 
blame for this fact is not clear. Selected to displace 

1 During the hostilities between Otho and Vitellius. 

2 Vintimiglia, on the Riviera, between Mentone and Bordighera. 

3 Quartered in Britain. 4 Roscius Caelius. 

6 Legatus consularis means governor of an imperial province of 
the first rank. Legatus praetorius may mean, as here, com- 
mander of a legion, or it may mean, as in the case of Agricola's 
office in Acquitania, governor of an imperial province of the 
second rank. 

8 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

him and to chastise their license, Agricola acted with 
singular moderation ; and he preferred to make it 
seem that he found them amenable to discipline, than 
to take credit to himself for having reduced them to 
order. 

VIII. The governor of Britain at this time was 
Vettius Bolanus, too mild a man for a turbulent province. 
In order not to cast him in the shade, Agricola restrained 
his own energies and curbed his own ardour, for he was 
schooled in subordination and had learned to reconcile 
honour with expediency. Shortly afterwards, Petilius 
Cerealis succeeded to the governorship, and then 
great qualities had an opportunity given them to 
display themselves. The new governor began by 
allowing him his full share of difficulties and dangers ; he 
allowed him in the sequel his full share of the glory also. 
Agricola was frequently given the command of a division 
in order to test him ; several times in consequence of 
his success he found himself promoted to the command 
of a larger body of troops. Nor did he use the suc- 
cesses he obtained to puff himself: he gave the credit 
of them to his superior, who planned them, regarding 
himself as merely an agent. Valiant in carrying out 
orders, modest in reporting their execution, he escaped 
jealousy, he did not escape glory. 

IX. At the conclusion of his military command the late 
Emperor Vespasian admitted him to the rank of patrician, 
and afterwards placed him over the province of Acqui- 
tania, 1 a post of especial dignity from the importance of 

1 In south-western Gaul. 

9 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

its duties and from its being the stepping-stone to the 
consulship, for which he intended him. 

It is commonly believed that military minds lack dis- 
crimination, seeing that martial authority is irresponsible 
and somewhat inclined to ignore nice distinctions ; force 
is its argument, and it does not develop the subtlety of the 
law court. Yet now that Agricola was placed amid civilian 
surroundings, his natural good sense enabled him to act 
with urbanity and justice. Moreover, he drew a line be- 
tween the hours of business and of relaxation. When days 
of session claimed him and he sat as judge, he was serious, 
earnest, strict, with a leaning to mercy for the most part ; 
but his duty once done the air of authority was dropped 
entirely. He never had a trace of harshness, arrogance, 
or avarice, and he had the rare faculty of being familiar 
without loss of dignity, and of being strict without for- 
feiting affection. It would be almost an insult to so 
great a man to mention honesty and incorruptibility as 
among his virtues. He had not even the hankering 
after fame, which is the infirmity of even the good ; 
he did not seek it either by advertising his virtues 
or by indirect methods. He abstained from rivalry with 
the governors of other provinces and from controversy 
with the emperor's agents in his own, esteeming victory 
in such a case to be inglorious and defeat ignominious. 

He was kept rather less than three years in this post 
and was recalled in the immediate expectation of the 
consulship. The general opinion went with him that 
the arrangement was for him to subsequently take 

Britain as his province ; nor did the report spring up 

10 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

from any suggestion on his part, but from the manifest 
fitness of the appointment. Rumour is not always mis- 
taken : there have been occasions when it has brought 
the right man to the front. 

I was at this time a young man when Agricola became 
consul, and he now betrothed to me his daughter in the 
spring-time of her rare promise. Our marriage took place 
at the expiration of his term. He was immediately 
afterwards appointed governor of Britain, and he held 
besides the priestly office of pontifex. 

X. The situation and the inhabitants of Britain have 
been described already by various writers ; and if I touch 
on the subject I do so, not in order to challenge their 
ability or their industry, but because the whole of the 
island was now for the first time brought into subjuga- 
tion. I can therefore substitute actual facts for their 
eloquent but imaginative disquisitions upon certain 
points. 

Britain is the largest of the islands known to Roman 
geography ; in extent and position it reaches from a 
point opposite Germany on the east to one opposite 
Spain on the west, while its southern side is within 
actual sight of Gaul. To the north of it no land 
exists whatever, and upon that face beat the waves of a 
vast and shoreless sea. In general shape it has been 
compared by Livy and Fabius Rusticus, the most graphic 
of our ancient and modern authorities respectively, to a 
rather long dish, or to a double-headed axe. Leaving 
out Caledonia this comparison holds good, and thus it 

has been extended to the whole area of the country. 

11 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

But there is an immense stretch of land which runs out 
and tapers off like a wedge, the shore-line of which is 
absolutely the furthest of all. Round this shore, washed 
by the remotest sea, a Roman fleet now for the first time 
sailed, and proved Britain to be an island, at the same 
time that it discovered the previously unknown group of 
islets named the Orkneys, and subjugated them. Thule 
(Shetland) was also sighted, though only in the offing, 
as the fleet had orders to go no further, and winter was 
approaching. 

The water of this sea is peculiarly heavy and dead for 
rowing ; even the force of the wind, so they say, does not 
affect it as much as other seas, owing, I imagine, to the 
scarcity of large land-surfaces and mountains, which are 
the breeders and generators of storms, and to the greater 
difficulty of setting in motion a mass of deep water un- 
broken by land. 

It does not lie within the province of this work to 
inquire into the physical characteristics of the ocean 
and its tides, and there are many treatises on the sub- 
ject. I would only add one remark, that nowhere else 
does the sea make its power more felt ; the tide causes 
long stretches of the rivers alternately to ebb and flow, 
nor does it simply rise and sink upon the shore, but it 
runs far inland, and winds about and makes its way 
into the very heart of the hills and mountain chains, as 
if the sea were lord of all. 

XI. Whether the earliest inhabitants of Britain were 
an indigenous or an invading race is, as might be ex- 
pected to be the case with barbarians, an open question. 

12 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

Some evidence, however, may be drawn from the dif- 
ferences of physique that prevail. The red hair and the 
large limbs of the Caledonian peoples testify to a Ger- 
man origin. The swarthy complexion of the Silures * 
and the frequency of curling hair among them, with the 
fact that Spain lies opposite their district, lead us to be- 
lieve that the ancient Iberians 2 crossed the sea and settled 
in those parts. The tribes that dwell nearest to the Gauls 
are likewise similar to them : it may be because they were 
originally descended from them, and still show it ; or be- 
cause, though the countries extend in opposite direc- 
tions, the climate has produced similarity of physique. 

On the whole, however, it seems most likely to have 
been the case, that the Gauls established themselves 
upon an island lying so close to them. You find their 
religious rites 3 in Britain, as also their ingrained super- 
stition ; there is not much difference between the lan- 
guages. Both races are equally bold in defying any 
form of danger beforehand, and equally timorous in 
running away from it when it arrives. The Britons, 
however, display more spirit, for they have never yet 
been long enough at peace to grow tame. History tells 
us that the Gauls were great warriors once : since that 
day a life of ease has bred in them an unwarlike temper, 
and with their liberty they have lost their valour. A 
similar change has come over those of the Britons who 
were conquered some time ago ; the rest of them still 
are what the Gauls once were. 

1 In South Wales. 2 Probably the ancestors of the Basques. 
3 Druidism. 

13 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

XII. Their main strength is in foot-soldiers: some 
tribes use the war chariot as well, in which case the more 
honourable position is that of the charioteer, and the 
fighting is done by his followers. 1 Formerly they were 
governed by kings ; now they are torn by intrigues and 
factions between rival chiefs ; nor is there anything that 
has been of greater service to us against these warlike 
races than their inability to combine for a common end, 
Rarely do even two or three of their tribes unite to 
ward off a common danger ; they fight in detail, and the 
whole of them are thus defeated. 

The climate is disagreeable from the constant rains 
and fogs ; great cold, however, is unknown. The dura- 
tion of daylight is greater than in our part of the world. 
The nights are not dark, and in the extreme north of 
Britain they are so short that scarcely any interval is dis- 
cernible between twilight and dawn. It is even asserted 
that the sun's light is visible all night if no clouds inter- 
vene, and that he does not set and rise, but travels 
across. The explanation is, that the level edge of the 
earth casts only a low shadow, and consequently does 
not project the darkness high aloft, and so the shades 
of night do not reach the sky and the stars above. 2 

The soil is suitable for cultivation, and is fertile ; 
though the olive, the vine, and other fruits of warmer 

1 In contrast with the Homeric chariot, where the hero stood 
and fought, and the driving was done by a subordinate. 

a Tacitus appears to have conceived of the earth as a disk, 
higher in the middle than at the edge, beneath which the sun 
passed during the night. 

14 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

climes, will not thrive in it. The crops are early in 
starting and late in ripening, and in both cases from 
the same cause, viz., the extreme wetness of the soil 
and climate. Britain offers a prize to the conqueror in 
her gold and silver and other metals ; the ocean also 
yields its pearls, but they are dark and lead-coloured. 
Some consider this to be due to lack of skill in the pearl- 
gatherers ; for in the Red Sea the shells are torn away 
from the rock alive and breathing, while in Britain they 
are merely collected as they are washed up by the waves. 
I should be more ready to believe thnt the pearls were 
less valuable than that men were less avaricious. 

XIII. The people themselves readily submit to military 
impressment, and to the taxes and other burdens imposed 
upon them by our government, provided always that 
nothing injures their pride. On this point they are 
highly sensitive, having been tamed so far as to yield 
obedience, but not, as yet, to be servile. 

The first Roman invasion of Britain was made by an 
army under Julius, of blessed memory ; he won a pitched 
battle, struck terror into the natives, and made himself 
master of the coast, but he may be considered as the first 
pioneer of the country rather than its conqueror. Sub- 
sequently came our civil wars, when the arms of the 
rival claimants of the empire were turned against the 
State, and even after peace was restored Britain was for 
long years left in oblivion. Augustus, of blessed memory, 
called this masterly inactivity ; Tiberius called it a maxim 
inherited from Augustus. An expedition to Britain was 

undoubtedly projected by Caligula ; but if swift to devise 

15 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

he was utterly infirm of purpose, and his prodigious pre- 
parations against Germany had all come to nothing. The 
work was begun anew by the Emperor Claudius. Roman 
legions and auxiliary troops were landed on the island, 
and a share in the operations was given to Vespasian, 
thus opening to him the career which afterwards proved 
so successful. The tribes were subdued, the kings of 
Britain were made captives, and Vespasian was de- 
clared the man of destiny. 

XIV. The first man of consular rank to be appointed 
governor of Britain was Aulus Plautius, and the second 
was Ostorius Scapula. They were both distinguished 
soldiers ; and the eastern part of the country was gradu- 
ally reduced to the condition of a province, while a 
colony 1 of veterans was planted in it for additional 
security. Some districts were handed over to King 
Cogidumnus (who remained our ever faithful friend 
down to a time within living memory), in order that, 
according to the old and well-approved policy of Rome, 
we might make even the kings of a people our instru- 
ments to enslave them. 

The next governor, Didius Gallus, merely held what 
his predecessors had won, and contented himself with 
planting one or two forts beyond the frontier, in order 
to obtain credit for having annexed something during 
his term of office. Veranius succeeded Didius, and died 
within the year. 

His place was taken by Suetonius Paulinus, and for 
two years all went well ; new tribes were subdued, and 
1 At Colchester. 

16 



THE AGR1COLA OF TACITUS 

strong garrisons established among them. This embol- 
dened Paulinus to venture on an expedition against the 
Isle of Anglesea, as the source from which the rebels 
drew their strength ; but in so doing he put the dis- 
tricts which he left behind him in jeopardy. 

XV. No sooner had the governor departed on his 
expedition than the Britons of the province began to 
breathe freely ; they fell to discussing the woes of 
slavery and comparing their wrongs, and the more they 
looked at them the worse they seemed. " If/' cried 
they, "we bend our necks to the yoke, the Romans do but 
lay on heavier burdens, as if we bore them lightly. We 
used only to have one king at a time : now we have 
two ; our lives are the prey of the military governor, 
while our goods are the prey of the civil commissioner. 
Whether they agree or disagree we are equally undone. 
The one has his staff and his centurions at his beck, the 
other has his attendant slaves to do his will ; and both 
gangs add insult to outrage. Nothing escapes their 
avarice or their lust. When a battle has been lost and 
won, the spoiler has at least proved himself the better 
man. As it is, a pack of effeminate cowards (for that 
is what the most of them are) plunder our homes, 
carry off our children, and then force us to serve in 
their ranks, as though we could face death well 
enough in any cause except our country's. Count 
the Britons in the ranks, and see what a small fraction 
the Roman soldiers from beyond the seas are. This 
was the way in which the Germans threw off the yoke ; 

and they have only a river, not the sea, for their line 

17 (2) 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

of defence. We fight for our country, our wives, and 
our parents : these Romans fight only to gratify their 
avarice and their luxury. They shall be driven out, 
as their deified Julius was driven out, if we do but 
prove ourselves such men as our fathers were. Let not 
our courage fail us though we should lose a battle or 
two : desperate men are all the surer to charge home 
and fight it out to the bitter end. Even the gods 
are now showing compassion for the Britons : witness 
how they are keeping the Roman general far away, 
with his army banished in another island. Our greatest 
difficulty, which was to meet in council, is already over- 
come, but at the same time do not let us forget that 
there is a greater peril in being caught planning a 
revolt than any that lies in actual rebellion." 

XVI. By appeals like this the tribes fired each other's 
passions, and the whole province flew to arms under the 
leadership of Boadicea, 1 a woman of royal race, for sex 
is with them no bar to command in the field. Our 
soldiers, scattered in isolated posts, were ruthlessly 
hunted down ; the fortified places were taken by storm, 
and they burst into the colony 2 itself, which they looked 

1 One cannot refrain from recalling Tennyson's lines : 

" While about the shore of Mona those Neronian legionaries 
Burnt and broke the grove and altar of the Druid and Druidess, 
Far in the East Boadicea, standing loftily charioted, 
Mad and maddening all that heard her in her fierce volubility, 
Girt by half the tribes of Britain, near the colony Camulodune, 
Yell'd and shriek'd between her daughters, o'er a wild con- 
federacy ". 

2 Colchester. 

18 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

on as the very seat of their slavery. Maddened by 
their success they stopped at no single sort of out- 
rageous cruelty of which barbarians are capable ; and if 
Paulinus had not received tidings of the outbreak and 
flown to the rescue, Britain would have been lost to us. 
By one successful battle he brought the rebellious pro- 
vince back to its former obedience, although many of 
the insurgents continued to retain their arms, being 
tormented by the consciousness of their guilt, and by 
the more immediate terror of the governor : a splendid 
administrator in other respects, he was harsh to a beaten 
foe, and he indulged in excessive severity as if he were 
revenging his own personal wrongs in each particular 
case. For this reason he was replaced by Petronius 
Turpilianus, a more merciful man, and more disposed 
to accept the penitence of our enemies, seeing that 
he had not been a witness of their misdeeds. Under 
him the late disorders were adjusted, and without 
venturing on any new military operations he handed 
over the province to Trebellius Maximus. 

Trebellius, a man of little energy and no military 
experience, kept his hold over the province by an easy- 
going sort of administration. The barbarians, too, had 
learnt by this time to pardon faults which were pleasant 
to them, and a valid excuse for the governor's inactivity 
was afforded by the occurrence of civil war at the seat 
of empire. But mutiny gave him much trouble, now 
that the soldiery, after having grown used to active 
service, were rioting in ease. Trebellius suffered the 
shameful humiliation of having to run away and hide, 

19 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

in order to escape the wrath of his troops ; after which 
he governed on sufferance, under a tacit compact that 
the men should do as they pleased, and their general 
keep a whole skin ; and the mutiny came to an end 
without bloodshed. 

He was succeeded by Vettius Bolanus. Our civil wars 
were still going on, and he, too, refrained from raising 
an excitement in Britain by the enforcement of disci- 
pline. There was the same inactivity against the foe 
as ever, and the same insubordination in the camp : the 
only difference was that Bolanus was an upright man ; 
no misdeeds brought down hatred on his head, and he 
made himself loved, if he was not obeyed. 

XVII. But when the civil wars ended in Vespasian 
restoring order to the world, Britain also was reorganised, 
and splendid armies under competent generals soon 
crushed the hopes of the enemy. They were panic- 
stricken at the outset by the blows delivered by Petilius 
Cerealis against the Brigantes, 1 reputed to be the most 
numerous tribe of the whole province ; he fought a series 
of battles, inflicting tremendous slaughter in some of 
them, and there was little of their territory but owned him 
as conqueror or felt his vengeance. Coming after Cerealis 
any other commander than Julius Frontinus would have 
been absolutely dwarfed by the immense reputation for 
energy which he left behind him ; but Frontinus, a very 
able man, was equal to the task, so far as scope was 
given him, and his victorious arms subdued the powerful 
and warlike race of the Silures 2 after a severe but suc- 

1 Of Yorkshire. - In South Wales. 

20 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

cessful struggle, not only with the valour of the foe, but 
also with the difficulties of the country. 

XVIII. Such was the condition of the country, and 
such had been the varying fortunes of its wars, when 
Agricola crossed over to Britain in the latter part of 
summer. The soldiers having given up the idea of a 
campaign were taking their ease, and the enemy were 
taking advantage of the opportunity. Not long before 
he landed, the Ordovices 1 had almost annihilated a de- 
tachment of cavalry quartered in their districts, and 
the spark had fired the province. All those who 
wished for war were burning to follow the lead of 
the Ordovices, and were only waiting to find out 
what was the temper of the new governor. There 
were delays and difficulties to his beginning a campaign : 
the summer was far spent, the troops were scattered 
through the province, the soldiers had made up their 
minds that it was to be a quiet year ; the majority of 
advisers were in favour of a policy of caution, with a 
sharp watch kept on suspected points. Agricola de- 
cided to take the bull by the horns. He recalled the 
scattered detachments of the legions and collected a 
considerable body of allies, and, as the Ordovices did 
not venture to come down into the plain, he placed him- 
self at the head of his troops in order to rouse their 
spirit by sharing their danger, and advanced against the 
enemy up the steep. He scarcely left a man of the 
Ordovices alive ; and then, being well aware that he 
must use his prestige, and that the future terror of his 

1 Of North Wales. 
21 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

name would depend on his first successes, he tunied his 
attention to the island of Anglesea. 

Paulinus had been compelled to abandon Anglesea, 
as I have already mentioned, by the rebellion of the 
whole province of Britain. Agricola was bent upon 
reducing it to subjection. But there were no ships, 
as was natural considering that his plans had not been 
settled beforehand ; nevertheless, the resource and de- 
termination of the general discovered a means of cross- 
ing. 1 Leaving the whole of his baggage train under guard, 
he made a most careful selection among the auxiliaries of 
men used to fording arms of the sea and swimmers from 
their birth, men able to handle themselves and their 
arms and their horses in the water; and with them he 
made a sudden descent upon the island. The result was 
that the enemy, who were looking out for a fleet of ships 
and a naval invasion, were utterly bewildered, and be- 
lieved that such amphibious warriors could go anywhere 
and defeat anybody. They sued for peace, and sur- 
rendered their island ; and Agricola's fame went forth as 
a brilliant and successful governor, the sort of man who 
signalised his entry into office by hard work and hard 
fighting, instead of devoting, like other men, that period 
to idle show and a round of ceremonies. 

Personally, Agricola did not trade on this success : he 
did not entitle the enforcement of submission among 
the conquered a campaign crowned with victory, nor did 
he even report his performances in laurel-wreathed de- 
spatches. But this very show of indifference to fame 

1 Over the Menai Straits. 
22 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

made his fame all the greater with the far-seeing : a 
man who said nothing about such exploits must indeed 
be aiming high. 

XIX. The discontented condition of the province, 
however, was no secret to Agricola, and he knew like- 
wise from the experience of his predecessors that force 
was no remedy if it were to be followed by injustice ; 
accordingly, he determined to prevent rebellions by 
removing the reasons for them. His reforms began 
at home : his first step was to keep his own dependants 
in order, a task which many a man finds not less arduous 
than ruling a province. No public business whatever 
was allowed to pass through the hands of freedmen or of 
slaves : he did not make his own personal preferences 
or his friends' recommendations or requests a ground 
for the selection of centurions or soldiers to be near 
him, but considered every man of high character as 
perfectly worthy of his trust : nothing escaped his 
vigilance, but he did not always act upon his know- 
ledge ; to minor faults he was clement ; to great ones 
he was properly severe, yet even here he frequently 
remitted the penalty and was satisfied with penitence, 
and his desire was to appoint to offices and positions of 
trust men who would not steal, rather than to condemn 
men after they had stolen. 

He proceeded to make the exaction of corn and of 
taxes less onerous by equalising contributions and by 
abolishing absolutely those devices for extortion which 
were felt to be more vexatious than the taxes themselves. 

For the natives used to be compelled to sit waiting 

23 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

ignominiously before our closed granaries and actually to 
buy corn of us at a fancy price. Delivery used to be 
required off the regular roads and at the other end of 
the country in such a way that districts with troops 
wintering at their doors had to deliver their corn at 
places far away where there were no roads, so that 
what might easily have been supplied to all was made 
to enrich a few. 

XX. His first year saw a speedy end put to these 
abuses, and brought peace into high honour with the 
natives whom the alternate carelessness and cruelty of 
his predecessors caused to dread it no less than war. 
With the advent of summer, however, he took the field 
again at the head of his army : on the march he was 
everywhere in person, praising steadiness and checking 
stragglers. He himself chose the camps, he himself 
sounded the estuaries and scoured the woods ; and in 
the meantime he never allowed the enemy a moment's 
rest, but laid waste their territories with unexpected 
forays. Then when he had brought them to their knees 
his ready clemency unfolded to them the attractions of 
peace. By these methods many tribes, independent 
until then, were brought to give hostages and abandon 
their hostile attitude, and a line of forts was drawn 
round them, nor was any new annexation in Britain 
ever so wisely and carefully carried out before. 

XXI. Tranquillity reigned during the following winter, 
and Agricola took advantage of it to give wholesome 
advice. The people lived isolated and ignorant, and 

were therefore prone to war : his object was that the 

24 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

amenities of life should give them a taste for peace and 
quietness. By private influence and by grants of public 
money he urged on the erection of good houses, of 
courts of justice, and of temples, praising those who 
were apt pupils and reprimanding the backward. 
Emulation was his stimulus in lieu of coercion. He 
moreover offered the sons of the chiefs a liberal edu- 
cation, and lauded the native genius of the Britons at 
the expense of the industry of the Gauls, in order 
that they who so lately loathed the sound of Latin 
might be fired with ambition to make eloquent speeches 
in it. 1 Roman costume thus came into fashion, and the 
toga began to be commonly seen, and bit by bit the 
way was opened to those agreeable means of demora- 
lisation, the lounge, the bath, and the banquet ; and this 
change the unsuspecting Britons called by the name of 
refinement, when it was but one step deeper into slavery. 
XXII. Agricola's third year of expeditions introduced 
him to new tribes, and his forays extended as far as the 
estuaiy known as the Tanus. 2 His vigorous action in- 
spired such terror that the enemy dared not molest 
him even when his army was embarrassed by severe 
storms, and indeed he found time to plant a chain 

1 Gallia causidicos docuit facunda Britannos : 
De conducendo loquitur jam rhetore Thule. Juv. 
The Gaul has been teaching the Briton 
The art of embellishing pleas, 
And Shetlanders now are discussing 
A rhetoric lecturer's fees. 

* Variously identified as the Tweed, or North Tyne, or (reading 
Taum) Tay. 

25 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

of forts. Good critics remarked that there never was 
a general with a better eye for country. No fort planted 
by him was ever taken by storm, or surrendered and 
abandoned. Constant forays were made from them, 
for they were secured against a long blockade by being 
victualled for a whole year. -: Thus, during the winter they 
had no anxiety, and every garrison held its own unsup- 
ported, while the baffled enemy grew desperate, for 
their rule used to be to wipe out their losses in summer 
by their successes in winter, and now they were fighting 
a losing game both winter and summer alike. 

Nor were the achievements of any of his lieutenants 
ever appropriated unfairly by Agricola : were the man 
a centurion of legionaries or were he an officer of 
auxiliaries, Agricola credited him honestly with his suc- 
cess. He had, however, the reputation of giving very 
severe reprimands in some cases : proportionate to his 
cordiality to a good soldier was his sternness to a bad 
one ; but after his anger abated he harboured no 
malice ; when he held his tongue it was not an ominous 
sign, and he thought it a more honourable part to chide 
a man openly than to bear a grudge. 

XXIII. The fourth summer was taken up in securing 
his hold upon the territory he had overrun, and he dis- 
covered a good boundary line in Britain itself, if the 
valour of our armies and the honour of Rome could 
allow such a thing. For the Firths of Forth and Clyde, 
tidal waters running far back inland from either sea, are 
divided by a narrow isthmus only, across which forts 
were now planted. All the country to the south of 

26 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

the line was securely held, and the hostile tribes were 
pushed beyond it into what was practically another 
island. 

XXIV. In the fifth year of his expeditions Agricola 
crossed over the Clyde, his ship leading the way ; 1 
here he fell in with tribes previously unknown, and 
subdued them in a series of successful encounters, 
and he strongly garrisoned that part of Britain 
which faces Ireland. 2 This was not done as a 
precaution but with an eye to future conquest, on the 
theory that Ireland, lying between Britain and Spain 
and easily accessible from the sea of Gaul, constitutes a 
valuable link between those provinces which form the 
backbone of the empire. 

Ireland is small as compared to Britain, but it is 
larger than any of the Mediterranean islands. It 
resembles Britain in soil and climate, and in the charac- 
ter and customs of its inhabitants ; through trade and 
traders we are tolerably well acquainted with the 
approaches to it and with its harbours. One of the 
petty kings of Ireland had been driven out by a rebel- 
lion, and took refuge with Agricola, who treated him as 
a friend and kept him till he could make use of him. I 
have often heard Agricola remark that with one legion 
and a suitable force of auxiliaries Ireland could be 
conquered and held in subjection ; and, moreover, that 

l Nave prima has also been variously rendered "in the first 
ship that ever ploughed those waters," " in the first ship that he 
found," " as soon as navigation opened ". 

- Galloway. 

27 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

as against the Britons it would be a good move if the 
Roman arms thus closed round them, and the spectacle 
of a country still free was removed clean out of their 
sight. 

XXV. However, in the summer in which he entered 
on his sixth year of office he took for his field of opera- 
tions the districts lying beyond the Firth of Forth ; 
but anticipating that the whole country would be up 
in arms, and the march of a hostile expedition 
through it perilously beset, he sent his fleet to ex- 
plore the harbours along the coast. 1 Never before 
had the fleet been adopted by Agricola as part of his 
regular force, and the spectacle of war carried on at 
once by sea and land was most imposing. Often did 
the horsemen and the footmen, and the marines from 
the ships, meet in one camp at jovial entertainments, 
where either party magnified their own exploits and 
their own special dangers : the one had to tell of deep 
woods and mountain passes, the other of struggles with 
wind and wave ; and they gloried, as warriors are wont, 
in pitting one against the other their triumphs over the 
foe and his fastnesses, and over the mighty ocean. More- 
over, the mere sight of the fleet, according to the reports 
of captives, dismayed the Britons, who felt that the 
secret of their sea was discovered, and the last loophole 
of escape closed behind them. 

The Caledonian tribes were all up in arms, and took 
the field in great strength, which uncertain rumour 
naturally exaggerated. They threw down the gauntlet 

1 Of Fife. 
28 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

by attempting the storm of one of our forts, and alarm 
had been excited by this audacious challenge ; so that 
weak spirits, under the guise of prudence, began to sug- 
gest that it might be better to retire behind the Forth, 
and evacuate the country before we were chased out of 
it. At this crisis, information reached Agricola that 
the enemy were preparing to assail him in several 
quarters. He felt that their superiority in numbers and 
in knowledge of the localities might enable them to 
surround him. So, to prevent this, he marched ahead 
with his army divided into three separate detachments. 

XXVI. The enemy finding this out suddenly altered 
their plans, united their forces, and made a night attack 
on the camp of the ninth legion, which they understood 
to be the weakest. 1 They cut down the sentinels, and 
burst in upon the sleepy and panic-stricken troops. The 
fight was actually going on inside the camp when 
Agricola, who had learned by his scouts which way the 
enemy had gone and had followed on their tracks, sent 
forward the fastest marchers of his horse and foot to fall 
upon the rear of the assailants, and by his orders the 
whole of his division hastening behind presently began 
to cheer. Day was now dawning, and the light shone 
on his advancing standards : the Britons, with an enemy 
both in front and rear, were struck with terror ; the 
courage of the legionaries revived ; they felt then- 
safety assured, and began to strive for honour. It was 

1 It had been almost destroyed once before in Boadicea's rebel- 
lion. It was destined to be absolutely annihilated a few years 
later by a revolt at Eburacum (York}. 

29 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

now their turn to attack ; they charged, and, after a 
desperate struggle in the narrow gateways, the enemy 
were put to flight, each of the Roman armies doing its 
very best the relieving force in order to prove its 
assistance a reality, the defenders of the camp to 
show that they had never required it. Had not the 
swamps and forests afforded a shelter to the fugitives, 
this affair would have ended the war at a blow. 

XXVII. It was a splendid victory, and our men knew 
it and were fired by the knowledge. They declared 
that nothing could stop them now, that they could 
march right through Caledonia, and fight their way the 
whole length of Britain till they found the other end of 
it. The cautious and prudent of yesterday became, after 
the action, loud for an immediate advance. The most un- 
reasonable thing about war is that every one claims a share 
in a success, while disaster is laid upon one man alone. 

For their part, the Britons held themselves not to 
have been beaten on their merits, but by an unlucky 
chance of which Agricola had taken advantage ; and, far 
from lowering their tone, they went on arming their 
youth, sending away their women and children to places 
of safety, and confirming the confederacy of their tribes 
by meetings and sacrifices. And thus both sides sever- 
ally went their ways with unappeased anger. 1 

1 It is a little curious that the numbers that fell in this severe 
engagement are not given as they are after the defeat of Galgacus. 
It would appear, moreover, that Agricola must have paused in 
consequence of it, or even perhaps gone back into his own quarters, 
for the advance northwards against the Caledonian tribes did not 
take place till the following year. 

30 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

XXVIII. In this same summer a cohort of Usipii, who 
had been levied in Germany 1 and shipped off to service in 
Britain, embarked on a very notable adventure. Mur- 
dering their centurion and the trained soldiers enrolled 
in their ranks to impart discipline by their example, 
they seized three light galleys and put to sea, taking 
the three pilots along by force. Two of these men fell 
under suspicion and were likewise murdered, the third 
directed them how to row, and they slipped past our 
fleet, like an apparition, before the report of the matter 
got abroad. After this they made descents upon the shore 
for water and in search of the necessaries of life, and came 
into frequent collision with the Britons, who resisted the 
spoliation of their property. They were successful on 
various occasions, but sometimes they were repulsed, 
and at last they were reduced to such an extremity of 
famine that they devoured the weakest of their number, 
and when these were eaten drew lots for new victims 
amongst the survivors. After thus working down the 
coast of Britain, they cast away their vessels 2 through 
their ignorance of navigation ; they were taken for sea- 
robbers and made prisoners, some by the Suabians where 
they first struck the land, and others further on by the 
Frisians. 8 A few out of their number, being sold as 
slaves and passed from hand to hand in the course of 
trade, finally reached the Roman bank of the Rhine, and 



1 They lived on the right bank of the Rhine : see Germania, xxxii. 

2 On the shores of Germany. 

3 As they pushed on towards the Rhine. 

31 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

there attained notoriety from the story they had to tell 
of such an amazing adventure. 

XXIX. In the early part of the following summer a 
heavy bereavement befell Agricola. His son, who had 
been born to him during the previous year, died. He 
bore his loss neither with affected stoicism, as many 
brave men do, nor with weeping and passionate laments 
like a woman. War, it may be added, was one of the 
distractions by which he sought to relieve his grief. 

He sent forward the fleet, with orders to harry a 
great many different places, and thus create wide-spread 
terror and uncertainty. He added to his forces the 
bravest of the Britons who had attested their fidelity 
by remaining long at peace with us ; and, with his 
army in light marching order, he reached the Grampian 
Mountains, where the enemy had already taken up a 
position. 

For the Caledonians were by no means dismayed at 
the result of their previous trial of strength with us : 
they saw that the alternatives before them were to wipe 
out that defeat or else be enslaved ; and, having learned 
to look to united action for a defence against a common 
peril, by embassies and treaties they had called out the 
strength of all their tribes. More than thirty thousand 
armed men were already on the ground, and thither 
still came pouring in every soul of their youth, and 
veterans whose years left them hardy and vigorous yet, 
warriors of fame, bearing every man of them his honours 
won on the field. Among the numerous chieftains was 

Galgacus, renowned above them all for valour and for 

32 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

race, and he is said to have spoken thus to the multi- 
tude clamouring for battle : 

XXX. " Every time that I look at the reasons we 
have for fighting, and the fact that we have no choice 
but to fight, my heart beats high at the thought that 
this morn, which sees your united hosts assembled, is 
the dawn of liberty for all Britain. For not one man 
among all your thousands has ever bowed his neck to 
the yoke, and there is no land behind us to fall back to, 
and the very sea is blocked to us by the all-present 
Roman fleet. Thus the sword and the battle to which 
honour calls the brave offer now the safest path to the 
coward. During the struggles waged in the past by the 
Britons against the Romans, struggles sometimes lost and 
sometimes won, we were always in the background as a 
last hope and resource ; because we who are the noblest 
Britons of all Britain, whose home is the very citadel of 
the land, who are out of sight of the shores where slavery 
reigns, we, free ourselves, have never so much as defiled 
our eyes with the sight of Roman tyranny. We live, the 
last of the free, on the last point of the land, and the re- 
moteness and mystery of our reputation has been our de- 
fence unto this day ; for the terrors of the unknown loom 
large. But now the uttermost end of Britain is discovered. 
No other tribe stands behind us ; nought is yonder but 
the rocks and waves, and the Romans more cruel yet, 
and vainly by servility and compliance will you seek 
to escape from them. The plunderers of the world 
they have laid waste the land till there is no more 

left, and now they scour the sea. If a people are 

33 (3) 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

rich they are worth robbing, if poor they are worth 
enslaving ; and not the East and not the West can 
content their greedy maw. They are the only men in 
all the world whose lust of conquest makes them find 
in wealth and in poverty equally tempting baits. To 
robbery, murder, and outrage they give the lying name 
of government, and where they make a desert they call 
it peace. 

XXXI. " It is a law of nature that every man loves his 
own sons, his own kith and kin, more than all beside. 
He sees them carried off by the conscription to distant 
lands into a service which is slavery. He sees the 
honour of the women of his house, supposing them to 
escape actual violence, corrupted all the same by men 
styling themselves his friends and guests. His goods 
and his fortune are swallowed up by the taxes ; the 
corn-dues strip him of his harvest and of his land. His 
body is worn out and his limbs crippled in building 
roads for them through swamp and forest, and they 
repay him with gross insult and with the lash. Slaves 
born into slavery are sold once and for all, and their 
masters provide food for them of their own accord. 
Britain is sold anew into slavery every day ; she pays 
the price herself, and finds her own food to boot. You 
know how in a household the slave last purchased is 
made the butt even of his fellow-slaves. The nations 
of the world are the old slaves of Rome, and they now 
seek our destruction as the latest miserable victims. We 
have no tilled fields, no mines, no ports, that they 

should keep us here to work in them. Remember that 

34 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

masters will never tolerate valour and high spirit in 
their subjects. Remember that they will never trust 
them to live in a spot so far away out of their reach. 

" Cast away, then, all hope of finding mercy, and sum- 
mon up your courage like men who fight for dear life 
as well as for love of honour. Led by a woman, the 
Brigantes could storm a Roman camp and burn a Roman 
colony : had not success relaxed their efforts they would 
have broken the yoke. We have never felt the yoke ; 
we have never bowed the knee ; we never shall so use 
our liberty as to repent of it ; let us then show, in this 
hour, in our first charge, what sort of warriors still we 
keep in Caledonia's wilds. 

XXXII. "Do you really imagine that the courage of 
the Romans in war is equal to their licentiousness in 
peace ? It is our quarrels and our discords that give 
them their fame, for they turn the faults of their 
enemies to the glory of their own army that mongrel 
army of a mixed multitude of peoples which is only 
kept together by prosperity, and must assuredly dissolve 
under defeat. Or can you believe that the Gaul, the 
German, and the Briton, yes, shame that I must say it ! 
of Britons not a few, are following the standards of 
Rome from loyalty and love ? I would have you reflect 
that, though they now lend their blood to the foreign 
usurper, they were his enemies for more years than they 
have been his friends. Fear and dread are the bonds 
that bind them, bonds all too weak in the place of love. 
Break their bonds, and, as their fears vanish, hatred will 

spring to life. On our side is everything that can spur 

35 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

men on to victory. The Romans have no wives to fire 
their hearts, no kinsfolk to brand them as cowards if 
they fly. Most of them are men without a country, or 
if they have one it is some other than Rome. Few in 
number, bewildered and lost, they turn their eyes to 
sky, and sea, and forest, and all alike are strange to 
them. Verily they are as men fettered and taken in 
the snare, and thus the gods have delivered them into 
our hands. 

" Tremble not at their vain show, nor at the sheen of 
silver and of gold, which can neither hurt nor protect. 
In the very lines of the foe we shall find friends. The 
Briton will see that our cause is his ; the Gaul will be- 
think him of his former liberty ; the rest of their 
German conscripts will follow the recent example of the 
Usipii and desert them too. Victorious here, you have 
nothing else to fear. Their fortresses are ungarrisoned, 
their colonists are old dotards ; between rebellious sub- 
jects and unjust rulers, their towns are tottering and 
riven with discord. Here before you stand their general 
and their army ; behind them, lo ! come the tribute, 
the penal labour in the mines, and all the anguish of 
slavery, which you must endure for ever and ever, or 
else strike home upon this field to-day. Remember 
your fathers, remember your children, and let your last 
thoughts be of them ere you rush upon the foe." 

XXXIII. This speech was received with frantic joy, 
signified, as is the barbarian fashion, by songs and yells 
and wild war whoops. Their bands set themselves in 

motion, and their arms flashed as all their boldest war- 

36 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

riors pressed into the van. Indeed, they were actually 
forming their line of battle when Agricola, thinking that 
though his soldiers were full of confidence and scarcely 
to be held back within the rampart, it were well to rouse 
their ardour still more, addressed them thus : 

" It is now eight years, comrades, that I have shared 
in your conquests in Britain ; conquests due to your 
loyalty and your devotion, inspired by the valour and 
the majesty of imperial Rome. Side by side in many a 
march and many a fight, whether the call was for 
courage against the foe, or for patient effort to over- 
come the obstacles offered by nature herself, we have 
been well content with each other, you and I. There- 
fore it is that we have pushed our way far beyond any 
point that other generals and other armies have ever 
reached, and are masters of this extremity of the land, 
thanks not to our prestige or our reputation, but to our 
camps and our good swords. You have been the ex- 
plorers of Britain, you have been its conquerors as well. 

" Many a time on the route, when morass and moun- 
tain and river tried your patience, have I heard these 
words from the lips of the brave : ' When shall we see 
an enemy ? When will the day of battle come ? ' 
Here come your enemies now, driven from their hiding 
places ; here is the fulfilment of your prayers and an 
occasion for your valour ; beat them now, and you have 
the ball at your feet ; fail to do so, and the outlook is 
grave. In our triumphant advance we have travelled a 
long, long road, we have threaded forests, and we 
have forded estuaries, all of which are so many addi- 

37 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

tions to our glory ; if we flee now, all these things do 
but multiply our perils. We have no knowledge of the 
country, such as our enemies have ; we have no means 
of getting supplies like them ; what we have are our 
swords and our strong arms, and having them we have 
all things. 

" For my part I long ago made up my mind that it was 
never safe for an army or a general to let an enemy see 
their backs. Death on the field of honour is better 
than a life of shame ; but in our position life and honour 
go hand in hand, while to fall at the point where the 
natural world itself comes to an end would be to find a 
glorious tomb. 

XXXIV. " If those tribes yonder were new to you and 
their battle array something strange, I would encourage 
you by the example of what other armies have done : 
as it is, I say count over your own victories and ask 
your own eyes. Those are the rogues who last year 
fell upon one legion under cover of darkness, and who 
were turned to flight by the sound of your cheering. 
Those are the most runaway rascals of all the Britons, 
and that is the only reason why they have survived till 
now. You know that when men are penetrating the 
forest glades the bravest of the wild beasts charge upon 
them and meet their fate ; the timorous and the cowardly 
fly at the mere sound of their feet. Thus the stoutest- 
hearted of the Britons have long since bitten the dust ; 
the remainder are but a pack of panic-stricken poltroons. 
The reason that at last you find them here in front of 

you is not that they have turned to bay, but that they 

38 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

are caught in a trap. Their desperate case and their 
paralysing fears have nailed them to the spot where 
they stand, and on that spot you shall show the world 
the spectacle of a brilliant and memorable victory. 
Here make an end to these campaigns. Let fifty years 
of conquest have their crowning day. Prove to Rome 
that her army never palters with its work, nor leaves 
behind it the seeds of fresh rebellions." 

XXXV. Even while Agricola was still speaking, the 
men's excitement was intense ; this final appeal was 
instantly followed by a burst of enthusiasm, and they 
rapidly put themselves in motion to close with the 
enemy. Fired as they were with impetuosity, he so 
arranged their order that the eight thousand infantry of 
the allies formed a solid centre, the three thousand cavalry 
being distributed on the wings. The legions took their 
stand in front of the rampart of the camp, to win a 
glorious victory without the loss of a drop of Roman 
blood if our allies were successful ; to save the day if 
they were repulsed. 

The Britons had posted their forces upon the mountain 
sides, for effect and in order to strike terror, their front 
line resting on the plain, the rest as it were towering 
behind them rank over rank up the steep. 1 The level 



1 Like the loose crags whose threatening mass 
Lay tottering o'er the hollow pass, 
As if an infant's touch could urge 
Their headlong passage down the verge, 
With step and weapon forward flung 
Upon the mountain-side they hung. Lady of the Lake. 
39 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

space between the two armies was filled with their 
charioteers who galloped up and down and yelled. 

Agricola now seeing himself outnumbered by such 
swarms of enemies, and fearing a simultaneous attack 
on his front and on his flanks, widened out his lines, 
although this was to make his formation dangerously 
extended, and he was strongly urged to bring up the 
legions. But, naturally sanguine and resolute in diffi- 
culty, he sent his charger to the rear, and took his 
position on foot in the van of the allies. 

XXXVI. The combat opened with the discharge of 
missiles ; and the Britons, with their mighty claymores 
and small targes, coolly and skilfully evaded or parried 
the darts of our men, and poured in upon them in reply 
a tremendous shower of javelins, until Agricola ordered 
all the Batavians and two cohorts of Tungrians to go in 
to close quarters and use their swords. Long drill at 
the sword-exercise had made our allies masters of this 
arm ; while the enemy, with their small shields and un- 
wieldy blades, were awkward at it ; for the claymores 
of the Britons were not thrusting weapons, and were ill 
adapted for entanglement in a close 1 mellay. When 
therefore the Batavians fell on hand to hand, striking 
with their shield-spikes, and thrusting at their enemies' 
faces, they overthrew the front line planted on the 
plain, and pushed their advance up the hill-sides, and 
the other cohorts, eager to rival them, charged home 
and likewise cut down those opposed to them ; so rapid 
was the success obtained, that they left on the ground 

1 Reading in arcto pugnam. 
40 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

many disabled, and even many unwouiided men of the 
enemy. 

Their cavalry in the meantime were chased off by 
ours, and their charioteers mingled in the infantry fight ; 
but, though their intervention at first checked our 
advance, they were much hampered by the dense 
masses of their own side, and by the steepness of the 
ground. The combat at this point had none of the 
characteristics of a cavalry engagement ; here were men 
with difficulty making good their footing on the hill- 
sides, while the horses pushed in among them ; and 
constantly runaway chariots, dragged driverless by 
terrified horses, came tearing through their front or their 
flanks, wherever fear urged the animals. 

XXXVII. The Britons posted on the hill-tops who 
hitherto had not been engaged, looking on with con- 
temptuous carelessness at the efforts of our little army, 
now began gradually to descend and surround the rear 
of our victorious troops. Anticipating this move, Agri- 
cola sent four squadrons of cavalry, which he kept in 
reserve for emergencies, to stop them, and turned their 
bold advance into a headlong flight. Thus the fate they 
intended for us befell them instead ; and the cavalry 
squadrons by the general's orders, passing frqm the 
enemy's front, flung themselves upon his rear. Then on 
all the open ground was seen a slaughter fierce and 
fell. The horsemen were everywhere chasing the fugi- 
tives, plunging their weapons into them, taking some 
prisoners, and presently slaughtering these when they 
captured others. Now the qualities of men showed 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

themselves : some of the enemy's bands, with arms still 
in their hands, fleeing before a few of ours ; others 
choosing of their own accord to rush barehanded on the 
sword and seek a voluntary death. The field was 
covered with arms and bodies of the slain and severed 
limbs and pools of blood, yet even then there were some 
amid the rout whose valour and courage did not desert 
them. When they reached the woods they rallied and 
made an attempt to entrap the foremost pursuers, who 
were dashing in recklessly and were ignorant of the 
ground. But Agricola was everywhere in person : 
placing strong cohorts of light-armed men to watch 
the outlets he dismounted some of his cavalry and sent 
them on foot to beat the thickets, and made the men 
who remained on horseback scour the thinner parts of 
the wood ; had he not adopted these tactics the enemy 
would have made us pay dearly for our over confidence. 
However, when they saw the pursuit beginning again, 
with our lines re-formed and steady, they broke and 
ran, not, as before, preserving some sort of formation 
and keeping in touch with one another ; now they 
scattered, and fled every man from his fellow, and 
sought the pathless recesses of their wilds. We had 
execution of them till night came on, and our men were 
tired of killing. Their slain were ten thousand. Of 
ours there fell three hundred and sixty, amongst whom 
was Aulus Atticus, the commander of a cohort, whom 
youthful ardour and a too spirited horse carried right 
into the ranks of the enemy. 

XXXVIII. That was a night of rejoicing for the 
42 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

victors over their triumph and their booty. The Britons 
wandered hither and thither in the darkness, men and 
women raising lamentable cries as they dragged away 
their dead or called to those who were still alive ; they 
deserted their homes and fired them with their own 
hands in their rage ; they chose hiding-places only to 
abandon them again directly ; they met in parties and 
formed a common plan, and then immediately turned 
their backs on one another. Some broke down com- 
pletely when they saw their dear ones once more ; but 
most of them were roused to fury thereby, and it is an 
undoubted fact that there were those who in their frenzy 
slew their own wives and children as an act of mercy. 

The morning's light brought unmistakable proofs of 
the completeness of our victory. A dreary silence was 
all around the hills were deserted, the ruins of houses 
smoked in the distance ; no living being met the ad- 
vance of our scouts. We sent these out in every direc- 
tion, and learnt that the tracks of the fugitives ran all 
ways, and that the enemy were not concentrating any- 
where. To follow them up involved a desultory warfare, 
which was out of the question now that the summer 
was over ; so Agricola withdrew his army into the 
territory of the Boresti. 1 There he received hostages, 
and commissioned the commander of the fleet to cir- 
cumnavigate Britain. A force for this purpose was 
assigned to him, and terror had cleared the way. 
Agricola himself led the cavalry and infantry to their 
winter quarters, marching slowly through the country 

1 Fife most probably. 
43 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

in order that the very deliberateness of his progress 
might impress the minds of the newly-conquered tribes. 
His arrival coincided with that of the fleet, which, 
favoured by fine weather, succeeded in accomplishing a 
famous voyage, and, after skirting the whole of the 
east coast of Britain, returned to its starting-point, the 
port of Trutulium. 1 

XXXIX. Agricola reported these events to Rome in 
despatches of studied moderation ; but the gratified air 
with which Domitian received them only disguised, as 
usual, the suspicion gnawing at his heart. His con- 
science told him that the public had mocked at the 
sham triumph he had just celebrated over Germany, for 
which the markets had been ransacked to buy slaves, 
whose hair and appearance might admit of their playing 
the part of captives. Here, he must have felt, was a 

1 Tacitus is a consummate literary artist ; but Mommsen, with 
reason, calls him an unmilitary historian. Scarcely one of the 
places in these last chapters can be identified with any sort of 
certainty. The site of the battle with Galgacus is placed by Mr. 
Skene at Cleaven Dykes, where the Isla and the Tay unite. But 
the other proposed sites for it are innumerable. The "Antiquary," 
with his Kaim of Kinprunes and his stone inscribed A. D. L. L., 
is only one among a multitude. Mons Grampius may or may not 
be the Grampians ; there are old Roman camps in Perth and 
Forfar as well as in Fife, and the location of the Boresti in Fife is 
but a conjecture. The Portus Trutulensis may, with probability, 
be placed on the shores of the Firth of Forth, but it is impossible 
to say where. It is doubtful if the fleet did more than double 
Cape Wrath, ascertain that the west coast of Scotland trended 
south from there, and return back down the east coast to the 
Forth again. That it circumnavigated the whole of Britain during 
the fag end of autumn is incredible. 

4,4, 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

great and genuine victory, in which the enemy's loss 
was counted by many thousands, and the fame of which 
was in every mouth. The emperor had a haunting fear 
of being outshone by a subject. He had silenced the 
learned professions, and had forbidden honour to be 
won in civil life ; but what availed this, if another might 
forestall him in military glory. Other points might in 
some sort be glossed over with ease, but to be a good 
general was unmistakably an imperial quality. The 
idea tormented him, and it was a sure sign of the dead- 
liness of his purpose that he was satisfied with brood- 
ing over his intention, thinking it politic to mask his 
hatred for the present till the freshness of his victim's 
fame and his favour with the army should fade away ; 
for Agricola still was the governor of Britain. 

XL. Accordingly, by the emperor's orders, the senate 
formally voted him a triumph's accessory decorations, 
with the compliment of a statue in his honour and all 
the substitutes for a triumph, and intimated also that 
the province of Syria was intended for Agricola, it being 
then vacant by the death of the consular Atilius Rufus, 
and specially reserved for men of more than ordinary 
calibre. Not a few believed that a commission appoint- 
ing him to Syria was positively sent by the hands of a 
freedman of the emperor's inner council, to be delivered 
to him in case he were still in Britain. The story went 
that the freedman actually encountered Agricola half- 
way across the Straits of Dover, whereupon he never 
even asked for an interview, but made his way back to 

Domitian. The story may be true, or it may be a 

45 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

fiction, invented as being in accordance with the em- 
peror's character. 

True or not, Agricola had handed over his province to 
his successor in a state of peace and security. To pi-event 
his entry into Rome from being an occasion for a great 
assemblage and the gathering of a throng of sightseers, 
he evaded the attentions of his friends and came into the 
city by night. By night he attended at the palace, a 
positive order to do so having been conveyed to him ; he 
was received with a formal salutation, the emperor did 
not engage him in conversation, and he was suffered to 
fall back into the crowd of -courtiers in waiting. To 
disarm through less offensive forms of virtue the pre- 
judice that his military reputation aroused among men 
of pleasure, he pushed quietness and retirement to an 
extreme ; unpretending in style, affable in conversation, 
he never was seen abroad with more than one or two 
friends, so that the mass of people, who are accustomed 
to measure men's greatness by the scale of their pre- 
tensions, when they met Agricola used to ask how he 
ever got his reputation ; and those who could give the 
right answer were few. 

XL I. Frequently through all this period was he in 
absence accused to Domitian, and in absence acquitted 
of the charges. Agricola had committed no crime, 
nor had he wronged any man, that he should be thus 
attacked. His peril lay in the emperor's hatred of 
greatness, in his own fame, and in the pertinacity of a 
man's most mischievous foes, the people who sing his 
praises. 

46 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

Moreover, the times which followed his return were 
such as unavoidably brought up the name of Agricola. 
In Moesia, in Dacia, in Germany, in Pannonia, army 
after army was destroyed because our generals were 
either fools or cowards, and case after case occurred 
where officers of experience with their cohorts were 
overwhelmed and driven to surrender. It was no longer 
our frontier and the line of the Danube or the Rhine 
that were threatened ; the power of our legions to hold 
their own districts and their own winter quarters was 
endangered. Accordingly, as the tale of losses kept 
increasing, when each year as it came was marked by 
fresh mourning and disaster, "send Agricola" became 
the cry of the multitude ; and everybody was contrasting 
his energy, his resolution, his warlike spirit, with the 
stupidity and timidity of the others. 

Domitian too, beyond all doubt, had this language 
dinned into his ears, the friendly sincerity of the best 
among his freedmen, conspiring with the envious 
malevolence of the worst to exasperate the natural 
malignity of their master. Thus Agricola's own merits 
combined with the faults of others to thrust his name 
into a fatal prominence. 

XLII. And now the year was at hand when the 
lot was to assign him to Asia or to Africa as pro- 
consul, and the recent execution of Civica 1 was a warn- 
ing for Agricola as well as a precedent for Domitian. 
Certain men familiar with the emperor's secrets 
approached Agricola, as if on their own account, to put 

1 Late pro-consul of Asia. 

47 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

the question, "Did he propose to take a province?" 
They began indirectly by hinting at the virtues of 
peace and quietness ; then they proceeded to press upon 
him their services in seconding an appeal to be allowed 
to decline office ; finally they threw off the mask, and 
by urgency and actual menace they positively forced 
him into the presence of Domitian. The emperor was 
a past-master in hypocrisy: with an air of great con- 
descension he listened to the appeal to be excused from 
serving ; he stooped so far as to grant the desired favour, 
and to accept an expression of gratitude for it, nor did 
the odiousness of his benefaction raise a blush upon his 
cheek. It had been usual to give a salary to a governor 
of consular rank, and this in certain cases had been 
yielded by Domitian himself ; but he withheld it from 
Agricola, perhaps offended because no application was 
made for it ; possibly suspecting that he might be 
thought to have purchased what he had compelled. 

It is an instinct of human nature to hate the man you 
have wronged. Rancour was the keynote of Domitian's 
character, and the more he disguised his feeling, the less 
apt was he to alter it ; yet, nevertheless, even he began to 
soften towards Agricola on account of the self-command 
and discretion he exhibited. Not with mutinous bear- 
ing nor with idle vapouring about " Liberty " did 
Agricola make any bid for fame by challenging his fate. 
There are people whose rule it is to belaud every 
defiance of constituted authority : they may learn that 
even under bad emperors great lives may be led, and 

that compliant and sober conduct, if combined with in- 

48 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

dustry and energy, is far grander than the headlong 
career of a self-made martyr whose sacrifice is perfectly 
useless to the State. 

XLIII. The death of Agricola was a grievous shock to 
me, and a painful event to all his friends ; even by the 
outside world, and those to whom he was not personally 
known, it was felt as a real loss. Numbers, moreover, of 
the populace and the busy masses nocked round his house ; 
and in public places, and wherever knots of talkers were 
assembled, his name was on all lips ; nor did a single soul 
on hearing of his death rejoice at the news or forget it 
quickly. This sympathy was increased by the wide-spread 
rumour that he had been removed by poison. 

I may venture to state that I have no positive know- 
ledge on this matter. But during the course of his 
illness there was a very unusual interest shown in his 
condition by an imperial court which pays its visits by 
means of messengers, who in this case included both 
the principal freedmen and the most confidential physi- 
cians of the emperor. This may have been due to pure 
anxiety ; it might also have been in order to watch the 
effects of a potion. Certain it is that on the final day 
relays of couriers carried reports of the crisis of his last 
agony; and no man believed that such singular speed 
was given to tidings that were unwelcome to Domitian. 
The external signs of mourning, nevertheless, were con- 
spicuously exhibited in his face and demeanour, now 
that he did not care to show his hatred, and being, as he 
was, the sort of man to disguise his satisfaction more 
easily than his fears. 

49 (4) 



THE AGR1COLA OF TACITUS 

It was no secret that when Agricola's will was read 
and it was found that as co-heir to the best of wives 
and the most dutiful of daughters he had nominated 
Domitian, the emperor appeared to be greatly pleased 
thereby, as if it were a complimentary choice. His 
mind was so blinded and besotted by everlasting flattery 
that he was actually ignorant that no good father would 
dream of putting an emperor into his will unless that 
emperor were a miscreant. 

XLIV. Agricola was born on the thirteenth of June 
in the third consulship of Caligula ; l he died in the 
fifty-fourth year of his age on the twenty-third of 
August in the consulship of Collega and Priscus. 2 As 
to his personal appearance, should the curiosity of 
posterity extend to such a matter, his frame was well 
proportioned and of the middle height ; his expression, 
far from being stern, was exceedingly winning ; one 
trusted him instinctively and acknowledged his greatness 
with pleasure. His life was cut short in its prime, yet 
his glory could have been no brighter had he lived to 
four score. Virtue is the true source of happiness, and 
that was his without stint; while as for success, he had 
won the consulship and the insignia of a triumph, and 
what more had fortune to give him ? He had no mind 
to be immensely rich, and he was the possessor of a 
handsome estate. Escaping the sorrow of seeing either 
wife or daughter die before him, he may indeed be 
deemed happy in that he was taken away from the evil 
to come, with his honours unimpaired, his fame still 

1 A.D. 40. 2 A.D. 93. 

50 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

flourishing, and with no gap yet made in the circle of 
his friends and relatives. He had indeed hoped to live 
to see the dawn of this golden age, he had hoped to 
see a Trajan on the throne ; in my ear he prophesied 
that this would be. So in his prematurely-wrought 
death it was no small consolation to him that he was 
spared the horror of beholding those latter days when 
Domitian 110 longer tasted blood, and paused, and tasted 
again, but at one deep draught sucked the life-blood 
of the State. 

XLV. Agricola never beheld the senate-house beset and 
the senators overawed by force of arms ; he never beheld 
men of consular position butchered wholesale, and ladies 
of the highest rank driven headlong into exile. When 
Agricola died, Carus Metius had only scored his maiden 
success as an informer, the odious voice of Messalinus 
was not heard outside of the citadel of Alba, and Massa 
Baebius was himself among the accused. It was subse- 
quently that our senatorial hands were made the instru- 
ments whereby Helvidius was cast into prison, that our 
eyes endured the sight of Mauricus and Rusticus, and 
that upon us fell the stain of the innocent blood of 
Senecio. 

Nero was a tyrant, but he turned away his eyes ; 
Nero ordered atrocities, but he did not gloat over his 
victims. Under Domitian the chiefest of our tortures 
was to see and to be seen by him, as he registered our 
sighs and set his mark against every senator that turned 
pale before the stare of his malignant visage, whose purple 

hue rendered him unnaturally proof against shame. 

51 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

Happy was it for you, Agricola, that not only was 
your life so glorious, but that death came to you at the 
right hour. Those who were by to hear your last words 
declare that you met your fate bravely and cheerfully, as 
though doing all that a man could to ensure a verdict of 
not guilty for the emperor. Your daughter and I, alas, 
not only had to endure the terrible loss of a parent, but 
to suffer the additional pang of absence ; we were not 
present to sit by your sick bed, to sustain your dying 
form, and to receive your last long farewell look and 
embrace, nor could you have failed to give us some 
commands and loving words that would have been for 
ever graven on our hearts. That crowning sorrow of 
absence was ours ; the duty that called me away from 
Rome four years previously was the cause. True it is, 
O best of fathers, that your loving wife was by your side, 
and that all and more than all that was due to your 
honourable position was done. Yet some tears that 
should have been shed at your deathbed were not shed, 
and your dying eyes looked round at the last for some- 
thing and looked in vain. 

XLVI. If there be any habitation for the spirits of 
just men, if, as the philosophers aver, great souls perish 
not along with the bodily life, mayest thou rest in 
peace, and recall us, who were dear to thee, away from 
weak regi'ets and womanish tears back to the thought 
of thy virtues, which are no subject for sorrow or for 
sighing ! Not with the fleeting breath of praise would 
we do thee honour, but with life-long admiration, and the 

effort, if strength be given us, to emulate thee. Thus 

52 



THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS 

shall each man that is of thy kin do thee truest service 
and prove his piety. To thy widow and to thy daughter 
I would say this : Keep sacred the memory of the 
husband and the father by pondering all that he said or 
did, each of you in your heart ; and let the lineaments 
and the expression of his character rather than of his 
person be enshrined there. Not that I would say 
aught against the portraits that are fashioned of marble 
or of bronze ; but these material things are as much 
subject to the law of decay and death as the features 
they represent : the soul's image is imperishable, and 
that you may embody and express not in gross matter, 
by the craftsman's hand, but in the spiritual nature of 
your inmost self. All of Agricola that we loved, all 
that we admired, abides and will abide in the hearts of 
men, in the endless course of time, in the pages of fame. 
Many a hero of old has gone down into oblivion like the 
common herd : the story of Agricola has been trans- 
mitted to those who come after, and he shall live. 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

I. Germany taken as a whole is divided from Gaul, 
Rhaetia and Pamionia 1 by the Rhine and the Danube. 
Mountains divide it from Sarmatia and Dacia, 2 and 
mutual fear is also a barrier between the peoples. On 
the far side it is encircled by the ocean, which sweeps 
around broad promontories and islands 8 of unknown 
extent, where dwell kings and tribes, whose existence 
has only been recently revealed to us by war. Rising 
amid the untrodden fastnesses of the Rhaetic Alps, 
the Rhine flows with a slight westerly curve down 
to its outlet in the North Sea. The Danube, issuing 
from the gentle slopes of the Black Forest, visits many 
peoples in its course until it forces its way into the Black 
Sea through six mouths, whilst a seventh channel loses 
itself in the marshes. 

II. In my opinion the Germans are the original 
inhabitants of the country, and are almost entirely 
unalloyed by admixture with immigrant tribes from 
without. I ground this opinion upon the fact that an- 
cient migrations took place not by land but by sea, and 

1 i.e., From France and the south-western part of Austro- 
Hungary. 

2 Russia and Roumania. 

3 Scandinavia was supposed to be an archipelago of islands. 

54 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

that seldom indeed are those vast and, I may say, hostile 
seas that encompass them visited by a ship from our 
part of the world. And, moreover, apart from the perils 
of that terrible unknown ocean, no man would think 
of abandoning Asia or Africa or Italy and seeking a 
home in Germany, with its uninviting lands and ungenial 
climate, its dreary aspect and its social gloom, if it were 
not his native place. 

The sagas, which are the sole record of their past 
history, say that the God Tuisto 1 sprang from the earth, 
and that he and his son Mannus were the authors and 
founders of the race. To Mannus they ascribe three 
sons, whose names are borne respectively by the 
Ingaevones 2 next to the ocean, the Herminones in the 
middle of the countiy, and the Iscaevones in the rest of 
it. Others, with true mythological license, give the 
deity several more sons, from whom are derived more 
tribal names, such as Marsians, Gambrivians, Suabians, 
and Vandals ; and these names are both genuine and 
ancient. The name Germany, however, is new and of 
recent application, owing to the fact that the first of 
these peoples to cross the Rhine and dispossess the 
Gauls, a tribe now known as the Tungrians, then got 
the name of "Germans". Thus what was originally a 
name given to a tribe and not that of a race gradually 
came to be accepted, so that all men of the race were 

8 Or Tuisco, the deity that gives its name to Tuesday. 

2 " Grimm's identification of the Ingaevones with the Saxons, of 
the Iscaevones with the Franks, and of the Herminones with the 
Thuringians is convenient " (Stubbs, Const. Hist., i. 38). 

55 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

called Germans, by the victorious tribe first as a name 
of fear, and by themselves afterwards when the name 
had once been coined. 

III. Tradition goes so far as to say that Hercules 1 
visited their country, and they raise a hymn in his 
praise, as the pattern of all valiant men, as they 
approach the field of battle. They have also a kind 
of song which they chaunt to fire their courage (they 
call it " barding " 2 ), and from this chaunt they draw an 
augury of the issue of the coming fray. For they inspire 
terror in the foe, or become flurried themselves accord- 
ing to the sound that goes up from the host. It is not 
so much any articulate expression of words as a war- 
like chorus. The great aim is to produce a hoarse 
tempestuous roar, every man holding his shield before 
his mouth to increase the volume and the depth of tone 
by reverberation. 

Ulysses also, as some think, sailed into the northern 
ocean, in the course of his long mythical wanderings, and 
trod on German soil, and they maintain that Asburg on 
the Rhine, which is an inhabited place at the present day, 

1 Tacitus may have taken Thor for a northern Hercules, from 
the nature of his exploits, or he may have identified the Roman 
demi-god with Irmin, son of Wuotan. 

2 Possibly an interpolation, "bard" being a Celtic and not a 
Teutonic word, or it may be that Tacitus got this information 
through a Celtic channel. Orelli reads " baritum ". The 
" baritus " was a precisely similar war-cry raised, so Ammianus 
tells us, at a later date, by the Roman legionaries on going into 
battle. But in his time the legionaries were largely composed of 
Germans, and they may very well have introduced a practice of 
their own into the ranks of the Roman regulars. 

56 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

was both founded and named by him ; nay, more, they 
assert that an altar, consecrated to Ulysses, with the 
name of his father, Laertes, also on it, was once found 
on this very spot, and that certain monuments and tombs 
inscribed with Greek characters are still to be seen on 
the confines of Germany and Rhaetia. I have no in- 
tention of bringing forward evidence either in order to 
confirm these statements or to refute them ; every man 
must give or withhold his assent as he is inclined. 

IV. For myself I am disposed to side with those who 
hold that the German peoples have never intermarried 
with alien stocks, but have always stood forth as a race 
rooted in the soil, pure and unlike every other. This is 
why, extraordinarily numerous as the Germans are, they 
all possess precisely the same physical characteristics, 
fierce blue eyes, red hair, and large frames which are 
good only for a spurt ; they certainly have not a cor- 
responding power of endurance for hard work, while, 
although inured by the nature of their climate and 
soil to hunger and cold, they have never learnt to 
support heat and thirst. 

V. Their land, notwithstanding considerable local 
diversities, as a rule consists of tangled forests and 
dismal swamps, the rainfall being greater on the side 
towards Gaul, while the side facing Noricum and Pan- 
nonia is more exposed to winds. It is fairly fertile, 
though fruit trees do not flourish, and it is a good grazing 
country, but the cattle are usually stunted ; our fine 
powerful oxen with their spreading horns are positively 
unknown ; their pride is in large herds, which constitute 

57 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

their sole and most highly prized form of wealth. Silver 
and gold the gods have denied them, but whether in 
mercy or in anger I hesitate to say ; neither would I be 
understood to affirm that Germany possesses no veins 
of silver or gold, for nobody has ever looked for them. 
They make a difference in the value they set upon the 
precious metals for use and for commerce. One may 
see amongst them vessels of silver, that have been 
officially presented to their envoys and chiefs, put to 
the same common uses as pots of clay, although those 
tribes that are on our border highly appreciate gold 
and silver for the purposes of trade, and recognise and 
preferentially accept some varieties of our coins. The 
interior tribes still exchange by barter after the more 
primitive and ancient fashion. They like money that is 
old and familiar, in the form of pieces having deeply- 
indented rims, 1 and bearing the impression of a two- 
horse chariot. Silver, too, rather than gold attracts 
them, not that they are any fonder of it as a metal, but 
because the reckoning of silver coins is easier for men 
who deal in a variety of cheap articles. 

VI. Even iron is by no means abundant with them, 
as we may gather from the character of their weapons. 
Only a few have swords and heavy spears. They 
carry lances, " frameae " 2 as they call them, with the 
iron point narrow and short, but so sharp and so easy 

1 Notches were filed in the rim of the coin after it was struck to 
show that it was not a mere disk of copper coated with silver. 
Sir John Evans. 

2 The old German word is "pfriemen". 

58 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

to handle that they employ them either for stabbing 1 or 
for throwing as occasion demands. A lance and a shield 
are arms enough for a horseman ; the footmen have 
also darts to hurl : each man carries several, and, being 
naked or only lightly clad with a little cloak, they can 
hurl them to an immense distance. They make no 
display of ornament, only they are very careful in the 
colours they use for the devices on their shields. Few 
possess such a thing as a breastplate, and only a man 
or two here and there a helmet or headpiece. 

Their horses are not remarkable for beauty or speed, 
neither are they trained to complex evolutions like 
ours ; the riders charge straight forward, or wheel in a 
single turn to the right, the formation of the troop 
being such that there is no rear rank. Generally 
speaking, the footmen are the most numerous, and the 
fighting line therefore is composed of both arms com- 
bined, all the fastest runners among the young men 
being chosen for the van, and by their great speed of 
foot being admirably suited for a cavalry engagement. 2 
Their number, moreover, is exactly fixed ; there are one 
hundred of them from every village ; these chosen youths 
are always known as "The Hundred" among their own 
folk ; and thus what was originally a mere number, has 
grown to be an actual title of honour. 

Their line of battle is drawn up in wedge-shaped 

1 Like the " stabbing assegai " of the Zulus. 

2 " At Waterloo the Scots Greys charged with a gznd High- 
lander hanging on to each stirrup." Lord Roberts' speech at the 
St. Andrews-day dinner, 3oth November, 1893. 

59 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

columns ; to fall back, however, provided only a man 
comes on again, is held to be good tactics, not cowardice. 
Even in a defeat they carry off the bodies of their 
comrades. Throwing away the shield is the crowning 
disgrace, and a man who has so dishonoured himself 
may neither take part in the rites of religion nor enter 
the general assembly ; many such survivors from the 
battlefield have been known to end their shame by 
hanging themselves. 

VII. They choose their kings for their noble birth, 
their generals for their prowess : the king's power is 
neither unlimited nor arbitraiy, and the generals owe 
their authority less to their military rank than to their 
example and the admiration they excite by it, if they 
are dashing, if they are conspicuous, if they charge 
ahead of the line. But they may not execute, they may 
not bind, they may not even strike a delinquent ; those 
are the privileges solely of the priests, and they do such 
things not as a form of military punishment nor at the 
generals' bidding, but as if such were the express com- 
mands of the deity whom they believe to be present on 
the field ; and they carry with them into battle certain 
images and statues brought out of the sacred groves. 

But the sharpest spur to their valour is that each 
separate squadron or column is not a mere casual aggre- 
gation of chance-comers, but is composed of men of one 
family and one kin ; and their households go with them 
to the field, and the shrieks of their women and the 
wailings of their children ring in their ears. Each 

man feels bound to play the hero before such witnesses 

60 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

and to earn their most coveted praise. To his mother and 
to his wife he brings his wounds ; and they do not shrink 
from counting them, nor from searching them, while they 
carry food to the fighters and give them encouragement 

VIII. Their traditions tell that more than once, when 
a German line was wavering on the point of giving 
way, the women rallied it, urgently entreating the 
men to fight on, baring their breasts and crying out 
that their captivity was at hand. Captivity for their 
women is a thing the men abhor far more than for 
themselves ; so that, as a matter of fact, we always obtain 
the firmest hold over those states which are compelled 
to include amongst the hostages they send us some 
maidens of noble birth. Nay, the Germans even ascribe 
to women a certain inspiration and power of prophecy ; 
they do not either despise the advice they give or 
neglect their forecasts. Most of their tribes long gave 
divine honours to Veleda, whom we saw as a prisoner 
here in the days of the Emperor Vespasian, of blessed 
memory ; but there was also an Aurinia * in earlier 
times, and many others likewise, whom they venerated 
sincerely enough, though not with any idea of making 
goddesses of them. 

IX. Mercury 2 is their principal divinity, and upon 

1 Others read " Albruna" ; but perhaps it should be "aliruna," 
an old word for prophetess. 

2 The identification of the Teutonic deities in their Latin garb 
is not easy. Grimm says : " The net result is that in Latin 
records dealing with Germany and her gods we are warranted in 
interpreting Mercurius as Wuotan, Jupiter as Donar, and Mars as 
Ziu" (Teutonic Mythology, p. 130; Stallybrass' translation). 

61 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

certain days their religion requires that in their sacrifices 
to him they should include human victims. Hercules 
and Mars are appeased with offerings of the lower 
animals, and some of the Suabians also offer sacrifice 
to Isis. 1 From what sources this foreign cult took its 
rise I have failed to discover, further than that the 
actual emblem of the goddess being made in the form of 
a Liburnian galley points to the worship having been 
imported from without. 

For the rest, the thought of confining their gods 
within walls, or of making any human face the model 
after which to represent the divine image, seems to 
them out of keeping with the dignity of celestial beings. 
They consecrate woods and groves to them, and 
under the names of the various deities they invoke that 
invisible presence which is apprehended only by the 
reverent mind. 

X. To omens and the drawing of lots they pay the 
very greatest attention. Their method of divining by 
the lot is simple. They lop a branch from a fruit tree 
and cut off the twigs : they mark these differently in 
order to distinguish them apart, and they then cast 
them loosely, at haphazard, on a white robe. Then the 
priest of the community, if it is going to be a public 
divination, or if a private one, the head of the household, 
offers a prayer to the gods, and turning up his eyes to 
heaven he draws three twigs, one at a time, and he in- 
terprets those which he has drawn according to the 

1 It is very hard to say who " Isis " can be. Holda and Berctha 
are possible suggestions. 

62 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

marks previously set upon them. If the interpretation 
proves to be unfavourable, no further divination on the 
same question takes place that day. If it is favourable, 
the auspices have still to be consulted. We, too, are 
familiar with the practice of drawing auguries from the 
flight and the cries of birds. Peculiar to the German 
race is the importance attached to certain forecasts and 
warnings afforded by horses as well. Horses are kept at 
the public charges in the sacred woods and groves ; they 
are white in colour and are never desecrated by any toil 
in the service of man ; they are harnessed to a sacred 
car, and the priest and the king or the chief of the state 
walk beside them and note with the utmost care their 
neighings and snortings. In no other omen have they 
firmer faith, and this holds good not only among the 
common people but also among the chiefs and priests : 
for these latter, while considering themselves to be the 
ministers of the gods, think that the sacred steeds are 
their mouthpieces. 

They have also another method of consulting the 
omens, which is used to ascertain beforehand the issue 
of wars of grave importance. A man of the nation with 
which they are at war is captured by some means or 
other, and is put to fight with a champion of their own 
nation, armed each with his national weapons ; the 
victory of the one or the other is thought to foretell 
the event of the war. 

XL Upon minor matters the chiefs deliberate ; upon 
greater matters the general assembly, with the reserva- 
tion that, in the latter case, where the popular vote 

63 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

settles the question, these matters, too, must be 
thoroughly debated at a meeting of the chiefs. The 
general assembly is held regularly on fixed days (except 
in the instance of a sudden emergency arising) either 
at new or at full moon, for they hold these times to be 
the most auspicious date for entering upon their discus- 
sions. They reckon time by nights instead of by days as 
we do, and all their engagements and arrangements are 
made on this system ; the day is counted in with the 
previous night. 

Their perfect independence of one another involves 
this drawback, that they never reach their trysting-place 
together nor obey the conditions of their summons, but 
two or three days are always wasted by the unpunctuality 
of the late comers. When the general opinion is that the 
time has come to begin, they all take their seats, arms 
in hand. Silence is commanded by the priests, on 
whom now devolves the task of maintaining order. Then 
the king or a chief, according to the speaker's age or 
rank or fame or eloquence, is heard by the assembly ; 
but he is listened to rather as a man whose influential 
character carries weight than as one who has the power 
to command. If the proposal finds no favour, its rejec- 
tion is signified by groaning ; if it is accepted, the war- 
riors clash their spears. Approval expressed by the 
clashing of arms is the form of assent held in the 
highest honour. 

XII. Before the general assembly, likewise, criminals 
may be charged and may be tried for their lives. The 

penalties vary with the crime. Traitors and renegades 

64 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

are hung on a tree ; cowards and recreants and infamous 
wretches are pressed under a hurdle into the slime of a 
morass and suffocated. This difference in the methods of 
execution is not meaningless, the idea being that crimes 
should be made a public example of, but that abomi- 
nations should be buried out of sight. Minor offences 
are punished proportionately, the offender on conviction 
being fined in a number of horses or cattle ; part of the 
fine goes to the king or to the State, part to the man 
whose wrongs are being righted, or to his family. 

It is also in these assemblies that chiefs are chosen to 
administer justice throughout the districts and villages. 
Each chief so chosen has the assistance of a hundred of 
the commonalty, who are associated with him * in order 
to advise him and enforce his decisions. 

XIII. All business, public and private, is transacted 
arms in hand ; custom, however, forbids any one to carry 
arms before the community has approved his claim to 
do so. When the time comes the young man is formally 
presented with a shield and a lance in the presence 
of the assembly either by some one of the chiefs, or by 
his own father, or his relatives. This with them is equi- 
valent to the taking of the toga with us : it is the young 
man's first admission to public life ; before this he is a part 

1 Dr. Latham considers this to be the origin of the Hundred as 
a territorial division. These attendants comites, chosen from 
the common people, for local purposes, in time of peace, whose 
number is exactly fixed at a hundred, seem to be different from 
the other comites, mentioned in the next chapter, of noble birth 
in many cases and of varying number, who formed a chief's body- 
guard and fought around him in war. 

65 (5) 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

of the household, henceforward he is a member of the 
State. Illustrious birth or great services rendered by the 
family may confer the rank of chief even upon mere 
youths ; such youths associate themselves with the others 
whose strength is more matured and whose quality has 
been already put to the proof ; nor is it considered to be 
any sort of derogation for them to be seen in a chief's 
body-guard. 1 In fact, among the henchmen or retainers 
composing the body-guards there are varying degrees of 
rank conferred by the chief whom they follow, and 
there is an eager rivalry between the retainers for the 
post of honour next their chief, as well as between the 
different chiefs for the honour of having the most 
numerous and the most valiant body-guard. Here lie 
dignity and strength. To be perpetually surrounded by 
a large train of picked young warriors is a distinction in 
peace and a protection in war. Nor is it merely in his 
own nation alone that each chieftain enjoys his reputa- 
tion and his fame if he stands forth pre-eminent by the 
number and the valour of his retinue, but they are spread 
abroad among the neighbouring states as well ; em- 

1 Dr. Latham says " comitatus comites. The German of this 
translation was probably some older form of the Anglo-Saxon 
gesiS, plural, ge-si-Sas = retainers." 

Mr. Thomas Hodgkin, in his work Thcodoric the Goth, prefers 
to translate comes by henchman. 

The title count is actually derived from comes (or rather 
from the ace. comitem), and comes became in later times the term 
for a member of a knightly order. Some historians have seen 
in the personal devotion of the comites to their princeps a fore- 
shadowing of the relation of vassal and lord, but Dr. Stubbs, 
following Waitz, entirely discards this theory (Const. Hist., i. 251). 

66 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

hassles come specially to court the alliance of such men, 
and compliment them with gifts, and their mere re- 
putation is enough in many cases virtually to decide 
a war. 

XIV. Upon the field of battle the chief is bound in 
honour not to let himself be surpassed in valour, and his 
retainers are equally bound to rival the valour of their 
chief. Furthermore, for one of the retainers to come 
back alive from the field where his chief has fallen is 
from that day forward an infamy and a reproach during 
all the rest of his life. To defend him, to guard him, 
nay, to give to him the glory of their own feats of valour, 
is the perfection of their loyalty. The chiefs fight for 
victory ; the body-guard for their chief. 

If a State lies long rusting in peace and inactivity, 
off go most of the noble youths belonging to it, of their 
own accord, to join other nations where a war of some 
sort is going on ; because peace is repulsive to the 
race, and the path to glory lies through danger, and 
also because a numerous band of retainers can only be 
maintained by war and rapine. For they claim from 
the liberality of their chief the coveted war-horse and 
the blood-stained spear of victory that they desire. As 
a substitute for pay they have repasts and banquets, 
coarse it may be, but abundant. Forays and plunder- 
ings supply the means of keeping a free table. These 
men can be far less easily prevailed upon to plough the 
soil and wait for the ingathering than to challenge the 
enemy and take wounds as their reward. In truth, they 
regard it as a dull and stupid thing to painfully accu- 

67 



THE GRRMANIA OF TACITUS 

mulate by the sweat of the brow what might be won by 
a little blood. 

XV. In the intervals of wars they spend much of 
their time in hunting and still more in doing nothing, 
without any sort of object except sleeping and eating, 
all the boldest and most warlike men having no employ- 
ment whatsoever, while the care of the house and its 
belongings and the cultivation of the fields are aban- 
doned to the women and old men and to the weaklings 
of the family. The warriors lie torpid. Amazing in- 
consistency ! The same men love sloth and hate peace. 

It is customary for the chiefs to receive a share of the 
herds and of the crops, given voluntarily and individually 
by the members of the community. They accept this 
as an honour, and their needs are also supplied thereby. 
They take especial pleasure in gifts from neighbouring 
tribes, which come not only from individuals, but from 
the general body as well, and take the form of choice 
steeds, massive arms, pendants, and necklets. They 
have, moreover, learnt from us by this time to accept 
money. 

XVI. The fact is well known that the peoples of 
Germany do not dwell in cities, and will not even suffer 
their settlements to adjoin each other. They plant 
themselves separately and independently at some 
favourite spring or plain or grove. They do not lay 
out their villages like ours, where the houses join and 
are massed together, but every man makes his abode 
with a clear space round it, possibly as a precaution 

against fires, or perhaps from pure ignorance of the art 

68 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

of building. They never use quarry stone, or tiles, but 
employ rough timber for everything, with an entire 
disregard of beauty and elegance. They do, however, 
plaster parts of their houses with some care, using an 
earth so pure and bright that the effect resembles 
coloured designs done with paint. They likewise make 
a practice of digging cellars, which they cover with a 
heap of manure, as winter refuges and as storehouses 
for their crops, for two reasons : firstly, the frost does 
not penetrate into such places, and secondly, if any 
enemy happens to invade the country, he plunders 
everything above ground, but these hidden and buried 
stores escape, because he either does not know of their 
existence or has no time to hunt for them. 

XVII. Their invariable dress is a cloak fastened with 
a brooch, or, failing that, a thorn. With nothing on ex- 
cept this they pass whole days indoors around the hearth 
where the fire is burning. It is a sign of great wealth 
to wear underclothing, which in Germany is not loose 
and flowing like that of the Sclavonians and Parthians, 
but fits close and follows the shape of the limbs. They 
also wear furs ; but those nearest our frontier are be- 
ginning to leave them off, while those in the farther part 
of the country, not getting any clothing through the 
channels of trade, set great store by them. Some sorts 
of animals are held in greater esteem than others, and 
the furs obtained from them are dotted over with 
snippets from the pelts of strange beasts which are 
found in the outside ocean and the unknown sea. 

The women dress like the men, only they frequently 
69 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

wear a vesture woven from flax, with a purple pattern 
on it ; there are no sleeves to the upper part of this 
garment, the whole arm being left bare, and the upper 
part of the breast is likewise uncovered. 

XVIII. For all that, the marriage bond is strict, and 
110 feature in their mode of life is more creditable to them 
than this. Unlike the great majority of barbarians, they 
are content with one wife : very few of them have more 
than one, and these few exceptions are not due to wan- 
tonness ; they are cases of men of high rank, to whom 
several matrimonial alliances have been offered from 
motives of policy. The wife does not bring a dowry to 
her husband ; on the contrary, he offers one to her. This 
part of the affair is arranged by her parents and kinsmen, 
and they pass judgment on the wedding gifts, which are 
no toys collected to suit feminine frivolities or adorn a 
bride ; instead of that, they consist of oxen, and a 
bridled horse, and shield and spear and sword. These 
are the presents that await her as a wife, and her own 
wedding present to her husband in return is a gift of 
arms. This is the strongest bond of union this the 
mystery of marriage ; these are their gods of wedded life. 
Lest the woman should think that masculine courage 
and the perils of war lie beyond her sphere, these tokens 
remind her upon the threshold of marriage that she 
comes as the man's partner in toils and dangers ; and 
that in peace and in war she must expect to suffer and 
to dare the same. This is the signification of the oxen 
in the yoke, of the harnessed horse, of the offering of 

arms. Thus is she bound to live and thus to die. She 

70 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

receives what she is to hand on to her sons, inviolate 
and unprofaned ; what her sons' wives are to receive 
after her, and they, in their turn, to hand on to her 
children's children. 

XIX. So they guard the chastity of their lives, with 
no shows to entice them nor orgies to excite their evil 
passions. To men and women alike such a thing as 
secret correspondence is unknown. Amongst all this 
immense population adultery is extremely rare : its 
penalty is instant, and is left to the husband ; he cuts 
off the hair of the unfaithful wife, strips her, turns 
her out of his house in the presence of the kinsmen, 
and scourges her through the whole village. For 
there is no pardon for the fallen woman ; not by her 
beauty, not by her youth, not by her wealth, will she 
succeed in finding a husband. For no one there makes 
a jest of vice, or says that seducing and being seduced 
is the style of the period. 

Better still, to be sure, is the practice of those states in 
which none but maidens marry, and a woman becomes 
a wife with a wife's hopes and wishes once and 
once only. Thus it becomes as much a matter of 
course for her to have only one husband as to have 
only one body or one life, to the end that she may not 
look beyond him nor let her desires stray further, and 
that she may not so much cherish her husband as her 
status as a wife. To limit the number of the family or 
to put to death any of the later-born infants is held to 
be an abomination, and with the Germans good customs 
have more authority than good laws elsewhere. 

71 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

XX. In every household the naked, dirty children 
develop the mighty limbs and frames that we see with so 
much admiration. Every mother suckles her own babes, 
and does not give them over into the charge of handmaids 
and nurses. No one could distinguish the young master 
from the slave by any luxury in his bringing up. Out 
among the cattle, at home on the earthen floor, they 
live just alike until approaching manhood separates 
them, and the free-born youth proves his breeding by 
his valour. 

The youths do not early indulge the passion of love, 
and hence come to manhood unexhausted. Nor are the 
maidens hurried into marriage : in their case the same 
maturity and the same full growth is required ; they 
enter upon marriage equally strong and vigorous, and 
the children inherit the robust frames of their parents. 

A sister's children are considered to be related to her 
brothers as nearly as to their own father. Some tribes 
even esteem the former tie to be the closer and more 
sacred of the two, and they tend to require it in exact- 
ing hostages, as appealing more strongly to the feelings 
and giving a wider hold upon the family. Nevertheless, 
a man's own children are his heirs and successors, and 
there is no power of bequest. If he has no children the 
next in succession to the inheritance are his brothers, and 
his uncles both on the father's and the mother's side. 
The more relations and connections a man has, the 
more attention he commands in his old age ; there are 
no fortune-hunters there to pay court to him if he is 

childless. 

72 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

XXI. Along with the inheritance the heirs incur the 
obligation of taking up the family feuds as well as the 
family friendships. But the feuds are not irreconcilable 
or perpetual ; even homicide may be atoned for by the 
payment of a fixed number of cattle and sheep, and this 
compensation is divided amongst all the kin of the 
slain man ; the plan is greatly to the public advantage, 
for feuds where men have so much freedom are 
exceedingly dangerous. 

No people in the world are more prodigal of hospi- 
tality, whether to friends or to strangers. They account 
it a sin to refuse the shelter of their roof to any 
human being. Every host provides the best entertain- 
ment that he can afford for his guest. When supplies 
fail, he becomes the guide, and finds elsewhere a 
welcome for his guest. They enter, uninvited, the next 
house ; no difference is made between them ; both are 
received with equal courtesy ; no one draws any distinc- 
tion between friend and stranger as far as the rights of 
hospitality are concerned. On departing it is customary 
to present the guest with anything he may ask for, and 
there is the same absence of embarrassment in asking a 
boon in return. They like gifts, but the giver does not 
consider them as scored to his credit, or the receiver feel 
that he is being laid under an obligation. The relation 
of host and guest is one of courtesy. 

XXII. They usually sleep until some time after sun- 
rise, and immediately upon rising they bathe, in warm 
water as a rule, the weather there being wintry during 

the greater part of the year. After bathing they break- 

73 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

fast, each having his own separate seat and table. Then, 
taking their arms, they proceed to business, or, quite as 
often, to a drinking bout. There is no shame attached 
to drinking steadily all day and night long ; naturally 
among drunken men quarrels frequently spring up, and 
these seldom stop at angry words, but in the majority 
of cases end in wounds and bloodshed. Nevertheless, 
it is generally at drinking bouts that they discuss the 
making up of feuds, the contracting of marriages, the 
admissions to the order of chiefs, and indeed the all- 
important question of peace or war ; as though under no 
other circumstances were men more likely to be single- 
hearted or more easy to warm to great resolves. Not 
being a crafty or a cunning race they furthermore dis- 
close their secret thoughts in the freedom of the feast, 
and so the minds of all lie open and discovered. On 
the morrow the matter is debated again, and the double 
process justifies itself. They discuss when disguise is 
impossible, 1 they decide when too sober to blunder. 

XXIII. Their drink is a liquor made from barley or 
wheat, fermented so as somewhat to resemble wine. 
The frontier tribes do indeed buy wine. Their food is 
simple : wild fruits, fresh game, or curdled milk ; they 
appease their hunger without luxurious accessories to 
tickle their senses. In quenching their thirst they 

1 Tacitus here adopts a highly rationalising explanation of an 
ancient practice common to both the Persians and the Germans. 
The line between intoxication and inspiration was not visible to 
them : drink was regarded as divine, and they discussed great 
questions under its influence in order to get the advantage of the 
assistance afforded by the god. 

74 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

are by no means so temperate ; let them but be given 
all the intoxicating liquor they choose to drink, and vice 
will make an easier conquest of them than the sword. 

XXIV. They have but one form of public spectacle, 
and that is repeated without variation at every gathering. 
Naked young warriors, for whom the thing is a game, 
leap and bound about amidst bare swords and bristling 
spears. Practice makes them skilful at this exercise, and 
skill makes them graceful ; but it is not done profession- 
ally or for pay. Their most daring flings find their sole 
recompense in the delight of the spectators. 

An amazing thing to us is that they practise gambling 
as the serious occupation of their sober hours ; and they 
hazard to win or lose so recklessly that, when all he 
has is gone, a player will stake his personal liberty 
on a last and decisive throw. If he loses he goes into 
voluntary slavery ; and, although he may be the younger 
and the stronger man, he suffers himself to be bound 
and to be sold. They exhibit herein a most perverse 
obstinacy, and call it paying a debt of honour. Suc- 
cessful gamblers get rid of the slaves held under this 
title by selling them to the merchants in order to 
escape their share of the shame. 

XXV. Their other slaves they do not employ as we 
do by telling them off to special duties. Each has his 
tenement, and possesses an independent home of his 
own. His master exacts from him, as if he were a 
metayer, 1 a certain amount of wheat or of live stock or 
of cloth, and to this extent the slave has to obey 

1 i.e., A peasant farmer who pays his rent in kind. 
75 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

his orders ; but the master's own wife and children do 
the actual work of the house. To flog a slave or to put 
him in chains and set him to penal labour is a rare 
thing ; to kill one outright is common enough, but it is 
done not as a strict enforcement of discipline, but in 
a burst of passion, as if he were a personal enemy, with 
the difference that there is no fine to pay for it. A 
man's freedmen are not much above his slaves in posi- 
tion. They rarely have any weight in the house- 
hold, and never in the community, save and except 
among those peoples that are ruled by kings ; for there 
they rise not only above the freeborn but above the 
nobles. In all the other German states the inferior 
status of the class of freedmen is a proof that these 
states enjoy freedom. 

XXVI. The exacting of interest simple or compound 
is quite unknown, and is therefore more guarded from 
abuse than if it had been forbidden. 

The lands, 1 allotted in proportion to the number of 
cultivators, are entered upon by the communities in 

1 The meaning of the passage has been much disputed, 
as well as the different readings. A good light seems to be 
thrown upon it by the parallel passage in Cassar, De Bell. Gall., 
VI. xxii., which runs as follows : " They (the Germans) are not 
fond of agriculture, and the principal portion of their diet consists 
of milk, cheese, and flesh ; nor have any among them a fixed 
quantity of territory or private property in land, but the magis- 
trates and the chiefs assign for the term of one year to the tribes 
and clanships forming communities (gentibus cognationibusque 
hominum qui una coierint) as much land as they think good, and 
in such place as they think good, and compel them to remove to 
another place the next year ". 

76 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

rotation, and these lands they thereupon distribute 
amongst themselves according to their estimate of 
individual claims. The great amount of open land 
at their disposal makes this task of distribution easy. 
The part ploughed they change annually, and there 
is ground over and to spare. For they take no ad- 
vantage of the extent and the fertility of their soil by 
corresponding industry in planting orchards, and fencing 
off meadows, and irrigating gardens ; corn is the only 
return they insist upon from the earth. Hence, too, 
they do not, like us, divide the year into four seasons : 
they recognise and have names for only three, winter, 
spring, and summer ; they are ignorant alike of the 
name and of the blessings of autumn. 

XXVII. They have no ostentation in their funerals. 
The only special observance is the custom of burning 
the bodies of famous men with particular kinds of wood. 
They do not heap robes and rich spices on the funeral 
pile ; but a man's arms are burnt along with him, and 
sometimes his horse is burnt also. A barrow of earth 
is raised as a sepulchre ; they will not hear of huge 
monuments laboriously piled up in their honour, con- 
sidering them as but a load upon the dead. Weeping 
and wailing soon cease, but their sorrow and sadness 
they are slow to put by : women may mourn, men should 
remember. 

Such is the information I have been able to collect 
concerning the origin and the customs of the Germans 
in general. I now propose to deal with the social and 
religious institutions of the separate tribes, explaining 

77 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

their differences, and noting what peoples transplanted 
themselves from Germany into Gaul. 

XXVIII. A great authority, Julius Caesar, of blessed 
memory, informs us that at an earlier period the Gauls 
had been far more powerful than in his time, and it is 
therefore quite credible that there were also migrations 
of Gauls into Germany. A river would offer but a 
trifling obstacle to prevent each tribe, as soon as it 
found itself strong enough, from moving into and 
seizing upon such territories as still lay open to the 
first comer and had not been already appropriated by 
aggressive kingdoms. Thus the Swiss established them- 
selves between the Hartz Forest and the rivers Rhine 
and Main, and the Boii in the district beyond, both tribes 
being of Gallic origin. The name Boihemum (Bohemia) 
still survives as a landmark, recalling the past history of 
the district, although another folk now inhabit it. 

Again, the Aravisci of Pannonia and the Osi, a nation 
of Germans, 1 are still identical in language, in institu- 
tions, and in customs. But in their case there is a 
doubt as to which of the two has been the parent stock 
and which has migrated, seeing that in early days, both 
being equally poor and equally free, one side of the 
Danube was as likely to attract them as the other. 

The people of Treves and of the Sambre, in Gaul, are 
even ambitious to establish their German ancestry, by 
way of showing that their noble lineage should save 

1 Yet in chapter xliii. Tacitus classes them as non-Germanic, 
thereby proving that he sometimes uses the word Germani in a 
geographical and not an ethnological sense. 

78 



THE GERM AN I A OF TACITUS 

them from being confounded with the spiritless Gauls 
whom they resemble. 

The actual bank of the Rhine is held by undoubted 
Germans, the people of Worms, Strasburg, and Spiers. 
Even the citizens of Cologne, who have won the honour 
of being made a Roman colony and prefer the name of 
Agrippinenses, after the colony's founder, the Empress 
Agrippina, are noways ashamed of their origin. They 
came over to our side of the Rhine many years ago, 
and were posted by us directly on its bank ; they had 
given proof of their loyalty, and they were to be our 
guards, not we theirs. 

XXIX. The Batavians are the bravest race of all the 
Rhine country. They occupy an island in the river, 
and a small strip along its banks. Once they were a 
branch of the Chatti, 1 but in consequence of a domestic 
quarrel they removed to their present position to become 
a part of the Roman empire. They enjoy that honour 
still, and likewise a special privilege that marks their 
old alliance with us. No tribute brands them as in- 
feriors ; no tax-farmer spoils their substance ; excused 
from all tax or contribution, they form a reserve of brave 
men, to be employed only on the field of battle, like a 
magazine of arms kept in store for use in war. The 
Mattiaci 2 also stand on the same dependent footing 
with regard to us. Extending away across the Rhine 
and beyond the old boundaries of the empire the 
greatness of the Roman people made itself felt and 
revered. Thus, in their homes in their country on their 
1 Hessians. 2 A tribe of what is now Nassau. 

79 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

own side of the Rhine, they are with us heart and soul as 
truly as the emigrant Batavians, whom they otherwise 
resemble, save indeed that they are of an even more 
enterprising courage, the natural effect of their sterner 
clime and country. 

I cannot class among Germanic peoples the present 
occupants of the Tithe-lands, 1 though they have estab- 
lished themselves on the German side of the Rhine and 
of the Danube. That territory used to be a debatable 
land, and all the greatest rovers and the needy adven- 
turers among the Gauls seized upon it ; subsequently, 
our boundary was advanced and our forts were pushed 
forward ; 2 they are now an outlying corner of the empire 
and a part of a Roman province. 

XXX. Beyond the Tithe-lands at the Great Her- 
cynian 8 forest, the country of the Chatti 4 begins ; theirs 
is not a flat marshy country like the rest of the states 
that stretch across the German plain ; for the forest 
hills extend far before they gradually die away ; the 
Chatti are the children of the Hercynian forest, and 



1 Part of Baden and Wurtemburg. 

* Evidently under Domitian, says Mommsen, which is the 
reason why Tacitus, who hated him, abstained from mentioning 
the name of the emperor who made the annexation. 

3 The Hercynian forest spread over the whole mountainous 
region of South Germany, from what is now the Black Forest to 
the Carpathians. 

4 The name Chatti, or Catti, may have signified " Whelps," or 
possibly " Cats ". Grimm also suggests that it may be connected 
with "hat," and refer to a head-dress that the Chatti wore 
(Gcschichte der Deutschen Sprache, pp. 567, 577). 

80 



with it they extend and with it they end. They are 
distinguished beyond their fellows by their singularly 
hardy frames, well-knit limbs, resolute eyes, and by a 
remarkable energy of spirit. For Germans, they have 
an unusual amount of method and skill : they choose 
leaders and obey them when chosen ; they keep their 
ranks, discern the requirement of the moment, and can 
postpone an attack ; they throw out pickets by day, and 
entrench their camps at night ; they trust less to fortune, 
which is fickle, than to their own courage, which is proof ; 
and, rarest of all, a thing characteristic only of a dis- 
cipline like the Roman, they rely more on their general 
than on their army. 

Their whole strength is in foot-soldiers, who, besides 
carrying their arms, are loaded with tools and supplies ; 
other Germans come out for a single battle, the Chatti 
for a campaign ; they seldom make mere raids or allow 
themselves to be drawn into a casual encounter : it is 
cavalry, to be sure, from which one expects a quick 
success or a quick retreat ; speed goes with timidity, 
slowness is more allied to steadiness. 

XXXI. There is one custom which is universal 
amongst the Chatti, but is only occasionally found else- 
where in Germany, and then simply as an exhibition of 
individual daring. Every youth on reaching manhood 
allows his hair and beard to grow, and vows that in this 
guise he will boldly court danger until he shall have 
slain an enemy. Then, in triumph, bestriding the 
bloody corpse, he bares his face, and proclaims that 
now at last he has justified his existence and proved 

81 (6) 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

himself worthy of his parents and of his country. The 
laggard and the dastard remain to the end unkempt. 

Their boldest champions moreover pledge themselves 
to wear an iron ring like a shackle, an intolerable in- 
dignity for a German, till they win their release by 
the slaughter of a foe. With most of the Chatti this 
fashion finds favour ; ay, and they grow grey with this 
badge, conspicuous alike to friend and foe. In every 
battle these shackle-wearers have the honour of leading 
the way. Their line is always in front, a truly startling 
sight ; for their ferocious features scarcely relax even in 
times of peace. These men have no home, no land, no 
occupation ; wherever they present themselves they find 
entertainment, squanderers of other men's goods and 
heedless of their own, until enfeebling age unfits them 
for this career of desperate valour. 

XXXII. Next to the Chatti dwell the Usipii 1 and 
Tencteri along the Rhine, which by this time flows in a 
well-defined channel, and is now sufficiently large to be 
a boundary. The Tencteri enjoy the usual high reputa- 
tion of Germans as warriors, and in particular are dis- 
tinguished for the excellence of their cavalry, whose 
reputation is equal to that of the infantry of the Chatti. 
In this they do but follow the example set them by 
their forefathers. Horsemanship among them is the 
amusement of childhood and the passion of youth, 
while even the old persist in keeping it up. Horses 

1 For the adventures of a cohort of Usipii, who deserted in 
Scotland and were reduced to cannibalism in trying to find their 
way home, see cap. xxviii. of the Agricola. 

82 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

pass by inheritance as well as slaves and household 
goods and other property to which there are legal 
rights of succession ; but primogeniture gives no pre- 
ferential claim to them as it does to the rest ; the son 
who gets the horses gets them as being a bold warrior 
and the better man. 

XXXIII. Next to the Tencteri in former days used to 
dwell the Bructeri ; but now I am told that the Chamavi 
and Agrivarii 1 have moved in there, the Bructeri having 
been defeated and utterly exterminated 2 by a coalition 
of the neighbouring nations ; their destroyers may have 
been impelled to the act either by some resentment at 
their overbearingness, or by mere lust of plunder, or by 
some special favour extended towards us on the part of 
the gods, who deigned even to grant us the entertain- 
ment of witnessing the show. Our eyes were feasted with 
the glorious spectacle of over sixty thousand men being 
slaughtered without one single Roman sword having to 
leave its scabbard. So may it continue is my earnest 
prayer, yea, may it endure for ever among the nations, 
that if they do not love us they may at least hate each 
other ; for now, when Rome is staggering to her doom, 
fortune can bestow on us no greater blessing than 
discord amongst our enemies. 

XXXIV. The Agrivarii and Chamavi are bounded in 
the rear by the Dulgibini and Chasuarii and other tribes of 
whom we do not hear so much ; in their front they have 
the Frisians, who are distinguished, according to the 

1 Saxon tribes from the Ems and Weser. 
- Not utterly: they survived, and even grew to power again. 
83 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

relative strength of their divisions, into the Greater 
Frisians and the Lesser. Both divisions live beside 
the Rhine bank down to the ocean, and also around 
the margin of those vast lagoons along the coast on 
which Roman ships have sailed. Nay, our vessels have 
ventured far even on the Ocean of the North, and 
rumour brings a tale of Pillars of Hercules l that stand 
there unto this day ; whether it be true that Hercules 
ever visited the spot, or that we by common consent 
attach his great name to imposing objects everywhere. 
There was no lack of. daring in Drusus Germanicus, 
but Ocean barred his way ; 3 the secrets of Ocean and 
of Hercules were not to be pried into. After him no 
one made the attempt ; and it has been deemed more 
pious and reverent to believe than to know, when the 
doings of the gods are in question. 

XXXV. Thus far we have learned to know Germany 
westward. It now makes a great sweep round on 

1 The Straits of Gibraltar were known as the " Pillars of Her- 
cules "from time immemorial. Perhaps the narrow channels be- 
ween Denmark and Scandinavia are here compared to the entrance 
to the Mediterranean. Or it may be that, taking Hercules to be 
" Thor," this refers to the " Pillars of Thor " at Upsala ; or again, 
taking him to be " Irmin," it may even refer to the " Irminsul," 
though that stood far inland. 

2 This in all probability refers to the second campaign of Ger- 
manicus in A.D. 16, culminating in the victory of Idistaviso, when 
he set up a trophy and formally announced the conquest of all the 
country between the Rhine and the Elbe. But on his return the 
fleet of a thousand sail, in which he had reached the mouth of the 
Ems, was scattered by a tempest, and he himself was cast away 
alone on the desolate shore of the Chauci. See Mommsen, Pro- 
vinces, i. 54, and Bury, Hist. Rom. Emp. (early period), 173, 174. 

84 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

the north ; and here at once we come on the tribe 
of the Chauci. They adjoin the Frisians, and 
possess a frontage to the sea ; but from thence their 
territory stretches all along the flank of the nations 
I have enumerated until it finally curves into that of 
the Chatti. Large as it is, the Chauci not only hold 
this immense district, but fill it. The noblest of the 
Germans, they desire to preserve their high place 
by righteous dealing. Neither greedy nor violent, they 
live quietly by themselves, provoking no wars and 
making no raids and forays in quest of plunder. Of 
their strength and valour there can be no better proof 
than the fact that they do not resort to wrong in order 
to maintain their superiority. But every man of them 
has his arms ready, and, if occasion demands, they can 
put an army in the field and march with very many 
men and very many horses. Thus they succeed in 
combining peace with honour. 

XXXVI. The Cherusci, the next neighbours to the 
Chauci and the Chatti, lived for a long period in the 
undisturbed enjoyment of an excessive and enervating 
repose. They lived in a fool's paradise; for to take 
your ease with the strong and unscrupulous at your 
door is a delusion. When men appeal to force, modera- 
tion and fairness are words that belong to the stronger 
side. Formerly the phrase in use was "The Cherusci, 
good honest souls " ; now they are known as " Those 
dull fools of Cherusci," l while to their conquerors, the 

1 It has been suggested that these phrases may have come from 
some of the camp songs which Tacitus is known to have collected. 

85 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

Chatti, success has brought an excellent reputation for 
wisdom. 

The fall of the Cherusci involved that of the Fosi, 
whose boundaries marched with theirs : from having 
been their dependents in the days of prosperity, the 
Fosi have been promoted to a position of perfect 
equality in their ruin. 

XXXVII. In this same outlying part of Germany, 
nearest to the sea, dwell the Cimbri. They are now 
but a mere remnant, yet their fame is world-wide. 
Traces of their past greatness are still to be seen, 
stretching in the shape of vast encampments along 
both banks of the Rhine, by measuring which we may 
verify even at the present day the enormous number 
of men employed and the historical truth of that 
swarming migration. 1 

It was in the consulship of Caecilius Metellus and 
Papirius Carbo, six hundred and forty years after the 
founding of Rome, that we first heard the clash of the 
Cimbrian arms. From that date, reckoning down to the 
second 2 consulship of the Emperor Trajan, gives an in- 
terval of some two hundred and ten years. Our conquest 
of Germany is taking us a long time. 

And during the process we have had many hard blows 
in return. Not the Samnites, nor the Carthaginians, 

1 The peninsula of Denmark is sometimes called the Cimbric 
Chersonese ; but there is a dispute as to its having been the 
original seat of the Cimbri, who invaded the Roman empire in B.C. 
113, when their warriors are said to have been a quarter of a 
million. 

2 A.D. 98, the year in which Tacitus published the Germania. 

86 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

nor the Spaniards, nor the Gauls, nor even the Parthians 
themselves, have oftener given us a lesson. The freemen 
of Germany are more spirited antagonists than all the 
subjects of King Arsaces. What has the East really 
scored against us save the slaughter of Crassus, and 
was not that defeat more than wiped out by the crush- 
ing victory of Ventidius over Pacorus ? Contrast with 
this the success of the Germans : Carbo, and Cassius, 
and Scaurus Aurelius, and Servilius Caepio, and finally 
Marcus Manlius, all cut to pieces or captured, make al- 
together five consular armies destroyed in the days of the 
Republic, while even Augustus endured at their hands 
the loss of Varus and his three legions. 1 Moreover, the 
victories obtained over them by Caius Marius in Italy, by 
Julius Caesar in Gaul, and by Drusus and Tiberius and 
Germanicus on their own ground, were all dearly bought. 
Later came the farcical collapse of the monstrous 
threats of Caligula. 2 Then there followed a time of peace 

1 In the autumn of A.D. 9, a Roman army of some 20,000 men 
under Varus was beset and utterly destroyed by the Germans 
under Arminius, the Cheruscan, somewhere in the Teutoburger 
Wald. The three legions destroyed were the i7th, the i8th, and 
the igth. Augustus felt the loss bitterly, and was often heard to 
cry out : " O Varus, Varus, give me back my legions ". Arminius 
is known to the Germans as Herman, and his victory as the Her- 
man-schlacht. Grimm quotes a verse of an old ballad, " Un 
Hermen sla dermen, sla pipen, sla trummen ; de fursten sind 
kummen mit all eren mannen ; hebt Varus uphangen," but he is 
doubtful whether this verse can be genuine. 

2 He arranged a sham fight with some captives hidden for that 
purpose just across the border ; reported his splendid victory in 
laurelled letters to the senate, and demanded a triumph, 

87 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

until the dissensions that culminated in our civil wars 
gave the Germans the chance of carrying by storm the 
winter quarters of our legions, and actually attempting 
to make themselves masters of Gaul ; the attempt 
failed, but the triumphs celebrated over them in recent 
times have been in honour of imaginary victories. 

XXXVIII. Let us turn now to the Suabians, who are 
not simply a single tribe like the Chatti or the Tenc- 
teri, but occupy more than half of Germany, and 
have moreover their own distinct national names, 
though they all come under the general appellation of 
Suabians. 1 

It is a common mark of them all to tie back the hair 
and bind it up in a knot. This practice distinguishes 
the freemen from the slaves among the Suabians, as 
well as the Suabians themselves from other Germans. 
It is indeed sometimes to be seen among other tribes 
who are either akin to the Suabians, or, as is not un- 
common, imitate their style ; but it is rare, and only 
during the period of youth. The Suabians keep it up 
until hoar old age ; the hair is drawn back so as to stand 
erect off the forehead, and is generally bound in a 
single knot over the crown of the head. The chiefs 
have it dressed even more elaborately. They take 
pains about their appearance to this extent, but they 

1 Dr. Latham says : " Zeuss admits that between the Suevi of 
Suabia and the Alemanni no tangible difference can be found. 
. . . One half of what at present constitutes the High-German 
division is of Alemanno-Suevic origin," pp. liii., liv. The Suevi 
of Tacitus lay further to the east than the Suevi of Caesar, and 
included populations which we should class as Sclavonic, 

88 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

do so innocently enough, for these are no boy's love- 
locks ; it is for their enemies' eyes that they dress their 
hair, in order to make themselves look more tall and 
terrible as they rush to battle. 

XXXIX. The Semnones talk of themselves as most 
ancient and the most noble of the Suabians. Their 
religion confirms the belief in their antiquity. They 
possess a wood 1 

Which Fear has haunted since the days of old, 
And rites ancestral make a holy place. 

Hither at a stated time deputations from all the 
peoples of the common Suabian stock assemble, and 
here upon behalf of the State they offer a human sacri- 
fice, and with this hideous formality they open their 
barbarous rites. There is another superstitious ob- 
servance also connected with the wood. Every man 
who enters it must do so bound with a fetter, as a 
mark of humility and an avowal of the power of the 
divinity. If he happens to fall down, he may not lift 
himself up and rise to his feet, but must roll himself 
out along the ground. This wood is the centre of their 
whole superstition, being looked upon as the cradle of 
the race, and the god of it as the universal ruler to 
whom all other things are subject and obedient. The 
prosperity of the Semnones adds weight to this claim. 
The districts inhabited by them number one hundred, 
and their great size causes them to think that they are 
the principal people among the Suabians. 

1 ? The Sonnenwald. 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

XL. The Lombards, 1 on the other hand, are famous 
because they are few. Hemmed in by numerous and 
powerful tribes, they survive, not by truckling to the 
strong, but by fighting and taking all risks. 

Further on lie a number of tribes, Reudigni and 
Aviones, Angles and Warings, Eudoses, Suardones, 
and Nuithones, all with their ramparts of forest or of 
river. There is nothing that calls for notice among 
these tribes individually, except the worship of Nerthus 
or Mother Earth, which is common to them all, the 
goddess, according to their belief, mingling in the 
affairs of men, and visiting her various peoples in her 
chariot. On an island 2 out in the ocean there is an 
inviolate grove, where, covered by a robe, is a sacred 
car dedicated to her. One priest, and only one, may 
touch it. It is he who becomes aware when the god- 
dess is present in her holy seat ; he harnesses a yoke 
of heifers to the car, and follows in attendance with 
reverent mien. Then are the days of festival, and all 
places which she honours with her presence keep holi- 
day. Men lay aside their arms and go not forth to 
war ; all iron is locked away ; then only are peace and 
quietness known, then only are they welcomed, until 
the priest restores her to her temple, when she has had 
enough of her converse with mortals. Then the car and 
the robes and (if we choose to believe them) the goddess 
herself are washed in a mystic pool. Slaves are the 
ministers of this office, and are forthwith drowned in the 

1 Probably not " Long-beards," but " Long-halberdiers ". 

2 ? Heligoland. 

90 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

pool. Dark terror springs from this, and a. sacred 
mystery enshrouds those rites which no man is per- 
mitted to look upon and live. 

XLI. This branch of the Suabian stock stretches far 
out into the less-known parts of Germany. Nearer home 
(to follow the line of the Danube as I previously did 
that of the Rhine), I take first the community of the 
Hermunduri, who are our very good friends, and whom, 
therefore, alone amongst the Germans, we allow to 
trade with us not merely on the Danubian frontier but 
far within our borders and even in the splendid capital 
of the province of Rhaetia. 1 They pass the river at 
any point unchallenged. To the other nations we only 
give permission to view our camps and our material of 
war ; to the Hermunduri we throw open our houses and 
farms, because they covet nothing. 

In the country of the Hermunduri lie the sources of 
the Elbe, a river famous and well known in other days, 2 
now merely a name. 

Next to them come the Naristi, and then the Mark- 
men and the Quadi. The Mark-men stand the highest 
in reputation and power ; they drove out their prede- 
cessors the Bohemians, and won the very land they now 
hold by the sword. The Naristi, too, and the Quadi 
are not degenerating. These peoples may be said to 
form the van of the German line as far as it extends 
along the Danube. Within living memory both the 

1 Augsburg. 

2 When Germanicus carried a conquering army to the Elbe 
and set up a trophy there. 

91 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

Mark-men and the Quadi had kings of native race, the 
noble line of Maroboduus and Tuder. 1 Now they sub- 
mit to alien rulers whose despotic power rests upon the 
arm of Rome ; we sometimes aid them with arms, but 
more frequently with a subsidy of money, which they 
do not find less effective. 

XLII. Close in the rear of the Mark-men and the 
Quadi lie four tribes. Two of these, the Marsigni and 
Buri, both in language and mode of life, closely resemble 
the Suabians. The other two tribes, the Gothini and 
the Osi, are demoiistrably non-Germanic, seeing that 
the former speak a Gallic, and the latter a Pannonian 
tongue, and both submit to tribute. This is imposed 
upon them partly by the Sclavonians, and partly by the 
Quadi, on the ground that they are foreigners. This 
cowardly conduct on the part of the Gothini is the more 
to their shame as they have iron mines. All these 
peoples have but little low-lying land ; their dwelling- 
places are the forests, and the high hills, and the 
mountain chain ; for an unbroken mountain chain 2 
divides and cleaves asunder the Suabian territory, and 
on the farther side of it dwell a great number of tribes. 
The various sub-divisions of the Lygians s embrace the 
greater part of this district. I will content myself with 
naming the chief of them, as the Harii, the Helveconae, 
the Manimi, the Elisii, and the Nahanarvali. The 

1 Possibly Theodmar. See Vigfusson, Sigfred-Arminius, p. 17, 
where moreover he maintains that Arminius, the Cheruscan, may 
have been the original of the legendary German hero Sigfred. 

2 The Carpathians. 3 Leeks or Poles. 

92 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

Nahanarvali are the proud possessors of a grove of im- 
memorial sanctity. The presiding priest wears feminine 
attire, but the gods they speak of in connection with it 
are, to give them their Roman names, Castor and Pollux ; 
their attributes are similar, the name by which they are 
known is the Alci. Images of them there are none, nor 
is there any trace of their worship having had a foreign 
origin ; nevertheless, the people adore them as youthful 
heroes, and as brothers. 

For the rest, the Harii are not only superior in 
strength to the other tribes just mentioned, but they 
have a natural craving for bloodshed which they con- 
trive to gratify by artful wiles and selection of the fitting 
hour. They paint their shields black, they paint their 
bodies likewise ; they select a pitch-dark night for their 
attack, and by the very terror and gloom of their 
funereal host they scatter panic before them, not a man 
of their enemies being able to retain his presence of 
mind at the startling, I might almost say supernatural, 
apparition. It is ever the eye that first quails in battle. 

Beyond the Lygians are the Goths, who are ruled by 
their kings rather more strictly than the rest of the 
German nations, a condition that we find prevails as we 
go north, but, so far, not to such an extent as to ex- 
tinguish liberty. Beyond them, on the side of the 
ocean, live the Rugii and the Lemovii ; and all these 
tribes are distinguished by having round shields and 
short swords, and by being submissive to their 
kings. 

XLIII. From this point are the states of the Swedes, 
93 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

who inhabit isl-inds out in the ocean itself, 1 and, besides 
men and arms, possess strong fleets. The build of their 
vessels differs from ours in this : the stern is made like 
the bow, so that they can be beached either end fore- 
most ; nor are their vessels worked with sails like ours ; 
nor yet have they their oars fixed to their sides in regular 
banks, but they are fitted with loose sweeps, such as may 
be seen on some river craft, which can be shifted about 
as required from one side to the other. 

Among the Swedes, moreover, wealth and power are 
held in honour ; and therefore one man bears sway ; so 
now no longer do we find any form of independence, and 
the claim to obedience becomes absolute. Here, too, 
there is no general right of carrying arms as in the 
other parts of Germany ; the weapons are locked up 
in the charge of a keeper, and the keeper is a slave ; 
because the ocean acts as a rampart against any sudden 
incursion of the enemy, and, furthermore, an idle body 
of men with arms in their hand speedily tends to 
mutiny. It is unquestionably to the interest of the 
monarch not to commit the charge of the arms to 
either a noble or a freeman, nor even to a freedman. 

XLIV. Beyond the country of the Swedes there is 
another sea, sluggish and well-nigh motionless, which 
is believed to be the boundary and limit of the world, 
because here the last glow of the setting sun shines on 
into the following dawn, so as to dim the brightness of 
the stars. Nay, further, we are induced to credit the 

1 It will be remembered that Scandinavia was supposed to be 
an archipelago. 

94- 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

fact that the noise of the sun rising out of the waters 
is heard, and that his attendant deities are seen and 
his crown of rays. 1 Thus far, and no further (and in 
this report speaks truly), does nature go. 

So now we turn back ; and on the eastern shore 
of the Baltic Sea we find the tribes of the East-men 
dwelling along the coast ; 2 in their religion and in their 
fashions they are Suabians, but their language is more 
like the British. They worship the mother of the gods 8 
and, as a religious symbol, they carry images of wild 
boars. The symbol serves instead of arms and every 
kind of assistance, and gives the devotee of the goddess a 
sense of safety even in the midst of foes. Iron is scarce 
among them, and the use of the war-club is common. 
They cultivate grain, and also fruit trees, with more 
patience than is usually exhibited by the indolent Ger- 
mans ; and, besides this, they even search the sea, for they 
alone among mankind gather amber, or "glesum" as they 
call it, in the shallows and along the shore. And yet, like 
true barbarians, they have never asked nor ever found out 
what is its nature or how it is produced. Long it lay un- 
heeded with the other flotsam and jetsam of the waves 
until the day when our luxury made it famous. They 
make no use of it themselves ; they pick it up rough ; 
the shapeless lump finds its way to us, and they marvel 
at the price they get for it. Observation shows that it 

1 Probably the Aurora Borealis, which is often accompanied by 
a strange rustling sound that might be taken for the hissing of 
the sun's orb in the water. 

2 Of Courland. 3 Freya. 

95 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

must be the gum of a tree, because within its trans- 
parent substance there are often visible various 
creatures, creeping or flying things, which, having been 
entangled in the gum as it flows, are imprisoned in its 
mass as it afterwards hardens. Therefore, I venture to 
think that in the isles and lands of the west there must 
be woods and groves of very luxuriant growth, like 
those of the far-distant East, dropping frankincense and 
balsams, and that the burning rays of their near neigh- 
bour the sun melt and distil these humours until they 
drop into the sea below, and that then the force of 
storms washes them up on the shores that lie opposite. 

If we test the nature of amber by applying fire to it, 
it blazes up like a torch and burns with a rich and 
strongly-scented flame, and presently melts into a viscid 
mass like so much pitch or resin. 

The tribes of the Sitones 1 are conterminous with those 
of the Swedes, whom they resemble in all respects with 
only one point of difference : they are ruled by a woman. 
So far, they fall not merely below the position of free- 
men, but even beneath that of slaves. 

Here Suabia comes to an end. 

XLV. I am in some doubt as to whether I ought to 
class the nations of the Peucini, the Wends, and the 
Finns, as Germans or as Sclavonians, although the 
Peucini, otherwise known as the Bastarnians, in their 
language and their degree of civilisation, and in their 
settlements and houses, are undoubtedly German. Dirt 
and indolence are universal among them, and by the in- 
1 ? Norwegians. 

96 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

termarriages of chiefs * they are acquiring something of 
the unseemliness of the Sclavonians. 

The Wends 2 have borrowed many of the Sclavonian 
habits, and go roaming about in search of plunder 
through all the wooded and rocky highlands that 
separate the Peucini and the Finns. Nevertheless, they 
are on the whole to be classed among the Germans 
because they have fixed habitations, and carry shields, 
and are proud of being footmen and of their powers of 
running, in all which matters they are unlike the Scla- 
vonians, who live on horseback and whose home is in a 
waggon. 

The Finns are utter savages, and squalidly poor ; 
they have no arms, no horses, no homes ; they eat 
wild herbs, go clad in skins, and lie on the bare 
earth ; their only hope of getting better fare is in 
their arrows, which for lack of iron they tip with 
points of bone. The women seek their sustenance by 
the chase, exactly like the men ; they accompany them 
wherever they go, and claim their share of the prey. 
Their infants have no other refuge against wild beasts 
and storms than a booth of wattled boughs ; here the 
old folk crouch and hither the young folk return after 
hunting. Yet they esteem their life a happier one than 
if it were spent in groaning over the clods and labouring 
to build houses, dreading ever to lose what has already 
been gained, or hoping to gain what another must lose. 

1 Reading " procerum connubiis mixtis". 

a Wends has become a general term amongst the Germans 
for Sclavonians. 

97 (7) 



THE GERMANIA OF TACITUS 

Careless of what man or god may do, they have reached 
the most difficult of all positions to attain, in that they 
have nothing more to pray for. 

Farther than this everything dissolves into fable, 
stories of Hellusii and Oxionae, 1 beings with men's 
heads and faces and the bodies and limbs of beasts. 
Of these things I know nothing, and choose therefore 
to leave them alone. 

1 Lapps, possibly. 



A LIST OF NEW BOOKS 

AND ANNOUNCEMENTS OF 

METHUEN AND COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS : LONDON 

36 ESSEX STREET 

W.C. 

CONTENTS 

PAGE 
FORTHCOMING BOOKS, ..... 2 

POETRY, . . .... 13 

GENERAL LITERATURE, . . .15 

THEOLOGY, ...... 17 

LEADERS OF RELIGION, 18 

WORKS BY S. BARING GOULD, . . .19 

FICTION, ...... 21 

NOVEL SERIES, ...... 24 

BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS, .... 25 

THE PEACOCK LIBRARY, . . .26 

UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES, . . 26 

SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF TO-DAY, ... 28 

CLASSICAL TRANSLATIONS, .... 29 

COMMERCIAL SERIES, . . . . .29 

WORKS BY A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A., . . . 3 

SCHOOL EXAMINATION SERIES, . . ' 3 2 

PRIMARY CLASSICS, . . i . 3* 



OCTOBER 1894 



OCTOBER 1894. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S 

ANNOUNCEMENTS 



Poetry 



Rudyard Kipling. BALLADS. By RUDYARD KIPLING. 

Crown Svo. Buckram. 6s. [May 1895. 

The announcement of a new volume of poetry from Mr. Kipling will excite wide 
interest. The exceptional success of ' Barrack-Room Ballads,' with which this 
volume will be uniform, justifies the hope that the new book too will obtain a 
wide popularity. 

Henley. ENGLISH LYRICS. Selected and Edited by 
W. E. HENLEY. Crown Svo. Buckram. 6s. 

Also 30 copies on hand-made paper Demy Svo. i, is. 
Also 15 copies on Japanese paper. Demy Svo. 2, 2s. 
Few announcements will be more welcome to lovers of English verse than the one 
that Mr. Henley is bringing together into one book the finest lyrics in our 
language. Robust and original the book will certainly be, and it will be pro- 
duced with the same care that made ' Lyra Heroica* delightful to the hand and 
eye. 

"Q" THE GOLDEN POMP : A Procession of English Lyrics 
from Surrey to Shirley, arranged by A. T. QUILLER COUCH. Crown 
Svo. Buckram. 6s. 

Also 40 copies on hand-made paper. Demy Svo. i, is. 
Also 15 copies on Japanese paper. Demy Svo. 2, 2s. 
Mr. Quiller Couch's taste and sympathy mark him out as a born anthologist, and 
out of the wealth of Elizabethan poetry he has made a book of great attraction. 

Beaching. LYRA SACRA : An Anthology of Sacred Verse. 
Edited by H. C. BEECHING, M.A. Crown Svo. Buckram. 6s. 

Also 25 copies on hand-made paper. 2is. 

This book will appeal to a wide public. Few languages are richer in serious verse 
than the English, and the Editor has had some difficulty in confining his material 
within his limits. 

Teats. AN ANTHOLOGY OF IRISH VERSE. Edited by 
W. B. YEATS. Crown Svo. 3*. 6d. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 



Illustrated Books 

Baring Gould A BOOK OF FAIRY TALES retold by S. 

BARING GOULD. With numerous illustrations and initial letters by 
ARTHUR J. GASKIN. Crown Svo. 6s. 

Also 75 copies on hand-made paper. Demy 8vo. i t is. 

Also 20 copies on Japanese paper. Demy 8vo. 2, 2s. 
Few living writers have been more loving students of fairy and folk lore than Mr. 
Baring Gould, who in this book returns to the field in which he won his spurs. 
This volume consists of the old stories which have been dear to generations of 
children, and they are fully illustrated by Mr. Gaskin, whose exquisite designs 
for Andersen's Tales won him last year an enviable reputation. 

Baring Gould. A BOOK OF NURSERY SONGS AND 
RHYMES. Edited by S. BARING GOULD, and illustrated by the 
Students of the Birmingham Art School. Crown Svo. 6s. 

Also 50 copies on hand-made paper. 4/0. 2is. 

A collection of old nursery songs and rhymes, including a number which are little 
known. The book contains some charming illustrations by the Birmingham 
students under the superintendence of Mr. Gaskin, and Mr. Baring Gould has 
added numerous notes. 

Beeching. A BOOK OF CHRISTMAS VERSE. Edited 
by H. C. BEECHING, M.A., and Illustrated by WALTER CRANE. 
Cr<nvn 8vo. 6s. 

Also 75 copies on hand-made paper. Demy 8vo. i, is. 
Also 20 copies on Japanese paper. Demy 8vo. 2, 2s. 
A collection of the best verse inspired by the birth of Christ from the Middle Ages 
to the present day. Mr. Walter Crane has designed some beautiful illustrations. 
A distinction of the book is the large number of poems it contains by modern 
authors, a few of which are here printed for the first time. 

Jane Barlow. THE BATTLE OF THE FROGS AND MICE, 

translated by JANE BARLOW, Author of ' Irish Idylls,' and pictured 
by F. D. BEDFORD. Small 4/0. 6s. net. 

Also 50 copies on hand-made paper. 4/0. 2ls. net. 

This is a new version of a famous old fable. Miss Barlow, whose brilliant volume 
of ' Irish Idylls ' has gained her a wide reputation, has told the story in spirited 
flowing verse, and Mr. Bedford's numerous illustrations and ornaments are as 
spirited as the verse they picture. The book will be one of the most beautiful 
and original books possible. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 



2Debotional 

With full-page Illustrations. 

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. By THOMAS A KEMPIS. 
With an Introduction by ARCHDEACON FARRAR. Illustrated by 
C. M. GERE. Fcap. &vo. 5*. 

Also 50 copies on hand-made paper. 15*. 

THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. By JOHN KEBLE. With an Intro- 
duction and Notes by W. LOCK, M.A., Sub- Warden of Keble College, 
Author of 'The Life of John Keble.' Illustrated by R. ANNING 
BELL. Fcap. Svo. $s. 

Also 50 copies on hand-made paper. i$j. 

These two volumes will be charming editions of two famous books, finely illus- 
trated and printed in black and red. The scholarly introductions will give them 
an added value, and they will be beautiful to the eye, and of convenient size. 

General Literature 

Gibbon. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN 
EMPIRE. By EDWARD GIBBON. A New Edition, edited with 
Notes and Appendices and Maps by J. B. BURY, M.A., Fellow of 
Trinity College, Dublin. In seven volumes. Crown 8vo. 

The time seems to have arrived for a new edition of Gibbon's great work furnished 
with such notes and appendices as may bring it up to the standard of recent his- 
torical research. Edited by a scholar who has made this period his special study, 
and issued in a convenient form and at a moderate price, this edition should fill 
an obvious void. 

Flinders Petrie. A HISTORY OF EGYPT, FROM THE 
EARLIEST TIMES TO THE HYKSOS. By W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, 
D.C.L., Professor of Egyptology at University College. Fully Illus- 
trated. Crown Svo. 6s. 

This volume is the first of an illustrated History of Egypt in six volumes, intended 
both for students and for general reading and reference, and will present a com- 
plete record of what is now known, both of dated monuments and of events, from 
the prehistoric age down to modern times. For the earlier periods every trace of 
the various kings will be noticed, and all historical questions will be fully discussed. 

The volumes will cover the following periods ; 

I. Prehistoric to Hyksos times. By Profc Flinders Petrie. II. xvmth to xxth 
Dynasties. III. xxist to xxxth Dynasties. IV. The Ptolemaic Rule. 
V. The Roman Rule. VI. The Muhammedan Rule. 

The volumes will be issued separately. The first will be ready in the autumn, the 
Muhammedan volume early next year, and others at intervals of half a year. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 5 

Flinders Petrie. EGYPTIAN DECORATIVE ART. By 
W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, D.C.L. With 120 Illustrations. Crown 
8vo. 3x. 6d. 
A book which deals with a subject which has never yet been seriously treated. 

Flinders Petrie. EGYPTIAN TALES. Edited by W. M. 
FLINDERS PETRIE. Illustrated by TRISTRAM ELLIS. Crown 8vo. 
$s. 6tt. 

A selection of the ancient tales of Egypt, edited from original sources, and of great 
importance as illustrating the life and society of ancient Egypt. 

Southey. ENGLISH SEAMEN (Howard, Clifford, Hawkins, 
Drake, Cavendish). By ROBERT SOUTHEY. Edited, with an 
Introduction, by DAVID HANNAY. Crown 8vo. 6s. 

This is a reprint of some excellent biographies of Elizabethan seamen, written by 
Southey and never republished. They are practically unknown, and they de- 
serve, and will probably obtain, a wide popularity. 

Waldstein. JOHN RUSKIN : a Study. By CHARLES WALD- 
STEIN, M.A., Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. With a Photo- 
gravure Portrait after Professor HERKOMER. Post 8vo. $s. 

Also 25 copies on Japanese paper. Demy 8vo. 2is. 
This is a frank and fair appreciation of Mr. Ruskin's work and influence literary 
and social by an able critic, who has enough admiration to make him sym- 
pathetic, and enough discernment to make him impartial. 

Henley and Whibley. A BOOK OF ENGLISH PROSE. 
Collected by W. E. HENLEY and CHARLES WHIBLEY. Cr. %vo. 6s. 
Also 40 copies on Dutch paper. 2is. net. 
Also 15 copies on Japanese paper, ifls. net. 

A companion book to Mr. Henley's well-known ' Lyra Heroica.' It is believed that 
no such collection of splendid prose has ever been brought within the compass of 
one volume. Each piece, whether containing a character-sketch or incident, is 
complete in itself. The book will be finely printed and bound. 

Bobbins. THE EARLY LIFE OF WILLIAM EWART 
GLADSTONE. By A. F. ROBBINS. With Portraits. Crown 
8vo. 6s. 

A full account of the early part of Mr. Gladstone's extraordinary career, based on 
much research, and containing a good deal of new matter, especially with regard 
to his school and college days. 

Baring Gould. THE DESERTS OF SOUTH CENTRAL 
FRANCE. By S. BARING GOULD. With numerous Illustrations by 
F. D. BEDFORD, S. HUTTON, etc. 2 vols. Demy 8vo. 32*. 

This book is the first serious attempt to describe the great barren tableland that 
extends to the south of Limousin in the Department of Aveyron, Lot, etc., a 
country of dolomite cliffs, and canons, and subterranean rivers. The region is 
full of prehistoric and historic interest, relics of cave-dwellers, of mediaeval 
robbers, and of the English domination and the Hundred Years' War. The 
book is lavishly illustrated. 



6 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 

Baring Gould. A GARLAND OF COUNTRY SONG: 
English Folk Songs with their traditional melodies. Collected and 
arranged by S. BARING GOULD and H. FLEETWOOD SHEPPARD. 
Royal 8vo. 6s. 

In collecting West of England airs for ' Songs of the West,' the editors came across 
a number of songs and airs of considerable merit, which were known throughout 
England and could not justly be regarded as belonging to Devon and Cornwall. 
Some fifty of these are now given to the world. 

Oliphant. THE FRENCH RIVIERA. By Mrs. OLIPHANT 
and F. R. OLIPHANT. With Illustrations and Maps. Crown Svo. 
6s. 

A volume dealing with the French Riviera from Toulon to Mentone. Without fall- 
ing within the guide-book category, the book will supply some useful practical 
information, while occupying itself chiefly with descriptive and historical matter. 
A special feature will be the attention directed to those portions of the Riviera, 
which, though full of interest and easily accessible from many well-frequented 
spots, are generally left unvisited by English travellers, such as the Maures 
Mountains and the St. Tropez district, the country lying between Cannes, Grasse 
and the Var, and the magnificent valleys behind Nice. There will be several 
original illustrations. 

George. BRITISH BATTLES. By H. B. GEORGE, M.A., 
Fellow of New College, Oxford. With numerous Plans. Crown 
8vo. 6s. 

This book, by a well-known authority on military history, will be an important 
contribution to the literature of the subject. All the great battles of English 
history are fully described, connecting chapters carefully treat of the changes 
wrought by new discoveries and developments, and the healthy spirit of patriotism 
is nowhere absent from the pages. 

Shedlock. THE PIANOFORTE SONATA: Its Origin and 
Development. By J. S. SHEDLOCK. Crown Sw. $s. 

This is a practical and not unduly technical account of the Sonata treated histori- 
cally. It contains several novel features, and an account of various works little 
known to the English public. 

Jenks. ENGLISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT. By E JENKS, 
M.A., Professor of Law at University College, Liverpool. Crown 
Svo. 2s. 6d. 

A short account of Local Government, historical and explanatory, which will appear 
very opportunely. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 7 

Dixon. A PRIMER OF TENNYSON. By W. M. DIXON, 
M.A., Professor of English Literature at Mason College. Fcap. Svo. 
is. &/. 

This book consists of (i) a succinct but complete biography of Lord Tennyson; 
(2) an account of the volumes published by him in chronological order, dealing with 
the more important poems separately ; (3) a concise criticism of Tennyson in his 
various aspects as lyrist, dramatist, and representative poet of his day; (4) a 
bibliography. Such a complete book on such a subject, and at such a moderate 
price, should find a host of readers. 

Oscar Browning. THE AGE OF THE CONDOTTIERI : A 
Short History of Italy from 1409 to 1530. By OSCAR BROWNING, 
M.A. , Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. Crown 8vo. 5*- 
This book is a continuation of Mr. Browning's ' Guelphs and Ghibellines,' and the 
two works form a complete account of Italian history from 1250 to 1530. 

Layard. RELIGION IN BOYHOOD. Notes on the Reli- 
gious Training of Boys. With a Preface by J. R. ILLINGWORTH. 
By E. B. LAYARD, M.A. iSmo. is. 

Button. THE VACCINATION QUESTION. A Letter to 
the Right Hon. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. By A. W. HUTTON, 
M,A. Crown 8vo. is. 



Leaders of Religion 

NEW VOLUMES 
Crown 8vo. $s. 6d. 

LANCELOT ANDREWES, Bishop of Winchester. By R. L. 
OTTLEY, Principal of Pusey House, Oxford, and Fellow of Mag- 
dalen. With Portrait. 

ST. AUGUSTINE of Canterbury. By E. L. CUTTS, D.D. 
With a Portrait. 

THOMAS CHALMERS. By Mrs. OLIPHANT. With a 

Portrait. Second Edition. 

JOHN KEBLE. By WALTER LOCK, Sub- Warden of Keble 
College. With a Portrait. Seventh Edition. 



8 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 

English Classics 

Edited by W. E. HENLEY. 

Messrs. Methuen propose to publish, under this title, a series of the masterpieces of 

the English tongue. 
The ordinary ' cheap edition ' appears to have served its purpose I the public has 

found out the artist-printer, and is now ready for something better fashioned. 

This, then, is the moment for the issue of such a series as, while well within the 

reach of the average buyer, shall be at once an ornament to the shelf of him that 

owns, and a delight to the eye of him that reads. 
The series, of which Mr. William Ernest Henley is the general editor, will confine 

itself to no single period or department of literature. Poetry, fiction, drama, 

biography, autobiography, letters, essays in all these fields is the material of 

many goodly volumes. 
The books; which are designed and printed by Messrs. Constable, will be issued in 

two editions 

(1) A small edition, on the finest Japanese vellum, limited in most 
cases to 75 copies, demy 8vo, 2ls. a volume nett; 

(2) The popular edition on laid paper, crown 8vo, buckram, 3J. 6d. a 
volume. 

The first six numbers are : 

THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY. 
By LAWRENCE STERNE. With an Introduction by CHARLES 
WHIBLEY, and a Portrait. 2 vols. 

THE WORKS OF WILLIAM CONGREVE. With an Intro- 
duction by G. S. STREET, and a Portrait. 2 vols. 

THE LIVES OF DONNE, WOTTON, HOOKER, HERBERT, 
AND SANDERSON. By IZAAK WALTON. With an Introduction 
by VERNON BLACKBURN, and a Portrait. 

THE ADVENTURES OF HADJI BABA OF ISPAHAN. 
By JAMES MORIER. With an Introduction by E. S. BROWNE, M. A. 

THE POEMS OF ROBERT BURNS. With an Introduction 
by W. E. HENLEY, and a Portrait. 2 vols. 

THE LIVES OF THE ENGLISH POETS. By SAMUEL 
JOHNSON, LL.D. With an Introduction by JAMES HEPBURN 
MILLAR, and a Portrait. 3 vols. 

Classical Translations 

NEW VOLUMES 

Crown Svo. Finely printed and bound in blue buckram. 
LUCIAN Six Dialogues (Nigrinus, Icaro-Menippus, The Cock, 
The Ship, The Parasite, The Lover of Falsehood), Translated by S. 
T. IRWIN, M.A., Assistant Master at Clifton ; late Scholar of Exeter 
College, Oxford. 35. 6d. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 9 

SOPHOCLES Electra and Ajax. Translated by E. D. A. 

MORSHEAD, M.A., late Scholar of New College, Oxford; Assistant 

Master at Winchester. 2s. 6d. 
TACITUS Agricola and Germania. Translated by R. B. 

TOWNSHEND, late Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge. 2s. 6d. 

CICERO Select Orations (Pro Milone, Pro Murena, Philippic n., 
In Catilinam). Translated by H. E. D. BLAKISTON, M.A., Fellow 
and Tutor of Trinity College, Oxford. $s. 

University Extension Series 

NEW VOLUMES. CrownZvo. as . &/. 

THE EARTH. An Introduction to Physiography. By EVAN 
SMALL, M.A. Illustrated. 

INSECT LIFE. By F. W. THEOBALD, M.A. Illustrated. 

Social Questions of To-day 

NEW VOLUME. Crown ^vo. as.fxt. 

WOMEN'S WORK. By LADY DILKE, Miss BULLEY, and 
Miss WHITLEY. 

Cheaper Editions 

Baring Gould. THE TRAGEDY OF THE CAESARS : The 
Emperors of the Julian and Claudian Lines. With numerous Illus- 
trations from Busts, Gems, Cameos, etc. By S. BARING GODLD, 
Author of ' Mehalah,' etc. Third Edition. Royal 8vo. 15*. 
1 A most splendid and fascinating book on a subject of undying interest. The great 
feature of the book is the use the author has made of the existing portraits of the 
Caesars, and the admirable critical subtlety he has exhibited in dealing with this 
line of research. It is brilliantly written, ana the illustrations are supplied on a 
scale of profuse magnificence.' Daily Chronicle. 

Clark Kussell. THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COL- 
LINGWOOD. By W. CLARK RUSSELL, Author of The Wreck 
of the Grosvenor.' With Illustrations by F. BRANGWYN. Second 
Edition. 8vo. 6s. 

A most excellent and wholesome book, which we should like to see in the hands of 
every boy in the country.' .SY. James's Gazette. 
A2 



io MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 



Fiction 

Baring Gould. KITTY ALONE. By S. BARING GOULD, 
Author of ' Mehalah,' ' Cheap Jack Zita,' etc. 3 vols. Crown 8vo. 
A romance of Devon life. 

Norris. MATTHEW AUSTIN. By W. E. NORRIS, Author of 

' Mdle. de Mersai," etc. 3 vols. Crown 8vo. 
A story of English social life by the well-known author of ' The Rogue. 1 

Parker. THE TRAIL OF THE SWORD. By GILBERT 
PARKER, Author of ' Pierre and his People,' etc. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 
A historical romance dealing with a stirring period in the history of Canada. 

Anthony Hope. THE GOD IN THE CAR. By ANTHONY 

HOPE, Author of ' A Change of Air,' etc. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 
A story of modern society by the clever author of ' The Prisoner of Zenda.' 

Mrs. Watson. THIS MAN'S DOMINION. By the Author 

of ' A High Little World.' 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 
A story of the conflict between love and religious scruple. 

Conan Doyle. ROUND THE RED LAMP. By A. CONAN 
DOYLE, Author of ' The White Company,' ' The Adventures of Sher- 
lock Holmes,' etc. Crown 8vo. 6s. 

This volume, by the well-known author of ' The Refugees,' contains the experiences 
of a general practitioner, round whose ' Red Lamp' cluster many dramas some 
sordid, some terrible. The author makes an attempt to draw a few phases of life 
from the point of view of the man who lives and works behind the lamp. 

Barr. IN THE MIDST OF ALARMS. By ROBERT BARR, 

Author of ' From Whose Bourne,' etc. Crown 8v0. 6s. 
A story of journalism and Fenians, told with much vigour and humour. 

Benson. SUBJECT TO VANITY. By MARGARET BENSON. 

With numerous Illustrations. Croivn 8vo. %s. 6d. 
A volume of humorous and sympathetic sketches of animal life and home pets. 

X. L. AUT DIABOLUS AUT NIHIL, and Other Stories. 

By X. L. Crown 8vo. 35. 6d. 

A collection of stories of much weird power. The title story appeared some years 
ago in ' Blackwood's Magazine,' and excited considerable attention. The 
' Spectator* spoke of it as ' distinctly original, and in the highest degree imagina- 
tive. The conception, if self-generated, is almost as lofty as Milton's.' 

Morrison. LIZERUNT, and other East End Idylls. By 
ARTHUR MORRISON. Crown 8vo. 6s. 

A volume of sketches of East End life, some of which have appeared in the ' National 
Observer,' and have been much praised for their truth and strength and pathos. 

O'Grady. THE COMING OF CURCULAIN. By STANDISH 
O'GRADY, Author of ' Finn and his Companions,' etc. Illustrated 
by MURRAY SMITH. Crown 8vo. $s. (>d. 

The story of the boyhood of one of the legendary heroes of Ireland. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST n 



New Editions 

E. F. Benson. THE RUBICON. By E. F. BENSON, Author 

of ' Dodo.' Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 

Mr. Benson's second novel has been, in its two volume form, almost as great a 
success as his first The ' Birmingham Post ' says it is ' well written, stimulat- 
ing, unconventional, and, in a word, characteristic ' : the ' National Observer ' 
congratulates Mr. Benson upon 'an exceptional achievement,' and calls the 
book ' a notable advance on his previous work,' 

Stanley Weyman. UNDER THE RED ROBE. By STANLEY 
WEYMAN, Author of ' A Gentleman of France.' With Twelve Illus- 
trations by R. Caton Woodville. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
A cheaper edition of a book which won instant popularity. No unfavourable review 
occurred, and most critics spoke in terms of enthusiastic admiration. The ' West- 
minster Gazette ' called it ' a book of which we hnve read every word for the sheer 
pleasure of reading, and which we put down with a pang that we cannot forget 
it all and start again.' The ' Daily Chronicle ' said that 'every one who reads 
books at all must read this thrilling romance, from the first page of which to the 
last the breathless reader is haled along.' It also called the book ' an inspiration 
of manliness and courage.' The 'Globe' called it 'a delightful tale of chivalry 
and adventure, vivid and dramatic, with a wholesome modesty and reverence 
for the highest.' 

Baring Gould. THE QUEEN OF LOVE. By S. BARING 

GOULD, Author of 'Cheap Jack Zita,' etc. Second Edition. 

Crown 8vo, 6s. 
The scenery is admirable and the dramatic incidents most striking.' Glasgow 

Herald. 

'Strong, interesting, and clever." Westminster Gazette. 
1 You cannot put it down till you have finished it.' Punch. 
Can be heartily recommended to all who care for cleanly, energetic, and interesting 

fiction.' Sussex Daily News. 

Mrs. Oliphant. THE PRODIGALS. By Mrs. OLIPHANT. 
Second Edition. Crown 8vo. %s. 6d. 

Richard Pryce. WINIFRED MOUNT. By RICHARD PRYCE. 

Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 3^. 6d. 

The ' Sussex Daily News ' called this book ' a delightful story,' and said that tho 
writing was ' uniformly bright and graceful.' The ' Daily Telegraph ' said that tha 
author was a ' deft and elegant story-teller,' and that the book was ' an extremely 
clever story, utterly untainted by pessimism or vulgarity.' 

Constance Smith. A CUMBERER OF THE GROUND. 
By CONSTANCE SMITH, Author of ' The Repentance of Paul Went- 
worth, ' etc. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 35. 6d. 



12 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 

School Books 

A VOCABULARY OF LATIN IDIOMS AND PHRASES. 
By A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. iSmo. is. 

STEPS TO GREEK. By A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. \1rno. 
is. 6d. 

A SHORTER GREEK PRIMER OF ACCIDENCE AND 
SYNTAX. By A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. Crown Svo. is. 6<t. 

SELECTIONS FROM THE ODYSSEY. With Introduction 
and Notes. By E. D. STONE, M.A., late Assistant Master at Eton. 
Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 

THE ELEMENTS OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM. 
With numerous Illustrations. By R. G. STEEL, M.A., Head Master 
of the Technical Schools, Northampton. Crown 8vo. qs. 6d. 

THE ENGLISH CITIZEN : His RIGHTS AND DUTIES. By 
H. E. MALDEN, M.A. Crown Svo. is. 6d. 

A simple account of the privileges and duties of the English citizen. 

INDEX POETARUM LATINORUM. By E. F. BENECKE, 

M.A. Crown 8vo. 4*. 6d. 
A concordance to Latin Lyric Poetry. 



Commercial Series 



A PRIMER OF BUSINESS. By S. JACKSON, M.A. Crown 
8vo. is. 6d. 

COMMERCIAL ARITHMETIC. By F. G. TAYLOR. Crown 
Svo. is. 6J. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 13 

ana l&ectnt 28oofc$ 
Poetry 

Eudyard Kipling. BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS; And 

Other Verses. By RUDYARD KIPLING. Seventh Edition. Crown 
8vo. 6s. 

A Special Presentation Edition, bound in white buckram, with 
extra gilt ornament. Js. 6d. 

' Mr. Kipling's verse is strong, vivid, full of character. . . . Unmistakable genius 
rings in every line.' Times. 

'The disreputable lingo of Cockayne is henceforth justified before the world; fora 
man of genius has taken it in hand, and has shown, beyond all cavilling, that in 
its way it also is a medium for literature. You are grateful, and you say to 
yourself, half in envy and half in admiration : " Here is a book \ here, or one is a 
Dutchman, is one of the books of the year." ' National Observer. 

'"Barrack-Room Ballads" contains some of the best work that Mr. Kipling has 
ever done, which is saying a good deal. " Fuzzy- Wuzzy," "Gunga Din," and 
" Tommy," are, in our opinion, altogether superior to anything of the kind that 
English literature has hitherto produced.' Athenaum. 

' These ballads are as wonderful in their descriptive power as they are vigorous in 
their dramatic force. There are few ballads in the English language more 
stirring than "The Ballad of East and West," worthy to stand by the Border 
ballads of Scott.' Spectator. 

' The ballads teem with imagination, they palpitate with emotion. We read them 
with laughter and tears ; the metres throb in our pulses, the cunningly ordered 
words tingle with life ; and if this be not poetry, what is?' Pall Mall Gazette. 

Eenley. LYRA HEROICA : An Anthology selected from the 
best English Verse of the i6th, I7th, i8th, and igth Centuries. By 
WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY, Author of 'A Book of Verse,' 'Views 
and Reviews,' etc. Crown 8vo. Stamped gilt buckram t gilt top, 
edges uncut, dr. 

1 Mr. Henley has brought to the task of selection an instinct alike for poetry and for 
chivalry which seems to us quite wonderfully, and even unerringly, right.' 
Guardian. 

Tomson. A SUMMER NIGHT, AND OTHER POEMS. By 
GRAHAM R. TOMSON, With Frontispiece by A. TOMSON. Fcap. 
8vo. y. 6d. 

An edition on hand-made paper, limited to 50 copies. IOJ. 6d. net. 
' Mrs. Tomson holds perhaps the very highest rank among poetesses of English birth. 
This selection will help her reputation.' Black and Whit. 



14 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 

Ibsen. BRAND. A Drama by HENRIK IBSEN. Translated by 
WILLIAM WILSON. Crown Svo. Second Edition. 3*. 6d. 

'The greatest world-poem of the nineteenth century next to "Faust." "Brand" 
will have an astonishing interest for Englishmen. It is in the same set with 
"Agamemnon," with " Lear," with the literature that we now instinctively regard 
as high and holy." Daily Chronicle. 

" Q." GREEN BAYS : Verses and Parodies. By " Q., M Author 

of ' Dead Man's Rock ' etc. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 3*. 6J. 
' The verses display a rare and versatile gift of parody, great command of metre, and 
a very pretty turn of humour.' Times. 

"A. G." VERSES TO ORDER. By"A.G. Cr. &vo. 2s.6d. 
net. 

A small volume of verse by a writer whose initials are well known to Oxford men. 
' A capital specimen of light academic poetry. These verses are very bright and 
engaging, easy and sufficiently witty.' St. James's Gazette. 

Hosken. VERSES BY THE WAY. BY J. D. HOSKEN. 
Crown Zvo. 5-r. 
A small edition on hand-made paper. Price 12s. 6d. net, 

A Volume of Lyrics and Sonnets by J. D. Hosken, the Postman Poet. Q, the 
Author of ' The Splendid Spur,' writes a critical and biographical intro- 
duction. 

Gale. CRICKET SONGS. By NORMAN GALE. Crown Zvo. 
Linen. 2s. 6d, 

Also a limited edition on hand-made paper. Demy Svo. lOf. &/. 
net. 
' They are wrung out of the excitement of the moment, and palpitate with the spirit 

of the game.' Star. 

'As healthy as they are spirited, and ought to have a great success.' Times. 
' Simple, manly, and humorous. Every cricketer should buy the book.' Westminster 

Gazette. 
' Cricket has never known such a singer.' Crtc&et. 

Langbridge. BALLADS OF THE BRAVE : Poems of Chivalry, 
Enterprise, Courage, and Constancy, from the Earliest Times to the 
Present Day. Edited, with Notes, by Rev. F. LANGBRIDGE. 
Crown &vo. Buckram 3;. 6J. School Edition, 2s. 6d. 
'A very happy conception happily carried out. These " Ballads of the Brave" are 
intended to suit the real tastes of boys, and will suit the taste of the great majority.' 
Spectator. ' The book is full of splendid things.' World. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 15 

General Literature 

Collingwood. JOHN RUSKIN : His Life and Work. By 
W. G. COLLINGWOOD, M.A., late Scholar of University College, 
Oxford, Author of the ' Art Teaching of John Ruskin,' Editor of 
Mr. Ruskin's Poems. 2 vols. Svo. 32*. Second Edition. 

This important work is written by Mr. Collingwood, who has been for some years 
Mr. Ruskin's private secretary, and who has had unique advantages in obtaining 
materials for this book from Mr. Ruskin himself and from his friends. It contains 
a large amount of new matter, and of letters which have never been published, 
and is, in fact, a full and authoritative biography of Mr. Ruskin. The book 
contains numerous portraits of Mr. Ruskin, including a coloured one from a 
water-colour portrait by himself, and also 13 sketches, never before published, by 
Mr. Ruskin and Mr. Arthur Severn. A bibliography is added. 

' No more magnificent volumes have been published for a long time. . . .' Times. 

1 This most lovingly written and most profoundly interesting book.' Daily News. 

1 It is long since we have had a biography with such varied delights of substance 
and of form. Such a book is a pleasure for the day, and a joy for ever.' Daily 
Chronicle. 

1 Mr. Ruskin could not well have been more fortunate in his biographer.' Globe. 

' A noble monument of a noble subject. One of the most beautiful books about one 
of the noblest lives of our century.' Glasgow Herald. 

Gladstone. THE SPEECHES AND PUBLIC ADDRESSES 
OF THE RT. HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P. With Notes 
and Introductions. Edited by A. W. HUTTON, M.A. (Librarian of 
the Gladstone Library), and H. J. COHEN, M.A. With Portraits. 
Svo. Vols. IX. and X. I2s. 6d. each. 

Clark Russell. THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COL- 
LINGWOOD. By W. CLARK RUSSELL, Author of 'The Wreck 
of the Grosvenor. 1 With Illustrations by F. BRANGWYN. Second 
Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 

'A really good book. 1 Saturday Review. 

' A most excellent and wholesome book, which we should like to see in the hands of 
very boy in the country." St. James's Gazette. 

Clark. THE COLLEGES OF OXFORD : Their History and 
their Traditions. By Members of the University. Edited by A. 
CLARK, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Lincoln College. 8vo. I2s. 6d. 

Whether the reader approaches the book as a patriotic member of a college, as an 
antiquary, or as a student of the organic growth of college foundation, it will amply 
reward his attention.' Times. 

1 A delightful book, learned and lively.' Academy. 

1 A work which will certainly be appealed to for many years as the standard book on 
the Colleges of Oxford.' Athcnawm. 



16 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 

Wells. OXFORD AND OXFORD LIFE. By Members of 
the University. Edited by J. WELLS, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of 
Wadham College. Crown 8vo. $s. 6d. 

This work contains an account of life at Oxford intellectual, social, and religious 
a careful estimate of necessary expenses, a review of recent changes, a statement 
of the present position of the University, and chapters on Women's Education, 
aids to study, and University Extension. 

1 We congratulate Mr. Wells on the production of a readable and intelligent account 
of Oxford as it is at the present time, written by persons who are, with hardly an 
exception, possessed of a close acquaintance with the system and life of the 
University.' A thenceum. 

Perrens. THE HISTORY OF FLORENCE FROM THE 
TIME OF THE MEDICIS TO THE FALL OF THE 
REPUBLIC. By F. T. PERRENS. Translated by HANNAH 
LYNCH. In Three Volumes. Vol. I. Svo. 12s. 6d. 
This is a translation from the French of the best history of Florence in existence. 
This volume covers a period of profound interest political and literary and 
is written with great vivacity. 

' This is a standard book by an honest and intelligent historian, who has deserved 
well of his countrymen, and of all who are interested in Italian history-' Man- 
chester Guardian. 

Browning. GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES : A Short History 
of Mediaeval Italy, A.D. 1250-1409. By OSCAR BROWNING, Fellow 
and Tutor of King's College, Cambridge. Second Edition. Crown 
Sve>, 5J. 

'A very able book.' Westminster Gazette. 

4 A vivid picture of mediaeval Italy. 1 Standard. 

O'Qrady. THE STORY OF IRELAND. By STANDISH 
O'GRADY, Author of ' Finn and his Companions.' Cr. Svo. 2s. 6d. 

' Novel and very fascinating history. Wonderfully alluring.' Cork Examiner. 
' Most delightful, most stimulating. Its racy humour, its original imaginings, its 

perfectly unique history, make it one of the freshest, breeziest volumes.' 

Methodist Times. 
'A survey at once graphic, acute, and quaintly written.' Times. 

Dixon. ENGLISH POETRY FROM BLAKE TO BROWN- 
ING. By W. M. DIXON, M.A. Crown Svo. $s. &/. 

A Popular Account of the Poetry of the Century. 

1 Scholarly in conception, and full of sound and suggestive criticism.' Times. 
' The book is remarkable for freshness of thought expressed in graceful language.' 
Manchester Examiner. 

Bowden. THE EXAMPLE OF BUDDHA: Being Quota- 
tions from Buddhist Literature for each Day in the Year. Compiled 
by E. M. BOWDEN. With Preface by Sir EDWIN ARNOLD. Third 
Edition. l6mo. 2s. 6d. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 17 

Flinders Petrie. TELL EL AMARNA. By W. M. FLINDERS 
PBTRIE, D.C.L. With chapters by Professor A. H. SAYCE, D.D.; 
F. LL. GRIFFITH, F.S.A.; and F. C. J. SPURRELL, F.G.S. With 
numerous coloured illustrations. Royal 4/0. 2CW. net. 

Massee. A MONOGRAPH OF THE MYXOGASTRES. By 
GEORGE MASSES. With 12 Coloured Plates. Royal 8vo. i8s. net. 

'A work much in advance of any book in the language treating of this group of 
organisms. It is indispensable to every student of the Mxyogastres. The 
coloured plates deserve high praise for their accuracy and execution." Nature, 

Bushill. PROFIT SHARING AND THE LABOUR QUES- 
TION. By T. W. BUSHILL, a Profit Sharing Employer. With an 
Introduction by SEDLEY TAYLOR, Author of ' Profit Sharing between 
Capital and Labour.' Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. 

John Beever. PRACTICAL FLY-FISHING, Founded on 
Nature, by JOHN BEEVER, late of the Thwaite House, Coniston. A 
New Edition, with a Memoir of the Author by W. G. COLLINGWOOD, 
M.A. Also additional Notes and a chapter on Char-Fishing, by A. 
and A. R. SEVERN. With a specially designed title-page. Crown 
Svo. S.T. 6d. 

A little book on Fly-Fishing by an old friend of Mr. Ruskin. It has been out of 
print for some time, and being still much in request, is now issued with a Memoir 
of the Author by W. G. Collingwood. 



Theology 



Driver. SERMONS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH 
THE OLD TESTAMENT. By S. R. DRIVER, D.D., Canon of 
Christ Church, Regius Professor of Hebrew in the University of 
Oxford. Crown Svo. 6s. 

'A welcome companion to the author's famous ' Introduction.' No man can read these 
discourses without feeling that Dr. Driver is fully alive to the deeper teaching of 
the Old Testament.' Guardian. 

Cheyne. FOUNDERS OF OLD TESTAMENT CRITICISM: 
Biographical, Descriptive, and Critical Studies. By T. K. CHEYNE, 
D.D., Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at 
Oxford. Large crown Svo. Js. 6d. 

This important book is a historical sketch of O.T. Criticism in the form of biographi- 
cal studies from the days of Eichhorn to those of Driver and Robertson Smith. 
It is the only book of its kind in English. 

'The volume is one of great interest and value. It displays all the author's well- 
known ability and Jearning, and its opportune publication has laid all students of 
theology, and specially of Bible criticism, under weighty obligation.' Scotsman. 
A very learned and instructive work.' Times. 



1 8 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 

Prior. CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. Edited by C. H. PRIOR, 
M. A., Fellow and Tutor of Pembroke College. Crown 8vo. 6s. 

A volume of sermons preached before the University of Cambridge by various 
preachers, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop Westcott. 

1 A representative collection. Bishop Westcott's is a noble sermon.' Guardian. 

'Full of thought fulness and dignity.' Record, 

BeecMng. BRADFIELD SERMONS. Sermons by H. C. 
BEECHING, M.A., Rector of Yattendon, Berks. With a Preface by 
CANON SCOTT HOLLAND. Crown Svo. 2s. 6d. 

Seven sermons preached before the boys of Bradfield College. 

James. CURIOSITIES OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY PRIOR 
TO THE REFORMATION. By CROAKB JAMES, Author of 
' Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.' Crown Svo. Js. 6d. 

' This volume contains a great deal of quaint and curious matter, affording some 
"particulars of the interesting persons, episodes, and events from the Christian's 
point of view during the first fourteen centuries." Wherever we dip into his pages 
we find something worth dipping into. 1 John Bull. 

Kaufmann. CHARLES KINGSLEY. By M. KAUFMANN, 

M.A. Crown 8vo. Buckram. $s. 

A biography of Kingsley, especially dealing with his achievements in social reform. 
' The author has certainly gone about his work with conscientiousness and industry.' 
Sheffield Daily Telegraph. 

Leaders of Religion 

Edited by H. C. BEECHING, M.A. With Portraits t crown 8vo. 

A series of short biographies of the most pro- i ^ 

minent leaders of religious life and thought of O \f~\ 5? 
all ages and countries. 4\\J <X. 

The following are ready 23. 6d. 

CARDINAL NEWMAN. By R. H. HUTTON. Second Edition. 

1 Few who read this book will fail to be struck by the wonderful insight it displays 
into the nature of the Cardinal's genius and the spirit of his life.' WILFRID 
WARD, in the Tablet. 

' Full of knowledge, excellent in method, and intelligent in criticism. We regard it 
as wholly admirable.' Academy. 

JOHN WESLEY. By J. H. OVERTON, M.A. 

' It is well done : the story is clearly told, proportion is duly observed, and there is 
no lack either of discrimination or of sympathy. 1 Manchester Guardian. 




MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 19 

BISHOP WILBERFORCE. By G. W. DANIEL, M.A. 
CARDINAL MANNING. By A. W. HUTTON, M.A. 
CHARLES SIMEON. By H. C. G. MOULE, M.A. 

33. 6d. 

JOHN KEBLE. By WALTER LOCK, M.A. Seventh Edition. 

THOMAS CHALMERS. By Mrs. OLIPHANT. Second Edition. 

Other volumes will be announced in due course. 

Works by S. Baring Gould 

OLD COUNTRY LIFE. With Sixty-seven Illustrations by 
W. PARKINSON, F. D. BEDFORD, and F. MASEY. Large Crown 
8vo, doth super extra, top edge gilt, I or. 6d. Fourth and Cheaper 
Edition. 6s. 

' " Old Country Life," as healthy wholesome reading, full of breezy life and move- 
ment, full of quaint stories vigorously told, will not be excelled by any book to be 
published throughout the year. Sound, hearty, and English to the core.' World, 

HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. Third 

Edition, Crown Svo. 6s. 

' A collection of exciting and entertaining chapters. The whole volume is delightful 
reading. ' Times. 

FREAKS OF FANATICISM. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 

1 Mr. Baring Gould has a keen eye for colour and effect, and the subjects he has 
chosen give ample scope to his descriptive and analytic faculties. A perfectly 
fascinating book, 1 Scottish Ltader. 

SONGS OF THE WEST : Traditional Ballads and Songs of 
the West of England, with their Traditional Melodies. Collected 
by S. BARING GOULD, M.A., and H. FLEETWOOD SHEPPARD, 
M.A. Arranged for Voice and Piano. In 4 Parts (containing 25 
Songs each), Parts /., //., ///., 35. each. Part IV., $s. In one 
Vol., French morocco, 155. 

'A rich and varied collection of humour, pathos, grace, and poetic fancy.' Saturday 
Review. 

YORKSHIRE ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. 
Fourth Edition. Crown 8v0. 6s. 



20 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 

STRANGE SURVIVALS AND SUPERSTITIONS. With 
Illustrations. By S. BARING GOULD. Crown Svo. Second Edition. 
6s. 

A book on such subjects as Foundations, Gables, Holes, Gallows, Raising the Hat, Old 
Ballads, etc. etc. It traces in a most interesting manner their origin and history. 

' We have read Mr. Baring Gould's book from beginning to end. It is full of quaint 
and various information, and there is not a dull page in it. 1 Notes and Queries. 

THE TRAGEDY OF THE CAESARS: The 

Emperors of the Julian and Claudian Lines. With numerous Illus- 
trations from Busts, Gems, Cameos, etc. By S. BARING GOULD, 
Author of ' Mehalah,' etc. Third Edition. RoyalZvo. 15*. 
' A most splendid and fascinating book on a subject of undying interest. The great 
feature of the book is the use the author has made of the existing portraits_ of the 
Caesars, and the admirable critical subtlety he has exhibited in dealing with this 
line of research. It is brilliantly written, and the illustrations are supplied on a 
scale of profuse magnificence.' Daily Chronicle. 

' The volumes will in no sense disappoint the general reader. Indeed, in their way, 
there is nothing in any sense so good in English. . . . Mr. Baring Gould has 
presented his narrative in such a way as not to make one dull page. 1 Atkenttitm. 

MR. BARING GOULD'S NOVELS 

'To say that a book is by the author of "Mehalah" is to imply that it contains a 
story cast on strong lines, containing dramatic possibilities, vivid and sympathetic 
descriptions of Nature, and a wealth of ingenious imagery.' Speaker. 

' That whatever Mr. Baring Gould writes is well worth reading, is a conclusion that 
may be very generally accepted. His views of life are fresh and vigorous, his 
language pointed and characteristic, the incidents of which he makes use are 
striking and original, his characters are life-like, and though somewhat excep- 
tional people, are drawn and coloured with artistic force. Add to this that his 
descriptions of scenes and scenery are painted with the loving eyes and skilled 
hands of a master of his art, that he is always fresh and never dull, and under 
such conditions it is no wonder that readers have gained confidence both in his 
power of amusing and satisfying them, and that year by year his popularity 
widens.' Court Circular. 

SIX SHILLINGS EACH 

IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA : A Tale of the Cornish Coast. 
MRS. CURGENVEN OF CURGENVEN. 
CHEAP JACK ZITA. 
THE QUEEN OF LOVE. 

THREE SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE EACH 

ARM I NELL : A Social Romance. 
URITH : A Story of Dartmoor. 
MARGERY OF QUETHER, and other Stories. 
JACQUETTA, and other Stories. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 21 

Fiction 

SIX SHILLING NOVELS 

Corelli. BARABBAS : A DREAM OF THE WORLD'S 
TRAGEDY. By MARIE CORELLI, Author of ' A Romance of Two 
Worlds," 'Vendetta,' etc. Eleventh Edition. Crown %vo. 6s. 
Miss Corelli's new romance has been received with much disapprobation by the 
secular papers, and with warm welcome by the religious papers. By the former 
the has been accused of blasphemy and bad taste ; ' a gory nightmare' ; ' a hideous 
travesty'; 'grotesque vulgarisation'; 'unworthy of criticism'; 'vulgar redun- 
dancy'; 'sickening details' these are some of the secular flowers of speech. 
On the other hand, the ' Guardian ' praises ' the dignity of its conceptions, the 
reserve round the Central Figure, the fine imagery of the scene and circumstance, 
so much that is elevating and devout ' ; the ' Illustrated Church News ' styles the 
book ' reverent and artistic, broad based on the rock of our common nature, and 
appealing to what is best in it ' ; the ' Christian World ' says it is written ' by one 
who has more than conventional reverence, who has tried to tell the story that it 
may be read again with open and attentive eyes ' ; the ' Church of England 
Pulpit' welcomes 'a book which teems with faith without any appearance of 
irreverence." 

Benson, DODO : A DETAIL OF THE DAY. By E. F. 

BENSON. Crown 8vo. Fourteenth Edition. 6s. 

A story of society by a new writer, full of interest and power, which has attracted 
by its brilliance universal attention. The best critics were cordial in their 
praise. The ' Guardian ' spoke of ' Dodo ' as unusually clever and interesting \ 
the ' Spectator ' called it a delightfully witty sketch of society \ the ' Speaker ' 
said the dialogue was a perpetual feast of epigram and paradox ; the 
' Athenaeum ' spoke of the author as a writer of quite exceptional ability ; 
the ' Academy ' praised his amazing cleverness ; the ' World ' said the book was 
brilliantly written \ and half-a-dozen papers declared there was not a dull page 
in the book. 

Baring Gould. IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA: A Tale of 
the Cornish Coast. By S. BARING GOULD. New Edition. 6s. 

Baring Gould. MRS. CURGENVEN OF CURGENVEN. 
By S. BARING GOULD. Third Edition. 6s. 

A story of Devon life. The ' Graphic ( speaks of it as a novel of vigorous humour and 
sustained power ; the ' Sussex Daily News ' says that the swing of the narrative 
is splendid; and the ' Speaker" mentions its bright imaginative power. 

Baring Gould. CHEAP JACK ZITA. By S. BARING GOULD. 

Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 

A Romance of the Ely Fen District in 1815, which the 'Westminster Gazette 1 calls 
'a powerful drama of human passion'; and the 'National Observer 1 'a story 
worthy the author." 

Baring Gould. THE QUEEN OF LOVE. By S. BARING 

GOULD. Second Edition. Crown %vo. 6s. 
The 

ii 

inl.cicii.uig, aim cicver. .runcn says tnat you cannot put it down until you 
have finished it.' ' The Sussex Daily News ( says that it ' can be heartily recom- 
mended to all who care for cleanly, energetic, and interesting fiction. 1 



22 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 

Norris. HIS GRACE. By W. E. NORRIS, Author of 
Mademoiselle de Mersac.' Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 

'The characters are delineated by the author with his characteristic skill and 
vivacity, and the story is told with that ease of manners and Thackerayean in- 
sight which give strength of flavour to Mr. Norris's novels No one can depict 
the Englishwoman of the better classes with more subtlety.' Glasgow Herald. 

1 Mr. Norris has drawn a really fine character in the Duke of Hurstbourne, at once 
unconventional and very true to the conventionalities of life, weak and strong in 
a breath, capable of inane follies and heroic decisions, yet not so definitely por- 
trayed as to relieve a reader of the necessity of study on his own behalf.' 
A thetutum. 

Parker. MRS. FALCHION. By GILBERT PARKER, Author of 

'Pierre and His People.' New Edition. 6s. 

Mr. Parker's second book has received a warm welcome. The ' Athenaeum ' called 
it a splendid study of character; the ' Pall Mall Gazette ' spoke of the writing as 
but little behind anything that has been done by any writer of our time ', the 
1 St. James's ' called it a very striking and admirable novel ; and the ' West- 
minster Gazette ' applied to it the epithet of distinguished. 

Parker. PIERRE AND HIS PEOPLE. By GILBERT 

PARKER. Crown %vo. Buckram. 6s. 

' Stories happily conceived and finely executed. There is strength and genius in Mr. 
Parker's style.' Daily Telegraph. 

Parker. THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE. By GILBERT 
PARKER, Author of 'Pierre and His People,' 'Mrs. Falchion,' etc. 
Crown 8vo. 5*. 

1 The plot is original and one difficult to work out ; but Mr. Parker has done it with 
great skill and delicacy. The reader who is not interested in this original, fresh, 
and well-told tale must be a dull person indeed.' Daily Chronicle. 

' A strong and successful piece of workmanship. The portrait of Lali, strong, digni- 
fied, and pure, is exceptionally well drawn. 1 Manchester Guardian. 

' A very pretty and interesting story, and Mr. Parker tells it with much skill. The 
story is one to be read.' St. James's Gazette. 

Anthony Hope. A CHANGE OF AIR: A Novel. By 
ANTHONY HOPE, Author of ' The Prisoner of Zenda,' etc. 
Crown 8vo. 6s, 
A bright story by Mr. Hope, who has, the Atheneeum says, 'a decided outlook and 

individuality of his own." 

'A graceful, vivacious comedy, true to human nature. The characters are traced 
with a masterly hand.' Times. 

Pryce. TIME AND THE WOMAN. By RICHARD PRYCE, 
Author of ' Miss Maxwell's Affections,' 'The Quiet Mrs. Fleming,' 
etc. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 

' Mr. Pryce's work recalls the style of Octave Feuillet, by its clearness, conciseness, 
its literary reserve.' Athenaum. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 23 

Marriott Watson. DIOGENES OF LONDON and other 

Sketches. By II. B. MARRIOTT WATSON, Author of The Web 
of the Spider.' Crown Svo. Buckram. 6s. 

' By all those who delight in the uses of words, who rate the exercise of prose above 
the exercise of verse, who rejoice in all proofs of its delicacy and its strength, who 
believe that English prose is chief among the moulds of thought, by these 
Mr. Marriott Watson's book will be welcomed.' National Observer. 

Gilchrist. THE STONE DRAGON. By MURRAY GILCHRIST. 

Crown Svo. Buckram. 6s. 

1 The author's faults are atoned for by certain positive and admirable merits. The 
romances have not their counterpart in modern literature, and to read them is a 
unique experience.' National Observer. 

THREE-AND-8IXPENNY NOVELS 

Baring Gould. ARM I NELL : A Social Romance. By S. 
BARING GOULD. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 3*. 6d. 

Baring Gould. URITH : A Story of Dartmoor. By S. BARING 

GODLD. Third Edition. Crown Svo. %s. 6d. 
1 The author is at his best.' Times. 
' He has nearly reached the high water-mark of " Mehalah." ' National Observer. 

Baring Gould. MARGERY OF QUETHER, and other Stories. 
By S. BARING GOULD. Crown 8vo. $s. 6d. 

Baring Gould. JACQUETTA, and other Stories. By S. BARING 
GOULD. Crown 8vo. 35. 6d. 

Gray. ELSA. A Novel. By E. M'QUEEN GRAY. Crown Zvo. 
y. 6d. 

A charming novel. The characters are not only powerful sketches, but minutely 
and carefully finished portraits." Guardian. 

Pearce. JACO TRELOAR. By J. H. PEARCE, Author of 

' Esther Pentreath. ' New Edition. Crown 8vo. 3*. 6d. 
A tragic story of Cornish life by a writer of remarkable power, whose first novel has 

been highly praised by Mr. Gladstone. 
The ' Spectator ' speaks of Mr. Pearce as a writer of exceptional power', the ' Daily 

Telegraph ' calls the book powerful and picturesque ', the ' Birmingham Post ' 

asserts that it is a novel of high quality. 

Edna LyalL DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST. By 
EDNA LYALL, Author of ' Donovan,' etc. Crown 8vo. 35. 6d. 

Clark Russell. MY DANISH SWEETHEART. By W. 
CLARK RUSSELL, Author of 'The Wreck of the Grosvenor,' etc. 
Illustrated. Third Edition. Cr<nvn 8vo. 3*. 6d. 



24 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 

Author of 'Vera.' THE DANCE OF THE HOURS. By 

the Author of 'Vera.' Crown Svo. 3*. dt. 

Esme Stuart. A WOMAN OF FORTY. By ESME STUART, 
Author of 'Muriel's Marriage,' 'Virginia's Husband,' etc. New 
Edition, Crown Svo. %s. 6d. 

'The story is well written, and some of the scenes show great dramatic power.' 
Daily Chronicle. 

Fenn. THE STAR GAZERS. By G. MANVILLE FENN, 

Author of ' Eli's Children,' etc. New Edition. Cr. Svo. $s. 6d. 
' A stirring romance.' Western Morning News. 

1 Told with all the dramatic power for which Mr. Fenn is conspicuous.' Bradford 
Observer. 

Dickinson. A VICAR'S WIFE. By EVELYN DICKINSON. 
Crown Svo. 3^. 6d. 

Prowse. THE POISON OF ASPS. By R. ORTON PROWSE. 
Crown Svo. 35. 6d. 



Grey. THE STORY OF CHRIS. By ROWLAND GREY. 

Crown Svc. 51. 

Lynn Linton. THE TRUE HISTORY OF JOSHUA DAVID- 
SON, Christian and Communist. By E. LYNN LiNTON. Eleventh 
Edition. Post Svo. is. 



HALF-CROWN NOVELS 

A Series of Novels by popular Authors, tastefully 
bound in cloth. 



2/6 



1. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. 

2. DISENCHANTMENT. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. 

3. MR. BUTLER'S WARD. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. 

4. HOVENDEN, V.C. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. 

5. ELI'S CHILDREN. By G. MANVILLE FENN. 

6. A DOUBLE KNOT. By G. MANVILLE FENN. 

7. DISARMED. By M. BETHAM EDWARDS. 

8. A LOST ILLUSION. By LESLIE KEITH. 

9. A MARRIAGE AT SEA. By W. CLARK RUSSELL. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 25 

10. IN TENT AND BUNGALOW. By the Author of 'Indian 

Idylls.' 

11. MY STEWARDSHIP. By E. M'QUEEN GRAY. 

12. A REVEREND GENTLEMAN. By J. M. COBBAN. 

13. A DEPLORABLE AFFAIR. By W. E. NORRIS. 

14. JACK'S FATHER. By W. E. NORRIS. 

Other volumes will be announced in due course. 



Books for Boys and Girls 

Baring Gould. THE ICELANDER'S SWORD. By S. 
BARING GOULD, Author of 'Mehalah,' etc. With Twenty-nine 
Illustrations by J. MOYR SMITH. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
A stirring story of Iceland, written for boys by the author of ' In the Roar of the Sea. 

CuthelL TWO LITTLE CHILDREN AND CHING. By 

EDITH E. CUTHELL. Profusely Illustrated. Crown 8w. Cloth, 
gilt edges, y. 6d. 

Another story, with a dog hero, by the author of the very popular ' Only a Guard- 
Room Dog.' 

Blake. TODDLEBEN'S HERO. By M. M. BLAKE, Author of 
' The Siege of Norwich Castle.' With 36 Illustrations. Crown 
8vo. 3*. 6d. 
A story of military life for children. 

CuthelL ONLY A GUARD-ROOM DOG. By Mrs. CUTHELL. 

With 1 6 Illustrations by W. PARKINSON. Square Crown 8vo. 3*. 6d. 

1 This is a charming story. Tangle was but a little mongrel Skye terrier, but he had a 

big heart in his little body, and played a hero's part more than once. The book 

can be warmly recommended.' Standard. 

Collingwood. THE DOCTOR OF THE JULIET. By HARRY 
COLLINGWOOD, Author of 'The Pirate Island,' etc. Illustrated by 
GORDON BROWNE. Crown 8vo. y. 6d. 

1 "The Doctor of the Juliet," well illustrated by Gordon Browne, is one of Harry 
Collingwood's best efforts.' Morning Pott. 



26 MESSRS. METHUEN'S List 

Clark Russell. MASTER ROCKAFELLAR'S VOYAGE. By 
W. CLARK RUSSELL, Author of ' The Wreck of the Grosvenor,' etc. 
Illustrated by GORDON BROWNE. Second Edition, Crown %vo. 
$s. 6d. 

'Mr. Clark Russell's story of "Master Rockafellar's Voyage" will be among the 
favourites of the Christmas books. There is a rattle and " go " all through it, and 
its illustrations are charming in themselves, and very much above the average in 
the way in which they are produced.' Guardian. 

Manville Fenn. SYD BELTON : Or, The Boy who would not 
go to Sea. By G. MANVILLE FENN, Author of ' In the King's 
Name,' etc. Illustrated by GORDON BROWNE. Crown %vo. $s. f>d. 

Who among the young story-reading public will not rejoice at the sight of the old 
combination, so often proved admirable a story by Manville Fenn, illustrated 
by Gordon Browne ? The story, too, is one of the good old sort, full of life and 
vigour, breeziness and fan.' Journal of Education. 



3/6 



The Peacock Library 

A Series of Books for Girls by well-known Authors, 
handsomely bound in blue and silver, and well illustrated. 
Crown 8vo. 

1. A PINCH OF EXPERIENCE. By L. B. WALFORD. 

2. THE RED GRANGE. By Mrs. MOLESWORTH. 

3. THE SECRET OF MADAME DE MONLUC. By the 

Author of ' Mdle Mori.' 

4. DUMPS. By Mrs. PARR, Author of 'Adam and Eve.' 

5. OUT OF THE FASHION. By L. T. MEADE. 

6. A GIRL OF THE PEOPLE. By L. T. MEADE. 

7. HEPSY GIPSY. By L. T. MEADE. 2s. 6d. 

8. THE HONOURABLE MISS. By L. T. MEADE. 

9. MY LAND OF BEULAH. By Mrs. LEITH ADAMS. 

University Extension Series 

A series of books on historical, literary, and scientific subjects, suitable 
for extension students and home reading circles. Each volume is com- 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 27 

plete in itself, and the subjects are treated by competent writers in a 
broad and philosophic spirit. 

Edited byj. E. SYMES, M.A., 

Principal of University College, Nottingham. 

Crown 8vo. Price (with some exceptions) 2s. 6d. 

The following volumes art ready : 

THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By H. DE 
B. GIBBINS, M.A., late Scholar of Wadham College, Oxon., Cobden 
Prizeman. Third Edition. With Maps and Plans. 3*. 
'A compact and clear story of our industrial development. A study of this concise 
but luminous book cannot fail to give tbe reader a clear insight into the principal 
phenomena of our industrial history. The editor and publishers are to be congrat- 
ulated on this first volume of their venture, and we shall look with expectant 
interest for the succeeding volumes of the series.' University Extension Journal, 

A HISTORY OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. By 
L. L. PRICE, M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon. 

PROBLEMS OF POVERTY : An Inquiry into the Industrial 
Conditions of the Poor. By J. A. HOBSON, M.A. 

VICTORIAN POETS. By A. SHARP. 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By J. E. SYMES, M.A. 

PSYCHOLOGY. By F. S. GRANGER, M.A., Lecturer in Philo- 
sophy at University College, Nottingham. 

THE EVOLUTION OF PLANT LIFE : Lower Forms. By 
G. MASSEE, Kew Gardens. With Illustrations. 

AIR AND WATER. Professor V. B. LEWES, M.A. Illustrated. 

THE CHEMISTRY OF LIFE AND HEALTH. By C. W. 

KIMMINS, M.A. Camb. Illustrated. 

THE MECHANICS OF DAILY LIFE. By V. P. SELLS, M.A. 
Illustrated. 

ENGLISH SOCIAL REFORMERS. H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A. 

ENGLISH TRADE AND FINANCE IN THE SEVEN- 
TEENTH CENTURY. By W. A. S. HEWINS, B.A. 

THE CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. The Elementary Principles of 
Chemistry. By M. M. PATTISON MUIR, M.A. Illustrated. 

A TEXT-BOOK OF AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. ByM.C. 
POTTER, M.A., F.L.S. Illustrated. 3*. 6d. 



28 MESSRS. MET HUEN'S LIST 

THE VAULT OF HEAVEN. A Popular Introduction to 
Astronomy. By R. A. GREGORY. With numerous Illustrations. 

METEOROLOGY. The Elements of Weather and Climate. 
By H. N. DICKSON, F.R.S.E., F.R. Met. Soc. Illustrated. 

A MANUAL OF ELECTRICAL SCIENCE. By GEORGE 
J. BURCH, M.A. With numerous Illustrations. 3*. 

Social Questions of To-day 

Edited by H. DK B. GIBBINS, M.A. 

Crown 8vo. zs. 6d. ^% \f\ 

A series of volumes upon those topics of social, economic, I ^^ 

and industrial interest that are at the present moment fore- 
most in the public mind. Each volume of the series is written by an 
author who is an acknowledged authority upon the subject with which 
he deals. 

The following Volumes of the Series are ready : 

TRADE UNIONISM NEW AND OLD. By G. HOWELL, 

M.P., Author of 'The Conflicts of Capital and Labour.' Second 

Edition. 
THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT TO-DAY. By G. J. 

HOLYOAKE, Author of ' The History of Co-operation.' 
MUTUAL THRIFT. By Rev. J. FROME WILKINSON, M.A., 

Author of ' The Friendly Society Movement.' 
PROBLEMS OF POVERTY : An Inquiry into the Industrial 

Conditions of the Poor. By J. A. HOBSON, M.A. 
THE COMMERCE OF NATIONS. By C. F. BASTABLE, 

M.A., Professor of Economics at Trinity College, Dublin. 
THE ALIEN INVASION. By W. H. WILKINS, B.A., Secretary 

to the Society for Preventing the Immigration of Destitute Aliens. 
THE RURAL EXODUS. By P. ANDERSON GRAHAM. 
LAND NATIONALIZATION. By HAROLD Cox, B.A. 
A SHORTER WORKING DAY. By H. DE B. GIBBINS 

and R. A. HADFIELD, of the Hecla Works, Sheffield. 
BACK TO THE LAND : An Inquiry into the Cure for Rural 

Depopulation. By H. E. MOORE. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 29 

TRUSTS, POOLS AND CORNERS : As affecting Commerce 

and Industry. By J. STEPHEN JEANS, M.R.I., F.S.S. 
THE FACTORY SYSTEM. By R. COOKE TAYLOR. 
THE STATE AND ITS CHILDREN. By GERTRUDE 

TUCKWELL. 

Classical Translations 

Edited by H. F. FOX, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Brasenose 

College, Oxford. 

Messrs. Methuen propose to issue a New Series of Translations from 
the Greek and Latin Classics. They have enlisted the services of some 
of the best Oxford and Cambridge Scholars, and it is their intention that 
the Series shall be distinguished by literary excellence as well as by 
scholarly accuracy. 

Crown 8vo. Finely printed and bound in blue buckram, 
CICERO De Oratore I. Translated by E. N. P. MOOR, M.A., 

Assistant Master at Clifton. 35. 6d. 

AESCHYLUS Agamemnon, Choephoroe, Eumenides. Trans- 
lated by LEWIS CAMPBELL, LL.D., late Professor of Greek at St. 

Andrews. 5*. 
LUCIAN Six Dialogues (Nigrinus, Icaro-Menippus, The Cock, 

The Ship, The Parasite, The Lover of Falsehood). Translated by 

S. T. IRWIN, M.A., Assistant Master at Clifton; late Scholar of 

Exeter College, Oxford. 3.?. 6d. 
SOPHOCLES Electra and Ajax. Translated by E. D. A. 

MORSHEAD, M.A., late Scholar of New College, Oxford ; Assistant 

Master at Winchester. 2s. 6d. 
TACITUS Agricola and Germania. Translated by R. B. 

TOWNSHEND, late Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge. 2s. 6d. 
CICERO Select Orations (Pro Milone, Pro Murena, Philippic II., 

In Catilinam). Translated by H. E. D. BLAKISTON, M.A., Fellow 

and Tutor of Trinity College, Oxford. $s. 

Methuen's Commercial Series 

BRITISH COMMERCE AND COLONIES FROM ELIZA- 
BETH TO VICTORIA. By H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A., Author 
of 'The Industrial History of England,' etc., etc. 2s. 



3o MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 

A MANUAL OF FRENCH COMMERCIAL CORRES- 
PONDENCE. By S. E. BALLY, Modern Language Master at 
the Manchester Grammar School. 2s. 

COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY, with special reference to Trade 
Routes, New Markets, and Manufacturing Districts. By L. D. 
LYDE, M.A., of The Academy, Glasgow. 2s. 

COMMERCIAL EXAMINATION PAPERS. By H. DE B. 
GIBBINS, M.A. is. 6J. 

THE ECONOMICS OF COMMERCE. By H. DE B. GIBBINS, 

M.A. is. 6J. 
A PRIMER OF BUSINESS. By S. JACKSON, M.A. u. 6d 

COMMERCIAL ARITHMETIC. By F. G. TAYLOR, 
M.A. is. 6d. 

Works by A. M, M. Stedman, M.A. 

INITIA LATINA : Easy Lessons on Elementary Accidence. 
Second Edition. Fcap. &vo. is. 

FIRST LATIN LESSONS. Fourth Edition CrownZvo. zs. 

FIRST LATIN READER. With Notes adapted to the Shorter 
Latin Primer and Vocabulary. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. is. 6d. 

EASY SELECTIONS FROM CAESAR. Part L The Hel- 
vetian War. iSmo. is. 

EASY SELECTIONS FROM LIVY. Part I. The Kings of 
Rome. iSmo. is. 6d. 

EASY LATIN PASSAGES FOR UNSEEN TRANSLATION. 
Third Edition. Fcap. Svo. is. 6d. 

EXEMPLA LATINA : First Exercises in Latin Accidence. 
With Vocabulary. Crown Svo. is. 

EASY LATIN EXERCISES ON THE SYNTAX OF THE 
SHORTER AND REVISED LATIN PRIMER. With Vocabu- 
lary. Fourth Edition. Crown Svo. 2s. 6d. Issued with the con- 
sent of Dr. Kennedy. 

THE LATIN COMPOUND SENTENCE RULES AND 
EXERCISES. Craw* 8w. 2s. With Vocabulary. 2s. &/. 



MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 31 

NOTANDA QUAEDAM : Miscellaneous Latin Exercises on 

Common Rules and Idioms. With Vocabulary. Second Edition. 

Fcap. Svo. is. 6d. 
LATIN VOCABULARIES FOR REPETITION: Arranged 

according to Subjects. Fourth Edition. Fcap. Svo. is. 6d. 
A VOCABULARY OF LATIN IDIOMS AND PHRASES. 

iSmo. is. 
LATIN EXAMINATION PAPERS IN MISCELLANEOUS 

GRAMMAR AND IDIOMS. Fourth Edition. 
A KEY, issued to Tutors and Private Students only, to be had on 

application to the Publishers. Second Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. 
STEPS TO GREEK. iBmo. is. 6d 

EASY GREEK PASSAGES FOR UNSEEN TRANSLA- 
TION. Fcap. Svo. is. 6d. 

EASY GREEK EXERCISES ON ELEMENTARY SYNTAX. 

[/ preparation. 

GREEK VOCABULARIES FOR REPETITION : Arranged 
according to Subjects. Second Edition. Fcap. Svo. is. 6d. 

GREEK TESTAMENT SELECTIONS. For the use of 
Schools. Third Edition. With Introduction, Notes, and Vocabu- 
lary. Fcap. Svo. 2s. 6d. 

GREEK EXAMINATION PAPERS IN MISCELLANEOUS 
GRAMMAR AND IDIOMS. Third Edition. KEY (issued as 
above). 6s. 

STEPS TO FRENCH. \Ztno. &/. 

FIRST FRENCH LESSONS. Crown Sv0. is. 

EASY FRENCH PASSAGES FOR UNSEEN TRANSLA- 
TION. Second Edition. Fcap. Svo. is. 6d. 

EASY FRENCH EXERCISES ON ELEMENTARY SYN- 
TAX. With Vocabulary. Crown Svo. 2s. 6d. 

FRENCH VOCABULARIES FOR REPETITION : Arranged 
according to Subjects. Third Edition. Fcap. Svo. is. 

FRENCH EXAMINATION PAPERS IN MISCELLANE- 
OUS GRAMMAR AND IDIOMS. Seventh Edition. Crown 
Svo. 2s. 6d. KEY (issued as above). 6s. 

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE EXAMINATION PAPERS. 
Second Edition. Crown Svo. 2s. 6d. KEY (issued as above). 7-f. 



32 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 

School Examination Series 

Edited by A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. Crown 8w. 2s. 6d. 
FRENCH EXAMINATION PAPERS IN MISCELLANE- 
OUS GRAMMAR AND IDIOMS. By A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. 
Sixth Edition. 

A KEY, issued to Tutors and Private Students only, to be had on 
application to the Publishers. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 

LATIN EXAMINATION PAPERS IN MISCELLANEOUS 
GRAMMAR AND IDIOMS. By A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. 
Fourth Edition. KEY (issued as above). 6s. 

GREEK EXAMINATION PAPERS IN MISCELLANEOUS 
GRAMMAR AND IDIOMS. By A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. 
Third Edition. KEY (issued as above). 6s. 

GERMAN EXAMINATION PAPERS IN MISCELLANE- 
OUS GRAMMAR AND IDIOMS. By R. J. MORICH, Man- 
chester. Third Edition. KEY (issued as above). 6s. 

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY EXAMINATION PAPERS. 
By C. H. SPENCE, M.A., Clifton College. 

SCIENCE EXAMINATION PAPERS. By R. E. STEEL, M.A., 
F.C.S., Chief Natural Science Master Bradford Grammar School. 
In three vols. Part /., Chemistry ; Part //., Physics. 

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE EXAMINATION PAPERS. 
By A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. Second Edition. KEY (issued as 
above). 7*. 

Primary Classics 

With Introductions, Notes, and Vocabularies. iSmo. is. and is. 6d, 

FIRST LATIN READER. By A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. is. 6d. 

EASY SELECTIONS FROM CAESAR THE HELVETIAN 
WAR. Edited by A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. is. 

EASY SELECTIONS FROM LIVY THE KINGS OF 
ROME. Edited by A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. is. 6d. 

EASY SELECTIONS FROM HERODOTUS THE PER- 
SIAN WARS. Edited by A. G. LIDDELL, M.A. is. 6d. 



University of California 

SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 

405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 

Return this material to the library 

from which it was borrowed. 




DC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACIL1T 



A 000 040 043