{7} The form of land-holding among the early Germans has been the subject of much study and investigation. Chapters 16 and 26 of Tacitus have been discussed and commented on at great length by many scholars and no absolute agreement has been reached in regard to the interpretation of them. The above translation is as literal and untechnical as we could make it, but it is not free from objection. It would seem to mean that the land of the tribe was held by small groups or communities dwelling in little farming villages and cultivating the land assigned them. The land in the time of Tacitus was probably owned in common by the community and apportioned equally among the householders for the purpose of cultivation, and then redistributed at regular periods, once a year according to Tacitus. {8} In order to understand the conditions of German life as described by Tacitus, the student would do well to pick out, bring together, and classify all that he says in different places about the important features of their life: (1) the king, his election, powers, etc.; (2) the assemblies, their composition, procedure, authority; (3) the officials; (4) manners and customs. {9} The chapters devoted to the enumeration and description of the separate tribes have been summarized, the purpose being to show the location and the names of the tribes in the time of Tacitus; the student should compare these with the situation as shown by a map of Europe at the time of the migrations. Note that very few of these names appear at the time of the migrations; this is because most of the tribes had lost their identity before that time, being united into larger groups, or absorbed by other peoples, as by the Huns, Romans, etc. Of the tribes mentioned before the Suebi, most were later united into the confederations of the Franks, Alamanni, and Saxons; thus the Chatti, Chamavi, Chasuarii, etc., are found among the Franks; the Tencteri, Usipii among the Alamanni; the Chauci, Cherusci, Angrivarii among the Saxons. The Frisii remained in the same region and were finally added to the Frankish kingdom by Karl Martel; their name still exists in the Friesland of modern Holland. The Ubii were settled by M. Agrippa on land near Cologne, the Roman town Colonia Agrippina. The Agri Decumates or "tithe lands" were the territory contained within the triangle formed by the upper Rhine, the upper Danube, and a line of fortifications, called the _Limes_. This advanced frontier was established by Trajan (98-117). The territory received its name from the fact that the colonists who settled there paid a tithe or tenth of the produce to the state as rent. Under the name Suebi, Tacitus classes a great many tribes, some of whom are not even of German race. The real nature of the Suevic Confederation is a matter of great uncertainty. Some of the tribes mentioned by Tacitus under this head appear later; the Semnones are conjectured to be