write from experience among the Germans, as Caesar did, he nevertheless had given the subject a larger amount of deliberate study. Source--C. Cornelius Tacitus, _De Origine, Situ, Moribus, ac Populis Germanorum_ [known commonly as the "Germania"], Chaps. 4-24, _passim_. Adapted from translation by Alfred J. Church and William J. Brodribb (London, 1868), pp. 1-16. Text in numerous editions, as that of William F. Allen (Boston, 1882) and that of Henry Furneau (Oxford, 1894). [Sidenote: Physical characteristics] =4.= For my own part, I agree with those who think that the tribes of Germany are free from all trace of intermarriage with foreign nations, and that they appear as a distinct, unmixed race, like none but themselves. Hence it is that the same physical features are to be observed throughout so vast a population. All have fierce blue eyes, reddish hair, and huge bodies fit only for sudden exertion. They are not very able to endure labor that is exhausting. Heat and thirst they cannot withstand at all, though to cold and hunger their climate and soil have hardened them. [Sidenote: Their weapons and mode of fighting] =6.= Iron is not plentiful among them, as may be inferred from the nature of their weapons.[7] Only a few make use of swords or long lances. Ordinarily they carry a spear (which they call a _framea_), with a short and narrow head, but so sharp and easy to handle that the same weapon serves, according to circumstances, for close or distant conflict. As for the horse-soldier, he is satisfied with a shield and a spear. The foot-soldiers also scatter showers of missiles, each man having several and hurling them to an immense distance, and being naked or lightly clad with a little cloak. They make no display in their equipment. Their shields alone are marked with fancy colors. Only a few have corselets,[8] and just one or two here and there a metal or leather helmet.[9] Their horses are neither beautiful nor swift; nor are they taught various wheeling movements after the Roman fashion, but are driven straight forward so as to make one turn to the right in such a compact body that none may be left behind another. On the whole, one would say that the Germans' chief strength is in their infantry. It fights along with the cavalry, and admirably adapted to the movements of the latter is the swiftness of certain foot-soldiers, who are picked from the entire youth of their country and placed in front of the battle line.[10] The number of these is fixed, being a hundred from each _pagus_,[11] and from this they take their name among their countrymen, so that what was at the outset a mere number has now become a title of honor. Their line of battle is drawn up in the shape of a wedge. To yield ground, provided they return to the attack, is regarded as prudence rather than cowardice. The bodies