[11] The canton was known to the Romans as a _pagus_ and to the Germans themselves as a _gau_. It was made up of a number of districts, or townships (Latin _vicus_, German _dorf_), and was itself a division of a tribe or nation. [12] A later law of the Salian Franks imposed a fine of 120 _denarii_ upon any man who should accuse another of throwing down his shield and running away, without being able to prove it [see p. 64]. [13] Many of the western tribes at the time Tacitus wrote did not have kings, though in eastern Germany the institution of kingship seems to have been quite general. The office, where it existed, was elective, but the people rarely chose a king outside of a privileged family, assumed to be of divine origin. [14] Evidently these were not images of their gods, for in another place (Chap. 9) Tacitus tells us that the Germans deemed it a dishonor to their deities to represent them in human form. The images were probably those of wild beasts, as the wolf of Woden (or Odin), or the ram of Tyr, and were national standards preserved with religious care in the sacred groves, whence they were brought forth when the tribe was on the point of going to war. [15] The German popular assembly was simply the periodical gathering of free men in arms for the discussion and decision of important points of tribal policy. It was not a legislative body in the modern sense. Law among the Germans was immemorial custom, which, like religion, could be changed only by a gradual shifting of popular belief and practice. It was not "made" by any process of deliberate and immediate choice. Nevertheless, the assembly constituted an important democratic element in the government, which operated in a measure to offset the aristocratic element represented by the _principes_ and _comitatus_ [see p. 28]. Its principal functions were the declaring of war and peace, the election of the kings, and, apparently, the hearing and deciding of graver cases at law. [16] This relation of _principes_ (chiefs) and _comites_ (companions) is mentioned by Caesar [see p. 22]. The name by which the Romans designated the band of companions, or followers, of a German chieftain was _comitatus_. [17] Apparently the Germans did not now care much more for agriculture than in the time of Caesar. The women, slaves, and old men sowed some seeds and gathered small harvests, but the warrior class held itself above such humble and unexciting employment. The raising of cattle afforded a principal means of subsistence, though hunting and fishing contributed considerably. [18] Compare the Germans and the North American Indians in this respect. The great contrast between these two peoples lay in the capacity of the one and the comparative incapacity of the other for development.