The Romans had their _cerevisia_ (beer) but with them it was a special luxury. Julius Cæsar was a noted admirer of it, and Plutarch, 50 A. D., and Suetonius, each of whom wrote of Cæsar, tell us that after he had crossed the Rubicon, 49 B. C., he gave a great feast to his leaders at which the principal beverage used was _cerevisia_, and the biographers of Lucullus tell us that at his magnificent entertainments beer was served to his guests in golden goblets of the most costly device. And at that time also the Romans were already accustomed to sing _Cerevisiam bibunt homines, cœtera animalia fontes_. In Germany beer was known about the same time, and Tacitus (54 A. D.,) says, that the Roman general Varius, who was sent by Augustus to conquer the country and subdue the inhabitants, but was defeated by Arminius the leader of the Teutons, attributed the desperate valor of the enemy and their complete success, in great measure to their free use of _bior_ (beer). The Allemanni, a large German tribe who were first mentioned by Dion Cassius, 213 A.D., and who occupied the country between the river Main and the Danube, were formidable enemies both to the Romans and the Gauls. They attached great importance to their beer which was brewed under the supervision of the priests, and before use was blessed with many solemn rites. In an old code of theirs we find that every member of a church (_Gotteshaus_) had to contribute for its maintenance fifteen _seidel_ of beer or some equivalent. The Emperor Julian who defeated them in the year 357 A. D., near Strasburg, where all their forces were assembled under seven chiefs, found on the field of battle numerous utensils designed to be employed in brewing. The old Saxons in the seventh and eighth centuries when sitting in council to consider questions of high importance would only deliberate after drinking beer, which they took in common out of large _Humpen_ (stone mugs).