ANCESTORS OF THE FRENCH AND THE GERMANS. The tribes living in Gaul were not at that time called French, but Gallic. The Gauls were like the Britons who lived across the Channel in Britain. The German ancestors of the English had not yet crossed the North Sea to that land. Beyond the Rhine lived the Germans, who had but little to do with the Romans and the Greeks and were still barbarians. The Gauls living farthest away from the Roman settlements were not much more civilized. The principal difference between the Germans and the Gauls was that the Gauls lived in villages and towns and cultivated the land or dug in mines or traded along the rivers, while the Germans had no towns and dwelt in clearings of the forest. Their wealth, like that of the early Romans, was their cattle. The land they cultivated was divided between them year after year, so that a German owned only his hut and the plot of ground or garden about it. Some of the towns of the Gauls were placed on high hills and were protected by strong walls. THE TERRIBLE GERMANS. The Romans had at first been afraid of the Gauls, because they had never forgotten how terribly these people had once defeated them. But since that time they had fought the Gauls so often that they were losing this fear. They now dreaded more to meet the Germans, who seemed like giants because they were taller even than the Gauls. [Illustration: GALLIC WARRIORS] GALLIC AND GERMAN WARRIORS. The leaders of the Germans were sometimes kings and sometimes nobles whom the Romans called _duces_, from which comes our word duke. The Gallic chieftains were adorned with gold necklaces, bracelets, and rings. When they went out to battle, they wore helmets shaped like the head of some ravenous beast, and their bodies were protected by coats of chain armor made of iron rings. Their principal weapon was a long, heavy sword. Both German and Gallic nobles were accompanied by bands of young men, their devoted followers, who shared the joys of victory or died with them in case of defeat. It was a disgrace to lose one's sword or to survive if the leader was killed. HOW THE GERMANS LIVED. When the Germans were not fighting they were idle, for all work was done by women and slaves. They were great drinkers and gamblers, and often in their games a man would stake his freedom upon the result. If he lost, he became the slave of the winner. The Germans respected their wives, even if they compelled them to do the hard work. The women sometimes went with the men to battle, and their cries encouraged the warriors, or if the warriors wavered, the fierce reproaches of the women drove them back to the fight.