There is a sentence of Tacitus--the celebrated passage in the _Germania_--that refers to a German rite in which we really find all the military elements of the future chivalry. The scene took place beneath the shade of an old forest. The barbarous tribe is assembled, and one feels that a solemn ceremony is in preparation. Into the midst of the assembly advances a very young man, whom you can picture to yourself with sea-green eyes, long fair hair, and perhaps some tattooing. A chief of the tribe is present, who without delay places gravely in the hands of the young man a _framea_ and a buckler. Failing a sovereign ruler, it is the father of the youth, or some relative, who undertakes this delivery of weapons. "Such is the 'virile robe' of these people," as Tacitus well puts it; "such is the first honor of their youth. Till then the young man was only one in a family; he becomes by this rite a member of the Republic. _Ante hoc domus pars videtur: mox rei publicae_. This sword and buckler he will never abandon, for the Germans in all their acts, whether public or private, are always armed. So, the ceremony finished, the assembly separates, and the tribe reckons a _miles_--a warrior--the more. That is all!" The solemn handing of arms to the young German--such is the first germ of chivalry which Christianity was one day to animate into life. "_Vestigium vetus creandi equites seu milites_." It is with reason that Sainte-Palaye comments in the very same way upon the text of the _Germania_, and that a scholar of our own days exclaims with more than scientific exactness, "The true origin of _miles_ is this bestowal of arms which among the Germans marks the entry into civil life." No other origin will support the scrutiny of the critic, and he will not find anyone now to support the theory of Roman origin with Sainte-Marie, or that of the Arabian origin with Beaumont. There only remains to explain in this place the term knight (chevalier), but it is well known to be derived from _caballus_, which primarily signifies a beast of burden, a pack-horse, and has ended by signifying a war-horse. The knight, also, has always preserved the name of _miles_ in the Latin tongue of the Middle Ages, in which chivalry is always called _militia_. Nothing can be clearer than this. We do not intend to go further, however, without replying to two objections, which are not without weight, and which we do not wish to leave behind us unanswered.