The king was chosen from among them and was not the lord, as is usual with the leaders of warlike semi-barbarous races, but the representative of his tribe, and was therefore not only chosen for his bravery but for his distinction. The army consisted of all the freemen. Besides this so-called _heerbann_ (militia), at times when no war was being carried on by the whole tribe, individual bodies of troops were formed, who attached themselves to a brave leader for some special undertakings. They constituted his following, and fought under his leadership for fame and booty. The greater the following of a noble, the greater the influence which he held in the national assembly. Justice was carried out by a chosen judge who was called “graf” (count), from the word _grau_--grey, _i.e._, the eldest, and who had a number of householders as assistants. Punishments were considered as compensations, and decided according to that principle; even murder was atoned for by the judge deciding the damages to be paid to the relations of the person slain. The Romans only give us very superficial information concerning the religion of the ancient Germans. That they acknowledged many gods is about all we can determine with certainty. If, as is generally done, the legends of the ancient Scandinavians written in the Middle Ages are added to the Roman reports, two detailed accounts are obtained concerning the gods and myths of the Germans; but it is very doubtful if the older inhabitants of Germany proper, who alone are spoken of in the Roman histories, had one and the same faith and worship as the Scandinavians. According to the usual theory, the principal god of the Germans was Woden or Odin; as the god ruling over all, the “All-father”; and as the founder of the German race he was called Tuisko. Next to him came his elder sons, the god of thunder, Thonar or Thor, whose memory is still preserved in the word Thursday, and the god of war, Tyr or Tir from whose name the word Tuesday is derived. Woden’s wife and the goddess of marriage was Freia, to whom Friday was dedicated. Another wife of Woden was Hertha, or the goddess of the earth. Besides these the Scandinavians honoured the god of poetry, Bragi; Balder, the hero of the gods distinguished for his beauty; the goddess of youth, Iduna; the Norns or goddesses of fate and other divinities. The Scandinavians had just as many poetical myths concerning the life and fate of the gods as the ancient Greeks. Besides the gods, they believed in two unseen worlds of giants and dwarfs. They also believed in immortality, and depicted the life after death in their own fashion. For example, they thought that those who fell in battle lived in the palace of Valhalla with Woden, and spent their time fighting, hunting, and drinking, and at their banquets were attended by the Valkyries, or goddesses of battle, who spun the web of the battle with terrible songs.