Germanic Sources
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Pacatus: Panegyric to the Emperor Theodosius: Translated with notes and introduction by C.E.V.NIXON, Macquarie University. TTH3, 122pp, 8.50, ISBN 0-85323-076- 5 (currently out of print)
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Pactus Legis Salicae (Salian Law) sixth-century Frankish law still had a special fine for the theft of sacrificial boars Pactus Legis Salicae 2. 16
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Panegyric: In Honour of Constanius, XXXIV;
By the year 350, both the Saxons and the Franks became mercenaries fighting for and against the Romans. Julian (later emperor) described them as the fiercest of the tribes who lived beyond the Rhine; Vol 001 (November 1991) Verso Books; ISBN: 086091559X
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Paterculus, Gaius Velleius: Roman History: served as army officer on the Rhine frontier after defeat of Varus in 9 CE. The Germans inspired fear and terror at this time. He called the Germans inhuman savages, feri; This was an extreme view of one who encountered Germans in crisis but this viewpoint is echoed in other sources at later dates. The Germans were seen as tall ferocious northerners, a dire threat even to the best army of the ancient world. Giving a brief account of the Varus disaster, Paterculus' passage lays blame for the disaster very much on Varus and gives the names of two of his senior officers;
History of Rome II.cvi.1-3; LCL online
http://www.hillsdale.edu/dept/History/Documents/War/Classical/Rome/9-TuetoburgForest.htm
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Velleius_Paterculus/2D.html
History of Rome II.106.1-3; From LCL
106. (1) Ye Heavens, how large a volume could be filled with the tale of our achievements in the following summer under the generalship of Tiberius Caesar! All Germany was traversed by our armies, races were conquered hitherto almost unknown, even by name; and the tribes of the Cauchi were again subjugated. All the flower of their youth, infinite in number though they were, huge of stature and protected by the ground they held, surrendered their arms, and, flanked by a gleaming line of our soldiers, fell with their generals upon their knees before the tribunal of the commander. (2) The power of the Langobardi was broken, a race surpassing even the Germans in savagery; and finally - and this is something which has never before been entertained even as a hope, much less actually attempted - a Roman army with its standards was led four hundred miles beyond the Rhine as far as the river Elbe, which flows past the territories of the Semnones and the Hermunduri. (3) And with the same wonderful combination of careful planning and good fortune on the part of the general, and a close watch upon the seasons, the fleet which had skirted the windings of the sea coast sailed up the Elbe from a sea hitherto unheard of and unknown, and after proving victorious over many tribes effected a junction with Caesar and the army, bringing with it a great abundance of supplies of all kinds.
The Battle of Teutoburg Forest, 9 August 9 CE (Varus disasater) Caesar had but just concluded the war in Pannonia and Dalmatia, when, within five days after the final determination of it, mournful news arrived from Germany; that Varus was killed, three legions cut to pieces, as many troops of cavalry, and six cohorts....
The occasion, and the character of the leader, demand some attention. Quintilius Varus was born of a noble rather than illustrious family, was of a mild disposition, of sedate manners, and being somewhat indolent as well, in body as in mind, was more accustomed to ease in a camp than to action in the field. How far he was from despising money, Syria, of which he had been governor, afforded proof; for, going a poor man into that rich province, he became a rich man, and left it a poor province. Being appointed commander of the army in Germany, he imagined that the inhabitants had nothing human but the voice and limbs, and that men who could not be tamed by the sword, might be civilized by law. With this notion, having marched into the heart of Germany, as if among people who delighted in the sweets of peace, he spent the summer in deciding controversies, and ordering the pleadings before a tribunal.
But those people, though a person unacquainted with them would hardly believe it, are, while extremely savage, exquisitely artful, a race, indeed, formed by nature for deceit; and, accordingly, by introducing fictitious disputes one after another, by sometimes prosecuting each other for pretended injuries, and then returning thanks for the decision of these suits by Roman equity, for the civilization of their barbarous state by this new system, and for the determination by law of disputes which used to be determined by arms, they at length lulled Quintilius into such a perfect feeling of security, that he fancied himself a city praetor dispensing justice in the forum, instead of the commander of an army in the middle of Germany.
It was at this time that a youth of illustrious birth, the son of Segimer, prince of that nation, named Arminius, brave in action, quick in apprehension, and of activity of mind far beyond the state of barbarism, showing in his eyes and countenance the ardor of his feelings (a youth who had constantly accompanied our army in the former war, and had obtained the privileges of a Roman citizen, and the rank of a knight), took advantage of the general's indolence to perpetrate an act of atrocity, not unwisely judging that no man is more easily cut off than he who feels no fear, and that security is very frequently the commencement of calamity. He communicated his thoughts at first to a few, and afterward to more, stating to them, and assuring them, that the Romans might be cut off by surprise; he then proceeded to add action to resolution, and fixed a time for carrying a plot into action. Notice of this intention was given to Varus by Segestes, a man of that nation, worthy of credit, and of high rank; but fate was not to be opposed by warnings, and had already darkened the mental vision of the Roman general.... Varus refused to credit the information, asserting that he felt a trust in the good will of the people, proportioned to his kindness toward them. However, after this first premonition, there was no time left for a second.
The circumstances of this most dreadful calamity, than which none more grievous ever befell the Romans in a foreign country, since the destruction of Crassus in Parthia, I will endeavor to relate in my larger history, as has been done before. At present we can only lament the whole. An army unrivaled in bravery, the flower of the Roman troops in discipline, vigor, and experience in war, was brought, through the supineness of its leader, the perfidy of the enemy, and the cruelty of Fortune, into a situation utterly desperate (in which not even an opportunity was allowed the men of extricating themselves by fighting, as they wished, some being even severely punished by the general, for using Roman arms with Roman spirit), and, hemmed in by woods, lakes, and bodies of the enemy in ambush, was entirely cut off by those foes whom they had ever before slaughtered like cattle, and of whose life and death the mercy or severity of the Romans has always been the arbitrator.
The leader showed some spirit in dying, though none in fighting; for, imitating the example of his father and grandfather, he ran himself through with his sword. Of two prefects of the camp, Lucius Eggius gave as honorable an example of valor as Ceionius gave of baseness; for, after the sword had destroyed the greater part of the army, Ceionius advised a surrender, choosing to die by the hand of an executioner rather than in battle. Numonius Vala, a lieutenant-general under Varus, who in other cases conducted himself as a modest and well-meaning man, was on this occasion guilty of abominable treachery; for, leaving the infantry uncovered by the cavalry, he fled with the horse of the allies, and attempted to reach the Rhine. Fortune took vengeance on his misdeed; for he did not survive his deserted countrymen, but perished in the act of desertion. The savage enemy mangled the half-burned body of Varus; his head was cut off, and brought to Marobodus, and being sent by him to Caesar, was at length honored with burial in the sepulcher of his family.
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Paulus Diaconus, (Paul the Deacon) c.672-688? Historia Langobardorum - History of the Langobards, 1907, trans. by William Dudley Foulke; reprinted 1974 as History of the Lombards, ISBN 081227671X and 0812210794
online at Northvegr /media/mmc1/world_faiths/www.northvegr.org-relative-n/lore/langobard/index.html
[Hist. Lang. 1.9): 'Wotan ... is the one who among the Romans is called Mercury and is adored as a god by all the peoples of Germania.'
From the Inroduction by Dr. Edward Peters to the reprint of History of the Lombards:
When Paul the Deacon undertook to write the history of his own people, he wrote in a tradition that had already been transformed by Bede, and he wrote at the end of a life that had witnessed many of the most important affairs in the western world: the flowering of Lombard culture and society under Luitprand; the life of the courts at Pavia and Bcnevento; the beginnings of what has come to be called "the Carolmgian Renaissance" under Charlemagne; the religious and literary revival in Gaul, Britain, and Italy in the eighth century; and the complex affairs of diplomacy and politics that had weakened the Byzantine hold on Italy, destroyed the Lombard kingdom, and propelled Charlemagne to the eve of his imperial coronation in 800. Moreover, Paul was an astute and emotional observer, personally touched by many of these events and personally acquainted with many of their participants. He possessed a deep affection for his own people, certainly as great as that which he felt for Charlemagne, probably greater. Although the variety of materials with which he had to work were inadequate, Paul did have several decades as a historical writer already behind him, as well as the experience of a lively literary culture in Italy and Gaul to support his efforts. He recognized Charlemagne's own spiritual claims to hegemony in the Latin and Germanic Christian world, but he also respected the spiritual traditions of the Lombards. It is in Paul's ability to write a national history of a single people - weaving in the major strands from the Byzantine and Frankish worlds outside, focusing upon the Christianization and spiritualizing of the Lombard people, and aware of the richness of ecclesiastical history - that his value lies. It appears that Paul died before he could finish his history.
He worked briefly upon an edition of the letters of Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) for his friend Adalhard (Abbot of Corbie); wrote a Life of Gregory; a commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict that later influenced other commentaries during the Benedictine reforms of the early ninth century; composed two volumes of Homilies that Charlemagne later recommended to his own clergy for use in the Frankish church; and, as his last work, the History of the Lombards.
A glance on Paul's slim sources for Lombard history makes his achievement even more remarkable.[1] The documents known as the Origo Gentis Langobardorum and the lost history of the Lombards by Secundus of Trent offered him little with which to work, but his literary skill, erudition, and cosmopolitan vision produced a work that is, in its way, as great as Bede's and as colorful and lively as that of Gregory of Tours. Where his work is weakest is precisely upon exact points of chronology, and although the Latin of his History is far simpler tlian he could have made it, Paul's portraits of individuals and scenes possess both strength and sophistication. From the meticulous description of the provinces nf Italy (II, 15-24) to the dramatic escape of the young Grimoald from the Avars (IV, 37), Paul's pace varies. Episodes of great clarity and effect pass alongside the invasions of Arabs, Avars, Byzantines, Franks, the affairs of the papacy, bishops, monasteries, and the constant intrusion of the supernatural world into the affairs of humans in the shape of omens, miracles, and divine retribution. Only in the last book does the style lag, and that is perhaps because Paul himself was dying and did not have time to revise and polish his work. For five full books, however, and in parts of the sixth, the History of the Lonmbards constitutes one of the most important literary sources for the early history of Europe, and the vision and energy of its author makes it, despite its apparent simplicity, the most complex of the histories of the Germanic peoples between the sixth and the ninth centuries.
Historia Langobardorum Codicis Gothani; wrote about the Lombards
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/pauldeacon-gregIa.html
Davis Introduction: Gregory I (the Great)(Pope, 590-604 A.D.), was perhaps the greatest pontiff who ever reigned on the throne of St. Peter. No problem he confronted was more baffling than that of the Lombards, the latest and the fiercest invaders of Italy, who were threatening the very gates of Rome. Although left practically without support by the Eastern Emperor, Gregory by the mingling of a show of authority and of skillful negotiation brought about a tolerable peace, and established friendly relations with the Lombard court at Pavia. Gregory was prince of Rome in all but name, and did much to found the temporal power of the Papacy.
In these days [593 A.D.] the most sage and holy Pope Gregory of Rome, after he had composed many other things for the use of the holy Church, also endited four books of the Life of the Saints. This writing he called a dialogue, which is a conversation of two persons, because he had produced it in discourse with his deacon Peter. The aforesaid Pope then sent these books to the Queen Theudelinda [of the Lombards], whom he knew to be undoubtedly devoted to the faith of Christ and distinguished in good works.
By means of this queen, too, the Church of God procured much that was serviceable. For the Lombards, when they were still bound in the error of heathenism, seized nearly all the property of the churches, but the king [Agilulf, her husband], moved by her wholesome supplications, not only embraced the Catholic faith, but also bestowed much wealth upon the Church of Christ, and restored to the honor of their accustomed dignity certain bishops who were in a straitened and abject condition.
Presently resenting some aggressions of the exarch of Ravenna, King Agilulf straightway marched out of Pavia with a great army and attacked the city of Perugia, and there for some days he besieged Maurisio, the duke of the Lombards who had gone over to the Romans, and speedily took him and slew him. The blessed Pope Gregory was so sorely alarmed at the approach of this king that he ceased from his commentary upon the temple mentioned in Ezekiel, as he himself declares in his homilies. King Agilulf then, when matters were settled, returned to Pavia, and not long afterward, upon the special instigation of his wife, Queen Theudelinda---since the blessed Pope Gregory had frequently so admonished her in his letters---he concluded a firm peace with the same most holy Pope Gregory and with the Romans, and that venerable prelate dispatched to this queen this letter, as expression of his gratitude:---Gregory to Theudelinda, Queen of the Lombards: We have learned from the report of our son, the abbot Probus, that your Highness has consecrated yourself, as you are wont, zealously and magnanimously to making peace. Nor was it to be presumed otherwise from your Christianity but that you would show to all men your labor and your goodness in the cause of peace. Therefore we render thanks to God Almighty, who thus rules your heart by His affection, that he has not only given unto you the true faith, but that He also grants that you devote yourself always to the things which are pleasing to him. For think not, most noble daughter, that you have obtained but scant reward for staying the blood that would otherwise have been poured out on either side. On account of this act we return thanks for your good will, and invoke the mercy of our God that He may mete out to you a recompense of good things in body and soul, both here and hereafter. Do you, therefore, according to your wont, every busy yourself with the things that relate to the welfare of the parties, and take pains to commend your good actions more fully in the eyes of God Almighty, wherever an opportunity may be given to win His reward.
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Pausanias, Description of Greece:
http://perseus.csad.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+8.43.1
Arcadia
43. This emperor the Romans called Pius, because he showed himself to be a most religious man. [6] In my opinion he might also be justly called by the same title as the elder Cyrus, who was styled Father of Men. He left to succeed him a son of the same name. This Antoninus the second brought retribution both on the Germans, the most numerous and warlike barbarians in Europe, and also on the Sarmatian nation, both of whom had been guilty of beginning a war of aggression.
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Peutinger Map (!) a Roman map which has an inscription north of the Rhine 'Hamavi qui et Franci' ; possible translation: 'the Chamavi who are also called Franks'
From: The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History by Colin McEvedy (1967) ISBN 0140511512
The Peutinger Map is not really a map at all but a diagram. It shows the road system of the ancient world and, as with present-day equivalents for railway networks, the aim is to present the stations and interchanges clearly rather than get the geography right. However the Peutinger Map is distorted as well as simplified because it was originally drawn on a papyrus roll 25 feet long but only one foot wide. To get the known world from England to China on to this ribbon meant pulling everything out horizontally to the point where a single segment became unrecognizable.
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Pirminius c. 710-724, Scarapsus (!): abbot, founder of the monastery of Reichenau; copies the De correctione rusticorum concerning pagan practices.
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Pliny the Elder (Caius Plinius), 23 - 79 CE: Bella Germaniae; an account of the Germanic wars and 'historia naturalis'; Pliny the Elder carried his 'German Wars' down to about the death of Claudius. It was obviously a work of the first importance, but it is completely lost. Pliny had served on on both the lower and upper Rhine, and so could depend on personal observation, as well as on the evidence of friends. He continued this work (a fine Aufidii Bassi) to the time of Vespasian.
Natural History, Healy Tr Pliny, 0140444130
Burgundians: IV.99; also: II.xxvii.186-187, II.xcix.217, II.cxii.246, IV.xiii.94-IV.xvi.104, VI.xxxix.219-220, VIII.xvi.39, XXXVII.xi.42-46;
From LCL:
LXXVII. (186) Thus it comes about that owing to the varied lengthening of daylight the longest day covers 12 and 8/9 equinoctial hours at Meroe, but 14 hours at Alexandria, 15 in Italy, and 17 in Britain, where the light nights in summer substantiate what theory compels us to believe, that, as on summer days the sun approaches nearer to the top of the world, owing to a narrow circuit of light the underlying parts of the earth have continuous days for 6 months at a time, and continuous nights when the sun has withdrawn in the opposite direction towards winter. (187) Pytheas of Marseilles writes that this occurs in the island of Thule, 6 days' voyage N. from Britain, and some declare it also to occur in the Isle of Anglesea, which is about 200 miles from the British town of Colchester.
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Pliny the Younger, (Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus) 61/62-113 CE, Selected Letters, c 100 CE
Online: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/pliny-letters.html
Letters Of The Younger Pliny, ISBN 0140441271
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, usually known as Pliny the Younger, was born at Como in 62 CE. He was only eight years old when his father, Caecilius, died, and he was adopted by his uncle, the elder Pliny, author of the "Natural History." He was carefully educated, studying rhetoric under Quintilian and other famous teachers, and he became the most eloquent pleader of his time. In this and in much else he imitated Cicero, who had by this time come to be the recognized master of Latin style. While still young he served as military tribune in Syria, but he does not seem to have taken zealously to a soldier's life. On his return he entered politics under the Emperor Domitian, and in the year 100 CE. was appointed consul by Trajan and admitted to confidential intercourse with that emperor. Later, while he was governor of Bithynia, he was in the habit of submitting every point of policy to his master, and the correspondence between Trajan and himself, which forms the last part of the present selection, is of a high degree of interest, both on account of the subjects discussed and for the light thrown upon the characters of the two men. He is supposed to have died about 113 CE. Pliny's speeches are now lost, with the exception of one, a panegyric on Trajan delivered in thanksgiving for the consulate. This, though diffuse and somewhat too complimentary for modern taste, became a model for this kind of composition. The others were mostly of two classes, forensic and political, many of the latter being, like Cicero's speech against Verres, impeachments of provincial governors for cruelty and extortion toward their subjects. In these, as in his public activities in general, he appears as a man of public spirit and integrity; and in his relations with his native town he was a thoughtful and munificent benefactor.
XX To Macrinus
The senate decreed yesterday, on the emperor's motion, a triumphal statue to Vestricius Spurinna: not as they would to many others, who never were in action, or saw a camp, or heard the sound of a trumpet, unless at a show; but as it would be decreed to those who have justly bought such a distinction with their blood, their exertions, and their deeds. Spurinna forcibly restored the king of the Bructeri (1) to his throne; and this by the noblest kind of victory; for he subdued that warlike people by the terror of the mere display of his preparation for the campaign.
XXVII To Baebius Macer
It gives me great pleasure to find you such a reader of my uncle's works as to wish to have a complete collection of them, and to ask me for the names of them all. I will act an index then, and you shall know the very order in which they were written, for the studious reader likes to know this.
"The History of the Wars in Germany," in twenty books, in which he gave an account of all the battles we were engaged in against that nation. A dream he had while serving in the army in Germany first suggested the design of this work to him. He imagined that Drusus Nero (2) (who extended his conquest very far into the country, and there lost his life) appeared to him in his sleep, and entreated him to rescue his memory from oblivion.
He has completed the history which Aufidius Bassus (3) left unfinished, and has added to it thirty books.
[Footnote 2: Stepson of Augustus and brother to Tiberius. And amiable an popular prince. He died at the close of his third campaign, from a fracture received by falling from his horse.]
[Footnote 3: A historian under Augustus and Tiberius. He wrote part of a history of Rome, which was continued by the elder Pliny; also an account of the German war, to which Quintilian makes allusion (Inst. x. 103), pronouncing him, as a historian, "estimable in all respects, yet in some things failing to do himself justice."]
Letters of Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, translated by William Melmoth, rev. by F.C.T. Bosanquet. With introductions and notes. New York, P. F. Collier [c1909], The Harvard classics v.9.
Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
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Plutarch (50 - 120 CE) wrote on the lives of several Roman rulers.
Available online: http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/index.html
Life of Caius Marius; Caesar; Crassus;
Caesar (died 44 B.C.E.) by Plutarch; written 75 A.C.E.
Translated by John Dryden; The Internet Classics Archive
His first war in Gaul was against the Helvetians and Tigurini, who having burnt their own towns, twelve in number, and four hundred villages, would have marched forward through that part of Gaul which was included in the Roman province, as the Cimbrians and Teutons formerly had done. Nor were they inferior to these in courage; and in numbers they were equal, being in all three hundred thousand, of which one hundred and ninety thousand were fighting men. After a long and severe combat, he drove the main army out of the field, but found the hardest work at their carriages and ramparts, where not only the men stood and fought, but the women also and children defended themselves till they were cut to pieces; insomuch that the fight was scarcely ended till midnight. This action, glorious in itself, Caesar crowned with another yet more noble, by gathering in a body all the barbarians that had escaped out of the battle, above one hundred thousand in number, and obliging them to re-occupy the country which they had deserted and the cities which they had burnt. This he did for fear the Germans should pass it and possess themselves of the land whilst it lay uninhabited.
His second war was in defence of the Gauls against the Germans, though some time before he had made Ariovistus, their king, recognized at Rome as an ally. But they were very insufferable neighbours to those under his government; and it was probable, when occasion offered, they would renounce the present arrangements, and march on to occupy Gaul. But finding his officers timorous, and especially those of the young nobility who came along with him in hopes of turning their campaigns with him into a means for their own pleasure or profit, he called them together, and advised them to march off, and not run the hazard of a battle against their inclinations, since they had such weak unmanly feelings; telling them that he would take only the tenth legion and march against the barbarians, whom he did not expect to find an enemy more formidable than the Cimbri, nor, he added, should they find him a general inferior to Marius. Upon this, the tenth legion deputed some of their body to pay him their acknowledgments and thanks, and the other legions blamed their officers, and all, with great vigour and zeal, followed him many days' journey, till they encamped within two hundred furlongs of the enemy. Ariovistus's courage to some extent was cooled upon their very approach; for never expecting the Romans would attack the Germans, whom he had thought it more likely they would not venture to withstand even in defence of their own subjects, he was the more surprised at conduct, and saw his army to be in consternation. They were still more discouraged by the prophecies of their holy women, who foretell the future by observing the eddies of rivers, and taking signs from the windings and noise of streams, and who now warned them not to engage before the next new moon appeared. Caesar having had intimation of this, and seeing the Germans lie still, thought it expedient to attack them whilst they were under these apprehensions, rather than sit still and wait their time. Accordingly he made his approaches to the strongholds and hills on which they lay encamped, and so galled and fretted them that at last they came down with great fury to engage. But he gained a signal victory, and pursued them for four hundred furlongs, as far as the Rhine; all which space was covered with spoils and bodies of the slain. Ariovistus made shift to pass the Rhine with the small remains of an army, for it is said the number of the slain amounted to eighty thousand.
After this, Caesar returned again to his forces in Gaul, when he found that country involved in a dangerous war, two strong nations of the Germans having lately passed the Rhine to conquer it; one of them called the Usipes, the other the Tenteritae. Of the war with the people, Caesar himself has given this account in his commentaries, that the barbarians, having sent ambassadors to treat with him, did, during the treaty, set upon him in his march, by which means with eight hundred men they routed five thousand of his horse, who did not suspect their coming; that afterwards they sent other ambassadors to renew the same fraudulent practices, whom he kept in custody, and led on his army against the barbarians, as judging it mere simplicity to keep faith with those who had so faithlessly broken the terms they had agreed to. But Tanusius states that when the senate decreed festivals and sacrifices for this victory, Cato declared it to be his opinion that Caesar ought to be given into the hands of the barbarians, that so the guilt which this breach of faith might otherwise bring upon the state might be expiated by transferring the curse on him, who was the occasion of it. Of those who passed the Rhine, there were four hundred thousand cut off; those few who escaped were sheltered by the Sugambri, a people of Germany. Caesar took hold of this pretence to invade the Germans, being at the same time ambitious of the honour of being the first man that should pass the Rhine with an army. He carried a bridge across it, though it was very wide, and the current at that particular point very full, strong, and violent, bringing down with its waters trunks of trees, and other lumber, which much shook and weakened the foundations of his bridge. But he drove great piles of wood into the bottom of the river above the passage, to catch and stop these as they floated down, and thus fixing his bridle upon the stream, successfully finished his bridge, which no one who saw could believe to be the work but of ten days.
In the passage of his army over it he met with no opposition; the Suevi themselves, who are the most warlike people of all Germany, flying with their effects into the deepest and most densely wooded valleys. When he had burnt all the enemy's country, and encouraged those who embraced the Roman interest, he went back into Gaul, after eighteen days' stay in Germany.
Life of Caius Marius xi, xv; From LCL
http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/c_marius.html
XI. (1) Soon, however, all this envy and hatred and slander of Marius was removed and dissipated by the peril which threatened Italy from the west, as soon as the state felt the need of a great general and looked about for a helmsman whom she might employ to save her from so great a deluge of war. Then the people would have nothing to do with anyone of high birth or of a wealthy house who offered himself at the consular elections, but proclaimed (2) Marius consul in spite of his absence from the city. For no sooner had word been brought to the people of the capture of Jugurtha than the reports about the Teutones and Cimbri fell upon their ears. What these reports said about the numbers and strength of the invading hosts was disbelieved at first, but afterwards it was found to be short of the truth. For three hundred thousand armed fighting men were advancing, and much larger hordes of women and children were said to accompany them, in quest of land to support so vast a multitude, and of cities in which to settle and live, just as the Gauls before them, as they learned, had wrested the best part of Italy from the Tyrrhenians and now occupied it. (3) They themselves, indeed, had not had intercourse with other peoples, and had traversed a great stretch of country, so that it could not be ascertained what people it was nor whence they had set out, thus to descend upon Gaul and Italy like a cloud. The most prevalent conjecture was that they were some of the German peoples which extended as far as the northern ocean, a conjecture based on their great stature, their light-blue eyes, and the fact that the Germans call robbers Cimbri.
(4) But there are some who say that Gaul was wide and large enough to reach from the outer sea and the subarctic regions to the Maeotic Lake on the east, where it bordered on Pontic Scythia, and that from that point on Gauls and Scythians were mingled. These mixed Gauls and Scythians had left their homes and moved westward, not in a single march, nor even continuously, but with each recurring spring they had gone forward, fighting their way, and in the course of time had crossed the continent. (5) Therefore, while they had many names for different detachments, they called their whole army by the general name of Galloscythians.
Others, however, say that the Cimmerians who were first known to the ancient Greeks were not a large part of the entire people, but merely a body of exiles or a faction which was driven away by the Scythians and passed from the Maeotic Lake into Asia under the lead of Lygdamis; (6) whereas the largest and most warlike part of the people dwelt at the confines of the earth along the outer sea, occupying a land that is shaded, wooded, and wholly sunless by reason of the height and thickness of the trees, which reach inland as far as the Hercynii; and as regards the heavens, they are under that portion of them where the pole gets a great elevation by reason of the declination of the parallels, and appears to have a position not far removed from the spectator's zenith, and a day and a night divide the year into two equal parts; which was of advantage to Homer in his story of Odysseus consulting the shades of the dead. (7) From these regions, then, these Barbarians sallied forth against Italy, being called at first Cimmerians, and then, not inappropriately, Cimbri. But all this is based on conjecture rather than on sure historical evidence.
(8) Their numbers, however, are given by many writers as not less, but more, than the figure mentioned above. Moreover, their courage and daring made them irresistible, and when they engaged in battle they came on with the swiftness and force of fire, so that no one could withstand their onset, but all who came in their way became their prey and booty, and even many large Roman armies, with their commanders, who had been stationed to protect Transalpine Gaul, were destroyed ingloriously; (9) indeed, by their feeble resistance they were mainly instrumental in drawing the on-rushing Barbarians down upon Rome. For when the invaders had conquered those who opposed them, and had got abundance of booty, they determined not to settle themselves anywhere until they had destroyed Rome and ravaged Italy.
XV. (1) Learning that the enemy were near, Marius rapidly crossed the Alps, and built a fortified camp along the river Rhone. Into this he brought together an abundance of stores, that he might never be forced by lack of provisions to give battle contrary to his better judgment. (2) The conveyance of what was needful for his army, which had previously been a long and costly process where it was by sea , he rendered easy and speedy. That is, the mouths of the Rhone, encountering the sea, took up great quantities of mud and sand packed close with clay by the action of the billows, and made the entrance of the river difficult, laborious, and slow for vessels carrying supplies. (3) So Marius brought his army to the place, since the men had nothing else to do, and ran a great canal. Into this he diverted a great part of the river and brought it round to a suitable place on the coast, a deep bay where large ships could float, and where the water could flow out smoothly and without waves to the sea .This canal, indeed, still bears the name of Marius.
(4) The Barbarians divided themselves into two bands, and it fell to the lot of the Cimbri to proceed through Noricum in the interior of the country against Catulus, and force a passage there, while the Teutones and Ambrones were to march through Liguria along the sea-coast against Marius. On the part of the Cimbri there was considerable delay and loss of time, but the Teutones and Ambrones set out at once, passed through the intervening country, and made their appearance before Marius. (5) Their numbers were limitless, they were hideous in their aspect, and their speech and cries were unlike those of other peoples. They covered a large part of the plain, and after pitching their camp challenged Marius to battle.
Crassus (legendary, died 53 B.C.E.) Written 75 C.E.
Online at: The Internet Classics Archive
(?)When Sylla passed over into Italy, he was anxious to put all the young men that were with him in employment; and as he despatched some one way, and some another, Crassus, on its falling to his share to raise men among the Marsians, demanded a guard, being to pass through the enemy's country, upon which Sylla replied sharply, "I give you for guard your father, your brother, your friends and kindred, whose unjust and cruel murder I am now going to revenge;" and Crassus, being nettled, went his way, broke boldly through the enemy, collected a considerable force, and in all Sylla's wars acted with great zeal and courage.
The consul Gellius, falling suddenly upon a party of Germans, who through contempt, and confidence had straggled from Spartacus, cut them all to pieces.
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Pompeius Trogus, (Cnaeus): 61 (!)
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Posidonius of Rhodes (c. 135-50 BCE) Syrian philosopher,
devoted to Germany the thirtieth of his fifty-two books of histories
"though we only know about Poseidonius when later authors attribute passages to him"
Poseidonius of Apamea: distinguished the Germans from Celts and Scythians. He visited Gaul and northern Italy, but clearly had no first-hand knowledge of lands and peoples further north. Sources likely not outstandingly informed. Cannot assume his writings were powerful influence on Caesar and Strabo as many modern scholars assume.
[E. Norden, Die germanische Urgeschichte in Tacitus' Germania (4th edn; Darmstadt 1959) is still influential in deriving much from Poseidonian tradition. The case is not without basis, but is overstated.]
L. Edelstein and I.G. Kidd, Posidonius: The Fragments (Cambridge 1972)
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Priscus of Panium (c. 450 CE): (+) Priscus wrote in Greek and as a historian was clearly influenced by the Greek descriptive writers, Herodotus and Xenophon. He was also, like Thucydides, a reporter of current events in which he participated. Priscus was a highly civilized man and an acute observer, who formed his own impressions and opinions. But he also had some of the prejudices common among people of his standing. As a Greek speaking Roman citizen he referred to Huns, Goths and other foreigners, whom he encountered, almost indiscriminately as 'barbarians' or 'Scythians'.
His History of Byzantium filled seven volumes. The greater part has been lost. He wrote on Attila who he visited from 447-450: fr. 8 in Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum; also in Jordanes, the Excerpta de Lergationibus, and John of Antioch's Chronicle; References: 123, 178, 183, 222, 254, 255
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Procopius of Caesarea: History of the Wars; wrote a number of official histories, including On the Wars in eight books [Polemon or De bellis], published 552, with an addition in 554.
Procopius of Caesarea (in Palestine) [born c.490/507- died c.560s] is the most important source for information about the reign of the emperor Justinian [born 482/3, ruled. 527-565] and his wife Theodora [d. 547/8]. From 527 to 531 Procopius was a counsel the great general of the time, Belisarius [505-565]. He was on Belisarius's first Persian campaign [527-531], and later took part in an expedition against the Vandals [533-534]. He was in Italy on the Gothic campaign until 540, after which he lived in Constantinople, since he describes the great plague of 542 in the capital. His life after that is largely unknown, although he was given the title illustris in 560 and in may have been prefect of Constantinople in 562-3. He wrote a number of official histories, including On the Wars in eight books [Polemon or De bellis], published 552, with an addition in 554.
Portions online: http://eric.anctil.org/history/src/
VOLUME II. BOOKS III-IV: THE VANDALIC WAR; ISBN: 0674990900
VOLUME III. BOOKS V-VI.15: THE GOTHIC WAR; ISBN: 0674991192
VOLUME IV. BOOKS VI.16-VII.35: THE GOTHIC WAR; ISBN: 0674991915 VOLUME V. BOOKS VII.36-VIII: THE GOTHIC WAR; ISBN: 0674992393
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Propertius, Sextus 4.6.77 (!) c.50 BCE-c.16 BCE, Roman elegiac poet, b. Umbria. He was a member of the circle of Maecenas. A master of the Latin elegy, he wrote with vigor, passion, and sincerity.
See translations by C. Carrier (1963) and J. Warden (1972); studies by M. Platnauer (1951) and D. R. S. Bailey (1956).
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Prosper of Aquitaine Chronicles; 433 CE; Covers 379-455
Chronicle 384 CE
"Maximus was made emperor in Britain in an uprising of the soldiery. He soon crossed to gaul. Gratian was defeated at paris owing to the treason of Merobaudes the magister militium, and was captured in flight at Lyon and killed. Maximus made his son Victor his colleague in power."
From: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XII Copyright © 1911
The "Chronicle" of Prosper, from the creation to A.D. 378, was an abridgment of St. Jerome's, with, however, some additional matter, e.g. the consuls for each year from the date of the Passion. There seem to have been three editions: the first continued up to 433, the second to 445, the third to 455. This chronicle is sometimes called the "Consular Chronicle", to distinguish it from another ascribed to Prosper where the years are reckoned according to the regnal years of the emperors and which is accordingly called the "Imperial Chronicle". This is certainly not the work of Prosper.
From Robert Vermaat
http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/artsou/prosp.htm
Prosper of Aquitaine, sometimes called Prosper Tiro, is likely to have been born around 390, although little of his early life is known to us. His youth was spent in dangerous times, as the Vandal invasions of 406 may have caused him to leave his home for the safer Provence and even make him turn to religion. Somewhere after 430 he moved to Rome, where he experienced the Vandal sack of 455. Later tradition portrays him as a notary of Pope Leo the Great (440-461).
Prosper began to write his Epitoma Chronicon in the first decades of the fifth century. The first certain references we have of him date to 427, when he engaged in a religious controversy. This sets the tone for his chronicles, whose theme is divided between affairs of the church and those of competing generals. Prosper wrote a continuation of Jerome's chronicle, of which he wrote an epitome, starting his own continuation from the year 378, the battle of Adrianople. Prosper wrote three editions of his chronicle, published in 433, 445 and 455.
The other theme of Prosper's chronicle is the disastrous in-fighting of the leading Roman generals, which he considered far more devastating than any barbarian invasion or settlement. Usurpers like Magnus Maximus, Constantine iii or others receive his uncompromising treatment: they were all bad and are mentioned only very shortly. Magnus Maximus is dealt with in only two entries:
Prosper's main attention goes to the leading military men: Constantius, Castinus, Boniface and Aetius. Prosper credited the revival of the empire to the actions of Constantius, Honorius' general who defeated Constantine iii and rid Gaul of the remaining tyrants (411-415). After the death of Constantius (421), the rivalry renewed itself in a collision between Castinus (supported by Goths) and Boniface (supported by Vandals). Prosper held the former responsible for losing to the Vandals in Spain, which were then let loose in North Africa (430), where they were responsible for the death of Augustine.
Following the death of Honorius (423), Castinus was exiled after his support for the usurper, John, after which the rivalry moved on to Boniface and Aetius (supported by Huns). It is clear that Prosper did not hold the barbarians responsible for the 'many troubles that befell the state', but the ambitious generals that allied themselves with them and so had an interest in not destroying them.
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Ptolemy, (Claudius): Geography (c. 150 CE) 2.10; 2.11.11; 2.11.5; 16; 19;
He recorded 69 tribes and 95 places, but was often inaccurate; only extensive source for the geography of northern Europe for between the first and fourth centuries.
Ptolemy's map of Germania: http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E/
Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/.Texts/Ptolemy/home.html also see: http://eric.anctil.org/history/src/
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Pytheas of Massalia, 320 BCE: On the Ocean; translator, Roseman; ISBN 0890055459
Pytheas of Marseilles: may have been the first Mediterranean observer to distinguish Germanoi from Keltoi; sailed around Britain and possibly Jutland to the Baltic; Geographical information is reliable. Widely disbelieved. Writings preserved only as quotations by others.
From Todd, The Northern Barbarians:
"From various passages in Strabo, Diodorus and Pliny, we hear that Pytheas sailed along the northern continental shore as far as the estuary Metuonis, which may be the Elbe, and the island Abalus, possibly Heligoland or one of the North Frisian group. He named two tribes, the Gutones or Guiones and the Teutones, the latter specializing in the collection of amber from the beaches. All this is credible and, like so much else in the surviving fragments of Pytheas, remarkably free from exaggeration. How far to the east he penetrated is unknown."
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