Ancient Germanic Land and Resources
There are some varieties in the appearance of the country, but broadly it is a land of bristling forests and unhealthy marshes; the rainfall is heavier on the side of…
From: Unknown To: 120 C.E.
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Land and Resources
From Dialogus, Agricola, Germania by Cornelius Tacitus, translated by William Peterson, 1914.
There are some varieties in the appearance of the country, but broadly it is a land of bristling forests and unhealthy marshes; the rainfall is heavier on the side of Gaul; the winds are higher on the side of Noricum and Pannonia.
It is fertile in cereals, but unkindly to fruit-bearing trees; it is rich in flocks and herds, but for the most part they are undersized. Even the cattle lack natural beauty and majestic brows. The pride of the people is rather in the number of their beasts, which constitute the only wealth they welcome.
The gods have denied them gold and silver, whether in mercy or in wrath I find it hard to say; not that I would assert that Germany has no veins bearing gold or silver: for who has explored there? At any rate, they are not affected, like their neighbours, by the use and possession of such things. One may see among them silver vases, given as gifts to their commanders and chieftains, but treated as of no more value than earthenware.
Although the border tribes for purposes of traffic treat gold and silver as precious metals, and recognise and collect certain coins of our money, the tribes of the interior practise barter in a simpler and older fashion.The coinage which appeals to them is the old and long-familiar: the denarii with milled edges, showing the two-horsed chariot. They prefer silver to gold: not that they have any feeling in the matter, but that because a number of silver pieces is easier to use for people whose purchases consist of cheap objects of general utility.
Tacitus, Cornelius. Dialogus, Agricola, Germania. Edited by T. E. Page and W. H. D. Rouse. Translated by William Peterson, W. Heinemann, 1914.
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