Tacitus freely admits that the Germans were as warlike as the Romans, and were only inferior in weapons and discipline.  He pays a generous tribute to Arminius, whom he declares to have been “beyond all question the liberator of Germany,” dying at thirty-seven, unconquered in war.[321] Tacitus quotes from some ancient German ballads or hymns ("the only historic monuments,” says he, “that they possess”) the names of Tuisto, a god born from the earth, and Mannus, his son.  Tacitus was much struck with the physical characteristics of the race, as being so uniform.  There was a family likeness, he says, among them all,—­stern blue eyes, yellow hair, large bodies.  Their wealth was in their flocks and herds.  “Gold and silver are kept from them by the anger, or perhaps by the favor, of Heaven.”  Their rulers were elective, and their power was limited.  Their judges were the priests.  They saw something divine in woman, and her judgments were accepted as oracles.  Such women as Veleda and Aurinia were reverenced as prophets; “but not adored or made into goddesses,” says Tacitus, with a side-glance at some events at home.  Their gods, Tacitus chooses to call Mercury, Hercules, and Mars; but he distinctly says that the Germans had neither idols nor temples, but worshipped in sacred groves[322].  He also says that the Germans divined future events by pieces of sticks, by the duel, and by the movements of sacred horses.  Their leaders might decide the less important matters, but the principal questions were settled at public meetings.  These assemblies were held at regular intervals, were opened by the priest, were presided over by the chief, and decided all public affairs.  Tacitus remarks that the spirit of liberty goes to such an extreme among the Germans as to destroy regularity and order.  They will not be punctual at their meetings, lest it should seem as if they attended because commanded to come.[323] Marriage was sacred, and, unlike other heathen nations, they were contented with one wife.  They were affectionate and constant to the marriage vow, which meant to the pure German woman one husband, one life, one body, and one soul.  The ancient Germans, like their modern descendants, drank beer and Rhenish wine, and were divided into numerous tribes, who afterward reappeared for the destruction of the Roman Empire, as the Goths, Vandals, Lombards, and Franks.

The Scandinavians were a branch of the great German family.  Their language, the old Norse, was distinguished from the Alemannic, or High German tongue, and from the Saxonic, or Low German tongue.  From the Norse have been derived the languages of Iceland, of the Ferroe Isles, of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.  From the Germanic branch have come German, Dutch, Anglo-Saxon, Maeso-Gothic, and English.  It was in Scandinavia that the Teutonic race developed its special civilization and religion.  Cut off from the rest of the world by stormy seas, the people could there unfold their ideas, and become themselves.  It is therefore to Scandinavia that we must go to study the German religion, and to find the influence exercised on modern civilization and the present character of Europe.  This influence has been freely acknowledged by great historians.