Upon any recess from war, they do not much attend the chase.  Much more of their time they pass in indolence, resigned to sleep and repasts.  All the most brave, all the most warlike, apply to nothing at all; but to their wives, to the ancient men, and to even the most impotent domestic, trust all the care of their house, and of their lands and possessions.  They themselves loiter.  Such is the amazing diversity of their nature, that in the same men is found so much delight in sloth, with so much enmity to tranquillity and repose.  The communities are wont, of their own accord and man by man, to bestow upon their Princes a certain number of beasts, or a certain portion of grain; a contribution which passes indeed for a mark of reverence and honour, but serves also to supply their necessities.  They chiefly rejoice in the gifts which come from the bordering countries, such as are sent not only by particulars but in the name of the State; curious horses, splendid armour, rich harness, with collars of silver and gold.  Now too they have learnt, what we have taught them, to receive money.

That none of the several people in Germany live together in cities, is abundantly known; nay, that amongst them none of their dwellings are suffered to be contiguous.  They inhabit apart and distinct, just as a fountain, or a field, or a wood happened to invite them to settle.  They raise their villages in opposite rows, but not in our manner with the houses joined one to another.  Every man has a vacant space quite round his own, whether for security against accidents from fire, or that they want the art of building.  With them in truth, is unknown even the use of mortar and of tiles.  In all their structures they employ materials quite gross and unhewn, void of fashion and comeliness.  Some parts they besmear with an earth so pure and resplendent, that it resembles painting and colours.  They are likewise wont to scoop caves deep in the ground, and over them to lay great heaps of dung.  Thither they retire for shelter in the winter, and thither convey their grain:  for by such close places they mollify the rigorous and excessive cold.  Besides when at any time their enemy invades them, he can only ravage the open country, but either knows not such recesses as are invisible and subterraneous; or must suffer them to escape him, on this very account that he is uncertain where to find them.

For their covering a mantle is what they all wear, fastened with a clasp or, for want of it, with a thorn.  As far as this reaches not they are naked, and lie whole days before the fire.  The most wealthy are distinguished with a vest, not one large and flowing like those of Sarmatians and Parthians, but girt close about them and expressing the proportion of every limb.  They likewise wear the skins of savage beasts, a dress which those bordering upon the Rhine use without any fondness or delicacy, but about which such who live further in the country are more curious, as void