Undisputed Classic 6

Classic in Translation.

Librivox – Tacitus Text

Germania - Publius Cornelius Tacitus (56 - 117) Tr. by Alfred John Church (1829 - 1912) and William Jackson Brodribb (1829 - 1905)

Never leaving his study, the Roman historian Tacitus depends on secondary sources to take an anthropological walk among the ancient Germans. Bear in mind that for the Romans Germania extended east to Finland and Lithuania and in the west included Belgium and Holland. Divided into 46 short sections, Tactus covers:

·        Geography and ethnography

·        Warfare: Military leaders are selected for their demonstration of bravery in battle. They are constantly at war to increase their political power and social status, something Romans could have connected with.

·        Politics: They chose kings according to their noble descent. The leading men decide on ordinary matters, and the whole tribe decides on the important ones.

·        Everyday life for men in times of peace: They don't hunt or fish but spend time idly and slothfully, sleeping and feasting.

·        Marriage: “The young men marry late, and their vigour is thus unimpaired”

·        Institutions and customs of the individual tribes

Tacitus implies almost continuous commendation of the “wild” Germans, praising their frugality, simplicity and purity of customs, temperance, frankness, courage, desire for freedom, strong sense of community. “No one in Germany laughs at vice, nor do they call it the fashion to corrupt and to be corrupted.” – with the implication “unlike us decadent Romans.” Even post-moderns like us can infer Tacitus shaking his finger at his fellow Romans in the imperial era.

The work was only rediscovered in the Renaissance and since then has been the object of controversy. The German ethno-nationalists of the 19^th century and later the Nazis, for example, took Tacitus’ praise uncritically and ran with it per their own agenda. They saw in it an ancient and thus authoritative testimony to the existence of the imperishable völkisch spirit, the immortal and creative flame that burns in the German folk throughout the centuries, destined for magnificent achievement, under the unshakeable resolve of a strong leader, yadda yadda yadda.

When the Nazis occupied Italy during WWII, they wanted to steal a 15^th century manuscript of this work from anti-fascist Count Aurelio Guglielmi Baldeschi, who owned it. They turned upside down the count’s estate and shook it as hard as they could but were unable to find it.

It was hidden pretty well in a chest.

Librivox – Tacitus Text