Excerpt from Germany The Roman power was then employed to keep the fierce marauding tribes within their proper boundaries, and the Old Germans fought amongst themselves now that no foreign troops entered their land. Tacitus, the great Roman writer, tells us many things about these wild tribesmen. He praises them for their bravery in war, for the bold and hardy life to which their sons were bred, for the deep respect which they paid to their women, for their faithful conduct and their kindness to strangers. But, on the other hand, he points out their faults, saying that they loved to drink so deeply that a feast often ended in a fierce riot, and they were so fond of gambling that they would Often throw away all they owned on the cast of the dice, even to the losing of their own freedom. Three hundred years passed after the great Victory of Herman, and then there began that strange and wonderful movement of the peoples which is called the Migration of the Nations. From the vast forests of Germany there began to pour in various directions great streams of adventurers seeking new abodes for themselves, north, west, or south of their old home land. There were two reasons for this mighty movement. One was that the German tribes were being pressed upon by enemies from the east, but the second and chief was that the Roman power was failing, and the rich and fruitful lands hitherto guarded by the swords of the legions now began to lie open to attack. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.