Tacitus, Germania. Chapter 8.
8. Tradition says that armies already wavering and giving way have been rallied by women who, with earnest entreaties and bosoms laid bare, have vividly represented the horrors of captivity, which the Germans fear with such extreme dread on behalf of their women, that the strongest tie by whicha state can be bound is the being required to give, among the number of hostages, maidens of noble birth. They even believe that the sex has a certain sancrity and prescience, and they do not despise their counsels, or make light of their answers. In Vespasian's days we saw Veleda, long regarded by many as a divinity. In former times, too, they venerated Aurinia, and many other women, but not with servile flatteries, or with sham deification.
8. Tradition says that armies already wavering and giving way have been rallied by women who, with earnest entreaties and bosoms laid bare, have vividly represented the horrors of captivity, which the Germans fear with such extreme dread on behalf of their women, that the strongest tie by whicha state can be bound is the being required to give, among the number of hostages, maidens of noble birth. They even believe that the sex has a certain sancrity and prescience, and they do not despise their counsels, or make light of their answers. In Vespasian's days we saw Veleda, long regarded by many as a divinity. In former times, too, they venerated Aurinia, and many other women, but not with servile flatteries, or with sham deification.
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Tacitus, Germania - translated by Alfred Lord Church and William Jackson Brodribb.
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place time topic people language
Ancient Germany - Ancient/1st century CE - General history - Germans - Latin translation
Ancient Germany - Ancient/1st century CE - General history - Germans - Latin translation
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