Tacitus Germania Essay

In his Germania, Tacitus describes the lands and peoples of Germany. He sometimes praises them, sometimes derides them, but often he writes with an air of casual indifference. Since Tacitus was a Roman, and he wrote the Germania for other Romans, the reader can get a glimpse of Roman society at the time through analysis of Tacitus’s word choice and tone. While Tacitus covers many facets of Germanic culture, he particularly highlights their customs in battle and rather ethical domestic lifestyle, while disparaging their seemingly inherent lazy nature and tendency to fall into drunkenness. In this, the reader learns what values the Romans of the day - or at least Tacitus himself - held in high esteem. Tacitus spends a significant amount of time, including parts of chapters 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, and 14, on the Germanic peoples’ tendency for war. In these chapters, Tacitus discusses their battle tactics, the role of women ( “they do not despise their counsels, or make light of their answers”), and honor. Tacitus admires them for their courage and system of honor (“The chief fights for victory; his vassals fight for their chief”), and could perhaps have meant these chapters as a warning and challenge to the Romans: The Germans are fierce and dangerous, and we must match their valor to

He says, in chapter 18, that “no part of their manners is more praiseworthy”. Tacitus praises their strict marriage code, mentioning the tight bond between man and wife, who are “one body and one life”. He also esteems the low amount of adultery in Germania, commending them for being “uncorrupted by allurements” and for avoiding “clandestine correspondence”. These matrimonial values seem to be Tacitus’s ideal for Roman society, and the reader infers that he is admonishing the aristocracy Germania is written for, who are most likely “corrupted” and who make much use of “clandestine