of the “ procera membra” of the Cherusci and the Batavi.* Eu-
napius gives a strange description of the Goths. He says their
bodies are drawn out to an use!ess length, and that they are
heavy in the feet, and drawn in about the middle, as Aristotle
describes insects to be.f Ammianus terms the Alemanni “ robust!
et celsiores, grandissimis corporibus freti.”J Lastly, the
Arabian traveller Ibn Foszlan, whose itinerary has been published
by Ffahn,; compares the Northmen to palm-trees.
With respect to their complexion, Tacitus speaks of the
“ rutilse comae ” of the Germans ; || Ammianus of the ^counts
rutdantes ex more ” of the A lem a n n iS e n e c a of the “ rufus
crinis y * * * Herodian of the “ KOfiag f a v O d g t o y T e p fj.a v< y y .” - f f
Juvenal
Ccerula quis stupuit Germani lumina, flavam
Csesariem et madido torquentem cornua cirro.
Horace
Nec fera coerulel domuit Germania pube.
Calpumius Flaccus says, “ rutili_ sunt German drum.' vultus
et flava proceritas ;”||}| Silius Italicus has,,“ Auricomus, flavus
Batavus.”^[^[ Claudian and Sidonius Apollinaris mention the
“ flavi Sicambri,,, and LuCan the “ flavi S'uevi.” **'* Au^onfus
terms a Sudvian virgin <f bculos coerula, flava dbmSs.^ttt Procopius
says that the Gothic nations..are all of-white bodies
and yellow hair ;”| J J and St. Jerom terms their armies “ red
and yellow bands.” §§§
More particular observations are made by.some writers ;
Diodorus says that the youth of the Galatse,—heroaneanipg the
Germans, whom he often eonfounds with the Gauls,-^-,are born
with white hair, and as they grow up come tg resemble their
parents in colour:|j[||| We have cited Strabo, who decides that
the Germans scarcely differ from the Celtic race—tov ReXtikov
* Velleius, iij-106. Tacit. Ann. i. 64. Hist. iv. 14. •
t Eunap.in ^ c . legat.p..47- . $ Amm. Marcell. xvi. 12.
$ Frahn’s Ibn Foszlan. Zeuss. || Tacit. Germ.-c. 4. •f|’ Ammian. xxvii. 2.
** Seneca de Ira, c.26. ++ Herodian, iv. 7- +J Juvenal, Sat. 13. /
' §§ Horat. Epod. ! |||]- Calp. Flacc. sect. 2. ^ Sfl.Ital. iii. 608.
*** Claud- Bell. Gall. Sidon. A poll. Carm. vii. 41.'
f f t Auson? IdylL vii. Frocop. Cees. BeU. Vandal, i. 2*
§§§ Getarum, i.e. Gothorum, rutilus et flavus exercitus ecclesiarum circumfert
tentoria. (Epist. ad Heliodor. - Zeuss, ubi supra.)*
IHIIl Diodor. Sic. Bibl. v. 32.;
<j>v\ov,—in their, roughness-of manners, their greatness of stature,
or their-yellowness of hair.* Manilius ascribes greater
redness of-hair to the Germans, from which we may conclude
tfiat-the Gauls were rather xanthous.^
Flava jber' ingentes surgit Germania partus,
Gallia trcinb minus est infecta robore.
And the5same, fa^lvf s ^ o s t ‘expliCitly^declared by Galen in his
Commentation; Hippdtr^t^^inu passage' which is quite con-
Cclu'swe : o v r io g y o i v ‘'f i v i g ' ^ o p o f i d ^ o v q i r o y g T e p y a v o v g ^ c tv u o v g ', k c l l
’’Jro'i y i ovK ^yTciQ E ,a v 6 o v g ,r &dy aKOiptiiQ'riQ' e d e X o t koX eI v , aXXa 7 rv fi'p o v g .:
“ In the samO'ihaifher some t&em the Germans xanthous3, al-
'though tliey are not xanthoh.^ in the proper !SeUsfe of the term,J
but rC(l-haired.”J
prom all thes'e,#Ja^sdff;itos, some more'^^e¥al, ’sbme more
particular and explicit than others, -.we muss^eohclude tKat a
Jpfty-$‘tattfire, yellow -or rather ret| hair and blue eyes,,* with
a MirTcdm plexidH, were almost universal characters of the
fSeriiians a-f the period" of' their wars with toe Romans.
How they lost these'^cSafacterS'^as 3digtinMlMiing traits'^and
Ipdcamei^siigrimtld t6 the other nations3 of northern Europe, is
a question that cannot be speedily answered. Oneremark occurs
td b e ma’de oh this whiph is that the climate and
phyM^al condition^of ’Germany and the manhers^oT'its inhabitants
have been assirhilated' in a nearly equal degree to those
■of the neighbouring countries. Sothe further dbsdtvationffi on
thf^"Subject may beTound, in conhectibn with my remarks qn
the physical characters of theCeltic facb, to a preceding’chapter
ofdhis volumev^
With regard to the form of the head in the ancieht Germany
we'have no information' from’‘classical writ'ers. This subject
hlight bb ^felucidated from the remains of ancient tombs; but I
am not 'Ewafe that such an atflmipt hasheen madk'in a Comprehensive
manner. The modern Germans are well known to
have large ‘ heads, with the anterior part of the cranium eW-
vated' and fully developed. They^ltave this peduliarity of form
in a. greater degree than ejther the French or English.
Strabo, vii. p. 290. ‘ Manilius, Astron. iv. 713.
$ Galen, Comment, in Hippocr.'jrspi Ih a ir ijg . . .