WHAT BELGIC. TRIBES
Aravisci into Pannonia.* Tacitus here seems to reckon Pan-
nonia- a part of Gaul, or rather of the country inhabited by
Celtic nations, which we shairhereafter find to have been
the case. The river which he supposes once to have been
traversed by these two nations must be the Danube, and
not the Rhine. lie adds, speaking more particularly of the
Belgse, that the Treveri and>..;Nervii are ambitious of being
thought of German origin, as if the reputation of their descent
would distinguish them from the Gauls, whom they resembled
in person and effeminacy. The Vangiones, Tribocci, and
Nemetes, who inhabit the bank of the Rhine, are, as he says,
without doubt-r German tribes. To these Tacitus addisl the
Ubii and the Batavi, the last a tribe of the German Chatti., t
We have here three Belgian tribes, besides the Ubii. and
Batavi^—which last are scarcely ever mentioned as Gauls,
comprehended, besides the four of Caesar, under the appellation
of Germans. It is plain that Tacitus disbelieved the claim-to a
German descent set up by other tribes. None of the gCeat
nations of Belgic Gaul are among the tribes allowed by
Tacitus to have been of German origin. The .Belgic communities
really German were some small tribes^near the
Rhine, among whom the Ubii and Tribocci are hardly
reckoned as Gauls, but as tribes recently descended-from
the Germans.
Strabo has taken some pains to distinguish the German
tribes who had-settled themselves among-the J^elgm. He-
says—“ Next to the Ilelvetii, in the descent of the rivet>; the
bank of the Rhine.is inhabited, by the Sequani and the Me-
diornatrices, among whom are settled a German nation, the
Tribocci, who passed over from their own country. In the
country of the Sequani is Mount Jura, which separates them
from the Helvetia Beyond the Ilelvetii and Sequani, towards
the west, dwell the Hmdui and Lingones, beyond the Medro-
matrices, the Leuci, and part of the Lingones.” ’ He then
* In another passage Tacitus seems to conclude that the Osi were from Pannonia
because they spoke the Pannonian language, viz. probably the dialect of the Aravisci.
I f these were ndf a Celto-Pannonian people, there seems to be no reason for mem
tiohing them in this, passage cited in the text,, which refers simply tq the mutual
inroads of the Gauls and Germans on each other.
HAD A GERMAN ORIGIN. 73
■goes, on to describe the situation of other Celtic tribes, and
returns to the Belgæ and the Rhemi, “ Next to the Medro-
matncesr and Tribbcfeiji the border of the Rhine is inhabited
by the Treveri/in whose- territory the bridgé was lately built
by the Romans in thèir invasion of Germdnj/k The opposite
side of the Rhine was the country of the'Ubii, who were
brought, with their owfi 'éönsént, by Agrippa to inhabit the
southern bank of the river. Cohtfgubù's'îtMIt# country of the
;;^ tev ep ^ th a t of the Nerviiy wbolare likewise a German nation.’?
i It appears then that the Ubii and Tribocci are, accordin'«-
both to Tacitus and Strabo, certainly*’G en ifah s ‘ .-to thés!
Strabo adds the Nervii. By thus admitting,, in ëxpress: and
distinguishing terms, the German relations ötsómë particular
tribes,| it ,is evident that these writers’, deny th:e'>Satóe; pretensions,
to the other tribes. - Thé Treveri seem tV ^ p u r posely
excluded byTaëit-ù^and they are nkW,: o n ^ rnenl
tioned by Strabo a / a Germum-people:
■ On comparing these- observations and: inspecting M: d’An-
vRle’s map of ancient Gaul, the reader w i l l ï p y p e rc e h ^
what parts of Belgica.*were„in the%e,%,f Strabo and Tacitus-5
m the, possession o v e rm a n tribëé: *The Bêl^GerhikfiâW^
Cæsar Ivere^the four tribes of Condrusi, ;E b u rO rfe s |^C # § r
and Pfemani. These wère aftèrwards ip c lu d é d SM Ê r'w ith
th e Batavi, Tungrhfyund Toxandri, in the Roman pffeinee ôf
Germania ^Secunda, or Inferior-/ th è ’ Cæmsi-afohe « b h g
them encroaching upon th a t ;é ^B e l|îé a ? Prima:; On t h B
banks of the Rhine in the same p ro v in cÇ ÿ |? |Jtbe ‘ IJbif
reckoned by Cæsar as Germans,: biii-,w by Strabo and Tacitus"
mentioned among thé German tribes%ëttled in'BèlgicV?-"Tfrè
province of Germania Inferior Lower
Rhine, ;the Meuse, and the SauÿçVV^ermânia P r im a S ’^
Superior, reaching^along the Rhine #tón
“ « U 11 VI»
k j cu- uj uie testimony or St.-
Jerom, already 1Q H says that they spoke M H | same language as the
Tectosages. I t cannot j>e imagined that the Vole* Tectosages, who lived in Upper
Languedoc, were a German,p\op^ Hordes of thesame nation who invaded T h ic e
under Brennus, were the ancestors of the people of whom Jerom made this remark’
H Mannert supposes tf&t, I S Tungri, f e ^ e w a s unknown inC * s a r’i
time, were^apoftfederate pepple, comprehending the tribesof H M E b u r o n e s ,
Oasresi, and Psemani.—Mannert, b. 1. p. 199'.”