It is considered that the evidence of any local connection between
the Cimbri conquered by Marius, and the Chersonesus Cimbrica, is
insufficient to counterbalance the natural improbability of a long
and difficult national migration. Of such a connection, however, the
identity of name and the concurrent belief of respectable writers
are _primâ facie_ evidence. This, however, is disposed of if such a
theory as the following can be established, viz. that, for certain
reasons, the knowledge of the precise origin and locality of the
nations conquered by Marius was, at an early period, confused and
indefinite; that new countries were made known without giving any
further information; that, hence, the locality of the Cimbri was always
pushed forwards beyond the limits of the geographical areas accurately
ascertained; and finally, that thus their supposed locality retrograded
continually northwards until it fixed itself in the districts of
Sleswick and Jutland, where the barrier of the sea and the increase of
geographical knowledge (with one exception) prevented it from getting
farther. Now this view arises out of the examination of the language of
the historians and geographers as examined in order, from Sallust to
Ptolemy.
Of Sallust and Cicero, the language points to Gaul as the home of
the nation in question; and that without the least intimation of its
being any particularly distant portion of that country. "Per idem
tempus adversus Gallos ab ducibus nostris, Q. Cæpione et M. Manlio,
malè pugnatum--Marius Consul absens factus, et ei decreta Provincia
Gallia." _Bell._ _Jugurth._ 114. "Ipse ille Marius--influentes in
Italiam Gallorum maximas copias repressit." _Cicero de Prov. Consul._
13. And here an objection may be anticipated. It is undoubtedly true
that even if the Cimbri had originated in a locality so distant as the
Chersonese, it would have been almost impossible to have made such a
fact accurately understood. Yet it is also true, that if any material
difference had existed between the Cimbri and the Gauls of Gaul, such
must have been familiarly known in Rome, since slaves of both sorts
must there have been common.
Cæsar, whose evidence ought to be conclusive (inasmuch as he knew of
Germany as well as of Gaul), fixes them to the south of the Marne and
Seine. This we learn, not from the direct text, but from inference:
"Gallos--a Belgis Matrona et Sequana dividit." _Bell. Gall._ i.
"Belgas--solos esse qui, patrum nostrûm memoria, omni Galliâ vexatâ,
Teutones Cimbrosque intra fines suos ingredi prohibuerunt." _Bell.
Gall._ ii. 4. Now if the Teutones and Cimbri had moved from north to
south, they would have clashed with the Belgæ first and with the other
Gauls afterwards. The converse, however, was the fact. It is right here
to state, that the last observation may be explained away by supposing,
either that the Teutones and Cimbri here meant may be a _remnant_ of
the confederation on their _return_, or else a portion that settled
down in Gaul upon their way; or finally, a division that made a circle
towards the place of their destination in a south-east direction. None
of these however seem the plain and natural construction; and I would
rather, if reduced to the alternative, read "_Germania_" instead of
"_Gallia_" than acquiesce in the most probable of them.
Diodorus Siculus, without defining their locality, deals throughout
with the Cimbri as a Gaulish tribe. Besides this, he gives us one of
the elements of the assumed indistinctness of ideas in regard to their
origin, viz. their hypothetical connexion with the Cimmerii. In this
recognition of what might have been called the _Cimmerian theory_, he
is followed by Strabo and Plutarch.--_Diod. Sicul._ v. 32. _Strabo_
vii. _Plutarch. Vit. Marii._
The next writer who mentions them is Strabo. In confirmation of the
view taken above, this author places the Cimbri on the northernmost
limit of the area geographically known to him, viz. _beyond_ Gaul
and _in_ Germany, between the Rhine and the Elbe: τῶν δὲ Γερμάνων ὡς
εἶπον, ὁὶ μὲν προσάρκτιοι παρηκοῦσι τῷ Ὠκεανῷ. Γνωρίζονται δ' ἀπὸ τῶν
ἐκβολῶν τοῦ Ῥήνου λαβόντες τὴν ἀρχὴν μέχρι τοῦ Ἄλβιος. Τούτων δὲ εἰσὶ
γνωριμώτατοι Σούγαμβροί τε καὶ Κίμβροι. Τὰ δὲ πέραν τοῦ Ἄλβιος τὰ
πρὸς τῷ Ὠκεανῷ ἄγνωστα ἡμῖν ἐστιν.. (B. iv.) Further proof that this
was the frontier of the Roman world we get from the statement which
soon follows, viz. that "thus much was known to the Romans from their
successful wars, and that more would have been known had it not been
for the injunction of Augustus forbidding his generals to cross the
Elbe." (B. iv.)
Velleius Paterculus agrees with his contemporary Strabo. He places
them beyond the Rhine and deals with them as Germans:--"tum Cimbri
et Teutoni transcendere Rhenum, multis mox nostris suisque cladibus
nobiles." (ii. 9.) "Effusa--immanis vis Germanarum gentium quibus nomen
Cimbris et Teutonis erat." (_Ibid._ 12.)
From the _Germania_ of Tacitus a well-known passage will be considered
in the sequel. Tacitus' locality coincides with that of Strabo.
_Ptolemy._--Now the author who most mentions in detail the tribes
beyond the Elbe is also the author who most pushes back the Cimbri
towards the north. Coincident with his improved information as to the
parts southward, he places them at the extremity of the area known to
him: Καῦχοι οἱ μείζονες μέχρι τού Ἀλβίου ποταμοῦ· ἐφεξῆς δὲ ἐπὶ αὔχενα
τῆς Κιμβρικῆς Χερσονήσου Σάξονες, αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν Χερσόνησον· ὑπερ μὲν
τοὺς Σάξονας, Σιγουλώνες ἀπὸ δυσμῶν· εἶτα Σαβαλίγγιοι εἶτα Κόβανδοι,
ὑπὲρ οὓς Χάλοι· καὶ ἔτι ὑπερτάτους δυσμικώτεροι μὲν Φουνδούσιοι,
ἀνατολικώτεροι δὲ Χαροῦδες, πάντων δὲ ἀρτικώτεροι Κύμβροι--_Ptolemæi
Germania._
Such is the evidence of those writers, Greek or Roman, who deal with
the local habitation of the Cimbri rather than with the general history
of that tribe. As a measure of the indefinitude of their ideas, we have
the confusion, already noticed, between the Cimbri and Cimmerii, on
the parts of Diodorus, Strabo, and Plutarch. A better measure occurs
in the following extract from Pliny, who not only fixes the Cimbri
in three places at once, but also (as far as we can find any meaning
in his language) removes them so far northward as Norway: "Alterum
genus Ingævones, quorum pars Cimbri Teutoni ac Chaucorum gentes.
Proximi Rheno Istævones, quorum pars Cimbri mediterranei." (iv. 14.)
"Promontorium Cimbrorum excurrens in maria longe Peninsulam efficit quæ
Carthis appellatur." _Ibid._ "Sevo Mons (the mountain-chains of Norway)
immanem ad Cimbrorum usque promontorium efficit sinum, qui Codanus
vocatur, refertus insulis, quarum clarissima Scandinavia, incompertæ
magnitudinis." (iv. 13.) Upon confusion like this it is not considered
necessary to expend further evidence. So few statements coincide, that
under all views there must be a misconception somewhere; and of such
misconception great must the amount be, to become more improbable than
a national migration from Jutland to Italy.
Over and above, however, this particular question of evidence, there
stands a second one; viz. the determination of the Ethnographical
relations of the nations under consideration. This is the point as to
whether the Cimbri conquered by Marius were Celts or Goths, akin to the
Gauls, or akin to the Germans; a disputed point, and one which, for its
own sake only, were worth discussing, even at the expense of raising a
wholly independent question. Such however it is not. If the Cimbri were
Celts, the improbability of their originating in the Cimbric Chersonese
would be increased, and with it the amount of evidence required; since,
laying aside other considerations, the natural unlikelihood of a large
area being traversed by a mass of emigrants is greatly enhanced by
the fact of any intermediate portion of that area being possessed by
tribes as alien to each other as the Gauls and Germans. Hence therefore
the fact of the Cimbri being Celts will (if proved) be considered
as making against the probability of their origin in the Cimbric
Chersonese; whilst if they be shown to be Goths, the difficulties of
the supposition will be in some degree diminished. Whichever way this
latter point is settled, something will be gained for the historian;
since the supposed presence of Celts in the Cimbric Chersonese has
complicated more than one question in ethnography.
Previous to proceeding in the inquiry it may be well to lay down once
for all as a postulate, that whatever, in the way of ethnography, is
proved concerning any one tribe of the Cimbro-Teutonic league, must be
considered as proved concerning the remainder; since all explanations
grounded upon the idea that one part was Gothic and another part Celtic
have a certain amount of _primâ facie_ improbability to set aside. The
same conditions as to the burden of proof apply also to any hypotheses
founded on the notion of _retiring_ Cimbri _posterior_ to the attempted
invasion of Italy. On this point the list of authors quoted will not
be brought below the time of Ptolemy. With the testimonies anterior to
that writer, bearing upon the question of the ethnography, the attempt
however will be made to be exhaustive. Furthermore, as the question in
hand is not so much the absolute fact as to whether the Cimbri were
Celts or Goths, but one as to the amount of evidence upon which we
believe them to be either the one or the other, statements will be
noticed under the head of evidence, not because they are really proofs,
but simply because they have ever been looked upon as such. Beginning
then with the Germanic origin of the Cimbro-Teutonic confederation, and
dealing separately with such tribes as are separately mentioned, we
first find the
_Ambrones._--In the Anglo-Saxon poem called the Traveller's Song, there
is a notice of a tribe called _Ymbre_, _Ymbras_, or _Ymbran_. Suhm,
the historian of Denmark, has allowed himself to imagine that these
represent the _Ambrones_, and that their name still exists in that of
the island _Amron_ of the coast of Sleswick, and perhaps in _Amerland_,
a part of Oldenburg.--Thorpe's note on the Traveller's Song in the
_Codex Exoniensis_.
_Teutones._--In the way of evidence of there being Teutones amongst the
Germans, over and above the associate mention of their names with that
of the Cimbri, there is but little. They are not so mentioned either by
Tacitus or Strabo. Ptolemy, however, mentions _a_) the Teutonarii, _b_)
the Teutones: Τευτονοάριοι καὶ Ουίρουνοι--Φαραδεινῶν δὲ καὶ Συήβων,
Τεύτονες καὶ Ἄμαρποι. Besides this, however, arguments have been taken
from _a_) the meaning of the root _teut_ = _people_ (_þiuda_, M. G.;
_þeód_, A. S.; _diot_, O. H. G.): _b_) the _Saltus Teutobergius_: _c_)
the supposed connection of the present word _Deut-sch_ = _German_ with
the classical word _Teutones_. These may briefly be disposed of.
_a._) It is not unlikely for an invading nation to call themselves _the
nation_, _the nations_, _the people_, &c. Neither, if the tribe in
question had done so (presuming them to have been Germans or Goths),
would the word employed be very unlike _Teuton-es_. Although the word
_þiud-a_ = _nation_ or _people_, is generally strong in its declension
(so making the plural _þiud-ôs_), it is found also in a weak form with
its plural _thiot-ûn_ = _Teuton-_. See _Deutsche Grammatik_, i. 630.
_b._) The _Saltus Teutobergius_ mentioned by Tacitus (_Ann._ i.
60) can scarcely have taken its name from a tribe, or, on the
other hand, have given it to one. It means either _the hill of the
people_, or _the city of the people_; according as the syllable
_-berg-_ is derived from _báirgs_ = _a hill_, or from _baúrgs_ = _a
city_. In either case the compound is allowable, _e. g._ diot-_wëc_,
_public way_, O. H. G.; thiod-_scatho_, _robber of the people_, O.
S.; þëód-_cyning_, þeod-_mearc_, _boundary of the nation_, A. S.;
þiód-_land_, þiód-_vëgr_, _people's way_, Icelandic;--Theud-_e-mirus_,
Theud-_e-linda_, Theud-_i-gotha_, proper names (from _þiud-_):
_himil_-bërac, _velt_-përac; _friðu_-përac, O. H. G.; _himin_biörg,
_val_biörg, Icelandic (from _báirgs_ = _hill_)--_asci_purc, _hasal_purc,
_saltz_purc, &c., O. H. G. (from _baúrgs_ = _city_). The particular
word _diot-puruc_ = _civitas magna_ occurs in O. H. G.--See _Deutsche
Grammatik_, iii. p. 478.
_c._ Akin to this is the reasoning founded upon the connection (real or
supposed) between the root _Teut-_ in _Teuton-_, and the root _deut-_
in _Deut-sch_. It runs thus. The syllable in question is common to
the word _Teut-ones_, _Teut-onicus_, _Theod-iscus_, _teud-iscus_,
_teut-iscus_, _tût-iske_, _dût-iske_, _tiut-sche_, _deut-sch_;
whilst the word _Deut-sch_ means _German_. As the _Teut-ones_ were
Germans, so were the Cimbri also. Now this line of argument is set
aside by the circumstance that the syllable _Teut-_ in _Teut-ones_
and _Teut-onicus_, as the names of the confederates of the Cimbri, is
wholly unconnected with the _Teut-_ in _theod-iscus_, and _Deut-sch_.
This is fully shown by Grimm in his dissertation on the words _German_
and _Dutch_. In its oldest form the latter word meant _popular_,
_national_, _vernacular_; it was an adjective applied to the _vulgar
tongue_, or the vernacular German, in opposition to the Latin. In the
tenth century the secondary form _Teut-onicus_ came in vogue even with
German writers. Whether this arose out of imitation of the Latin form
_Romanice_, or out of the idea of an historical connection with the
Teutones of the classics, is immaterial. It is clear that the present
word _deut-sch_ proves nothing respecting the _Teutones_. Perhaps,
however, as early as the time of Martial the word _Teutonicus_ was used
in a general sense, denoting the Germans in general. Certain it is that
before his time it meant the particular people conquered by Marius,
irrespective of origin or locality.--See Grimm's _Deutsche Grammatik_,
i. p. 17, 3rd edit. Martial, xiv. 26, _Teutonici capilli_. Claudian. in
Eutrop. i. 406, _Teutonicum hostem_.
The _Cimbri_.--Evidence to the Gothic origin of the Cimbri (treated
separately) begins with the writers under Augustus and Tiberius.
_Vell. Paterculus._--The testimony of this writer as to the affinities
of the nations in question is involved in his testimony as to their
locality, and, consequently, subject to the same criticism. His mention
of them (as Germans) is incidental.
_Strabo._--Over and above the references already made, Strabo has
certain specific statements concerning the Cimbri: _a._) That according
to a tradition (which he does not believe) they left their country on
account of an inundation of the sea. This is applicable to Germany
rather than to Gaul. This liability to inundations must not, however,
be supposed to indicate a locality in the Cimbric Chersonese as well
as a German origin, since the coast between the Scheldt and Elbe is as
obnoxious to the ocean as the coasts of Holstein, Sleswick and Jutland.
_b._) That against the German Cimbri and Teutones the Belgæ alone kept
their ground--ὥστε μόνους (Βέλγας) ἀντέχειν πρὸς τὴν τῶν Γερμάνων
ἔφοδον, Κίμβρων καὶ Τευτόνων (iv. 3.) This is merely a translation of
Cæsar (see above) with the interpolation Γερμάνων. _c._) That they
inhabited their original country, and that they sent ambassadors to
Augustus--καὶ γὰρ νῦν ἔχουσι τὴν χώραν ἣν εἶχον πρότερον καὶ ἕπεμπσαν
τῷ Σεβαστῷ ιἑρώτατον παρ' αὐτοῖς, λέβητα, αἰτούμενοι φιλίαν καὶ
ἀμνηστίαν τῶν ὑπουργμένων· τυχόντες δὲ ὧν ἠξίουν ἀφῇραν. (B. i.) Full
weight must be given to the definite character of this statement.
_Tacitus._--Tacitus coincides with Strabo, in giving to the Cimbri
a specific locality, and in stating special circumstances of their
history. Let full weight be given to the words of a writer like
Tacitus; but let it also be remembered that he wrote from hearsay
evidence, that he is anything rather than an independent witness, that
his statement is scarcely reconcileable with those of Ptolemy and
Cæsar, and that above all the locality which both he and Strabo give
the _Cimbri_ is also the locality of the _Sicambri_, of which latter
tribe no mention is made by Tacitus, although their wars with the
Romans were matters of comparatively recent history. For my own part,
I think, that between a confusion of the _Cimbri_ with the _Cimmerii_
on the one hand, and of the _Cimbri_ with the _Sicambri_ on the other,
we have the clue to the misconceptions assumed at the commencement of
the paper. There is no proof that in the eyes of the writers under
the Republic, the origin of the Cimbri was a matter of either doubt
or speculation. Catulus, in the History of his Consulship, commended
by Cicero (_Brutus_, xxxv.), and Sylla in his Commentaries, must have
spoken of them in a straightforward manner as Gauls, otherwise Cicero
and Sallust would have spoken of them less decidedly. (See Plutarch's
_Life of Marius_, and _note_.) Confusion arose when Greek readers of
Homer and Herodotus began to theorize, and this grew greater when
formidable enemies under the name of _Sicambri_ were found in Germany.
It is highly probable that in both Strabo and Tacitus we have a
commentary on the lines of Horace--
Te cæde gaudentes Sicambri
Compositis venerantur armis.
"Eumdem (with the Chauci, Catti, and Cherusci) Germaniæ sinum proximi
Oceano Cimbri tenent, parva nunc civitas, sed gloria ingens:
veterisque famæ lata vestigia manent, utrâque ripâ castra ac spatia,
quorum ambitu nunc quoque metiaris molem manusque gentis, et tam
magni exitus fidem--occasione discordiæ nostræ et civilium armorum,
expugnatis legionum hibernis, etiam Gallias affectavêre; ac rursus
pulsi, inde proximis temporibus triumphati magis quam victi sunt."
(_German._ 38.)
_Justin._--Justin writes--"Simul e _Germaniâ_ Cimbros--inundâsse
Italiam." Now this extract would be valuable if we were sure that the
word _Germania_ came from Justin's original, Trogus Pompeius; who was a
Vocontian Gaul, living soon after the Cimbric defeat. To him, however,
the term _Germania_ must have been wholly unknown; since, besides
general reasons, Tacitus says--"Germaniæ vocabulum recens et nuper
additum: quoniam, qui primum Rhenum transgressi Gallos expulerint,
ac nunc Tungri, tunc Germani vocati sint: ita nationis nomen, non
gentis evaluisse paullatim, ut omnes, primum a victore ob metum, mox a
seipsis invento nomine _Germani_ vocarentur." Justin's interpolation of
_Germania_ corresponds with the similar one on the part of Strabo.
Such is the evidence for the Germanic origin of the Cimbri and
Teutones, against which may now be set the following testimonies as to
their affinity with the Celts, each tribe being dealt with separately.
_The Ambrones._--Strabo mentions them along with the Tigurini, an
undoubted Celtic tribe--Κατὰ τὸν πρὸς Ἄμβρωνας καὶ Τωϋγενοὺς πόλεμον.
Suetonius places them with the Transpadani--"per Ambronas et
Transpadanos." (_Cæsar_, § 9.)
Plutarch mentions that their war-cries were understood and answered by
the Ligurians. Now it is possible that the Ligurians were Celts, whilst
it is certain that they were not Goths.
_The Teutones._--Appian speaks of the Teutones having invaded Noricum,
and this under the head Κέλτικα.
Florus calls one of the kings of the Teutones Teutobocchus, a name
Celtic rather than Gothic.