Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 2 1913.djvu/222

 CHAPTER VII

ITALY UNDER THE LOMBARDS

The Lombards are mentioned first at the time of Augustus and Tiberius by Velleius Paterculus and Strabo, and a hundred years later by Tacitus. Their first residence was the Bardengau on the left bank of the lower Elbe, and here they were conquered by Tiberius at the time before the battle in the Teutoburgian forest, when the Romans still intended to subdue the whole of Germany. After the deliverance of the inner part of Germany by Arminius, the Lombards were ruled by Marbod, who went over to Arminius and later on brought back to his compatriots Italicus, the son of Arminius, whom the Cherusci had fetched from Rome and then driven away again. They are generally described as a small tribe, the fiercest of all German tribes, and only their bravery enabled them to hold their position between their stronger neighbours. On the whole their habits seem to have been the same as those of all other Germans at the time of Tacitus; some of their laws of a later period shew a certain resemblance to those of their former neighbours by the North Sea. As with all Germans, their kingdom is no original institution, and whatever tradition tells about it is only fabulous. It is the smallness of their tribe which accounts for their principal quality — the tendency to assimilate the allied or subdued individuals and tribes. Roman influence seems to have touched them only in the slightest degree during the first five centuries of our era. At the time of their wanderings they began to shew differences from their neighbours.

We know nothing about the way the Lombard wanderings took, though tradition says a good deal about them. The extensive farming they practised, consisting more in cattle-breeding than agriculture, and the loose organisation of the tribe made it easy for them to leave their dwelling-places. Perhaps here, as is so often the case, the first motive was need of land, a natural result of the increase of population, while at the same time so small a tribe had no possibility of enlarging its boundaries. A division of Lombards invaded Pannonia with the Marcomanni about the year 165, but were repulsed by the Romans and obliged to return. They did not again reach the old Roman frontier, the Danube, till 300 years later, under a certain king Godeoch,