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Rh the higher civilisation of the races on the river-bank—the Rhine—"they buy wine." Their food, he says, is of a simple kind, consisting of wild fruit, curdled milk, and fresh game. The barbarians had not arrived at the knowledge of well-kept venison, or grouse, or blackcock. Doubtless the women derived some consolations for their hard life in millinery. They wore indeed "the same dress as the men, except that they generally wrap themselves in linen garments which they embroider with purple." One female fashion has descended from the German ladies to a remote posterity. It seems that to make a sleeve for cloak or tunic passed their skill, so "the upper and lower arm is bare, and the nearest part of the bosom is also exposed." Care of their children, indeed, did not take up much of their time. "In every household, naked and filthy, they grew up with those stout frames and limbs which we so much admire." Their families were numerous, for we are told, with a well-merited reproof of Roman fathers and mothers, that "to limit the number of their children or to destroy any of their subsequent offspring is accounted infamous." Baby-farming was reserved for the use of more civilised nations.

In one respect the Germans set the Greeks and Romans a good example, and perhaps gave a wholesome hint to more recent times. They did not go so far as to permit their wives and daughters to vote at elections, yet in some sense they admitted women's rights. "They believe," says Tacitus, "that the sex has a certain sanctity and prescience, and they do not despise their counsels, or make light of their answers. We have seen in the days of Vespasian, Veleda, who was long regarded by many as a divinity.