The importance of this latter alternative, will soon be seen.
[§ 26]. The Menapians.—Locality, from the country of the Morini on the French side of the Straits of Dover, to the Scheldt. It is generally considered that these were not Germans but Celts. The fact, however, is by no means ascertained. If Germans, the Menapians were the tribes nearest to Britain. Again, supposing that the present Flemings of Belgium are the oldest inhabitants of the country, their origin is either wholly, or in part, Menapian. Mentioned by Cæsar.
[§ 27]. The Batavians.—Mentioned by Cæsar; locality, from the Maas to the Zuyder Zee. Conterminous with the Menapians on the south, and with the Frisians on the north. If the present Dutch of Holland be the inhabitants of the country from the time of Cæsar downwards, their origin is Batavian.
[§ 28]. The Frisians.—First known to the Romans during the campaign of Drusus—"tributum Frisiis transrhenano populo—Drusus jusserat modicum;"[[3]] Tacitus, Ann. iv. 72. Extended, according to Ptolemy, as far north as the Ems—τὴν δὲ παρωκεανῖτιν κατέχουσιν ... οἱ Φρίσσιοι, μέχρι τοῦ Αμισίου ποταμοῦ.
Now, as the dialect of the modern province of Friesland differs in many important points from the Dutch of Holland and Flanders; and as there is every reason to believe that the same, or greater difference, existed between the old Frisians and the old Batavians, assuming each to have been the mother-tongues of the present Frisian and Dutch respectively, we may consider that in reaching the parts to the north of the Zuyder-Zee, we have come to a second sub-division of the Germanic dialects; nevertheless, it is not the division to which either the Angles or the Saxons belong, as may be ascertained by the difference of dialect, or rather language.
[§ 29]. The Chauci.—Connected with the Frisii.—Falling into two divisions—the lesser (?) Chauci, from the Ems to the Weser; the greater (?) Chauci from the Weser to the Elbe—μετὰ δὲ τούτους (the Frisians),
Καῦχοι οἱ μικροὶ μέχρι τοῦ Οὐισούργιος ποταμοῦ, εἶτα Καῦχοι οἱ μειζοῦς, μέχρι τοῦ Ἄλβιος ποταμοῦ.
Tacitus describes the Chauci thus:—"Tam immensum terrarum spatium non tenent tantum Chauci, sed et implent; populus inter Germanos nobilissimus."
The Frisians, as has been stated, represent a separate subdivision of the German dialects, as opposed to the ancient Batavian, and the modern Dutch and Flemish. Did the Chauci represent a third, or were they part of the Frisian division?