[2] The Druids were priests who formed a distinct and very influential class among the Gauls. They ascertained and revealed the will of the gods and were supreme in the government of the tribes. Druids existed also among the Britons.
[3] By Vulcan Cæsar means the German god of fire.
[4] Of the Suevi, a German tribe living along the upper course of the Danube, Cæsar says: "They consider it their greatest glory as a nation that the lands about their territories lie unoccupied to a very great extent, for they think that by this it is shown that a great number of nations cannot withstand their power; and thus on one side of the Suevi the lands are said to lie desolate for about six hundred miles."—Gallic War, Bk. IV., Chap. 3.
[5] This statement is an instance of Cæsar's vagueness, due possibly to haste in writing, but more likely to lack of definite information. How large these districts and cantons were, whether they had fixed boundaries, and how the chiefs rendered justice in them are things we should like to know but are not told.
[6] All dates from this point, unless otherwise indicated, are A.D.
[7] In reality iron ore was abundant in the Germans' territory, but it was not until long after the time of Tacitus that much use began to be made of it. By the fifth century iron swords were common.
[8] Coats of mail.
[9] Defensive armor for the head and neck.
[10] See Cæsar's description of this mode of fighting.—Gallic War, Bk. I., Chap. 48.
[11] The canton was known to the Romans as a pagus and to the Germans themselves as a gau. It was made up of a number of districts, or townships (Latin vicus, German dorf), and was itself a division of a tribe or nation.