24.
And there was formerly a time when the Gauls excelled
the Germans in prowess, and waged war on them
offensively, and, on account of the great number of their people and the
insufficiency of their land, sent colonies over the Rhine .
Accordingly, the Volcae Tectosages, seized on those parts of Germany which are the
most fruitful [and lie] around the Hercynian forest, (which, I
perceive, was known by report to Eratosthenes and some other
Greeks, and which they call Orcynia), and settled
there. Which nation to this time retains its position in those settlements, and
has a very high character for justice and military merit; now also they continue
in the same scarcity, indigence, hardihood, as the Germans, and use the same food and dress; but their proximity to the
Province and knowledge of commodities from countries beyond the sea supplies to
the Gauls many things tending to luxury as well as
civilization. Accustomed by degrees to be overmatched and worsted in many
engagements, they do not even compare themselves to the Germans in prowess.
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