3.
They esteem it their greatest praise as a nation, that the lands about their
territories lie unoccupied to a very great extent, inasmuch as [they think] that
by this circumstance is indicated, that a great number of nations can not
withstand their power; and thus on one side of the Suevi the lands
are said to lie desolate for about six hundred miles. On the other side they
border on the Ubii, whose state was large and flourishing,
considering the condition of the Germans, and who are
somewhat more refined than those of the same race and the rest [of the
Germans], and that because they border on the Rhine
, and are much resorted to by merchants, and are accustomed to the
manners of the Gauls, by reason of their approximity
to them. Though the Suevi, after making the attempt frequently and
in several wars, could not expel this nation from their territories, on account
of the extent and population of their state, yet they made them tributaries, and
rendered them less distinguished and powerful [than they had ever been].
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