They have a tradition that Hercules also had been in their country, and
him above all other heroes they extol in their songs when they advance to
battle. Amongst them too are found that kind of verses by the recital of
which (by them called _Barding_) they inspire bravery; nay, by such
chanting itself they divine the success of the approaching fight. For,
according to the different din of the battle, they urge furiously, or
shrink timorously. Nor does what they utter, so much seem to be singing as
the voice and exertion of valour. They chiefly study a tone fierce and
harsh, with a broken and unequal murmur, and therefore apply their shields
to their mouths, whence the voice may by rebounding swell with greater
fulness and force. Besides there are some of opinion, that Ulysses, whilst
he wandered about in his long and fabulous voyages, was carried into this
ocean and entered Germany, and that by him Asciburgium was founded and
named, a city at this day standing and inhabited upon the bank of the
Rhine: nay, that in the same place was formerly found an altar dedicated
to Ulysses, with the name of his father Laertes added to his own, and that
upon the confines of Germany and Rhoetia are still extant certain
monuments and tombs inscribed with Greek characters.
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