They have no
house to inhabit, no land to cultivate, nor any domestic charge or care.
With whomsoever they come to sojourn, by him they are maintained; always
very prodigal of the substance of others, always despising what is their
own, till the feebleness of old age overtakes them, and renders them
unequal to the efforts of such rigid bravery.
Next to the Cattans, dwell the Usipians and Tencterians; upon the Rhine
now running in a channel uniform and certain, such as suffices for a
boundary. The Tencterians, besides their wonted glory in war, surpass in
the service and discipline of their cavalry. Nor do the Cattans derive
higher applause from their foot, than the Tencterians from their horse.
Such was the order established by their forefathers, and what their
posterity still pursue. From riding and exercising of horses, their
children borrow their pastimes; in this exercise the young men find matter
for emulating one another, and in this the old men take pleasure to
persevere. Horses are by the father bequeathed as part of his household
and family, horses are conveyed amongst the rights of succession, and as
such the son receives them; but not the eldest son, like other effects, by
priority of birth, but he who happens to be signal in boldness and
superior in war.
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