When recourse is once had to the sword, modesty and fair
dealing will be vainly pleaded by the weaker; names these which are always
assumed by the stronger. Thus the Cheruscans, they who formerly bore the
character of _good and upright_, are now called _cowards and fools_; and
the fortune of the Cattans who subdued them, grew immediately to be
wisdom. In the ruin of the Cheruscans, the Fosians, also their neighbours,
were involved; and in their calamities bore an equal share, though in
their prosperity they had been weaker and less considered.
In the same winding tract of Germany live the Cimbrians, close to the
ocean; a community now very small, but great in fame. Nay, of their
ancient renown, many and extensive are the traces and monuments still
remaining; even their entrenchments upon either shore, so vast in compass
that from thence you may even now measure the greatness and numerous bands
of that people, and assent to the account of an army so mighty. It was on
the six hundred and fortieth year of Rome, when of the arms of the
Cimbrians the first mention was made, during the Consulship of Caecilius
Metellus and Papirius Carbo.
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