Tacitus, within the Roman Empire in the year 98 BC, tasks himself with writing an ethnography on the Germans. They were a people that Rome persistently failed to conquer, which might be why Tacitus went through the trouble of writing the piece in the first place. The differences between the Romans and the Germans were stark, both culturally and technologically. One thing that becomes clear when reading Germania is that it was written from the perspective of a man who feared a competitor to the Mediterranean civilization from which he hailed. This is revealed by his highlighting of their differences in governance, by making comparisons to each other’s religions, and by praising the Germans’ relatively superior morals.
The difference between the nature of the executive powers amongst the German peoples and that from the Romans is quite large. He writes that their leaders are chosen when the need arrives to follow a man of valor into battle. A perpetual oppression by a king was said to be foreign to the Germans, and strong kings are claimed to have emerged only with the material support of the Romans. The Romans, on the other hand, have been living with the continuous tyranny of an emperor for more than a century by the time that Tacitus was writing Germania. Tacitus also had the particular displeasure of living under the rule of the Flavian emperors, and rarely did they work to properly justify their rule as Germanic leaders were expected to. To make the contrast, he writes that for the Germans “it is a disgrace to the leader to be surpassed in valour by his companions, to the companions not to equal the valour of their leader” (Germania 14). The same is usually the case for the Romans, but the emperors of Tacitus’s time only cared about meeting the bare minimum of achievement in order to claim triumphs, rather than accruing any real gains for the empire. Marital honor was still highly prized in Roman society, so to point out that there was a rival people that held more strongly to that virtue must have presented itself as a threat to the Romans. Perhaps giving so much credence to the war like nature of the Germans was Tacitus’s way of spurring his contemporaries into some kind of action against them.
On the matter of religion, Tacitus makes an effort to relate the barbarian’s beliefs to those of the Romans. Many times, he refers to Germanic gods using the nomenclature of a Roman god with similar attributes. Even the heroes of Greco-Roman tradition are said to have made a presence in Germania. As a side note, this reveals one of the sources of tolerance that the Romans had for foreign religions. Through Tacitus we know that they would sometimes see the gods of other peoples not as unique creations but as instances where their own gods interacted with a different set of people in a distinct way. The people with whom he had the most difficulty understanding with regards to religion were the Fenni. This barbarian group is described as being as technologically ignorant and isolated as some Amazonian tribes are today. Given their lot Tacitus fails to understand what need they have for gods. He was only able to perceive gods only as an entity to call to when in need of material assistance, so he could not fathom the kind of spirituality the Fenni possessed. The Romans saw worship of their gods as a source of strength, so the fact that the Germans competed for the favor of many of the same gods could have presented itself as a problem.
A lambasting of Roman moral looseness is inserted into many of Tacitus’s descriptions of German morals. A motif for this topic was to follow a description of the Germans with a quip relating it to how the Romans behave, usually to Roman indignity. As he discusses German marital practices, for example, he makes a point of saying that they do not use wet nurses, monogamy is strictly adhered to, and that childlessness is not advantageous. The inverses of these practices were becoming more common amongst the Romans in the time of Tacitus, and there had been laws discouraging some of them since the time of Augustus. He takes a prod to Roman ethics when he says, “Good morality is more effective there than good laws are elsewhere” (Germania 19). Furthermore, a bit of frustration is hinted where Tacitus writes, “no one there finds vice amusing, or calls it ‘up-to-date’ to debauch and be debauched” (Germania 19). To praise such morals amongst the Germans is not a unique perspective, as these traits are almost universally praised in conservative cultures. However, Tacitus giving such high praise to a people that he hopes will be conquered points to cultural tensions existing in Rome during his time.
There were many differences between the culture of the Germans and that of the Romans. It is therefore natural for a Roman writing about them to find particular interest in areas where these foreign peoples, who constantly emerged as a threat, might have some sort of advantage. It also follows that the same person will want to tell his peers about his revelations. Hence, much like a hippy who proselytizes the anti-materialist aspects of an aboriginal culture, Tacitus sought to show his contemporaries that there were barbarians nearby that held both the moral virtues to live in good order, and the courage to conquer their neighbors.