Chapter IX: The state of Germany till the invasion of the Barbarians

[nwhyte]

Read it here, here or here. I have invested in the first of the three-volume Penguin complete Decline and Fall, which was pretty inexpensive second-hand from *m*z*n and has a decent list also of changes between the various editions.

0) Normal service resumedThis time last week, I was at a conference on Tudor Ireland in Connecticut; the Saturday

Comments

[strange_complex]

It's a while since I read this chapter, but I found it one of the most enjoyable so far. There's lots of good value to be got out of drunken Germans, and I particularly liked footnote 10/11 (depending which edition you are reading): "The Cimbri, by way of amusement, often slid down mountains of snow on their broad shields." Awesome!

Like nwhyte, I was struck by Gibbons' rather mixed comments on the supposed gender roles of the ancient Germans. For a moment he comes across as surprisingly proto-feminist, but the illusion is quickly dispelled. His apparent admiration for the exotic German idea of (shock!) treating women like human beings unfortunately only extends as far as liking the chastity which results - i.e. he still believes that female sexuality should only exist subject to constraints imposed by men. It is also severely tempered by his observation that the results are aesthetically displeasing: "Whilst they affected to emulate the stern virtues of man, they must have resigned that attractive softness in which principally consist the charm and weakness of woman." So that's us told.

Finally, I note that his observation the man of learning "by reading and reflection, multiplies his own experience, and lives in distant ages and remote countries" constitutes an example of history characterised as time-travel. That's a rather nice little piece of context for my current thinking on the topic of Doctor Who and historiography, and I shall be looking out for other authors using the same sort of metaphor over the next few months. (Examples welcome if anyone has any).