Tacitus: Germany Vs Rome

It is clear to see in the writing of Tacitus about the Germans that he finds a lot of their characteristics admirable. Although I think he believes the Romans are still more superior (at least in their way of living) he sees traits in the German society that he wishes the Romans could adopt. The one aspect of German society he talks about the most is the way they fight battles. He seems to see this nobility in the way they fight, and how they defend their chief that is lacking in the Romans. Although both societies were warlike societies, Tacitus saw something in the battles of the Germans that the Romans just didn’t have.
The German society was also something that Tacitus really admired. I think more than anything he wished that the Roman society could be as “pure” and “distinct” as the German society. The German society rarely if ever married outside their ethnic group, which meant that their particular culture’s features remained the same: blue eyes and red hair. Another distinction that Tacitus makes between the Germans and the Romans is that the Germans didn’t rely so much on their servants. They did have servants but only used them for minor errands whereas the Romans relied on their slaves for almost everything including raising their children.
The final aspect of German society that Tacitus touched on that I am going to talk about is the idea of just punishment. He greatly admired that the Germans had a system of just punishments where the punishment always fit the greatness of the crime. At the same time, all crime had its punishment even the little things that little penalties. The Romans were very materialistic, and Tacitus didn’t like that. He admired how the Germans never really cared much for Gold or Silver, in fact they barely knew what it was before the Romans introduced it to them.
Tacitus admired that the Germans were simple moral and noble people. He knew that the Romans were more superior and much richer than the Germans, but that may not have impressed him very much. He was more intrigued by the German’s pure race that wasn’t mingled with other outside cultures and ethnicities; he was also interested in their way of battle. Tacitus loved the Romans but wished they could learn the good from the Germans.