furious in his wrath, but less formidable in a sustained conflict with a
powerful foe. "All the Gauls are of very high stature," says a soldier
who fought under Julian. (Amm. Marcel. xv. 12. 1). "They are white,
golden-haired, terrible in the fierceness of their eyes, greedy of
quarrels, bragging and insolent. A band of strangers could not resist
one of them in a brawl, assisted by his strong blue-eyed wife, especially
when she begins, gnashing her teeth, her neck swollen, brandishing her
vast and snowy arms, and kicking with her heels at the same time, to
deliver her fisticuffs, like bolts from the twisted strings of a
catapult. The voices of many are threatening and formidable. They are
quick to anger, but quickly appeased. All are clean in their persons;
nor among them is ever seen any man or woman, as elsewhere, squalid in
ragged garments. At all ages they are apt for military service. The old
man goes forth to the fight with equal strength of breast, with limbs as
hardened by cold and assiduous labor, and as contemptuous of all dangers,
as the young. Not one of them, as in Italy is often the case, was ever
known to cut off his thumbs to avoid the service of Mars."

The polity of each race differed widely from that of the other. The
government of both may be said to have been republican, but the Gallic
tribes were aristocracies, in which the influence of clanship was a
predominant feature; while the German system, although nominally regal,
was in reality democratic. In Gaul were two orders, the nobility and the
priesthood, while the people, says Caesar, were all slaves. The knights
or nobles were all trained to arms. Each went forth to battle, followed
by his dependents, while a chief of all the clans was appointed to take
command during the war. The prince or chief governor was elected
annually, but only by the nobles. The people had no rights at all, and
were glad to assign themselves as slaves to any noble who was strong
enough to protect them. In peace the Druids exercised the main functions