bard's office." Hence it is clear that _barditum_ could not be used
correctly here, inasmuch as amongst the Germans not any particular,
appointed, body of men, but the whole army chanted forth the war-song.
Some editions have _baritum_, which is said to be derived from the German
word _beren_, or _baeren_, "to shout;" and hence it is translated in some
dictionaries as, "the German war-song." From the following passage
extracted from Facciolati, it would seem, however, that German critics
repudiate this idea: "De _barito_ clamore bellico, seu, ut quaedam habent
exemplaria, _bardito_, nihil audiuimus nunc in Germania: nisi hoc
dixerimus, quod _bracht_, vel _brecht_, milites Germani appellare
consueverunt; concursum videlicet certantium, et clamorem ad pugnam
descendentium; quem _bar, bar, bar_, sonuisse nonnulli affirmant."--(Andr.
Althameri, Schol. in C. Tacit De Germanis.) Ritter, himself a German,
affirms that _baritus_ is a reading worth nothing; and that _barritus_ was
not the name of the ancient German war-song, but of the shout raised by
the Romans in later ages when on the point of engaging; and that it was
derived "a clamore barrorem, _i.e._ elephantorum." The same learned editor
considers that the words "quem barditum vocant" have been originally the
marginal annotation of some unsound scholar, and have been incorporated by
some transcriber into the text of his MS. copy, whence the error has
spread. He therefore encloses them between brackets, to show that, in his
judgment, they are not the genuine production of the pen of Tacitus.--
_White_.

[28] A very curious coincidence with the ancient German opinion concerning
the prophetic nature of the war-cry or song, appears in the following
passage of the Life of Sir Ewen Cameron, in "Pennant's Tour," 1769,
Append, p. 363. At the battle of Killicrankie, just before the fight
began, "he (Sir Ewen) commanded such of the Camerons as were posted near
him to make a great shout, which being seconded by those who stood on the