Before the count, all causes, as well great as small, were amenable. The
centenaries are called companions by Tacitus, after the custom of the
Romans; among whom the titles of honor were, Caesar, the Legatus or
Lieutenant of Caesar, and his comites, or companions. The courts of
justice were held in the open air, on a rising ground, beneath the shade
of an oak, elm, or some other large tree.

[84] Even judges were armed on the seat of justice. The Romans, on the
contrary, never went armed but when actually engaged in military service.

[85] These are the rudiments of the famous institution of chivalry. The
sons of kings appear to have received arms from foreign princes. Hence,
when Audoin, after overcoming the Gepidae, was requested by the Lombards
to dine with his son Alboin, his partner in the victory, he refused; for,
says he, "you know it is not customary with us for a king's son to dine
with his father, until he has received arms from the king of another
country."--Warnefrid, De gestis Langobardorum, i. 23.

[86] An allusion to the _toga virilis_ of the Romans. The German youth
were presented with the shield and spear probably at twelve or fifteen
years of age. This early initiation into the business of arms gave them
that warlike character for which they were so celebrated. Thus, Seneca
(Epist. 46) says, "A native of Germany brandishes, while yet a boy, his
slender javelin." And again (in his book on Anger, i. 11), "Who are braver
than the Germans?--who more impetuous in the charge?--who fonder of arms,
in the use of which they are born and nourished, which are their only
care?--who more inured to hardships, insomuch that for the most part they
provide no covering for their bodies, no retreat against the perpetual
severity of the climate?"