[102] All savages are fond of variety of colors; hence the Germans spotted
their furs with the skins of other animals, of which those here mentioned
were probably of the seal kind. This practice is still continued with
regard to the ermine, which is spotted with black lamb's-skin.

[103] The Northern Sea, and Frozen Ocean.

[104] Pliny testifies the same thing; and adds, that "the women beyond the
Rhine are not acquainted with any more elegant kind of clothing."--xix. 1.

[105] Not that rich and costly purple in which the Roman nobility shone,
but some ordinary material, such as the _vaccinium_, which Pliny says was
used by the Gauls as a purple dye for the garments of the slaves, (xvi.
18.)

[106] The chastity of the Germans, and their strict regard to the laws of
marriage, are witnessed by all their ancient codes of law. The purity of
their manners in this respect afforded a striking contrast to the
licentiousness of the Romans in the decline of the empire, and is
exhibited in this light by Salvian, in his treatise De Gubernatione Dei,
lib. vii.

[107] Thus we find in Caesar (Bell. Gall. i. 53) that Ariovistus had two
wives. Others had more. This indulgence proved more difficult to abolish,
as it was considered as a mark of opulence, and an appendage of nobility.

[108] The Germans purchased their wives, as appears from the following
clauses in the Saxon law concerning marriage: "A person who espouses a
wife shall pay to her parents 300 solidi (about 180_l._ sterling); but if