mportance. The magistrates conceal those things which
require to be kept unknown; and they disclose to the people whatever
they determine to be expedient. It is not lawful to speak of the
commonwealth, except in council.

XXI.--The Germans differ much from these usages, for they have neither
Druids to preside over sacred offices, nor do they pay great regard to
sacrifices. They rank in the number of the gods those alone whom they
behold, and by whose instrumentality they are obviously benefited,
namely, the sun, fire, and the moon; they have not heard of the other
deities even by report. Their whole life is occupied in hunting and in
the pursuits of the military art; from childhood they devote themselves
to fatigue and hardships. Those who have remained chaste for the longest
time, receive the greatest commendation among their people: they think
that by this the growth is promoted, by this the physical powers are
increased and the sinews are strengthened. And to have had knowledge of
a woman before the twentieth year they reckon among the most disgraceful
acts; of which matter there is no concealment, because they bathe
promiscuously in the rivers and [only] use skins or small cloaks of
deers' hides, a large portion of the body being in consequence naked.

XXII.--They do not pay much attention to agriculture, and a large
portion of their food consists in milk, cheese, and flesh; nor has any
one a fixed quantity of land or his own individual limits; but the
magistrates and the leading men each year apportion to the tribes and
families, who have united together, as much land as, and in the place in
which, they think proper, and the year after compel them to remove
elsewhere. For this enactment they advance many reasons--lest seduced by
long-continued custom, they may exchange their ardour in the waging of
war for agriculture; lest they may be anxious to acquire extensive
estates, and the more powerful drive the weaker from their possessions;
lest they construct their houses with too great a desire to avoid cold
and heat; lest the desire of wealth spring up, from which cause
divisions and discords arise; and that they may keep the common people
in a contented state of mind, when each sees his own means placed on an
equality with [those of] the most powerful.

XXIII.--It is the greatest glory to the several states to have as wide
deserts as possible around them, their frontiers having been laid waste.
They consider this t