The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Gibbon turns to another enemy of the Romans, the Germanic peoples. Gibbon believes the Germanic people had spread across modern Germany, Scandinavia, and most of Poland. He also suspects that the colder climate of Germany made the Germans heartier and taller than the peoples of the Mediterranean. In the time of Tacitus, a Roman historian who wrote extensively about the Germans, they were illiterate and without an alphabet, they did not have a currency, and they had no cities. According to Gibbon, the ancient Germans “passed their lives in a state of ignorance and poverty, which it has pleased some disclaimers to dignify with the appellation of virtuous simplicity” (218). They did practice some agriculture, including the production of beer. One advantage the Germans had from this lack of civilization was that they had “the enjoyment of liberty” (223). Gibbon attributes this to the fact that property and the desire for luxury is what leads to despotism.

In terms of government, the Germans organized themselves in tribes whose members voted on political decisions and on their leaders. In times of warfare and danger, the German tribes would choose a general. However, the tribes would also choose princes based on both their merits and their noble ancestry.