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An Introduction to the Sources Relating to the Germanic Invasions
An Introduction to the Sources Relating to the Germanic Invasions Author:Carlton Joseph Huntley Hayes General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1909 Original Publisher: Columbia University Subjects: Germanic peoples Rome Germanic tribes Barbarian invasions of Rome History / Ancient / General History / Ancient / Rome Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and ... more »there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER II Plutarch It is commonly alleged that the Cimbri and Teutones, who appeared in Gaul in 114 B. C, plundered that country and Spain likewise, who defeated in turn five Roman armies sent against them, and were at length annihilated by Marius in 101 B. C., were the first Germans to come into conflict with Rome.1 If we rely exclusively on the sources,2 however, we cannot be certain that they were Germans. Most of our information on the matter is contained in the biography of Marius by Plutarch, who wrote approximately two hundred years after the events he narrates. Plutarch was born at the town of Chaeronea in Boeotia probably between A. D. 45 and 50. He studied at Athens and at Alexandria, and for a time lectured at Rome on philosophy and rhetoric. He taught the future emperor Hadrian and was admitted to consular rank by Trajan. In his old age he was appointed procurator of Greece, and died about A. D. 120 in his native town where he had long been an archon and a priest of the Pythian Apollo. Plutarch wrote his charming and justly-famed parallel biographies of distinguished Greeks and Latins ' for edification ratherthan for historical truth; his main object was to present distinct character sketches. It has been conceded that he showed little critical insight in the use of his authorities and that his work abounds in manifold inaccuracies and mistakes, yet in the absence of other material we are tempted to accept the moral...« less