people, liberty, fame; but just as frequently on swilling,--it
cannot be called drinking,--on brawling, on dice-throwing. And they
pursue the heroism of swilling and gambling just as blindly as that of
battle. Anything rather than to yield! If "honor" (that is, obstinacy)
is once fixed upon anything,--wise or foolish,--then pursue it even to
destruction. Though pleasure in the game has long been exhausted,
out-drink or out-wrestle the other man; do anything but own that
strength and spirit are consumed; rather die thrice over. I can speak
thus, because I know these Germans. Many thousands of them--from nearly
every one of their numerous tribes--have I seen in war and peace, as
soldiers, prisoners, envoys, hostages, mercenaries, colonists, in the
service of the Emperor, as leaders of the army, and as magistrates. I
have long wondered how any Germans are left; for, in truth, their
virtues vie with their vices in hastening their destruction.

Of all the nations I know, the shrewdest are the Jews, if shrewdness
consists first in the art of self-preservation, and then in the
acquisition and increase of worldly goods. They are the least, as the
Germans are the most ready, to rush upon ruin through blind passion,
through noble or ignoble impetuosity and defiance. They are the most
crafty of mortals and at the same time by no means the worst. But they
are clever to a degree which makes one marvel why they did not long ago
rule all other peoples; something must be lacking there too.

Do you ask, O Cethegus, how in the camp of Belisarius before Mount
Pappua I have attained this singular view of the much-despised Hebrews?
Very simply.

They have accomplished something which I consider the most impossible.
They have not plundered; by no means, not even stolen, for they steal
almost less than the Christians; but they have actually talked many
thousand pounds of gold belonging to the Vandal booty out of the
avaricious hands of the Emperor Justinian. The Emperor Titus, after
the fall of Jerusalem, brought to Rome the treasures of the Jewish
Temple,--candlesticks, vessels, dishes, jugs, and all sorts of gold and
silver articles set with pearls and precious stones. When Genseric
pillaged Rome, he bore away the Temple treasures on his corsair ships
to Carthage. The Empress knew this, and probably it was not the least
of the reasons for which the Bishop was compelled to dream. Belisarius
wished to exhibit all the booty on his entrance