XVIII.25 Childeric

, par Stewart

“Marriages among the Germans are severe,” says Tacitus ; “vices are not a subject of ridicule to them [1] ; to corrupt or be corrupted are not considered a custom or a manner of living ; "there are few examples in such a populous nation of the violation of conjugal troth.” [2]

That explains the expulsion of Childeric : he affronted rigid practices which the conquest had not had time to change.

Notes

[1[...] severa matrimonia [...]. Nemo [enim] illic vitia ridet, nec corrumpere et currumpi sæculum vocatur (De moribus Germanorum [ch. xviii-xix]).

[2Paucissima in tam numerosa gente adulteria (ibid.).