1The Langobardi, by contrast, are ennobled by their small numbers: surrounded by very many and very powerful tribes, they are safe not by submission but by battles and by facing danger. 1Next come the Reudigni and the Aviones and the Anglii and the Varini and the Eudoses and the Suarines and the Nuitones, protected by rivers or forests. 2There is nothing noteworthy about them individually, except that in common they worship Nerthus, that is, Mother Earth, and believe that she intervenes in human affairs and rides among the peoples. 2On an island of the Ocean there is a sacred grove, and in it a consecrated wagon, covered with a cloth; 3to touch it is permitted to the priest alone.
3He perceives when the goddess is present in her sanctuary, and as she is drawn by heifers he attends her with great reverence. 3Joyful then are the days, festive the places, which she honours with her arrival and her stay. 4They do not go to war, they do not take up arms; 4every iron object is locked away; 4peace and quiet are then alone known, then alone loved, until the same priest returns the goddess, sated with the company of mortals, to her temple. 5Then the wagon and the cloth and, if you care to believe it, the deity herself are washed in a secluded lake. 5Slaves perform this service, and the same lake at once swallows them up.
5Hence a mysterious terror and a holy ignorance as to what that may be which only those about to perish behold.