Germ. 46.1Hīc Suēbiae fīnis.Here is the end of Suebia. Germ. 46.1Peucīnōrum Venethōrumque et Fennōrum nātiōnēs Germānīs an Sarmatīs adscrībam dubitō.Whether I should assign the tribes of the Peucini, the Venethi and the Fenni to the Germans or the Sarmatians I am unsure. Germ. 46.1Quamquam Peucīnī, quōs quīdam Bastarnās vocant, sermōne cultū sēde ac domiciliīs ut Germānī agunt.Yet the Peucini, whom some call Bastarnae, in speech, way of life, settlement and dwellings live like Germans. Germ. 46.1Sordēs omnium ac torpor procerum: cōnūbiīs mīxtīs nōnnihil in Sarmatārum habitum foedantur.Squalor is common to all, and sluggishness to their nobles: through mixed marriages they are somewhat debased into the appearance of the Sarmatians. Germ. 46.2Venethī multum ex mōribus trāxērunt;The Venethi have taken on much of their customs; Germ. 46.2nam quidquid inter Peucīnōs Fennōsque silvārum ac montium ērigitur latrōciniīs pererrant.for whatever forests and mountains rise between the Peucini and the Fenni, they roam over on their raids. Germ. 46.2Hī tamen inter Germānōs potius referuntur, quia et domōs fīgunt et scūta gestant et pedum ūsū et pernīcitāte gaudent: quae omnia dīversa Sarmatīs sunt in plaustrō equōque vīventibus.These, however, are rather to be counted among the Germans, because they build fixed houses and carry shields and delight in the use and swiftness of their feet: all of which is the opposite of the Sarmatians, who live in wagons and on horseback.
Germ. 46.3Fennīs mīra feritās, foeda paupertās: nōn arma, nōn equī, nōn penātēs;The Fenni have an astonishing savagery and a squalid poverty: no arms, no horses, no homes; Germ. 46.3vīctuī herba, vestītuī pellēs, cubīle humus: sōlae in sagittīs spēs, quās inopiā ferrī ossibus asperant.for food they have grass, for clothing skins, for a bed the ground: their only hope lies in their arrows, which, for lack of iron, they tip with bone. Germ. 46.3Īdemque vēnātus virōs pariter ac fēminās alit;The same hunting feeds the men and the women alike; Germ. 46.3passim enim comitantur partemque praedae petunt.for the women go with them everywhere and claim a share of the prey. Germ. 46.4Nec aliud īnfantibus ferārum imbriumque suffugium quam ut in aliquō rāmōrum nexū contegantur;Nor have the infants any other refuge from wild beasts and rains than to be covered in some interlacing of branches; Germ. 46.4hūc redeunt iuvenēs, hoc senum receptāculum.to this the young men return, this is the shelter of the old. Germ. 46.5Sed beātius arbitrantur quam ingemere agrīs, inlabōrāre domibus, suās aliēnāsque fortūnās spē metūque versāre: sēcūrī adversus hominēs, sēcūrī adversus deōs rem difficillimam adsecūtī sunt, ut illīs nē vōtō quidem opus esset.But they think this happier than to groan over the fields, to toil at building houses, and to turn over their own and others' fortunes with hope and fear: careless of men, careless of gods, they have attained the most difficult of things, that they should have no need even of prayer.
Germ. 46.6Cētera iam fābulōsa: Hellusiōs et Oxiōnas ōra hominum vultūsque, corpora atque artus ferārum gerere: quod ego ut incompertum in mediō relinquam.The rest is now the stuff of fable: that the Hellusii and Oxiones have the faces and features of men, the bodies and limbs of beasts: this, as unverified, I shall leave undecided.