1The land, although it differs somewhat in appearance, is on the whole either bristling with forests or foul with marshes, wetter where it faces the Gauls, windier where it faces Noricum and Pannonia; 1it is fertile enough for sown crops, unkind to fruit-bearing trees, rich in flocks, but these are mostly undersized. 2Not even the cattle have their proper beauty or glory of brow: it is in numbers that they rejoice, and these are their only and their most cherished wealth. 3Whether the gods have denied them silver and gold in kindness or in anger, I am not sure. 3Yet I would not assert that no vein in Germany produces silver or gold: for who has searched?
4They are not much moved by possessing and using it: one may see among them silver vessels, given as gifts to their envoys and chiefs, held no more precious than those that are moulded from clay. 4However, those nearest to us value gold and silver for the purposes of trade, and recognise and pick out certain issues of our money: those further inland practise the simpler and more ancient exchange of goods. 5The money they approve is old and long familiar, coins with serrated edges and those stamped with a two-horse chariot. 5They also go after silver rather than gold, from no liking for it, but because a quantity of silver pieces is handier to use for those who buy cheap goods of every kind.