18.25. 25. Childeric.
"The laws of matrimony amongst the Germans," says
Tacitus, "are strictly observed. Vice is not there a subject of
ridicule. To corrupt or be corrupted is not called fashion, or the
custom of the age:
[36]
there are few examples in this populous nation of
the violation of conjugal faith."
[37]
This was the reason of the expulsion of Childeric: he shocked their
rigid virtue, which conquest had not had time to corrupt.
Footnotes
[36]
"Severa matrimonia . . . nemo illic vitia ridet, nec corrumpere
et corrumpi sæculum vocatur." — "De Moribus Germanorum," 19.
[37]
"Paucissima in tam numerosa gente adulteria." -- Ibid.
