german society - tacitus
...ght and the warrior must stay with him. The men are not supposed to surpass the leader so that he may be protected. But if the leader is struck down in battle the men are disgraced if they leave the field of battle alive. Both the leader and the retinue must fight equally as valiantly and courageous but within the fighting all the retinue must be prepared to defend the chief. There is a small egalitarian idea within this setup as the chief must fight along side the men as opposed to being safe at the back but the hierarchical ideas come in when the men must do whatever they have to protect the leader or suffer the lifetime of shame of letting him die. The chiefs get all the credit for the acts of the men. The men’s heroism is chalked up to the chief’s greatness. Then in turn the chief receives more gifts and more skilled warriors seek to join him due to his reputation. This hierarchical power set up leads a group to become prosperous. A byproduct of the chief’s power and greatness was peace that resulted in men hearing of the chiefs reputation and avoiding war with him at all costs. When a land is at peace for a prolonged time the warrior may seek to join a warring chief, which allows for a more free hierarchy by not being locked in to only one chief. The only way the warriors gain status and get things they need to survive is by constant warring. The loot from the battles is their only source of income and the chief doles it out. A peaceful chief has nothing to pay his men with therefore the hierarchy is easily broken if the chiefs do not honor their part of the social contract. Therefore we see that war is a very necessary part of the German culture. The third section describes the activities of warriors in times of peace and customs regarding honoring the chief. Another hierarchical design exists between the warriors and the members of the household. During peaceful periods the warriors would mainly rest and occasionally hunt leaving the day-to-day living work to members of the house that did not fight. The chiefs receive gifts of food from the citizens who in turn got the food from the non-combatant members of the households. Gifts were considered an honor for the chief but also were...