The Chatti, of whom they formed a portion, were a pre-eminently warlike race.

"Others go to battle," says the historian, "these go to war." Their bodies were more hardy, their minds more vigorous, than those of other tribes.

Their young men cut neither hair nor beard till they had slain an enemy.

On the field of battle, in the midst of carnage and plunder, they, for the first time, bared their faces.

The cowardly and sluggish, only, remained unshorn.