He who had the most athletic vigor was the greatest man, and all the ambition and energy of the nation were expended in the acquisition of strength and agility.
They are ever described as strangers to fear, rushing unthinkingly upon certain death.

They were always ready to accept combat with the Roman legions.

Entire strangers to military strategy, they made no attacks in drilled lines or columns, but the whole tumultuous mass, in wild disorder rushed upon the foe, with the most desperate daring, having no guide but their own ferocity and the chieftains who led small bands.

Their weapons consisted of swords, javelins and poisoned arrows, and each man carried a heavy shield.

As they crossed the Danube in their bloody forays, incited by love of plunder, the inhabitants of the Roman villages fled before them.