The historians of that day seem to find no language sufficiently forcible to describe the hideousness and the ferocity of these savages.

They pressed down on the Roman empire as merciless as wolves, and the Caesars turned pale at the recital of their deeds of blood.
It is indeed a revolting picture which contemporaneous history gives us of these barbarians.

In their faces was concentrated the ugliness of the hyena and the baboon.

They tattooed their cheeks, to prevent the growth of their beards.

They were short, thick-set, and with back bones curved almost into a semicircle.