Hugo Grotius

“ A man was permitted to have only one wife, with the exception of a few of the nobles, an ordinance which the same Tacitus attributes to the Germans, so that this mark distinguishes them from the other barbarians; since, on the contrary, among the Scythians, from time immemorial, it was usual that a man should have more than one wife. Marriage is permissible to their women, as to the Germans, only once. ”

“ Even to sacrificing men to the Gods is a German custom, upon which as the savageness became more developed, there supervened the practice of feeding upon human flesh. Now, in what I have just said as to these tribes on this side the Isthmus of Panama being almost all of Norwegian origin, I have not spoken in vain. For as to those who possess Yucatan, and some neighbouring districts, the rite of circumcision discovered among them proves to us that they are of a different origin. ”

“ For it is certain that before the arrival of the Spaniards there were no horses in all America. Now Scythia is a country always full of horses, and almost all the Scythians are accustomed to ride on horseback, and to accomplish immense distances by their aid, and they even suck the blood of their horses when drink of another kind fails. ”

“ So Dionysius Halicarnassus, greatly overstepping the diligence of all the Italians, has shown to us, from the monuments of the Greeks, to which he has also added other evidences, the origin of the tribes which first possessed Italy. So Sallust inquires who first settled in Africa; so, also, Tacitus, who in Britain—the former from old traditions, the latter partly from tradition, partly from conjecture, which he based upon a consideration of the language, dress, and customs. In Strabo, a man of great discernment, there are many inquiries of this sort. ”

“ From time immemorial they believed that the soul survived the body, a doctrine which Lucan attributed to the tribes which he despises as Arctic. Criminals were severely punished in their persons. You have the same practice also alluded to by Tacitus respecting the Germans, which explains the reference of Quintilian in his speech on behalf of Marianus, the soldier who had murdered the Tribune: “They by the ocean live more sacredly.” ”

“ And as to some thinking that they have discovered there the names of the Hebrew tribes, the words are old Scythian, as Euthalitæ, not Nephtalitæ, and so on, as learned men have made abundantly manifest. ”