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36When these, then, had perished and the rest had been subdued without performing any exploit of note, Caesar made a campaign against the Pannonians. He had no complaint to bring against them, not having been wronged by them in any way, but he wanted both to give his soldiers practice and to support them at the expense of an alien people, for he regarded every demonstration against a weaker party as just, when it pleased the man who was their superior in arms. 2The Pannonians dwell near Dalmatia along the very bank of the Ister from Noricum to Moesia and lead the most miserable existence of all mankind. For they are not well off as regards either soil or climate; they cultivate no olives and produce no wine except to a very slight extent and a wretched quality at that, 3since the winter is very rigorous and occupies the greater part of their year, but drink as well as eat both barley and millet. For all that they are considered the bravest of all men of whom we have knowledge; for they are very high-spirited and bloodthirsty, as men who possess nothing that makes an honourable life worth while. 4This I know not from hearsay or reading only, but I have learned it from actual experience as once their governor, for after my command in Africa and in Dalmatia (the latter position my father also held for a time) I was appointed to what is known as Upper Pannonia, and hence it is with exact knowledge of all conditions among them that I write. 5Their name is derived from the fact that their sleeved tunics are made by stitching together pieces of old clothes which they cut up into strips in a way peculiar to themselves and call panni. This is their name, whether the reason be what I have stated or some other; 6but certain of the Greeks in ignorance of the truth have called them Paeones, an appellation which, though no doubt old, does not, however, apply to that country, but rather to Rhodope, close to the present Macedonia, as far as the sea. Therefore I also shall call the people of the latter district Paeones, but the others Pannonians, just as both they themselves and the Romans do.
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