Note 846 — Chapter V · THE DIFFERENCING ELEMENTS OF COMMUNAL POETRY (continued 3)

Silius Italicus, naming the troops which Hannibal led out of winter quarters, comes to the Gallician contingent, and describes their youth—

barbara nunc patriis ululantem carmina linguis,

nunc, pedis alterno percussa verbere terra,

ad numerum resonas gaudentem plaudere caetras.

Lemaire (Bib. Class. Lat., Sil. Ital. Punic., III. 345 ff.), explains this as a heroic ballad which the soldiers sing, as they dance and strike their shields, when going into battle. He refers to the classical passages for this as well as for the Pyrrhic dance; but see note at the end of this chapter. The perhaps similar custom of the Germans, noted by Tacitus, is treated in a masterly way by Müllenhoff. See the next note but one.