In the first century CE , all of these qualities had been attributed by Tacitus to the German barbarians in his Germania , in which he contrasted them repeatedly with the softened , Romanized , corrupted Gauls , by inference criticizing his own Roman culture for getting away from its roots -- which was the perennial function of such comparisons . In the 1st century AD , sterling qualities such as those enumerated above by FÃ nelon ( excepting perhaps belief in the brotherhood of man ) had been attributed by Tacitus in his Germania to the German barbarians , in pointed contrast to the softened , Romanized Gauls . By inference Tacitus was criticizing his own Roman culture for getting away from its roots â '' which was the perennial function of such comparisons .