Naturally the activity of the nomads was not uniform over this immense region; it was greater at their base, the steppe, among the South Russian Slavs, of whom in 952 the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus says that they reared no horses, oxen, or sheep — and consequently must have been vegetarians — although at that time they had already been for a century under the powerful sway of Scandinavian Rōs.
Thus we see how Slavdom was influenced on all sides by plundering peoples. All so-called Slav States of which we have sufficient information turn out to be either Germanic or Altaian foundations. And unless we do violence to all German, Byzantine, and Oriental evidence of the political and military incapacity of the Slavs, we must not represent the remaining Slav States as of Slav origin merely because there is no express statement of their Germanic or Altaian origin. The strongest proof of this is the remarkable fact that all titles of rank in Slavic (except voyevoda, duke) are partly from Germanic, partly from Altaian sources.
Between Germanic and Altaic oppressors the Slavs were crushed for centuries; and yet they became the most numerous people of Europe because of the enormous size of their territory and because their tyrants were neither numerous nor united. The robbers could not follow the individual Slavs into the forest thickets and the marshes, so that from them the wastes left by massacre were peopled anew. Besides this, the impetuosity of the two robber-peoples periodically languished. We know this of the Vikings from their activity in Europe. England, France, Spain, Italy suffered terribly from them, but for long intervals they were quiet, and after a single defeat the enemy often did not return for a long time. Their might was also broken from time to time in their own land, and then the afflicted peoples enjoyed a healing respite. This was less the case with Russia, where a few dozen robbers won decisive victories and where the Northmen only had no serious opponents but their like. It was the same with the mounted nomad. His first appearance was terrible beyond description; but his fury exhausted itself on the numerous battle-fields, and when his ranks were thinned he had to call out his Slav serfs to fight on his behalf. Thus he led masses of Slavs into the steppe where they revived and increased until once again a new and vigorous wild horde forced its way in from Asia and repeated the destruction.
The primitive German was as savage in war as the mounted nomad? but far superior in character and capacity for civilisation. The German with one leap into civilisation so to speak from a plunderer becomes a founder of brilliant and well-ordered States, bringing to high perfection the intellectual goods which he has borrowed. On the other hand the
the ancient Prussians ate horse-flesh, and drank the milk of their mares (kumiz) to intoxication. Helmold (twelfth century) (Chronica Slavorum, I. i.) gives similar information.
