The rendering of this famous passage, given in the text, is almost certainly correct. It has been defended with a great array of learning by Norden. The alternative version, 'that all were first called Germans by the victor to inspire terror', is, grammatically, easier, for 'a victore' and 'a se ipsis' will then be used in exactly the same sense, not, as in our rendering, with a shift of meaning. But the sense is poor—the Tungri (Germani), to frighten the Gauls, said that all the people across the Rhine were Germans too. 'Ob metum' can mean 'to inspire fear', but the other meaning, 'because of fear felt', is more usual.