[2.1]  Sisenna Statilio Tauro L. Libone consulibus, mota Orientis regna provinciæque Romanæ, initio apud Parthos orto, qui petitum Roma acceptumque regem, quamvis gentis Arsacidarum, ut externum aspernabantur.  Is fuit Vonones, obses Augusto datus a Phraate.  Nam Phraates quanquam depulisset exercitus ducesque Romanos, cuncta venerantium officia ad Augustum verterat, partemque prolis, firmandæ amicitiæ miserat, haud perinde nostri metu quam fidei popularium diffisus.

[2.1]  In the consulship of Sisenna Statilius Taurus and Lucius Libo {a.D. 16} there was a commotion in the kingdoms and Roman provinces of the East.  It had its origin among the Parthians, who disdained as a foreigner a king whom they had sought and received from Rome, though he was of the family of the Arsacids.  This was Vonones, who had been given as an hostage to Augustus by Phraates.  For although he had driven before him armies and generals from Rome, Phraates had shown to Augustus every token of reverence and had sent him some of his children, to cement the friendship, not so much from dread of us as from distrust of the loyalty of his countrymen.

[2.2]  Post finem Phraatis et sequentium regum ob internas cædes venere in Urbem legati a primoribus Parthis, qui Vononem vetustissimum liberorum ejus accirent.  Magnificum id sibi credidit Cæsar, auxitque opibus.  Et accepere barbari lætantes, ut ferme ad nova imperia.  Mox subiit pudor degeneravisse Parthos :  petitum alio ex orbe regem, hostium artibus infectum ;  jam inter provincias Romanas solium Arsacidarum haberi darique.  ¿ Ubi illam gloriam trucidantium Crassum, exturbantium Antonium, si mancipium Cæsaris, tot per annos servitutem perpessum, Parthis imperitet ?  Accendebat dedignantes et ipse diversus a majorum institutis, raro venatu, segni equorum cura ;  quotiens per urbes incederet, lecticæ gestamine, fastuque erga patrias epulas.  Irridebantur et Græci comites ac vilissima utensilium anulo clausa.  Sed prompti aditus, obvia comitas, ignotæ Parthis virtutes, nova vitia ;  et quia ipsorum moribus aliena, perinde odium pravis et honestis.

[2.2]  After the death of Phraates and the succeeding kings in the bloodshed of civil wars, there came to Rome envoys from the chief men of Parthia, in quest of Vonones, his eldest son.  Cæsar thought this a great honor to himself, and loaded Vonones with wealth.  The barbarians, too, welcomed him with rejoicing, as is usual with new rulers.  Soon they felt shame at Parthians having become degenerate, at their having sought a king from another world, one too infected with the training of the enemy, at the throne of the Arsacids now being possessed and given away among the provinces of Rome.  “Where,” they asked, “was the glory of the men who slew Crassus, who drove out Antonius, if Cæsar’s drudge, after an endurance of so many years’ slavery, were to rule over Parthians.”  Vonones himself too further provoked their disdain, by his contrast with their ancestral manners, by his rare indulgence in the chase, by his feeble interest in horses, by the litter in which he was carried whenever he made a progress through their cities, and by his contempt of traditional banquets.  They also ridiculed his Greek attendants and his locking up of the cheapest utensils with a seal ring.  But he was easy of approach;  his courtesy was open to all, and he had thus virtues with which the Parthians were unfamiliar, and vices new to them.  And as his ways were quite alien from theirs they hated alike what was bad and what was good in him.

[2.3]  Igitur Artabanus, Arsacidarum e sanguine, apud Dahas adultus, excitur ;  primoque congressu fusus, reparat viris regnoque potitur.  Victo Vononi perfugium Armenia fuit, vacua tunc, interque Parthorum et Romanas opes infida ob scelus Antonii, qui Artavasden, regem Armeniorum, specie amicitiæ illectum, dein catenis oneratum, postremo interfecerat.  Ejus filius Artaxias, memoria patris nobis infensus, Arsacidarum vi seque regnumque tutatus est.  Occiso Artaxia per dolum propinquorum, datus a Cæsare Armeniis Tigranes, deductusque in regnum a Tiberio Nerone.  Nec Tigrani diuturnum imperium fuit neque liberis ejus, quanquam sociatis (more externo) in matrimonium regnumque.

[2.3]  Accordingly they summoned Artabanus {II, ca. a.D. 10-38}, an Arsacid by blood, who had grown to manhood among the Dahæ, and who, though routed in the first encounter, rallied his forces and possessed himself of the kingdom.  The conquered Vonones found a refuge in Armenia, then a free country, and exposed to the power of Parthia and Rome, without being trusted by either, in consequence of the crime of Antonius, who, under the guise of friendship, had inveigled Artavasdes, king of the Armenians, then loaded him with chains, and finally murdered him.  His son, Artaxias, our bitter foe because of his father’s memory, found defence for himself and his kingdom in the might of the Arsacids.  When he was slain by the treachery of kinsmen, Cæsar Augustus gave Tigranes to the Armenians, and he was installed in power by Tiberius Nero.  But neither Tigranes nor his children reigned long, though (in foreign fashion) these were joined in both marriage and in royal power.

[2.4]  Dein jussu Augusti impositus Artavasdes, et non sine clade nostra dejectus.  Tum Gajus Cæsar componendæ Armeniæ deligitur.  Is Ariobarzanen, origine Medum, ob insignem corporis formam et præclarum animum volentibus Armeniis præfecit.  Ariobarzane morte fortuita absumpto, stirpem ejus haud toleravere ;  temptatoque feminæ imperio, cui nomen Erato, eaque brevi pulsa, incerti solutique et magis sine domino quam in libertate profugum Vononen in regnum accipiunt.  Sed ubi minitari Artabanus et parum subsidii in Armeniis (vel, si nostra vi defenderetur, bellum adversus Parthos sumendum erat), rector Syriæ, Creticus Silanus, excitum custodia circumdat, manente luxu et regio nomine.  (Quod ludibrium ut effugere agitaverit Vonones, in loco reddemus.)

[2.4]  Next, at the bidding of Augustus, Artavasdes was set on the throne, nor was he deposed without disaster to ourselves.  Gajus Julius Caesar was then appointed to restore order in Armenia.  He put over the Armenians Ariobarzanes, a Mede by birth, whom they willingly accepted, because of his singularly handsome person and noble spirit.  On the death of Ariobarzanes through a fatal accident, they would not endure his son.  Having tried the government of a woman named Erato and having soon afterwards driven her from them, bewildered and disorganised, rather indeed without a ruler than enjoying freedom, they received for their king the fugitive Vonones.  When, however, Artabanus {II, ca. a.D. 10-38} began to threaten, and but feeble support could be given by the Armenians (the alternative, if he was to be defended by our might, was taking up war against the Parthians), the governor of Syria, Creticus Silanus, sent for him and surrounded him with guards, though his luxuriousness and royal name remained.  (How Vonones attempted to escape from this ludicrous situation, I will relate in the proper place.)

[2.5]  Ceterum Tiberio haud ingratum accidit turbari res Orientis, ut ea specie Germanicum suetis legionibus abstraheret, novisque provinciis impositum dolo simul et casibus objectaret.  At ille, quanto acriora in eum studia militum et aversa patrui voluntas, celerandæ victoriæ intentior, tractare prœliorum vias et quæ sibi tertium jam annum belligeranti sæva vel prospera evenissent.  Fundi Germanos acie et justis locis, juvari silvis, paludibus, brevi æstate et præmatura hieme ;  suum militem haud perinde vulneribus quam spatiis itinerum, damno armorum affici ;  fessas Gallias ministrandis equis ;  longum impedimentorum agmen opportunum ad insidias, defensantibus iniquum.  At si mare intretur, promptam ipsis possessionem et hostibus ignotam, simul bellum maturius incipi legionesque et commeatus pariter vehi ;  integrum equitem equosque per ora et alveos fluminum media in Germania fore.

[2.5]  Meanwhile the commotion in the East was rather pleasing to Tiberius, as it was a pretext for withdrawing Germanicus from the legions which knew him well, and placing him over new provinces where he would be exposed both to treachery and to disasters.  Germanicus, however, in proportion to the strength of the soldiers’ attachment and to his uncle’s dislike, was eager to hasten his victory, and he mulled over battle strategies, and the reverses or successes which now in his third year of war had fallen to his lot.  The Germans, he knew, were beaten in the field and on fair ground;  they were helped by woods, swamps, short summers, and early winters.  His own troops were affected not so much by wounds as by long marches and damage to their arms.  Gaul had been exhausted by supplying horses;  a long baggage-train presented facilities for ambushes, and was disadvantageous to its defenders.  But by embarking on the sea, invasion would be easy for them, and a surprise to the enemy, while a campaign too would be more quickly begun, the legions and supplies would be brought up simultaneously, and by the rivermouths and channels the cavalry with their horses would arrive intact at the heart of Germany.

[2.6]  Igitur huc intendit :  missis ad census Galliarum P. Vitellio et C. Antio, Silius et Antejus et Cæcina fabricandæ classi præponuntur.  Mille naves sufficere visæ properatæque, aliæ breves, angusta puppi proraque et lato utero, quo facilius fluctus tolerarent ;  quædam planæ carinis, ut sine noxa siderent ;  plures appositis utrimque gubernaculis, converso ut repente remigio hinc vel illinc appellerent ;  multæ pontibus stratæ, super quas tormenta veherentur, simul aptæ ferendis equis aut commeatui ;  velis habiles, citæ remis, augebantur alacritate militum in speciem ac terrorem.  Insula Batavorum in quam convenirent prædicta, ob faciles appulsus accipiendisque copiis et transmittendum ad bellum opportuna.  Nam Rhenus uno alveo continuus aut modicas insulas circumveniens apud principium agri Batavi velut in duos amnes dividitur :  servatque nomen et violentiam cursus, qua Germaniam prævehitur, donec Oceano misceatur ;  ad Gallicam ripam latior et placidior affluens (verso cognomento, ‘Vahalem’ accolæ dicunt) ;  mox id quoque vocabulum mutat ‘Mosa’ flumine, ejusque immenso ore eundem in Oceanum effunditur.

[2.6]  To this accordingly he gave his mind, and sent Publius Vitellius and Gajus Antius to collect the taxes of Gaul.  Silius, Anteius, and Cæcina had the charge of building a fleet.  It seemed that a thousand vessels were required, and they were speedily constructed, some of small draught with a narrow stern and prow and a broad centre, that they might bear the waves more easily;  some flat-bottomed, that they might ground without being injured;  several, furnished with a rudder at each end, so that by a sudden shifting of the oars they might be run into shore either way.  Many were covered in with decks, on which engines for missiles might be conveyed, and were also fit for the carrying of horses or supplies, and manageable by sail as well as rapidly moved by oars, they assumed, through the enthusiasm of our soldiers, an imposing and formidable aspect.  The island of the Batavi was the appointed rendezvous, because of its easy landing-places, and its convenience for receiving the army and carrying the war across the river.  For the Rhine after flowing continuously in a single channel or encircling merely insignificant islands, divides itself, so to say, where the Batavian territory begins, into two rivers, retaining its name and the rapidity of its course in the stream which washes Germany, till it mingles with the Ocean.  On the Gallic bank, its flow is broader and gentler, being now called the ‘Wahalis’ by the inhabitants of its shore.  It soon changes that designation, too, for ‘the Mosa River,’ and from the immense mouth of the latter it pours out into the same Ocean.

[2.7]  Sed Cæsar, dum adiguntur naves, Silium legatum cum expedita manu irruptionem in Chattos facere jubet.  Ipse, audito castellum Lupiæ flumini appositum obsideri, sex legiones eo duxit.  Neque Silio ob subitos imbres aliud actum quam ut modicam prædam et Arpi principis Chattorum conjugem filiamque raperet, neque Cæsari copiam pugnæ obsessores fecere, ad famam adventus ejus dilapsi.  Tumulum tamen nuper Varianis legionibus structum et veterem aram Druso sitam disjecerant.  Restituit aram, honorique patris princeps ipse cum legionibus decucurrit ;  tumulum iterare haud visum.  Et cuncta inter castellum Alisonem ac Rhenum novis limitibus aggeribusque permunita.

[2.7]  Caesar, however, while the vessels were coming up, ordered Silius, his lieutenant-general, to make an inroad on the Chatti with an unencumbered unit.  He himself, on hearing that a fort {perhaps near modern Lippborg} on the river Lippe was being besieged, led six legions to the spot.  Silius owing to sudden rains did nothing but carry off a small booty, and the wife and daughter of Arpus, the chief of the Chatti.  And Caesar had no opportunity of fighting given him by the besiegers, who dispersed on the rumor of his advance.  They had, however, destroyed the barrow lately raised in memory of Varus’s legions, and the old altar of Drusus.  The prince restored the altar, and in honor of his father he himself with his legions marched past it in ceremonial review.  To raise a new barrow was not thought necessary.  All the country between the fort Aliso and the Rhine was thoroughly secured by new causeways and embankments.

[2.8]  Jamque classis advenerat, quum, præmisso commeatu et distributis in legiones ac socios navibus, fossam cui Drusianæ nomen ingressus, precatusque Drusum patrem ut se eadem ausum libens placatusque exemplo ac memoria consiliorum atque operum juvaret, lacus inde et Oceanum usque ad Amisiam flumen secunda navigatione pervehitur.  Classis Amisiæ relicta lævo amne, erratumque in eo quod non subvexit :  transposuit militem dextras in terras iturum ;  ita plures dies efficiendis pontibus absumpti.  Et eques quidem ac legiones prima æstuaria, nondum accrescente unda, intrepidi transiere :  postremum auxiliorum agmen Batavique in parte ea, dum insultant aquis artemque nandi ostentant, turbati et quidam hausti sunt.  Metanti castra Cæsari Angrivariorum defectio a tergo nuntiatur :  missus ilico Stertinius quum equite et armatura levi igne et cædibus perfidiam ultus est.

[2.8]  By this time the fleet had arrived, and Caesar, having sent on his supplies and assigned vessels for the legions and the allied troops, entered the canal known as the “Drusian.”  He prayed to his father Drusus that, by the example and memory of his plans and achievements, he would gladly and propitiously help one who was now engaged in the same bold enterprise.  From there he traveled across lakes and Ocean on a favorable voyage as far as the river Ems.  The fleet was moored in the left river branch, and it was a mistake not to have moved it upstream.  He disembarked the troops, which were to be marched to the lands on the right ;  and thus several days were wasted in the construction of bridges.  The cavalry and the legions fearlessly crossed the first estuaries in which the tide had not yet risen.  The rear of the auxiliaries, and the Batavi among the number, jumping into the water and displaying their skill in swimming, fell into disorder, and some were drowned.  While Caesar was measuring out his camp, he was told of a revolt of the Angrivarii in his rear.  He at once despatched Stertinius with some cavalry and a light armed force, who punished their perfidy with fire and sword.

[2.9]  Flumen Visurgis Romanos Cheruscosque interfluebat.  Ejus in ripa cum ceteris primoribus Arminius astitit, quæsitoque an Cæsar venisset, postquam adesse responsum est, ut liceret cum fratre colloqui oravit.  Erat is in exercitu, cognomento Flavus, insignis fide et amisso per vulnus oculo paucis ante annis, duce Tiberio.  Tum permissu Cæsaris vocatur, progressusque salutatur ab Arminio ;  qui, amotis stipatoribus, ut sagittarii nostra pro ripa dispositi abscederent postulat, et postquam digressi, unde ea deformitas oris interrogat fratrem.  Illo locum et prœlium referente, quodnam præmium recepisset exquirit.  Flavus aucta stipendia, torquem et coronam aliaque militaria dona memorat, irridente Arminio vilia servitii pretia.

[2.9]  The waters of the Weser flowed between the Romans and the Cherusci.  On its banks stood Arminius with the other chiefs.  He asked whether Caesar had arrived, and on the reply that he was present, he begged leave to have an interview with his brother.  That brother, surnamed Flavus, was with our army, a man famous for his loyalty, and for having lost an eye by a wound, a few years ago, when Tiberius was in command.  Then, with the permission of Caesar he was called forth, and he stepped forth and was greeted by Arminius, who had removed his bodyguards to a distance and required that the bowmen ranged on our bank should retire.  When they had gone away, Arminius asked his brother whence came the scar which disfigured his face, and on being told the particular place and battle, he inquired what reward he had received.  Flavus spoke of increased pay, of a neck chain, a crown, and other military gifts, while Arminius jeered at such a paltry recompense for slavery.

[2.10]  Exim diversi ordiantur, hic magnitudinem Romanam, opes Cæsaris et victis graves pœnas, in deditionem venienti paratam clementiam, neque conjugem et filium ejus hostiliter haberi ;  ille fas patriæ, libertatem avitam, penetrales Germaniæ deos, matrem precum sociam ne propinquorum et affinium, denique gentis suæ desertor et proditor quam imperator esse mallet.  Paulatim inde ad jurgia prolapsi quominus pugnam consererent ne flumine quidem interjecto cohibebantur, ni Stertinius accurrens plenum iræ armaque et equum poscentem Flavum attinuisset.  Cernebatur contra minitabundus Arminius prœliumque denuntians ;  nam pleraque Latino sermone interjaciebat, ut qui Romanis in castris ductor popularium meruisset.

[2.10]  Then began a controversy.  The one spoke of the greatness of Rome, the resources of Caesar, the dreadful punishment in store for the vanquished, the ready mercy for him who surrenders, and the fact that neither Arminius’s wife nor his son were treated as enemies;  the other, of the claims of fatherland, of ancestral freedom, of the household gods of Germany, of the mother who shared his prayers, that Flavus might not choose to be the deserter and betrayer rather than the ruler of his kinsfolk and relatives, and indeed of his own people.  By degrees they fell to bitter words, and even the river between them would not have hindered them from joining combat, had not Stertinius hurried up and restrained Flavus, who in the full tide of his fury was demanding his weapons and his charger.  Arminius was observed opposite, threatening and declaring battle (for he interposed a great deal in the Latin language, as one who had served in Roman camps as leader of his compatriots).

[2.11]  Postero die Germanorum acies trans Visurgim stetit.  Cæsar nisi pontibus præsidiisque impositis dare in discrimen legiones haud imperatorium ratus, equitem vado tramittit.  Præfuere Stertinius et e numero primipilarium Æmilius, distantibus locis invecti, ut hostem diducerent.  Qua celerrimus amnis, Chariovalda dux Batavorum erupit.  Eum Cherusci fugam simulantes in planitiem saltibus circumjectam traxere :  dein coorti et undique effusi trudunt adversos, instant cedentibus, collectosque in orbem pars congressi, quidam eminus proturbant.  Chariovalda, diu sustentata hostium sævitia, hortatus suos ut ingruentes catervas globo perfringerent, atque ipse densissimos irrumpens, congestis telis et suffosso equo labitur, ac multi nobilium circa ;  ceteros vis sua aut equites cum Stertinio Æmilioque subvenientes periculo exemere.

[2.11]  Next day the German army took up its position on the other side of the Weser.  Caesar, thinking that without bridges and troops to guard them, it would not be good generalship to expose the legions to danger, sent the cavalry across the river by the fords.  It was commanded by Stertinius and Æmilius, one of the first rank centurions, who attacked at widely different points so as to distract the enemy.  Hariowalda, the Batavian chief, dashed to the charge where the stream is most rapid.  The Cherusci, by a pretended flight, drew him into a plain surrounded by wooded hills.  Then bursting on him in a sudden attack from all points they thrust aside all who resisted, pressed fiercely on their retreat, driving them before them, when they rallied in compact array, some by close fighting, others by missiles from a distance.  Hariowalda, after long sustaining the enemy’s fury, cheered on his men to break by a dense formation the attacking bands, while he himself, plunging into the thickest of the battle, fell amid a hail of spears with his horse pierced under him, and round him many noble chiefs.  The rest were rescued from the peril by their own strength, or by the cavalry which came up with Stertinius and Æmilius.

[2.12]  Cæsar transgressus Visurgim indicio perfugæ cognoscit delectum ab Arminio locum pugnæ ;  convenisse et alias nationes in silvam Herculi sacram ausurosque nocturnam castrorum oppugnationem.  Habita indici fides, et cernebantur ignes, suggressique propius speculatores audiri fremitum equorum inmensique et inconditi agminis murmur attulere.  Igitur propinquo summæ rei discrimine, explorandos militum animos ratus, quonam id modo incorruptum foret secum agitabat :  tribunos et centuriones læta sæpius quam comperta nuntiare ;  libertorum servilia ingenia ;  amicis inesse adulationem ;  si contio vocetur, illic quoque quæ pauci incipiant reliquos astrepere.  Penitus noscendas mentes, quum secreti et incustoditi inter militares cibos spem aut metum proferrent.

[2.12]  Caesar on crossing the Weser learnt by the information of a deserter that Arminius had chosen a battle-field, that other tribes too had assembled in a forest sacred to Hercules {= Thunar, the Germanic thunder-god}, and would venture on a night attack on his camp.  He put faith in this intelligence, and, besides, several watchfires were seen.  Scouts also, who had crept close up to the enemy, reported that they had heard the neighing of horses and the hum of a huge and tumultuous host.  And so as the decisive crisis drew near, deeming that he ought thoroughly to determine the morale of his soldiers, he debated within himself how this might come about unfeigned.  Tribunes and centurions, he knew, oftener reported what was welcome than what was true;  freedmen’s instincts were servile ;  in friends there was sycophancy.  If an assembly were called, there too the lead of a few was followed by the shout of the many.  He must probe their inmost thoughts, when they were uttering their hopes and fears at the military mess, among themselves, and unwatched.

[2.13]  Nocte cœpta egressus augurali per occulta et vigilibus ignara, comite uno, contectus umeros ferina pelle, adit castrorum vias, assistit tabernaculis fruiturque fama sui, quum hic nobilitatem ducis, decorem alius, plurimi patientiam, comitatem, per seria, per jocos eundem animum laudibus ferrent, reddendamque gratiam in acie faterentur, simul perfidos et ruptores pacis ultioni et gloriæ mactandos.  Inter quæ unus hostium, Latinæ linguæ sciens, acto ad vallum equo voce magna conjuges et agros et stipendii in dies, donec bellaretur, sestertios centenos, si quis transfugisset, Arminii nomine pollicetur.  Intendit ea contumelia legionum iras :  veniret dies, daretur pugna ;  sumpturum militem Germanorum agros, tracturum conjuges ;  accipere omen et matrimonia ac pecunias hostium prædæ destinare.  Tertia ferme vigilia assultatum est castris sine conjectu teli, postquam crebras pro munimentis cohortes et nihil remissum sensere.

[2.13]  At nightfall, leaving his tent of augury by a secret exit, unknown to the sentries, with one companion, his shoulders covered with an animal pelt {= clothed as a Germanic auxiliary}, he visited the camp streets, stood by the tents, and enjoyed the men’s talk about himself, as one extolled his noble rank, another, his handsome person, nearly all of them, his endurance, his gracious manner and the evenness of his temper, whether he was jesting or was serious, while they acknowledged that they ought to repay him with their gratitude in battle, and at the same time sacrifice to a glorious vengeance the perfidious violators of peace.  Meanwhile one of the enemy, acquainted with the Roman tongue, spurred his horse up to the entrenchments, and in a loud voice promised in the name of Arminius to all deserters wives and lands with daily pay of a hundred sesterces as long as war lasted.  The insult fired the wrath of the legions.  “Let daylight come,” they said, “Let battle be given.  The soldiers will possess themselves of the lands of the Germans and will carry off their wives.  We hail the omen;  we mean the women and riches of the enemy to be our spoil.”  At about the third watch, there was an assault on the camp, without a weapon being thrown after the Germans realized that there were numerous cohorts on the forward ramparts, and that nothing had been relaxed.

[2.14]  Nox eadem lætam Germanico quietem tulit, viditque se operatum, et sanguine sacro respersa prætexta pulchriorem aliam manibus aviæ Augustæ accepisse.  Auctus omine, addicentibus auspiciis, vocat contionem et quæ sapientia provisa, aptaque inminenti pugnæ disserit.  Non campos modo militi Romano ad prœlium bonos, sed si ratio assit, silvas et saltus ;  nec enim inmensa barbarorum scuta, enormes hastas inter truncos arborum et enata humo virgulta perinde haberi quam pila et gladios et hærentia corpori tegmina.  Denserent ictus, ora mucronibus quærerent :  non loricam Germano, non galeam, ne scuta quidem ferro nervove firmata, sed viminum textus vel tenues et fucatas colore tabulas ;  primam utcunque aciem hastatam, ceteris præusta aut brevia tela.  Jam corpus ut visu torvum et ad brevem impetum validum, sic nulla vulnerum patientia :  sine pudore flagitii, sine cura ducum abire, fugere, pavidos adversis, inter secunda non divini, non humani juris memores.  Si tædio viarum ac maris finem cupiant, hac acie parari :  propiorem jam Albim quam Rhenum, neque bellum ultra — modo se, patris patruique vestigia prementem, eisdem in terris victorem sisterent.

[2.14]  The same night brought with it a cheering dream to Germanicus.  He saw himself engaged in sacrifice, and his robe being sprinkled with the sacred blood, another more beautiful was given him by the hands of his grandmother Augusta.  Encouraged by the omen and finding the auspices favorable, he called an assembly, and explained the precautions which wisdom suggested as suitable for the impending battle.  “It is not,” he said, “plains only which are good for the fighting of Roman soldiers, but woods and forest passes, if strategic thinking be used.  For the huge shields and unwieldly lances of the barbarians cannot, amid trunks of trees and brushwood that springs from the ground, be so well handled as our javelins and swords and closefitting armour.  Shower your blows thickly;  strike at the face with your swords’ points.  The German has neither cuirass nor helmet;  even his shield is not strengthened with iron or animal tendons, but is of wicker plaitings or thin and painted board.  If their first line is armed with spears, the rest have only weapons hardened by fire or very short.  Again, though their frames are terrible to the eye and formidable in a brief onset, they have no capacity of enduring wounds;  without, any shame at the disgrace, without any regard to their leaders, they quit the field and flee;  they quail under disaster, just as in success they forget alike divine and human laws.  If in your weariness of land and sea you desire an end of service, this battle prepares the way to it.  The Elbe is now nearer than the Rhine, and there is no war beyond, provided only you back me as victor in the same lands where I am treading in the footsteps of my father and my uncle.”

[2.15]  Orationem ducis secutus militum ardor, signumque pugnæ datum.  Nec Arminius aut ceteri Germanorum proceres omittebant suos quisque testari, hos esse Romanos Variani exercitus fugacissimos qui ne bellum tolerarent, seditionem induerint ;  quorum pars onusta vulneribus terga, pars fluctibus et procellis fractos artus infensis rursum hostibus, adversis dis objiciant, nulla boni spe.  Classem quippe et avia Oceani quæsita, ne quis venientibus occurreret, ne pulsos premeret :  sed ubi miscuerint manus, inane victis ventorum remorumve subsidium.  Meminissent modo avaritiæ, crudelitatis, superbiæ :  ¿ aliud sibi reliquum quam tenere libertatem aut mori ante servitium ?

[2.15]  The general’s speech was followed by enthusiasm in the soldiers, and the signal for battle was given.  Nor were Arminius and the other German chiefs slow to call their respective clansmen to witness that “these Romans were the most cowardly fugitives out of Varus’s army, men who rather than endure war had taken to mutiny.  Part of them have their backs covered with wounds;  part are once again exposing limbs battered by waves and storms to a foe full of fury, and to hostile deities, with no hope of advantage.  They have, in fact, had recourse to a fleet and to a trackless ocean, that their coming might be unopposed, their flight unpursued.  But when once they have joined conflict with us, the help of winds or oars will be unavailing to the vanquished.  Remember only their greed, their cruelty, their pride.  Is anything left for us but to retain our freedom or to die before we are enslaved?

[2.16]  Sic accensos et prœlium poscentes in campum, cui Idisiovisa nomen, deducunt.  Is medius inter Visurgim et colles, ut ripæ fluminis cedunt aut prominentia montium resistunt, inæqualiter sinuatur.  Pone tergum insurgebat silva editis in altum ramis et pura humo inter arborum truncos.  Campum et prima silvarum barbara acies tenuit :  soli Cherusci juga insedere ut prœliantibus Romanis desuper incurrerent.  Noster exercitus sic incessit :  auxiliares Galli Germanique in fronte, post quos pedites sagittarii ;  dein quattuor legiones et cum duabus prætoriis cohortibus ac delecto equite Cæsar ;  exim totidem aliæ legiones et levis armatura cum equite sagittario ceteræque sociorum cohortes.  Intentus paratusque miles ut ordo agminis in aciem assisteret.

[2.16]  When they were thus roused and were demanding battle, their chiefs led them down into a plain named Idisiowisa.  It winds between the Visurgis and a hill range, its breadth varying as the river banks recede or the spurs of the hills project on it.  In their rear rose a forest, with the branches rising to a great height, while there was clear ground between the trunks.  The barbarian army occupied the plain and the fringes of the forest.  The Cherusci were posted by themselves on the high ground, so as to rush down on the Romans during the battle.  Our army advanced in the following order.  The auxiliary Gauls and Germans were in the van, then the foot-archers, after them, four legions and Caesar himself with two Prætorian cohorts and some picked cavalry.  Next came as many other legions, and light-armed troops with horse-bowmen, and the remaining cohorts of the allies.  The soldiery was alert and ready for the marching array to shift into battle formation.

[2.17]  Visis Cheruscorum catervis, quæ per ferociam proruperant, validissimos equitum incurrere latus, Stertinium cum ceteris turmis circumgredi tergaque invadere jubet, ipse in tempore affuturus.  Interea pulcherrimum augurium, octo aquilæ petere silvas et intrare visæ imperatorem advertere.  Exclamat irent, sequerentur Romanas aves, propria legionum numina.  Simul pedestris acies infertur, et præmissus eques postremos ac latera impulit.  Mirumque dictu, duo hostium agmina diversa fuga :  qui silvam tenuerant, in aperta ;  qui campis astiterant, in silvam ruebant.  Medii inter hos Cherusci collibus detrudebantur, inter quos insignis Arminius manu, voce, vulnere sustentabat pugnam.  Incubueratque sagittariis, illa rupturus, ni Rætorum Vindelicorumque et Gallicæ cohortes signa objecissent.  Nisu tamen corporis et impetu equi pervasit, oblitus faciem suo crurore ne nosceretur.  Quidam agnitum a Chaucis inter auxilia Romana agentibus emissumque tradiderunt.  Virtus — seu fraus — eadem Inguiomero effugium dedit :  ceteri passim trucidati.  Et plerosque tranare Visurgim conantes injecta tela aut vis fluminis, postremo moles ruentium et incidentes ripæ operuere.  Quidam turpi fuga in summa arborum nisi ramisque se occultantes admotis sagittariis per ludibrium figebantur, alios prorutæ arbores afflixere.

[2.17]  Caesar, as soon as he saw the Cheruscan bands which in their impetuous spirit had rushed to the attack, ordered the finest of his cavalry to charge them in flank, Stertinius with the other squadrons to make a detour and fall on their rear, promising himself to come up in good time.  Meanwhile there was a most encouraging augury.  Eight eagles, seen to fly towards the woods and to enter them, caught the general’s eye.  “Go,” he exclaimed, “follow the Roman birds, the true deities of our legions.”  At the same moment the infantry charged, and the cavalry which had been sent on in advance dashed on the rear and the flanks.  And, strange to relate, two columns of the enemy fled in opposite directions, that, which had occupied the wood, rushing into the open, those who had been drawn up on the plains, into the wood.  The Cherusci, who were between them, were dislodged from the hills, while Arminius, conspicuous among them by gesture, voice, and a wound he had received, rallied the fight.  He had thrown himself on our archers and was on the point of breaking through them, when the cohorts of the Ræti, Vendelici, and Gauls threw their standards against him.  Through physical effort, however, and the momentum of his horse, he made his way through them, having smeared his face with his blood, that he might not be known.  Some have said that he was recognised by Chauci serving among the Roman auxiliaries, who let him go.  Ingwiomerus owed his escape to similar courage — or treachery.  The rest were cut down in every direction.  Many in attempting to swim across the Weser were overwhelmed under a storm of missiles or by the force of the current, lastly, by the rush of fugitives and the falling in of the banks.  Some in their ignominious flight climbed the tops of trees, and as they were hiding themselves in the boughs, archers were brought up and they were shot for sport.  Others were dashed to the ground by the felling of the trees.

[2.18]  Magna ea victoria neque cruenta nobis fuit.  Quinta ab hora diei ad noctem cæsi hostes decem milia passuum cadaveribus atque armis opplevere, repertis inter spolia eorum catenis quas in Romanos — ut non dubio eventu — portaverant.  Miles in loco prœlii Tiberium “imperatorem” salutavit, struxitque aggerem et in modum tropæorum arma, subscriptis victarum gentium nominibus, imposuit.

[2.18]  It was a great victory and without bloodshed to us.  From nine in the morning to nightfall the enemy were slaughtered, and ten miles were covered with arms and dead bodies, while there were found amid the plunder the chains which the Germans had brought with them for the Romans, as though the issue were not in doubt.  The soldiers on the battle field hailed Tiberius as “commander,” and raised a mound on which arms were piled in the style of a trophy, with the names of the conquered tribes inscribed beneath them.

[2.19]  Haud perinde Germanos vulnera, luctus, excidia quam ea species dolore et ira affecit.  Qui modo abire sedibus, trans Albim concedere parabant, pugnam volunt, arma rapiunt :  plebes, primores, juventus, senes agmen Romanum repente incursant, turbant.  Postremo deligunt locum flumine et silvis clausum, arta intus planitie et umida ;  silvas quoque profunda palus ambibat nisi quod latus unum Angrivarii lato aggere extulerant quo a Cheruscis dirimerentur.  Hic pedes astitit :  equitem propinquis lucis texere ut ingressis silvam legionibus a tergo foret.

[2.19]  That sight caused keener grief and rage among the Germans than their wounds, their mourning, and their losses.  Those who but now were preparing to quit their settlements and to retreat to the further side of the Elbe, longed for battle and flew to arms.  Common people and chiefs, young and old, rushed on the Roman army, and spread disorder.  At last they chose a spot closed in by a river and by forests, within which was a narrow swampy plain.  The woods too were surrounded by a bottomless morass, only on one side of it the Angriwarii had raised a broad earthwork, by which they might be bounded off from the Cherusci.  Here their infantry was ranged.  Their cavalry they concealed in neighboring woods, so as to be on the legions’ rear, as soon as they entered the forest.

[2.20]  Nihil ex his Cæsari incognitum :  consilia, locos, prompta, occulta noverat, astusque hostium in perniciem ipsis vertebat.  Sejo Tuberoni legato tradit equitem campumque ;  peditum aciem ita instruxit ut pars æquo in silvam aditu incederet, pars objectum aggerem eniteretur ;  quod arduum sibi, cetera legatis permisit.  Quibus plana evenerant, facile irrupere :  quis impugnandus agger, ut si murum succederent, gravibus superne ictibus conflictabantur.  Sensit dux imparem comminus pugnam, remotisque paulum legionibus, funditores libritoresque excutere tela et proturbare hostem jubet.  Missæ e tormentis hastæ, quantoque conspicui magis propugnatores, tanto pluribus vulneribus dejecti.  Primus Cæsar cum prætoriis cohortibus capto vallo dedit impetum in silvas ;  collato illic gradu certatum.  Hostem a tergo palus, Romanos flumen aut montes claudebant :  utrisque necessitas in loco, spes in virtute, salus ex victoria.

[2.20]  All this was known to Caesar.  He was acquainted with their plans, their positions, with what met the eye, and what was hidden, and he prepared to turn the enemy’s stratagems to their own destruction.  To Seius Tubero, his chief officer, he assigned the cavalry and the plain.  His infantry he drew up so that part might advance on level ground into the forest, and part clamber up the earthwork which confronted them.  He charged himself with what was the specially difficult operation, leaving the rest to his officers.  Those who had the level ground easily forced a passage.  Those who had to assault the earthwork encountered heavy blows from above, as if they were scaling a wall.  The general saw how unequal this close fighting was, and having withdrawn his legions to a little distance, ordered the slingers and artillerymen to discharge a volley of missiles and scatter the enemy.  Spears were hurled from the engines, and the more conspicuous were the defenders of the position, the more the wounds with which they were driven from it.  Caesar with some Prætorian cohorts was the first, after the storming of the ramparts, to dash into the woods.  There they fought at close quarters.  A morass was in the enemy’s rear, and the Romans were hemmed in by the river or by the hills.  Both were in a desperate plight from their position;  valour was their only hope, victory their only safety.

[2.21]  Nec minor Germanis animus, sed genere pugnæ et armorum superabantur, quum ingens multitudo artis locis prælongas hastas non protenderet, non colligeret ;  neque assultibus et velocitate corporum uteretur, coacta stabile ad prœlium ;  contra miles, cui scutum pectori appressum et insidens capulo manus, latos barbarorum artus, nuda ora foderet, viamque strage hostium aperiret, imprompto jam Arminio ob continua pericula, sive illum recens acceptum vulnus tardaverat.  Quin et Inguiomerum, tota volitantem acie, fortuna magis quam virtus deserebat.  Et Germanicus quo magis agnosceretur detraxerat tegimen capiti, orabatque insisterent cædibus :  nil opus captivis, solam internicionem gentis finem bello fore.  Jamque sero diei subducit ex acie legionem faciendis castris :  ceteræ ad noctem cruore hostium satiatæ sunt.  Equites ambigue certavere.

[2.21]  The Germans were equally brave, but they were beaten by the nature of the fighting and of the weapons, for their vast host in so confined a space could neither thrust out nor recover their immense lances, or avail themselves of their nimble movements and lithe frames, forced as they were to a close engagement.  Our soldiers, on the other hand, with their shields pressed to their breasts, and their hands grasping their sword-hilts, struck at the huge limbs and exposed faces of the barbarians, cutting a passage through the slaughtered enemy, for Arminius was now less active, either from incessant perils, or because he was partially disabled by his recent wound.  As for Ingwiomerus, who flew hither and thither over the battlefield, it was fortune rather than courage which forsook him.  Germanicus, too, that he might be the better known, took his helmet off his head and begged his men to follow up the slaughter, as they wanted not prisoners, and the utter destruction of the nation would be the only conclusion of the war.  And now, late in the day, he withdrew one of his legions from the field, to intrench a camp, while the rest till nightfall glutted themselves with the enemy’s blood.  Our cavalry fought with indecisive success.

[2.22]  Laudatis pro contione victoribus Cæsar congeriem armorum struxit, superbo cum titulo :  “Debellatis inter Rhenum Albimque nationibus, exercitum Tiberii Cæsaris ea monumenta Marti et Jovi et Augusto sacravisse.”  De se nihil addidit, metu invidiæ an ratus conscientiam facti satis esse.  Mox bellum in Angrivarios Stertinio mandat, ni deditionem properavissent.  Atque illi, supplices, nihil abnuendo, veniam omnium accepere.

[2.22]  Having publicly praised his victorious troops, Caesar raised a pile of arms with the proud inscription, “The army of Tiberius Caesar, after thoroughly conquering the tribes between the Rhine and the Elbe, has dedicated this monument to Mars, Jupiter, and Augustus.”  He added nothing about himself, fearing jealousy, or thinking that the conciousness of the achievement was enough.  Next he charged Stertinius with making war on the Angrivarii, but they hastened to surrender.  And, as suppliants, by refusing nothing, they obtained a full pardon.

[2.23]  Sed æstate jam adulta, legionum aliæ itinere terrestri in hibernacula remissæ ;  plures Cæsar classi impositas per flumen Amisiam Oceano invexit.  Ac primo placidum æquor mille navium remis strepere, impelli ;  mox atro nubium globo effusa grando, simul variis undique procellis incerti fluctus prospectum adimere, regimen impedire ;  milesque pavidus et casuum maris ignarus, dum turbat nautas vel intempestive juvat, officia prudentium corrumpebat.  Omne dehinc cælum et mare omne in austrum cessit, qui — tumidis Germaniæ terris, profundis amnibus, immenso nubium tractu validus et rigore vicini septentrionis horridior — rapuit disjecitque naves in aperta Oceani aut insulas saxis abruptis vel per occulta vada infestas.  Quibus paulum ægreque vitatis, postquam mutabat æstus eodemque quo ventus ferebat, non adhærere ancoris, non exhaurire irrumpentes undas poterant :  equi, jumenta, sarcinæ, etiam arma præcipitantur quo levarentur alvei manantes per latera et fluctu superurgente.

[2.23]  When, however, summer was at its height some of the legions were sent back overland into winter-quarters, but most of them Caesar put on board the fleet and brought down the river Ems to the ocean.  At first the calm surface sounded and churned only with the oars of a thousand vessels.  Soon, a hailstorm bursting from a black mass of clouds, while the waves rolled hither and thither under tempestuous gales from every quarter, eliminated visibility and impeded steering, while our soldiers, terrified and ignorant of the hazards of the sea, in obstructing the sailors or helping them inappropriately, nullified the work of the professionals.  Following this, the whole sky and whole sea yielded to the southwind which — strengthened by the soaked German lands, the deep rivers, the immense bank of clouds, and more shivery due to the numbing cold of the neighboring north —, seized and scattered the ships into the open expanse of the Ocean or onto islands dangerous with clifflike rocks or hidden shallows.  Escaping these for a short while, and barely, after the tide was changing and flowing in the same direcion as the wind, they were unable to stay at anchor or to bale our the incrashing waves.  Horses, baggage-animals, packs, even weapons were cast overboard to lighten hulls leaking through their sides, and with the overflowing surges pushing them down.

[2.24]  Quanto violentior cetero mari Oceanus, et truculentia cæli præstat Germania, tantum illa clades novitate et magnitudine excessit, hostilibus circum litoribus, aut ita vasto profundo, ut credatur novissimum ac sine terris mare.  Pars navium haustæ sunt, plures apud insulas longius sitas ejectæ;  milesque nullo illic hominum cultu fame absumptus, nisi quos corpora equorum eodem elisa toleraverant.  Sola Germanici triremis Chaucorum terram appulit ;  quem per omnes illos dies noctesque apud scopulos et prominentes oras, quum se tanti exitii reum clamitaret, vix cohibuere amici quominus eodem mari oppeteret.  Tandem, relabente æstu et secundante vento, claudæ naves, raro remigio aut intentis vestibus, et quædam a validioribus tractæ, revertere ;  quas raptim refectas misit ut scrutarentur insulas.  Collecti ea cura plerique :  multos Angrivarii nuper in fidem accepti redemptos ab interioribus reddidere ;  quidam in Britanniam rapti et remissi a regulis.  Ut quis ex longinquo revenerat, miracula narrabant, vim turbinum et inauditas volucres, monstra maris, ambiguas hominum et beluarum formas — visa sive, ex metu, credita.

[2.24]  Just as the Ocean {= the North Sea} is stormier than all other seas, and as Germany is conspicuous for the ferocity of its climate, so that disaster was the ultimate in unprecedented magnitude, with hostile coasts all around or a deep so vast that you would think it the remotest and landless sea.  Some of the vessels were swallowed up;  many were wrecked on distant islands, and the soldiers, finding there no form of human life, perished of hunger, except those sustained by horse carcasses cast up at the same place.  Germanicus’s trireme alone reached the country of the Chauci.  Day and night, on those rocks and promontories he would incessantly exclaim that he was himself responsible for this awful ruin, and friends scarce restrained him from seeking death in the same sea.  At last, as the tide ebbed and the wind blew favorably, the shattered vessels with but few rowers, or clothing spread as sails, some towed by the more powerful, returned, and Germanicus, having speedily repaired them, sent them to search the islands.  Many by that means were recovered.  The Angriwarii, who had lately been admitted to our alliance, ransomed large numbers from inland tribes and restored them to us.  Some had been swept away to Britain and were sent back by the petty chiefs.  Every one, as he returned from some far-distant region, told of wonders, of violent hurricanes, and unknown birds, of monsters of the sea, of forms half-human, half beast-like — things seen or, in their terror, imagined.

[2.25]  Sed fama classis amissæ ut Germanos ad spem belli, ita Cæsarem ad coërcendum erexit.  C. Silio cum triginta peditum, tribus equitum milibus ire in Chattos imperat ;  ipse majoribus copiis Marsos irrumpit, quorum dux Mallovendus nuper in deditionem acceptus propinquo luco defossam Varianæ legionis aquilam modico præsidio servari indicat.  Missa extemplo manus quæ hostem a fronte eliceret, alii qui terga circumgressi recluderent humum.  Et utrisque affuit fortuna.  Eo promptior Cæsar pergit introrsus, populatur, exscindit non ausum congredi hostem aut, sicubi restiterat, statim pulsum nec unquam magis (ut ex captivis cognitum est) paventem.  Quippe invictos et nullis casibus superabiles Romanos prædicabant qui, perdita classe, amissis armis, post constrata equorum virorumque corporibus litora, eadem virtute, pari ferocia et velut aucti numero irrupissent.

[2.25]  Meanwhile the rumored loss of the fleet stirred the Germans to hope for war, as it did Caesar to hold them in check.  He ordered Gajus Silius with thirty thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry to march against the Chatti.  He himself, with a larger army, invaded the Marsi, whose leader, Mallovendus, whom we had lately admitted to surrender, pointed out a neighboring wood, where, he said, an eagle of one of Varus’s legions was buried and guarded only by a small force.  Immediately troops were despatched to draw the enemy from his position by appearing in his front, others, to hem in his rear and open the ground.  Fortune favored both.  So Germanicus, with increased energy, advanced into the country, laying it waste, and utterly ruining a foe who dared not encounter him, or who was instantly defeated wherever he resisted, and (as we learnt from prisoners), was never more panic-stricken.  The Romans, they declared, were invincible, rising superior to all calamities;  for having thrown away a fleet, having lost their arms, after strewing the shores with the carcases of horses and of men, they had rushed to the attack with the same courage, with equal spirit, and, seemingly, with augmented numbers.

[2.26]  Reductus inde in hiberna miles, lætus animi quod adversa maris expeditione prospera pensavisset.  Addidit munificentiam Cæsar, quantum quis damni professus erat exsolvendo.  Nec dubium habebatur labare hostes petendæque pacis consilia sumere, et si proxima æstas adjiceretur, posse bellum patrari.  Sed crebris epistulis Tiberius monebat rediret ad decretum triumphum :  satis jam eventuum, satis casuum.  Prospera illi et magna prœlia :  eorum quoque meminisset, quæ venti et fluctus, nulla ducis culpa, gravia tamen et sæva damna intulissent.  Se novies a divo Augusto in Germaniam missum plura consilio quam vi perfecisse.  Sic Sugambros in deditionem acceptos, sic Suebos regemque Maroboduum pace obstrictum.  Posse et Cheruscos ceterasque rebellium gentes, quoniam Romanæ ultioni consultum esset, internis discordiis relinqui.  Precante Germanico annum efficiendis cœptis, acrius modestiam ejus aggreditur, alterum consulatum offerendo cujus munia præsens obiret.  Simul annectebat, si foret adhuc bellandum, relinqueret materiem Drusi fratris gloriæ, qui, nullo tum alio hoste, nonnisi apud Germanias assequi nomen imperatorium et deportare lauream posset.  Haud cunctatus est ultra Germanicus, quanquam fingi ea, seque per invidiam parto jam decori abstrahi intellegeret.

[2.26]  The soldiers were then led back into winter-quarters, rejoicing in their hearts at having been compensated for their disasters at sea by a successful expedition.  They were helped too by Caesar’s bounty, which made good whatever loss any one declared he had suffered.  It was also regarded as a certainty that the enemy were wavering and consulting on negotiations for peace, and that, with an additional campaign next summer the war might be ended.  Tiberius, however, in repeated letters advised Germanicus to return for the triumph decreed him.  “He had now had enough of success, enough of disaster.  He had fought victorious battles on a great scale;  he should also remember those losses which the winds and waves had inflicted, and which, though due to no fault of the general, were still grievous and shocking.  He, Tiberius, had himself been sent nine times by Augustus into Germany, and had done more by policy than by arms.  By this means the submission of the Sugambri had been secured, and the Suevi with their king Maroboduus had been forced into peace.  The Cherusci too and the other insurgent tribes, since the vengeance of Rome had been satisfied, might be left to their internal feuds.”  When Germanicus requested a year for the completion of his enterprise, Tiberius appealed more emphatically to his obedience by offering him a second consulship, the functions of which he was to discharge in person.  He also added that, if there must still be war, he should leave some raw material for the glory of his brother Drusus who — there being now no other enemy — could not, except in the Germanies, carry off the laurel.  Germanicus hesitated no longer, though he saw that this was a pretence, and that he was hurried away through jealousy from the glory he had already acquired.

[2.27]  Sub idem tempus e familia Scriboniorum Libo Drusus defertur moliri res novas.  Ejus negotii initium, ordinem, finem curatius disseram, quia tum primum reperta sunt quæ per tot annos Rem Publicam exedere.  Firmius Catus senator, ex intima Libonis amicitia, juvenem improvidum et facilem inanibus ad Chaldæorum promissa, magorum sacra, somniorum etiam interpretes impulit, dum proavum Pompejum, amitam Scriboniam, quæ quondam Augusti conjunx fuerat, consobrinos Cæsares, plenam imaginibus domum ostentat, hortaturque ad luxum et æs alienum, socius libidinum et necessitatum, quo pluribus indiciis illigaret.

[2.27]  About the same time Libo Drusus, of the family of Scribonii, was accused of revolutionary schemes.  I will explain, somewhat minutely, the beginning, progress, and end of this affair, since then first were originated those practices which for so many years gnawed away at the State.  Firmius Catus, a senator, an intimate friend of Libo’s, prompted the young man, who was thoughtless and an easy prey to delusions, to resort to astrologers’ promises, magical rites, and interpreters of dreams, dwelling ostentatiously on his great-grandfather {(Sextus)} Pompey, his aunt Scribonia, who had formerly been wife of Augustus, his imperial cousins, his house crowded with ancestral busts, and urging him to extravagance and debt, himself the companion of his profligacy and desperate embarrassments, thereby to entangle him in all the more proofs of guilt.

[2.28]  Ut satis testium et qui servi eadem noscerent repperit, aditum ad principem postulat, demonstrato crimine et reo per Flaccum Vescularium equitem Romanum, cui propior cum Tiberio usus erat.  Cæsar indicium haud aspernatus congressus abnuit :  posse enim eodem Flacco internuntio sermones commeare.  Atque interim Libonem ornat prætura, convictibus adhibet, non vultu alienatus, non verbis commotior (adeo iram condiderat) ;  cunctaque ejus dicta factaque, quum prohibere posset, scire malebat, donec Junius quidam, temptatus ut infernas umbras carminibus eliceret, ad Fulcinium Trionem indicium detulit.  Celebre inter accusatores Trionis ingenium erat, avidumque famæ malæ.  Statim corripit reum, adit consules, cognitionem Senatus poscit.  Et vocantur patres, addito consultandum super re magna et atroci.

[2.28]  As soon as he found enough witnesses, with some slaves who knew the facts, he begged an audience of the emperor, after first indicating the crime and the criminal through Flaccus Vescularius, a Roman knight, who was more intimate with Tiberius than himself.  Caesar, without disregarding the information, declined an interview, for the communication, he said, might be conveyed to him through the same messenger, Flaccus.  Meanwhile he conferred the praetorship on Libo and often invited him to his table, showing no unfriendliness in his looks or anger in his words (so thoroughly had he concealed his resentment);  and he wished to know all his saying and doings, though it was in his power to stop them, till one Junius, who had been approached by Libo to call up shades of the dead with his incantations, gave information to Fulcinius Trio.  Trio’s ability was renowned among informers, as well as his eagerness for an evil notoriety.  He at once pounced on the accused, went to the consuls, and demanded an inquiry before the Senate.  The Senators were summoned, with a special notice that they must consult on a momentous and terrible matter.

[2.29]  Libo interim veste mutata cum primoribus feminis circumire domos, orare affines, vocem adversum pericula poscere — abnuentibus cunctis, quum diversa prætenderent, eadem formidine.  Die Senatus, metu et ægritudine fessus (sive, ut tradidere quidam, simulato morbo), lectica delatus ad fores Curiæ innisusque fratri et manus ac supplices voces ad Tiberium tendens immoto ejus vultu excipitur.  Mox libellos et auctores recitat Cæsar, ita moderans, ne lenire neve asperare crimina videretur.

[2.29]  Libo meanwhile, in mourning apparel and accompanied by ladies of the highest rank, went to house after house, entreating his relatives, and imploring some eloquent voice to ward off his perils;  which all refused, on different pretexts, but from the same apprehension.  On the day the Senate met, jaded with fear and mental anguish (or, as some have related, feigning illness), he was carried in a litter to the doors of the Senate House, and leaning on his brother he raised his hands and voice in supplication to Tiberius, who received him with unmoved countenance.  The emperor then read out the documents and the denouncer’ names, with such calmness as not to seem to soften or aggravate the accusations.

[2.30]  Accesserant præter Trionem et Catum accusatores Fontejus Agrippa et C. Vibius, certabantque cui jus perorandi in reum daretur, donec Vibius, quia nec ipsi inter se concederent et Libo sine patrono introisset, singillatim se crimina objecturum professus, protulit libellos vecordes, adeo ut consultaverit Libo an habiturus foret opes quis viam Appiam Brundisium usque pecunia operiret.  Inerant et alia hujusce modi stolida vana, si mollius acciperes, miseranda.  Uni tamen libello, manu Libonis, nominibus Cæsarum aut senatorum additas atroces vel occultas notas accusator arguebat.  Negante reo agnoscentes servos per tormenta interrogari placuit.  Et quia vetere Senatus Consulto quæstio in caput domini prohibebatur, callidus et novi juris repertor Tiberius mancipari singulos Actori Publico jubet, scilicet ut in Libonem ex servis, salvo Senatus Consulto, quæreretur.  Ob quæ posterum diem reus petivit, domumque digressus extremas preces P. Quirinio propinquo suo ad principem mandavit.

[2.30]  Besides Trio and Catus, Fonteius Agrippa and Gaius Vibius {Serenus} were among his accusers, and claimed with eager rivalry the privilege of conducting the case for the prosecution, till Vibius, as they would not yield one to the other, and Libo had entered without counsel, offered to state the charges against him one by one, and produced an extravagantly absurd accusation, according to which Libo had consulted persons whether he would have such wealth as to be able to cover the Appian road as far as Brundisium with money.  There were other questions of the same sort, quite senseless and idle;  if leniently regarded, pitiable.  But there was one paper in Libo’s handwriting, so the prosecutor alleged, with the names of Cæsars and of Senators, to which marks were affixed of dreadful or mysterious significance.  When the accused denied this, it was decided that his slaves who recognised the writing should be examined by torture.  As an ancient statute of the Senate forbade such inquiry in a case affecting a master’s life, Tiberius, with his cleverness in devising new law, ordered Libo’s slaves to be sold singly to the Treasury Agent, so that, forsooth, without an infringement of the Senate’s decree, Libo might be tried on their evidence.  As a consequence, the defendant asked an adjournment till next day, and having gone home he charged his kinsman, Publius Quirinus, with his final plea to the emperor.

[2.31]  Responsum est ut Senatum rogaret.  Cingebatur interim milite domus, strepebant etiam in vestibulo ut audiri, ut aspici possent, quum Libo ipsis quas in novissimam voluptatem adhibuerat epulis excruciatus vocare percussorem, prensare servorum dextras, inserere gladium.  Atque illis, dum trepidant, dum refugiunt, evertentibus appositum cum mensa lumen, feralibus jam sibi tenebris duos ictus in viscera derexit.  Ad gemitum collabentis accurrere liberti, et cæde visa miles abstitit.  Accusatio tamen apud patres asseveratione eadem peracta, juravitque Tiberius petiturum se vitam quamvis nocenti, nisi voluntariam mortem properavisset.

[2.31]  The answer was that he should ask the Senate.  Meanwhile his house was surrounded with soldiers;  they crowded noisily even about the entrance, so that they could be heard and seen;  then, tortured by the very dinner that he had put on to provide his last pleasure, Libo called for an assailant, grasped the hands of his slaves, and thrust a sword into them.  In their confusion, as they shrank back, they overturned the lamp on the table at his side, and in the darkness, now to him the gloom of death, he directed two blows into his vital organs.  At the groans of the falling man his freedmen hurried up, and the soldiers, seeing the bloody deed, stood aloof.  Yet the prosecution was continued in the Senate with the same persistency, and Tiberius declared on oath that he would have interceded for his life, guilty though he was, but for his hasty suicide.

[2.32]  Bona inter accusatores dividuntur, et præturæ extra ordinem datæ eis qui senatorii ordinis erant.  Tunc Cotta Messalinus, ne imago Libonis exsequias posterorum comitaretur, censuit, Cn. Lentulus, ne quis Scribonius cognomentum Drusi assumeret.  Supplicationum dies Pomponii Flacci sententia constituti.  Et dona Jovi, Marti, Concordiæ, utque Iduum Septembrium dies, quo se Libo interfecerat, dies festus haberetur, L. Plancus et Gallus Asinius et Papius Mutilus et L. Apronius decrevere (quorum auctoritates adulationesque rettuli ut sciretur vetus id in Re Publica malum).  Facta et de mathematicis magisque Italia pellendis Senatus Consulta, quorum e numero L. Pituanius saxo dejectus est ;  in P. Marcium consules extra portam Esquilinam, quum classicum canere jussissent, more prisco, advertere.

[2.32]  His property was divided among his accusers, and praetorships out of the usual order were conferred on those who were of senators’ rank.  Cotta Messalinus then proposed that Libo’s bust should not be carried in the funeral procession of any of his descendants;  and Cnæus Lentulus, that no Scribonius should assume the surname of Drusus.  Days of public thanksgiving were appointed on the suggestion of Pomponius Flaccus.  And offerings were given to Jupiter, Mars, and Concord, and the Ides {13th day} of September, on which Libo had killed himself, was to be observed as a festival, on the motion of Gallus Asinius, Papius Mutilus, and Lucius Apronius.  I have mentioned the proposals and sycophancy of these men, in order to bring to light this old-standing evil in the State.  Decrees of the Senate were also passed to expel from Italy astrologers and magicians.  One of their number, Lucius Pituanius, was hurled from the {Tarpeian} Rock.  Another, Publius Marcius, was executed, according to ancient custom, by the consuls outside the Esquiline Gate, after the war-trumpets had been bidden to sound.

[2.33]  Proxima Senatus die multa in luxum civitatis dicta a Q. Haterio consulari, Octavio Frontone prætura functo ;  decretumque ne vasa auro solida ministrandis cibis fierent, ne vestis serica viros fœdaret.  Excessit Fronto, ac postulavit modum argento, supellectili, familiæ (erat quippe adhuc frequens senatoribus, si quid e Re Publica crederent, loco sententiæ promere).  Contra Gallus Asinius disseruit :  auctu imperii adolevisse etiam privatas opes, idque non novum, sed e vetustissimis moribus :  aliam apud Fabricios, aliam apud Scipiones pecuniam.  Et cuncta ad Rem Publicam referri :  qua tenui, angustas civium domos ;  postquam eo magnificentiæ venerit, gliscere singulos.  Neque in familia et argento, quæque ad usum parentur, nimium aliquid aut modicum nisi ex fortuna possidentis.  Distinctos Senatus et equitum census, non quia diversi natura, sed ut locis, ordinibus, dignationibus antistent, ita eis quæ ad requiem animi aut salubritatem corporum parentur — nisi forte clarissimo cuique plures curas, majora pericula subeunda, delenimentis curarum et periculorum carendum esse.  Facilem assensum Gallo sub nominibus honestis confessio vitiorum, et similitudo audientium, dedit.  Adjecerat et Tiberius non id tempus censuræ nec, si quid in moribus labaret, defuturum corrigendi auctorem.

[2.33]  On the next day of the Senate’s meeting much was said against the luxury of the country by Quintus Haterius, an ex-consul, and by Octavius Fronto, an ex-praetor.  It was decided that vessels of solid gold should not be made for the serving of food, and that men should not disgrace themselves with clothing of Chinese silk.  Fronto went further, and insisted on restrictions being put on plate, furniture, and household establishments.  It was indeed still usual with the Senators, when it was their turn to vote, to suggest anything they thought for the State’s advantage.  Gallus Asinius argued on the other side.  “With the growth of the empire private wealth too,” he said, “had increased, and there was nothing new in this, but it accorded with the fashions of the earliest antiquity.  Riches were one thing with the Fabricii, quite another with the Scipios.  The State was the standard of everything;  when poor, the homes of the citizens were humble;  when it reached such magnificence, private grandeur increased.  Nor, in household servants and silverware, and in whatever was provided for use, was there any excess or parsimony except by the standard of the owner’s fortune.  There was a distinction in the census qualifications of the Senate and knights not because they were different by nature but, as they had priority in theater-seating, social class and dignity, they should also have it in things which contributed to mental relaxation or bodily health — unless, perhaps, the most illustrious were supposed to undergo additional cares and greater dangers but be deprived of the assuagements of those cares and dangers.”  Gallus gained a ready assent, under these specious phrases, by a confession of failings with which his audience symphathised.  And Tiberius too had added that this was not a time for censorship, and that if there were any weakening in morals, a promoter of reform would not be wanting.

[2.34]  Inter quæ L. Piso ambitum fori, corrupta judicia, sævitiam oratorum accusationes minitantium increpans, abire se et cedere Urbe, victurum in aliquo abdito et longinquo rure testabatur ;  simul Curiam relinquebat.  Commotus est Tiberius, et quanquam mitibus verbis Pisonem permulsisset, propinquos quoque ejus impulit ut abeuntem auctoritate vel precibus tenerent.  Haud minus liberi doloris documentum idem Piso mox dedit, vocata in jus Urgulania quam supra leges amicitia Augustæ extulerat.  Nec aut Urgulania obtemperavit, in domum Cæsaris spreto Pisone vecta, aut ille abscessit, quanquam Augusta se violari et imminui quereretur.  Tiberius, hactenus indulgere matri civile ratus, ut se iturum ad prætoris tribunal, affuturum Urgulaniæ, diceret, processit Palatio, procul sequi jussis militibus.  Spectabatur, occursante populo compositus ore et sermonibus variis, tempus atque iter ducens donec, propinquis Pisonem frustra coërcentibus, deferri Augusta pecuniam quæ petebatur juberet.  Isque finis rei, ex qua neque Piso inglorius, et Cæsar majore fama fuit.  Ceterum Urgulaniæ potentia adeo nimia Civitati erat ut testis in causa quadam quæ apud Senatum tractabatur venire dedignaretur :  missus est prætor qui domi interrogaret — quum virgines Vestales in foro et judicio audiri, quotiens testimonium dicerent, vetus mos fuerit.

[2.34]  During this debate Lucius Piso, berating the bribery in the forum, the corruption of the courts, the savagery of orators threatening accusations, was declaring that he would depart and quit the capital, and that he meant to live in some obscure and distant rural retreat.  At the same moment he rose to leave the Senate House.  Tiberius was much excited, and though he pacified Piso with gentle words, he also strongly urged his relatives to stop his departure by their influence or their entreaties.  Soon afterwards this same Piso gave an equal proof of his frank disgust by suing Urgulania, whom Augusta’s friendship had raised above the law.  Neither did Urgulania obey the summons, for in defiance of Piso she went in her litter to the emperor’s house;  nor did Piso give way, though Augusta complained that she was insulted and her majesty slighted.  Tiberius, deeming it citizenlike to indulge his mother as far as saying that he would go to the prætor’s tribunal to support Urgulania, proceeded from the Palatium, with soldiers ordered to follow him at a distance.  As the people converged on him, he was observed to be calm in appearance and spending his time on the journey in a variety of conversations until, with relatives restraining Piso in vain, Augusta ordered the money which was being sought to be handed over.  This ended the affair, and Piso, in consequence, was not dishonored, and the emperor rose in reputation.  Urgulania’s influence, however, was so excessive to the State, that in any case which was tried by the Senate she would disdain to appear as a witness.  The praetor was sent to do the questioning at her own house — even though Vestal virgins, according to ancient custom, were heard in the courts, before judges, whenever they gave evidence.

[2.35]  Res eo anno prolatas haud referrem, ni pretium foret Cn. Pisonis et Asinii Galli super eo negotio diversas sententias noscere.  Piso, quanquam afuturum se dixerat Cæsar, ob id magis agendas censebat ut, absente principe, Senatum et equites posse sua munia sustinere, decorum Rei Publicæ foret.  Gallus (quia speciem libertatis Piso præceperat) nihil satis illustre aut ex dignitate populi Romani nisi coram et sub oculis Cæsaris, eoque conventum Italiæ et affluentes provincias præsentiæ ejus servanda dicebat.  Audiente hæc Tiberio ac silente, magnis utrimque contentionibus acta, sed res dilatæ.

[2.35]  I should say nothing of the adjournment of public business in that year, if it were not worth while to notice the conflicting opinions of Cnæus Piso and Asinius Gallus on the subject.  Piso, although the emperor had said that he would be absent, held that all the more ought the business to be transacted, that the State might have honor of its Senate and knights being able to perform their duties in the sovereign’s absence.  Gallus (as Piso had forestalled him in the display of freedom) maintained that nothing was sufficiently impressive or suitable to the majesty of the Roman people, unless done before Caesar and under his very eyes, and that therefore the gathering from all Italy and the influx from the provinces ought to be reserved for his presence.  Tiberius listened to this in silence, and the matter was debated on both sides in a sharp controversy.  The business, however, was adjourned.

[2.36]  Et certamen Gallo adversus Cæsarem exortum est.  Nam censuit in quinquennium magistratuum comitia habenda, utque legionum legati, qui ante præturam ea militia fungebantur, jam tum prætores destinarentur, princeps duodecim candidatos in annos singulos nominaret.  Haud dubium erat eam sententiam altius penetrare et arcana imperii temptari.  Tiberius tamen, quasi augeretur potestas ejus, disseruit :  grave moderationi suæ tot eligere, tot differre.  Vix per singulos annos offensiones vitari, quamvis repulsam propinqua spes soletur :  ¿ quantum odii fore ab eis qui ultra quinquennium projiciantur ?  ¿ Unde prospici posse quæ cuique tam longo temporis spatio mens, domus, fortuna ?  Superbire homines etiam annua designatione.  ¿ Quid si honorem per quinquennium agitent ?  Quinquiplicari prorsus magistratus, subverti leges, quæ sua spatia exercendæ candidatorum industriæ, quærendisque aut potiundis honoribus statuerint.  Favorabili in speciem oratione vim imperii tenuit.

[2.36]  A dispute then arose between Gallus and the emperor.  Gallus proposed that the elections of magistrates should be held every five years, and that the commanders of the legions who before receiving a praetorship discharged this military service should at once become praetors elect, the emperor nominating twelve candidates every year.  There was no doubt that that proposal was going deeper and putting the obfuscation of power into question.  Tiberius, however, argued as if his power would be thus increased.  “It would,” he said, “be trying to his moderation to have to elect so many and to put off so many.  He scarcely avoided giving offence from year to year, even though a candidate’s rejection was solaced by the near prospect of office.  What hatred would be incurred from those whose election was deferred for five years!  How could he foresee through so long an interval what would be a man’s temper, or domestic relations, or estate?  Men became arrogant even with this annual appointment.  What would happen if their thoughts were fixed on promotion for five years?  It was in fact a multiplying of the magistrates five-fold, and a subversion of the laws which had prescribed proper periods for the exercise of the candidate’s activity and the seeking or securing office.  With this seemingly conciliatory speech he retained the substance of power.

[2.37]  Censusque quorundam senatorum juvit.  Quo magis mirum fuit quod preces Marcii Hortali, nobilis juvenis, in paupertate manifesta superbius accepisset.  (Nepos erat oratoris Hortensii, illectus a divo Augusto liberalitate decies sestertii ducere uxorem, suscipere liberos, ne clarissima familia exstingueretur.)  Igitur quattuor filiis ante limen Curiæ astantibus, loco sententiæ, quum in Palatio Senatus haberetur, modo Hortensii inter oratores sitam imaginem, modo Augusti intuens, ad hunc modum cœpit :  “Patres Conscripti, hos, quorum numerum et pueritiam videtis, non sponte sustuli sed quia princeps monebat ;  simul majores mei meruerant ut posteros haberent.  Nam ego, qui non pecuniam, non studia populi neque eloquentiam — gentile domus nostræ bonum —, varietate temporum accipere vel parare potuissem, satis habebam, si tenues res meæ nec mihi pudori nec cuiquam oneri forent.  Jussus ab imperatore uxorem duxi.  En stirps et progenies tot consulum, tot dictatorum.  Nec ad invidiam ista, sed conciliandæ misericordiæ refero.  Assequentur, florente te, Cæsar, quos dederis honores :  interim Q. Hortensii pronepotes, divi Augusti alumnos ab inopia defende.”

[2.37]  He also helped the wealth requirements of some of the Senators.  Hence it was the more surprising that he gave a more haughty reception to the prayers of Marcius Hortalus, a young noble, despite his obvious poverty.  (He was the grandson of the orator Hortensius, and had been induced by Augustus, on the strength of a gift of a million sesterces, to marry and rear children, that one of our most illustrious families might not become extinct.)  Accordingly, with his four sons standing at the doors of the Senate House, the Senate then sitting in the palace, when it was his turn to speak, he began to address them as follows, his eyes fixed now on the statue of Hortensius which stood among those of the orators, now on that of Augustus: — “Senators, these whose numbers and boyish years you behold I have reared, not by my own choice, but because the emperor advised me.  At the same time, my ancestors deserved to have descendants.  For myself, not having been able in these altered times to receive or acquire wealth or popular favor, or that eloquence which has been the hereditary possession of our house, I was satisfied if my narrow means were neither a disgrace to myself nor burden to others.  At the emperor’s bidding I married.  Behold the offspring and progeny of so many consuls, so many dictators.  Not to excite odium do I recall such facts, but to win compassion.  While you prosper, Caesar, they will attain such promotion as you shall bestow.  Meanwhile save from penury the great-grandsons of Quintus Hortensius, the foster-children of Augustus.”

[2.38]  Inclinatio Senatus incitamentum Tiberio fuit quo promptius adversaretur, his ferme verbis usus :  “Si quantum pauperum est venire huc et liberis suis petere pecunias cœperint, singuli nunquam exsatiabuntur, Res Publica deficiet.  Nec sane ideo a majoribus concessum est egredi aliquando relationem et quod in commune conducat, loco sententiæ, proferre, ut privata negotia et res familiares nostras hic augeamus, cum invidia Senatus et principum, sive indulserint largitionem sive abnuerint.  Non enim preces sunt istud, sed efflagitatio, intempestiva quidem et improvisa, quum aliis de rebus convenerint patres, consurgere et numero atque ætate liberum suorum urgere modestiam Senatus, eandem vim in me transmittere ac velut perfringere ærarium, quod si ambitione exhauserimus, per scelera supplendum erit.  Dedit tibi, Hortale, divus Augustus pecuniam, sed non compellatus, nec ea lege ut semper daretur.  Languescet alioqui industria, intendetur socordia, si nullus ex se metus aut spes, et securi omnes aliena subsidia expectabunt, sibi ignavi, nobis graves.”  Hæc atque talia, quanquam cum assensu audita ab eis quibus omnia principum, honesta atque inhonesta, laudare mos est, plures per silentium aut occultum murmur excepere.  Sensitque Tiberius ;  et quum paulum reticuisset, Hortalo se respondisse ait :  ceterum si patribus videretur, daturum liberis ejus ducena sestertia {200 * H$1,000 = H$200,000} singulis, qui sexus virilis essent.  Egere alii grates :  siluit Hortalus, pavore an avitæ nobilitatis etiam inter angustias fortunæ retinens.  Neque miseratus est posthac Tiberius, quamvis domus Hortensii pudendam ad inopiam delaberetur.

[2.38]  The Senate’s favorable bias was an incitement to Tiberius to offer prompt opposition, which he did in nearly these words:  - “If all poor men begin to come here and to beg money for their children, individuals will never be satisfied, and the State will be bankrupt.  Certainly our ancestors did not grant the privilege of occasionally digressing from the order of business and, when it is one’s turn to speak, of bringing forth what is conducive to the common good, so that we might enhance our private business and our own household wealth, to the unpopularity of the Senate and emperors, whether they grant or deny their largesse.  In fact, those are not pleas of yours, but demands — untimely, indeed, and unexpected — when the Fathers have convened for other matters, to rise and, using the number and age of one’s own children to impose upon the tactfulness of the Senate, shift the same pressure on me, and as it were break open the treasury which, if we exhaust it by favoritism, will have to be replenished through crimes.  Money was given you, Hortalus, by Augustus, but not at your request, and not on the condition of its always being given.  Otherwise industriousness will languish and idleness will be encouraged, if a man has nothing to fear, nothing to hope from himself, and every one without concern will expect relief from others, being useless to himself and burdensome to us.”  These and like remarks, though listened to with assent by those who make it a practice to eulogise everything coming from sovereigns, both good and bad, were received by the majority in silence or with suppressed murmurs.  Tiberius perceived it, and having paused a while, said that he had given Hortalus his answer, but that if the senators thought it right, he would bestow two hundred thousand sesterces on each of his children of the male sex.  The others thanked him;  Hortalus said nothing, either from alarm or because even in his reduced fortunes he clung to his hereditary nobility.  Nor did Tiberius afterwards show any pity, though the house of Hortensius sank into shameful poverty.

[2.39]  Eodem anno mancipii unius audacia, ni mature subventum foret, discordiis armisque civilibus Rem Publicam perculisset.  Postumi Agrippæ servus, nomine Clemens, comperto fine Augusti, pergere in insulam Planasiam et fraude aut vi raptum Agrippam ferre ad exercitus Germanicos non servili animo concepit.  Ausa ejus impedivit tarditas onerariæ navis :  atque interim, patrata cæde, ad majora et magis præcipitia conversus, furatur cineres vectusque Cosam, Etruriæ promunturium, ignotis locis sese abdit, donec crinem barbamque promitteret :  nam ætate et forma haud dissimili in dominum erat.  Tum per idoneos et secreti ejus socios crebrescit vivere Agrippam, occultis primum sermonibus, ut vetita solent, mox vago rumore apud imperitissimi cujusque promptas aures aut, rursum, apud turbidos eoque nova cupientes.  Atque ipse adire municipia obscuro diei, neque propalam aspici neque diutius eisdem locis, sed — quia veritas visu et mora, falsa festinatione et incertis valescunt — relinquebat famam aut præveniebat.

[2.39]  That same year the daring of a single slave, had it not been promptly checked, would have ruined the State by discord and civil war.  A slave of Postumus Agrippa, Clemens by name, having ascertained that Augustus was dead, formed a design beyond a slave’s conception, of going to the island of Planasia and seizing Agrippa by craft or force and bringing him to the armies of Germany.  The slowness of a merchant vessel thwarted his bold venture.  Meanwhile the murder of Agrippa had been perpetrated, and then turning his thoughts to a greater and more hazardous enterprise, he stole the ashes of the deceased, sailed to Cosa, a promontory of Etruria, and there hid himself in obscure places till his hair and beard were long.  In age and figure he was not unlike his master.  Then through suitable emissaries who shared his secret, it was rumored that Agrippa was alive, first in whispered gossip, soon, as is usual with forbidden topics, in vague talk which found its way to the credulous ears of the most ignorant people or of restless and revolutionary schemers.  He himself went to the towns, as the day grew dark, without letting himself be seen publicly or remaining long in the same places, but — because truth gains strength by seeing and duration, falsehood by haste and vagueness — he would either depart, leaving the rumor behind, or arrive before it got started.

[2.40]  Vulgabatur interim per Italiam servatum munere deum Agrippam, credebatur Romæ ;  jamque Ostiam invectum multitudo ingens, jam in Urbe clandestini cœtus celebrabant, quum Tiberium anceps cura distrahere, vine militum servum suum coërceret an inanem credulitatem tempore ipso vanescere sineret :  modo nihil spernendum, modo non omnia metuenda, ambiguus pudoris ac metus, reputabat.  Postremo dat negotium Sallustio Crispo.  Ille e clientibus duos (quidam milites fuisse tradunt) deligit atque hortatur, simulata conscientia adeant, offerant pecuniam, fidem atque pericula polliceantur.

Exsequuntur ut jussum erat.  Dein, speculati noctem incustoditam, accepta idonea manu, vinctum clauso ore in Palatium traxere.  Percontanti Tiberio quomodo Agrippa factus esset respondisse fertur, “Quomodo tu Cæsar.”  Ut ederet socios, subigi non potuit.  Nec Tiberius pœnam ejus palam ausus, in secreta Palatii parte interfici jussit, corpusque clam auferri.

Et quanquam multi e domo principis equitesque ac senatores sustentasse opibus, juvisse consiliis dicerentur, haud quæsitum.

[2.40]  It was rumored meanwhile throughout Italy, and was believed at Rome, that Agrippa had been saved by the blessing of Heaven.  Already at Ostia, where he had arrived, he was the centre of interest to a vast concourse as well as to secret gatherings in the capital, while Tiberius was distracted by the doubt whether he should crush this slave of his by military force or allow time to dissipate a silly credulity.  Sometimes he thought that he must overlook nothing, sometimes that he need not be afraid of everything, his mind fluctuating between shame and terror.  At last he entrusted the affair to Sallustius Crispus, who chose two of his dependants (some say they were soldiers) and urged them to go to him as pretended accomplices, offering money and promising faithful companionship in danger.

They did as they were bidden;  then, waiting for an unguarded hour of night, they took with them a sufficient force, and having bound and gagged him, dragged him to the palace.  When Tiberius asked him how he had become Agrippa, he is said to have replied, “As you became Caesar.”  He could not be forced to divulge his accomplices.  Tiberius did not venture on a public execution, but ordered him to be slain in a private part of the palace and his body to be secretly removed.

And although many of the emperor’s household and knights and senators were said to have supported him with their wealth and helped him with their counsels, no inquiry was made.

[2.41]  Fine anni arcus propter ædem Saturni ob recepta signa cum Varo amissa, ductu Germanici, auspiciis Tiberii, et ædes Fortis Fortunæ Tiberim juxta in hortis quos Cæsar dictator populo Romano legaverat, sacrarium genti Juliæ effigiesque divo Augusto apud Bovillas dicantur.

C. Cælio L. Pomponio consulibus, Germanicus Cæsar a. d. VII. Kal. Junias triumphavit de Cheruscis Chattisque et Angrivariis, quæque aliæ nationes usque ad Albim colunt.  Vecta spolia, captivi, simulacra montium, fluminum, prœliorum ;  bellumque, quia conficere prohibitus erat, pro confecto accipiebatur.  Augebat intuentium visus eximia ipsius species currusque quinque liberis onustus.  Sed suberat occulta formido, reputantibus haud prosperum in Druso, patre ejus, favorem vulgi, avunculum ejusdem Marcellum flagrantibus plebis studiis intra inventam ereptum, breves et infaustos populi Romani amores.

[2.41]  At the close of the year was consecrated an arch near the temple of Saturn to commemorate the recovery of the standards lost with Varus, under the leadership of Germanicus and the auspices of Tiberius ;  a temple of Fors Fortuna, by the Tiber, in the gardens which Caesar, the dictator, bequeathed to the Roman people;  a chapel to the Julian family, and statues at Bovillæ to the Divine Augustus.

In the consulship of Gajus Cæcilius and Lucius Pomponius {a.D. 17}, Germanicus Caesar, on the 26th day of May, celebrated his triumph over the Cherusci, Chatti, and Angriwarii, and the other tribes which extend as far as the Elbe.  There were borne in procession spoils, prisoners, representations of the mountains, the rivers and battles;  and the war, seeing that he had been forbidden to finish it, was taken as finished.  The admiration of the beholders was heightened by the striking comeliness of the general and the chariot which bore his five children.  Still, there was a latent dread when they remembered how unfortunate in the case of Drusus, his father, had been the favor of the crowd;  how his uncle Marcellus, regarded by the city populace with passionate enthusiasm, had been snatched from them while yet a youth, and how short-lived and ill-starred were the fondnesses of the Roman people.

[2.42]  Ceterum Tiberius nomine Germanici trecenos plebi sestertios {H$300} viritim dedit, seque collegam consulatui ejus destinavit.  Nec ideo sinceræ caritatis fidem assecutus, amoliri juvenem specie honoris statuit, struxitque causas — aut forte oblatas arripuit.  Rex Archelaus quinquagesimum annum Cappadocia potiebatur, invisus Tiberio quod eum Rhodi agentem nullo officio coluisset.  Nec id Archelaus per superbiam omiserat, sed ab intimis Augusti monitus quia — florente Gajo Cæsare missoque ad res Orientis — intuta Tiberii amicitia credebatur.  Ut, versa Cæsarum subole, imperium adeptus est, elicit Archelaum matris litteris, quæ non dissimulatis filii offensionibus clementiam offerebat, si ad precandum veniret.  Ille ignarus doli vel (si intellegere crederetur) vim metuens, in Urbem properat ;  exceptusque immiti a principe et mox accusatus in Senatu, non ob crimina (quæ fingebantur) sed angore — simul fessus senio, et quia regibus æqua (nedum infima) insolita sunt —, finem vitæ sponte an fato implevit.  Regnum in provinciam redactum est, fructibusque ejus levari posse centesimæ {1%} vectigal professus Cæsar ducentesimam {½%} in posterum statuit.  Per idem tempus, Antiocho Commagenorum, Philopatore Cilicum regibus defunctis, turbabantur nationes, plerisque Romanum, aliis regium imperium cupientibus ;  et provinciæ Syria atque Judæa, fessæ oneribus, deminutionem tributi orabant.

[2.42]  Tiberius meanwhile in the name of Germanicus gave every one of the city populace three hundred sesterces, and designated himself his colleague in the consulship.  Still not achieving credibility for sincere affection, he resolved to get the young prince out of the way, under pretence of conferring distinction, and for this he invented reasons, or eagerly fastened on such as chance presented.  King Archelaus had been in possession of Cappadocia for fifty years, and Tiberius hated him because he had not paid him any homage in his stay at Rhodes.  This neglect of Archelaus was not due to pride, but was suggested by the intimate friends of Augustus, because, when Gajus Caesar was in his prime and had charge of the affairs of the East, Tiberius’s friendship was thought to be dangerous.  When, after the extinction of the family of the Cæsars, Tiberius acquired the empire, he enticed Archelaus by a letter from his mother, who without concealing her son’s displeasure promised mercy if he would come to beg for it.  Archelaus, unaware of any guile or (should it be believed that he understood) dreading violence, hurried to the City.  There he was received by a pitiless emperor and, subsequently accused in the Senate, it was not on account of the charges (which were fabricated) but through tension — and at the same time exhausted by old age and because kings find equality (to say nothing of inferiority) abnormal — that he consummated, whether of his own accord or naturally, the end of his life.  His kingdom was reduced into a province, and Caesar declared that, with its revenues, the one per cent tax could be lightened, which, for the future, he fixed at one-half per cent.  During the same time, on the deaths of Antiochus and Philopator, kings respectively of the Commageni and Cilicians, these nations became excited, most wanting Roman rule, others the monarchy.  The provinces too of Syria and Judæa, exhausted by their burdens, implored a reduction of tribute.

[2.43]  Igitur hæc et de Armenia quæ supra memoravi apud patres disseruit :  nec posse motum Orientem nisi Germanici sapientia componi ;  nam suam ætatem vergere, Drusi nondum satis adolevisse.  Tunc decreto patrum permissæ Germanico provinciæ quæ mari dividuntur, majusque imperium quoquo adisset, quam eis qui sorte aut missu principis obtinerent.  Sed Tiberius demoverat Syria Creticum Silanum, per affinitatem conexam Germanico (quia Silani filia Neroni, vetustissimo liberorum ejus, pacta erat), præfeceratque Cn. Pisonem, ingenio violentum et obsequii ignarum, insita ferocia a patre Pisone, qui civili bello resurgentes in Africa partes acerrimo ministerio adversus Cæsarem juvit, mox Brutum et Cassium secutus, concesso reditu petitione honorum abstinuit, donec ultro ambiretur delatum ab Augusto consulatum accipere.  Sed præter paternos spiritus uxoris quoque Plancinæ nobilitate et opibus accendebatur ;  vix Tiberio concedere, liberos ejus ut multum infra despectare.  Nec dubium habebat se delectum qui Syriæ imponeretur ad spes Germanici coërcendas.  Credidere quidam data ei a Tiberio occulta mandata ;  et Plancinam haud dubie Augusta monuit æmulatione muliebri Agrippinam insectandi.  Divisa namque et discors aula erat, tacitis in Drusum aut Germanicum studiis.  Tiberius ut proprium et sui sanguinis Drusum fovebat :  Germanico alienatio patrui amorem apud ceteros auxerat, et quia claritudine materni generis anteibat, avum M. Antonium, avunculum Augustum ferens.  Contra Druso proavus eques Romanus, Pomponius Atticus, dedecere Claudiorum imagines videbatur ;  et conjunx Germanici Agrippina fecunditate ac fama Liviam uxorem Drusi præcellebat.  Sed fratres egregie concordes, et proximorum certaminibus inconcussi.

[2.43]  Tiberius accordingly discussed these matters and the affairs of Armenia, which I have already related, before the Senate.  “The commotions in the East,” he said, “could be quieted only by the wisdom, of Germanicus;  own life was on the decline, and Drusus had not yet reached his maturity.”  Thereupon, by a decree of the Senate, the provinces beyond sea were entrusted to Germanicus, with greater powers wherever he went than were given to those who obtained their provinces by lot or by the emperor’s appointment.  Tiberius had however removed from Syria Creticus Silanus, who was connected by a close tie with Germanicus, his daughter being betrothed to Nero, the eldest of Germanicus’s children.  He appointed to it Gnæus Piso, a man of violent temper, incapable of obedience, with indeed a natural arrogance inherited from his father Piso, who in the civil war supported with the most energetic aid against Caesar the reviving faction in Africa, then embraced the cause of Brutus and Cassius, and, when allowed to return, refrained from seeking promotion till he was actually solicited to accept a consulship offered by Augustus.  But beside the father’s haughty temper there was also the noble rank and wealth of his wife Plancina, to inflame his ambition.  He would hardly be the inferior of Tiberius, and as for Tiberius’s children, he looked down on them as far beneath him.  He thought it a certainty that he had been chosen to govern Syria in order to thwart the aspirations of Germanicus.  Some believed that secret instructions had been given him by Tiberius, and it was beyond a question that Augusta, with feminine jealousy, had suggested to Plancina calumnious insinuations against Agrippina.  For there was division and discord in the court, with unexpressed partialities towards either Drusus or Germanicus.  Tiberius favored Drusus, as his.  Son and born of his own blood.  As for Germanicus, his uncle’s estrangement had increased the affection which all others felt for him, and there was the fact too that he had an advantage in the illustrious rank of his mother’s family, among whom he could point to his grandfather Marcus Antonius and to his great-uncle Augustus.  Drusus, on the other hand, had for his great-grandfather a Roman knight, Pomponius Atticus, who seemed to disgrace the ancestral images of the Claudii.  Again, the consort of Germanicus, Agrippina, in number of children and in character, was superior to Livia, the wife of Drusus.  Yet the brothers were singularly united, and were wholly unaffected by the rivalries of their kinsfolk.

[2.44]  Nec multo post Drusus in Illyricum missus est ut suesceret militiæ studiaque exercitus pararet ;  simul juvenem urbano luxu lascivientem melius in castris haberi Tiberius seque tutiorem rebatur utroque filio legiones obtinente.  Sed Suebi prætendebantur auxilium adversus Cheruscos orantes ;  nam, discessu Romanorum ac vacui externo metu, gentis assuetudine et tum æmulatione gloriæ arma in se verterant.  Vis nationum, virtus ducum in æquo ;  sed Maroboduum regis nomen invisum apud populares, Arminium pro libertate bellantem favor habebat.

[2.44]  Soon afterwards Drusus was sent into Illyricum to be familiarised with military service, and to win the goodwill of the army.  Tiberius also thought that it was better for the young prince, who was being demoralised by the luxury of the capital, to serve in a camp, while he felt himself the safer with both his sons in command of legions.  However, he made a pretext of the Suevi, who were imploring help against the Cherusci.  For, with the departure of the Romans and free from external threat, these tribes, according to the custom of the race, and then specially as rivals in fame, had turned their arms against each other.  The strength of the two nations, the valour of their chiefs were equal.  But the title of king rendered Maroboduus hated among his countrymen, while Arminius was regarded with favor as the champion of freedom.

[2.45]  Igitur non modo Cherusci sociique eorum, vetus Arminii miles, sumpsere bellum, sed e regno etiam Marobodui, Suebæ gentes, Semnones ac Langobardi, defecere ad eum.  Quibus additis præpollebat, ni Inguiomerus cum manu clientium ad Maroboduum perfugisset, non aliam ob causam quam quia fratris filio juveni patruus senex parere dedignabatur.  Deriguntur acies, pari utrimque spe, nec, ut olim apud Germanos, vagis incursibus aut disjectas per catervas :  quippe longa adversum nos militia insueverant sequi signa, subsidiis firmari, dicta imperatorum accipere.  Ac tunc Arminius equo collustrans cuncta, ut quosque advectus erat, reciperatam libertatem, trucidatas legiones, spolia adhuc et tela Romanis derepta in manibus multorum ostentabat ;  contra fugacem Maroboduum appellans, prœliorum expertem, Hercyniæ latebris defensum ;  ac mox per dona et legationes petivisse fœdus, proditorem patriæ, satellitem Cæsaris, haud minus infensis animis exturbandum quam Varum Quintilium interfecerint.  Meminissent modo tot prœliorum, quorum eventu et ad postremum ejectis Romanis satis probatum, penes utros summa belli fuerit.

[2.45]  Thus it was not only the Cherusci and their allies, the old soldiers of Arminius, who took up arms, but even the Semnones and Langobardi from the kingdom of Maroboduus revolted to that chief.  With this addition he must have had an overwhelming superiority, had not Ingwiomerus deserted with a troop of his dependants to Maroboduus, simply for the reason that the aged uncle scorned to obey a brother’s youthful son.  The armies were drawn up, with equal confidence on both sides, and there were not those desultory attacks or irregular bands, formerly so common with the Germans.  Prolonged warfare against us had accustomed them to keep close to their standards, to have the support of reserves, and to take the word of command from their generals.  On this occasion Arminius, who reviewed the whole field on horseback, as he rode up to each band, boasted of regained freedom, of slaughtered legions, of spoils and weapons wrested from the Romans, and still in the hands of many of his men.  As for Maroboduus, he called him a fugitive, who had no experience of battles, who had sheltered himself in the recesses of the Hercynian forest and then with presents and embassies sued for a treaty;  a traitor to his country, a satellite of Caesar, who deserved to be driven out, with rage as furious as that with which they had slain Quintilius Varus.  They should simply remember their many battles, the result of which, with the final expulsion of the Romans, sufficiently showed on which side victory in the war would be.

[2.46]  Neque Maroboduus jactantia sui aut probris in hostem abstinebat, sed Inguiomerum tenens illo in corpore decus omne Cheruscorum, illius consiliis gesta quæ prospere ceciderint testabatur :  vecordem Arminium et rerum nescium alienam gloriam in se trahere, quoniam tres vagas legiones et ducem fraudis ignarum perfidia deceperit, magna cum clade Germaniæ et ignominia sua, quum conjunx, quum fiius ejus servitium adhuc tolerent.  At se duodecim legionibus petitum, duce Tiberio, illibatam Germanorum gloriam servavisse, mox condicionibus æquis discessum ;  neque pænitere quod ipsorum in manu sit, integrum adversum Romanos bellum an pacem incruentam malint.

His vocibus instinctos exercitus propriæ quoque causæ stimulabant, quum a Cheruscis Langobardisque pro antiquo decore aut recenti libertate ;  et contra, augendæ dominationi certaretur.

Non alias majore mole concursum neque ambiguo magis eventu, fusis utrimque dextris cornibus ;  sperabaturque rursum pugna, ni Maroboduus castra in colles subduxisset.  Id signum perculsi fuit ;  et transfugiis paulatim nudatus, in Marcomanos concessit, misitque legatos ad Tiberium oraturos auxilia.  Responsum est non jure eum adversus Cheruscos arma Romana invocare, qui pugnantes in eundem hostem Romanos nulla ope juvisset.  Missus tamen Drusus, ut rettulimus, paci firmator.

[2.46]  Nor did Maroboduus abstain from vaunts about himself or from revilings of the foe.  Clasping the hand of Ingwiomerus, he protested “that in the person before them centred all the renown of the Cherusci, that to his counsels was due whatever had ended successfully.  Arminius in his infatuation and ignorance was taking to himself the glory which belonged to another, for he had treacherously surprised three straggling legions and a general who had not an idea of perfidy, to the great hurt of Germany and to his own disgrace, since his wife and his son were still enduring slavery.  As for himself, he had been attacked by twelve legions led by Tiberius, and had preserved untarnished the glory of the Germans, and then on equal terms the armies had parted.  He was by no means sorry that they had the matter in their own hands, whether they preferred a fresh war against the Romans or a bloodless peace.”

To these words, which roused the two armies, was added the stimulus of special motives of their own.  The Cherusci and Langobardi were fighting for ancient renown or newly-won freedom;  the other side for the extension of their power.

Never at any time was the shock of battle more tremendous or the issue more doubtful, as the right wings of both armies were routed.  The fight was expected to be renewed, when Maroboduus withdrew his camp to the hills.  This was a sign of his defeat.  He was gradually stripped of his strength by desertions, and, having fled to the Marcomanni, he sent envoys to Tiberius with entreaties for help.  The answer was that he had no right to invoke the aid of Roman arms against the Cherusci, when he had rendered no assistance to the Romans in their conflict with the same enemy.  Drusus, however, was sent as I have related, to establish peace.

[2.47]  Eodem anno duodecim celebres Asiæ urbes collapsæ nocturno motu terræ, quo improvisior graviorque pestis fuit.  Neque solitum in tali casu effugium subveniebat in aperta prorumpendi, quia diductis terris hauriebantur.  Sedisse inmensos montes, visa in arduo quæ plana fuerint, effulsisse inter ruinam ignes memorant.  Asperrima in Sardianos lues plurimum in eosdem misericordiæ traxit :  nam centies sestertium pollicitus Cæsar, et quantum ærario aut fisco pendebant, in quinquennium remisit.  Magnetes a Sipylo proximi damno ac remedio habiti.  Temnios, Philadelphenos, Ægeatas, Apollonidenses, quique Mosteni aut Macedones Hyrcani vocantur, et Hierocæsariam, Myrinam, Cymen, Tmolum levari idem in tempus tributis, mittique ex Senatu placuit qui præsentia spectaret refoveretque.  Delectus est M. Atejus e Prætoriis, ne, consulari obtinente Asiam, æmulatio inter pares et ex eo impedimentum oreretur.

[2.47]  That same year twelve famous cities of Asia fell by an earthquake in the night, so that the destruction was all the more unforeseen and fearful.  Nor were there the means of escape usual in, such a disaster, by rushing out into the open country, for there people were swallowed up by the yawning earth.  Vast mountains, it is said, collapsed;  what had been level ground seemed to be raised aloft, and fires blazed out amid the ruin.  The calamity fell most fatally on the inhabitants of Sardis, and it attracted to them the largest share of sympathy.  The emperor promised ten million sesterces, and remitted for five years all they paid to the exchequer or to the emperor’s purse.  Magnesia, under Mount Sipylus, was considered to come next in loss and in need of help.  The people of Temnus, Philadelpheia, Ægæ, Apollonis, the Mostenians, and Hyrcanian Macedonians, as they were called, with the towns of Hierocæsarea, Myrina, Cyme, and Tmolus, were, it was decided, to be exempted from tribute for the same time, and some one was to be sent from the Senate to examine their actual condition and to relieve them.  Marcus Atejus, one of the expraetors, was chosen lest, given that an exconsul was governor of Asia, there should be rivalry between equals and, hence, obstruction.

[2.48]  Magnificam in publicum largitionem auxit Cæsar haud minus grata liberalitate, quod bona Æmiliæ Musæ, locupletis intestatæ, petita in fiscum, Æmilio Lepido, cujus e domo videbatur, et Pantuleji divitis equitis Romani hereditatem, quanquam ipse heres in parte legeretur, tradidit M. Servilio (quem prioribus neque suspectis tabulis scriptum compererat) — nobilitatem utriusque pecunia juvandam præfatus.  Neque hereditatem cujusquam adiit nisi quum amicitia meruisset ;  ignotos — et aliis infensos eoque principem nuncupantes — procul arcebat.  Ceterum ut honestam innocentium paupertatem levavit, ita prodigos et ob flagitia egentes — Vibidium Virronem, Marium Nepotem, Appium Appianum, Cornelium Sullam, Q. Vitellium — movit Senatu aut sponte cedere passus est.

[2.48]  Cæsar augmented his magnificent public largesse with no less welcome gifting:  the property of Æmilia Musa, a rich woman who died intestate, on which the imperial treasury had a claim, he handed over to Æmilius Lepidus, to whose family she appeared to belong;  and the estate of Pantulejus, a wealthy Roman knight, though he was himself left in part his heir, he gave to Marcus Servilius, whose name he discovered in an earlier and unquestioned will.  In both these cases he said that noble rank ought to have the support of wealth.  Nor did he accept a legacy from any one unless he had earned it by friendship.  Those who were strangers to him, and who, because they were at enmity with others, made the emperor their heir, he kept at a distance.  While, however, he relieved the honorable poverty of the virtuous, he expelled from the Senate or suffered voluntarily to retire spendthrifts whose vices had brought them to penury, like Vibidius Varro, Marius Nepos, Appius Appianus, Cornelius Sulla, and Quintus Vitellius.

[2.49]  Eisdem temporibus deum ædes vetustate aut igni abolitas, cœptasque ab Augusto, dedicavit, Libero Liberæque et Cereri juxta Circum Maximum, quam A. Postumius dictator voverat, eodemque in loco ædem Floræ ab Lucio et Marco Publiciis ædilibus constitutam, et Jano templum, quod apud forum holitorium C. Duilius struxerat, qui primus rem Romanam prospere mari gessit, triumphumque navalem de Pœnis meruit.  Spei ædes a Germanico sacratur :  hanc A. Atilius voverat eodem bello.

[2.49]  About the same time he dedicated some temples of the gods, which had perished from age or from fire, and which Augustus had begun to restore:  the one to Liber, Libera and Ceresnear the Circus Maximus, which A. Postumius as dictator had vowed, and in the same place the shrine of Flora established by Lucius and Marcus Publicius when ædiles, and he temple to Janus which had been set up in the Vegetable Market by C. Duilius, who was the first to pursue the Roman cause successfully at sea and win a naval triumph over the Carthaginians.  A shrine to Hope was consecrated by Germanicus ;  A. Atilius had vowed it in the same war.

[2.50]  Adolescebat interea lex majestatis.  Et Appulejam Varillam, sororis Augusti neptem, quia probrosis sermonibus divum Augustum ac Tiberium et matrem ejus illusisset, Cæsarique conexa, adulterio teneretur, majestatis delator arcessebat.  De adulterio satis caveri lege Julia visum :  majestatis crimen distingui Cæsar postulavit, damnarique si qua de Augusto irreligiose dixisset ;  in se jacta nolle ad cognitionem vocari.  Interrogatus a consule quid de eis censeret quæ de matre ejus locuta secus argueretur, reticuit, dein, proximo Senatus die, illius quoque nomine oravit ne cui verba in eam quoquo modo habita crimini forent.  Liberavitque Appulejam lege majestatis.  Adulterii graviorem pœnam deprecatus ut, exemplo majorum, propinquis suis ultra ducentesimum lapidem removeretur suasit.  Adultero Manlio Italia atque Africa interdictum est.

[2.50]  Meantime the law of treason was gaining strength.  Appuleia Varilla, grand-niece of Augustus, was accused of treason by an informer for having ridiculed the Divine Augustus, Tiberius, and Tiberius’s mother, in some insulting remarks, and for having been convicted of adultery, allied though she was to Caesar’s house.  Adultery, it was thought, was sufficiently guarded against by the Julian law.  As to the charge of treason, the emperor insisted that it should be taken separately, and that she should be condemned if she had spoken irreverently of Augustus.  Her insinuations against himself he did not wish to be the subject of judicial inquiry.  When asked by the consul what he thought of what she was accused of having said amiss about his mother, he said nothing.  Afterwards, on the next day of the Senate’s meeting, he even begged in his mother’s name that no words of any kind spoken against her might in any case be treated as criminal.  He then acquitted Appuleia of treason.  For her adultery, he deprecated the severer penalty, and advised that she should be removed by her kinsfolk, after the example of our forefathers, to more than two hundred miles from Rome.  Her paramour, Manlius, was forbidden to live in Italy or Africa.

[2.51]  De prætore in locum Vipstani Galli, quem mors abstulerat, surrogando certamen incessit.  Germanicus atque Drusus (nam etiam tum Romæ erant) Haterium Agrippam propinquum Germanici fovebant :  contra plerique nitebantur ut numerus liberorum in candidatis præpolleret, quod lex jubebat.  Lætabatur Tiberius, quum inter filios ejus et leges Senatus disceptaret.  Victa est sine dubio lex — sed neque statim, et paucis suffragiis, quomodo etiam quum valerent leges vincebantur.

[2.51]  A contest then arose about the election of a praetor in the room of Vipstanus Gallus, whom death had removed.  Germanicus and Drusus (for they were still at Rome) supported Haterius Agrippa, a relative of Germanicus.  Many, on the other hand, endeavoured to make the number of children weigh most in favor of the candidates.  Tiberius rejoiced to see a strife in the Senate between his sons and the law.  Beyond question the law was beaten, but not at once, and only by a few votes, in the same way as laws were overcome even when they were in force.

[2.52]  Eodem anno cœptum in Africa bellum, duce hostium Tacfarinate.  Is natione Numida, in castris Romanis auxiliaria stipendia meritus, mox desertor, vagos primum et latrociniis suetos ad prædam et raptus congregare, dein more militiæ per vexilla et turmas componere, postremo non inconditæ turbæ sed Musulamiorum dux haberi.  Valida ea gens et solitudinibus Africæ propinqua, nullo etiam tum urbium cultu, cepit arma Maurosque accolas in bellum traxit.  Dux et his, Mazippa.  Divisusque exercitus, ut Tacfarinas lectos viros et Romanum in modum armatos castris attineret, disciplina et imperiis suesceret, Mazippa levi cum copia incendia et cædes et terrorem circumferret.  Compulerantque Cinithios, haud spernendam nationem, in eadem, quum Furius Camillus pro consule Africæ legionem et quod sub signis sociorum in unum conductos ad hostem duxit, modicam manum, si multitudinem Numidarum atque Maurorum spectares ;  sed nihil æque cavebatur quam ne bellum metu eluderent :  spe victoriæ inducti sunt ut vincerentur.  Igitur legio medio, leves cohortes duæque alæ in cornibus locantur.  Nec Tacfarinas pugnam detrectavit.  Fusi Numidæ, multosque post annos Furio nomini partum decus militiæ.  (Nam post illum recuperatorem Urbis filiumque ejus Camillum, penes alias familias imperatoria laus fuerat, atque hic quem memoramus bellorum expers habebatur.)  Eo pronior Tiberius res gestas apud Senatum celebravit ;  et decrevere patres triumphalia insignia, quod Camillo ob modestiam vitæ impune fuit.

[2.52]  In this same year a war broke out in Africa, where the enemy was led by Tacfarinas.  A Numidian by birth, he had served as an auxiliary in the Roman camp, then becoming a deserter, he at first gathered round him a roving band familiar with robbery, for plunder and for rapine.  After a while, he marshalled them like regular soldiers, under standards and in troops, till at last he was regarded as the leader, not of an undisciplined rabble, but of the Musulamian people.  This powerful tribe, bordering on the deserts of Africa, and even then with none of the civilisation of cities, took up arms and drew their Moorish neighbors into the war.  These too had a leader, Mazippa.  The army was so divided that Tacfarinas kept the picked men who were armed in Roman fashion within a camp, and familiarised them with a commander’s authority, while Mazippa, with light troops, spread around him fire, slaughter, and consternation.  They had forced the Ciniphii, a far from contemptible tribe, into their cause, when Furius Camillus, proconsul of Africa, united in one force a legion and all the regularly enlisted allies, and, with an army insignificant indeed compared with the multitude of the Numidians and Moors, marched against the enemy.  There was nothing however which he strove so much to avoid as their eluding an engagement out of fear.  It was by the hope of victory that they were lured on only to be defeated.  The legion was in the army’s centre;  the light cohorts and two cavalry squadrons on its wings.  Nor did Tacfarinas refuse battle.  The Numidians were routed, and after a number of years the name of Furius won military renown.  Since the days of the famous deliverer of our city and his son Camillus, fame as a general had fallen to the lot of other families, and the man of whom I am now speaking was regarded as an inexperienced soldier.  All the more willingly did Tiberius commemorate his achievements in the Senate, and the Senators voted him the ornaments of triumph, an honor which Camillus, because of his unassuming way of life, enjoyed without harm.

[2.53]  Sequens annus {a.D. 18} Tiberium tertio, Germanicum iterum consules habuit.  Sed eum honorem Germanicus iniit apud urbem Achajæ Nicopolim, quo venerat per Illyricam oram, viso fratre Druso in Dalmatia agente, Hadriatici ac mox Ionii maris adversam navigationem perpessus.  Igitur paucos dies insumpsit reficiendæ classi ;  simul sinus Actiaca victoria inclutos et sacratas ab Augusto manubias castraque Antonii cum recordatione majorum suorum adiit.  Namque ei, ut memoravi, avunculus Augustus, avus Antonius erant, magnaque illic imago tristium lætorumque.  Hinc ventum Athenas, fœderique sociæ et vetustæ urbis datum ut uno lictore uteretur.  Excepere Græci quæsitissimis honoribus, vetera suorum facta dictaque præferentes quo plus dignationis adulatio haberet.

[2.53]  In the following year Tiberius held his third, Germanicus his second, consulship.  Germanicus, however, entered on the office at Nicopolis, a city of Achæa, whither he had arrived by the coast of Illyricum, after having seen his brother Drusus, who was then in Dalmatia, and endured a stormy voyage through the Adriatic and afterwards the Ionian Sea.  He accordingly devoted a few days to the repair of his fleet, and, at the same time, in remembrance of his ancestors, he visited the bay which the victory of Actium had made famous, the spoils consecrated by Augustus, and the camp of Antonius.  For, as I have said, Augustus was his great-uncle, Antonius his grandfather, and vivid images of disaster and success rose before him on the spot.  Thence he went to Athens, and as a concession to the alliance with this federated and ancient city he was attended only by a single lictor.  The Greeks welcomed him with the most elaborate honors, and brought forward all the old deeds and sayings of their countrymen, so that their sycophancy might have more dignity.

[2.54]  Petita inde Eubœa tramisit Lesbum, ubi Agrippina novissimo partu Juliam edidit.  Tum extrema Asiæ Perinthumque ac Byzantium, Thræcias urbes, mox Propontidis angustias et os Ponticum intrat, cupidine veteres locos et fama celebratos noscendi ;  pariterque provincias internis certaminibus aut magistratuum injuriis fessas refovebat.  Atque illum in regressu sacra Samothracum visere nitentem obvii aquilones depulere.  Igitur adito Ilio quæque ibi varietate fortunæ et nostri origine veneranda, relegit Asiam appellitque Colophona ut Clarii Apollinis oraculo uteretur.  Non femina illic, ut apud Delphos, sed certis e familiis et ferme Mileto accitus sacerdos numerum modo consultantium et nomina audit ;  tum in specum degressus, hausta fontis arcani aqua, ignarus plerumque litterarum et carminum edit responsa, versibus compositis super rebus quas quis mente concepit.  Et ferebatur Germanico per ambages, ut mos oraculis, maturum exitum cecinisse.

[2.54]  Thence he directed his course to Eubœa and crossed to Lesbos, where Agrippina for the last time was confined and gave birth to Julia.  He then penetrated to the remoter parts of the province of Asia, visited the Thracian cities, Perinthus and Byzantium;  next, the narrow strait of the Propontis and the entrance of the Pontus, from an anxious wish to become acquainted with those ancient and celebrated localities.  He regenerated, as he went, provinces which had been exhausted by internal feuds or by the malpractices of governors.  In his return he attempted to see the mystery-rites of the Samothracians, but north winds which he encountered drove him aside from his course.  And so after visiting Ilium and surveying a scene venerable from the vicissitudes of fortune and as the birth-place of our people, he coasted back along Asia, and touched at Colophon, to consult the oracle of the Clarian Apollo.  There, it is not a woman, as at Delphi, but a priest chosen from certain families, generally from Miletus, who ascertains simply the number and the names of the applicants.  Then descending into a cave and drinking a draught from a secret spring, the man, who is commonly unversed in letters and in poetry, utters a response in verse answering to the thoughts conceived in the mind of any inquirer.  It was said that he prophesied to Germanicus — ambiguously, as oracles usually do — a ripening doom.

[2.55]  At Cn. Piso, quo properantius destinata inciperet, civitatem Atheniensium turbido incessu exterritam oratione sæva increpat, oblique Germanicum perstringens quod contra decus Romani nominis non Athenienses — tot cladibus exstinctos —, sed colluviem illam nationum comitate nimia coluisset :  hos enim esse Mithridatis adversus Sullam, Antonii adversus divum Augustum socios.  Etiam vetera objectabat, quæ in Macedones improspere, violenter in suos fecissent, offensus urbi propria quoque ira, quia Theophilum quendam Areo judicio falsi damnatum precibus suis non concederent.  Exim navigatione celeri per Cycladas et compendia maris assequitur Germanicum apud insulam Rhodum, haud nescium quibus insectationibus petitus foret :  sed tanta mansuetudine agebat ut, quum orta tempestas raperet in abrupta, possetque interitus inimici ad casum referri, miserit triremes quarum subsidio discrimini eximeretur.  Neque tamen mitigatus Piso, et vix diei moram perpessus linquit Germanicum prævenitque.  Et postquam Syriam ac legiones attigit, largitione, ambitu, infimos manipularium juvando, quum veteres centuriones, severos tribunos demoveret locaque eorum clientibus suis vel deterrimo cuique attribueret, desidiam in castris, licentiam in urbibus, vagum ac lascivientem per agros militem sineret, eo usque corruptionis provectus est ut sermone vulgi «parens legionum» haberetur.  Nec Plancina se intra decora feminis tenebat, sed exercitio equitum, decursibus cohortium interesse, in Agrippinam, in Germanicum contumelias jacere, quibusdam etiam bonorum militum ad mala obsequia promptis, quod haud invito imperatore ea fieri occultus rumor incedebat.  Nota hæc Germanico, sed præverti ad Armenios instantior cura fuit.

[2.55]  Gnæus Piso meanwhile, that he might the sooner enter on his design, terrified the citizens of Athens by his tumultuous approach, and then reviled them in a bitter speech, with indirect reflections on Germanicus, who, he said, had derogated from the honor of the Roman name in having treated with excessive courtesy, not the people of Athens, who indeed had been exterminated by repeated disasters, but a garbage-pit of tribes.  As for the men before him, they had been Mithridates’s allies against Sulla, allies of Antonius against the Divine Augustus.  He taunted them too with the past, with their ill-success against the Macedonians, their violence to their own countrymen, for he had his own special grudge against this city, because they would not spare at his intercession one Theophilus whom the Areopagus had condemned for forgery.  Then, by sailing rapidly and by the shortest route through the Cyclades, he overtook Germanicus at the island of Rhodes.  The prince was not ignorant of the slanders with which he had been assailed, but his good nature was such that when a storm arose and drove Piso on rocks, and his enemy’s destruction could have been ascribed to chance, he sent some triremes, by the help of which he might be rescued from danger.  But this did not soften Piso’s heart.  Scarcely allowing a day’s interval, he left Germanicus and hastened on in advance.  When he reached Syria and the legions, he began, by largesse and bribery, to encourage the lowest of the common soldiers, removing the old centurions and the strict tribunes and assigning their places to creatures of his own or to the vilest of the men, while he allowed idleness in the camp, licentiousness in the towns, and the soldiers to roam through the country committing excesses.  He went such lengths in demoralizing them, that he was spoken of in their vulgar talk as the father of the legions.  Plancina too, instead of keeping herself within the proper limits of a woman, participated in cavalry excercises and the parades of the cohorts, and would fling insulting remarks at Agrippina and Germanicus.  Some even of the good soldiers were inclined to a corrupt compliance, as a whispered rumor gained ground that the emperor was not averse to these proceedings.  Of all this Germanicus was aware, but his more pressing concern was first to get to Armenia.

[2.56]  Ambigua gens ea antiquitus hominum ingeniis et situ terrarum quoniam, nostris provinciis late prætenta, penitus ad Medos porrigitur ;  maximisque imperiis interjecti et sæpius discordes sunt, adversus Romanos odio et in Parthum invidia.  Regem illa tempestate non habebant, amoto Vonone ;  sed favor nationis inclinabat in Zenonem, Polemonis regis Pontici filium, quod is prima ab infantia instituta et cultum Armeniorum æmulatus, venatu, epulis et quæ alia barbari celebrant, proceres plebemque juxta devinxerat.  Igitur Germanicus in urbe Artaxata, approbantibus nobilibus, circumfusa multitudine, insigne regium capiti ejus imposuit.  Ceteri venerantes «Regem Artaxiam» consalutavere, quod illi vocabulum indiderant ex nomine urbis.

At Cappadoces in formam provinciæ redacti Q. Veranium legatum accepere ;  et quædam ex regiis tributis deminuta, quo mitius Romanum imperium speraretur.  Commagenis Q. Servæus præponitur, tum primum ad jus prætoris translatis.

[2.56]  This had been of old an untrustworthy country from the character of its people and from its geographical position, for, after stretching along our provinces a long ways, it extends deep into the Medes.  It lies between two most mighty empires, and is very often at variance with them, hating Rome and jealous of Parthia.  It had at this time no king, Vonones having been expelled, but the nation’s likings inclined towards Zeno, son of Polemon, king of Pontus, who from his earliest infancy had imitated Armenian manners and customs, loving the chase, the banquet, and all the popular pastimes of barbarians, and who had thus bound to himself chiefs and people alike.  Germanicus accordingly, in the city of Artaxata, with the approval of the nobility, in the presence of a vast multitude, placed the royal diadem on his head.  All paid him homage and saluted him as King Artaxias, which name they gave him from the city.

Cappadocia meanwhile, which had been reduced to the form of a province, received as its governor Quintus Veranius.  Some of the royal tributes were diminished, to inspire hope of a gentler rule under Rome.  Quintus Servæus was appointed to Commagene, then first put under a praetor’s jurisdiction.

[2.57]  Cunctaque socialia prospere composita non ideo lætum Germanicum habebant ob superbiam Pisonis qui, jussus partem legionum ipse aut per filium in Armeniam ducere, utrumque neglexerat.  Cyrrhi demum apud hiberna Decumæ Legionis convenere, firmato vultu :  Piso adversus metum, Germanicus ne minari crederetur.  Et erat, ut rettuli, clementior, sed amici accendendis offensionibus callidi intendere vera, aggerere falsa, ipsumque et Plancinam et filios variis modis criminari.  Postremo, paucis familiarium adhibitis, sermo cœptus a Cæsare, qualem ira et dissimulatio gignit, responsum a Pisone precibus contumacibus ;  discesseruntque apertis odiis.  Post quæ rarus in tribunali Cæsaris Piso, et si quando assideret, atrox ac dissentire manifestus.  Vox quoque ejus audita est in convivio, quum apud regem Nabatæorum coronæ aureæ magno pondere Cæsari et Agrippinæ, leves Pisoni et ceteris offerrentur, principis Romani, non Parthi regis filio eas epulas dari ;  abjecitque simul coronam et multa in luxum addidit quæ Germanico quanquam acerba tolerabantur tamen.

[2.57]  Successful as was this settlement of all the interests of our allies, it gave Germanicus little joy because of the arrogance of Piso.  Though he had been ordered to march part of the legions into Armenia under his own or his son’s command, he had neglected to do either.  At length the two met at Cyrrhus, the winterquarters of the Tenth Legion, with fixed expressions, Piso concealing his fears, Germanicus shunning the semblance of menace.  Indeed, as I have said, he tended toward clemency, but his friends, astute at inflaming his sense of offense, proceeded to stretch the truth, heaped up falsehoods and in various ways incriminated Piso and Plancina and their sons.  At last, in the presence of a few intimate associates, Germanicus addressed him in language such as suppressed resentment suggests, to which Piso replied with haughty apologies.  They parted in open enmity.  After this Piso was seldom seen at Caesar’s tribunal, and if he ever sat by him, it was glowering and openly dissenting.  He was even heard to say at a banquet given by the king of the {Arabic} Nabatæans, when some golden crowns of great weight were presented to Caesar and Agrippina and light ones to Piso and the rest, that the entertainment was given in honor of the son of a Roman emperor, not of a Parthian king.  {I.e., Romans were allegedly anti-monarchical and more abstemious than Oriental despots.}  At the same time he threw his crown on the ground, with a long speech against luxury, which, though it angered Germanicus, he still bore with patience.

[2.58]  Inter quæ ab rege Parthorum Artabano legati venere.  Miserat amicitiam ac fœdus memoraturos, et cupere novari dextras, daturumque honori Germanici ut ripam Euphratis accederet ;  petere interim ne Vonones in Syria haberetur neu proceres gentium, propinquis nuntiis, ad discordias traheret.

Ad ea Germanicus de societate Romanorum Parthorumve magnifice, de adventu regis et cultu sui cum decore ac modestia respondit.  Vonones Pompejopolim, Ciliciæ maritimam urbem, amotus est.  Datum id non modo precibus Artabani, sed contumeliæ Pisonis, cui gratissimus erat ob plurima officia et dona quibus Plancinam devinxerat.

[2.58]  Meantime envoys arrived from Artabanus, king of the Parthians.  He had sent them to recall the memory of friendship and alliance, with an assurance that he wished for a renewal of the emblems of concord, and that he would, as a mark of respect for Germanicus, come to the bank of the Euphrates.  He requested meanwhile that Vonones not be kept in Syria, where, through local go-betweens, he might draw the tribal chiefs into rebellion.

Germanicus’ answer as to the alliance between Rome and Parthia was dignified;  as to the king’s visit and the respect shown to himself, it was graceful and modest.  Vonones was removed to Pompeiopolis, a city on the coast of Cilicia.  This was not merely a concession to the request of Artabanus, but an insult to Piso, by whom Vonones was very well liked because of the many services and presents by which he had won Plancina’s favor.

[2.59]  M. Silano L. Norbano consulibus {a.D. 19}, Germanicus Ægyptum proficiscitur cognoscendæ antiquitatis.  Sed cura provinciæ prætendebatur — levavitque apertis horreis pretia frugum, multaque in vulgus grata usurpavit :  sine milite incedere, pedibus intectis et pari cum Græcis amictu, P. Scipionis æmulatione, quem eadem factitavisse apud Siciliam, quamvis flagrante adhuc Pœnorum bello, accepimus.  Tiberius cultu habituque ejus lenibus verbis perstricto, acerrime increpuit quod contra instituta Augusti non sponte principis Alexandriam introisset.  Nam Augustus, inter alia dominationis arcana, vetitis nisi permissu ingredi senatoribus aut equitibus Romanis illustribus, seposuit Ægyptum ne fame urgeret Italiam quisquis eam provinciam claustraque terræ ac maris quamvis levi præsidio adversum ingentes exercitus insedisset.

[2.59]  In the consulship of Marcus Silanus and Lucius Norbanus, Germanicus set out for Egypt to study its antiquities.  The pretext given, however, was solicitude for the province — and he did alleviate the price of corn by opening the granaries, and adopted many practices pleasing to the multitude.  He would go about without soldiers, with uncovered feet, and apparelled after the Greek fashion, in imitation of Publius Scipio, who, it is said, habitually did the same in Sicily, even when the war with Carthage was still raging.  Tiberius having gently expressed disapproval of his dress and manners, pronounced a very sharp censure on his entering Alexandria without the emperor’s consent, contrary to the regulations of Augustus.  That prince, among other arcana of his despotism, having forbidden senators and Roman knights of higher rank to enter Egypt except by permission, placed Egypt apart lest anyone should occupy that province and its land and sea barriers with a garrison however light against enormous armies, and pressure Italy by famine.

[2.60]  Sed Germanicus nondum comperto profectionem eam incusari Nilo subvehebatur, orsus oppido a Canopo.  (Condidere id Spartani ob sepultum illic rectorem navis Canopum, qua tempestate Menelaus Græciam repetens diversum ad mare terramque Libyam dejectus est.)  Inde proximum amnis os dicatum Herculi, quem indigenæ ortum apud se et antiquissimum perhibent, eosque qui postea pari virtute fuerint in cognomentum ejus ascitos ;  mox visit veterum Thebarum magna vestigia.  Et manebant structis molibus litteræ Ægyptiæ, priorem opulentiam complexæ:  jussusque e senioribus sacerdotum patrium sermonem interpretari, referebat habitasse quondam septingenta milia {700,000} ætate militari, atque eo cum exercitu regem Rhamsen Libya, Æthiopia, Medisque et Persis et Bactriano ac Scytha potitum, quasque terras Suri Armeniique et contigui Cappadoces colunt, inde Bithynum hinc Lycium ad mare, imperio tenuisse.  Legebantur et indicta gentibus tributa, pondus argenti et auri, numerus armorum equorumque et dona templis ebur atque odores, quasque copias frumenti et omnium utensilium quæque natio pendĕret, haud minus magnifica quam nunc vi Parthorum aut potentia Romana jubentur.

[2.60]  Germanicus, however, who had not yet learnt how much he was blamed for his expedition, sailed up the Nile from the city of Canopus as his starting-point.  (Spartans founded the place because Canopus, pilot of one of their ships, had been buried there, at the time when Menelaus on his return to Greece was driven into a different sea and to the land of Libya.)  Thence he went to the river’s nearest mouth, dedicated to a Hercules who, the natives say, was born in the country and was the original hero, others, who afterwards showed like valour, having received his name.  Next he visited the vast ruins of ancient Thebes.  There yet remained on the towering piles Egyptian inscriptions, with a complete account of the city’s past grandeur.  One of the aged priests, who was desired to interpret the language of his country, related how once there had dwelt in Thebes seven hundred thousand men of military age, and how with such an army king Rhamses {Ramesses II, 1304-1237 B.C.}conquered Libya, Ethiopia, Media, Persia, Bactria, and Scythia, and held under his sway the countries inhabited by the Syrians, Armenians, and their neighbors, the Cappadocians, from the Bithynian {Black Sea} to the Lycian {Mediterranean} sea {i.e., all Asia Minor}.  There was also to be read what tributes were imposed on these nations, the weight of silver and gold, the tale of arms and horses, the gifts of ivory and of perfumes to the temples, with the amount of grain and supplies furnished by each people, a revenue as magnificent as is now exacted by the might of Parthia or the power of Rome.

[2.61]  Ceterum Germanicus aliis quoque miraculis intendit animum, quorum præcipua fuere Memnonis saxea effigies, ubi radiis solis icta est, vocalem sonum reddens, disjectasque inter et vix pervias arenas instar montium eductæ pyramides certamine et opibus regum, lacusque effossa humo, superfluentis Nili receptacula ;  atque alibi angustiæ et profunda altitudo, nullis inquirentium spatiis penetrabilis.  Exin ventum Elephantinen ac Syenen, claustra olim Romani imperii, quod nunc rubrum ad mare patescit.

[2.61]  But Germanicus also bestowed attention on other wonders.  Chief of these were the stone image of Memnon {i.e., Amenophis III, ca. 1417-1379 B.C.}, which, when struck by the sun’s rays, gives out the sound of a human voice;  the pyramids, rising up like mountains amid almost impassable wastes of shifting sand, raised by the emulation and vast wealth of kings;  the lake {Lake Moeris} hollowed out of the earth to be a receptacle for the Nile’s overflow;  and elsewhere the river’s narrows and profound depth, impenetrable to the plumblengths of investigators.  He then came to Elephantine and Syene, formerly the limits of the Roman empire, which now extends to the Red Sea.

[2.62]  Dum ea æstas Germanico plures per provincias transigitur, haud leve decus Drusus quæsivit, illiciens Germanos ad discordias, utque fracto jam Maroboduo usque in exitium insisteretur.  Erat inter Gotones nobilis juvenis nomine Catualda, profugus olim vi Marobodui et tunc dubiis rebus ejus ultionem ausus.  Is valida manu fines Marcomanorum ingreditur, corruptisque primoribus ad societatem, irrumpit regiam castellumque juxta situm.  Veteres illic Sueborum prædæ et nostris e provinciis lixæ ac negotiatores reperti quos jus commercii, dein cupido augendi pecuniam, postremo oblivio patriæ suis quemque ab sedibus hostilem in agrum transtulerat.

[2.62]  While Germanicus was spending that summer {a.D. 18} in visits to several provinces, Drusus gained no little glory by enticing the Germans to discord and, now that Marboduus was broken, to press on to his destruction.  Among the Gotones was a youth of noble birth, Catualda {= Haþuwalda} by name, who had formerly been driven into exile by the might of Maroboduus, and who now, with the latter’s affairs in doubt, ventured on revenge.  He entered the territory of the Marcomanni with a strong force, and, having corruptly won over the nobles to join him, burst into the palace and an adjacent fortress.  Inside were found old plunder of the Suevi and, from our provinces, camp-followers and businessmen, all of whom the right of trade, then the desire for increased wealth, and, finally, forgetfulness of their fatherland had transplanted from their own homes to the enemy’s country.

[2.63]  Maroboduo undique deserto non aliud subsidium quam misericordia Cæsaris fuit.  Transgressus Danuvium, qua Noricam provinciam præfluit, scripsit Tiberio non ut profugus aut supplex sed ex memoria prioris fortunæ :  nam multis nationibus clarissimum quondam regem ad se vocantibus Romanam amicitiam prætulisse.  Responsum a Cæsare tutam ei honoratamque sedem in Italia fore, si maneret ;  sin rebus ejus aliud conduceret, abiturum fide qua venisset.  Ceterum apud Senatum disseruit non Philippum Atheniensibus, non Pyrrhum aut Antiochum populo Romano perinde metuendos fuisse.  Exstat oratio qua magnitudinem viri, violentiam subjectarum ei gentium et quam propinquus Italiæ hostis, suaque in destruendo eo consilia extulit.  Et Marobodous quidem Ravennæ habitus, si quando insolescerent Suebi quasi rediturus in regnum ostentabatur :  sed non excessit Italia per duodeviginti annos, consenuitque multum imminuta claritate ob nimiam vivendi cupidinem.  Idem Catualdæ casus, neque aliud perfugium.  Pulsus haud multo post Hermundurorum opibus et Vibilio duce, receptusque, Forum Julium, Narbonensis Galliæ coloniam, mittitur.  Barbari utrumque comitati, ne quietas provincias immixti turbarent, Danuvium ultra inter flumina Marum et Cusum locantur, dato rege Vannio, gentis Quadorum.

[2.63]  Maroboduus, now utterly deserted, had no resource but in the mercy of Caesar.  Having crossed the Danube where it flows by the province of Noricum, he wrote to Tiberius, not like a fugitive or a suppliant, but as one who remembered his past greatness.  When as a most famous king in former days he received invitations from many nations, he had still, he said, preferred the friendship of Rome.  Caesar replied that he should have a safe and honorable home in Italy, if he would remain there;  but if something else were to suit his interests, he might leave it under the same protection under which he had come.  But in the Senate he maintained that Philip had not been so formidable to the Athenians, or Pyrrhus or Antiochus to the Roman people, as was Maroboduus.  The speech is extant, and in it he magnifies the man’s power, the ferocity of the tribes under his sway, his proximity to Italy as a foe, finally his own plans for Marboduus’ overthrow.  The result was that Maroboduus was kept at Ravenna, where his possible return was a menace to the Suevi, should they ever disdain obedience.  But he never left Italy for eighteen years, living to old age and losing much of his renown through an excessive clinging to life.  Catualda had a like downfall and no better refuge.  Driven out soon afterwards by the might of the Hermunduri led by Vibilius, he was received and sent to Forum Julii, a colony of Narbonensian Gaul.  Lest the barbarians accompanying each of the two kings disturb peaceful provinces if merged with them, they were settled across the Danube between the rivers March and Waag and given Vannio as a king, of the tribe of the Quadi.

[2.64]  Simul nuntiato regem Artaxian Armeniis a Germanico datum, decrevere patres ut Germanicus atque Drusus ovantes Urbem introirent.  Structi et arcus circum latera templi Martis Ultoris cum effigie Cæsarum, lætiore Tiberio quia pacem sapientia firmaverat quam si bellum per acies confecisset.  Igitur Rhescuporim quoque, Thræciæ regem, astu aggreditur.  Omnem eam nationem Rhœmetalces tenuerat ;  quo defuncto Augustus partem Thræcum Rhescuporidi fratri ejus, partem filio Cotyi permisit.  In ea divisione, arva et urbes et vicina Græcis Cotyi, quod incultum, ferox, annexum hostibus, Rhescuporidi cessit.  Ipsorumque regum ingenia, illi mite et amœnum, huic atrox, avidum et societatis impatiens erat.  Sed primo subdola concordia egere :  mox Rhescuporis egredi fines, vertere in se Cotyi data et resistenti vim facere, cunctanter sub Augusto, quem auctorem utriusque regni, si sperneretur, vindicem metuebat.  Enimvero audita mutatione principis immittere latronum globos, exscindere castella, causas bello.

[2.64]  Tidings having also arrived of Artaxias being made king of Armenia by Germanicus, the Senate decreed that both he and Drusus should enter the city with an ovation.  Arches too were raised round the sides of the temple of Mars the Avenger, with statues of the two Cæsars.  Tiberius was the more delighted at having established peace by wise policy than if he had finished a war by battle.  And so next he planned a crafty scheme against Rhescuporis, king of Thrace.  That entire country had been in the possession of Rhœmetalces, after whose death Augustus assigned half to the king’s brother Rhescuporis, half to his son Cotys.  In this division the cultivated lands, the towns, and what bordered on Greek territories, fell to Cotys;  the wild and barbarous portion, with enemies on its frontier, to Rhescuporis.  The kings too themselves differed, Cotys having a gentle and kindly temper, the other grisly, greedy and intolerant of partnership.  Still at first they lived in deceptive friendship, but soon Rhescuporis exceeded his boundaries, turned over to himself what had been given to Cotys and, on the latter’s resistance, offered force — but only hesitantly under Augustus, since he feared that the architect of each kingdom would, if spurned, turn avenger.  When however he heard of the change of emperor, he sent in bands of marauders and destroyed fortresses — reasons for war.

[2.65]  Nihil æque Tiberium anxium habebat quam ne composita turbarentur.  Deligit centurionem qui nuntiaret regibus ne armis disceptarent ;  statimque a Cotye dimissa sunt quæ paraverat auxilia.  Rhescuporis ficta modestia postulat eundem in locum coiretur :  posse de controvensiis colloquio transigi.  Nec diu dubitatum de tempore, loco, dein condicionibus, quum alter facilitate, alter fraude cuncta inter se concederent acciperentque.  Rhescuporis sanciendo, ut dictitabat, fœderi convivium adjicit, tractaque in multam noctem lætitia per epulas ac vinolentiam incautum Cotyn, postquam dolum intellexerat, sacra regni, ejusdem familiæ deos et hospitales mensas obtestantem catenis onerat.  Thræciaque omni potitus scripsit ad Tiberium structas sibi insidias, præventum insidiatorem ;  simul bellum adversus Bastarnas Scythasque prætendens novis peditum et equitum copiis sese firmabat.  Molliter rescriptum :  si fraus abesset, posse eum innocentiæ fidere ;  ceterum neque se neque Senatum, nisi cognita causa, jus et injuriam discreturos :  proinde tradito Cotye veniret, transferretque invidiam criminis.

[2.65]  Nothing gave Tiberius as much anxiety as his concern that order not be disrupted.  He commissioned a centurion to tell the kings not to decide their dispute by arms.  Cotys at once dismissed the forces which he had prepared.  Rhescuporis, with assumed modesty, asked for a place of meeting where, he said, they might settle their differences by an interview.  There was little hesitation in fixing on a time, a place, finally on terms, as every point was mutually conceded and accepted, by the one out of good nature, by the other with a treacherous intent.  Rhescuporis, to ratify the treaty, as he said, further proposed a banquet;  and when their mirth had been prolonged far into the night, and Cotys amid the feasting and the wine was unsuspicious of danger, he loaded him with chains, though he appealed, on perceiving the perfidy, to the sacred character of a king, to the gods of their common house, and to the hospitality of the table.  Having possessed himself of all Thrace, he wrote word to Tiberius that a plot had been formed against him, and that he had forestalled the plotter.  Meanwhile, under pretext of a war against the Bastarnian and Scythian tribes, he was strengthening himself with fresh forces of infantry and cavalry.  He received a conciliatory answer.  If there was no treachery in his conduct, he could rely on his innocence, but neither the emperor nor the Senate would decide on the right or wrong of his cause without hearing it.  He was therefore to surrender Cotys, come in person transfer from himself the odium of the charge.

[2.66]  Eas litteras Latinius Pandusa pro prætore Mœsiæ cum militibus quis Cotys traderetur in Thræciam misit.  Rhescuporis inter metum et iram cunctatus maluit patrati quam incepti facinoris reus esse :  occidi Cotyn jubet, mortemque sponte sumptam ementitur.  Nec tamen Cæsar placitas semel artes mutavit, sed defuncto Pandusa quem sibi infensum Rhescuporis arguebat, Pomponium Flaccum, veterem stipendiis et arta cum rege amicitia, eoque accommodatiorem ad fallendum, ob id maxime Mœsiæ præfecit.

[2.66]  This letter Latinius Pandus, propraetor of Moesia, sent to Thrace, with soldiers to whose custody Cotys was to be delivered.  Rhescuporis, hesitating between fear and rage, preferred to be charged with an accomplished rather than with an attempted crime.  He ordered Cotys to be murdered and falsely represented his death as self-inflicted.  Still the emperor did not change the policy which he had once for all adopted.  On the death of Pandus, whom Rhescuporis accused of being his personal enemy, he appointed to the government of Moesia Pomponius Flaccus, a veteran soldier, specially because of his close intimacy with the king and his consequent ability to entrap him.

[2.67]  Flaccus in Thraciam transgressus per ingentia promissa quamvis ambiguum et scelera sua reputantem perpulit ut præsidia Romana intraret.  Circumdata ingresso regi, specie honoris, valida manus, tribunique et centuriones monendo, suadendo, et quanto longius abscedebatur, apertiore custodia, postremo gnarum necessitatis in Urbem traxere.  Accusatus in Senatu ab uxore Cotyis, damnatur ut procul regno teneretur.  Thræcia in Rhœmetalcen filium, quem paternis consiliis adversatum constabat, inque liberos Cotyis dividitur ;  eisque nondum adultis Trebellenus Rufus prætura functus datur qui regnum interim tractaret, exemplo quo majores M. Lepidum, Ptolemæi liberis tutorem, in Ægyptum miserant.  Rhescuporis Alexandriam devectus atque illic fugam temptans an ficto crimine interficitur.

[2.67]  Flaccus on arriving in Thrace induced the king by great promises, though he hesitated and reflecting on his crimes, to enter the Roman garrison.  The king on entering was surrounded by a substantial unit under pretence of showing him honor ;  and the tribunes and centurions, by warnings, by persuasion, and by a more undisguised captivity the further he went, dragged him, aware at last of the inevitable, to Rome.  He was accused before the Senate by the wife of Cotys, and was condemned to be kept imprisoned far away from his kingdom.  Thrace was divided between his son Rhœmetalces, who, it was proved, had opposed his father’s designs, and the sons of Cotys.  As these were still minors, Trebellienus Rufus, an expraetor, was appointed to govern the kingdom in the meanwhile, after the precedent of our ancestors who sent Marcus Lepidus into Egypt as guardian to Ptolemy’s children.  Rhescuporis was removed to Alexandria and there, attempting flight or on a fabricated charge of it, was put to death.

[2.68]  Per idem tempus Vonones, quem amotum in Ciliciam memoravi, corruptis custodibus effugere ad Armenios, inde Albanos Heniochosque et consanguineum sibi regem Scytharum conatus est.  Specie venandi, omissis maritimis locis, avia saltuum petiit, mox pernicitate equi ad amnem Pyramum contendit, cujus pontes accolæ ruperant, audita regis fuga, neque vado penetrari poterat.  Igitur in ripa fluminis a Vibio Frontone præfecto equitum vincitur ;  mox Remmius, evocatus, priori custodiæ regis appositus, quasi per iram gladio eum transigit.  Unde major fides conscientia sceleris et metu indicii mortem Vononi illatam.

[2.68]  About the same time, Vonones, who, as I have related, had been banished to Cilicia, endeavoured by bribing his guards to escape into Armenia, thence to Albania and Heniochia, and to his kinsman, the king of Scythia.  Quitting the sea-coast on the pretence of a hunting expedition, he struck into trackless forests, and was soon borne by his swift steed to the river Pyramus, the bridges over which had been broken down by the natives as soon as they heard of the king’s escape.  Nor was there a ford by which it could be crossed.  And so on the river’s bank he was put in chains by Vibius Fronto, an officer of cavalry;  and then Remmius, a recalled veteran, assigned to the earlier custody of the king, in pretended rage, ran him through with his sword.  Hence the stronger belief that it was out of complicity in the crime and fear of incrimination that Vonones had been killed.

[2.69]  At Germanicus Ægypto remeans cuncta quæ apud Legiones aut urbes jusserat abolita vel in contrarium versa cognoscit.  Hinc graves in Pisonem contumeliæ, nec minus acerba quæ ab illo in Cæsarem intentabantur.  Dein Piso abire Syria statuit.  Mox adversa Germanici valetudine detentus, ubi recreatum accepit votaque pro incolumitate solvebantur, admotas hostias, sacrificalem apparatum, festam Antiochensium plebem per lictores proturbat.  Tum Seleuciam degreditur, opperiens ægritudinem, quæ rursum Germanico acciderat.  Sævam vim morbi augebat persuasio veneni a Pisone accepti ;  et reperiebantur solo ac parietibus erutæ humanorum corporum reliquiæ, carmina et devotiones et nomen Germanici plumbeis tabulis insculptum, semusti cineres ac tabo obliti aliaque malefica quis creditur animas numinibus infernis sacrari.  Simul missi a Pisone incusabantur ut valetudinis adversa rimantes.

[2.69]  Germanicus meanwhile, as he was returning from Egypt, found that all his directions to the Legions and to the various cities had been repealed or reversed.  Hence weighty insults for Piso, and no less bitterness aimed by the latter against Cæsar.  Piso then resolved to quit Syria.  Soon he was detained there by the failing health of Germanicus, but when he heard of his recovery, while people were paying the vows they had offered for his safety, he went attended by his lictors, drove away the readied victims with all the preparations for sacrifice, and the festal gathering of the populace of Antioch.  Then he left for Seleucia and awaited the result of the illness which had again attacked Germanicus.  The terrible intensity of the malady was increased by the belief that he had been poisoned by Piso.  And certainly there were found hidden in the floor and in the walls disinterred remains of human bodies, incantations and spells, and the name of Germanicus inscribed on leaden tablets, half-burnt cinders smeared with blood, and other horrors by which in popular belief souls are devoted so the infernal deities.  At the same time envoys sent by Piso were accused of probing for signs of deterioration of the sickness.

[2.70]  Ea Germanico haud minus ira quam per metum accepta.  Si limen obsideretur, si effundendus spiritus sub oculis inimicorum foret, ¿ quid deinde miserrimæ conjugi, quid infantibus liberis eventurum ?  Lenta videri veneficia :  festinare et urgere, ut provinciam, ut Legiones solus habeat.  Sed non usque eo defectum Germanicum, neque præmia cædis apud interfectorem mansura.  Componit epistulas quis amicitiam ei renuntiabat.  (Addunt plerique jussum, provincia decedere.)  Nec Piso moratus ultra, naves solvit — moderabaturque cursui quo propius regrederetur si mors Germanici Syriam aperuisset.

[2.70]  Germanicus heard of all this with anger, no less than with fear.  If his threshold were under siege, if he was to pour out his spirit beneath the eyes of enemies, what would then happen to his unhappy wife, what to his young children?  Poisoning seemed slow to act:  Piso was wasting no time and was pressing for sole possession of the province, of the legions.  But Germanicus had not weakened as much as that, nor would the prizes for his slaughter remain with his killer!  He then addressed a letter to Piso, renouncing his friendship (and, as many also state, ordered him to quit the province).  Piso without further delay weighed anchor, taking his time on his course so that returning would be all the shorter should Germanicus’ death leave Syria open to him.

[2.71]  Cæsar, paulisper ad spem erectus, dein fesso corpore ubi finis aderat, assistentes amicos in hunc modum alloquitur :  « Si fato concederem, justus mihi dolor etiam adversus deos esset, quod me parentibus, liberis, patriæ intra juventam præmaturo exitu raperent :  nunc scelere Pisonis et Plancinæ interceptus ultimas preces pectoribus vestris relinquo :  referatis patri ac fratri, quibus acerbitatibus dilaceratus, quibus insidiis circumventus miserrimam vitam pessima morte finierim.  Si quos spes meæ, si quos propinquus sanguis, etiam quos invidia erga viventem movebat, illacrimabunt quondam florentem et tot bellorum superstitem muliebri fraude cecidisse.  Erit vobis locus querendi apud Senatum, invocandi leges.  Non hoc præcipuum amicorum munus est, prosequi defunctum ignavo questu, sed quæ voluerit meminisse, quæ mandaverit exsequi.  Flebunt Germanicum etiam ignoti :  vindicabitis vos, si me potius quam fortunam meam fovebatis.  Ostendite populo Romano divi Augusti neptem eandemque conjugem meam ;  numerate sex liberos.  Misericordia cum accusantibus erit ;  fingentibusque scelesta mandata aut non credent homines aut non ignoscent. »  Juravere amici, dextram morientis contingentes, spiritum antequam ultionem amissuros.

[2.71]  For a brief space the prince’s hopes rose;  then his frame became exhausted, and, as his end drew near, he spoke as follows to the friends by his side:  - “Were I succumbing to nature, I should have just ground of complaint even against the gods for thus tearing me away in my youth by an untimely death from parents, children, country.  Now, cut off by the wickedness of Piso and Plancina, I leave to your hearts my last entreaties.  Describe to my father and brother, torn by what persecutions, entangled by what plots, I have ended by the worst of deaths the most miserable of lives.  If any were touched by my bright prospects, by ties of blood, or even by envy towards me while I lived, they will weep that the once prosperous survivor of so many wars has perished by a woman’s treachery.  You will have the opportunity of complaint before the Senate, of an appeal to the laws.  It is not the chief duty of friends to follow the dead with idle complaints, but to remember his wishes, to fulfil his commands.  Tears for Germanicus even strangers will shed;  vengeance must come from you, if you loved the man more than his fortune.  Show the people of Rome her who is the granddaughter of the Divine Augustus, as well as my consort;  set before them my six children.  Pity will be on the side of the accusers;  and those fabricating criminal instructions will either not be believed by men or not forgiven.”  His friends clasped the dying man’s right hand, and swore that they would sooner lose life than revenge.

[2.72]  Tum ad uxorem versus per memoriam sui, per communes liberos oravit exueret ferociam, sævienti fortunæ summitteret animum, neu regressa in Urbem æmulatione potentiæ validiores irritaret.  Hæc palam et alia secreto per quæ ostendisse, credebatur, metum ex Tiberio.  Neque multo post exstinguitur, ingenti luctu provinciæ et circumjacentium populorum.  Indoluere exteræ nationes regesque :  tanta illi comitas in socios, mansuetudo in hostes ;  visuque et auditu juxta venerabilis, quum magnitudinem et gravitatem summæ fortunæ retineret, invidiam et arrogantiam effugerat.

[2.72]  He then turned to his wife and implored her by the memory of her husband and by their common offspring to lay aside her high spirit, to submit herself to the savagery of fortune, and not, when she returned to Rome, to enrage by political rivalry those who were stronger than herself.  This was said openly;  other words were whispered, pointing, it was supposed, to his fears from Tiberius.  Soon afterwards he expired, to the intense sorrow of the province and of the neighboring peoples.  Foreign nations and kings grieved over him, so great was his courtesy to allies, his humanity to enemies.  He inspired reverence alike by look and voice, and while he maintained the greatness and dignity of the highest rank, he had avoided envy and arrogance.

[2.73]  Funus sine imaginibus et pompa per laudes ac memoriam virtutum ejus celebre fuit.  Et erant qui formam, ætatem, genus mortis ob propinquitatem etiam locorum in quibus interiit, Magni Alexandri fatis adæquarent.  Nam utrumque corpore decoro, genere insigni, haud multum triginta annos egressum, suorum insidiis externas inter gentes occidisse :  sed hunc mitem erga amicos, modicum voluptatum, uno matrimonio, certis liberis egisse, neque minus prœliatorem, etiam si temeritas afuerit, præpeditusque sit, perculsas tot victoriis Germanias servitio premere.  Quod si solus arbiter rerum, si jure et nomine regio fuisset, tanto promptius assecuturum gloriam militiæ quantum clementia, temperantia, ceteris bonis artibus præstitisset.

Corpus, antequam cremaretur, nudatum in foro Antiochensium (qui locus sepulturæ destinabatur), prætuleritne veneficii signa parum constitit.  Nam ut quis misericordia in Germanicum et præsumpta suspicione aut favore in Pisonem pronior, diversi interpretabantur.

[2.73]  His funeral, though it lacked the family statues and procession, was honored by panegyrics and a commemoration of his virtues.  Some there were who thought his looks, age and manner of death — and even on account of the proximity of the place in which he died — equal to the fate of Alexander the Great.  Both had a graceful person and were of noble birth;  neither had much exceeded thirty years of age, and both fell by the treachery of their own people in strange lands.  But Germanicus was gracious to his friends, temperate in his pleasures, the husband of one wife, with only legitimate children.  And he was no lesser a warrior, even though lacking the rashness, and he had been obstructed, after having beaten the Germanies in so many victories, from totally subjugating them.  But if he had been the sole arbiter of affairs, with the rights and title of king, he would have achieved military glory faster, just as he had won out in clemency, moderation and the rest of the other good qualities.

As to the body which, before it was burnt, was stripped naked in the forum at Antioch (its destined place of burial), there is little certainty whether it exhibited signs of poisoning.  For men according as they pitied Germanicus and were prepossessed with suspicion or were biased by partiality towards Piso, gave conflicting accounts.

[2.74]  Consultatum inde inter legatos quique alii senatorum aderant, quisnam Syriæ præficeretur.  Et ceteris modice nisis, inter Vibium Marsum et Cn. Sentium diu quæsitum ;  dein Marsus seniori et acrius tendenti Sentio concessit.  Isque infamem veneficiis ea in provincia et Plancinæ percaram, nomine Martinam, in Urbem misit, postulantibus Vitellio ac Veranio ceterisque qui crimina et accusationem tanquam adversus receptos jam reos instruebant.

[2.74]  Then followed a deliberation among the generals and other senators present about the appointment of a governor to Syria.  And with the others having striven weakly, there was a long debate on choosing between Vibius Marsus and Gnæus Sentius.  Finally Marsus yielded to the older and more intensely competing Sentius.  Sentius at once sent to Rome a woman infamous for poisonings in the province and a special favorite of Plancina, Martina by name, on the demand of Vitellius and Veranius and others, who were preparing the charges and accusation as if against individuals already taken as indicted.

[2.75]  At Agrippina, quanquam defessa luctu et corpore ægro, omnium tamen quæ ultionem morarentur intolerans ascendit classem cum cineribus Germanici et liberis, miserantibus cunctis quod femina nobilitate princeps, pulcherrimo modo matrimonio inter venerantes gratantesque aspici solita, tunc feralis reliquias sinu ferret, incerta ultionis, anxia sui et infelici fecunditate fortunæ totiens obnoxia.  Pisonem interim apud Coum insulam nuntius assequitur excessisse Germanicum.  Quo intemperanter accepto cædit victimas, adit templa, neque ipse gaudium moderans et magis insolescente Plancina, quæ luctum amissæ sororis tum primum læto cultu mutavit.

[2.75]  Agrippina meantime, worn out though she was with sorrow and bodily weakness, yet still intolerant of everything which might delay her vengeance, embarked with the ashes of Germanicus and with her children, pitied by all.  Here indeed was a woman of the highest nobility, and but lately because of her splendid union wont to be seen amid an admiring and sympathizing throng, now bearing in her bosom the mournful relics of death, with an uncertain hope of revenge, with apprehensions for herself, repeatedly at fortune’s mercy by reason of the ill-starred fruitfulness of her marriage.  Piso was at the island of Coos when tidings reached him that Germanicus was dead.  He received the news with extravagant joy, slew victims, visited the temples, with no moderation in his transports;  while Plancina’s insolence increased, and she then for the first time exchanged for the gayest attire the mourning she had worn for her lost sister.

[2.76]  Affluebant centuriones, monebantque prompta illi Legionum studia :  repeteret provinciam non jure ablatam et vacuam.  Igitur quid agendum consultanti M. Piso filius properandum in Urbem censebat :  nihil adhuc inexpiabile admissum neque suspiciones imbecillas aut inania famæ pertimescenda.  Discordiam erga Germanicum odio fortasse dignam, non pœna ;  et ademptione provinciæ satisfactum inimicis.  Quod si regrederetur, obsistente Sentio civile bellum incipi ;  nec duraturos in partibus centuriones militesque apud quos recens imperatoris sui memoria et penitus infixus in Cæsares amor prævaleret.

[2.76]  Centurions streamed in, and hinted to Piso that he had the sympathy of the Legions at his command.  “Go back,” they said, “to the province which has been unjustly taken from you, and is still leaderless.”  While he deliberated what he was to do, his son, Marcus Piso, advised hurrying on to Rome.  “As yet,” he said, “you have not contracted any inexpiable guilt, and you need not dread feeble suspicions or the inanities of report.  Your strife with Germanicus deserved hatred perhaps, but not punishment, and by your having been deprived of the province, your enemies have been fully satisfied.  But if you return {to Syria}, should Sentius resist you, there is the beginning of civil war, and you will not retain on your side the centurions and soldiers, who are powerfully swayed by the yet recent memory of their general and by a deep-rooted affection for the Cæsars.”

[2.77]  Contra Domitius Celer, ex intima ejus amicitia, disseruit utendum eventu :  Pisonem, non Sentium, Syriæ præpositum ;  huic fasces et jus prætoris, huic Legiones datas.  Si quid hostile ingruat, ¿ quem justius arma oppositurum quam qui legati auctoritatem et propria mandata acceperit ?  Relinquendum etiam rumoribus tempus quo senescant :  plerumque innocentes recenti invidiæ impares.  At si teneat exercitum, augeat vires, multa quæ provideri non possint fortuito in melius casura.  “¿ An festinamus cum Germanici cineribus appellere, ut te inauditum et indefensum planctus Agrippinæ ac vulgus imperitum primo rumore rapiant ?  Est tibi Augustæ conscientia, est Cæsaris favor, sed in occulto ;  et perisse Germanicum nulli jactantius mærent quam qui maxime lætantur.”

[2.77]  Against this view Domitius Celer, one of Piso’s intimate friends, argued that he ought to profit by the opportunity.  “It was Piso, not Sentius, who had been appointed to Syria.  It was to Piso that the symbols of power and a praetor’s jurisdiction and the Legions had been given.  In case of a hostile menace, who would more rightfully confront it by arms than the man who had received the authority and personal instructions?  And as for rumors, it is best to leave time in which they may die away.  Often the innocent cannot stand against the first burst of unpopularity.  But if Piso possesses himself of the army, and increases his resources, much which cannot be foreseen will with luck turn out in his favor.  Are we hastening to reach Italy along with the ashes of Germanicus, that, unheard and undefended, you may be hurried to ruin by the wailings of Agrippina and the first gossip of an ignorant mob?  You have on your side the complicity of Augusta and the emperor’s favor, though in secret ;  and none mourn more ostentatiously over the death of Germanicus than those who most rejoice at it.”

[2.78]  Haud magna mole Piso, promptus ferocibus, in sententiam trahitur, missisque ad Tiberium epistulis incusat Germanicum luxus et superbiæ ;  seque pulsum, ut locus rebus novis patefieret, curam exercitus eadem fide qua tenuerit repetivisse.  Simul Domitium impositum triremi vitare litorum oram præterque insulas alto mari pergere in Syriam jubet.  Concurrentes desertores per manipulo componit, armat lixas, trajectisque in continentem navibus vexillum tironum in Syriam euntium intercipit, regulis Cilicum ut se auxiliis juvarent scribit — haud ignavo ad ministeria belli juvene Pisone, quanquam suscipiendum bellum abnuisset.

[2.78]  Without much difficulty Piso, who was ever ready for violent action, was led into this view.  He sent a letter to Tiberius accusing Germanicus of luxury and arrogance, and asserting that, having been driven away to make room for revolution, he had resumed the command of the army in the same loyal spirit in which he had before held it.  At the same time he put Domitius on board a trireme, with an order to avoid the coast and to push on to Syria through the high sea away from the islands.  He formed into regular companies the deserters who flocked to him, armed the camp-followers, crossed with his ships to the mainland, intercepted a detachment of new levies on their way to Syria, and wrote word to the petty kings of Cilicia that they were to help him with auxiliaries — the young Piso actively assisting in all the business of war, though he had advised against undertaking it.

[2.79]  Igitur oram Lyciæ ac Pamphyliæ prælegentes, obviis navibus quæ Agrippinam vehebant, utrimque infensi arma primo expediere :  dein mutua formidine non ultra jurgium processum est, Marsusque Vibius nuntiavit Pisoni Romam ad dicendam causam veniret.  Ille eludens respondit affuturum ubi prætor qui de veneficiis quæreret reo atque accusatoribus diem prodixisset.  Interim Domitius Laodiciam Urbem Syriæ appulsus, quum hiberna Sextæ Legionis peteret (quod eam maxime novis consiliis idoneam rebatur), a Pacuvio legato prævenitur.  Id Sentius Pisoni per litteras aperit monetque ne castra corruptoribus, ne provinciam bello temptet.  Quosque Germanici memores (aut inimicis ejus adversos) cognoverat contrahit, magnitudinem imperatoris identidem ingerens et Rem Publicam armis peti ;  ducitque validam manum et prœlio paratam.

[2.79]  And so they coasted along Lycia and Pamphylia, and on meeting the fleet which conveyed Agrippina, both sides in hot anger at first armed for battle, and then in mutual fear confined themselves to revilings, Marsus Vibius telling Piso that he was to go to Rome to defend himself.  Piso mockingly replied that he would be there as soon as the praetor who had to try poisoning cases had prescribed a day for defendant and accusers.  Meanwhile Domitius having landed at Laodicea, a city of Syria, as he was on his way to the winter-quarters of the Sixth Legion (because he deemed it particularly suitable for his revolutionary plans), was forestalled by Pacuvius, the legate.  Of this Sentius informed Piso in a letter, and warned him not to disturb the armies by agents of corruption or the province by war.  He gathered round him all whom he knew to cherish the memory of Germanicus (or at least were opposed o his antagoniss), dwelling repeatedly on the greatness of the general, with hints that the State was being threatened with an armed attack, and he put himself at the head of a strong force, prepared for battle.

[2.80]  Nec Piso, quanquam cœpta secus cadebant, omisit tutissima e præsentibus, sed castellum Ciliciæ munitum admodum, cui nomen Celenderis, occupat ;  nam admixtis desertoribus et tirone nuper intercepto suisque et Plancinæ servitiis auxilia Cilicum quæ reguli miserant in numerum legionis composuerat.  Cæsarisque se legatum testabatur provincia quam is dedisset arceri, non a legionibus (earum quippe accitu venire), sed a Sentio privatum odium falsis criminibus tegente.  Consisterent in acie, non pugnaturis militibus ubi Pisonem ab ipsis parentem quondam appellatum, si jure ageretur, potiorem, si armis, non invalidum vidissent.

Tum pro munimentis castelli manipulos explicat colle arduo et derupto ;  nam cetera mari cinguntur.  Contra veterani ordinibus ac subsidiis instructi :  hinc militum, inde locorum asperitas, sed non animus, non spes, ne tela quidem nisi agrestia aut subitum in usum properata.  Ut venere in manus, non ultra dubitatum quam dum Romanæ cohortes in æquum eniterentur ;  vertunt terga Cilices seque castello claudunt.

[2.80]  Piso, too, though his first attempts were unsuccessful, did not omit the safest precautions under present circumstances, but occupied a very strongly fortified position in Cilicia, named Celenderis.  He had raised to the strength of a legion the Cilician auxiliaries which the petty kings had sent, by mixing with them some deserters, and the lately intercepted recruits with his own and Plancina’s slaves.  And he asserted that he, though Caesar’s legate, was kept out of the province which Caesar had given him, not by the legions (for he had come at their invitation) but by Sentius, who was veiling private animosity under lying charges.  “Only,” he said, “stand in battle array, and the soldiers will not fight when they see that Piso whom they themselves once called ‘father,’ is the stronger, if right is to decide;  if arms, is far from powerless.”

He then deployed his companies before the lines of the fortress on a high and precipitous hill, with the sea surrounding him on every other side.  Against him were the veteran troops drawn up in ranks and with reserves, a formidable soldiery on one side, a formidable position on the other.  But his men had neither heart nor hope, and only rustic weapons, extemporised for sudden use.  When they came to fighting, the result was doubtful only while the Roman cohorts were struggling up to level ground;  then, the Cilicians turned their backs and shut themselves up within the fortress.

[2.81]  Interim Piso classem haud procul opperientem appugnare frustra temptavit ;  regressusque et pro muris, modo semet afflictando, modo singulos nomine ciens, præmiis vocans, seditionem cœptabat, adeoque commoverat ut signifer Legionis Sextæ signum ad eum transtulerit.  Tum Sentius occanere cornua tubasque et peti aggerem, erigi scalas jussit ac promptissimum quemque succedere, alios tormentis hastas, saxa et faces ingerere.  Tandem, victa pertinacia, Piso oravit ut traditis armis maneret in castello, dum Cæsar cui Syriam permitteret consulitur.  Non receptæ condiciones nec aliud quam naves et tutum in Urbem iter concessum est.

[2.81]  Meanwhile Piso vainly attempted an attack on the fleet which waited at a distance;  he then went back, and as he stood before the walls, now smiting his breast, now calling on individual soldiers by name, and luring them on by rewards, sought to excite a mutiny.  He had so far roused them that a standard bearer of the Sixth Legion went over to him with his standard.  Thereupon Sentius ordered the horns and trumpets to be sounded, the rampart to be assaulted, the scaling ladders to be raised, all the bravest men to mount on them, while others were to discharge from the engines spears, stones, and brands.  At last Piso’s obstinacy was overcome, and he begged that he might remain in the fortress on surrendering his arms, while the emperor was being consulted about the appointment of a governor to Syria.  The proposed terms were refused, and all that was granted him were some ships and a safe return to Rome.

[2.82]  At Romæ, postquam Germanici valetudo percrebuit cunctaque ut ex longinquo aucta in deterius afferebantur, dolor, ira, et erumpebant questus :  ideo, nimirum, in extremas terras relegatum, ideo Pisoni permissam provinciam ;  hoc egisse secretos Augustæ cum Plancina sermones.  Vera prorsus de Druso seniores locutos :  displicere regnantibus civilia filiorum ingenia ;  neque ob aliud interceptos quam quia populum Romanum æquo jure complecti reddita libertate agitaverint.  Hos vulgi sermones audita mors adeo incendit ut ante edictum magistratuum, ante Senatus consultum, sumpto justitio, desererentur fora, clauderentur domus.  Passim silentia et gemitus, nihil compositum in ostentationem ;  et quanquam neque insignibus lugentium abstinerent, altius animis mærebant.  Forte negotiatores vivente adhuc Germanico Syria egressi lætiora de valetudine ejus attulere.  Statim credita, statim vulgata sunt :  ut quisque obvius, quamvis leviter audita in alios atque illi in plures cumulata gaudio transferunt.  Cursant per Urbem, moliuntur templorum fores ;  juvat credulitatem nox et promptior inter tenebras affirmatio.  Nec obstitit falsis Tiberius donec tempore ac spatio vanescerent :  et populus quasi rursum ereptum acrius doluit.

[2.82]  There meantime, when the illness of Germanicus was universally known, and all news, coming, as it did, from a distance, exaggerated the danger, there was grief and indignation.  There was too an outburst of complaint.  “Of course this was the meaning,” they said, “of banishing him to the ends of the earth, of giving Piso the province;  this was the drift of Augusta’s secret interviews with Plancina.  What elderly men had said of Drusus was perfectly true:  rulers were displeased by democratic temperaments in their sons — killed for nothing other than because they had been working to unite the Roman people with equal rights, under restored freedom.”  The news of his death so inflamed these popular conversations that even before the magistrate’s proclamation or the Senate’s resolution, legal business was suspended, the public courts were deserted, and private houses closed.  Everywhere there was a silence broken only by groans;  nothing was arranged for mere effect.  And while they did not shun the insignia of mourning, they grieved more deeply in their hearts.  It chanced that some merchants who left Syria while Germanicus was still alive, brought more cheering tidings about his health.  These were instantly believed, instantly published.  Every one passed on to others whom he met the news, ill-authenticated as it was, and they again to many more, with joyous exaggeration.  They ran to and fro through the city and broke open the doors of the temples.  Night assisted their credulity, and assurance was readier in the darkness.  Nor did Tiberius check the false reports till by lapse of time they died away.  And so the people grieved the more bitterly, as though Germanicus had been snatched away again.

[2.83]  Honores ut quis amore in Germanicum aut ingenio validus reperti decretique :  ut nomen ejus Saliari carmine caneretur ;  sedes curules sacerdotum Augustalium locis superque eas querceæ coronæ statuerentur ;  ludos circenses eburna effigies præiret neve quis flamen aut augur in locum Germanici nisi gentis Juliæ crearetur.  Arcus additi Romæ et apud ripam Rheni et in monte Syriæ Amano cum inscriptione rerum gestarum ac mortem ob Rem Publicam obisse.  Sepulchrum Antiochiæ ubi crematus, tribunal Epidaphnæ, quo in loco vitam finierat.  Statuarum locorumve in quis coleretur haud facile quis numerum inierit.  Quum censeretur clipeus auro et magnitudine insignis inter auctores eloquentiæ, asseveravit Tiberius solitum paremque ceteris dicaturum :  neque enim eloquentiam fortuna discerni et satis illustre si veteres inter scriptores haberetur.  Equester ordo Cuneum Germanici appellavit qui Juniorum dicebatur, instituitque uti turmæ Idibus Juliis imaginem ejus sequerentur.  Pleraque manent :  quædam statim omissa sunt aut vetustas oblitteravit.

[2.83]  New honors were devised and decreed, as men were inspired by affection for him or by ingenuity.  His name was to be celebrated in the song of the Salii;  chairs of state with oaken garlands over them were to be set up in the places assigned to the priesthood of the Augustales;  his image in ivory was to head the procession in the games of the circus;  no flamen or augur, except from the Julian family, was to be chosen in the room of Germanicus.  Triumphal arches were erected at Rome, on the banks of the Rhine, and on mount Amanus in Syria, with an inscription recording his achievements, and how he had died in the public service.  A cenotaph was raised at Antioch, where the body was burnt, a lofty mound at Epidaphna {= Antiochia epi Daphnes}, where he had ended his life.  The number of his statues, or of the places in which they were honored, could not easily be computed.  When a golden shield of remarkable size was voted him as a leader among orators, Tiberius declared that he would dedicate to him one of the usual kind, similar to the rest :  eloquence was not differentiated on the ground of fortune, he said, and it was illustrious enough if he were recognized as being among the writers of old.  The equestrian order gave the name “Germanicus’ Wedge” to the seating section which had been called “The Juniors’,” and established that on the Ides of July the squadrons should follow his image.  Many of these honors still remain;  some were at once dropped, or became obsolete with time.

[2.84]  Ceterum recenti adhuc mæstitia soror Germanici Livia, nupta Druso, duos virilis sexus simul enixa est.  Quod rarum lætumque etiam modicis penatibus tanto gaudio principem affecit ut non temperaverit quin jactaret apud patres nulli ante Romanorum ejusdem fastigii viro geminam stirpem editam :  nam cuncta, etiam fortuita, ad gloriam vertebat.  Sed populo tali in tempore id quoque dolorem tulit, tanquam auctus liberis Drusus domum Germanici magis urgeret.

[2.84]  While men’s sorrow was yet fresh, Germanicus’s sister Livia, who was married to Drusus, gave birth to twin sons.  This, as a rare event, causing joy even in humble homes, so delighted the emperor that he did not refrain from boasting before the senators that to no Roman of the same rank had twin offspring ever before been born.  In fact, he would turn to his own glory every incident, however casual.  But at such a time, even this brought grief to the people, as though a Drusus enriched with children were putting greater pressure on the house of Germanicus.

[2.85]  Eodem anno gravibus Senatus decretis libido feminarum coërcita, cautumque ne quæstum corpore faceret cui avus aut pater aut maritus eques Romanus fuisset.  Nam Vistilia, Prætoria familia genita, licentiam stupri apud ædiles vulgaverat, more inter veteres recepto, qui satis pœnarum adversum impudicas in ipsa professione flagitii credebant.  Exactum et a Titidio Labeone, Vistiliæ marito, cur in uxore delicti manifesta ultionem legis omisisset.  Atque illo prætendente sexaginta dies ad consultandum datos, necdum præterisse, satis visum de Vistilia statuere ;  eaque in insulam Seriphon abdita est.

Actum et de sacris Ægyptiis Judaicisque pellendis, factumque patrum consultum ut quattuor milia libertini generis ea superstitione infecta :  quis idonea ætas, in insulam Sardiniam veherentur coërcendis illic latrociniis et, si ob gravitatem cæli interissent, vile damnum ;  ceteri cederent Italia nisi certam ante diem profanos ritus exuissent.

[2.85]  In the same year weighty senate’s decrees ensured that the lust of females was curbed and measures taken that no one should make a profit from her body whose grandfather or father or husband was a Roman equestrian.  Vistilia, born of a Prætorian family, had actually published her name with this object on the ædile’s list, reviving a custom of the ancients, who considered it a sufficient punishment on unchaste women to have to profess their shame.  Titidius Labeo, Vistilia’s husband, was judicially called on to say why, with a wife clearly culpable of a felony, he had neglected to inflict the legal penalty.  When he pleaded that the sixty days given for deliberation had not yet expired, it was thought sufficient to decide Vistilia’s case, and she was banished out of sight to the island of Seriphos.

There was a debate too about expelling the Egyptian and Jewish worship, and a resolution of the Senate was passed that four thousand of the freedmen class who were infected with those superstitions;  for those of suitable age, they were to be transported to the island of Sardinia to quell the brigandage there, a cheap loss should they die from the pestilential climate.  The rest were to quit Italy, unless before a certain day they repudiated their impious rites.

[2.86]  Post quæ rettulit Cæsar capiendam virginem in locum Occiæ, quæ septem et quinquaginta per annos summa sanctimonia Vestalibus sacris præsederat ;  egitque grates Fontejo Agrippæ et Domitio Pollioni quod offerendo filias de officio in Rem Publicam certarent.  Prælata est Pollionis filia, non ob aliud quam quod mater ejus in eodem conjugio manebat ;  nam Agrippa discidio domum imminuerat.  Et Cæsar quamvis posthabitam decies sestertii {10 * H$100,000 = H$1,000,000} dote solatus est.

[2.86]  Next the emperor brought forward a motion for the election of a Vestal virgin in the room of Occia, who for fifty-seven years had presided with the most immaculate virtue over the Vestal worship.  He formally thanked Fontejus Agrippa and Domitius Pollio for offering their daughters and so vying with one another in zeal for the commonwealth.  Pollio’s daughter was preferred, only because her mother had lived with one and the same husband, while Agrippa had lowered his household by divorce.  The emperor consoled his daughter, passed over though she was, with a dowry of a million sesterces.

[2.87]  Sævitiam annonæ incusante plebe, statuit frumento pretium quod emptor pendĕret, binosque nummos se additurum negotiatoribus in singulos modios.  Neque tamen ob ea «parentis patriæ» delatum, et antea, vocabulum assumpsit, acerbeque increpuit eos qui «divinas» occupationes ipsumque «dominum» dixerant.  Unde angusta et lubrica oratio sub principe, qui libertatem metuebat, adulationem oderat.

[2.87]  As the city populace complained of the cruel dearness of corn, he fixed a price for grain to be paid by the purchaser, promising himself to add two sesterces on every peck for the traders.  But he would not therefore accept the title of “father of the country" which once before too had been offered him, and he sharply rebuked those who called his work “divine” and himself “lord.”  Consequently, speech was restricted and perilous under an emperor who feared freedom while he hated sycophancy.

[2.88]  Reperio apud scriptores eorundem temporum Adgandestrii principis Chattorum lectas in Senatu litteras, quibus mortem Arminii promittebat si patrandæ neci venenum mitteretur, responsumque esse non fraude neque occultis, sed palam et armatum populum Romanum hostes suos ulcisci.  Qua gloria æquabat se Tiberius priscis imperatoribus qui venenum in Pyrrhum regem vetuerant prodiderantque.

Ceterum Arminius, abscedentibus Romanis et pulso Maroboduo, regnum affectans, libertatem popularium adversam habuit, petitusque armis quum varia fortuna certaret, dolo propinquorum cecidit :  liberator haud dubie Germaniæ et qui non primordia populi Romani, sicut alii reges ducesque, sed florentissimum imperium lacessierit, prœliis ambiguus, bello non victus.  Septem et triginta annos vitæ, duodecim potentiæ explevit, caniturque adhuc barbaras apud gentes, Græcorum annalibus ignotus, qui sua tantum mirantur, Romanis haud perinde celebris, dum vetera extollimus, recentium incuriosi.

[2.88]  I find it stated by some writers of the period that a letter from Adgandestrius, chief of the Chatti, was read in the Senate, promising the death of Arminius, if poison were sent for the perpetration of the murder, and that the reply was that it was not by secret treachery but openly and by arms that the people of Rome avenged themselves on their enemies.  A noble answer, by which Tiberius sought to liken himself to those generals of old who had forbidden and even betrayed the poisoning of king Pyrrhus.

Arminius, meanwhile, when the Romans retired and Maroboduus was expelled, found himself opposed in aiming at the throne by his countrymen’s independent spirit.  He was assailed by armed force, and while fighting with various success, fell by the treachery of his relatives.  The liberator of Germany without doubt, one too who had defied Rome, not in her early rise, as other kings and generals, but in the height of her empire’s glory, had fought, indeed, indecisive battles, yet in war remained unconquered.  He completed thirty-seven years of life, twelve years of power, and it is still sung of him among the barbarian tribes.  He is, however, unknown to the annals of the Greeks who marvel only at their own achievements, and not celebrated the same in the Roman ones, since we extol the distant past, indifferent to the recent.