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Title: The Reign of Tiberius, Out of the First Six Annals of Tacitus

Author: Tacitus

Editor: Arthur Galton

Translator: Thomas Gordon


Release Date: April, 2005  [EBook #7959]
This file was first posted on June 5, 2003
Last Updated: May 30, 2013

Language: English

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THE REIGN OF TIBERIUS, OUT OF THE FIRST SIX ANNALS OF TACITUS

WITH HIS ACCOUNT OF GERMANY, AND LIFE OF AGRICOLA

By Tacitus

Translated By Thomas Gordon

And Edited By Arthur Galton







  "Alme Sol, curru nitido diem qui
  Promis et celas, aliusque et idem
  Nasceris, possis nihil urbe Roma
                Visere maius."



CONTENTS


INTRODUCTION

THE ANNALS, BOOK I

THE ANNALS, BOOK II

THE ANNALS, BOOK III

THE ANNALS, BOOK IV

THE ANNALS, BOOK V

THE ANNALS, BOOK VI

A TREATISE OF THE SITUATION, CUSTOMS, AND PEOPLE OF GERMANY

THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE SITUATION, CLIMATE, AND
PEOPLE OF BRITAIN




INTRODUCTION


"I am going to offer to the publick the Translation of a work, which,
for wisdom and force, is in higher fame and consideration, than almost
any other that has yet appeared amongst men:" it is in this way, that
Thomas Gordon begins The Discourses, which he has inserted into his
rendering of Tacitus; and I can find none better to introduce this
volume, which my readers owe to Gordon's affectionate and laborious
devotion. Caius Cornelius Tacitus, the Historian, was living under those
Emperors, who reigned from the year 54 to the year 117, of the Christian
era; but the place and the date of his birth are alike uncertain, and
the time of his death is not accurately known. He was a friend of the
younger Pliny, who was born in the year 61; and, it is possible,
they were about the same age. Some of Pliny's letters were written to
Tacitus: the most famous, describes that eruption of Mount Vesuvius,
which caused the death of old Pliny, and overwhelmed the cities of
Pompeii and of Herculaneum. The public life of Tacitus began under
Vespasian; and, therefore, he must have witnessed some part of the reign
of Nero: and we read in him, too, that he was alive after the accession
of the Emperor Trajan. In the year 77, Julius Agricola, then Consul,
betrothed his daughter to Tacitus; and they were married in the
following year. In 88, Tacitus was Praetor; and at the Secular Games of
Domitian, he was one of the _Quindecimviri_: these were sad and solemn
officers, guardians of the Sibylline Verse; and intercessors for the
Roman People, during their grave centenaries of praise and worship.

  _Quaeque Aventinum tenet Algidumque,
  Quindecim Diana preces virorum
  Curet; et vobis pueorum amicas
            Applicet aures._

From a passage in "The Life of Agricola," we may believe that Tacitus
attended in the Senate; for he accuses himself as one of that frightened
assembly, which was an unwilling participator in the cruelties of
Domitian. In the year 97, when the Consul Virginius Rufus died, Tacitus'
was made _Consul Suffectus_; and he delivered the funeral oration of his
predecessor: Pliny says, that "it completed the good fortune of Rufus,
to have his panegyric spoken by so eloquent a man." From this, and from
other sayings, we learn that Tacitus was a famous advocate; and his
"Dialogue about Illustrious Orators" bears witness to his admirable
taste, and to his practical knowledge of Roman eloquence: of his own
orations, however, not a single fragment has been left. We know not,
whether Tacitus had children; but the Emperor Tacitus, who reigned in
275, traced his genealogy to the Historian. "If we can prefer personal
merit to accidental greatness," Gibbon here observes, "we shall esteem
the birth of Tacitus more truly noble than that of Kings. He claimed his
descent from the philosophic historian, whose writings will instruct the
last generations of mankind. From the assiduous study of his immortal
ancestor, he derived his knowledge of the Roman Constitution and of
human nature." This Emperor gave orders, that the writings of Tacitus
should be placed in all the public libraries; and that ten copies should
be taken annually, at the public charge. Notwithstanding the Imperial
anxiety, a valuable part of Tacitus is lost: indeed we might argue, from
the solicitude of the Emperor, as well as from his own "distinction,"
that Tacitus could not be generally popular; and, in the sixteenth
century, a great portion of him was reduced to the single manuscript,
which lay hidden within a German monastery. Of his literary works, five
remain; some fairly complete, the rest in fragments. Complete, are "The
Life of Julius Agricola," "The Dialogue on Orators," and "The Account
of Germany": these are, unfortunately, the minor works of Tacitus. His
larger works are "The History," and "The Annals." "The History" extended
from the second Consulship of Galba, in the year 69, to the murder of
Domitian, in the year 96; and Tacitus desired to write the happy times
of Nerva, and of Trajan: we are ignorant, whether infirmity or death
prevented his design. Of "The History," only four books have been
preserved; and they contain the events of a single year: a year, it is
true, which, saw three civil wars, and four Emperors destroyed; a year
of crime, and accidents, and prodigies: there are few sentences more
powerful, than Tacitus' enumeration of these calamities, in the opening
chapters. The fifth book is imperfect; it is of more than common
interest to some people, because Tacitus mentions the siege of Jerusalem
by Titus; though what he says about the Chosen People, here and
elsewhere, cannot be satisfactory to them nor gratifying to their
admirers. With this fragment, about revolts in the provinces of Gaul
and Syria, "The History" ends. "The Annals" begin with the death of
Augustus, in the year 14; and they were continued until the death of
Nero, in 68. The reign of Tiberius is nearly perfect, though the fall
of Sejanus is missing out of it. The whole of Caligula, the beginning of
Claudius, and the end of Nero, have been destroyed: to those, who know
the style of Tacitus and the lives and genius of Caligula and Nero, the
loss is irreparable; and the admirers of Juvenal must always regret,
that from the hand of Tacitus we have only the closing scene, and not
the golden prime, of Messalina.

The works of Tacitus are too great for a Camelot volume; and, therefore,
I have undertaken a selection of them. I give entire, "The Account of
Germany" and "The Life of Agricola": these works are entertaining, and
should have a particular interest for English readers. I have added to
them, the greater portion of the first six books of "The Annals"; and
I have endeavoured so to guide my choice, that it shall present the
history of Tiberius. In this my volume, the chapters are not numbered:
for the omission, I am not responsible; and I can only lament, what I
may not control. But scholars, who know their Tacitus, will perceive
what I have left out; and to those others, who are not familiar with
him, the omission can be no affront. I would say briefly, that I
have omitted some chapters, which describe criminal events and legal
tragedies in Rome: but of these, I have retained every chapter, which
preserves an action or a saying of Tiberius; and what I have inserted
is a sufficient specimen of the remainder. I have omitted many chapters,
which are occupied with wearisome disputes between the Royal Houses
of Parthia and Armenia: and I have spared my readers the history of
Tacfarinas, an obscure and tedious rebel among the Moors; upon whose
intricate proceedings Tacitus appears to have relied, when he was at a
loss for better material. To reject any part of Tacitus, is a painful
duty; because the whole of him is good and valuable: but I trust, that I
have maintained the unity of my selection, by remembering that it is to
be an history of Tiberius.

Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar, the third master of the Roman world,
derived his origin, by either parent, from the Claudian race; the
proudest family, and one of the most noble and illustrious, in the
ancient Commonwealth: the pages of Livy exhibit the generosity, the
heroism, and the disasters, of the Claudii; who were of unequal fortune
indeed, but always magnificent, in the various events of peace and
war. Suetonius enumerates, among their ancestral honours, twenty-eight
Consulships, five Dictators, seven Censorial commissions, and seven
triumphs: their _cognomen_ of Nero, he says, means in the Sabine tongue
"vigorous and bold," _fortis et strenuus_; and the long history of the
Claudian House does not belie their gallant name. Immediately after the
birth of Tiberius, or perhaps before it, his mother Livia was divorced
from Claudius, and married by Augustus: the Empress is revealed
mysteriously and almost as a divine being, in the progress of "The
Annals." The Emperor adopted the offspring of Claudius: among the
Romans, these legal adoptions were as valid as descent by blood; and
Tiberius was brought up to be the son of Caesar. His natural parts were
improved and strengthened, by the training of the Forum and the camp.
Tiberius became a good orator; and he gained victory and reputation, in
his wars against the savages of Germany and Dalmatia: but his peculiar
talent was for literature; in this, "he was a great purist, and affected
a wonderful precision about his words." He composed some Greek poems,
and a Latin Elegy upon Lucius Caesar: he also wrote an account of his
own life, an _Apologia_; a volume, which the Emperor Domitian was
never tired of reading. But the favourite pursuit of Tiberius was Greek
divinity; like some of the mediaeval Doctors, he frequented the by-ways
of religion, and amused his leisure with the more difficult problems in
theology: "Who was Hecuba's mother?" "What poetry the Sirens chaunted?"
"What was Achilles' name, when he lay hid among the women?" The writings
of Tiberius have all perished; and in these days, we have only too much
cause to regret, that nothing of his "precision" has come down to us.
The battles of Tiberius are celebrated in the Odes of Horace: one of the
Epistles is addressed to him; and in another, written to Julius Florus,
an officer with Tiberius, Horace enquires about the learned occupations
of the Imperial cohort.

  _Quid studiosa Cohors operum struit?  Hoc quoque curo._

It was from his commerce with the Ancients, as I always think, that
George Buchanan derived his opinion, strange to modern ears, that "a
great commander must of necessity have all the talents of an author."
Velleius Paterculus, who served with Tiberius in his campaigns, tells us
of his firm discipline, and of his kindness to the soldiers.

The Caesars Caius and Lucius, grandsons of Augustus, Marcellus his
nephew, and Drusus the brother of Tiberius, all died: they died young,
rich in promise, the darlings of the Roman People; "Breves et infaustos
Populi Romani amores;" and thus, in the procession of events, Tiberius
became the heir. "The Annals" open with his accession, and Tacitus has
narrated the vicissitudes of his reign. Velleius Paterculus has written
its happier aspects: he describes how the "Pax Augusta," the "Roman
Peace," delivered every quarter of the world from violence. He
celebrates the return of Justice and prosperity, of order, of mild and
equable taxation, of military discipline and magisterial authority. It
is like the Saturnian Reign, which Virgil sings in the Eclogue "Pollio."
The first action of Tiberius was to canonise his father, and Augustus
was translated to the banquet of the Gods:

  _Quos inter Augustus recumbens,
  Purpureo bibit ore nectar._

Augustus was his great example; "he not only called him, but considered
him, divine;" "non appelavit eum, sed facit Deum." The Latin of
Paterculus is here so elegant and happy, that, for the pleasure of the
learned, I transcribe it: for others, I have already given something
of the sense. "Revocata in forum fides; submota e foro seditio, ambitio
campo, discordia curia: sepultaeque ac situ obsitae, justitia, aequitas,
industria, civitati, redditae; accessit magistratibus auctoritas,
senatui majestas, judiciis gravitas; compressa theatralis seditio;
recte faciendi, omnibus aut incussa voluntas aut imposita necessitas.
Honorantur recta, prava puniuntur. Suspicit potentem humilis, non timet.
Antecedit, non contemnit, humiliorem potens. Quando annona moderatior?
Quando pax laetior? Diffusa in Orientis Occidentisque tractus, quidquid
meridiano aut septentrione finitur, Pax Augusta, per omnes terrarum
orbis angulos metu servat immunes. Fortuita non civium tantummodo, sed
Urbium damna, Principis munificentia vindicat. Restitutae urbes
Asiae: vindictae ab injuriis magistratuum provinciae. Honor dignis
paratissimus: poena in malos sera, sed aliqua. Superatur aequitate
gratia, ambitio virtute: nam facere recte cives suos, Princeps optimus
faciendo docet; cumque sit imperio maximus, exemplo major est."

Tiberius reigned from the year 14, to the year 37. He died in the villa
of Lucullus, and he was buried in the mausoleum of the Caesars. The
manner of his death is variously related: Tacitus gives one account;
Suetonius, another. According to the last writer, he died like George
II., alone, having just risen from his bed; and he was thus found by
his attendants: "Seneca cum scribit subito vocatis ministris, ac nemine
respondente, consurrexisse; nec procul a lectulo, deficientibus viribus,
concidisse." Tiberius was tall, and beautiful. Suetonius tells us of
his great eyes, which could see in the dark; of his broad shoulders,
his martial bearing, and the fine proportion of his limbs: he describes,
too, the unusual strength of his hands and fingers, especially of the
left hand. His health was good; because, from his thirtieth year, he
was his own physician. "Valetudine prosperrima usus est, tempore quidem
principatus paene toto prope illesa; quamvis a trigesimo aetatis anno
arbitratu eam suo rexerit, sine adjutamento consiliove medicorum." The
Emperor Julian describes him "severe and grim; with a statesman's care,
and a soldier's frankness, curiously mingled:" this was in his old age.

  _Down the pale cheek, long lines of shadow slope;
  Which years, and curious thought, and suffering give._

At Rome, is a sculpture of Tiberius; he is represented young, seated,
crowned with rays, exceedingly handsome and majestic: if the figure were
not known to be a Caesar, the beholder would say it was a God.

There is another personage in "The Annals," whose history there is
mutilated, and perhaps dissembled; of whose character my readers may
like to know something more, than Tacitus has told them: I mean Sejanus,
a man always to be remembered; because whatever judgment we may form
about his political career, and on this question the authorities are
divided, yet it is admitted by them all, that he introduced those
reforms among the Praetorian Cohorts, which made them for a long time,
proprietors of the throne, and the disposers of the Imperial office. To
this minister, Paterculus attributes as many virtues as he has bestowed
upon Tiberius: "a man grave and courteous," he says, "with 'a fine
old-fashioned grace'; leisurely in his ways, retiring, modest; appearing
to be careless, and therefore gaining all his ends; outwardly polite and
quiet, but an eager soul, wary, inscrutable, and vigilant." Whatever he
may have been in reality, he was at one time valued by Tiberius. "The
whole Senate," Bacon says, "dedicated an altar to Friendship as to a
Goddess, in respect of the great Dearness of Friendship between them
two:" and in the Essay "Of Friendship," Bacon has many deep sentences
about the favourites of Kings, their "Participes Curarum." I would
summon out of "The Annals," that episode of Tiberius imprisoned within
the falling cave, and shielded by Sejanus from the descending roof.
"Coelo Musa beat:" Sejanus has propitiated no Muse; and although
something more, than the "invida taciturnitas" of the poet, lies heavy
upon his reputation, he shall find no apologist in me. But over against
the hard words of Tacitus, it is only fair to place the commendations
of Paterculus, and even Tacitus remarks, that after the fall of Sejanus,
Tiberius became worse; like Henry VIII., after the fall of Wolsey. Livia
and Sejanus are said by Tacitus, to have restrained the worst passions
of the Emperor. The two best authorities contradict one another; they
differ, as much as our political organs differ, about the characters of
living statesmen: and who are we, to decide absolutely, from a distance
of two thousand years, at our mere caprice, and generally without
sufficient evidence, that one ancient writer is correct; and another,
dishonest or mistaken? This is only less absurd, than to prefer the
groping style and thoughts of a modern pedant, usually a German as
well, to the clear words of an old writer, who may be the sole remaining
authority for the statements we presume to question; or for those
very facts, upon which our reasonings depend. And how easy it is to
misunderstand what we read in ancient histories, to be deceived by the
plainest records, or to put a sinister interpretation upon events, which
in their own time were passed over in silence or officially explained
as harmless! Let me take an illustration, of what I mean, from something
recent. Every one must remember the last hours of the Emperor Frederick:
the avenues to his palace infested by armed men; the gloom and secrecy
within; without, an impatient heir, and the posting to and fro of
messengers. We must own, that the ceremonials of the Prussian Court
departed in a certain measure from the ordinary mild usage of humanity;
but we attributed this to nothing more, than the excitement of a
youthful Emperor, or the irrepressible agitation of German officials.
But if these events should find a place in history, or if the annals of
the Kings of Prussia should be judged worth reading by a distant Age;
who could blame an historian for saying, that these precautions were not
required for the peaceful and innocent devolution of the crown from a
father to his son. Would not our historian be justified, if he referred
to the tumults and intrigues of a Praetorian election; if he compared
these events to the darkest pages in Suetonius, or reminded his
readers of the most criminal narratives in the authors of the "Augustan
History"? From Sejanus and the Emperor William, I return once more to
Tiberius; from the present _Kaiser_, to a genuine Caesar.

It is not my purpose here to abridge Tacitus, to mangle his translator,
nor to try and say what is better said in the body of the volume: but
when my readers have made themselves acquainted with Tiberius, they may
be glad to find some discussion about him, as he is presented to us in
"The Annals"; and among all the personages of history, I doubt if there
be a more various or more debated character. Mr. Matthew Arnold thus
describes him:

  _Cruel, but composed and bland,
  Dumb, inscrutable and grand;
  So Tiberius might have sat,
  Had Tiberius been a cat._

And these verses express the popular belief, with great felicity: I
must leave my readers, to make their own final judgment for themselves.
Whether Tacitus will have helped them to a decision, I cannot guess: he
seems to me, to deepen the mystery of Tiberius. At a first reading, and
upon the surface, he is hostile to the Emperor; there is no doubt, that
he himself remained hostile, and that he wished his readers to take away
a very bad impression: but, as we become familiar with his pages, as
we ponder his words and compare his utterances, we begin to suspect our
previous judgment; another impression steals upon us, and a second, and
a third, until there grows imperceptibly within us a vision of something
different. Out of these dim and floating visions, a clearer image is
gradually formed, with lineaments and features; and, at length, a
new Tiberius is created within our minds: just as we may have seen
a portrait emerge under the artist's hand, from the intricate and
scattered lines upon an easel. Then it dawns upon us, that, after all,
Tacitus was not really an intimate at Capri; that he never received the
secret confidences of Tiberius, nor attended upon his diversions. And at
last it is borne in upon us, as we read, that, if we put aside rumours
and uncertain gossip, whatever Tiberius does and says is unusually fine:
but that Tacitus is not satisfied with recording words and actions;
that he supplies motives to them, and then passes judgment upon his
own assumptions: that the evidence for the murder of Germanicus, for
instance, would hardly be accepted in a court of law; and that if Piso
were there found guilty, the Emperor could not be touched. At any rate,
we find it stated in "The Annals," that "Tiberius by the temptations of
money was incorruptible;" and he refused the legacies of strangers,
or of those who had natural heirs. "He wished to restore the people to
severer manners," like many sovereigns; unlike the most of them, "in his
own household, he observed the ancient parsimony." Besides the "severa
paupertas" of Camillus and Fabricius, he had something of their
primitive integrity; and he declined, with scorn, to be an accomplice in
the proposed assassination of Arminius: "non fraude neque occultis, sed
palam et armatum, Populum Romanum hostes suos ulcisci." He protected
magistrates and poor suitors, against the nobles. He refused to add to
the public burdens, by pensioning needy Senators: but he was
charitable to poor debtors; and lavish to the people, whether Romans or
Provincials, in times of calamity and want. Not least admirable was his
quiet dignity, in periods of disturbance and of panic: he refused to
hurry to the mutinous legions, or to a mean rebellion in Gaul; and he
condescended to reason excellently about his behaviour, when his
people were sane enough to listen. He was both sensible and modest: he
restrained the worship of Augustus, "lest through being too common
it should be turned into an idle ceremony;" he refused the worship of
himself, except in one temple dedicated equally to the Senate and to
the Emperor. Tiberius could be pathetic, too: "I bewail my son, and ever
shall bewail him," he says of Germanicus; and again, "Eloquence is not
measured by fortune, and it is a sufficient honour, if he be ranked
among the ancient orators." "Princes are mortal;" he says again, "the
Commonwealth, eternal." Then his wit, how fine it was; how quick his
humour: when he answered the tardy condolences from Troy, by lamenting
the death of Hector: when he advised an eager candidate, "not to
embarrass his eloquence by impetuosity;" when he said of another, a
low, conceited person, "he gives himself the airs of a dozen ancestors,"
"videtur mihi ex se natus:" when he muttered in the Senate, "O homines
ad servitutem paratos:" when he refused to become a persecutor; "It
would be much better, if the Gods were allowed to manage their own
affairs," "Deorum injurias Dis curae." In all this; in his leisured
ways, in his dislike of parade and ceremonial, in his mockery of
flatterers and venal "patriots"; how like to Charles II., "the last
King of England who was a man of parts." And no one will deny "parts"
to Tiberius; he was equal to the burden of Imperial cares: the latest
researches have discovered, that his provincial administration was
most excellent; and even Tacitus admits, that his choice of magistrates
"could not have been better." He says, in another passage, "The
Emperor's domains throughout Italy, were thin; the behaviour of his
slaves modest; the freed-men, who managed his house, few; and, in his
disputes with particulars, the courts were open and the law equal." This
resembles the account of Antoninus Pius, by Marcus Aurelius; and it is
for this modesty, this careful separation between private and public
affairs, that Tacitus has praised Agricola. I am well contented, with
the virtues of the Antonines; but there are those, who go beyond. I have
seen a book entitled "The History of that Inimitable Monarch Tiberius,
who in the xiv year of his Reign requested the Senate to permit the
worship of Jesus Christ; and who suppressed all Opposition to it." In
this learned volume, it is proved out of the Ancients, that Tiberius was
the most perfect of all sovereigns; and he is shown to be nothing
less than the forerunner of Saint Peter, the first Apostle and the
nursing-father of the Christian Church. The author was a Cambridge
divine, and one of their Professors of mathematics: "a science,"
Goldsmith says, "to which the meanest intellects are equal."

Upon the other hand, we have to consider that view of Tiberius, which is
thus shown by Milton;

  _This Emperor hath no son, and now is old;
  Old and lascivious: and from Rome retired
  To Capreae, an island small but strong,
  On the Campanian shore; with purpose there,
  His horrid lusts in private to enjoy._

This theme is enlarged by Suetonius, and evidently enjoyed: he
represents Tiberius, as addicted to every established form of vice;
and as the inventor of new names, new modes, and a new convenience, for
unheard-of immoralities. These propensities of the Emperor are handled
by Tacitus with more discretion, though he does not conceal them. I wish
neither to condemn nor to condone Tiberius: I desire, if it be
possible, to see him as he is; and whether he be good or bad, he is very
interesting. I have drawn attention to what is good in "The Annals,"
because Tacitus leans with all his weight upon the bad; and either
explains away what is favourable, or passes over it with too light a
stroke. At the end, I must conclude, as I began, that the character of
Tiberius is a mystery. It is a commonplace, that no man is entirely good
nor entirely evil; but the histories of Tiberius are too contradictory,
to be thus dismissed by a platitude. It is not easy to harmonise
Paterculus with Suetonius: it is impossible to reconcile Tacitus with
himself; or to combine the strong, benevolent ruler with the Minotaur of
Capri. The admirers of an almost perfect prose, must be familiar with a
story, which is not the highest effort of that prose: they will remember
a certain man with a double nature, like all of us; but, unlike us,
able to separate his natures, and to personate at will his good or evil
genius. Tiberius was fond of magic, and of the curious arts: it may be,
that he commanded the secrets of which Mr. Stevenson has dreamed!

The readers of "The Annals" have seen enough of blood, of crime, and of
Tiberius; and I would now engage their attention upon a more pleasing
aspect of Imperial affairs: I wish to speak about the Empire itself;
about its origin, its form, its history: and, if my powers were equal to
the task, I would sketch a model Emperor; Marcus Aurelius, or the elder
Antonine. Gibbon has described the limits of the Roman Empire; which
"comprised the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilised portion
of mankind." Its boundaries were "the Rhine and Danube, on the north;
the Euphrates, on the east; towards the south, the sandy deserts of
Arabia and Africa;" and upon the west, the Atlantic ocean. It was over
this extensive monarchy, that Caesar reigned; by the providence of
Caesar, was the whole defended and administered.

  _Quis Parthum paveat? Quis gelidum Scythen
  Quis, Germania quos horrida parturit
  Fetus, incolumi Caesare?_

The frontiers of the Empire, and its richest provinces, had been
obtained for the most part in the long wars of the Republic. The
conquest of Gaul, and the establishment of the Empire, was achieved
by Julius Caesar; and to him, the civilised world is indebted for that
majestic "Roman Peace," under which it lived and prospered for nearly
nineteen centuries: the Eastern Empire was maintained in Constantinople,
until 1453; and the Empire of the West continued, though in waning
splendour, until the last Caesar abdicated his throne at the order of
Napoleon. The nations of modern Europe were developed out of the ruin
of Caesar's Empire; and from that, the more civilised among them have
obtained the politer share of their laws, their institutions, and their
language: and to Caesar, we are indebted for those inestimable treasures
of antiquity, which the Roman Empire and the Roman Church have preserved
from the barbarians, and have handed on for the delight and the
instruction of modern times. There are those, who can perceive in Caesar
nothing but a demagogue, and a tyrant; and in the regeneration of the
Commonwealth, nothing but a vulgar crime: among these, I am sorry to
inscribe the name of Thomas Gordon. The supporters of this view are
generally misled, by the specious allurements of the term "Republic."
Tiberius, it may be, was not a perfect ruler, and other sovereigns were
even more ferocious; but the excesses of the most reckless Emperor are
hardly to be compared to the wholesale massacres and spoliations,
which attended the last agonies of the expiring Commonwealth. After
the Macedonian and Asiatic wars, we find a turbulent and servile crowd,
instead of the old families and tribes of Roman citizens; instead of
allies, oppressed and plundered provinces; instead of the heroes of the
young Republic, a set of worn-out, lewd, and greedy nobles. By these,
the spoils of the world were appropriated, and its government abused:
Caesar gave the helpless peoples a legal sovereign, and preserved them
from the lawless tyranny of a thousand masters. He narrates himself,
that "he found the Romans enslaved by a faction, and he restored their
liberty:" "Caesar interpellat; ut Populum Romanum, paucorum factione
oppressum, in libertatem vindicat." The march of Caesar into Italy was
a triumphal progress; and there can be no doubt, that the common
people received him gladly. Again he says, "Nihil esse Rempublicam;
appellationem modo, sine corpore et specie;" "The Republic is nothing
but an empty name, a phantom and a shadow." That Caesar should have seen
this, is the highest evidence of his genius: that Cicero did not see it,
is to himself, and to his country, the great misfortune of his career;
and to his admirers, one of the most melancholy events in Roman history.
The opinions of Tacitus were not far removed from the opinions of
Cicero, but they were modified by what he saw of Nerva and of Trajan:
he tells us, how Agricola looked forward to the blessings of a virtuous
Prince; and his own thoughts and writings would have been other, than
they are, had he witnessed the blameless monarchy of Hadrian and the
Antonines. The victims of a bad Emperor were taken usually from among
the nobles; many of them were little better, than their destroyer; and
his murders were confined, almost invariably, within the walls of Rome:
but the benefits of the Imperial system were extended into all the
provinces; and the judgment-seat of Caesar was the protection of
innumerable citizens. Many were the mistakes, many the misfortunes,
deplorable the mischiefs, of the Imperial administration; I wish neither
to deny, nor to conceal them: but here I must content myself with
speaking broadly, with presenting a superficial view of things; and,
upon the whole, the system of the Emperors was less bad than the decayed
and inadequate government, out of which it was developed. For the
change from the Republic to the Empire was hardly a revolution; and
the venerable names and forms of the old organisation were religiously
preserved. Still, the Consuls were elected, the Senate met and
legislated, Praetors and Legates went forth into the provinces, the
Legions watched upon the frontiers, the lesser Magistrates performed
their office; but above them was Caesar, directing all things,
controlling all things; the _Imperator_ and Universal Tribune, in whose
name all was done; the "Praesens Divus," on whom the whole depended; at
once the master of the Imperial Commonwealth, and the minister of the
Roman People.

"The Annals," and the history of Tiberius, have detained us, for the
most part, within the capital: "The Agricola" brings us into a province
of the Empire; and "The Account of Germany" will take us among the
savages beyond the frontier. I need scarcely mention, that our country
was brought within the Roman influence by Julius Caesar; but that
Caesar's enterprise was not continued by Augustus, nor by Tiberius;
though Caligula celebrated a fictitious triumph over the unconquered
Britons: that a war of about forty years was undertaken by Claudius,
maintained by Nero, and terminated by Domitian; who were respectively
"the most stupid, the most dissolute, and the most timid of all the
Emperors." It was in the British wars, that Vespasian began his great
career, "monstratus fatis"; but the island was not really added to the
Empire, until Agricola subdued it for Domitian. "The Life of Agricola"
is of general interest, because it preserves the memory of a good and
noble Roman: to us, it is of special interest, because it records the
state of Britain when it was a dependency of the Caesars; "adjectis
Britannis imperio." Our present fashions in history will not allow us
to think, that we have much in common with those natives, whom Tacitus
describes: but fashions change, in history as in other things; and in
a wiser time we may come to know, and be proud to acknowledge, that
we have derived a part of our origin, and perhaps our fairest
accomplishments, from the Celtic Britons. The narrative of Tacitus
requires no explanation; and I will only bring to the memory of my
readers, Cowper's good poem on Boadicea. We have been dwelling upon the
glories of the Roman Empire: it may be pardonable in us, and it is not
unpleasing, to turn for a moment, I will not say to "the too vast orb"
of our fate, but rather to that Empire which is more extensive than the
Roman; and destined to be, I hope, more enduring, more united, and more
prosperous. Horace will hardly speak of the Britons, as humane beings,
and he was right; in his time, they were not a portion of the Roman
World, they had no part in the benefits of the Roman government: he
talks of them, as beyond the confines of civility, "in ultimos orbis
Britannos;" as cut off by "the estranging sea," and there jubilant in
their native practices, "Visum Britannos hospitibus feros." But Cowper
says, no less truly, of a despised and rebel Queen;

  _Regions Caesar never knew,
  Thy posterity shall sway;
  Where his Eagles never flew,
  None invincible as they._

The last battles of Agricola were fought in Scotland; and, in the pages
of Tacitus, he achieved a splendid victory among the Grampian hills.
Gibbon remarks, however, "The native Caledonians preserved in the
northern extremity of the island their wild independence, for which
they were not less indebted to their poverty than to their valour. Their
incursions were frequently repelled and chastised; but their country was
never subdued. The masters of the fairest and most wealthy climates of
the globe turned with contempt from gloomy hills assailed by the winter
tempest, from lakes concealed in a blue mist, and from cold and lonely
heaths, over which the deer of the forest were chased by a troop of
naked barbarians." The Scotch themselves are never tired of asserting,
and of celebrating, their "independence"; Scotland imposed a limit to
the victories of the Roman People, Scaliger says in his compliments to
Buchanan:

  _Imperii fuerat Romani Scotia lines._

But it may be questioned, whether it were an unmixed blessing, to
be excluded from the Empire; and to offer a sullen resistance to its
inestimable gifts of humane life, of manners, and of civility.

To these things, the Germans also have manifested a strong dislike; and
they are more censurable than the Scotch, because all their knowledge of
the Romans was not derived from the intercourse of war. "The Germany"
of Tacitus is a document, that has been much discussed; and these
discussions may be numbered among the most flagrant examples of literary
intemperance: but this will not surprise us, when we allow for the
structure of mind, the language, and the usual productions of those,
to whom the treatise is naturally of the greatest importance. In the
description of the Germans, Tacitus goes out of his way to laugh at the
"licentia vetustatis," "the debauches of pedants and antiquarians;"
as though he suspected the fortunes of his volume, and the future
distinctions of the Teutonic genius. For sane readers, it will be enough
to remark, that the Germany of Tacitus was limited, upon the west, by
the natural and proper boundary of the Rhine; that it embraced a portion
of the Low Countries; and that, although he says it was confined within
the Danube, yet the separation is not clear between the true Germans and
those obscurer tribes, whose descendants furnish a long enumeration
of titles to the present melancholy sovereign of the House of Austria.
Gibbon remarks, with his usual sense, "In their primitive state of
simplicity and independence, the Germans were surveyed by the discerning
eye, and delineated by the masterly pencil of Tacitus, the first
historian who supplied the science of philosophy to the study of facts.
The expressive conciseness of his descriptions has deserved to exercise
the diligence of innumerable antiquarians, and to excite the genius and
penetration of the philosophic historians of our own time." Upon a
few sentences out of the "Germania"; which relate to the kings, to the
holding of land, to the public assemblies, and to the army; an imposing
structure of English constitutional history has been erected: our modern
historians look upon this treatise with singular approval; because
it shows them, they say, the habits of their own forefathers in their
native settlements. They profess to be enchanted with all they read;
and, in their works, they betray their descent from the ancestors they
admire. Gibbon says, prettily, "Whenever Tacitus indulges himself in
those beautiful episodes, in which he relates some domestic transaction
of the Germans or of the Parthians, his principal object is to relieve
the attention of the reader from an uniform scene of vice and misery."
Whether he succeeds, I must leave my readers to decide. Tacitus
describes the quarrels of the Germans; fought, then with weapons; now,
with words: their gambling, their sloth, their drunkenness. "Strong
beer, a liquor extracted with very little art from wheat or barley,
and _corrupted_ (as it is strongly expressed by Tacitus) into a certain
semblance of wine, was sufficient for the gross purposes of German
debauchery." Tacitus informs us, too, "that they sleep far into the day;
that on rising they take a bath, usually of warm water; then they eat."
To pass an entire day and night in drinking, disgraces no one: "Dediti
somno ciboque," he says; a people handed over to sloth and gluttony.
Some of these customs are now almost obsolete; the baths, for instance.
In others, there has been little alteration since the Age of Tacitus;
and the Germans have adhered, with obstinate fidelity, to their
primitive habits. Tacitus thought less of their capacity, upon the
whole, than it is usual to think now: "The Chatti," he says, "for
Germans, have much intelligence;" "Leur intelligence et leur finesse
étonnent, dans des Germains." But let us forget these "Tedeschi lurchi,
non ragionam di lor;" and pass on to those manly virtues, which Tacitus
records: To abandon your shield, is the basest of crimes, "relicta non
bene parmula;" nor may a man thus disgraced be present at their sacred
rites, nor enter their council; many, indeed, after escaping from
battle, have ended their infamy with the halter. And to more shameful
crimes, they awarded a sterner punishment:

  _Behind flock'd wrangling up a piteous crew
  Greeted of none, disfeatured and forlorn:
  Cowards, who were in sloughs interr'd alive;
  And round them still the wattled hurdles hung
  Wherewith they stamp'd them down, and trod them deep,
  To hide their shameful memory from men._

Having now surveyed the compositions in this volume, it is proper that
we should at length devote some of our notice to Gordon himself, and to
his manner of presenting Tacitus. Thomas Gordon was born in Scotland;
the date has not yet been ascertained. He is thought to have been
educated at a northern university, and to have become an Advocate.
Later, he went to London; and taught languages. Two pamphlets on
the Bangorian controversy brought him into notice; and he wrote
many religious and political dissertations. "A Defence of Primitive
Christianity, against the Exhorbitant Claims of Fanatical and
Dissaffected Clergymen;" "Tracts on Religion, and on the Jacobite
Rebellion of '45;" "The Pillars of Priestcraft and Orthodoxy Shaken;" "A
Cordial for Low Spirits;" are the titles of some of his compositions.
In politics, and in theology, he was a republican and free-thinker: he
translated and edited "The Spirit of Ecclesiastics in All Ages;" he
was a contributor to "The Independent Whig;" and in a series of "Cato's
Letters," he discoursed at ease upon his usual topics. The Tacitus was
published in 1728, in two volumes folio: long dissertations are inserted
in either volume; the literature in them excellent, the politics not so
good: the volumes, as well as the several parts of them, are dedicated
to some Royal and many Noble Patrons. Gordon has also turned Sallust
into English: the book was published in 1744, in one handsome quarto;
"with Political Discourses upon that Author and Translations of
Cicero's Four Orations against Cataline." Walpole made Gordon the first
commissioner of wine licences. It is handed down, that Gordon was a
burly person, "large and corpulent." It is believed, that he found his
way into "The Dunciad," and that he is immortalised there among the
"Canaille Écrivante;" the line

  _Where Tindal dictates and Silenus snores_,

is taken to be Pope's description of him. Gordon died in 1750; at the
same time as Dr. Middleton, the elegant biographer of Cicero: Lord
Bolingbroke is said to have observed, when the news was told him, "Then
is the best writer in England gone, and the worst." That Bolingbroke
should have disliked Gordon and his politics, does not surprise me; but
I cannot understand for what reason he, and other good judges, despised
his writings. "The chief glory of every people arises from its authors,"
Dr. Johnson says; and happy the people, I would assert, who have no
worse writers than Thomas Gordon. I wish to draw attention to Gordon's
correct vocabulary, to his bold and pregnant language, and to his
scholarly punctuation. Among our present writers, the art of punctuation
is a lost accomplishment; and it is usual now to find writings with
hardly anything but full stops; colons and semicolons are almost
obsolete; commas are neglected, or misused; and our slovenly pages are
strewn with dashes, the last resources of an untidy thinker, the certain
witnesses to a careless and unfinished sentence. How different, and
how superior, is the way of Gordon; who, though he can be homely and
familiar, never lays aside the well-bred and courteous manners of a
polished Age. In his writings, the leading clauses of a sentence are
distinguished by their colons: the minor clauses, by their semicolons;
the nice meaning of the details is expressed, the pleasure and the
convenience of his readers are alike increased, by his right and elegant
use of commas. The comma, with us, is used as a loop or bracket, and
for little else: by the more accurate scholars of the last Age, it
was employed to indicate a finer meaning; to mark an emphasis, or an
elision; to introduce a relative clause; to bring out the value of an
happy phrase, or the nice precision of an epithet. And thus the authors
of the great century of prose, that orderly and spacious time, assembled
their words, arranged their sentences, and marshalled them into careful
periods: without any loss to the subtile meaning of their thought,
or any sacrifice of vigour, they exposed their subject in a dignified
procession of stately paragraphs; and when the end is reached we look
back upon a perfect specimen of the writer's art. We have grown careless
about form, we have little sense for balance and proportion, and we
have sacrificed the good manners of literature to an ill-bred liking
for haste and noise: it has been decided, that the old way of writing
is cumbersome and slow; as well might some guerilla chieftain have
announced to his fellow-barbarians, that Caesar's legions were not swift
and beautiful in their manoeuvres, nor irresistible in their advance. I
have spoken of our long sentences, with nothing but full stops: they
are variegated, here and there, with shorter sentences, sometimes of two
words; this way of writing is common in Macaulay or in the histories of
Mr. Green, and I have seen it recommended in Primers of Literature and
Manuals of Composition. With the jolting and unconnected fragments of
these authorities, I would contrast the musical and flowing periods of
Dr. Johnson's "Lives of the Poets": to study these works in solitude,
will probably be sufficient to justify my preference; but to hear them
read aloud, should convert the most unwilling listener into an advocate
of my opinion.

Dr. Birkbeck Hill, in the delightful Preface to his Boswell, explains
how he was turned by a happy chance to the study of the literature of
the eighteenth century; and how he read on and on in the enchanting
pages of "The Spectator." "From Addison in the course of time I passed
on," he continues, "to the other great writers of his and the succeeding
age, finding in their exquisitely clear style, their admirable
common-sense, and their freedom from all the tricks of affectation, a
delightful contrast to so many of the eminent authors of our own time."
These words might be used of Gordon: I do not claim for him the style of
Addison, nor the accomplished negligence of Goldsmith; these are graces
beyond the reach of art; but he exhibits the common-sense, and the clear
style, of the eighteenth century. Like all the good writers of his time,
he is unaffected and "simplex munditiis"; he has the better qualities
of Pyrrha, and is "plain in his neatness." In Mr. Ward's edition of the
English Poets, there may be read side by side a notice of Collins and of
Gray; the one by Mr. Swinburne, the other by Mr. Matthew Arnold: I
make no allusion here to the greatness of either poet, to the merits of
either style, nor to the value of either criticism. But the essay upon
Gray is quiet in tone; it has an unity of treatment, and never deserts
the principal subject; it is suffused with light, and full of the
most delicate allusions: the essay on Collins, by being written in
superlatives and vague similes, deafens and perplexes the reader; and
the author, by squandering his resources, has no power to make fine
distinctions, nor to exalt one part of his thesis above another. These
two performances illustrate the last quality in Gordon, and in the old
writers, to which I shall draw attention: they were always restrained
in their utterances, and therefore they could be discriminating in
their judgments; they could be emphatic without noise, and deep without
obscurity, ornamental but not vulgar, carefully arranged but not stiff
or artificial. They exhibit the three indispensable gifts of the
finest authorship: "simplicitas munditiis," "lucidus ordo," "curiosa
felicitas."

In this volume, Gordon's punctuation has been generally followed: his
orthography has been modernised a little, though not by my hands,
nor with my consent; and I have observed without regret, that some of
Gordon's original spellings have eluded the vigilance of the printer:
that stern official would by no means listen to my entreaties for the
long "SS," the turn-over words, or the bounteous capitals, which add so
much to the seductive and sober dignity of an eighteenth-century page;
but, on the whole, we have given a tolerable reproduction of Gordon's
folio. In the second edition, he himself made more changes than
improvements. I will not say, that Gordon has always conveyed the exact
meaning of the sentences of Tacitus: but he has done what is better,
and more difficult; he has grasped the broad meaning of his author, and
caught something of his lofty spirit. "A translation," he says, "ought
to read like an original;" and Gordon has not failed, I think, to reach
this perfection. It is not commonly attained among translators: Gordon
says, of one rendering of Tacitus, "'Tis not the fire of Tacitus, but
his embers; quenched with English words, cold and Gothick." Of
the author of another version, he says "Learning is his chief
accomplishment, and thence his translation is a very poor one." This
judgment is true of most modern translations from the Ancients; they
may be correct versions, but are miserable English: the authors, while
studying the most perfect models of the art of writing, have produced
copies which are not literature at all. From this low company, I would
rescue Sir Charles Bowen's "Virgil": a delightful poem, to those who are
ignorant of Latin; an exquisite production, and an amazing triumph,
to those who converse with the original. There are many English
translations of Tacitus: the first, by Sir Henry Savile and "one
Greenway"; the former, says Gordon, "has performed like a schoolmaster,
the latter like a school-boy." Anthony à Wood writes in another strain,
in the "Athenae Oxonienis": "A rare Translation it is, and the Work of
a very Great Master indeed, both in our Tongue and that Story. For if
we consider the difficulty of the Original, and the Age wherein the
Translation lived, it is both for the exactness of the version, and
the chastity of the Language, one of the most accurate and perfect
translations that ever were made into English." There is a rendering
by Murphy, diffuse and poor; a dilution of Gordon, worthy neither of
Tacitus nor of the English tongue. There are translations, too, into
almost every modern language: I would give the highest praise to
Davanzati; a scholar of Tuscany, who lived in the sixteenth century.
In French, I cannot but admire the labours of M. Burnouf: although the
austere rules, the precise constructions, and the easy comportment of
the French prose are not suited to the style of Tacitus, and something
of his weight and brevity are lost; yet the translator never loses the
depth and subtilty of his author's meaning; his work is agreeable to
read, and very useful to consult. The maps and the genealogical tables
in the three volumes of Messrs. Church and Brodribb's translation are
also of the greatest service, and the notes are sometimes most amusing.

Of Tacitus himself, there is little for me to say: those, who know him,
can judge for themselves; to those who do not, no words are able to
convey an adequate impression. "Who is able to infuse into me," Cardinal
Newman asks, "or how shall I imbibe, a sense of the peculiarities of
the style of Cicero or Virgil, if I have not read their writings? No
description, however complete, could convey to my mind an exact likeness
of a tune, or an harmony, which I have never heard; and still less of a
scent, which I have never smelled: and if I said that Mozart's melodies
were as a summer sky, or as the breath of Zephyr, I shall be better
understood by those who knew Mozart, than by those who did not." These
truths are little remembered by modern critics: though, indeed, it is
not possible to convey to a reader adequate notions about the style
of an author, whom that reader has not pondered for himself; about
his thoughts or his subjects, it may be different. Still, I may write
something about the manner of Tacitus, which will not violate Cardinal
Newman's laws, nor be an outrage to taste and common-sense. "It is the
great excellence of a writer," says Dr. Johnson, "to put into his book
as much as it will hold:" and if this judgment be sound, then is Tacitus
the greatest of all writers in prose. Gordon says of him, "He explains
events with a redundancy of images, and a frugality of words: his
images are many, but close and thick; his words are few, but pointed and
glowing; and even his silence is instructive and affecting. Whatever he
says, you see; and all, that you see, affects you. Let his words be ever
so few, his thought and matter are always abundant. His imagination is
boundless, yet never outruns his judgment; his wisdom is solid and vast,
yet always enlivened by his imagination. He starts the idea, and lets
the imagination pursue it; the sample he gives you is so fine, that you
are presently curious to see the whole piece, and then you have your
share in the merit of the discovery; a compliment, which some able
writers have forgot to pay to their readers." I would remark here, that
many of the old writers give me the sense of handling things, they are
definite and solid; while some of the moderns appear to play with words
only, and never to come up with the objects of their pursuit: "we are
too often ravished with a sonorous sentence," as Dr. Johnson says, "of
which, when the noise is past, the meaning does not long remain." But
of Tacitus, Gordon says, "His words and phrases are admirably adapted
to his matter and conceptions, and make impressions sudden and wonderful
upon the mind of man. Stile is a part of genius, and Tacitus had one
peculiar to himself; a sort of language of his own, one fit to express
the amazing vigour of his spirit, and that redundancy of reflections
which for force and frequency are to be equalled by no writer before nor
since."

Dr. Johnson, however, says in another place, "Tacitus, Sir, seems to me
rather to have made notes for an historical work, than to have written
a history:" I must own, that upon the subject of Tacitus, I prefer the
sentiments of Gordon; and Montaigne would agree with me, for he says, "I
do not know any author, who, in a work of history, has taken so broad
a view of human events, or given a more just analysis of particular
characters." The impressions of Tacitus are indeed wonderful: I doubt,
whether volumes could bring us nearer to the mutinous legions, than the
few chapters in which he records their history. I am always delighted
by Gordon's way of telling the battle, in which the iron men of Sacrovir
were overthrown; the account begins on page 139. Then how satisfying is
the narrative of the wars in Germany, of the shipwreck, of the funeral
of Varus and the slaughtered legions; how pleasing the description of
Germanicus' antiquarian travels in Egypt, and in Greece. Though Tacitus
is not a maker of "descriptions," in our modern sense: there is but one
"description" in "The Annals," so far as I remember, it is of Capri; and
it is not the sort, that would be quoted by a reviewer, as a "beautiful
cameo of description." With Tacitus, a field of battle is not an
occasion for "word-painting," as we call it; the battle is always first,
the scenery of less importance. He tells, what it is necessary to know;
but he is too wise to think, that we can realise from words, a place
which we have never seen; and too sound in his taste, to forget the
wholesome boundaries between poetry and prose. This is the way of all
the ancient writers. In a work on "Landscape," I remember that Mr.
Hamerton mourns over the Commentaries of Caesar; because they do not
resemble the letters of a modern war-correspondent; Ascham, on the other
hand, a man of real taste and learning, says of the Commentaries, "All
things be most perfectly done by him; in Caesar only, could never yet
fault be found." I agree with Ascham: I think I prefer the Commentaries
as they are, chaste and quiet; I really prefer them to Mr. Kinglake's
"Crimean War," or to Mr. Forbes' Despatches, or even to the most
effusive pages of Mr. Stanley's book on Africa.

In "The Life of Agricola," I would mention the simplicity of the
treatment and the excellence of the taste. Tacitus does not recite the
whole of Roman history, nor assemble all the worthies out of Plutarch.
Agricola is not compared to the pyramids, to the Flavian circus, nor to
any works of art and literature: these flights of imagination were
not known to the Ancients; but in a learned modern, I have seen Dante
compared to Wagner's operas, to the Parthenon and St. Peter's, and to
Justinian's code. The sanctities of private life are not violated; yet
we know everything, that it is decent to know, about Agricola. Lord
Coleridge has given a beautiful rendering of the closing passages of
"The Agricola," in his account of Mr. Matthew Arnold: these elegant
papers are not only models of good English; but are conspicuous,
among recent obituary notices, for their fine taste and their becoming
reticence. From the excesses of modern biographers, Tacitus was in
little danger; thanks to his Roman sense, and to the qualities of the
Roman Language. "Economy," says Mr. Symonds, "is exhibited in every
element of this athletic tongue. Like a naked gladiator all bone and
muscle, it relies upon bare sinewy strength." That author speaks of "the
austere and masculine virtues of Latin, the sincerity and brevity of
Roman speech;" and Tacitus is, beyond any doubt, the strongest, the
austerest, the most pregnant of all the Romans. "Sanity," says Mr.
Matthew Arnold, in conclusion, "that is the great virtue of the ancient
literature; the want of that is the great defect of the modern, in
spite of all its variety and power." "It is impossible to read the great
ancients, without losing something of our caprice and eccentricity. I
know not how it is, but their commerce with the ancients appears to
me to produce, in those who constantly practise it, a steadying and
composing effect upon the judgment, not of literary works only, but of
men and events in general. They are like persons who have had a very
weighty and impressive experience; they are more truly than others under
the empire of facts, and more independent of the language current among
those with whom they live."

It has been told of Cardinal Newman, that he never liked to pass
a single day, without rendering an English sentence into Latin. To
converse with the Roman authors, to handle their precise and sparing
language, is, I can well believe it, a most wholesome discipline;
and the most efficient remedy against those faults of diffuseness, of
obscurity, and of excess, which are only too common among the writers
of our day. It may have been to this practice, that Cardinal Newman owed
something of his clearness, and of his exquisite simplicity: and for
his style, he should be idolised by every one who has a taste for
literature. I have said many things in praise of the ancient authors: it
pleases me, as I finish, to offer my humble tribute to an author who is
quite our own; to one, who in all his writings has bequeathed us perfect
models of chaste, of lucid, and of melodious prose.

NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD: _September_ 15, 1890.




THE FIRST SIX BOOKS OF THE ANNALS OF TACITUS:

BEING AN HISTORY OF THE EMPEROR TIBERIUS




THE ANNALS OF TACITUS




BOOK I

A.D. 14 AND 15.


Kings were the original Magistrates of Rome: Lucius Brutus founded
Liberty and the Consulship: Dictators were chosen occasionally, and used
only in pressing exigencies. Little more than two years prevailed the
supreme power of the Decemvirate, and the consular jurisdiction of the
military Tribunes not very many. The domination of Cinna was but short,
that of Sylla not long. The authority of Pompey and Crassus was quickly
swallowed up in Caesar; that of Lepidus and Anthony in Augustus. The
Commonwealth, then long distressed and exhausted by the rage of her
civil dissensions, fell easily into his hands, and over her he assumed
a sovereign dominion; yet softened with a venerable name, that of Prince
or Chief of the Senate. But the several revolutions in the ancient
free state of Rome, and all her happy or disastrous events, are already
recorded by writers of signal renown. Nor even in the reign of Augustus
were there wanting authors of distinction and genius to have composed
his story; till by the prevailing spirit of fear, flattery, and
abasement they were checked. As to the succeeding Princes, Tiberius,
Caligula, Claudius, and Nero; the dread of their tyranny, whilst they
yet reigned, falsified their history; and after their fall, the fresh
detestation of their cruelties inflamed their Historians. Hence my own
design of recounting briefly certain incidents in the reign of Augustus,
chiefly towards his latter end, and of entering afterwards more fully
into that of Tiberius and the other three; unbiassed as I am in this
undertaking by any resentment, or any affection; all the influences of
these personal passions being far from me.

When, after the fall of Brutus and Cassius, there remained none to fight
for the Commonwealth, and her arms were no longer in her own hands; when
Sextus Pompeius was utterly defeated in Sicily, Lepidus bereft of
his command. Marc Anthony slain; and of all the chiefs of the late
Dictator's party, only Octavius his nephew was left; he put off the
invidious name of Triumvir, and styling himself Consul, pretended that
the jurisdiction attached to the Tribuneship was his highest aim, as in
it the protection of the populace was his only view: but when once he
had laid his foundations wider, secured the soldiery by liberality and
donations, gained the people by store of provisions, and charmed all
by the blessings and sweetness of public peace, he began by politic
gradations to exalt himself, to extend his domination, and with his own
power to consolidate the authority of the Senate, jurisdiction of the
Magistrate, and weight and force of the Laws; usurpations in which he
was thwarted by no man: all the bravest Republicans and his most
daring foes were slain in battle, or gleaned up by the late sanguinary
proscriptions; and for the surviving Nobility, they were covered with
wealth, and distinguished with public honours, according to the measure
of their debasement, and promptness to bondage. Add, that all the
creatures of this new Power, who in the loss of public freedom had
gained private fortunes, preferred a servile condition, safe and
possessed, to the revival of ancient liberty with personal peril.
Neither were the Provinces averse to the present Revolution, and
Sovereignty of one; since under that of the people and Senate they had
lived in constant fear and mistrust, sorely rent and harassed as they
were by the raging competition amongst our Grandees, as well as by the
grievous rapine and exactions of our Magistrates; in vain too, under
these their oppressions, had been their appeal to the protection of the
laws, which were utterly enfeebled and borne down by might and violence,
by faction and parties; nay, even by subornation and money.

Moreover, Augustus, in order to fortify his domination with collateral
bulwarks, raised his sister's son Claudius Marcellus, a perfect youth,
to the dignity of Pontiff and that of Aedile; preferred Marcus Agrippa
to two successive Consulships, a man in truth meanly born but an
accomplished soldier, and the companion of his victories; and Marcellus,
the husband of Julia, soon after dying, chose him for his son-in-law.
Even the sons of his wife, Tiberius Nero, and Claudius Drusus, he
dignified with high military titles and commands; though his house
was yet supported by descendants of his own blood. For into the Julian
family and name of the Caesars he had already adopted Lucius and Caius,
the sons of Agrippa; and though they were but children, neither of them
seventeen years old, vehement had been his ambition to see them declared
Princes of the Roman Youth and even designed to the Consulship; while
openly, he was protesting against admitting these early honours.
Presently, upon the decease of Agrippa, were these his children snatched
away, either by their own natural but hasty fate, or by the deadly fraud
of their step-mother Livia; Lucius on his journey to command the armies
in Spain; Caius in his return from Armenia, ill of a wound: and as
Drusus, one of her own sons, had been long since dead, Tiberius remained
sole candidate for the succession. Upon this object, centred all
princely honours; he was by Augustus adopted for his son, assumed
Colleague in the Empire, partner in the jurisdiction tribunitial, and
presented under all these dignities to the several armies: instances
of grandeur which were no longer derived from the secret schemes
and plottings of his mother, as in times past, while her husband had
unexceptionable heirs of his own, but thenceforth bestowed at her open
suit. For as Augustus was now very aged, she had over him obtained
such absolute sway, that for her pleasure he banished into the Isle of
Planasia his only surviving grandson, Agrippa Postumus; one, in truth,
destitute of laudable accomplishments, in his temper untractable,
and stupidly conceited of his mighty strength, but branded with no
misdemeanour or transgression. The Emperor had withal set Germanicus,
the son of Drusus, over eight legions quartered upon the Rhine, and
obliged Tiberius to adopt him, though Tiberius had then a son of his
own, one of competent years; but it was the study of Augustus, to secure
himself and the succession by variety of stays and engraftments. War at
that time there was none, except that in Germany, kept on foot rather
to abolish the disgrace sustained by Quinctilius Varus, there slain with
his army, than from any ambition to enlarge the Empire, or for any other
valuable advantage. In profound tranquillity were affairs at Rome. To
the Magistrates remained their wonted names; of the Romans the younger
sort had been born since the battle of Actium, and even most of the old
during the civil wars: how few were then living who had seen the ancient
free State!

The frame and economy of Rome being thus totally overturned, amongst
the Romans were no longer found any traces of their primitive spirit,
or attachment to the virtuous institutions of antiquity. But as the
equality of the whole was extinguished by the sovereignty of one, all
men regarded the orders of the Prince as the only rule of conduct and
obedience; nor felt they any anxiety, while Augustus yet retained vigour
of life, and upheld the credit of his administration with public peace,
and the imperial fortune of his house. But when he became broken with
the pressure of age and infirmities; when his end was at hand, and
thence a new source of hopes and views was presented, some few there
were who began to reason idly about the blessings and recovery of
Liberty; many dreaded a civil war, others longed for one; while far the
greater part were uttering their several apprehensions of their future
masters; "that naturally stern and savage was the temper of Agrippa,
and by his public contumely enraged into fury; and neither in age nor
experience was he equal to the weight of Empire. Tiberius indeed had
arrived at fulness of years, and was a distinguished captain, but
possessed the inveterate pride entailed upon the Claudian race; and many
indications of a cruel nature escaped him, in spite of all his arts to
disguise it; besides that from his early infancy he was trained up in a
reigning house, and even in his youth inured to an accumulation of power
and honours, consulships and triumphs: nor during the several years of
his abode at Rhodes, where, under the plausible name of retirement, a
real banishment was covered, did he exercise other occupation than that
of meditating future vengeance, studying the arts of treachery, and
practising secret, abominable sensualities: add to these considerations,
that of his mother, a woman inspired with all the tyranny of her
sex; yes, the Romans must be under bondage to a woman, and moreover
enthralled by two youths, who would first combine to oppress the State,
and then falling into dissension, rend it piecemeal."

While the public was engaged in these and the like debates, the illness
of Augustus waxed daily more grievous; and some strongly suspected the
pestilent practices of his wife. For there had been, some months before,
a rumour abroad, that Augustus having singled out a few of his most
faithful servants, and taken Fabius Maximus for his only companion, had,
with no other retinue, sailed secretly over to the Island of Planasia,
there to visit his Grandson Agrippa; that many tears were shed on both
sides, many tokens of mutual tenderness shown, and hopes from thence
conceived, that the unhappy youth would be restored to his own place in
his Grandfather's family. That Maximus had disclosed it to Martia, she
to Livia; and thence the Emperor knew that the secret was betrayed: that
Maximus being soon after dead (dead, as it was doubted, through fear, by
his own hands), Martia was observed, in her lamentations and groans
at his funeral, to accuse herself as the sad cause of her husband's
destruction. Whatever truth was in all this, Tiberius was scarce entered
Illyrium, but he was hastily recalled by his mother's letters: nor is
it fully known whether at his return to Nola, he found Augustus yet
breathing, or already breathless. For Livia had carefully beset the
palace, and all the avenues to it, with detachments of the guards; and
good news of his recovery were from time to time given out. When she had
taken all measures necessary in so great a conjuncture, in one and the
same moment was published the departure of Augustus, and the accession
of Tiberius.

The first feat of this new reign was the murder of young Agrippa: the
assassin, a bold and determined Centurion, found him destitute of arms,
and little apprehending such a destiny, yet was scarce able to despatch
him. Of this transaction Tiberius avoided any mention in the Senate: he
would have it pass for done by the commands of Augustus; as if he had
transmitted written orders to the Tribune, who guarded Agrippa, "to slay
him the instant he heard of his grandfather's decease." It is very true
that Augustus had made many and vehement complaints of the young man's
obstinate and unruly demeanour, and even solicited from the Senate
a decree to authorise his banishment: but he never hardened himself
against the sentiments of nature, nor in any instance dipped his hands
in his own blood; neither is it credible that he would barbarously
sacrifice the life of his grandson for the security and establishment of
his step-son. More probable it is, that this hasty murder was purely the
work of Tiberius and Livia; that the young Prince, hated and dreaded
by both, fell thus untimely, to rid the one of his apprehensions and
a rival, and to satiate in the other the rancorous spirit of a
step-mother. When the Centurion, according to the custom of the army,
acquainted Tiberius, "that his commands were executed;" he answered, "he
had commanded no such execution, and the Centurion must appear before
the Senate, and for it be answerable to them." This alarmed Sallustius
Crispus, who shared in all his secret counsels, and had sent the
Centurion the warrant: he dreaded that he should be arraigned for the
assassination, and knew it equally perilous either to confess the truth,
and charge the Emperor; or falsely to clear the Emperor, and accuse
himself. Hence he had recourse to Livia, and warned her, "never to
divulge the secrets of the palace, never to expose to public examination
the ministers who advised, nor the soldiers who executed: Tiberius
should beware of relaxing the authority of the Prince, by referring all
things to that of the Senate; since it was the indispensable prerogative
of sovereignty for all men to be accountable only to one."

Now at Rome, Consuls, Senators, and Roman Knights, were all rushing
with emulation into bondage, and the higher the quality of each the more
false and forward the men; all careful so to frame their faces, as to
reconcile false joy for the accession of Tiberius, with feigned sadness
for the loss of Augustus: hence they intermingled fears with gladness,
wailings with gratulations, and all with servile flattery. Sextus
Pompeius and Sextus Apuleius, at that time Consuls, took first the oath
of fidelity to Tiberius; then administered it to Seius Strabo and
Caius Turranius; the former Captain of the Praetorian Guards, the other
Intendant of the Public Stores. The oath was next given to the Senate,
to the people, and to the soldiery: all by the same Consuls; for
Tiberius affected to derive all public transactions from the legal
ministry of the Consuls, as if the ancient Republic still subsisted, and
he were yet unresolved about embracing the sovereign rule: he even owned
in his edict for summoning the Senate, that he issued it by virtue of
the Tribunitial power, granted him under Augustus. The edict, too,
was short and unexceptionably modest. It imported that, "they were to
consider of the funeral honours proper to be paid his deceased Father:
for himself he would not depart from the corpse; and further than this
edict implied, he claimed no share in the public administration." Yet
from the moment Augustus was dead, he usurped all the prerogatives of
imperial state, gave the word to the Praetorian Cohorts; had soldiers
about the palace, guards about his person, went guarded in the street,
guarded to the Senate, and bore all the marks of Majesty: nay, he writ
letters to the several armies in the undisguised style of one already
their Prince: nor did he ever hesitate in expression, or speak with
perplexity, but when he spoke to the Senate. The chief cause of his
obscurity there proceeded from his fear of Germanicus: he dreaded that
he, who was master of so many legions, of numberless auxiliaries, and
of all the allies of Rome; he, who was the darling of the people, might
wish rather to possess the Empire, than to wait for it; he likewise, in
this mysterious way of dealing with the Senate, sought false glory, and
would rather seem by the Commonwealth chosen and called to the Empire,
than to have crept darkly into it by the intrigues of a woman, or by
adoption from a superannuated Prince. It was also afterwards found, that
by this abstruseness and counterfeit irresolution he meant to penetrate
into the designs and inclinations of the great men: for his jealous
spirit construed all their words, all their looks, into crimes; and
stored them up in his heart against a day of vengeance.

When he first met the Senate, he would bear no other business to be
transacted but that about the funeral of Augustus. His last will
was brought in by the Vestal Virgins: in it Tiberius and Livia were
appointed his heirs, Livia adopted into the Julian family, and dignified
with the name of Augusta: into the next and second degree of heirship he
adopted his grandchildren and their children; and in the third degree
he named the great men of Rome, most of them hated by him, but out of
vainglory he named them, and for future renown. His legacies were not
beyond the usual bounds; only he left to the Roman people four hundred
thousand great sesterces, [Footnote: £362,500.] to the populace or
common sort, thirty-five thousand; to every common soldier of the
Praetorian Guards, a thousand small sesterces, [Footnote: £8, 6s. 8d.]
and to every soldier of the Roman legions three hundred. [Footnote: £2,
10s.] The funeral honours were next considered. The chief proposed were
these: Asinius Gallus moved that "the funeral should pass through the
Triumphal Gate:" Lucius Arruntius, "that the titles of all the laws
which he had made, and the names of all the nations which he had
conquered, should be carried before the corpse:" Valerius Messala added,
that "the oath of allegiance to Tiberius should be renewed every year;"
and being asked by Tiberius, "whether at his instigation he had made
that motion?" "I spoke it as my opinion," says Messala; "nor will I ever
be determined by any but my own, in things which concern the commonweal;
let who will be provoked by my freedom." Only this new turn was wanting
to complete the prevailing flattery of the time. The Senators then
concurred in a loud cry, "that upon their own shoulders they must bear
the body to the pile." But Tiberius declined the offer from an arrogant
show of moderation. Moreover, he cautioned the people by an edict, "not
to disturb the funeral functions with a zeal over-passionate, as they
had those of Julius Caesar; nor to insist that the corpse of Augustus
should be burnt rather in the Forum, than in the field of Mars, which
was the place appointed." On the funeral day the soldiers under arms
kept guard; a mighty mockery this to those who had either seen, or heard
their fathers describe, the day when Caesar the Dictator was slain:
servitude was then new, its sorrows yet fresh and bitter; and liberty
unsuccessfully retrieved by a deed which, while it seemed impious to
some, was thought altogether glorious by others, and hence tore Rome
into tumults and the violence of parties: they who knew that turbulent
day, and compared it with the quiet exit of Augustus, ridiculed the
foppery of "calling an aid of soldiers to secure a peaceable burial to a
Prince who had grown old in peace and power, and even provided against a
relapse into liberty, by a long train of successors."

Hence much and various matter of observation concerning Augustus: the
superstitious multitude admired the fortuitous events of his fortune;
"that the last day of his life, and the first of his reign, was the
same; that he died at Nola, in the same village, and in the same house,
and in the same chamber, where his father Octavius died. They observed
to his glory, his many Consulships, equal in number to those of Valerius
Corvinus and of Caius Marius, joined together; that he had exercised the
power of the Tribuneship seven-and-thirty continued years: that he was
one-and-twenty times proclaimed Imperator; with many other numerous
honours repeated to him, or created for him." Men of deeper discernment
entered further into his life, but differed about it. His admirers said,
"that his filial piety to his father Caesar, and the distractions of the
Republic, where the laws no longer governed, had driven him into a civil
war; which, whatever be the first cause, can never be begun or carried,
on by just and gentle means." Indeed, to be revenged on the murderers of
his father, he had made many great sacrifices to the violent genius
of Anthony; many to Lepidus: but when Lepidus was become sunk and
superannuated in sloth; when Anthony was lost headlong in sensuality,
there was then no other remedy for the distracted State, rent piecemeal
by its Chiefs, but the sovereignty of one: Augustus, however, never
had assumed to be over his country King, or Dictator; but settled the
government under the legal name of Prince, or Chief of the Senate: he
had extended the Empire, and set for its bounds the distant ocean
and rivers far remote; the several parts and forces of the State, the
legions, the provinces, and the navy, were all properly balanced and
connected; the citizens lived dutifully under the protection of the
law, the Allies in terms of respect, and Rome itself was adorned with
magnificent structures: indeed, in a few instances he had exerted the
arbitrary violence of power; and in but a few, only to secure the peace
of the whole.

In answer to all this, it was urged, that "his filial piety, and the
unhappy situation of the Republic, were pure pretences; but the ardent
lust of reigning, his true and only motive: with this spirit he had
solicited into his service, by bribery, a body of veteran soldiers: and
though a private youth, without post or magistracy, but, in defiance of
law, levied an army: with this spirit he had debauched and bought
the Roman legions under the Consuls, while he was falsely feigning a
coalition with Pompey's republican party: that soon after, when he had
procured from the Senate, or rather usurped the honours and authority
of the Praetorship; and when Hirtius and Pansa, the two Consuls, were
slain, he seized both their armies: that it was doubted whether the
Consuls fell by the enemy, or whether Pansa was not killed by pouring
poison into his wounds; and Hirtius slain by his own soldiers; and
whether the young Caesar was not the black contriver of this bloody
treason: that by terror he had extorted the Consulship in spite of the
Senate; and turned against the Commonwealth the very arms with which the
Commonwealth had trusted him for her defence against Anthony. Add to all
this his cruel proscriptions, and the massacre of so many citizens, his
seizing from the public and distributing to his own creatures so many
lands and possessions; a violation of property not justified even by
those who gained by it. But, allowing him to dedicate to the Manes of
the Dictator the lives of Brutus and Cassius (though more to his honour
had it been to have postponed his own personal hate to public good), did
he not betray the young Pompey by an insidious peace, betray Lepidus by
a deceitful show of friendship? Did he not next ensnare Marc Anthony,
first by treaties, those of Tarentum and Brundusium; then by a marriage,
that of his sister Octavia? And did not Anthony at last pay with his
life the penalty of that subdolous alliance? After this, no doubt there
was peace, but a bloody peace; bloody in the tragical defeat of Lollius,
and that of Varus, in Germany; and at Rome, the Varrones, the Egnatii,
the Julii (those illustrious names) were put to death." Nor was his
domestic life spared upon this occasion. "He had arbitrarily robbed
Nero of his wife big with child by her husband; and mocked the Gods
by consulting the Priests; whether religion permitted him to marry her
before her delivery, or obliged him to stay till after. His minions,
Tedius and Vedius Pollio, had lived in scandalous and excessive luxury:
his wife Livia, who wholly controlled him, had proved a cruel governess
to the Commonwealth; and to the Julian house, a more cruel step-mother:
he had even invaded the incommunicable honours of the Gods, and setting
up for himself temples like theirs, would like them be adored in
the image of a Deity, with all the sacred solemnity of Priests and
sacrifices: nor had he adopted Tiberius for his successor, either out
of affection for him, or from concern for the public welfare; but having
discovered in him a spirit proud and cruel, he sought future glory from
the blackest opposition and comparison." For, Augustus, when, a few
years before, he solicited the Senate to grant to Tiberius another
term of the authority of the Tribuneship, though he mentioned him with
honour, yet taking notice of his odd humour, behaviour, and manners,
dropped some expressions, which, while they seemed to excuse him,
exposed and upbraided him.

As soon as the funeral of Augustus was over, a temple and divine
worship were forthwith decreed him. The Senate then turned their instant
supplications to Tiberius, to fill his vacant place; but received
an abstruse answer, touching the greatness of the Empire and his own
distrust of himself; he said that "nothing but the divine genius of
Augustus was equal to the mighty task: that for himself, who had been
called by him into a participation of his cares, he had learnt
by feeling them, what a daring, what a difficult toil was that of
government, and how perpetually subject to the caprices of fortune: that
in a State supported by so many illustrious patriots they ought not to
cast the whole administration upon one; and more easy to be administered
were the several offices of the Government by the united pains and
sufficiency of many." A pompous and plausible speech, but in it little
faith and sincerity. Tiberius, even upon subjects which needed no
disguises, used words dark and cautious; perhaps from his diffident
nature, perhaps from a habit of dissembling: at this juncture indeed,
as he laboured wholly to hide his heart, his language was the more
carefully wrapped up in equivoques and obscurity: but the Senators, who
dreaded nothing so much as to seem to understand him, burst into tears,
plaints, and vows; with extended arms they supplicated the Gods, invoked
the image of Augustus, and embraced the knees of Tiberius. He then
commanded the imperial register to be produced and recited. It contained
a summary of the strength and income of the Empire, the number of
Romans and auxiliaries in pay, the condition of the navy, of the
several kingdoms paying tribute, and of the various provinces and
their revenues, with the state of the public expense, the issues of the
exchequer, and all the demands upon the public. This register was all
writ by the hand of Augustus; and in it he had subjoined his counsel to
posterity, that the present boundaries of the Empire should stand fixed
without further enlargement; but whether this counsel was dictated by
fear for the public, or by envy towards his successors, is uncertain.

Now when the Senate was stooping to the vilest importunity and
prostrations, Tiberius happened to say, that, "as he was unequal to
the weight of the whole government; so if they entrusted him with any
particular part, whatever it were, he would undertake it." Here Asinius
Gallus interposed: "I beg to know, Caesar," says he, "what part of
the government you desire for your share?" He was astonished with
the unexpected question, and, for a short space, mute; but recovering
himself, answered, that "it ill became his modesty to choose or reject
any particular branch of the administration, when he desired rather to
be excused from the whole." Gallus, who in his face conjectured sullen
signs of displeasure, again accosted him, and said, "by this question I
did not mean that you should do an impracticable thing, and share
that power which cannot be separated; but I meant to reason you into a
confession that the Commonwealth is but one body, and can be governed
only by one soul." He added an encomium upon Augustus, and reminded
Tiberius himself of his many victories, of the many civil employments
which he had long and nobly sustained: nor even thus could he mollify
the wrath of Tiberius, who had long hated him, for that Gallus had
married Vipsania, daughter of Marcus Agrippa, and formerly wife to
Tiberius, who thence suspected that by this match he meant to soar above
the rank of a subject, and possessed too the bold and haughty spirit of
Asinius Pollio his father.

Lucius Arruntius incurred his displeasure next, by a speech not much
unlike that of Gallus: it is true, that towards him Tiberius bore no
old rancour; but Arruntius had mighty opulence, prompt parts, noble
accomplishments, with equal popularity, and hence was marked by him with
a fell eye of suspicion. For, as Augustus, shortly before his decease,
was mentioning those among the great men, who were capable of the
supreme power, but would not accept it; or unequal to it, yet wished
for it; or such, as had both ambition and sufficiency; he had said, that
"Marcus Lepidus was qualified, but would reject it; Asinius would be
aspiring, but had inferior talents; and that Lucius Arruntius wanted no
sufficiency, and upon a proper occasion would attempt it." That he spoke
thus of Lepidus and Asinius, is agreed; but, instead of Arruntius, some
writers have transmitted the name of Cneius Piso: and every one of these
great men, except Lepidus, were afterwards cut off, under the imputation
of various crimes, all darkly framed by Tiberius. Quintus Haterius and
Mamercus Scaurus did thereafter incense his distrustful spirit;
the first by asking him, "How long, Caesar, wilt thou suffer the
Commonwealth to remain destitute of a head?" Scaurus, because he had
said "there was room to hope that the prayers of the Senate would
not prove abortive, since he had not opposed as Tribune, nor rendered
invalid, as he might, the motion of the Consuls in his behalf." With
Haterius he fell into instant rage; towards Scaurus his resentment was
more deep and implacable, and in profound silence he hid it. Wearied
at last with public importunity and clamour, and with particular
expostulations, he began to unbend a little; not that he would own his
undertaking the Empire, but only avoid the uneasiness of perpetually
rejecting endless solicitations. It is known how Haterius, when he went
next day to the palace to implore pardon, and throwing himself at the
feet of Tiberius embraced his knees, narrowly escaped being slain by the
soldiers; because Tiberius, who was walking, tumbled down, whether by
chance, or whether his legs were entangled in the arms of Haterius:
neither was he a jot mollified by the danger which threatened so great a
man, who was at length forced to supplicate Augusta for protection; nor
could even she obtain it, but after the most laboured entreaties.

Towards Livia, too, exorbitant was the flattering court of the Senate.
Some were for decreeing her the general title of Mother; others the more
particular one of Mother Of Her Country; and almost all moved, that to
the name of Tiberius should be added, The Son Of Julia: Tiberius urged
in answer, that "public honours to women ought to be warily adjudged,
and with a sparing hand; and that with the same measure of moderation he
would receive such as were presented to himself." In truth, full of envy
as he was, and anxious lest his own grandeur should sink as that of his
mother rose, he would not suffer so much as a Lictor to be decreed her,
and even forbade the raising her an altar upon her late adoption,
or paying her any such solemnities. But for Germanicus he asked the
Proconsular power; and to carry him that dignity, honourable deputies
were sent, as also to mollify his sorrow for the death of Augustus. If
for Drusus he demanded not the same honour, it was because Drusus was
present and already Consul designed. He then named twelve candidates
for the Praetorship; the same number settled by Augustus; and though the
Senate requested him to increase it, by an oath he bound himself never
to exceed.

The privilege of creating Magistrates was now first translated from
the assemblies of the people to the Senate; for though the Emperor had
before conducted all affairs of moment at his pleasure; yet till that
day some were still transacted by the Tribes, and carried by their bent
and suffrages. Neither did the regret of the people for the seizure of
these their ancient rights rise higher than some impotent grumbling. The
Senate too liked the change; as by it they were released from the charge
of buying votes, and from the shame of begging them: and so moderate was
Tiberius, that of the twelve candidates he only reserved to himself the
recommendation of four, to be accepted without opposition or caballing.
At the same time, the Tribunes of the people asked leave to celebrate at
their own expense certain plays in honour of Augustus, such as were
to be called after his name, and inserted in the calendar. But it was
decreed, that out of the Exchequer the charge should be defrayed, and
the Tribunes should in the circus wear the triumphal robe; but to be
carried in chariots was denied them. The annual celebration of these
plays was, for the future, transferred to one of the Praetors, him
in particular to whom should fall the jurisdiction of deciding suits
between citizens and strangers.

Thus stood affairs at Rome when a sedition seized the legions in
Pannonia; without any fresh grounds, save that from a change of Princes,
they meant to assume a warrant for licentiousness and tumult, and from a
civil war hoped great earnings and acquisitions: they were three legions
encamped together, all commanded by Junius Blesus, who, upon notice of
the death of Augustus and the accession of Tiberius, had granted the
soldiers a recess from their wonted duties for some days, as a time
either of public mourning or festivity. From being idle they waxed
wanton, quarrelsome, and turbulent; greedily listened to mutinous
discourses; the most profligate amongst them had most credit with them,
and at last they became passionate for a life of sloth and riot, utterly
averse to all military discipline and every fatigue of the camp. In the
camp was one Percennius; formerly a busy leader in the embroilments
of the theatre, and now a common soldier; a fellow of a petulant,
declaiming tongue, and by inflaming parties in the playhouse, well
qualified to excite and infatuate a crowd. This incendiary practised
upon the ignorant and unwary, such as were solicitous what might prove
their future usage, now Augustus was dead. He engaged them in nightly
confabulations, and by little and little incited them to violence and
disorders; and towards the evening, when the soberest and best affected
were withdrawn, he assembled the worst and most turbulent. When he
had thus ripened them for sedition, and other ready incendiaries were
combined with him, he personated the character of a lawful Commander,
and thus questioned and harangued them:

"Why did they obey, like slaves, a few Centurions and a fewer Tribunes?
When would they be bold enough to demand redress of their heavy
grievances, unless they snatched the present occasion, while the Emperor
was yet new and his authority wavering, to prevail with him by petition,
or by arms to force him? They had already by the misery of many years
paid dear for their patient sloth and stupid silence, since decrepit
with age and maimed with wounds, after a course of service for thirty or
forty years, they were still doomed to carry arms: nor even to those who
were discharged was there any end of the misery of warfare; they were
still kept tied to the colours, and under the creditable title of
Veterans endured the same hardships, and underwent the same labours.
But suppose any of them escaped so many dangers, and survived so many
calamities, where was their reward at last? Why, a long and weary march
remained yet to be taken into countries far remote and strange; where,
under the name of lands given them to cultivate, they had unhospitable
bogs to drain, and the wild wastes of mountains to manure. Severe and
ungainful of itself was the occupation of war: ten Asses [Footnote:
About 5d.] a day the poor price of their persons and lives; out of this,
they must buy clothes, and tents, and arms; out of this, bribe the cruel
Centurions for a forbearance of blows, and occasional exemption from
hard duty: but stripes from their officers, and wounds from their
enemies, hard winters and laborious summers, bloody wars and barren
peace, were miseries without end: nor remained there other cure or
relief than to refuse to enlist but upon conditions certain, and fixed
by themselves; particularly, that their pay be a denarius or sixteen
Asses a day, [Footnote: About 8-1/2d.] sixteen years be the utmost
term of serving; when discharged, to be no longer obliged to follow the
colours, but have their reward in ready money, paid them in the camp
where they earned it. Did the Praetorian Guards, they who had double
pay, they who after sixteen years' service were paid off and sent home,
bear severer difficulties, undergo superior dangers? He did not mean to
detract from the merit of their brethren the City guards; their own lot
however it was, to be placed amongst horrid and barbarous nations, nor
could they look from their tents, but they saw the foe."

The whole crowd received this harangue with shouts of applause; but
from various instigations. Some displayed upon their bodies the obvious
impressions of stripes, others their hoary heads, many their vestments
ragged and curtailed, with backs utterly bare; as did all, their various
griefs, in the bitterness of reproach. At length to such excessive fury
they grew, that they proposed to incorporate the three legions into
one; nor by aught but emulation was the project defeated: for to his own
legion every man claimed the prerogative of swallowing and denominating
the other two. They took another method, and placed the three Eagles
of the legions, with the standards of the several cohorts, altogether
without rank or priority; then forthwith digged turf and were rearing
a tribunal, one high enough to be seen at a distance. In this
hurry arrived Blesus, who, falling into sore rebukes, and by force
interrupting particulars, called with vehemence to all: "Dip your hands
rather in my blood: to murder your General will be a crime less shameful
and heinous than to revolt from your Prince; for determined I am, either
to preserve the legions in their faith and obedience, if you kill me not
for my intended good office; or my death, if I fall by your hands, shall
hasten your remorse."

For all this, turfs were accumulated, and the work was already breast
high, when, at last, overcome by his spirit and perseverance, they
forbore. Blesus was an able speaker: he told them "that sedition and
mutiny were not the methods of conveying to the Emperor the pretensions
of the soldiers; their demands too were new and singular; such as
neither the soldiers of old had ever made to the ancient Generals, nor
they themselves to the deified Augustus: besides, their claims were
ill-timed, when the Prince, just upon his accession, was already
embarrassed with the weight and variety of other cares. If, however,
they meant to try to gain in full peace those concessions, which, even
after a civil war, the conquerors never claimed; yet why trample upon
duty and obedience, why reject the laws of the army, and rules of
discipline? And if they meant to petition, why meditate violence? They
might at least appoint deputies; and in his presence trust them with
their pretensions." Here they all cried out, "that the son of Blesus,
one of their Tribunes, should execute that deputation; and demand in
their name that, after sixteen years' service they should be discharged:
they said they would give him new orders, when he had succeeded in
these." After the departure of the young officer, a moderate recess
ensued; the soldiers however exulted to have carried such a point:
the sending the son of their General, as the public advocate for their
cause, was to them full proof that they had gained by force and terror
that which by modesty and gentle means they would never have gained.

In the meantime those companies which, before the sedition began, were
sent to Nauportum [Footnote: Over-Laybach, in Carniola.] to mend roads
and bridges, and upon other duties, no sooner heard of the uproar in
the camp, but they cast off all obedience, tore away the ensigns, and
plundered the neighbouring villages; even Nauportum itself, which for
greatness resembled a municipal town, was plundered. The endeavours
of the Centurions to restrain this violence, were first returned with
mockery and contempt, then with invectives and contumelies, at last
with outrage and blows. Their vengeance was chiefly bent against the
Camp-Marshal, Aufidienus Rufus: him they dragged from his chariot, and,
loading him with baggage, drove him before the first ranks; they then
insulted him, and asked in scorn, "whether he would gladly bear such
enormous burdens, whether endure such immense marches?" Rufus had
been long a common soldier, then became a Centurion, and afterwards
Camp-Marshal; a severe restorer of primitive strictness and discipline;
an indefatigable observer of every military duty, which he exacted from
others with the more rigour, as he had himself undergone them all with
patience.

By the arrival of this tumultuous band the sedition was again awakened
to its former outrage, and the seditious, roving abroad without control,
ravaged the country on every side. Blesus, for an example of terror
to the rest, commanded those who were most laden with plunder, to be
punished with stripes and cast into prison: for the General was still
dutifully obeyed by the Centurions, and by all the soldiers of any
merit; but the criminals refused to submit, and even struggled with
the guard who were carrying them off; they clasped the knees of the
bystanders, implored help from their fellows, now calling upon every
individual, and conjuring them by their particular names; then appealed
to them in a body, and supplicated the company, the cohort, the legion
to which they belonged; warning and proclaiming that the same ignominy
and chastisement hung over them all. With the same breath they heaped
invectives without measure upon their General, and called upon heaven
and all the Gods to be their witnesses and avengers; nor left they aught
unattempted to raise effectual hatred, compassion, terror, and every
species of fury. Hence the whole body rushed to their relief, burst open
the prison, unbound and rescued the prisoners: thus they owned for their
brethren, and incorporated with themselves, infamous revolters, and
traitors convict and condemned.

Hence the violence became more raging, and hence more sedition from more
leaders. There was particularly one Vibulenus, a common soldier, who,
exalted on the shoulders of his comrades, before the tribunal of Blesus,
thus declaimed in the ears of a multitude already outrageous, and eager
to hear what he had to say. "To these innocents," says he, "to these
miserable sufferers, our fellow-soldiers, you have indeed restored
breath and liberty: but who will restore life to my poor brother; who
my poor brother to me? He was sent hither by the German armies, with
propositions for our common good; and for this, was last night butchered
by that same Blesus, who in the murder employed his gladiators, bloody
men, whom he purposely entertains and arms for our common execution.
Where, oh where, Blesus, hast thou thrown his unoffending and mangled
corpse? Even open enemies do not inhumanly deny burial to the slain:
when I have satiated my sorrow with a thousand kisses, and a flood
of tears; command me also to be murdered, that these our brethren may
together bury my poor brother and me, slaughtered both as victims, yet
both guiltless of any crime but that of studying the common interest of
the legions."

He inflamed those his complaints and expostulations with affecting sighs
and lamentations, beat his breast, tore his face, and showed all the
symptoms of anguish. Then those who carried him giving way, he threw
himself headlong at the feet of his companions; and thus prostrate and
supplicating, in them raised such a spirit of commiseration and such a
storm of vengeance, that one party of them instantly seized and bound
the General's gladiators; another, the rest of his family; while many
ran and dispersed themselves to search for the corpse: and had it not
been quickly manifest that there was no corpse to be found, that
the slaves of Blesus had upon the rack cleared themselves, and that
Vibulenus never had any brother; they had gone nigh to have sacrificed
the General. As it was, they expulsed the Camp-Marshal and Tribunes;
and as they fled, plundered their baggage: they likewise put to
death Lucilius the Centurion, whom they had sarcastically named _Cedo
Alteram_, because when upon the back of a soldier he had broken one
wand, he was wont to call for another, and then a third. The other
Centurions lurked in concealment, all but Julius Clemens, who for his
prompt capacity was saved, in order to manage the negotiations of the
soldiers: even two of the legions, the eighth and the fifteenth, were
ready to turn their swords upon each other; and had, but for the ninth:
one Sirpicus, a centurion, was the subject of the quarrel; him the
eighth required to be put to death, and the fifteenth protected him; but
the ninth interposed with entreaties to both, and with threats to those
who would not listen to prayers.

Tiberius, however, close and impenetrable, and ever labouring to smother
all melancholy tidings, was yet driven by those from Pannonia, to
despatch his son Drusus thither, accompanied by the principal nobility
and guarded by two Praetorian cohorts; but charged with no precise
instructions, only to adapt his measures to the present exigency: the
cohorts were strengthened with an extraordinary addition of chosen men,
with the greatest part of the Praetorian horse, and main body of the
German, then the Emperor's guards. Aelius Sejanus, lately joined with
his father Strabo in the command of the Praetorian bands, was also sent,
not only as Governor to the young Prince, but as his credit with the
Emperor was known to be mighty, to deal with the revolters by promises
and terrors. When Drusus approached, the legions, for show of respect,
marched out to meet him; not with the usual symptoms and shouts of
joy, nor with gay ensigns and arms glittering, but in a dress and
accoutrements hideous and squalid: in their countenances too, though
composed to sadness, were seen greater marks of sullenness and
contumacy.

As soon as he was within the camp, they secured the entrances with
guards, and in several quarters of it placed parties upon duty: the rest
crowded about the tribunal of Drusus, who stood beckoning with his hand
for silence. Here as often as they surveyed their own numbers and met
one another's resentful looks, they uttered their rage in horrible
cries: again, when upon the tribunal they beheld Caesar, awe and
trembling seized them: now, there prevailed an hollow and inarticulate
murmur; next, a furious clamour; then suddenly a dead silence: so that,
by a hasty succession of opposite passions, they were at once dismayed
and dreadful. When at last the uproar was stayed, he read his father's
letters, who in them declared, "that he would take an affectionate
care of the brave and invincible legions by whom he had sustained
successfully so many wars; and, as soon as his grief was a little
abated, deal with the Senate about their demands; in the meantime he
had sent them his son, on purpose to make them forthwith all the
concessions, which could instantly be made them: the rest were to
be reserved for the Senate, the proper distributers of rewards and
punishments by a right altogether unalienable."

The assembly answered, that to Julius Clemens they had intrusted what
to speak in their name: he began with their demands, "to be discharged
after sixteen years' service, to have the reward which, for past
services upon that discharge, they claimed; their pay to be increased
to a Roman denarius; the veterans to be no longer detained under their
ensigns." When Drusus urged, that wholly in the judgment of the Senate
and his father, these matters rested he was interrupted by their
clamours: "To what purpose came he; since he could neither augment their
pay, nor alleviate their grievances? and while upon them every officer
was allowed to inflict blows and death, the son of their Emperor wanted
power to relieve them by one beneficent action. The policy this of the
late reign, when Tiberius frustrated every request of the soldiers, by
referring all to Augustus; now Drusus was come with the same artifices
to delude them: were they never to have a higher visit than from the
children of their Prince? It was, indeed, unaccountable, that to the
Senate the Emperor should leave no part in the direction of the army,
only the rewarding of the soldiery: ought not the same Senate to be
consulted as often as a battle was to be fought, or a private man to be
punished? or, were their recompenses to be adjudged by many masters,
but their punishments to remain without any restraint or moderator
whatsoever?"

At last they abandoned the tribunal, and with menaces and insults fell
upon all they met belonging to Drusus, either as guards or friends;
meditating thus to provoke a quarrel, and an introduction to blood.
Chiefly enraged they were against Cneius Lentulus, as one for years and
warlike renown superior to any about the person of Drusus, and thence
suspected to have hardened the Prince, and been himself the foremost to
despise these outrages in the soldiery: nor was it long after, that as
he was leaving Drusus, and from the foresight of danger returning to the
winter quarters, they surrounded him and demanded "whither he went? to
the Emperor or Senate? there also to exercise his enmity to the legions,
and oppose their interest?" and instantly assaulted him with stones.
He was already covered with wounds and blood, and awaiting certain
assassination, when the troops attending Drusus flew to his assistance
and saved him.

The following night had a formidable aspect, and threatened the speedy
eruption of some tragical vengeance; when a phenomenon intervened and
assuaged all. The Moon, in the midst of a clear sky, seemed to the
soldiers suddenly to sicken; and they, who were ignorant of the natural
cause, took this for an omen foreboding the issue of their present
adventures: to their own labours, they compared the eclipse of the
planet; and prophesied, "that if to the distressed Goddess should be
restored her wonted brightness and vigour, equally successful would
be the issue of these their struggles." Hence they strove to charm and
revive her with sounds, and by ringing upon brazen metal, and an uproar
of trumpets and cornets, made a vehement bellowing. As she appeared
brighter or darker, they exulted or lamented; but when gathering clouds
had utterly bereft them of her sight, and they believed her now buried
in everlasting darkness; then, as minds once thoroughly dismayed are
pliant to superstition, they bewailed "their own eternal sufferings
thus portended, and that against their misdeeds the angry Deities
were contending." Drusus, who thought it behoved him to improve this
disposition of theirs, and to reap the fruits of wisdom from the
operations of chance; ordered certain persons to go round, and apply
to them from tent to tent. For this purpose, he called and employed
the Centurion Julius Clemens, and whoever else were by honest methods
acceptable to the multitude. These insinuated themselves everywhere,
with those who kept watch, or were upon patrol, or guarded the gates;
soothing all with hopes, and by terrors rousing them. "How long," said
they, "shall we hold the son of our Emperor thus besieged? Where will
our broils and wild contentions end? Shall we swear allegiance to
Percennius and Vibulenus? Will Vibulenus and Percennius support us with
pay during our service, and reward us with lands when dismissed? In
short, shall two common men dispossess the Neros and the Drusi, and to
themselves assume the Empire of the Roman People? Let us be wiser; and
as we were the last to revolt, be the first to relent. Such demands, as
comprise terms for all, are ever slowly accorded; but particulars may,
when they please, merit instant favour, and instantly receive it."
These reasonings alarmed them, and filled them with mutual jealousies.
Presently the fresh soldiers forsook the veterans, and one legion
separated from another; then by degrees returned the love of duty and
obedience. They relinquished the guard of the gates: and the Eagles
and other ensigns, which in the beginning of the tumult they had thrown
together, were now restored each to its distinct station.

Drusus, as soon as it was day, summoned an assembly, and though
unskilled in speaking, yet with a haughtiness inherent in his blood,
rebuked their past and commended their present behaviour. "With threats
and terrors," he said, "it was impossible to subdue him; but if he saw
them reclaimed to submission, if from them he heard the language of
supplicants, he would send to his father to accept with a reconciled
spirit the petitions of the legions," Hence, at their entreaty, for
their deputy to Tiberius the same Blesus was again despatched, and with
him Lucius Apronius, a Roman Knight of the cohort of Drusus; and Justus
Catonius, a Centurion of the first order. There followed great debates
in the council of Drusus, while some advised "to suspend all proceeding
till the return of the deputies, and by a course of courtesy the while
to soothe the soldiers; others maintained, that remedies more potent
must needs be applied: in a multitude, was to be found nothing on this
side extremes; always imperious where they are not awed, and to be
without danger despised when frightened: to their present terror from
superstition was to be added the dread of their General, by his dooming
to death the authors of the sedition." Rather prompt to rigorous
counsels was the genius of Drusus: Vibulenus and Percennius were
produced, and by his command executed; it is by many recounted, that in
his own tent they were secretly despatched and buried; by others, that
their bodies were ignominiously thrown over the entrenchments, for a
public spectacle of terror.

Search was then made for other remarkable incendiaries. Some were caught
skulking without the camp, and there by the Centurions or Praetorian
soldiers slain; others were by their several companies delivered up, as
a proof of their own sincere faith. The consternation of the soldiers
was heightened by the precipitate accession of winter, with rains
incessant and so violent, that they were unable to stir from their
tents, or maintain common intercourse, nay, scarce to preserve their
standards, assaulted continually by tempestuous winds and raging floods.
Dread besides of the angry Gods still possessed them; nor was it at
random, they thought, that such profane traitors were thus visited
with black eclipses and roaring tempests; neither against these their
calamities was there other relief than the relinquishing of a camp by
impiety contaminated and accursed, and after expiation of their guilt
returning to their several garrisons. The eighth legion departed first;
and then the fifteenth: the ninth, with earnest clamours, pressed
for continuing there till the letters from Tiberius arrived; but when
deserted by the other two, their courage failed, and by following of
their own accord, they prevented the shame of being forced. Drusus
seeing order and tranquillity restored, without staying for the return
of the deputies, returned himself to Rome.

Almost at the same time, and from the same causes, the legions in
Germany raised an insurrection, with greater numbers, and thence with
more fury. Passionate too were their hopes that Germanicus would never
brook the rule of another, but yield to the spirit of the legions, who
had force sufficient to bring the whole Empire under his sway. Upon
the Rhine were two armies; that called the higher, commanded by Caius
Silius, Lieutenant-General; the lower, by Aulus Caecina: the command in
chief rested in Germanicus, then busy collecting the tribute in Gaul.
The forces however under Silius, with cautious ambiguity, watched the
success of the revolt which others began: for the soldiers of the lower
army had broken out into open outrages, which took its rise from the
fifth legion, and the one-and-twentieth; who after them drew the first,
and twentieth. These were altogether upon the frontiers of the Ubians,
passing the campaign in utter idleness or light duty: so that upon the
news that Augustus was dead, the whole swarm of new soldiers lately
levied in the city, men accustomed to the effeminacies of Rome, and
impatient of every military hardship, began to possess the ignorant
minds of the rest with many turbulent expectations, "that now was
presented the lucky juncture for veterans to demand entire dismission;
the fresh soldiers, larger pay; and all, some mitigation of their
miseries; as also to return due vengeance for the cruelties of the
Centurions." These were not the harangues of a single incendiary, like
Percennius amongst the Pannonian legions; nor uttered, as there, in the
ears of men who, while they saw before their eyes armies greater than
their own, mutinied with awe and trembling: but here was a sedition of
many mouths, filled with many boasts, "that in their hands lay the power
and fate of Rome; by their victories the empire was enlarged, and from
them the Caesars took, as a compliment, the surname of Germanicus."

Neither did Caecina strive to restrain them. A madness so extensive had
bereft him of all his bravery and firmness. In this precipitate frenzy
they rushed at once, with swords drawn, upon the Centurions, the eternal
objects of their resentment, and always the first victims to their
vengeance. Them they dragged to the earth, and upon each bestowed
a terrible portion of sixty blows; a number proportioned to that of
Centurions in a legion. Then bruised, mangled, and half expiring, as
they were, they cast them all out of the camp, some into the stream
of the Rhine. Septimius, who had for refuge fled to the tribunal of
Caecina, and lay clasping his feet, was demanded with such imperious
vehemence, that he was forced to be surrendered to destruction. Cassius
Cherea (afterwards famous to posterity for killing Caligula), then a
young man of undaunted spirit, and one of the Centurions, boldly opened
himself a passage with his sword through a crowd of armed foes striving
to seize him. After this no further authority remained to the Tribunes,
none to the Camp-Marshals. The seditious soldiers were their own
officers; set the watch, appointed the guard, and gave all orders proper
in the present exigency; hence those who dived deepest into the spirit
of the soldiery, gathered a special indication how powerful and obdurate
the present insurrection was like to prove; for in their conduct were no
marks of a rabble, where every man's will guides him, or the instigation
of a few controls the whole. Here, all at once they raged, and all at
once kept silence; with so much concert and steadiness, that you would
have believed them under the sovereign direction of one.

To Germanicus the while, then receiving, as I have said, the tribute in
Gaul, news were brought of the decease of Augustus; whose grand-daughter
Agrippina he had to wife, and by her many children: he was himself the
grandson of Livia, by her son Drusus, the brother of Tiberius; but ever
under heavy anxiety from the secret hate which his uncle and grandmother
bore him: hate the more virulent as its grounds were altogether
unrighteous; for, dear and adored was the memory of his father Drusus
amongst the Roman People, and from him was firmly expected that had he
succeeded to the Empire, he would have restored public liberty: hence
their zeal for Germanicus, and of him the same hopes conceived; as
from his youth he possessed a popular spirit, and marvellous affability
utterly remote from the comportment and address of Tiberius, ever
haughty and mysterious. The animosities too between the ladies
administered fresh fuel; while towards Agrippina, Livia was actuated
by the despite natural to step-mothers: and over-tempestuous was the
indignation of Agrippina; only that her known chastity and love for her
husband, always gave her mind, however vehement, a virtuous turn.

But Germanicus, the nearer he stood to supreme rule, the more vigour he
exerted to secure it to Tiberius: to him he obliged the Sequanians, a
neighbouring people, as also the several Belgic cities, to swear present
allegiance; and the moment he learnt the uproar of the legions, posted
thither: he found them advanced without the camp to receive him, with
eyes cast down, in feigned token of remorse. After he entered the
entrenchments, instantly his ears were filled with plaints and
grievances, uttered in hideous and mixed clamours: nay, some catching
his hand, as if they meant to kiss it, thrust his fingers into their
mouths, to feel their gums destitute of teeth; others showed their limbs
enfeebled, and bodies stooping under old age. As he saw the assembly
mixed at random, he commanded them "to range themselves into companies,
thence more distinctly to hear his answers; as also to place before
them their several ensigns, that the cohorts at least might be
distinguished."

With slowness and reluctance it was, that they obeyed him; then
beginning with an encomium upon the "venerable memory of Augustus," he
proceeded to the "many victories and many triumphs of Tiberius," and
with peculiar praises celebrated the "glorious and immortal deeds, which
with these very legions in Germany he had accomplished;" he next boasted
the quiet state of things, the consent of all Italy, the loyal faith
of both the Gauls: and every quarter of the Roman State exempt from
disaffection and turbulence.

Thus far they listened with silence, at least with moderate murmuring;
but the moment he touched their sedition and questioned, "where now was
the wonted modesty of soldiers? where the glory of ancient discipline?
whither had they chased their Tribunes, whither their Centurions?" to a
man, they stripped themselves to the skin, and there exposed the seams
of their wounds and bruises of their chastisements, in the rage of
reproach. Then in the undistinguished voice of uproar, they urged
"the exactions for occasional exemptions, their scanty pay, and their
rigorous labours;" which they represented in a long detail: "ramparts to
be reared, entrenchments digged, trees felled and drawn, forage cut and
carried, fuel prepared and fetched," with every other article of
toil required by the exigencies of war, or to prevent idleness in the
soldiery. Above all, from the veterans arose a cry most horrible:
they enumerated thirty years or upwards undergone in the service; "and
besought that to men utterly spent he would administer respite, nor
suffer them to be beholden to death for the last relief from their
toils; but discharge them from a warfare so lasting and severe, and
grant them the means of a comfortable recess." Nay, some there were
who of him required the money bequeathed them by Augustus; and towards
Germanicus uttering zealous vows, with omens of happy fortune, declared
their cordial attachment to his cause if he would himself assume the
Empire. Here, as if already stained with their treason, he leaped
headlong from the Tribunal; but with swords drawn they opposed his
departure, and threatened his life, if he refused to return: yet, with
passionate protestations that "he would rather die than be a traitor,"
he snatched his sword from his side, and aiming full at his breast,
would have buried it there, had not those who were next him seized his
hand and by force restrained him. A cluster of soldiers in the extremity
of the assembly exhorted him, nay, what is incredible to hear, some
particulars advancing nearer, exhorted him _to strike home_: in truth
one Calusidius, a common soldier, presented him his naked sword, and
added, "it is sharper than your own;" a behaviour which to the rest,
outrageous as they were, seemed savage, and of horrid example: hence the
friends of Germanicus had time to snatch him away to his tent.

It was here consulted what remedy to apply: for it was advised, that
"ministers of sedition were preparing to be despatched to the other
army, to draw them too into a confederacy in the revolt; that the
capital of the Ubians was destined to be sacked; and if their hands were
once inured to plunder, they would break in, and ravage all Gaul." This
dread was augmented by another: the enemy knew of the sedition in the
Roman army, and were ready to invade the Empire, if its barrier the
Rhine were left unguarded. Now, to arm the allies and the auxiliaries of
Rome, and lead them against the departing legions, was to rouse a civil
war: severity was dangerous: the way of largesses infamous; and alike
threatening it was to the State to grant the turbulent soldiers nothing,
or yield them everything. After revolving every reason and objection,
the result was, to feign letters and directions from Tiberius, "that
those who had served twenty years should be finally discharged; such as
served sixteen be under the ensign and privileges of veterans, released
from every duty but that of repulsing the enemy; and the legacy, which
they demanded, should be paid and doubled."

The soldiers, who perceived that, purely to evade present difficulty,
the concessions were forged, insisted to have them forthwith executed;
and instantly the Tribunes despatched the discharge of the veterans:
that of the money was adjourned to their several winter quarters; but
the fifth legion, and the one-and-twentieth, refused to stir, till in
that very camp they were paid; so that out of the money reserved by
himself and his friends for travailing expenses, Germanicus was obliged
to raise the sum. Caecina, Lieutenant-General, led the first legion and
twentieth back to the capital of the Ubians: an infamous march, when the
plunder of their General's coffers was carried amidst the ensigns and
Roman Eagles. Germanicus, the while, proceeding to the army in higher
Germany, brought the second, thirteenth, and sixteenth legions to swear
allegiance without hesitation: to the fourteenth, who manifested some
short suspense, he made unasked a tender of their money, and a present
discharge.

But a party of veterans which belonged to the disorderly legions, and
then in garrison among the Chaucians, as they began a sedition there,
were somewhat quelled by the instant execution of two of their body: an
execution this, commanded by Maenius, Camp-Marshal, and rather of good
example, than done by competent authority. The tumult, however, swelling
again with fresh rage, he fled, but was discovered; so that, finding
no safety in lurking, from his own bravery he drew his defence, and
declared "that to himself, who was only their Camp-Marshal, these their
outrages were not done, but done to the authority of Germanicus, their
General, to the majesty of Tiberius their Emperor." At the same time,
braving and dismaying all that would have stopped him, he fiercely
snatched the colours, faced about towards the Rhine, and pronouncing
the doom of traitors and deserters to every man who forsook his ranks,
brought them back to their winter quarters, mutinous, in truth, but not
daring to mutiny.

In the meantime the deputies from the Senate met Germanicus at the
altar of the Ubians [Footnote: Cologne.], whither in his return he was
arrived. Two legions wintered there, the first and twentieth, with the
soldiers lately placed under the standard of veterans; men already under
the distractions of guilt and fear: and now a new terror possessed them,
that these Senators were come armed with injunctions to cancel every
concession which they had by sedition extorted; and, as it is the custom
of the crowd to be ever charging somebody with the crimes suggested by
their own false alarms, the guilt of this imaginary decree they laid
upon Minutius Plancus, a Senator of consular dignity, and at the head of
this deputation. In the dead of night, they began to clamour aloud for
the purple standard placed in the quarters of Germanicus, and, rushing
tumultuously to his gate, burst the doors, dragged the Prince out of his
bed, and, with menaces of present death, compelled him to deliver the
standard. Then, as they roved about the camp, they met the deputies,
who, having learnt the outrage, were hastening to Germanicus: upon
them they poured a deluge of contumelies, and to present slaughter were
devoting them, Plancus chiefly, whom the dignity of his character had
restrained from flight; nor in this mortal danger had he other refuge
than the quarters of the first legion, where, embracing the Eagle and
other ensigns, he sought sanctuary from the religious veneration
ever paid them. But, in spite of religion, had not Calpurnius, the
Eagle-bearer, by force defeated the last violence of the assault, in the
Roman camp had been slain an ambassador of the Roman People, and
with his blood had been stained the inviolable altars of the Gods; a
barbarity rare even in the camp of an enemy. At last, day returning,
when the General, and the soldiers, and their actions could be
distinguished, Germanicus entered the camp, and commanding Plancus to
be brought, seated him by himself upon the tribunal: he then inveighed
against the late "pernicious frenzy, which in it, he said, had fatality,
and was rekindled by no despite in the soldiers, but by that of the
angry Gods." He explained the genuine purposes of that embassy, and
lamented with affecting eloquence "the outrage committed upon Plancus,
altogether brutal and unprovoked; the foul violence done to the sacred
person of an Ambassador, and the mighty disgrace from thence derived
upon the legion." Yet as the assembly showed more stupefaction than
calmness, he dismissed the deputies under a guard of auxiliary horse.

During this affright, Germanicus was by all men censured, "that he
retired not to the higher army, whence he had been sure of ready
obedience, and even of succour against the revolters: already he had
taken wrong measures more than enow, by discharging some, rewarding all,
and other tender counsels; if he despised his own safety, yet why expose
his infant son, why his wife big with child, to the fury of outrageous
traitors, wantonly violating all the most sacred rights amongst men? It
became him at least to restore his wife and son safe to Tiberius and
to the State." He was long unresolved; besides Agrippina was averse to
leave him, and urged, that "she was the grand-daughter of Augustus, and
it was below her spirit to shrink in a time of danger." But embracing
her and their little son, with great tenderness and many tears, he
prevailed with her to depart. Thus there marched miserably along a band
of helpless women: the wife of a great commander fled like a fugitive,
and upon her bosom bore her infant son: about her a troop of other
ladies, dragged from their husbands, and drowned in tears, uttering
their heavy lamentations; nor weaker than theirs was the grief felt by
all who remained.

These groans and tears, and this spectacle of woe, the appearances
rather of a city stormed and sacked, than of a Roman camp, that of
Germanicus Caesar, victorious and flourishing, awakened attention and
inquiry in the soldiers: leaving their tents, they cried, "Whence these
doleful wailings? what so lamentable! so many ladies of illustrious
quality, travelling thus forlorn; not a Centurion to attend them; not
a soldier to guard them; their General's wife amongst them,
undistinguished by any mark of her princely dignity; destitute of her
ordinary train; frightened from the Roman legions, and repairing, like
an exile, for shelter to Treves, there to commit herself to the faith
of foreigners." Hence shame and commiseration seized them, and the
remembrance of her illustrious family, with that of her own virtues;
the brave Agrippa her father; the mighty Augustus her grandfather; the
amiable Drusus her father-in-law, herself celebrated for a fruitful bed,
and of signal chastity: add the consideration of her little son, born
in the camp, nursed in the arms of the legions, and by themselves named
Caligula, a military name from the boots which of the same fashion
with their own, in compliment to them, and to win their affections, he
frequently wore. But nothing so effectually subdued them as their own
envy towards the inhabitants of Treves: hence they all besought, all
adjured, that she would return to themselves, and with themselves
remain: thus some stopped Agrippina; but the main body returned with
their entreaties to Germanicus, who, as he was yet in the transports
of grief and anger, addressed himself on this wise to the surrounding
crowd.

"To me neither is my wife or son dearer than my father and the
Commonwealth. But him doubtless the majesty of his name will defend; and
there are other armies, loyal armies, to defend the Roman State. As to
my wife and children, whom for your glory I could freely sacrifice, I
now remove them from your rage; that by my blood alone may be expiated
whatever further mischief your fury meditates; and that the murder of
the great grandson of Augustus, the murder of the daughter-in-law of
Tiberius, may not be added to mine, nor to the blackness of your past
guilt. For, during these days of frenzy what has been too horrid for you
to commit? What so sacred that you have not violated? To this audience
what name shall I give? Can I call you _soldiers_? you who have beset
with arms the son of your Emperor, confined him in your trenches, and
held him in a siege? _Roman citizens_ can I call you? you who
have trampled upon the supreme authority of the Roman Senate? Laws
religiously observed by common enemies, you have profaned; violated
the sacred privileges, and persons of Ambassadors; broken the laws of
nations. The deified Julius Caesar quelled a sedition in his army by a
single word: he called all who refused to follow him, _townsmen_. The
deified Augustus, when, after the battle of Actium, the legions who won
it lapsed into mutiny, terrified them into submission by the dignity
of his presence and an awful look. These, it is true, are mighty and
immortal names, whom I dare not emulate; but, as I am their descendant,
and inherit their blood, should the armies in Syria and Spain reject my
orders, and contemn my authority, I should think their behaviour strange
and base: are not the present legions under stronger ties than those in
Syria and Spain? You are the first and the twentieth legions; the former
enrolled by Tiberius himself; the other his constant companions in so
many battles, his partners in so many victories, and by him enriched
with so many bounties! Is this the worthy return you make your Emperor,
and late Commander, for the distinction he has shown you, for the favour
he has done you, and for his liberalities towards you? And shall I be
the author of such tidings to him; such heavy tidings in the midst of
congratulations and happy accounts from every province in the Empire?
Must it be my sad task to acquaint him that his own new levies, as well
as his own veterans who long fought under him; these not appeased by
their discharge, and neither of them satiated with the money given them,
are both still combined in a furious mutiny? must I tell him that here
and only here the Centurions are butchered, the Tribunes driven away,
the Ambassadors imprisoned; that with blood the camp is stained, and
the rivers flow with blood; and that for me his son, I hold a precarious
life at the mercy of men, who owe me duty, and practise enmity?

"Why did you the other day, oh unseasonable and too officious friends!
why did you leave me at their mercy by snatching from me my sword, when
with it I would have put myself out of their power? He who offered me
his own sword showed greater kindness, and was more my friend. I would
then have fallen happy; happy that my death would have hid from mine
eyes so many horrible crimes since committed by my own army; and for
you, you would have chosen another general, such a general, no doubt, as
would have left my death unpunished, but still one who would have sought
vengeance for that of Varus and the three legions; for the Gods are too
just to permit that ever the Belgians, however generously they offer
their service, shall reap the credit and renown of retrieving the glory
of the Roman name, and of reducing in behalf of Rome the German nations
her foes. Filled with this passion for the glory of Rome, I here
invoke thy spirit now with the Gods, oh deified Augustus; and thy image
interwoven in the ensigns, and thy memory, oh deceased father. Let thy
revered spirit, oh Augustus, let thy loved image and memory, oh Drusus,
still dear to these legions, vindicate them from this guilty stain,
this foul infamy of leaving to foreigners the honour of defending
and avenging the Roman State. They are Romans; they already feel the
remorses of shame; they are already stimulated with a sense of honour:
improve, oh improve this generous disposition in them; that thus
inspired they may turn the whole tide of their civil rage to the
destruction of their common enemy. And for you, my fellow-soldiers,
in whom I behold all the marks of compunction, other countenances,
and minds happily changed; if you mean to restore to the Senate its
ambassadors; to your Emperor your sworn obedience; to me, your general,
my wife and son; be it the first instance of your duty, to fly the
contagious company of incendiaries, to separate the sober from the
seditious: this will be a faithful sign of remorse, this a firm pledge
of fidelity."

These words softened them into supplicants: they confessed that all
his reproaches were true; they besought him to punish the guilty and
malicious, to pardon the weak and misled, and to lead them against the
enemy; to recall his wife, to bring back his son, nor to suffer the
fosterling of the legions to be given in hostage to the Gauls. Against
the recalling of Agrippina he alleged the advance of winter, and her
approaching delivery; but said, that his son should return, and that
to themselves he left to execute what remained further to be executed.
Instantly, with changed resentments, they ran, and seizing the most
seditious, dragged them in bonds to Caius Cretonius, commander of the
first legion, who judged and punished them in this manner. The legions,
with their swords drawn, surrounded the tribunal; from thence the
prisoner was by a Tribune exposed to their view, and if they
proclaimed him guilty, cast headlong down, and executed even by his
fellow-soldiers, who rejoiced in the execution, because by it they
thought their own guilt to be expiated: nor did Germanicus restrain
them, since on themselves remained the cruelty and reproach of the
slaughter committed without any order of his. The veterans followed the
same example of vengeance, and were soon after ordered into Rhetia, in
appearance to defend that province against the invading Suevians; in
reality, to remove them from a camp still horrible to their sight, as
well in the remedy and punishment, as from the memory of their crime.
Germanicus next passed a scrutiny upon the conduct and characters of the
Centurions: before him they were cited singly; and each gave an account
of his name, his company, country, the length of his service, exploits
in war, and military presents, if with any he had been distinguished:
if the Tribunes or his legion bore testimony of his diligence and
integrity, he kept his post; upon concurring complaint of his avarice or
cruelty, he was degraded.

Thus were the present commotions appeased; but others as great still
subsisted, from the rage and obstinacy of the fifth and twenty-first
legions. They were in winter quarters sixty miles off, in a place called
the Old Camp, [Footnote: Xanten.] and had first began the sedition: nor
was there any wickedness so horrid, that they had not perpetrated; nay,
at this time, neither terrified by the punishment, nor reclaimed by the
reformation of their fellow-soldiers, they persevered in their fury.
Germanicus therefore determined to give them battle, if they persisted
in their revolt; and prepared vessels, arms, and troops to be sent down
the Rhine.

Before the issue of the sedition in Illyricum was known at Rome, tidings
of the uproar in the German legions arrived; hence the city was filled
with much terror; and hence against Tiberius many complaints, "that
while with feigned consultations and delays he mocked the Senate and
people, once the great bodies of the estate, but now bereft of power and
armies, the soldiery were in open rebellion, one too mighty and stubborn
to be quelled by two princes so young in years and authority: he
ought at first to have gone himself, and awed them with the majesty of
imperial power, as doubtless they would have returned to duty upon the
sight of their Emperor, a Prince of consummate experience, the sovereign
disposer of rewards and severity. Did Augustus, even under the pressure
of old age and infirmities, take so many journeys into Germany? and
should Tiberius, in the vigour of his life, when the same or greater
occasions called him thither, sit lazily in the Senate to watch senators
and cavil at words? He had fully provided for the domestic servitude
of Rome; he ought next to cure the licentiousness of the soldiers,
to restrain their turbulent spirits, and reconcile them to a life of
peace."

But all these reasonings and reproaches moved not Tiberius: he was
determined not to depart from the capital, the centre of power and
affairs; nor to chance or peril expose his person and empire. In truth,
many and contrary difficulties pressed and perplexed him: "the German
army was the stronger; that of Pannonia nearer; the power of both the
Gauls supported the former; the latter was at the gates of Italy. Now to
which should he repair first? and would not the last visited be inflamed
by being postponed? But by sending one of his sons to each, the equal
treatment of both was maintained; as also the majesty of the supreme
power, which from distance ever derived most reverence. Besides, the
young princes would be excused, if to their father they referred such
demands as were for them improper to grant; and if they disobeyed
Germanicus and Drusus, his own authority remained to appease or punish
them: but if once they had contemned their Emperor himself, what other
resource was behind?" However, as if he had been upon the point of
marching, he chose his attendance, provided his equipage, and prepared
a fleet: but by various delays and pretences, sometimes that of the
winter, sometimes business, he deceived for a time even the wisest men;
much longer the common people, and the provinces for a great while.

Germanicus had already drawn together his army, and was prepared to take
vengeance on the seditious: but judging it proper to allow space for
trial, whether they would follow the late example, and consulting their
own safety do justice upon one another, he sent letters to Caecina,
"that he himself approached, with a powerful force; and if they
prevented him not, by executing the guilty, he would put all
indifferently to the slaughter." These letters Caecina privately read
to the principal officers, and such of the camp as the sedition had not
tainted; besought them "to redeem themselves from death, and all
from infamy; urged that in peace alone reason was heard and merit
distinguished; but in the rage of war the blind steel spared the
innocent no more than the guilty." The officers, having tried those they
believed for their purpose, and found the majority still to persevere
in their duty, did, in concurrence with the General, settle the time for
falling with the sword upon the most notoriously guilty and turbulent.
Upon a particular signal given they rushed into their tents and
butchered them, void as they were of all apprehension; nor did any but
the centurions and executioners know whence the massacre began, or where
it would end.

This had a different face from all the civil slaughters that ever
happened: it was a slaughter not of enemies upon enemies, nor from
different and opposite camps, nor in a day of battle; but of comrades
upon comrades, in the same tents where they ate together by day, where
they slept together by night. From this state of intimacy they flew
into mortal enmity, and friends launched their darts at friends: wounds,
outcries, and blood were open to view; but the cause remained hid: wild
chance governed the rest, and several innocents were slain. For the
criminals, when they found against whom all this fury was bent, had also
betaken themselves to their arms; neither did Caecina, nor any of the
Tribunes, intervene to stay the rage; so that the soldiers had full
permission to vengeance, and a licentious satiety of killing. Germanicus
soon after entered the camp now full of blood and carcasses, and
lamenting with many tears that "this was not a remedy, but cruelty
and desolation," commanded the bodies to be burnt. Their minds, still
tempestuous and bloody, were transported with sudden eagerness to attack
the foe, as the best expiation of their tragical fury: nor otherwise,
they thought, could the ghosts of their butchered brethren be appeased,
than by receiving in their own profane breasts a chastisement of
honourable wounds. Germanicus fell in with the ardour of the soldiers,
and laying a bridge upon the Rhine, marched over twelve thousand
legionary soldiers, twenty-six cohorts of the allies, and eight
regiments of horse; men all untainted in the late sedition.

The Germans rejoiced, not far off, at this vacation of war, occasioned
first by the death of Augustus, and afterwards by intestine tumults in
the camp; but the Romans by a hasty march passed through the Caesian
woods, and levelling the barrier formerly begun by Tiberius, upon
it pitched their camp. In the front and rear they were defended by a
palisade; on each side by a barricade of the trunks of trees felled.
From thence, beginning to traverse gloomy forests, they stopped to
consult which of two ways they should choose, the short and frequented,
or the longest and least known, and therefore unsuspected by the
foe: the longest way was chosen; but in everything else despatch was
observed; for by the scouts intelligence was brought that the Germans
did, that night, celebrate a festival with great mirth and revelling.
Hence Caecina was commanded to advance with the cohorts without their
baggage, and to clear a passage through the forest: at a moderate
distance followed the legions; the clearness of the night facilitated
the march, and they arrived at the villages of the Marsians, which with
guards they presently invested. The Germans were even yet under the
effects of their debauch, scattered here and there, some in bed, some
lying by their tables; no watch placed, no apprehension of an enemy. So
utterly had their false security banished all order and care; and they
were under no dread of war, without enjoying peace, other than the
deceitful and lethargic peace of drunkards.

The legions were eager for revenge; and Germanicus, to extend their
ravage, divided them into four battalions. The country was wasted by
fire and sword fifty miles round; nor sex nor age found mercy; places
sacred and profane had the equal lot of destruction, all razed to the
ground, and with them the temple of Tanfana, of all others the most
celebrated amongst these nations: nor did all this execution cost the
soldiers a wound, while they only slew men half asleep, disarmed, or
dispersed. This slaughter roused the Bructerans, the Tubantes, and the
Usipetes; and they beset the passes of the forest, through which the
army was to return: an event known to Germanicus, and he marched in
order of battle. The auxiliary cohorts and part of the horse led the
van, followed close by the first legion; the baggage was in the middle;
the twenty-first legion closed the left wing, and the fifth the right;
the twentieth defended the rear; and after them marched the rest of the
allies. But the enemy stirred not, till the body of the army entered
the wood: they then began lightly to insult the front and wings; and at
last, with their whole force, fell upon the rear. The light cohorts were
already disordered by the close German bands, when Germanicus riding up
to the twentieth legion, and exalting his voice, "This was the season,"
he cried, "to obliterate the scandal of sedition: hence they should
fall resolutely on, and into sudden praise convert their late shame and
offence." These words inflamed them: at one charge they broke the enemy,
drove them out of the wood, and slaughtered them in the plain. In the
meanwhile, the front passed the forest, and fortified the camp: the rest
of the march was uninterrupted; and the soldiers, trusting to the merit
of their late exploits, and forgetting at once past faults and terrors,
were placed in winter quarters.

The tidings of these exploits affected Tiberius with gladness and
anguish: he rejoiced that the sedition was suppressed; but that
Germanicus had, by discharging the veterans, by shortening the term of
service to the rest, and by largesses to all, gained the hearts of the
army, as well as earned high glory in war, proved to the Emperor matter
of torture. To the Senate, however, he reported the detail of his feats,
and upon his valour bestowed copious praises, but in words too pompous
and ornamental to be believed dictated by his heart. It was with more
brevity that he commended Drusus, and his address in quelling the
sedition of Illyricum, but more cordially withal, and in language
altogether sincere; and even to the Pannonian legions he extended all
the concessions made by Germanicus to his own.

There was this year an admission of new rites, by the establishment
of another College of Priests, one sacred to the deity of Augustus; as
formerly Titus Tatius, to preserve the religious rites of the Sabines,
had founded the fraternity of Titian Priests. To fill the society,
one-and-twenty, the most considerable Romans were drawn by lot, and
to them added Tiberius, Drusus, Claudius, and Germanicus. The games in
honour of Augustus began then first to be embroiled by emulation among
the players, and the strife of parties in their behalf. Augustus had
countenanced these players and their art, in complaisance to Maecenas,
who was mad in love with Bathyllus the comedian; nor to such favourite
amusements of the populace had he any aversion himself; he rather judged
it an acceptable courtesy to mingle with the multitude in these their
popular pleasures. Different was the temper of Tiberius, different
his politics: to severer manners, however, he durst not yet reduce the
people, so many years indulged in licentious gaieties.

In the consulship of Drusus Caesar and Caius Norbanus, a triumph was
decreed to Germanicus, while the war still subsisted. He was preparing
with all diligence to prosecute it the following summer; but began much
sooner by a sudden irruption early in the spring into the territories of
the Cattans: an anticipation of the campaign, which proceeded from the
hopes given him of dissension amongst the enemy, caused by the opposite
parties of Arminius and Segestes; two men signally known to the Romans
upon different accounts; the last for his firm faith, the first for
faith violated. Arminius was the incendiary of Germany; but by Segestes
had been given repeated warnings of an intended revolt, particularly
during the festival immediately preceding the insurrection: he had even
advised Varus "to secure himself and Arminius, and all the other chiefs;
for that the multitude, thus bereft of their leaders, would dare to
attempt nothing; and Varus have time to distinguish crimes and such
as committed none." But by his own fate, and the sudden violence of
Arminius, Varus fell. Segestes, though by the weight and unanimity of
his nation he was forced into the war, yet remained at constant variance
with Arminius: a domestic quarrel too heightened their hate, as Arminius
had carried away the daughter of Segestes, already betrothed to another;
and the same relations, which amongst friends prove bonds of tenderness,
were fresh stimulations of wrath to an obnoxious son and an offended
father.

Upon these encouragements, Germanicus to the command of Caecina
committed four legions, five thousand auxiliaries, and some bands of
Germans, dwellers on this side the Rhine, drawn suddenly together;
he led himself as many legions with double the number of allies, and
erecting a fort in Mount Taunus, [Footnote: Near Homburg.] upon the old
foundations of one raised by his father, rushed full march against the
Cattans; having behind him left Lucius Apronius, to secure the ways from
the fury of inundations: for as the roads were then dry and the rivers
low, events in that climate exceeding rare, he had without check
expedited his march; but against his return apprehended the violence of
rains and floods. Upon the Cattans he fell with such surprise, that all
the weak through sex or age were instantly taken or slaughtered: their
youth, by swimming over the Adrana, [Footnote: Eder.] escaped, and
attempted to force the Romans from building a bridge to follow them, but
by dint of arrows and engines were repulsed; and then, having in vain
tried to gain terms of peace, some submitted to Germanicus; the rest
abandoned their villages and dwellings, and dispersed themselves in the
woods. Mattium, [Footnote: Maden.] the capital of the nation, he burnt,
ravaged all the open country, and bent his march to the Rhine; nor durst
the enemy harass his rear, an usual practice of theirs, when sometimes
they fly more through craft than affright. The Cheruscans indeed were
addicted to assist the Cattans, but terrified from attempting it by
Caecina, who moved about with his forces from place to place; and by
routing the Marsians who had dared to engage him, restrained all their
efforts.

Soon after arrived deputies from Segestes, praying relief against
the combination and violence of his countrymen, by whom he was held
besieged; as more powerful amongst them than his was the credit of
Arminius, since it was he who had advised the war. The genius this of
barbarians, to judge that men are to be trusted in proportion as they
are fierce, and in public commotions ever to prefer the most resolute.
To the other deputies Segestes had added Segimundus, his son; but the
young man faltered a while, as his own heart accused him; for that
the year when Germany revolted, he, who had been by the Romans created
Priest of the altar of the Ubians, rent the sacerdotal tiara and fled to
the revolters: yet, encouraged by the Roman clemency, he undertook the
execution of his father's orders, was himself graciously received, and
then conducted with a guard to the frontiers of Gaul. Germanicus led
back his army to the relief of Segestes, and was rewarded with success.
He fought the besiegers, and rescued him with a great train of his
relations and followers; amongst them too were ladies of illustrious
rank, particularly the wife of Arminius, the same who was the daughter
of Segestes: a lady more of the spirit of her husband than that of her
father; a spirit so unsubdued, that from her eyes captivity forced not
a tear, nor from her lips a breath in the style of a supplicant: not a
motion of her hands, nor a look escaped her; but, fast across her breast
she held her arms, and upon her heavy womb her eyes were immovably
fixed. There were likewise carried Roman spoils taken at the slaughter
of Varus and his army, and then divided as prey amongst many of those
who were now prisoners: at the same time appeared Segestes, of superior
stature; and from a confidence in his good understanding with the
Romans, undaunted. In this manner he spoke:

"It is not the first day this, that to the Roman People I have approved
my faith and adherence: from the moment I was by the deified Augustus
presented with the freedom of the city, I have continued by your
interest to choose my friends, by your interest to denominate my
enemies; from no hate of mine to my native country (for odious are
traitors even to the party they embrace), but because the same measures
were equally conducing to the benefit of the Romans and of the Germans;
and I was rather for peace than war. For this reason to Varus, the then
General, I applied, with an accusation against Arminius, who from me had
ravished my daughter, and with you violated the faith of leagues: but
growing impatient with the slowness and inactivity of Varus, and well
apprised how little security was to be hoped from the laws, I pressed
him to seize myself, and Arminius, and his accomplices: witness that
fatal night, to me I wish it had been the last! more to be lamented than
defended are the sad events which followed. I moreover cast Arminius
into irons, and was myself cast into irons by his faction; and as soon
as to you, Caesar, I could apply, you see I prefer old engagements to
present violence, and tranquillity to combustions, with no view of
my own to interest or reward, but to banish from me the imputation
of perfidiousness. For the German nation, too, I would thus become a
mediator, if peradventure they will choose rather to repent than be
destroyed: for my son, I intreat you, have mercy upon his youth, and
pardon his error; that my daughter is your prisoner by force I own: in
your breast it wholly lies under which character you will treat her,
whether as one by Arminius impregnated, or by me begotten." The answer
of Germanicus was gracious: he promised indemnity to his children and
kindred, and to himself a safe retreat in one of the old provinces; then
returned with his army, and by the direction of Tiberius, received the
title of _Imperator_. The wife of Arminius brought forth a male child,
and the boy was brought up at Ravenna; his unhappy conflicts afterwards,
with the contumelious insults of fortune, will be remembered in their
place.

The desertion of Segestes being divulged, with his gracious reception
from Germanicus, affected his countrymen variously; with hope or
anguish, as they were prone or averse to the war. Naturally violent was
the spirit of Arminius, and now, by the captivity of his wife, by the
fate of his child doomed to bondage though yet unborn, enraged even to
distraction: he flew about amongst the Cheruscans, calling them to arms;
to arm against Segestes, to arm against Germanicus. Invectives followed
his fury; "A blessed father this Segestes," he cried! "a mighty general
this Germanicus! invincible warriors these Romans! so many troops have
made prisoner of a woman. It is not thus that I conquer; before me three
legions fell, and three lieutenant-generals. Open and honourable is my
method of war, nor waged with big-bellied women, but against men and
arms; and treason is none of my weapons. Still to be seen are the Roman
standards in the German groves, there by me hung up and devoted to our
country Gods. Let Segestes live a slave in a conquered province; let him
to his son recover a foreign priesthood: with the German nations he can
never obliterate his reproach, that through him they have seen between
the Elbe and Rhine rods and axes, and the Roman toga. To other nations
who know not the Roman domination, executions and tributes are also
unknown; evils which we too have cast off, in spite of that Augustus now
dead and enrolled with the Deities; in spite too of Tiberius, his
chosen successor: let us not after this dread a mutinous army, and a boy
without experience, their commander; but if you love your country, your
kindred, your ancient liberty and laws, better than tyrants and new
colonies, let Arminius rather lead you to liberty and glory, than the
wicked Segestes to the infamy of bondage."

By these stimulations, not the Cheruscans only were roused, but all the
neighbouring nations; and into the confederacy was drawn Inguiomerus,
paternal uncle to Arminius, a man long since in high credit with the
Romans: hence a new source of fear to Germanicus, who, to avoid the
shock of their whole forces, and to divert the enemy, sent Caecina with
forty Roman cohorts to the river Amisia, [Footnote: Ems.] through the
territories of the Bructerans. Pedo the Prefect led the cavalry by the
confines of the Frisians: he himself, on the lake, [Footnote: The Zuyder
Zee.] embarked four legions; and upon the bank of the said river the
whole body met, foot, horse, and fleet. The Chaucians, upon offering
their assistance, were taken into the service; but the Bructerans,
setting fire to their effects and dwellings, were routed by Stertinius,
by Germanicus despatched against them with a band lightly armed. As this
party were engaged between slaughter and plunder, he found the Eagle of
the nineteenth legion lost in the overthrow of Varus. The army marched
next to the farthest borders of the Bructerans, and the whole country
between the rivers Amisia and Luppia [Footnote: Lippe.] was laid waste.
Not far hence lay the forest of Teutoburgium, and in it the bones of
Varus and the legions, by report still unburied.

Hence Germanicus became inspired with a tender passion to pay the
last offices to the legions and their leader; the like tenderness also
affected the whole army. They were moved with compassion, some for
the fate of their friends, others for that of their relations here
tragically slain; they were struck with the doleful casualties of war,
and the sad lot of humanity. Caecina was sent before to examine the
gloomy recesses of the forest; to lay bridges over the pools; and upon
the deceitful marshes, causeways. The army entered the doleful solitude,
hideous to sight, hideous to memory. First they saw the camp of Varus,
wide in circumference; and the three distinct spaces, allotted to the
different Eagles, showed the number of the legions. Further, they
beheld the ruinous entrenchment, and the ditch nigh choked up: in it the
remains of the army were supposed to have made their last effort, and
in it to have found their graves. In the open fields lay their bones
all bleached and bare, some separate, some on heaps; just as they had
happened to fall, flying for their lives, or resisting unto death. Here
were scattered the limbs of horses, there pieces of broken javelins; and
the trunks of trees bore the skulls of men. In the adjacent groves were
the savage altars; where, of the tribunes and principal centurions,
the barbarians had made a horrible immolation. Those who survived the
slaughter, having escaped from captivity and the sword, related the sad
particulars to the rest: "Here the commanders of the legions were slain;
there we lost the Eagles; here Varus had his first wound; there he gave
himself another, and perished by his own unhappy hand. In that place,
too, stood the tribunal whence Arminius harangued; in this quarter, for
the execution of his captives, he erected so many gibbets; in that such
a number of funeral trenches were digged; and with these circumstances
of pride and despite he insulted the ensigns and Eagles."

Thus the Roman army buried the bones of the three legions, six years
after the slaughter: nor could any one distinguish whether he gathered
the particular remains of a stranger, or those of a kinsman; but all
considered the whole as their friends, the whole as their relations;
with heightened resentments against the foe, at once sad and revengeful.
In this pious office, so acceptable to the dead, Germanicus was a
partner in the woe of the living; and upon the common tomb laid the
first sod: a proceeding not liked by Tiberius; whether it were that upon
every action of Germanicus he put a perverse meaning, or believed that
the affecting spectacle of the unburied slain would sink the spirit
of the army, and heighten their terror of the enemy; as also that "a
general vested, as Augur, with the intendency of religious rites, became
defiled by touching the solemnities of the dead."

Arminius, retiring into desert and pathless places, was pursued by
Germanicus; who, as soon as he reached him, commanded the horse to
advance, and dislodge the enemy from the post they had possessed.
Arminius, having directed his men to keep close together, and draw near
to the woods, wheeled suddenly about, and to those whom he had hid in
the forest gave the signal to rush out: the Roman horse, now engaged
by a new army, became disordered, and to their relief some cohorts were
sent, but likewise broken by the press of those that fled; and great
was the consternation so many ways increased. The enemy too were already
pushing them into the morass, a place well known to the pursuers, as to
the unapprised Romans it had proved pernicious, had not Germanicus drawn
out the legions in order of battle. Hence the enemy became terrified,
our men reassured, and both retired with equal loss and advantage.
Germanicus presently after returning with the army to the river Amisia,
reconducted the legions, as he had brought them, in the fleet: part
of the horse were ordered to march along the sea-shore to the Rhine.
Caecina, who led his own men, was warned, that though he was to return
through unknown roads, yet he should with all speed pass the causeway
called the long bridges: it is a narrow track this, between vast
marshes, and formerly raised by Lucius Domitius. The marshes themselves
are of an uncertain soil, here full of mud, there of heavy sticking
clay, or traversed with various currents. Round about are woods which
rise gently from the plain, and were already filled with soldiers by
Arminius; who, by shorter ways and a running march, had arrived there
before our men, who were loaded with arms and baggage. Caecina, who was
perplexed how at once to repair the causeway decayed by time, and to
repulse the foe, resolved at last to encamp in the place, that whilst
some were employed in the work, others might maintain the fight.

The Barbarians strove violently to break our station, and to fall upon
the entrenchers: they harassed our men, assaulted the works, changed
their attacks, and pushed everywhere. With the shouts of the assailants,
the cries of the workmen were confusedly mixed; and all things equally
combined to distress the Romans: the place deep with ooze sinking under
those who stood, slippery to such as advanced; their armour heavy;
the waters deep, nor could they in them launch their javelins. The
Cheruscans, on the contrary, were inured to encounters in the bogs;
their persons tall, their spears long, such as could wound at a
distance. At last the legions, already yielding, were by night redeemed
from an unequal combat; but night interrupted not the activity of the
Germans, become by success indefatigable. Without refreshing themselves
with sleep, they diverted all the courses of the springs which rise in
the neighbouring mountains, and turned them into the plains: thus
the Roman camp was flooded, the work, as far as they had carried it,
overturned, and the labour of the poor soldiers renewed and doubled. To
Caecina this year proved the fortieth of his sustaining as officer or
soldier the functions of arms; a man in all the vicissitudes of war,
prosperous or disastrous, well experienced and thence undaunted.
Weighing, therefore, with himself all probable events and expedients, he
could devise no other than that of restraining the enemy to the woods,
till he had sent forward the wounded men and baggage; for, from the
mountains to the marshes there stretched a plain fit only to hold a
little army: to this purpose the legions were thus appointed; the fifth
had the right wing, and the one-and-twentieth the left; the first led
the van; the twentieth defended the rear.

A restless night it was to both armies, but in different ways; the
Barbarians feasted and caroused, and with songs of triumph, or with
horrid and threatening cries, filled all the plain and echoing woods.
Amongst the Romans were feeble fires, sad silence, or broken words;
they leaned drooping here and there against the pales, or wandered
disconsolately about the tents, like men without sleep, but not quite
awake. A frightful dream too terrified the General; he thought he heard
and saw Quinctilius Varus, rising out of the marsh all besmeared with
blood, stretching forth his hand, and calling upon him; but that he
rejected the call and pushed him away. At break of day, the legions
posted on the wings, through contumacy or affright, deserted their
stations, and took sudden possession of a field beyond the bogs. Neither
did Arminius fall straight upon them, however open they lay to his
assault; but, when he perceived the baggage set fast in mire and
ditches, the soldiers above it disorderly and embarrassed, the ranks and
ensigns in confusion, and, as usual in a time of distress, every one in
haste to save himself, but slow to obey his officer, he then commanded
his Germans to break in, "Behold," he vehemently cried; "behold again
Varus and his legions subdued by the same fate." Thus he cried, and
instantly with a select body broke quite through our forces, and chiefly
against the horse directed his havoc; so that the ground becoming
slippery by their blood and the slime of the marsh, their feet flew from
them, and they cast their riders; then galloping and stumbling amongst
the ranks, they overthrew all they met, and trod to death all they
overthrew. The greatest difficulty was to maintain the Eagles; a storm
of darts made it impossible to advance them, and the rotten ground
impossible to fix them. Caecina, while he sustained the fight, had his
horse shot, and having fallen was nigh taken; but the first legion
saved him. Our relief came from the greediness of the enemy, who ceased
slaying to seize the spoil: hence the legions had respite to struggle
into the fair field and firm ground. Nor was here an end of their
miseries: a palisade was to be raised, an entrenchment digged; their
instruments too for throwing up and carrying earth, and their tools
for cutting turf, were almost all lost; no tents for the soldiers; no
remedies for the wounded; and their food all defiled with mire or blood.
As they shared it in sadness amongst them, they lamented that mournful
night, they lamented the approaching day, to so many thousand men the
last.

It happened that a horse, which had broke his collar as he strayed
about, became frightened with noise, and ran over some that were in his
way: this raised such a consternation in the camp, from a persuasion
that the Germans in a body had forced an entrance, that all rushed to
the gates, especially to the postern, as the farthest from the foe, and
safer for flight. Caecina having found the vanity of their dread, but
unable to stop them, either by his authority, or by his prayers, or
indeed by force, flung himself at last across the gate. This prevailed;
their awe and tenderness of their General restrained them from running
over his body; and the Tribunes and Centurions satisfied them the while,
that it was a false alarm.

Then calling them together, and desiring them to hear him with silence,
he reminded them of their difficulties, and how to conquer them: "That
for their lives they must be indebted to their arms, but force was to
be tempered with art; they must therefore keep close within their camp,
till the enemy, in hopes of taking it by storm, advanced; then make a
sudden sally on every side, and by this push they should break through
the enemy, and reach the Rhine. But if they fled, more forests remained
to be traversed, deeper marshes to be passed, and the cruelty of a
pursuing foe to be sustained." He laid before them the motives and
fruits of victory, public rewards and glory, with every tender domestic
consideration, as well as those of military exploits and praise. Of
their dangers and sufferings he said nothing. He next distributed
horses, first his own, then those of the Tribunes and leaders of the
legions, to the bravest soldiers impartially; that thus mounted they
might begin the charge, followed by the foot.

Amongst the Germans there was not less agitation, from hopes of victory,
greediness of spoil, and the opposite counsels of their leaders.
Arminius proposed "to let the Romans march off, and to beset them
in their march, when engaged in bogs and fastnesses." The advice of
Inguiomerus was fiercer, and thence by the Barbarians more applauded:
he declared "for forcing the camp, for that the victory would be quick,
there would be more captives, and entire plunder." As soon, therefore,
as it was light, they rushed out upon the camp, cast hurdles into
the ditch, attacked and grappled the palisade. Upon it few soldiers
appeared, and these seemed frozen with fear; but as the enemy was in
swarms, climbing the ramparts, the signal was given to the cohorts;
the cornets and trumpets sounded, and instantly, with shouts and
impetuosity, they issued out and begirt the assailants. "Here are no
thickets," they scornfully cried; "no bogs; but an equal field and
impartial Gods." The enemy, who imagined few Romans remaining, fewer
arms, and an easy conquest, were struck with the sounding trumpets, with
the glittering armour; and every object of terror appeared double to
them who expected none. They fell like men who, as they are void of
moderation in prosperity, are also destitute of conduct in distress.
Arminius forsook the fight unhurt; Inguiomerus grievously wounded; their
men were slaughtered as long as day and rage lasted. In the evening the
legions returned, in the same want of provisions, and with more wounds;
but in victory they found all things, health, vigour, and abundance.

In the meantime a report had flown, that the Roman forces were routed,
and an army of Germans upon full march to invade Gaul; so that under
the terror of this news there were those whose cowardice would have
emboldened them to have demolished the bridge upon the Rhine, had not
Agrippina restrained them from that infamous attempt. In truth, such was
the undaunted spirit of the woman, that at this time she performed all
the duties of a general, relieved the necessitous soldiers, upon the
wounded bestowed medicines, and upon others clothes. Caius Plinius,
the writer of the German wars, relates that she stood at the end of
the bridge, as the legions returned, and accosted them with thanks and
praises; a behaviour which sunk deep into the spirit of Tiberius: "For
that all this officiousness of hers," he thought, "could not be upright;
nor that it was against foreigners only she engaged the army. To the
direction of the generals nothing was now left, when a woman reviewed
the companies, attended the Eagles, and to the men distributed
largesses: as if before she had shown but small tokens of ambitious
designs, in carrying her child (the son of the General) in a soldier's
coat about the camp, with the title of Caesar Caligula: already in
greater credit with the army was Agrippina than the leaders of the
legions, in greater than their generals; and a woman had suppressed
sedition, which the authority of the Emperor was not able to restrain."
These jealousies were inflamed, and more were added, by Sejanus; one who
was well skilled in the temper of Tiberius, and purposely furnished him
with sources of hatred, to lie hid in his heart, and be discharged with
increase hereafter. Germanicus, in order to lighten the ships in which
he had embarked his men, and fit their burden to the ebbs and shallows,
delivered the second and fourteenth legions to Publius Vitellius, to
lead them by land. Vitellius at first had an easy march on dry ground,
or ground moderately overflowed by the tide, when suddenly the fury of
the north wind swelling the ocean (a constant effect of the equinox) the
legions were surrounded and tossed with the tide, and the land was all
on flood; the sea, the shore, the fields, had the same tempestuous face;
no distinction of depths from shallows; none of firm, from deceitful,
footing. They were overturned by the billows, swallowed down by the
eddies; and horses, baggage, and drowned men encountered each other,
and floated together. The several companies were mixed at random by
the waves; they waded, now breast high, now up to the chin, and as the
ground failed them, they fell, some never more to rise. Their cries and
mutual encouragements availed them nothing against the prevailing and
inexorable waves; no difference between the coward and the brave, the
wise and the foolish; none between circumspection and chance; but
all were equally involved in the invincible violence of the flood.
Vitellius, at length struggling on to an eminence, drew the legions
thither, where they passed the cold night without fire, and destitute of
every convenience; most of them naked or lamed; not less miserable than
men enclosed by an enemy; for even to such remained the consolation of
an honourable death; but here was destruction every way void of glory.
The land returned with the day, and they marched to the river Vidrus,
[Footnote: Weser.] whither Germanicus had gone with the fleet. There the
two legions were again embarked, when fame had given them for drowned;
nor was their escape believed till Germanicus and the army were seen to
return.

Stertinius, who in the meanwhile had been sent before to receive
Sigimerus, the brother of Segestes (a prince willing to surrender
himself) brought him and his son to the city of the Ubians. Both were
pardoned; the father freely, the son with more difficulty, because he
was said to have insulted the corpse of Varus. For the rest, Spain,
Italy, and both the Gauls strove with emulation to supply the losses of
the army; and offered arms, horses, money, according as each abounded.
Germanicus applauded their zeal; but accepted only the horses and
arms for the service of the war. With his own money he relieved the
necessities of the soldiers: and to soften also by his kindness the
memory of the late havoc, he visited the wounded, extolled the exploits
of particulars, viewed their wounds, with hopes encouraged some, with
a sense of glory animated others; and by affability and tenderness
confirmed them all in devotion to himself and to his fortune in war.

The ornaments of triumph were this year decreed to Aulus Caecina, Lucius
Apronius, and Caius Silius, for their services under Germanicus. The
title of Father of his Country, so often offered by the people to
Tiberius, was rejected by him; nor would he permit swearing upon his
acts, though the same was voted by the Senate. Against it he urged "the
instability of all mortal things, and that the higher he was raised
the more slippery he stood." But for all this ostentation of a popular
spirit, he acquired not the reputation of possessing it, for he had
revived the law concerning violated majesty; a law which, in the days
of our ancestors, had indeed the same name, but implied different
arraignments and crimes, namely, those against the State; as when an
army was betrayed abroad, when seditions were raised at home; in short,
when the public was faithlessly administered and the majesty of the
Roman People was debased: these were actions, and actions were punished,
but words were free. Augustus was the first who brought libels under the
penalties of this wrested law, incensed as he was by the insolence of
Cassius Severus, who had in his writings wantonly defamed men and ladies
of illustrious quality. Tiberius too afterwards, when Pompeius Macer,
the Praetor, consulted him "whether process should be granted upon
this law?" answered, "That the laws must be executed." He also
was exasperated by satirical verses written by unknown authors and
dispersed; exposing his cruelty, his pride, and his mind naturally
alienated from his mother.

It will be worth while to relate here the pretended crimes charged upon
Falanius and Rubrius, two Roman knights of small fortunes; that hence
may be seen from what beginnings, and by how much dark art of Tiberius,
this grievous mischief crept in; how it was again restrained; how at
last it blazed out and consumed all things. To Falanius was objected
by his accusers, that "amongst the adorers of Augustus, who went in
fraternities from house to house, he had admitted one Cassius, a mimic
and prostitute; and having sold his gardens, had likewise with them sold
the statue of Augustus." The crime imputed to Rubrius was, "That he had
sworn falsely by the divinity of Augustus." When these accusations
were known to Tiberius, he wrote to the consuls, "That Heaven was not
therefore decreed to his father, that the worship of him might be a
snare to the citizens of Rome; that Cassius, the player, was wont to
assist with others of his profession at the interludes consecrated by
his mother to the memory of Augustus: neither did it affect religion,
that his effigies, like other images of the Gods, were comprehended in
the sale of houses and gardens. As to the false swearing by his name,
it was to be deemed the same as if Rubrius had profaned the name of
Jupiter; but to the Gods belonged the avenging of injuries done to the
Gods."

Not long after, Granius Marcellus, Praetor of Bithynia, was charged with
high treason by his own Quaestor, Cepio Crispinus; Romanus Hispo, the
pleader, supporting the charge. This Cepio began a course of life which,
through the miseries of the times and the bold wickedness of men, became
afterwards famous: at first needy and obscure, but of a busy spirit,
he made court to the cruelty of the Prince by occult informations; and
presently, as an open accuser, grew terrible to every distinguished
Roman. This procured him credit with one, hatred from all, and made a
precedent to be followed by others, who from poverty became rich; from
being contemned, dreadful; and in the destruction which they brought
upon others, found at last their own. He accused Marcellus of "malignant
words concerning Tiberius," an inevitable crime! when the accuser,
collecting all the most detestable parts of the Prince's character,
alleged them as the expressions of the accused; for, because they were
true, they were believed to have been spoken. To this, Hispo added,
"That the statue of Marcellus was by him placed higher than those of the
Caesars; and that, having cut off the head of Augustus, he had in the
room of it set the head of Tiberius." This enraged him so, that breaking
silence, he cried, "He would himself, in this cause, give his vote
explicitly and under the tie of an oath." By this he meant to force the
assent of the rest of the Senate. There remained even then some faint
traces of expiring liberty. Hence Cneius Piso asked him, "In what place,
Caesar, will you choose to give your opinion? If first, I shall have
your example to follow; if last, I fear I may ignorantly dissent from
you." The words pierced him, but he bore them, the rather as he was
ashamed of his unwary transport; and he suffered the accused to be
acquitted of high treason. To try him for the public money was referred
to the proper judges.

Nor sufficed it Tiberius to assist in the deliberations of the Senate
only: he likewise sat in the seats of justice; but always on one side,
because he would not dispossess the Praetor of his chair; and by his
presence there, many ordinances were established against the intrigues
and solicitations of the Grandees. But while private justice was thus
promoted, public liberty was overthrown. About this time, Pius Aurelius,
the Senator, whose house, yielding to the pressure of the public road
and aqueducts, had fallen, complained to the Senate and prayed relief:
a suit opposed by the Praetors who managed the treasury; but he was
relieved by Tiberius, who ordered him the price of his house; for he
was fond of being liberal upon honest occasions: a virtue which he long
retained, even after he had utterly abandoned all other virtues. Upon
Propertius Celer, once Praetor, but now desiring leave to resign the
dignity of Senator, as a burden to his poverty, he bestowed a thousand
great sesterces; [Footnote: £8333.] upon ample information, that Celer's
necessities were derived from his father. Others, who attempted the same
thing, he ordered to lay their condition before the Senate; and from
an affectation of severity was thus austere even where he acted with
uprightness. Hence the rest preferred poverty and silence to begging and
relief.

The same year the Tiber, being swelled with continual rains, overflowed
the level parts of the city; and the common destruction of men and
houses followed the returning flood. Hence Asinius Callus moved "that
the Sibylline books might be consulted." Tiberius opposed it, equally
smothering all inquiries whatsoever, whether into matters human or
divine. To Ateius Capito, however, and Lucius Arruntius, was committed
the care of restraining the river within its banks. The provinces of
Achaia and Macedon, praying relief from their public burdens, were for
the present discharged of their Proconsular government, and subjected to
the Emperor's lieutenants. In the entertainment of gladiators at Rome,
Drusus presided: it was exhibited in the name of Germanicus, and his
own; and at it he manifested too much lust of blood, even of the blood
of slaves: a quality terrible to the populace; and hence his father
was said to have reproved him. His own absence from these shows was
variously construed: by some it was ascribed to his impatience of a
crowd; by others to his reserved and solitary genius, and his fear of
an unequal comparison with Augustus, who was wont to be a cheerful
spectator. But, that he thus purposely furnished matter for exposing the
cruelty of his son there, and for raising him popular hate, is what I
would not believe; though this too was asserted.

The dissensions of the theatre, begun last year, broke out now more
violently, with the slaughter of several, not of the people only, but of
the soldiers, with that of a Centurion. Nay, a Tribune of a Praetorian
cohort was wounded, whilst they were securing the magistrates from
insults, and quelling the licentiousness of the rabble. This riot was
canvassed in the Senate, and votes were passing for empowering the
Praetors to whip the players. Haterius Agrippa, Tribune of the People,
opposed it; and was sharply reprimanded by a speech of Asinius Gallus.
Tiberius was silent, and to the Senate allowed these empty apparitions
of liberty. The opposition, however, prevailed, in reverence to the
authority of Augustus; who, upon a certain occasion, had given his
judgment, "that players were exempt from stripes:" nor would Tiberius
assume to violate any words of his. To limit the wages of players, and
restrain the licentiousness of their partisans, many decrees were made:
the most remarkable were, "That no Senator should enter the house of a
pantomime; no Roman Knight attend them abroad; they should show nowhere
but in the theatre; and the Praetors should have power to punish any
insolence in the spectators with exile."

The Spaniards were, upon their petition, permitted to build a temple
to Augustus in the colony of Tarragon; an example this for all the
provinces to follow. In answer to the people, who prayed to be relieved
from the _centesima_, a tax of one in the hundred, established at the
end of the civil wars, upon all vendible commodities; Tiberius by an
edict declared, "That upon this tax depended the fund for maintaining
the army; nor even thus was the Commonwealth equal to the expense, if
before their twentieth year the veterans were dismissed." So that
the concessions made them during the late sedition, to discharge
them finally at the end of sixteen years, as they were made through
necessity, were for the future abolished.

It was next proposed to the Senate, by Arruntius and Ateius, whether,
in order to restrain the overflowing of the Tiber, the channels of the
several rivers and lakes by which it was swelled, must not be diverted.
Upon this question the deputies of several cities and colonies were
heard. The Florentines besought, "that the bed of the Clanis [Footnote:
Chiana.] might not be turned into their river Arnus; [Footnote: Arno.]
for that the same would prove their utter ruin." The like plea was urged
by the Interamnates; [Footnote: Terni.] "since the most fruitful plains
in Italy would be lost, if, according to the project, the Nar, branched
out into rivulets, overflowed them." Nor were the Reatinians less
earnest against stopping the outlets of the Lake Velinus into the Nar;
"otherwise," they said, "it would break over its banks, and stagnate all
the adjacent country; the direction of nature was best in all natural
things: it was she that to rivers had appointed their courses and
discharges, and set them their limits as well as their sources. Regard
too was to be paid to the religion of our Latin allies, who, esteeming
the rivers of their country sacred, had to them dedicated Priests, and
altars, and groves; nay, the Tiber himself, when bereft of his auxiliary
streams, would flow with diminished grandeur." Now, whether it were
that the prayers of the colonies, or the difficulty of the work, or the
influence of superstition prevailed, it is certain the opinion of Piso
was followed; namely, that nothing should be altered,

To Poppeus Sabinus was continued his province of Mesia; and to it was
added that of Achaia and Macedon. This too was part of the politics of
Tiberius, to prolong governments, and maintain the same men in the same
armies, or civil employments, for the most part, to the end of
their lives; with what view, is not agreed. Some think "that from an
impatience of returning cares, he was for making whatever he once liked
perpetual." Others, "that from the malignity of his invidious nature, he
regretted the preferring of many." There are some who believe, "that
as he had a crafty penetrating spirit, so he had an understanding ever
irresolute and perplexed." So much is certain, that he never courted any
eminent virtue, yet hated vice; from the best men he dreaded danger
to himself, and disgrace to the public from the worst. This hesitation
mastered him so much at last that he committed foreign governments to
some, whom he meant never to suffer to leave Rome.

Concerning the management of consular elections, either then or
afterwards under Tiberius, I can affirm scarce anything: such is the
variance about it, not only amongst historians, but even in his own
speeches. Sometimes, not naming the candidates, he described them by
their family, by their life and manners, and by the number of their
campaigns; so as it might be apparent whom he meant. Again, avoiding
even to describe them, he exhorted the candidates not to disturb the
election by their intrigues, and promised himself to take care of
their interests. But chiefly he used to declare, "that to him none had
signified their pretensions, but such whose names he had delivered to
the Consuls; others too were at liberty to offer the like pretensions,
if they trusted to the favour of the Senate or their own merits."
Specious words! but entirely empty, or full of fraud; and by how
much they were covered with the greater guise of liberty, by so much
threatening a more hasty and devouring bondage.




BOOK II

A.D. 16-19.


The commotions in the East happened not ungratefully to Tiberius, since
then he had a colour for separating Germanicus from his old and faithful
legions; for setting him over strange provinces, and exposing him at
once to casual perils and the efforts of fraud. But he, the more ardent
he found the affections of the soldiers, and the greater the hatred of
his uncle, so much the more intent upon a decisive victory, weighed
with himself all the methods of that war, with all the disasters and
successes which had befallen him in it to this his third year. He
remembered "that the Germans were ever routed in a fair battle, and upon
equal ground; that woods and bogs, short summers, and early winters,
were their chief resources; that his own men suffered not so much from
their wounds, as from tedious marches, and the loss of their arms. The
Gauls were weary of furnishing horses; long and cumbersome was his train
of baggage, easily surprised, and with difficulty defended; but, if we
entered the country by sea, the invasion would be easy, and the enemy
unapprised. Besides, the war would be earlier begun; the legions and
provisions would be carried together; and the cavalry brought with
safety, through the mouths and channels of the rivers, into the heart of
Germany."

On that method therefore he fixed: whilst Publius Vitellius and Publius
Cantius were sent to collect the tribute of the Gauls; Silius, Anteius,
and Caecina had the direction of building the fleet. A thousand vessels
were thought sufficient, and with despatch finished: some were short,
sharp at both ends, and wide in the middle, the easier to endure the
agitations of the waves; some had flat bottoms, that without damage
they might bear to run aground; several had helms at each end, that by
suddenly turning the oars only they might work either way. Many were
arched over, for carrying the engines of war. They were fitted for
holding horses and provisions, to fly with sails, to run with oars, and
the spirit and alacrity of the soldiers heightened the show and terror
of the fleet. They were to meet at the Isle of Batavia, which was chosen
for its easy landing, for its convenience to receive the forces, and
thence to transport them to the war. For the Rhine, flowing in one
continual channel, or only broken by small islands, is, at the extremity
of Batavia, divided as it were into two rivers; one running still
through Germany, and retaining the same name and violent current, till
it mixes with the ocean; the other, washing the Gallic shore, with a
broader and more gentle stream, is by the inhabitants called by another
name, the Wahal, which it soon after changes for that of the river
Meuse, by whose immense mouth it is discharged into the same ocean.

While the fleet sailed, Germanicus commanded Silius, his lieutenant,
with a flying band, to invade the Cattans; and he himself, upon hearing
that the fort upon the river Luppia [Footnote: Lippe.] was besieged, led
six legions thither: but the sudden rains prevented Silius from doing
more than taking some small plunder, with the wife and daughter of
Arpus, Prince of the Cattans; nor did the besiegers stay to fight
Germanicus, but upon the report of his approach stole off and dispersed.
As they had, however, thrown down the common tomb lately raised over
the Varian legions, and the old altar erected to Drusus, he restored the
altar; and performed in person with the legions the funeral ceremony of
running courses to the honour of his father. To replace the tomb was
not thought fit; but all the space between Fort Aliso and the Rhine, he
fortified with a new barrier.

The fleet was now arrived, the provisions were sent forward; ships were
assigned to the legions and the allies; and he entered the canal cut
by Drusus, and called by his name. Here he invoked his father "to be
propitious to his son attempting the same enterprises; to inspire him
with the same counsels, and animate him by his example." Hence he
sailed fortunately through the lakes and the ocean to the river Amisia,
[Footnote: Ems.] and at the town of Amisia the fleet was left upon the
left shore; and it was a fault that it sailed no higher, for he landed
the army on the right shore, so that in making bridges many days were
consumed. The horse and the legions passed over without danger, as it
was yet ebb; but the returning tide disordered the rear, especially the
Batavians, while they played with the waves, and showed their dexterity
in swimming; and some were drowned. Whilst Germanicus was encamping, he
was told of the revolt of the Angrivarians behind him, and thither he
despatched a body of horse and light foot, under Stertinius, who with
fire and slaughter took vengeance on the perfidious revolters.

Between the Romans and the Cheruscans flowed the river Visurgis,
[Footnote: Weser.] and on the banks of it stood Arminius, with the other
chiefs: he inquired whether Germanicus was come; and being answered that
he was there, he prayed leave to speak with his brother. This brother
of his was in the army, his name Flavius; one remarkable for his lasting
faith towards the Romans, and for the loss of an eye in the war under
Tiberius. This request was granted: Flavius stepped forward, and was
saluted by Arminius, who, having removed his own attendance, desired
that our archers ranged upon the opposite banks might retire. When
they were withdrawn, "How came you," says he to his brother, "by that
deformity in your face?" The brother having informed him where, and
in what fight, was next asked, "what reward he had received?" Flavius
answered, "Increase of pay, the chain, the crown, and other military
gifts;" all which Arminius treated with derision, as the vile wages of
servitude.

Here began a warm contest: Flavius pleaded "the grandeur of the Roman
Empire, the power of the Emperor, the Roman clemency to submitting
nations, the heavy yoke of the vanquished; and that neither the wife nor
son of Arminius was used like a captive." Arminius to all this opposed
"the natural rights of their country, their ancient liberty, the
domestic Gods of Germany; he urged the prayers of their common mother
joined to his own, that he would not prefer the character of a deserter,
that of a betrayer of his family, his countrymen, and kindred, to the
glory of being their commander." By degrees they fell into reproaches;
nor would the interposition of the river have restrained them from
blows, had not Stertinius hasted to lay hold on Flavius, full of rage,
and calling for his arms and his horse. On the opposite side was seen
Arminius, swelling with ferocity and threats, and denouncing battle.
For, of what he said, much was said in Latin, having as the General of
his countrymen served in the Roman armies.

Next day, the German army stood embattled beyond the Visurgis.
Germanicus, who thought it became not a General to endanger the legions,
till for their passage and security he had placed bridges and guards,
made the horse ford over. They were led by Stertinius, and Aemilius,
Lieutenant-Colonel of a legion; and these two officers crossed the
river in distant places, to divide the foe. Cariovalda, Captain of the
Batavians, passed it where most rapid, and was by the Cheruscans, who
feigned flight, drawn into a plain surrounded with woods, whence they
rushed out upon him and assaulted him on every side; overthrew those who
resisted, and pressed vehemently upon those who gave way. The distressed
Batavians formed themselves into a ring, but were again broken, partly
by a close assault, partly by distant showers of darts. Cariovalda,
having long sustained the fury of the enemy, exhorted his men to draw up
into platoons, and break through the prevailing host; he himself forced
his way into their centre, and fell with his horse under a shower of
darts, and many of the principal Batavians round him; the rest were
saved by their own bravery, or rescued by the cavalry under Stertinius
and Aemilius.

Germanicus, having passed the Visurgis, learned from a deserter, that
Arminius had marked out the place of battle; that more nations had also
joined him; that they rendezvoused in a wood sacred to Hercules, and
would attempt to storm our camp by night. The deserter was believed;
the enemy's fires were discerned; and the scouts having advanced towards
them, reported that they had heard the neighing of horses, and the
hollow murmur of a mighty and tumultuous host. In this important
conjuncture, upon the approach of a decisive battle, Germanicus thought
it behoved him to learn the inclinations and spirit of the soldiers
and deliberated with himself how to be informed without fraud: "for the
reports of the Tribunes and Centurions used to be oftener pleasing than
true; his Freedmen had still slavish souls, incapable of free speech;
friends were apt to flatter; there was the same uncertainty in an
assemble, where the counsel proposed by a few was wont to be echoed by
all; in truth, the minds of the soldiery were then best known, when
they were least watched; when free and over their meals, they frankly
disclosed their hopes and fears."

In the beginning of night, he went out at the augural gate, with a
single attendant; himself disguised with the skin of a wild beast
hanging over his shoulders; and choosing secret ways, he escaped the
notice of the watch, entered the lanes of the camp, listened from tent
to tent, and enjoyed the pleasing display of his own popularity and
fame; as one was magnifying the imperial birth of his general; another,
his graceful person; and all, his patience, condescension, and the
equality of his soul in every temper, pleasant or grave: they confessed
the gratitude due to so much merit, and that in battle they ought to
express it, and to sacrifice at the same time to glory and revenge these
perfidious Germans, who for ever violated stipulations and peace. In the
meantime one of the enemy who understood Latin rode up to the palisades,
and with a loud voice offered, in the name of Arminius, to every
deserter a wife and land, and as long as the war lasted an hundred
sesterces a day. [Footnote: 16s. 8d.] This contumely kindled the wrath
of the legions: "Let day come," they cried, "let battle be given: the
soldiers would seize and not accept the lands of the Germans; take and
not receive German wives; they, however, received the offer as an omen
of victory, and considered the money and women as their destined prey."
Near the third watch of the night, they approached and insulted the
camp; but without striking a blow, when they found the ramparts covered
thick with cohorts, and no advantage given.

Germanicus had the same night a joyful dream: he thought he sacrificed,
and, in place of his own robe besmeared with the sacred blood, received
one fairer from the hands of his grandmother Augusta; so that elevated
by the omen, and by equal encouragement from the auspices, he called an
assembly, where he opened his deliberations concerning the approaching
battle with all the advantages contributing to victory: "That to the
Roman soldiers not only plains and dales, but, with due circumspection,
even woods and forests were commodious for an engagement. The huge
targets, the enormous spears, of the Barbarians could never be wielded
amongst thickets and trunks of trees like Roman swords and javelins,
and armour adjusted to the shape and size of their bodies, so that with
these tractable arms they might thicken their blows, and strike with
certainty at the naked faces of the enemy, since the Germans were
neither furnished with headpiece nor coat of mail, nor were their
bucklers bound with leather or fortified with iron, but all bare
basket-work or painted boards; and though their first ranks were armed
with pikes, the rest had only stakes burnt at the end, or short and
contemptible darts; for their persons, as they were terrible to sight
and violent in the onset, so they were utterly impatient of wounds,
unaffected with their own disgrace, unconcerned for the honour of their
general, whom they ever deserted and fled; in distress cowards, in
prosperity despisers of all divine, of all human laws. In fine, if the
army, after their fatigues at sea and their tedious marches by land,
longed for an utter end of their labour, by this battle they might gain
it. The Elbe was now nearer than the Rhine; and if they would make him
a conqueror in those countries where his father and his uncle had
conquered, the war was concluded." The ardour of the soldiers followed
the speech of the general, and the signal for the onset was given.

Neither did Arminius or the other chiefs neglect to declare to their
several bands that "these Romans were the cowardly fugitives of the
Varian army, who, because they could not endure to fight, had afterwards
chosen to rebel. That some with backs deformed by wounds, some with
limbs maimed by tempests, forsaken of hope, and the Gods against them,
were once more presenting their lives to their vengeful foes. Hitherto a
fleet, and unfrequented seas, had been the resources of their cowardice
against an assaulting or a pursuing enemy; but now that they were to
engage hand to hand, vain would be their relief from wind and oars after
a defeat. The Germans needed only remember their rapine, cruelty, and
pride; and that to themselves nothing remained but either to maintain
their native liberty, or by death to prevent bondage."

The enemy, thus inflamed and calling for battle, were led into a
plain called Idistavisus: [Footnote: Near Minden.] it lies between the
Visurgis and the hills, and winds unequally along, as it is straitened
by the swellings of the mountains or enlarged by the circuits of the
river. Behind rose a forest of high trees, thick of branches above but
clear of bushes below. The army of Barbarians kept the plain, and
the entrances of the forest. The Cheruscans alone sat down upon the
mountain, in order to pour down from thence upon the Romans as soon as
they became engaged in the fight. Our army marched thus: the auxiliary
Gauls and Germans in front, after them the foot archers, next four
legions, and then Germanicus with two Praetorian cohorts and the choice
of the cavalry; then four legions more, and the light foot with archers
on horseback and the other troops of the allies; the men all intent to
march in order of battle and ready to engage as they marched.

As the impatient bands of Cheruscans were now perceived descending
fiercely from the hills, Germanicus commanded a body of the best horse
to charge them in the flank, and Stertinius with the rest to wheel round
to attack them in the rear, and promised to be ready to assist them in
person. During this a joyful omen appeared: eight eagles were seen
to fly toward the wood, and to enter it; a presage of victory to the
General. "_Advance_," he cried, "_follow the Roman birds; follow the
tutelar Deities of the legions!_" Instantly the foot charged the enemy's
front, and instantly the detached cavalry attacked their flank and rear:
this double assault had a strange event; the two divisions of their
army fled opposite ways; that in the woods ran to the plain; that in the
plain rushed into the woods. The Cheruscans, between both, were driven
from the hills; amongst them Arminius, remarkably brave, who with his
hand, his voice, and distinguished wounds was still sustaining the
fight. He had assaulted the archers, and would have broken through them,
but the cohorts of the Retians, the Vindelicians, and the Gauls marched
to their relief; however, by his own vigour and the force of his horse,
he escaped, his face besmeared with his own blood to avoid being
known. Some have related that the Chaucians, who were amongst the
Roman auxiliaries, knew him, and let him go; the same bravery or deceit
procured Inguiomerus his escape; the rest were everywhere slain; and
great numbers attempting to swim the Visurgis were destroyed in it,
either pursued with darts, or swallowed by the current, or overwhelmed
with the weight of the crowd, or buried under the falling banks; some
seeking a base refuge on the tops of trees, and concealment amongst the
branches, were shot in sport by the archers, or squashed as the trees
were felled: a mighty victory this, and to us far from bloody!

This slaughter of the foe, from the fifth hour of the day till night,
filled the country for ten miles with carcasses and arms: amongst the
spoils, chains were found, which, sure of conquering, they had brought
to bind the Roman captives. The soldiers proclaimed Tiberius _Imperator_
upon the field of battle, and raising a mount, placed upon it as
trophies the German arms, with the names of all the vanquished nations
inscribed below.

This sight filled the Germans with more anguish and rage than all their
wounds, past afflictions, and slaughters. They, who were just prepared
to abandon their dwellings, and flit beyond the Elbe, meditate war and
grasp their arms: people, nobles, youth, aged, all rush suddenly upon
the Roman army in its march and disorder it. They next chose their
camp, a strait and moist plain shut in between a river and a forest, the
forest too surrounded with a deep marsh, except on one side, which was
closed with a barrier raised by the Angrivarians between them and the
Cheruscans. Here stood their foot; their horse were distributed and
concealed amongst the neighbouring groves, thence, by surprise, to beset
the legions in the rear as soon as they had entered the wood.

Nothing of all this was a secret to Germanicus: he knew their counsels,
their stations, what steps they pursued, what measures they concealed;
and, to the destruction of the enemy, turned their own subtilty and
devices. To Seius Tubero, his Lieutenant, he committed the horse and
the field; the infantry so disposed, that part might pass the level
approaches into the wood, and the rest force the ramparts; this was the
most arduous task, and to himself he reserved it; the rest he left to
his Lieutenants. Those who had the even ground to traverse, broke easily
in; but they who were to assail the rampart, were as grievously battered
from above, as if they had been storming a wall. The General perceived
the inequality of this close attack, and drawing off the legions a small
distance, ordered the slingers to throw, and the engineers to play, to
beat off the enemy: immediately showers of darts were poured from the
engines, and the defenders of the barrier, the more bold and exposed
they were, with the more wounds they were beaten down. Germanicus,
having taken the rampart, first forced his way, at the head of the
Praetorian cohorts, into the woods, and there it was fought foot to
foot; behind, the enemy were begirt with the morass, the Romans with the
mountains or the rivers; no room for either to retreat, no hope but in
valour, no safety but in victory.

The Germans had no inferior courage, but they were exceeded in the
fashion of arms and art of fighting. Their mighty multitude, hampered
in narrow places, could not push nor recover their long spears, nor
practise in a close combat their usual boundings and velocity of limbs.
On the contrary, our soldiers, with handy swords, and their breasts
closely guarded with a buckler, delved the large bodies and naked faces
of the Barbarians, and opened themselves a way with a havoc of the
enemy: besides, the activity of Arminius now failed him, either spent
through his continual efforts or slackened by a wound just received.
Inguiomerus was everywhere upon the spur, animating the battle, but
fortune rather than courage deserted him. Germanicus, to be the easier
known, pulled off his helmet, and exhorted his men "to prosecute the
slaughter; they wanted no captives," he said; "only the cutting off that
people root and branch would put an end to the war." It was now late
in the day, and he drew off a legion to make a camp; the rest glutted
themselves till night, with the blood of the foe; the horse fought with
doubtful success.

Germanicus, in a speech from the tribunal, praised his victorious army,
and raised a monument of arms with a proud inscription: "That the army
of Tiberius Caesar, having vanquished entirely the nations between the
Rhine and the Elbe, had consecrated that monument to Mars, to Jupiter,
and to Augustus." Of himself, he made no mention, either fearful of
provoking envy, or that he thought it sufficient praise to have deserved
it. He had next commanded Stertinius to carry the war amongst the
Angrivarians; but they instantly submitted; and these supplicants, by
yielding without articles, obtained pardon without reserve.

The summer now declining, some of the legions were sent back into winter
quarters by land; more were embarked with Germanicus upon the river
Amisia, to go from thence by the ocean. The sea at first was serene, no
sound or agitation but from the oars or sails of a thousand ships; but
suddenly a black host of clouds poured a storm of hail; furious winds
roared on every side, and the tempest darkened the deep, so that all
prospect was lost; and it was impossible to steer. The soldiers too,
unaccustomed to the terrors of the sea, in the hurry of fear disordered
the mariners, or interrupted the skilful by unskilful help. At last the
south wind, mastering all the rest, drove the ocean and the sky: the
tempest derived new force from the windy mountains and swelling rivers
of Germany, as well as from an immense train of clouds; and contracting
withal fresh vigour from the boisterous neighbourhood of the north, it
hurled the ships and tossed them into the open ocean, or against islands
shored with rocks or dangerously beset with covered shoals. The ships
by degrees, with great labour and the change of the tide, were relieved
from the rocks and sands, but remained at the mercy of the winds; their
anchors could not hold them; they were full of water, nor could all
their pumps discharge it: hence, to lighten and raise the vessels
swallowing at their decks the invading waves, the horses, beasts,
baggage, and even the arms were cast into the deep.

By how much the German ocean is more outrageous than the rest of the
sea, and the German climate excels in rigour, by so much this ruin was
reckoned to exceed in greatness and novelty. They were engaged in a
tempestuous sea, believed deep without bottom, vast without bounds, or
no shores near but hostile shores: part of the fleet were swallowed up;
many were driven upon remote islands void of human culture, where the
men perished through famine, or were kept alive by the carcasses of
horses cast in by the flood. Only the galley of Germanicus landed upon
the coast of the Chaucians, where wandering sadly, day and night, upon
the rocks and prominent shore, and incessantly accusing himself as
the author of such mighty destruction, he was hardly restrained by his
friends from casting himself desperately into the same hostile floods.
At last, with the returning tide and an assisting gale, the ships began
to return, all maimed, almost destitute of oars, or with coats spread
for sails; and some, utterly disabled, were dragged by those that
were less. He repaired them hastily, and despatched them to search the
islands; and by this care many men were gleaned up; many were by the
Angrivarians, our new subjects, redeemed from their maritime neighbours
and restored; and some, driven into Great Britain, were sent back by the
little British kings. Those who had come from afar, recounted wonders
at their return, "the impetuosity of whirlwinds; wonderful birds; sea
monsters of ambiguous forms, between man and beasts." Strange sights
these! or the effects of imagination and fear.

The noise of this wreck, as it animated the Germans with hopes of
renewing the war, awakened Germanicus also to restrain them: he
commanded Caius Silius, with thirty thousand foot and three thousand
horse, to march against the Cattans: he himself, with a greater force,
invaded the Marsians, where he learnt from Malovendus, their general,
lately taken into our subjection, that the Eagle of one of Varus's
legions was hid underground in a neighbouring grove, and kept by a
slender guard. Instantly two parties were despatched; one to face the
enemy and provoke them from their post; the other to beset their rear
and dig up the Eagle; and success attended both. Hence Germanicus
advanced with great alacrity, laid waste the country, and smote the
foe, either not daring to engage, or, wherever they engaged, suddenly
defeated. Nor, as we learnt from the prisoners, were they ever seized
with greater dismay: "The Romans," they cried, "are invincible: no
calamities can subdue them: they have wrecked their fleet; their arms
are lost; our shores are covered with the bodies of their horses and
men; and yet they attack us with their usual ferocity, with the same
firmness, and with numbers as it were increased."

The army was from thence led back into winter quarters, full of joy to
have balanced, by this prosperous expedition, their late misfortune at
sea; and by the bounty of Germanicus, their joy was heightened, since to
each sufferer he caused to be paid as much as each declared he had
lost; neither was it doubted but the enemy were humbled, and concerting
measures for obtaining peace, and that the next summer would terminate
the war. But Tiberius by frequent letters urged him "to come home, there
to celebrate the triumph already decreed him; urged that he had already
tried enough of events, and tempted abundant hazards: he had indeed
fought great and successful battles; but he must likewise remember his
losses and calamities, which, however, owing to wind and waves, and no
fault of the general, were yet great and grievous. He himself had been
sent nine times into Germany by Augustus, and effected much more by
policy than arms: it was thus he had brought the Sigambrians into
subjection, thus drawn the Suevians and King Maroboduus under the bonds
of peace. The Cheruscans too, and the other hostile nations, now the
Roman vengeance was satiated, might be left to pursue their own national
feuds." Germanicus besought one year to accomplish his conquest; but
Tiberius assailed his modesty with a new bait and fresh opportunity, by
offering him another Consulship, for the administration of which he was
to attend in person at Rome. He added, "that if the war was still to
be prosecuted, Germanicus should leave a field of glory to his brother
Drusus, to whom there now remained no other; since the Empire had
nowhere a war to maintain but in Germany, and thence only Drusus
could acquire the title of Imperator, and merit the triumphal laurel."
Germanicus persisted no longer; though he knew that this was all feigned
and hollow, and saw himself invidiously torn away from a harvest of ripe
glory.

Decrees of the Senate were made for driving astrologers and magicians
out of Italy; and one of the herd, Lucius Pituanius, was precipitated
from the Tarpeian Rock: Publius Marcius, another, was, by the judgment
of the Consuls, at the sound of trumpet executed without the Esquiline
Gate, according to the ancient form.

Next time the Senate sat, long discourses against the luxury of the
city were made by Quintus Haterius, a consular, and by Octavius Fronto,
formerly Praetor; and a law was passed "against using table-plate
of solid gold, and against men debasing themselves with gorgeous and
effeminate silks." Fronto went further, and desired that "the quantities
of silver plate, the expense of furniture, and the number of domestics
might be limited;" for it was yet common for senators to depart from
the present debate and offer, as their advice, whatever they judged
conducing to the interest of the commonweal. Against him it was argued
by Asinius Callus, "That with the growth of the Empire private riches
were likewise grown, and it was no new thing for citizens to live
according to their conditions, but agreeable to the most primitive
usage: the ancient Fabricii and the later Scipios, having different
wealth, lived differently; but all suitably to the several stages of the
Commonwealth. Public property was accompanied with domestic; but when
the State rose to such a height of magnificence, the magnificence of
particulars rose too. As to plate, and train, and expense, there was no
standard of excess or frugality, but from the fortunes of men. The law,
indeed, had made a distinction between the fortunes of senators and
knights; not for any natural difference between them, but that they
who excelled in place, rank, and civil pre-eminence, might excel too in
other particulars, such as conduced to the health of the body or to the
peace and solacement of the soul; unless it were expected, that the most
illustrious citizens should sustain the sharpest cares, and undergo
the heaviest fatigues and dangers, but continue destitute of every
alleviation of fatigue and danger and care." Gallus easily prevailed,
whilst under worthy names he avowed and supported popular vices in an
assembly engaged in them. Tiberius too had said, "That it was not a
season for reformation; or, if there were any corruption of manners,
there would not be wanting one to correct them."

During these transactions, Lucius Piso, after he had declaimed bitterly
in the Senate against "the ambitious practices and intrigues of the
Forum, the corruption of the tribunals, and the inhumanity of the
pleaders breathing continual terror and impeachments," declared "he
would entirely relinquish Rome, and retire into a quiet corner of the
country, far distant and obscure." With these words he left the Senate;
Tiberius was provoked; and yet not only soothed him with gentle words,
but likewise obliged Piso's relations, by their authority or entreaties,
to retain him. The same Piso gave soon after an equal instance of the
indignation of the free spirit, by prosecuting a suit against Urgulania;
a lady whom the partial friendship of Livia had set at defiance with the
laws. Urgulania being carried, for protection, to the palace, despised
the efforts of Piso; so that neither did she submit; nor would he
desist, notwithstanding the complaints and resentments of Livia, that
in the prosecution "violence and indignity were done to her own person."
Tiberius promised to attend the trial, and assist Urgulania; but only
promised in civility to his mother, for so far he thought it became him;
and thus left the palace, ordering his guards to follow at a distance.
People the while crowded about him, and he walked with a slow and
composed air: as he lingered, and prolonged the time and way with
various discourse, the trial went on. Piso would not be mollified by the
importunity of his friends; and hence at last the Empress ordered the
payment of the money claimed by him. This was the issue of the affair:
by it, Piso lost no renown; and it signally increased the credit of
Tiberius. The power, however, of Urgulania was so exorbitant to the
State, that she disdained to appear a witness in a certain cause before
the Senate: and, when it had been always usual even for the Vestal
Virgins to attend the Forum and Courts of Justice, as oft as their
evidence was required; a Praetor was sent to examine Urgulania at her
own house.

The procrastination which happened this year in the public affairs, I
should not mention, but that the different opinions of Cneius Piso and
Asinius Gallus about it, are worth knowing. Their dispute was occasioned
by a declaration of Tiberius; "that he was about to be absent," and it
was the motion of Piso, "that for that very reason, the prosecution
of public business was the rather to be continued; since, as in the
Prince's absence, the Senate and equestrian order might administer
their several parts, the same would redound to the honour of the
Commonwealth." This was a declaration for liberty, and in it Piso had
prevented Gallus, who now in opposition said, "that nothing sufficiently
illustrious, nor suiting the dignity of the Roman People, could be
transacted but under the immediate eye of the Emperor, and therefore the
conflux of suitors and affairs from Italy and the provinces must by
all means be reserved for his presence." Tiberius heard and was silent,
while the debate was managed on both sides with mighty vehemence; but
the adjournment was carried.

A debate too arose between Gallus and the Emperor: for Gallus moved
"that the magistrates should be henceforth elected but once every five
years; that the legates of the legions, who had never exercised the
Praetorships, should be appointed Praetors; and that the Prince should
nominate twelve candidates every year." It was not doubted but this
motion had a deeper aim, and that by it the secret springs and
reserves of imperial power were invaded. But Tiberius, as if he rather
apprehended the augmentation of his power, argued "that it was a heavy
task upon his moderation, to choose so many magistrates, and to postpone
so many candidates. That disgusts from disappointments were hardly
avoided in yearly elections; though, for their solacement, fresh hopes
remained of approaching success in the next; now how great must be the
hatred, how lasting the resentment of such whose pretensions were to be
rejected beyond five years? and whence could it be foreseen that, in
so long a tract of time, the same men would continue to have the
same dispositions, the same alliances and fortunes? even an annual
designation to power made men imperious; how imperious would it make
them, if they bore the honour for five years! besides, it would multiply
every single magistrate into five, and utterly subvert the laws which
had prescribed a proper space for exercising the diligence of the
candidates, and for soliciting as well as enjoying preferments."

By this speech, in appearance popular, he still retained the spirit
and force of the sovereignty. He likewise sustained by gratuities, the
dignity of some necessitous Senators: hence it was the more wondered,
that he received with haughtiness and repulse the petition of Marcus
Hortalus, a young man of signal quality and manifestly poor. He was
the grandson of Hortensius the Orator; and had been encouraged by
the deified Augustus, with a bounty of a thousand great sestertia,
[Footnote: £8333.] to marry for posterity; purely to prevent the
extinction of a family most illustrious and renowned. The Senate were
sitting in the palace, and Hortalus having set his four children before
the door, fixed his eyes, now upon the statue of Hortensius, placed
amongst the orators; then upon that of Augustus; and instead of speaking
to the question, began on this wise: "Conscript Fathers, you see there
the number and infancy of my children; not mine by my own choice, but in
compliance with the advice of the Prince: such too was the splendour of
my ancestors, that it merited to be perpetuated in their race; but for
my own particular, who, marred by the revolution of the times, could not
raise wealth, nor engage popular favour, nor cultivate the hereditary
fortune of our house, the fortune of Eloquence: I deemed it sufficient
if, in my slender circumstances, I lived no disgrace to myself, no
burden to others. Commanded by the Emperor, I took a wife; behold
the offspring of so many Consuls; behold the descendants of so many
Dictators! nor is this remembrance invidiously made, but made to move
mercy. In the progress of your reign, Caesar, these children may arrive
at the honours in your gift; defend them in the meantime from want:
they are the great-grandsons of Hortensius; they are the foster sons of
Augustus."

The inclination of the Senate was favourable; an incitement this to
Tiberius the more eagerly to thwart Hortalus. These were in effect his
words: "If all that are poor recur hither for a provision of money to
their children, the public will certainly fail, and yet particulars
never be satiated. Our ancestors, when they permitted a departure from
the question, to propose somewhat more important to the State, did not
therefore permit it, that we might here transact domestic matters, and
augment our private rents: an employment invidious both in the Senate
and the Prince; since, whether they grant or deny the petitioned
bounties, either the people or the petitioners will ever be offended.
But these, in truth, are not petitions; they are demands made against
order, and made by surprise: while you are assembled upon other affairs,
he stands up and urges your pity, by the number and infancy of his
children; with the same violence, he charges the attack to me, and as
it were bursts open the exchequer; but if by popular bounties we exhaust
it, by rapine and oppression we must supply it. The deified Augustus
gave you money, Hortalus; but without solicitation he gave it, and on
no condition that it should always be given: otherwise diligence will
languish; sloth will prevail; and men having no hopes in resources
of their own, no anxiety for themselves, but all securely relying on
foreign relief, will become private sluggards and public burdens." These
and the like reasonings of Tiberius were differently received; with
approbation by those whose way it is to extol, without distinction,
all the doings of Princes, worthy and unworthy; by most, however, with
silence, or low and discontented murmurs. Tiberius perceived it, and
having paused a little, said "his answer was particularly to Hortalus;
but if the Senate thought fit, he would give his sons two hundred great
sestertia each." [Footnote: £1666.] For this all the Senators presented
their thanks; only Hortalus said nothing; perhaps through present awe,
or perhaps possessed, even in poverty, with the grandeur of his ancient
nobility. Nor did Tiberius ever show further pity, though the house of
Hortensius was fallen into shameful distress.

At the end of the year, a triumphal arch was raised near the Temple of
Saturn; a monument this for the recovery of the Varian Eagles, under
the conduct of Germanicus, under the auspices of Tiberius. A temple was
dedicated to Happy Fortune near the Tiber, in the gardens bequeathed to
the Roman People by Caesar, the Dictator. A chapel was consecrated to
the Julian family, and statues to the deified Augustus, in the suburbs
called Bovillae. In the consulship of Caius Celius and Lucius Pomponius,
the six-and-twentieth of May, Germanicus Caesar triumphed over the
Cheruscans, the Cattans, the Angrivarians, and the other nations as far
as the Elbe. In the triumph were carried all the spoils and captives,
with the representations of mountains, of rivers, and of battles; so
that his conquests, because he was restrained from completing them, were
taken for complete. His own graceful person, and his chariot filled with
his five children, heightened the show and the delight of the beholders;
yet they were checked with secret fears, as they remembered "that
popular favour had proved malignant to his father Drusus; that his uncle
Marcellus was snatched, in his youth, from the burning affections of the
populace; and that ever short-lived and unfortunate were the favourites
of the Roman People."

Tiberius distributed to the people, in the name of Germanicus, three
hundred sesterces a man, [Footnote: £2, 10s.] and named himself his
colleague in the Consulship. Nor even thus did he gain the opinion of
tenderness and sincerity: in effect, on pretence of investing the young
Prince with fresh preferment and honours, he resolved to alienate
him from Rome; and, to accomplish it, craftily framed an occasion, or
snatched such an one as chance presented. Archelaus had enjoyed
the kingdom of Cappadocia now fifty years; a Prince under the deep
displeasure of Tiberius, because, in his retirement at Rhodes, the King
had paid him no sort of court or distinction: an omission this which
proceeded from no disdain, but from the warnings given him by the
confidents of Augustus; for that the young Caius Caesar, the presumptive
heir to the sovereignty, then lived, and was sent to compose and
administer the affairs of the East; hence the friendship of Tiberius was
reckoned then dangerous. But when, by the utter fall of the family of
the Caesars, he had gained the Empire, he enticed Archelaus to Rome,
by means of letters from his mother, who, without dissembling her son's
resentment, offered the King his mercy, provided he came and in person
implored it. He, who was either ignorant of the snare, or dreaded
violence if he appeared to perceive it, hastened to the city, where he
was received by Tiberius with great sternness and wrath, and soon after
accused as a criminal in the Senate. The crimes alleged against him were
mere fictions; yet, as equal treatment is unusual to kings, and to be
treated like malefactors intolerable; Archelaus, who was broken with
grief as well as age, by choice or fate ended his life; his kingdom was
reduced into a province, and by its revenues Tiberius declared the tax
of a hundredth penny would be abated, and reduced it for the future to
the two hundredth. At the same time died Antiochus, king of Comagena,
as also Philopator, king of Cilicia; and great combustions shook these
nations; whilst of the people many desired Roman government, and many
were addicted to domestic monarchy. The provinces, too, of Syria and
Judea, as they were oppressed with impositions, prayed an abatement of
tribute.

These affairs, and such as I have above related concerning Armenia,
Tiberius represented to the Fathers, and "that the commotions of the
East could only be settled by the wisdom and abilities of Germanicus;
for himself, his age now declined, and that of Drusus was not yet
sufficiently ripe." The provinces beyond the sea were thence decreed to
Germanicus, with authority superior to all those who obtained provinces
by lot, or the nomination of the Prince; but Tiberius had already taken
care to remove from the government of Syria Creticus Silanus, one united
to Germanicus in domestic alliance, by having to Nero, the eldest son of
Germanicus, betrothed his daughter. In his room he had preferred Cneius
Piso, a man of violent temper, incapable of subjection, and heir to all
the ferocity and haughtiness of his father Piso; the same who, in the
civil war, assisted the reviving party against Caesar in Africa with
vehement efforts; and then followed Brutus and Cassius, but had at last
leave to come home, yet disdained to sue for any public offices; nay,
was even courted by Augustus to accept the Consulship. His son, besides
his hereditary pride and impetuosity, was elevated with the nobility and
wealth of Plancina his wife; scarce yielded he to Tiberius, and, as men
far beneath him, despised the sons of Tiberius; neither did he doubt but
he was set over Syria on purpose to thwart the measures and defeat all
the views of Germanicus. Some even believed that he had to this purpose
secret orders from Tiberius, as it was certain that Livia directed
Plancina to exert the spirit of the sex, and by constant emulation and
indignities persecute Agrippina. For the whole court was rent, and their
affections secretly divided between Drusus and Germanicus. Tiberius
was partial to Drusus, as his own son by generation; others loved
Germanicus; the more for the aversion of his uncle, and for being by his
mother of more illustrious descent; as Marc Anthony was his grandfather,
and Augustus his great-uncle. On the other side, Pomponius Atticus, a
Roman knight, by being the great-grandfather of Drusus, seemed thence
to have derived a stain upon the images of the Claudian house; besides,
Agrippina, the wife of Germanicus, did in the fruitfulness of her body
and the reputation of her virtue far excel Livia, the wife of Drusus.
Yet the two brothers lived in amiable dearness and concord, no wise
shaken or estranged by the reigning contention amongst their separate
friends and adherents.

Drusus was soon after sent into Illyricum in order to inure him to war,
and gain him the affections of the army; besides, Tiberius thought
that the youth, who loved wantoning in the luxuries of Rome, would be
reformed in the camp, and that his own security would be enlarged when
both his sons were at the head of the legions. But the pretence of
sending him was the protection of the Suevians, who were then imploring
assistance against the powers of the Cheruscans. For these nations, who
since the departure of the Romans saw themselves no longer threatened
with terrors from abroad, and were then particularly engaged in a
national competition for glory, had relapsed, as usual, into their old
intestine feuds, and turned their arms upon each other. The two
people were equally powerful, and their two leaders equally brave; but
differently esteemed, as the title of king upon Maroboduus had drawn
the hate and aversion of his countrymen; whilst Arminius, as a champion
warring for the defence of liberty, was the universal object of popular
affection.

Hence not only the Cheruscans and their confederates, they who had been
the ancient soldiery of Arminius, took arms; but to him too revolted
the Semnones and Langobards, both Suevian nations, and even subjects of
Maroboduus; and by their accession he would have exceeded in puissance,
but Inguiomerus with his band of followers deserted to Maroboduus; for
no other cause than disdain, that an old man and an uncle like himself
should obey Arminius, a young man, his nephew. Both armies were drawn
out, with equal hopes; nor disjointed, like the old German battles, into
scattered parties for loose and random attacks; for by long war with us
they had learnt to follow their ensigns, to strengthen their main body
with parties of reserves, and to observe the orders of their generals.
Arminius was now on horseback viewing all the ranks: as he rode through
them he magnified their past feats; "their liberty recovered; the
slaughtered legions; the spoils of arms wrested from the Romans;
monuments of victory still retained in some of their hands." Upon
Maroboduus he fell with contumelious names, as "a fugitive, one of
no abilities in war; a coward who had sought defence from the gloomy
coverts of the Hercynian woods, and then by gifts and solicitations
courted the alliance of Rome; a betrayer of his country, and a
lifeguard-man of Caesar's, worthy to be exterminated with no less
hostile vengeance than in the slaughter of Quinctilius Varus they had
shown. Let them only remember so many battles bravely fought; the
events of which, particularly the utter expulsion of the Romans, were
sufficient proofs with whom remained the glory of the war."

Neither did Maroboduus fail to boast himself and depreciate the foe. "In
the person of Inguiomerus," he said (holding him by the hand), "rested
the whole renown of the Cheruscans; and from his counsels began all
their exploits that ended in success. Arminius, a man of a frantic
spirit, and a novice in affairs, assumed to himself the glory of
another, for having by treachery surprised three legions, which expected
no foe, and their leader, who feared no fraud; a base surprise, revenged
since on Germany with heavy slaughters, and on Arminius himself with
domestic infamy, while his wife and his son still bore the bonds of
captivity. For himself, when attacked formerly by Tiberius at the head
of twelve legions, he had preserved unstained the glory of Germany, and
on equal terms ended the war. Nor did he repent of the treaty, since it
was still in their hands to wage anew equal war with the Romans, or
save blood and maintain peace." The armies, besides the incitements from
these speeches, were animated by national stimulations of their own.
The Cheruscans fought for their ancient renown; the Langobards for their
recent liberty; and the Suevians and their king, on the contrary, were
struggling for the augmentation of their monarchy. Never did armies make
a fiercer onset; never had onset a more ambiguous event; for both the
right wings were routed, and hence a fresh encounter was certainly
expected, till Maroboduus drew off his army and encamped upon the
hills; a manifest sign this that he was humbled. Frequent desertions too
leaving him at last naked of forces, he retired to the Marcomannians,
and thence sent ambassadors to Tiberius to implore succours. They were
answered, "That he had no right to invoke aid of the Roman arms against
the Cheruscans, since to the Romans, while they were warring with
the same foe, he had never administered any assistance." Drusus was,
however, sent away, as I have said, with the character of a negotiator
of peace.

The same year twelve noble cities of Asia were overturned by an
earthquake: the ruin happened in the night, and the more dreadful as its
warnings were unobserved; neither availed the usual sanctuary against
such calamities, namely, a flight to the fields, since those who
fled, the gaping earth devoured. It is reported "that mighty mountains
subsided, plains were heaved into high hills: and that with flashes and
eruptions of fire, the mighty devastation was everywhere accompanied."
The Sardians felt most heavily the rage of the concussion, and therefore
most compassion: Tiberius promised them an hundred thousand great
sesterces, [Footnote: £83,000.] and remitted their taxes for five years.
The inhabitants of Magnesia, under Mount Sipylus, were held the next in
sufferings, and had proportionable relief. The Temnians, Philadelphians,
the Aegeatans, Apollonians, with those called the Mostenians or
Macedonians of Hyrcania, the cities too of Hierocaesarea, Cyme, and
Tmolus, were all for the same term eased of tribute. It was likewise
resolved to send one of the Senate to view the desolations and
administer proper remedies: Marcus Aletus was therefore chosen, one of
Praetorian rank; because, a Consular Senator then governing Asia, had
another of the like quality been sent, an emulation between equals was
apprehended, and consequently opposition and delays.

The credit of this noble bounty to the public, he increased by private
liberalities, which proved equally popular: the estate of the wealthy
Aemilia Musa, claimed by the exchequer, as she died intestate, he
surrendered to Aemilius Lepidus, to whose family she seemed to belong;
as also to Marcus Servilius the inheritance of Patuleius, a rich Roman
knight, though part of it had been bequeathed to himself; but he found
Servilius named sole heir in a former and well-attested will. He said
such was "the nobility of both, that they deserved to be supported." Nor
did he ever to himself accept any man's inheritance, but where former
friendship gave him a title. The wills of such as were strangers to him,
and of such as, from hate and prejudice to others, had appointed the
Prince their heir, he utterly rejected. But, as he relieved the honest
poverty of the virtuous, so he degraded from the Senate (or suffered
to quit it of their own accord) Vibidius Varro, Marius Nepos, Appius
Appianus, Cornelius Sylla, and Quintus Vitellius, all prodigals, and
only through debauchery indigent.

About this time Tiberius finished and consecrated what Augustus began,
the Temples of the Gods consumed by age or fire: that near the great
Circus, vowed by Aulus Posthumius the Dictator, to Bacchus, Proserpina,
and Ceres. In the same place the Temple of Flora, founded by Lucius
Publicius and Marcus Publicius while they were Aediles. The Temple of
Janus, built in the Herb Market by Caius Duillius, who first
signalised the Roman power at sea, and merited a naval triumph over the
Carthaginians. That of Hope was dedicated by Germanicus: this temple
Atilius had vowed in the same war.

The Consuls for the following year were, Tiberius the third time,
Germanicus the second. This dignity overtook Germanicus at Nicopolis,
a city of Achaia, whither he arrived by the coast of Illyricum, from
visiting his brother Drusus, then abiding in Dalmatia; and had suffered
a tempestuous passage, both in the Adriatic and Ionian Sea: he therefore
spent a few days to repair his fleet, and viewed the while the Bay
of Actium renowned for the naval victory there; as also the spoils
consecrated by Augustus, and the Camp of Anthony, with an affecting
remembrance of these his ancestors; for Anthony, as I have said, was
his great uncle, Augustus his grandfather; hence this scene proved to
Germanicus a mighty source of images pleasing and sad. Next he proceeded
to Athens, where in concession to that ancient city, allied to Rome,
he would use but one Lictor. The Greeks received him with the most
elaborate honours, and to dignify their personal flattery, carried
before him tablatures of the signal deeds and sayings of his ancestors.

Hence he sailed to Eubea, thence to Lesbos, where Agrippina was
delivered of Julia, who proved her last birth; then he kept the coast of
Asia and visited Perinthus and Byzantium, cities of Thrace, and entered
the straits of Propontis, and the mouth of the Euxine; fond of beholding
ancient places long celebrated by fame: he relieved at the same time,
the provinces wherever distracted with intestine factions, or aggrieved
with the oppressions of their magistrates. In his return he strove to
see the religious rites of the Samothracians, but by the violence of the
north wind was repulsed from the shore. As he passed, he saw Troy and
her remains, venerable for the vicissitude of her fate, and for the
birth of Rome: regaining the coast of Asia, he put in at Colophon, to
consult there the oracle of the Clarian Apollo: it is no Pythoness that
represents the God here, as at Delphos, but a Priest, one chosen from
certain families, chiefly of Miletus; neither requires he more than just
to hear the names and numbers of the querists, and then descends into
the oracular cave; where, after a draught of water from a secret spring,
though ignorant for the most part of letters and poetry, he yet utters
his answers in verse, which has for its subject the conceptions and
wishes of each consultant. He was even said to have sung to Germanicus
his hastening fate, but as oracles are wont, in terms dark and doubtful.

But Cneius Piso, hurrying to the execution of his purposes, terrified
the city of Athens by a tempestuous entry, and reproached them in a
severe speech, with oblique censure of Germanicus, "that debasing the
dignity of the Roman name, he had paid excessive court, not to the
Athenians by so many slaughters long since extinct, but to the then
mixed scum of nations there; for that these were they who had leagued
with Mithridates against Sylla, and with Anthony against Augustus." He
even charged them with the errors and misfortunes of ancient Athens; her
impotent attempts against the Macedonians; her violence and ingratitude
to her own citizens. He was also an enemy to their city from personal
anger; because they would not pardon at his request one Theophilus
condemned by the Areopagus for forgery. From thence sailing hastily
through the Cyclades, and taking the shortest course, he overtook
Germanicus at Rhodes, but was there driven by a sudden tempest upon
the rocks: and Germanicus, who was not ignorant with what malignity and
invectives he was pursued, yet acted with so much humanity, that when
he might have left him to perish, and to casualty have referred the
destruction of his enemy; he despatched galleys to rescue him from the
wreck. This generous kindness however assuaged not the animosity of
Piso; and scarce could he brook a day's delay with Germanicus, but left
him in haste to arrive in Syria before him: nor was he sooner there, and
found himself amongst the legions, than he began to court the common
men by bounties and caresses, to assist them with his countenance and
credit, to form factions, to remove all the ancient centurions and every
tribune of remarkable discipline and severity, and, in their places, to
put dependents of his own, or men recommended only by their crimes; he
permitted sloth in the camp, licentiousness in the towns, a rambling
and disorderly soldiery, and carried the corruption so high, that in the
discourses of the herd, he was styled _Father of the Legions_. Nor did
Plancina restrain herself to a conduct seemly in her sex, but frequented
the exercises of the cavalry, and attended the decursions of the
cohorts; everywhere inveighing against Agrippina, everywhere against
Germanicus; and some even of the most deserving soldiers became prompt
to base obedience, from a rumour whispered abroad, "that all this was
not unacceptable to Tiberius."

These doings were all known to Germanicus; but his more instant care
was to visit Armenia, an inconstant and restless nation this from the
beginning; inconstant from the genius of the people, as well as from the
situation of their country, which bordering with a large frontier on our
provinces, and stretching thence quite to Media, is enclosed between
the two great Empires, and often at variance with them; with the Romans
through antipathy and hatred, with the Parthians through competition and
envy. At this time and ever since the removal of Vonones, they had no
king; but the affections of the nations leaned to Zeno, son of Polemon,
king of Pontus, because by an attachment, from his infancy, to the
fashions and customs of the Armenians, by hunting, feasting, and other
usages practised and renowned amongst the barbarians, he had equally won
the nobles and people. Upon his head therefore, at the city of Artaxata,
with the approbation of the nobles, in a great assembly, Germanicus put
the regal diadem; and the Armenians doing homage to their king, saluted
him, _Artaxias_, a name which from that of their city, they gave him.
The Cappadocians, at this time reduced into the form of a province,
received for their governor Quintus Veranius; and to raise their
hopes of the gentler dominion of Rome, several of the royal taxes were
lessened. Quintus Servaeus was set over the Comagenians, then first
subjected to the jurisdiction of a Praetor.

From the affairs of the allies, thus all successfully settled,
Germanicus reaped no pleasure, through the perverseness and pride of
Piso, who was ordered to lead by himself or his son, part of the legions
into Armenia, but contemptuously neglected to do either. They at last
met at Cyrrum, the winter quarters of the tenth legion, whither each
came with a prepared countenance; Piso to betray no fear, and Germanicus
would not be thought to threaten. He was indeed, as I have observed,
of a humane and reconcilable spirit: but, officious friends expert at
inflaming animosities, aggravated real offences, added fictitious, and
with manifold imputations charged Piso, Plancina, and their sons.
To this interview Germanicus admitted a few intimates, and began his
complaints in words such as dissembled resentment dictates. Piso replied
with disdainful submissions; and they parted in open enmity. Piso
hereafter came rarely to the tribunal of Germanicus; or, if he did, sate
sternly there, and in manifest opposition: he likewise published his
spite at a feast of the Nabathean King's, where golden crowns of great
weight were presented to Germanicus and Agrippina; but to Piso and the
rest, such as were light: "This banquet," he said, "was made for the son
of a Roman prince, not of a Parthian monarch:" with these words, he
cast away his crown, and uttered many invectives against luxury: sharp
insults and provocations these to Germanicus; yet he bore them.

In the consulship of Marcus Silanus and Lucius Norbanus, Germanicus
travelled to Egypt, to view the famous antiquities of the country;
though for the motives of the journey, the care and inspection of the
province were publicly alleged: and, indeed, by opening the granaries,
he mitigated the price of corn, and practised many things grateful to
the people; walking without guards, his feet bare, and his habit the
same with that of the Greeks; after the example of Publius Scipio, who,
we are told, was constant in the same practices in Sicily, even during
the rage of the Punic War there. For these his assumed manners and
foreign habit, Tiberius blamed him in a gentle style, but censured him
with great asperity for violating an establishment of Augustus, and
entering Alexandria without consent of the Prince. For Augustus, amongst
other secrets of power, had appropriated Egypt, and restrained the
senators, and dignified Roman knights from going thither without
licence; as he apprehended that Italy might be distressed with famine by
any who seized that province, the key to the Empire by sea and land, and
defensible by a light band of men against potent armies.

Germanicus, not yet informed that his journey was censured, sailed up
the Nile, beginning at Canopus, [Footnote: Near Aboukir.] one of its
mouths: it was built by the Spartans, as a monument to Canopus, a pilot
buried there, at the time when Menelaus returning to Greece was driven
to different seas and the Lybian continent. Hence he visited the next
mouth of the river sacred to Hercules: him the nations aver to have been
born amongst them; that he was the most ancient of the name, and that
all the rest, who with equal virtue followed his example, were, in
honour, called after him. Next he visited the mighty antiquities of
ancient Thebes; [Footnote: Karnak and Luxor.] where upon huge obelisks
yet remained Egyptian characters, describing its former opulency: one of
the oldest priests was ordered to interpret them; he said they related
"that it once contained seven hundred thousand fighting men; that with
that army King Rhamses had conquered Lybia, Ethiopia, the Medes and
Persians, the Bactrians and Scythians; and to his Empire had added
the territories of the Syrians, Armenians, and their neighbours the
Cappadocians; a tract of countries reaching from the sea of Bithynia to
that of Lycia:" here also was read the assessment of tribute laid on the
several nations; what weight of silver and gold; what number of horses
and arms; what ivory and perfumes, as gifts to the temples; what
measures of grain; what quantities of all necessaries, were by
each people paid; revenues equally grand with those exacted by the
denomination of the Parthians, or by the power of the Romans.

Germanicus was intent upon seeing other wonders: the chief were; the
effigies of Memnon, a colossus of stone, yielding when struck by the
solar rays, a vocal sound; the Pyramids rising, like mountains, amongst
rolling and almost impassable waves of sand; monuments these of the
emulation and opulency of Egyptian kings; the artificial lake, a
receptacle of the overflowing Nile; and elsewhere abysses of such
immense depth, that those, who tried, could never fathom. Thence he
proceeded to Elephantina and Syene, two islands, formerly frontiers of
the Roman empire, which is now widened to the Red Sea.

Whilst Germanicus spent this summer in several provinces, Drusus was
sowing feuds amongst the Germans, and thence reaped no light renown;
and, as the power of Maroboduus was already broken, he engaged them to
persist and complete his ruin. Amongst the Gotones was a young man of
quality, his name Catualda, a fugitive long since from the violence of
Maroboduus, but now in his distress, resolved on revenge: hence with a
stout band, he entered the borders of the Marcomannians, and corrupting
their chiefs into his alliance, stormed the regal palace, and the castle
situate near it. In the pillage were found the ancient stores of prey
accumulated by the Suevians; as also many victuallers and traders from
our provinces; men who were drawn hither from their several homes, first
by privilege of traffic, then retained by a passion to multiply gain,
and at last, through utter oblivion of their own country, fixed, like
natives, in a hostile soil.

To Maroboduus on every side forsaken, no other refuge remained but the
mercy of Caesar: he therefore passed the Danube where it washes the
province of Norica, and wrote to Tiberius; not however in the language
of a fugitive or supplicant, but with a spirit suitable to his late
grandeur, "that many nations invited him to them, as a king once so
glorious; but he preferred to all the friendship of Rome." The Emperor
answered, "that in Italy he should have a safe and honourable retreat,
and, when his affairs required his presence, the same security to
return." But to the Senate he declared, "that never had Philip of
Macedon been so terrible to the Athenians; nor Pyrrhus, nor Antiochus
to the Roman people." The speech is extant: in it he magnifies "the
greatness of the man, the fierceness and bravery of the nations his
subjects; the alarming nearness of such an enemy to Italy, and his own
artful measures to destroy him." Maroboduus was kept at Ravenna, for
a check and terror to the Suevians; as if, when at any time they grew
turbulent, he were there in readiness to recover their subjection: yet
in eighteen years he left not Italy, but grew old in exile there; his
renown too became eminently diminished; such was the price he paid for
an over-passionate love of life. The same fate had Catualda, and
no other sanctuary; he was soon after expulsed by the forces of the
Hermundurans led by Vibilius, and being received under the Roman
protection, was conveyed to Forum Julium, a colony in Narbon Gaul.
The barbarians their followers, lest, had they been mixed with the
provinces, they might have disturbed their present quiet, were placed
beyond the Danube, between the rivers Marus and Cusus, and for their
king had assigned them Vannius, by nation a Quadian.

As soon as it was known at Rome, that Artaxias was by Germanicus given
to the Armenians for their king, the fathers decreed to him and Drusus
the lesser triumph: triumphal arches were likewise erected, on each side
of the Temple of Mars the Avenger, supporting the statues of these two
Caesars; and for Tiberius, he was more joyful to have established peace
by policy, than if by battles and victories he had ended the war.

Germanicus returning from Egypt, learned that all his orders left with
the legions, and the eastern cities, were either entirely abolished,
or contrary regulations established: a ground this for his severe
reproaches and insults upon Piso. Nor less keen were the efforts and
machinations of Piso against Germanicus; yet Piso afterwards determined
to leave Syria, but was detained by the following illness of Germanicus:
again when he heard of his recovery, and perceived that vows were paid
for his restoration; the Lictors, by his command, broke the solemnity,
drove away the victims already at the altars; overturned the apparatus
of the sacrifice; and scattered the people of Antioch employed in
celebrating the festival. He then departed to Seleucia, waiting the
event of the malady which had again assaulted Germanicus. His own
persuasion too, that poison was given him by Piso, heightened the cruel
vehemence of the disease: indeed, upon the floors and walls were found
fragments of human bodies, the spoils of the grave; with charms and
incantations; and the name of Germanicus graved on sheets of lead;
carcasses half burnt, besmeared with gore; and other witchcrafts, by
which souls are thought doomed to the infernal gods: besides there
were certain persons, charged as creatures of Piso, purposely sent and
employed to watch the progress and efforts of the disease.

These things filled Germanicus with apprehensions great as his
resentment: "If his doors," he said, "were besieged, if under the eyes
of his enemies he must render up his spirit, what was to be expected to
his unhappy wife, what to his infant children?" The progress of poison
was thought too slow; Piso was impatient, and urging with eagerness to
command alone the legions, to possess alone the province: but Germanicus
was not sunk to such lowness and impotence, that the price of his murder
should remain with the murderer: and by a letter to Piso, he renounced
his friendship: some add, that he commanded him to depart the province.
Nor did Piso tarry longer, but took ship; yet checked her sailing in
order to return with the more quickness, should the death of Germanicus
the while leave the government of Syria vacant.

Germanicus, after a small revival, drooping again; when his end
approached, spoke on this wise to his attending friends: "Were I to
yield to the destiny of nature; just, even then, were my complaints
against the Gods, for hurrying me from my parents, my children, and my
country, by a hasty death, in the prime of life: now shortened in my
course by the malignity of Piso, and his wife, to your breasts I commit
my last prayers: tell my father, tell my brother, with what violent
persecutions afflicted, with what mortal snares circumvented, I end a
most miserable life by death of all others the worst. All they whose
hopes in my fortune, all they whose kindred blood, and even they whose
envy, possessed them with impressions about me whilst living, shall
bewail me dead; that once great in glory, and surviving so many wars, I
fell at last by the dark devices of a woman. To you will be place left
to complain in the Senate, and place to invoke the aid and vengeance
of the laws. To commemorate the dead with slothful wailings, is not the
principal office of friends: they are to remember his dying wishes, to
fulfil his last desires. Even strangers will lament Germanicus: you are
my friends: if you loved me rather than my fortune, you will vindicate
your friendship: show the people of Rome my wife, her who is the
grand-daughter of Augustus, and enumerate to them our six children.
Their compassion will surely attend you who accuse; and the accused, if
they pretend clandestine warrants of iniquity, will not be believed;
if believed, not pardoned." His friends, as a pledge of their fidelity,
touching the hand of the dying prince, swore that they would forego
their lives sooner than their revenge. Then turning to his wife, he
besought her "that in tenderness to his memory, in tenderness to their
common children, she would banish her haughty spirit, yield to
her hostile fortune, nor, upon her return to Rome, by an impotent
competition for ruling, irritate those who were masters of rule." So
much openly, and more in secret; whence he was believed to have warned
her of guile and danger from Tiberius. Soon after he expired, to the
heavy sorrow of the province, and of all the neighbouring countries;
insomuch that remote nations and foreign kings were mourners: such
had been his complacency to our confederates; such his humanity to his
enemies! Alike venerable he was, whether you saw him or heard him; and
without ever departing from the grave port and dignity of his sublime
rank, he yet lived destitute of arrogance and untouched by envy.

The funeral, which was performed without exterior pomp or a procession
of images, drew its solemnity from the loud praises and amiable memory
of his virtues. There were those who from his loveliness, his age,
his manner of dying, and even from the proximity of places where both
departed, compared him in the circumstances of his fate, to Great
Alexander: "Each of a graceful person, each of illustrious descent;
in years neither much exceeding thirty; both victims to the malice and
machinations of their own people, in the midst of foreign nations: but
Germanicus gentle towards his friends; his pleasures moderate; confined
to one wife; all his children by one bed; nor less a warrior, though not
so rash, and however hindered from a final reduction of Germany, broken
by him in so many victories, and ready for the yoke: so that had he been
sole arbiter of things, had he acted with the sovereignty and title of
royalty, he had easier overtaken him in the glory of conquests, as he
surpassed him in clemency, in moderation, and in other virtues." His
body, before its commitment to the pile, was exhibited naked in the
Forum of Antioch, the place where the pile was erected: whether it
bore the marks of poison, remained undecided: for, people as they were
divided in their affections, as they pitied Germanicus, and presumed the
guilt of Piso, or were partial to him, gave opposite accounts.

It was next debated amongst the legates of the legions and the other
senators there, to whom should be committed the administration of Syria:
and after the faint effort of others, it was long disputed between
Vibius Marsus and Cneius Sentius: Marsus at last yielded to Sentius, the
older man and the more vehement competitor. By him one Martina, infamous
in that province for practices in poisoning, and a close confidant of
Plancina, was sent to Rome, at the suit of Vitellius, Veranius, and
others, who were preparing criminal articles against Piso and Plancina,
as against persons evidently guilty.

Agrippina, though overwhelmed with sorrow, and her body indisposed,
yet impatient of all delays to her revenge, embarked with the ashes of
Germanicus, and her children; attended with universal commiseration,
"that a lady, in quality a princess, wont to be beheld in her late
splendid wedlock with applauses and adorations, was now seen bearing in
her bosom her husband's funeral urn, uncertain of vengeance for him and
fearful for herself; unfortunate in her fruitfulness, and from so many
children obnoxious to so many blows of fortune." Piso the while was
overtaken at the Isle of Coös by a message, "that Germanicus was
deceased," and received it intemperately, slew victims and repaired with
thanksgiving to the temples: and yet, however immoderate and undisguised
was his joy, more arrogant and insulting proved that of Plancina, who
immediately threw off her mourning, which for the death of a sister she
wore, and assumed a dress adapted to gaiety and gladness.

About him flocked the Centurions with officious representations, "that
upon him particularly were bent the affections and zeal of the legions,
and he should proceed to resume the province, at first injuriously taken
from him and now destitute of a governor." As he therefore consulted
what he had best pursue, his son Marcus Piso advised "a speedy journey
to Rome: hitherto," he said, "nothing past expiation was committed; nor
were impotent suspicions to be dreaded; nor the idle blazonings of fame:
his variance and contention with Germanicus was perhaps subject to hate
and aversion, but to no prosecution or penalty; and, by bereaving him of
the province, his enemies were gratified: but if he returned thither, as
Sentius would certainly oppose him with arms, a civil war would thence
be actually begun: neither would the Centurions and soldiers persist in
his party; men with whom the recent memory of their late commander, and
an inveterate love to the Caesarian general, were still prevalent."

Domitius Celer, one in intimate credit with Piso, argued on the
contrary, "that the present event must by all means be improved; it was
Piso and not Sentius who had commission to govern Syria; upon him, were
conferred the jurisdiction of Praetor, and the badges of magistracy, and
with him the legions were instructed: so that if acts of hostility were
by his opponents attempted, with how much better warrant could he avow
assuming arms in his own right and defence, who was thus vested with the
authority of general, and acted under special orders from the Emperor.
Rumours too were to be neglected, and left to perish with time: in
truth to the sallies and violence of recent hate the innocent were often
unequal: but were he once possessed of the army, and had well augmented
his forces, many things, not to be foreseen, would from fortune derive
success. Are we then preposterously hastening to arrive at Rome with the
ashes of Germanicus, that you may there fall, unheard and undefended, a
victim to the wailings of Agrippina, a prey to the passionate populace
governed by the first impressions of rumour? Livia, it is true, is your
confederate; Tiberius is your friend; but both secretly: and indeed none
will more pompously bewail the violent fate of Germanicus, than such as
for it do most sincerely rejoice."

Piso of himself prompt to violent pursuits, was with no great labour
persuaded into this opinion, and, in a letter transmitted to Tiberius,
accused Germanicus "of luxury and pride: that for himself, he had been
expulsed, to leave room for dangerous designs against the State, and now
resumed, with his former faith and loyalty, the care of the army." In
the meantime he put Domitius on board a galley, and ordered him to avoid
appearing upon the coasts or amongst the isles, but, through the
main sea, to sail to Syria. The deserters, who from all quarters were
flocking to him in crowds, he formed into companies, and armed all the
retainers to the camp; then sailing over to the continent, intercepted
a regiment of recruits, upon their march into Syria; and wrote to the
small kings of Cilicia to assist him with present succours: nor was
the younger Piso slow in prosecuting all the measures of war, though to
adventure a war had been against his sentiments and advice.

As they coasted Lycia and Pamphilia, they encountered the ships which
carried Agrippina, with hostile spirit on each side, and each at first
prepared for combat; but as equal dread of one another possessed
both, proceeded not further than mutual contumelies. Vibius Marsus
particularly summoned Piso, as a criminal, to Rome, there to make his
defence: he answered with derision "that when the Praetor, who was to
sit upon poisonings, had assigned a day to the accusers and the accused,
he would attend." Domitius, the while, landing at Laodicea, a city of
Syria, would have proceeded to the winter quarters of the sixth legion,
which he believed to be the most prone to engage in novel attempts, but
was prevented by Pacuvius, its commander. Sentius represented this by
letter to Piso, and warned him, "at his peril to infect the camp by
ministers of corruption; or to assail the province of war;" and drew
into a body such as he knew loved Germanicus, or such as were averse to
his foes: upon them he inculcated with much ardour, that Piso was with
open arms attacking the majesty of the Prince, and invading the Roman
State; and then marched at the head of a puissant body, equipped for
battle and resolute to engage.

Neither failed Piso, though his enterprises had thus far miscarried, to
apply the securest remedies to his present perplexities; and therefore
seized a castle of Cilicia strongly fortified, its name Celendris: for,
to the auxiliary Cilicians, sent him by the petty kings, he had joined
his body of deserters, as also the recruits lately intercepted, with all
his own and Plancina's slaves; and thus in number and bulk had of
the whole composed a legion. To them he thus harangued: "I who am the
lieutenant of Caesar, am yet violently excluded from the province which
to me Caesar has committed: not excluded by the legions (for by their
invitation I am arrived), but by Sentius, who thus disguises under
feigned crimes against me, his own animosity and personal hate: but with
confidence you may stand in battle, where the opposite army, upon the
sight of Piso, a commander lately by themselves styled their _Father_,
will certainly refuse to fight; they know too, that were right to decide
it, I am the stronger; and of no mean puissance in a trial at arms."
He then arrayed his men without the fortifications, on a hill steep and
craggy, for all the rest was begirt by the sea: against them stood the
veterans regularly embattled, and supported with a body of reserve;
so that here appeared the force of men, there only the terror and
stubbornness of situation. On Piso's side was no spirit, nor hope,
nor even weapons save those of rustics, for instant necessity hastily
acquired. As soon as they came to blows, the issue was no longer
doubtful than while the Roman cohorts struggled up the steep: the
Cilicians then fled, and shut themselves up in the castle.

Piso having the while attempted in vain to storm the fleet, which rode
at a small distance, as soon as he returned, presented himself upon the
walls; where, by a succession of passionate complaints and entreaties,
now bemoaning in agonies the bitterness of his lot, then calling and
cajolling every particular soldier by his name, and by rewards tempting
all, he laboured to excite a sedition; and thus much had already
effected, that the Eagle-bearer of the sixth legion revolted to him with
his Eagle. This alarmed Sentius, and instantly he commanded the cornets
and trumpets to sound, a mound to be raised, the ladders placed, and
the bravest men to mount, and others to pour from the engines volleys of
darts and stones, and flaming torches. The obstinacy of Piso was at
last vanquished; and he desired "that upon delivering his arms he might
remain in the castle till the Emperor's pleasure, to whom he would
commit the government of Syria, were known;" conditions which were not
accepted; nor was aught granted him save ships and a passport to Rome.

After the illness of Germanicus grew current there, and all its
circumstances, like rumours magnified by distance, were related
with many aggravations; sadness seized the people; they burned with
indignation, and even poured out in plaints the anguish of their souls.
"For this," they said, "he had been banished to the extremities of the
Empire, for this the province of Syria was committed to Piso, and these
the fruits of Livia's mysterious conferences with Plancina: truly had
our fathers spoken concerning his father Drusus; that the possessors of
rule beheld with an evil eye the popular spirit of their sons; nor for
aught else were they sacrificed, but for their equal treatment of
the Roman People, and studying to restore the popular state." These
lamentations of the populace were, upon the tidings of his death, so
inflamed, that, without staying for an edict from the magistrates,
without a decree of Senate, they by general consent assumed a vacation;
the public courts were deserted, private houses shut up, prevalent
everywhere were the symptoms of woe, heavy groans, dismal silence; the
whole a scene of real sorrow, and nothing devised for form or show; and,
though they forbore not to bear the exterior marks and habiliments of
mourning; in their souls they mourned still deeper. Accidentally some
merchants from Syria, who had left Germanicus still alive, brought
more joyful news of his condition: these were instantly believed, and
instantly proclaimed: each, as fast as they met, informed others,
who forthwith conveyed their light information with improvements and
accumulated joy to more, and all flew with exultation through the city;
and, to pay their thanks and vows, burst open the temple doors: the
night too heightened their credulity, and affirmation was bolder in the
dark. Nor did Tiberius restrain the course of these fictions, but left
them to vanish with time: hence with more bitterness they afterwards
grieved for him, as if anew snatched from them.

Honours were invented and decreed to Germanicus, various as the
affections and genius of the particular Senators who proposed them:
"that his name should be sung in the Salian hymns; curule chairs placed
for him amongst the priests of Augustus, and over these chairs oaken
crowns hung; his statue in ivory precede in the Cercensian games; none
but one of the Julian race be, in the room of Germanicus, created flamen
or augur:" triumphal arches were added; one at Rome; one upon the banks
of the Rhine; one upon Mount Amanus, in Syria; with inscriptions of
his exploits, and a testimony subjoined, "that he died for the
Commonwealth:" a sepulchre at Antioch, where his corpse was burnt; a
tribunal at Epidaphne, the place where he ended his life. The multitude
of statues, the many places where divine honours were appointed to be
paid him, would not be easily recounted. They would have also decreed
him, as to one of the masters of eloquence, a golden shield, signal in
bulk as in metal; but Tiberius offered to dedicate one himself, such
as was usual and of a like size with others; for that eloquence was not
measured by fortune; and it was sufficient glory, if he were ranked with
ancient writers. The battalion called after the name of the Junii was
now, by the equestrian order, entitled the battalion of Germanicus,
and a rule made that, on every fifteenth of July, these troops should
follow, as their standard, the effigies of Germanicus: of these honours
many continue; some were instantly omitted, or by time are utterly
obliterated.

In the height of this public sorrow, Livia, sister to Germanicus,
and married to Drusus, was delivered of male twins: an event even in
middling families, rare and acceptable, and to Tiberius such mighty
matter of joy, that he could not refrain boasting to the fathers, "that
to no Roman of the same eminence, before him, were never two children
born at a birth:" for to his own glory he turned all things, even things
fortuitous. But to the people, at such a sad conjuncture, it brought
fresh anguish; as they feared that the family of Drusus thus increased,
would press heavy upon that of Germanicus.

The same year the lubricity of women was by the Senate restrained with
severe laws; and it was provided, "that no woman should become venal, if
her father, grandfather or husband, were Roman knights." For Vistilia,
a lady born of a Praetorian family, had before the Aediles published
herself a prostitute; upon a custom allowed by our ancestors, who
thought that prostitutes were by thus avowing their infamy, sufficiently
punished. Titidius Labeo too was questioned, that in the manifest guilt
of his wife, he had neglected the punishment prescribed by the law;
but he alleged that the sixty days allowed for consultation were not
elapsed; and it was deemed sufficient to proceed against Vistilia,
who was banished to the Isle of Seriphos. Measures were also taken for
exterminating the solemnities of the Jews and Egyptians; and by decree
of Senate four thousand descendants of franchised slaves, all defiled
with that superstition, but of proper strength and age, were to be
transported to Sardinia; to restrain the Sardinian robbers; and if,
through the malignity of the climate, they perished, despicable would be
the loss: the rest were doomed to depart Italy, unless by a stated day
they renounced their profane rites.

After this Tiberius represented that, to supply the place of Occia, who
had presided seven and fifty years with the highest sanctimony over the
Vestals, another virgin was to be chosen; and thanked Fonteius Agrippa
and Asinius Pollio, that by offering their daughters, they contended in
good offices towards the Commonwealth. Pollio's daughter was preferred;
for nothing else but that her mother had ever continued in the same
wedlock: for Agrippa, by a divorce, had impaired the credit of his
house: upon her who was postponed, Tiberius, in consolation, bestowed
for her fortune a thousand great sestertia. [Footnote: £8300.]

As the people murmured at the severe dearth of corn, he settled grain
at a price certain to the buyer, and undertook to pay fourteenpence a
measure to the seller: neither yet would he accept the name of _Father
of his Country_, a title offered him before, and for these bounties, now
again; nay, he sharply rebuked such as styled these provisions of his,
_divine occupations_, and him, _Lord_: hence freedom of speech became
cramped and insecure, under such a Prince; one who dreaded liberty, and
abhorred flattery.

I find in the writers of those times, some of them Senators, that in
the Senate were read letters from Adgandestrius, prince of the Cattans,
undertaking to despatch Arminius, if in order to it poison were sent
him; and an answer returned, "that not by frauds and blows in the dark,
but armed and in the face of the sun, the Roman People took vengeance
on their foes." In this Tiberius gained equal glory with our ancient
captains, who rejected and disclosed a plot to poison King Pyrrhus.
Arminius however, who upon the departure of the Romans and expulsion
of Maroboduus, aimed at royalty, became thence engaged in a struggle
against the liberty of his country; and, in defence of their liberty,
his countrymen took arms against him: so that, while with various
fortune he contended with them, he fell by the treachery of his own
kindred: the deliverer of Germany without doubt he was; one who
assailed the Roman power, not like other kings and leaders, in its first
elements, but in its highest pride and elevation; one sometimes beaten
in battle, but never conquered in war: thirty-seven years he lived;
twelve he commanded; and, amongst these barbarous nations, his memory is
still celebrated in their songs; but his name unknown in the annals of
the Greeks, who only admire their own national exploits and renown; nor
even amongst the Romans does this great captain bear much distinction,
while, overlooking instances of modern prowess and glory, we only
delight to magnify men and feats of old.




BOOK III

A.D. 20-22.


Agrippina, notwithstanding the roughness of winter, pursuing without
intermission her boisterous voyage, put in at the Island Corcyra,
[Footnote: Corfu.] situate over against the coasts of Calabria. Here
to settle her spirit, she spent a few days, violent in her grief, and
a stranger to patience. Her arrival being the while divulged, all the
particular friends to her family, mostly men of the sword, many who had
served under Germanicus, and even many strangers from the neighbouring
towns, some in officiousness towards the Emperor, more for company,
crowded to the city of Brundusium, the readiest port in her way and the
safest landing. As soon as the fleet appeared in the deep, instantly
were filled, not the port alone and adjacent shores, but the walls
and roofs, and as far as the eye could go; filled with the sorrowing
multitude. They were consulting one from one, how they should receive
her landing, "whether with universal silence, or with some note of
acclamation." Nor was it manifest which they would do, when the fleet
stood slowly in, not as usual with joyful sailors and cheerful oars, but
all things impressed with the face of sadness. After she descended from
the ship, accompanied with her two infants, carrying in her bosom the
melancholy urn, with her eyes cast steadily down; equal and universal
were the groans of the beholders: nor could you distinguish relations
from strangers, nor the wailings of men from those of women, unless
that the new-comers, who were recent in their sallies of grief, exceeded
Agrippina's attendants, wearied out with long lamentations.

Tiberius had despatched two Praetorian cohorts, with directions, that
the magistrates of Calabria, Apulia and Campania, should pay their last
offices to the memory of his son: upon the shoulders therefore of the
Tribunes and Centurions his ashes were borne; before went the ensigns
rough and unadorned, with the fasces reversed. As they passed through
the colonies, the populace were in black, the knights in purple; and
each place, according to its wealth, burnt precious raiment, perfumes
and whatever else is used in funeral solemnities: even they whose cities
lay remote attended: to the Gods of the dead they slew victims, they
erected altars, and with tears and united lamentations, testified
their common sorrow. Drusus came as far as Terracina, with Claudius the
brother of Germanicus, and those of his children who had been left at
Rome. The Consuls Marcus Valerius and Marcus Aurelius (just then entered
upon their office), the Senate, and great part of the people, filled the
road; a scattered procession, each walking and weeping his own way: in
this mourning, flattery had no share; for all knew how real was the joy,
how hollow the grief, of Tiberius for the death of Germanicus.

Tiberius and Livia avoided appearing abroad: public lamentation they
thought below their grandeur; or perhaps they apprehended that their
countenances, examined by all eyes, might show deceitful hearts. That
Antonia, mother to the deceased, bore any part in the funeral, I do not
find either in the historians or in the city journals: though, besides
Agrippina, and Drusus, and Claudius, his other relations are likewise
there recorded by name: whether by sickness she was prevented; or
whether her soul vanquished by sorrow, could not bear the representation
of such a mighty calamity. I would rather believe her constrained
by Tiberius and Livia, who left not the palace; and affecting equal
affliction with her, would have it seem that, by the example of the
mother, the grandmother too and uncle were detained.

The day his remains were reposited in the tomb of Augustus, various
were the symptoms of public grief; now the vastness of silence; now the
uproar of lamentation; the city in every quarter full of processions;
the field of Mars on a blaze of torches: here the soldiers under arms,
the magistrates without the insignia, the people by their tribes, all
cried in concert that "the Commonwealth was fallen, and henceforth
there was no remain of hope;" so openly and boldly that you would have
believed they had forgot, who bore sway. But nothing pierced Tiberius
more than the ardent affections of the people towards Agrippina, while
such titles they gave her as "the ornament of her country, the only
blood of Augustus, the single instance of ancient virtue;" and, while
applying to heaven, they implored "the continuance of her issue, that
they might survive the persecuting and malignant."

There were those who missed the pomp of a public funeral, and compared
with this the superior honours and magnificence bestowed by Augustus on
that of Drusus the father of Germanicus; "that he himself had travelled,
in the sharpness of winter, as far as Pavia, and thence, continuing by
the corpse, had with it entered the city; round his head were placed
the images of the Claudii and Julii; he was mourned in the Forum; his
encomium pronounced in the Rostras; all sorts of honours, such as were
the inventions of our ancestors, or the improvements of their posterity,
were heaped upon him. But to Germanicus were denied the ordinary
solemnities, and such as were due to every distinguished Roman. In a
foreign country indeed, his corpse because of the long journey, was
burnt without pomp; but afterwards, it was but just to have supplied
the scantiness of the first ceremony by the solemnity of the last: his
brother met him but one day's journey; his uncle not even at the gate.
Where were those generous observations of the ancients; the effigies of
the dead borne on a bed, hymns composed in memory of their virtue, with
the oblations of praise and tears? Where at least were the ceremonies
and even outside of sorrow?"

All this was known to Tiberius; and, to suppress the discourses of the
populace, he published an edict, "that many illustrious Romans had died
for the Commonwealth, but none so vehemently lamented: this however was
to the glory of himself and of all men, if a measure were observed. The
same things which became private families and small states, became not
Princes and an Imperial People: fresh grief indeed required vent and
ease by lamentation; but it was now time to recover and fortify their
minds. Thus the deified Julius, upon the loss of an only daughter; thus
the deified Augustus, upon the hasty death of his grandsons, had both
vanquished their sorrow. More ancient examples were unnecessary; how
often the Roman People sustained with constancy the slaughter of their
armies, the death of their generals, and entire destruction of their
noblest families: Princes were mortal; the Commonwealth was eternal:
they should therefore resume their several vocations." And because the
Megalesian games were at hand, he added, "that they should even apply to
the usual festivities."

The vacation ended, public affairs were resumed; Drusus departed for
the army in Illyricum, and the minds of all men were bent upon seeing
vengeance done upon Piso. They repeated their resentments, that while
he wandered over the delightful countries of Asia and Greece, he was
stifling, by contumacious and deceitful delays, the evidences of his
crimes; for it was bruited abroad, that Martina, she who was famous for
poisonings, and sent, as I have above related, by Cneius Sentius towards
Rome, was suddenly dead at Brundusium; that poison lay concealed in
a knot of her hair, but upon her body were found no symptoms of
self-murder.

Piso, sending forward his son to Rome, with instructions how to soften
the Emperor, proceeded himself to Drusus: him he hoped to find less
rigid for the death of a brother, than favourable for the removal of a
rival. Tiberius, to make show of a spirit perfectly unbiassed, received
the young man graciously, and honoured him with the presents usually
bestowed on young noblemen. The answer of Drusus to Piso was, "That if
the current rumours were true, he stood in the first place of grief and
revenge; but he hoped they were false and chimerical, and that the death
of Germanicus would be pernicious to none." This he declared in public,
and avoided all privacy: nor was it doubted but the answer was dictated
by Tiberius; when a youth, otherwise easy and unwary, practised thus the
wiles and cunning of age.

Piso having crossed the sea of Dalmatia, and left his ships at Ancona,
took first the road of Picenum and then the Flaminian way, following the
legion which was going from Pannonia to Rome, and thence to garrison
in Africa. This too became the subject of popular censure, that he
officiously mixed with the soldiers, and courted them in their march and
quarters: he therefore, to avoid suspicion; or, because when men are
in dread, their conduct wavers, did at Narni embark upon the Nar, and
thence sailed into the Tiber. By landing at the burying-place of the
Caesars, he heightened the wrath of the populace: besides, he and
Plancina came ashore, in open day, in the face of the city who were
crowding the banks, and proceeded with gay countenances; he attended by
a long band of clients, she by a train of ladies. There were yet other
provocations to hatred; the situation of his house, proudly overlooking
the Forum, and adorned and illuminated as for a festival; the banquet
and rejoicings held in it, and all as public as the place.

The next day Fulcinius Trio arraigned Piso before the Consuls, but
was opposed by Vitellius, Veranius, and others, who had accompanied
Germanicus: they said, "that in this prosecution Trio had no part; nor
did they themselves act as accusers, but only gathered materials, and,
as witnesses, produced the last injunctions of Germanicus." Trio dropped
that accusation; but got leave to call in question his former life: and
now the Emperor was desired to undertake the trial; a request which the
accused did not at all oppose, dreading the inclinations of the people
and Senate: he knew Tiberius, on the contrary, resolute in despising
popular rumours, and in guilt confederate with his mother: besides that
truth and misrepresentations were easiest distinguished by a single
judge, but in assemblies odium and envy often prevailed. Tiberius
was aware of the weight of the trial, and with what reproaches he was
assaulted. Admitting therefore a few confidants, he heard the charge
of the accusers, as also the apology of the accused; and left the cause
entire to the Senate.

Drusus returned the while from Illyricum; and though the Senate had for
the reduction of Maroboduus, and other his exploits the summer before,
decreed him the triumph of ovation; he postponed the honour, and
privately entered the city. Piso, for his advocates, desired Titus
Arruntius, Fulcinius, Asinius Gallus, Eserninus Marcellus, and Sextus
Pompeius: but they all framed different excuses; and he had, in their
room, Marcus Lepidus, Lucius Piso and Liveneius Regulus. Now earnest
were the expectations of all men, "how great would prove the fidelity of
the friends of Germanicus; what the assurance of the criminal, what the
behaviour of Tiberius; whether he would sufficiently smother, or betray
his sentiments." He never had a more anxious part; neither did the
people ever indulge themselves in such secret murmurs against their
Emperor, nor harbour in silence severer suspicions.

When the Senate met, Tiberius made a speech full of laboured moderation:
"That Piso had been his father's lieutenant and friend; and lately
appointed by himself, at the direction of the Senate, coadjutor to
Germanicus in administering the affairs of the East: whether he had
there by contumacy and opposition exasperated the young Prince, and
exulted over his death, or wickedly procured it, they were then to judge
with minds unprejudiced. For, if he who was the lieutenant of my
son violated the limits of his commission, cast off obedience to his
general, and even rejoiced at his decease and at my affliction; I
will detest the man, I will banish him from my house, and for domestic
injuries exert domestic revenge; not the revenge of an Emperor. But for
you; if his guilt of any man's death whatsoever is discovered, show your
just vengeance, and by it satisfy yourselves, satisfy the children of
Germanicus, and us his father and grandmother. Consider too especially,
whether he vitiated the discipline and promoted sedition in the army;
whether he sought to debauch the affections of the soldiers, and to
recover the province by arms: or whether these allegations are not
published falsely and with aggravations by the accusers, with whose
over-passionate zeal, I am justly offended: for, whither tended the
stripping the corpse and exposing it to the eyes and examination of the
populace; with what view was it proclaimed even to foreign nations, that
his death was the effect of poison; if all this was still doubtful,
and remains yet to be tried? It is true I bewail my son, and shall ever
bewail him: but neither do I hinder the accused to do what in him lies
to manifest his innocence, even at the expense of Germanicus, if aught
blamable was in him. From you I entreat the same impartiality: let not
the connection of my sorrow with this cause, mislead you to take crimes
for proved because they are imputed. For Piso; if the tenderness of
kinsmen, if the faith of friends, has furnished him with patrons, let
them aid him in his peril, show their utmost eloquence, and exert their
best diligence. To the same pains, to the same firmness I exhort the
accusers. Thus much we will grant to the memory of Germanicus, that the
inquest concerning his death, be held rather here than in the Forum, in
the Senate than the common Tribunals. In all the rest, we will descend
to the ordinary methods. Let no man in this cause consider Drusus's
tears; let none regard my sorrow, no more than the probable fictions of
calumny against us."

Two days were then appointed for maintaining the charge; six for
preparing the defence, and three for making it. Fulcinius began with
things stale and impertinent, about the ambition and rapine of Piso in
his administration of Spain: things which, though proved, brought him
under no penalty, if acquitted of the present charge; nor, though he
had been cleared of former faults, could he escape the load of greater
enormities. After him Servaeus, Veranius, and Vitellius, all with equal
zeal, but Vitellius with great eloquence urged "that Piso, in hatred to
Germanicus, and passionate for innovations, had by tolerating general
licentiousness, and the oppression of the allies, corrupted the common
soldiers to that degree, that by the most profligate he was styled
_Father of the Legions_: he had, on the contrary, been outrageous to the
best men, above all to the friends and companions of Germanicus; and, at
last, by witchcraft and poison destroyed Germanicus himself: hence the
infernal charms and immolations practised by him and Plancina: he had
then attacked the Commonwealth with open arms; and, before he could be
brought to be tried, they were forced to fight and defeat him."

In every article but one his defence was faltering. For, neither his
dangerous intrigues in debauching the soldiery, nor his abandoning the
province to the most profligate and rapacious, nor even his insults to
Germanicus, were to be denied. He seemed only to wipe off the charge of
poison; a charge which in truth was not sufficiently corroborated by the
accusers, since they had only to allege, "that at an entertainment of
Germanicus, Piso, while he sat above him, with his hands poisoned the
meat." It appeared absurd that amongst so many attending slaves besides
his own, in so great a presence, and under the eye of Germanicus, he
would attempt it: he himself required that the waiters might be
racked, and offered to the rack his own domestics: but the Judges were
implacable, implacable from different motives; Tiberius for the war
raised in the province; and the Senate could never be convinced that
the death of Germanicus was not the effect of fraud. Some moved for the
letters written to Piso from Rome; a motion opposed by Tiberius no less
than by Piso. From without, at the same time, were heard the cries of
the people, "that if he escaped the judgment of the Senate, they would
with their own hands destroy him." They had already dragged his statues
to the place from whence malefactors were precipitated, and there
had broken them; but by the orders of Tiberius they were rescued and
replaced. Piso was put into a litter and carried back by a tribune of
a Praetorian cohort; an attendance variously understood, whether as a
guard for his safety, or a minister of death.

Plancina was under equal public hatred, but had more secret favour:
hence it was doubted how far Tiberius durst proceed against her. For
herself; while her husband's hopes were yet plausible, she professed
"she would accompany his fortune, whatever it were, and, if he fell,
fall with him." But when by the secret solicitations of Livia, she had
secured her own pardon, she began by degrees to drop her husband, and to
make a separate defence. After this fatal warning, he doubted whether
he should make any further efforts; but, by the advice of his sons,
fortifying his mind, he again entered the Senate: there he found the
prosecution renewed, suffered the declared indignation of the Fathers,
and saw all things cross and terrible; but nothing so much daunted
him as to behold Tiberius, without mercy, without wrath, close, dark,
unmovable, and bent against every access of tenderness. When he was
brought home, as if he were preparing for his further defence the next
day, he wrote somewhat, which he sealed and delivered to his freedman:
he then washed and anointed, and took the usual care of his person. Late
in the night, his wife leaving the chamber, he ordered the door to be
shut; and was found, at break of day, with his throat cut, his sword
lying by him.

I remember to have heard from ancient men, that in the hands of Piso
was frequently seen a bundle of writings, which he did not expose, but
which, as his friends constantly averred, "contained the letters of
Tiberius and his cruel orders towards Germanicus: that he resolved to
lay them before the Fathers and to charge the Emperor, but was deluded
by the hollow promises of Sejanus: and that neither did Piso die by his
own hands, but by those of an express and private executioner." I dare
affirm neither; nor yet ought I to conceal the relations of such
as still lived when I was a youth. Tiberius, with an assumed air of
sadness, complained to the Senate, that Piso, by that sort of death,
had aimed to load him with obloquy; and asked many questions how he had
passed his last day, how his last night? The freedman answered to most
with prudence, to some in confusion. The Emperor then recited the letter
sent him by Piso. It was conceived almost in these words: "Oppressed by
a combination of my enemies and the imputation of false crimes; since
no place is left here to truth and my innocence; to the Immortal Gods I
appeal, that towards you, Caesar, I have lived with sincere faith,
nor towards your mother with less reverence. For my sons I implore her
protection and yours: my son Cneius had no share in my late management
whatever it were, since, all the while, he abode at Rome: and my son
Marcus dissuaded me from returning to Syria. Oh that, old as I am, I
had yielded to him, rather than he, young as he is, to me! Hence
more passionately I pray that innocent as he is, he suffer not in the
punishment of my guilt: by a series of services for five-and-forty
years, I entreat you; by our former fellowship in the consulship; by the
memory of the deified Augustus, your father; by his friendship to me; by
mine to you, I entreat you for the life and fortune of my unhappy son.
It is the last request I shall ever make you." Of Plancina he said
nothing.

Tiberius, upon this, cleared the young man of any crime as to the
civil war: he alleged "the orders of his father, which a son could not
disobey." He likewise bewailed "that noble house, and even the grievous
lot of Piso himself, however deserved," For Plancina he pleaded with
shame and guilt, alleging the importunity of his mother; against whom
more particularly the secret murmurs of the best people waxed bitter and
poignant. "Was it then the tender part of a grandmother to admit to her
sight the murderess of her grandson, to be intimate with her, and to
snatch her from the vengeance of the Senate? To Germanicus alone was
denied what by the laws was granted to every citizen. By Vitellius
and Veranius, the cause of that prince was mourned and pleaded: by the
Emperor and his mother, Plancina was defended and protected. Henceforth
she might pursue her infernal arts so successfully tried, repeat
her poisonings, and by her arts and poisons assail Agrippina and her
children; and, with the blood of that most miserable house, satiate the
worthy grandmother and uncle." In this mock trial two days were wasted;
Tiberius, all the while, animating the sons of Piso to defend their
mother: when the pleaders and witnesses had vigorously pushed the
charge, and no reply was made, commiseration prevailed over hatred. The
Consul Aurelius Cotta was first asked his opinion: for, when the Emperor
collected the voices, the magistrates likewise voted. Cotta's sentence
was, "that the name of Piso should be razed from the annals, part of
his estate forfeited, part granted to his son Cneius, upon changing that
name; his son Marcus be divested of his dignity, and content with fifty
thousand great sestertia, [Footnote: £42,000.] be banished for ten
years: and to Plancina, at the request of Livia, indemnity should be
granted."

Much of this sentence was abated by the Emperor; particularly that of
striking Piso's name out of the annals, when "that of Marc Anthony, who
made war upon his country; that of Julius Antonius, who had by adultery
violated the house of Augustus, continued still there." He also exempted
Marcus Piso from the ignominy of degradation, and left him his whole
paternal inheritance; for, as I have already often observed, he was to
the temptations of money incorruptible, and from the shame of having
acquitted Plancina, rendered then more than usually mild. He likewise
withstood the motion of Valerius Messalinus, "for erecting a golden
statue in the Temple of Mars the Avenger;" and that of Caecina Severus,
"for founding an altar to revenge." "Such monuments as these," he
argued, "were only fit to be raised upon foreign victories; domestic
evils were to be buried in sadness." Messalinus had added, "that to
Tiberius, Livia, Antonia, Agrippina and Drusus, public thanks were to be
rendered for having revenged the death of Germanicus;" but had omitted
to mention Claudius. Messalinus was asked by Lucius Asprenas, in the
presence of the Senate, "Whether by design he had omitted him?" and then
at last the name of Claudius was subjoined. To me, the more I revolve
the events of late or of old, the more of mockery and slipperiness
appears in all human wisdom and the transactions of men: for, in popular
fame, in the hopes, wishes and veneration of the public, all men were
rather destined to the Empire, than he for whom fortune then reserved
the sovereignty in the dark.

A few days after, Vitellius, Veranius and Servaeus, were by the Senate
preferred to the honours of the Priesthood, at the motion of Tiberius.
To Fulcinius he promised his interest and suffrage towards preferment,
but advised him "not to embarrass his eloquence by impetuosity." This
was the end of revenging the death of Germanicus; an affair ambiguously
related, not by those only who then lived and interested themselves in
it, but likewise the following times: so dark and intricate are all
the highest transactions; while some hold for certain facts, the most
precarious hearsays; others turn facts into falsehood; and both are
swallowed and improved by the credulity of posterity. Drusus went now
without the city, there to renew the ceremony of the auspices, and
presently re-entered in the triumph of _ovation_. A few days after died
Vipsania his mother; of all the children of Agrippa, the only one who
made a pacific end: the rest manifestly perished, or are believed to
have perished, by the sword, poison, or famine.

The qualifying of the Law Papia Poppaea was afterwards proposed; a law
which, to enforce those of Julius Caesar, Augustus had made when he was
old, for punishing celibacy and enriching the Exchequer. Nor even by
this means had marriages and children multiplied, while a passion to
live single and childless prevailed: but, in the meantime, the numbers
threatened and in danger by it increased daily, while by the glosses and
chicane of the impleaders every family was undone. So that, as before
the city laboured under the weight of crimes, so now under the pest of
laws. From this thought I am led backwards to the first rise of laws,
and to open the steps and causes by which we are arrived to the present
number and excess; a number infinite and perplexed.

The first race of men, free as yet from every depraved passion, lived
without guile and crimes, and therefore without chastisements or
restraints; nor was there occasion for rewards, when of their own accord
they pursued righteousness: and as they courted nothing contrary to
justice, they were debarred from nothing by terrors. But, after they
had abandoned their original equality, and from modesty and shame to do
evil, proceeded to ambition and violence; lordly dominion was introduced
and arbitrary rule, and in many nations grew perpetual. Some, either
from the beginning, or after they were surfeited with kings, preferred
the sovereignty of laws; which, agreeable to the artless minds of men,
were at first short and simple. The laws in most renown were those
framed for the Cretans by Minos; for the Spartans by Lycurgus; and
afterwards such as Solon delivered to the Athenians, now greater
in number and more exquisitely composed. To the Romans justice was
administered by Romulus according to his pleasure: after him,
Numa managed the people by religious devices and laws divine. Some
institutions were made by Tullus Hostilius, some by Ancus Martius; but
above all our laws were those founded by Servius Tullius; they were such
as even our kings were bound to obey.

Upon the expulsion of Tarquin; the people, for the security of their
freedom against the encroachment and factions of the Senate, and for
binding the public concord, prepared many ordinances: hence were created
the Decemviri, and by them were composed the twelve tables, out of a
collection of the most excellent institutions found abroad. The period
this of all upright and impartial laws. What laws followed, though
sometimes made against crimes and offenders, were yet chiefly made by
violence, through the animosity of the two Estates, and for seizing
unjustly withholden offices or continuing unjustly in them, or for
banishing illustrious patriots, and to other wicked ends. Hence the
Gracchi and Saturnini, inflamers of the people; and hence Drusus vying,
on behalf of the Senate, in popular concessions with these inflamers;
and hence the corrupt promises made to our Italian allies, promises
deceitfully made, or, by the interposition of some Tribune, defeated.
Neither during the war of Italy, nor during the civil war, was the
making of regulations discontinued; many and contradictory were even
then made. At last Sylla the Dictator, changing or abolishing the past,
added many of his own, and procured some respite in this matter, but
not long; for presently followed the turbulent pursuits and proposals of
Lepidus, and soon after were the Tribunes restored to their licentious
authority of throwing the people into combustions at pleasure. And
now laws were not made for the public only, but for particular men
particular laws; and corruption abounding in the Commonwealth, the
Commonwealth abounded in laws.

Pompey was, now in his third Consulship, chosen to correct the public
enormities; and his remedies proved to the State more grievous than its
distempers. He made laws such as suited his ambition, and broke them
when they thwarted his will; and lost by arms the regulations which by
arms he had procured. Henceforward for twenty years discord raged, and
there was neither law nor settlement; the most wicked found impunity
in the excess of their wickedness; and many virtuous men, in their
uprightness met destruction. At length, Augustus Caesar in his sixth
Consulship, then confirmed in power without a rival, abolished the
orders which during the Triumvirate he had established, and gave us laws
proper for peace and a single ruler. These laws had sanctions severer
than any heretofore known: as their guardians, informers were appointed,
who by the Law Papia Poppaea were encouraged with rewards, to watch
such as neglected the privileges annexed to marriage and fatherhood, and
consequently could claim no legacy or inheritance, the same, as vacant,
belonging to the Roman People, who were the public parent. But these
informers struck much deeper: by them the whole city, all Italy, and
the Roman citizens in every part of the Empire, were infested and
persecuted: numbers were stripped of their entire fortunes, and terror
had seized all; when Tiberius, for a check to this evil, chose twenty
noblemen, five who were formerly Consuls, five who were formerly
Praetors, with ten other Senators, to review that law. By them many of
its intricacies were explained, its strictness qualified; and hence some
present alleviation was yielded.

Tiberius about this time, to the Senate recommended Nero, one of the
sons of Germanicus, now seventeen years of age, and desired "that
he might be exempted from executing the office of the Vigintivirate,
[Footnote: Officers for distributing the public lands; for regulating
the mint, the roads, and the execution of criminals.] and have leave to
sue for the Quaestorship five years sooner than the laws directed."
A piece of mockery, this request to all who heard it: but, Tiberius
pretended "that the same concessions had been decreed to himself and his
brother Drusus, at the request of Augustus." Nor do I doubt, but there
were then such who secretly ridiculed that sort of petitions from
Augustus: such policy was however natural to that Prince, while he was
but yet laying the foundations of the Imperial power, and while the
Republic and its late laws were still fresh in the minds of men:
besides, the relation was lighter between Augustus and his wife's
sons, than between a grandfather and his grandsons. To the grant of the
Quaestorship was added a seat in the College of Pontiffs; and the first
day he entered the Forum in his manly robe, a donative of corn and
money was distributed to the populace, who exulted to behold a son of
Germanicus now of age. Their joy was soon heightened by his marriage
with Julia, the daughter of Drusus. But as these transactions were
attended with public applauses; so the intended marriage of the
daughter of Sejanus with the son of Claudius was received with popular
indignation. By this alliance the nobility of the Claudian house seemed
stained; and by it Sejanus, already suspected of aspiring views, was
lifted still higher.

At the end of this year died Lucius Volusius and Sallustius Crispus;
great and eminent men. The family of Volusius was ancient, but, in the
exercise of public offices, rose never higher than the Praetorship; it
was he, who honoured it with the Consulship: he was likewise created
Censor for modelling the classes of the equestrian order; and first
accumulated the wealth which gave that family such immense grandeur.
Crispus was born of an equestrian house, great nephew by a sister to
Caius Sallustius, the renowned Roman historian, and by him adopted: the
way to the great offices was open to him; but, in imitation of Maecenas,
he lived without the dignity of Senator, yet outwent in power many who
were distinguished with Consulships and triumphs: his manner of living,
his dress and daintiness were different from the ways of antiquity; and,
in expense and affluence, he bordered rather upon luxury. He possessed
however a vigour of spirit equal to great affairs, and exerted the
greater promptness for that he hid it in a show of indolence and
sloth: he was therefore, in the time of Maecenas, the next in favour,
afterwards chief confidant in all the secret counsels of Augustus and
Tiberius, and privy and consenting to the order for slaying Agrippa
Posthumus. In his old age he preserved with the Prince rather the
outside than the vitals of authority: the same had happened to Maecenas.
It is the fate of power, which is rarely perpetual; perhaps from satiety
on both sides, when Princes have no more to grant, and Ministers no more
to crave.

Next followed the Consulship of Tiberius and Drusus; to Tiberius the
fourth, to Drusus the second: a Consulship remarkable, for that in it
the father and son were colleagues. There was indeed the same fellowship
between Tiberius and Germanicus, two years before; but besides the
distastes of jealousy in the uncle, the ties of blood were not so near.
In the beginning of the year, Tiberius, on pretence of his health,
retired to Campania; either already meditating a long and perpetual
retirement; or to leave to Drusus, in his father's absence, the honour
of executing the Consulship alone: and there happened a thing which,
small in itself, yet as it produced mighty contestation, furnished
the young Consul with matter of popular affection. Domitius Corbulo,
formerly Praetor, complained to the Senate of Lucius Sylla, a noble
youth, "that in the show of gladiators, Sylla would not yield him
place." Age, domestic custom, and the ancient men were for Corbulo: on
the other side, Mamercus Scaurus, Lucius Arruntius, and others laboured
for their kinsman Sylla: warm speeches were made, and the examples
of our ancestors were urged, "who by severe decrees had censured
and restrained the irreverence of the youth." Drusus interposed with
arguments proper for calming animosities, and Corbulo had satisfaction
made him by Scaurus, who was to Sylla both father-in-law and uncle,
and the most copious orator of that age. The same Corbulo, exclaiming
against "the condition of most of the roads through Italy, that through
the fraud of the undertakers and negligence of the overseers, they were
broken and unpassable;" undertook of his own accord the cure of that
abuse; an undertaking which he executed not so much to the advantage
of the public as to the ruin of many private men in their fortunes and
reputation, by his violent mulcts and unjust judgments and forfeitures.

Upon this occasion Caecina Severus proposed, "that no magistrate should
go into any province accompanied by his wife." He introduced this motion
with a long preface, "that he lived with his own in perfect concord,
by her he had six children; and what he offered to the public he had
practised himself, having during forty years' service left her still
behind him, confined to Italy. It was not indeed, without cause,
established of old, that women should neither be carried by their
husbands into confederate nations nor foreign. A train of women
introduced luxury in peace, by their fears retarded war, and made a
Roman army resemble, in their march, a mixed host of barbarians. The
sex was not tender only and unfit for travel, but, if suffered, cruel,
aspiring, and greedy of authority: they even marched amongst the
soldiers, and were obeyed by the officers. A woman had lately presided
at the exercises of the troops, and at the decursions of the legions.
The Senate themselves might remember, that as often as any of the
magistrates were charged with plundering the provinces, their wives were
always engaged in the guilt. To the ladies, the most profligate in
the province applied; by them all affairs were undertaken, by them
transacted: at home two distinct courts were kept, and abroad the wife
had her distinct train and attendance. The ladies, too, issued distinct
orders, but more imperious and better obeyed. Such feminine excesses
were formerly restrained by the Oppian, and other laws; but now these
restraints were violated, women ruled all things, their families, the
Forum, and even the armies."

This speech was heard by few with approbation, and many proclaimed
their dissent; "for, that neither was that the point in debate, nor was
Caecina considerable enough to censure so weighty an affair." He was
presently answered by Valerius Messalinus, who was the son of Messala,
and inherited a sparkling of his father's eloquence: "that many rigorous
institutions of the ancients were softened and changed for the better:
for, neither was Rome now, as of old, beset with wars, nor Italy with
hostile provinces; and a few concessions were made to the conveniences
of women, who were so far from burdening the provinces, that to their
own husbands there they were no burden. As to honours, attendance and
expense, they enjoyed them in common with their husbands, who could
receive no embarrassment from their company in time of peace. To war
indeed we must go equipped and unencumbered; but after the fatigues of
war, what was more allowable than the consolations of a wife? But it
seemed the wives of some magistrates had given a loose to ambition and
avarice. And were the magistrates themselves free from these excesses?
were not most of them governed by many exorbitant appetites? did we
therefore send none into the provinces? It was added, that the husbands
were corrupted by their corrupt wives: and were therefore all single
men uncorrupt? The Oppian Laws were once thought necessary, because the
exigencies of the State required their severity: they were afterwards
relaxed and mollified, because that too was expedient for the State.
In vain we covered our own sloth with borrowed names: if the wife broke
bounds, the husband ought to bear the blame. It was moreover unjustly
judged, for the weak and uxorious spirit of one or a few, to bereave all
others of the fellowship of their wives, the natural partners of their
prosperity and distress. Besides, the sex, weak by nature, would be left
defenceless, exposed to the luxurious bent of their native passions,
and a prey to the allurements of adulterers: scarce under the eye and
restraint of the husband was the marriage bed preserved inviolate: what
must be the consequence, when by an absence of many years, the ties
of marriage would be forgot, forgot as it were in a divorce? It became
them, therefore, so to cure the evils abroad as not to forget the
enormities at Rome." To this Drusus added somewhat concerning his own
wedlock. "Princes," he said, "were frequently obliged to visit the
remote parts of the Empire: how often did the deified Augustus travel
to the East, how often to the West, still accompanied with Livia?
He himself too had taken a progress to Illyricum, and, if it were
expedient, was ready to visit other nations; but not always with an easy
spirit, if he were to be torn from his dear wife, her by whom he had so
many children." Thus was Caecina's motion eluded.

When the Senate met next, they had a letter from Tiberius. In it he
affected to chide the fathers, "that upon him they cast all public
cares;" and named them M. Lepidus and Junius Blesus, to choose
either for Proconsul of Africa. They were then both heard as to this
nomination: Lepidus excused himself with earnestness; he pleaded "his
bodily frailty, the tender age of his children, and a daughter fit for
marriage." There was another reason too, of which he said nothing; but
it was easily understood: Blesus was uncle to Sejanus, and therefore
had the prevailing interest. Blesus too made a show of refusing, but
not with the like positiveness, and was heard with partiality by the
flatterers of power.

The same year the cities of Gaul, stimulated by their excessive debts,
began a rebellion. The most vehement incendiaries were Julius Florus and
Julius Sacrovir; the first amongst those of Treves, the second amongst
the Aeduans. They were both distinguished by their nobility, and by the
good services of their ancestors, who thence had acquired of old the
right of Roman citizens; a privilege rare in those days, and then only
the prize of virtue. When by secret meetings, they had gained those
who were most prompt to rebel; with such as were desperate through
indigence, or, from guilt of past crimes, forced to commit more; they
agreed that Florus should begin the insurrection in Belgia; Sacrovir
amongst the neighbouring Gauls. In order to this, they had many
consultations and cabals, where they uttered seditious harangues; they
urged "their tribute without end, their devouring usury, the pride and
cruelty of their Governors: that they had now a glorious opportunity
to recover their liberty; for that since the report of the murder
of Germanicus, discord had seized the Roman soldiery: they need only
consider their own strength and numbers; while Italy was poor and
exhausted; the Roman populace weak and unwarlike, the Roman armies
destitute of all vigour but that derived from foreigners."

Scarce one city remained untainted with the seeds of this rebellion; but
it first broke at Angiers and Tours. The former were reduced by Acilius
Aviola, a legate, with the assistance of a cohort drawn from the
garrison at Lyons. Those of Tours were suppressed by the same Aviola,
assisted with a detachment sent from the legions, by Visellius Varro,
lieutenant-governor of lower Germany. Some of the chiefs of the Gauls
had likewise joined him with succours, the better to disguise their
defection, and to push it with more effect hereafter. Even Sacrovir
was beheld engaged in fight for the Romans, with his head bare, a
_demonstration_, he pretended, _of his bravery_; but the prisoners
averred, that "he did it to be known to his countrymen, and to escape
their darts."

An account of all this was laid before Tiberius, who slighted it, and
by hesitation fostered the war. Florus the while pushed his designs, and
tried to debauch a regiment of horse, levied at Treves, and kept under
our pay and discipline: he would have engaged them to begin the war, by
putting to the sword the Roman merchants; and some few were corrupted,
but the body remained in their allegiance. A rabble however, of his own
followers and desperate debtors, took arms and were making to the forest
of Arden, when the legions sent from both armies by Visellius and Caius
Silius, through different routes to intercept them, marred their march:
and Julius Indus, one of the same country with Florus, at enmity with
him, and therefore more eager to engage him, was despatched forward with
a chosen band, and broke the ill-appointed multitude. Florus by lurking
from place to place, frustrated the search of the conquerors: but at
last, when he saw all the passes beset with soldiers, he fell by his own
hands. This was the issue of the insurrection at Treves.

Amongst the Aeduans the revolt was stronger, as much stronger as the
state was more opulent; and the forces to suppress it were to be brought
from afar. Augustodunum, [Footnote: Autun.] the capital of the nation,
was seized by Sacrovir, and in it all the noble youth of Gaul, who were
there instructed in the liberal arts. By securing these pledges he aimed
to bind in his interest their parents and relations; and at the same
time distributed to the young men the arms, which he had caused to be
secretly made. He had forty thousand men, the fifth part armed like
our legions, the rest with poles, hangers, and other weapons used
by hunters. To the number were added such of the slaves as had been
appointed to be gladiators; these were covered, after the fashion of the
country, with a continued armour of iron; and styled _Crupellarii_;
a sort of militia unwieldy at exercising their own weapons, and
impenetrable by those of others. These forces were still increased by
volunteers from the neighbouring cities, where, though the public
body did not hitherto avow the revolt, yet the zeal of particulars was
manifest: they had likewise leisure to increase from the contention of
the two Roman generals; a contention for some time undecided, while
each demanded the command in that war. At length Varro, old and infirm,
yielded to the superior vigour of Silius.

Now at Rome, "not only the insurrection of Treves and of the Aeduans,
but likewise, that threescore and four cities of Gaul had revolted; that
the Germans had joined in the revolt, and that Spain fluctuated;" were
reports all believed with the usual aggravations of fame. The best men
grieved in sympathy for their country: many from hatred of the present
government and thirst of change, rejoiced in their own perils: they
inveighed against Tiberius, "that in such a mighty uproar of rebellion,
he was only employed in perusing the informations of the State
accusers." They asked, "did he mean to surrender Julius Sacrovir to the
Senate, to try him for treason?" They exulted, "that there were at last
found men, who would with arms restrain his bloody orders for private
murders." And declared "that even war was a happy change for a most
wretched peace." So much the more for this, Tiberius affected to appear
wrapped up in security and unconcern; he neither changed place nor
countenance, but behaved himself at that time as at other times; whether
from elevation of mind, or whether he had learned that the state of
things was not alarming, and only heightened by vulgar representation.

Silius the while sending forward a band of auxiliaries, marched with two
legions, and in his march ravaged the villages of the Sequanians,
next neighbours to the Aeduans, and their associates in arms. He then
advanced towards Augustodunum; a hasty march, the standard-bearers
mutually vying in expedition, and the common men breathing ardour and
eagerness: they desired, "that no time might be wasted in the usual
refreshments, none of their nights in sleep; let them only see and
confront the foe: they wanted no more, to be victorious." Twelve miles
from Augustodunum, Sacrovir appeared with his forces upon the plains:
in the front he had placed the iron troop; his cohorts in the wings; the
half-armed in the rear: he himself, upon a fine horse, attended by the
other chiefs, addressed himself to them from rank to rank; he reminded
them "of the glorious achievements of the ancient Gauls; of the
victorious mischiefs they had brought upon the Romans; of the liberty
and renown attending victory; of their redoubled and intolerable
servitude, if once more vanquished."

A short speech; and an unattentive, and disheartened audience! For, the
embattled legions approached; and the crowd of townsmen, ill appointed
and novices in war, stood astonished, bereft of the present use of eyes
and hearing. On the other side, Silius, though he presumed the victory,
and thence might have spared exhortations, yet called to his men, "that
they might be with reason ashamed that they, the conquerors of Germany,
should be thus led against a rabble of Gauls as against an equal enemy:
one cohort had newly defeated the rebels of Tours; one regiment of
horse, those of Treves; a handful of this very army had routed the
Sequanians: the present Aeduans, as they are more abounding in wealth,
as they wallow more in voluptuousness, are by so much more soft and
unwarlike: this is what you are now to prove, and your task to prevent
their escape." His words were returned with a mighty cry. Instantly the
horse surrounded the foe; the foot attacked their front, and the wings
were presently routed: the iron band gave some short obstruction, as
the bars of their coats withstood the strokes of sword and pike: but the
soldiers had recourse to their hatchets and pick-axes; and, as if they
had battered a wall, hewed their bodies and armour: others with clubs,
and some with forks, beat down the helpless lumps, who as they lay
stretched along, without one struggle to rise, were left for dead.
Sacrovir fled first to Augustodunum; and thence, fearful of being
surrendered, to a neighbouring town, accompanied by his most faithful
adherents. There he slew himself; and the rest, one another: having
first set the town on fire, by which they were all consumed.

Now at last Tiberius wrote to the Senate about this war, and at once
acquainted them with its rise and conclusion, neither aggravating facts
nor lessening them; but added "that it was conducted by the fidelity
and bravery of his lieutenants, guided by his counsels." He likewise
assigned the reasons why neither he, nor Drusus, went to that war;
"that the Empire was an immense body; and it became not the dignity of
a Prince, upon the revolt of one or two towns, to desert the capital,
whence motion was derived to the whole: but since the alarm was over, he
would visit those nations and settle them." The Senate decreed vows
and supplications for his return, with other customary honours.
Only Cornelius Dolabella, while he strove to outdo others, fell into
ridiculous sycophancy, and moved "that from Campania he should enter
Rome in the triumph of ovation." This occasioned a letter from Tiberius:
in it he declared, "he was not so destitute of glory, that after having
in his youth subdued the fiercest nations, and enjoyed or slighted so
many triumphs, he should now in his old age seek empty honours from a
short progress about the suburbs of Rome."

Caius Sulpitius and Decimus Haterius were the following Consuls. Their
year was exempt from disturbances abroad; but at home some severe blow
was apprehended against luxury, which prevailed monstrously in all
things that create a profusion of money. But as the more pernicious
articles of expense were covered by concealing their prices; therefore
from the excesses of the table, which were become the common subject of
daily animadversion, apprehensions were raised of some rigid correction
from a Prince, who observed himself the ancient parsimony. For, Caius
Bibulus having begun the complaint, the other Aediles took it up, and
argued "that the sumptuary laws were despised; the pomp and expense of
plate and entertainments, in spite of restraints, increased daily,
and by moderate penalties were not to be stopped." This grievance thus
represented to the Senate, was by them referred entire to the Emperor.
Tiberius having long weighed with himself whether such an abandoned
propensity to prodigality could be stemmed; whether the stemming it
would not bring heavier evils upon the public; how dishonourable it
would be to attempt what could not be effected, or at least effected by
the disgrace of the nobility, and by the subjecting illustrious men to
infamous punishments; wrote at last to the Senate in this manner:

"In other matters, Conscript Fathers, perhaps it might be more expedient
for you to consult me in the Senate; and for me to declare there, what I
judge for the public weal: but in the debate of this affair, it was best
that my eyes were withdrawn; lest, while you marked the countenances and
terror of particulars charged with scandalous luxury, I too should have
observed them, and, as it were, caught them in it. Had the vigilant
Aediles first asked counsel of me, I know not whether I should not have
advised them rather to have passed by potent and inveterate corruptions,
than only make it manifest, what enormities are an overmatch for us:
but they in truth have done their duty, as I would have all other
magistrates fulfil theirs. But for myself, it is neither commendable
to be silent; nor does it belong to my station to speak out; since I
neither bear the character of an Aedile, nor of a Praetor, nor of a
Consul: something still greater and higher is required of a Prince.
Every one is ready to assume to himself the credit of whatever is well
done, while upon the Prince alone are thrown the miscarriages of all.
But what is it, that I am first to prohibit, what excess retrench to the
ancient standard? Am I to begin with that of our country seats, spacious
without bounds; and with the number of domestics, a number distributed
into nations in private families? or with the quantity of plate, silver,
and gold? or with the pictures, and works, and statues of brass, the
wonders of art? or with the gorgeous vestments, promiscuously worn by
men and women? or with what is peculiar to the women, those precious
stones, for the purchase of which our corn is carried into foreign and
hostile nations.

"I am not ignorant that at entertainments and in conversation, these
excesses are censured, and a regulation is required: and yet if an equal
law were made, if equal penalties were prescribed, these very censurers
would loudly complain, _that the State was utterly overturned, that
snares and destruction were prepared for every illustrious house, that
no men could be guiltless, and all men would be the prey of informers_.
And yet bodily diseases grown inveterate and strengthened by time,
cannot be checked but by medicines rigid and violent: it is the same
with the soul: the sick and raging soul, itself corrupted and scattering
its corruption, is not to be qualified but by remedies equally strong
with its own flaming lusts. So many laws made by our ancestors, so many
added by the deified Augustus; the former being lost in oblivion, and
(which is more heinous) the latter in contempt, have only served to
render luxury more secure. When we covet a thing yet unforbid, we are
apt to fear that it may be forbid; but when once we can with impunity
and defiance overleap prohibited bounds, there remains afterwards nor
fear nor shame. How therefore did parsimony prevail of old? It was
because, every one was a law to himself; it was because we were then
only masters of one city: nor afterwards, while our dominion was
confined only to Italy, had we found the same instigations to
voluptuousness. By foreign conquests, we learned to waste the property
of others; and in the Civil Wars, to consume our own. What a mighty
matter is it that the Aediles remonstrate! how little to be weighed in
the balance with others? It is wonderful that nobody represents, that
Italy is in constant want of foreign supplies; that the lives of the
Roman People are daily at the mercy of uncertain seas and of tempests:
were it not for our supports from the provinces; supports, by which the
masters, and their slaves, and their estates, are maintained; would
our own groves and villas maintain us? This care therefore, Conscript
Fathers, is the business of the Prince; and by the neglect of this
care, the foundations of the State would be dissolved. The cure of other
defects depends upon our own private spirits: some of us, shame will
reclaim; necessity will mend the poor; satiety the rich. Or if any of
the Magistrates, from a confidence of his own firmness and perseverance,
will undertake to stem the progress of so great an evil; he has both
my praises, and my acknowledgment, that he discharges me of part of my
fatigues: but if such will only impeach corruptions, and when they have
gained the glory, would leave upon me the indignation (indignation of
their own raising); believe me, Conscript Fathers, I am not fond of
bearing resentments: I already suffer many for the Commonwealth; many
that are grievous and almost all unjust; and therefore with reason I
intreat that I may not be loaded with such as are wantonly and vainly
raised, and promise no advantage to you nor to me."

The Senate, upon reading the Emperor's letter, released the Aediles
from this pursuit: and the luxury of the table which, from the battle
of Actium till the revolution made by Galba, flowed, for the space of an
hundred years, in all profusion; at last gradually declined. The causes
of this change are worth knowing. Formerly the great families, great in
nobility or abounding in riches, were carried away with a passion for
magnificence: for even then it was allowed to court the good graces of
the Roman People, with the favour of kings, and confederate nations; and
to be courted by them: so that each was distinguished by the lustre
of popularity and dependances, in proportion to his affluence, the
splendour of his house, and the figure he made. But after Imperial fury
had long raged in the slaughter of the Grandees, and the greatness of
reputation was become the sure mark of destruction; the rest grew wiser:
besides, new men frequently chosen Senators from the municipal towns,
from the colonies, and even from the provinces, brought into the Senate
their own domestic parsimony; and though, by fortune or industry, many
of them grew wealthy as they grew old, yet their former frugal spirit
continued. But above all, Vespasian proved the promoter of thrifty
living, being himself the pattern of ancient economy in his person
and table: hence the compliance of the public with the manners of the
Prince, and an emulation to practise them; an incitement more prevalent
than the terrors of laws and all their penalties. Or perhaps all human
things go a certain round; and, as in the revolutions of time, there are
also vicissitudes in manners: nor indeed have our ancestors excelled
us in all things; our own age has produced many excellences worthy of
praise and the imitation of posterity. Let us still preserve this strife
in virtue with our forefathers.

Tiberius having gained the fame of moderation; because, by rejecting the
project for reforming luxury, he had disarmed the growing hopes of the
accusers; wrote to the Senate, to desire the _Tribunitial Power_ for
Drusus. Augustus had devised this title, as best suiting the unbounded
height of his views; while avoiding the odious name of _King_ or
_Dictator_, he was yet obliged to use some particular appellation,
under it to control all other powers in the State. He afterwards assumed
Marcus Agrippa into a fellowship in it; and, upon his death, Tiberius;
that none might doubt, who was to be his successor. By this means, he
conceived, he should defeat the aspiring views of others: besides, he
confided in the moderation of Tiberius, and in the mightiness of his own
authority. By his example, Tiberius now advanced Drusus to the supreme
Magistracy; whereas, while Germanicus yet lived, he acted without
distinction towards both. In the beginning of his letter he besought the
Gods "that by his counsels the Republic might prosper," and then added
a modest testimony concerning the qualities and behaviour of the young
Prince, without aggravation or false embellishments; "that he had a wife
and three children, and was of the same age with himself, when called
by the deified Augustus to that office: that Drusus was not now by him
adopted a partner in the toils of government, precipitately; but after
eight years' experience made of his qualifications; after seditions
suppressed, wars concluded, the honour of triumph, and two Consulships."

The Senators had foreseen this address; hence they received it with the
more elaborate adulation. However, they could devise nothing to decree,
but "statues to the two Princes, altars to the Gods, arches," and other
usual honours: only that Marcus Silanus strove to honour the Princes by
the disgrace of the Consulship: he proposed "that all records public and
private should, for their date, be inscribed no more with the names
of the Consuls, but of those who exercised the Tribunitial power." But
Haterius Agrippa, by moving to have "the decrees of that day engraved
in letters of gold, and hung up in the Senate," became an object of
derision; for that, as he was an ancient man, he could reap from his
most abominable flattery no other fruit but that of infamy.

Tiberius, while he fortified the vitals of his own domination, afforded
the Senate a shadow of their ancient jurisdiction; by referring to their
examination petitions and claims from the provinces. For there had now
prevailed amongst the Greek cities a latitude of instituting sanctuaries
at pleasure. Hence the temples were filled with the most profligate
fugitive slaves: here debtors found protection against their creditors;
and hither were admitted such as were pursued for capital crimes. Nor
was any force of Magistracy or laws sufficient to bridle the mad zeal
of the people, who confounding the sacred villainies of men with
the worship peculiar to the Gods, seditiously defended these profane
sanctuaries. It was therefore ordered that these cities should send
deputies to represent their claims. Some of the cities voluntarily
relinquished the nominal privileges, which they had arbitrarily assumed:
many confided in their rights; a confidence grounded on the antiquity of
their superstitions, or on the merits of their kind offices to the Roman
People. Glorious to the Senate was the appearance of that day, when
the grants from our ancestors, the engagements of our confederates, the
ordinances of kings, such kings who had reigned as yet independent of
the Roman power; and when even the sacred worship of the Gods were now
all subjected to their inspection, and their judgment free, as of old,
to ratify or abolish with absolute power.

First of all the Ephesians applied. They alleged, that "Diana and Apollo
were not, according to the credulity of the vulgar, born at Delos: in
their territory flowed the river Cenchris; where also stood the Ortygian
Grove: there the big-bellied Latona, leaning upon an olive tree, which
even then remained, was delivered of these deities; and thence by their
appointment the Grove became sacred. Thither Apollo himself, after his
slaughter of the Cyclops, retired for a sanctuary from the wrath of
Jupiter: soon after, the victorious Bacchus pardoned the suppliant
Amazons, who sought refuge at the altar of Diana: by the concession of
Hercules, when he reigned in Lydia, her temple was dignified with an
augmentation of immunities; nor during the Persian monarchy were they
abridged: they were next maintained by the Macedonians, and then by us."

The Magnesians next asserted their claim, founded on an establishment
of Lucius Scipio, confirmed by another of Sylla: the former after the
defeat of Antiochus; the latter after that of Mithridates, having, as
a testimony of the faith and bravery of the Magnesians, dignified their
temple of the Leucophrynaean Diana with the privileges of an inviolable
sanctuary. After them, the Aphrodisians and Stratoniceans produced a
grant from Caesar the Dictator, for their early services to his party;
and another lately from Augustus, with a commendation inserted,
"that with zeal unshaken towards the Roman People, they had borne the
irruption of the Parthians." But these two people adored different
deities: Aphrodisium was a city devoted to Venus; that of Stratonicea
maintained the worship of Jupiter and of Diana Trivia. Those of
Hierocaesarea exhibited claims of higher antiquity, "that they possessed
the Persian Diana, and her temple consecrated by King Cyrus." They
likewise pleaded the authorities of Perpenna, Isauricus, and of many
more Roman captains, who had allowed the same sacred immunity not to
the temple only, but to a precinct two miles round it. Those of Cyprus
pleaded right of sanctuary to three of their temples: the most ancient
founded by Aerias to the Paphian Venus; another by his son Amathus to
the Amathusian Venus; the third to the Salaminian Jupiter by Teucer, the
son of Telamon, when he fled from the fury of his father.

The deputies too of other cities were heard. But the Senate tired with
so many, and because there was a contention begun amongst particular
parties for particular cities; gave power to the Consuls "to search into
the validity of their several pretensions, and whether in them no fraud
was interwoven;" with orders "to lay the whole matter once more before
the Senate." The Consuls reported that, besides the cities already
mentioned, "they had found the temple of AEsculapius at Pergamus to be a
genuine sanctuary: the rest claimed upon originals, from the darkness of
antiquity, altogether obscure. Smyrna particularly pleaded an oracle
of Apollo, in obedience to which they had dedicated a temple to Venus
Stratonices; as did the Isle of Tenos an oracular order from the same
God, to erect to Neptune a statue and temple. Sardis urged a later
authority, namely, a grant from the Great Alexander; and Miletus
insisted on one from King Darius: as to the deities of these two cities;
one worshipped Diana; the other, Apollo. And Crete too demanded the
privilege of sanctuary, to a statue of the deified Augustus." Hence
diverse orders of Senate were made, by which, though great reverence
was expressed towards the deities, yet the extent of the sanctuaries was
limited; and the several people were enjoined "to hang up in each
temple the present decree engraven in brass, as a sacred memorial, and a
restraint against their lapsing, under the colour of religion, into the
abuses and claims of superstition."

At the same time, a vehement distemper having seized Livia, obliged the
Emperor to hasten his return to Rome; seeing hitherto the mother and son
lived in apparent unanimity; or perhaps mutually disguised their hate:
for, not long before, Livia, having dedicated a statue to the deified
Augustus, near the theatre of Marcellus, had the name of Tiberius
inscribed after her own. This he was believed to have resented
heinously, as a degrading the dignity of the Prince; but to have buried
his resentment under dark dissimulation. Upon this occasion, therefore,
the Senate decreed "supplications to the Gods; with the celebration of
the greater Roman games, under the direction of the Pontifs, the Augurs,
the College of Fifteen, assisted by the College of Seven, and the
Fraternity of Augustal Priests." Lucius Apronius had moved, that "with
the rest might preside the company of heralds." Tiberius opposed it; he
distinguished between the jurisdiction of the priests and theirs; "for
that at no time had the heralds arrived to so much pre-eminence: but
for the Augustal Fraternity, they were therefore added, because they
exercised a priesthood peculiar to that family for which the present
vows and solemnities were made," It is no part of my purpose to
trace all the votes of particular men, unless they are memorable for
integrity, or for notorious infamy: this I conceive to be the principal
duty of an historian, that he suppress no instance of virtue; and that
by the dread of future infamy and the censures of posterity, men may be
deterred from detestable actions and prostitute speeches. In short,
such was the abomination of those times, so prevailing the contagion
of flattery, that not only the first nobles, whose obnoxious splendour
found protection only in obsequiousness; but all who had been Consuls,
a great part of such as had been Praetors, and even many of the
unregistered Senators, strove for priority in the vileness and excess
of their votes. There is a tradition, that Tiberius, as often as he went
out of the Senate, was wont to cry out in Greek, _Oh men prepared for
bondage!_ Yes, even Tiberius, he who could not bear public liberty,
nauseated this prostitute tameness of slaves.




BOOK IV

A.D. 23-28.


When Caius Asinius and Caius Antistius were Consuls, Tiberius was in
his ninth year; the State composed, and his family flourishing (for the
death of Germanicus he reckoned amongst the incidents of his prosperity)
when suddenly fortune began to grow boisterous, and he himself to
tyrannise, or to furnish others with the weapons of tyranny. The
beginning and cause of this turn arose from Aelius Sejanus, captain of
the Praetorian cohorts. Of his power I have above made mention; I shall
now explain his original, his manners, and by what black deeds he strove
to snatch the sovereignty. He was born at Vulsinii, son to Sejus Strabo,
a Roman knight; in his early youth, he was a follower of Caius Caesar
(grandson of Augustus) and lay then under the contumely of having
for hire exposed himself to the constupration of Apicius; a debauchee
wealthy and profuse: next by various artifices he so enchanted Tiberius,
that he who to all others was dark and unsearchable, became to Sejanus
alone destitute of all restraint and caution: nor did he so much
accomplish this by any superior efforts of policy (for at his own
stratagems he was vanquished by others) as by the rage of the Gods
against the Roman State, to which he proved alike destructive when he
flourished and when he fell. His person was hardy and equal to fatigues;
his spirit daring but covered; sedulous to disguise his own counsels,
dexterous to blacken others; alike fawning and imperious; to appearance
exactly modest; but in his heart fostering the lust of domination; and,
with this view, engaged at one time in profusion, largesses, and luxury;
and again, often laid out in application and vigilance; qualities
no less pernicious, when personated by ambition for the acquiring of
Empire.

The authority of his command over the guards, which was but moderate
before his time, he extended, by gathering into one camp all the
Praetorian cohorts then dispersed over the city; that thus united, they
might all at once receive his orders, and by continually beholding their
own numbers and strength, conceive confidence in themselves and prove
a terror to all other men. He pretended, "that the soldiers, while they
lived scattered, lived loose and debauched; that when gathered into a
body, there could, in any hasty emergency, be more reliance upon their
succour; and that when encamped, remote from the allurements of the
town, they would in their discipline be more exact and severe." When the
encampment was finished, he began gradually to allure the affections of
the soldiers, by all the ways of affability, court, and familiarity: it
was he too who chose the Centurions, he who chose the Tribunes.
Neither in his pursuits of ambition did the Senate escape him; but
by distinguishing his followers in it with offices and provinces,
he cultivated power and a party there: for, to all this Tiberius
was entirely resigned; and even so passionate for him, that not in
conversation only, but in public, in his speeches to the Senate and
people, he treated and extolled him, as _the sharer of his burdens_;
nay, allowed his effigies to be publicly adored, in the several
theatres, in all places of popular convention, and even amongst the
Eagles of the legions.

But to his designs were many retardments: the Imperial house was full
of Caesars; the Emperor's son a grown man, and his grandsons of age: and
because the cutting them off all at once, was dangerous; the treason he
meditated, required a gradation of murders. He however chose the darkest
method, and to begin with Drusus; against whom he was transported with
a fresh motive of rage. For, Drusus impatient of a rival, and in his
temper inflammable, had upon some occasional contest, shaken his fist at
Sejanus, and, as he prepared to resist, given him a blow on the face.
As he therefore cast about for every expedient of revenge, the readiest
seemed to apply to Livia his wife: she was the sister of Germanicus, and
from an uncomely person in her childhood, grew afterwards to excel in
loveliness. As his passion for this lady was vehement, he tempted her to
adultery, and having fulfilled the first iniquity (nor will a woman, who
has sacrificed her chastity, stick at any other) he carried her greater
lengths, to the views of marriage, a partnership in the Empire, and
even the murder of her husband. Thus she, the niece of Augustus, the
daughter-in-law of Tiberius, the mother of children by Drusus, defiled
herself, her ancestors, and her posterity, with a municipal adulterer;
and all to exchange an honourable condition possessed, for pursuits
flagitious and uncertain. Into a fellowship in the guilt was assumed
Eudemus, physician to Livia; and, under colour of his profession,
frequently with her in private. Sejanus too, to avoid the jealousy of
the adulteress, discharged from his bed Apicata his wife, her by whom he
had three children. But still the mightiness of the iniquity terrified
them, and thence created caution, delays, and frequently opposite
counsels.

During this, in the beginning of the year, Drusus one of the sons of
Germanicus, put on the manly robe; and upon him the Senate conferred the
same honours decreed before to his brother Nero. A speech was added by
Tiberius with a large encomium upon his son, "that with the tenderness
of a father he used the children of his brother." For, Drusus, however
rare it be for power and unanimity to subsist together, was esteemed
benevolent, certainly not ill-disposed, towards these youths. Now again
was revived by Tiberius the proposal of a progress into the Provinces;
a stale proposal, always hollow, but often feigned. He pretended "the
multitude of veterans discharged, and thence the necessity of recruiting
the armies; that volunteers were wanting, or if already such there were,
they were chiefly the necessitous and vagabonds, and destitute of the
like modesty and courage." He likewise cursorily recounted the number of
the legions, and what countries they defended: a detail which I think
it behoves me also to repeat; that thence may appear what was then the
complement of the Roman forces, what kings their confederates, and how
much more narrow the limits of the Empire.

Italy was on each side guarded by two fleets; one at Misenum, one at
Ravenna; and the coast joining to Gaul, by the galleys taken by Augustus
at the battle of Actium, and sent powerfully manned to Forojulium.
[Footnote: Fréjus.] But the chief strength lay upon the Rhine; they
were eight legions, a common guard upon the Germans and the Gauls.
The reduction of Spain, lately completed, was maintained by three.
Mauritania was possessed by King Juba; a realm which he held as a gift
from the Roman People: the rest of Africa by two legions; and Egypt by
the like number. Four legions kept in subjection all the mighty range
of country, extending from the next limits of Syria, as far as the
Euphrates, and bordering upon the Iberians, Albanians, and other
Principalities, who by our might are protected against Foreign Powers.
Thrace was held by Rhoemetalces, and the sons of Cotys; and both banks
of the Danube by four legions; two in Pannonia, two in Moesia. In
Dalmatia likewise were placed two; who, by the situation of the country,
were at hand to support the former, and had not far to march into
Italy, were any sudden succours required there: though Rome too had her
peculiar soldiery; three city cohorts, and nine Praetorian, enlisted
chiefly out of Etruria and Umbria, or from the ancient Latium and the
old Roman colonies. In the several Provinces, besides, were disposed,
according to their situation and necessity, the fleets of the several
confederates, with their squadrons and battalions; a number of forces
not much different from all the rest: but the particular detail would be
uncertain; since, according to the exigency of times, they often shifted
stations, with numbers sometimes enlarged, sometimes reduced.

It will, I believe, fall in properly here to review also the other parts
of the Administration, and by what measures it was hitherto conducted,
till with the beginning of this year the Government of Tiberius began to
wax worse. First then, all public, and every private business of moment,
was determined by the Senate: to the great men he allowed liberty of
debate: those who in their debates lapsed into flattery, he checked:
in conferring preferments, he was guided by merit, by ancient nobility,
renown in war abroad, by civil accomplishments at home; insomuch that it
was manifest, his choice could not have been better. There remained to
the Consuls, there remained to the Praetors the useful marks of their
dignities; to inferior magistrates the independent exercise of their
charges; and the laws, where the power of the Prince was not concerned,
were in proper force. The tributes, duties, and all public receipts,
were directed by companies of Roman knights: the management of his own
revenue he committed only to those of the most noted qualifications;
mostly known by himself, and to some known by reputation alone: and when
once taken, they were continued, without all restriction of term;
since most grew old in the same employments. The populace were indeed
aggrieved by the dearth of provisions; but without any fault of the
Prince: nay, he spared no possible expense nor pains to remedy the
effects of barrenness in the earth, and of wrecks at sea. He provided
that the Provinces should not be oppressed with new impositions; and
that no extortion, or violence should be committed by the magistrates
in raising the old: there were no infamous corporal punishments, no
confiscations of goods.

The Emperor's possessions through Italy, were thin; the behaviour of
his slaves modest; the freedmen who managed his house, few; and in his
disputes with particulars, the courts were open and the law equal. All
which restraints he observed, not, in truth, in the ways of complaisance
and popularity; but always stern, and for the most part terrible; yet
still he retained them, till by the death of Drusus they were abandoned:
for, while he lived they continued; because Sejanus, while he was but
laying the foundations of his power, studied to recommend himself
by good counsels. He then had besides, an avenger to dread, one who
disguised not his enmity, but was frequent in his complaints; "that
when the son was in his prime, another was called, as coadjutor, to the
Government; nay, how little was wanting to his being declared colleague
in the Empire? That the first advances to sovereignty are steep and
perilous; but, once you are entered, parties and instruments are
ready to espouse you. Already a camp for the guards was formed, by the
pleasure and authority of the captain: into whose hands the soldiers
were delivered: in the theatre of Pompey his statue was beheld: in
his grandchildren would be mixed the blood of the Drusi with that of
Sejanus. After all this what remained but to supplicate his modesty to
rest contented." Nor was it rarely that he uttered these disgusts,
nor to a few; besides, his wife being debauched, all his secrets were
betrayed.

Sejanus therefore judging it time to despatch, chose such a poison as by
operating gradually, might preserve the appearances of a casual disease.
This was administered to Drusus by Lygdus the eunuch, as, eight years
after, was learnt. Now during all the days of his illness, Tiberius
disclosed no symptoms of anguish (perhaps from ostentation of a firmness
of spirit) nay, when he had expired, and while he was yet unburied, he
entered the Senate; and finding the Consuls placed upon a common seat,
as a testimony of their grief; he admonished them of their dignity and
station: and as the Senators burst into tears, he smothered his rising
sighs, and, by a speech uttered without hesitation, animated them. "He,
in truth, was not ignorant," he said, "that he might be censured,
for having thus in the first throbs of sorrow, beheld the face of the
Senate; when most of those who feel the fresh pangs of mourning, can
scarce endure the soothings of their kindred, scarce behold the day:
neither were such to be condemned of weakness: but for himself, he
had more powerful consolations; such as arose from embracing the
Commonwealth, and pursuing her welfare." He then lamented "the extreme
age of his mother, the tender years of his grandsons, his own days in
declension;" and desired that, "as the only alleviation of the present
evils, the children of Germanicus might be introduced." The Consuls
therefore went for them, and having with kind words fortified their
young minds, presented them to the Emperor. He took them by the hand
and said, "Conscript Fathers, these infants, bereft of their father, I
committed to their uncle; and besought him that, though he had issue
of his own, he would rear and nourish them no otherwise than as the
immediate offspring of his blood; that he would appropriate them as
stays to himself and posterity. Drusus being snatched from us, to you I
address the same prayers; and in the presence of the Gods, in the face
of your country, I adjure you, receive into your protection, take under
your tuition the great-grandchildren of Augustus; children, descended
from ancestors the most glorious in the State: towards them fulfil your
own, fulfil my duty. To you, Nero; to you, Drusus, these Senators are in
the stead of a father; and such is the situation of your birth, that on
the Commonwealth must light all the good and evil which befalls you."

All this was heard with much weeping, and followed with propitious
prayers and vows: and had he only gone thus far, and in his speech
observed a medium, he had left the souls of his hearers full of sympathy
and applause. But, by renewing an old project, always chimerical and so
often ridiculed, about "restoring the Republic, reinstating it again
in the Consuls, or whoever else would undertake the administration;"
he forfeited his faith even in assertions which were commendable and
sincere. To the memory of Drusus were decreed the same solemnities as
to that of Germanicus; with many super-added; agreeably to the genius
of flattery, which delights in variety and improvements. Most signal was
the lustre of the funeral in a conspicuous procession of images; when at
it appeared in a pompous train, Aeneas, father of the Julian race;
all the kings of Alba, and Romulus founder of Rome; next the Sabine
nobility, Attus Clausus, and his descendants of the Claudian family.

In relating the death of Drusus, I have followed the greatest part of
our historians, and the most faithful: I would not however omit a rumour
which in those times was so prevailing that it is not extinguished in
ours; "that Sejanus having by adultery gained Livia to the murder, had
likewise engaged by constupration the affections and concurrence of
Lygdus the eunuch; because Lygdus was, for his youth and loveliness,
dear to his master, and one of his chief attendants: that when the time
and place of poisoning, were by the conspirators concerted; the eunuch
carried his boldness so high, as to charge upon Drusus a design of
poisoning Tiberius; and secretly warning the Emperor of this, advised
him to shun the first draught offered him in the next entertainment
at his son's: that the old man possessed with this fictitious treason,
after he had sate down to table, having received the cup delivered it to
Drusus, who ignorantly and gaily drank it off: that this heightened the
jealousy and apprehensions of Tiberius, as if through fear and shame
his son had swallowed the same death, which for his father he had
contrived."

These bruitings of the populace, besides that they are supported by no
certain author, may be easily refuted. For, who of common prudence (much
less Tiberius so long practised in great affairs) would to his own son,
without hearing him, present the mortal bane; with his own hands too,
and cutting off for ever all possibility of retraction? Why would he not
rather have tortured the minister of the poison? Why not inquired into
the author of the poison? Why not observed towards his only son, a son
hitherto convicted of no iniquity, that slowness and hesitation, which,
even in his proceedings against strangers, was inherent in him? But as
Sejanus was reckoned the framer of every wickedness, therefore, from the
excessive fondness of Tiberius towards him, and from the hatred of all
others towards both, things the most fabulous and direful were believed
of them; besides that common fame is ever most fraught with tales of
horror upon the departure of Princes: in truth, the plan and process of
the murder were first discovered by Apicata, wife of Sejanus, and laid
open upon the rack by Eudemus and Lygdus. Nor has any writer appeared
so outrageous to charge it upon Tiberius; though in other instances
they have sedulously collected and inflamed every action of his. My own
purpose in recounting and censuring this rumour, was to blast, by so
glaring an example, the credit of groundless tales; and to request of
those into whose hands our present undertaking shall come, that they
would not prefer hearsays, void of credibility and rashly swallowed, to
the narrations of truth not adulterated with romance.

To proceed; whilst Tiberius was pronouncing in public the panegyric of
his son, the Senate and People assumed the port and accent of mourners,
rather in appearance than cordially; and in their hearts exulted to see
the house of Germanicus begin to revive. But this dawn of fortune,
and the conduct of Agrippina, ill disguising her hopes, quickened the
overthrow of that house. For Sejanus, when he saw the death of Drusus
pass unrevenged upon his murderers, and no public lamentation following
it; undaunted as he was in villainy since his first efforts had
succeeded; cast about in himself, how he might destroy the sons of
Germanicus, whose succession to the Empire was now unquestionable. They
were three; and, from the distinguished fidelity of their governors, and
incorruptible chastity of Agrippina, could not be all circumvented by
poison. He therefore chose to attack her another way; to raise alarms
from the haughtiness and contumacy of her spirit; to rouse the old
hatred of Livia the elder, and the guilty mind of his late accomplice,
Livia the younger; that to the Emperor they might represent her
"as elated with the credit and renown of her fruitfulness; and that
confiding in it, and in the zeal of the populace, she grasped with open
arms at the Empire." The young Livia acted in this engagement by crafty
calumniators; amongst whom she had particularly chosen Julius Posthumus,
a man every way qualified for her purposes; as he was the adulterer of
Mutilia Prisca, and thence a confidant of her grandmother's; (for over
the mind of the Empress, Prisca had powerful influence) and by their
means the old woman, in her own nature tender and anxious of power, was
rendered utterly irreconcilable to the widow of her grandson. Such too
as were nearest the person of Agrippina, were promoted to be continually
enraging her tempestuous heart by perverse representations.

This year also brought deputations from the Grecian cities; one from the
people of Samos; one from those of Coös; the former to request that the
ancient right of Sanctuary in the Temple of Juno might be confirmed;
the latter to solicit the same confirmation for that of Aesculapius. The
Samians claimed upon a decree of the Council of Amphictyons, the supreme
Judicature of Greece, at the time when the Greeks by their cities
founded in Asia, possessed the maritime coasts. Nor had they of Coös a
weaker title to antiquity; to which likewise accrued the pretensions of
the place to the friendship of Rome: for they had lodged in the Temple
of Aesculapius all the Roman citizens there, when by the order of King
Mithridates, such were universally butchered throughout all the cities
of Asia and the Isles. And now after many complaints from the Praetors,
for the most part ineffectual, the Emperor at last made a representation
to the Senate, concerning the licentiousness of the players; "that in
many instances they raised seditious tumults, and violated the public
peace; and, in many, promoted debauchery in private families: that the
_Oscan Farce_, formerly only the contemptible delight of the vulgar,
was risen to such a prevailing pitch of credit and enormity, that it
required the authority of the Senate to check it." The players therefore
were driven out of Italy.

The same year carried off one of the twins of Drusus, and thence
afflicted the Emperor with fresh woe; nor with less for the death of a
particular friend. It was Lucillius Longus, the inseparable companion
of all the traverses of his fortune smiling or sad; and, of all the
Senators, the only one who accompanied him in his retirement at Rhodes.
For this reason, though but a new man, the Senate decreed him a public
funeral; and a statue to be placed, at the expense of the Treasury, in
the square of Augustus. For by the Senate, even yet, all affairs were
transacted; insomuch that Lucillius Capito, the Emperor's Comptroller in
Asia, was, at the accusation of the Province, brought upon his defence
before them: the Emperor too upon this occasion protested with great
earnestness, "that from him Lucillius had no authority but over his
slaves, and in collecting his domestic rents: that if he had usurped
the jurisdiction of Praetor, and employed military force, he had so far
violated his orders; they should therefore hear the allegations of the
Province." Thus the accused was upon trial condemned. For this just
vengeance, and that inflicted the year before on Caius Silanus, the
cities of Asia decreed a temple to Tiberius, and his mother, and the
Senate; and obtained leave to build it. For this concession Nero made
a speech of thanks to the Senators and his grandfather; a speech which
charmed the affections of his hearers, who, as they were full of the
memory of Germanicus, fancied it was him they heard, and him they
saw. There was also in the youth himself an engaging modesty, and a
gracefulness becoming a princely person: ornaments which, by the known
hatred that threatened him from Sejanus, became still more dear and
adored.

I am aware that most of the transactions which I have already related,
or shall hereafter relate, may perhaps appear minute, and too trivial to
be remembered. But, none must compare these my annals with the writings
of those who compiled the story of the ancient Roman People. They had
for their subjects mighty wars, potent cities sacked, great kings routed
and taken captive: or if they sometimes reviewed the domestic affairs of
Rome, they there found the mutual strife and animosities of the Consuls
and Tribunes; the agrarian and frumentary laws, pushed and opposed; and
the lasting struggles between the nobles and populace. Large and noble
topics these, at home and abroad, and recounted by the old historians
with full room and free scope. To me remains a straitened task, and void
of glory; steady peace, or short intervals of war; the proceedings at
Rome sad and affecting; and a Prince careless of extending the Empire:
nor yet will it be without its profit to look minutely into such
transactions, as however small at first view, give rise and motion to
great events.

For, all nations and cities are governed either by the populace, by the
nobility, or by single rulers. As to the frame of a state chosen
and compacted out of all these three, it is easier applauded than
accomplished; or if accomplished, cannot be of long duration. So that,
as during the Republic, either when the power of the people prevailed,
or when the Senate bore the chief sway; it was necessary to know the
genius of the commonalty, and by what measures they were to be humoured
and restrained; and such too who were thoroughly acquainted with the
spirit of the Senate and leading men, came to be esteemed skilful in the
times, and men of prowess: so now when that establishment is changed,
and the present situation such as if one ruled all; it is of advantage
to collect and record these later incidents, as matters of public
example and instruction; since few can by their own wisdom distinguish
between things crooked and upright; few between counsels pernicious and
profitable; and since most men are taught by the fate of others. But the
present detail, however instructive, yet brings scanty delight. It is by
the descriptions and accounts of nations; by the variety of battles; by
the brave fall of illustrious captains, that the soul of the reader
is engaged and refreshed. For myself, I can only give a sad display
of cruel orders, incessant accusations, faithless friendships, the
destruction of innocents, and endless trials, all attended with the
same issue, death and condemnation: an obvious round of repetition and
satiety! Besides that the old historians are rarely censured; nor is any
man now concerned whether they chiefly magnify the Roman or Carthaginian
armies. But, of many who under Tiberius suffered punishment, or were
marked with infamy, the posterity are still subsisting; or if the
families themselves are extinct, there are others found, who from
a similitude of manners, think that, in reciting the evil doings of
others, they themselves are charged: nay, even virtue and a glorious
name create foes, as they expose in a light too obvious the opposite
characters. But I return to my undertaking.

Whilst Cornelius Cossus and Asinius Agrippa were Consuls, Cremutius
Cordus was arraigned for that, "having published annals and in them
praised Brutus, he had styled Cassius the last of the Romans:" a new
crime, then first created. Satrius Secundus and Pinarius Natta were
his accusers; creatures of Sejanus: a mortal omen this to the accused;
besides that Tiberius received his defence with a countenance settled
into cruelty. He began it on this wise, casting away all hopes of life:

"As to facts, I am so guiltless, Conscript Fathers, that my words only
are accused: but neither are any words of mine pointed against the
Emperor, or his mother; who are the only persons comprehended in the law
concerning violated majesty. It is alleged that I have praised Brutus
and Cassius; men whose lives and actions have been compiled by a cloud
of writers, and their memory treated by none but with honour. Titus
Livius, an historian eminently famous for eloquence and veracity,
signalised Pompey with such abundant encomiums, that he was thence
by Augustus named Pompeianus; nor did this prejudice their common
friendship. Neither Scipio, nor Afranius, nor even this same Cassius,
nor this same Brutus, are anywhere mentioned by him as _traitors_ and
_parricides_, the common nicknames now bestowed on them; but often, as
great and memorable men. The writings of Asinius Pollio have conveyed
down the memory of the same men, under honourable characters. Corvinus
Messala gloried to have had Cassius for his general: and yet both
Pollio and Corvinus became signally powerful in wealth and honours under
Augustus. That book of Cicero's, in which he exalted Cato to the skies;
what other animadversion did it draw from Caesar the Dictator, than a
written reply, in the same style and equality as if before his judges
he had made it? The letters of Marc Anthony; the speeches of Brutus, are
full of reproaches, and recriminations against Augustus; false in truth,
but urged with signal asperity: the poems of Bibaculus and those of
Catullus, stuffed with virulent satires against the Caesars, are still
read. But even the deified Julius, even the deified Augustus, bore all
these invectives and disdained them; whether with greater moderation or
wisdom, I cannot easily say. For, if they are despised, they fade away;
if you wax wroth, you seem to avow them to be just.

"Instances from the Greeks I bring none: with them not the freedom
only, but even the licentiousness of speech, is unpunished: or if any
correction is returned, it is only by revenging words with words. It has
been ever allowed, without restriction or rebuke, to pass our judgment
upon those whom death has withdrawn from the influence of affection and
hate. Are Cassius and Brutus now in arms? do they at present fill with
armed troops the fields of Philippi? or do I fire the Roman People,
by inflammatory harangues, with the spirit of civil rage? Brutus
and Cassius, now above seventy years slain, are still known in their
statues, which even the conqueror did not abolish: and as these exhibit
their persons, why not the historian their characters? Impartial
posterity to every man repays his proper praise: nor will there be
wanting such as, if my death is determined, will not only revive the
story of Cassius and Brutus, but even my story." Having thus said he
withdrew from the Senate, and ended his life by abstinence. The
Fathers condemned the books to be by the Aediles burned; but they
still continued concealed and dispersed: hence we may justly mock
the stupidity of those, who imagine that they can, by present power,
extinguish the lights and memory of succeeding times: for, quite
otherwise, the punishment of writers exalts the credit of the writings:
nor did ever foreign kings, or any else, reap other fruit from it, than
infamy to themselves, and glory to the sufferers.

To proceed; for this whole year there was such an incessant torrent of
accusations, that even during the solemnity of the Latin festival,
when Drusus for his inauguration, as Governor of Rome, had ascended the
Tribunal, he was accosted by Calpurnius Salvianus with a charge against
Sextus Marius: a proceeding openly resented by the Emperor, and thence
Salvianus was banished. The city of Cyzicus was next accused, "of
not observing the established worship of the deified Augustus;" with
additional crimes, "of violences committed upon some Roman citizens."
Thus that city lost her liberties; which by her behaviour during the
Mithridatic war, she had purchased; having in it sustained a siege;
and as much by her own bravery, as by the aid of Lucullus, repulsed
the king, But Fonteius Capito, who had as Proconsul governed Asia, was
acquitted, upon proof that the crimes brought against him by Vibius
Serenus were forged: and yet the forgery drew no penalty upon Serenus:
nay, the public hate rendered him the more secure: for, every accuser,
the more eager and incessant he was, the more sacred and inviolable he
became: the sorry and impotent were surrendered to chastisement.

About the same time, the furthermost Spain besought the Senate by their
ambassadors, "that after the example of Asia, they might erect a temple
to Tiberius and his mother." Upon this occasion, the Emperor, always
resolute in contemning honours, and now judging it proper to confute
those, who exposed him to the popular censure, of having deviated into
ambition; spoke in this manner: "I know, Conscript Fathers, that it is
generally blamed, and ascribed to a defect of firmness in me, that when
the cities of Asia petitioned for this very thing, I withstood them not.
I shall therefore now unfold at once the motives of my silence then,
and the rules which for the future I am determined to observe. Since the
deified Augustus had not opposed the founding at Pergamus a temple to
himself and the city of Rome; I, with whom all his actions and sayings
have the force of laws, followed an example already approved; and
followed it the more cheerfully, because to the worship bestowed upon
me, that of the Senate was annexed. But as the indulging of this, in
one instance, will find pardon; so a general latitude of being adored
through every province, under the sacred representations of the Deities,
would denote a vain spirit; a heart swelled with ambition. The glory too
of Augustus will vanish, if by the promiscuous courtship of flattery it
comes to be vulgarly prostituted.

"For myself, Conscript Fathers, I am a mortal man; I am confined to
the functions of human nature; and if I well supply the principal
place amongst you, it suffices me. This I acknowledge to you; and
this acknowledgment, I would have posterity to remember. They will do
abundant right to my memory, if they believe me to have been worthy of
my ancestors; watchful of the Roman state; unmoved in perils, and in
maintaining the public interest, fearless of private enmities. These
are the temples which in your breasts I would raise; these the fairest
portraitures, and such as will endure. As to temples and statues of
stone, if the idol adored in them comes to be hated by posterity, they
are despised as his sepulchres. Hence it is I here invoke the Gods,
that to the end of my life they would grant me a spirit undisturbed, and
discerning in duties human and divine: and hence too I here implore our
citizens and allies, that whenever my dissolution comes, they would
with approbation and benevolent testimonies of remembrance, celebrate
my actions and retain the odour of my name." And thenceforward he
persevered in slighting upon all occasions, and even in private
conversation, this divine worship of himself. A conduct which was by
some ascribed to modesty; by many to a conscious diffidence; by others
to degeneracy of spirit. "Since the most sublime amongst men naturally
covet the most exalted honours: thus Hercules and Bacchus amongst the
Greeks, and with us Romulus, were added to the society of the Gods:
Augustus too had chosen the nobler part, and hoped for deification: all
the other gratifications of Princes were instantly procured: one only
was to be pursued insatiably; the praise and perpetuity of their name.
For by contemning fame, the virtues that procure it, are contemned."

Now Sejanus, intoxicated with excess of fortune, and moreover stimulated
by the importunity of Livia, who, with the restless passion of a woman,
craved the promised marriage, composed a memorial to the Emperor.
For, it was then the custom to apply to him in writing, though he were
present. This of Sejanus was thus conceived: "That such had been towards
him the benevolence of Augustus; such and so numerous, since, the
instances of affection from Tiberius, that he was thence accustomed,
without applying to the Gods, to carry his hopes and prayers directly
to the Emperors: yet of them he had never sought a blaze of honours:
watching and toils like those of common soldiers, for the safeguard
of the Prince, had been his choice and ambition. However what was most
glorious for him he had attained; to be thought worthy of alliance with
the Emperor: hence the source of his present hopes: and, since he had
heard that Augustus, in the disposal of his daughter, had not been
without thoughts even of some of the Roman knights; he begged that if a
husband were sought for Livia, Tiberius would remember his friend; one
whose ambition aimed no higher than the pure and disinterested glory of
the affinity: for that he would never abandon the burden of his present
trust; but hold it sufficient to be, by that means, enabled to support
his house against the injurious wrath of Agrippina; and in this he only
consulted the security of his children. For himself; his own life would
be abundantly long, whenever finally spent in the ministry of such a
Prince."

For a present answer, Tiberius praised the loyalty of Sejanus;
recapitulated cursorily the instances of his own favours towards him,
and required time, as it were for a thorough deliberation. At last he
made this reply: "That all other men were, in their pursuits, guided by
the notions of convenience: far different was the lot and situation of
Princes, who were in their action to consider chiefly the applause and
good liking of the public: he therefore did not delude Sejanus with
an obvious and plausible answer; that Livia could herself determine
whether, after Drusus, she ought again to marry, or still persist his
widow, and that she had a mother and grandmother, nearer relations and
more interested to advise. He would deal more candidly with him: and
first as to the enmity of Agrippina; it would flame out with fresh fury,
if by the marriage of Livia, the family of the Caesars were rent as
it were into two contending parties: that even as things stood, the
emulation of these ladies broke into frequent sallies, and, by their
animosities, his grandsons were instigated different ways. What would be
the consequence, if, by such a marriage, the strife were inflamed? For
you are deceived, Sejanus, if you think to continue then in the same
rank as now; or that Livia, she who was first the wife of the young
Caius Caesar, and afterwards the wife of Drusus, will be of a temper
to grow old with a husband no higher than a Roman knight: nay, allowing
that I suffered you afterwards to remain what you are; do you believe
that they who saw her father, they who saw her brother, and the
ancestors of our house, covered with the supreme dignities, will ever
suffer it? You in truth propose, yourself, to stand still in the same
station: but the great magistrates and grandees of the state, those very
magistrates and grandees who, in spite of yourself, break in upon
you, and in all affairs court you as their oracle, make no secret
of maintaining that you have long since exceeded the bounds of the
Equestrian Order, and far outgone in power all the confidants of my
father; and from their hatred to you, they also censure me. But still,
Augustus deliberated about giving his daughter to a Roman knight. Where
is the wonder, if perplexed with a crowd of distracting cares, and
apprised to what an unbounded height above others he raised whomsoever
he dignified with such a match, he talked of Proculeius, and some like
him; remarkable for the retiredness of their life, and nowise engaged
in the affairs of state? But if we are influenced by the hesitation of
Augustus, how much more powerful is the decision; since he bestowed his
daughter on Agrippa, and then on me? These are considerations which in
friendship I have not withheld: however, neither your own inclinations,
nor those of Livia, shall be ever thwarted by me. The secret and
constant purposes of my own heart towards you, and with what further
ties of affinity, I am contriving to bind you still faster to me; I at
present forbear to recount. Thus much only I will declare, that there is
nothing so high but those abilities, and your singular zeal and fidelity
towards me, may justly claim: as when opportunity presents, either in
Senate, or in a popular assembly, I shall not fail to testify."

In answer to this, Sejanus no longer soliciting the marriage, but filled
with higher apprehensions, besought him "to resist the dark suggestions
of suspicion; to despise the pratings of the vulgar, nor to admit the
hostile breath of envy." And as he was puzzled about the crowds which
incessantly haunted his house; lest by keeping them off he might
impair his power; or by encouraging them, furnish a handle for criminal
imputations; he came to this result, that he would urge the Emperor out
of Rome, to spend his life remote from thence in delightful retirements.
From this counsel he foresaw many advantages: upon himself would depend
all access to the Emperor; all letters and expresses would, as the
soldiers were the carriers, be in great measure under his direction; in
a little time, the Prince, now in declining age, and then softened by
recess, would more easily transfer upon him the whole charge of the
Empire: he should be removed from the multitude of such as to make their
court, attended him at Rome; and thence one source of envy would be
stopped. So that by discharging the empty phantoms of power, he should
augment the essentials. He therefore began by little and little to rail
at the hurry of business at Rome, the throng of people, the flock of
suitors: he applauded "retirement and quiet; where, while they were
separate from irksome fatigues, nor exposed to the discontents and
resentments of particulars, all affairs of moment were best despatched."

Next were heard ambassadors from the Lacedaemonians and Messenians,
about the right that each people claimed to the Temple of Diana
Limenetis; which the Lacedaemonians asserted to be theirs, "founded
in their territory, and dedicated by their ancestors," and offered as
proofs the ancient authority of their annals, and the hymns of the old
poets. "It had been in truth taken from them by the superior force of
Philip of Macedon, when at war with him; but restored afterwards by the
judicial decision of Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony." The Messenians,
on the contrary, pleaded, "the ancient partition of Peloponnesus amongst
the descendants of Hercules; whence the territory where the temple
stood, had fallen to their king; and the monuments of that allotment
still remained, engraven in stone and old tables of brass; but, if the
testimony of histories and poets were appealed to; they themselves had
the most and the fullest. Nor had Philip, in his decision, acted by
power, but from equity: the same afterwards was the adjudgment of King
Antigonus; the same that of the Roman commander Mummius. Thus too the
Milesians had awarded, they who were by both sides chosen arbitrators:
and thus lastly it had been determined by Atidius Geminus, Praetor of
Achaia." The Messenians therefore gained the suit. The citizens also of
Segestum applied on behalf of "the Temple of Venus on Mount Eryx; which
fallen through age, they desired might be restored." They represented
the story of its origin and antiquity; a well-pleasing flattery to
Tiberius; who frankly took upon himself the charge, as kinsman to
the Goddess. Then was discussed the petition from the citizens of
Marseilles; and what they claimed, according to the precedent of Publius
Rutilius, was approved: for Rutilius, though by a law expelled from
Rome, had been by those of Smyrna adopted a citizen: and as Volcatius
Moschus, another exile, had found at Marseilles the same privilege and
reception, he had to their Republic, as to his country, left his estate.

During the same Consuls, a bloody assassination was perpetrated in the
nethermost Spain, by a boor in the territory of Termes. By him, Lucius
Piso, Governor of the Province, as he travelled careless and unattended,
relying on the established peace, was surprised, and despatched at one
deadly blow. The assassin however escaped to a forest, by the fleetness
of his horse; and there dismissed him: from thence travelling over rocks
and pathless places, he baffled his pursuers: but their ignorance of his
person was soon removed; for his horse being taken and shown through the
neighbouring villages, it was thence learned who was the owner; so that
he too was found; but when put to the rack to declare his accomplices,
he proclaimed with a mighty and assured voice, in the language of his
country, "that in vain they questioned him; his associates might stand
safely by and witness his constancy: and that no force of torture could
be so exquisite as from him to extort a discovery." Next day as he
was dragged back to the rack, he burst with a vehement effort from
his guard, and dashed his head so desperately against a stone, that he
instantly expired. Piso is believed to have been assassinated by a plot
of the Termestinians; as in exacting the repayment of some money, seized
from the public, he acted with more asperity, than a rough people could
bear.

In the Consulship of Lentulus Getulicus and Caius Calvisius, the
triumphal ensigns were decreed to Poppeus Sabinus for having routed
some clans of Thracians, who living wildly on the high mountains, acted
thence with the more outrage and contumacy. The ground of their late
commotion, not to mention the savage genius of the people, was their
scorn and impatience, to have recruits raised amongst them, and all
their stoutest men enlisted in our armies; accustomed as they were not
even to obey their native kings further than their own humour, nor to
aid them with forces but under captains of their own choosing, nor to
fight against any enemy but their own borderers. Their discontents too
were inflamed by a rumour which then ran current amongst them; that they
were to be dispersed into different regions; and exterminated from their
own, to be mixed with other nations. But before they took arms and began
hostilities, they sent ambassadors to Sabinus, to represent "their past
friendship and submission, and that the same should continue, if they
were provoked by no fresh impositions: but, if like a people subdued by
war, they were doomed to bondage; they had able men and steel, and souls
determined upon liberty or death." The ambassadors at the same time
pointed to their strongholds founded upon precipices; and boasted that
they had thither conveyed their wives and parents; and threatened a war
intricate, hazardous and bloody.

Sabinus amused them with gentle answers till he could draw together his
army; while Pomponius Labeo was advancing with a legion from Moesia, and
King Rhoemetalces with a body of Thracians who had not renounced their
allegiance. With these, and what forces he had of his own, he marched
towards the foe, now settled in the passes of the forest: some more bold
presented themselves upon the hills: against the last, the Roman general
first bent his forces in battle, and without difficulty drove them
thence, but with small slaughter of the Barbarians, because of their
immediate refuge. Here he straight raised an encampment, and with a
stout band took possession of a hill, which extended with an even narrow
ridge to the next fortress, which was garrisoned by a great host of
armed men and rabble: and as the most resolute were, in the way of
the nation, rioting without the fortification in dances and songs, he
forthwith despatched against them his select archers. These, while they
only poured in volleys of arrows at a distance did thick and extensive
execution; but, approaching too near, were by a sudden sally put in
disorder. They were however supported by a cohort of the Sigambrians,
purposely posted by Sabinus in readiness against an exigency; a people
these, equally terrible in the boisterous and mixed uproar of their
voices and arms.

He afterwards pitched his camp nearer to the enemy; having in his former
entrenchments left the Thracians, whom I have mentioned to have joined
us. To them too was permitted "to lay waste, burn, and plunder; on
condition that their ravages were confined to the day; and that, at
nights, they kept within the camp, secure under guard." This restriction
was at first observed; but, anon lapsing into luxury, and grown opulent
in plunder, they neglected their guards, and resigned themselves to
gaiety and banquetting, to the intoxication and sloth of wine and sleep.
The enemy therefore apprised of their negligence, formed themselves
into two bands; one to set upon the plunderers; the other to assault
the Roman camp, with no hopes of taking it; but only that the soldiers
alarmed with shouts and darts, and all intent upon their own defence,
might not hear the din of the other battle: moreover to heighten the
terror, it was to be done by night. Those who assailed the lines of
the legions were easily repulsed: but, the auxiliary Thracians were
terrified with the sudden encounter, as they were utterly unprepared.
Part of them lay along the entrenchments; many were roaming abroad; and
both were slain with the keener vengeance, as they were upbraided "for
fugitives and traitors, who bore arms to establish servitude over their
country and themselves."

Next day Sabinus drew up his army in view of the enemy, on ground equal
to both; to try, if elated with their success by night, they would
venture a battle: and, when they still kept within the fortress, or
on the cluster of hills, he began to begird them with a siege; and
strengthening his old lines and adding new, enclosed a circuit of four
miles. Then to deprive them of water and forage, he straitened his
entrenchment by degrees, and hemmed them in still closer. A bulwark
was also raised, whence the enemy now within throw, were annoyed with
discharges of stones, darts, and fire. But nothing aggrieved them so
vehemently as thirst, whilst only a single fountain remained amongst a
huge multitude of armed men and families: their horses too and cattle,
penned up with the people, after the barbarous manner of the country,
perished for want of provender: amongst the carcasses of beasts lay
those of men; some dead of thirst, some of their wounds; a noisome
mixture of misery and death; all was foul and tainted with putrefaction,
stench, and filthy contamination. To these distresses also accrued
another, and of all calamities the most consummate, the calamity of
discord: some were disposed to surrender; others proposed present death,
and to fall upon one another. There were some too who advised a sally,
and to die avenging their deaths. Nor were these last mean men, though
dissenting from the rest.

But there was one of their leaders, his name Dinis, a man stricken in
years, who, by long experience, acquainted with the power and clemency
of the Romans, argued, "that they must lay down their arms, the same
being the sole cure for their pressing calamities;" and was the first
who submitted, with his wife and children to the conqueror. There
followed him all that were weak through sex or age, and such as had a
greater passion for life than glory. The young men were parted between
Tarsa and Turesis; both determined to fall with liberty: but Tarsa
declared earnestly "for instant death; and that by it all hopes and
fears were at once to be extinguished;" and setting an example, buried
his sword in his breast. Nor were there wanting some who despatched
themselves the same way. Turesis and his band stayed for night: of
which our General was aware. The guards were therefore strengthened
with extraordinary reinforcements: and now with the night, darkness
prevailed, its horror heightened by outrageous rain; and the enemy with
tumultuous shouts, and by turns with vast silence, alarmed and puzzled
the besiegers. Sabinus therefore going round the camp, warned the
soldiers, "that they should not be misguided by the deceitful voice of
uproar, nor trust to a feigned calm, and thence open an advantage to the
enemy, who by these wiles sought it; but keep immovably to their several
posts; nor throw their darts at random."

Just then came the Barbarians, pouring in distinct droves: here, with
stones, with wooden javelins hardened in the fire, and with the broken
limbs of trees, they battered the palisade: there with hurdles, faggots
and dead bodies, they filled the trench: by others, bridges and ladders,
both before framed, were planted against the battlements; these they
violently grappled and tore, and struggled hand to hand with those who
opposed them. The Romans, on the other side, beat them back with their
bucklers, drove them down with darts, and hurled upon them great mural
stakes and heaps of stones. On both sides were powerful stimulations: on
ours the hopes of victory almost gained, if we persisted; and thence the
more glaring infamy, if we recoiled: on theirs, the last struggle for
their life; most of them, too, inspired with the affecting presence of
their mothers and wives, and made desperate by their dolorous wailings.
The night was an advantage to the cowardly and the brave; by it, the
former became more resolute; by it, the latter hid their fear: blows
were dealt, the striker knew not upon whom; and wounds received, the
wounded knew not whence: such was the utter indistinction of friend and
foe. To heighten the general jumble and blind confusion, the echo from
the cavities of the mountain represented to the Romans the shouts of the
enemy as behind them: hence in some places they deserted their lines, as
believing them already broken and entered: and yet such of the enemy,
as broke through, were very few. All the rest, their most resolute
champions being wounded or slain, were at the returning light driven
back to their fort; where they were at length forced to surrender; as
did the places circumjacent of their own accord. The remainder could
then be neither forced nor famished; as they were protected by a furious
winter, always sudden about Mount Haemus.

At Rome, discord shook the Prince's family: and, to begin the series of
destruction, which was to end in Agrippina, Claudia Pulchra her cousin
was accused; Domitius Afer the accuser. This man, just out of the
Praetorship, in estimation small, but hasty to signalise himself by
some notable exploit however heinous, alleged against her the "crimes
of prostitution, of adultery with Furnius, of magical execrations
and poison prepared against the life of the Emperor." Agrippina ever
vehement, and then in a flame for the peril of her kinswoman, flew to
Tiberius, and by chance found him sacrificing to the Emperor his father.
Having got this handle for upbraiding him, she told him "that it ill
became the same man to slay victims to the deified Augustus and to
persecute his children: his divine spirit was not transfused into dumb
statues: the genuine images of Augustus were the living descendants
from his celestial blood: she herself was one; one sensible of impending
danger, and now in the mournful state of a supplicant. In vain were
foreign crimes pretended against Pulchra; when the only cause of her
concerted overthrow was her affection for Agrippina, foolishly carried
even to adoration; forgetful as she was of the fate of Sosia, a
condemned sufferer for the same fault." All these bitter words drew
small answer from the dark breast of Tiberius: he rebuked her by quoting
a Greek verse; "That she was therefore aggrieved, because she did not
reign:" Pulchra and Furnius were condemned. Afer, having thus displayed
his genius, and gained a declaration from Tiberius, pronouncing him
_eloquent in his own independent right_, was ranked with the most
celebrated orators: afterwards in prosecuting accusations, or in
protecting the accused, he flourished more in the fame of eloquence than
in that of uprightness: however, old age eminently sunk the credit and
vigour of his eloquence; while, with parts decayed, he still retained
a passion for haranguing. [Footnote: Dum fessa mente, retinet silentii
inpatientiam.]

Agrippina still fostering her wrath, and seized too with a bodily
disorder, received the Emperor, come purposely to see her, with
many tears and long silence. At last she accosted him with invidious
expostulations and prayers; "that he would relieve her solitude, and
give her a husband. She was still endowed with proper youth; to virtuous
women there was no consolation but that of marriage; and Rome afforded
illustrious men who would readily assent to entertain the wife of
Germanicus, and his children." Tiberius was not ignorant to what mighty
power in the state, that demand tended; but, that he might betray no
tokens of resentment or fear, he left her, though instant with him,
without an answer. This passage, not related by the authors of our
annals, I found in the commentaries of her daughter Agrippina; her, who
was the mother of the Emperor Nero, and has published her own life with
the fortunes of her family.

As to Agrippina; still grieving and void of foresight, she was yet more
sensibly dismayed by an artifice of Sejanus, who employed such, as under
colour of friendship warned her, "that poison was prepared for her,
and that she must shun eating at her father-in-law's table." She was a
stranger to all dissimulation: so that as she sat near him at table, she
continued stately and unmoved; not a word, not a look escaped her,
and she touched no part of the meat. Tiberius observed her, whether
accidentally, or that he was before apprised; and, to be convinced by
a more powerful experiment, praising the apples that stood before him,
presented some with his own hand to his daughter-in-law. This only
increased the suspicion of Agrippina; and, without ever putting them
to her mouth, she delivered them to the servants. For all this, the
reserved Tiberius let not a word drop from him openly; but, turning
to his mother; "There was no wonder," he said, "if he had really taken
harsh measures with her, who thus charged him as a poisoner." Hence a
rumour spread, "that her doom was contrived; and that the Emperor not
daring to pursue it publicly, chose to have her despatched in secret."

Tiberius, as a means to divert upon other matters the popular talk,
attended assiduously the deliberations of the Senate; and there heard
for many days the several Ambassadors from Asia, mutually contending,
"in what city should be built the temple lately decreed." For this
honour eleven cities strove, with equal ambition, though different
in power: nor did the pleas urged by all, greatly vary; namely, "the
antiquity of their original, and their distinguished zeal for the Roman
People, during their several wars with Perseus, Aristonicus, and other
kings." But the Trallians, the Laodiceans, the Magnesians and those of
the Hypaepis, were at once dismissed, as insufficient for the charge.
Nor, in truth, had they of Ilium, who represented, "that Troy was the
mother of Rome," any superior advantage, besides the glory of antiquity.
The plea of the Halicarnassians took some short consideration: they
asserted, "that for twelve hundred years, no earthquake had shaken their
town; and that they would fix in a solid rock the foundations of the
temple." The same considerations were urged by the inhabitants of
Pergamus; where already was erected a temple to Augustus; a distinction
which was judged sufficient for them. The cities too of Ephesus and
Miletus seemed fully employed in the ceremonies of their own distinct
deities; the former in those of Diana; the other, in those of Apollo.
Thus the dispute was confined to Sardis and Smyrna. The first recited
a decree of the Etrurians, which owned them for kinsmen: "for that
Tyrrhenus and Lydus, sons of King Atys, having between them divided
their people, because of their multitude, Lydus re-settled in his
native country; and it became the lot of Tyrrhenus to find out a fresh
residence; and by the names of these chiefs the parted people came
afterwards to be called, Lydians in Asia, Tyrrhenians in Italy. That the
opulence of the Lydians spread yet farther, by their colonies sent
under Pelops into Greece, which from him afterwards took its name." They
likewise urged "the letters of our Generals; their mutual leagues with
us during the war of Macedon; their plenty of rivers, temperate climate,
and the fertility of the circumjacent country."

The Smyrnaeans having likewise recounted their ancient establishment,
"whether Tantalus, the son of Jupiter; or Theseus, the son also of
a God; or one of the old Amazons, were their founder;" proceeded to
considerations in which they chiefly trusted; their friendly offices
to the Roman People, having aided them with a naval force, not in their
foreign wars only, but in those which infested Italy. "It was they who
first reared a temple to the City of Rome, in the Consulship of Marcus
Porcius; then, in truth, when the power of the Roman People was already
mighty, but however not yet raised to its highest glory; for the city of
Carthage still stood, and potent kings governed Asia. Witness too their
generosity to Sylla, when the condition of his army ready to famish in a
cruel winter and a scarcity of clothes, being related to the citizens
of Smyrna then assembled; all that were present divested themselves of
their raiments, and sent them to our legions." Thus when the votes of
the Senators were gathered, the pretensions of Smyrna were preferred. It
was also moved by Vibius Marsus, that Lentulus, to whom had fallen
the province of Asia, should be attended by a Legate extraordinary, to
supervise the building of the temple; and as Lentulus himself through
modesty declined to choose one, several who had been Praetors were drawn
by lot, and the lot fell upon Valerius Naso.

In the meantime, according to a purpose long meditated, and from time to
time deferred, Tiberius at last retired to Campania; in profession, to
dedicate a temple to Jupiter at Capua, and one at Nola to Augustus; but
in truth determined to remove, for ever, from Rome. The cause of his
departure, I have before referred to the stratagems of Sejanus; but
though in it I have followed most of our authors; yet, since after
the execution of Sejanus, he persisted for six years in the like dark
recess; I am rather influenced by a stronger probability, that the
ground of his absence is more justly to be ascribed to his own spirit,
while he strove to hide in the shades of solitude, what in deeds he
proclaimed, the rage of his cruelty and lust. There were those who
believed that, in his old age, he was ashamed of the figure of his
person; for he was very lean, long and stooping, his head bald, his face
ulcerous, and for the most besmeared with salves: he was moreover
wont, during his recess at Rhodes, to avoid the public, and cover his
debauches in secrecy. It is also related that he was driven from Rome by
the restless aspiring of his mother, whom he scorned to admit a partner
in the sovereignty; nor yet could entirely seclude, since as her gift he
had received the sovereignty itself. For, Augustus had deliberated
about setting Germanicus at the head of the Roman state; his sister's
grandson, and one adored by all men: but subdued by the solicitations of
his wife, he adopted Tiberius; and caused Tiberius to adopt Germanicus.
With this grandeur of her own procuring, Livia upbraided her son; and
even reclaimed it.

His going was narrowly accompanied; by one Senator, Cocceius Nerva,
formerly Consul, and accomplished in the knowledge of the laws; and,
besides Sejanus, by one dignified Roman knight, Curtius Atticus. The
rest were men of letters, chiefly Greeks; whose conversation pleased and
amused him. The skilled in astrology declared, "that he had left Rome in
such a conjunction of the planets, as for ever to exclude his return."
Hence a source of destruction to many, who conjectured his end to be
at hand, and published their conjectures: for, it was an event too
incredible to be foreseen, that for eleven years he should of choice
be withdrawn from his country. The sequel discovered the short bounds
between the art and the falsehood of the art, and what obscurities
perplex even the facts it happens to foretell. _That he should never
return to Rome_, proved not to be falsely said: as to everything else
about him they were perfectly in the dark; since he still lived, never
far distant, sometimes in the adjacent champain, sometimes on the
neighbouring shore, often under the very walls of the city; and died at
last in the fulness and extremity of age.

There happened to Tiberius, about that time, an accident, which, as it
threatened his life, fired the empty prognostics at Rome; but to himself
proved matter of more confidence in the friendship and faith of Sejanus.
They were eating in a cave at a villa, thence called _Spelunca_, between
the Amyclean Sea and the mountains of Fondi: it was a native cave, and
its mouth fell suddenly in, and buried under it some of the attendants:
hence dread seized all, and they who were celebrating the entertainment
fled: as to Sejanus; he covered the Emperor's body with his own, and
stooping upon his knees and hands, exposed himself to the descending
ruin; such was the posture he was found in by the soldiers, who came to
their relief. He grew mightier from thence; and being now considered by
Tiberius as one regardless of himself, all his counsels, however bloody
and destructive, were listened to with blind credulity: so that he
assumed the office of a judge against the offspring of Germanicus, and
suborned such as were to act the parts of accusers, and especially to
pursue and blacken Nero, the next in succession; a young Prince modest
indeed, but forgetful of that restraint and circumspection which his
present situation required. He was misguided by his freedmen and the
retainers to his house; who eager to be masters of power, animated him
with intemperate counsels; "that he would show a spirit resolute and
assured; it was what the Roman People wished, what the armies longed
for: nor would Sejanus dare then to resist; though he now equally
insulted the tameness of an old man and the sloth of a young one."

While he listened to these and the like suggestions, there escaped him,
no expressions, in truth, of any criminal purpose; but sometimes such as
were resentful and unguarded: these were catched up by the spies placed
upon him, and charged against him with aggravations; neither was
he allowed the privilege of clearing himself. Several threatening
appearances moreover dismayed him: some avoided to meet him; others
having just paid him the salute, turned instantly away: many, in the
midst of conversation, broke off and left him; while the creatures of
Sejanus stood still fearlessly by and sneered upon him. For Tiberius; he
always entertained him with a stern face, or a hollow smile; and whether
the youth spoke or said nothing, there were crimes in his words, crimes
in his silence: nor was he safe even at the dead of night; since his
uneasiness and watchings, nay, his very sighs and dreams were, by his
wife, divulged to her mother Livia, and by Livia to Sejanus; who had
also drawn his brother Drusus into the combination, by tempting him with
the immediate prospect of Empire, if his elder brother, already sinking,
were once set effectually aside. The genius of Druses naturally furious,
instigated besides by a passion for power, and by the usual hate and
competition between brothers, was further kindled by the partiality
of Agrippina, who was fonder of Nero. However, Sejanus did not so far
favour Drusus, but that against him too he was even then ripening the
studied measures of future destruction; as he knew him to be violent,
and thence more obnoxious to snares.

In the end of the year departed these eminent persons; Asinius Agrippa,
of ancestors more illustrious than ancient, and in his own character
not unworthy of them: and Quintus Haterius, of a Senatorian family, and
himself, while he yet lived, famous for eloquence: but the monuments
of his genius, since published, are not equally esteemed. In truth,
he prevailed more by rapidity than accuracy: insomuch that, as the
elaborate compositions of others flourish after them; so that enchanting
melody of voice in Haterius, with that fluency of words which was
personal to him, died with him.

In the Consulship of Marcus Licinius and Lucius Calpurnius, the casualty
of an instant, its beginning unforeseen, and ended as soon as begun,
equalled in calamity the slaughter and overthrow of mighty armies. One
Atilius had undertaken to erect an amphitheatre at Fidena, [Footnote:
Castel Giubileo, near Rome.] there to exhibit a combat of gladiators:
he was of the race of freedmen, and as he began it from no exuberance of
wealth, nor to court popularity amongst the inhabitants, but purely
for the meanness of gain, he neither established solid foundations, nor
raised the timber-work with sufficient compactness. Thither thronged
from Rome those of every sex and age, eager for such shows; as during
the reign of Tiberius they were debarred from diversions at home; and,
the nearer the place, the greater the crowds: hence the calamity was the
more dreadful; for, as the theatre was surcharged with the multitude,
the structure burst, and sinking violently in, while its extremities
rushed impetuously out, huge was the press of people, who intent upon
the gladiators within, or gathered round the walls, were crushed by the
deadly ruin, and even buried under it. And verily, they who in the first
fury of the havoc were smitten with final death, escaped as far as in
such a doleful disaster they could escape, the misery of torture: much
more to be lamented were those, who bereft of joints and pieces of their
body, were yet not forsaken of life; those who by day could with their
eyes behold their wives and children imprisoned in the same ruins; and
by night could distinguish them by their groans, and howlings.

Now others from abroad excited by the sad tidings, found here their
several sorrows: one bewailed his brother, one his kinsman, another his
parents: even they whose friends or kindred were absent on a different
account, were yet terrified: for, as it was not hitherto distinctly
known upon whom the destruction had lighted, the dread was widened by
uncertainty. When the ruins began to be removed, great about the dead
was the concourse of the living; frequent the kisses and embraces
of tenderness and sorrow: and even frequent the contention about the
propriety of the dead; where the features distorted by death or bruises,
or where parity of age or resemblance of person, had confounded the
slain, and led into mistakes their several claimers. Fifty thousand
souls were destroyed or maimed by this sad stroke: it was therefore
for the future provided by a decree of Senate, "that no man under the
qualification of four hundred thousand sesterces, [Footnote: £3,300.]
should exhibit the spectacle of gladiators; and no amphitheatre should
be founded but upon ground manifestly solid." Atilius was punished with
exile. To conclude; during the fresh pangs of this calamity, the doors
of the Grandees were thrown open; medicines were everywhere furnished;
they who administered medicines, were everywhere employed to attend:
and at that juncture the city though sorrowful of aspect, seemed to
have recalled the public spirit of the ancient Romans; who, after great
battles, constantly relieved the wounded, sustained them by liberality,
and restored them with care.

The public agonies from this terrible blow, were not yet deadened, when
another supervened; and the city felt the affliction and violence of
fire, which with uncommon rage utterly consumed Mount Caelius. "It was a
deadly and mournful year," they said, "and under boding omens the
Prince had formed the design of his absence." It is the way this of
the multitude; who to malignant counsels are wont to ascribe events
altogether fortuitous. But the Emperor dissipated their murmurs, by
bestowing on each sufferer money to the value of his sufferings: hence
he had the thanks of men of rank, in the Senate; and was by the populace
rewarded with applauses, "for that without the views of ambition,
without the application of friends, he had of his own accord even sought
out the unknown, and by his bounty relieved them." It was likewise moved
and decreed in Senate, "that Mount Caelius should be for the future
styled _Mount Augustus_, since there the statue of Tiberius, standing
in the house of Junius the Senator, escaped unhurt in the flames,
though devouring all round them:" it was remembered, that the same rare
exemption had formerly happened to Claudia Pulchra; that her statue
being twice spared by the fury of fire, had thence been placed and
consecrated by our ancestors in the Temple of the Mother of the Gods.
Thus sacred were the Claudian race, and dear to the deities; and
therefore the place, where the Gods had testified such mighty honour
towards the Prince, ought to be dignified with consecration.

It will not be impertinent to insert here, that this mount was of old
named _Querquetulanus_, from a grove of oak which grew thick upon it. It
was afterwards called _Mount Caelius_, from Caeles Vibenna, who having
led to Rome a body of Tuscan auxiliaries, was presented with that
settlement by Tarquinius Priscus, or some other of our kings; for in
this particular, writers differ: about other circumstances there remains
no dispute; that these forces were very numerous, and extended their
dwellings all along the plain below, as far as the Forum. Hence the
_Tuscan Street_, so called after these strangers.

Tiberius, having dedicated the temples in Campania; though he had by
an edict warned the public, "that none should interrupt his quiet;"
and though soldiers were posted to keep off all confluence from the
neighbouring towns; nevertheless, hating the towns themselves, and
the colonies, and every part in the continent, imprisoned himself in
Capreae, [Footnote: Capri.] an island disjoined from the point of the
Cape of Surrentum by a channel of three miles. I should chiefly believe
that he was taken with its solitude, as the sea above it is void of
havens, as the stations for the smallest vessels are few and difficult,
and as none could put in unperceived by the Guards. The genius of
the climate is mild in winter, from the shelter of a mountain which
intercepts the rigour of the winds: its summers are refreshed by gales
from the west; and the sea open all round it, makes a delightful view:
from thence too was beheld a most lovely landscape, before the eruptions
of Mount Vesuvius had changed the face of the prospect. It is the
tradition of fame that the Greeks occupied the opposite region, and
that Capreae was particularly inhabited by the Teleboi. However it were,
Tiberius then confined his retirement to twelve villas, their names
famous of old and their structure sumptuous. And the more intent he had
formerly been upon public cares, he became now so much the more buried
in dark debauches, and resigned over to mischievous privacy: for, there
remained still in him his old bent to suspicions, and rash faith in
informers; qualities which even at Rome Sejanus had always fostered, and
here inflamed more vigorously; his devices against Agrippina and Nero
being no longer a secret. About them guards were placed, by whom every
petty circumstance, the messages they sent or received, their visits and
company, their open behaviour, their private conversation, were all as
it were minuted into journals: there were others, too, instructed to
warn them to fly to the armies in Germany; or that embracing the statue
of the deified Augustus in the great Forum, they would there implore the
aid and protection of the Senate and People of Rome. And these counsels,
though rejected by them, were fathered and charged upon them, as just
ripe for execution.




BOOK V

A.D. 29-31.


In the Consulship of Rubellius and Fusius, each surnamed Geminus, died
Julia Augusta, the mother of Tiberius, in the extremity of age. She was
descended from the Claudian house; adopted through her father into the
Livian family; into the Julian, by Augustus; and both by adoption and
descent, signally noble: her first marriage was with Tiberius Nero; and
by him she had children: her husband, after the surrender of Perusia,
[Footnote: Perugia.] in the Civil War, became a fugitive; but, upon
peace made between Sextus Pompeius and the Triumvirate, returned to
Rome. Afterwards, Octavius Caesar smitten with her beauty, snatched
her from her husband; whether with or against her own inclinations, is
uncertain; but with such precipitation, that, without staying for her
delivery, he married her yet big with child by Tiberius. Henceforward
she had no issue; but, by the marriage of Germanicus and Agrippina,
her blood came to be mixed with that of Augustus in their
great-grandchildren. In her domestic deportment, she conformed to
the venerable model of antiquity; but with more complaisance than was
allowed by the ladies of old: an easy courteous wife, an ambitious
mother; and well comporting with the nice arts of her husband, and the
dissimulation of her son: her funeral was moderate, and her last will
lay long unfulfilled: her encomium was pronounced in public by Caligula,
her grandson, [Footnote: Great-grandson.] afterwards Emperor.

Tiberius by a letter excused himself to the Senate, for not having paid
his last offices to his mother; and, though he rioted in private
luxury without abatement, pleaded "the multitude of public affairs."
He likewise abridged the honours decreed to her memory, and, of a
large number, admitted but very few: for this restriction he pretended
modesty, and added, "that no religious worship should be appointed her;
for that the contrary was her own choice." Nay, in a part of the same
letter, he censured _feminine friendships_; obliquely upbraiding the
Consul Fusius, a man highly distinguished by the favour of Augusta, and
dexterous to engage and cajole the affections of women; a gay talker,
and one accustomed to play upon Tiberius with biting sarcasms; the
impressions of which never die in the hearts of Princes.

From this moment, the domination waxed completely outrageous and
devouring: for while she lived, some refuge still remained, as the
observance of Tiberius towards his mother was ever inviolate; nor durst
Sejanus arrogate precedence of the authority of a parent: but now, as
let loose from all restraint, they broke out with unbridled fury: so
that letters were despatched avowedly against Agrippina and Nero; and as
they were read in the Senate soon after the death of Augusta, the
people believed them to have been sent before and by her suppressed. The
expressions were elaborately bitter; and yet by them no hostile purpose
of taking arms, no endeavour to change the State, was objected to the
youth; but only "the love of boys, and other impure pleasures:" against
Agrippina he durst not even feign so much; and therefore arraigned
"her haughty looks, her impetuous and stubborn spirit." The Senate
were struck with deep silence and affright: but, as particular men will
always be drawing personal favour from public miseries, there were
some who, having no hopes founded upon uprightness, demanded that "they
should proceed upon the letters:" amongst these the foremost in zeal was
Cotta Messalinus, with a terrible motion: but, the other leading men,
and chiefly the magistrates, were embarrassed by fear: for Tiberius,
though he had sent them a flaming invective, left all the rest a riddle.

In the Senate was one Junius Rusticus, appointed by the Emperor to keep
a journal of their proceedings, and therefore thought well acquainted
with his purposes. This man, by some fatal impulse (for he had never
before shown any instance of magnanimity) or blinded by deceitful
policy, while forgetful of present and impending dangers, he dreaded
future possibilities, joined the party that hesitated, and even warned
the Consuls "not to begin the debate:" he argued "that in a short moment
the highest affairs might take a new turn: and an interval ought to be
allowed to the old man to change his passion into remorse." At the same
time, the people, carrying with them the images of Agrippina and Nero,
gathered about the Senate, and proclaiming their good wishes for the
prosperity of the Emperor, cried earnestly, "that the letters were
counterfeit; and, against the consent of the Prince, the doom of his
family was pursued:" so that nothing tragical was that day transacted.
There were also dispersed amongst them several speeches, said to have
been uttered in Senate by the Consulars, as their motions and advices
against Sejanus; but all framed, and with the more petulance as the
several authors exercised their satirical wit in the dark. Hence Sejanus
boiled with greater rage, and hence had a handle for branding the
Senate, "that by them the anguish and resentments of the Prince were
despised: the people were revolted; popular and disaffected harangues
were publicly read and listened to: new and arbitrary acts of Senate
were passed and published: what more remained, but to arm the populace
and place at their head, as leaders and Imperial commanders, those whose
images they had already chosen for standards?"

Tiberius having therefore repeated his reproaches against his grandson
and daughter-in-law: having chastised the people by an edict, and
complained to the Senate, "that by the fraud of a single Senator the
Imperial dignity should be battled and insulted, required that the whole
affair should be left to himself, entire and untouched." The Senate
hesitated no longer, but instantly proceeded, not now in truth to
decree penalties and capital vengeance; for that was forbid them; but to
testify "how ready they were to inflict just punishments, and that they
were only interrupted by the power and pleasure of the Prince."...

[_Here begins a lamentable chasm in this "Annal" for almost three years;
and by it we have lost the detail of the most remarkable incidents in
this reign, the exile of Agrippina into the Isle of Pandataria; of
Nero, into that of Pontia; and the murder of both there by the orders of
Tiberius: the conspiracy and execution of Sejanus, with that of all
his friends and dependents: the further wickedness of Livia, and her
death._]

Now though the rage of the populace was expiring, and though most men
were mollified by former executions; it was determined to condemn the
other children of Sejanus. They were therefore carried both to prison,
the boy sensible of his impending doom; but the girl so ignorant, that
she frequently asked; "For what offence? and whither did they drag her?
she would do so no more; and they might take the rod and whip her."
The writers of that time relate, "that as it was a thing unheard, for
a virgin to suffer capital punishment, she was deflowered by the
executioner just before he tied the rope; and that being both strangled,
the tender bodies of these children were cast into the place where the
carcasses of malefactors are exposed, before they are flung into the
Tiber."...




BOOK VI

A.D. 32-37.


Cneius Domitius and Camillus Scribonianus had begun their Consulship,
when the Emperor, having crossed the channel between Capreae [Footnote:
Capri.] and Surrentum, [Footnote: Sorrento.] sailed along the shore
of Campania; unresolved whether he should proceed to Rome; or
counterfeiting a show of coming, because he had determined not to come.
He often approached to the neighbourhood of the city, and even visited
the gardens upon the Tiber; but at last resumed his old retirement,
the gloomy rocks and solitude of the sea, ashamed of his cruelties, and
abominable lusts; in which he rioted so outrageously, that after the
fashion of royal tyrants, the children of ingenuous parentage became the
objects of his pollution: nor in them was he struck with a lovely face
only, or the graces of their persons; but in some their amiable and
childish innocence, in others their nobility and the glory of their
ancestors, became the provocatives of his unnatural passion. Then
likewise were devised the filthy names, till then unknown, of the
_Sellarii_ and _Spintriae_, expressing the odious lewdness of the place,
and the manifold postures and methods of prostitution practised in it.
For supplying his lust with these innocent victims, he entertained, in
his service professed procurers, to look them out and carry them off.
The willing they encouraged with presents, the backward they terrified
with threats; and upon such parents or kindred as withheld the infants,
they exercised force, seizure, and, as upon so many captives, every
species of licentious rage.

At Rome in the beginning of the year, as if the iniquities of Livia
had been but just discovered, and not even long since punished, furious
orders were passed against her statues too, and memory; with another,
"that the effects of Sejanus should be taken from the public treasury,
and placed in that of the Emperor:" as if this vain translation could
any wise avail the State. And yet such was the motion of these great
names, the Scipios, the Silani, and the Cassii; who urged it, each
almost in the same words, but all with mighty zeal and earnestness: when
all on a sudden, Togonius Gallus, while he would be thrusting his own
meanness amongst names so greatly illustrious, became the object of
derision: for he besought the Prince "to choose a body of Senators
of whom twenty, drawn by lot and under arms, should wait upon him and
defend his person, as often as he entered the Senate." He had been weak
enough to credit a letter from the Emperor, requiring "the guard and
protection of one of the Consuls, that he might return in safety from
Capreae to Rome." Tiberius however returned thanks to the Senate for
such an instance of affection; but as he was wont to mix pleasantry with
things serious, he asked, "How was it to be executed? what Senators were
to be chosen? who to be omitted? whether always the same, or a continued
succession? whether young Senators, or such as had borne dignities?
whether those who were Magistrates, or those exercising no magistracy?
moreover what a becoming figure they would make, grave Senators, men of
the gown, under arms at the entrance of the Senate! in truth he held not
his life of such importance, to have it thus protected by arms." So much
in answer to Togonius, without asperity of words; nor did he farther,
than this, press them to cancel the motion.

But Junius Gallio escaped not thus. He had proposed "that the Praetorian
soldiers, having accomplished their term of service, should thence
acquire the privilege of sitting in the fourteen rows of the theatre
allotted to the Roman knights." Upon him Tiberius fell with violent
wrath, and, as if present, demanded, what business had he with the
soldiers? men whose duty bound them to observe only the orders of the
Emperor, and from the Emperor alone to receive their rewards. Gallio had
forsooth discovered a recompense which had escaped the sagacity of the
deified Augustus? Or was it not rather a project started by a mercenary
of Sejanus, to raise sedition and discord; a project tending to debauch
the rude minds of the soldiers with the show and bait of new honour; to
corrupt their discipline, and set them loose from military restrictions?
This reward, had the studied flattery of Gallio; who was instantly
expelled the Senate, and then Italy: nay, it became a charge upon him,
that his exile would be too easy, having for the place of it chosen
Lesbos, an island noble and delightful; he was therefore haled back to
Rome and confined a prisoner in the house of a Magistrate. Tiberius
in the same letter demanded the doom of Sextus Paconianus, formerly
Praetor, to the extreme joy of the Senate, as he was a man bold and
mischievous, one armed with snares, and continually diving into the
purposes and secret transactions of all men; and one chosen by Sejanus,
for plotting the overthrow of Caligula. When this was now laid open,
the general hate and animosities long since conceived against him, broke
violently out, and had he not offered to make a discovery, he had been
instantly condemned to death.

The next impeached was Cotta Messalinus, the author of every the
most bloody counsel, and thence long and intensely hated. The first
opportunity was therefore snatched to fall upon him with a combination
of crimes; as that he had called Caius Caligula by the feminine name of
_Caia Caligula_, and branded him with constuprations of both kinds; that
when he celebrated among the Priests the birthday of Augusta, he had
styled the entertainment a _funeral supper_; and that complaining of the
great sway of Marcus Lepidus, and of Lucius Arruntius, with whom he had
a suit about money, he had added; "they indeed will be supported by the
Senate, but I by my little Tiberius." [Footnote: Tiberiolus meus.] Of
all this he stood exposed to conviction by men of the first rank in
Rome; who being earnest to attack him, he appealed to Caesar: from whom
soon after a letter was brought in behalf of Cotta; in it he recounted
"the beginning of their friendship," repeated "his many good services
to himself," and desired "that words perversely construed, and humorous
tales told at an entertainment, might not be wrested into crimes."

Most remarkable was the beginning of that letter; for in these words he
introduced it: "What to write you, Conscript Fathers, or in what
manner to write, or what at all not to write at this instant; if I can
determine, may all the Deities, Gods and Goddesses, doom me still
to more cruel agonies than those under which I feel myself perishing
daily." So closely did the bloody horror of his cruelties and infamy
haunt this man of blood, and became his torturers! Nor was it at random
what the wisest of all men [Footnote: Socrates.] was wont to affirm,
that if the hearts of tyrants were displayed, in them might be seen
deadly wounds and gorings, and all the butcheries of fear and rage;
seeing what the severity of stripes is to the body, the same to the
soul is the bitter anguish of cruelty, lust, and execrable pursuits.
To Tiberius not his imperial fortune, not his gloomy and inaccessible
solitudes could ensure tranquillity; nor exempt him from feeling and
even avowing the rack in his breast and the avenging furies that pursued
him.

After this, it was left to the discretion of the Senate to proceed as
they listed against Caecilianus the Senator, "who had loaded Cotta with
many imputations;" and it was resolved, "to subject him to the same
penalties inflicted upon Aruseius and Sanquinius, the accusers of
Lucius Annuntius." A more signal instance of honour than this had never
befallen Cotta; who noble in truth, but through luxury indigent, and,
for the baseness of his crimes, detestable, was by the dignity of
this amends equalled in character to the most venerable reputation and
virtues of Arruntius.

About the same time died Lucius Piso, the Pontiff; and, by a felicity,
then rare in so much splendour and elevation, died by the course of
nature. The author he never himself was of any servile motion, and ever
wise in moderating such motions from others, where necessity enforced
his assent. That his father had sustained the sublime office of Censor,
I have before remembered: he himself lived to fourscore years, and for
his warlike feats in Thrace, had obtained the glory of triumph. But from
hence arose his most distinguished glory, that being created Governor
of Rome, a jurisdiction newly instituted, and the more difficult, as
not yet settled into public reverence, he tempered it wonderfully and
possessed it long.

For, of old, to supply the absence of the Kings, and afterwards of the
Consuls, that the city might not remain without a ruler, a temporary
Magistrate was appointed to administer justice, and watch over
exigencies: and it is said that by Romulus was deputed Denter Romulius;
Numa Marcius, by Tullus Hostilius; and by Tarquin the Proud, Spurius
Lucretius. The same delegation was made by the Consuls; and there
remains still a shadow of the old institution, when during the Latin
festival, one is authorised to discharge the Consular function.
Moreover, Augustus during the Civil Wars, committed to Cilnius Maecenas
of the Equestrian Order, the Government of Rome and of all Italy.
Afterwards, when sole master of the Empire, and moved by the immense
multitude of people and the slowness of relief from the laws, he chose
a Consular to bridle the licentiousness of the slaves, and to awe such
turbulent citizens as are only quiet from the dread of chastisement.
Messala Corvinus was the first invested with this authority, and in a
few days dismissed, as a man insufficient to discharge it. It was then
filled by Taurus Statilius, who, though very ancient, sustained it with
signal honour. After him Piso held it for twenty years, with a credit so
high and uninterrupted, that he was distinguished with a public funeral,
by decree of the Senate.

A motion was thereafter made in Senate by Quinctilianus, Tribune of the
People, concerning a Book of the Sibyl, which Caninius Gallus, one
of the College of Fifteen, had prayed "might be received by a decree
amongst the rest of that Prophetess." The decree passed without
opposition, but was followed by letters from Tiberius. In them having
gently chid the Tribune, "as young and therefore unskilled in the
ancient usages," he upbraided Gallus, "that he who was so long practised
in the science of sacred ceremonies, should without taking the opinion
of his own college, without the usual reading and deliberation with
the other Priests, deal, by surprise, with a thin Senate, to admit a
prophetic book of an uncertain author." He also advertised them "of
the conduct of Augustus, who, to suppress the multitude of fictious
predictions everywhere published under the solemn name of the Sibyl, had
ordained, that within a precise day, they should be carried to the City
Praetor; and made it unlawful to keep them in private hands." The same
had likewise been decreed by our ancestors, when after the burning of
the capitol in the Social War, the Rhymes of the Sibyl (whether there
were but one, or more) were everywhere sought, in Samos, Ilium, and
Erythrae, through Africa too and Sicily and all the Roman colonies, with
injunctions to the Priests, that, as far as human wit could enable them,
they would separate the genuine. Therefore, upon this occasion also, the
book was subjected to the inspection of the Quindecimvirate.

Under the same Consuls, the dearth of corn had nigh raised a sedition.
The populace for many days urged their wants and demands in the public
theatre, with a licentiousness towards the Emperor, higher than usual.
He was alarmed with this bold spirit, and censured the Magistrates and
Senate, "that they had not by the public authority quelled the people."
He recounted "the continued supplies of grain which he had caused to be
imported; from what provinces, and in how much greater abundance than
those procured by Augustus." So that for correcting the populace,
a decree passed framed in the strain of ancient severity: nor less
vigorous was the edict published by the Consuls. His own silence, which
he hoped would be taken by the people as an instance of moderation, was
by them imputed to his pride.

In the meanwhile, the whole band of accusers broke loose upon those who
augmented their wealth by usury, in contradiction to a law of Caesar
the Dictator, "for ascertaining the terms of lending money, and holding
mortgages in Italy;" a law waxed long since obsolete, through the
selfish passions of men, sacrificing public good to private gain. Usury
was, in truth, an inveterate evil in Rome, and the eternal cause of
civil discord and seditions, and therefore restrained even in ancient
times, while the public manners were not yet greatly corrupted. For,
first it was ordained by a law of the twelve tables, "that no man should
take higher interest than twelve in the hundred;" when, before, it was
exacted at the pleasure of the rich. Afterwards by a regulation of the
Tribunes it was reduced to six, and at last was quite abolished. By the
people, too, repeated statutes were made, for obviating all elusions,
which by whatever frequent expedients repressed, were yet through
wonderful devices still springing up afresh. Gracchus the Praetor was
therefore now appointed to inquire into the complaints and allegations
of the accusers; but, appalled with the multitude of those threatened
by the accusation, he had recourse to the Senate. The Fathers also were
dismayed (for of this fault not a soul was guiltless) and sought and
obtained impunity from the Prince; and a year and six months were
granted for balancing all accounts between debtors and creditors,
agreeably to the direction of the law.

Hence a great scarcity of money: for, besides that all debts were at
once called in; so many delinquents were condemned, that by the sale of
their effects, the current coin was swallowed up in the public treasury,
or in that of the Emperor. Against this stagnation, the Senate had
provided, "that two-thirds of the debts should by every creditor be
laid out upon lands in Italy." But the creditors warned in the whole;
[Footnote: Demanded payment in full.] nor could the debtors without
breach of faith divide the payment. So that at first, meetings and
entreaties were tried; and at last it was contested before the Praetor.
And the project applied as a remedy; namely, that the debtor should
sell, and the creditor buy, had a contrary operation: for the usurers
hoarded up all their treasure for purchasing of lands, and the plenty
of estates to be sold, miserably sinking the price; the more men were
indebted, the more difficult they found it to sell. Many were utterly
stripped of their fortunes; and the ruin of their private patrimony drew
headlong with it that of their reputation and all public preferment.
The destruction was going on, when the Emperor administered relief, by
lending a hundred thousand great sesterces [Footnote: About £830,000.]
for three years, without interest; provided each borrower pawned to the
people double the value in inheritance. [Footnote: Gave a security to
the State, on landed property.] Thus was credit restored; and by degrees
private lenders too were found.

About the same time, Claudia, daughter to Marcus Silanus, was given in
marriage to Caligula, who had accompanied his grandfather to Capreae,
having always hid under a subdolous guise of modesty, his savage and
inhuman spirit: even upon the condemnation of his mother, even for the
exile of his brothers, not a word escaped him, not a sigh, nor groan.
So blindly observant of Tiberius, that he studied the bent of his temper
and seemed to possess it; practised his looks, imitated the change and
fashion of his dress, and affected his words and manner of expression.
Hence the observation of Passienus the Orator, grew afterwards famous,
"that never lived a better slave nor a worse master." Neither would I
omit the presage of Tiberius concerning Galba, then Consul. Having sent
for him and sifted him upon several subjects, he at last told him in
Greek, "and thou, Galba, shalt hereafter taste of Empire;" signifying
his late and short sovereignty. This he uttered from his skill in
astrology, which at Rhodes he had leisure to learn; and Thrasullus for
his teacher, whose capacity he proved by this following trial.

As often as he consulted this way concerning any affair, he retired to
the roof of the house, attended by one freedman trusted with the secret.
This man strong of body, but destitute of letters, guided along the
astrologer, whose art Tiberius meant to try, over solitary precipices
(for upon a rock the house stood) and, as he returned, if any suspicion
arose that his predictions were vain, or that the author designed fraud,
cast him headlong into the sea, to prevent his making discoveries.
Thrasullus being therefore led over the same rocks, and minutely
consulted, his answers were full, and struck Tiberius; as approaching
Empire and many future revolutions were specifically foretold him. The
artist was then questioned, "whether he had calculated his own nativity,
and thence presaged what was to befall him that same year, nay,
that very day?" Thrasullus surveying the positions of the stars, and
calculating their aspects, began at first to hesitate, then to quake,
and the more he meditated, being more and more dismayed with wonder
and dread, he at last cried out, "that over him just then hung a
boding danger and well-nigh fatal." Forthwith Tiberius embraced him,
congratulated him "upon his foresight of perils, and his security
from them;" and esteeming his predictions as so many oracles, held him
thenceforward in the rank of his most intimate friends.

For myself, while I listen to these and the like relations, my judgment
wavers, whether things human are in their course and rotation determined
by Fate and immutable necessity, or left to roll at random. For upon
this subject the wisest of the ancients and those addicted to their
Sects, are of opposite sentiments. [Footnote: The Epicureans.] Many are
of opinion "that to the Gods neither the generation of us men nor our
death, and in truth neither men nor the actions of men, are of any
importance or concernment: and thence such numberless calamities afflict
the upright, while pleasure and prosperity surround the wicked." Others
[Footnote: The Stoics.] hold the contrary position, and believe "a Fate
to preside over events; a fate however not resulting from wandering
stars, but coeval with the first principles of things, and operating by
the continued connection of natural causes. Yet their philosophy leaves
our course of life in our own free option; but that after the choice is
made, the chain of consequences is inevitable: neither is that good or
evil, which passes for such in the estimation of the vulgar: many, who
seem wounded with adversity, are yet happy; numbers, that wallow
in wealth, are yet most wretched: since the first often bear with
magnanimity the blows of fortune; and the latter abuse her bounty in
baneful pursuits." For the rest, it is common to multitudes of men "to
have each their whole future fortunes determined from the moment of
their birth: or if some events thwart the prediction, it is through the
mistakes of such as pronounce at random, and thence debase the credit
of an art, which, both in ages past and our own, hath given signal
instances of its certainty." For, to avoid lengthening this digression,
I shall remember in its order, how by the son of this same Thrasullus
the Empire was predicted to Nero.

During the same Consulship flew abroad the death of Asinius Gallus: that
he perished through famine was undoubted; but whether of his own accord,
or by constraint, was held uncertain. The pleasure of the Emperor
being consulted, "whether he would suffer him to be buried;" he was
not ashamed to grant such a piece of mock mercy, nor even to blame the
anticipations of casualty, which had withdrawn the criminal, before he
was publicly convicted: as if during three intermediate years between
his accusation and his death, there wanted time for the trial of an
ancient Consular, and the father of so many Consulars. Next perished
Drusus, condemned by his grandfather to be starved; but by gnawing the
weeds upon which he lay, he by that miserable nourishment protracted
life the space of nine days. Some authors relate that, in case Sejanus
had resisted and taken arms, Macro had instructions to draw the young
man out of confinement (for he was kept in the palace) and set him
at the head of the people: afterwards because a report ran, "that the
Emperor was about to be reconciled to his daughter-in-law and grandson;"
he chose rather to gratify himself by cruelty, than the public by
relenting.

Tiberius not satiated with the death of Drusus, even after death pursued
him with cruel invectives, and, in a letter to the Senate, charged him
with "a body foul with prostitution; with a spirit breathing destruction
to his own family, and rage against the Republic;" and ordered to be
recited "the minutes of his words and actions, which had been long and
daily registered," A proceeding more black with horror could not
be devised! That for so many years, there should be those expressly
appointed, who were to note down his looks, his groans, his secret
and extorted murmurs; that his grandfather should delight to hear the
treacherous detail, to read it, and to the public expose it, would
appear a series of fraud, meanness and amazement beyond all measure of
faith, were it not for the letters of Actius the Centurion, and Didymus
the Freedman; who in them declare, particularly, the names of the slaves
set purposely to abuse and provoke Drusus, with the several parts they
acted; how one struck him going out of his chamber, and how another
filled him with terrors and dismay. The Centurion too repeated, as
matter of glory, his own language to Drusus, language full of outrage
and barbarity, with the words uttered by him under the agonies of
famine; that, at first, feigning disorder of spirit, he vented, in the
style of a madman, dismal denunciations against Tiberius; but after
all hopes of life had forsaken him, then, in steady and deliberate
imprecations, he invoked the direful vengeance of the Gods, "that as he
had slaughtered his son's wife, slaughtered the son of his brother, and
his son's sons, and with slaughters had filled his own house; so they
would in justice to the ancestors of the slain, in justice to their
posterity, doom him to the dreadful penalties of so many murders."
The Senators, in truth, upon this raised a mighty din, under colour of
detesting these imprecations: but it was dread which possessed them,
and amazement, that he who had been once so dark in the practice of
wickedness, and so subtle in the concealment of his bloody spirit, was
arrived at such an utter insensibility of shame, that he could thus
remove, as it were, the covert of the walls, and represent his own
grandson under the ignominious chastisement of a Centurion, torn by the
barbarous stripes of slaves, and imploring in vain the last sustenance
of life.

Before the impressions of this grief were worn away, the death of
Agrippina was published. I suppose she had lived thus long upon the
hopes, which from the execution of Sejanus she had conceived; but,
feeling afterwards no relaxation of cruelty, death grew her choice:
unless she were bereaved of nourishment, and her decease feigned to have
been of her own seeking. For, Tiberius raged against her with abominable
imputations, reproaching her "with lewdness; as the adulteress of
Asinius Gallus; and that upon his death she became weary of life." But
these were none of her crimes: Agrippina impatient of an equal lot,
and eager for rule, had thence sacrificed to masculine ambition all the
passions and vices of women. The Emperor added, "that she departed the
same day on which Sejanus had suffered as a traitor two years before,
and that the same ought to be perpetuated by a public memorial." Nay,
he boasted of his clemency, in "that she had not been strangled, and her
body cast into the charnel of malefactors." For this, as for an instance
of mercy the Senate solemnly thanked him, and decreed "that, on the
seventeenth of October, the day of both their deaths, a yearly offering
should be consecrated to Jupiter for ever."

Not long after, Cocceius Nerva, in full prosperity of fortune, in
perfect vigour of body, formed a purpose of dying. As he was the
incessant companion of the Prince, and accomplished in the knowledge
of all laws divine and humane, Tiberius having learnt his design, was
earnest to dissuade him, examined his motives, joined entreaties, and
even declared, "how grievous to his own spirit it would prove, how
grievous to his reputation, if the nearest of his friends should
relinquish life, without any cause for dying." Nerva rejected his
reasoning, and completed his purpose by abstinence. It was alleged, by
such as knew his thoughts, that the more he saw into the dreadful source
and increase of public miseries, the more transported with indignation
and fear, he resolved to make an honest end, in the bloom of his
integrity, e'er his life and credit were assaulted. Moreover the fall of
Agrippina, by a reverse hardly credible, procured that of Plancina. She
was formerly married to Cneius Piso; and, though she exulted publicly
for the death of Germanicus, yet when Piso fell, she was protected
by the solicitations of Augusta, nor less by the known animosity of
Agrippina. But as favour and hate were now withdrawn, justice prevailed,
and being questioned for crimes long since sufficiently manifest, she
executed with her own hand that vengeance, which was rather too slow
than too severe,

In the Consulship of Paulus Fabius and Lucius Vitellius, after a long
vicissitude of ages, the phoenix arrived in Egypt, and furnished the
most learned of the natives and Greeks with matter of large and various
observations concerning that miraculous bird. The circumstances in which
they agree, with many others, that, however disputed, deserve to be
known, claim a recital here. That it is a creature sacred to the sun,
and in the fashion of its head, and diversity of feathers, distinct from
other birds, all who have described its figure, are agreed; about the
length of its life, relations vary. It is by the vulgar tradition
fixed at five hundred years: but there are those, who extend it to one
thousand four hundred and sixty-one; and assert that the three former
phoenixes appeared in reigns greatly distant, the first under Sesostris,
the next under Amasis; and that one was seen under Ptolomy the
third King of Egypt of the Macedonian race, and flew to the city of
Heliopolis, accompanied by a vast host of other birds gazing upon the
wonderful stranger. But these are, in truth, the obscure accounts of
antiquity: between Ptolomy and Tiberius the interval was shorter, not
two hundred and fifty years: hence some have believed that the present
was a spurious phoenix, and derived not its origin from the territories
of Arabia, since it observed nothing of the instinct which ancient
tradition attributes to the genuine: for that the latter having
completed his course of years, just before his death builds a nest
in his native land, and upon it sheds a generative power, from whence
arises a young one, whose first care, when he is grown, is to bury his
father: neither does he undertake it unadvisedly, but by collecting and
fetching loads of myrrh, tries his strength in great journeys; and
as soon as he finds himself equal to the burden, and fit for the long
flight, he rears upon his back his father's body, carries it quite to
the altar of the sun, and then flies away. These are uncertain tales,
and their uncertainty heightened by fables; but that this bird has been
sometimes seen in Egypt, is not questioned.

The same year the city suffered the grievous calamity of fire, which
burnt down that part of the Circus contiguous to Mount Aventine and the
Mount itself: a loss which turned to the glory of the Prince, as he paid
in money the value of the houses destroyed. A hundred thousand great
sesterces [Footnote: About £830,000.] he expended in this bounty, which
proved the more grateful to the people as he was ever sparing in private
buildings: in truth, his public works never exceeded two, the Temple of
Augustus and the scene [Footnote: The stage.] of Pompey's Theatre; nor,
when he had finished both, did he dedicate either, whether obstructed
by old age, or despising popularity. For ascertaining the damage of
particulars, the four sons-in-law of Tiberius were appointed, Cneius
Domitius, Cassius Longinus, Marcus Vincinus and Rubellius Blandus;
assisted by Publius Petronius, nominated by the Consuls. To the Emperor
likewise were decreed several honours, variously devised according to
the different drift and genius of such as proposed them. Which of these
he meant to accept, or which to reject, the approaching issue of his
days, has buried in uncertainty. For not long after, Cneius Acerronius
and Caius Pontius commenced Consuls; the last under Tiberius. The power
of Macro was already excessive; who, as he had at no time neglected the
favour of Caligula, courted it now more and more earnestly every day.
After the death of Claudia, whom I have mentioned to have been espoused
to the young Prince, he constrained Ennia his own wife to stimulate the
affections of Caligula and to secure him by a promise of marriage.
The truth is, he was one that denied nothing that opened his way to
sovereignty; for although of a tempestuous genius, he had yet in the
school of his grandfather, well acquired all the hollow guises of
dissimulation.

His spirit was known to the Emperor; hence he was puzzled about
bequeathing the Empire: and first as to his grandsons; the son of Drusus
was nearer in blood, and dearer in point of affection, but as yet a
child; the son of Germanicus had arrived at the vigour of youth, and the
zeal of the people followed him, a motive this to his grandfather,
only to hate him. He had even debates with himself concerning Claudius,
because of solid age and naturally inclined to honest pursuits; but
the defect of his faculties withstood the choice. In case he sought
a successor apart from his own family, he dreaded lest the memory of
Augustus, lest the name of the Caesars should come to be scorned and
insulted. For, it was not so much any study of his, to gratify the
present generation and secure the Roman State, as to perpetuate to
posterity the grandeur of his race. So that his mind still wavering and
his strength decaying, to the decision of fortune he permitted a counsel
to which he was now unequal. Yet he dropped certain words whence might
be gathered that he foresaw the events and revolutions which were to
come to pass after him: for, he upbraided Macro, by no dark riddle,
"that he forsook the setting sun and courted the rising:" and of
Caligula, who upon some occasional discourse ridiculed Sylla, he
foretold, "that he would have all Sylla's vices, and not one of his
virtues." Moreover, as he was, with many tears, embracing the younger of
his grandsons, and perceived the countenance of Caligula implacable and
provoked; "thou," said he, "wilt slay him, and another shall slay thee."
But, however his illness prevailed, he relinquished nothing of his vile
voluptuousness; forcing patience, and feigning health. He was wont too
to ridicule the prescriptions of physicians, and all men who, after the
age of thirty, needed to be informed by any one else, what helped or
hurted their constitutions.

At Rome, the while, were sown the sanguinary seeds of executions to be
perpetrated even after Tiberius. Laelius Balbus had with high treason
charged Acutia, some time the wife of Publius Vitellius; and, as the
Senate were, after her condemnation, decreeing a reward to the accuser,
the same was obstructed by the interposition of Junius Otho, Tribune of
the People: hence their mutual hate, which ended in the exile of Otho.
Thereafter Albucilla, who had been married to Satrius Secundus, him that
revealed the conspiracy of Sejanus, and herself famous for many amours,
was impeached of impious rites devised against the Prince. In the charge
were involved, as her associates and adulterers, Cneius Domitius, Vibius
Marsus, and Lucius Arruntius. The noble descent of Domitius I have above
declared: Marsus too was distinguished by the ancient dignities in
his house, and himself illustrious for learning. The minutes, however,
transmitted to the Senate imported, "that in the examination of the
witnesses, and torture of the slaves, Macro had presided:" neither came
these minutes accompanied with any letter from the Emperor against the
accused. Hence it was suspected, that, while he was ill, and perhaps
without his privacy, the accusations were in great measure forged by
Macro, in consequence of his notorious enmity to Arruntius.

Domitius therefore by preparing for his defence, and Marsus by seeming
determined to famish, both protracted their lives. Arruntius chose to
die; and to the importunity of his friends, urging him to try delays and
evasions, he answered, "that the same measures were not alike honourable
to all men: his own life was abundantly long; nor had he wherewithal to
reproach himself, save that he had submitted to bear thus far an old age
loaded with anxieties, exposed to daily dangers, and the cruel sport
of power; long hated as he was by Sejanus, now by Macro, always by
some reigning minister; hated through no fault of his own, but as one
irreconcilable to baseness and the iniquities of power. He might, in
truth, outlive and avoid the few and last days of Tiberius: but how
escape the youth of his heir? If upon Tiberius at such an age, and after
such consummate experience, the violent spirit of unbridled dominion had
wrought with such efficacy, as entirely to transport and change him;
was it likely that Caligula, he who had scarce outgrown his childhood,
a youth ignorant of all things, or nursed and principled in the worst,
would follow a course more righteous under the guidance of Macro; the
same Macro, who, for destroying Sejanus, was employed as the more wicked
of the two, and had since by more mischiefs and cruelties torn and
afflicted the Commonweal? For himself; he foresaw a servitude yet more
vehement, and therefore withdrew at once from the agonies of past and of
impending tyranny." Uttering these words, with the spirit of a prophet,
he opened his veins. How wisely Arruntius anticipated death, the
following times will terribly demonstrate. For Albucilla; she aimed at
her own life, but the blow being impotent, she was by order of Senate
dragged to execution in the prison. Against the ministers of her lusts
it was decreed, "that Grasidius Sacerdos, formerly Praetor, should be
exiled into an island; Pontius Fregellanus be degraded from the Senate;
and that upon Laelius Balbus the same penalty be inflicted:" his
punishment particularly proved matter of joy, as he was accounted a man
of pestilent eloquence, and prompt to attack the innocent.

About the same time, Sextus Papinius of a Consular family, chose on a
sudden a frightful end, by a desperate and precipitate fall. The cause
was ascribed to his mother, who, after many repulses, had by various
allurements and the stimulations of sensuality, urged him to practices
and embarrassments from whence, only by dying, he could devise an issue.
She was therefore accused in the Senate; and, though in a prostrate
posture she embraced the knees of the Fathers, and pleaded "the
tenderness and grief of a mother, the imbecility of a woman's spirit
under such an affecting calamity;" with other motives of pity in the
same doleful strain; she was banished Rome for ten years, till her
younger son were past the age of lubricity.

As to Tiberius; already his body, already his spirits failed him; but
his dissimulation failed him not. He exerted the same vigour of mind,
the same energy in his looks and discourse; and even sometimes studied
to be gay, by it to hide his declension however notorious. So that,
after much shifting of places, he settled at the Promontory of Misenum,
in a villa of which Lucullus was once Lord. There it was discovered that
his end was at hand, by this device. In his train was a physician, his
name Charicles, signal in his profession, one, in truth, not employed to
govern the Prince's health, but wont however to afford his counsel and
skill. Charicles, as if he were departing to attend his own affairs,
under the appearance of paying duty and kissing his hands, touched his
pulse. But the artifice beguiled not Tiberius; for he instantly ordered
the entertainment to be served up; whether incensed, and thence the more
smothering his wrath, is uncertain: but, at table he continued beyond
his wont, as if he meant that honour only for a farewell to his friend.
But for all this Charicles satisfied Macro, "that the flame of life was
expiring, and could not outlast two days." Hence the whole court was
filled with close consultations, and expresses were despatched to the
generals and armies. On the 16th of March, so deep a swoon seized him,
that he was believed to have paid the last debt of mortality:
insomuch that Caligula, in the midst of a great throng, paying their
congratulations, was already appearing abroad, to assume the first
offices of sovereignty, when sudden notice came, "that Tiberius had
recovered his sight and voice, and, to strengthen his fainting spirits,
had called for some refreshment." Hence dread seized all, and the whole
concourse about Caligula dispersed, every man resuming false sorrow, or
feigning ignorance: he himself was struck speechless, and thus fallen
from the highest hopes, waited for present death. Macro continued
undismayed, and ordering the apartment to be cleared, caused the
feeble old man to be smothered with a weight of coverings. Thus expired
Tiberius in the seventy-eighth year of his age.

He was the son of Nero, and on both sides a branch of the Claudian
House; though his mother had been ingrafted by adoptions into the
Livian, and next into the Julian stock. From his first infancy, his life
was chequered by various turns and perils: for, then he followed, like
an exile, his proscribed father; and when taken in quality of a step-son
into the family of Augustus, he long struggled there with many potent
rivals, during the lives of Marcellus and Agrippa; next of the young
Caesars, Caius and Lucius. His brother Drusus too eclipsed him, and
possessed more eminently the hearts of the Roman People. But above all,
his marriage with Julia, most egregiously threatened and distressed
him; whether he bore the prostitutions of his wife, or relinquished
the daughter of Augustus. Upon his return thereafter from Rhodes, he
occupied for twelve years the Prince's family, now bereft of heirs, and
nigh four-and-twenty ruled the Roman State. His manners also varied with
the several junctures of his fortune: he was well esteemed while yet
a private man; and, in discharging public dignities under Augustus, of
signal reputation: covert and subdolous in feigning virtue so long
as Germanicus and Drusus survived: a mixed character of good and evil
during the days of his mother: detestably cruel; but secret in his
lewdness, while he loved or feared Sejanus: at last he abandoned
himself, at once, to the rage of tyranny and the sway of his lusts: for,
he had then conquered all the checks of shame and fear, and thenceforth
followed only the bent of his own abominable spirit.




A TREATISE OF THE SITUATION, CUSTOMS, AND PEOPLE OF GERMANY.


The whole of Germany is thus bounded; separated from Gaul, from Rhoetia
and Pannonia, by the rivers Rhine and Danube; from Sarmatia and Dacia by
mutual fear, or by high mountains: the rest is encompassed by the ocean,
which forms huge bays, and comprehends a tract of islands immense in
extent: for we have lately known certain nations and kingdoms there,
such as the war discovered. The Rhine rising in the Rhoetian Alps from a
summit altogether rocky and perpendicular, after a small winding towards
the west, is lost in the Northern Ocean. The Danube issues out of the
mountain Abnoba, one very high but very easy of ascent, and traversing
several nations, falls by six streams into the Euxine Sea; for its
seventh channel is absorbed in the Fenns.

The Germans, I am apt to believe, derive their original from no other
people; and are nowise mixed with different nations arriving amongst
them: since anciently those who went in search of new dwellings,
travelled not by land, but were carried in fleets; and into that mighty
ocean so boundless, and, as I may call it, so repugnant and forbidding,
ships from our world rarely enter. Moreover, besides the dangers from
a sea tempestuous, horrid and unknown, who would relinquish Asia, or
Africa, or Italy, to repair to Germany, a region hideous and rude,
under a rigorous climate, dismal to behold or to manure; [Footnote:
To cultivate.] unless the same were his native country? In their old
ballads (which amongst them are the only sort of registers and history)
they celebrate _Tuisto_, a God sprung from the earth, and _Mannus_ his
son, as the fathers and founders of the nation. To _Mannus_ they assign
three sons, after whose names so many people are called; the Ingaevones,
dwelling next the ocean; the Herminones, in the middle country; and all
the rest, Istaevones. Some, borrowing a warrant from the darkness of
antiquity, maintain that the God had more sons, that thence came
more denominations of people, the Marsians, Cambrians, Suevians, and
Vandalians, and that these are the names truly genuine and original. For
the rest, they affirm Germany to be a recent word, lately bestowed: for
that those who first passed the Rhine and expulsed the Gauls, and are
now named Tungrians, were then called Germans: and thus by degrees
the name of a tribe prevailed, not that of the nation; so that by an
appellation at first occasioned by terror and conquest, they afterwards
chose to be distinguished, and assuming a name lately invented were
universally called _Germans_.

They have a tradition that Hercules also had been in their country, and
him above all other heroes they extol in their songs when they advance
to battle. Amongst them too are found that kind of verses by the recital
of which (by them called _Barding_) they inspire bravery; nay, by such
chanting itself they divine the success of the approaching fight. For,
according to the different din of the battle, they urge furiously, or
shrink timorously. Nor does what they utter, so much seem to be singing
as the voice and exertion of valour. They chiefly study a tone fierce
and harsh, with a broken and unequal murmur, and therefore apply their
shields to their mouths, whence the voice may by rebounding swell with
greater fulness and force. Besides there are some of opinion, that
Ulysses, whilst he wandered about in his long and fabulous voyages, was
carried into this ocean and entered Germany, and that by him Asciburgium
was founded and named, a city at this day standing and inhabited upon
the bank of the Rhine: nay, that in the same place was formerly found an
altar dedicated to Ulysses, with the name of his father Laertes added
to his own, and that upon the confines of Germany and Rhoetia are still
extant certain monuments and tombs inscribed with Greek characters.
Traditions these which I mean not either to confirm with arguments of
my own or to refute. Let every one believe or deny the same according to
his own bent.

For myself, I concur in opinion with such as suppose the people of
Germany never to have mingled by inter-marriages with other nations, but
to have remained a people pure, and independent, and resembling none but
themselves. Hence amongst such a mighty multitude of men, the same make
and form is found in all, eyes stern and blue, yellow hair, huge bodies,
but vigorous only in the first onset. Of pains and labour they are not
equally patient, nor can they at all endure thrift and heat. To bear
hunger and cold they are hardened by their climate and soil.

Their lands, however somewhat different in aspect, yet taken all
together consist of gloomy forests or nasty marshes; lower and moister
towards the confines of Gaul, more mountainous and windy towards Noricum
and Pannonia; very apt to bear grain, but altogether unkindly to fruit
trees; abounding in flocks and herds, but generally small of growth.
Nor even in their oxen is found the usual stateliness, no more than the
natural ornaments and grandeur of head. In the number of their herds
they rejoice; and these are their only, these their most desirable
riches. Silver and gold the Gods have denied them, whether in mercy or
in wrath, I am unable to determine. Yet I would not venture to aver
that in Germany no vein of gold or silver is produced; for who has
ever searched? For the use and possession, it is certain they care not.
Amongst them indeed are to be seen vessels of silver, such as have
been presented to their Princes and Ambassadors, but holden in no other
esteem than vessels made of earth. The Germans however adjoining to our
frontiers value gold and silver for the purposes of commerce, and are
wont to distinguish and prefer certain of our coins. They who live more
remote are more primitive and simple in their dealings, and exchange
one commodity for another. The money which they like is the old and long
known, that indented, [Footnote: With milled edges.] or that impressed
with a chariot and two horses. Silver too is what they seek more than
gold, from no fondness or preference, but because small pieces are more
ready in purchasing things cheap and common.

Neither in truth do they abound in iron, as from the fashion of their
weapons may be gathered. Swords they rarely use, or the larger spear.
They carry javelins or, in their own language, _framms_, pointed with a
piece of iron short and narrow, but so sharp and manageable, that with
the same weapon they can fight at a distance or hand to hand, just as
need requires. Nay, the horsemen also are content with a shield and a
javelin. The foot throw likewise weapons missive, each particular
is armed with many, and hurls them a mighty space, all naked or only
wearing a light cassock. In their equipment they show no ostentation;
only that their shields are diversified and adorned with curious
colours. With coats of mail very few are furnished, and hardly upon any
is seen a headpiece or helmet. Their horses are nowise signal either in
fashion or in fleetness; nor taught to wheel and bound, according to the
practice of the Romans: they only move them forward in a line, or turn
them right about, with such compactness and equality that no one is ever
behind the rest. To one who considers the whole it is manifest, that
in their foot their principal strength lies, and therefore they fight
intermixed with the horse: for such is their swiftness as to match
and suit with the motions and engagements of the cavalry. So that the
infantry are elected from amongst the most robust of their youth, and
placed in front of the army. The number to be sent is also ascertained,
out of every village _an hundred_, and by this very name they continue
to be called at home, _those of the hundred band_: thus what was at
first no more than a number, becomes thenceforth a title and distinction
of honour. In arraying their army, they divide the whole into distinct
battalions formed sharp in front. To recoil in battle, provided you
return again to the attack, passes with them rather for policy than
fear. Even when the combat is no more than doubtful, they bear away the
bodies of their slain. The most glaring disgrace that can befall them,
is to have quitted their shield; nor to one branded with such ignominy
is it lawful to join in their sacrifices, or to enter into their
assemblies; and many who had escaped in the day of battle, have hanged
themselves to put an end to this their infamy.

In the choice of kings they are determined by the splendour of their
race, in that of generals by their bravery. Neither is the power of
their kings unbounded or arbitrary: and their generals procure obedience
not so much by the force of their authority as by that of their example,
when they appear enterprising and brave, when they signalise themselves
by courage and prowess; and if they surpass all in admiration and
pre-eminence, if they surpass all at the head of an army. But to none
else but the Priests is it allowed to exercise correction, or to inflict
bonds or stripes. Nor when the Priests do this, is the same considered
as a punishment, or arising from the orders of the general, but from the
immediate command of the Deity, Him whom they believe to accompany them
in war. They therefore carry with them when going to fight, certain
images and figures taken out of their holy groves. What proves the
principal incentive to their valour is, that it is not at random nor by
the fortuitous conflux of men that their troops and pointed battalions
are formed, but by the conjunction of whole families, and tribes of
relations. Moreover, close to the field of battle are lodged all the
nearest and most interesting pledges of nature. Hence they hear the
doleful howlings of their wives, hence the cries of their tender
infants. These are to each particular the witnesses whom he most
reverences and dreads; these yield him the praise which affect him most.
Their wounds and maims they carry to their mothers, or to their wives,
neither are their mothers or wives shocked in telling, or in sucking
their bleeding sores. [Footnote: Nec illae numerare aut exigere plagas
pavent.] Nay, to their husbands and sons whilst engaged in battle, they
administer meat and encouragement.

In history we find, that some armies already yielding and ready to fly,
have been by the women restored, through their inflexible importunity
and entreaties, presenting their breasts, and showing their impending
captivity; an evil to the Germans then by far most dreadful when it
befalls their women. So that the spirit of such cities as amongst
their hostages are enjoined to send their damsels of quality, is always
engaged more effectually than that of others. They even believe them
endowed with something celestial and the spirit of prophecy. Neither
do they disdain to consult them, nor neglect the responses which they
return. In the reign of the deified Vespasian, we have seen _Veleda_ for
a long time, and by many nations, esteemed and adored as a divinity. In
times past they likewise worshipped _Aurinia_ and several more, from
no complaisance or effort of flattery, nor as Deities of their own
creating.

Of all the Gods, Mercury is he whom they worship most. To him on certain
stated days it is lawful to offer even human victims. Hercules and Mars
they appease with beasts usually allowed for sacrifice. Some of the
Suevians make likewise immolations to _Isis_, Concerning the cause and
original of this foreign sacrifice I have found small light; unless
the figure of her image formed like a galley, show that such devotion
arrived from abroad. For the rest, from the grandeur and majesty of
beings celestial, they judge it altogether unsuitable to hold the Gods
enclosed within walls, or to represent them under any human likeness.
They consecrate whole woods and groves, and by the names of the Gods
they call these recesses; divinities these, which only in contemplation
and mental reverence they behold.

To the use of lots and auguries, they are addicted beyond all other
nations. Their method of divining by lots is exceeding simple. From a
tree which bears fruit they cut a twig, and divide it into two small
pieces. These they distinguish by so many several marks, and throw them
at random and without order upon a white garment. Then the Priest of the
community, if for the public the lots are consulted, or the father of
a family if about a private concern, after he has solemnly invoked the
Gods, with eyes lifted up to heaven, takes up every piece thrice, and
having done thus forms a judgment according to the marks before made. If
the chances have proved forbidding, they are no more consulted upon the
same affair during the same day: even when they are inviting, yet, for
confirmation, the faith of auguries too is tried. Yea, here also is the
known practice of divining events from the voices and flight of birds.
But to this nation it is peculiar, to learn presages and admonitions
divine from horses also. These are nourished by the State in the same
sacred woods and groves, all milk-white and employed in no earthly
labour. These yoked in the holy chariot, are accompanied by the Priest
and the King, or the Chief of the community, who both carefully observe
his actions and neighing. Nor in any sort of augury is more faith and
assurance reposed, not by the populace only, but even by the nobles,
even by the Priests. These account themselves the ministers of the Gods,
and the horses privy to his will. They have likewise another method of
divination, whence to learn the issue of great and mighty wars. From the
nation with whom they are at war they contrive, it avails not how, to
gain a captive: him they engage in combat with one selected from amongst
themselves, each armed after the manner of his country, and according
as the victory falls to this or to the other, gather a presage of the
whole.

Affairs of smaller moment the chiefs determine: about matters of
higher consequence the whole nation deliberates; yet in such sort,
that whatever depends upon the pleasure and decision of the people, is
examined and discussed by the chiefs. Where no accident or emergency
intervenes, they assemble upon stated days, either when the moon
changes, or is full: since they believe such seasons to be the most
fortunate for beginning all transactions. Neither in reckoning of time
do they count, like us, the number of days but that of nights. In this
style their ordinances are framed, in this style their diets appointed;
and with them the night seems to lead and govern the day. From their
extensive liberty this evil and default flows, that they meet not at
once, nor as men commanded and afraid to disobey; so that often the
second day, nay often the third, is consumed through the slowness of the
members in assembling. They sit down as they list, promiscuously, like a
crowd, and all armed. It is by the Priests that silence is enjoined,
and with the power of correction the Priests are then invested. Then the
King or Chief is heard, as are others, each according to his precedence
in age, or in nobility, or in warlike renown, or in eloquence; and the
influence of every speaker proceeds rather from his ability to persuade
than from any authority to command. If the proposition displease, they
reject it by an inarticulate murmur: if it be pleasing, they brandish
their javelins. The most honourable manner of signifying their assent,
is to express their applause by the sound of their arms.

In the assembly it is allowed to present accusations, and to prosecute
capital offences. Punishments vary according to the quality of the
crime. Traitors and deserters they hang upon trees. Cowards, and
sluggards, and unnatural prostitutes they smother in mud and bogs under
an heap of hurdles. Such diversity in their executions has this view,
that in punishing of glaring iniquities, it behoves likewise to
display them to sight: but effeminacy and pollution must be buried and
concealed. In lighter transgressions too the penalty is measured by
the fault, and the delinquents upon conviction are condemned to pay a
certain number of horses or cattle. Part of this mulct accrues to the
King or to the community, part to him whose wrongs are vindicated, or to
his next kindred. In the same assemblies are also chosen their chiefs
or rulers, such as administer justice in their villages and boroughs.
To each of these are assigned an hundred persons chosen from amongst
the populace, to accompany and assist him, men who help him at once with
their authority and their counsel.

Without being armed they transact nothing, whether of public or private
concernment. But it is repugnant to their custom for any man to use
arms, before the community has attested his capacity to wield them.
Upon such testimonial, either one of the rulers, or his father, or
some kinsman dignify the young man in the midst of the assembly, with
a shield and javelin. This amongst them is the _manly robe_, this the
first degree of honour conferred upon their youth. Before this they seem
no more than part of a private family, but thenceforward part of the
Commonweal. The princely dignity they confer even upon striplings, whose
race is eminently noble, or whose fathers have done great and signal
services to the State. For about the rest, who are more vigorous and
long since tried, they crowd to attend: nor is it any shame to be seen
amongst the followers of these. Nay, there are likewise degrees of
followers, higher or lower, just as he whom they follow judges fit.
Mighty too is the emulation amongst these followers, of each to be first
in favour with his Prince; mighty also the emulation of the Princes,
to excel in the number and valour of followers. This is their principal
state, this their chief force, to be at all times surrounded with a huge
band of chosen young men, for ornament and glory in peace, for security
and defence in war. Nor is it amongst his own people only, but even from
the neighbouring communities, that any of their Princes reaps so
much renown and a name so great, when he surpasses in the number and
magnanimity of his followers. For such are courted by Embassies, and
distinguished with presents, and by the terror of their fame alone often
dissipate wars.

In the day of battle, it is scandalous to the Prince to be surpassed in
feats of bravery, scandalous to his followers to fail in matching the
bravery of the Prince. But it is infamy during life, and indelible
reproach, to return alive from a battle where their Prince was slain.
To preserve their Prince, to defend him, and to ascribe to his glory all
their own valorous deeds, is the sum and most sacred part of their oath.
The Princes fight for victory; for the Prince his followers fight. Many
of the young nobility, when their own community comes to languish in
its vigour by long peace and inactivity, betake themselves through
impatience to other States which then prove to be in war. For,
besides that this people cannot brook repose, besides that by perilous
adventures they more quickly blazon their fame, they cannot otherwise
than by violence and war support their huge train of retainers. For from
the liberality of their Prince, they demand and enjoy that _war-horse_
of theirs, with that _victorious javelin_ dyed in the blood of their
enemies. In the place of pay, they are supplied with a daily table and
repasts; though grossly prepared, yet very profuse. For maintaining such
liberality and munificence, a fund is furnished by continual wars and
plunder. Nor could you so easily persuade them to cultivate the ground,
or to await the return of the seasons and produce of the year, as
to provoke the foe and to risk wounds and death: since stupid and
spiritless they account it, to acquire by their sweat what they can gain
by their blood.

Upon any recess from war, they do not much attend the chase. Much more
of their time they pass in indolence, resigned to sleep and repasts.
[Footnote: "Dediti somno, ciboque:" handed over to sloth and gluttony.]
All the most brave, all the most warlike, apply to nothing at all;
but to their wives, to the ancient men, and to every the most impotent
domestic, trust all the care of their house, and of their lands and
possessions. They themselves loiter. [Footnote: Are rude and lazy.] Such
is the amazing diversity of their nature, that in the same men is
found so much delight in sloth, with so much enmity to tranquillity and
repose. The communities are wont, of their own accord and man by man,
to bestow upon their Princes a certain number of beasts, or a certain
portion of grain; a contribution which passes indeed for a mark of
reverence and honour, but serves also to supply their necessities. They
chiefly rejoice in the gifts which come from the bordering countries,
such as are sent not only by particulars but in the name of the State;
curious horses, splendid armour, rich harness, with collars of silver
and gold. Now too they have learnt, what we have taught them, to receive
money.

That none of the several people in Germany live together in cities, is
abundantly known; nay, that amongst them none of their dwellings are
suffered to be contiguous. They inhabit apart and distinct, just as a
fountain, or a field, or a wood happened to invite them to settle. They
raise their villages in opposite rows, but not in our manner with the
houses joined one to another. Every man has a vacant space quite round
his own, whether for security against accidents from fire, or that they
want the art of building. With them in truth, is unknown even the use of
mortar and of tiles. In all their structures they employ materials
quite gross and unhewn, void of fashion and comeliness. Some parts
they besmear with an earth so pure and resplendent, that it resembles
painting and colours. They are likewise wont to scoop caves deep in the
ground, and over them to lay great heaps of dung. Thither they retire
for shelter in the winter, and thither convey their grain: for by such
close places they mollify the rigorous and excessive cold. Besides
when at any time their enemy invades them, he can only ravage the
open country, but either knows not such recesses as are invisible and
subterraneous; or must suffer them to escape him, on this very account
that he is uncertain where to find them.

For their covering a mantle is what they all wear, fastened with a clasp
or, for want of it, with a thorn. As far as this reaches not they
are naked, and lie whole days before the fire. The most wealthy are
distinguished with a vest, not one large and flowing like those of
Sarmatians and Parthians, but girt close about them and expressing the
proportion of every limb. They likewise wear the skins of savage beasts,
a dress which those bordering upon the Rhine use without any fondness or
delicacy, but about which such who live further in the country are more
curious, as void of all apparel introduced by commerce. They choose
certain wild beasts, and, having flayed them, diversify their hides with
many spots, as also with the skins of monsters from the deep, such as
are engendered in the distant ocean and in seas unknown. Neither does
the dress of the women differ from that of the men, save that the
women are orderly attired in linen embroidered with purple, and use no
sleeves, so that all their arms are bare. The upper part of their breast
is withal exposed. Yet the laws of matrimony are severely observed
there; nor in the whole of their manners is ought more praiseworthy than
this: for they are almost the only Barbarians contented with one wife,
excepting a very few amongst them; men of dignity who marry divers
wives, from no wantonness or lubricity, but courted for the lustre of
their family into many alliances.

To the husband, the wife tenders no dowry; but the husband, to the wife.
The parents and relations attend and declare their approbation of the
presents, not presents adapted to feminine pomp and delicacy, nor such
as serve to deck the new married woman; but oxen and horse accoutred,
and a shield, with a javelin and sword. By virtue of these gifts, she
is espoused. She too on her part brings her husband some arms. This they
esteem the highest tie, these the holy mysteries, and matrimonial Gods.
That the woman may not suppose herself free from the considerations of
fortitude and fighting, or exempt from the casualties of war, the very
first solemnities of her wedding serve to warn her, that she comes to
her husband as a partner in his hazards and fatigues, that she is to
suffer alike with him, to adventure alike, during peace or during war.
This the oxen joined in the same yoke plainly indicate, this the horse
ready equipped, this the present of arms. 'Tis thus she must be content
to live, thus to resign life. The arms which she then receives she must
preserve inviolate, and to her sons restore the same, as presents worthy
of them, such as their wives may again receive, and still resign to her
grandchildren.

They therefore live in a state of chastity well secured; corrupted by no
seducing shows and public diversions, by no irritations from banqueting.
Of learning and of any secret intercourse by letters, they are all
equally ignorant, men and women. Amongst a people so numerous, adultery
is exceeding rare; a crime instantly punished, and the punishment left
to be inflicted by the husband. He, having cut off her hair, expells her
from his house naked, in presence of her kindred, and pursues her with
stripes throughout the village. For, to a woman who has prostituted her
person, no pardon is ever granted. However beautiful she be, however
young, however abounding in wealth, a husband she can never find. In
truth, nobody turns vices into mirth there, nor is the practice of
corrupting and of yielding to corruption, called the custom of the Age.
Better still do those communities, in which none but virgins marry, and
where to a single marriage all their views and inclinations are at once
confined. Thus, as they have but one body and one life, they take
but one husband, that beyond him they may have no thought, no further
wishes, nor love him only as their husband but as their marriage.
[Footnote: "Sed tamquam matrimonium ament."] To restrain generation and
the increase of children, is esteemed an abominable sin, as also to kill
infants newly born. And more powerful with them are good manners, than
with other people are good laws.

In all their houses the children are reared naked and nasty; and thus
grow into those limbs, into that bulk, which with marvel we behold.
They are all nourished with the milk of their own mothers, and never
surrendered to handmaids and nurses. The lord you cannot discern from
the slave, by any superior delicacy in rearing. Amongst the same cattle
they promiscuously live, upon the same ground they without distinction
lie, till at a proper age the free-born are parted from the rest, and
their bravery recommend them to notice. Slow and late do the young men
come to the use of women, and thus very long preserve the vigour of
youth. Neither are the virgins hastened to wed. They must both have
the same sprightly youth, the like stature, and marry when equal and
able-bodied. Thus the robustness of the parents is inherited by the
children. Children are holden in the same estimation with their mother's
brother, as with their father. Some hold this tie of blood to be most
inviolable and binding, and in receiving of hostages, such pledges are
most considered and claimed, as they who at once possess affections
the most unalienable, and the most diffuse interest in their family.
To every man, however, his own children are heirs and successors: wills
they make none: for want of children his next akin inherits; his own
brothers, those of his father, or those of his mother. To ancient men,
the more they abound in descendants, in relations and affinities, so
much the more favour and reverence accrues. From being childless, no
advantage nor estimation is derived.

All the enmities of your house, whether of your father or of your
kindred, you must necessarily adopt; as well as all their friendships.
Neither are such enmities unappeasable and permanent: since even for
so great a crime as homicide, compensation is made by a fixed number of
sheep and cattle, and by it the whole family is pacified to content.
A temper this, wholesome to the State; because to a free nation,
animosities and faction are always more menacing and perilous. In social
feasts, and deeds of hospitality, no nation upon earth was ever more
liberal and abounding. To refuse admitting under your roof any man
whatsoever, is held wicked and inhuman. Every man receives every
comer, and treats him with repasts as large as his ability can possibly
furnish. When the whole stock is consumed, he who had treated
so hospitably guides and accompanies his guest to a new scene of
hospitality; and both proceed to the next house, though neither of them
invited. Nor avails it, that they were not: they are there received,
with the same frankness and humanity. Between a stranger and an
acquaintance, in dispensing the rules and benefits of hospitality, no
difference is made. Upon your departure, if you ask anything, it is
the custom to grant it; and with the same facility, they ask of you. In
gifts they delight, but neither claim merit from what they give, nor own
any obligation for what they receive. Their manner of entertaining their
guests is familiar and kind.

The moment they rise from sleep, which they generally prolong till late
in the day, they bathe, most frequently in warm water; as in a country
where the winter is very long and severe. From bathing, they sit down to
meat; every man apart, upon a particular seat, and at a separate table.
They then proceed to their affairs, all in arms; as in arms, they
no less frequently go to banquet. To continue drinking night and day
without intermission, is a reproach to no man. Frequent then are their
broils, as usual amongst men intoxicated with liquor; and such broils
rarely terminate in angry words, but for the most part in maimings and
slaughter. Moreover in these their feasts, they generally deliberate
about reconciling parties at enmity, about forming affinities, choosing
of Princes, and finally about peace and war. For they judge, that at no
season is the soul more open to thoughts that are artless and upright,
or more fired with such as are great and bold. This people, of
themselves nowise subtile or politic, from the freedom of the place
and occasion acquire still more frankness to disclose the most secret
motions and purposes of their hearts. When therefore the minds of all
have been once laid open and declared, on the day following the several
sentiments are revised and canvassed; and to both conjectures of time,
due regard is had. They consult, when they know not how to dissemble;
they determine, when they cannot mistake.

For their drink, they draw a liquor from barley or other grain; and
ferment the same, so as to make it resemble wine. Nay, they who dwell
upon the bank of the Rhine deal in wine. Their food is very simple; wild
fruit, fresh venison, or coagulated milk. They banish hunger without
formality, without curious dressing and curious fare. In extinguishing
thirst, they use not equal temperance. If you will but humour their
excess in drinking, and supply them with as much as they covet, it will
be no less easy to vanquish them by vices than by arms.

Of public diversions they have but one sort, and in all their meetings
the same is still exhibited. Young men, such, as make it their pastime,
fling themselves naked and dance amongst sharp swords and the deadly
points of javelins. From habit they acquire their skill, and from their
skill a graceful manner; yet from hence draw no gain or hire: though
this adventurous gaiety has its reward, namely, that of pleasing the
spectators. What is marvellous, playing at dice is one of their most
serious employments; and even sober, they are gamesters: nay, so
desperately do they venture upon the chance of winning or losing, that
when their whole substance is played away, they stake their liberty and
their persons upon one and the last throw. The loser goes calmly into
voluntary bondage. However younger he be, however stronger, he tamely
suffers himself to be bound and sold by the winner. Such is their
perseverance in an evil course: they themselves call it honour.

Slaves of this class, they exchange away in commerce, to free themselves
too from the shame of such a victory. Of their other slaves they make
not such use as we do of ours, by distributing amongst them the several
offices and employments of the family. Each of them has a dwelling of
his own, each a household to govern. His lord uses him like a tenant,
and obliges him to pay a quantity of grain, or of cattle, or of cloth.
Thus far only the subserviency of the slave extends. All the other
duties in a family, not the slaves, but the wives and children
discharge. To inflict stripes upon a slave, or to put him in chains, or
to doom him to severe labour, are things rarely seen. To kill them they
sometimes are wont, not through correction or government, but in heat
and rage, as they would an enemy, save that no vengeance or penalty
follows. The freedmen very little surpass the slaves, rarely are of
moment in the house; in the community never, excepting only such nations
where arbitrary dominion prevails. For there they bear higher sway
than the free-born, nay, higher than the nobles. In other countries the
inferior condition of freedmen is a proof of public liberty.

To the practice of usury and of increasing money by interest, they are
strangers; and hence is found a better guard against it, than if it
were forbidden. They shift from land to land; and, still appropriating
a portion suitable to the number of hands for manuring, anon parcel out
the whole amongst particulars according to the condition and quality
of each. As the plains are very spacious, the allotments are easily
assigned. Every year they change, and cultivate a fresh soil; yet
still there is ground to spare. For they strive not to bestow labour
proportionable to the fertility and compass of their lands, by planting
orchards, by enclosing meadows, by watering gardens. From the earth,
corn only is exacted. Hence they quarter not the year into so many
seasons. Winter, Spring, and Summer, they understand; and for each
have proper appellations. Of the name and blessings of Autumn, they are
equally ignorant.

In performing their funerals, they show no state or vainglory. This only
is carefully observed, that with the corpses of their signal men certain
woods be burned. Upon the funeral pile they accumulate neither apparel
nor perfumes. Into the fire, are always thrown the arms of the dead, and
sometimes his horse. With sods of earth only the sepulchre is raised.
The pomp of tedious and elaborate monuments they contemn, as things
grievous to the deceased. Tears and wailings they soon dismiss: their
affliction and woe they long retain. In women, it is reckoned becoming
to bewail their loss; in men, to remember it. This is what in general
we have learned, in the original and customs of the whole people of
Germany. I shall now deduce the institutions and usages of the several
people, as far as they vary one from another; as also an account of what
nations from thence removed, to settle themselves in Gaul.

That the Gauls were in times past more puissant and formidable, is
related by the Prince of authors, the deified Julius; [Footnote:
Julius Caesar.] and hence it is probable that they too have passed into
Germany. For what a small obstacle must be a river, to restrain any
nation, as each grew more potent, from seizing or changing habitations;
when as yet all habitations were common, and not parted or appropriated
by the founding and terror of Monarchies? The region therefore between
the Hercynian Forest and the rivers Moenus [Footnote: Main.] and Rhine,
was occupied by the Helvetians; as was that beyond it by the Boians,
both nations of Gaul. There still remains a place called _Boiemum_,
which denotes the primitive name and antiquity of the country, although
the inhabitants have been changed. But whether the Araviscans are
derived from the Osians, a nation of Germans passing into Pannonia, or
the Osians from the Araviscans removing from thence into Germany, is
a matter undecided; since they both still use the language, the same
customs and the same laws. For, as of old they lived alike poor and
alike free, equal proved the evils and advantages on each side the
river, and common to both people. The Treverians and Nervians aspire
passionately to the reputation of being descended from the Germans;
since by the glory of this original, they would escape all imputation
of resembling the Gauls in person and effeminacy. Such as dwell upon the
bank of the Rhine, the Vangiones, the Tribocians, and the Nemetes, are
without doubt all Germans. The Ubians are ashamed of their original;
though they have a particular honour to boast, that of having merited
an establishment as a Roman Colony, and still delight to be called
_Agrippinensians_, after the name of their founder: they indeed formerly
came from beyond the Rhine, and, for the many proofs of their fidelity,
were settled upon the very bank of the river; not to be there confined
or guarded themselves, but to guard and defend that boundary against the
rest of the Germans.

Of all these nations, the Batavians are the most signal in bravery. They
inhabit not much territory upon the Rhine, but possess an island in it.
They were formerly part of the Cattans, and by means of feuds at home
removed to these dwellings; whence they might become a portion of the
Roman Empire. With them this honour still remains, as also the memorials
of their ancient association with us: for they are not under the
contempt of paying tribute, nor subject to be squeezed by the farmers of
the revenue. Free from all impositions and payments, and only set apart
for the purposes of fighting, they are reserved wholly for the wars,
in the same manner as a magazine of weapons and armour. Under the same
degree of homage are the nation of the Mattiacians. For such is the
might and greatness of the Roman People, as to have carried the awe and
esteem of their Empire beyond the Rhine and the ancient boundaries. Thus
the Mattiacians, living upon the opposite banks, enjoy a settlement and
limits of their own; yet in spirit and inclination are attached to
us: in other things resembling the Batavians, save that as they still
breathe their original air, still possess their primitive soil, they are
thence inspired with superior vigour and keenness. Amongst the people
of Germany I would not reckon those who occupy the lands which are
under decimation, though they be such as dwell beyond the Rhine and the
Danube. By several worthless and vagabond Gauls, and such as poverty
rendered daring, that region was seized as one belonging to no certain
possessor: afterwards it became a skirt of the Empire and part of a
province, upon the enlargement of our bounds and the extending of our
garrisons and frontier.

Beyond these are the Cattans, whose territories begin at the Hercynian
Forest, and consist not of such wide and marshy plains, as those of
the other communities contained within the vast compass of Germany; but
produce ranges of hills, such as run lofty and contiguous for a long
tract, then by degrees sink and decay. Moreover the Hercynian Forest
attends for a while its native Cattans, then suddenly forsakes them.
This people are distinguished with bodies more hardy and robust, compact
limbs, stern countenances, and greater vigour of spirit. For Germans,
they are men of much sense and address. [Footnote: "Leur intelligence
et leur finesse étonnent, dans des Germains."] They dignify chosen men,
listen to such as are set over them, know how to preserve their post,
to discern occasions, to rebate their own ardour and impatience; how
to employ the day, how to entrench themselves by night. They account
fortune amongst things slippery and uncertain, but bravery amongst such
as are never-failing and secure; and, what is exceeding rare nor ever to
be learnt but by a wholesome course of discipline, in the conduct of
the general they repose more assurance than in the strength of the
army. Their whole forces consist of foot, who besides their arms carry
likewise instruments of iron and their provisions. You may see other
Germans proceed equipped to battle, but the Cattans so as to conduct a
war. [Footnote: "Alios ad proelium ire videas, Chattos ad bellum."]
They rarely venture upon excursions or casual encounters. It is in truth
peculiar to cavalry, suddenly to conquer, or suddenly to fly. Such haste
and velocity rather resembles fear. Patience and deliberation are more
akin to intrepidity.

Moreover a custom, practised indeed in other nations of Germany, yet
very rarely and confined only to particulars more daring than the rest,
prevails amongst the Cattans by universal consent. As soon as they
arrive to maturity of years, they let their hair and beards continue to
grow, nor till they have slain an enemy do they ever lay aside this form
of countenance by vow sacred to valour. Over the blood and spoil of a
foe they make bare their face. They allege, that they have now acquitted
themselves of the debt and duty contracted by their birth, and rendered
themselves worthy of their country, worthy of their parents. Upon the
spiritless, cowardly and unwarlike, such deformity of visage still
remains. [Footnote: "Manet squalor."] All the most brave likewise wear
an iron ring (a mark of great dishonour this in that nation) and retain
it as a chain; till by killing an enemy they become released. Many of
the Cattans delight always to bear this terrible aspect; and, when grown
white through age, become awful and conspicuous by such marks, both to
the enemy and their own countrymen. By them in all engagements the first
assault is made: of them the front of the battle is always composed,
as men who in their looks are singular and tremendous. For even
during peace they abate nothing in the grimness and horror of their
countenance. They have no house to inhabit, no land to cultivate, nor
any domestic charge or care. With whomsoever they come to sojourn,
by him they are maintained; always very prodigal of the substance of
others, always despising what is their own, till the feebleness of old
age overtakes them, and renders them unequal to the efforts of such
rigid bravery.

Next to the Cattans, dwell the Usipians and Tencterians; upon the Rhine
now running in a channel uniform and certain, such as suffices for a
boundary. The Tencterians, besides their wonted glory in war, surpass in
the service and discipline of their cavalry. Nor do the Cattans derive
higher applause from their foot, than the Tencterians from their horse.
Such was the order established by their forefathers, and what their
posterity still pursue. From riding and exercising of horses, their
children borrow their pastimes; in this exercise the young men find
matter for emulating one another, and in this the old men take pleasure
to persevere. Horses are by the father bequeathed as part of his
household and family, horses are conveyed amongst the rights of
succession, and as such the son receives them; but not the eldest son,
like other effects, by priority of birth, but he who happens to be
signal in boldness and superior in war.

Contiguous to the Tencterians formerly dwelt the Bructerians, in whose
room it is said the Chamavians and Angrivarians are now settled; they
who expulsed and almost extirpated the Bructerians, with the concurrence
of the neighbouring nations: whether in detestation of their arrogance,
or allured by the love of spoil, or through the special favour of the
Gods towards us Romans. They in truth even vouchsafed to gratify us with
the sight of the battle. In it there fell above sixty thousand souls,
without a blow struck by the Romans; but, what is a circumstance
still more glorious, fell to furnish them with a spectacle of joy and
recreation. May the Gods continue and perpetuate amongst these nations,
if not any love for us, yet by all means this their animosity and hate
towards each other: since whilst the destiny of the Empire thus urges
it, fortune cannot more signally befriend us, than in sowing strife
amongst our foes.

The Angrivarians and Chamavians are enclosed behind, by the Dulgibinians
and Chasuarians; and by other nations not so much noted: before, the
Frisians face them. The country of Frisia is divided into two; called
the greater and lesser, according to the measure of their strength. Both
nations stretch along the Rhine, quite to the ocean; and surround
vast lakes such as once have borne Roman fleets. We have moreover even
ventured out from thence into the ocean, and upon its coasts common fame
has reported the pillars of Hercules to be still standing: whether it be
that Hercules ever visited these parts, or that to his renowned name we
are wont to ascribe whatever is grand and glorious everywhere. Neither
did Drusus who made the attempt, want boldness to pursue it: but the
roughness of the ocean withstood him, nor would suffer discoveries to
be made about itself, no more than about Hercules. Thenceforward the
enterprise was dropped: nay, more pious and reverential it seemed, to
believe the marvellous feats of the Gods than to know and to prove them.
[Footnote: "Coelum ipsum petimus stultitia."]

Hitherto, I have been describing Germany towards the west. To the
northward, it winds away with an immense compass. And first of all
occurs the nation of the Chaucians: who though they begin immediately
at the confines of the Frisians, and occupy part of the shore, extend
so far as to border upon all the several people whom I have already
recounted; till at last, by a circuit, they reach quite to the
boundaries of the Cattans. A region so vast, the Chaucians do not only
possess but fill; a people of all the Germans the most noble, such as
would rather maintain their grandeur by justice than violence. They live
in repose, retired from broils abroad, void of avidity to possess more,
free from a spirit of domineering over others. They provoke no wars,
they ravage no countries, they pursue no plunder. Of their bravery and
power, the chief evidence arises from hence, that, without wronging or
oppressing others, they are come to be superior to all. Yet they are all
ready to arm, and if an exigency require, armies are presently raised,
powerful and abounding as they are in men and horses; and even when they
are quiet and their weapons laid aside, their credit and name continue
equally high.

Along the side of the Chaucians and Cattans dwell the Cheruscans; a
people who finding no enemy to rouse them, were enfeebled by a peace
overlasting and uniform, but such as they failed not to nourish. A
conduct which proved more pleasing than secure; since treacherous is
that repose which you enjoy amongst neighbours that are very powerful
and very fond of rule and mastership. When recourse is once had to the
sword, modesty and fair dealing will be vainly pleaded by the weaker;
names these which are always assumed by the stronger. Thus the
Cheruscans, they who formerly bore the character of _good and upright_,
are now called _cowards and fools_; and the fortune of the Cattans
who subdued them, grew immediately to be wisdom. In the ruin of the
Cheruscans, the Fosians, also their neighbours, were involved; and in
their calamities bore an equal share, though in their prosperity they
had been weaker and less considered.

In the same winding tract of Germany live the Cimbrians, close to the
ocean; a community now very small, but great in fame. Nay, of their
ancient renown, many and extensive are the traces and monuments still
remaining; even their entrenchments upon either shore, so vast in
compass that from thence you may even now measure the greatness and
numerous bands of that people, and assent to the account of an army so
mighty. It was on the six hundred and fortieth year of Rome, when of the
arms of the Cimbrians the first mention was made, during the Consulship
of Caecilius Metellus and Papirius Carbo. If from that time we count to
the second Consulship of the Emperor Trajan, the interval comprehends
near two hundred and ten years; so long have we been conquering Germany.
In a course of time, so vast between these two periods, many have been
the blows and disasters suffered on each side. In truth neither from the
Samnites, nor from the Carthaginians, nor from both Spains, nor from all
the nations of Gaul, have we received more frequent checks and alarms;
nor even from the Parthians: for, more vigorous and invincible is the
liberty of the Germans than the monarchy of the Arsacides. Indeed, what
has the power of the East to allege to our dishonour; but the fall of
Crassus, that power which was itself overthrown and abased by Ventidius,
with the loss of the great King Pacorus bereft of his life? But by the
Germans the Roman People have been bereft of five armies, all commanded
by Consuls; by the Germans, the commanders of these armies, Carbo, and
Cassius, and Scaurus Aurelius, and Servilius Caepio, as also Marcus
Manlius, were all routed or taken: by the Germans even the Emperor
Augustus was bereft of Varus and three legions. Nor without difficulty
and loss of men were they defeated by Caius Marius in Italy, or by the
deified Julius in Gaul, or by Drusus or Tiberius or Germanicus in their
native territories. Soon after, the mighty menaces of Caligula against
them ended in mockery and derision. Thenceforward they continued quiet,
till taking advantage of our domestic division and civil wars, they
stormed and seized the winter entrenchments of the legions, and aimed at
the dominion of Gaul; from whence they were once more expulsed, and in
the times preceding the present, we gained a triumph over them rather
than a victory.

I must now proceed to speak of the Suevians, who are not, like the
Cattans and Tencterians, comprehended in a single people; but divided
into several nations all bearing distinct names, though, in general
they are entitled Suevians, and occupy the larger share of Germany. This
people are remarkable for a peculiar custom, that of twisting their hair
and binding it up in a knot. It is thus the Suevians are distinguished
from the other Germans, thus the free Suevians from their slaves. In
other nations, whether from alliance of blood with the Suevians, or, as
is usual, from imitation, this practice is also found, yet rarely, and
never exceeds the years of youth. The Suevians, even when their hair is
white through age, continue to raise it backwards in a manner stern and
staring; and often tie it upon the top of their head only. That of their
Princes, is more accurately disposed, and so far they study to appear
agreeable and comely; but without any culpable intention. For by
it, they mean not to make love or to incite it: they thus dress when
proceeding to war, and deck their heads so as to add to their height and
terror in the eyes of the enemy.

Of all the Suevians, the Semnones recount themselves to be the most
ancient and most noble. The belief of their antiquity is confirmed
by religious mysteries. At a stated time of the year, all the several
people descended from the same stock, assemble by their deputies in
a wood; consecrated by the idolatries of their forefathers, and by
superstitious awe in times of old. There by publicly sacrificing a man,
they begin the horrible solemnity of their barbarous worship. To this
grove another sort of reverence is also paid. No one enters it otherwise
than bound with ligatures, thence professing his subordination and
meanness, and the power of the Deity there. If he fall down, he is not
permitted to rise or be raised, but grovels along upon the ground. And
of all their superstition, this is the drift and tendency; that from
this place the nation drew their original, that here God, the supreme
Governor of the world, resides, and that all things else whatsoever
are subject to him and bound to obey him. The potent condition of the
Semnones has increased their influence and authority, as they inhabit an
hundred towns; and from the largeness of their community it comes, that
they hold themselves for the head of the Suevians.

What on the contrary ennobles the Langobards is the smallness of their
number, for that they, who are surrounded with very many and very
powerful nations, derive their security from no obsequiousness or
plying; but from the dint of battle and adventurous deeds. There follow
in order the Reudignians, and Aviones, and Angles, and Varinians, and
Eudoses, and Suardones and Nuithones; all defended by rivers or forests.
Nor in one of these nations does aught remarkable occur, only that they
universally join in the worship of _Herthum_; that is to say, the Mother
Earth. Her they believe to interpose in the affairs of men, and to visit
countries. In an island of the ocean stands the wood _Castum_; in it
is a chariot dedicated to the Goddess, covered over with a curtain, and
permitted to be touched by none but the Priest. Whenever the Goddess
enters this her holy vehicle, he perceives her; and with profound
veneration attends the motion of the chariot, which is always drawn by
yoked cows. Then it is that days of rejoicing always ensue, and in all
places whatsoever which she descends to honour with a visit and her
company, feasts and recreation abound. They go not to war; they touch
no arms; fast laid up is every hostile weapon; peace and repose are
then only known, then only beloved, till to the temple the same priest
reconducts the Goddess when well tired with the conversation of mortal
beings. Anon the chariot is washed and purified in a secret lake, as
also the curtains; nay, the Deity herself too, if you choose to believe
it. In this office it is slaves who minister, and they are forthwith
doomed to be swallowed up in the same lake. Hence all men are possessed
with mysterious terror; as well as with a holy ignorance what that must
be, which none see but such as are immediately to perish. Moreover this
quarter of the Suevians stretches to the middle of Germany.

The community next adjoining, is that of the Hermondurians; (that I may
now follow the course of the Danube, as a little before I did that of
the Rhine) a people this, faithful to the Romans. So that to them alone
of all the Germans, commerce is permitted; not barely upon the bank of
the Rhine, but more extensively, and even in that glorious colony in the
province of Rhoetia. They travel everywhere at their own discretion and
without a guard; and when to other nations, we show no more than our
arms and encampments, to this people we throw open our houses and
dwellings, as to men who have no longing to possess them. In the
territories of the Hermondurians rises the Elbe, a river very famous and
formerly well known to us; at present we only hear it named.

Close by the Hermondurians reside the Nariscans, and next to them the
Marcomanians and Quadians. Amongst these the Marcomanians are most
signal in force and renown; nay, their habitation itself they acquired
by their bravery, as from thence they formerly expulsed the Boians. Nor
do the Nariscans or Quadians degenerate in spirit. Now this is as it
were the frontier of Germany, as far as Germany is washed by the Danube.
To the times within our memory the Marcomanians and Quadians were
governed by kings, who were natives of their own, descended from the
noble line of Maroboduus and Tudrus. At present they are even subject to
such as are foreigners. But the whole strength and sway of their kings
is derived from the authority of the Romans. From our arms, they rarely
receive any aid; from our money very frequently.

Nor less powerful are the several people beyond them; namely, the
Marsignians, the Gothinians, the Osians and the Burians, who altogether
enclose the Marcomanians and Quadians behind. Of those, the Marsignians
and the Burians in speech and dress resemble the Suevians. From the
Gallic language spoken by the Gothinians, and from that of Pannonia by
the Osians, it is manifest that neither of these people are Germans; as
it is also from their bearing to pay tribute. Upon them as upon aliens
their tribute is imposed, partly by the Sarmatians, partly by the
Quadians. The Gothinians, to heighten their disgrace, are forced to
labour in the iron mines. By all these several nations but little level
country is possessed: they are seated amongst forests, and upon
the ridges and declivities of mountains. For, Suevia is parted by a
continual ridge of mountains; beyond which, live many distinct nations.
Of these the Lygians are most numerous and extensive, and spread into
several communities. It will suffice to mention the most puissant; even
the Arians, Helvicones, Manimians; Elysians and Naharvalians. Amongst
the Naharvalians is shown a grove, sacred to devotion extremely ancient.
Over it a Priest presides apparelled like a woman; but according to
the explication of the Romans, 'tis _Castor_ and _Pollux_ who are here
worshipped. This Divinity is named _Alcis_. There are indeed no images
here, no traces of an extraneous superstition: yet their devotion is
addressed to young men and to brothers. Now the Aryans, besides their
forces, in which they surpass the several nations just recounted, are
in their persons stern and truculent; and even humour and improve their
natural grimness and ferocity by art and time. They wear black shields,
their bodies are painted black, they choose dark nights for engaging in
battle; and by the very awe and ghastly hue of their army, strike the
enemy with dread, as none can bear this their aspect so surprising and
as it were quite infernal. For, in all battles the eyes are vanquished
first.

Beyond the Lygians dwell the Gothones, under the rule of a King; and
thence held in subjection somewhat stricter than the other German
nations, yet not so strict as to extinguish all their liberty.
Immediately adjoining are the Rugians and Lemovians upon the coast of
the ocean, and of these several nations the characteristics are a round
shield, a short sword and kingly government. Next occur the communities
of the Suiones, situated in the ocean itself; and besides their strength
in men and arms, very powerful at sea. The form of their vessels varies
thus far from ours, that they have prows at each end, so as to be always
ready to row to shore without turning; nor are they moved by sails, nor
on their sides have benches of oars placed, but the rowers ply here and
there in all parts of the ship alike, as in some rivers is done, and
change their oars from place to place, just as they shift their course
hither or thither. To wealth also, amongst them, great veneration is
paid, and thence a single ruler governs them, without all restriction of
power, and exacting unlimited obedience. Neither here, as amongst other
nations of Germany, are arms used indifferently by all, but shut up and
warded under the care of a particular keeper, who in truth too is always
a slave: since from all sudden invasions and attacks from their foes,
the ocean protects them: besides that armed bands, when they are not
employed, grow easily debauched and tumultuous. The truth is, it suits
not the interest of an arbitrary Prince, to trust the care and power of
arms either with a nobleman or with a freeman, or indeed with any man
above the condition of a slave.

Beyond the Suiones is another sea, one very heavy and almost void
of agitation; and by it the whole globe is thought to be bounded and
environed, for that the reflection of the sun, after his setting,
continues till his rising, so bright as to darken the stars. To this,
popular opinion has added, that the tumult also of his emerging from
the sea is heard, that forms divine are then seen, as likewise the rays
about his head. Only thus far extend the limits of nature, if what fame
says be true. Upon the right of the Suevian Sea the Aestyan nations
reside, who use the same customs and attire with the Suevians; their
language more resembles that of Britain. They worship the Mother of the
Gods. As the characteristic of their national superstition, they wear
the images of wild boars. This alone serves them for arms, this is the
safeguard of all, and by this every worshipper of the Goddess is secured
even amidst his foes. Rare amongst them is the use of weapons of iron,
but frequent that of clubs. In producing of grain and the other fruits
of the earth, they labour with more assiduity and patience than is
suitable to the usual laziness of Germans. Nay, they even search the
deep, and of all the rest are the only people who gather _amber_. They
call it _glasing_, and find it amongst the shallows and upon the very
shore. But, according to the ordinary incuriosity and ignorance of
Barbarians, they have neither learnt, nor do they inquire, what is
its nature, or from what cause it is produced. In truth it lay long
neglected amongst the other gross discharges of the sea; till from our
luxury, it gained a name and value. To themselves it is of no use: they
gather it rough, they expose it in pieces coarse and unpolished, and for
it receive a price with wonder. You would however conceive it to be a
liquor issuing from trees, for that in the transparent substance are
often seen birds and other animals, such as at first stuck in the soft
gum, and by it, as it hardened, became quite enclosed. I am apt to
believe that, as in the recesses of the East are found woods and groves
dropping frankincense and balms, so in the isles and continent of the
West such gums are extracted by the force and proximity of the sun; at
first liquid and flowing into the next sea, then thrown by winds and
waves upon the opposite shore. If you try the nature of amber by the
application of fire, it kindles like a torch; and feeds a thick and
unctuous flame very high scented, and presently becomes glutinous like
pitch or rosin.

Upon the Suiones, border the people Sitones; and, agreeing with them in
all other things, differ from them in one, that here the sovereignty is
exercised by a woman. So notoriously do they degenerate not only from
a state of liberty, but even below a state of bondage. Here end the
territories of the Suevians.

Whether amongst the Sarmatians or the Germans I ought to account the
Peucinians, the Venedians, and the Fennians, is what I cannot determine;
though the Peucinians, whom some call Basstarnians, speak the same
language with the Germans, use the same attire, build like them, and
live like them, in that dirtiness and sloth so common to all.
Somewhat they are corrupted into the fashion of the Sarmatians by the
intermarriages of the principal sort with that nation: from whence
the Venedians have derived very many of their customs and a great
resemblance. For they are continually traversing and infesting with
robberies all the forests and mountains lying between the Peucinians
and Fennians. Yet they are rather reckoned amongst the Germans, for
that they have fixed houses, and carry shields, and prefer travelling
on foot, and excel in swiftness. Usages these, all widely differing from
those of the Sarmatians, who live on horseback and dwell in waggons.
In wonderful savageness live the nation of the Fennians, and in beastly
poverty, destitute of arms, of horses, and of homes; their food, the
common herbs; their apparel, skins; their bed, the earth; their only
hope in their arrows, which for want of iron they point with bones.
Their common support they have from the chase, women as well as men;
for with these the former wander up and down, and crave a portion of
the prey. Nor other shelter have they even for their babes, against the
violence of tempests and ravening beasts, than to cover them with the
branches of trees twisted together: this a reception for the old men,
and hither resort the young. Such a condition they judge more happy than
the painful occupation of cultivating the ground, than the labour of
rearing houses, than the agitations of hope and fear attending the
defence of their own property or the seizing that of others. Secure
against the designs of men, secure against the malignity of the Gods,
they have accomplished a thing of infinite difficulty; that to them
nothing remains even to be wished.

What further accounts we have are fabulous: as that the Hellusians and
Oxiones have the countenances and aspect of men, with the bodies and
limbs of savage beasts. This, as a thing about which I have no certain
information, I shall leave untouched.




THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE SITUATION, CLIMATE, AND
PEOPLE OF BRITAIN.


Amongst the Ancients, it was common to transmit to posterity the
characters and exploits of memorable men: nor in truth in our own times
has the Age, however indifferent about what concerns itself, failed to
observe the like usage, whenever any spirit eminent for great and signal
virtue has vanquished and triumphed over the blindness of such as cannot
distinguish right from wrong, as well as over the spite of malignants;
for, spite and blindness are evils common to great States and to small.
But, as in those early times there was found greater propensity to feats
of renown, and more scope to perform them; so whoever excelled in a
happy genius was naturally led to display the merits and memory of the
virtuous dead, without all view to court favour, or to gain advantages,
but only by the motives and recompense flowing from a benevolent and
conscientious mind. Indeed there were several who, in recounting their
own lives, concluded, that they thence showed rather a confidence in
their own integrity and demeanour than any mark of arrogance. Neither
was the account which Rutilius and Scaurus gave of themselves, thence
the less credited or the more censured. So true it is, that the several
virtues are best understood and most prized, during the same times in
which they are most easily produced. But to myself, who am going to
relate the life of a person deceased, I find pardon necessary; which I
should not have asked, were I not about to revive and traverse times so
sanguinary, and baneful to all virtue.

We find it recorded, that for celebrating the praises of Paetus Thrasea,
Arulenus Rusticus suffered a deadly doom; as did Herennius Senesce, for
those of Helvidius Priscus. Nor upon the persons of the authors only was
this cruelty inflicted, but also upon the books themselves; since to the
Triumvirate of Justice orders were sent, that in the Forum and place of
popular elections, the works of men so illustrious for parts and genius
should be burned. Yes, in this very fire they imagined, that they should
abolish the voice and utterance of the Roman People, with the liberty of
the Senate, and all the ideas and remembrances of humankind. For, they
had besides expelled all the professors of philosophy, [Footnote:
When Vespasian's worthless son "cleared Rome of what most sham'd him:"
Domitian banished Epictetus, and the other philosophers.] and driven
every laudable science into exile, that nought which was worthy and
honest might anywhere be seen. Mighty surely was the testimony which
we gave of our patience; and as our forefathers had beheld the ultimate
consummation of liberty, so did we of bondage, since through dread
of informers and inquisitions of State, we were bereft of the common
intercourse of speech and attention. Nay, with our utterance we had
likewise lost our memory; had it been equally in our power to forget, as
to be silent.

Now indeed at length our spirit returns. Yet, though from the first dawn
of this very happy age begun by the reign of Nerva, he blended together
two things once found irreconcilable, public liberty and sovereign
power; and though Trajan his adopted successor be daily augmenting the
felicity of the State; insomuch that for the general security not only
hopes and vows are conceived, but even firm assurance follows these
vows, and their full accomplishment is seen; such however is the frailty
of man and its effects, that much more slow is the progress of the
remedies than of the evils; and as human bodies attain their growth by
tedious degrees, and are subject to be destroyed in an instant, so it is
much easier to suppress than to revive the efforts of genius and study.
For, upon the mind there steals a pleasure even in sloth and remissness,
and that very inactivity which was at first hated, is at last loved.
Will it not be found that during a course of fifteen years (a mighty
space in the age of mortal man) numbers perished through fortuitous
disasters, and all men noted for promptness and spirit were cut off by
the cruelty of the Emperor? Few we are, who have escaped; and if I may
so speak, we have survived not only others but even ourselves, when from
the middle of our life so many years were rent; whence from being young
we are arrived at old age, from being old we are nigh come to the utmost
verge of mortality, all in a long course of awful silence. I shall
however find no cause of regret from having framed an historical
deduction of our former bondage, as also a testimony of the public
blessings which at present we enjoy; though, in doing it, my style be
negligent and unpolished. To the honour of Agricola my wife's father,
this present book is in the meantime dedicated; and, as 'tis a
declaration of filial duty and affection, will thence be commended, at
least excused.

       *       *       *       *       *

A.D. 40. Cnaeus Julius Agricola was born in the ancient and illustrious
Colony of Forojulium, [Footnote: Fréjus.] and both his grandfathers were
Procurators to the Emperors; a dignity peculiar to the Equestrian Order.
His father Julius Graecinus was a Senator, and noted for eloquence and
philosophy. By these his virtues, he earned the wrath of Caligula. For,
he was by him ordered to accuse Marcus Silanus, and put to death for
refusing. His mother was Julia Procilla, a lady of singular chastity.
Under her eye and tender care he was reared, and spent his childhood
and youth in the continual pursuit and cultivation of worthy
accomplishments. What guarded him from the allurements of the vicious
(besides his own virtuous disposition and natural innocence) was, that
for the seat and nursery of his studies, whilst yet very little, he had
the city of Marseilles; a place well tempered and framed, as in it
all the politeness of the Greeks and all the provincial parsimony are
blended together. I remember he was wont to declare, that in his early
youth he studied Philosophy and the Law with more avidity than was
allowable to a Roman and a Senator; till the discretion of his mother
checked his spirit, engaged with passion and ardour in the pursuit. In
truth, his superior and elevated genius thirsted, with more vehemence
than caution, after the loveliness and lustre of a name and renown so
mighty and sublime. Reason and age afterwards qualified his heat; and,
what is a task extremely hard, he satisfied himself with a limited
measure of philosophy.

A.D. 59-62. The first rudiments of war he learnt in Britain, under that
prudent and vigilant commander Suetonius Paulinus; by whom he was chosen
and distinguished, as his domestic companion. Neither did Agricola
behave licentiously, after the manner of young men, who turn warfare
into riot; nor assumed the title and office of a Tribune without the
sufficiency, in order to use it slothfully in feats of pleasure and
absence from duty, but to know the Province, to be known to the army,
to learn of such as had experience, to follow such as were worthy and
brave, to seek for no exploits for ostentation, to refuse none through
fear, and in all his pursuits was equally zealous and active. Indeed
at no time had Britain been under greater combustions, nor our affairs
there more precarious. Our veterans were slaughtered, our colonies
burned down, our armies surprised and taken. At that juncture the
struggle was for life; afterwards, for victory. Now though all these
affairs were transacted by the counsels and conduct of another than
Agricola, and though the stress of the whole, with the glory of
recovering the Province, accrued to the General; they all however proved
to the young man matters of skill, of experience and stimulation; and
there seized his soul a passion for military glory, a spirit disgustful
to the times, when of men signally eminent a malignant opinion was
entertained, and when as much peril arose from a great character as from
a bad.

A.D. 62-68. Departing from hence to Rome for the exercise of public
dignities, he there married Domitia Decidiana, a lady splendid in her
descent; and to him, who was aspiring to higher honours, this marriage
proved a great ornament and support. In marvellous unanimity they also
lived, in a course of mutual tenderness and mutual preference; a temper
commendable in both, only that the praise of a good wife rises in
proportion to the contumely of a bad. His lot as Quaestor fell upon
Asia, where he had Salvius Titianus for Proconsul. But neither the
Province nor the Proconsul corrupted his probity, though the country
was very rich, nay, prepared as a prey for men corruptly disposed;
and Titianus, a man bent upon all acts of rapine, was ready, upon
the smallest encouragement, to have purchased a mutual connivance in
iniquity. In Asia he was enriched by the birth of a daughter, tending at
once to his consolation and the support of his family; for the son born
to him before, he very soon lost. The interval between his bearing the
office of Quaestor and that of Tribune of the People, and even the year
of his Tribuneship, he passed in repose and inactivity; as well aware of
the spirit of the times under Nero, when sloth and heaviness served for
wisdom. With the like indolence he held the Praetorship, and in the same
quiet and silence. For upon him the jurisdiction of that dignity fell
not. The public pastimes and the empty gaieties of the office, he
exhibited according to the rules of good sense and to the measure of
his wealth, in a manner though remote from prodigality, yet deserving
popular applause. As he was next appointed by Galba to make research
into the gifts and oblations appertaining to the temples, he proceeded
with such diligence and an examination so strict, that the State
suffered from no sacrilege save that of Nero.

A.D. 69 and 70. In the year following he suffered a grievous blow in his
spirit and family. For, Otho's fleet, which continued roving upon
the coast and pursuing rapine, whilst they were ravaging Intemelium
[Footnote: Vinitimiglia.] (a part of Liguria) slew the mother of
Agricola upon her estate there, and plundered the estate itself with
a great part of her treasure, which had indeed proved the cause of the
murder. As he therefore went from Rome to solemnise her funeral, he had
tidings upon the road that Vespasian was pursuing the sovereignty, and
instantly espoused his party. In the beginning of this reign all the
exercise of power and the government of the city, were entirely in the
hands of Mucianus; for, Domitian was yet extremely young, and, of the
Imperial fortune of his father, assumed nothing further than a latitude
for debauchery. Mucianus, who had despatched Agricola to levy forces,
and found him to have acted in that trust with uprightness and
magnanimity, preferred him to the command of the twentieth legion; as
soon as he was informed, that he who commanded it before was engaged
in seditious practices. Indeed that legion had with great slowness and
reluctance been brought to swear allegiance to Vespasian, nay, was grown
over mighty and even formidable to the commanders-in-chief: so that
their own commander was found void of authority to control them; though
it is uncertain whether from the temper of the man or from that of
the soldiers. Thus Agricola was chosen, at once to succeed him, and to
punish delinquency in them; and exercising moderation altogether rare,
would rather have it thought, that he had found them unblamable than
made them so.

A.D. 72. Over Britain at that juncture Vettius Bolanus bore rule, but
with more complacency than suited a province so fierce and untamed.
Hence Agricola restrained his own heat, and held within bounds the
ardour of his spirit, as he was well skilled how to show his obedience,
and had thoroughly learned to blend what was honourable with what was
profitable: soon after this, Britain received for its Governor Petilius
Cerialis, one of Consular quality. The virtue and abilities of Agricola
had now ample space for producing suitable effects. But to him at first
Cerialis communicated only the dangers and fatigues: with him anon
he likewise shared the glory; frequently, for trial of his prowess,
committed to his conduct a part of the army; sometimes, according to the
measure of his success, set him at the head of forces still larger.
Nor did Agricola ever vaunt his exploits to blazon his own fame. To his
general, as to the Author of all, he, as his instrument and inferior,
still ascribed his good fortune. Thus from his bravery in the execution
of his orders, from his modesty in recounting his deeds of bravery, he
escaped envy, yet failed not to gain glory.

A.D. 73-78. Upon his return from commanding a legion, the deified
Vespasian raised him to the rank of a patrician, and afterwards invested
him with the government of the Province of Aquitaine; a government of
the foremost dignity, and given as previous to the Consulship, to
which that Prince had destined him. There are many who believe, that
to military men subtilty of spirit is wanting; for that in camps
the direction of process and authority, is rather rough and void of
formality; and that where hands and force are chiefly used, there the
address and refinements usual to Courts are not exercised. Yet Agricola,
assisted by his natural prudence, though he was then engaged only with
men of peace and the robe, acquitted himself with great facility and
great uprightness. He carefully distinguished the seasons of business
and the seasons of recess. Whenever he sat in Council or upon the
Tribunals of justice, he was grave, attentive, awful, generally addicted
to compassion. The moment he had fulfilled the duties of his office,
he personated no longer the man of power: he had then cast off all
sternness, all airs of State, and all rigour. Nay, what is very rarely
to be seen, his complaisance neither weakened his authority, nor did his
severity make him less amiable. It were an injury to the virtues of so
great a man, to particularise his just dealings, his temperance, and
the cleanness of his hands. [Footnote: "Integritatem atque abstinentiam
referre."] In truth glory itself was what he pursued, not by any
ostentation of bravery, nor by any strain of artifice or address; though
of that pursuit even the best men are often fond. Thus he was far from
maintaining any competition with his equals in station, far from any
contest with the Procurators of the Prince: since, to conquer in this
contention he judged to be no glory; and to be crushed by them were
disgrace. His administration here lasted hardly three years, ere he
was recalled to the present possession of the Consulship. With this
employment there accrued the public opinion, that for his province
Britain would be assigned him, from no words which had dropped from him
about it, but because he was deemed equal to the office. Common fame
does not always err; sometimes it even directs the public choice. To
myself yet very young, whilst he was Consul, he contracted his daughter,
a young lady even then of excellent hopes, and, at the end of his
Consulship, presented her in marriage. He was then forthwith promoted
to the government of Britain, as also invested with the honour of the
Pontificate.

The account which I shall here present of the situation and people of
Britain, a subject about which many authors have written, comes not from
any design of setting up my own exactness and genius against theirs, but
only because the country was then first thoroughly subdued. So that such
matters as former writers have, without knowing them, embellished with
eloquence, will by me be recounted according to the truth of evidence
and discoveries. Of all the islands which have reached the knowledge of
the Romans, Britain is the largest. It extends towards Germany to the
east, towards Spain to the west. To the south it looks towards Gaul. Its
northern shore, beyond which there is no land, is beaten by a sea vast
and boundless. [Footnote: "Belluosus, qui remotis Obstrepit Oceanus
Britannis."] Britain is by Livy and Fabius Rusticus, the former the most
eloquent of the ancient historians, the latter of the moderns, compared
in shape to an oblong shield, or a broad knife with two edges. And such
in effect is its figure on this side Caledonia, whence common opinion
has thus also fashioned the whole. But a tract of territory huge and
unmeasurable stretches forward to the uttermost shore, and straitening
by degrees, terminates like a wedge. Round the coast of this sea, which
beyond it has no land, the Roman fleet now first sailed, and thence
proved Britain to be an island, as also discovered and subdued the Isles
of Orkney till then unknown. Thule was likewise descried, hitherto
hid by winter under eternal snow. This sea they report to be slow and
stagnate, difficult to the rowers, and indeed hardly to be raised by
the force of winds. This I conjecture to be because land and mountains,
which are the cause and materials of tempests, very rarely occur in
proportion to the mighty mass of water, a mass so deep and uninterrupted
as not to be easily agitated. An inquiry into the nature of the ocean
and of the tide, is not the purpose of this work, and about it many have
written. One thing I would add, that nowhere is the power of the sea
more extensive than here, forcing back the waters of many rivers, or
carrying them away with its own; nor is its flux and ebbings confined to
the banks and shore; but it works and winds itself far into the country,
nay forms bays in rocks and mountains, as if the same were its native
bed.

For the rest; who were the first inhabitants of Britain, whether natives
of its own, or foreigners, can be little known amongst a people thus
barbarous. In their looks and persons they vary; from whence arguments
and inferences are formed. For, the red hair of the Caledonians and
their large limbs, testify their descent to be from Germany. The swarthy
complexion of the Silures, and their hair, which is generally curled,
with their situation opposite to the coast of Spain, furnish ground to
believe, that the ancient Iberians had arrived from thence here, and
taken possession of the territory. They who live next to Gaul are also
like the Gauls; whether it be that the spirit of the original stock
from which they sprang, still remains, or whether in countries
near adjoining, the genius of the climate confers the same form and
disposition upon the bodies of men. To one who considers the whole,
it seems however credible, that the Gauls at first occupied this their
neighbouring coast. That their sacred rites are the same, you may learn
from their being possessed with the same superstition of every sort.
Their speech does not much vary. In daring and dangers they are prompted
by the like boldness, and with the like affright avoid them when they
approach. In the Britons however superior ferocity and defiance is
found, as in a people not yet softened by a long peace. For we learn
from history, that the Gauls too flourished in warlike prowess and
renown: amongst them afterwards, together with peace and idleness, there
entered effeminacy; and thus with the loss of their liberty they lost
their spirit and magnanimity. The same happened to those of the Britons
who were conquered long ago. The rest still continue such as the Gauls
once were.

Their principal force consists in their foot. Some nations amongst them
make also war in chariots. The more honourable person always drives:
under his leading his followers fight. They were formerly subject to
Kings. They are now swayed by several chiefs, and rent into factions and
parties, according to the humour and passions of those their leaders.
Nor against nations thus powerful does aught so much avail us, as that
they consult not in a body for the security of the whole. It is rare
that two or three communities assemble and unite to repulse any public
danger threatening to all. So that whilst only a single community fought
at a time, they were every one vanquished. The sky from frequent clouds
and rain is dull and hazy. Excessive cold they feel not. Their days in
length surpass ours. Their nights are very clear, and at the extremity
of the country, very short; so that between the setting and return of
the day, you perceive but small interval. They affirm, that were it not
for the intervention of clouds, the rays of the sun would be seen in the
night, and that he doth not rise and fall, but only pass by: for that
the extremities of the earth, which are level, yielding but a low
shadow, prevent darkness from rising high and spreading; and thence
night is far short of reaching the stars and the sky. The soil is such,
that except the olive and the vine, and other vegetables, which are wont
to be raised in hotter climes, it readily bears all fruits and grain,
and is very fertile. It quickly produces, but its productions ripen
slowly; and of both these effects there is the same cause, the extreme
humidity of the earth and of the sky. Britain yields gold and silver,
with other metals, all which prove the prize and reward of the
Conquerors. The sea also breeds pearls, but of a dark and livid hue,
a defect by some ascribed to the unskilfulness of such as gather them.
For, in the Red Sea they are pulled from the rocks alive and vigorous.
In Britain they are gathered at random, such as the sea casts them
upon the shore. For myself; I am much apter to believe, that nature
has failed to give the pearls perfection, than that we fail in avarice.
[Footnote: "Ego facilius crediderim naturam margaritis de esse; quam
nobis avaritiam."]

The Britons themselves are a people who cheerfully comply with the
levies of men, and with the imposition of taxes, and with all the duties
enjoined by Government; provided they receive no illegal treatment and
insults from their governors: those they bear with impatience. Nor have
the Romans any further subdued them than only to obey just laws, but
never to submit to be slaves. Even the deified Julius Caesar, the first
of all the Romans who entered Britain with an army, though by gaining
a battle he frightened the natives, and became master of the coast;
[Footnote: Caesar conquered to the north of the Thames.] yet may be
thought to have rather presented posterity with a view of the country,
than to have conveyed down the possession. Anon the civil wars ensued,
and against the Commonwealth were turned the arms of her own chiefs
and leaders. Thus Britain was long forgot, and continued to be so even
during peace. This was what Augustus called _Reason of State_, but what
Tiberius styled the _Ordinance of Augustus_. That Caligula meditated an
invasion of Britain in person, is well known: but he possessed a
spirit, as precipitate and wild, so presently surfeited with any design
whatever; besides that all his mighty efforts against Germany were
quite baffled. The deified Claudius accomplished the undertaking; having
thither transported the legions, with a number of auxiliary forces, and
associated Vespasian into the direction of the design: an incident which
proved the introduction to his approaching fortune. There, nations were
subdued, Kings taken captive, and Vespasian placed to advantage in the
eye of the Fates.

The first Governor of Consular quality, was Aulus Plautius, then
Ostorius Scapula, both signal in war: and by degrees the nearest part
of Britain was reduced into the condition of a Province. To secure it,
a colony of veterans was likewise settled. To the British King Cogidunus
certain communities were given, a Prince who even till our times
continued in perfect fidelity to us. For, with the Roman People it is a
custom long since received, and practised of old, that for establishing
the bondage of nations, they are to employ even Kings as their
instruments. Afterwards followed Didius Gallus, and just preserved what
acquisitions his predecessors had made; only that further in the island
he raised some forts, and very few they were, purely for the name and
opinion of having enlarged his government. Next to Didius came Veranius,
and died in less than a year. Then immediately succeeded Suetonius
Paulinus, who during two years commanded with success, subdued fresh
nations and established garrisons. Trusting to these he went to assail
the Isle of Anglesey, as a place which supplied the revolters with
succours, and thus left the country behind him exposed to the enemy.

For, the Britons, when through the absence of the Governor they were
eased of their fear, began to commune together concerning the miseries
of bondage, to recount their several grievances, and so to construe and
heighten their injuries as effectually to inflame their resentments.
"Their patience," they said, "availed them nothing, further than to
invite the imposition of heavier burdens upon a people who thus tamely
bore any. In times past they had only a single King: they were now
surrendered to two. One of these the Governor-General, tyrannised over
their bodies and lives; the Imperial Procurator, who was the other, over
their substance and fortunes. Equally pernicious to their subjects was
any variance between these their rulers, as their good intelligence and
unanimity. Against them the one employed his own predatory bands, as
did the other his Centurions and their men; and both exercised violence
alike, both treated them with equal insults and contumely. To such
height was oppression grown, that nothing whatever was exempt from their
avarice, nothing whatever from their lust. He who in the day of battle
spoiled others, was always stronger than they. But here it was chiefly
by the cowardly and effeminate that their houses were seized, their
children forced away, and their men obliged to enlist; as if their
country were the only thing for which the Britons knew not how to die.
In truth, what a small force would all the soldiers arrived in the
island appear; would the Britons but compute their own numbers? It
was from this consideration that Germany had thrown off the same yoke,
though a country defended only by a river, and not like this, by the
ocean. To animate themselves to take arms, they had their country, their
wives, their parents; whilst these their oppressors were prompted
by nothing but their avarice and sensuality: nor would they fail to
withdraw from the island, as even the deified Julius had withdrawn,
would the natives but imitate the bravery of their forefathers, and not
be dismayed with the issue of an encounter or two. Amongst people like
themselves reduced to misery, superior ardour was ever found, as also
greater firmness and perseverance. Towards the Britons, at this juncture
even the Gods manifested compassion, since they thus kept the Roman
General at such a distance, thus held the Roman army confined in
another island. Nay, already they themselves had gained a point the most
difficult to be gained, that they could now deliberate about measures
common to all: for, doubtless more perilous it were to be discovered
forming such counsels, than openly to put them in execution."

When with these and the like reasons they had instigated one another,
they unanimously took arms under the leading of Boudicea, [Footnote:
Boadicea.] a woman of royal descent; for, in conferring sovereignty,
they make no distinction of sexes. They then forthwith assailed on every
side the soldiers dispersed here and there in forts, and having stormed
and sacked the several garrisons, fell upon the colony itself, as
the seat and centre of public servitude: nor was any kind of cruelty
omitted, with which rage and victory could possibly inspire the hearts
of Barbarians. In truth, had not Paulinus, upon learning the revolt of
the Province, come with notable speed to its relief, Britain had been
lost. Yet by the success of a single battle, he reduced the country to
its old subjection, though several continued in arms, such namely as
were conscious of inciting the rebellion, and under personal dread from
the spirit of the Governor. He, though otherwise a signal commander, yet
treated such as had surrendered themselves in a manner very imperious;
and, as one who likewise avenged his own particular injury, thence
exerted the greater rigour. Insomuch that in his room Petronius
Turpilianus was sent, as one whose behaviour would prove more relenting,
one who being unacquainted with the delinquencies of the enemies, would
be more gentle in accepting their remorse and submission. Turpilianus,
when he had quite appeased the late commotions, ventured upon nothing
further, and then delivered the Province to Trebellius Maximus. He,
still more unwarlike and inactive than his predecessor, and nowise
trained in camps and armies, maintained the tranquillity of the Province
by a method of softness and complaisance. The Barbarians had now
likewise learned to forgive such vices as humoured them in pleasure and
ease. Moreover, the civil wars which then intervened, furnished a proper
excuse for the lazy behaviour of the Governor. But he found himself
greatly embarrassed with faction and discord; for that the soldiers, who
had ever been inured to expeditions and feats in the field, were through
idleness grown turbulent and licentious. Trebellius, by flight and
lurking, escaped the present fury of the army: he afterwards resumed the
command, but with an authority altogether precarious, without all spirit
and destitute of all dignity; as if between him and them articles
had been settled, that the soldiers should retain their licentious
behaviour, and the General be permitted to enjoy his life. During this
mutiny no blood was spilled. Neither did Vettius Bolanus, as the civil
war yet subsisted, exert any discipline in Britain. Towards the enemy
there still remained the same sloth and negligence, with the same
insolent spirit in the camp: this difference only there was, that
Bolanus was a man perfectly innocent; and being subject to no hate, as
he was free from all crimes, he had instead of authority over them, only
gained their affections.

But, when Vespasian had, with the possession of the world, also
recovered Britain, in it were seen great commanders, noble armies, and
the hopes of the enemy quite abated, Petilius Cerialis, particularly,
at his first entrance, struck them at once with general terror, by
attacking the community of the Brigantes, reckoned the most populous of
the whole Province. There followed many encounters, such as sometimes
proved very bloody. So that he held most part of their country as
his conquest, or continued to ravage it by war. In truth, though the
exploits of Cerialis would have eclipsed the vigilance and fame of any
other successor, yet Julius Frontinus sustained in his turn the mighty
task; and, as he was a man as great and able as he found scope and
safety to be, he by the sword utterly subdued the powerful and warlike
nation of the Silures; though besides the bravery of the enemy, he
was likewise obliged to struggle with the difficulties of places and
situation.

A.D. 78. Such was the condition in which Agricola found Britain, such to
have been the vicissitudes of the war there, upon his arrival about the
middle of summer, a time when the Roman soldiers, supposing the service
of the season to be concluded, were securely bent upon inaction and
repose, as were the enemy upon any opportunity to annoy the Romans. The
Community of the Ordovicans had not long before his coming slaughtered,
almost entirely, a band of horse stationed upon their confines; and by
an essay so notable the Province in general became roused; while such as
were intent upon present war, commended the action as an example and a
call to the whole, and others were for delaying till they had discovered
the spirit of the new Lieutenant-General. Now though the summer
was over, though the troops were severed and lay dispersed over the
Province, though the soldiers had assured themselves of rest for the
residue of the year (a heavy obstacle and very discouraging to one who
is commencing war), nay, though many judged it better only to guard the
places which were threatened and precarious; yet Agricola determined to
meet the danger. Hence drawing together the choice bands of the legions,
with a small body of auxiliaries, he led them against the Ordovicans;
and as these dared not descend into equal ground, he, who by sharing
equal danger, would inspire his men with equal courage, marching in
person before his army, conducted them to the encounter upon the ascent.
Almost the whole nation was here cut off; but as he was well aware, that
it behoved him to urge and maintain this his fame, and that with the
issue of his first attempts all the rest would correspond, he conceived
a design to reduce the Isle of Anglesey, a conquest from which
Paulinus was recalled by the general revolt of Britain, as above I have
recounted. But, as this counsel was suddenly concerted, and therefore
ships were found wanting, such was the firmness and capacity of the
General, that without ships he transported his men. From the auxiliaries
he detached all their chosen men, such as knew the fords, and according
to the usage of their country were dexterous in swimming, so as, in the
water, at once to manage themselves, and their horses and arms. These,
unencumbered with any of their baggage, he caused to make a descent and
onset so sudden, that the enemy were quite struck with consternation,
as men who apprehended nothing but a fleet and transports, and a
formal invasion by sea, and now believed no enterprise difficult and
insurmountable to such as came thus determined to war. Thus they sued
for peace and even surrendered the island; and thence Agricola was
already considered as a very great and even renowned commander: for
that, at his first entrance into the Province, a time which other
governors are wont to waste in show and parade, or in courting
compliment and addresses, he preferred feats of labour and of peril.
Nor did he apply this his good fortune and success to any purpose of
vainglory: so that upon the bridling of such as were vanquished before,
he would not bestow the title of an expedition or of victory; nor in
truth would he so much as with the bare honour of the laurel distinguish
these his exploits. But even by disguising his fame, he enlarged it; as
men considered how vast must be his future views, when he thus smothered
in silence deeds so noble.

For the rest; as he was acquainted with the temper of the people in
his Province; as he had also learned from the conduct and experience of
others, that little is gained by arms where grievances and oppressions
follow, he determined to cut off all the causes of war. Beginning
therefore with himself and those appertaining to him, he checked and
regulated his own household; a task which to many proves not less
difficult than that of governing a province. By none of his domestics,
bond or freed, was aught that concerned the public transacted. In
raising the soldiers to a superior class, he was swayed by no personal
interest or partiality, nor by the recommendation and suit of the
Centurions, but by his own opinion and persuasion, that the best
soldiers were ever the most faithful. All that passed he would know;
though all that was amiss he would not punish. Upon small offences he
bestowed pardon; for such as were great he exercised proportionable
severity. Nor did he always exact the punishment assigned, but
frequently was satisfied with compunction and remorse. In conferring
offices and employments he rather chose men who would not transgress,
than such as he must afterwards condemn for transgressing. Though the
imposition of tribute and of grain had been augmented, yet he softened
it by causing a just and equal distribution of all public burdens;
since he abolished whatever exactions had been devised for the lucre of
particulars, and were therefore borne with more regret than the
tribute itself. For, the inhabitants were forced to bear the mockery
of attending at their own barns, locked up by the publicans, and
of purchasing their own corn of the monopolists, nay, of selling it
afterwards back again at a poor price. They were moreover enjoined to
take long journeys, and carry grain across the several countries to
places extremely distant; insomuch that the several communities, instead
of supplying the winter-quarters which lay adjoining, must furnish such
as were remote and difficultly travelled, to the end, that what was easy
to be had by all, might produce gain to a few.

A.D. 79. By suppressing these grievances immediately in his first year,
he gained a high character to a state of peace; a state which, either
through the neglect or connivance of his predecessors, was till then
dreaded no less than that of war. But, upon the coming of summer, he
assembled his army; then proceeded to commend such of the men who in
marching observed their duty and rank, and to check such as were loose
and straggling. He himself always chose the ground for encamping: the
salt marshes, friths, and woods he himself always first examined, and
to the enemies all the while allowed not a moment's quiet or recess,
but was ever distressing them with sudden incursions and ravages. Then,
having sufficiently alarmed and terrified them, his next course was to
spare them, thus to tempt them with the sweetness and allurements of
peace. By this conduct, several communities which till that day had
asserted a state of equality and independence, came to lay down all
hostility, gave hostages, and were begirt with garrisons and fortresses,
erected with such just contrivance and care, that no part of Britain
hitherto known escaped thenceforward from being annoyed by them.

The following winter was employed in measures extremely advantageous
and salutary. For, to the end that these people, thus wild and dispersed
over the country, and thence easily instigated to war, might by a taste
of pleasures be reconciled to inactivity and repose, he first privately
exhorted them, then publicly assisted them, to build temples, houses and
places of assembling. Upon such as were willing and assiduous in these
pursuits he heaped commendations, and reproofs upon the lifeless and
slow. So that a competition for this distinction and honour, had all the
force of necessity. He was already taking care to have the sons of
their chiefs taught the liberal sciences, already preferring the natural
capacity of the Britons to the studied acquirements of the Gauls; and
such was his success, that they who had so lately scorned to learn
the Roman language, were become fond of acquiring the Roman eloquence.
Thence they began to honour our apparel, and the use of the Roman gown
grew frequent amongst them. [Footnote: "Inde etiam habitus nostri honor,
et frequens toga."] By degrees they proceeded to the incitements and
charms of vice and dissoluteness, to magnificent galleries, sumptuous
bagnios, and all the stimulations and elegance of banqueting. Nay, all
this innovation was by the unexperienced styled politeness and humanity,
when it was indeed part of their bondage.

A.D. 80. During the third year of his command, in pursuit of his
conquests he discovered new people, by continuing his devastations
through the several nations quite to the mouth of the Tay: so the frith
is called. Whence such terror seized the foe, that they durst not attack
our army though sorely shaken and annoyed by terrible tempests: nay,
the Romans had even time to secure possession by erecting forts. It was
observed of Agricola by men of experience, that never had any captain
more sagely chosen his stations for commodiousness and situation; for
that no place of strength founded by him, was ever taken by violence,
or abandoned upon articles or despair. From these their strongholds
frequent excursions were made; for, against any long siege they were
supplied with provisions for a year. Thus they passed the winter there
without all apprehension: every single fort defended itself. So that
in all their attempts upon them the enemies were baffled, and thence
reduced to utter despair; for that they could not, as formerly they were
wont, repair their losses in the summer by their success in the winter;
since now whether it were winter or summer, they were equally defeated.
Neither did Agricola ever arrogate to himself the glory of exploits
performed by others: were he a Centurion or were he Commander of a
legion, in the General he was sure to find a sincere witness of
his achievements. By some he is said to have been over sharp in his
reproofs, since he was one who, as to them that were good he abounded in
courtesy, appeared withal stern and unpleasant to the bad. But from his
anger no spleen remained. In him you had no dark reserves, no boding
silence to fear. More honourable he thought it to give open offence than
to foster secret hate.

A.D. 81. The fourth summer was employed in settling and securing what
territories he had overrun: indeed would the bravery of the armies and
the glory of the Roman name, have suffered it, there had been then
found in Britain itself a boundary to our conquests there. For, into the
rivers Glota and Bodotria [Footnote: The Clyde and Forth.] the tide from
each opposite sea flows so vastly far up the country, that their heads
are parted only by a narrow neck of land, which was now secured with
garrisons. Thus of all on this side we were already masters; since the
enemy were driven as it were into another island.

A.D. 82. In the fifth year of the war, Agricola passing the Frith,
himself in the first ship that landed, in many and successful encounters
subdued nations till that time unknown, and placed forces in that part
of Britain which fronts Ireland, more from future views than from any
present fear. In truth Ireland, as it lies just between Britain and
Spain, and is capable of an easy communication with the coast of Gaul,
would have proved of infinite use in linking together these powerful
limbs of the Empire. In size it is inferior to Britain, but surpasses
the islands in our sea. In soil and climate, as also in the temper and
manners of the natives, it varies little from Britain. Its ports
and landings are better known, through the frequency of commerce and
merchants. A petty King of the country, expelled by domestic dissension,
was already received into protection by Agricola, and under the
appearance of friendship, reserved for a proper occasion. By him I have
often heard it declared, that with a single legion and a few auxiliaries
Ireland might be conquered and preserved; nay, that such an acquisition
were of moment for the securing of Britain, if, on all sides the Roman
arms were seen, and all national liberty banished as it were out of
sight.

A.D. 83. For the rest; on the summer which began the sixth year of his
administration, as it was apprehended, that the nations forward would
universally take arms, and that the ways were all infested with
the enemy's host, his first step was to coast and explore the large
communities beyond Bodotria [Footnote: The Forth.] by the means of
his fleet, which was from the beginning employed by him as part of his
forces, and in attending him at this time made a glorious appearance,
when thus by sea and land the war was urged. In truth, the same camp
often contained the foot and the horse and the marines, all intermixed,
and rejoicing in common, severally magnifying their own feats, their
own hazards and adventures: here were displayed the horrors of steep
mountains and dismal forests; there the outrages of waves and tempests.
These boasted their exploits by land and against the foe: those the
vanquished ocean; all vying together according to the usual vaunts and
ostentation of soldiers. Upon the Britons also, as from the captives was
learned, the sight of the fleet brought much consternation and dismay;
as if, now that their solitary ocean and recesses of the deep were
disclosed and invaded, the last refuge of the vanquished was cut off. To
action and arms, the several people inhabiting Caledonia had immediate
recourse, and advanced with great parade, made still greater by common
rumour (as usual in things that are unknown), for that they daringly
assailed our forts, and by thus insulting and defying us, created much
fear and alarm. Nay, there were some who covering real cowardice under
the guise of prudence and counsel, exhorted a return to the nether side
of Bodotria, [Footnote: To retreat south of the Forth.] for that it
were more eligible to retire back than to be driven. He was apprised the
while, that the enemy meant to attack him in divers bands: so that, as
they surpassed him in numbers and in the knowledge of the country, he
too divided his army into three parts, and thus marched, to prevent
their surrounding him.

As soon as this disposition of his was known to the enemy, they suddenly
changed theirs, and all in a body proceeded to fall upon the ninth
legion as the least sufficient and weakest of all; and, as the assault
was in the night they slew the guards and entered the trenches, aided
by the general sleep or general dismay there. They were already pursuing
the fight in the camp itself, when Agricola having from his spies learnt
what route the enemy had taken, and closely following their track,
commanded the lightest of his foot and cavalry to charge them, whilst
yet engaged, in the rear, and the whole army presently after to give a
mighty shout. Moreover at break of day, the Roman banners were beheld
refulgent. Thus were the Britons dismayed with double peril and
distress; and to the Romans their courage returned. Hence seeing their
lives secure, they now maintained the conflict for glory. They even
returned the attack upon the enemy: insomuch that in the very gates of
the camp a bloody encounter ensued, till the enemy were quite routed;
for both these our armies exerted their might, the one contending to
show that they had brought relief, the other to appear not to have
wanted assistance. Indeed, had not the woods and marshes served for
shelter to the fugitives, by this victory the war had been determined.

By this success, with such valour gained, and followed with such renown,
the army was become elated and resolute. With fierce din they cried,
"That to their bravery nothing could prove insurmountable. They must
penetrate into the heart of Caledonia, and advance in a continual
succession of battles, till they had at last found the utmost limits of
Britain." Thus it was that they, who a little before had been so wary
and so wise, were now, after the event was determined, grown full of
boasts and intrepidity. Such is the lot of warfare, very unequal and
unjust: in success all men assume part: the disasters are all imputed
to one. Now the Britons, conjecturing the victory to proceed not from
superior courage, but from circumstances improved and the address of
our General, lost nothing of their spirit and defiance, but armed their
young men, removed their wives and children into places of security, and
in general conventions of their several communities engaged them in a
league ratified by solemn sacrifices. And thus they mutually retired for
the winter, with minds on both sides abundantly irritated.

During the same summer, a cohort of Usipians levied in Germany and
thence transported to Britain, adventured upon a feat very desperate and
memorable. When they had slain the Centurion and soldiers placed amongst
them for training them in discipline, and to serve them for patterns
and directors, they embarked in three pinnaces, forcing the pilots to
conduct them; and since one of these forsook them and fled away, they
suspected and therefore killed the other two. As the attempt was not
yet divulged, their launching into the deep was beheld as a wonder. Anon
they were tossed hither and thither at the mercy of the waves: and, as
they often engaged for spoil with several of the Britons, obliging
them to defend their property thus invaded, in which conflicts they
frequently proved victorious, and were sometimes defeated, they were
at last reduced to want so pressing, as to feed upon one another, first
upon the weakest, then upon whomsoever the lot fell. In this manner were
they carried round about Britain, and having lost their vessels through
ignorance how to manage them, they were accounted robbers and pirates,
and fell into the hands first of the Suevians, afterwards of the
Frisians. Nay, as they were bought and sold for slaves, some of them,
through change of masters, were brought over to our side of the Rhine,
and grew famous from the discovery of an adventure so extraordinary.

A.D. 84. In the beginning of the summer, Agricola suffered a sore blow
in his family, by losing his son born about a year before. A misfortune
which he neither bore with an ostentation of firmness and unconcern,
like many other men of magnanimity, nor with lamentations and tears
worthy only of women. Besides that for this affliction, war proved one
of his remedies. When therefore he had sent forward the navy, which by
committing devastations in several places, would not fail to spread a
mighty and perplexing terror, he put himself at the head of his army
lightly equipped, and to it had added some of the bravest Britons, such
as had been well proved through a long course of peace. Thus he arrived
at the Grampian Hills, upon which the enemy were already encamped. For,
the Britons, nothing daunted by the issue of the former battle, and
boldly waiting either to take vengeance or to suffer bondage, taught
withal at last, that a general union was the best way to repel common
danger, had by embassies and confederacies drawn together the forces of
all their communities. Even then were to be seen thirty thousand men in
arms, and their youth from every quarter were still continuing to flock
in, as were also such of their elderly men as were yet vigorous and
hale, they who were signal in war, and now carried with them their
several ensigns of honour formerly gained in the field. And now
Galgacus, he who amongst their several leaders surpassed all in valour
and descent, is said to have spoke in this strain to the multitude all
very pressing for battle,

"Whenever I contemplate the causes of the war, and the necessity to
which we are reduced, great is my confidence that this day and this
union of yours will prove the beginning of universal liberty to Britain.
For, besides that bondage is what we have never borne, we are so beset
that beyond us there is no further land; nor in truth is there any
security left us from the sea whilst the Roman fleet is hovering upon
our coasts. Thus the same expedient which proves honourable to brave
men, is to cowards too become the safest of all others, even present
recourse to battle and arms. The other Britons, in their past conflicts
with the Romans, whence they found various success, had still a
remaining source of hope and succour in this our nation. For, of all the
people of Britain we are the noblest, and thence placed in its innermost
regions, and, as we behold not so much as the coasts of such as are
slaves, we thus preserve even our eyes free and unprofaned by the sight
of lawless and usurped rule. To us who are the utmost inhabitants of the
earth, to us the last who enjoy liberty, this extremity of the globe,
this remote tract unknown even to common fame, has to this day proved
the only protection and defence. At present the utmost boundary of
Britain is laid open; and to conquer parts unknown, is thought matter of
great pomp and boasting. Beyond us no more people are found, nor aught
save seas and rocks; and already the Romans have advanced into the heart
of our country. Against their pride and domineering you will find it
in vain to seek a remedy or refuge from any obsequiousness or humble
behaviour of yours. Plunderers of the earth these, who in their
universal devastations finding countries to fail them, investigate and
rob even the sea. If the enemy be wealthy, he inflames their avarice;
if poor, their ambition. They are general spoilers, such as neither the
eastern world nor the western can satiate. They only of all men thirst
after acquisitions both poor and rich, with equal avidity and passion.
To spoil, to butcher, and to commit every kind of violence, they style
by a lying name, _Government_; and when they have spread a general
desolation, they call it _Peace_. [Footnote: "Ubi solitudinem faciunt,
pacem appellant."]

"Dearest to every man are his children and kindred, by the contrivance
and designation of nature. These are snatched from us for recruits, and
doomed to bondage in other parts of the earth. Our wives and sisters,
however they escape rapes and violence as from open enemies, are
debauched under the appearance and privilege of friendship and
hospitality. Our fortunes and possessions they exhaust for tribute, our
grain for their provisions. Even our bodies and limbs are extenuated
and wasted, while we are doomed to the drudgery of making cuts through
woods, and drains in bogs, under continual blows and outrages. Such as
are born to be slaves are but once sold, and thenceforward nourished by
their lords. Britain is daily paying for its servitude, is daily feeding
it. Moreover, as in a tribe of household slaves, he who comes last
serves for sport to all his fellows; so in this ancient state of slavery
to which the world is reduced, we, as the freshest slaves and thence
held the most contemptible, are now designed to destruction. For, we
have no fields to cultivate, nor mines to dig, nor ports to make; works
for which they might be tempted to spare us alive: besides that ever
distasteful to rulers is magnanimity and a daring spirit in their
subjects. Indeed our very situation, so solitary and remote, the more
security it affords to us, does but raise the greater jealousy in them.
Seeing therefore you are thus bereft of all hopes of mercy, rouse now at
last all your courage, both you to whom life is dearest, and you to whom
glory. The Brigantes, even under the leading of a woman, burned
their colony, stormed their entrenchments, and, had not such success
degenerated into sloth, might have quite cast off the yoke of slavery.
Let us who still preserve our forces entire, us who are still unsubdued,
and want not to acquire liberty but only to secure it, manifest at once,
upon the first encounter, what kind of men they are that Caledonia has
reserved for her own vindication and defence.

"Do you indeed believe the Romans to be equally brave and vigorous in
war, as during peace they are vicious and dissolute? From our quarrels
and divisions it is that they have derived their renown, and thus
convert the faults of their enemies to the glory of their own army;
an army compounded of many nations so different, that as it is success
alone which holds them together, misfortunes and disasters will surely
dissolve them. Unless you suppose that the Germans there, that the
Gauls, and many of the Britons (whom with shame I mention), men who
however have been all much longer their enemies than their slaves,
are yet attached to them by any real fidelity and affection, whilst
presenting their blood to establish a domination altogether foreign
and unnatural to them all. What restrains them is no more than awe and
terror, frail bonds of endearment; and when these are removed, such who
cease to fear, will immediately begin to manifest their hate. Amongst us
is found whatever can stimulate men to victory. The Romans have no wives
to hearten and to urge them. They have here no fathers and mothers to
upbraid them for flying. Many of them have no country at all, or at
least their country is elsewhere. But a few in number they are, ignorant
of the region and thence struck with dread, whilst to their eyes,
whatever they behold around them, is all wild and strange, even the air
and sky, with the woods and the sea; so that the Gods have in some sort
delivered them enclosed and bound into our hands.

"Be not dismayed with things of mere show, and with a glare of gold and
of silver: this is what can neither wound, nor save. In the very host
of the enemy we shall find bands of our own. The Britons will own and
espouse their own genuine cause. The Gauls will recollect their former
liberty. What the Usipians have lately done, the other Germans will do,
and abandon the Romans. Thereafter nothing remains to be feared. Their
forts are ungarrisoned; their colonies replenished with the aged and
infirm; and between the people and their magistrates, whilst the
former are averse to obedience, and the latter rule with injustice, the
municipal cities are weakened and full of dissensions. Here you see a
general, here an army: there you may behold tributes and the mines, with
all the other train of calamities and curses ever pursuing men enslaved.
Whether all these are to be for ever imposed, or whether we forthwith
avenge ourselves for the attempt, this very field must determine. As
therefore you advance to battle, look back upon your ancestors, look
forward to your posterity."

They received his speech joyfully, with chantings, and terrible din, and
many dissonant shouts, after the manner of barbarians. Already too their
bands moved, and the glittering of their arms appeared, as all the most
resolute were running to the front: moreover the army was forming
in battle array; when Agricola; who indeed saw his soldiers full of
alacrity, and hardly to be restrained even by express cautions, yet
chose to discourse to them in the following strain. "It is now the
eighth year, my fellow-soldiers, since through the virtue and auspicious
fortune of the Roman Empire, and by your own services and fidelity you
have been pursuing the conquest of Britain. In so many expeditions that
you have undertaken, in so many battles as you have fought, you have
still had constant occasion either to be exerting your bravery against
the foe, or your patience and pains even against the obstacles of
nature. Neither, during all these struggles, have we found any cause
of mutual regret, I to have conducted such soldiers, or you to have
followed such a captain. We have both passed the limits which we found,
I those known to the ancient governors, you those of former armies; and
we possess the very extremity of Britain, not only in the bruitings of
fame and vulgar rumour, but possess it with our camps and arms. Britain
is entirely discovered, and entirely subdued. In truth, as the army has
been marching, whilst in passing morasses and mountains and rivers
you have been fatigued and distressed, I was wont to hear every man
remarkably brave ask, _When shall we see the enemy, when be led to
battle?_ Already they are come, roused from their fastnesses and lurking
holes. Here you see the end of all your wishes, here scope for all your
valour, and all things promising and propitious, if you conquer; but
all cross and disastrous, should you be vanquished. For, as to have
thus marched over a tract of country so immense, to have passed through
gloomy forests, to have crossed arms of the deep, is matter of glory and
applause whilst we advance against the enemy; so if we fly before them,
whatever is now most in our favour, will then prove most to our peril.
We know not the situation of the country so well as they know it; we
have not provisions so abundant as they have: but we have limbs and
arms; and in these, all things. For myself; it is a rule long since
settled by me, that safety there is none either to the army or to the
general, in turning their backs upon the foe. Hence it is not only more
eligible to lose life honourably than to save it basely, but security
and renown both arise from the same source. Neither would it be a fate
void of glory to fall in this the utmost verge of earth and of nature.

"Were the people now arrayed against you such as were new to you, were
you to engage with bands never before tried, I should animate you by the
examples of other armies. At present, only recollect and enumerate your
own signal exploits, only ask and consult your own eyes. These are they
whom but the last year you utterly discomfited, only by the terror of
your shouting, when, trusting to the darkness of the night, they by
stealth attacked a single legion. These are they who of all the Britons
are the most abandoned to fear and flight, and thence happen thus long
to survive all the rest. It is with us as with those who make inroads
into woods and forests. As beasts of the greatest strength there, are
driven thence by the superior force of such as pursue them, and as the
timorous and spiritless fly even at the cry of the pursuers: in like
manner, all the bravest Britons are long since fallen by the sword.
They that remain are only a crowd, fearful and effeminate: nor can you
consider them as men whom you have therefore reached, because they have
persisted to oppose you, but as such whom you have surprised as the last
and forlorn of all, who struck with dread and bereft of spirit, stand
benumbed in yonder field, whence you may gain over them a glorious and
memorable victory. Here complete all your expeditions and efforts: here
close a struggle of fifty years with one great and important day, so
that to the army may not be imputed either the procrastination of the
war, or any cause for reviving it."

Apparent, even whilst Agricola spoke, was the ardour of the soldiers,
mighty their transport and applause at the end of his speech, and
instantly they flew to their arms. Thus inflamed and urging to engage,
he formed them so that the strong band of auxiliary foot, who were eight
thousand men, composed the centre. The wings were environed with three
thousand horse. The legions without advancing stood embattled just
without the entrenchment; for that mighty would be the glory of the
victory, were it, by sparing them, gained without spilling any Roman
blood; and they were still a sure stay and succour, should the rest be
repulsed. The British host was ranged upon the rising grounds, at once
for show and terror, in such sort that the first band stood upon the
plain, and the rest rose successively upon the brows of the hills, one
rank close above another, as if they had been linked together. Their
cavalry and chariots of war filled the interjacent field with great
tumult and boundings to and fro. Agricola then, fearing from the
surpassing multitude of the enemy, that he might be beset at once in
the front and on each flank, opened and extended his host. Yet, though
thence his ranks must prove more relaxed, and many advised him to bring
on the legions, he, who rather entertained a spirit of hope, and in all
difficulties was ever firm, dismissed his horse and advanced on foot
before the banners.

In the beginning of the onset the conflict was maintained at a distance.
The Britons, they who were possessed at once of bravery and skill, armed
with their huge swords and small bucklers, quite eluded our missive
weapons, or beat them quite off, whilst of their own they poured a
torrent upon us, till Agricola encouraged three Batavian cohorts and
two of the Tungrians, to close with the enemy and bring them to an
engagement hand to hand; as what was with those veteran soldiers a
long practice, and become familiar, but to the enemy very uneasy and
embarrassing, as they were armed with very little targets and with
swords of enormous size. For, the swords of the Britons, which are blunt
at the end, are unfit for grapling and cannot support a close encounter.
Hence the Batavians thickened their blows, wounded them with the iron
bosses of their bucklers, mangled their faces, and, bearing down all who
withstood them upon the plain, were already carrying the attack up to
the hills: insomuch that the rest of the cohorts, incited by emulation
and sudden ardour, joined with those and made havoc of all whom they
encountered. Nay, such was the impetuosity and hurry of the victory,
that many were left behind but half dead, others not so much as wounded.
In the meantime their troops of cavalry took to flight: the chariots of
war mingled with the battalions of foot; and though they had so lately
struck terror, were now themselves beset and entangled with our thick
bands, as also with the unevenness and intricacy of the place. Of
a combat of cavalry this bore not the least appearance: since here,
standing obstinately foot to foot, they pressed to overthrow each other
by the weight and bodies of their horses. Moreover the war-chariots, now
abandoned and straggling, as also the horses destitute of managers and
thence wild and affrighted, were running hither and thither just as the
next fright drove them; insomuch that all of their own side, who met
them or crossed their way, were beaten down by them.

Now those of the Britons who were lodged upon the ridges of the hills
and had hitherto no share in the encounter, like men yet pressed by no
peril looked with scorn upon our forces as but few in number, and began
to descend softly and to surround them in the rear, whilst they were
urging their victory. But Agricola, who had apprehended this very
design, despatched to engage them four squadrons of horse, such as he
had reserved near him for the sudden exigencies of the field; and by
this providence of his, the more furiously they had advanced, the more
keenly were they repulsed and utterly routed. Thus against the Britons
themselves their own devices were turned; and by the order of the
General, the squadrons of cavalry which charged in front, wheeled about
and assailed the enemy behind. Then in truth, all over the open fields
was to be seen a spectacle prodigious and tragical, incessant pursuits,
wounds and captivity, and the present captives always slaughtered, as
often as others occurred to be taken. Now the enemy behaved just as they
happened to be prompted by their several humours. Sometimes they fled in
large troops with all their arms, before a smaller number that pursued
them: others, quite unarmed, rushed into peril, and desperately
presented themselves to instant death. On all sides lay scattered arms
and carcasses, and mangled limbs, and the ground was dyed with blood.
Nay, now and then even by the vanquished was exerted notable wrath and
bravery. When once they drew near the woods, they rejoined and rallied,
and thus circumvented the foremost pursuers, such as, without knowing
the country, had rashly ventured too far. Whence we must have suffered
some notable disaster, from such confidence void of caution, had
not Agricola who was assiduously visiting every quarter, ordered the
stoutest cohorts lightly equipped to range themselves in the form of
a toil [Footnote: A net or web, to encompass them; such as Herodotus
describes, for clearing out a vanquished enemy.] to invest them, also
some of the cavalry to dismount, and enter the strait passes, and the
rest of the horse, at the same time, to beat the more open and passable
parts of the woods. Now, as soon as they perceived our forces to
continue the pursuit with ranks regular and close, they betook
themselves to open flight, in no united bands as before, no one man
regarding or awaiting another; but quite scattered, and each shunning
any companion, they all made to places far remote and desert. What ended
the pursuit was night and a satiety of slaughter. Of the enemy were
slain ten thousand. There fell of our men three hundred and forty,
amongst these Aulus Atticus, commander of a cohort; one by his own
youthful heart, as also by a fiery horse, hurried into the midst of the
enemies.

It was indeed a night of great joy to the conquerors, both from victory
and spoil. The Britons, who wandered in despair, men and women uttering
in concert their dismal wailings, dragged along their wounded, called to
such as were unhurt, deserted their houses, nay, in rage even set them
on fire; made choice of lurking holes, then instantly forsook them; then
met to consult, and from their counsels gathered some hope: sometimes,
upon beholding their dearest pledges of nature, their spirits became
utterly sunk and dejected; sometimes, by the same sight, they were
roused into resolution and fury. Nay, 'tis very certain, that some
murdered their children and wives, as an act of compassion and
tenderness. The next day produced a more ample display of the victory;
on all sides a profound silence, solitary hills, thick smoke rising from
the houses on fire, and not a living soul to be found by the scouts.
When from these, who had been despatched out every way, it was learnt,
that whither the enemy had fled no certain traces could be discovered,
and that they had nowhere rallied in bodies; when the summer was
likewise passed and thence an impossibility of extending the operations
of war, he conducted his army into the borders of the Horestians. After
he had there received hostages, he ordered the Admiral of the Fleet to
sail round Britain. For this expedition he was furnished with proper
forces, and before him was already gone forth the terror of the Roman
power: he himself the while led on his foot and horse with a slow pace,
that thus the minds of these new nations might be awed and dismayed
even by prolonging his march through them: he then lodged his army in
garrisons for the winter. The fleet too having found a favourable sea,
entered with great fame, into the harbour of Rhutupium: [Footnote:
Supposed to be Sandwich Haven.] for, from thence it had sailed, and
coasting along the nethermost shore of Britain, thither returned.

With this course and situation of things Agricola by letters acquainted
the Emperor; tidings which, however modestly recounted, without all
ostentation, or any pomp of words, Domitian received as with joy in his
countenance, so with anguish in his soul: such was his custom. His heart
indeed smote him for his late mock triumph over the Germans, which he
knew to be held in public derision; as to adorn it he had purchased a
number of slaves, who were so decked in their habits and hair, as to
resemble captives in war. But here a victory mighty and certain, gained
by the slaughter of so many thousands of the enemy, was universally
sounded by the voice of fame, and received with vast applause. Terrible
above all things it was to him, that the name of a private man should be
exalted above that of the Prince. In vain had he driven from the public
tribunals all pursuits of popular evidence and fame, in vain smothered
the lustre of every civil accomplishment, if any other than himself
possessed the glory of excelling in war: nay, however he might dissemble
every other distaste, yet to the person of the Emperor properly
appertained the virtue and praise of being a great General. Tortured
with these anxious thoughts, and indulging his humour of being shut up
in secret, a certain indication that he was fostering some sanguinary
purpose, he at last judged it the best course, upon this occasion, to
hide and reserve his rancour till the first flights of fame were
passed, and the affection of the army cooled. For, Agricola held yet the
administration of Britain.

To him therefore he caused to be decreed in Senate the triumphal
ornaments, a statue crowned with laurel, with whatever else is bestowed
instead of a real triumph, and heightened this his compliment with many
expressions full of esteem and honour. He directed moreover a general
expectation to be raised, that to Agricola was destined the Province of
Syria, a Government then vacant by the death of Atilius Rufus, a man
of Consular quality, since the same was reserved only for men of
illustrious rank. Many there were who believed, that an Imperial
freedman, one much trusted with the secret designs of his master, was by
him despatched to carry the instrument appointing Agricola Governor of
Syria, with orders to deliver it to him, were he still in Britain;
that the freedman met Agricola crossing the Channel, and without once
speaking to him, returned directly to Domitian. It is uncertain whether
this account be true, or only a fiction framed in conformity to the
character and genius of the Prince. To his successor, in the meantime,
Agricola had surrendered the Province now settled in perfect peace and
security. Moreover, to prevent all remarks upon the manner of his entry
into Rome, from any popular distinction paid him, and any concourse of
people to meet him, he utterly declined this observance of his friends,
and came into the city by night; and by night, as he was directed,
went to the palace. He was there received by the Emperor, with a short
embrace, but without a word said; then passed, undistinguished, amongst
the crowd of servile courtiers. Now in order to soften with other
and different virtues the reputation of a military man, a name ever
distasteful to those who live themselves in idleness, he resigned
himself entirely to indolence and repose. In his dress he was modest;
in his conversation courteous and free, and never found accompanied with
more than one or two of his friends. Insomuch that many, such especially
as are wont to judge of great men by their retinue and parade, all
calculated to gain popular admiration, when they had beheld and observed
Agricola, sought to know whence proceeded his mighty fame: there were
indeed but few who could account for the motives of his conduct.

Frequently, during the course of that time, was he accused in his
absence before Domitian, and in his absence also acquitted. What
threatened his life was no crime of his, nor complaint of any particular
for injuries received, nor aught else save the glorious character of
the man, and the spirit of the Emperor hating all excellence and every
virtue. With these causes there concurred the most mischievous sort of
all enemies, they who extolled him in order to destroy him. Moreover in
the Commonwealth there ensued such times as would not permit the name
of Agricola to remain unmentioned: so many were the armies which we had
lost in Moesia, in Dacia, in Germany, in Pannonia; all by the wretched
conduct of our Generals, either altogether impotent or foolhardy:
so many withal were the brave officers, with so many bands of men
overthrown and taken. Neither was the question and contest now about
maintaining the limits of the Empire and guarding the rivers which
served for its boundaries, but about defending the standing encampments
of the legions and preserving our own territories. Thus, when public
misfortunes were following one another in a continual train, when every
year was become signal for calamities and slaughters, Agricola was by
the common voice of the populace required for the command of our armies.
For, all men were comparing his vigour, his firmness, and his mind
trained in war, with the sloth and timidity of the others. With
discourses of this strain, it is certain that even the ears of Domitian
himself were teased; whilst all the best of his freedmen advised and
pressed him to this choice, out of pure affection and duty, as did the
worst out of virulence and envy; and to whatever appeared most malignant
that Prince was ever prone. In this manner was Agricola, as well through
his own virtues as through the base management of others, pushed upon a
precipice even of glory.

A.D. 90. The year was now arrived when to the lot of Agricola was to
fall the Proconsulship of Asia or of Africa: and, as Civica had been
lately murdered (even whilst Proconsul of the former Province), Agricola
was neither unprepared what course to pursue, nor Domitian unfurnished
with an example to follow. It happened too, that certain persons, men
apprised of the secret purposes of the Prince, made it their business
to accost Agricola and ask him, whether he meant in earnest to take
possession of his Province. Nay, they began, at first indeed with some
reserve, to extol a life of tranquillity and repose; anon they proffered
their good offices to procure his demission and excuse: at last,
throwing off all disguise, and proceeding at once to dissuade and to
intimidate him, they prevailed with him to be carried, with this as his
suit, to Domitian. He, already prepared to dissemble his sentiments,
and assuming a mien of haughtiness, not only received the petition of
Agricola to be excused, but when he had granted it, suffered himself
to be presented with formal thanks, Nor was he ashamed of conferring
a grace so unpopular and odious. To Agricola however he gave not the
salary which was wont to be paid to Proconsuls, and which he himself had
continued to some. Whether he were affronted that it was not asked, or
whether restrained by his own guilty mind, lest he might seem to have
purchased with money what he had hindered by his interposition and
power. It is the nature of men, that whomsoever they injure they hate.
Now Domitian was in his temper apt to be suddenly transported into
rage, and, in proportion as he smothered his vengeance, the more
irreconcilable he always certainly proved. Yet by the prudence and
moderation of Agricola, he was softened. For, by no contumacy of his,
nor by any vain ostentation of a spirit of liberty ill-timed, did he
court fame or urge his fate. Let such who are wont to admire things
daring and forbidden, know, that even under evil Princes great men may
be produced, and that by the means of modesty and observance, provided
these be accompanied with application and vigour, they may rise to an
equal measure of public estimation and praise with that of many, who
through a conduct very stubborn and precipitate, but of no advantage to
the Commonweal, have distinguished themselves by dying only to gain a
great name.

A.D. 93. Afflicting to us his family proved the end of his life,
sorrowful to his friends; and even to foreigners and such as knew him
not, matter of trouble and condolence. The commonalty likewise, and
such people as were void of employment, [Footnote: Or it may be thus
translated: "The body of the people though chiefly intent upon such
affairs as concerned not the State."--GORDON. Burnouf is better: "Ce
peuple, qu'occupent d'autres intérêts."] were not only frequent in
their visits to his house, but in all public places, in all particular
companies made him the subject of their conversation. Nor, when his
death was divulged, was there a soul found who either rejoiced at it,
or presently forgot it. What heightened the public commiseration and
concern, was a prevailing rumour that he was despatched by poison.
That there was any proof of this, I dare not aver. Yet it is true, that
during the whole course of his illness, Domitian caused frequent visits
to be made him, indeed much more frequent than Princes are wont to
make, both by his favourite freedmen and most trusty physicians;
whether through real concern for his health, or solicitude to learn the
probability of his death. It is well known that on the day in which he
expired, continual accounts were, by messengers purposely placed, every
instant transmitted to the Emperor, how fast his end was approaching;
and no one believed, that he would thus quicken such tidings, had he
been to feel any sorrow from hearing them. In his face however and even
in his spirit, he affected to show some guise of grief; for, he was now
secure against the object of his hate, and could more easily dissemble
his present joy, than lately his fear. It was abundantly notorious how
much it rejoiced him, upon reading the last will of Agricola, to find
himself left joint heir with his excellent wife and tender daughter.
This he took to have been done out of judgment and choice, and in
pure honour to himself. So blind and corrupt was his mind rendered by
continual flattery, as not to know, that to no Prince but a bad one will
any good father bequeath his fortune.

Agricola was born on the 13th of June, during the third Consulship
of the Emperor Caligula. He died on the 24th of August, during the
Consulship of Collega and Priscus, in the fifty-sixth year of his age.
If posterity be desirous to know his make and stature; in his person
he was rather genteel and regular than tall. [Footnote: Decentior quam
sublimior fuit.] In his aspect there was nothing terrible. His looks
were extremely graceful and pleasing. A good man you would have readily
believed him, and been glad to have found that he was a great man. Nay,
though he was snatched away whilst his age was yet in full vigour,
if however his life be measured by his glory, he attained to a mighty
length of days. For, every true felicity and acquisition, namely, all
such as arise from virtue, he had already enjoyed to the full. As he had
been likewise dignified with the Consular and triumphal honours, what
more could fortune add to his lustre and renown? After enormous wealth
he sought not: an honourable share he possessed. As behind him he left
surviving his daughter and his wife, he may be even accounted happy;
since by dying whilst his credit was nowise impaired, his fame in its
full splendour, his relations and friends yet in a state of security, he
escaped the evils to come. For, as before us he was wont to express his
wishes, that he might survive to see this truly blessed Age, and Trajan
swaying the sovereignty, wishes which he uttered with presages as of
what would surely ensue; so it was a wondrous consolation attending the
quickness of his death, that thence he evaded the misery of the latter
times, when Domitian, who had ceased to exert his tyranny by starts only
and intermissions, was come now to rend the Commonwealth by cruelties
without all respite, and to overthrow it as it were by one great and
deadly stroke.

For, Agricola saw not the Court of the Senate besieged, nor the Senate
enclosed by armed men, nor the butchery of so many men of Consular
dignity, nor the flight and exile of so many ladies of the prime
nobility, all effected in one continued havoc. Till then Carus Metius,
the accuser, was only considerable for having been victorious in one
bloody process; till then the cruel motions of Messallinus rang only
within the palace at Alba; [Footnote: A country palace of Domitian.] and
in those days Massa Bebius (afterwards so exercised in arraigning the
innocent) was himself arraigned as a criminal. Presently after we, with
our own hands, dragged Helvidius to prison and execution: we beheld the
melancholy doom of Mauricus and Rusticus: we found ourselves besprinkled
with the innocent blood of Senecio. Even Nero withheld his eyes from
scenes of cruelty, he indeed ordered murders to be perpetrated, but saw
not the perpetration. The principal part of our miseries under Domitian,
was to be obliged to see him and be seen by him, at a time when all our
sighs and sorrows were watched and marked down for condemnation; when
that cruel countenance of his, always covered with a settled red, whence
he hardened himself against all shame and blushing, served him to mark
and recount all the pale horrors at once possessing so many men. Thou
therefore, Agricola, art happy, not only as thy life was glorious, but
as thy death was seasonable. According to the account of such who heard
thy last words, thou didst accept thy fate cheerfully and with firmness,
as if thou thus didst thy part to show the Emperor to be guiltless. But
to myself and thy daughter, besides the anguish of having our father
snatched from us, it proves a fresh accession of sorrow, that we had
not an opportunity to attend thee in thy sickness, to solace thy sinking
spirits, to please ourselves with seeing thee, please ourselves
with embracing thee. Doubtless, we should have greedily received thy
instructions and sayings, and engraved them for ever upon our hearts.
This is our woe, this a wound to our spirit, that by the lot of long
absence from thee thou wast already lost to us for four years before thy
death. There is no question, excellent father, but that with whatever
thy condition required thou wast honourably supplied, as thou wast
attended by thy wife, one so full of tenderness for her husband: yet
fewer tears accompanied thy course, and during thy last moments somewhat
was wanting to satisfy thine eyes.

If for the _Manes_ of the just any place be found; if, as philosophers
hold, great spirits perish not with the body, pleasing be thy repose.
Moreover, recall us thy family from this our weakness in regretting
thee, and from these our effeminate wailings, to the contemplation of
thy virtues, for which it were unjust to lament or to mourn. Let us
rather adorn thy memory with deathless praises and (as far as our
infirmities will allow) by pursuing and adopting thy excellencies.
This is true honour, this the natural duty incumbent upon every near
relation. This is also what I would recommend to thy daughter and thy
wife, so to reverence the memory of a father, and a husband, as to be
ever ruminating upon all his doings, upon all his sayings, and rather to
adore his immortal name, rather the image of his mind than that of
his person. Not that I mean to condemn the use of statues, such as
are framed of marble or brass. But as the persons of men are frail and
perishing, so are likewise the portraitures of men. The form of the soul
is eternal, such as you cannot represent and preserve by the craft of
hands or by materials foreign to its nature, nor otherwise than by a
similitude and conformity of manners. Whatever we loved in Agricola,
whatever we admired, remains, and will for ever remain implanted in the
hearts of men, through an eternity of ages, and conveyed down in the
voice of fame, in the record of things. For, many of the great ancients,
by being buried in oblivion, have thence reaped the fate of men
altogether mean and inglorious: but Agricola shall ever survive in his
history here composed and transmitted to posterity.









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