History of the World/History of the World (Bureau Development, Inc.)(1992).BIN/dp/0143/01437.txt

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$Title{Germanicus In Germany
Part II.}
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$Author{Tacitus}
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Title:       Germanicus In Germany
Author:      Tacitus

Part II.

     Meanwhile a report had spread that an army was cut off, and a body of
Germans on full march to invade Gaul; so that, under the terror of this news,
there were those whose cowardice would have emboldened them to demolish the
bridge upon the Rhine, had not Agrippina forbidden the infamous attempt. This
high-minded woman took upon herself all the duties of a general, and
distributed to the soldiers, gratuitously, medicines and clothes, according as
anyone was in want or wounded.  Caius Plinius, the writer of the German wars,
relates that she stood at the head of the bridge as the legions returned, and
bestowed on them thanks and praises; a behavior which sunk deep into the heart
of Tiberius, for these attentions he thought were not disinterested; nor was
it against foreigners she sought to win the army; for nothing was now left the
generals to do, when a woman paid her visits of inspection to the companies,
attended the standards, and presumed to distribute 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 uniform about the camp and desiring that he be
styled Caesar Caligula.  Already Agrippina was in greater credit with the army
than the lieutenants-general, or even the generals - a woman had suppressed a
sedition which the authority of the Emperor was not able to restrain.  These
jealousies were inflamed and ministered to by Sejanus, who was well acquainted
with the temper of Tiberius, and supplied him with materials for hatred,
prospectively, that he might treasure them up in his heart and draw them out
augmented in bitterness.

     Germanicus handed over the Second and Fourteenth of the legions, which he
had brought in ships, to Publius Vitellius to conduct them by land, that his
fleet, thus lightened, might sail on the shoally sea, or run aground with
safety when the tide ebbed.  Vitellius at first marched without interruption
while the ground was dry or the tide flowed within bounds.  Presently the
ocean beginning to swell by the action of the northwest wind upon it, and also
by the influence of the equinoxial constellation - at which season the sea
swells most - the troops were miserably harassed and driven about.  The lands
were completely inundated; the sea, the shore, the fields, had one uniform
face: no distinction of depths from shallows, of firm from treacherous
footing; they were overturned by billows, absorbed by the eddies; beasts of
burden, baggage, and dead bodies floated among them and came in contact with
them.  The several companies were mixed at random, wading now breast high, now
up to their chin; sometimes, the ground failing them, they fell, some never
more to rise.  Their cries and mutual encouragements availed them nothing; the
noise of the water drowning them; no difference between the coward and the
brave, the wise and the foolish; none between circumspection and hap-hazard,
but all were involved in the sweeping torrent.  Vitellius at length, having by
great exertion gained the higher ground, withdrew the legions thither, where
they passed the night without fire and without food, many of them naked or
lamed, not less miserable than men enclosed by an enemy - for even such had
the resource of an honorable death, while these must perish ingloriously.
Daylight restored the land, and they marched to the river Unsingis, whither
Germanicus had gone with the fleet.  The legions were then embarked, while
rumor reported that they were sunk; nor was their escape believed until
Germanicus and the army were seen to return.

     Stertinius, who had been sent before to receive the submission of
Sigimer, the brother of Segestes, had now brought him and his son to the city
of the Ubians; both were pardoned, the father promptly, the son with more
hesitation, because he was said to have insulted the corpse of Varus.  For the
rest, Spain, Italy, and the Gauls vied in supplying the losses of the army,
offering arms, horses, money, whatever each had at hand.  Germanicus,
applauding their zeal, accepted only the horses and arms for the war; with his
own money he assisted the soldiers; and, to soften by kindness also the memory
of the late disaster, he visited the wounded, extolled the exploits of
individuals, and, looking at their wounds, with hopes encouraged some, with a
sense of glory animated others, and by affability and attention confirmed them
all in devotion to himself and to his service.  Between the Romans and the
Cheruscans flowed the river Visurgis.  On its bank stood Arminius, with the
other chiefs, inquiring whether Germanicus was come; and being answered that
he was there, he prayed leave to speak with his brother.  This brother nf his
was in the army, his name Flavius, remarkable for his fidelity, and for the
loss of an eye under Tiberius.  Permission was then granted. Flavius,
advancing, was saluted by Arminius, who having removed his own attendants,
requested that the archers ranged upon our bank might retire. When they were
gone - "How came you," he asked his brother, "by that deformity in your face?"
The brother having informed him where and in what fight, he desired to know
"what reward he had received"?  Flavius answered, "Increase of pay, the chain,
the crown, and other military gifts"; which Arminius treated with derision, as
the vile wages of servitude.

     After that they began in different strains.  Flavius urged "the Roman
greatness, the power of Caesar, the severe punishment inflicted on the
vanquished; and the clemency vouchsafed to those who submitted; that neither
the wife nor son of Arminius was treated as a captive." Arminius to this
opposed "the claims of country, their hereditary liberty, the domestic gods of
Germany; their mother, who joined in his prayer that he would not prefer the
character of a deserter, and a betrayer of his kinsmen and connections, in
short, of his race, to that of their general." From this they gradually
proceeded to invectives; nor would the interposition of the river have
restrained them from an encounter, had not Stertinius, running to him, held
back Flavius, full of rage and calling for his arms and his horse.  On the
opposite side was seen Arminius, menacing furiously and proclaiming battle.
For most of what he said in this dialogue was in Latin, having, as the general
of his countrymen, served in the Roman camp.

     Next day the German army stood in order of battle beyond the Visurgis.
Germanicus, who thought it became not a general to endanger the legions in the
passage without bridges and guards, made the horse ford over.  They were led
by Stertinius and Aemilius, one of the principal centurions, who entered the
river at distant places to divide the attention of the foe.  Cariovalda,
captain of the Batavians, dashed through where the stream was most rapid, and
was by the Cheruscans - who feigned flight - drawn into a plain surrounded by
woods.  Then starting up at once, and pouring upon him on every side, they
overthrew those who resisted, and pressed after those who gave way, who at
length, forming themselves into a circle, were assailed by some hand-to-hand,
by others were annoyed by missiles.  Cariovalda, having long sustained the
fury of the enemy, exhorted his men to break through the assailing bands in a
solid body; he himself charged into the thickest, and fell under a shower of
darts - his horse also being killed - and many nobles fell around him.  The
rest were saved by their own bravery, or by the cavalry under Stertinius and
Aemilius, which came up to their assistance.

     Germanicus, having passed the Visurgis, learned from a deserter that
Arminius had marked out the place of battle; that more tribes also had joined
him at a wood sacred to Hercules, and would attempt to storm our camp by
night.  The deserter was believed, the enemy's fires were in view, and the
scouts, having advanced toward them, reported that they heard the neighing of
horses and the murmur of a mighty and tumultuous host.  Being thus upon the
eve of a decisive battle, Germanicus thought it behooved him to learn the
sentiments of the soldiers, and deliberated with himself how to get at the
truth; "the reports of the tribunes and centurions were oftener agreeable than
true; the freedmen had servile spirits; friends were apt to flatter; if an
assembly were called, there, too, the counsel proposed by a few was carried by
the clamorous plaudits of the rest.  The minds of soldiers could, then, only
be thoroughly known when, by themselves, free from all restraint, and over
their mess, they gave unreserved utterance to their hopes and fears."

     At nightfall, taking the path leading by the place of divination, ^1 he
went out with a single attendant, a deerskin covering his shoulders, ^2 and
proceeding by a secret way where there were no sentinels, entered the avenues
of the camp, stationed himself near the tents, and eagerly listened to what
was said of himself, while one magnified the imperial birth of his general,
another his graceful person, very many his firmness, condescension, and the
evenness of his temper, whether seriously occupied or in moments of
relaxation; and they confessed that their sense of his merits should be shown
in battle, protesting at the same time that those traitors and violators of
peace should be made a sacrifice to vengeance and to fame.  In the mean time
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, a hundred sesterces a day.  This affront
kindled the wrath of the legions.  "Let day come," they cried, "battle should
be given, the soldiers would themselves take the lands of the Germans, lead
away wives by right of conquest; they, however, welcomed the omen, and
considered the wealth and women of the enemy their destined prey." About the
third watch ^1 an attempt was made upon the camp, but not a dart was
discharged, as they found the cohorts planted thick upon the works, and
nothing neglected that was necessary for a vigorous defence.

[Footnote 1: In the camp a place was set apart for taking the auspices, on the
right of the general's tent.]

[Footnote 2: He assumed this disguise in order to appear like a German
soldier.]

[Footnote 1: The Romans divided the night into four watches.  Each watch was
on duty three hours, and then relieved by the next in turn.  The third watch
began about the modern twelve at night.]

     Germanicus had the same night a cheering dream: he thought he sacrificed,
and, in place of his own robe besmeared with the blood of the victim, received
one fairer from the hands of his grandmother Augusta. Elated by the omen, and
the auspices being favorable, he called an assembly, and laid before them what
in his judgment seemed likely to be advantageous and suitable for the
impending battle.  He said "that to the Roman soldiers not only plains, but,
with due circumspection, even woods and forests were convenient.  The huge
targets, the enormous spears of the barbarians, could never be wielded among
trunks of trees and thickets of underwood shooting up from the ground like
Roman swords and javelins, and armor fitting the body; that they should
reiterate their blows, and aim at the face with their swords.  The Germans had
neither helmet nor coat of mail; their bucklers were not even strengthened
with leather or iron, but mere contextures of twigs, and boards of no
substance flourished over with paint; their first rank was armed with pikes,
in some sort, the rest had only stakes burned at the end, or short darts.  And
now to come to their persons, as they were terrific to sight, and vigorous
enough for a brief effort, so they were utterly impatient of wounds;
unaffected with shame for misconduct, and destitute of respect for their
generals.  They would quit their posts or run away before the enemy; cowards
in adversity, in prosperity despisers of all divine, of all human laws; if
weary of marches and sea voyages, they wished an end of these things, by this
battle it was presented to them.  The Elbe was now nearer than the Rhine;
there was nothing to subdue beyond this; they had only to place him, crowned
with victory, in the same country which had witnessed the triumphs of his
father and uncle, in whose footsteps he was treading." The ardor of the
soldiers was kindled by this speech of the general, and the signal for the
onset was given.

     Neither did Arminius or the other chiefs neglect solemnly to assure their
several bands that "these were Romans; the most desperate fugitives of the
Varian army, who, to avoid the hardships of war, had put on the character of
rebels; who, without any hope of success, were again braving the angry gods,
and exposing to their exasperated foes, some of them backs burdened with
wounds, others limbs enfeebled with the effects of storms and tempests. Their
motive for having recourse to a fleet and the pathless regions of the ocean
was that no one might oppose them as they approached or pursue them when
repulsed; but when they engaged hand-to-hand, vain would be the help of winds
and oars after a defeat.  The Germans needed only remember their rapine,
cruelty, and pride; was any other course left them than to maintain their
liberty, and, if they could not do that, to die before they took a yoke upon
them?"

     The enemy thus inflamed, and calling for battle, were led into a plain
called Idistavisus.  It lies between the Visurgis and the hills, and winds
irregularly along, as it is encroached upon by the projecting bases of the
mountains or enlarged by the receding banks of the river.  At their rear rose
a majestic forest, the branches of the trees shooting up into the air, but the
ground clear between their trunks.  The army of barbarians occupied the plain
and the entrances of the forest; the Cheruscans alone sat in ambush upon the
mountain, in order to pour down from thence upon the Romans when 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 the mounted archers, and the other cohorts of the allies;
the men were on the alert and in readiness, so that the order of march might
form the order of battle when they halted.

     As the bands of Cheruscans who had impatiently rushed forward were now
perceived, Germanicus commanded the most efficient of his 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 at the proper moment.
Meanwhile an omen of happiest import appeared; eight eagles, seen to fly
toward the wood and to enter it, caught the eye of the general.  "Advance!" he
cried, "follow the Roman birds; follow the tutelar deities of the legions!"

     At once the foot charged, and the cavalry sent forward attacked their
flank and rear, and, strange to relate, the two divisions of their army fled
opposite ways; that in the wood ran to the plain, that in the plain rushed
into the wood.  The Cheruscans between both were driven from the hills; among
them Arminius formed a conspicuous object, while with his hand, his voice, and
the exhibition of his wounds he strove to sustain the fight.  He had
vigorously assaulted the archers, and would have broken through them had not
the cohorts of the Rhaetians, the Vindelicians, and the Gauls advanced to
oppose him.  However, by his own personal effort and the impetus of his horse
he made good his passage, his face besmeared with his own blood to avoid being
known.  Some have related that the Chaucians, who were among the Roman
auxiliaries, knew him and let him go; the same bravery or stratagem procured
Inguiomer his escape; the rest were slain on all hands; great numbers
attempting to swim the Visurgis perished either by the darts showered after
them or the violence of the current, or, if they escaped these, they were
overwhelmed by the weight of the rushing crowd and the banks which fell upon
them.  Some, seeking an ignominious refuge, climbed to the tops of trees, and,
concealing themselves among the branches, were shot in sport by the archers,
who were brought up for the purpose; others were dashed against the ground as
the trees were felled.  This was a great victory, and withal achieved without
loss on our side.

     This slaughter of the foe, from the fifth hour ^1 of the day until night,
filled the country for ten miles with carcasses and arms.  Among the spoils,
chains were found, which, sure of conquering, they had brought to bind the
Roman captives.  The soldiers saluted Tiberius as "Imperator" ^2 upon the
field of battle, and, raising a mount, placed upon it, after the manner of
trophies, the German arms, with the names of all the vanquished nations
inscribed below.

[Footnote 1: It appears that the battle was fought in July or the beginning of
August, adulta jam aestate.  If so, the fifth hour nearly agrees with our nine
in the morning.]

[Footnote 2: In the time of the republic, the title of Imperator was given by
the soldiers in the field of battle to the commander-in-chief.  The custom
ceased under Augustus, who annexed the title to the imperial dignity, the
prince being then generalissimo of all the armies of the empire.  The name of
Imperator, it is true, was afterward given to the general who gained a
victory; but that was not done without the special permission of the prince.
The same rule was observed under the following emperors; and accordingly we
find that Tiberius was saluted Imperator; but the soldiers did not presume to
do that honor to Germanicus.]

     This sight filled the Germans with more anguish and rage than all their
wounds, afflictions, and overthrows.  They, who were just now prepared to
abandon their dwellings and retire 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.  Lastly, they chose a position shut in by a
river and a forest, the inner space being a confined and humid plain; the
forest, too, surrounded with a deep marsh, except that the Angrivarii had
elevated one side by erecting a broad mound to part them and the Cheruscans.
Here their foot were posted; their horse were concealed among the neighboring
groves, that they might be on the rear of the legions when they had entered
the wood.

     Nothing of all this was a secret to Germanicus.  He knew their counsels,
their stations, their overt movements and their concealed measures; and turned
their subtlety to the destruction of themselves.  To Seius Tubero, his
lieutenant, he committed the horse and the plain; the infantry he so formed
that part might pass the level approaches into the wood, and the rest force
their way up the rampart; whatever was arduous he reserved to himself, the
rest he committed to his lieutenants.  Those who had the even ground to
traverse easily forced an entrance; but they who were to storm the rampart
were battered from above, as if they had been assaulting a wall.  The general
perceived the inequality of this close encounter, and, drawing off the legions
a small distance, ordered the slingers and engineers to discharge their
missiles and dislodge the enemy.  Immediately darts were poured from the
engines, and the defenders of the barrier, the more conspicuous they were,
with the more wounds were beaten down.  Germanicus, having taken the rampart,
first forced his way at the head of the praetorian cohorts into the wood, and
there fought, foot-to-foot.  Behind the enemy was the morass, behind the
Romans the mountains or the river; no room for either to retreat, no hope but
in valor, no safety but in victory.

     The Germans were not inferior in courage, but in their method of fighting
and the nature of their arms; as their vast numbers, hampered in narrow
places, could not push forward, nor recover their immense spears, nor practise
their usual assaults and rapid motions, being compelled by their crowded
condition to adopt a stationary manner of fighting.  On the contrary, our
soldiers, with shields fitted to their breasts, and their hands firmly
grasping their sword hilts, could gash the brawny limbs and naked faces of the
barbarians, and open themselves a way with havoc to the enemy.  Besides, the
activity of Arminius now failed him, being either exhausted by a succession of
disasters or disabled by his recent wound.  Nay, Inguiomer, too, who flew from
place to place throughout the battle, was abandoned by fortune rather than
courage.  Germanicus, to be the easier known, pulled off his helmet, and
exhorted his men "to prosecute the slaughter; they wanted no captives," he
said; "the extermination of the people alone would put an end to the war!" It
was now late in the day and he drew off a legion to pitch a camp; the rest
glutted themselves till night with the blood of the foe; the horse fought with
doubtful success.

     Germanicus, having in a public harangue praised his victorious troops,
raised a pile of arms with this proud inscription: "That the army of Tiberius
Caesar, having subdued the nations between the Rhine and the Elbe, had
consecrated these memorials to Mars, to Jupiter, and to Augustus." Of himself
he made no mention; either fearful of provoking envy or that he felt satisfied
with the consciousness of his own merit.  He next charged Stertinius with the
war among the Angrivarians, and he would have proceeded had they not made
haste to submit; approaching as supplicants, and making a full confession of
their guilt, they received pardon without reserve.

     The summer being now far advanced, some of the legions were sent back
into winter quarters by land; the greater part Caesar put on board the fleet
and conveyed them along the Amisia to the ocean.  The sea, at first serene,
resounded only with the oars of a thousand ships or their impulse when under
sail; but presently a shower of hail poured down from a black mass of clouds;
at the same time storms raging on all sides in every variety, the billows
rolling now here, now there, obstructed the view and made it impossible to
manage the ships.  The soldiers, too, unaccustomed to the perils of the sea,
in their alarm embarrassed the mariners, or, helping them awkwardly, rendered
unavailing the services of the skilful.  After this, the whole expanse of air
and sea was swept by a southwest wind, which, deriving strength from the
mountainous regions of Germany, its deep rivers, and boundless tract of
clouded atmosphere, and rendered still harsher by the rigor of the neighboring
north, tore away the ships, scattered and drove them into the open ocean, or
upon islands, dangerous from precipitous rocks or the hidden sand-banks which
beset them.  Having got a little clear of these (but with great difficulty),
the tide turned, and, flowing in the same direction as that in which the wind
blew, they were unable to ride at anchor or bale out the water that broke in
upon them.  Horses, beasts of burden, baggage, even arms, were thrown
overboard to lighten the holds of the vessels, which took in water at their
sides and from the waves running over them.  Around them were either shores
inhabited by enemies or a sea so vast and unfathomable as to be supposed to be
the limit of the world and unbounded by any land.  Part of the fleet was
swallowed up; many ships were driven upon remote islands where, without a
trace of civilized humanity, the men perished through famine, or were kept
alive by the carcasses of horses that were dashed upon the same shore.  The
galley of Germanicus alone reached the coast of the Chaucians ^1 where, during
the whole period of his stay, both day and night, amid the rocks and
prominences of the shore, he reproached himself as being the author of such
overwhelming destruction, and was hardly restrained by his friends from
destroying himself in the sea.  At last, with the returning tide and favoring
gale, the shattered ships returned - almost all destitute of oars, or with
garments spread for sails, and some towed by those which were less disabled.
He repaired them hastily, and despatched them to search the islands.  By this
diligence the greater part were recovered; many were by the Angrivarians (our
new subjects) redeemed from their more inland neighbors and restored; and
some, driven into Great Britain, were sent back by the petty kings.  Each
according to the remoteness of the region he had returned from recounted the
wonders he had witnessed: "the impetuosity of whirlwinds; strange birds; sea
monsters of ambiguous form between man and beast" - things either seen or
fancied from the effects of fear.

[Footnote 1: The mouth of the Visurgis, or the Weser.]

     Intelligence of this wreck animated the Germans with hopes of renewing
the war, which Germanicus, perceiving, resolved to check.  He commanded Caius
Silius, with thirty thousand foot and three thousand horse, to march into the
country of the Catians; he himself, with a greater force, invaded the
Marsians, where he learned from Malovendus, their general - lately taken into
our subjection - that the eagle of one of Varus' legions was hidden
underground in a neighboring grove kept by a slender guard.  Instantly two
parties were despatched: one to face the enemy and draw him from his position,
the other to march around upon the rear and open the ground. Success attended
both.  Hence Germanicus, advancing toward the interior with greater alacrity,
laid waste the country and destroyed the effects of the late disaster.  The
foe, wherever they engaged, were instantly defeated; nor (as was learned from
the prisoners) were they ever more dismayed.  "The Romans," they exclaimed,
"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 have invaded us with their usual spirit, with the same
firmness, and as if their numbers were increased."

     The army was thence led back into winter quarters, full of joy to have
balanced, by this prosperous expedition, their misfortunes at sea; and by the
bounty of Germanicus their happiness was increased; since to each sufferer he
paid as much as he declared he had lost; neither was it doubted but that the
enemy was tottering and concerting measures for obtaining peace, and that the
next summer would terminate the war.  Tiberius, by frequent letters, pressed
him "to come home to the triumph decreed him." He urged also that he had
experienced enough of events and casualties; 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 Sygambrians into subjection, thus the Suevians, thus King
Maroboduus had been obliged to submit to terms.  The Cheruscans, too, and the
other hostile nations - now the Roman honor was vindicated - might be left to
pursue their own intestine feuds.  Germanicus besought one year to accomplish
his conquest, but Tiberius assailed his modesty with fresh importunity, by
offering him another consulship, the duties of which would require his
presence; he added "that if the war were still to be prosecuted, he should
leave materials for the fame of his brother, Drusus, who, as there then
remained no other enemy, could acquire the title of Imperator, and earn the
privilege of presenting the laurel in Germany alone." Germanicus persisted no
longer; though he knew that this was all hypocrisy, and that through envy he
was torn away from a ripened harvest of glory.