The Reign of Tiberius, Out of the First Six Annals of Tacitus Part 2

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. Ca.s.sius Cherea (afterwards famous to posterity for killing Caligula), then a young man of undaunted spirit, and one of the Centurions, boldly opened himself a pa.s.sage 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 chast.i.ty 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 dest.i.tute of teeth; others showed their limbs enfeebled, and bodies stooping under old age. As he saw the a.s.sembly 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 chastis.e.m.e.nts, 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 a.s.sume 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 pa.s.sionate protestations that "he would rather die than be a traitor," he s.n.a.t.c.hed 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 cl.u.s.ter of soldiers in the extremity of the a.s.sembly 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 s.n.a.t.c.h 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 s.n.a.t.c.hed the colours, faced about towards the Rhine, and p.r.o.nouncing 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 a.s.sault, in the Roman camp had been slain an amba.s.sador of the Roman People, and with his blood had been stained the inviolable altars of the G.o.ds; 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 G.o.ds." He explained the genuine purposes of that emba.s.sy, and lamented with affecting eloquence "the outrage committed upon Plancus, altogether brutal and unprovoked; the foul violence done to the sacred person of an Amba.s.sador, and the mighty disgrace from thence derived upon the legion." Yet as the a.s.sembly 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 ill.u.s.trious 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; dest.i.tute 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 ill.u.s.trious 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 chast.i.ty: 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 Amba.s.sadors; 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 Amba.s.sadors 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 s.n.a.t.c.hing 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 G.o.ds 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 pa.s.sion for the glory of Rome, I here invoke thy spirit now with the G.o.ds, 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 amba.s.sadors; 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 pa.s.sed 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 Illyric.u.m 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 s.p.a.ce 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 princ.i.p.al 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 ma.s.sacre 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 carca.s.ses, 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 b.l.o.o.d.y, 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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s a chastis.e.m.e.nt 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sage 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 s.e.x 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 pa.s.ses 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 pa.s.sed 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 Illyric.u.m, 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 t.i.tus Tatius, to preserve the religious rites of the Sabines, had founded the fraternity of t.i.tian 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 amus.e.m.e.nts of the populace had he any aversion himself; he rather judged it an acceptable courtesy to mingle with the mult.i.tude 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 Norba.n.u.s, 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 antic.i.p.ation 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 mult.i.tude, 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 Ap.r.o.nius, 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 s.e.x 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 hara.s.s his rear, an usual practice of theirs, when sometimes they fly more through craft than affright. The Cheruscans indeed were addicted to a.s.sist 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 ill.u.s.trious 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 t.i.tle 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 p.r.o.ne 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 G.o.ds. 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 a.s.sistance, 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 pa.s.sion to pay the last offices to the legions and their leader; the like tenderness also affected the whole army. They were moved with compa.s.sion, 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 circ.u.mference; and the three distinct s.p.a.ces, 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 princ.i.p.al 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 circ.u.mstances 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 mora.s.s, 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 rea.s.sured, 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-sh.o.r.e 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 pa.s.s 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 hara.s.sed our men, a.s.saulted the works, changed their attacks, and pushed everywhere. With the shouts of the a.s.sailants, 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 a.s.sault; but, when he perceived the baggage set fast in mire and ditches, the soldiers above it disorderly and embarra.s.sed, 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 pa.s.sed, 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 a.s.sailants. "Here are no thickets," they scornfully cried; "no bogs; but an equal field and impartial G.o.ds." 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 dest.i.tute 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 t.i.tle 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 Seja.n.u.s; 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 sh.o.r.e, 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 circ.u.mspection 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 pa.s.sed the cold night without fire, and dest.i.tute 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 Ap.r.o.nius, and Caius Silius, for their services under Germanicus. The t.i.tle 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 Ca.s.sius Severus, who had in his writings wantonly defamed men and ladies of ill.u.s.trious 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 Ca.s.sius, a mimic and prost.i.tute; 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 Ca.s.sius, the player, was wont to a.s.sist 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 G.o.ds, 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 G.o.ds belonged the avenging of injuries done to the G.o.ds."