The Reign of Tiberius, Out of the First Six Annals of Tacitus Part 4

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

Tiberius distributed to the people, in the name of Germanicus, three hundred sesterces a man, [Footnote: 2, 10s.] and named himself his colleague in the Consulship. Nor even thus did he gain the opinion of tenderness and sincerity: in effect, on pretence of investing the young Prince with fresh preferment and honours, he resolved to alienate him from Rome; and, to accomplish it, craftily framed an occasion, or s.n.a.t.c.hed such an one as chance presented. Archelaus had enjoyed the kingdom of Cappadocia now fifty years; a Prince under the deep displeasure of Tiberius, because, in his retirement at Rhodes, the King had paid him no sort of court or distinction: an omission this which proceeded from no disdain, but from the warnings given him by the confidents of Augustus; for that the young Caius Caesar, the presumptive heir to the sovereignty, then lived, and was sent to compose and administer the affairs of the East; hence the friendship of Tiberius was reckoned then dangerous. But when, by the utter fall of the family of the Caesars, he had gained the Empire, he enticed Archelaus to Rome, by means of letters from his mother, who, without dissembling her son's resentment, offered the King his mercy, provided he came and in person implored it. He, who was either ignorant of the snare, or dreaded violence if he appeared to perceive it, hastened to the city, where he was received by Tiberius with great sternness and wrath, and soon after accused as a criminal in the Senate. The crimes alleged against him were mere fictions; yet, as equal treatment is unusual to kings, and to be treated like malefactors intolerable; Archelaus, who was broken with grief as well as age, by choice or fate ended his life; his kingdom was reduced into a province, and by its revenues Tiberius declared the tax of a hundredth penny would be abated, and reduced it for the future to the two hundredth. At the same time died Antiochus, king of Comagena, as also Philopator, king of Cilicia; and great combustions shook these nations; whilst of the people many desired Roman government, and many were addicted to domestic monarchy. The provinces, too, of Syria and Judea, as they were oppressed with impositions, prayed an abatement of tribute.

These affairs, and such as I have above related concerning Armenia, Tiberius represented to the Fathers, and "that the commotions of the East could only be settled by the wisdom and abilities of Germanicus; for himself, his age now declined, and that of Drusus was not yet sufficiently ripe." The provinces beyond the sea were thence decreed to Germanicus, with authority superior to all those who obtained provinces by lot, or the nomination of the Prince; but Tiberius had already taken care to remove from the government of Syria Creticus Sila.n.u.s, one united to Germanicus in domestic alliance, by having to Nero, the eldest son of Germanicus, betrothed his daughter. In his room he had preferred Cneius Piso, a man of violent temper, incapable of subjection, and heir to all the ferocity and haughtiness of his father Piso; the same who, in the civil war, a.s.sisted the reviving party against Caesar in Africa with vehement efforts; and then followed Brutus and Ca.s.sius, but had at last leave to come home, yet disdained to sue for any public offices; nay, was even courted by Augustus to accept the Consulship. His son, besides his hereditary pride and impetuosity, was elevated with the n.o.bility and wealth of Plancina his wife; scarce yielded he to Tiberius, and, as men far beneath him, despised the sons of Tiberius; neither did he doubt but he was set over Syria on purpose to thwart the measures and defeat all the views of Germanicus.

Some even believed that he had to this purpose secret orders from Tiberius, as it was certain that Livia directed Plancina to exert the spirit of the s.e.x, and by constant emulation and indignities persecute Agrippina. For the whole court was rent, and their affections secretly divided between Drusus and Germanicus. Tiberius was partial to Drusus, as his own son by generation; others loved Germanicus; the more for the aversion of his uncle, and for being by his mother of more ill.u.s.trious descent; as Marc Anthony was his grandfather, and Augustus his great- uncle. On the other side, Pomponius Atticus, a Roman knight, by being the great-grandfather of Drusus, seemed thence to have derived a stain upon the images of the Claudian house; besides, Agrippina, the wife of Germanicus, did in the fruitfulness of her body and the reputation of her virtue far excel Livia, the wife of Drusus. Yet the two brothers lived in amiable dearness and concord, no wise shaken or estranged by the reigning contention amongst their separate friends and adherents.

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

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

Neither did Maroboduus fail to boast himself and depreciate the foe. "In the person of Inguiomerus," he said (holding him by the hand), "rested the whole renown of the Cheruscans; and from his counsels began all their exploits that ended in success. Arminius, a man of a frantic spirit, and a novice in affairs, a.s.sumed to himself the glory of another, for having by treachery surprised three legions, which expected no foe, and their leader, who feared no fraud; a base surprise, revenged since on Germany with heavy slaughters, and on Arminius himself with domestic infamy, while his wife and his son still bore the bonds of captivity. For himself, when attacked formerly by Tiberius at the head of twelve legions, he had preserved unstained the glory of Germany, and on equal terms ended the war. Nor did he repent of the treaty, since it was still in their hands to wage anew equal war with the Romans, or save blood and maintain peace."

The armies, besides the incitements from these speeches, were animated by national stimulations of their own. The Cheruscans fought for their ancient renown; the Langobards for their recent liberty; and the Suevians and their king, on the contrary, were struggling for the augmentation of their monarchy. Never did armies make a fiercer onset; never had onset a more ambiguous event; for both the right wings were routed, and hence a fresh encounter was certainly expected, till Maroboduus drew off his army and encamped upon the hills; a manifest sign this that he was humbled.

Frequent desertions too leaving him at last naked of forces, he retired to the Marcomannians, and thence sent amba.s.sadors to Tiberius to implore succours. They were answered, "That he had no right to invoke aid of the Roman arms against the Cheruscans, since to the Romans, while they were warring with the same foe, he had never administered any a.s.sistance."

Drusus was, however, sent away, as I have said, with the character of a negotiator of peace.

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

The credit of this n.o.ble bounty to the public, he increased by private liberalities, which proved equally popular: the estate of the wealthy Aemilia Musa, claimed by the exchequer, as she died intestate, he surrendered to Aemilius Lepidus, to whose family she seemed to belong; as also to Marcus Servilius the inheritance of Patuleius, a rich Roman knight, though part of it had been bequeathed to himself; but he found Servilius named sole heir in a former and well-attested will. He said such was "the n.o.bility of both, that they deserved to be supported." Nor did he ever to himself accept any man's inheritance, but where former friendship gave him a t.i.tle. The wills of such as were strangers to him, and of such as, from hate and prejudice to others, had appointed the Prince their heir, he utterly rejected. But, as he relieved the honest poverty of the virtuous, so he degraded from the Senate (or suffered to quit it of their own accord) Vibidius Varro, Marius Nepos, Appius Appia.n.u.s, Cornelius Sylla, and Quintus Vitellius, all prodigals, and only through debauchery indigent.

About this time Tiberius finished and consecrated what Augustus began, the Temples of the G.o.ds consumed by age or fire: that near the great Circus, vowed by Aulus Posthumius the Dictator, to Bacchus, Proserpina, and Ceres.

In the same place the Temple of Flora, founded by Lucius Publicius and Marcus Publicius while they were Aediles. The Temple of Ja.n.u.s, built in the Herb Market by Caius Duillius, who first signalised the Roman power at sea, and merited a naval triumph over the Carthaginians. That of Hope was dedicated by Germanicus: this temple Atilius had vowed in the same war.

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

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

He was even said to have sung to Germanicus his hastening fate, but as oracles are wont, in terms dark and doubtful.

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

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

Quintus Servaeus was set over the Comagenians, then first subjected to the jurisdiction of a Praetor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Honours were invented and decreed to Germanicus, various as the affections and genius of the particular Senators who proposed them: "that his name should be sung in the Salian hymns; curule chairs placed for him amongst the priests of Augustus, and over these chairs oaken crowns hung; his statue in ivory precede in the Cercensian games; none but one of the Julian race be, in the room of Germanicus, created flamen or augur:"

triumphal arches were added; one at Rome; one upon the banks of the Rhine; one upon Mount Ama.n.u.s, in Syria; with inscriptions of his exploits, and a testimony subjoined, "that he died for the Commonwealth:" a sepulchre at Antioch, where his corpse was burnt; a tribunal at Epidaphne, the place where he ended his life. The mult.i.tude of statues, the many places where divine honours were appointed to be paid him, would not be easily recounted. They would have also decreed him, as to one of the masters of eloquence, a golden shield, signal in bulk as in metal; but Tiberius offered to dedicate one himself, such as was usual and of a like size with others; for that eloquence was not measured by fortune; and it was sufficient glory, if he were ranked with ancient writers. The battalion called after the name of the Junii was now, by the equestrian order, ent.i.tled the battalion of Germanicus, and a rule made that, on every fifteenth of July, these troops should follow, as their standard, the effigies of Germanicus: of these honours many continue; some were instantly omitted, or by time are utterly obliterated.

In the height of this public sorrow, Livia, sister to Germanicus, and married to Drusus, was delivered of male twins: an event even in middling families, rare and acceptable, and to Tiberius such mighty matter of joy, that he could not refrain boasting to the fathers, "that to no Roman of the same eminence, before him, were never two children born at a birth:"

for to his own glory he turned all things, even things fortuitous. But to the people, at such a sad conjuncture, it brought fresh anguish; as they feared that the family of Drusus thus increased, would press heavy upon that of Germanicus.

The same year the lubricity of women was by the Senate restrained with severe laws; and it was provided, "that no woman should become venal, if her father, grandfather or husband, were Roman knights." For Vistilia, a lady born of a Praetorian family, had before the Aediles published herself a prost.i.tute; upon a custom allowed by our ancestors, who thought that prost.i.tutes were by thus avowing their infamy, sufficiently punished.

t.i.tidius Labeo too was questioned, that in the manifest guilt of his wife, he had neglected the punishment prescribed by the law; but he alleged that the sixty days allowed for consultation were not elapsed; and it was deemed sufficient to proceed against Vistilia, who was banished to the Isle of Seriphos. Measures were also taken for exterminating the solemnities of the Jews and Egyptians; and by decree of Senate four thousand descendants of franchised slaves, all defiled with that superst.i.tion, but of proper strength and age, were to be transported to Sardinia; to restrain the Sardinian robbers; and if, through the malignity of the climate, they perished, despicable would be the loss: the rest were doomed to depart Italy, unless by a stated day they renounced their profane rites.

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

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

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

BOOK III

A.D. 20-22.

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

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