THE
¥ORKS OF TACITUS
OD^forb translation, ftetriseb.
WITH NOTES.
VOL. II.
THE HISTORY, GERMANY, AGRICOLA, AND DIALOGUE ON ORATORS.
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CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
BOOK I.
State of Affairs at Rome — Galba's Entry into the City — Condition of the Provinces — Legions in Upper Germany revolt — Piso adopted by Galba — Galba's Address to Piso — Piso's Adoption announced — Otho plots against Galba — The Soldiers corrupted — Otho proclaimed by the Soldiers — Attempts to stay the Revolt — Galba leaves the Pal- ace — Otho's Address to the Legions — End of Galba — Murder of Piso — License of the Soldiery — Titus Vinius — Origin of the Revolt under Vitellins — Vitellius, Verginius, and Caecina — The Legions in Upper Germany revolt — Vitellius raised to the Empire — Indolence of Vitellius — Feud between Lyons and Vienne — Caecina chastises the Helvetians — Caecina advances into Italy — Vain Attempts at Ac- commodation— The Provinces declare for Otho — The Sarmatians de- feated— Panic among the Soldiers — Otho's Address to the Troops — Prodigies and Omens — Public Feeling at Rome — Otho marches from Rome 1-67
BOOK II.
Temple of the Paphian Venus — Titus arrives in the East — False Re- port respecting Nero — Law against Public Accusers — Disorderly Conduct of Otho's Army — A Battle fought in Narbon Gaul — Spu- rinna reduces his Troops to Order — Unsuccessful Attack on Placen- tia — Abortive Stratagem of Caecina — Mutinous Spirit of the Bata- vians — Characters of Caecina and Valens — Otho's Affairs begin to decline — Conflicting Views of Historians — Battle near Bedriacum — Otho's Army defeated — Fidelity of the Praetorians — Death of Otho — Embarrassment of the Senate — Excesses of the Victors — Extrava- gant Conduct of Vitellius — Dolabella murdered — Insubordination of the Army — Vitellius visits the Field of Battle — Resources of Ves- pasian— Address of Mucianus — Vespasian proclaimed in Judaea — Preparations for the War — Conduct of the Legions in Moesia — Prog- ress of Vitellius — Courts the Favor of the Mob — Licentiousness of 4he Troops — News of the Revolt reaches Vitellius — Treachery of '. .. 67-134
CONTENTS.
BOOK III.
Deliberations of the Flavians — Chiefs of the Revolt — The War com- menced— Correspondence between the Generals — The Fleet declares for Vespasian — Antoriius resolves on a Battle — Successes of the Fa- bian Army — Conflict in the Night — A Father slain by his Son — As- sault on Cremona — Cremona taken — Sack and Destruction of the City — Death of Junius Blsesus — Indecision of Valens — Valens taken Prisoner — Pontus declares for Vitellius — Antonius advances toward Rome — Letter of Antonius to Vespasian- -Imbecility of Vitellius — Consternation at Rome — Antonius attempts to calm the Troops — Sabinus, Brother of Vespasian — Vitellius abdicates — Sabinus seizes the Capitol — The Capitol stormed and burned — Sabinus taken Pris- oner— Sack of Tarracina — Antonius receives a Check — Conflicts be- fore the City— Capture and Death of Vitellius 135-194
BOOK IV.
Frightful Condition of Rome — Servility of the Senate — Notice of Hel- vidius Priscus — Debates in the Senate — Origin of the Revolt of Civi- lis — Civilis harangues the Batavians — Defeat of the Roman Troops — Progress of the Revolt — Assault on the Roman Camp — Reinforce- ments summoned from Gaul — Engagement at Gelduba — Civilis at- tacks the Old Camp — Attack on the Army under Vocula — Vocula neglects the Pursuit;— Vespasian and Titus Consuls — Domitian ad- dresses the Senate— ^Mo^y em eut against the Informer^ — Mucianus de- fends the Informers — Proposal to raise a Loan — Murder of Lucius Piso— The Capitol rebuilt — Movements of Civilis and Classicus — Courageous Conduct of Vocula — The Legions submit to the Gauls — Sad Procession of the captive Soldiers — Conduct of the Agrippini- ans — Anxiety of Mucianus — Dissensions among the Gauls — Capital of the Treveri taken — Address of the Roman General — Delibera- tions of the Germans — The Agrippinians entreat Assistance — Al- leged Miracles of Vespasian — Legend of Serapis — Domitian at Ly- ons 195-264
BOOK V.
Fabled Origin of the Jews — The Mosaic Institutions — Jewish Worship — Destruction of the Cities of the Plain — Various Rulers of the Jews — Fortifications of Jerusalem — Skirmish between Civilis and Cerealis — Battle on the Banks of the Rhine — Engagements at Grinnes and Vada — Civilis surrenders — Meeting of Civilis and Ce- realis.... 264-285
CONTEXTS.
A TREATISE ON THE MANNERS OF THE GERMANS.
Origin of the People of Germany — The German Hercules — Character of the Country — Description of Armor — Election of Kings — Respect paid to Women — Divination — Public Assemblies — Youths invested with Arms — Their Indolence — Their Clothing — Chastity of both Sexes — Ties of Relationship — Drunkenness — Slavery — Funeral Rites —Various Tribes— The Catti— Tencteri and Bructeri— TheChauci— The Cimbri — Battles against the Romans — The Suevi — The Her- munduri — The Lygian Tribes — The Suiones — Gathering Amber — The Peucini and Fenni 286-342
THE LIFE OF CN^EUS JULIUS AGRICOLA.
Apology for writing the Life — Retrospect — In Britain, under Sueto- nius Paulinus — Joins the Party of Vespasian — Britain — Inhabitants of Britain — Climate and Soil — First Invasion of Britain — Defeat of Boadicea — The Ordovices of North Wales — He adopts a milder Pol- icy— The Firths of Clyde and Forth. — Great Battle in Caledonia — He reaches the Grampians — Calgacus's Address to the Britons — Agricola's Address before the Battle — Battle of the Grampians — De- feat of the Britons — His Recall from Britain — He retires from Pub- lic Life — His Death — Withdrawn from impending Evils — Concluding Reflections 343-389
A DIALOGUE CONCERNING ORATORY, OR THE CAUSES OF CORRUPT ELOQUENCE 390-452
INDEX , ,,.,,,,,,, 453
THE HISTORY OF TACITUS,
BOOK I.
1. MY narrative commences with the second consulship of Servius Galba, in which Titus Vinius was his colleague. For of the antecedent period of eight hundred and twenty years from the foundation of ) ome, the history has been composed by various authors ; who, as long as they had before them the transactions of the Roman people, wrote with as much elo- quence as freedom. After the battle of Actium,1 when, to close the scene of civil distraction, all power was centred in a single ruler, those noble examples of the historic character quitted the field. Truth was then violated in various ways ; first from indifference and ignorance of public affairs, the ad- ministration of which had now passed into other hands ; soon after, from an extravagant propensity to flattery, or, on the other hand, from detestation of those who held the sovereign power. Between both parties, one cringing, the other burn- ing with resentment, the care of posterity was lost sight of. There is, however, this difference : men are naturally disgust- ed with the time-serving historian ; while spleen and calumny are received with a greedy ear : for flattery labors under the odious charge of servility, while malignity wears the imposing appearance of independence. Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, were neither known to me by favors nor injuries. I will not deny that my own elevation, begun by Vespasian,2 was advanced by Titus, and carried to a still greater extent by Domitian :
1 The battle of Actium was in the year of Rome 723 ; from that time the reigns of Augustus and the succeeding emperors form a period of 98 years to the end of Nero, who died A.U.C. 821. (A.D. 68.)
* Tacitus was probably raised to the office of quaestor by Vespasian, and perhaps to the senatorian rank. Under Titus he advanced, in the regular gradation of the magistracy, to the functions either of tribune or aedile; and in the time of Domitian he was one of the quindeaimvi- ral college, as well as praetor. See Annals, xi. 11.
VOL. II.— A
2 THE HISTORY. [B. L
but the historian who enters on his office with a profession of inviolable integrity, must not allow himself to be influenced by affection or antipathy in delineating any character. The history of the sovereignty of the deified Nerva,1 and the reign of Trajan, eminently rich as they are in materials, and free from danger, I have reserved for the evening of my days, if my life continues — times when men were blessed with the rare privilege of thinking with freedom, and uttering what they thought.
2. The period now before me is fertile in vicissitudes, preg- nant with sanguinary encounters, embroiled with intestine dissensions, and, even in the intervals of peace, deformed with horrors : four princes2 put to death ; three civil wars ;3 with foreign enemies more ; and, in some conjunctures, both at once : prosperity in the East, disasters in the West : Illyri- cum convulsed ; both the Gauls on the eve of revolt ; Britain conquered,4 and, in the moment of conquest, lost again ; the Sarmatians and the Suevians rising up at once against us; the Dacians renowned for defeats given and sustained ; and even the Parthians well-nigh induced to take up arms by the trick of a pretended Nero.5 Italy afflicted moreover with
1 It is evident from this passage that Tacitus published his History in the reign of Trajan, since Nerva is called the deified Nerva, and the apotheosis of the emperors was always after their death. Nerva began his reign A.U.C. 819, and died in the year 851, when Trajan succeeded by adoption.
3 The History included the whole time from the first of Galba to the assassination of Domitian : the four princes put to the sword were, therefore, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Domitian.
3 The three civil wars were: 1. Otho and Vitellius ; 2. Vitellius and Vespasian; 3. Lucius Antonius and Domitian, A.D. 94. The account of this last war is lost. All that can be collected at present is, that Antonius, who commanded the legions on the Upper Rhine, formed a league with some of the German nations, and declared war against Domitian. He hazarded a battle with Lucius Maximus, and met with a total overthrow. He was slain in the engagement. (Suet. Life of Domitian, s. 6.) The foreign wars that distracted the empire, during the rage of civil commotions, were, one in Judea, and the other with Civilis, the Batavian chief.
* Britain was finally subdued in the reign of Domitian. See the Life of Agricola.
' For more of the pretended Nero, see below, ii. 8. The Parthians were on the point of declaring war in favor of another impostor, who took the name of Nero, in the reign of Titus, A.D. 81, and afterward in the reign of Domitian, A.D. 88.
c. 4.] STATE OF AFFAIRS AT ROME. 3
calamities, unheard of, or occurring again after a long se- ries of ages ; cities overwhelmed1 or swallowed up by earth- quakes in the fertile country of Campania ; Rome laid waste by fire ; her most ancient temples destroyed ; the Capitol it- self wrapped in flames by the hands of citizens ;2 the ceremo- nies of religion violated ; enormous adulteries ; the sea crowd- ed with exiles ; rocks stained with blood of murdered citizens ; Rome itself a theatre of still greater horrors : there nobility and wealth, dignities borne and declined, were alike treated as crimes : there virtue was a source of certain ruin ; the guilty acts of informers, and their wages, were alike detesta- ble ; for some of them having obtained priesthoods and con- sulates, which they regarded as spoils ; others, imperial pro- curatorships, and posts of greater influence with the prince, they carried rapine and plunder in every direction, impelled by personal hate, and armed with terror. Slaves were prac- ticed upon against their masters; freedmen betrayed their patrons; and he who had no enemy, died by the treachery of friends.
3. And yet this period, barren as it was of virtue, pro- duced some honorable examples. Mothers went with their sons into voluntary exile ; wives followed their husbands in banishment ; relations stood boldly forth in the cause of their kindred ; sons-in-law shrunk not ; slaves, even on the rack, scorned to renounce their fidelity ; eminent citizens, doomed to die, bore their lot with fortitude, and their deaths were nothing inferior to those of the applauded characters of an- tiquity. In addition to the misfortunes incident to humanity, the earth and skies teemed with prodigies, terrific warnings by thunder and lightning, and prognostics, auspicious or dis- astrous, ambiguous or plain. Indeed, never was it estab- lished by more terrible calamities on the Roman people, or by more decisive indications, that the gods are not concerned about the protection of the innocent, but the punishment of the guilty.
4. Before, however, I proceed in the execution of my plan, it will be proper, I think, to inquire what was the state of affairs at Rome, what the feeling in her armies; how the
1 The cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii were destroyed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in the beginning of Titus' s reign, A.D. 79. 8 See the conflagration of the Capitol, below, iii. 67, 71.
4 THE HISTORY. [B. i.
provinces stood affected, wherein consisted the strength or weakness of the empire, that we may not only have a recital of events, and the issues of things which are often ascribable to chance, but may learn the plans pursued, and the causes of events. As the death of Nero, in the first burst of joy, was hailed with exultation, so the senate, the people of Rome, the praetorian guards, and the legions, wherever stationed, were variously affected by that event. A secret of empire was then let out, namely, that elsewhere than at Rome an emperor might be created. The fathers were highly pleased, as they were at once restored to their legislative independence, which they exercised freely, considering that the prince1 was new to his office, and absent. The principal Roman knights were next to them the most gratified. Honest men among the people, such as were connected with families of credit ; and the clients and freedmen of condemned and exiled men, were animated with hope. The inferior populace, who loitered in the theatre and circus; the slaves of abandoned character, and those who, having wasted their substance, were supported by the vices of Nero, were plunged in grief, and eager to learn the floating rumor.
5. The praetorian guards, by habit, and the obligation of their oath, had been always devoted to the imperial family. Their revolt from Nero was not so much their own inclina- tion as the management of their leaders. They saw the promise of a donative in the name of Galba still unper- formed. They reflected that peace affords no opportunity to gain the recompense due to valor; and that the favors of the new prince would be engrossed by the legions to whom he owed his elevation ; strongly inclined of themselves to bring about a change, they were further instigated by the arts of Nymphidius Sabinus, their commanding officer, who aimed at the sovereignty. The conspiracy was crushed in the bud, and Nymphidius perished in the attempt. But the soldiers had thrown off the mask, and the sense of -guilt re- mained. They even talked of Galba with contempt, and in- veighed against his advanced age and avarice : the rigorous discipline by which he had acquired his military character,2
1 Galba, who was not arrived from Spain.
2 The rigor with which Galba supported and enforced military dis- cipline is stated by Suetonius, Life of Galba, s. 6.
c. 6.] GALBA'S ENTRY INTO THE CITY. 5
inflamed the prejudices of men who had been trained to such habits during a long peace of fourteen years, by Nero, that they now loved the vices of the princes as much as formerly they venerated their virtues. To this cause was added an ex* pression of Galba, commendable for its constitutional charac- ter, but dangerous to himself. He said, he chose his soldiers, but did not buy them. But his other proceedings were not framed according to this model.
6. Galba, being now in the decline of life, resigned himself altogether to Titus Vinius and Cornelius Laco ; the former the most profligate of men, and the latter despised for his sluggish inactivity. By those pernicious ministers he was involved in the popular hatred due to their own flagitious deeds. The wickedness of Vinius, and the incapacity of Laco, proved his ruin in the end. He made his approach to Kome by slow journeys, marking his way with blood. Cin- gonius Varro, consul elect, and Petronius Turpilianus, of consular rank, were put to death; the former as an accom- plice in the enterprise of Nymphidius, and the latter because he had been appointed general under Nero. They were con- demned unheard and undefended; and, for that reason thought the innocent victims of a barbarous policy. Galba's entry into the city of Rome, after the massacre of several thousands of unarmed soldiers,1 formed a disastrous omen of things to come ; and even the men who executed the orders of their general had reason to fear the consequences. Rome was filled with a strange and unusual body of troops. Besides the forces drawn from the fleet,2 and left as a garrison by Nero, Galba, when he entered the city, brought with him a legion from Spain. To these must be added the several companies from Germany, from Britain, and Illyricum, which had been sent forward toward the Caspian straits to serve in the war then intended against the Albanians, and, in a short time afterward, recalled to crush the attempts of Vindex :3 a vast mass of materials for the effectuation of political changes; as they were not devotedly attached to any one
1 See c. 37 of this book.
3 Nero had formed a new legion, composed of men draughted from the marines. See c. 31 of this book.
8 The forces from Britain and Germany, which Xero had sent for- ward on a wild expedition to the straits of the Caspian Sea, were all recalled to quell the insurrection of Vindex in Gaul.
6 THE HISTORY. [u. L
leader, so were they ready for the purposes of any who had the courage to lead them on.
7. It happened at this conjuncture that an account arrived of the murders of Clodius Macer in Africa, and Fonteins Capito in Germany. Macer, beyond all doubt, was engaged in schemes of ambition, and, in the midst of his projects, was cut off by Trebonius Garutianus, the procurator of the prov- ince, who had received his orders from Galba. Capito was put to death by Cornelius Aquinus and Fabius Valens, for similar attempts. Some thought that Capito, however brand- ed with avarice, rapacity, and other vices, had not added to his crimes the guilt of rebellion ; but that the authors of his destruction, having first endeavored to draw him into their own designs, combined to execute on an innocent victim the vengeance due to their own iniquity. Galba with his usual facility, or, perhaps, wishing to avoid the danger of an inquiry into what could not be recalled, thought it prudent to give his sanction to the acts of his officers, however unjust and cruel. Both executions were, notwithstanding, the subject of public censure : the usual fate of princes who have once incurred displeasure ; their actions, whether good or evil, serve to increase the public hate. The emperor's freedmen, domineering without control, now brought every thing into the market. The slaves were eager to seize the booty sud- denly presented to them, and, fearing the uncertainty of an old man's life, hastened to enrich themselves. The new court exhibited all the vices of Nero's reign, without the same apol- ogy. The very age of Galba1 was a subject of ridicule and loathing with men who were accustomed to the youth of Nero ; and who, according to the custom of the populace, formed their estimate of their emperors according to their figure and personal graces.
8. Such was the state of feeling at Rome, as in a city where so vast a multitude was congregated. Of the provinces, Spain was governed by Cluvius Rufus,2 a man distinguished by his eloquence, and experienced in the arts of peace, but not of war. In both the Gauls3 the name of Vindex was still held
1 Galba, at his elevation to the imperial dignity, was 73 years old. 1 Cluvius Rufus was a writer of history. Compare Pliny, lib. ix. epist. 19.
* The people of Gaul who stood for Vindex were the Sequani, th*
c. 9.] CONDITION OF THE PROVINCES. 7
in veneration ; and the people, pleased with their recent ad- mission to the freedom of Rome, and the diminution of their tribute, showed no symptoms of disaffection. However, the inhabitants of the cities contiguous to the German armies saw, with discontent, that they were not thought worthy of the like honor ; and some of them, whose territories were encroached upon, grieved at the good extended to others as much as if it were an injury done to themselves. In Ger- many the soldiers, flushed with pride by their late victory,1 yet dreading the imputation of having espoused another party, were by turns inflamed with rage and overwhelmed with fear. From such a number of soldiers, who had the power of the sword in their own hands, the greatest danger was to be ap- prehended. They had been slow to detach themselves from Nero ; nor did Verginius declare immediately for Galba : whether from his own ambitious projects, can not now be known. The soldiers, it is agreed, made him a tender of the imperial dignity. The death of Fonteius Capito was another cause of discontent; such as could not deny its justice, ex- claimed against it with indignation. Galba, under a show of friendship, had recalled Verginius from his post ;2 the legions had therefore now no leader. That he was not sent back, and was even arraigned, they regarded as an imputation upon themselves.
9. The legions on the Upper Rhine were ill retained in their duty by Hordeonius Flaccus, an officer far advanced in years, disabled in his limbs, without vigor of mind or author- ity. Unequal to the command even in quiet times, his feeble endeavors to enforce obedience served only to irritate the minds of men disposed to mutiny. On the Lower Rhine, the army had been for some time without a general of consular rank, till Aulus Vitellius,3 son of the person of that name who had been censor and three times consul, was sent by Galba to take
, and the Arverni. The states that lay near the legions on the Upper and Lower Rhine were the Lingones and the Remi.
1 The German armies obtained a complete victory over Vindex at Vesontium.
2 Verginius commanded the legions on the Upper Rhine.
3 This was Vitellins, afterward emperor of Rome. Galba sent him to command on the Lower Rhine, while Hordeonius Flaccus, a man in years, and greatly afflicted with the gout, was likely to remain inactive in the province of Upper Germany. See Suet. Life of Vitellius, s. 7.
8 THE HISTORY. [B. i,
upon him the command. This was deemed sufficient.1 In Britain every thing was quiet. It must be admitted that, during the civil wars that followed, no legion conducted them- selves more correctly ; whether it was that, situated at a dis- tance, and divided by the ocean from the rest of the world, they did not catch the frenzy of the times, or that they knew no enemies but those of their country, and were not taught by civil discord to hate one another. Illyricum remained in a state of tranquillity, though the legions drawn by Nero from that country found the means, while they loitered in Italy, of tampering with Verginius. But the armies, separated by a long interval, the best expedient to preserve the allegiance of the military, could neither communicate their vices nor com- bine their forces.
10. The East was hitherto free from commotion. Licinius Mucianus governed the province of Syria with four legions. He was distinguished equally for his good and evil fortune. In his youth, the favor of the great was the object of' his am- bition, and in that pursuit he wasted his fortune. His cir- cumstances growing desperate, and suspecting the displeasure of Claudius, he retired into Asia, and there lived in obscurity, as little removed from the condition of an exile, as he was afterward from that of a sovereign. He united in his char- acter a mixture of repugnant qualities : he was affable, and arrogant ; addicted to pleasure, and a man of business. When at leisure from affairs, he gave a loose to his luxurious pas- sions ; when on an expedition, he displayed qualities of a high order. In his public capacities you might praise him, but as a private man he was in bad odor. With those who were under him, and with his friends and colleagues, his varied ac- complishments gave him a commanding influence ; but he was fitter to raise others to the imperial dignity, than to obtain it for himself. The war against the Jews had been committed by Nero to Flavius Vespasian, at the head of three legions. He had entertained no design, nor wish, against the interest of Galba. He sent his son Titus to Rome, as will be seen hereafter,2 with congratulations to Galba, and assurances of fidelity. That the sovereign power was marked out by the secret counsels of heaven, and by portents and responses, for
1 In this passage, some re&dfatis for satis. " The Fates ordained it." * See below, ii. 1.
4. 12.] LEGIONS IN UPPER GERMANY REVOLT. 9
Vespasian and his two sons, we began to believe after his ac- cession.
11. Egypt, and the forces appointed to keep it in awe, were, according to the system of Augustus, confided to Roman knights, with the powers of kings. Difficult of access, and at the same time prolific in corn ; with a people, who, from superstition and insolence, were discordant and prone to change ; unacquainted with laws, and unhabituated to the civil authority, it was the policy of Augustus to retain the administration of this^ country in his own hands.1 In the present juncture, Tiberius Alexander,2 a native of the coun- try, was intrusted with the government of the province. Af- rica, and the legions quartered there, were, since the murder of Clodius Macer, willing to submit to any prince, after hav- ing experienced the government of an inferior master. The two Mauritanias, Rhaetia, Noricum, and Thrace, with the places committed to the care of imperial procurators, accord- ing to their proximity to each army, caught the spirit of an- tipathy or favor from a superior force. The ungarrisoned provinces, and Italy in particular, were open to the first in- vader, the ready prey of any conqueror. Such was the situa- tion of the Roman world, when Servius Galba, in his second consulship, and -Titus Vinius, his colleague, began their year ; to them their last, to the commonwealth all but the year of its destruction.
12. A few days after the calends of January, letters arrived at Rome from Pompeius Propinquus, the procurator of Belgic Gaul,3 with intelligence that the legions in Upper Germany, disregarding the obligation of their oath, demanded another emperor, leaving the choice to the judgment of the senate and the Roman people, that the sedition might be viewed the more leniently. This intelligence induced Galba to hasten the adop- tion of a successor ; a point which he had for some time re- volved in his mind, and often discussed with his secret advisers. During the few months of his reign, no subject had so much
1 Compare Annals, ii. 59.
2 Tiberius Alexander is said to be a native of Egypt; but, to qualify him for the office of governor, lie was made a Roman knight. He was probably the same person who is mentioned, Annals, xv. 28.
3 Belgic Gaul began from theScheld (I'Escaut) and extended to the river Sequana (the Seine). The revolt of the legions on the Upper Rhine is related by Suetonius, Life of Galba, s. 16.
A2
10 THE HISTORY. [B. i
engrossed the public conversation ; at first from mere garrulity and passion for talking about such things, afterward from consideration of the advanced age of the emperor. Few were able to think with judgment, and fewer had the virtue to feel for the public good. Private views and party connections sug- gested various candidates. Different factions were formed, and all intrigued, caballed, and clamored, as their hopes or fears directed ; and even Titus Vinius, as he grew in power every day, became, from that very cause, proportionately hated by the people. In truth, the very facility of Galba stimulated the cupidity of his friends, who were eagerly seeking advant- ages from his elevation, since, weak and credulous as he was, they had the less to fear, and more to gain from their ra- pacity.
13. The whole sovereign power was in the hands of Titus Vinius, the consul, and Cornelius Laco, the praefect of the praetorian guards. Nor was the influence of Icelus1 inferior to either of the former. He was one of the emperor's freed- men, lately created a Roman knight, and honored with the equestrian name of Martianus. The three ministers were soon at variance. In all inferior transactions they drew different ways ; but in the choice of a successor they were divided into two factions. Vinius declared for Marcus Otho : Laco and Icelus joined in opposition to that measure, not so much to favor a friend of their own, as to thwart Otho. Galba was not to learn the connection between Vinius and Otho. The busy gossips settled it that they were to become related as father and son-in-law ; for Vinius had a daughter a wid- ow, and Otho was unmarried. I think also, that Galba was actuated by concern for the state, and that he saw that the sovereign power was wrested out of the hands of Nero in vain, if transferred to a man like Otho : a stranger, from his earliest days, to every fair pursuit, and in the pride of man- hood distinguished by nothing but riot and debauchery. His emulation in luxury recommended him to the notice of Nero ; and, in consequence of his being privy to his lusts, he be- came the depositary of his principal mistress Poppsea,2 till Octavia was put away. But Otho's fidelity in respect to this
1 For Icelus, the favorite freedman, see Pliny the elder, lib. xxxiii. 2. * For Otho's connection with Poppsea, see Annals, xiii. 45, 46.
c. 15.] PISO ADOPTED BY GALBA. 1 1
same Poppaea soon became suspected, and he was sent to Lusitania, under pretext of governing that province. Otho, having gained popularity in the administration of his prov- ince, was the first to espouse the interest of Galba. While the war lasted, he continued an active partisan, shining con- spicuously among those who figured in it. Hence his hopes of the imperial adoption, which he cherished with daily in- creasing ardor; most of the soldiers favoring his views, and the creatures of Nero's court zealously supporting him, as a congenial character.
14. Galba saw, with deep anxiety, a storm gathering in Germany, and where it would burst he could riot foresee. Of Vitellius and his designs no certain account arrived. The re- volt of the legions filled him with apprehensions, and he re- posed no confidence in the praetorian guards. The nomina- tion of a successor seemed, in such a crisis, to be the best ex- pedient ; and for that purpose he held a cabinet council. Be- sides Vinius and Laco, he thought proper to summon Marius Celsus, consul elect, and Ducennius Geminus, the prefect of the city. Having prefaced the business by a short speech concerning his age and infirmities, he sent for Piso Licinia- nus;1 whether of his own free choice, or at the instigation of Laco, remains uncertain. That minister had contracted an intimacy with him at the house of Rubellius Plautus, though he now. craftily recommended him as though a stranger. To this conduct the fair esteem in which Piso was held gave an appearance of sincerity. Piso was the son of Marcus Cras- sus and Scribonia, both of illustrious descent. His aspect and deportment savored of primitive manners. By the candid and impartial he was called strict and severe; by malignant judges, morose and sullen. That part of his character which excited suspicion in the anxious minds of others, recommend- ed him to his future parent.
15. Galba, we are told, taking Piso by the hand, addressed
i Suetonius says: "Pisonem Licinianum, nobilem egregiumque ju- venem, ac sihi olim probatissimum, testamentoque semper in bona et nomen adscitum, repente e media salutantium turba apprehendit, tiliumque appellans, perduxit in castra, ac pro concione adoptavit.'' (Suet. Life of Galba, s. 17.) According to this account, Galba was de termined in his choice, and did not want the advice of Laco. He adopted Piso from inclination, propria electione. Plutarch, in the Life of Galba, gives the same account.
12 THE HISTORY. [u. i
him in the following manner: "If the adoption which I am now to make, were, like the act of a private citizen, to be acknowledged as the law Curiata directs, in the presence of pontiffs, I should derive the highest honor to myself from an alliance with a person descended from the great Pompey and Marcus Crassus : and, in return, you would add to the nobility of your own family, the lustre of the Sulpician and Lutatian names. Called by the consent of gods and men to the sovereignty, I am now induced by your rare accomplish- ments, and the love I feel for my country, to present to you, without any effort on your part, that imperial dignity, for which our ancestors led armies to the field, and which I myself obtained in battle. For this proceeding I have the example of Augustus, who placed in the next degree of el- evation to himself, first his sister's son Marcellus, and then Agrippa his son-in-law, his grandsons afterward, and, finally, Tiberius, the son of his wife. Augustus, indeed, looked for an heir in his own family ; 1 in the bosom of the common- wealth. If, upon such an occasion, I could listen to private affection, I have a numerous train of relations, and I have companions in arms. But it was not from motives of ambi- tion that I accepted the sovereignty of the state : I brought with me to the seat of government an upright intention; and that I now act on the same principle may be fairly seen, when, in my present choice, I postpone not only my own relations, but even yours. You have a brother, in point of nobility your equal ; by priority of birth your superior : and, if your merit did not supersede him, a man worthy of the highest elevation. You are now at the time of life at which the passions subside. Your former conduct requires no apology. Fortune has hitherto frowned upon you:1 you must now be aware of her smiles. Prosperity tries the hu- man heart with more powerful temptations. We struggle with adversity, but success undermines our principles. You will carry with you to the highest station, and endeavor to retain unshaken, good faith, independent spirit, constancy in friendship ; the prime virtues of the human character ; but others will seek to weaken them by fawning complaisance ;
1 Piso's father, mother, and brother were put to death by Claudius. Another brother (the conspiracy against Nero being detected) opened his veins, and bled to death. See Annals, xv. 59.
c. 16.] GALBA'S ADDRESS TO PISO. 13
adulation will break in upon you ; flattery, the bane of all true affection, and self-interest, will lay snares to seduce you. To-day you and I converse with perfect candor and single- ness of purpose: how will others deal with us? Their re- spect will be paid to our fortunes, not to ourselves. To guide a prince by honest counsels, is a laborious task: to humor the inclinations of any prince whatsoever, is a work which may be accomplished without the zealous affection of the heart.
16. "If the mighty fabric of this empire could subsist and balance itself without a ruler, the glory of restoring the old republic should be mine. But such has long been the state of things, and we can not alter it, that, at my age, all that remains for me is to bequeath to the people an able suc- cessor : while your youth can give them nothing better than a virtuous prince. Under Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius, we were all, as it were, the heir-loom of one family : that we begin to be elected will have the effect of a return to liberty. The Julian and the Claudian race are both extinct, and emi- nent virtue will now succeed by adoption. To be born the son of a prince is the result of chance ; mankind consider it in no higher light. In adoption, an unbiased and deliberate judgment is exercised, and the public voice will serve as a guide in the choice. Let Nero be ever before your eyes : proud of his long line of ancestors, and warm with the blood of the Caesars, it was not Vindex, at the head of a province naked and disarmed, nor myself, with only one legion : his own excesses, his own cruelty, hurled him from the necks of mankind. Of a prince condemned by a public sentence there was till then no example. As to myself, raised as I was by the events of war, and called to the sovereignty by the delib- erate voice of the people, envy and malice will pursue me, however immaculate I may be. But after the storm that lately shook the empire, if two legions still waver in their duty, your courage must not be disconcerted. My reign did not begin in a state of undisturbed peace. Old age, at present, is the objection urged against me ; but when it is known whom I have adopted, I shall appear young in my successor. Nero will ever be regretted by the vile and prof- ligate: that good men may not regret him, it will be ours to provide. More than I have said the time will not admit:
14 THE HISTORY. [B. i
if I have made a proper choice, I have achieved all I de- signed. In distinguishing good from evil, the most effectu- al and compendious course is, to consider what you would approve or repudiate were you a subject and another the sovereign. It is not at Rome as in despotic governments, where one particular family are lords, and the rest groan in bondage. You are to reign over men who can neither en- dure absolute slavery, nor unqualified liberty." To this effect Galba delivered himself, as though he was creating a prince ; and the rest conversed with Piso as with a prince regularly constituted.
17. Piso, we are told, neither at the first moment, nor afterward, when all eyes were fixed upon him, betrayed any symptom of immoderate joy or discomposure. He addressed the emperor, now his father, in terms of profound respect, and spoke of himself with reserve and modesty. His mien and countenance remained unaltered, as though he possessed the power rather than desired it. The next consideration was, whether the adoption should be announced in the forum, the senate, or the camp. The latter was preferred : the army would feel the compliment ; whose affections, though it were base to purchase them by bribery and intrigue, were to be sought by fair and honorable means. Meanwhile, the anxious populace surrounded the palace, impatient for the important news ; while those who sought to stifle the ill-suppressed ru- mor increased its vehemence.
18. On the fourth of the ides of January, the rain fell in torrents, while thunder and lightning, and all the terrors of heaven, produced a scene of confusion and alarm seldom wit- nessed. From ancient times this phenomenon was sufficient to dissolve all public assemblies:1 but Galba was not to be deterred from his purpose. He proceeded to the camp, re- gardless of prodigies, which he considered as the effect of natural causes, or, i,t might be, that what was fixed by fate, though foreshown, could not be avoided. A vast conflux of soldiers assembled in the camp. Galba addressed them in a short speech, such as becomes the imperial dignity. He told them that, in conformity to the example of Augustus, and
1 Thunder and lightning were always considered by the Romans as a warning not to transact public business: "Jove tonante, fnlgurante, comitia populi habere nefas." — Cicero, De Divinations, lib. ii. 18.
c. 19. 1 PISO'S ADOPTION ANNOUNCED. 15
the practice of the army, where each soldier chooses his com- panion in arms,1 he had adopted Piso for his son. Fearing that his silence on the subject of the German revolt might tend to magnify the danger, he added, that the fourth and eighteenth legions were, by the artifice of a few factious leaders, incited to disorder ; but their transgression went no further than words and expressions, and they would soon re- turn to their allegiance. He added no flattery, nor hopes of a donntive. The tribunes, notwithstanding, with the centu- rions and soldiers who stood nearest to him, made an accept- able response. Through the rest of the lines a deep and sul- len silence prevailed. They saw that, in war, they were deprived of those gratuities which had been always granted in time of peace, and were become their indefeasible right. The emperor, beyond all doubt, had it in his power to se- cure the affections of the soldiers. From a parsimonious old man the smallest mark of liberality would have made an impression. His primitive inflexibility and excessive strict- ness hurt his cause : we can not now bear the exercise of these virtues.
19. Galba then addressed the senate in a speech, like that to the soldiers, brief and unadorned. Piso delivered himself with grace and eloquence. The fathers heard him with atten- tion ; many with the warmth of unfeigned affection ; others, who in their hearts opposed his interest, with moderate zeal ; while the greatest number made a tender of their services, with private views, and regardless of their country. In the time that followed between his adoption and his death (an interval of four days) Piso neither said nor did any thing in public. As messengers upon the heels of one another now came posting to Rome, with tidings of the revolt in Germany, and as in the city men were athirst for news, and swallowed the worst with avidity, the fathers resolved to treat by their deputies with the German legions. In a secret council it was discussed whether Piso should go with the embassy, to give a more imposing effect, that the army might have before their
1 According to a military custom, established in an early period of the commonwealth, every Roman soldier chose his favorite comrade ; and by that tie of friendship all were mutually bound to share every danger with their fellows. The consequence was, that a warlike spirit pervaded the whole army. See Livy, lib. ix. 93.
16 THE HISTORY. fs. ,,
eyes the authority of the senate in the embassadors, and the majesty of the empire in Piso. It was further thought advis- able that Laco, the praefect of the praetorian guards, should accompany the deputation ; but he opposed the measure. Nor was the choice of the embassadors easily arranged. The whole was left to Galba's judgment, and he executed it with shameful indecision. Men were appointed, excused, or sub- stituted, as fear or ambition prompted them to make interest for the service, or for permission to remain at home.
20. The means of raising money came next under con- sideration. Various expedients were proposed, but none ap- peared so just as that of making reprisals on such as by their rapacity had impoverished the commonwealth. Nero had lavished in donations two millions of great sesterces. The men who had enriched themselves by this profusion were al- lowed to retain a tenth part of the plunder, and were sued for the rest. 1 But scarcely the tenth part was left unexpended. Prodigal no less of the public money than of their own, they had squandered all in riot and debauchery. The most rapa- cious and profligate had neither lands nor money. The wreck of their fortunes consisted only of the instruments of vice. To enforce the resumption of the grants, a court of thirty Roman knights was appointed ; a tribunal odious on account of its novelty, and troublesome from the number that com- posed it, and the intrigue that prevailed. Nothing was to be seen but sales and brokers ; the whole city was in a fer- ment with public auctions. However, it was matter of in- finite joy that those on whom Nero had bestowed bis boun- ties were as poor as those whom he had robbed. About the same time several tribunes were discharged from the service : Antonius Taurus and Antonius Naso, both of the preetorian guards ; ^Emilius Pacensis, from the city cohorts, and Ju- lius Fronto from the night-watch. But this, so far from being a remedy, served only to alarm and irritate the rest of the officers. They concluded that all were suspected, and that from timidity and cunning they were being expelled one by one.
21. Otho, in the mean time, felt every motive that could inflame ambition. In quiet times he had nothing before him but despair ; trouble and confusion were his only source of
1 See Suetonius, Life of Galba, a. 15.
c. 22.] OTHO PLOTS AGAINST GALBA. 17
hope. His luxury was too great for the revenue of a prince, and his poverty scarcely endurable in a private citizen.1 He hated Galba, and envied Piso. To these he added pretended fears, to give a color to his inordinate ambition. He said, " he had been an offense to Nero ; he must not now wait for a second Lusitania, nor another honorable banishment under pretense of friendship. The man whom the public voice has named for the succession, was sure to be suspected by the reigning prince. It was that jealousy that ruined his inter- est with a superannuated emperor ; and would act with great- er force on the mind of a young man, naturally truculent, and in his long exile grown fierce and savage.2 Otho might be doomed to "destruction. This was therefore the time for action, and a bold stroke while the authority of Galba was waning, and that of Piso not yet established. The convul- sions of states, and the change of masters, afford the true season for courage and vigorous enterprise: when inactivity is ruin, and temerity may be crowned with success, hesitation is folly. To die is the common lot of humanity. In the grave, the only distinction is between oblivion and renown. And if the same end awaits the guilty and the innocent, the man of spirit will earn his death."
22. The mind of Otho was not, like his body, soft and effeminate.3 His slaves and freedmen lived in a course of
1 See in Suetonius an account of Otho's circumstances, and his ex- pensive luxury. Otho did not scruple to say, that nothing short of the imperial power could save him from utter ruin ; and whether he died in battle, or fell a victim to his creditors, was immaterial : " Nisi principem se stare non posse: nihilque referre, ab hoste in acie, an in foro sub creditoribus caderet." — Suet. Life of Otho, s. 5. See also Plu- tarch, in the Life of Galba.
8 Piso had been by Nero ordered into exile, and might probably return with a mind exasperated, and deep-smothered resentment, ac- cording to the verses made against Tiberius, during his retreat in the isle of Rhodes: —
" Regnabit sanguine multo Ad regnum quisquis venit ab exilio." — Suet, in Tib. s. 59.
3 The character of Otho, as here delineated by the unerring pencil of Tacitus, is finely copied by Corneille, in his tragedy entitled Otho. It will be sufficient to state what Corneille himself has said in the pref- ace to his tragedy. His words are as follows: "Le sujet de cette tragedie est tire de Tacite, qui commence ses histoires par celle-ci. Les caracteres de ceux que j'y fais parler, y sont les memes que chez cet incomparable auteur, que j'ai traduit tant qu'il m'a ete possible."
18 THE HISTORY. [B. i.
luxury unknown to private families. Aware of his attach- ment to such pleasures, they painted to him in lively colors the joys of Nero's court ; adultery without control, the choice of wives and concubines, and all the other excesses of despotic courts. These, if he dared nobly, they represented to him as his own ; if he remained inactive, as the prize of others. The astrologers also inflamed his ardor : they announced great commotions, and to Otho a year of glory. This is a description of men dangerous to princes, and a fallacious re- liance to aspiring subjects; men who will always be pro- scribed, but always harbored in our city. It was with this vile crew of fortune-tellers that Poppsea held secret consulta- tions when she aspired to the imperial bed. One of these, a man named Ptolemy, accompanied Otho into Spain. He had there foretold that Otho would survive Nero; and the event giving credit to his art, he took upon him to promise greater things. Galba was on the verge of life, and Otho in his vigor. From the current of popular rumor grounded thereon, and his own calculations of probability, he per- suaded Otho that he was destined to the imperial dignity. These bodings were welcome to the ear of Otho : he con- sidered them as the effect of science, and believed the whole with that natural credulity which receives the marvelous for reality. Ptolemy followed up his work : he now inspired the plan of treason, and Otho embraced it with avidity. The heart that has formed such a wish has no scruple about the means.
23. Whether this bold conspiracy was then first imagined, or prepared and settled long before, can not now be known. It is, however, certain that Otho had been in the habit of courting the affections of the army, either with a view to the succession, or with a design to some bold step. On their march, in the lines, at their quarters, he made it his business to converse freely with all ; he accosted the veterans by name, and, reminding them of their joint service under Nero, called them his brother-soldiers ; he renewed his acquaintance with some ; he inquired after others, and with his interest and his purse was ready to be their friend. Mingling complaints, and, with malignant insinuation glancing at Galba, he omitted nothing that could fill the vulgar mind with discontent. Fa- tiguing marches, provisions ill supplied, and rigorous disci-
c. 25.] THE SOLDIERS CORRUPTED. 19
piine, were now regarded as the more oppressive, because, having known the times when they visited the lakes of Cam- pania, and sailed to the cities of Achaia, now, the Alps, the Pyrenees, and long tracts of country, were to be marched over with a load of armor.
24. While the minds of the soldiers were thus excited, Ma3- vius Pudens, a near relation to Tigellinus, added fuel to the flame. Whoever was known to be of a light and versatile dis- position, in distress for money, or fond of public commotions, this man attracted to his party. He sapped his way with a degree of dexterity, as un perceived as it was successful. As often as Gralba was entertained at Otho's house, he distributed to the cohort on duty a hundred sesterces for every man, un- der color of an allowance for their entertainment. The effect of this donation, given to them as it were openly, Otho in- creased with individuals by more secret presents ; a corrupter so bold and shameless, that, when Cocceius Proculus, a soldier of the body-guard, was e'ngaged in a litigation with one of his neighbors about a portion of the boundaries of their grounds, Otho bought the whole estate of the neighboring party, and conveyed it to the soldier as a present. These practices gave no jealousy to the commander of the praetorian bands : so far from penetrating dark transactions, he could not see what es- caped no eye but his own.
25. Otho then chose one of his freedmen, by name Ono- mastus, to conduct the enterprise. He attached to him as his accomplices, Barbius Proculus, whose duty it was to bear the watch-word to the life-guards, and one Veturius, a deputy-cen- turion of the same body. Otho sounded them on various top- ics ; and finding them subtle and resolute, he loaded them both with presents, and dismissed them with a sum of money, to be employed in bribing the rest of the guards. In this manner two soldiers undertook to dispose of the Roman empire, and succeeded in it. A few only were made privy to the plot : the rest, whose minds were not made up, they stimulated by op- posite arts. The soldiers of note were told, that having re- ceived favors from Nymphidius, they were suspected. The loss of the donative, so often promised, and still withheld, was the topic enforced to inflame the minds of the common men with resentment and despair. Numbers lamented the loss of Nero, and longed for the former laxity of discipline ?
20 THE HISTORY. \B. j.
and the idea of changing their place of service diffused a gen- eral terror.
26. The spirit of disaffection spread, as it were by conta- gion, to the legions and the auxiliary troops, already agitated by the news of the revolt in Germany. The vile and profli- gate were so ready for mutiny, and the upright to connive, that, on the day after the ides of January, they formed a reso- lution to take Otho under their care, as he returned from sup- per, and, without further delay, proclaim him emperor. This project, however, did not take effect. In the darkness of the night, and the confusion inseparable from it, no man could answer for the consequences : the city was full of soldiers ; and among men inflamed with liquor, no union, no concerted measure, could be expected. The traitors desisted from their purpose, with no patriotic motive; for they had deliberately conspired to imbrue their hand in the blood of their sover- eign ; but they were afraid that the first who offered him- self to the troops from Germany and Pannonia, might by those strangers, and in the dark, be mistaken for Otho, and saluted emperor. The plot began to transpire, and must have been by various circumstances brought to light, had not the chief conspirators suppressed them. Some facts, however, reached the ears of Galba; but Laco explained every thing away. The praefect of the guards had no knowledge of the military character, opposed every measure, however excellent, which did not originate with himself, and, by the perversity of his nature, was always at variance with those of superior talents.
27. On the eighteenth day before the calends of February, Galba assisted at a sacrifice in the temple of Apollo, when Umbricius the augur, after inspecting the entrails of the vic- tims, announced impending treason, and an enemy within the walls of Rome. Otho, who stood near the emperor, heard this prediction, but interpreted it in his own favor, pleased with omens that promised so well to his cause. In that mo- ment Onomastus came to inform him, that his builders and surveyors were waiting to talk with him on business. This, as had been concerted, was a signal that the conspirators were assembling, and ready to strike the decisive blow. Otho told such as wondered at his sudden departure, that, being on the point of purchasing certain farm-houses, which from their
c. 29.] OTHO PROCLAIMED BY THE SOLDIERS. 21
age were thought to be out of repair, he had appointed work- men to examine the buildings before he concluded his bar- gain, and then walked off, supported by his freedman ; and, passing through the palace formerly belonging to Tiberius, went to the Velabrum, and thence to the golden mile-stone near the temple of Saturn.1 At that place a party of the praetorian soldiers, in number three and twenty, saluted him emperor. The sight of such an insignificant handful of men struck him with dismay ; but his partisans drew their swords, and, placing him in a litter,2 carried him off. They were joined in their way by an equal number, some of them ac- complices in the treason ; others, in wonder and astonishment : — some brandishing their swords, and shouting ; others in si- lence, determined to see the issue before they took a decided part.
28. Julius Martialis, a military tribune, at that time com- manded the guard in the camp. Either amazed at a treason so daring, or imagining that it extended wider, and dreading destruction if he attempted to oppose the torrent, he created a suspicion in many of a confederacy in guilt. The rest of the tribunes and centurions, in their solicitude for their im- mediate safety, lost all sense of honor and constancy. Such, in that alarming crisis, was the disposition of the camp : a few seditious incendiaries dared to attempt an act of the foul- est treason; more wished to see it, and all were disposed to acquiesce.
29. Galba, in the mean time, ignorant of all that passed, continued in the temple, attentive to the sacred rites, and with his prayers fatiguing the gods of an empire now no longer his. Intelligence at length arrived, that a senator (whom, no man could tell) was being carried in triumph to the camp. Otho was soon after announced. At the same time the people poured in from every quarter, according as each fell in with him; some representing the danger as greater than it was, others lessening it, not even then forgetting their habitual flat- tery. A council was called. On deliberation, it was thought advisable to sound the dispositions of the cohort then on duty
1 The place called Velabrum lay between the Forum and Mount Pala- tine. The Milliarium Aureum was at the upper part of the Forum The Temple of Saturn was at the foot of the Capitoline Hill.
* See Suetonius, Life of Otho, s. 6.
22 THE HISTORY. [B. L
before the palace, but not by Galba in person. His authority was to be reserved entire, to meet more pressing necessities. Piso called the men together, and, from the steps of the palace, addressed them to the following purport : " It is now, my fel- low-soldiers, the sixth day since I was made, by adoption, heir to this great empire. Whether the honor was to be desired or dreaded, was more than I could then foresee : with what advant- age to my own family in particular, or to the commonwealth at large, it will be yours to determine : not that I fear any sad- der fate personally ; for, trained in the school of adversity, I now perceive that even the smiles are no less perilous than the frowns of fortune. I grieve for the situation of an aged father, the senate, and the empire itself, should we fall this day by the hands of assassins ; or, which to a generous mind is no less afflicting, find ourselves obliged to shed the blood of our fellow-citizens. In the late revolution, it was matter of joy that the city was not discolored with Roman blood, and that, without civil discord, the reins of government passed into other hands. To secure the same tranquillity after the de- cease of Galba was the object of the late adoption.
30. "I will neither boast of my nobility, nor claim the merit of moderation. In contrast with Otho there is indeed no necessity to call our virtues to our aid. His vices, even when he played the friend of Nero, were the ruin of his coun- try : in those he places all his glory. And can he, by a life of debauchery, that proud gait, and effeminate dress,1 earn the empire of the world? Those with whom profusion passes for liberality are deceived. Otho will show that he knows how to squander, but not to bestow. The objects that even now engross his thoughts, are lawless gratifications, carousals, and the embraces of lascivious women. These with him are the privileges of sovereignty. The debauchery and pleasures will be his : it will be yours to blush and bear the disgrace. For of those who by their crimes have risen to power, there is not an instance of one who administered it with virtue. Galba was raised by the consentient voice of the world to his present situation : his inclination, and your consent, have added me to the line of the Caesars. If the commonwealth, the senate, and the people, are mere empty names, yet, my fellow-soldiers, it concerns you that the worst and most abandoned of man- 1 See an allusion to Otho's effeminacy, Juvenal, Sat. ii. 90.
c. 31.] ATTEMPTS TO STAY THE REVOLT. 23
kind should not create an emperor. The legions, it is true, have at different times mutinied against their generals : but your fidelity and character have never been questioned. Nero abandoned you ; you did not desert him. And shall less than thirty runaways and deserters, whom no man would suffer to vote in the choice of a tribune or centurion, dispose of the Ro- man empire at their will and pleasure? Will you allow such a precedent ? and, by conniving at it, will you become accom- plices in the guilt ? The example will pass into the provinces. Galba and I may suffer the consequences of treason ; but the calamities of a civil war must remain for you. By murdering your prince you may earn the wages of iniquity ; but the re- ward of virtue will not be less. You will as certainly receive a donative for your innocence from us, as a largess for murder and rebellion from others."
31. During this harangue, the soldiers belonging to the guard withdrew from the place. The rest of the cohort showed no sign of discontent ; and, as usual in a disturbed state of things, displayed their colors as a matter of course, and with- out any preconcerted design, rather than, as was imagined afterward, with a concealed purpose of treachery and revolt. Celsus Marius was sent to use his influence with the chosen forces from Illyricum, at that time encamped under the por- tico of Vipsanius.1 Orders were likewise given to Amulius Serenus and Domitius Sabinus, centurions of the first rank, to draw from the temple of Liberty the German soldiers there. The legion draughted from the marines was not to be trusted. They had seen, on Galba's entry into Rome, the massacre of their comrades, and the survivors, with minds exasperated, panted for revenge. At the same time, Cetrius Severus, Su- brius Dexter, and Pompeius Longinus, three military tribunes, made the best of their way to the prastorian camp, to try if the mutiny, as yet in its early stage, and not full grown, might be appeased by wholesome advice. Subrius and Cetrius were assailed with menaces. Longinus was roughly handled. The revolters took away his weapons, unwilling to listen to a man,
1 A portico built by Vipsanius Agrippa in the field of Mars. Horace says,—
" Cum bene notum Porticus Agrippse, et Via te conspexerit Appi."
Hor. Epist. I. vi. 26.
24 THE HISTORY. [B. i.
whom they considered as an officer promoted out of his turn, by the favor of Galba, and, for that reason, faithful to his prince. The marine legion, without hesitation, joined the praetorian malcontents. The chosen troops of the Illyrian army obliged Celsus to retire under a shower of darts. The veterans from Germany wavered for a long time, suffering as they still were from bodily weakness, though their minds were favorably disposed ; for they had been sent by Nero to Alex- andria ; but, being recalled, they returned to Rome, worn out by toil, and weakened by sickness during their voyage ; and Galba had been particularly attentive in recruiting their strength.
32. The whole populace, in the mean time, with a crowd of slaves intermixed, crowded the palace, demanding, with dis- cordant cries, vengeance on the head of Otho and his partisans, as though they were clamoring in the circus or amphitheatre for some spectacle: — without judgment or sincerity; for before the close of the day, the same mouths were bawling as loudly as ever for the reverse of what they desired in the morning, but according to the established custom of courting with heed- less shouts and unmeaning acclamation the reigning prince, whoever he may be. Galba, in the mean time, balanced be- tween two opposite opinions. Titus Vinius was for his re- maining in the palace. "The slaves," he said, "might be armed, and all the avenues secured. The prince should by no means expose himself to a frantic mob. Due time should be allowed for the seditious to repent, and for good men to form a plan of union. Crimes succeeded by sudden dispatch : honest counsels gained vigor by delay. Lastly, should it be hereafter proper to sally forth, that expedient would be still in reserve : but should he repent of the step once taken, it would depend upon others whether he could retrace it."
33. It was argued by the rest, " that the exigence called for vigorous measures, before the as yet powerless conspiracy of a few traitors gained strength. Otho himself would then be thrown into a state of trepidation and perplexity ; Otho, who, having gone off by stealth, and presenting himself among men to whom he is a total stranger, is now learning how to enact the prince through the hesitation and supine- ness of those who allow the opportunities for action to elapse. They must not linger till the usurper, having settled matters
«. 35.] GALBA LEAVES THE PALACE. 25
in the camp, invades the forum, and, under the eye of Galba, ascends the Capitol ; while, in the mean time, our valiant em- peror remains trembling in his palace with his warlike friends, barricades his house even to the door and threshold, resolved forsooth to endure a siege. Slaves too will render a precious service, if we neglect the people, now ready to support our cause, and suffer their first impulse of indignation to sub- Bide. What is dishonorable is proportionably dangerous. If we must fall, let us bravely meet our fate. Mankind will applaud our valor, and Otho, the author of our ruin, will be the object of public detestation." Vinius maintained his former opinion. Laco opposed him with warmth, and even with violent menaces. In this he was prompted by Icelus, who obstinately sought to gratify private malice, at the risk of ruin to his country.
34. Galba hesitated no longer to adopt what appeared to him the more plausible advice. Piso, notwithstanding, was sent forward to the camp, as being a young man of high ex- pectation, and lately called to the first honors of the state, and also as the enemy of Vinius ; whether it was that he real- ly hated him, or that the enemies of the minister wished it ; and certainly malice imputed is easily believed. Piso was hardly gone forth, when a rumor prevailed that Otho was slain in the camp. The report at first was vague and un- certain, but like all important lies, it was confirmed by men who averred that they were on the spot, and saw the blow given ; the account gaining easy credence, what with those who rejoiced in it, and those who cared not to scrutinize it. It was afterward thought to be a rumor, framed and encour- aged by Otho's friends, who mingled in the crowd, and pub- lished a false report of good news, in order to entice Galba from his palace.
35. Then indeed not only the vulgar and ignorant multi- tude were transported beyond all bounds, but the knights and senators were hurried away with the torrent : they forgot their fears ; they rushed to the emperor's presence ; broke open the doors of the palace, and complaining that the punishment of treason was taken out of their hands, the men who, as it appeared soon after, were the most likely to shrink from dan- ger, displayed their zeal with ostentation ; lavish of words, yet cowards in their hearts. No man knew that Otho was
VOL. II.— B
26 THE HISTORY. [B. z
slain, yet all averred it as a fact. In this situation, wanting certain intelligence, but overpowered by the consentient voice of mistaken men, Galba determined to go forth from his pal- ace. He called for his armor, and finding himself too feeble from age and bodily constitution for the throng that gathered round him, he was supported in a litter. Before he left the palace, Julius Atticus, a soldier of the body-guard, accosted him with a bloody sword in his hand, crying aloud, " It was I that killed Otho." Galba answered, " Comrade, who gave you orders'?"1 So signally was the spirit of the man adapted to repress the licentiousness of the soldiers ; by their insolence undismayed, by their flattery unseduced.
36. Meanwhile, the praetorian guards with one voice de- clared for Otho. They ranged themselves in a body round his person, and, not content with that, in the ardor of their zeal, placed him, amidst the standards and eagles, on the very tribunal where, a little before, stood the golden statue of Galba.2 The tribunes and centurions were not suffered to approach. The common soldiers even went so far as to give orders to watch the motions of all in command. The whole camp resounded with shouts and tumult, and mutual exhor- tations ; not, as in a concourse of the people and of the low- er orders, with varying acclamations prompted by heartless adulation ; but they embraced their comrades as they saw them advancing ; clasped their hands ; pressed them to their bosoms with their shields; placed them by Otho's side ; repeated the military oath,3 and administered it to all. They recommended the prince of their own choice to the affections of the men, and the men, in their turn, to the fa- vor of the prince. Otho, on his part, omitted nothing ; he paid his court to the rabble with his hands outstretched,
1 Suetonius says, Galba put on his breast-plate, observing at the same time, that it would be a poor defense against so many swords. (Life of Galba, s. 19.) Plutarch relates that the soldier, being asked by Galba, who gave him orders ? had the spirit to answer, " My oath and my duty."
1 In every Roman camp the statue of the emperor was placed in the tribunal, at the head-quarters of the general. See Annals, xv. 29.
* The form of the military oath was as follows: " Jurant milites, omnia se strenue facturos, qua3 prseceperit imperator ; nunquam de- serturos militiam, nee mortem recusaturos pro Romana republica." — • Vegetius, lib. ii. 6.
o. 37.] OTHO'S ADDRESS TO THE LEGIONS. 27
scattering kisses in profusion, and, in order to be emper- or, crouching like a slave. After the marine legion had taken the oath of fidelity, Otho, now confident in his pow- er, as he had hitherto incited the soldiers man by man, judged it right to animate them in a body, and, taking his station on the rampart of the camp, spoke to the following effect :^-
37. "In what character I now address you I am unable to declare : a private man I can not call myself, for you have bestowed upon me the title of prince : nor can I style myself a prince, while another is still in possession of the sovereign power. In what description you yourselves are to be classed, i» to me matter of doubt ; and must remain so, till the ques- tion is decided, Whether you have in your camp the emperor of JRome, or a public enemy ? Hear ye how the same voice that demands vengeance on me, calls for your destruction? so evident is it that we can neither die nor live otherwise than together. Such is the humanity of Galba, perhaps he has already pronounced our doom ; since, without a request, of his own free-will, he could consign to the sword so many thousand innocent soldiers. My heart recoils with horror, when I reflect on the disastrous day on which he made his public entry into the city ; and on that his only victory, when, after receiving the submission of the suppliant soldiers, he ordered the whole body to be decimated in the view of the people. Under these auspices he entered the city of Rome ; — and what has been since the glory of his reign ? Obultronius Sabinus and Cornelius Marcellus have been mur- dered in Spain ; Betuus Chilo in Gaul ; Fonteius Capito in Germany ; and Clodius Macer in Africa. Add to these Cin- gonius Varro, butchered on his march, Turpilianus in the heart of the city, and Nyrnphidius in the camp. Is there a province, is there in any part of the empire a single camp, which he has not defiled with blood, — or, as he will tell you, reformed and amended ? What all good men call a deed of barbarity, passes with him for a correction of abuses ; while under specious names he confounds the nature of things : calls cruelty justice, avarice economy, and massacre military dis- cipline. Since the death of Nero not more than seven months have elapsed ; and in that time, Icelus, his freedman, has amassed by plunder more enormous wealth than the Polycleti,
28 THE HISTORY. [B. L
the Vatinii, the Helii,1 were able to do. Even Titus Vinius,2 if he had seized the empire, would not have oppressed us with such rapacity, such wanton barbarity. As it is, he at once tramples upon us as his own subjects, and pours scorn upon us as though we were another's. His house alone contains wealth sufficient to discharge the donative which is never forthcoming, and is daily cast in your teeth.
38. "And that you might despair of improvement under the successor even of Galba, he has recalled from banishment a man, in his temper dark and gloomy, hardened in avarice, whom he judged the counterpart of himself. You remember, my fellow-soldiers, the day on which that adoption was made — a day deformed with storms and tempests, when the warring elements announced the awful displeasure of the gods. The senate and the people are now of one mind. They depend upon your valor. It is your generous ardor that must give vigor to our honorable enterprise. Without your aid the best designs must prove abortive. It is not to a war, nor even to danger, that I am now to conduct you : the armies of Rome are on our side. The single cohort remain- ing with Galba is composed of citizens, not of soldiers ; and they do not stand forth in his defense. — they detain him as their prisoner. When they see you advancing in firm array, when my signal is given, the only struggle will be, who may charge my gratitude with the heaviest debt. There is no place for delay in a project which can not be applauded un- less it be gone through with successfully." He then ordered the magazine of arms to be thrown open. The soldiers seized their weapons ; they paid no regard to military rules ; no dis- tinction was observed ; the prastorians, the legions, and the auxiliaries crowded together, and shields and helmets were snatched up in a tumultuary manner. !No tribune, no cen- turion, gave orders. Each man was his own commanding officer and encourager ; while the most abandoned drew their principal incitement from the grief that overwhelmed the good.
1 Polycletus, Vatinius, Helius, and Halotus, were favorite freedmen, who rose to wealth and honors in the reign of Nero. For more of Halotus, see Suet. Life of Galba, s. 15.
2 Vinius alone had amassed riches enough to discharge the donative which had been promised to the soldiers by Kymphidius, in the
of Galba but which was still withheld.
c. 40.] END OF GALBA. 29
39. The number of the rebels increasing every moment, and their noise and clamor reaching the city of Rome, Piso, in a state of alarm, met Gralba, who had left the palace, on his way to the forum. Marius Celsus had now brought un- favorable tidings. Some advised the emperor to return to his palace; others were for taking possession of the Capi- tol ; and the major part for proceeding directly to the rostra. Numbers gave their advice, for no better reason than to op- pose the opinions of others ; and, as usually happens in un- fortunate projects, those steps were deemed best the oppor- tunity for which had elapsed. We are told that Laco, with- out the privity of Galba, formed a design against the life of Vinius. The murder of that minister, he thought, would ap- pease the fury of the soldiers ; or it may be that he sus- pected treachery, and thought him joined in a secret league with Otho : in fine, perhaps his own malice was the motive. The inconvenience of the time and place made him hesitate : the sword once drawn, it is difficult to check the carnage. Messengers arriving every moment, and the desertion of friends, increased the consternation ; and the zeal of all those who at first were so forward in vaunting their fidelity and courage now waxed cold.
40. Galba, meanwhile, was borne in various directions ac- cording as the waving multitude impelled him. The tem- ples, and great halls round the forum, were filled with crowds of sorrowing spectators. A deep and sullen silence pre- vailed : the very rabble was hushed: amazement sat on every face. Their eyes watched every motion, and their ears caught every sound. It was not a tumult — it was not the stillness of peace, but the silence of terrible anticipation and high- wrought resentment. Otho, however, received intelligence that the populace had recourse to arms, and thereupon or- dered his troops to push forward with rapidity, and prevent the impending danger. At his command the Roman sol- diers, as if marching to dethrone an eastern monarch, a Yo- logeses. or a Pacorus, and not their own lawful sovereign, advanced with impetuous fury to imbrue their hands in the blood of an old man, defenseless and unarmed. They en- tered the city — they dispersed the common people — trampled the senate under foot — with swords drawn, and horses at full speed, they burst into the forum. The sight of the Capitol,
30 THE HISTORY. [B. i
the sanctity of the temples that overhung it, the majesty of former princes, and o'f those who were to succeed, deterred them not from committing a detestable parricide, sure to be punished by the prince that succeeds to the sovereign power, be he who he may.
41. The praetorians no sooner appeared in sight, than the standard-bearer of the cohort still remaining with Galba (his name, we are told, was Atilius Vergilio) tore off the image of Galba, and dashed it on the ground ; that signal given, the soldiers, with one voice, declared for Otho. The people fled in consternation : such as hesitated were attacked sword in hand. The men who carried Galba in a litter, in their fright, let him fall to the ground near the Curtian lake.1 His last words, according as men admired or hated him, have been variously reported According to some, he asked, in a sup- pliant tone, What harm he had done ? and prayed for a few days, that he might discharge the donative due to the sol- diers. Others assure us, that he promptly presented his neck to the assassin's stroke, and said with a firm voice, " Strike, if the good of the commonwealth requires it." To ruffians thirsting for blood, no matter what he said. By what hand the blow was given, can not now be known ; some impute it to Terentius, a resumed veteran; others to Lecanius: a still more general tradition states, that Camurius, a common sol- dier of the fifteenth legion, killed him by cutting his throat, with his sword pressed against it. The rest tore his legs and arms with brutal rage, for his breast was covered with armor ; and many wounds were inflicted, in a savage and ferocious spirit, upon the body as it lay headless.
42. Titus Vinius was the next victim. The manner in which he met his fate is likewise left uncertain — whether, on the first assault, his utterance was suppressed by fear, or whether he had power to call out, that Otho had given no orders against his life. Those words, if really spoken, might be an effort of pusillanimity to save his life, or they were the confession of a man who was actually an accomplice in the conspiracy. His life and manners leave no room to doubt but he was capable of joining in a parricide, of which his own administration was the principal cause. He fell before the
1 This was in the forum, near the rostra. For Galba's death and funeral, see Suetonius, Life of Galba, s. 20.
c. 44.] MURDER OF PISO. 31
temple of Julius, by a wound in the joint of his knee; and as he lay, he was run through the body by Julius Carus, a le- gionary soldier.
43. The age beheld on that day a splendid example of courage and fidelity, in the conduct of Sempronius Densus, a centurion of the praetorian cohort. Having been ordered by Galba to join the guard that escorted Piso, he no sooner saw a band of armed assassins, than he advanced to oppose their fury, brandishing his poniard, and exclaiming against the hor- rible deed. By drawing the attention of the murderers upon himself at one moment with his voice, at another with his hand, he gave Piso, wounded as he was, an opportunity of making his escape. Piso reached the temple of Vesta, where a slave of the state, touched with compassion, conducted him to his own private apartment. Piso lay concealed for some time, not indebted to the sanctity of the temple, nor to the rights of religion, but sheltered by the obscurity of the place from the destruction that threatened him. At length, Sul- picius Florus, who belonged to a British cohort, and had been made by Galba a citizen of Rome, and Statius Marcus, a praetorian soldier, arrived in quest of him by Otho's special order. By these two men he was dragged to the vestibule of the temple, where, under repeated blows, he breathed his last.
44. No murder, we are told, gave so mueh satisfaction to Otho,1 nor was there, among the heads cut off, one on which he gazed with such insatiable delight. Whether it was that by this event he first felt himself relieved from all apprehen- sions, and his mind could admit sensations of joy, or that the fate of Galba, bringing to his thoughts an idea of majesty fallen from a state of elevation, and the death of Vinius, awaking the memory of an early friendship, had caused his heart, though ruthless, to melt at the mournful image they presented. When Piso fell, an enemy and a rival expired; and he thought it just and reasonable to exult in the event. The three heads were fixed on poles, and carried about amidst the ensigns of the cohorts, by the side of the eagle of the
1 On seeing the head of Galba, Otho cried out, "This is nothing, my fellow-soldiers: bring me the head of Piso." See Plutarch, Life of Galba.
32 THE HISTORY. [B. L
legion. A band of soldiers followed, stretching forth their hands reeking with blood, and boasting aloud that they gave the mortal wounds, or that they were present aiding and abetting ; all, with truth or falsehood, claiming the honor of an atrocious deed. No less than one hundred and twenty memorials, presented on this occasion, by persons who claimed the reward of crimes committed on that day, were afterward found by Vitellius ; and the several authors, after diligent search made by his orders, were punished with death, not from motives of regard for the memory of Galba, but with the usual policy of princes, as a security for the present, and as a warning of future vengeance.
45. Another senate and another people seemed now to be in possession of Eome. All pressed forward to the camp. Every man endeavored to distance those near him, and strive with those before him. They reviled Galba, and applauded the judgment of the soldiers. They kissed the hand of Otho, and, in proportion to their want of sincerity, the more they multiplied their compliments. Otho was not deficient in his attention to each severally; taking care, by his looks and actions, to restrain the ferocious spirit of the soldiers, who seemed to threaten further mischief. Marius Celsus, the con- sul elect, was the object of their vengeance. He had been the friend of Galba, and in the last extremity continued faith ful to that unhappy prince. His talents and integrity gave offense to them, as though they were noxious qualities. They demanded his immediate execution. Their views were ap- parent. The best and ablest men in Rome were doomed to destruction by them. But Otho's authority, though suffi- cient to command the perpetration of crimes, was not yet adequate to prohibiting them. In pretended fury he ordered Celsus to be loaded with irons, as a man reserved for heavier punishment, and by that stratagem saved him from immediate destruction.
46. From this time the soldiers had every thing their own way. The praetorians chose their own praefect ; namely, Plo- tius Firmus, formerly a common soldier, raised afterward to the command of the night-guard, and, even during the life of Galba, a partisan of Otho's. To him they added Licinius Proculus, a man who, living in intimacy with Otho, was sup-
c. 47.J LICENSE OF THE SOLDIERY. 83
posed to be an accomplice in his designs. As governor of Rome they named Flavius Sabinus,1 in accordance with the judgment of Nero, who had committed to him the same charge. The majority meant it as a compliment to Vespa- sian, his brother. Their next object was to abolish the fees exacted by the centurions for occasional exemptions from duty, and for leave of absence ; for they were an annual trib- ute out of the pockets of common men. A fourth part of every company was rambling about the country, or loitering in the very camp, provided the centurion received his perqui- sites. Nor was the soldier solicitous about the price : he pur- chased a right to be idle, and the means by which he enabled himself to defray the expense gave him no kind of scruple. By theft, by robbery, and by servile employments, he gained enough to purchase an exemption from military duties. Then, whoever had hoarded up a little money, was, for that reason, harassed with labor and severity, till he purchased an exemp- tion. By these extortions the soldier was impoverished, his industry moreover relaxed, and he returned to the camp poor instead of rich, and lazy instead of active. And so again another and another had his principles corrupted by poverty and irregularities similarly induced, whence they fell rapidly into sedition and dissension, and lastly into civil war. To remedy the mischief, and, at the same time, not to alienate the minds of the centurions, by giving up these fees as a bounty to the common soldiers, Otho undertook to pay an an- nual equivalent to the officers out of hi's own revenue. This reform was, no doubt, both wise and just. Good princes adopted it afterward, and made it a settled rule in the mili- tary system. Laco, the late commander of the praetorians, was condemned to an island, there, as was given out, to pass the remainder of his days ; but a veteran soldier, whom Otho had dispatched for the purpose, put an end to his life. Mar- tianus Icelus^ being of no higher rank than that of a manu- mitted slave, was publicly executed.
47. After a day spent in guilt and carnage, the joy that succeeded completed the climax of abominations. The prae-
1 Flavins Sabinns had been appointed prsefect of the city by Nero. The soldiers loved the vices of the former reign, and for that reason continued Sabinus in the same office. See below, ii. 74, 75 ; and Suet. Life of Vespasian, s. 1.
B2
34 THE HISTORY. fu. s.
tor of the city summoned the senate.1 The magistrates emu- lated each other in adulation. The fathers assembled with- out delay. The tribunitian power, the name of Augustus, and all imperial honors enjoyed by former princes, were by a decree granted to Otho ; while all strove to obliterate the ef- fects oi' reproaches and invectives, which, as they were ut- tered at random, were not supposed by any one to have sunk deep into his heart. Whether Otho would have passed over those reflections, or stored them in his memory for future oc- casions, the shortness of his reign has left undecided. He was conveyed in triumph to the Capitol, and thence to the imperial palace. In his way he saw the forum discolored with blood, and heaps of slaughtered citizens lying round him. He granted leave to remove the dead bodies, and to perform the rites of sepulture. The remains of Piso were buried by his wife, Verania,2 and Scribonianus, his brother. The last duty to Titus Vinius was performed by his daughter Cris- pina.3 Their heads, which the murderers had reserved for sale, were found and redeemed.
48. Piso had well-nigh completed the thirty-first year of his age ; higher in the esteem of the public than in the favor of fortune. Two of his brothers suffered a violent death; Magnus, by the command of Claudius, and Crassus, of Nero. An outlaw for some years, and four days a prince ; by the hurried adoption of Galba, he was raised above his elder brother, only to be murdered first. Titus Vinius had reached the age of fifty-seven ; a man of unsettled principle, and various manners. His father was of a praetorian family ; his grandfather, by the maternal line, was among the number proscribed by the triumvirate. His first campaign, under Calvisius Sabinus,4 was marked with disgrace. The wife of
1 The two consuls,. Galba and Vinius, being cut off, the power of convening the senate devolved to the city prsetor. See Cicero's Epist. lib. x. epist. 12.
2 For Verania, see Pliny, lib. ii. epist 20.
3 Oispina bought her father's head at a great price from the assas- sins. Plutarch, Life of Galba.
* Calvisius Sabinus, mentioned in this place, was probably the per- son who, in Caligula's reign, commanded in Paunonia, and, on his re- turn to Rome, was compelled to end his days, A.D. 39. His wife, Cor- nelia, almost redeemed her character in thelast act of her life, by per- ishing with her husband.
c. 49.] TITUS VINIUS. 35
Sabinus, prompted by vicious curiosity, went by night, in the dress of a soldier, to view the site and disposition of the camp. In her frolic, she went round to visit the sentinels, and the posts and stations of the army. Arriving at length at the place where the eagles were deposited, she did not scruple to commit the act of adultery on that sacred spot. Vinius was charged as her accomplice, and, by order of Caligula, loaded with irons. By the revolution which soon after happened, he regained his liberty, and from that time rose to honors. He discharged the office of praetor, and afterward commanded a legion, free from reproach. His name, however, was soon aft- er branded with a crime of the meanest character. Being a guest at the table of Claudius, he was charged with pilfering a golden goblet. On the following day that emperor gave orders that he alone of the whole party should be served with earth- enware. Notwithstanding, as proconsul of Narbon Gaul, he acquitted himself in his administration with gravity and in- tegrity. Soon after, the friendship of Galba drew him into dangerous courses. He was at once bold and subtle, of an enterprising genius, and, according as he set his mind upon it, he could work mischief, or apply himself to honest pursuits, with equal ardor and energy. His last will, on account of his immoderate wealth, was declared null and void. That of Piso was confirmed by reason of his poverty.
49. Galba' s body lay neglected for a long time, and, under license of the night, was molested by numberless indignities. It was at length conveyed by Argius, his former slave and steward, to the private gardens of his master, and there de- posited in an humble manner. His mangled head was fixed on a pole by the rabble of the camp, near the tomb of Patro- bius, a slave manumitted by Nero, and by Galba put to death. There it was found the following day, and added to the ashes of the body. Such was the end of Servius Galba, in the seventy-third year of his age. He had, during the reign of five princes, enjoyed a series of prosperity, happier as a private citizen than a prince. He was descended from a long line of ancestors. His wealth was great ; his talents not above mediocrity. Free from vice, he can not be celebrated for his virtues. He knew the value of fame, yet was neither ar- rogant nor vainglorious. Without rapacity, he was an econ- omist of his own, and of the public treasure careful to a de-
36 THE HISTORY. [B. L
gree of avarice. To his friends and freedmen, when his choice was happily made, his passive submission was unobnoxious to censure ; but when bad men surrounded him, his blindness bordered on criminality. The splendor of his birth, and the dangerous character of the times, formed a pretext for giving the appellation of wisdom to what in fact was sheer indolence. In the vigor of his days, he served with honor in Germany ; as proconsul of Africa, he governed with moderation ; and Hither Spain, when he was advanced in years, was adminis- tered with similar equity. While a private citizen, his merit was thought superior to his rank ; and the suffrages of man- kind would have pronounced him worthy of empire, had he never made the experiment.
50. While Home was shuddering at the late dreadful car- nage, and, from the well-known vices of Otho's nature, men were in dread of worse evils still to come, dispatches from Germany brought an account of new calamities. Intelligence of the revolt of Vitellius arrived before the death of Galba, but was suppressed, that the sedition on the Upper Ehine might be thought the only mischief. Then not only the sen- ators and Roman knights, who had still some shadow of au- thority, but the populace, mourned to see two men of the most pernicious characters, enervated by luxury, and abandoned to every vice, chosen by some fatility to ruin the commonwealth. The examples of atrocities committed, during the late san- guinary period of peace, were no longer the objects that em- ployed the public mind ; but the civil wars were recalled to memory : they talked of Rome, so often captured by her own armies ; Italy laid waste ; the provinces plundered ; of Phar- salia, Philippi, Modena, and Perusia,1 places memorable for public disasters. " When the struggle," it was observed, " lay between men of illustrious character, by their contentions for empire the state was brought to the brink of ruin. But even then, under Julius Caesar, the empire still survived. It survived under the victorious Augustus. Under Pompey and Brutus, had their arms prevailed, the republic would have been once more established. Otho and Vitellius are now the competitors: for which of them shall the people crowd the
1 The battle of Pharsalia was fought B.C. 48; that of Mutina, be- tween Mark Antony and the consuls Hirtius and Pansa, B.C. 43 ; of Philippi, B.C. 42 ; and the siege of Perusia, B.C. 40.
r. 51.] ORIGIN OF THE REVOLT UNDER VITELLIUS. 37
temples'? prayers for either were impious vows, an abomina- tion, since, in a war between two detestable rivals, he who conquers will be armed with power to commit still greater crimes, and prove himself the worst." Some looked forward in a prophetic spirit to Vespasian, and the armies in the East. Vespasian, they agreed, was in every respect superior to the two chiefs who now convulsed the state, but dreaded anoth- er war, and an additional series of calamities. Vespasian's character too was equivocal :] and certainly he was the only prince, down to his time, who reformed his life.
51. That the revolt under Vitelli us may be seen in its true light, I will set forth its origin, and the causes that produced it. After the defeat and death of Julius Vindex, and the rout of his armies, the legions, enriched with booty and wan- ton with success, having without fatigue or danger closed a lucrative war, preferred hostilities to inaction, plunder to pay. They had long endured the hardships of a rigorous serv- ice in a bleak climate and a desolate country, where discipline was enforced with strict severity. But that discipline which is cultivated with relentless vigor in peace, they knew would be relaxed by civil discord, where both sides encourage licen- tiousness, and perfidy go^s unpunished. They were abund- antly provided with arms and horses, both for parade and service ; but before the late war in Gaul, they knew only the companies and troops of horse to which they belonged ; and the boundaries of the provinces kept the several armies dis- tinct and separate. The legion being then drawn together to make head against Vindex, they felt their own strength, and that of Gaul ; wanted to renew the war, and stir up fresh troubles. They no longer treated the Gauls as their allies and friends, but as enemies, and a vanquished people. In these sentiments they were joined by the Gauls who dwelt on the borders of the Rhine. This people had taken up arms against Vindex and his allies, whom, since the death of that chief, they in disdain of him called the Galbian faction ; and now by every artifice they instigated a war between the Romans and their countrymen. The Sequanians, the ^Eduans, and other states, according to their opulence, were the chief
1 Vespasian, in the reign of Caligula, was a time-serving flatterer ; and, being afterward overwhelmed with debts, was a man of equivocaJ character. Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, s. 2-4.
38 THE HISTORY. [B. t
objects of resentment. The soldiers anticipated with eager delight towns stormed, the plunder of houses, and the desola- tion of the country. In addition to their arrogance and av- arice, the never-failing vices of the strongest, they were exas- perated by the froward insolence with which the Gauls boast- ed, that, in contempt of the legions, they had obtained from Galba a remission of one-fourth of their tribute, and an exten- sion of their territory. To these incentives was added a re- port, artfully thrown out and readily believed, that the legions were to be decimated, and the best and bravest of the centu- rions to be dismissed. Tidings of an alarming nature arrived from every quarter, and rumors of a disastrous character from the city of Rome. The people of Lyons, still faith- ful to the memory of Nero, and the avowed enemies of Galba, formed a fertile source of rumors: but the camp was the magazine of news, where invention framed the lie of the day, and credulity stood ready to receive it; where malice and fear prevailed ; and where, when they viewed their own numbers, all apprehension of danger vanished.
52. It was near the calends of December in the preceding year when Aulus Vitellius first appeared in the Lower Ger- many. He made it his business to review the legions in their winter-quarters ; he restored several officers who had been degraded, and relieved others from disgrace and ignominy : in some instances acting with justice, in others, with a view to his own ambition. To the honor of his principles, he con- demned the sordid avarice with which Fonteius Capito grant- ed or refused rank in the army. He appeared in this to ex- ceed the powers usually vested in consular generals, and to be an officer of superior weight and authority. As reflecting men saw the baseness of his motives,1 so the profusion, which, without judgment or economy, lavished away in bounties all his own property, and squandered that of others, was by his sycophants called benevolence and generosity. Even the vices that sprung from lust of dominion were transformed into so many virtues. In both armies there were, no doubt, men well disposed and moderate ; but there were also some restless incendiaries. Alienus Csecina and Fabius Valens, each the commander of a legion, were both remarkable for their avarice, and both of a daring spirit. Valens was exlisperated against 1 See Suetonius, Life of Yitellius, s. 7-
c. 63.] VJTELLIUS, VERGINIUS, AND C^ECINA. 39
Galba, because, having exposed the dilatoriness of Verginius, and crushed the machinations of Capito, he had shown no gratitude for those services. He now, therefore, endeavored to rouse the ambition of Vitellius: "The soldiers," he said, " were zealous in his service, and the name of Vitellius stood in high esteem throughout the world. From Hordeonius Flaccus no opposition was to be apprehended. Britain was ready to declare against Galba, and the German auxiliaries would follow their example. The provinces wavered in their duty, and the authority of the feeble old man stood on a pre- carious footing, and would soon be transferred to other hands. He had nothing to do but to open his arms, and receive the favors of fortune. Verginius, indeed, had ever}' thing to damp his resolution. He was of an equestrian family ; but his father lived and died in obscurity. A man of his cast would have proved unequal to the weight of empire. A private sta- tion was to him a post of safety. A father who had been three times consul, once in conjunction with the emperor Claudius, and who, moreover, had discharged the office of censor, imposed on Vitellius the necessity of aspiring to the imperial dignity, and denied him the 'security of a private station." By this inflammatory speech the phlegmatic temper of Vitellius was moved to covet, rather than to hope for, the object set before him.
53. Meanwhile Csecina, who served in the army on the Upper Rhine, had drawn to himself the affections of the army. He was young and handsome, tall and robust, with an air of dignity in his deportment, of winning eloquence, and boundless aspirations. While a young man, discharging the office of quaestor in Baetica, he promptly went over to Galba's interest, and the emperor, to reward his zeal, gave him the command of a legion in Germany ; but finding, afterward, that he had been guilty of embezzling the public money, he ordered him to be called to a strict account. Caecina was not of a temper to submit with patience. He resolved to embroil the state, and in the general confusion throw a vail over his private dishonor. The seeds of rebellion were ready sown in the army. In the war against Vindex they had all taken the field, and, till they heard that Nero was no more, never declared in favor of Galba. Even in that act of submission, they suffered the legions on the Lower Rhine to take the lead.
40 THE HISTORY. [B. i
The Treviri, the Lingones, and other states, which had felt the severity of Galba's edicts, or had seen their territory re- duced to narrow limits, lay contiguous to the winter-quarters of the legions. Hence frequent seditious conferences, in which the soldiers grew more corrupt, by mixing with the peasants. Hence their zeal for Verginius, which might be turned to ac- count by any other leader.
54. The Lingones, in token of friendship, had sent presents to the legions, and, in conformity to their ancient usage, the symbolical figure of two right hands clasping one another. Their deputies appeared with the mien and garb of affliction. They went round the camp, in the tents, and the place for the standards and eagles, setting forth now their own wrongs, and now the favor and the protection of Galba enjoyed by neighboring states. Finding that they were heard with avid- ity, they inflamed the minds of the soldiers by sympathizing in the dangers that hung over them, and the hardships under which they labored. The flame of sedition was ready to break out, when Hordeonius Flaccus ordered the deputies to depart, and in the night, that it might be less observed. A report soon prevailed that they were all treacherously murdered, and that, if the soldiers did not instantly provide for their own safety, the bravest of the army, and those who had complained of the present state of things, would be butchered, under cov- er of the night, and without the knowledge of their friends. A secret combination was immediately formed. The auxilia- ries entered into the league ; at first they were suspected of a design to surround the legions with the cohorts and horse, and put them to the sword, but afterward they eagerly en- gaged in the project. Such is the nature of abandoned minds ; in peace and profound tranquillity, they seldom agree ; but for seditious purposes a coalition is easily formed.
55. The legions on the Lower Rhine, on the calends of January, went through the usual form of swearing fidelity to Galba ; but little alacrity was displayed. In the foremost ranks but few voices were heard, while the rest remained in silence, each man expecting the bold example of his comrades ; such is the inherent weakness of human nature, men are ready to second what they are slow to begin. A leaven of discordant humors pervaded the whole mass of the army. The first and fifth legions were so outrageous, that some pelted the images
c. 66-1 THE LEGIONS IN UPPER GERMANY REVOLT. 41
of Galba with stones. The fifteenth and sixteenth abstained from acts of violence, but were clamorous and menacing-, waiting for ringleaders to begin the fray. In the Upper Ger- many, on the same calends of January, the fourth and eight- eenth legions, quartered together in one winter-camp, dashed the images of Galba into fragments. The fourth legion led the way ; and the eighteenth, after balancing for some time, fol- lowed their example. Unwilling, however, to incur the im- putation of a rebellion against their country, they agreed to revive the antiquated names of the SENATE AND ROMAN PEO- PLE in the oath of fidelity. Not one commander of a legion, nor tribune, appeared in favor of Galba; on the contrary, many of them, as often happens in cases of public confusion, distinguished themselves in the tumult. No man, however, took upon him to harangue the multitude from the stage; nor could the incendiaries, as yet, tell in whose service their elo- quence was to be employed.
56. Hordeonius Flaccus beheld this scene of confusion, and, though a consular commander, never once interposed to restrain the violent, to secure the wavering, or to animate the well-affected. He looked on tamely and timorously ; and if he avoided the imputation of guilt, it was because he had not spirit enough to act at all. Four centurions of the eight- eenth legion, namely, Nonius Receptus, Donatius Valens, Romilius Marcellus, and Calpurnius Repentinus, attempted to defend the images of Galba ; but the soldiers attacked them with impetuosity, and loaded them with fetters. From that moment all fidelity was at an end. The obligation of the former oath was no longer respected. It happened in this, as in all seditions, the whole herd followed the majority. The night after the calends of January, the eagle-bearer of the fourth legion arrived at the Agrippinian colony,1 where Vitel- lius was engaged at a banquet, with intelligence that the fourth and eighteenth legions, having destroyed the images of Galba, had taken a new form of oath to the senate and Roman people. That oath was deemed a nullity. It was judged proper to seize the opportunity that fortune offered, and, by the nomination of an emperor, fix the wavering temper of the legions. Dispatches were accordingly sent to inform the army and its commanders in the Lower Germany, 1 The modern Cologne. See Annals, xii. 27, note.
42 THE HISTORY. [B. i
that the soldiers on the Upper Rhine had revolted from G al- ba, and that, by consequence, it remained for them either to march against the rebels, or, for the sake of peace and mu- tual concord, to create another emperor. In choosing for themselves they would hazard little ; but indecision might be dangerous.
57. The winter-quarters1 of the first legion were the near- est : it was commanded by Fabius Valens, the most prompt and daring of all the generals. On the following day, he put himself at the head of the cavalry belonging to his own le- gion, and, with a party of the auxiliaries, entering the Agrip- pinian colony, saluted Vitellius by the title of emperor. The legions of the province, with extraordinary ardor, followed his example ; and three days before the nones of January, the legions in Upper Germany declared for Vitellius, aban- doning the plausible names of the senate and the Roman peo- ple. It was now plain that they were never in their hearts devoted to a republic. The Agrippinian people, the Treveri, and Lingones were not behind the armies in demonstrations of zeal. They offered a supply of arms and horses, of men and money, in proportion to their respective abilities. Not only the leading chiefs, as well in the colonies as in the camp, who had already enriched themselves by the spoils of war, and looked forward to an accumulation of wealth when the victory was obtained, but the body of the army, the common soldiers, in the place of money, made a tender of their travel- ing subsistence, their belts, their accoutrements, and the sil- ver ornaments of their armor ; all actuated by one impulse, by blind enthusiasm, and a thirst for gain.
58. Vitellius, after praising the alacrity of the soldiers, proceeded to regulate the various departments of public busi- ness. He transferred the offices, hitherto granted to the im- perial freedmen, to the Roman knights ; and the fees claimed by the centurions for exemption from duty, he defrayed out of the revenue of the prince. The fury of the soldiers, demanding vengeance on a number of persons, was not to be repressed. He yielded in many instances, and in others eluded their resentment under color of reserving the ob- noxious parties in chains. Pompeius Propinquus, the pro- curator of Belgic Gaul, was put to death on the spot ; but
1 The first legion was probably stationed at Bonna, now Bonn.
c. 60.] VITELLIUS RAISED TO THE EMPIRE. 43
Julius Burdo, who commanded the German fleet, he saved by stratagem. The resentment of the army had been kindled against that officer as the accuser first, and afterward as the murderer, of Fonteius Capito, whose memory was still held in respect. To pardon openly was not in the power of Vitelli- us : he could execute in open day ; but to be merciful, he was obliged to deceive. Burdo remained in prison till the victory obtained by Vitellius appeased the wrath of the soldiers: he then was set at liberty. In the mean time, Centurio Crispi- nus, who with his own hand had shed the blood of Capito, was presented to them as an expiation of that deed. His guilt was manifest ; the soldiers demanded his blood, and Vi- tellius thought a man of that description no kind of loss.
59. Julius Civilis was the next whom the army doomed to destruction ; but, being of high rank and consequence among the Batavians, fear of a rupture with that fierce and warlike people saved his life. There were, at that time, in the terri- tory of the Lingones, eight Batavian cohorts, annexed at first as auxiliaries to the fourteenth legion, but separated in the distraction of the times; a body of men, in that juncture, of the greatest moment. It was in their power to turn the scale in favor of whatever party they espoused. Nonius, Donatius, Romilius. and Calpurnius, the four centurions al- ready mentioned, were, by order of Vitellius, hurried to exe- cution. They had remained steady in their duty to their prince, — a crime which men in open rebellion never pardon. Valerius Asiaticus, the governor of Belgic Gaul, to whom, in a short time after, Vitellius gave his daughter in marriage ; and Junius Blaesus, who presided in the province of Lyons, and had under his command the Italic legion,1 and the body of horse called the Taurinian cavalry,2 went over to the party of the new emperor. The forces in Rhsetia were not long in suspense, and the legions in Britain declared without hesita- tion in favor of Vitellius.
60. Britain was at that time governed by Trebellius Max- imus,3 — a man, for his avarice and sordid practices, despised and hated by the army. Between him and lioscius Cselius,
7 This was the first Italic legion, raised by Nero. 3 The Taurinian squadron was so called from the Taurini, or peo- ple of Turin.
3 For this man, see Life of Agricola, c. 16.
44 THE HISTORY. O L
who commanded the twentieth legion, there had been a long- subsisting quarrel, renewed of late with keener acrimony, on occasion of a civil war. Cselius was charged by Trebellius with sedition, and the violation of the established discipline : Cselius recriminated that Trebellius plundered the legions, and left the soldiers to languish in distress and poverty. From this dissension between their officers, all discipline was at an end in the army; and the tumult rose at length to such a height, that Trebellius, insulted openly by the auxili- aries, deserted by the cavalry, and betrayed by the cohorts, fled for refuge to Vitellius. The province, however, notwith- standing the flight of a consular governor, remained in tran- quillity. The commanders of the legions held the reins of government, by their commissions equal in authority, but the enterprising genius of Caelius had given him a superior influ- ence.
61. The arrival of the forces from Britain was an accession of strength ; and thereupon Vitellius, abounding in resources, and strong in numbers, resolved to carry the war into Italy by two different routes, under the conduct of two command- ers. Fabius Valens was sent forward, with instructions to draw to his interest the people of Gaul, and, if he found them obstinate, to lay waste their country : then, passing over the Cottian Alps,1 make an irruption into Italy. Caeci- na, the other general, was ordered to take a nearer way, over the Penine mountains,2 and make his descent on that side. The flower of the army from the Lower Rhine, with the eagle of the fifth legion, and the cohorts and cavalry, amounting to forty thousand men, were put under the command of Valens. Ca3cina advanced from the Upper Germany with no less than thirty thousand, of which the one-and-twentieth legion was the main strength. Each commander had a reinforcement of German auxiliaries. From these, too, Vitellius recruited his own forces ; and was himself to follow with the whole weight of the war.
62. The new emperor and his army presented a striking contrast : the soldiers burned with impatience, and with one voice demanded to be led against the enemy. " It was time,"
1 The passage of the Alps, now known as the Pass of Brian§on.
2 The Penine Alps, (from the Celtic Pen, " head,") now the Pass of Great St. Bernard
c. 63.] INDOLENCE OF VITELLIITS. 45
they said, " to push on the war with vigor, while the two Gauls are in commotion, and Spain is yet undecided. The winter season was no obstacle ; nor should idle negotiations to bring on a compromise detain them. Italy must be in- vaded, and Rome seized at once. In civil dissensions, ex- pedition was the safest policy. They called for vigor; and debate was out of season." Vitellius loitered in indolent re- pose, drunk at noonday, and overwhelmed with gluttony.1 The imperial dignity, he thought, consisted in riot and pro- fusion, and he resolved to anticipate the privileges of a prince. The spirit of the soldiers, however, supplied the defects of their prince : they neither wanted him in their ranks to animate the brave, nor to rouse the tardy and in- active. Already formed, and straining upon the start, they demanded the signal for march. They saluted Vitellius by the name of Germanicus :2 that of Caesar he chose to decline, even after his victory. Valens began his march : on that very day an omen of happy import to himself and the army he led presented itself — an eagle, at the head of the lines, measuring his flight by the movement of the soldiers, as if to guide them on their way. Such were the shouts of joy, while the bird proceeded in the same regular course undismayed by the uproar, and still seeming to direct their march, that the phenomenon was considered as a sure prognostic of a signal victory.
63. The army advanced in good order toward the state of the Treveri, as their friends and allies. At Divodurum (a city of the Mediomatrici) they received every mark of kind- ness, but were seized with a sudden panic, so extraordinary, that the soldiers fell upon the innocent inhabitants sword in hand. In this dreadful outrage the love of plunder had no share ; a sudden frenzy possessed every mind ; and, as the cause was unknown, no remedy could be applied. No less than four thousand men were massacred ; and, if the entreat- ies of the general had not at length prevailed, the whole city had been laid in blood. The rest of Gaul was alarmed to such a degree, that, wherever the army approached, whole cities, with the magistrates at their head, went forth in a sup-
1 For the numerous vices of Vitellius, see Suetonius, Life of Vitel- iius, s. 17.
• Suetonius, Life of Vitellius, s. 8.
46' THE HISTORY. [B. L
pliant manner to sue for mercy. Women and children were prostrated along the ways, and every other means of appeas- ing hostile rage offered to them, not because they were at war, but for the preservation of peace.
64. At the capital city of the Leucians, Valens received intelligence of the murder of Galba, and the accession of Otho. The news made no impression on the soldiers : un- moved by joy or fear, they thought of nothing but the spoils of war. 1 he Gauls had now no motive for hesitation : Otho and Vitellius were equally objects of their detestation ; but they also feared the latter. The Lingones, a people well dis- posed toward Vitellius, were the next they came to : they met with a friendly reception, and sought to outdo each other in good conduct. But this delightful intercourse was interrupt- ed by the intemperance of the cohort which had been sep- arated, as already mentioned, from the fourteenth legion,1 and by Valens incorporated with his army. Opprobrious language passed between the legionaries and the Batavians ; from words contention arose : the soldiers entered into the dispute, and joined the different parties. The quarrel rose to such a pitch, that, if Valens had not interposed, and by making a few ex- amples recalled the Batavians to a sense of their duty, a bloody battle must have been the consequence. A pretext for falling on the .^Eduans was sought in vain by the army; but that people not only complied with the demand of money and arms, but added a voluntary supply of provision. What was thus done by the ^duans through motives of fear, the people of Lyons performed with joy. From that city the Italic legion and the Taurinian cavalry were ordered to join the army. The eighteenth cohort, which had been used to winter there,2 was left in garrison. Manlius Valens at that time commanded the Italic legion : he had rendered good service to the cause, but he was not held in esteem by Vitel- lius. The fact was, Fabius Valens, the commander-in-chief, had given a secret stab to his reputation, and, that he might be the less disposed to suspect his deception, he praised him in public.
65. The late war had kindled afresh the deadly feud which had long subsisted between the people of Lyons and the in-
1 See above, c. 69.
* This cohort was usually quartered at Lyons. See Annals, iii, 41.
c. 66.] FEUD BETWEEN LYONS AND VIENNE. 47
habitants of Vienne. In the various battles, which they had fought with alternate success, and prodigious slaughter, it was visible that so much animosity was not the mere effect of par- ty rage in a contest between Nero and Galba. Galba, taking occasion from his displeasure,1 had wrested their revenues out of the hands of the people of Lyons, and confiscated them to the imperial treasury, while their enemies enjoyed the fa- vors of the emperor. Hence a new source of jealousy and complaint, and the natural boundary of a single river2 was insufficient to prevent their mingling in strife. Accordingly the citizens of Lyons excited the legions against their rivals ; they talked with the soldiers, man by man, and urged them to the destruction of Vienne. " Lyons," they said, " had been besieged by them ; they had taken up arms in the cause of Vindex, and lately raised recruits to complete the legions in the service of Galba." And when they had laid these grounds for hatred, they showed them that there was abundance of booty. They now no longer depended on secret practices, but openly preferred their petition, imploring the army to march forth, the redressers of wrong, and raze to the ground a city that had been the nursery of war, a nucleus of foreigners and foes. " Lyons," they said, " was a confeder- ate colony, a portion of the army, sharers in the good or evil fortune of the empire." They implored the legions not to leave them, in the event of a failure in the expedition, at the mercy of their implacable enemies.
66. These means, and more of the same kind, had their effect ; and the flame rose to such a height, that the com- manders and other officers despaired of being able to extin- guish it ; when the inhabitants of Vienne, having notice of their danger, came forth, bearing the suppliant vestments and fillets.3 They met the Romans on their march, and, clasping their weapons, their knees, and feet, turned the soldiers from their purpose. Fabius Valens added a gift of three hundred
1 The people of Lyons waged war against Vindex, and on that ac- count, Galba made them feel his resentment.
s The cities of Lyons and Vienne were separated by the river Rho- (lanus, now the Rhone.
3 Olive branches and sacred vestments were usually displayed in eases of distress, when the conquered sued for mercy. Compare, "Ra- mos olese ac velamenta supplicum porrigentes, orare, ut reciperent •ese, receptosque tutarentur " — Livy, lib. xxiv. 30.
48 THE HISTORY. ' [B. L
sesterces to each man. Then the colony was respected for its worth and ancient dignity. The general pleaded tor the safety and preservation of the inhabitants, and was heard with at- tention. The state, however, was obliged to furnish a supply of arms. Individuals assisted the soldiers from their private and ordinary resources. The uniform report, however, was, that the people purchased the protection of the commander- in-chief with a large sum of money. This much is certain, that, after being for a long time depressed with poverty, he grew suddenly rich, but ill concealed his affluence. His ap- petites had been whetted by protracted indigence, and now, when fortune smiled, he knew no bounds. A begjrar in his youth, he was, in old age, a voluptuous prodigal. The army proceeded by slow marches through the territory of the Allo- brogians, and thence to the Vocontians ; the general, during the whole progress, making his market at every place, and selling his favors for a sum of money. For a bribe he fixed the length of each day's march, and shifted his camp for a price, driving disgraceful bargains with the owners of the lands and the magistrates of the several cities ; and that with such cruelty, that fire-brands were prepared to burn the municipal town of Lucus, in the territory of the Vocontians ; but he was softened by the payment of a sum of money. Where the means of giving money were wanting, prostitutions and adul- teries were required to appease him. In this manner Valens arrived at the Alps.
67. Caecina, in his progress, obtained a greater quantity of booty and shed more blood. The Helvetians1 provoked his ferocious spirit. Originally a Gallic nation, they were re- nowned in former times for their valor and exploits in war. Of late years the history of their ancestors was their only glory. Not having heard of the death of Galba, they were unwilling to acknowledge Vitellius. Occasion of quarrel was afforded by the rapacity and eagerness of the twenty-first le- gion, who seized the money sent to pay the troops in a fort,
1 The territory of the Helvetii was a part of Celtic Gaul, more ex- tensive than what is now called Switzerland. The people are cele- brated by Julius Cffisar for their military virtue, and constant warfare with the Germans: "Helvetii reliquos Gallos virtute prsecedunt, quod fere quotidianis prseliis cum Germanis contendant, cum aut suis finibus cos prohibent, aut ipsi in eorum finibus bellum gerunt." — Bell. GitlL lib. i. 1.
c. 68.] CAECINA CHASTISES THE HELVETIANS. 49
where the Helvetians had immemorially maintained a gar- rison. The indignant people intercepted a small party on their way to Pannonia, with letters from the German army to the legions stationed in that country, and detained in cus- tody a centurion with some of his soldiers. Caecina, who thirsted for war, proceeded to punish each offense as it oc- curred, without allowing time for repentance. He marched eagerly against the Helvetians, and, having laid waste the country, sacked a place, built, during the leisure of a long peace, in the form of a municipal town, and, from the attrac- tion of its salubrious waters, much frequented.1 He also sent dispatches to the Rhaetian auxiliaries, with orders to fall upon the rear of the Helvetians, while their attention was oc- cupied by the legion.
68. The spirit of the Helvetians, fierce while the danger was at a distance, began to droop when it was present. In the beginning of these hostilities they had chosen Claudius Severus to command their forces ; but they neither knew the use of their arms nor the methods of discipline, nor were they able to act in concert with their united force. The contest, they now perceived, must be destruction, with a veteran army ; and their fortifications being every where in decay, to stand a siege was hopeless. On one side, Caecina advanced at the head of a powerful army ; on the other, were the cavalry and auxiliary forces from Rhaetia, with the youth of that country, inured to arms, and trained in habits of war. The country was laid waste on all sides, and its inhabitants put to the sword. The Helvetians betook themselves to flight ; and, after shifting about between the two forces, many of them wounded and straggling, they threw down their arms, and fled for refuge to the mountain named Vocetius. Forthwith a band of Thracians was sent, which dislodged them ; when the Germans and Rhaetians, closely pursuing them, slew them as they found them in the woods, and in their very hiding-places. Several thousands were put to the sword, and as many sold to slavery. And when, having spread desolation through the country, the army marched to the siege of Aventicum, the capital city of the Helvetians, the inhabitants sent deputies to
1 Brotier says, this place was called in ancient inscriptions, "Res- publica Aquensis," on account of the salubrity of the waters. He sup- poses it to be the modern Baden. VOL. II— C
50 THE HISTORY. [B. L
surrender at discretion. Their submission was accepted. Ju- lius Alpinus, one of the leading chiefs, charged with being the author of the war, was by order of Ca3cina publicly executed. The rest were left to the mercy or resentment of Vitellius.
69. The Helvetians sent their embassadors to the new emperor ; but which was most implacable, he or his army, it is difficult to decide. The soldiers clamored for the utter destruction of the whole race. They brandished their arms in the face of the embassadors, and threatened violence. Vi- tellius himself refrained not from abuse and menaces. At length Claudius Corsus, one of the deputies, a remarkably elo- quent man, but concealing his oratorical artifices under a well- acted trepidation, which made him the more effective, melted the hearts of the soldiery, liable as they are, like those of the common people generally, to be diverted from their purpose by occurrences of the moment, and as prone to compassion as they were before extravagant in their rage. After tor- rents of tears, and by importunately soliciting milder treat- ment, they obtained impunity, and saved their city from de- struction.
70. Csecina, waiting for further instructions from Vitellius, and, at the same time, making arrangements for his passage over the Alps, halted for a few days in the territory of the Helvetians. In that situation, he received intelligence that the squadron of horse called Sylla's squadron, at that time quartered on the banks of the Po, had sworn fidelity to Vitel- lius. They had formerly served under Vitellius, when he was the proconsular governor of Africa.1 Nero, when he projected an expedition into Egypt, ordered them to sail for that coun- try ; but, being soon after alarmed by the commotions stirred
ip by Vindex, he called them back to Italy, where they re- mained from that time. Their officers, unacquainted with Otho, and closely connected with Vitellius, espoused the in- terest of the latter. By representing to the men the strength of the legions then on their march to the invasion of Italy, and by extolling the valor of the German armies, they drew the whole squadron into their party. As some proof of their zeal for their new prince, they attracted to his interest the chief municipal towns on the other side of the Po, namely,
1 Vitellius had administered the affairs of this province with an un- blemished reputation. Suetonius, Life of Vitellius. s. 5.
c. 71.] (LECINA ADVANCES INTO ITALY. 51
Mediolannm, Novaria, Eporedia, and Vercellae. Of this fact Csecina was apprised by dispatches from the officers. But a single squadron, he knew, was not sufficient to defend so large a tract of country. In order to reinforce them, he sent for- ward the cohorts of Gaul, Lusitania, and Britain, with the succors from Germany, and the squadron of horse called the Ala Petrina.1 How he himself should pass into Italy, was his next consideration. His first plan was to march over the lihaetian mountains, in order to make a descent into Noricum, where Petronius Urbicus, the governor of the province, sup- posed to be a partisan in Otho's service, was busy in collecting forces, and destroying the bridges over the rivers. But this enterprise was soon relinquished. The detachment already sent forward might be cut off, and, after all, the secure pos- session of Italy was the important object. The issue of the war, wherever decided, would draw after it all inferior places, and Noricum would fall, by consequence, into the hands of the conqueror. He therefore ordered the reserves to proceed over the Penine heights, and marched the heavy-armed legions over the Alps, through all the rigors of the winter season.
71. Otho, in the mean time, to the surprise of all, ceased to loiter in voluptuousness and inglorious ease ; he postponed his pleasures, suppressed his luxury, and framed his whole deportment suitably to the dignity of empire. And yet the change created increased terror : men knew that his virtues were counterfeited, and they dreaded a return of his former vices. He ordered Marius Celsus, the consul elect, whom he had put in irons in order to rescue him from the soldiers,2 to appear before him in the Capitol. To acquire the fame of clemency, by releasing a man of illustrious character, and well known to be an enemy to Otho and his party, was the object of his ambition. Celsus, with unshaken constancy, confessed the crime of adhering faithfully to Galba, and challenged his gratitude for the example he had set. Otho, not because he forgave him, but lest his enemy should suspect the sincerity of his reconciliation, at once received Celsus among his in- timate friends, and, in a short time afterward, appointed
1 The squadron of horse called Ala Petrina had been stationed in Cumberland, as appears by an inscription given in Camden's Britannia.
3 Otho, to appease the fury of the soldiers, had thrown Mariug Cel- sus into prison. See c. 45 of this book.
52 THE HISTORY. [B. L
him one of his generals to conduct the war ; and Celsus, as it were by a fatality, continued strictly faithful to Otho, and thus brought ruin upon himself. The clemency of the prince gave great satisfaction to the leading men at Rome : the populace applauded, and even by the soldiers, who admired the virtue which had excited their anger, it was not ill received.
72. The joy excited on this occasion was followed by an event no less acceptable, but for reasons of a different nature. SophoniusTigellinus,1 a man of low parentage, stained in his youth with the worst impurities, and in his advanced years abandoned to lechery, having been rapidly elevated, by the help of his vices, to the command, first of the city cohorts, afterward of the prsetorian guards, and other offices due to virtue only, soon gave way to cruelty, then to avarice and the enormities of maturer years. Having gained an entire ascendant over the affections of Nero, he was, in some in- stances, the adviser of the horrors committed by that prince, and in others the chief actor, without the knowledge of his master, whom, in the end, he deserted and betrayed. Hence it was that the blood of none was ever demanded with such importunate clamor by the men who detested the memory of Nero, and those who regretted him, though under opposite feelings. During the short reign of Galba, he lived secure under the protection of Titus Vinius, who alleged that he had saved the life of his daughter: and so he undoubtedly had: but humanity could not have been his motive, so much inno- cent blood as he had shed ; but to secure a refuge thereafter. Such, at all times, is the policy of the worst of men : placing no trust in the continuance of their present prosperity, they dread a reverse of fortune, and lay up for themselves in pri- vate gratitude a refuge against public odium. The conse- quence is, that they are wholly unconcerned about innocence, and look only to the reciprocation of impunity. But the friendship of Vinius, who was still remembered with detesta- tion, was an additional spur to the populace. They crowded together from all quarters ; they surrounded the palace ; they filled the forum ; and in the circus and the theatre, where licentiousness is most apt to show itself, they clamored, with a degree of violence little short of sedition, for the punish- ment of a vile malefactor. Tigellinus was then at the baths 1 Tigelliuus has been often mentioned. See Annals, xiv. 57 ; xv. 37-
c. 74.] VAIN ATTEMPTS AT ACCOMMODATION. 53
of Sinuessa.1 Orders were sent to him to put a period to his life. He received the fatal news in a circle of his concubines : he took leave with tenderness ; and, after mutual embraces, and other unseemly delays, he cut his throat with a razor, — by the pusillanimity of his last moments aggravating even the infamy of his former life.
73. About the same time, the execution of Calvia Cris- pinilla2 was demanded by the public voice ; but by various artifices, in which the duplicity of the prince covered him with dishonor, she was saved from danger. She had been, in the reign of Nero, the professed teacher of lascivious pleas- ures, and, in the various scenes of that emperor, the caterer for his appetites. She passed afterward into Africa, and, having instigated Clodius Macer3 to revolt, was known to have been an accomplice in the plot to cause a famine in the city of Rome. But being married soon after to a man of consular rank, and, by that connection, gaining a powerful interest, during the reigns of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, she lived in perfect security. In the following reign, her riches and her want of children placed her in a flourishing state: two circumstances which, in good as well as evil times, are sure to have weight.
74. Otho, in the mean time, sent frequent letters to Vitel- lius, in the. alluring style of female persuasion ; he offered him money, favor, and whatever retreat he chose for his vo- luptuous enjoyments. Vitellius offered similar terms ; at first in a soothing strain : and both displaying the most absurd and degrading hypocrisy. Then, in a tone of angry alter- cation, they charged each other with criminal pleasures and flagitious deeds: both with truth. Otho recalled the depu- ties who had been sent by Galba, and, in their room, dis- patched others to the German army, to the Italic legion, and the troops quartered at Lyons, with instructions to negotiate in the name of the senate. The men employed in this em- bassy tarried with Vitellius, and, by their prompt compliance, left little room to think that they were detained by force. Under pretense of doing honor to the embassy, Otho had sent a detachment of the praetorian guards. Not suffering them to
1 For Sinuessa, see Annals, xii. 66, note.
2 For Calvia Crispinilla, see Plutarch's Life of Galba. 8 Compare c. 7 of this book.
54 THE HISTORY. [B. i.
mix with the soldiers, Vitellius ordered them to return with- out delay. Fabius Valens took the opportunity to write, in the name of the German army, to the prastorian guards. His letters, in a style of magnificence, set forth the strength of the party, and, at the same time, offered terms of accord. He condemned the forward zeal with which they presumed to transfer to Otho an empire which had been so long before as- signed to Vitellius..
75. He so mingled promises with threats as to treat the praetorians as men unequal in the war, while assuring them that they would lose nothing by peace. These letters, how- ever, were without effect. The praetorians continued firm in their duty. But secret emissaries were sent by Otho into Germany, and others by Vitellius to Rome. Both parties missed their aim. Those of Vitellius escaped unhurt amidst so vast a concourse of people, where all were strangers to each other; while, on the other hand, in a camp where all were known to each other, the men employed by Otho were soon discovered by the novelty of their faces. Vitellius sent let- ters to Titianus, the brother of Otho, threatening, if any vio- lence was offered to his mother or his children,1 to make re- prisals, and put both him and his son to death. Both fami- lies remained unhurt. As long as Otho lived, fear might be the motive: Vitellius, as conqueror, obtained the praise of acting from clemency.
76. The first occurrence that inspired Otho with confi- dence in his cause, was an account from Illyricum, that the legions of Dalmatia, of Pannonia, and Mossia, had declared in his favor. Advices from Spain brought the like intelligence ; and in a public edict, honorable mention was made of Clu- vius Rufus, the governor of the province ; but immediately after, it was ascertained that Spain had gone over to Vitel- lius. Not even the people of Aquitaine, though, under the influence of Julius Cordus, they had sworn obedience to Otho, continued long firm. Every where affection and truth were banished. Fear, and the necessity of the times, compelled men to shift from side to side. The same principle of fear attached Narbon Gaul to Vitellius. A party in force, and near at hand, found no difficulty in bringing them over. The distant provinces, and all places separated by the sea,
1 See Suetonius, Life of Vitellius, s. 6.
c. 77.] THE PROVINCES DECLARE FOR OTHO. 55
adhered to Oth o, not from regard for his party, but because there was vast weight in the name of the city, and in the assumption of the authority of the senate. Besides this, Otho, being the first announced in foreign parts, had preoc- cupied their minds. The army in Judaea under Vespasian and that in Syria under Mucianus, swore fidelity to Otho. Egypt, and all the provinces eastward, acknowledged his au- thority. The same submission prevailed in Africa, the people of Carthage having set the example. Without waiting for the authority of Vipsanius Apronianus, the proconsul, a public treat was given by Crescens, one of Nero's freedmen, (for it is usual in evil times for such characters as Crescens to put them- selves forward in public affairs,) in testimony of their joy at the recent succession ; and many other things were done by the populace in a premature and intemperate manner. The rest of Africa followed the example of Carthage.
77. In this posture of affairs, while the armies and the sev- eral provinces embraced opposite interests, it was evident that Vitellius, to secure his title, had nothing left but the decision of the sword. Otho, in the mean time, remained at Rome, discharging all the functions of the sovereign power, as if he was established in profound tranquillity. His conduct, in some instances, was such as became the dignity of the state; but his measures, for the most part, were hastily adopted, the mere expedients of the day. He named himself and his bro- ther Titianus joint consuls,1 to continue in office till the cal-
J The number of consuls in the course of this eventful year was so great, that it will be well to place the list in one view before the eye of the reader: —
A.U.C. 823. (A.D. 70.)
On the Cal. of Jan. (Hist. i. 1.) ..... j On the Cal. of March (Hist. i. 77.) . . . j
On the Cal. of yay (Hist. i. 770 . . . - j
On the Cal. of July (Hist. i. 77.).... | On the Cal. of Sept. (Hist. i. 77.)....
Csecina being pronounced a traitor by the senate, on the last day of the year, the consul for that single day was Rosius Regulus. Hist. iii. 37
56 THE HISTORY. [B. i.
ends of March. For the two following months with a view to conciliate the German army, he appointed Verginius, and gave him for his colleague Pompeius Vopiscus. For the nom- ination of the latter he pretended motives of friendship ; but, as men of penetration thought, his real view was to pay court to the people of Vienne. With regard to future consuls, no alteration was made in the arrangement settled by Nero or by Galba. Caelius Sabinus and his brother Flavius were to succeed for the months of May and June. From the first of July to September, Arrius Antoninus1 and Marius Celsus were to be in office. Nor did even Vitellius, after his victory, dis- turb this order of succession. Otlio thought proper to grant the augural and pontifical dignities, as the summit of civil honors, to senators grown gray in public stations ; and, as a solace to the young patricians lately recalled from banish- ment, he recompensed them with the sacerdotal honors which had been enjoyed by their ancestors. Cadi us Rufus, Pedius Blaesus,2 and Ssevinus Pomtinus, who under Claudius or Nero had been charged with extortion, and expelled the senate, were restored to their rank. In pardoning them, it was thought proper to give the name of treason to what was, in fact, ava- rice ; for such was the odium that attached to the law of trea- son at that time, that even good laws were defeated under it.
78. Otho, by similar acts of liberality, essayed to work upon the minds of men in the cities and provinces. To the colonies of Hispalis and Emerita,3 he added a number of fam- ilies: the Lingones were honored with the privileges of Ro- man citizens, and to the province of Baetica all the Moorish cities were annexed. The new codes of laws given to Cap- padocia and Africa, were rather the visions of a moment than lasting possessions. Even while occupied in these measures, for which an apology might be found in the force of present circumstances, and considerations of urgent importance, he was not forgetful of his amours, but procured the restoration of Poppaea's statues by a decree of the senate. There is reason to think, that, with a view to popularity, he intended
1 Arrius Antoninus was grandfather to Antoninus Pius, the up- right and virtuous emperor. See Pliny's letters to him, iv. 3, 18 ; v. 10.
1 For Cadius Rufus, see Annals, xii. 22. For Pedius Blaesus, see An- nals, xiv. 18.
1 These places are now respectively Seville in Andalusia, and M* rida in Estremadura.
c. 79. J THE SARMATIANS DEFEATED. 57
to celebrate the memory of Nero with public honors. Many were for erecting the statues of that emperor,1 and even pro- posed it as a public measure. The populace and the soldiers, as if they meant to decorate their emperor with additional splendor, saluted him by the title of Nero Otho. He himself held the honor in abeyance, — perhaps unwilling to reject it, perhaps ashamed to accept it.
79. The public mind being now intent on a civil war, for- eign affairs were neglected. Emboldened by this state of things, the Rhoxolanians,2 a people of Sarmatia, who in the preceding winter had cut off two entire cohorts, and thence conceived high hopes, made an irruption into Moesia,3 with nine thousand horse. Naturally presumptuous, and elated with their success, they were more intent on plunder than fighting. They prowled about in quest of prey, without order, or apprehension of an enemy, when, on a sudden, they found themselves hemmed in by the third legion and their auxilia- ries. The Romans advanced in order of battle. The Sarma- tians, overloaded with booty, were taken by surprise. On a damp and slippery soil, the swiftness of their horses was of no use. Unable to retreat, they were cut to pieces, more like men bound in fetters, than soldiers armed for the field of bat- tle. It may seem strange, but it is not less true, that the courage of the Sarmatians has no inward principle, but de- pends altogether upon external circumstances. In an engage- ment with the infantry, nothing can be more dastardly ; in an onset of the cavalry, they are almost irresistible. But on this occasion, the day being rainy, and there being a thaw, neither their weapons, long spears, nor sabres of an enormous size, which they wield with both hands, were of any service, from the slipping of their horses and the weight of their coats of mail ; for their chiefs wear coats of mail, formed with plates of iron, or the tough hides of animals, impenetrable to the en- emy, but to themselves an encumbrance so unwieldy, that he who falls in battle is never able to rise again. They were also overwhelmed by the depth and softness of the snow. The Romans, unencumbered by their breast-plates, and galling their
1 See Suetonius, Life of Otho, s. 7.
2 A people inhabiting the country between the Dnieper and the Don, in tli e south of Russia.
* The modern Servift and Bulgaria. C2
58 THE HISTORY. [u. L
enemy with their missive weapons or their lances, and, when occasion served, coming to close quarters, smote the defense- less Sarmatians with their light swords, for the Sarmatians are not accustomed to protect themselves with shields. The few who escaped from the slaughter fled for refuge to their fens and marshes, and there died of their wounds, or perished under the inclemency of the season. An account of this transaction being received at Rome, a triumphal statue was decreed to Marcus Aponius, then governor of Moesia. Ful- vius Aurelius, Julianus Titius, and Numisius Lupus, all three commanders of legions, obtained the consular ornaments : while Otho was delighted with the occurrence, and assumed the merit of the victory, boasting that he too was fortunate in war, and that, by his generals and his armies, he had aggrand- ized the commonwealth.
80. Meanwhile, from a cause of a trifling nature, and threatening no kind of danger, a violent sedition well-nigh in- volved the city in ruin. The seventeenth cohort, then quar- tered at Ostia, had orders to remove to Rome. The care of providing them with arms was committed to Varius Oispi- nus, a tribune of the praetorian bands. That officer, to exe- cute his orders with the less noise, opened the magazine of arms, and ordered the wagons of the cohort to be loaded at the close of day. The lateness of the hour filled the men with suspicion : the intention seemed dark and dangerous, and the affectation of secrecy had the effect of producing tumult. The soldiers were in liquor, and the sight of their arms suggested a desire to use them. They murmured, they complained ; they charged the tribunes and centurions with treachery, de- claring aloud, that a dark conspiracy was formed, with inten- tion to arm the slaves and domestics of the senators against the life of Otho. Some were stupefied with liquor, and com- prehended nothing: the profligate availed themselves of the opportunity to commit plunder ; and the multitude, as usual, were ready to mix in any sudden commotion. Those who regarded discipline and good order were undistinguished in the dark. The tribune who attempted to restrain their fury, and the strictest of the centurions, were murdered on the spot. The soldiers seized their arms ; they mounted their horses, and, entering the city sword in hand, rushed in a body to the imperial palace.
c. 82.] PANIC AMONG THE SOLDIERS. 59
81. Otho was engaged at a grand entertainment, to which he had invited the most distinguished of both sexes. A sud- den terror seized the whole company. "Was it an accidental fray among the soldiers, or the perfidy of the emperor 1 would it be more dangerous to stay and be taken ; or fly and dis- perse ? Now they made a show of resolution ; now their fears showed themselves : at the same time fixing their eyes on Otho. As usual when suspicion is awakened in the mind, they were afraid of Otho, while he stood trembling for him- eelf ; alarmed as much on account of the danger which threat- ened the senate as his own, he ordered the two praetorian com- manders to go forth, in order to appease the tumult, and advised his guests to depart as quickly as possible. Then indeed the magistrates threw aside the ensigns of their office, on all hands, and dispensed with their friends and their attendants. Old men and women of distinction wandered about in the dark, they knew not whither. Few dared to venture toward their own habitations. The greatest part sought precarious shelter at the houses of their friends and the meanest of their dependents.
82. The madness of the soldiers was not to be controlled. They burst the palace gates, and rushed forward to the ban- queting-room, demanding a sight of Otho. Julius Martialis, one of the tribunes, and Vitellius Saturninus, the prsefect of the legion, in opposing the torrent were both wounded. No- thing was to be seen but arms, and nothing heard but threats, now against the centurions, and at times against the whole body of the senate : the soldiers, in a state of frantic alarm, of which they knew not the cause, having no particular vic- tim in view, demanded liberty to slaughter indiscriminately. At length Otho, forgetting the majesty of empire, stood upon his couch, and by tears and supplications succeeded, but with great difficulty, in restraining them. The men retired to the camp with a sullen spirit, and not without guilt. On the fol- lowing day Rome had the appearance of a city taken by as- sault. The houses were shut, the streets deserted, the popu- lace in a general panic. The soldiers wandered about with eyes fixed on the earth, discontented rather than repentant. The two praefects, Licinius Proculus and Plotius Firmus, went round to the several companies, and harangued the men, each according to his own peculiar temper, in soothing terms, or in a style of reproach. A distribution of five thousand sesterces
60 THE HISTORY. [B. i.
to each man concluded the business. The tumult over, Otho ventured to enter the camp. The tribunes and centurions gath- ered round him, but without the military ornaments of their rank, praying to be dismissed from the service, that they might live in ease and safety. The soldiers felt the request as a re- proach. They expressed their willingness to return to their duty, and, of their own motion, desired to see the authors of the insurrection brought to punishment.
83. In this conjuncture, when the times were big with danger, and a discordant soldiery heightened the distraction ; when all the best men called for a reform of the present dis- orders, but the common herd and the majority, who liked nothing so well as tumult and insurrections, under the con- duct of an ambitious leader, might be more easily impelled to a civil war, in a scene of tumult and rapine ; Otho, reflect- ing that power obtained by guilt is not to be maintained bv a sudden transition to order and the rigor of ancient manners, and yet distressed at the danger that hung over the city and the Roman senate, after weighing the matter in all its bear- ings, delivered himself to the following effect: "I come not now, my fellow-soldiers, to excite your zeal for me, nor to add new ardor to your courage by exhortation : of both, to your honor be it spoken, you have enough, and to spare. But I come to request that you would moderate the impetuosity of your courage, and put limits to your affection for me. In the late tumult, it was not the love of plunder, nor ill-will, that impelled you : motives from which discord and mutiny have broken out in various armies. Nor was it the fear of danger, or so much as a wish to shrink from your duty. It was your excessive regard for me, which gave you up to the impulse of passion, rather than to prudence : for where judgment does not direct, it often happens that the most honorable motives of action produce fatal results. We are going forth to a wrar. And must all intelligence be communicated to the army? Must every secret be disclosed? And must councils of war be held in a public assembly of the soldiers ? Does the reason of things, and the opportunity, which must be seized at once or lost for ever, allow such a mode of proceeding1? It is as fitting that the soldier should be ignorant of some things, as that he should know others. The authority of generals, and the strictness of discipline, are such, that even the tribunes
c. 84.] OTHO'S ADDRESS TO THE TROOPS. 61
and the centurions must often receive their orders without a reason assigned. If every subaltern may discuss the reasons of his orders, discipline is at an end, and the authority of the commander falls to the ground. And shall the soldier, even at such a juncture, seize his arms in the dead of the night? Shall one or two drunken men (in last night's frenzy I do not believe there were more) imbrue their hands in the blood of a centurion and a tribune, and rush into the pavilion of their general ?
84. "You, my fellow-soldiers, have transgressed thus in your zeal for me. But amidst that general hurry and confu- sion, and in the gloom of midnight darkness, an opportunity might have been given for an attack on me. Give Vitellius and his satellites the power of choosing, and what greater curse could they invoke ? what calamity could they call down upon us, so much to be dreaded, as a turbulent and factious spirit, and all the evils of discord and sedition? — that the soldier should refuse to obey his centurion ; the centurion his tribune ; and that hence the cavalry and the foot soldiers, without order or distinction, should rush into destruction ? It is implicit obedience rather than wrangling about orders, that gives to military operations their energy.1 The army that shows itself in time of peace the most quiet and orderly, is sure to be the most formidable in the day of battle. Let it be yours to arm in the cause of your country, and to face the enemy with heroic valor ; and leave to me the direction and guidance of your courage. The guilt of last night extends to a few only; two only shall expiate the offense. And you, the rest, bury in oblivion the horrors of that shameful tumult ; and may no other army hear those dreadful imprecations uttered against a Roman senate. That vener- able body, the head of the empire, and the ornaments of all the provinces, not even those Germans, whom, above all others, Vitellius is exciting against us, would dare to demand for punishment. And could any of the sons of Italy, and the genuine youth of Rome, demand for blood and slaughter,
1 Compare a speech of Paulus ^Ernilius to the same effect: "Unum imperatorem in exercitu providere et consulere, quid agendum sit, debere, nunc per se, mine cum iis quos advocaverit in consilium. ID quo exercitu, milites, consul, et imperator, rumoribus vulgi circuma- guntur, ibi nihil salutare esse." — Livy, lib. xliv. 34*
62 THE HISTORY. l> i
an order, by whose splendor and renown we dazzle the low and obscure party of Vitellius ? Some states, it is true, have been induced to join his standard; he has the appearance of an army ; but the senate is on our side. The commonwealth is with us ; our enemies are the enemies of Home. And when I mention Rome, do you imagine that it consists in walls, and buildings, and a pile of stones'? Those mute and senseless edifices may moulder away, and rise again ; but the stability of empire, the peace of nations, your fate and mine, are estab- lished on the safety of the senate. Romulus, the father and founder of the city, instituted, with solemn auspices, that sa- cred order. From that time till the establishment of the Ca3- sars, it has been preserved inviolate; and as we received it from our ancestors, let us transmit it to our posterity : for as from the people at large the senate is supplied, so from the sen- ate you derive your princes."
85. This speech, adapted as it was to rebuke and soothe the irritated soldiery, as well as the moderation of the prince, who punished only two of the mutineers, gave general satisfaction ; and those who were too fierce to be controlled, were quieted for the present. Rome, however, was not in a state of tran- quillity. A constant din of arms was heard, and warlike preparations were seen in every quarter. The soldiers did not, as before, riot in tumultuous bodies ; but, being dispersed throughout the city, they insinuated themselves into houses in disguise, where they watched, with malignant purpose, the motions of all who by their nobility, their wealth, or their talents, were eminent enough to be objects of calumny. A report prevailed at the same time, that Vitellius had a num- ber of emissaries dispersed among the populace, to act as spies, and observe the state of parties. Hence jealousy, mistrust, and fear. No man thought himself safe under his own roof. Abroad and under the eye of the public the alarm was still greater. Whatever was the rumor of the day, all were obliged to set their faces for the occasion : if bad, they were afraid of seeming to despond ; and if propitious, unwilling to be thought backward in demonstrations of joy. The fathers assembled in the senate-house had a hard task to observe the due mean under all circumstances, lest their silence might be thought sullen discontent, and liberty of speech excite jealousy. Otho, too, so lately a subject and a flatterer himself, was
c. 86.] PRODIGIES AND OMENS. ' 63
acquainted with the arts of adulation. The fathers, there- fore, tortured their expressions, and diversified them in all manner of ways, while calling Vitellius a public enemy and a parricide. Men who looked forward to their own security, were content with hackneyed declamation ; others poured out well-merited invectives, but in the midst of noise and clamor, and when a number were speaking at once, or they rendered themselves unintelligible by a confused torrent of words.
86. A number of prodigies, announced from different quar- ters, aggravated the panic. The Goddess of Victory, in the vestibule of the Capitol, let the reins of two horses, harnessed to her chariot, fall from her hand. A form of more than human size was seen to issue from the chapel of Juno. In an island in the Tiber,1 the statue of Julius Caesar, without any apparent cause, on a day perfectly serene and calm, turned round from the west to the east. In Etruria an ox was said to have spoken ; animals brought forth monstrous births ; and to these were added a variety of preternatural appearances, such as in rude and barbarous ages were observed even in profound peace, though of late years they are only heard of in a time of public distress. But the great source of alarm, was an inundation of the Tiber, coupling as it did a present calamity with an omen of future ill. The waters swelled above their banks, and overflowed the adjacent coun- try ; the Sublician bridge2 was carried away by the flood ; and the ruins that fell in, obstructing the course of the river, the torrent was thrown back, so that not only the level parts of the city, but even the higher grounds, where no such casualty was apprehended, were covered with water. The people in the streets were carried away, and numbers were cut off in their shops, and in their beds. The common people were exposed to famine, want of employment, and scarcity of the materials of subsistence. The stagnant waters sapped the foundations of the plebeians' houses, and when the flood re- turned into its channel, they fell. The sensation produced by this disaster was no sooner over, than a new occurrence
1 The isle in the Tiber, now called Isola di St. Bartolomeo.
2 The Sublician Bridge, so called, because built on wooden piles. A foundation of solid marble was laid afterward: nothing remains at present but the ruins.
64 'fHE HISTORY. -[B. i
spread a general terror. Otho was preparing to set out on his expedition : his way was over the field of Mars, and the Flaminian road ; but both places were impassable. This cir- cumstance, though accidental, or the effect of natural causes, was magnified into a prodigy, by which the gods denounced the slaughter of armies, and a train of public calamities.
87. Having purified the city, and weighed the various plans for the conduct of the war, as the Penine and the Cottian Alps, with all the passes into the Gauls, were in the posses- sion of Vitellius and his armies, Otho resolved to make a descent on Narbon Gaul, with a fleet well manned, and firmly attached to his party ; for having formed into a legion all who survived the massacre at the Milvian bridge, and had been, by Galba's orders, thrown into prison, he had inspired all the others with the like hopes of preferment. To his fleet he added the city cohorts, and a considerable detachment from the praetorian guards, the strength and flower of his army ; and adapted to assist the counsels, and keep an eye upon the fidelity of the generals themselves. The conduct of the ex- pedition was committed to Antonius Novellus and Suedius Clemens, centurions of principal rank, and .^Emilius Pacensis, a tribune degraded by Galba, whom he had restored to his rank. A freedman, Oscus, directed the operations of the fleet, having been solicited to act as a spy on better men than himself. The horse and infantry were put under the command of Suetonius Paulinus, Marius Celsus, and Annius Gallus. But in Licinius Proculus, praefect of the praetorians, Otho reposed his chief confidence. This officer, in time of peace, discharged his duties with ability, but he had seen no service ; and by placing in an invidious light the several talents of the generals, the authority of Paulinus, the ardor of Celsus, and the judgment of Gallus, this depraved and crafty character rose superior to men of unassuming worth ; a task very easy to be performed.
88. About that time Cornelius Dolabella was, by his order, conveyed under a guard to the Aquinian colony, to be kept out of the way in undisguised but not close confinement. His only crime was the antiquity of his family, and his affinity to Galba. Several magistrates, and others of consular rank, had it in command to attend Otho on his expedition, not to assist in the war by their counsels or their valor, but to swell the
c. 89.] PUBLIC FEELING AT ROME. 65
pomp of the emperor's retinue. In the number was Lucius Vitellius, who was suffered to mix with the rest of the train, undistinguished either as the brother of one emperor, or the enemy of another. During these preparations, Rome pre- sented a scene of solicitude and confusion. No order of men was exempt from fear or anger. The principal senators, en- feebled by age. or enervated by a long peace; the nobility, sunk in sloth arid unwarlike habits ; the Roman knights, without any military experience — the more they assumed an air of confidence, the more clearly their fears were seen. Some, on the contrary, bought with vain and senseless osten- tation the most splendid armor, horses for parade, all the con- veniences of a luxurious table, and incentives to inordinate appetite, as if such implements were a necessary part of their camp-equipage. The wise and moderate thought of nothing but their own safety and the public welfare ; while the vain and heartless, whose views did not extend to remote conse- quences, filled their minds with chimerical expectations; and all who were bankrupts both in fame and fortune, hoped to find in the distractions of their country that security, which in quiet times they had never known.
89. The lower orders and the people, though from their vast numbers exempt from public cares, began, however, to feel the ill effects of war. They saw the whole revenue exhausted in the service of the army; they labored under a scarcity of provisions, whereas in the troubles stirred up by Vindex, those inconveniences had not extended to the people, as the city was tranquil, and that commotion was in the remote parts of Gaul, a foreign affair between the legions and the provincial insurgents. For from that time when Augus- tus established the power of the Caesars, the wars which the Roman people carried on, brought honor and solicitude to one person only. Under Tiberius and Caligula, the evils of peace were the dreaded calamities. The attempt of Scribo- nianus1 to shake the authority of Claudius was crushed as
• Furius Camillas Scribonianus commanded in Dalmatia, A.D. 42. Being a man of enterprise and bold ambition, he induced the soldiers to swear fidelity to himself, and went into open rebellion. His letters to the emperor Claudius were written in a tone of menace, requiring him to abdicate, and live a private citizen. In the mean time, the rebel legions returned to their duty ; Scribonianus fled to a small island of the Adriatic, on the coast of Illyricum, and there was seized and put
66 THE HISTORY. [B. i,
soon as discovered. Nero was undone by rumors and vague intelligence, not by force of arms. In the present juncture the pressure was felt at home. The fleets and legions, and, contrary to the usual practice, the prretorian bands and city cohorts, were obliged to take the field. The east and west, and the provinces in rear of the leading chiefs, were up in arms ; and, under better generals, there were ample materials for a long and difficult war. When Otho was setting out, a scruple wag started to deter him from proceeding, till the ceremony of depositing the sacred shields1 was performed. He repudiated all idea of delay, which had been the ruin of Nero, and would be so to himself. Caecina by this time had passed the Alps ; a motive which stimulated him irresistibly to exertion.
90. On the day preceding the ides of March, Otho com- mended the care of the commonwealth to the wisdom of the fathers, and ordered the property of such as had been recall- ed from banishment, since the death of Nero, to be restored to the respective owners; an act in strict conformity with justice, in appearance munificent, but of little use, as the public officers had long since seized the whole. Otho then harangued the people ; he talked in a pompous style of the consent of the senate and people in his favor, and of the majesty of the Roman citizens; but mentioned the adverse party in terms of mitigated censure, imputing to the legions error in judgment rather than a turbulent spirit. Of Vitel- lius he made no mention ; perhaps from motives of delicacy, or perhaps the writer of the speech, looking forward to his own safety, abstained from invective against Vitellius. For as in all military operations Suetonius Paulinus and Marius Celsus were Otho's advisers ; so in matters of civil adminis-
to death by Volaginius, a common soldier, on the fifth day of his re- volt. Suetonius, Life of Claudius, s. 35 ; and see below, ii. 75.
1 Numa, the founder of religious ceremonies, taught the Romans that as long as they preserved the Ancilia, or sacred shields, Rome would prove invincible, and triumph over all her enemies. Accord- ingly we read in Livy of the procession of the Salian priests, on stated days, attending the Ancilia with song and dance through the streets of Rome: "Salios coelestia arma, quae Ancilia appellantur, ferre, ac per urbem ire canentes carmina cum tripudiis solemnique saltatu jus- •erat Numa." — Livy, lib. i. 20. This institution was neglected by Otho. Suetonius, Life of Otho, s. 8.
c. 1.] OTHO MARCHES FROM ROME. 67
tration, he availed himself of the talents of Galerius Trachalus.1 There were too some who recognized the peculiar style of forensic eloquence, much in vogue at the bar, and calculated to fill the ear from its copious and high-sounding character. In conformity with the prevailing spirit of adulation, the populace received him with acclamations, and expressions of extravagant and hollow applause. They vied with each other in demonstrations of zeal and invocation of blessings, as though Caesar the dictator, or Augustus the emperor, were the object of their attentions : nor were they influenced by fear or love of him, but by an inordinate passion for slavery ; and, after the manner of domestic slaves, each was stimulated by selfish motives, and no longer felt any concern for the honor of the community. Otho, on his departure, left the preservation of the peace of the city, and the administration of the government, to the discretion of his brother, Salvius Titianus.2
BOOK II.
1. IN a distant part of the world fortune was now concerting the commencement of that series of events that originated a dynasty, under which the commonwealth experienced the extreme vicissitudes of the highest happiness and the direst affliction ;3 and the princes of which enjoyed supreme felicity, or met with a disastrous fate. While Galba still possessed the sovereign power, Titus Vespasian, by order of his father, set out from Judaea, for the purpose, as he stated, of paying
1 M. Galerius Trachalus was joint consul with Silius Italicus, A.D. 68.
3 Otho left the city of Rome on the 24th day of March, as appears from Suetonius, who mentions his neglect of the institutions relating to the Ancilia, as an inauspicious beginning of the war. Suetonius adds, that he set out on the day when all who paid their worship to the mother of the gods began the usual ceremonies. That day was the 9th of the calends of April, which answers to the 24th of March. See Suetonius, Life of Otho, s. 8.
' Under Vespasian and Titus, Rome was happy , but the govern- ment of Domitian, in whom the Flavian line terminated, was intoler able.
68 THE HISTORY. [B. n
respect to the emperor, and because he was arrived at years1 to begin the career of public honors : but the common peo- ple, who delight in surmises, believed he came to be adopted heir to the empire, and circulated the rumor. The advanced age of Galba, his want of issue, and the busy spirit of the populace in fixing upon a number of persons, as long as no one was selected, added to the probability of the report ; which derived additional credibility from the genius of Titus him- self, which was adequate to the highest elevation ; from the grace and majestic style of his person ; the flourishing state of Vespasian ; prophetic responses ;2 and even casual circum- stances, which are regarded as omens of an event which the mind is previously inclined to believe. In the city of Corinth in Achaia, Titus received intelligence of the death of Galba, and assurances from persons who had come there, that Vitel- lius was in motion at the head of an army. He carefully revolved the matter in his mind, and summoning a council of his most confidential friends, weighed all the circumstances of his predicament on either supposition. " If he proceeded to Rome, the homage intended for a prince now no more would have no merit with his successor; and to remain a hostage in the custody of Otho, or Vitellius, would, most probably, be his lot. On the other hand, if he returned, he must inevitably give umbrage to the conqueror ; and yet, as it happened while the issue of the war was uncertain, and especially if Vespasian should join the party, his son would be excused. But if Vespasian should put in a claim for the* government, he must cease to think of offenses amidst tho cares of war."
2. After oscillating for some time between hope and fear, in consequence of these and similar reflections, he yielded to hope. A change so sudden was by some imputed to his love of Queen Berenice.3 It is true he was not indifferent to her ;
1 Titus, at this time, was in his twenty-eighth year. By the favor of Narcissus, to whom Vespasian paid his court, he had been educated in the palace with Britannicus, the son of Claudius.
2 Suetonius tells us, that Narcissus consulted a fortune-teller about the destiny of Britannicus: the answer was unfavorable to the young prince, but assured Titus that lie was born to the imperial dignity. Suetonius, Life of Titus, s. 2.
* Berenice was sister to Agrippa II.4 and wife of Herod, king of Chal cis, in Syria.
c. 3.] TEMPLE OF THE PAPHIAN VENUS. 69
but it interfered not with his duties. Titus in his youth in- dulged in pleasures, and was more distinguished for self-con- trol in his own than in his father's reign. He set sail for Corinth, and after steering along the coast of Achaia and Asia, which lay to the left, he directed his course toward Rhodes and Cyprus. From those islands he went across the open sea1 to the coast of Syria. At Cyprus curiosity led him to visit the temple of the Paphian Venus, famous for the worship paid by the inhabitants, and the conflux of strangers to it. It will not perhaps be tedious to trace the origin of its worship, to describe the situation of the temple, and the form of the goddess, differing as it does entirely from what is seen in any other place.
3. The founder of the temple, if we believe ancient tradi- tion, was king .^Erias :2 a name ascribed by some writers to the goddess herself. According to a more recent opinion, the temple was built and dedicated by king Cinyras,3 on the spot where the goddess, after emerging from her native waves, was gently wafted to the shore : the science and practice of divina- tion were imported by Thamyras, the Cilician, and it was settled by mutual compact, between the priest and Cinyras, the king of the island, that the sacerdotal function should be held by the descendants of their respective families. In proc- ess of time, the race of Thamyras, willing that the sovereign should be distinguished by a superior prerogative, resigned the conduct of the mysteries, of which their ancestors were the founders. A priest of the royal line only is consulted. For victims, animals of every species are allowed, at the option of the votarist, provided he chooses from the male kind only. The fibres of kids are deemed to afford the surest prognostics. The altar is never stained with blood, and, though exposed to the open air, never moistened by rain.4 Supplications and the pure flame of fire are the only offerings. The statue of
1 The use of the compass being not yet known, men did not like to lose sight of the shore; whence the expression, audentioribus spatiis.
2 ^Erias has been mentioned in another place as the founder of the Paphian temple; Annals, iii. 63.
3 Cinyras is said by Apollodorus to have been one of the kings of Assyria.
* This circumstance is mentioned by Pliny, in his Natural History: " Celebre fanum habet Veneris Paphos, in cujus quandam aram non impluit" — Pliny, lib. ii. 96.
70 THE HISTORY. [B. u
the goddess bears no resemblance to the human form : it is round throughout, broad at one end, and gradually tapering to a narrow span at the other, like a goal. The reason of this is unascertained.
4. Titus having viewed the wealth of the temple, the pres- ents of kings, and the other rarities, which the genius of the Greeks, fond of antiquity, affects to refer to remote and ob- scure times, first consulted the oracle about his future voy- age. A calm sea and a safe passage were promised. He then slew a number of victims, and, in circuitous terms, in- quired into his own destiny. The priest, whose name was Sostratus, finding the entrails of several animals agreeing in favorable prognostics, and that the goddess was propitious, answered briefly for the present in high aspirations, but after- ward, at a private interview, laid open the secrets of futuri- ty. Titus, swelling with vast anticipations, proceeded on his voyage, ai Adjoined his father, while the armies and provinces of the East were undecided, and contributed immensely to turn the scale. Vespasian had almost brought the Jewish war to a conclusion. Nothing remained but the siege of Jerusalem ; an arduous enterprise, not so much on account of the resources of the enemy to endure the difficulties of a siege, as by reason of the hill, and their stubborn superstition. Vespasian, as already mentioned, had three legions under his command, all inured to the service. Mucianus, in a prov- ince at peace, was at the head of four legions; emulation, and the gallant exertions of the army under Vespasian, had stimulated them into activity : they were not made soldiers in the field ; but being unimpaired by fatigue, they were as efficient as those whom dangers and toils had invigorated. Both had an auxiliary force of horse and foot, besides ships and the support of the kings; and both were in high re- pute, but for different reasons, and, for qualities peculiar to each.
5. Vespasian was prompt and zealous in the service ; he was often seen at the head of a march : he went in person to mark out the ground of his camp, and, by night as well as day, thwarting the plans of his enemies by his counsels, and, if need were, by active operations. In his diet, content with whatever came before him ; in his apparel, scarce distin- guished from the common men ; and if he were free from
c. 6.1 TITUS ARRIVES IN THE EAST. 71
avarice, quite equal to the generals of antiquity. The pride and riches of Mucianus, on the contrary, lifted him in every thing above the rank of a private citizen. He was a more accomplished speaker, and clever in the ordering and forecast of civil affairs, — an admirable compound of princely qualities, if, deducting their vices, their virtues only were combined. Situated as they were in contiguous provinces, Vespasian in Judaea, and Mucianus in Syria, they beheld each other, for some time, with the jealousy of rivals. The death of Nero put an end to their dissensions: from that time they began to act in concert. Their mutual friends made the first advances toward a reconciliation ; afterward Titus formed the great bond of union between them, and made them sink their crim- inal jealousies in the common interest. Nature and art had qualified Titu,« to win the attachment of all characters, even of Mucianus. The tribunes, the centurions, and the common men, were brought over by various means. The diligent met with encouragement, the licentious with indulgence, and, ac- cording to the bent of each man's disposition, all were secured by their virtues or their vices.
6. Before the arrival of Titus, both armies had sworn fidelity to Otho, — with such speed, as is usual, had they re- ceived intelligence of what passed at Rome ; while the prep- arations for a civil war are in their nature slow and difficult. The East, which had long reposed in peace, now, for the first time, began to think of mixing in the feuds that shook the empire. Heretofore the most important civil contests arose in Gaul or Italy, and were decided by the forces of the West. It is true that Pompey, Cassius, Brutus, and Antony, carried the war across the Mediterranean, and had reason to- repent. Syria and Judaea heard of the Caesars, but seldom saw them. The legions were undisturbed by sedition. Embroiled at dif- ferent times with the Parthians, they had a few slight con- flicts, with varying success. In the late civil war,1 when every part of the empire was agitated, the East was unmoved. Galba obtained the sovereignty, and the oriental Jegions ac- quiesced ; but it was no sooner known that Otho and ViteU lius were engaged in an impious war against their country than they began to murmur, and calculate their resources, lest while others obtained the rewards of conferring the sov- 1 The last ciril war was that between Vindex and Nero.
72 THE HISTORY. [B. n.
ereignty, all they would have to do would be to receive the yoke. Forthwith Syria and Judaea reckoned seven legions, with a large body of auxiliaries : contiguous to these was Egypt, with two legions; in another part, Cappadocia and Pontus, and the forces that lined the frontier of Armenia : Asia, and the rest of the provinces, were provided with men and money. All the islands, and the sea itself, propitious and safe for the transport of the materials of the war ; and the Mediterranean, which afforded them facilities for making hostile preparations in security.1
1 It will be proper, in this place, to state the names of the Roman legions, and the places where they were stationed, as given by Brotier. The names of the several legions were as follow: — 1. Legio Prima, the first legion. — 2. Legio Prima Ualica, the first Italic legion, raised by Nero, as appears in Dio, lib. Iv. — 3. Legio Prima Adjutrix, an addi- tional legion, according to Dio raised by Nero from the marines, and for that reason called Legio Prima Adjutrix Classicorum. — 4. Legio Secunda, the second legion. — 5. Legio Secunda Adjutrix, raised by Vespasian during the war with Vitellius. — 6. Legio Tertia, the third legion; stationed in Syria. — 7. Legio Tertia; another, called also the third, in Egypt. — 8. Legio Tertia; another, stationed in Africa. — 9. Legio Quarta, the fourth legion, called, to distinguish it from another fourth legion, Legio Quarta Macedonica. — 10. Legio Quarta, another fourth legion, called, for the sake of distinction, Legio Quarta Scythica. — 11. Legio Quinta, the fifth legion. — 12. Legio Quinta Macedonica, th« fifth legion, called the Macedonian. — 13. Legio Sexta, the sixth le- gion, sometimes called Legio Sexta Victrix. — 14. Legio Sexta Ferrata, another sixth legion, with the addition of Ferrata, to distinguish it from the former. — 15. Legio Septima Claudiana, the seventh, called also the Claudian. — 16. Legio Septima Galbiana, the seventh, called the Galbian. — 17. Legio Octava, the eighth legion, sometimes called Invicta. — 18. Legio Nona, the ninth legion ; sometimes called Gemina, because it was one legion formed out of two. — 19. Legio Decima, the tenth legion, quartered in Spain. — 20. Legio Decima, another tenth legion, quartered in Judaea. — 21. Legio Undecima, the eleventh legion, Bometimes with the additional title of Claudiana. — 22. Legio Duode- cima, the twelfth legion, sometimes called Legio Duodecima Fulminea. —23. Legio Tertia Decima, the thirteenth legion ; called also Gemina, because composed of two united into one. Legio Quarta Decima, the fourteenth legion. — 24. Legio Quinta Decima, the fifteenth legion, sta- tioned in the Lower Germany. — 25. Legio Quinta Decima, another fifteenth legion, quartered in Judaea; sometimes called Legio Quinta Decima Apollinaris. — 26. Legio Sexta Decima, the sixteenth legion. — 27. Legio Septima Decima, the seventeenth legion ; thought to be one of those that suffered in the slaughter of Varus. — 28. Legio Duodevi- cesima, the eighteenth legion, another of the legions under Varue. — 29. Legio Undevicesima, the nineteenth legion, another legion under Ynrua.. — 30. Legio Vicesima, the twentieth legion, called by Dio, Va-
o. 8.] FALSE REPORT RESPECTING NERO. 73
7. The zeal of the soldiers was no secret to the command- ers-in-chief ; but they judged it best to wait the issue of the war in Europe, — aware that, between the victor and the van- quished a sincere, coalition never can succeed, and whether fortune favored the arms of Otho or Vitellius, the consequence would be the same. The pride of victory is apt to corrupt even the ablest generals. Discord, sloth, and luxury would be the ruin of both : their own vices would destroy them — one in the course of the war, the other in victory. For these reasons they postponed operations till an opportunity arose. Vespasian and Mucianus, lately reconciled to each other, concurred in this opinion, which had been beforehand adopted by their friends. Men of principle acted with a view to the public good ; many were impelled by the allurements of plunder, others by the precarious condition of their domes- tic affairs. Good and evil, from different motives, but with uniform zeal, were all eager for war.
8. About this time, a report that Nero was still alive, and on his way to the East, excited a false alarm through Achaia and Asia. The accounts of his death had been various, which caused the more to assert that he was alive, and to believe it. In the course of this work the reader will hear of the attempts of various pretenders, and the fate that attended
leria Victrix. — 31. Legio Una-et-vicesima, the twenty-first legion, sometimes with the addition of Rapax. — 32. Legio Duo-et-vicesima, the twenty second legion, stationed in Germany. — 33. Legio Duo-et- vicesima, another twenty-second legion, quartered in Egypt. — 34. Le- gio e Classicis, a legion formed out of the marine soldiers by Vitellius, in his last distress, but soon received into Vespasian's party, and nev- er more distinguished.
Such were the names of the legions that occur in Tacitus. If, from the whole number, we deduct the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nine- teenth, which were all cut off under Varus, and also the last, formed out of the marines by Vitellius, and heard of no more, it will appear that, in the beginning of the ensuing wars, the military establishment, exclusive of the forces in Italy, consisted of thirty legions. Their sta- tions were as follows : — In Britain : the second, ninth, twentieth ; — in Spain : the first Adjutrix, the sixth, the tenth ; — in Gaul : the first Italic ;-"-in Lower Germany: the first, fifth, fifteenth, sixteenth; — in Upper Germany: the fourth, twenty -first, twenty-second; — in Panno- nia: the seventh Galbiau, the thirteenth; — inDalmatia: the eleventh, the fourteenth ; — in Moesia : the seventh Claudian, the eighth ; — in Syr- ia: the third, fourth, sixth, twelfth; — in Judaea: the fifth, tenth, fif- teenth ; — in Egypt, the third, the twenty-second ; — in Africa : the third. VOL. II.— D
74 THE HISTORY. [B. u.
them.1 The impostor, in this case, was a slave from Pon- tus, or, according to some writers, a freedman from Italy, who played with skill on the harp, and had a musical voice. With those talents, and a countenance that resembled Nero superadded, he was the nearer succeeding in the imposture. By immense promises, he drew to his party a number of deserters, whom their poverty compelled to lead a vagrant life. With this crew he put to sea, but was thrown by adverse winds on the isle of Cythnus. At that place he fell in with a party of soldiers on their return from the East. Some of these he enlisted ; and such as refused, he ordered to be put to death. Having plundered the merchants, and armed the stoutest of their slaves, he endeavored to seduce Sisenna, a centurion from Syria, who happened to land on the island of Cythnus, on his way to greet the praetorian bands in the name of the Syrian army, and, in token of friendship, to present two right hands clasping each other. Apprehend- ing danger from so bold an adventurer, Sisenna made his es- cape from the island. A general panic seized the inhabitants. Numbers were elated to find the name of Nero so rife, hating the existing system, and wishing for a revolution.
9. The fame of this pretended Nero gained strength every day, when by a sudden accident the illusion vanished. It happened that Calpurnius Asprenas, whom Galba had ap- pointed governor of Galatia and Pamphylia, arrived at the isle of Cythnus, with two galleys that escorted him, from the fleet at Misenum. The commanders of the ships were sum- moned, in the name of Nero, to attend their lawful prince. The impostor, with an air of dejection, implored their assist- ance, by the duty which they owed him, and prayed for safe conduct either to Syria or to Egypt. The masters of the galleys, either wavering or intending to deceive, desired time to speak to their sailors, and promised to return when they had prepared their minds. But Asprenas was duly informed of all that passed, and, at his instance, the ship was seized, and the pretended emperor, whoever he was, put to death. The person of the man, his eyes, his hair, and the ferocity of his countenance, were remarkable. His body was conveyed to Asia, and afterward sent to Rome.
1 A number of impostors, at different times, assumed the name of N«ro. See Suetonius, Life of Nero, s. 57.
a .11] LAW AGAINST PUBLIC ACCUSERS. 75
10. In a city distracted by internal discord, and, amidst so many revolutions, fluctuating between liberty and anarchy, even trivial transactions excited violent commotions. Vibius Crispus, a man, for his wealth, his power, and his talents, accounted an eminent rather than a good citizen, cited to the bar of the senate Annius Faustus, a Roman knight, and, in the reign of Nero, an informer by profession. In the begin- ning of Galba's reign, it was ordained by a decree, that all causes against the race of public accusers should be fairly heard. This law, however salutary, was enforced or relaxed as the person accused happened to be of weight and conse- quence, or poor and friendless : it was, notwithstanding, still in force ; and Crispus, availing himself of it, exerted all his influence to ruin the man who had been the prosecutor of his brother.1 In the senate his party was strong and pow- erful. Without hearing the criminal, the fathers were for condemning him to immediate execution. With others, on the contrary, nothing served the cause of the accused so much as the overwhelming influence of the prosecutor. They in- sisted that the specific charge should be exhibited, and a day fixed, when the defendant, however guilty, should be allow- ed the common right of being heard in his defense. They prevailed in the first instance, and the hearing of the cause was adjourned for a few days. The trial at length came on, and Faustus was condemned, but not with that universal assent of the people, which a life of iniquity might have war- ranted. The accuser, it was well known, had been con-' corned in similar prosecutions, and received the profits of his trade. Men rejoiced to see the punishment of a crime so dangerous and detestable ; but the triumph of a notorious of- fender gave disgust.
11. Meanwhile, the affairs of Otho, at the outset, wore a favorable aspect. The armies in Dalmatia and Pannonia were on their march to join him. A detachment of two thousand advanced by rapid marches, while the main body followed at moderate distances. The legions that composed this force were the seventh, which had been raised by Galba ; the eleventh, the thirteenth, and fourteenth ; all veterans in the service, and the last in great renown for the vigor with
1 His brother was Vibius Secundus, a man convicted of extortion; Annals, xiv. 28.
76 THE HISTORY. [B. n
which they quelled the insurrection in Britain,1 and still more famous for the choice made by Nero, who had selected that corps as the best in the empire : whence they remained to the last faithful to that emperor, and, after his death, declared with equal zeal in favor of Otho. Knowing their own strength, they were inspired with confidence ; but that confidence made them proceed on their march by slow journeys. The caval- ry and auxiliary cohorts outstripped the body of the legions. The troops that marched from Rome were a formidable body : they consisted of five praetorian cohorts, several squad- rons of horse, and the first legion. To these were added two thousand gladiators — a degrading resource, but in civil com- motions often employed, even by strict generals. Annius Gallus and Vestricius Spurinna2 were sent at the head of this whole force, with orders to take post on the banks of the Po, as the first project had proved abortive, Caecina having already passed the Alps ; whereas Otho had hoped that he might be prevented from advancing out of Gaul. Otho fol- lowed with a select detachment of body-guards, and the rest of the praetorian cohorts, and veterans of that corps, and a prodigious number of marines. On the march he betrayed no symptom of sloth, nor violated discipline by luxurious in- dulgence : he advanced on foot, at the head of the colors, with an iron breast-plate, fierce-looking and rough ; a contrast to his former character.3
1 See Annals, xiv. 29 ; Suetonius, Life of Nero, s. 39, 40. 1 For the excellent character of Vestricius Spurinna, see Pliny, lib. ii. epist. 7 ; and lib. iii. epist. 1 and 10.
3 Juvenal has given a different description of Otho on his march, Sat ii. 99:—
" Hie tenet speculum pathici gestamen Othonis, Actoris Aurunci spolium, quo se ille videbat Armatum, cum jam tolli vexilla juberet. Res memoranda novis annalibus, atque recenti Historia, speculum civilis sarcina belli ! Nimirum summi duels est occidere Galbam, Et curare cutem summi constantia civis ; Bebriaci campo spolium affectare Palati, Et pressum in facie digitis extendere panem, Quod nee in Assyrio pharetrata Semiramis orbe, Mo3sta nee Actiaca fecit Cleopatra carina."
The severity of Juvenal's language in this passage may perhaps be accounted for by the fact that Otho was favorably regarded by the Flavian party, to whom the satirist was opposed
c. 13.] DISORDERLY CONDUCT OF OTHO'S ARMY. 77
12. Fortune seemed to open a flattering prospect, as he was master of the greatest part of Italy, and by means of his fleets had the command of the sea, even to the foot of the maritime Alps. To pass over those mountains, and make a descent on Narbon Gaul, he committed to the conduct of Suedius Clemens, Antonius Novellus, and jEmilius Pacencis. The last was loaded with irons by his own soldiers ; Anto- nius Novellus lost all influence ; and Suedius Clemens, in the exercise of his authority, yielded too much to the humors of his men — at once allowing himself to be worked upon, against the propriety of discipline, and overeager for action. It seemed as if the parts they came to did not belong to Italy, nor the lands and habitations to their native country : they burned, destroyed, and plundered, as if the war had been in a foreign realm, against the enemies of their country ; and the effects were the more deplorable, because the people, having entertained no fear, had prepared no defense. The fields were covered with grain and cattle; the houses were open; and the owners, who, with their wives and children by their side, went forth to meet the army in the security of peace, were involved in all the calamities of war. Marius Maturus was at that time governor of the maritime Alps. He resolved to dispute the passage with Otho's troops, and, for that pur- pose, armed the youth of the country. In the first encounter, the mountaineers were either cut to pieces or put to the rout, as might be expected; since, having been assembled hastily, and unacquainted with military duties or their gen- eral, they had no honor to gain by victory, no disgrace to in- cur by flight.
13. An opposition so rash and feeble served only to exas- perate the Othonian soldiers, and they vented their fury upon Albium Intemelium, a municipal town ; for the late victory was a fruitless advantage, affording neither spoil nor plunder. The peasants had no property, and their arms were of no value. Even prisoners of war could not be made ; for they knew the course of the country, and were swift of foot. The soldiers, therefore, glutted their avarice with the effects of harmless men. The odium attaching to this conduct was ag- gravated by the noble example of a Ligurian woman. She had concealed her child ; and the soldiers, persuaded that she had deposited her treasure in the same place, pressing her by
78 THE HISTORY. [B. n.
torture to tell where she had deposited him, she pointed to her womb, and said, u Here my child is sheltered." Nor by any subsequent horrors, or death itself, could she be induced to deviate from that magnanimous reply.
14. Messengers came in breathless haste and alarm to in- form Fabius Valens that Otho's fleet was hovering on the coast of Narbon Gaul, which had already embraced the in- terest of Vitellius. The adjacent colonies, by their deputies, were come to sue for protection. Valens dispatched two Tungrian cohorts, four squadrons of horse, with the whole cavalry of the Treviri, under the command of Julius Clas- sicus ; a detachment from those forces being retained to gar- rison the port of Forojulium, that the colony might not, while the troops marched up the country, lie exposed to an imme- diate descent from the fleet. Classicus marched against the enemy with twelve troops of horse, and a select body from the cohorts. To these were added the Ligurian cohort, which had been usually quartered at Forojulium, and five hundred men from Pannonia, not yet formed into companies. Neither side declined an engagement. The line of battle was thus ar- ranged : a body of marines, intermixed with the peasantry, extended up the heights near the sea. The level space be- tween the hills and the coast was occupied by the praetorian soldiers ; and, to support them, the fleet stood in close to the shore, drawn up in order of battle, and presenting a formida- ble front. The Vitellians, consisting of cavalry rather than infantry, stationed their Alpine mountaineers on the ridge of the neighboring hills, and their cohorts in close array behind the cavalry. The Trevirian squadrons began the attack in- cautiously. The veterans of Otho's army received them in front, while the peasants, from the high grounds, discharged a volley of stones, and, being expert slingers, annoyed the en- emy in flank. They mixed in the lines with the regular sol- diers, and, in the hour of victory, the coward and the brave pursued their advantage with equal ardor. The Vitellians, thrown into disorder, were further terrified by an attack on the roar from the fleet. Thus hemmed in on every side, they must have been cut off to a man, if the night had not afford- ed them a pretext for retreat, and restrained the victorious winy from pursuing them.
15. The Vitellians, though defeated, did not remain in-
vi 16.] A BATTLE FOUGHT IN NARBON GAUL. 79
active. With a reinforcement, drawn together in haste, they returned to the charge ; and, finding the enemy elate with joy, and by success lulled into security, they assaulted the outposts, put the advanced guard to the sword, forced their way into the camp, and, at the fleet, all was tumult and dis- order. The surprise, however, gradually subsiding, the Otho- nians betook themselves to an adjacent hill, whence, after a little time, they rushed down with great fury. A dreadful slaughter followed. The Tungrian cohorts stood the brunt of the action, till their commanding officers fell under a shower of darts. The Othonians conquered, but their victory was dearly bought. Some of them pursued the flying enemy incautiously, when the Trevirian cavalry wheeled round and cut them off. From this time the two armies remained in- active. As if a truce had taken place, and both sides had agreed that the fleet of one party, and the cavalry of the other, should not make any sudden incursions, the Vitellians retired to Antipolis, a municipal town of Narbon Gaul, and the Othonians to Albigaunum, in the inland part of Liguria. 16. Corsica, Sardinia, and the rest of the islands in those seas, were kept in subjection to Otho by the fame of the victorious fleet. Corsica, indeed, was well-nigh ruined by a wild scheme of the governor, Decimus Pecarius, which, in a war carried on by such powerful adversaries, could be of no advantage, and ended in his own destruction. For, from an- tipathy to Otho, he determined to aid Vitellius with the forces of Corsica, which would have rendered little service if he had succeeded. He summoned a council of the leading men, and communicated his design. Claudius Phirricus, who com- manded the galleys on that station, and Quinctius Certus, a Roman knight, objected to the measure, and were put to in- stant death. The rest of the assembly, who were terrified by this act of violence, as well as the populace, blind and igno- rant, but catching the fears of the others, swore fidelity to Vitellius. But when Pacarius began to muster, and train to the use of arms, a race of rude peasants, having no relish for the fatigue of military discipline, they began to consider their inability to support a war. " They were islanders, remote from Germany and the aid of the legions. The fleets of Otho had lately ravaged the maritime countries, though defended by the cohorts and cavalry of Vitellius." This reflection pro-
80 THE HISTORY. [B. n
duced a sudden change in every mind. They resolved to act, however, not with open force, but by covert stratagem. When Pacarius, his train of visitors having left him, retired to his bath, the conspirators fell upon him, naked and disarmed, and put him and his attendants to death. Their heads, like those of traitors, were conveyed to Otho by the assassins them- selves, who were neither rewarded by that prince, nor pun- ished by Vitellius. Such was the mass of abominations that deformed the times, that they were lost sight of among atroci- ties of greater importance.
17. The cavalry called the Syllanian squadron1 had, as al- ready mentioned, forced their way into Italy, and there fixed the seat of war ; not from favor which any one felt for Otho, nor from preference for Vitellius : but by a long peace, their minds had been debased, and prepared for slavery in any shape ; ready to support the first who solicited them, and careless about the merits of competitors. The fairest por- tion of Italy,2 extending from the Po to the Alps, with all its fertile plains and flourishing cities, was in the possession of Vitellius ; the forces sent forward by Caecina having al- ready penetrated into that quarter. At Cremona a Panno- nian cohort laid down their arms; and between Flacentia and Ticinum a party of a hundred horse, with a thousand marines, were made prisoners. In this tide of success, the Po opposed its stream and its banks in vain. Nay, to the Ba- tavians, and the troops from beyond the Rhine, the river was no more than a motive to inflame their ardor. They passed over it suddenly under the walls of Placentia, and, inter- cepting some of the enemy's scouts, spread such a panic among the rest, that in their alarm they reported, falsely, that Cae- cina and his whole army were there.
18. Spurinna, who commanded at Placentia, was well in-' formed that Cascina was still at a distance ; and, if he should approach, he was determined to keep his men within their works, and not oppose three praetorian cohorts and a thou- sand vexillaries, with a small body of horse, to a veteran army. But his soldiery, unruly and unskilled in military
1 See above, i. 70.
a The country between the Po and the Alps, comprising Piedmont, Montferrat, the Milanese : the principal cities were, Mediolanum, No- varia, Eporodia, Veroellae. See above, i. 70.
c. 20. J SPURINNA REDUCES HIS TROOPS TO ORDER. 81
operations, seized the standards and colors, and sallied forth in a body. The general endeavored in vain to check their vio- lence ; they pointed their weapons at his breast, when holding them back, and spurned at the tribunes and centurions ; nay, they even clamored that Otho was assailed by treason, and that Caecina was invited to come. Spurinna became a par-* taker of the rashness which originated with others, at first per- force, but afterward with a show of approbation, in hopes, if the sedition subsided, that he might have the greater weight.
19. The Po appearing in sight, and night coming on, it was judged necessary to fortify a camp. This labor, new to men who had only served in the city, abated their ferocity ; all the oldest soldiers censured their own credulity, communicated their fears, and pointed out their imminent danger, if Caecina with a regular army had surrounded their cohorts in a wide champaign country. Throughout the ranks nothing was now heard but respectful language; and the tribunes and centu- rions mixing with them, all lauded the sagacity of their gen- eral, who had chosen a strong and powerful colony for the seat and centre of the war. At length Spurinna, choosing rather to convince by reason than to irritate by reproof, leaving some scouts there, marched back to Placentia with the troops, now less excited, and disposed to obey his orders. The walls of the place were repaired ; new works were added ; the towers were increased; the soldiers were provided with arms; and, what was of greater moment, a spirit of discipline and prompt obedience was diffused through the army. This was the only desideratum : want of courage could not be imputed to Otho's party.
20. On the other hand, Caecina advanced through Italy with every attention to discipline, as if he had left his cruelty and love of plunder on the other side of the Alps. His own dress gave offense to the municipalities and colonies, who construed it as indicating arrogance. They felt it as an affront, that, arrayed in a party-colored mantle and drawers,1 used only by savage nations, he should converse with mef habited in the toga. Besides this, the splendid appearance of
1 Caecina wore the sagum, which was the German dress (see the Manners of the Germans, s. 17), and the braccae, or breeches, which distinguished the Gauls. The southern part of Gaul was called Gallia Narbonensis, and also Braccata.
D2
82 THE HISTORY. [B. n
his wife, Salonina, mounted on a superb horse, adorned with purple, though in itself a matter of no importance, and cer- tainly injurious to no person whatever, was held to be a pub- lic insult. Such is the nature of the human mind, disposed at all times to behold with jealousy the sudden elevation of other men, and to demand especially, that he who has been seen in a humble station should know how to rise in the world with moderation. Csecina passed the Po, and by ne- gotiation and artful promises endeavored to seduce the leaders of Otho's party. The like insidious game was played against himself. Both sides talked of peace and concord, but they amused each other with words of specious sound, importing nothing. At length Csecina directed his counsels and cares to the object of assaulting Placentia, in such a manner as should fill his enemies with alarm; well knowing that the influence of his reputation, through the remainder of the war, would depend upon the success which attended his first efforts.
21. The first day, however, exhibited the bravery, rather than the skill, of a veteran army. The soldiers, oppressed with gluttony and intoxicated, advanced to the foot of the walls, without shelter or precaution. In this attack, a mag- nificent amphitheatre, which stood on the outside of the fortifications, was burned to the ground. Whether this was occasioned by the brands, hot balls, and other combustibles thrown in by the besiegers, or by the same hurled back from the works, can not now be ascertained. The common people of the town, prone to suspicions, believed that combustibles had been basely introduced by some of the neighboring colo- nists, who saw with envy and jealousy a structure more capa- cious than any in Italy. The sense of this misfortune, how- soever begun, was lost in the fear of greater afflictions ; but, security restored, the inhabitants lamented it as the worst calamity that could befall them. Csecina was repulsed with considerable loss. The night, on both sides, was employed in preparing works. The Vitellians provided themselves with pent-houses, sheds, and mantlets, for sapping the foun- dation of the walls, and protecting them in the attack. The besieged were busy in preparing stakes and rafts of timber, with huge heaps of stone, and lead, and brass, in order to break through the works, and overwhelm the assail-
c. 22.] TTNSUCCESSFUL ATTACK: ON PLACENTIA. 83
ants. On both sides we're the love of glory, and the fear of shame ; and various were the topics of exhortation. On one side, they magnified the vigor of the legions and the German armies ; on the other, the honor of serving in the city, and of the praetorian bands. The Vitellians held up their foes to contempt, as a spiritless and supine soldiery, corrupted by the circus and theatres ; the Othonians spoke of their ene- mies as foreigners and aliens : at the same time, lauding and vituperating Otho and Vitellius, their mutual incitements found a more exuberant resource in their censures than in their praises.
22. The day had scarce dawned, when the walls and ram- parts were covered with soldiers, and the fields gleamed with arms and men. The legions in close array, and the auxilia- ries in separate divisions, began the attack with stones and darts, aimed at the higher parts of the fortifications ; and where the works were either impaired by time or thinly manned, the Vitellians attempted a scalade. The German auxiliaries, with their savage war-songs, and, according to the custom of their country, waving their shields over their shoulders, while their bodies were exposed, advancing with impetuous fury, the garrison, with more deliberate aim, discharged their darts. The legionary soldiers, under their penthouses and sheds, bat- tered the foundation of the walls, threw up a mound, and at- tempted to force the gates. Massy mill-stones, prepared for that very purpose by the besieged, were rolled down with a loud crash, and some of them who had come up to the walls were thus crushed under the weight ; ofhers transfixed and expiring, or dreadfully mangled : the confusion and alarm in- creasing the havoc, and the efforts of the besieged in conse- quence augmented, the Vitellians retreated with a manifest loss of credit to the party ; and Caecina, feeling ashamed of an enterprise rashly undertaken, resolved to raise the siege, and leave a camp where he had nothing to expect but ridicule, and could not hope to do any good. He repassed the Po, and bent his march toward Cremona. He had not proceeded far, when he was joined by Turullius Cerealis, a principal cen- turion, who had headed the ranks under him in Germany, and also by Julius Briganticus, a Batavian by birth : the for- mer deserted with a strong body of marine soldiers, and the latter with a small party of horse.
84 THE HISTORY. [B. n
23. Spurinna, as soon as he was informed of the move- ments of the enemy, sent dispatches to Annius Gallus, with the particulars of the siege, the gallant defense of Placentia, and the measures concerting by Csecina. Gallus was then on his march, at the head of the first legion, to relieve Placentia, little imagining that a few cohorts would be able to hold out against the strength and valor of the German army. When, however, it was known that Ca3cina had abandoned his enter- prise, and was then proceeding to Cremona, the legion burned to be led against the enemy. Their impatience rose to a pitch little short of sedition. It was with difficulty that Gallus appeased the tumult, and made them halt at Bedria- cum,1 a village situated between Verona and Cremona, and unhappily famous for the slaughter of two Roman armies. About the same time Martius Macer fought with success near Cremona. With the spirit of enterprise that distinguished him, he embarked the gladiators on the Po, and, making a sudden descent on the opposite bank, fell with fury on the auxiliaries of Vitellius. All who attempted to make head against him were put to the sword ; the rest fled with pre- cipitation to Cremona. Macer was not willing to lose by rashness the fruit of his victory. He knew that, by the arrival of fresh forces, the fortune of the day might be changed, and, for that reason, checked the impetuosity of the victorious troops. This excited suspicion among Otho's sol- diers, who were in the habit of putting the worst construc- tion upon every act whatsoever : according as each man was craven in heart ancl petulant of tongue, they vied with each other in defaming, by various charges, Annius Gallus, Sue- tonius Paulinus, and Marius Celsus ; for these were put in command by Otho also. But the murderers of Galba were the worst incendiaries. Frantic with conscious guilt and fear, they made it their business to embroil, to distract, and throw every thing into confusion. They gave vent to their seditious designs with open insolence, and by clandestine letters infused their venom into the mind of Otho, who was in a state of alarm and agitation, disposed to rely on every abject instru-
1 This village, which, according to Cluverius, stood at the distance of twenty miles from Cremona, and is now called Caneto, has been rendered famous by the defeat of Otho, and afterward, as will be seen in the third book of this History, by that of Vitellius.
c, 25.] ABORTIVE STRATAGEM OF (LECINA. 85
ment, and dreading men of worth and honor : in prosperity weak and irresolute, but appearing in a better light when in distress. In his present situation, he sent to Rome for his brother Titianus, and committed to him the conduct of the war. The interval was filled by Celsus and Paulinus with active enterprise and brilliant success.
24. Caecina felt deeply the failure of all his undertakings, and saw with anxiety the fame of his army mouldering away. Repulsed at Placentia, his auxiliaries lately cut to pieces, and worsted even in collisions of scouts, — encounters frequent, rather than worth mentioning, — lest Valens, who was ad- vancing, should reap all the laurels of the war, he hasten- ed, with more avidity than judgment, to redeem his honor. With this intent, at a village called Castorum,1 twelve miles from Cremona, in a wood that overhangs the road, he sta- tioned the flower of his auxiliaries in ambuscade. His cav- alry had orders to advance further than ordinary, and, pro- voking an engagement, to give ground voluntarily, and entice their pursuers to quicken their speed, till the troops in ambus- cade should pounce upon them. The stratagem was betrayed to the generals of Otho's army. Paulinus took the command of the infantry, while Celsus led on the cavalry. In the left wing were placed the vexillaries of the thirteenth legion, four auxiliary cohorts, and five hundred horse. The high road was occupied by three praetorian cohorts, in deep rank. In the right wing marched the first legion, with two auxiliary cohorts, and five hundred horse. Besides these, a thousand of the cavalry, selected from the praetorian and auxiliary bands, were taken to support the broken ranks, or, if the en- emy gave way, to complete the victory.
25. Before the two armies came to action, the Vitellians feigned a flight. Aware of the stratagem, Celsus held back his men. The Vitellians rose from their ambuscade without eifact, and Celsus retiring gradually, they pursued him too far, and fell themselves into a snare. The legions attacked them on both wings ; the cohorts in front ; and the cavalry, wheeling round rapidly, charged them in the rear. Sueto-
1 Compare, "Otho tribus quidem, verum mediocribus prseliis, apud Alpes, circaque Placentiam, et ad Castoris (Templum sc.) quod loco nomen est, vicit." — Suetonius, Life of Otho, s. 9. This place was about twelve miles from Cremona, between the Po and the Addua (nowAddaj.
86 THE HISTORY. [B. IL
nius Paulinus still kept his infantry out of the engagement. By his natural temper slow and deliberate, and choosing to take his measures with reason and precaution, rather than owe his success to the chance of war, he ordered the hollows to be filled up, the ground to be cleared, and his ranks to be extended ; judging that it would be time to begin the work of victory, when he had taken care not to be defeated. By this delay, the Vitellians seized the opportunity to shift their ground. They betook themselves to the adjacent vineyards, thick with interwoven branches. A small wood, too, lay con- tiguous ; wherein having recovered their courage, they sallied out, and slew the best and bravest of the praetorian cavalry. Epiphanes,1 the eastern king, who, in Otho's cause, urged on the battle with great spirit, was wounded.
26. At length the infantry, under the command of Pauli- nus, rushed forward. The line of the enemy was trampled under foot, and the parties that came to support them were put to the rout ; for Csecina had brought up his cohorts sin- gly, not all at once, which increased the confusion in the en- gagement ; for, coming forward in succession, and nowhere strong enough, they were carried along in the panic of the fly- ing troops. A tumult also broke out in Caecina's camp- The soldiers were enraged that the whole army was not drawn out. Julius Gratus, the praefect of the camp, they loaded with irons, on a suspicion that he held treasonable inter- course with his brother Julius Fronto, at that time a trib- une in Otho's army, and, under a similar accusation, then confined in prison by the adverse party. Nothing xiow could equal the disorder and consternation that involved the whole Vitellian army. In the camp, in the field of battle, in the flight, and among the parties that came to support the fu- gitives, the confusion was such, that, if Paulinus had not sounded a retreat, it was the opinion of both parties that Caecina, with his whole army, might have been cut to pieces. Paulinus alleged that, seeing how much toil and labor still remained, he was afraid to expose his men, already spent with the fatigue of the day, to fresh forces kept in reserve, and ready to issue from the adverse camp ; and, if once broken, no post, no station, remained behind. With this reasoning
1 Epiphanes was the son of Antiochus IV. king of Commageae, a district of Syria.
c. 28.] MUTINOUS SPIRIT OF THE BATAVIANS. 87
the judicious few were satisfied, but in the lower ranks dissat- isfaction prevailed.
27. This loss had less effect in alarming the Vitellians, than in reducing their turbulent spirit to a sense of duty. Nor was this the case with the troops of Ca3cina only, who threw the whole blame upon the army, at all times more dis- posed to mutiny than to face the enemy. The same reforma- tion showed itself in the camp of Fabius Valens, who was now advanced as far as Ticinum.1 His soldiers no longer despised the enemy, but, eager to retrieve the honor of the army, submitted more respectfully and uniformly to their general. Among them, too, the spirit of mutiny had flamed forth with grievous violence ; which I will now return to, tracing its or- igin from more remote transactions, for it would have been inconvenient to interrupt the narrative of Caecina's acts. The cohorts of the Batavian nation, which, in the war between Nero and Vindex, separated from the fourteenth legion, then on its way to Britain, and, having heard, in the city of the Lingones, of commotions in favor of Vitellius, went over, as I have related to Fabius Valens, conducted themselves with great insolence ; making it their boast, when they came to the tents of each legion, " that by them the fourteenth legion had been overawed ; by them Italy was wrested out of the hands of Nero ; and upon their swords the issue of the war depended." The soldiers heard these speeches with indig- nation— the general with wounded feelings: disputes and quarrels put an end to discipline ; and at length Valens suspected that they would proceed from clamor to actual mu- tiny.
28. Valens, therefore, having received advice that the Tun- grians and Trevirians had met with a defeat, and that Otho's fleet was hovering on the coast of Narbon Gaul, ordered a de- tachment of the Batavians to march to the relief of the prov- ince ; intending, at the same time, by a stroke of policy, to divide the mutinous troops, who, in a body, were too for- midable to be managed. When this measure was heard of, and generally known, the auxiliaries murmured, and the le- gions complained aloud, "that they were now to lose the bravest troops in the service ; that, when the enemy was near at hand, those experienced soldiers, who had so often fought
1 Ticinuin, a city built by the Transalpine Gauls on the river Ticinus.
88 THE HISTORY. [B. 11
and returned with victory, were withdrawn, as it were, from the line of battle. If a single province is of more moment than the city of Rome and the salvation of the empire, all should follow them thither ; but if the soundness, the support, the pillar of their hopes of success, rested on the efforts made in Italy, the most efficient members should not be thus sever- ed, as it were, from the body."
29. While giving vent to this insolence, Valeris, sending his lictors among them, was proceeding to repress the mutiny, when they pelted the general himself with stones, forced him to flee, and pursued him, accusing him of having embezzled the spoils of Gaul, the gold of Vienne,1 and the recompense due to the soldiers for all their toils ; they pillaged his camp- equipage, rummaged his pavilion, and searched tne ground itself with their spears and javelins. Valens, in the mean time, disguised like a slave, lay concealed in the tent of an officer of the cavalry. In this juncture, Alphenus Varus, the praefect of the camp, the frenzy gradually subsiding, called in the aid of stratagem : ordering the centurions not to visit the night-watch, and omitting the sound of the trumpet, by which the soldiers are summoned to the offices of war. Thus ev- ery thing was at a stand-still. The mutineers surveyed each other with amazement, terrified beyond measure for this very cause, that there was no one at the helm. By silence and resignation, in the end by supplications and tears, they were seeking to obtain forgiveness, when Valens came forth. As soon as the soldiers saw him beyond expectation safe, in unseemly apparel, and in tears, joy and sorrow and affection ensued. With the quick transition from one extreme of pas- sion to the other, common with the multitude, they poured forth their congratulations ; and, with shouts of applause, placed their general amidst the eagles and standards, on his tribunal. Valens acted with well-timed moderation. No man was singled out for punishment. Afraid, however, that, by passing it over altogether, he might make them suspect some deep design, he laid the blame on a few ; knowing that in civil wars soldiers may do more than their generals may notice.
30. While Valens employed his army in throwing up in-
1 The people of Vienne were obliged to purchase the protection of Vabns. See above, L 66.
c. 31..] CHARACTERS OF CAECINA AND VALENS. 89
trenchments at Ticinum, an account of Caecina's defeat reached the camp, when the sedition nearly broke out again : it seemed that by the treachery and delays of Valens they had been detained from the field of battle. They resolved to linger no longer; nor to wait for their com- mander: they marched before the colors, and, ordering the standard-bearers to push on, after a rapid march, joined Caecina's army. In that camp Valens was in no kind of credit. The vanquished soldier complained, that with so inferior a force they were exposed to the entire strength of the enemy; and, at the same time that they urged this as their apology, they nattered the troops who came to them by magnifying their valor, lest they should be looked down upon as beaten and cowards. Though Yalens was at the head of an army which exceeded that of Caecina, having almost double the number, yet the latter was the favorite of the men. Besides his superior liberality of spirit, he was recommended by the vigor of youth, a graceful figure, and those qualities which, though of no solid value, conciliate favor. Hence a spirit of emulation between the two com- manders. Cascina represented Valens as horribly vicious and impure ; and, in return, Valens ridiculed Caecina as empty and vainglorious. And yet, suppressing their animosities, they zealously promoted the common cause, giving, vent to reproaches against Otho in their many letters, in a manner that showed they were reckless of reconciliation. Whereas the officers in the opposite army spoke of Vitellius with reserve, though his manners afforded ample materials for invective.
31. It must be admitted, that, before the deaths of these two persons, though Otho fell with glory, and Vitellius with disgrace and infamy, yet men dreaded greater mischief from the furious passions of Otho, than from the sluggish de- bauchery of Vitellius. Besides, the murder of Galba made the former an object of detestation and alarm ; while the latter was never charged with being the author of the war. Vitellius, by his voracity and gluttony, was his own enemy; Otho, by his profusion, his cruelty, and his daring spirit, was the enemy of his country. As soon as the forces under Caecina and Valens had formed a junction, the Vitellian party no longer declined a decisive action. Otho took counsel
90 THE HISTORY. [B. n.
whether a speedy engagement or a lingering war seemed best, when Suetonius Paulinus, an officer surpassed by no man of that age, judging it consistent with his high military charac- ter to give his opinion on the entire complexion of the war, contended that to bring the dispute to an immediate issue was advantageous to Vitellius ; to protract the war was the game for Otho to play.
32. " The whole collected force of Vitellius," he said, " is low in Italy: the resources which he has left behind him are inconsiderable ; since Gaul is teeming with disaffection, and with hostile nations ready to invade the Roman provinces, the banks of the Rhine can not be left defenseless. The legions in Britain have an enemy on their hands, and are divided by the sea. Spain is not so overflowing with troops. The province of Narbon Gaul has been thrown into dismay by the incursion of Otho's fleet, and a defeat. Italy, beyond the Po, is shut in by the Alps, deprived of all relief by sea, and the armies that passed that way have exhausted the country. There is no place from which Vitellius can hope to be supplied with grain ; and, without provisions, he can not maintain his army. Moreover the Germans, the most warlike portion of the Vitellian party, if the war be protracted till summer, will be unable to bear the change of soil and climate with their infirm constitutions. Many wars, formidable in the first impetuous effort, have come to nothing through the effects of delay and suspense. On the other hand, Otho's party are rich in supplies, and their friends are firm. They have Pannonia, Moesia, Dalmatia, and the East, with their entire armies ; Italy ; and Eome, the capital of the empire: the senate and the Roman people, always of considerable importance, though their glory in gome conjunctures has been eclipsed: a store of wealth, both public and private, and boundless riches ; in public dissen- sions more powerful than the sword : their soldiers inured to Italy, or seasoned to the heat in warmer climates. In their front the river Po is a barrier, and cities fortified and garrisoned ; of which the defense of Placentia is a proof that none will surrender. For these reasons, he should protract the war. In a few days, the fourteenth legion, famous for its bravery, will arrive with reinforcements from Mossia. A council of war may then be called ; and should it be thought
c. 34.] OTHO'S AFFAIRS BEGIN TO DECLINE. 91
advisable to hazard a battle, Otho may then take the field with augmented force."
33. Marius Celsus concurred in this opinion. Annius Gallus, who had been thrown by the falling of his horse a few days before, being consulted by persons sent for the purpose, also concurred. Otho was eager for the issue of a battle. His brother Titianus, and Proculus, the praefect of the prae- torian guards, both disposed to hasty measures from inex- perience, averred that the gods, and the tutelar genius of Otho, were present in council, and would stand by them in their enterprises ; and that no one might venture to oppose their sentence, they had adopted the tone of flattery. To offer battle was the result of the debate ; but whether the emperor should command in person, or withdraw to a place of safety, was a question still to be discussed. Celsus and Paulinus now made no opposition. To expose the prince to the dangers of the field, was more than they chose to take upon themselves; and the authors of the pernicious counsel already given, carried it, that Otho should retire to Brixellum, there, removed from the hazards of battle, to reserve himself for the chief administration of affairs and of empire. From this day the ruin of Otho's party may be dated. He took with him a considerable detachment of the praetorian cohorts, the body-guard, and cavalry. After their departure, the spirit of the army began to droop ; for they suspected their officers ; and the prince, on whom alone the soldiers relied, for he confided in none but them, had left them under the command of generals of dubious authority.
34. Nothing of all that passed was a secret in the camp of Vitellius. From the deserters, who in civil wars are always numerous, and also from the spies, whose genius it is, while they pry into the secrets of others, to betray their own, every thing transpired. Caecina and Valens lay quiet on the watch for the opportunity when the enemy should rush on unwarily, and waiting to avail themselves of the folly of others, a good substitute for wisdom, commenced a bridge, as though they meditated crossing the Po, to attack the gladiators1 on the opposite bank ; and that their own soldiers might not pass their time in listless inactivity. They ranged at equal dis-
1 It has been already mentioned, that Otho had in his army two thousand gladiators. See c. 11 of this book.
92 THE HISTORY. IB. n,
tances a number of boats, united at each end by strong tim- bers, with their prows turned against the current, and resting upon their anchors, to hold the bridge firmly together; the cables however were not tense, but played in the water, in order, when the stream increased, that the row of vessels might be lifted up without disturbance. Standing upon the bridge, and raised up on the last ship, was a turret, which closed the passage, and gave the men a station, whence they might, with their battering engines, prevent the approach of the enemy.
35. The Othonians also raised a tower on the opposite bank, whence they threw stones and brands. A small island stood in the middle of the water. The gladiators attempted to pass over in boats ; but the Germans, expert in swimming, outstripped them. Several, as it happened, crossed over ; and in order to dislodge them, Macer put off with a strong party of gladiators on board his galleys : but the gladiators were not able to cope with regular soldiers; and the motion of the vessels not allowing them a firm footing, they could not dis- charge their weapons with the same certainty as men stand- ing steadily on land ; and since from the jarring movements of men in a state of alarm, the rowers and combatants, inter- mixed, obstructed each other, the Germans became the assail- ants, and plunging into the river from the bank, held back the boats, boarded them, or sunk them by manual force. The whole passed under the eye of both armies. The Vitellians looked on with joy proportioned to the abhorrence in which the Othonians held Macer, the cause and the author of their disgrace.
36. The gladiators, in such vessels as they could save, retreated from the island, and thus an end was put to the engagement. The soldiers clamored for the blood of Macer. One of them darted his lance, and wounded him ; when the rest rushed on, sword in hand, and would have killed him on the spot, if the tribunes and centurions had not interposed to save him. Shortly after, Vestricius Spurinna, having, by order of Otho, left a moderate garrison at Placentia, came up to the main body with his cohorts. Flavius Sabinus, consul elect, was immediately afterward sent by Otho to command the troops Macer had headed ; to the great joy of the common men, who saw with pleasure every change of their officers;
c. 38.] CONFLICTING VIEWS OF HISTORIANS. 93
while the commanders were disgusted with a service rendered so perilous from the frequency of sedition. •
37. I find it asserted by some authors, that the two armies, dreading a war, or detesting both princes, whose flagitious deeds grew every day more notorious, had doubted whether in laying down their arms they should either themselves de- liberate upon the matter with a view to the common good, or commit to the senate the choice of an emperor; and that from this consideration Otho's generals proposed to protract and delay the war ; the prospects of Paulinus being the most promising, as he was the oldest of consular rank, of high mil- itary reputation, and his conduct in Britain1 had given supe- rior lustre to his name. But as I would admit that a few in their hearts wished for repose instead of discord, and to see the most base and abandoned of mankind postponed to a vir- tuous and inoffensive prince ; so I can not suppose that Pau- linus, a man of understanding, could, in an age so corrupt, hope for such an effort of moderation in the masses, as that those who had unsettled a state of peace from a passion for war, would lay down war from an attachment to peace ; nor that the armies, dissonant in language and manners, could be brought to coalesce in this opinion ; or that the leading chiefs, immersed in luxury, overwhelmed with debt, and conscious of enormous crimes, would submit to any master who was not stained with guilt, and bound to them by the services they had rendered him.
38. The love of domination, an inveterate and deep-seated propensity of the human heart,2 waxed strong as the empire grew in greatness, and at length threw off all restraints ; for while the republic was limited in its extent, the equality of conditions was easily preserved. But when the world was subjugated, and, rival kings and rival cities being overthrown, men were at leisure to covet wealth which they might enjoy in repose, contentions arose, first, between the senate and the people. Factious tribunes prevailed at one time, and ambi- tious consuls at another ; and in the city, and the forum,
1 For the conduct of Suetonius Paulinus, and the brilliant success of his arms in Britain, see Annals, xiv. 29-40.
a Compare Sallust: "Natura mortalium avida imperil, et praceps ad explendam animi cupidinem." — De Bell. Jugurth. s. 6. The sequel of this section has some resemblance to a passage in Lucan, PharsaL i. 160.
94 THE HISTORY. [B 11.
were exhibited the first essays of civil war. Soon after, Caius Marius, a man sprung from the dregs of the populace, and Lucius Sylla, the fiercest of the nobles, vanquished liberty by force of arms, and erected absolutism on its ruins. Pompey came after, with passions more disguised, but no way better. From that time, the struggle has been for supreme dominion alone. The legions that filled the plains of Pharsalia, and afterward met at Philippi, though composed of Koinan citi- zens, never once thought of disbanding ; much less would the armies of Otho and Vitellius sheath the sword, of their own mere motion ; the same wrath of the gods, the same popular frenzy, the same motives, derived from enormities committed, urged them on to mutual slaughter. Their wars, it is true, were ended by, as it were, single blows ; but that was owing to the abject spirit of the princes. But these reflections on the spirit of ancient and modern times have betrayed me into too long a digression. I now come to the series of transac- tions as they occurred.
39. From the time when Otho withdrew to Brixellum, his brother Titianus assumed the pomp of command, but the power and real authority were with Proculus. Celsus and Paulinus were no more than nominal generals. No man sought their advice; they did but bear the blame of blun- ders not their own. The tribunes and centurions were in doubt and perplexity, seeing the worst characters preferred, and real talents neglected. The common men were in good spirits, but more disposed to scan than to execute their gen- erals' orders. It was resolved to advance the camp to within four miles of Bedriacum ;] which they did with such want of skill, that, though it was then the spring of the year, and the country around abounded with rivers, the army was distress- ed for want of water. The expediency of hazarding a battle became again the subject of debate. CHho, in frequent dis- patches, insisted on the most vigorous measures : the soldiers demanded that the emperor should be present on the day of battle. Many were of opinion, that the forces beyond the Po should be called in ; nor is it so easy to decide what would have been the most prudent measure, as that they chose the most pernicious.
1 Brotier observes, that the place to which the Othonians advanced is now called Tor Anzolini, between the rivers Ollio and Dermona.
c. 41.] BATTLE NEAR BEDRIACUM. 95
40. They set out for the conflux of the Po and the Addua,1 at the distance of sixteen miles, as if going to open a campaign, not to decide it. Celsus and Paulinus represented the danger of exposing the soldiers, fatigued by their march, and bending under the weight of their baggage, to the attack of an enemy unencumbered, and fresh from a march of four miles only ; who would not commit such a blunder as not to assault them before they could form the line of battle, or while dispersed and employed at the intrenchments. Titianus and Proculus, when overcome by argument, resorted to their orders, and the will of the prince. And it is true that a Numidian horseman,2 at full speed, arrived with letters from Otho, in a style of sharp reproof condemning the dilatoriness of the generals, and commanding that a decisive action should be hazarded ; for he was heart-sick with suspense, and impatient to realize his anticipations.
41. On the same day, while Caecina was employed in throw- ing a bridge over the Po, two praetorian tribunes arrived to demand an interview. He was on the point of hearing their terms and replying, when the ^couts announced with headlong haste that the enemy was at hand. The business broke off abruptly, and therefore what their design was, whether to be- tray their own party, to lay a snare for the Yitellians, or to make some honorable proposal, can not now be known. Cae- cina dismissed the tribunes, and rode back to the camp, where he found that Valens had given the signal for battle, and the men under arms. While the legions were settling by lot their respective stations, the cavalry advanced to charge the enemy, and strange to say, an inferior number of the Othonians would have driven them into their intrenchments, had not the Italic
1 The Addua (now Adda) falls into the Po, about six miles to the •west of Cremona.
* The taste for show and splendor was so great, that none who, in that age, had any pretensions to be considered people of fashion, chose to appear on the Appian or Flarninian road, or to make an excursion to their villas, without a train of Numidians, mounted on the horses of their country, to ride before their carriages, and give notice, by a cloud of dust, that a great man was on the road. For this fact we are in- debted to Seneca, who says: " Omnes jam sic peregrinantur, ut illos Numidarum prsecurrat equitatus, atque ut agmen cursorem antecedat. turpe est, nullos esse, qui occurrentes via dejiciant; qui honestum Ucnimem venire magno pulvere ostendant." — Seneca, Epist. 123-
96 THE HISTORY. [B. n.
legion opposed the runaways, and sword in hand compelled them to return to the charge. Meanwhile, the rest of the army, without hurry or confusion, drew up in order of battle, unmolested by the enemy, and, in fact, without being seen : as a thick coppice, that stood between both parties, intercepted their view. In Otho's army the chiefs were in dismay ; the men mistrusted the officers ; the baggage wagons and the fol- lowers of the camp mixed with the ranks ; and the road was rendered so narrow by a deep ditch on each side as to be diffi- cult of passage, even though no enemy were at hand ; some were crowding about their colors, others looking for their proper post ; nothing was heard but a confused clamor of men calling to their comrades, and answering to their names ; while some advanced to the front line, others fell into the rear, as fear or courage prompted them.
42. The Othonians, thus amazed with sudden alarm, were lulled into a state of languor by the joy inspired by certain persons who falsely stated that the army had abandoned Vi- tellius.1 From what source it took its origin, whether design or chance, from the emissaries of the Vitellians, or the adverse party, has never been explained. The Othonians, no longer burning for battle, went so far as to salute the opposite army, but being received with hostile murmurs, most of their own party, not knowing the cause of the salutation, were induced to apprehend treason. In that moment the Vitellians began the attack : their army was in regular order, their strength and numbers superior. The Othonians, still in disorder, and fatigued by their march, nevertheless fell to with vigor. The place of the action being entangled with trees and vineyards, the aspect of the combat was varied. They fought man to man, and at a distance in separate battalions, and in the form of a wedge. On the high road they fought hand to hand, foot to foot, and buckler against buckler: they ceased to throw their javelins, and with their swords and axes cut through helmets and breast-plates. They knew one another ; each in- dividual was conspicuous to his friends and enemies; and
1 Suetonius expressly sa3's, that Otho, in the last engagement at Bedriacum, was defeated by a stratagem. His soldiers were called out 10 be present at a general pacification, and, in the very act of salut- ing the Vitellian army were suddenly attacked. Suetonius, Life of Qtbo, s. 9.
c. 44.] OTHO'S ARMY DEFEATED. 97
<?very man fought as if the issue of the war depended upon his single arm.
43. Upon an open plain, between the Po and the high road, two legions happened to encounter each other ; on the part of Vitellius, the one-and- twentieth, famed for its valor, and named Rapax;1 on the side of Otho, the first legion, en- titled Adjutrix, which had never been in action, but of desper- ate courage, and eager for the acquisition of honor. They broke through the foremost rank of the one-and-twentieth, and carried off their eagle. Roused by this disgrace, the Vi- tellians in their turn drove back the first, killing Orphidius Benignus, who commanded Otho's legion, and carrying off several standards and flags. In another part of the field, the thirteenth legion was routed by the fifth, and the fourteenth was hemmed in by superior numbers. Otho's generals had long since fled the field, while Caecina and Valens supported their ranks in every quarter. Fresh forces came to their as- sistance. The Batavians, under Varus Alphenus, having cut to pieces the gladiators attempting in boats to cross the Po, came into the field flushed with success, and charged the en- emy in flank.
44. The centre of Otho's army gave way, and fled with pre- cipitation toward Bedriacum. A long space lay before them ; the road was obstructed with heaps of slain : the slaughter, therefore, was the more dreadful.2 In civil wars, indeed, no prisoners are reserved for sale. Suetonius Paulinus and Licin- ius Proculus fled different ways, both avoiding the camp. Ve- clius Aquila, who commanded the thirteenth legion, by his own indiscreet fears exposed himself to the fury of the soldiers. He entered the camp while it was yet broad daylight ; and those who are ever ready to rebel against their officers, and run away from their enemies, crowded round him with loud clamorings, abusing him, and even offering violence to him. They charged him with treachery and desertion, not because he was guilty of any crime, but, in the true spirit of vulgar minds, transferring to others their own guilt and infamy. Titianus and Celsus owed their safety to the night ; the -watch being now station- ed, and the soldiers appeased by the entreaties, the advice, and
1 See note above on c. 6 of this book.
2 Plutarch, in his account of this battle, describes a most dreadful 3jwrnage. See his Life of Otho.
VOL. II- -E
98 THE HISTORY. [B. n
authority of Annius Gallus, who had the address to make the men sensible of " the folly of adding to the havoc of the field by turning their swords upon themselves." Whether the war was at an end, or to be once more renewed with vigor, he rep- resented that the one great remedy for the vanquished was in their union. The spirits of the rest were completely broken ; but the praetorians complained that they were defeated by treachery, not by the valor of the enemy. " The Vitellians," they said, " could not boast of a bloodless victory. Their cav- alry were routed, and one of their legions lost their eagle. Otho and the troops beyond the Po were still left ; the legions from Mcesia were on their march ; and a considerable part of the army, detained at Bedriacum, had no share in the action. These certainly were not yet conquered ; and if that was to be their lot, they would fall with more glory in the field of battle." From these reflections, the praetorians, inflamed with anger or depressed with fear, were rather stimulated by resentment, than disheartened by their desperate predica- ment.
45. The army of Vitellius halted at the distance of five miles from Bedriacum, the generals not thinking it advisable on the same day to attempt the enemy's camp. A voluntary surrender was at the same time anticipated. But the soldiers, having gone forth prepared only as for battle, and unencum- bered, their arms and their victory were their only defense. On the following day the inclination of the Othonians show- ing itself unequivocally, and even those who had been the fiercest being now disposed to relent, they sent a deputation to the enemy. The Vitellian leaders were willing to heark- en to terms of accommodation. The deputies not returning immediately, the doubt whether they had succeeded some- what checked their resolution : but the embassy soon re- turning, the intrenchments were thrown open. The con- querors and the conquered burst into tears, and, with min- gled joy and sorrow, deprecated the horrors of civil war. In the same tents, relations, friends, and brothers, dressed each other's wounds. They now perceived that their hopes and rewards were dubious ; while deaths and mournings were their certain lot. Nor was there a person so fortunate as not to have some death to lament. The body of Orphidius, the commander of a legion, after diligent search, was found,
c. 47-7 FIDELITY OF THE PRAETORIANS. 99
and burned with the usual solemnities. A few of the com- mon men were buried by their friends: the rest were left above ground.
46. Otho, in the mean time, having taken his resolution, waited, without trepidation, for an account of the event. First, rumors of a melancholy character reached his ears; soon after, fugitives, who escaped from the field, brought sure intelligence that all was lost. The fervor of the soldiers staid not for the voice of the emperor ; they bade him sum- mon up his best resolution : there were forces still in reserve, and in their prince's cause they were ready to suffer and dare the utmost. Nor was this the language of flattery : impelled by a kind of frenzy, and like men possessed, they were all on fire to go to the field and restore the state of their party. The men who stood at a distance stretched forth their hands in token of their assent, while such as gathered round the prince clasped his knees; Plotius Firmus being the most zealous. This officer commanded the praetorian guards. He implored his master not to abandon an army devoted to his interest ; a soldiery who had undergone so much in his cause. "It was more magnanimous," they said, " to bear up against adversity, than to shrink from it: the brave and strenuous sustained themselves upon hope, even against the current of fortune; the timorous and abject only allowed their fears to plunge them into despair." While uttering these words, accordingly as Otho relaxed or stiffened the muscles of his face, they shouted or groaned. Nor was this spirit confined to the prae- torians, the peculiar soldiers of Otho ; the detachment sent forward by the Moesian legions brought word that the same zeal pervaded the coming army, and that the legions had en- tered Aquileia. Whence it is evident that a fierce and bloody war, the issue of which could not have been foreseen by the victors or the vanquished, might have been still carried on.
47. Otho himself was averse to any plans of prosecuting the war, and said:1 "To expose to further perils such spirit and such virtue as you now display, would, I deem, be pay- ing too costly a price for my life. The more brilliant the prospects which you hold out to me, were I disposed to live,
1 This speech of Otho's confirms the observation of Tacitus in the preceding hook (i. 22), "Kon erat Othonis mollis et corpori similis animus." See also Suetonius, Life of Otho, s. 10.
100 THE HISTORY. [u. a
the more glorious will be my death. I and Fortune have made trial of each other ; for what length of time is not ma- terial : but the felicity which does not promise to last, it is more difficult to enjoy with moderation. Vitellius began the civil war ; and he originated our contest for the princedom. It shall be mine to establish a precedent by preventing a second battle for it. By this let posterity judge of Otho. Vitellius shall be blest with his brother, his wife, and children. I want no revenge, nor consolations. Others have held the sover- eign power longer ; none has resigned it with equal fortitude. Shall I again suffer so many of the Roman youth, so many gallant armies, to be laid low, and cut off from the common- wealth ? Let this resolution of yours to die for me, should it be necessary, attend me in my departure ; but live on your- selves. Neither let me long obstruct your safety, nor do you retard the proof of my constancy. To descant largely upon our last moments is the act of a dastard spirit. Hold it as an eminent proof of the fixedness of my purpose, that I complain of no man : for to arraign or gods or men is the part of one who fain would live."
48. Having thus declared his sentiments, he talked with his friends, addressing each in courteous terms, according to his rank, his age, or dignity, and endeavored to induce all, the young in an authoritative tone, the old by entreaties, to depart without loss of time, and not aggravate the resentment of the conqueror by remaining with him. His countenance serene, his voice firm, and endeavoring to repress the tears of his friends as uncalled for, he ordered boats or carriages for those who were willing to depart. Papers and let- ters, containing strong expressions of duty toward himself, or ill-will toward Vitellius, he committed to the flames. He distributed money in presents, but not with the profusion of a man quitting the world. Then, observing his brother's son, Salvius Cocceianus, in the bloom of youth, and dis- tressed and weeping, he even comforted him, commending his duty, but rebuking his fears : " Could it be supposed that Vitellius, finding his own family safe, would refuse, in- humanly, to return the generosity shown to himself? By hastening his death," he said, " he should establish a claim upon his clemency ; since, not in the extremity of despair, but at a time when the army was clamoring for another battle, he
c. 49.] DEATH OF OTHO. 101
had made his death an offering to his country. For himself he had gained ample renown, and left to his family enough of lustre. After the Julian race, the Claudian, and the Servian,1 he was the first who carried the sovereignty into a new fam- ily. Wherefore he should cling to life with lofty aspirations, and neither forget at any time that Otho was his uncle, nor remember it overmuch."
49. After this, his friends having all withdrawn, he reposed awhile. When lo! while his mind was occupied with the last act of his life, he was diverted from his purpose by a sudden uproar. The soldiers, he was told, were in a state of frenzy and riot, threatening destruction to all who offered to depart, and directing their fury particularly against Vergin- ius,2 whom they kept besieged in his house, which he had barricaded. Having reproved the authors of the disturbance, he returned, and devoted himself to bidding adieu to those who were going away, until they had all departed in securi- ty. Toward the close of day he quenched his thirst with a draught of cold water, and then ordered two poniards to be brought to him. He tried the points of both, and laid one under his head. Having ascertained that his friends were safe on their way, he passed the night in quiet, and, as we are assured, even slept. At the dawn of day he applied the weapon to his breast, and fell upon it. On hearing his dying groans, his freedmen and slaves, and with them Plotius Fir- mus, the prastorian prsefect, found that with one wound he had dispatched himself. His funeral obsequies were perform- ed without delay. This had been his earnest request, lest his head should be cut off and be made a public spectacle.3 He was borne on the shoulders of the praetorian soldiers, who kissed his hands and his wound, amidst tears and praises. Some of the soldiers slew themselves at the funeral pile : not
1 Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula were of the Julian line ; Claudius and Nero (by adoption) were of the Claudian ; Galba was of the house of Servius ; Otho, of the Salvian family.
3 This was Verginius Rufus, who conquered Vindex in Gaul, and had the moderation to decline the imperial dignity when offered to him by the legions.
3 Nero, in his last distress, fearing that his head would be exhibited as a public spectacle, gave directions for his funeral. Otho did the same ; though tainted with Nero's vices, he closed the scene with dignity.
102 THE HISTORY. [B. n.
from any consciousness of guilt, nor from fear ; but in emula- tion of the bright example of their prince, and to show their affection. At Bedriacum, Placentia, and other camps, num- bers of every rank adopted that mode of death. A sepulchre was raised to the memory of Otho, of ordinary structure, but likely to endure.1
50. Such was the end of Otho, in the thirty-seventh year of his age. He was born in the municipal city of Ferentum. His father was of consular rank ; his grandfather of praetorian. By the maternal line his descent was respectable, though not equally illustrious. The features of his character, as well in his earliest days as in the progress of his youth, have been al- ready delineated.2 By two actions, one atrocious and detest- able, the other great and magnanimous, he earned an equal degree of honor and infamy among posterity. As I should regard it as unbecoming the gravity of my undertaking to hunt up fabulous accounts, and amuse my readers with fic- tions, so I would not presume to impugn the credibility of those statements which have been generally received, and reg- ularly handed down. The inhabitants relate, that, on the day when the battle was fought at Bedriacum, a bird of unusual appearance perched in a frequented place near Regium Lepi- durri,3 and, notwithstanding the great concourse of people, and a numerous flight of other birds, never moved from its place till Otho put an end to his life, and then vanished out of sight ; and that, on comparing the times, the appearance and disap- pearance of this phenomenon tallied with the circumstances of the prince's death.4
1 Plutarch tells us, that he himself visited Otho's tomb at Brixellum. Those perishable materials have long since mouldered away ; but the epitaph, written by Martial, will never die. The poet admits that Otho led a dissolute life; but adds, that in his end he was no way inferior to Cato : —
" Quum dubitaret adhuc belli civilis Enyo, Forsitan et posset vincere mollis Otho; Damnavit multo staturum sanguine Martem,
Et fodit certa pectora nuda manu. Sit Cato dum vivit, sane vel Caesare major;
Dum moritur, numquid major Othone fuit." — Lib. vi. 32.
* See Annals, xiii. 46; Hist. i. 13; and Suetonius and Plutarch.
3 Regium was about fifteen miles from Brixellum, where Otho breathed his last.
* See Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, s. 5.
c. 53.] EMBARRASSMENT OF THE SENATE. 103
51. The grief and anguish of the soldiers at the funeral drove them to another mutiny. Nor was there any one to restrain it. They turned their thoughts to Verginius ; one moment calling upon him to accept the sovereignty, and the next, with menaces, pressing him to undertake an embassy to Valens and Caecina. Verginius, while they were forcing his house, disappointed them by stealing off the back way. The cohorts that lay encamped at Brixellum deputed Rubrius Gallus with terms of submission ; and pardon was immediate- ly obtained, the troops under Flavius Sabinus going over to the conqueror, through the negotiation of their commander.
52. Though the war in every quarter was now at an end, a, great part of the senate, who accompanied Otho from Rome, and by him were left at Mutina, were involved in the utmost danger. They received an account of the defeat at Bedria- cum ; but the soldiers treating it as a false alarm, as they sus- pected that the senate were hostile to Otho, they observed their language, and put a malignant construction upon their looks and demeanor. They proceeded, lastly, to reproaches and insults, hoping to find a pretense and occasion for blood- shed, when the senators saw another cloud gathering over their heads : the Vitellian party was now superior ; and they feared lest they should be thought to entertain the intelligence of the victory coldly. Thus alarmed, and painfully perplexed, they met ; no one suggesting any plan of his own, as he felt more secure as one of many who participated in the same fault. The magistracy of Mutina increased the anxiety of the terror-stricken senators, by offering them arms and money, and, with ill-timed courtesy, giving them the appellation of conscript fathers.
53. After this a notable dispute arose between Licinius Caecina and Eprius Marcellus;1 the former vehemently charg- ing Marcellus with speaking in ambiguous terms. Nor did any of the others express their sentiments frankly ; but the name of Marcellus, detested from the recollection of his infor- mations, had stimulated Caecina, a new man, and lately ad- mitted into the senate, to seek popularity by encountering powerful enmities. The dispute was ended by the interpo- sition of worthier men, and the senate returned to Bononia,
1 Eprius Marcellus was the inveterate enemy of Psetus Thrasea Annals, xvi. 22, 28.
104 THE HISTORY. [B. a
there to deliberate again, and, in the mean time, they hoped to have more intelligence. There they stationed persons on the several roads to interrogate all who could give the latest intelligence. One of Otho's freedmen being asked why he had left his master, he made answer, " I bear his last direc- tions ; he is still alive, but he renounces all the joys of life : his thoughts are fixed upon posterity alone." This account excited their admiration ; they felt a delicacy in making fur- ther inquiries : and the consequence was, that all transferred their attachment to Vitellius.
54. Lucius Vitellius, brother of the new emperor, attended the meeting of the senate, and was now presenting himself to receive the court of the senators, when Caenus, a freedman of Nero's, by a bold and impudent falsehood, threw the assembly into consternation. He affirmed it as a fact, that, by the coming up of the fourteenth legion, and the junction of the forces from Brixellum, the victors had been cut to pieces, and the fortune of the party retrieved. The motive of this fiction was, that Otho's passports,1 now slighted, might revive, under more favorable news. By this stratagem he gained a quick conveyance to Rome, and in a few days was put to death by order of Vitellius. But the danger of the senators was in- creased, as the Othonian soldiers gave credit to the fiction; and it gave intensity to their fears, that they seemed to have quitted Mutina on public grounds, and to have abandoned their party. From this time the senate was convened no more. Every man acted on his own private views, till let- ters from Fabius Valens put an end to their fears. Besides, the death of Otho was known the sooner, in proportion as it was meritorious.
55. At Rome a general calm prevailed. The games sacred to Ceres2 were exhibited as usual. When intelligence arrived that Otho was no more, and that all the military then in the city had, at the requisition of Flavius Sabinus, sworn fidelity to Vitellius, the spectators signified their applause. The peo- ple, with laurel and flowers, carried the images of Galba to the several temples, and piled their chaplets in the form of a
1 The passports, called diplomata Othonis, were granted for the pro- tection of travelers and messengers. See Pliny, lib. x. epist. 14, 54.
* The festival of Ceres began on the 19th of April. See Annals, XT. 63.
c. 67.] EXCESSES OF THE VICTORS. 105
tomb, on the spot near the lake of Curtius, which he had dyed with his life-blood. All the honors invented during the long reigns of other princes were forthwith decreed in the senate. They moreover passed a vote of thanks and applause to the German armies, and dispatched a deputation to perform the office of congratulation. A letter from Fabius Valens to the consuls was read: it was not arrogant in its style, but the modesty of Caecina, in not writing at all, gave greater satis- faction.
56. The sufferings of Italy, however, were more severe and terrible than under the war. The Vitellian soldiers, quarter- ed in the colonies and municipal cities, were bent on spoil and rapine. They committed the most horrible outrages, deflour- ing the women, and trampling on all laws, human and divine ; either from lust or with a view to be bought off, they spared nothing sacred or profane. Some were murdered by their pri- vate enemies under pretense of their being soldiers of Otho. The soldiers who knew the country, plundered without con- trol the opulent farmers and lands well stocked ; while all who resisted were doomed to the sword, the officers not daring to check them, and obliged to truckle to them. Csecina ex- hibited less avarice, but more servility. Valens had made himself infamous by his avarice and rapacity, and was there- fore obliged to connive at the crimes of others. Italy was long since exhausted, and could ill endure to maintain so many foot and horse, together with outrage, losses, and op- pression.
57. Vitellius, in the mean time, advanced toward Italy with the remainder of the German armies, ignorant of his victory, and supposing that not a blow had been struck. A few of the veteran soldiers were left behind in winter-quar- ters; and to recruit the remaining legions which were mere skeletons, hasty levies were made in Gaul. On the frontiers bordering on the Rhine the command was given to Hordeo- nius Flaccus. To his own army Vitellius added eight thou- sand men from Britain. Having marched a few days, he re- ceived intelligence of the victory at Bedriacum, and the con- clusion of the war by the death of Otho. He called an assem- bly, and highly extolled the valor of the troops. The army wished to see his freedman Asiaticus1 raised to the dignity of For more of Asiaticus, see Suetonius, Life of Vitellius, s. 12. E2
106 THE HISTORY. ]> n
a Roman knight, but Vitellius restrained the disgraceful adu- lation ; but such was his natural levity, that what he refused in public, he granted in private over his bottle. And thus a despicable slave, who was goaded on by ambition, and had no- thing to recommend him but his vices, was honored with the equestrian ring.
58. About the same time Vitellius received advices that the two Mauritanias had acceded to his party, Lucceius Albinus, the governor of that country, having been murdered. The province which was called Caesariensis had been by Nero com- mitted to Albinus ; and the other, called Tingitana, being aft- erward added by Galba, the governor was master of a consid- erable force ; not less than nineteen cohorts, five squadrons of horse, and a numerous body of Moors, accustomed to live by depredation and rapine, and therefore available for war. Aibinus, on the death of Galba, declared at once for Otho, and, not content with Africa, began to form plans against Spain, which was separated by a narrow channel.1 Cluvius Rufus, who presided in Spain, alarmed at this, ordered the tenth legion to march to the sea-coast, with a design, as he gave out, to cross the sea ; and chosen centurions were sent forward to draw the Moors over to Vitellius. This was not a difficult task ; the fame of the German armies resounded through all the provinces. A report prevailed, at the same time, that Albinus, disdaining the title of procurator, had usurped the regal diadem, and the name of Juba.
59. Thus a change taking place in the minds of the people, Asinius Pollio, who commanded a squadron of horse, and one of the most firm friends of Albinus, was surprised and put to death, with Festus and Scipio, prefects of cohorts. Albinus himself, after sailing from the province of Tingitana to that of Caesariensis, was put to death as soon as he landed. His wife, who presented herself to the assassins, perished with her husband. These transactions passed without the notice of Vitellius: even to matters of high importance the attention of a moment was all that he gave, unequal as he was to concerns of magnitude. He ordered his army to proceed by land into Italy, while he himself sailed down the Arar :2 not with any of the pomp of a prince, but exhibiting in a striking
1 The Straits of Gibraltar.
8 Now the Saone. See Annals, xiii. 53.
p 60.] EXTRAVAGANT CONDUCT OF VITELLIUS. 107
manner the poverty of his former condition.1 At length Ju- nius Blaesus, at that time governor of the Lyonese Gaul, a man of illustrious descent, of liberal mind, and corresponding wealth, supplied Vitellius with a train, and attended him in person, sparing no expense. But this very conduct excited the displeasure of Vitellius, who, however, concealed his aver- sion with servile caresses. At Lyons, the generals of both parties, as well the vanquished as the victorious, attended. Vitellius in a public speech lauded Valens and Caecina, whom he placed on each side of his curule chair. He then ordered out the whole army to receive his son, an infant of tender years. The child was brought forward ; the father took him in his arms, adorned as he was with a purple robe; saluted him by the title of Germanicus ; and arrayed him with all the insignia of princely state. This extravagant honor shown in prosperity, formed a source of consolation in the reverse of fortune which followed.
60. The centurions who had signalized themselves in Otho's service were then put to death. By this, more than any thing, he lost the affections of the forces from Illyricum. The rest of the legions caught the infection, and, being al- ready "on bad terms with the German soldiery, began to med- itate a revolt. Suetonius Paulinus and Licinius Proculus were kept for some time in a wretched state of suspense. Be- ing at length admitted to an audience, they made a defense which nothing but the necessity of the times could excuse. They made a merit with Vitellius of their treachery to Otho, and to their own sinister designs ascribed the march of the army on the day of battle, the fatigue of the troops, and the confusion in the ranks, occasioned by not removing the bag- gage, with many other accidental circumstances. Vitellius gave them credit for their perfidy, and pardoned their attach- ment to his enemy. Salvius Titianus, the brother of Otho, was screened from danger on the score of natural affection, and his imbecile character. Marius Celsus, consul elect, was suffered to succeed to his honors, though Caecilius Simplex, as was generally believed, and the charge was afterward brought against him in the senate, endeavored by bribery to supplant him ; meditating also the destruction of Celsus.
1 For the extreme poverty of Vitellius, see Suetonius, Life of Vitel liua, s. 7.
108 THE HISTORY. [B. IL
The emperor, however, withstood him, but in time raised him to that office,1 without the guilt of bribery or murder. Tra- chalus was shielded from his accusers by Galeria, the wife of Vitellius.
61. Amidst the dangers that involved the first men of the age, shameful to relate, one Mariccus, a plebeian of the Boii, had the presumption to mix up his name with the great events of the time, and provoke the Roman arms by a pretense to supernatural lights ; and already as deliverer of Gaul, and as a god, for such was the title he assumed, having mustered eight thousand men, he made an attempt on the adjacent vil- lages of the ^Eduans, when that powerful state, with a cho- sen band of their youth, and with a reinforcement of cohorts from Vitellius, put the fanatic multitude to the rout. Mar- iccus was taken prisoner, and soon after given to wild beasts. The populace, astonished to see that he was not immediately torn to pieces, believed him to be sacred and inviolable, till he was put to death under the eye of Vitellius.
62. From this time the partisans of Otho were no longer persecuted : the effects of all remained inviolable. The last wills of such as fell fighting for Otho were allowed^ to be valid, and, where no will was made, the law of intestacy took its course. In fact, if Vitellius had moderated his luxuries, one needed not fear his avarice. His appetite for feasting was shocking, and knew no bounds.2 From Rome and Italy incentives to gluttony were conveyed; the roads from both the seas ringing with the din of carriages. To entertain him on his march, the principal men of every city were obliged to lavish all their wealth, and the cities themselves were ex- hausted. The soldiers lost all energy and virtue, from being habituated to pleasure and contempt of their general. Vi- tellius, by an edict sent forward to Rome, signified his pleas- ure to postpone for the present the title of Augustus, and decline that of Caesar; but did not forego any portion of the princely power. He ordered the mathematicians to be ban- ished out of Italy, and, under heavy penalties, restrained the Roman knights from disgracing themselves by public games
1 Csecilius Simplex was consul when Vitellius, finding his affairs ut- terly ruined, was willing to abdicate. (Hist. iii. 68.) For an accouat sf the consuls in the course of this year, see above, i. 77, note.
s Compare Suetonius, Life of Vitellms, s. 10.
c. 64.] DOLABELLA MURDERED. 109
and the prize ring. Former princes had not scrupled to al- lure men to that practice by money, and still oftener by force. Many of the municipal towns and colonies emulated the city in alluring all the most profligate to engage in these practices by means of rewards.
63. Vitellius, on the arrival of his brother,1 and other adepts in tyrannic arts gaining an ascendency over him, became more haughty and sanguinary. He gave orders for the execution of Dolabella, who, as already stated, was removed by Otho to the colony of Aquinum. Being there informed of that em- peror's death, he ventured to return to Rome. That step was objected to him as a crime by his intimate friend, Plancius Varus, who had been praetor, before Flavius Sabinus, the prae- fect of the city. He pretended that Dolabella broke from his place of confinement to offer himself as a leader to the van- quished party, and added, that he had endeavored to seduce to his interest the cohort stationed at Ostia. He could bring no proof of these serious charges ; and, visited with remorse, which proved too late to be of any service, he implored for- giveness for the accused, after incurring the horrible guilt. Flavius Sabinus hesitated in a matter of such magnitude, till Triaria, the wife of Lucius Vitellius, a woman furious beyond her sex, warned him not to seek the fame of clemency at the peril of the prince. Sabinus, naturally humane, but when danger threatened himself infirm of purpose, and feeling his own life hazarded in another's peril, precipitated the fall of a man whom he dared not appear to help.
64. Vitellius, from motives of fear and hatred, (for Petro- nia,2 his former wife, was no sooner divorced than Dolabella married her,) by letters dispatched to Rome invited him to his presence, advising him, at the same time, to shun the publicity of the Flaminian road, and come by the way of Interamnium. At that place, he ordered him to be put to death. The assassin thought he should lose too much time, and attacked Dolabella at an inn on the road, while stretch- ed on the ground, and cut his throat ; a transaction which brought into great odium the new reign, the future character
1 This was Lucius Vitellius, whom we have seen with the senators it Bononia. See above, c. 54.
2 Petronia was the first wife of Vitellius. Suetonius, Life of Vitel- Hus, 8. 6.
110 THE HISTORY. [B. n.
of which was understood from this incipient specimen. The daring spirit of Triaria was the more detested, as it stood in immediate contrast to the mild character of Galeria, the em- peror's wife, and also to that of Sextilia,1 his mother: a wo- man of equal excellence, and formed on the model of ancient manners. On receipt of the first letters from her son, she is said to have declared that his name was not Germanicus but Vitellius ; and never afterward, either elated by the allure- ments of fortune, or deceived by the voice of flattery, was she won to cheerfulness, but was alive only to the calamities of her family.
65. Vitellius having set out from Lyons, was met by Mar- cus Cluvius Rufus, who had left his government in Spain for the purpose. He appeared with joy and gratulation in his countenance, and anxiety in his heart. He knew that an accusation had been prepared against him by Hila- rius, one of the emperor's freedmen, importing that, dur- ing the war between Otho and Vitellius, Rufus intended to set up for himself, and seize the provinces of Spain ; and that, with this view, he had issued various edicts, without inserting the name of any prince whatever. He also put a construction upon some of his public harangues, tending to blacken the character of Vitellius, and recommend himself to popular favor. The interest of Rufus was too powerful, and his freedman was even condemned to punishment by Vi- tellius.' Rufus was enrolled among the emperor's intimate friends, and, at the same time, retained his government of Spain during his absence, after the example of Lucius Ar- runtius,2 whom Tiberius, from suspicion, never suffered to de- part from Rome. But Vitellius entertained no fear of Cluvi- us. Trebellius Maximus did not meet with equal favor : he had fled from Britain on account of the angry feeling of the soldiers.3 Vettius Bolanus, then a follower of the court, was sent to succeed him.4
66. Vitellius heard, with deep anxiety, that the spirit of
1 For Sextilia, the mother of Vitellius, see Suetonius, Life of Vitel- lius, s. 3.
* Lucius Arruntius was appointed governor of Spain by Tiberius, and for ten years after detained at Rome. Annals, vi. 27.
3 See above, i. 60.
* For Vettius Bolanus, see the Life of Agricola, c. 8, 16.
o. 67.] INSUBORDINATION OF THE ARMY. HI
the vanquished legions was far from being subdued. Dis- persed through Italy, and intermixed with the victorious troops, they talked of vengeance. Foremost in insolence was the fourteenth legion, who denied that they were conquered ; and that, because at Bedriacum the vexillaries only were de- feated, but the strength of the legion was not engaged. It was judged proper to send them back into Britain, whence they had been recalled by Nero ; and the Batavian cohorts were ordered in the mean time to camp with them, as an old animosity subsisted between them and the soldiers of the four- teenth. Between armed men so inflamed with hatred, a quar- rel soon broke out. At Augusta, the capital of the Turin- ians,1 a Batavian soldier had words with an artisan, whom he charged with fraud. A man of the legion took the part of his host ; their comrades joining each of them, from abusive language they proceeded to blows ; and, if two praetorian co- horts, taking part with the fourteenth, had not awed the Ba- tavians, and inspired confidence in the legionaries, a bloody conflict had ensued. Vitellius, satisfied with the fidelity of the Batavians, incorporated them with his army. The legion had orders to proceed over the Graian Alps,2 that by this cir- cuitous route they might avoid Vienne, whose inhabitants were suspected. The night the legion marched, they left fires burning in all quarters, by which a part of the Turinian city was destroyed. This loss, like many other calamities of war, was thrown into the shade by the greater disasters of other cities. After the soldiers had descended from the Alps, all the most disaffected of them marched to Vienne. They were, however, reduced to order by the unanimity of the better disposed, and the legion was transported into Britain.
67. The praetorian cohorts formed the next source of dis- quietude to Vitellius. They were separated first, and after- ward, this step being followed by an honorable discharge to soften their resentment, they delivered up their arms to their tribunes ; but at length, when the war commenced by Vespa- sian assumed consistency, they assembled again, and proved the best support of the Flavian cause. The first legion of marines was ordered into Spain, that in repose and indolence
1 The modern Turin.
8 Now known as the Little St. Bernard.
112 THE HISTORY. IB. n.
their spirit might evaporate. The seventh and eleventh were sent back to their old winter-quarters. The thirteenth was ordered to build amphitheatres ; for Caecina, at Cremona, and Valens, at Bononia, were preparing to exhibit a spectacle of gladiators, Vitellius being at no time so intent upon business as to forget his amusements.
68. And certainly he had in a quiet way broken up the party; but a mutiny arose among the victors, in its com- mencement ridiculous, had not the numbers slain brought the war into increased odium. Vitellius had sat down at a banquet at Ticinum, and Vergtnius was of the party. Ac- cording to the manners of the chiefs, the tribunes and centu- rions emulate their strictness or delight in noonday feasts, and the soldiers equally are either orderly or riotous. In the army of Vitellius, all was confusion and drunkenness, resem- bling wakes and bacchanalian routs, rather than a camp, or a disciplined army. Accordingly, two soldiers, one of the fifth legion, the other an auxiliary Gaul, under the excitement of revelry, proceeded to a trial of skill in wrestling. The Ro- man was thrown : his antagonist exulted over him ; and the spectators, who had gathered round them, were soon divided into parties. The consequence was, that the legions fell upon the auxiliaries sword in hand, and two cohorts were cut to pieces. Another alarm put an end to this fray. A cloud of dust was seen at a distance, and the glittering of arms. A shout was suddenly raised, that the fourteenth legion was returning to offer battle; but it was the men who brought up the rear of the army, and when recognized, all anxiety subsided. Meanwhile, a slave of Verginius was observed by the soldiers, who charged him with a design to assas- sinate Vitellius, and rushed directly to the banqueting-room, demanding the execution of Verginius. The emperor him- self, though tremblingly alive to every suspicion, doubted not the innocence of Verginius, but with difficulty restrain- ed the men, who thirsted for the blood of a consular man, at one time their own general. It had ever been the fate of Verginius, more than of any other officer, to encounter the seditious spirit of the army. Their admiration of the man, and their estimation of his character, remained unalter- ed, but they hated him as having been treated with contempt by him.
c. 70.] VITELLIUS VISITS THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 113
69. The next day, the deputies from the senate having been admitted to an audience, Vitellius visited the camp, and actu- ally lauded the zeal of the soldiers, while the auxiliaries mur- mured at the extent of impunity now enjoyed by the legiona- ries, and the insolence they manifested. The Batavian co- horts had been ordered back to Germany, lest they should make any desperate attempts : the Fates even then preparing the seeds of a foreign and a civil war. l The allies from Gaul were restored to their respective states : a vast unwieldy mul- titude, employed in the beginning of the revolt merely to make up an appearance. For the rest, that the imperial revenues, now well-nigh exhausted by largesses, might hold out, Vitel- lius ordered the complement of the legions and auxiliaries to be reduced, and no new levies to be made. Dismissions from the service were offered indiscriminately. The policy was of the worst consequence to the commonwealth, and unaccepta- ble to the soldiers, who had the same duties to perform with reduced numbers, and more frequent returns of danger and toil. Their energies, too, were wasted by luxury : so differ- ent from the ancient system of discipline, and the institutions of their ancestors, with whom virtue proved a better support of Roman power than money.
70. Vitellius, quitting this place, turned out of his way to go to Cremona. Having there attended the spectacle ex- hibited by Ca3cina, he earnestly desired to tread the field of Bedriacum, and survey the vestiges of his recent victory. Shocking and terrible was the spectacle. Forty days2 had not elapsed since the battle : there lay bodies, hideously man- gled ; limbs dissevered ; the decaying forms of men and horses ; the ground tainted with gore : one scene of dire devastation, where trees and the fruits of the earth were trampled under foot. No less shocking to humanity was that portion of the road which the people of Cremona had strewn with roses and laurels, with altars raised and victims slain, after the custom observed toward despots. But these acts of momentary ex- ultation in a short time after brought destruction on their au- thors. Valens and Caecina attended, and pointed to the local circumstances of the battle: "From this spot the legions
1 The foreign war was with the Batavians, under Civilis : the do- mestic, with Vespasian.
* Thi* was the 24th of May.
114 THE HISTORY. [B. n
rushed on to the attack; thence the cavalry charged in a body; from that quarter the auxiliaries wheeled about and surrounded the enemy." And now, the tribunes and praefects, each extolling his own achievements, gave a medley of facts and falsehoods, or facts magnified by exaggeration. The com- mon soldiers, with shouts and exultation, quitted the road, re- traced the scene of their struggles, and surveyed the heaps of arms and piles of dead bodies with delight and wonder. Some, too, reflecting on the sudden transitions of fortune, shed tears, and were touched with commiseration. But Vitellius looked on with unaverted eyes, nor shuddered to behold so many thousand bodies of Roman citizens unburied ; nay, with feel- ings of preposterous joy, and little thinking that his catas- trophe was so near, he offered solemn sacrifice to the genii of the place.
71. Next, at Bononia, Fabius Valens exhibited a show of gladiators, with decorations brought from Rome. In propor- tion as the emperor advanced toward the capital, the greater the licentiousness that marked his progress : players and bands of eunuchs mixing with the soldiers, and all the other char- acteristic abominations of Nero's court. For Vitellius was in the habit of showing his admiration of Nero, and used to attend him when he went about singing, not by compul- sion, as was the case with all men of integrity, but enslaved by luxury and gluttony, and finding his reward in them. In order to open for Valens and Caecina1 unoccupied months of office, the consulates of others were abridged. Martius Macer,2 as having been a general of Otho's party, was passed over; and Valerius Marinus, who had been put in nomination by Galba, was also set aside, not for any offense, but as being a man of mild temper, and likely to bear the wrong tamely. Pedanius Costa was omitted, being odious to the prince for having taken an active part against Nero, and excited the ambition of Verginius. But he pretended other reasons. To crown all, thanks were given to Vitellius, in conformity with the inveterate habit of servility.
72. A fraud, which made vigorous progress at its com-
1 Valens and Caecina entered on their joint consulship on the Calends of November. See above, i. 77, and note.
3 Martius Macer commanded Otho's gladiators on the banks of the Po. See above, c. 33 of this book.
c. 74.] RESOURCES OF VESPASIAN. 115
mencement, passed current for not more than a few days. There started up a man who pretended to be Scribonianus Camerinus,1 and that, through fear of the Neronian times, he had lain concealed in Istria, as the followers and the lands of the ancient Crassi, and partiality to that illustrious house, still continued there. The impostor, having engaged all the most profligate to support the fiction, the credulous vulgar, and certain of the soldiers, either led into error or from love of innovation, eagerly joined in the plot. Being brought be- fore Vitellius, and asked who in the world he was, when it was found that no reliance was to be placed on what he stated, and he was recognized by his master as being in con- dition a runaway slave, named Geta, he was put to death after the manner of slaves.2
73. When intelligence was brought by his chosen men from Syria and Judaea that the East had sworn allegiance to him, it would hardly be believed if I were to relate how much the insolence and heartlessness of Vitellius increased ; for though as yet he had been only the subject of vague and unauthenti- cated rumors, still Vespasian was in the mouths of men, and his famj had gone forth, so that Vitellius was frequently startled at the name of Vespasian. Now that a rival was no longer dreaded, the emperor and his army plunged into every excess of foreign manners, giving loose to cruelty, lust, and rapine.
74. Meanwhile Vespasian was considering the war, and revolving the means of conducting it. He surveyed his re- sources at a distance, as well as those at hand. His troops were so devoted to his interest, that, when he set them the example of swearing fidelity to Vitellius, and prayed for the entire prosperity of his reign, the soldiers heard him in pro- found silence. Mucianus was zealously attached to Titus, and not averse to Vespasian. Alexander, the praefect of Egypt, shared his counsels. The third legion, which had been removed from Syria to Moesia, he considered as his own, and had hopes that, all the other legions in Illyricum would follow its example. In tact, all the armies were in a flame at the insolence of the soldiers that came among them from
1 Sulpicius Camerinus and his son were put to death by order of Helius, Nero's freedman, A.D. 67.
8 The slaves were condemned to suffer death on a cross.
116 THE HISTORY. JB. ,
Vitellius; terrific in person, and uncouth in their language, they treated all others with contempt. But, in an enterprise of such importance, it was natural to hesitate ; and Vespasian, one while elate with hope, at other times reflected upon the counteracting motives. "What a day would that be, when he should commit himself, at the age of sixty, with his two youthful sons,1 to a civil war! In undertakings of a private nature, men may retreat, and draw more or less upon fortune as they please ; but when sovereign power is the object sought, there is no middle ground between the highest eleva- tion and the abyss of destruction."
75. The valor of the German armies, well known to him as an experienced soldier, continually recurred to his imagina- tion. "The legions under his command had not been tried in a civil war, while those of the Vitellians had conquered in one. The vanquished would exhibit more of discontent than vigor. In civil discord the fidelity of the soldiery is an un- stable reliance ; and danger is to be apprehended from each individual. For of what avail would be cohorts of foot, and squadrons of horse, if one or two should seek, by a deed of daring villainy, the reward ever held out by an adverse party? Such was the fate of Scribonianus in the reign of Claudius:2 he was murdered by Volopnius, a common soldier, and the highest posts in the service were the wages of an assassin. It was an easier task to incite whole armies to action, than to escape the attacks of individ- uals."
76. While wavering under the effect of these timorous an- ticipations, his resolution was confirmed by other delegates and friends, and among the rest by Mucianus, who, after many conversations in private, now in public also thus addressed him : " All who meditate the accomplishment of great enterprises ought to weigh carefully whether that which is being undertaken is beneficial to the commonwealth, honorable to themselves, and either easy to be achieved, or certainly not attended with arduous difficulties. At the same time, the character of the man who advises the measure should be considered; whether he hazard himself in the
1 Vespasian's two sons, Titus and Domitian.
3 Furius Camillus Scribonianus raised a rebellion in Dalmatia, in th« reign of Claudius, and was soon after slain, A.D. 42.
u 76.1 ADDRESS OF MUCIANUS. 117
enterprise ; and, if fortune favor the undertaking, who is to reap the chief glory ? I am the person, Vespasian, who in- vite you to empire, as much for the good of the common- wealth, as for your own glory : next after the gods, the issue depends on your own exertions. Nor should you be deterred by apprehensions that I am imposing upon you by flattery : to be elected emperor after Vitellius is rather a disgrace than an honor. It is not against the vigorous mind*of Augustus, nor the consummate craft of the aged Tiberius ; nor against the house of Caligula, or Claudius, or Nero, firmly establish- ed by the long possession of imperial power, that we rise up. Even Galba's illustrious line of ancestors commanded your submission. But longer to remain inactive, and leave the commonwealth a prey to vice and infamy, would seem sheer lethargy and cowardice, even if to serve were as free from danger to you as it is replete with dishonor. The time is departed and gone by, when you might appear to have de- sired the empire: you must flee to the sovereignty as your only refuge. Have we forgotten the butchered Corbulo?1 The splendor of his birth was superior, it must be confessed, to ours : but Nero too surpassed Vitellius in the lustre of his ancestry. In the eyes of the person who lives in fear, the man who makes himself dreaded is illustrious enough, be he who he may. And that the armies can create an em- peror, Vitellius furnishes the proof: a man of no experience as a soldier, no military renown, but owing his elevation to Galba's disrepute. Otho, whom he has caused to be re- gretted and regarded as a great prince, was conquered, not by his skill as a general, or the valor of his army, but by his own precipitate despair of success. While Vitellius, in the interval, is disbanding his legions, disarming the cohorts, and every day furnishing the seeds for war, whatever of spir- it and fire his soldiery possessed is wasting away in taverns and drunken revelry,- and in aping the habits of the prince. On the other hand, you have from Syria, Judaea, and Egypt, nine legions, unimpaired by battles, and undebauched by dissensions : an army inured to the operations of war, and crowned with victory over the enemies of their country ; the prime of fleets, of cavalry and cohorts ; kings devoted
1 Corbulo was put to death by Nero, from jealousy at his successes, See Dio, lib. Ixiii.
118 THE HISTOKY. £B. IL
to your cause ; and your own experience, superior to all of them.
77. "For myself, I claim nothing but not to be thought inferior to Valens or Caecina. If in Mucianus you do not find a rival, do not therefore despise him, as I count myself superior to Vitellius, but inferior to you. Your house has been distinguished by triumphal honors:1 you have two sons, one of them2*already equal to the weight of empire, and who acquired fame even with the German armies in the early pe- riod of his service. Had I myself the sovereign power, I should adopt your son ; it were absurd, therefore, not to yield to you the claim of empire. However, the distribution of the rewards of success, and the consequences of failure, between us, will not be one and the same ; for if we conquer, I shall have such honor as you may please to bestow, but the hazard and danger we shall share equally ; nay rather, as is the bet- ter course, do you rule these armies, and consign to me the war, and the casualties of hostile encounters. In the van- quished party there is stricter discipline than in the victori- ous : anger, indignation, and a desire for revenge, fan the flame of valor. The former have lost all sense of virtue, through disdain and frowardness. The war itself will dis- cover and reopen the concealed and angry wounds of the vic- torious party. Nor is my confidence excited more by your vigilance, economy, and wisdom, than by the torpor, igno- rance, and cruelty of Vitellius. But our case is better if we take up arms, than if we continue in peace ; for those who deliberate about revolting have revolted already."
78. After this speech of Mucianus, all the rest, with in- creased confidence, pressed round Vespasian, recounting the responses of seers and the motions of the stars.3 Nor was Vespasian untinctured with that superstition ; for afterward, when possessed of the supreme authority, he openly retained a mathematician, named Seleucus, to guide and warn him by his predictions. Former prognostics again presented them-
1 In the reign of Claudius, Vespasian had obtained triumphal orna- ments for his conduct in Britain. Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, s. 4.
8 Titus had served with distinction in the rank of military tribune, in Britain as well as Germany. Suetonius, Life of Titus, s. 4.
* For a number of oracles and prodigies, see Suetonius, Life of Ves- pasian, 83. 5, 7.
c. 79.] VESPASIAN PROCLAIMED IN JUDAEA. 119
selves to his mind : a cypress-tree of conspicuous height, on his own estate, had fallen suddenly to the ground, and, on the following day, rose again on the same spot, and resumed its verdure, increased in height and breadth. This, in the unanimous opinion of the soothsayers, was an omen of gran- deur and prosperity ; and the prospect of the highest renown was held out to Vespasian in his early youth. But at first, triumphal honors, the consulship, and the glory of conquer- ing Judaea, seemed to have fulfilled the prediction; when he had acquired these, he began to cherish the conviction that the imperial dignity was foreshown to him. Between Syr- ia and Judaea stands mount Carmel, such is the name given to the mountain and the deity ; nor is there any representa- tion of the deity or temple; according to ancient usage, there is only an altar and worship. While Vespasian was offering sacrifice there, and was meditating on his secret aspirations, Basilides, the priest, having examined the entrails of the vic- tims diligently, said to Vespasian, "Whatever are your de. signs, whether to build a house, to enlarge the boundaries of your lands, or increase your slaves, a mighty seat, immense borders, a multitude of men, are given to you." This mys- terious prediction was forthwith spread abroad, and now re- ceived an interpretation. Nor was there any more frequent topic of discourse among the populace: still more frequent were the conversations upon it in the presence of Vespasian himself, in proportion as more things are said to those who entertain hopes.
79. Mucianus and Vespasian, with minds thoroughly made up, parted, and went, the former to Antioch, the capital of Syria, the latter to Caesarea, the capital of Judaea. The first public step toward creating Vespasian emperor of Rome was taken at Alexandria in Egypt: Tiberius Alexander, the praa- fect of the province, eager to show his zeal, administered the oath to the legions under his command, on the calends of July ; and that day was ever after celebrated as the first of Vespasian's reign, though the army in Judaea swore fidelity on the fifth beibre the nones of the same month to Vespasian himself, with such zeal that they would not wait for the re- turn of his son Titus from Syria, who bore dispatches relative to the plans between his father and Mucianus. The whole transaction was hurried on by the impetuosity of the soldiery,
120 THE HISTORY. [B. n.
without any public harangue, and without a union of the legions.
80. While they were looking out for a proper time and place, and, that which forms the chief difficulty in such affairs, who should first declare, — while hope and fear, the calculations of reason and the uncertainties of fortune, presented them- selves to the mind, — a small number of soldiers, who were stationed near him in the usual form to salute him as lieuten- ant-general, when he came forth from his chamber, saluted him by the title of emperor. The whole body then pressed forward, and loaded him with the name of Caesar, Augustus, and every other title of imperial grandeur. In a moment his fears subsided, and he resolved to pursue the road of ambition. In his own conduct there was no manifestation of vanity, or insolence, or affectation of manners suited to his altered po- sition. The instant he dissipated the film which so great a change had spread over his vision, he addressed them in the spirit of a soldier, and received with courtesy the congratula- tions of all, and the troops that came flocking to him. And now Mucianus, who waited for this opportunity, administered the oath of allegiance to Vespasian to the soldiers, who took it with alacrity. Mucianus then went into the theatre at Antioch, where the inhabitants were used to hold their public debates, and harangued the multitude that crowded round him, and poured forth their compliments in profusion, as he could speak with considerable grace and eloquence, even in the Greek language, and possessed a peculiar talent of pro- ducing effect in whatever he said or did. Nothing inflamed the passions of the army and the province so much as his as- surance, " that it was a fixed point with Vitellius, to trans- fer the German troops to Syria, to serve in a rich and peace- ful province ; while, in exchange, the barracks in Germany, where the climate was severe and the service arduous, should be occupied by the legions of Syria :" for both the natives of the province, by the force of habit, took a pleasure in the so- ciety of the soldiers, and many were united with them by close relationships and connections ; and their camp, so familiar and natural to them, from the long time they had served in it, was regarded by the soldiers with the affection felt for the domes- tic hearth.
81. Before the ides of July, the whole province of Syria
c. 82-3 PREPARATIONS FOR THi^ WAR. 121
had taken the same oath. His party was further strength- ened by Sohemus,J with his kingdom, no contemptible acces sion ; and also by Antiochus, who inherited immense treasures from his ancestors, and was the richest of all the kings who submitted to the authority of Rome. Soon after, Agrippa, receiving private expresses from the East, summoning him from Rome, departed before Vitellius had any intelligence, and by a quick navigation passed over into Asia. Queen Be- renice, at that time in the bloom of youth and beauty, with no less zeal espoused the interest of Vespasian, to whom, not- withstanding his advanced age, she had made herself agree- able by magnificent presents. The several maritime prov- inces, including Asia and Achaia, and the whole inland coun- try between Pontus and the two Armenias, entered into the confederacy; but the governors of those provinces had no forces, as no legions were as yet stationed in Cappadocia. A council was held at Berytus, on the general state of affairs. Mucianus attended, with the generals and tribunes, and all the most distinguished of the centurions and soldiers, and a chosen band of the most eminent of the army in Judea. An assembly consisting of such a numerous train of horse and foot, and of Eastern kings, who vied with each other in splendor and magnificence, presented a spectacle worthy of the imperial dignity.
82. The first object in the prosecution of the war was to raise recruits, and recall the veterans to the service. The strong cities were fixed upon to ply the manufacture of arms, and a mint for gold and silver coin was established at Anti- och. The whole was carried on with diligence, each in its ap- pointed place, by persons qualified for the service. Vespasian in person visited every quarter, — encouraged the industrious by commendations, — roused the inactive by his example, more frequently than by rebuke ; shutting his eyes to the failings of his friends, rather than their merits. He advanced many to the administration of provinces, and others to the rank of sen- ators,— all men of distinguished character, who rose afterward to the highest honors in the state. There were some whose
1 Sohemus, king of the country called Sophene. (Annals, xiii. 7.) Antiochus, king of Commagene. (Annals, xii. 65.) Agrippa II., king of part of Judfea. (Annals, xiii. 7.) Berenice, sister to Agrippa, famous for her love of Titus.
VOL. II.— F
122 THE HISTORY. [B. u
good fortune supplied the place of virtues. Neither did Muci- anus, in his first harangue, hold out hopes of a donative, ex- cept upon a moderate scale ; nor did even Vespasian, though engaged in a civil war, offer more than others in times of peace ; setting a bright example of firmness against corrupt- ing the soldiery by largess ; and to that firmness he owed the superiority of his army. Embassadors were sent to Parthia and Armenia, and arrangements proposed that, when the legions marched to the civil war, the country in their rear should not be left defenseless. Titus was to follow up the war in Judaea, while Vespasian held the passes into Egypt. To make head against Vitellius, part of the army was deemed sufficient, under the conduct of Mucianus, with Vespasian's name, and the resistless power of destiny. Letters were dis- patched to the several armies, and the officers in command, with instructions to conciliate the praetorian soldiers, who were exasperated against Vitellius, by the allurement of rein- stating them in the service.
83. Mucianus, with the appearance rather of an associate in the sovereign power, than an officer, advanced at the head of a light-armed detachment, never lingering in the course of his progress, that he might not be thought irresolute, and yet not proceeding rapidly ; by the very time he consumed, he afforded an opportunity for rumor to gather strength; well aware that his forces were none of the greatest, and that ex- aggerated notions are formed of things at a distance. But he was followed by the sixth legion, and thirteen thousand vex- illaries, forming together a vast body. The fleet at Pontus had orders to assemble at Byzantium, as he had not determ- ined whether he should not avoid Moesia, and beset Dyrrha- chium with his foot and horse, while his men-of-war com- manded the sea toward Italy; thus protecting Achaia and Asia in his rear, which would be exposed to the mercy of Vi- tellius, unless they were strengthened by forces ; and, on the other hand, Vitellius himself would not know what part of Italy to guard, if Brundisium and Tarentum, and the coasts of Lucania and Calabria, were menaced by his fleets.
84. The provinces, therefore, resounded with the bustle of warlike preparations, soldiers, ships, and arms. How to raise money was the chief difficulty. Mucianus, whose constant plea was, that funds were the sinews of war, in all questions
c. 85.] CONDUCT OF THE LEGIONS IN MCESIA. 123
regarded neither truth nor justice, but merely the extent of means possessed. Informations followed without number, and all the richest men were plundered without mercy. Op- pressive and intolerable as these proceedings were, the press- ing exigencies of the war furnished an excuse; but the prac- tice continued even in peace. Vespasian himself, in the begin- ning of his reign, was not so urgent in enforcing oppressions ; but at length, corrupted by the smiles of fortune, and evil in- structors, he learned the arts of rapacity, and dared to prac- tice them.1 Mucianus, even from his own funds, contributed to the war ; expending his private means that he might plun- der the public the more, under pretext of indemnifying him- self. The rest followed his example in contributing money, but few were there who enjoyed the same uncontrolled power of reimbursement.
85. In the mean time the project of Vespasian was accel- erated by the army in Illyricum coming over to his interest. In Mossia the third legion revolted, and drew after them the eighth, and also the seventh, called the Claudian ; both favor- ably disposed to Otho, though not engaged in the action at Bedriacum. They had advanced as far as Aquileia, when, being informed of Otho's overthrow, they spurned and as- saulted the messengers, — tore the colors that displayed the name of Vitellius,— and lastly, having plundered the mili- tary chests, and divided the spoil, conducted themselves as open enemies. Whence their fears, which prompted them to take counsel: they considered that what required pardon from Vitellius, might be made a merit of with Vespasian. Accordingly they sent dispatches to the army in Pannonia, in- viting them to join the league; and made ready, if they did not comply, to compel them. In this commotion, Aponius Saturninus,2 governor of Mossia, conceived a most iniquitous design. Under color of public zeal, but to gratify private malice, he dispatched a centurion to murder Tertius Julianus, who commanded the seventh legion. That officer had time- ly notice, and providing himself with guides who knew the
1 Vespasian, in the height of his power, did not scruple to raise large sums of money by severe exactions; but the apology for his avarice was the liberal spirit with which he adorned Rome and Italy with grand and useful works. See Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, a 16.
1 For Aponius Saturninuc and Tertius Julianus, see above, i. 79.
124 THE HISTORY. fa. u.
country, escaped through devious tracts to the region beyond Mount Haemus. From that time he took no part in the civil war ; affected often to be on the point of setting out to join Vespasian ; but delayed his journey on various pretenses, and according to the intelligence he received, either studiously dal- lying, or quickening his motions.
86. On the other hand, in Pannonia, the thirteenth legion and the seventh, called the Galbian, still feeling with indigna- tion their defeat at Bedriacum, unhesitatingly joined the par- ty of Vespasian, principally at the persuasion of Antonius Primus, convicted of forgery1 in the reign of Nero, and ob- noxious to the laws : among the other evils of civil dissension, he recovered the senatorian rank. Advanced by Galba to the command of the seventh legion, according to report, he wrote several letters to Otho, offering himself as general of the party. Otho paid no attention to the proposal, and he was not employed in the Othonian war. When the cause of Vitellius began to decline, he veered round to Vespasian, and became a grand support to the party ; for he was a man of great personal courage ; a fluent speaker ; had the art of drawing down odium upon others ; a great man in civil broils and mutinies ; rapacious ; profuse ; a pest in peace, but no contemptible character in war. The armies of Moesia and Pannonia thus formed a junction, and drew the forces of Dal- matia after them, though the consular governors remained neutral. Titius Ampius Flavianus ruled in Pannonia, and Poppaeus Silvanus in Dalmatia ; both rich, and advanced in years; but Cornelius Fuscus, descended from illustrious an- cestors, and then in the vigor of life, was there as imperial procurator. In his youth he had resigned his senatorian rank, from love of retirement. In behalf of Galba he com- manded his own colony, and for the service obtained the post of procurator; and now taking part with Vespasian, he carried, as it were, a flaming fire-brand in the van of the movement; glorying not so much in the reward of dangers, as in dangers themselves. He preferred a life of enterprise, uncertainty, and peril, to security and the enjoyment of his previous acquisitions. Wherever they believed that there existed a discontented spirit, they set about exciting and
1 Primus Antonius, now the leader of Vespasian's armies, was for merly convicted of extortion. See Annals, xiv. 18.
o. 88.] PROGRESS OF VITELLItJS. 125
stirring it into action. They sent dispatches to the fourteenth legion in Britain, and to the first in Spain, knowing that both had favored the cause of Otho against Vitellius. Their let- ters were spread all over Gaul, and in a moment a war of vast extent blazed forth ; the forces in Illyricum declaring openly for Vespasian, and all the others ready to follow where the prospect of success invited.
87. While Vespasian and the leaders of his party were thus employed throughout the provinces, Vitellius, growing daily more insignificant and supine, advanced by slow marches to- ward the city of Rome, stopping for every gratification that presented itself in the villas and municipal towns. He was followed by sixty thousand men in arms, all corrupted by ex- cessive indulgence. The number of drudges was still greater ; while sutlers, the most froward characters in existence, were mingled with the slaves. There was also a train of officers and courtiers, whom it would have been difficult to keep in subjection, even though their ruler had exhibited the most ex- emplary self-command. The crowd was rendered still more cumbrous by senators and Roman knights, who came from Rome to meet the prince; some impelled by fear, many to pay their court, others, (and gradually all came under this denomination,) that they might not stay behind while others went. A multitude of the populace, known to Vitellius as the servile ministers of his vices, joined the throng ; such as players, buffoons, and charioteers, characters that are a dis- grace to the name of friends, but in which Vitellius wonder- fully delighted. In furnishing such a mass of provisions, not the colonies and municipal cities alone were exhausted, but the fruits of the earth being then ripe, the husband- men and the land, as if it were an enemy's country, were stripped.
88. The animosity between the legions and the auxiliaries, which followed the mutiny at Ticinum, still continuing, fre- quent and dreadful butcheries occurred among the soldiery ; but when they had to contend with the peasants they were unanimous. The most extensive carnage happened seven miles from Rome. At that place Vitellius ordered victuals, ready dressed, to be distributed among the soldiers, as if it were a feast to pamper a band of gladiators, and the common people, who had come in crowds from Rome, were dispersed
126 THE HISTORY. [B. IL
through the camp. In sport, as they considered, such as is usual among slaves, some of them made free with the soldiers who were sauntering about, slyly cutting off their belts, and then teazed them by asking if they were girt with their arms. Their spirit, intolerant of any indignity, would not brook the jest: they fell sword in hand on the defenseless multitude. Among the slain was the father of one of the soldiers, as he accompanied his son. He was soon after recognized, and his death being made known, it put a stop to the slaughter of un- offending persons. Rome, however, was thrown into conster- nation, a number of soldiers hurrying forward into the city. They made chiefly for the forum, impatient to see the spot where Galba had fallen. Covered with the skins of savage beasts, and wielding large and massive spears, the spectacle which they exhibited to the Roman citizens was no less hide- ous, when, from stupidity, they ran against the crowded peo- ple, or when, falling down from the slipperiness of the street, or from encountering some one, they resorted to abuse, from which, anon, they proceeded to blows and the sword. Nay, even the tribunes and centurions, at the head of their troops of cavalry, scoured through the streets, spreading terror as they went.
89. Vitellius himself, in his military robe, girt with his sword, and mounted on a superb horse, advanced from the Milvian bridge, driving the senate and the people before him. His friends, however, by their advice deterred him from en- tering the city as though it were taken by storm : he there- fore put on his senatorian robe, and made his entry in a pa- cific manner. The eagles of four legions led the way, with an equal number of standards from other legions on each side. Then the colors of twelve squadrons of horse. The files of infantry followed, and after them the cavalry. Next in order were four-and-thirty cohorts, distinguished accord- ing to their several nations, or the description of their arms. The praefects of the camp, the tribunes, ,and principal cen- turions, arrayed in white, preceded their several eagles ; the rest of the officers marched at the head of their companies, all gleaming with their arms and honors. The collars of the common men, and the trappings of the horses, had a glit- tering appearance : an imposing spectacle, and an army worthy of a better prince than Vitellius. Thus he proceeded
o. 91.] COURTS THE FAVOR OF THE MOB. 127
to the Capitol, and there embracing his mother,1 saluted her by the name of Augusta.
90. Next day Vitellius delivered a harangue, and spoke of himself in laudatory terms, as if he addressefl the senate and people of another city ; magnifying his industry and temperance, though in the presence of men privy to his vices, as well as all Italy, in passing through which he had made the most shameful exhibition of sloth and luxury. The populace, however, careless, and thoroughly versed in flat- tery, without discrimination between truth or falsehood, gave many tokens of approbation by shouts and exclamations ; and on his declining to accept the title of Augustus, they obliged him to receive it ; but his compliance was as nugatory as his refusal.
91. In a city which gave a meaning to every thing, it was considered as an unfavorable omen that Vitellius, who had obtained the office of chief pontiff, had issued an edict con- cerning the rites and ceremonies of religion, dated the fif- teenth before the calends of August, a day rendered inaus- picious by the disasters of Cremera and Allia.2 Profoundly ignorant of law, human and divine, and his freedmen and courtiers as doltish as himself, he seemed like one of a party where all were fuddled. But Vitellius, attending the assem- bly for the election of consuls3 with the other candidates, as a mere citizen, sought to catch every breath of applause from the lowest of the people, both as a spectator in the theatre, and as a partisan in the circus ; arts, it must be admitted, calculated t& please, and popular if they were based upon good qualities; but from the recollection of his past life,4
3 Sextilia. See c. 64 of this book.
8 The defeat at Cremera, a river in Tuscany, (now La Varca,) took place in the year 477 B.C. At Allia (now Torrenti di Catino) the Ro- man army was put to the sword by the Gauls, under Brennus, B.C. 390. The slaughter was so great, that the day on which it happened (Dies Allieiisis) was marked as unlucky in the calendar, and, according to Cicero, thought more fatal than that on which the city of Rome was taken.
3 The assemblies in which the consuls were created are mentioned by Suetonius, Life of Vitellius, s. 11. For the manner in which that business was conducted by the emperor Trajan, see Pliny's Panegyric, B. 63.
* Vitellius, in the time of Nero, passed his time among pantomime- ftctors, charioteers, and wrestlers. Suetonius, Life of Vitellius, as. 4, 12.
128 THE HISTORY. [B. 11
they were regarded as the efforts of a low and abject spirit. He went frequently to the senate, even when the subject of debate was of small moment ; and on one occasion Helvidius Priscus,1 praetor elect, happening to give an opinion opposed to the emperor's inclination, Vitellius, incensed at the mo- ment, went no further than to call upon the tribunes of the people to support his slighted authority. Upon this his friend?, apprehending his more settled displeasure, endeavor- ed to soften him. His answer was : "Nothing new has hap- pened in two senators of a free state differing in opinion ; he himself too • used to oppose Thrasea."2 Many ridiculed the insolence of the comparison ; others derived satisfaction from the very circumstance of his having selected, as a model of true glory, not one of the men of overgrown power, but Thrasea.
92. Publius Sabinus, from being praefect of a cohort, and Julius Priscus, a centurion, were advanced to the command of the praetorian guards. The former owed his elevation to the friendship of Valens, and the latter to that of Csecina. By those two ministers, though at variance, the authority of the emperor was rendered a nullity. Valens and Caecina administered all the functions of empire; their mutual ani- mosity, which had been ill suppressed during the war and in the camp, the malignity of their friends, and the various factions that forever distract the city of Rome, had inflamed ; while they vied with each other in influence, in their train of followers and their crowded levees, and were brought into comparison by others ; Vitellius showing a preference now for one of them, and now for the other. Nor indeed does it ever happen that dependence is to be placed upon power where it is immoderate. At the same time they alternately despised and feared Vitellius himself, who was liable to shift his affections upon any unpremeditated offense, or blandish- ments addressed to him when not in the humor to receive them. They were not, however, the less prompt in seizing houses, gardens, and the wealth of the empire ; while a pit- eous and indigent throng of illustrious men, whom Galba had recalled from banishment, received no help from the
1 Helvidius Priscus: often mentioned, Annals, xii. xiii. xvi. ; and Life of Agricola, c. 2.
a Psetus Thrasea; Annals, xiv. 12; xvi. 21.
c. 93.] LICENTIOUSNESS OF THE TROOPS. 129
compassion of the prince. That he restored to those who were recalled from exile their rights over their freedmen, was acceptable to the grandees of the city, and even gained the applause of the populace ; though his boon was marred in every conceivable way by the low cunning that marks the gen- ius of slaves, who deposited their money with others, either with the mere object of concealing it, or with ambitious views ; and some of them were translated into the imperial family, and there acquired more influence than their masters.
93. But the soldiers, as the camp was crowded, and their numbers overflowed, being left to go where they pleased, in the public porticoes, the temples, and every part of the city, took no notice of their head-quarters, neglected the watches, omitted all invigorating exercises. Abandoning themselves to the temptations of the city, and vices shocking to relate, they impaired the vigor of their bodies by sloth, and of their minds by lewdness. At length, negligent even of health, many of them pitched their tents in the abhorred regions of the Vatican : 1 whence frequent deaths among the soldiers in general ; and, as the Tiber was near, their eagerness for water, and their impatience of heat, broke up the sickly constitu- tions of the Germans and Gauls. Moreover, the established system of the service was violated through erroneous judg- ment or intrigue : sixteen cohorts2 for the prastorian camp^ and four for the city, were raised, each to consist of a thou- sand men. Valens arrogated to himself the chief direction in this levy, on the ground that he had rescued Caecina him- self from danger. And it must be admitted that the arrival of Valens had given life and vigor to the cause ; and he had turned the current of adverse fame, in consequence of the slowness of his march, by a successful battle. The soldiers from the Lower Germany were to a man devoted to his in- terest; on which account the fidelity of Csecina is believed to have begun to waver.
94. The indulgence shown by Vitellius to his principal offi-
1 The lands round the Vatican were covered with stagnated water, and the air, of course, was unwholesome. St. Peter's church stands there at present ; but Brotier says the cardinals never reside in that quarter.
3 Before the augmentation, the praetorian cohorts (that is, those that were encamped near Home) were only nine: the city-guard consisted of three, called Cohortes Urbanae. Annals, iv. 5.
F 2
130 THE HISTORY. [B. n.
cers, still fell short of the license given to the common sol- diers. Each man chose his own station ; though unfit for it, if it was his choice, he was appointed to the city service : then, again, others well adapted were suffered to remain in the legions, or the cavalry, as they pleased, and there were many who wished it, worn out as they were with diseases, and dis- satisfied with the temperature of the climate. The flower of the legions and auxiliary cavalry was however withdrawn from them. The beauty of the camp was totally destroyed : twenty thousand men being taken promiscuously, rather than selected out of the whole army. While Vitellius was holding a harangue, Ascalicus Flavius and Rufinus, who had com- manded in Gaul, were required to be given up to punishment, as they had served in the cause of Vindex. Nor did Vitel- lius restrain such demands. Besides the natural supineness of his disposition, he knew that the time for discharging the promised donative was drawing near; and having no funds to answer the expectation of the soldiers, he granted what- ever else they required. In order to raise supplies, a tax was imposed on all the freedjnen of former emperors, to be col- lected in proportion to the number of their slaves. Vitellius himself, whose sole anxiety was how to spend money, built a set of stables for the charioteers, kept in the circus a con- stant spectacle of gladiators and wild beasts, and fooled away his money as if his treasury overflowed with wealth.
95. Nay, Caecina and Valens even, celebrated the birthday of Vitellius1 by exhibiting shows of gladiators in every quar- ter of the city, with prodigious pomp, and theretofore rarely paralleled. It was a source of delight to the vile and profli- gate, but of disgust to all men of principle and of virtue, that he erected altars in the Campus Martius, and paid funeral honors to Nero. Victims were slain and burned, in the name of the state, and the torch was applied by the Augus- tan priests : a priesthood dedicated by Tiberius to the Ju- lian family, in imitation of that consecrated by Romulus to Tatius, the Sabine king.2 From the victory at Bedriacura
1 The birthday of Vitellius is left uncertain. Suetonius (Vitell. 3) says it was the eighth of the calends of October, or, according to others, the seventh of the ides of September, in the consulship of Drusus C«e- ser and Norbanus Flaccus, A.D. 15.
* See Annals, i. 54.
c. 97.] NEWS OF THE REVOLT REACHES VITELL1US. 131
four months had not elapsed, and yet, in that short time, Asiaticus, the manumitted slave of the emperor, rivaled the Polycleti, the Patrobii, and other names, long consigned to execration. No man endeavored to rise by his virtue or his talents in that court. The only road to preferment was by sumptuous banquets, profusion and debauchery to pander to the ever-craving appetites of Vitellius. As for Vitellius him- self, satisfied with consuming all within his reach, and with- out a thought for any thing beyond the moment, he is be- lieved to have squandered nine hundred thousand great ses- terces1 in a very few months indeed. This great, but hapless city, afflicted with an Otho and a Vitellius in the same year, between the Vinii, Fabii, Iceli, and Asiatici, experienced every variety of distress and degradation, only to fall into the hands of Mucianus and Marcellus,2 different men, but with the same vices.
96. The first intelligence of a revolt that reached the ear of Vitellius, was that of the. third legion, in Illyricum, and conveyed in a letter sent by Aponius Saturninus, before he too joined the party of Vespasian. But his dispatches, as he wrote in the first tumult of surprise, did not state the whole of the mischief; and his friends, in the spirit of adulation, endeavored to put the most favorable construction upon it. They called it a mutiny of one legion only, while every other army preserved its allegiance unshaken. Vitellius addressed the soldiers to the same effect, inveighing against the praetori- ans, lately disbanded, by whom, he maintained, false reports had been disseminated, and that there was no reason to fear a civil war ; not mentioning the name of Vespasian : and, to suppress all talk among the populace, soldiers were dispersed throughout the city ; a proceeding which contributed more than any thing to spread the news.
97. Notwithstanding, he summoned auxiliaries from Ger- many, both Spains, and Britain, not in an urgent manner, but studiously concealing the pressing nature of the occasion ; and, accordingly, the governors of the provinces were in no
1 About £7,500,000.
a Mucianus was the active partisan of Vespasian (c. 76 of this book). Eprius Marcellus, a man who raised himself by his flagitious deeds (Annals, xvi. 28), was the favorite minister under Vespasian. See the Dialogue concerning Oratory, n, 8
132 THE HISTORY. [B. n.
haste to obey. Hordeonius Flaccus,1 at that time suspecting the designs of the Batavians, was occupied with the thoughts of a war upon his own hands ;2 in Britain, Vettius Bolanus was kept in a constant alarm by the restless genius of the na- tives; and both were on the balance between Vitellius and Vespasian. Spain showed no alacrity in sending troops, as she was then without a governor of consular rank ; the com- manders of the three legions, equal in authority, and, a« long as Vitellius prospered, disposed to contend which should be the most submissive, equally declined all connection with him in adversity. In Africa, the legion and cohorts levied there by Clodius Macer, and disbanded by Galba, were again em- bodied by order of Vitellius ; at the same time, the rest of the youth promptly enlisted. The fact was, Vitellius had gov- erned Africa as proconsul with uprightness and condescen- sion ; but Vespasian with disrepute and odium :3 the allies formed their ideas of what they had to expect under the reign of each accordingly ; but the proof showed otherwise.
98. At first, Valerius Festus, the governor of the province, co-operated with the zeal of the people, but in a short time began to waver ; in his letters and public edicts warmly sup- porting Vitellius, but in his secret correspondence Vespasian ; determining to maintain the cause which proved the stron- gest. In Rhsetia and the Gauls, certain soldiers and centuri- ons, seized with letters and proclamations of Vespasian, were sent to Vitellius, and put to death. More, by their own ad- dress, or the protection of their friends, escaped detection. The consequence was, that the measures of Vitellius trans- pired, while most of those of Vespasian remained a secret, owing first to the stupidity of Vitellius; but afterward, the Pannonian Alps,4 secured by a chain of posts, obstructed the transmission of intelligence ; and the sea, which, from the blowing of the Etesian winds, favored the navigation to the East, was adverse to the homeward voyage.
1 Hordeonius Flaccus was appointed by Galba to the command on the Upper Rhine, in the room of Verginius Rufus.
3 For the war in which Flaccus was engaged with Civilis, the Bata- vian chief, see Hist. iv. 18.
3 Suetonius gives a different account of Vespasian's administration in Africa. Life of Vespasian, s. 4.
* These, also called Julise, are now known as the Alpi Giuli, lying between Carinthia and Carniola.
c. 100.] TREACHERY OF CAECINA. 133
99. At length, the enemy having made an irruption into Italy, and news big with danger arriving from every quarter, Vitellius, in the greatest alarm, gave orders to his generals to take the field. Caecina was sent in advance, while Valens, who was just recovering from a severe illness, was detained by weakness. Far different was the appearance of the Ger- man forces, marching out of the city : their strength wasted ; their vigor of mind depressed ; their motions slow, and ranks thin ; their arms inefficient ; their horses spiritless ; the men overpowered by the heat, the dust, and the weather, and prompt to mutiny in proportion as they wanted the energy to encounter toil. In addition, there was the habitual ambi- tion of Caecina, and his indolence, newly contracted, dissolved in luxury as he was, from the excessive indulgence of fortune ; or perhaps meditating perfidy even then, it was part of his plan to impair the vigor of the army. Most men believed that the constancy of Caecina was undermined by the arts of Flavius Sabinus, Rubrius Gallus being the bearer of his mes- sages ; who assured him, that the terms on which it was stipulated that he should come over to the party, would be fulfilled by Vespasian. At the same time, when he recol- lected the hatred and jealousy subsisting between himself and Valens, it occurred to him that, as he had less weight with Vitellius than his rival, he ought to lay the foundation of in- terest and influence with his successor.
100. Caecina on quitting the embrace of Vitellius, who treated him with much respect, sent forward a detachment of the cavalry to take possession of Cremona. The vexillaries of the fourteenth1 and sixteenth legions followed, and after them the fifth and twenty-second. The rear was closed by the twenty-first, named Rapax, and the first legion, called the Italic, with the vexillaries of three British legions, and the flower of the auxiliary forces. Caecina having set out, Valens wrote to the army, which he had conducted into Italy, to wait for him on their march ; such, he said, was his under- standing with Caecina. But the latter, being on the spot, and, by consequence, having greater weight, pretended that
1 Brotier thinks that there is a mistake in the text. The fourteenth legion, he observes, stood firm for Otho, and for that reason was sent into Britain. But perhaps the veterans, who had served their time, and were still retained in the service, were left in Italy.
134 THE HISTORY <.B. n.
that plan had been altered, to the end that they might meet the formidable approach of the enemy with their united forces. Thus he ordered the legions to proceed by rapid marches to Cremona, and a detachment to make for Hos- tilia.1 He himself turned off toward Ravenna, under a pre- tense of conferring with the officers of the fleet; soon after, he went to Patavium,2 that in that retired spot he might settle the plan of betraying the cause. For Lucilius Bassus, a man who, from a squadron of horse, had been raised by Vitellius to the command of two fleets, one at Ravenna, and the other at Misenum, because he did not immediately obtain the command of the praetorian guards, sought to gratify his unjust resentment by the most flagitious perfidy : nor can it be ascertained whether he corrupted Caecina, or, as is often the case with bad men, namely, that they also resemble each other in their conduct, the same depraved motives actuated both.
101. The historians of the times, who, while the Flavian house possessed the sovereign power,3 recorded the transac- tions of this war, have corrupted the truth, from motives of flattery, in stating that this transaction is attributable to an anxiety to preserve peace, and true patriotism. For myself, I think that, in addition to his inherent inconstancy and con- tempt for principle, after his treachery to Galba, he was in- duced to ruin the cause of Vitellius from rivalry and jealousy, lest others should surpass him in influence with that prince. Caecina, having overtaken the legions, endeavored by all kinds of artifices to work upon the minds of the centurions and soldiery who were devoted to the cause of Vitellius. Bassus, in playing the same game, experienced less difficulty, as the mariners were predisposed to throw off their allegiance, from the impressions existing in their minds in consequence of hav., ing served in the cause of Otho.
1 The modern Ostiglia, in the duchy of Mantua. a Padua.
3 That is, during the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, the l«»t of the Flavian line.
c. 2.] DELIBERATIONS OF THE FLAVIANS. 135
BOOK HI.
1. THE leaders of the Flavian party conducted their delib- erations on the prosecution of the war with greater success, and in better faith. They met at Poetovio,1 the winter quar- ters of the thirteenth legion. There they discussed the ques- tion, whether it was most advisable to secure the passes over the Pannonian Alps, till the forces in their rear should all be prepared to co-operate with them, or whether it would be the more valorous course to push on and battle for Italy. Those who proposed to wait for aids, and protract the war, referred to " the high fame and valor of the German legions, and to the fact, that Vitellius had been reinforced by the flower of the army in Britain, while their own legions were inferior in number, and had been lately conquered. They talked indeed with ferocity ; but the spirit of vanquished men invariably drooped. If the Alps were occupied by them for a while, Mu- cianus would come up with the strength of the East, and Vespasian would still have the command of the sea, fleets, and provinces in his favor, through which he might collect a mass of forces, for, as it were, another war. From delay thus salutary new succors would be derived, while their pres- ent force would continue undiminished."
2. Antonius Primus, the grand promoter of the war, re- plied that "speed would be advantageous to themselves, and ruinous to Vitellius. The conquerors had grown in slothful- ness, more than they had gained in confidence ; for they were not kept under arms and in the camp, but, dispersed through all the municipal towns of Italy, had lost their martial spirit : objects of terror to their landlords only. The more savage and uncouth their former mode of living, the greater the avid- ity with which they plunged into unwonted pleasures. They were enervated by the circus, the theatres, and the delights of Rome, or disabled by disease; but allow them time and
1 In Pannonia ; now Pettau, in Hungary. The summer station of the thirteenth legion was at Vindobona, now Vienna, as we learn from numerous bricks found there, with the inscription, LEG. XIII. GEM. POETO.
136 THE HISTORY. [B. in.
even they would recover their energy, having their thoughts fixed on war. Germany was near at hand, whence they might obtain succors ; Britain was separated by a narrow channel ; Spain and Gaul were contiguous, and from both they might draw supplies of men, and horses, and money. All Italy was at their command, and the wealth of Rome. If they chose to act on the offensive, they had two fleets, and the II- lyrian sea open to them. Then what would be the use of shutting up the mountain passes, and of protracting the war till another summer ? whence, in the mean time, are we to find money and provisions? Nay, rather should they take advant- age of the very fact, that the legions of Pannonia, beguiled rather than conquered, were eager to rise up and vindicate their honor, while the Moesian armies came with forces en- tire and undefeated.1 If the number of men, and not of le- gions, be reckoned, on the side of Vespasian, there was supe- rior force, and no licentiousness ; while a sense of shame had promoted discipline. In the last action the cavalry suffered no disgrace; on the contrary, though the event of the day was adverse, they threw the enemy into disorder. Two squad- rons of horse, one from Pannonia, the other from Mcesia, broke through the line of their opponents: now, the joint forces of sixteen squadrons, by the impetuosity of their onset, their shouts, the clangor of their arms, and the very dust raised by them, will confound and overwhelm the horses and their riders, both having lost what they knew of battles. What I advise, I will execute, if allowed. You, who have not taken a decided part, keep the legions with you : the light-armed cohorts will be sufficient for me. Presently you will hear that I have forced a passage into Italy ; that the af- fairs of Vitellius have sustained a shock ; you will then be de- lighted to follow, and tread in the steps of the conqueror."
3. He poured forth these and similar remarks, in such a manner, his eyes flashing fire, and with tones of thunder, to make himself heard the further, — for the centurions and sol- diers had pressed into the council, — that even the wary and the prudent were carried away by the torrent of his eloquence. The crowd extolled him, despising the common soldiers and the other officers for their want of spirit, as the only man of
1 The forces from Mcesia were not in the action at Bedriacum. S«e Hist ii. 44.
c. 6.] CHIEFS O*' THE REVOLT. 137
enterprise and worthy of command. In a former council of war, where Vespasian's letters were read to the meeting, An- tonius had at once made a favorable impression on his hear- ers, when he appeared fairly and openly to grapple with the matter ; not, as many do, using equivocal terms, which might afterward receive the construction that suited the views of the speaker; and thus the soldiers the more admired a general, whom they saw ready to be their partner in *he censure or glory of the enterprise.
4. Cornelius Fuscus, the procurator of the province, was the next in credit. He too, as he was used to inveigh against Vitellius unsparingly, had left himself nothing to hope for if the cause failed. Titus Ampius Flavianus, his natural slow- ness increased by years, provoked the suspicion of the soldiers, who thought him influenced by his connection with Vitellius :l and also, as, in the first commotion of the legions, he fled from his post, and shortly afterward returned to the province, he was believed to have sought an occasion of treachery. For he had quitted Pannonia, entered Italy, and was clear of dan- ger ; but was induced to return to resume his authority, and mix himself up in the troubles of a civil war, by his thirst for innovation. To this he was incited by the advice of Cornelius Fuscus, not with a view of deriving advantage from his tal- ents, but that the name of a consular officer might give an air of credit and respectability to the party which was just then springing up.
5. But, to march the troops into Italy safely, and with advantage to the cause, letters were sent to Aponius Satur- iiinus,2 ordering him to advance, by rapid marches, with his army from Mresia. At the same time, that the provinces thus evacuated might not lie open to the incursions of barbarians, the chiefs of the Jazyges, a people of Sarmatia, who hold the chief rule among those states, were engaged to co-operate. They offered to bring into the field a body of the natives, and also their cavalry, in which consists the sole strength of the country. Their service, however, was not accepted, lest they should learn to interfere with the affairs of other countries in the distractions that convulsed the empire, or for better pay from the opposite party break faith and desert,
1 Ampius Flavianus was related to Vitellius. See c. 10 of this book.
2 Aponius Saturninus was governor of Mcesia. Hist ii. 95, 96.
138 THE HISTORY. [B. in.
The Suevian nation had, at all times, given proofs of attach- ment to the Romans; and, as they were remarkably tena- cious of engagements entered into, their two kings, Sido and Italicus,1 were admitted into the league. As Rhsetia, where Portius Septimius, the procurator, remained firm to Vitellius, was hostile, auxiliaries were stationed in flank. With this view, Sextilius Felix was sent with a squadron of horse called the Aurian,2 "eight cohorts, and the militia of Noricum, with orders to line the banks of the river ^Enus, which divides Rhretia from Noricum. But neither the latter nor the former sought to bring on a battle. The fate of the parties was else- where decided.
6. Antonius Primus pressed on to invade Italy at the head of a body of vexillaries drafted from the cohorts, and a de- tachment of the cavalry. He was accompanied by Arius Varus, an officer of distinguished valor, who had served under Corbulo,3 from whose character and successes in Ar- menia he derived all his reputation. He was also said to have disparaged the virtues of Corbulo by secret insinuations poured into the ear of Nero, whence, by favor thus infa- mously acquired, he rose to the rank of principal centurion ; but his ill-gotten advancement, though highly gratifying at the time, proved his ruin in the end. To proceed, Antonius and Varus took possession of all the parts adjacent to Aqui- leia. At Opitergium and Altinum* they were received with feelings of joy. At Altinum a garrison was left to check the fleet at Ravenna, not then known to have revolted. They then united Patavium and Ateste5 to their party. The gen- erals there learned that three Vitellian cohorts, with the squad- ron of horse called Scriboniana, had taken post at Forum Allienum,6 after throwing up a bridge. The opportunity seemed fair to attack them, for they were also reported to be remiss and negligent. At the dawn of day they surprised and
1 Sido has been mentioned, Annals, xii. 29, 30. Of Italicus nothing is known with certainty: he was probably the son of Sido.
2 A squadron of horse, most probably from the city of Auria in Spain.
* For Corbulo's conduct in Armenia, see Annals, xiii. 35 ; and for hii death by order of Nero, see Dio. lib. Ixiii.
4 Odezzo and Altino, in the States of Venice.
* Row Aste, in the States of Venice.
* Now Ferro, on the Po.
c. 8.] THE WAR COMMENCED. 139
overpowered the greater part, while unarmed. It had been pre- viously ordered that they should kill a few, and terrify the rest into an abandonment of their party ; and several surrendered at discretion : but the greater part broke down the bridge, and thus obstructed their enemy, who pressed close upon them.
7. The news of this victory spreading, when the first events of the war were found to be favorable to Vespasian, two le- gions, the seventh, called Galbiana, and the thirteenth, named Gemina,1 with Vedius Aquila, who commanded them, came promptly to Padua. A few days were spent at that place to refresh the men ; and Minucius Justus, prsefect of the camp to the seventh legion, who enforced his orders with more se- verity than was consistent with civil war, was withdrawn from the fury of the soldiers, and sent to Vespasian. After that, Antonius ordered the statues of Galba, which the rage of civil discord had thrown down, to be again set up in all the municipal towns. This act, the want of which had been long and painfully felt, was interpreted as redounding to the honor of the party more than one might have anticipated. His conclusion was, that it would be honorable to the cause, if the government of Galba2 was believed to meet with his approbation, and that his party were beginning to revive.
8. Where to fix the seat of war was now the question. Verona seemed the better place, the surrounding plains being adapted to the operations of cavalry, which was their strength ; and to wrest from Vitellius an important colony seemed use- ful and glorious. The army, in their very march, became masters of Vicetia,3 a municipality of no great consideration, but regarded as the birth-place of Csecina, and, reflecting that the general of the enemy was thus stripped of his fatherland, it assumed a very important character. The reduction of Ve- rona brought an accession of wealth, and gave an example to other cities. Moreover, as it lies between Rhsetia and the Julian Alps,4 it was a post of importance, where an army in force might command the pass into Italy, and render it im- pervious to the German armies. Of these operations Vespa-
1 See note on Hist. ii. 6.
3 After the calamities occasioned by Otho and Vitellius, the memory of Galba was held in high respect by the people.
3 The modern Viqenza.
4 See note 4, p. 132.
140 THE HISTORY. [B. in
sian had either no knowledge, or they were such as he had forbidden ; for his orders were, that the troops should halt at Aquileia till Mucianus arrived. Vespasian also explained the motives of his counsels. While he was master of Egypt,1 had the power of stopping the supplies of provisions, and com- manded the revenues of the most opulent provinces, the Vi- tellian army, for want of pay and provisions, might be forced to capitulate. Mucianus, in all his letters, recommended the same measure, — disguising his designs under a desire for a victory without blood and mourning, and other similar pre- tenses ; but, insatiably ambitious, he wished to engross the whole honor of the war. However, before their advices could arrive from a distant part of the world, the blow was struck.
9. Antonius, therefore, by a sudden movement, attacked the pickets of the enemy ; but, after trying each other's met- tle in a slight encounter, they parted without advantage on either side. In a short time Csecina fortified a camp near Verona, between the village Hostilia and the marshes of the river Tartarus : a well-protected position, with the river cov- ering his rear, and the fens securing his flanks. Had he not wanted fidelity, he certainly might, with the whole strength of his army, have crushed the two legions, not yet joined by the Moesian army, — or, at least, forced to retreat and abandon Italy, they would have incurred the disgrace and humiliation of flight. But, by all kinds of delays, he suf- fered the first precious opportunities to elapse, content with writing vituperative letters to those whom he might have conquered ; till, by his messengers, he settled the terms of perfidy. Aponius Saturninus, meanwhile, arrived at Verona with the seventh legion, called the Claudian, under the com- mand of Vipstanus Messala, the tribune, a man of illustrious birth and the highest character : of all who entered into that war, the only person who carried with him fair and honor- able motives. With this reinforcement the army amounted to no more than three legions ; and yet to that inferior force2 Csecina dispatched a letter, condemning the rashness
1 Egypt was the Roman granary. Pliny says that the people of that country were proud to find that the conquerors of the world depended on them for their daily maintenance : " Superbiebat ventosa et insolens natio, quod victorem populum pasceret: quodque in suo flumine, in «uis manibus, vel abundantia nostra vel fames esset." — Paneg. s. 31.
3 The forces under Yitellius are enumerated, Hist. ii. 100.
c. 10.] CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE GENERALS. 141
of men, who, after their late defeat, took up arms again. At the same time he magnified the bravery of the German sol- diers, making slight and ordinary mention of Vitellius, and ab- staining from all abuse of Vespasian, — nothing whatever that could seduce or intimidate the enemy. Vespasian's generals in their answer, entering into no defense of their former con- duct, bestowed the highest praise on Vespasian, confidently anticipated the success of their cause, showed no fear about their army, and spoke in a hostile tone of Vitellius. To the tribunes and centurions they promised the same favors as they had received from Vitellius, and in explicit terms invited Cae- cina to join them. The letters, which were read publicly to the army, increased the confidence of the troops ; for Caecina had written in a subdued spirit, as fearing to exasperate Ves- pasian, while the manner of their own generals was con- temptuous, and that of men who scorned Vitellius.
10. After this, being reinforced by the arrival of two le- gions, the third, commanded by Dillius Aponianus, and the eighth, by Numisius Lupus, it was resolved to display their strength, and inclose Verona with lines of circumvallation. It happened that the Galbian legion was employed in an ad- vanced part of the trenches, fronting the enemy. Some of the cavalry of their allies, descried at a distance and mistaken for enemies, excited a false alarm ; and, thinking themselves betrayed, they seized their arms, and the resentment of the soldiers fell upon Ampius Flavianus,1 as the author of the plot. They had no kind of proof; but they had long hated the man, and in the tempest of their rage demanded his blood ; vociferating that he was the kinsman of Vitellius, the betrayer of Otho, and had embezzled their donative. Nor would they allow him to clear himself, though he stretched forth his hands in supplication, prostrated himself continually before them, rent his garments, his breast heaving, and his countenance convulsed with sobbing; nay, these very things stimulated their angry prejudices, as they looked upon his excessive alarm as proof of conscious guilt. Aponius Sa- turninus attempted to speak, but was overpowered by the soldiers' clamor. The rest were contemptuously treated with murmurs and shouts. Antonius was the only person whom ihey would hear. To authority and eloquence he united 1 See above, c. 4; and Hist. ii. 86.
142 THE HISTORY. fv. m.
the art of managing the temper of the soldiers ; when the disturbance began to assume a sanguinary character, and from foul abuse they proceeded to violence and arms, the general ordered Flavianus to be thrown into irons. This deception was seen through by the soldiers, who dispersed the soldiers that guarded the tribunal, and threatened imme- diate execution. Antonius opposed his bosom to their fury5 and, drawing his sword, solemnly declared that he would fall by their hands or his own. He looked around, invoking the assistance of all whom he either knew, or saw distinguished by any kind of military decoration ; anon he directed his eyes to the eagles and standards, those gods of the camp, and im- plored them rather to infuse that frenzy and dissentious spirit into the breasts of the enemy.1 At length the sedition began to abate, and day closing apace, the men slunk off to their re- spective tents. The same night Flavianus left the camp, and, receiving letters from Vespasian on his way, was relieved from all apprehension.
11. The legions, as if infected by a contagion, fell with still more violence on Aponius Saturninus, the commander of the Mossian forces, because their fury broke out in the middle of the day, and not, as before, when overpowered with toil and working. The disturbance arose from the publication of let- ters which Saturninus was believed to have written to Vitel- lius. As under the old republic there was an emulation in sobriety and valor, so now there was a contest for pre-emi- nence in frowardness and insolence, resolved as they were to demand the blood of Aponius as fiercely as they had clamored for that of Flavianus. The fact was, the Moesian legions making it a merit with the Pannonian army that in the late insurrection they had lent their assistance, and the Pannonians being under the notion that they would be absolved by the mutiny of others, they were glad to repeat their crime. They rushed to the gardens, where Saturninus was walking for recreation, and though Antonius, Messala, and Aponianus exerted their best endeavors, they were not so effectual in saving Saturninus as the obscurity of the re- treat in which he was secreted, having concealed himself in
1 This prayer of Antonius resembles the line in Virgil: — "Dii meliora piis, erroremque hostibus ilium."
Georg. iii. 513.
j. 13.] THE FLEET DECLARES FOR VESPASIAN. 143
the furnace of a bath that happened to be out of use. Soon after, he dismissed his lictors, and went to Patavium. There being now no officer of consular rank left, the whole command devolved upon Antonius. The soldiers were willing to submit to his authority; the other officers declined all competition; nor were there wanting those who believed that Antonius, by secret practices, excited the two seditions, that he alone might reap the honor of the war without a rival.
12. During these transactions, the camp of Vitellius was not free from disturbance. The discord there did not orig- inate in the suspicions of the soldiers, but the perfidy of the generals. Lucilius Bassus,1 who commanded the fleet at Ravenna, had drawn over to the party of Vespasian the wavering inclinations of the marines, natives principally of Dalmatia and Pannonia, provinces which had declared for Vespasifin. Night was chosen as the time for carrying the treason into effect, when, all the rest being in ignorance of the proceeding, the conspirators alone might meet in the head- quarters. Bassus remained in his own house, either from shame or alarm, waiting the issue. The masters of the gal- leys attacked the images of Vitellius in the most tumultuous manner, and put to the sword the few who attempted to re- sist. The common herd, with their usual love of innovation, went over to Vespasian. Bassus then came forth, avowing himself the author of the treason. The fleet immediately chose another commander, Cornelius Fuscus, who eagerly join- ed them. Bassus, under guard, but honorably treated, was con- veyed by some light barks to Atria,2 where he was thrown into fetters by Mennius Rufinus, who commanded the garrison ; but he was soon released at the desire of Hormus, one of Ves- pasian's freedmen, who was also looked upon as one of the general officers.
13. When the defection of the fleet was known, Caecina, having dispersed the best part of his army, under pretexts of military duty, from a desire to have the camp more to them- selves, called a meeting of the principal centurions, and a select party of soldiers, in the place assigned for the eagles.3
1 Fur Lucilius Bassus, see Hist. ii. 100.
9 Now Adria, near Rovigo.
- The part of the camp called Principia. So Statius: —
'•' Concilii penetrale, domumque verendana
Signorum." — Theb. x. 120.
144 THE HISTORY. [B. m.
He there magnified the valor of Vespasian, and the strength of his party. The fleet, he said, had revolted ; Italy would be distressed for provisions ; the Spains and Gauls were against them ; at Rome the minds of men were wavering ; and spoke of every thing relating to Vitellius in terms of dis- paragement. The men whom Antonius had engaged in the plot setting the example, the rest, confounded at the sudden- ness of the affair, were induced to take the oath of fidelity to Vespasian. The images of Vitellius were torn from the ensigns, and dispatches were sent off to Antonius. When this betrayal was known throughout the camp, the soldiers, rush- ing back to the head-quarters, saw the name of Vespasian written up, and the images of Vitellius thrown upon the ground. A deep and sullen silence followed. Soon with one voice the men exclaimed, — " Have the German armies come to this, that without a battle, without a wound, they must lay down their arms, and deliver themselves to the enemy in chains? And what is the character of the legions brought against them ? Forsooth, defeated legions ; nay, the peculiar strength of Otho's forces, the first and fourteenth, are not with the army, whom, nevertheless, they had routed and made havoc of. Is it come to this, that so many thousand gallant soldiers, should now, like a drove of slaves, be delivered to the exile Antennas?1 The fleet, we are told, has revolted; and shall eight legions be transferred as an appendage to their treachery ? Bassus, it seems, will have it so ; and such is the pleasure of Caecina. They have despoiled the prince of his houses, his gardens, and his treasure, and they want now to rob him of his soldiers; who, with vigor unimpaired, are to yield without an engagement, objects of scorn even to Vespa* sian's party. But to soldiers who may hereafter desire an ac- count of battles fought, and dangers encountered, what answel shall we make?"
14. Such were the remonstrances, not of individuals, but of the whole body, each man giving clamorous vent to his feelings; and the fifth legion taking the lead, they restored the images of Vitellius, and loaded Csecina with fetters. Fa- bius Fabullus, commander of the fifth legion, and Cassius Longus, the prsefect of the camp, were declared commanders
L Antonius had been convicted of extortion, and for that offense sent islo banishment. Annals, xiv. 40.
o. 16.] ANTONIUS RESOLVES ON A BATTLE. 145
in chief. The marines belonging to three light galleys fell into the hands of the enraged soldiery, and though ignorant of all that passed, and guiltless, were put to the sword. Having broken up their camp, and demolished the bridge, they march- ed back to Hostilia, and thence to Cremona, to join the first legion, called Italica, and the one-and-twentieth, known by the name of Rapax, which had been sent by Crecina, with a party of horse, to occupy Crernona.
15. Apprised of these transactions, Antonius resolved to attack the enemy while he was still distracted and dispersed, and not to wait till the Vitellians returned to submission, the generals recovered their authority, and the united legions their confidence. He concluded that Valens had set out from Rome, and that Caecina's treachery would make him push forward. The fidelity of Valens, and his military skill, were undoubted. Besides, a vast body of Germans was expected to force its way through Rhsetia into Italy, and Vitellius had sent for suc- cors into Britain, Gaul, and Spain ; a countless armament, which would have spread destruction as a pestilence, had not Antonius, apprehending this very circumstance, hastened to bring on a battle, and snatched a victory beforehand. He moved with his whole army from Verona, and in two days arrived at Bedriacum. On the following morning he kept back the legions to work at the intrenchments, and under color of foraging, to give the men a relish for civil plunder, sent the auxiliary cohorts into the lands near Cremona. To support them in this expedition, he himself, at the head of four thou- sand horse, advanced within eight miles of Bedriacum ; while his scouts took a wider range to discover the motions of the enemy.
16. About the fifth hour of the day, a trooper at full speed brought intelligence that the enemy was approaching. Their advance parties were in sight, and the tramp and bustle of the whole army were distinctly heard. Antonius began to prepare for action. While he was deliberating, Arrius Varus, eager to distinguish himself, advanced at the head of a party of horse, and drove in the Vitellians with trifling slaughter ; for a party of the enemy advancing to support the broken ranks, changed the fortune of the day, and they who had pur- sued with the greatest eagerness were now in the rear of the retreat. In this rash action Antonius had no share ; indeed
VOL. II.— G
146 THE HISTORY. [B. m.
he foresaw the consequence of it. Having exhorted his men to go to work fearlessly, he ordered the cavalry to draw off in two divisions toward the flanks, leaving a way for Varus and his horsemen. The legions were called out, and, in the coun- try round, the signal was given to the foraging cohorts to abandon their booty, and repair, each the shortest way he could, to meet the battle. Varus, in the mean time, himself dismayed, and a source of alarm to others, together with his disordered band, formed one confused mass : overpowered by the enemy, the able and the wounded together were borne down through their own mere fears, and the difficulties of the ways.
17. In this state of alarm Antonius omitted nothing that was to be expected from the calm and collected general, or the most gallant soldier. He threw himself in the way of those who were overpowered by fear, held back those who were giving ground ; wherever the battle was hottest, wherever a gleam of hope appeared, there was he, planning, doing, speaking, a signal object to the enemy, and conspicuous to his friends. At length he rose to such a height of enthusiasm, that he transfixed with his spear a standard-bearer in the act of fly- ing, and instantly seizing the colors, advanced against the enemy. Not more than a hundred of the cavalry felt the dis- grace, and stood their ground. The nature of the ground fa- vored Antonius ; the causeway was narrowest in that part, and the bridge over the river1 that flowed in the rear being broken down, the men could not pursue their flight, as the banks were steep, and the depth dangerous. Whether it were a fatality or an accident, the now fallen fortune of the party was thus restored. The soldiers, forming a dense and compact array, received the Yitellians, who rushed on without order, and in a short time were put to the rout. Antonius pressed on the rear of such as fled, and trampled upon all who resist- ed. The rest of Vespasian's army acted as the impulse of individuals prompted ; despoiled, made prisoners, and seized both arms and horses. Those who erewhile had fled, and were straggling about the fields, summoned by the triumphant shouts of their comrades, came up and took part in the work of victory.
18. At the distance of four miles from Cremona appeared
1 Now the Dermona,
c. 19.] SUCCESSES OF THE FABIAN ARMY. 147
the glittering banners of the two legions, Rapax and Italica. l The advantage gained by the Vitellian cavalry in the begin- ning of the day, was their motive for advancing so far ; but, seeing a reverse of fortune, they neither opened their ranks, nor received their routed friends, nor dared to advance and fall upon an enemy exhausted with so long a chase and with fighting. It happened that, having sustained a defeat, they felt in their adversity the absence of a general whom they did not regret so much in their prosperity. The victorious cavalry charged the vacillating line, and Vipstanus Messala supported them with the Moesian auxiliaries, whom, though hurried into the engagement, the soldiers considered to have rendered as much service as legionary troops. Thus the foot and cavalry united bore down the mass of legions, and the Vitellians, the more they hoped to find within the walls of Cremona a safe shelter, were the less inclined to maintain the conflict.
19. Antonius did not think it prudent to pursue his ad- vantage, in consideration of the fatigues and wounds which men and horses had encountered in a battle so obstinate and fluctuating, though ultimately successful. As the shades of evening came on, the whole force of Vespasian's army joined him. Having marched over heaps of slain, and the prints of feet still reeking with blood, they concluded that the war was over, and demanded to be led on to Cremona, either to re- ceive the submission of the vanquished, or to storm the place- Such were their public professions, — plausible to the ear; but in their hearts the men had selfish and personal views, '" Cremona," they said, "was situated in an open plain, and might be taken by assault. The darkness of the night would not abate their courage, and afforded greater latitude for rap- ine. If they waited for the return of day, terms of peace would be proposed, entreaties would be resorted to, and, in that case, for all their toil an& wounds, the praise of human- ity and glory, those profitless acquisitions, would be their only recompense, while the wealth of the citizens would go into the laps of the prsefects and generals. When a town is car- ried by storm, the booty belongs to the soldiers ; but if sur- rendered, it goes to the generals." They set at naught the
1 The twenty-first legion, called Rapax, and the first, called Italic, fought on the side of Vitellius. See Hist. ii. 100.
148 THE HISTORY. [B. in.
tribunes and centurions, and with the clangor of their arms drowned the voice of reason, determined, if not led on to the attack, to shake off all authority.
20. Upon this, Antonius made his way through the ranks, and by his look and authority having obtained silence, pro- tested that "he was not the man to deprive them of the glory or the recompense due to their valor ; but the general, and the men under his command, had distinct provinces. Ardor for the conflict became the soldier ; but generals more frequently succeeded by forecast, deliberation, and caution, than inconsiderate action. As he had manfully contributed his share to the victory by his sword and bodily exertion, so would he advance the cause by deliberation and counsel, the appropriate functions of a general. The question at pres- ent did not admit of a doubt. They had the night before them, — a town, the peculiarities of whose situation are un- known to us, — an enemy within its walls, with every facility for stratagem. Not if the gates were thrown open, without reconnoitering, without daylight, ought they to march in. Would they hazard an assault without the power of ascer- taining a single particular, — where the ground was even, what the height of the walls, whether they ought to employ engines and darts, or works and mantelets'?" Then, address- ing himself to them severally, he asked them, " whether they had brought with them hatchets, pickaxes, and the various tools a siege requires1?" And on their replying in the nega- tive, he asked, *.* where were the hands that with swords and javelins could break through and undermine walls'? If it should be necessary to throw up ramparts, and with sheds and penthouses to cover our approach, shall we stand baffled and impotent like the thoughtless vulgar, wondering at the lofty towers and fortifications of the enemy ? Why not rather wait one night, and, advancing our engines and instruments of war, carry with us strength and victory ?" At the close of this harangue he sent the sutlers and followers of the camp, with a party of the freshest of the cavalry, to Bedriacum, to bring a supply of provisions, and all necessaries for the use of the **rmy.
21. The soldiers were still dissatisfied, and a mutiny was ready to break out, when a party of horse that advanced as far as the walls of Cremona learned, from stragglers who had
c. 22.] CONFLICT IN THE NIGHT. 149
fallen into their hands, that six Vitellian legions, and the whole army encamped at Hostilia, having heard of the defeat, had marched thirty miles that day, were prepared for battle, and would soon be upon them. In this alarm, the soldiers were willing to listen to their general. Antonius ordered the thirteenth legion to take post on the Posthumian causeway; contiguous to them, on the open plain, toward the left, stood the seventh, called the Galbian ; and next to them the seventh, named the Claudian, defended by a country ditch, just as they found it. On the right he placed the eighth legion, along the road-side ; and the third behind a thick copse, at a short dis- tance. Such was the arrangement of the eagles and stand- ards : the soldiers took their post as chance directed them, in the dark. The praetorian banner stood next the third legion ; the auxiliary cohorts were in the wings ; the cavalry covered the flanks and the rear. The two Suevian kings, Sido and Italicus, with the best troops of their nation, took post in the front of the lines.
22. The Vitellian army, on the other hand, whose plan should have been to halt that night at Cremona, and the next day, refreshed by food and sleep, to rout and drive be- fore them an enemy exhausted with cold and hunger ; yet, having no commander, nor settled plan of action, about the third hour of the night dashed forward upon the Flavian army, now drawn up in regular order of battle. Of the dis- position of the Vitellians, disordered as they were from the ef- fects of their own impetuosity and the night, I would not ven- ture to speak positively: we are told, however, that the fourth legion, called Macedonica, was stationed in the right wing; the fifth and fifteenth, supported by the vexillaries of three British legions, the ninth, the second, and the twentieth, in the centre : the left wing was formed by the first, the six- teenth, and two-and-twentieth. The soldiers of the two le- gions called Rapax and Italica were scattered throughout all the companies. The cavalry and auxiliaries chose their own station. The battle, which lasted through the night, was various, obstinate, and bloody ; threatening annihilation now to one side and then again to the other : courage or strength gave no superiority ; even sight itself was powerless to discern the approach of danger. The weapons on both sides were the same : the watch-word, frequently asked and repeated, was
150 THE HISTORY. IB. m.
known to both armies. The colors, according as they were taken by different parties, and borne to one side or the other, were mixed in wild confusion. The seventh legion, lately raised by Galba, suffered the most. Six of their principal centurions were killed on the spot, and some of their colors taken : the eagle itself was only preserved by Atilius Verus, the principal centurion, after a great carnage of the enemy, and at last with the sacrifice of his life.
23. Vespasian's army was giving way, when Antonius brought the praetorian cohorts to its support. Taking upon themselves the brunt of the action, they routed the enemy, and in their turn were forced to retreat: for the Vitellians had conveyed their engines to the high-road, that their mis- siles might be discharged without obstruction or impediment, whereas at first they were scattered at random, and struck the shrubs without harming the enemy. The fifteenth legion had a balista1 of enormous size, which, by discharging massy stones, was demolishing the opposing line, and would have dealt destruction far and wide, if two soldiers had not sig- nalized themselves by a brave exploit. Covering themselves with the shields of the enemy, which they found among the slain, they advanced undiscovered, and cut off the ropes and weights. They both instantly fell, covered with wounds, and therefore their names are lost : of the fact there is no ques- tion. The battle was hitherto fought with doubtful success, when, night being far advanced, the rising moon discovered the contending armies, and deceived them. But she was more favorable to the Flavians, as they had their backs to the light. Hence the shadows of men and horses were elongated, and the weapons of the Vitellians, aimed at them as if they were substances, were thrown away, and fell short of their en- emies ; while the Vitellians, exposed to view by the light in front of them, formed, without knowing it, a distinct mark for their enemies, who discharged their javelins as it were from a hiding-place.
24. Antonius, when he could distinguish his troops, and be distinguished by them, did every thing to rouse the courage of his men — upbraiding some, applauding others, he made ample promises, and gave hopes to all. He asked the Pannonian legions, what was their motive for taking up arms ? " Here,"
1 The Balista is described by Vegetius, iv. £2.
c. 25.] A FATHER SLAIN BY HIS SON. 151
he said, " here is the spot where you may efface the memory of your former defeat: in this field you may redeem your honor." Then, turning to the Mresians, he called upon them as the chief, the first movers of the war; — "in vain were the Vitellians challenged with menaces and boasts, if they shrunk from their swords and looks." This was his language as he came up to each. To the third legion he spoke more at large : he called to their minds their former and recent ex- ploits : " how, under Mark Antony, they had defeated the Parthians ;] and the Armenians, under Corbulo. In a late campaign, the Sarmatians fled before them." Then he ad- dressed the praetorians in sharper terms : " If you do not con- quer now, you band of peasants, what other general, or what camp will receive you I Your ensigns and your colors are in the hands of the enemy, and death is all that is left you, if you are vanquished ; for you have drained infamy to the dregs." A general shout arose ; and the third legion, according to the custom observed in Syria, paid their adoration to the rising sun.
25. This circumstance, either by chance, or by the contriv- ance of Antonius, gave rise to a report that Mucianus was arrived, and that the armies exchanged salutations. Vespa- sian's soldiers, as if strengthened by fresh reinforcements, bore down upon the enemy ; the Vitellian ranks being now less compact, for, without a chief to conduct them, they extended or condensed their lines as fear or courage prompted. Anto- nius seeing them give way, threw them into disorder by charg- ing them in close array ; their ranks were thus dissolved and broken through, and the carriages and engines made it im- possible to restore the order of the battle. The victors,, in their eagerness to pursue their advantage, spread themselves along the road-side. The slaughter on this occasion was ren- dered the more remarkable from the fact, that a father was killed by his own son. The fact and the names I will state, on the authority of VipstanusMessalla. Julius Mansuetus, a native of Spain, enlisting in the legion Rapax, left behind him a son, then of tender years. The youth, grown up to man- hood, entered the seventh legion raised by Galba. It hap- pened that he met his father in the battle, and with a mortal
1 Mark Anton}- gained a victory over the Parthians, B.C. 36. (Dio, lib. xlix.) For Corbulo, see Annals, xv. 26.
152 THE HISTORY. f at
wound stretched him on the ground ; while rifling his expiring victim, he recognized and was recognized by his father, when he clasped him in his arms, and in piteous tones implored for- giveness of his father's manes, and prayed that they would not persecute him as a parricide. " The guilt of this deed was common to all ; and how small a portion," he said, " was one soldier of those engaged in civil war." He then lifted up the body, opened a grave, and discharged the last melancholy duty to his father. He attracted the observation first of those near- est him, then more came up. Hence horror, grief, and exe- cration of this inhuman kind of war, ran through the whole army. And yet, with no less avidity, they plundered their friends, relations, and brothers, whom they had slaughtered. Their tongues declare that a deed of horror has been done, and yet they do the same.
26. When they came to Cremona, they found a new and enormous difficulty. In the war with Otho, the German le- gions had formed a camp round the walls of the town, and fortified it with lines of circumvallation. New works were added afterward. The victors stood astonished at the sight, and even the generals were at a- stand, undecided what or- ders to give. With troops harassed by exertions through the night and day, to carry the place by storm was difficult, and, without succors at hand, might be dangerous ; but if they marched to Bedriacum, the fatigue would be insupportable, and the victory would end in nothing. To throw up in- trenchments was dangerous, in the face of an enemy, who might suddenly sally forth and put them to the rout, while employed on the work in detached parties. A difficulty still greater than all arose from the temper of the men, more pa- tient of danger than delay : inasmuch as a state of security afforded no excitement, while hope grew out of enterprise, however perilous ; and carnage, wounds, and blood, to what- ever extent, were counterbalanced by the insatiable desire of plunder.
27. Antonius determined upon the latter course, and or- dered the rampart to be invested. The attack began at a distance with a volley of stones and darts, with the greater loss to the Flavians, on whom the enemy's weapons were thrown with advantage from above. Antonius presently as- signed portions of the rampart and the gates to the legions,
c. 29.1 ASSAULT ON CREMONA. 153
that by this mode of attack in different quarters, valor and cowardice might be distinguished, and a spirit of emulation in honor animate the army. The third and seventh legions took their station nearest the road to Bedriacum ; the sev- enth and eighth Claudian, a portion more to the right hand of the rampart ; the thirteenth were carried by their own im- petuosity to the gate that looked toward Brixia.1 Some de^ lay then took place while they supplied themselves from the neighboring villages with pickaxes, spades, and hooks, and scaling-ladders. They then formed a close military shell with their shields raised above their heads, and under that cover advanced to the ramparts. The Roman art of war was seen on both sides. The Vitellians rolled down massy stones, with which having disjoined and shaken the shell, they in- serted their long poles and spears; till at last, the whole frame and texture of the shields being dissolved, they strew- ed the ground with numbers of the crushed and mangled as- sailants.
28. The assault now flagged, and must have failed, had not the generals, who saw that their exhortations were with- out effect upon the exhausted soldiery, pointed to Cremona as the reward of victory. Whether this expedient was, as Mes- sala informs us, suggested by Horinus, or, on the authority of Caius Plinius,2 must be laid to the account of Antonius, I have little means of determining. All I can say is, that nei- ther of those officers can be said to have degenerated from his former principles by an act of such atrocity. Now, braving wounds and danger, and death itself, they began to sap the foundation of the walls ; they battered the gates ; standing on the shoulders of their comrades, and forming a second shell, they scaled the walls, and grasped the weapons and arms of the besieged. The unhurt, the wounded, the half dead, and the dying, were tumbled down ; while every diversity of ap- pearance was exhibited by the sufferers, and an image of death in all its varied horrors.
29. Severe in the extreme was the conflict maintained by the third and the seventh legions. Antonius in person led on a select body of auxiliaries to the same quarter. The
1 The modern Brescia.
3 The author of the Histories, as we learn from Pliny the younge^ Ep iii. 5.
G2
154 THE HISTORY. £B. m.
Vitellians were no longer able to sustain the shock of men all bent on victory, and seeing their darts fall on the military shell,1 and glide off without effect, at last they rolled down their battering-engine on the heads of the besiegers. For the moment, it dispersed and overwhelmed the party among which it fell ; but it also drew after it, in its fall, the battle- ments and upper parts of the rampart. An adjoining tower, at the same time, yielded to the effect of the stones which struck it, and left a breach, at which the seventh legion, in the form of a wedge, endeavored to force their way, while the third hewed down the gate with axes and swords. The first man that entered, according to all historians, was Caius Volusius, a common soldier of the third legion. He gained the summit of the rampart, and, bearing down all resistance, in the view of all beckoned with his hand, and cried aloud that the camp was captured. The rest of the legion followed him with resistless fury, the Vitellians being panic-struck, and throwing themselves headlong from the works. The whole space between the camp and the walls of Cremona was filled with slain.2
30. And now a new form of difficulty was presented by the high walls of the city, and towers of stone, the gates secured by iron bars, and troops brandishing their arms ; the inhab- itants, a large and numerous body, all devoted to Vitellius; and a conflux of people from all parts of Italy at the stated fair which was then held. The latter was regarded by the garrison as an aid, from the increase of numbers ; but inflamed the ardor of the besiegers on the score of booty. Antonius ordered his men to take combustibles, and set fire to the most elegant edifices without the city ; if, peradventure, the inhab- itants, seeing their mansions destroyed, would be induced to abandon the adverse cause. In the houses that stood near the walls, of a height to overlook the works, he placed the bravest of his troops ; and from those stations beams, tiles and fire-brands were thrown down to drive the defenders of the walls from their posts.
: The military shell was so condensed, that the darts of the enemy could make no impression. For the form of the Testudo, and other warlike engines employed in sieges, consult Lucan, iii. 474.
1 Josephus says, that above thirty thousand of the Vitellians were put to the sword, and of Vespasian's army about four thousand fiv« hundred. De Bello Jud. iv. 11.
c. 32.] CREMONA TAKEN. 155
31. The legions under Antonius now formed a military shell, while the rest poured in a volley of stones and darts ; when the spirit of the besieged gradually gave way. The men highest in rank were willing to make terms for themselves, lest, if Cremona was taken by storm, they should receive no quarter, and the conquerors, disdaining vulgar lives, should fall on the tribunes and centurions, from whom the largest booty was to be expected. The common men, as usual, care- less about future events, and safe in their obscurity, still held out. Roaming about the streets, or lurking in private houses, they did not sue for peace even when they had given up the contest. The principal officers took down the name and im- ages of Vitellius. Cascina, for he was still in confinement, they released from his fetters, and desired his aid in pleading their cause with the conqueror. He heard their petition with disdain, swelling with insolence, while they importune him with tears ; the last stage of human misery, when so many brave and gallant men were obliged to sue to a traitor for protection ! They then hung out from the walls the fil- lets and badges of supplicants.1 When Antonius ordered a cessation of hostilities, the garrison brought out their eagles and standards; a mournful train of soldiers without their arms, their eyes riveted to the ground, followed them. The con- querors gathered round them, and first heaped reproaches upon them, and threatened violence to their persons ; but afterward, when they saw the passiveness with which they received the insults, and that the vanquished, abandoning all their former pride, submitted to every indignity, the thought occurred that these very men lately conquered at Bedriacum, and used their victory with moderation. But when Caecina came forth, decorated with his robes, and preceded by his lie- tors, who opened a way for him through the crowd, the in- dignation of the victors burst into a flame. They reproached him for his pride, his cruelty, and even for his treachery : so detested is villainy. Antonius opposed the fury of his men, and sent him under escort to Vespasian.
32. Meanwhile, the common people of Cremona, in the midst of so many soldiers, were subjected to grievous oppres- sions, and were in danger of being all put to the sword, if the
1 The display of clothes and sacerdotal vestments in the act of suing for peace tas been mentioned, Hist. i. 66.
156 THE HISTORY. [B. m.
rage of the soldiery had not been assuaged by the entreaties of their leaders. Anton ius called them to an assembly, when he spoke of the conquerors in lofty terms, and of the van- quished with humanity ; of Cremona he said nothing either way. But the army, adding to their love of plunder an in- veterate aversion to the people, were bent on the extirpation of the inhabitants. In the war against Otho they were deem- ed the abettors of Vitellius ; and afterward, when the thir- teenth legion was left among them to build an amphitheatre, with the usual insolence of the lower orders in towns, they had assailed them with offensive ribaldry. The spectacle of gladiators exhibited there by Caecina inflamed the animosity against the people. Their city, too, was now for the second time the seat of war ; and, in the heat of the last engagement, the Vitellians were thence supplied with refreshments ; and some of their women, led into the field of battle by their zeal for the cause, were slain. The period, too, of the fair had given to a colony otherwise affluent an imposing appearance of accumulated wealth. Antonius, by his fame and brilliant success, eclipsed all the other commanders : the attention of all was fixed on him alone. He hastened to the baths to wash off the blood; and on observing that the water was not hot enough, he said that they would soon grow hotter. The expression was caught up : a casual word among slaves had the effect of throwing upon him the whole odium of having given a signal for setting fire to Cremona, which was already in flames.
33. Forty thousand armed men had poured into it. The number of drudges and camp-followers was still greater, and more abandoned to lust and cruelty. Neither age nor dignity served as a protection ; deeds of lust were perpetrated amidst scenes of carnage, and murder was added to rape. Aged men and women that had passed their prime, and who were use- less as booty, were made the objects of brutal sport. If a mature maiden, or any one of comely appearance, fell in their way, after being torn piecemeal by the rude hands of con- tending ruffians, they at last were the occasion of their turn- ing their swords against each other. While eagerly carrying off money or massy gold from the temples, they were butch- ered by others stronger than themselves. Not content with the treasures that lay open to their view, some forced
c. 35.] SACK AND DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY. 157
the owners to discover their hidden wealth, and dig up their buried riches. Numbers carried flaming torches, and, as soon as they had brought forth their booty, in their wanton sport set the gutted houses and plundered temples on fire. In an army differing in language and manners, composed of Roman citizens, allies, and foreign auxiliaries, all the di- versities of passions were exhibited. Each had his separate notions of right and wrong; nor was any thing unlawful. Four days did Cremona minister to their rapacity. When every thing else, sacred and profane, was leveled in the con- flagration, the temple of Mephitis1 alone remained standing, outside of the walls ; saved either by its situation, or the in- fluence of the deity.
34. Such was the fate of Cremona, two hundred and eighty- six years from its foundation. It was built during the con- sulship of Tiberius Sempronius and Publius Cornelius, at the time when Hannibal threatened an irruption into Italy, as a bulwark against the Gauls inhabiting beyond the Po, or any other power that might break in over the Alps. The colony, as might be expected, grew and flourished in the number of its settlers, from the contiguity of rivers,2 the fertility of its soil, from alliances and intermarriages with the neighboring people; never having suffered from foreign wars, but a sad sufferer from civil dissensions. Antonius, shrinking from the infamy of this horrible transaction, (for the detestation it ex- cited was increasing,) issued an edict, forbidding all manner of persons to detain the citizens of Cremona as prisoners of war. At the same time the booty was rendered valueless by a resolution adopted throughout Italy, not to purchase the captives taken on that occasion. The soldiers then began to murder them. However, when this was known, the prisoners were eagerly ransomed by their friends and relations. The survivors in a short time returned to Cremona. The temples and public places were rebuilt, at the recommendation of Vespasian, by the munificence of the burgesses.
35. But the unwholesome state of the soil, from the de- composed bodies, soon obliged the army to quit its position near the remains of the entombed city: they encamped at
1 Mephitis was the goddess worshiped in all places that sent forth aoxious exhalations.
3 The Po, the Addua, and the Oglio, with others of less importance.
158 THE HISTORY. [B. ra
the distance of three miles. The Vitellian soldiers, who in their panic had fled in all directions, were brought back, and severally enrolled in their proper companies ; and, lest the vanquished legions should meditate hostile designs, the civil war being not yet extinguished, they were sent into different parts of Illyricum. To spread the fame of Vespasian's arms, messengers were dispatched into Britain and both the Spains. Julius Calenus, one of the tribunes, was sent into Gaul, and Alpinus Montanus, the praefect of a cohort, into Germany* The former was by birth an jEduan, and the latter a native of Treves, both partisans of Vitellius, and for that reason chosen, as palpable evidences of his defeat. Care was also taken to secure by a chain of posts the passes over the Alps, as Germany was supposed to be arming in aid of Vitellius.
36. Vitellius, in a few days after Caecina set out from Rome, having prevailed on Fabius Valens to proceed with the war, buried all sense and appearance of alarm in excess and revelry. He made no preparation for the field, neglected to cheer and invigorate the soldiers by addressing them and by military exercise, nor kept himself before the eyes of the pub- lic; but, hid in the recess of his gardens, dismissed from his thoughts equally the past, the present, and the future ; like those cold-blooded animals which, while they are supplied with food, lie torpid and insensible. While thus sunk in sloth, and wasting his energies in the grove of Aricinum, the treachery of Lucilius Bassus, and the revolt of the fleet at Ravenna, smote upon his ear. In a short time after arrived other dispatches, by which he learned, with mixed emotions of grief and joy, the perfidy of Caecina, and his imprisonment by the soldiers. In a mind incapable of reflection, the joy absorbed all ideas of danger. He returned to Rome in the highest exultation ; and having extolled, before an assembly of the people, the zeal and ardor of the army, he ordered Publius Sabinus, the praefect of the praetorian guards and the intimate friend of Caecina, to be taken into custody. Alphe- nus Varus succeeded to the command.
37. Vitellius next addressed the senate in a speech of studied pomp ; and the fathers extolled him in a strain of re- fined adulation. Lucius Vitellius took the initiative in pro- nouncing a vehement censure upon Caecina. After lijm the rest of the senate, with well-acted indignation thai a consul
c. 38.] DEATH OF JUNIUS BL^ESUS. 159
should have abandoned the commonwealth, a general betrayed his prince, and a friend, loaded with honors and emolu- ments, should have turned upon his benefactor, affecting to lament the lot of Vitellius, in fact gave utterance to the anguish they felt on their own accounts. Not a word was said by any one against the leaders of Vespasian's party : the conduct of the armies was blamed as a mistake and indis- cretion ; while the name of Vespasian was evaded with cau- tious and studied circumlocution. To complete the consul- ship of Caecina, one day remained, and a man was found who, with abject servility, sought and obtained the office, while the public looked with infinite contempt and derision both upon the giver and receiver. On the day before the calends of November, Rosius Regulus entered upon the office and re- signed it. It was observed by men versed in the history of their country, that no instance had ever occurred of a new consul created before the office was declared vacant in due course of law. Caninius Rebilus, it is true, had been consul for one day when Julius Caesar was dictator, and when every thing was done to expedite the reward of services rendered in the civil war.1
38. The death of Junius Blsesus became at this time pub- licly known, and engrossed the conversation of all ranks of men. It happened that Vitellius, confined by serious illness in the gardens of Servilius, saw, in the night-time, a tower in the neighborhood gayly illuminated. He inquired the rea- son, and was told that Caecina Tuscus gave an entertainment to a party of his friends, among whom Junius Blsesus was the most distinguished. The sumptuous preparations, and the mirth of the company, were described with every circum- stance of exaggeration. The creatures of the court did not
1 The consulship in the time of the republic was an annual office ; but Julius Caesar shortened the duration of the appointment, and ad- vanced several to the dignity within the year. He was himself sole consul, B.C. 45 : he resigned in favor of Fab'ius Maxirnus and Caius Tre- bonius Nepos. The former dying on the very last day of the year, he appointed Caninius Rebilus to fill the rem ining space. Cicero laughs at the short-lived dignity. In that consulship, he says, no man had time to dine, and no kind of mischief happened. The consul was a man of so much vigilance, that he did not allow himself a wink of sleep: " Caninio consule, scito neminem prandisse; nihil tamen, eo consule, mail factum est. Fuit enim mirifica vigilantia, qui suo consulatu sora- num non viderit." — Cicero ad Familiares, vii. 30,
160 THE HISTORY. [B. in
fail to impute it as a crime to Tuscus and his guests, but to Blaesus with peculiar virulence, that they chose their time for reveling when the prince was indisposed. When the men who make it their business to pry into the humors of princes perceived that Vitellius was offended, and that the ruin of Blaesus might be easily accomplished, the task of managing the information was assigned to Lucius Vitellius. Being himself stained with every vice, in the spirit of unprincipled rivalry he hated Blaesus because of the superiority which his unblemished character gave him ; and, clasping the emperor's son in his arms, he entered the prince's chamber, and fell down at his knees. Vitellius asked him the cause of his per- turbation. "It is not from any fears for myself," he replied, " nor from anxiety on my own account, but in behalf of a brother, and the children of a brother, that I come with prayers and tears. From Vespasian we have nothing to fear: the numerous German legions and provinces, by their valor and fidelity, and vast tracts of sea and land, prevent his ap- proach. The enemy to be dreaded is in the city of Rome — in your bosom. Proud of his descent from Mark Antony and the Junian family, he affects to be connected with the imperial line, and, by caresses and a style of magnificence, endeavors to conciliate to himself the affections of the sol- diers. Upon this man all eyes are fixed. Vitellius, in the mean time, neglecting at once his enemies and his friends, cherishes in his bosom a treacherous rival, who from the ban- queting-table beheld with joy the sufferings of his sovereign. But for his ill-timed mirth he must be repaid with a night of mourning and sorrow ; that he may know that Vitellius lives and reigns, and, if any thing should happen to him, that he has a son."
39. Vitellius balanced for some time, with nervous agi- tation, between the horrible deed and his apprehensions for himself. By deferring the death of Bla3sus he might accel- erate his own ruin, and to give public orders for it would bring upon him a storm of indignation. He resolved, there- fore, to dispatch him by poison.1 He added to the evidence that he was the author of that execrable villainy, by the satisfaction he so conspicuously displayed in going to see Blaesus; nay, Vitellius was heard to utter an expression of 1 Compare Suetonius, Life of Vitellius, s. 14.
o. 41.] INDECISION OF VALENS. 161
the most ferocious character, in which, for I will relate the very words, he gloried in having feasted his eyes with the sight of an expiring enemy. Blaesus, to dignity of birth, and elegance of manner, united unshaken fidelity ; and even be- fore a blow had been struck, when Caecina and other chiefs of the party, beginning to despise Vitellius, endeavored to se- duce him, he was proof against all temptation ; incorruptible, unambitious, seeking no sudden elevation whatever, much le&s aiming at the sovereignty, he hardly escaped being deemed worthy of the succession.
40. Meanwhile Fabius Valens, proceeding with a numer- ous and effeminate train of concubines and eunuchs, with lit- tle of the spirit of a general going to a war, received intelli- gence of the treachery of Lucilius Bassus, and the defection of the fleet at Ravenna. Had he then pushed on with vigor, he might have joined Csecina, while still undecided ; or have put himself at the head of the legions before they came to a decisive action ; and there were some who advised him that, with a few faithful attendants, avoiding the road to Ravenna, he should, through private ways, go direct to Hostilia, or Cre- mona. Others pressed him to bring into the field the praeto- rian bands from Rome, and force his way to the Vitellian army. But the time was lost in fruitless deliberation. The posture of affairs called for vigor, but Valens remained irres- olute and inactive. In the end, rejecting both plans, he chose a middle course, — in pressing emergencies always the most pernicious ; neither acting with the degree of courage or cau- tion which the occasion required.
41. He sent dispatches to Vitellius for aid, and was soon after joined by three cohorts and a squadron of horse from Britain ; a number too great to steal a march, and too weak to open a passage through an enemy's country. Not even in this perilous juncture was the character of Valens unstained with the infamy of rushing perforce into forbidden pleasures and polluting the houses of his hosts with adulteries and rapes. He was backed by power, had money at command, and was impelled by that recklessness of irregular appetite which marks the last stage of falling fortune. He was no sooner joined by the foot and cavalry sent by Vitellius, than he saw, too late, the folly of his measures ; for with so small a force, supposing the men devoted to Vitellius, he
162 THE HISTORY. [B. m.
could not hope to penetrate through the adverse army ; nor had they brought with them a fidelity unimpeached. Shame, however, and respect for the general under whose eye they were, deterred them for a while; but those restraints could not long act upon men fired with the love of daring enterprise, and reckless of character. Valens, alarmed at this state of things, ordered the cohorts to advance to Ariminum, and the allied cavalry to bring up the rear ; himself, with a few ad- herents whom adversity had not seduced, directing his course to Umbria, and thence to Etruria ; where, hearing for the first time of the defeat at Cremona, he conceived a design of a bold character, and which, had it been carried out, must have produced the most serious results ; it was to seize the ships on the coast, and bear away to some part or other of Narbon Gaul, — rouse the provinces of Gaul, the armies sta- tioned there, and the various German nations, and thus kin- dle a new war.
42. The departure of Valens throwing the garrison of Ariminum into consternation, Cornelius Fuscus advanced his army to the place, and stationing his light galleys at the nearest point of the shores, invested it by sea and land. His forces spread themselves over the plains of Umbria, and the territory of Picenum, where it is washed by the Adriatic; and all Italy was now divided between Vespasian and Vitel- lius by the Apennine mountains. Valens embarked at the port of Pisa,1 but being becalmed, or meeting with contrary winds, was compelled to put in at the port of Hercules Mo- nascus.2 Marius Maturus, the governor of the maritime Alps, was then in the neighborhood ; a man attached to Vitellius, and who, though the country round espoused the opposite in- terest, had not yet renounced his oath of allegiance to him. He received Valens courteously, and by his advice deterred him from rashly .making an attempt on the coast of Narbon Gaul ; he also considered that the fidelity of his followers was weakened by their fears ; for Valerius Paulinus, the procura- tor, an active and experienced officer, and before his elevation devoted to Vespasian, had brought the surrounding states to swear allegiance to him.
43. Paulinus having gathered round him all those who
1 Sinus Pisanns, now the Gulf of Pisa.
2 Portus Herculjs Monseci, now called Monaco.
c. 45.J VALENS TAKEN PRISONER 163
having been disbanded by Vitellius zealously entered upon the war, secured with a garrison the colony of Forojulium, which commanded the sea, having the greater weight and influence as he was a native of the colony, and honored by the prae- torian bands, of which he had formerly been a tribune. The inhabitants themselves, too, from a natural partiality for their townsman, and the hope of future advancement, enrolled themselves in favor of the cause. When these proceedings, now placed upon a secure footing, and magnified by the voice of fame, were currently reported among the Vitellians, whose minds were already unsettled, Fabius Valens returned to his ships, taking with him four select praetorians, three friends, and as many centurions, leaving Maturus and the rest free to stay where they were, and join the party of Vespasian. But though the open sea was safer than the shore or the adjacent cities, yet perplexed as to his future course, and rather seeing what was to be avoided than where he could repose confi- dence, he was thrown by adverse winds on the islands called the Staechades, near Marseilles, where some light-armed gal- leys, sent by Paulinus, surprised and took him.
44. Valens being captured, the whole force of the empire was transferred to increase the resources of the victor. In Spain, the first legion, called Adjutrix, which, from respect for the memory of Otho, was incensed against Vitellius, led the way, and was followed by the tenth and sixth legions The Gauls hesitated not. The well-known partiality to Ves- pasian, who had commanded the second legion by the ap- pointment of Claudius, and had acquired fame in the war in that quarter, had the effect of attaching Britain to his interest, though not without an effort on the part of some of the le- gions, in which a considerable number of centurions and sol- diers, who had been promoted by Vitellius, felt reluctant to desert a prince to whom they were bound by ties of grati- tude.
45. In consequence of this dissension, and the frequent ru- mors of civil war, the Britons conceived ideas of independ- ence at the instance of Venutius, who, in addition to his own natural ferocity, and an antipathy to the Roman name, was stimulated by the motives of personal hostility to Cartisman- dua, queen of the Brigantes, who possessed great influence from her high descent, and which grew still greater when, after
164 THE HISTORY. [B. m,
Caractacus1 had been treacherously seized, she was thought to have embellished the triumph of Claudius Caesar. This led to wealth and the dissipation that waits upon prosperity. Shunning Venutius her husband, she made Vellocatus, his armor-bearer, the partner of her throne and bed. By that flagitious act the power of her house was shaken to its foun- dation. The discarded husband had the people on his side, while the adulterer was supported by the unchaste passion and the ferocious disposition of the queen. Venutius, there- fore, having drawn together a body of auxiliaries, and being aided by the defection of the Brigantians themselves, reduced Cartismandua to the last extremity. She then invoked the protection of the Romans, who sent some cohorts and squad- rons of horse to her relief. Several battles ensued, with vari- ous success. The queen, however, was rescued from impend- ing danger. The kingdom was restored to Venutius, and the Romans found themselves involved in a war.
46. About the same time, Germany was up in arms, from the seditious spirit of the legions, and the sluggish inactivity of the commanders. By the treachery of the states in alli- ance, and the strength of the enemy, the interests of the em- pire were brought to the brink of ruin. Of this war, with its causes and issues, I shall hereafter give an account,2 for it ran out to a considerable length. Commotions about the same time broke out among the Dacians, a people never to be relied on ; and, since the legions were withdrawn from Moesia, there was no force to awe them. They, however, watched in silence the first movements of affairs. But when they heard that Italy was in a blaze of war, and that all the inhabitants were in arms against each other, they stormed the winter-quarters of the cohorts and the cavalry, and made themselves masters of both banks of the Danube. They then prepared to raze the camp of the legions, when Mucianus sent the sixth legion to check them, having heard of the victory at Cremona, and lest a formidable foreign force should invade Italy on both sides, the Dacians and the Germans making eruptions in opposite quarters. On this, as on many other occasions, fortune favored the Romans in bringing Mucianus and the
1 For Caractacus, and Cartismandua, queen of the Brigautes, see Annals, xii. 82 to 36.
* The war with Civilis, the Batavian ; for which see Hist, iv- IX
c. 47.] PONTUS DECLARES FOR VITELLIUS. 165
forces of the East into that quarter, and also in that we had settled matters at Cremona in the very nick of time. Fonteius: Agrippa,1 from Asia, where he had governed for a year with proconsular authority, was now appointed to command in Moesia, with the addition of some Vitellian soldiers, whom it was politic and desirable, with a view to peace, to disperse through the provinces, and occupy with foreign wars.
47. The rest of the provinces were by no means free from commotion. A barbarian slave, who had formerly com manded the royal fleet, had suddenly kindled the flame of war in Pontus. His name was Anicetus, a freedman of Polemon,2 high in power at one time, but now that the king- dom was turned into a Roman province, impatient of the change. Having, therefore, in the name of Vitellius pre- vailed upon the nations bordering on Pontus to join him, and by the hope of plunder attracted to his standard all who were plunged in poverty, he found himself at the head of a force not to be despised, with which he made a, sudden assault upon Trapezus,3 a city celebrated from of old, and founded by Grecians at the extremity of the Pontic coast. A cohort, formerly a royal garrison, was put to the sword there. '1 hey had subsequently received the privilege of Roman citizens, and, from that time, used the arms and banners of Rome, still retaining the indolent and dissolute habits of the Greeks. He also set fire to the fleet, as he had it all his own way by sea, the best of the light galleys, and all his troops, by order of Mucianus, being stationed at Byzantium. Nay, even the barbarians scoured the sea with perfect composure, in vessels constructed in an off-hand manner, which they call camarae, the sides of which are brought near together, with broad bottoms, and joined together without fastenings of brass or iron.4 In a tempestuous sea, they raise the sides with addi-
1 According to Josephus, Fonteius Agrippa was afterward murder- ed by the Sarmatians. Bell. Jud. vii. 4.
2 Polemon was made king of Pontus by Caligula, and, after his death, the kingdom was changed by Nero into a Roman province. Suetonius, Life of Nero, s. 18.
3 Now Trebizonde.
4 The use of these was very ancient, and is mentioned by Strabc <xi. p. 496), who also calls them Ka/udpae. They were so light, that the barbarians could carry them on their shoulders, and traverse woods and forests without being fatigued with their load. The Indians oi
166 THE HISTORY. [B. m.
tional planks in proportion to the swell of the waves, till the vessel is covered over like a roof; thus they roll about amidst the billows, since having a prow at either extremity alike, and the steerage convertible, it makes no difference to them, and is unattended with danger to row in one direction or the other.
48. Vespasian thought the affair of sufficient moment to send a detachment of the legions under the command of Virdius Geminus, an officer of undoubted experience. He came up with the barbarians as they were roaming in disorder on the shore from their eager pursuit of prey, and forced them to fly to their boats. Having rapidly constructed a number of galleys, he overtook Anicetus in the mouth of the river Cohibus,1 now shielded by the aid of the king of the Sedochezans, having, by money and presents, purchased the friendship of that prince. The king at first protected him by threats and arms; but finding that he must choose between the price of treason or war, with the usual treachery of bar- barians, having struck a bargain for the blood of Anicetus, he surrendered his suppliants, and thus ended the Servile War. Rejoiced at this success, and while every thing was prosper- ing beyond his hopes, an account of the victory at Cremona reached him in Egypt. He proceeded with the greater speed to Alexandria, that, as Vitellius could no longer keep the field, he might distress the capital, dependent as it was on foreign supplies, by famine. With this view he also purposed by land and sea to invade Africa, which lay on the same side, in order to cause famine and dissensions by stopping the sup- plies of provisions.
49. While the imperial dignity was passing into other hands by this revolution in every part of the world, Antonius conducted himself after the affair of Cremona with any thing but his wonted honesty ; whether it was that he considered that he had done the business of the war, and that what remained required no effort, or that prosperity called forth the pride, avarice, and other latent vices of his nature. He
America, and the Greenlanders, have boats bound together with twigs and osiers, without the use of brass or iron.
1 The river Cohibns, Brotier says, ought to be called Cobum, being the same mentioned by the elder Pliny, lib. vi. 4: "Flumen Cobum e Caucaso per Suanos fluens." It discharges itself into the Euxine
c. 50.] ANTONIUS ADVANCES TOWARD ROME. 167
ramped over Italy as a conquered country ; caressed the sol- diers, as if they were his own ; by all his words and actions sought to build up his own power; and, to tincture the sol- diers with a spirit of insubordination, gave to the legions the disposal of slain centurions' commissions. The consequence was, that the most turbulent were elected ; the soldiers were no longer under the control of the generals, but the gener- als were carried away by the violence of the soldiery. This spirit, destructive of all subordination and discipline, he soon made instrumental to purposes of plunder, not entertaining the least awe of Mucianus, who was approaching ; a conduct more disastrous in its consequences, than to have slighted Vespasian.
50. To proceed : the winter coming on, and the country being inundated by the Po, the army was obliged to march lightly equipped. The eagles and banners of the victorious legions, with the old, the wounded, and numbers even in full vigor, were left at Verona. The cohorts and cavalry, with a select detachment from the legions, were thought sufficient for a war already extinguished. The eleventh legion, at first hesitating, but since the turn of affairs regretting that they had no share in the victory, had joined them, accompanied by six thousand Dalmatians, newly levied ; the whole led by Poppaeus Silvanus, a man of consular rank, but virtually commanded by Annius Bassus, general of the legion. Silva- nus, a supine and spiritless character, who wasted in talking the time that called for enterprise, was ruled by Bassus, under the semblance of submission, and wherever there was any thing to be done, Bassus aided with unostentatious energy. To this body of forces was added the flower of the marines from the fleet at Ravenna, who desired to act as legionary soldiers. The Dalmatians supplied their place in the fleet. The army and generals halted at the temple of Fortune,1 be- ing undetermined about their plan of operations ; as they had heard that the pra3torian cohorts were on their march front Rome, and the passes over the Apennine were supposed to be occupied. They were also themselves alarmed at the scarcity of provisions, in a country laid waste by war; and at the fierce clamors of the soldiers demanding the donative for
1 Fanum Fortunae, now Fano, a port town of TJrbino, on the Adriatic.
168 THE HISTORY. [B. IIL
nails.1 They had made no provision for money or food ; while the imprudence and greediness of the soldiers, who seized and devoured what might have served if dealt out to them, pre- cluded all management.
51. I find from historians of the highest note, that the vic- torious army exhibited such an indifference to the distinction between what is permitted and what is forbidden, that a com- mon horse-soldier made a merit of having killed his brother in the late battle, and solicited a reward from the generals. And while the law of nature forbade them to give honorary rewards to that act of blood, the policy of the war they were engaged in prevented their punishing it. Under a pretense that he had earned ampler rewards than they could bestow on the moment, they adjourned the business, and history has not recorded any thing more. In former civil wars, how- ever, a similar horror had occurred. In the battle with Cin- na at the Janiculum,2 a man of Pompey's party (as Sisenna relates) slew his brother, and forthwith, on discovering the dire fact, dispatched himself: so true it is, that in ancient times men not only were more prompt in honoring virtue, but also felt a keener remorse for crimes than now. But these and other transactions, fetched from the records of past ages, we shall call to mind whenever opportunities, circum- stances, and situations require examples of virtue, or solace under instances of turpitude.
52. Antonius and the principal officers judged it prudent to send forward the cavalry, and explore every part of Um- bria, to find, if possible, a place of moderate acclivity over the Apennine. In the mean time, the troops left behind at Verona were ordered to advance with the eagles and stand- ards. Measures were also taken to have a plentiful supply of provision-ships on the sea and on the Po. Some of the chiefs sought occasions for delay from time to time : for An- tonius had now become insupportable; and they had more
1 Clatxirium was a donative granted to the soldiers, to enable them to purchase nails for their shoes. In like manner, the donative for shoes was called calcearium. Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, s. 8.
8 A hill at Rome, but not one of the seven ; now called Monte Gian- icolo, and more commonly Montorio. The story of a soldier killing his brother in battle, and on the discovery dispatching himself, is told by Valerius Maximus, v. 5. 4, but attributed to a soldier under Sertorius. S«e Livy's Epitome, lib. Ixxix.
o. 53.] LETTER OF ANTONIUS TO VESPASIAN. 169
reason to hope from Mucianus, who saw with a jealous eye the rapid success of Antonius, and concluded that if he did not arrive in time to enter Rome with the victorious army, he would have no share in the operations or glory of the war. He therefore wrote to Varus and Antonius in dark, ambiguous terms ; sometimes descanting on the necessity of dispatch, and then on the advantages of caution ; and with such studied art, that according to events he might assume the merit of success, and throw the blarne of failure on others. To his intimate friends, and in particular Plotius Griphus,1 lately raised by Vespasian to the rank of senator, and the command of a legion, he gave less equivocal instructions. The answers which he received from all these were accommodated to his wishes, and reflected on the rashness of Varus and Antonius. These letters Mucianus forwarded to Vespasian, and in con- sequence the measures and achievements of Antonius were not estimated as he had hoped.
53. Antonius was indignant, and imputed to Mucianus the guilt of causing his heroic acts to be lightly deemed of by his calumnies ; nor did he refrain from speaking his mind, for he had no control over his tongue, and had no idea of submis- sion. He wrote a letter to Vespasian, in^a style more arro- gant than became one addressing a prince, and not without disparaging insinuations against Mucianus. " It was by An- tonius that the legions in Pannonia were excited to a revolt ; by him the leaders in Moesia were inspirited ; by his firmness the Alps were forced, Italy seized, and the succors from Germany and Rhaatia cut off. That his having discomfited the legions of Vitellius, when separated and disunited among themselves, by a storm of horse, and then pressed them with the foot-force for a night and day, was an exploit of the most brilliant kind, and accomplished by him. The calamity of Cremona was attributable to the nature of the war: that former civil dissensions had stood the state in greater losses — the razing of more cities. That he served his emperor in war, not by messages and epistles, but by his arm and his sword. Nor did he mean to detract from the merit of those who in the mean time managed matters in Asia : they had the task of maintaining tranquillity in Moesia, he of preserving and
1 Plotius Griphus was one of the friends of Statius the poet, as ap- pears from a poem in the Sylvse (lib. iv.), inscribed to him. VOL. II.— H
170 THE HISTORY. [B. in.
protecting Italy. Spain and Gaul, the most potent force in the world, were by his influence drawn over to Vespasian. But his efforts had been vain, if those only who partook not in the danger obtained its rewards." These proceedings did not escape Mucianus : and thence a deadly feud between them ; on the part of Antonius, carried on with openness ; on that of Mucianus, covertly, and, for that reason, the more implacably. 54. Vitellius, after the overthrow of his army at Cremona, suppressing the news, by that shallow attempt to conceal the fact delayed the remedy rather than postponed the disease. For unquestionably, had he admitted the mischief and taken counsel upon it, he had resources and means in abundance ; when, on the contrary, he pretended that all was prosperous, his case grew worse from the disguise. A marvelous silence about the war was observed in his presence ; the citizens of Rome were forbid to talk about it, and for that reason the more did so; and those who, had there been no restraint, would have stated only the truth, circulated exaggerated ac- counts because they were commanded to keep silence. Nor did the chiefs of the adverse party omit any thing that could extend the fame of their victory. The spies that fell into their hands were led round the camp, and, after seeing the strength of the conquerors, sent back. Vitellius examined them all in private, and then ordered them to be put to death. A singular proof of magnanimity was given by a centurion, named Julius Agrestis, who having in several interviews tried in vain to rouse Vitellius to exertion, obtained leave to go in person to view the strength of the enemy, and see the real condition of Cremona. Nor did he try to escape the notice of Antonius by secret observation, but avowed the emperor's or- ders and his own resolution, and requested to see every thing. Persons were sent to show him the field of battle, the ruins of Cremona, and the legions that had laid down their arms. He returned to Vitellius. The emperor, denying the truth of his intelligence, and actually charging him with treachery, he said, "Since some great and decisive proof is necessary, and since neither my life nor death can now be of any use, I will give you convincing evidence." And having thus spoken, re- tired and sealed his assertions by voluntary death. Some historians say he was slain by order of Vitellius, agreeing in the account of his fidelity and magnanimity.
c. 56.] IMBECILITY OF VITELLIUS. 171
55. Vitellius, as though roused from sleep, ordered Julius Priscus and Alphenus Varus, with fourteen praetorian cohorts, and all the squadrons of . cavalry, to guard the passes of the Apennines. A legion of marines followed. So many thou- sand chosen horse and foot, under any other general, would have been sufficient even for offensive operations. The co- horts that remained were put under the command of Lu- cius Vitellius, the emperor's brother, for the defense of the city. The emperor abated nothing of his habitual luxury, and with the precipitation of one who felt himself falling, hurried on the elections, at which he appointed a succession of consuls for several years ; he concluded treaties with the al- lies ; invested foreigners with the Latin privileges : he grant- ed to some exemption from all tribute, others he assisted with immunities ; in short, utterly regardless of posterity, he tore the empire to tatters. But the populace were swayed by the extent of his bounties. Simpletons gave their money for favors, while men of reflection looked upon those grants as nugatory, which could neither be made nor accepted with- out ruining the state. At length Vitellius, urged by the importunity of the army, which lay encamped at Mevania,1 marched out of the city, attended by a numerous train of senators ; some to pay their court, many through fear, having no settled plan, and entirely dependent upon advice of dubious sincerity.
56. While haranguing the army, a circumstance occurred which may well be called portentous. So numerous a flight of ill-omened birds hovered over his head, that forming 2 dense cloud they obscured the day. This was followed by an- other prognostic of an alarming nature. A bull broke loose from the altar, and trampling under foot the preparations for sacrifice, fled to* a distant place, and there, on a spot where victims were never slain, was felled. But Vitellius himself was the great portent after all : without a particle of experi- ence or capacity to direct; obliged to ask others how to put the troops in array ; what provision was to be made for re* connoitering ; how to regulate proceedings with the view of urging on or protracting the war ; and even changing conn* tenance, and in his step betraying the alarm he felt at every breath of intelligence ; and then stupefying himself with drink.
1 The modern Bevagna, in the duchy of Spoleto.
172 THE HISTORY. [B. m.
Weary at length of the camp, and hearing of the revolt of the fleet at Misenum, he went back to Rome, where each adverse event as it occurred terrified him most because it was the latest ; but not a thought did he bestow upon the issue of the general contest. For when it was open to him to pass over the Apennine with his whole force unimpaired, and attack an enemy distressed by cold and scarcity, by dividing his troops he exposed to be cut to pieces and captured by the enemy a gallant soldiery, and devoted to him to the death, though the most experienced of the centurions condemned his measures, and if consulted would have given him sound advice. The creatures immediately about the person of Vitellius prevented their access to him ; the ears of the prince being brought to such a state that wholesome counsels grated harshly upon them, and lie would listen only to what was gratifying at the moment, though pernicious in its consequences.
57. The revolt of the fleet at Misenum was occasioned by the fraud of Claudius Faventinus ; so much in civil commo- tions depends on the boldness of one man. He had been a centurion under Galba, who cashiered him with ignominy. He forged letters from Vespasian, promising ample rewards to such as went over. Claudius Apollinaris commanded the fleet ; a man inconstant in his attachments and irresolute in perfidy. It happened that Apinius Tiro, who had discharged the office of praetor, was then at Minturnaa.1 He offered to head the revolters. They drew the neighboring colonies and municipal towns into the confederacy. The inhabitants of Puteoli2 declared with alacrity for Vespasian, while Capua adhered to Vitellius : and thus with the rage of civil war the jealousies of rival municipalities were blended. Vitellius fixed on Claudius Julianus, who as prsefect of the fleet at Misenum lately had exercised his authority mildly, to endeav- or to reclaim the soldiers by soothing means. He was sup- ported by a city cohort, and a band of gladiators whom he had commanded. When the two camps were pitched in view of each other, Julianus, without much hesitation, went over to Vespasian, and they took possession of Tarracina, a
1 Minturnse, formerly at the mouth of the Liris (now the Garigliano), no longer exists.
2 Now Pozzuolo. For its attachment to Vespasian, this colony was re-established or enlarged, and called "Colonia Flavia."
c. 59. J CONSTERNATION AT ROME. 173
place better protected by its walls and situation than the character of its inhabitants.
58. Vitellius, informed of these transactions, left part of his army at Narnia,1 with the praetorian praefects, and sent his brother Lucius Vitellius with six cohorts and five hundred horse to check the force which was coming upon him by way of Campania. He himself, heart-sick and desponding, was revived by the ardor of the soldiers, and the clamors of the populace demanding to be armed ; while, deceived by the hol- low semblance, he gave the name of army, and legions, to a spiritless rabble, bold only in tongue. At the instance of his freedmen, — for as to his friends, the higher they ranked the less confidence he reposed in them, — he ordered the people to be assembled in their tribes, and as they gave their names, he administered the oath of fidelity ; but the crowd pressing too thick upon him, he divided the task of completing the levy between the consuls. The senators were required to bring in a certain weight of silver, and a certain number of slaves. The Koman knights made a voluntary offer to serve with their persons and fortunes ; and even the descendants of freedmen, without solicitation pressed to do the same. This affectation of zeal, which had its origin in fear, issued in a favorable feeling ; and very many were touched with compassion, not so much for Vitellius as £o»* the unfortunate state and degrada- tion of the sovereignty. Vitellius, on his part, omitted not to invite commiseration by & dejected air, a pathetic tone of voice, and by tears ; making ample promises, nay, as is usual with men in distress, generous beyond all bounds. He even now was willing to accept the title of Caesar ; having repudi- ated it theretofore; but then, from the superstitious venera- tion in which it was held, and because in cases of extreme danger the voice of the rabble is equal to the wisest counsels, he acquiesced. However, as all undertakings originating in blind impulse, though vigorous at first, languish under the ef- fect of time, the senators and knights fell off by decrees ; at first slowly, and in the absence of the prince, but soon boldly and indifferently ; till at last Vitellius, ashamed of his defeat- ed efforts, granted a remission of those services which were withheld.
59. As by taking possession of Mevania Italy wa» stricken
1 Still called Narni, in the duchy of Spoleto.
174 THE HISTORY. [B. m.
with terror, and the war seemed to be revived, so Vitellius, by his dastardly departure, gave a manifest impulse to the feeling in favor of the Flavian party. The Samnites, the Pelignians, and the Marsians,1 stung with envy at the alacrity witli which Campania had taken the lead in the revolt, were roused into action ; and applied themselves to all the duties of the war with the energy usually exhibited in the service of a new master; but the army, in passing over the Apennine, suffered extremely from the rigor of the winter; and the difficulty with which, though unmolested by the enemy, they labored through the snow, plainly showed the dangers they must have encountered if fortune, to which the Flavian gen- erals were often indebted no less than to the wisdom of their counsels, had not drawn Vitellius from his post. During the march they met with Petilius Cerealis, who in the habit of a peasant, and from his acquaintance with the country, had eluded the guards of Vitellius. As he was closely allied to Vespasian, and himself an officer of no mean repute, he was ranked with the commanders in chief. Many writers have stated that not only he, but Flavius Sabinus, and Domi- tian, had it in their power to escape out of Rome ; and mes- sengers sent by Antonius, who had made their way through the enemy's lines by all sorts of disguises, pointed out to them a refuge, and promised them safe conduct ; but Sabinus plead- ed his ill state of health as unfitting him for the fatigue and danger of the attempt. Domitian was not deficient in inclin- ation : but the guards appointed by Vitellius to watch his mo- tions, though they offered to join his flight, he suspected of a design to draw him into a snare. In reality, Vitellius, from regard for his own connections, meditated no severity toward Domitian.
60. Arrived at Carsulae,2 the generals thought fit to halt there for some days, as well to rest the troops, as to wait the arrival of the eagles and standards of the legions. It also appeared an eligible spot for their camp, commanding, as it did, a view of the country on every side, with the opportu- nity of bringing in provisions in security; having several municipalities of the greatest affluence in their rear. Being
1 The Samnites and Pelignians inhabited part of Hither Abruzzo; the Marsians part of Further Abruzzo, near the lake of Celano.
8 The ruins of this place still remain near Santo Gemini, in Umbria
u 61.J ANTONIUS ATTEMPTS TO CALM THE TROOPS. 175
ten miles distant from the Vitellian forces, they hoped, by intrigue and secret negotiations, to induce the whole party to lay down their arms. But the soldiers were impatient of delay. They wished to end the war by victory, not by com- promise. They did not even desire to wait the arrival of their own legions, regarding them rather as sharers in the booty than the dangers of the battle. Antonius called the men together, and, in a public harangue, informed them, "That Vitellius had still numerous forces in reserve, who might come over if left to their own reflection, but determ- ined adversaries if precluded from hope. In the first move ments of a civil war, much must be left to chance. To complete the conquest, is the province of wisdom and delib- erate counsels. The fleet at Misenum, with the whole region of Campania, the fairest part of Italy, had already declared for Vespasian. Of the whole Koman world, the tract that lies between Narnia and Tarracina was all that remained in the hands of Vitellius. By the victory at Cremona enough of glory had been gained, and by the demolition of that city too much disgrace. He implored them not to desire to cap- ture rather than to preserve the city of Rome. They would reap ampler rewards, and their fame would stand higher, if they sought the safety of the senate and people of Rome with- out effusion of blood.*'
61. By these and similar reasonings the impetuosity of the soldiers was calmed. The legions arrived soon after, and, by the terror and fame of the augmented force, the Vitellian co- horts oscillated, there being no one to incite them to go on with the war, but many to change sides, who strove with each other in going over to the enemy with their companies of foot, or their troops of horse, thereby to confer a benefit on the victor, and lay up a fund of favor to be enjoyed thereafter. Information was received through these that four hundred of the enemy's cavalry were stationed in the neighborhood, in garrison at Interamna.1 Varus was instantly dispatched at the head of a detached party against them. A few who re- sisted were put to the sword ; the greater part laid down their arms, and begged forgiveness. Some fled back to the camp at Narnia, which they filled with consternation, by magnify- ing the numbers and courage of the enemy, to palliate the 1 The modern Terni. See Annals, i. 79.
176 THE HISTORY. [B. m,
disgrace of evacuating the garrison. In the Vitellian army defection and treachery went unpunished ; allegiance was un- dermined by the rewards of the revolter ; and the only con- test now was, who should be first in perfidy. The tribunes and centurions deserted in shoals; not so the common soldiers, who had contracted a firm attachment to Vitel- lius; but at last Priscus and Alphenus,1 by abandoning the camp, relieved them all from any misgivings on the score of treason.
62. During these transactions, Fabius Valens was put to death while under restraint at TJrbinum.2 His head was shown in triumph to the Vitellian cohorts, to cut off all hope from him ; for a belief prevailed that he had made his escape into Germany, and was there employed in raising an army of veterans to renew the war. Seeing that he was slain, they resigned themselves to despair. The effect of the death of Valens, in producing an impression on the mind of the Vi- tellian army that the war was at an end, was incalculable. Fabius Valens was a native of Anagnia,3 of an equestrian family. Of profligate manners, but not destitute of genius, he aimed at the reputation of urbanity in libertine excesses. In the interludes, called Juvenalia,4 in the reign of Nero, he appeared often among the pantomime performers, at first with seeming reluctance, but afterward of his own choice, with more talent than decency. As commander of a legion under Verginius, he encouraged his designs, and blackened him to the world. He murdered Fonteius Capito,5 after un- dermining his principles, or because he failed in the attempt. False to Galba,6 he continued faithful to Vitellius, deriving lustre from the perfidy of others.
63. The Vitellians, seeing all hopes cut off, determined to submit to the conqueror, and, even in this act paying regard to character, descended into the plains overlooked by Narnia, with their banners and colors displayed. Vespasian's army, fully expecting a battle, and equipped for it, formed their lines in close array on each side of the road. In the interval
1 Julius Priscus and Alphenus Varus, sent by Vitellius to take pos- session of the Apennine mountains. See c. 55 of this book.
2 Urbino, the birth-place of Raphael.
* Anagni, near Rome. * See Annals, xiv. 15; xvi. 21.
6 See Hist. i. 7. 6 Ibid. i. 52.
o. 65.] SABINUS, BROTHER OF VESPASIAN. 177
they received the Vitellians. Thus surrounded, Antonius addressed them in the language of humanity. One division was ordered to stay at Narnia, and the other at Interamha. Some of the victorious legions were left with them, not to annoy them if they remained quiet, but strong enough to check any violation of order. Antonius and Varus, in the mean time, did not omit to send frequent messages to Vitel- lius, offering him money, and a safe retreat in Campania, upon condition that he should lay down his arms, and sur- render himself and his children at discretion to Vespasian. Letters to the same effect were also written to him by Mu- cianus. Vitellius not unfrequently listened to these propo- sals, and talked about the number of his train, and the spot on the coast he should choose. Such a torpor had come over his mind, that if others had not remembered that he was a prince, he himself had forgotten it.
64. On the other hand, the leading men of the state endeav- ored, by secret exhortations, to incite Flavius Sabinus, the prelect of the city, to earn a share in the success and glory of the revolution. " The city cohorts," they said, " were pecu- liarly his own; the cohorts of the night-watch would join him ; there were their own slaves, the name of a successful party, and the strong and universal tendency of things in favor of the victors. He should not yield to Varus and Antonius the whole glory of the war. Vitellius had but a few cohorts left, and those perplexed and alarmed at the dis- heartening news from every quarter. The minds of the pop- ulace were prone to change. Let Sabinus show himself, and the acclamations now given to Vitellius would be as loud for Vespasian. As to Vitellius, prosperity overpowered him ; much more must his energies be enfeebled in the ruin of his fortune. The merit of concluding the war would be his who first got possession of the city. It became Sabinus to secure the sovereign power for his brother; and it comported with the dignity of Vespasian that Sabinus should earn the first place among his subjects."
65. Sabinus, enfeebled by old age, received these expostu- lations in any thing but a spirit of alacrity. Some there were who whispered their suspicions, that he wished to retard the elevation of his brother from motives of envy and jealousy. Sabinus was the elder, and, while both remained in a private
H 2
178 THE HISTORY. [B. m.
station, always took the lead, superior in fortune and influ- ence ; and when Vespasian's credit was giving way, Sabinus is said to have propped it up, by taking a mortgage on his brother's house and lands.1 Whence, though they preserved the exterior of friendship, a smothered animosity was sup- posed to exist. The fairer construction is, that Sabinus, a man of a meek disposition, was averse to carnage, and, with ihat intent, held frequent conferences with Vitellius on the subject of a pacification and the settlement of terms for a cessation of hostilities. Having frequently met in private, they, as the report went, at last concluded a treaty in the temple of Apollo,2 when Cluvius Rufus3 and Silius Italicus4 witnessed their expressions and exclamations: the looks of the contracting parties were observed by spectators at a distance. The countenance of Vitellius was downcast, and indicative of a broken spirit ; while Sabinus exhibited no signs of triumph, but had more the air of commiseration.
66. And if Vitellius could have influenced the minds of his followers with the facility he himself displayed in giving up the contest, Vespasian's army might have taken possession of the city of Rome unstained with blood. But in proportion as his friends were firm in his interest, they rejected all terms of accommodation, representing " the danger and disgrace of it, and that their security for its fulfillment depended on the caprice of the conqueror. Vespasian had not the magnanim- ity to suffer Vitellius to live in a private station ; even the vanquished would not bear it. Thus danger would grow out of the commiseration of his friends. Grant that he is himself an aged man, and wearied with the alternations of prosperity and adversity : but what name, what rank would be bestowed on his son Germanicus? Promises of a supply of money, a retinue of slaves, and a retreat in the delightful regions of
' See Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, s. 4.
1 The temple of Apollo was on Mount Palatine, where Augustus formed a library. Horace says —
<4Scripta Palatinus quaecumque recepit Apollo." — Epist. I. iii. 17.
3 That an agreement was made between Vitellius and Flavius Sa binus, the brother of Vespasian, appears in Suetonius (Vitell. s. 15) Cluvius Rufus had been governor of a province in Spain; a man of eloquence, but void of military talents. See Hist. i. 8.
* Silius Italicus, the poet, was consul A.D. 68
c. 67.] VITELLIUS ABDICATES. 179
Campania were now held out ; but when Vespasian had seized the imperial dignity, neither he, nor his friends, nor even his armies, would think themselves secure, save in the annihilation of the rival interest. Even Fabius Valens, though a prison- er, and, while they feared a reverse of fortune, reserved as a pledge in the hands of the enemy, was thought too formidable to live ; much less would Antonius, and Fuscus, or Mucianus, (vho might be regarded as embodying the characteristic prin- ciples of the party, be content with any extent of power over Vitellius, unless it included that of killing him. Pompey was pursued to death by Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony by Au- gustus. Unless, perhaps, nobler sentiments are to be ex- pected from Vespasian, the client of Vitellius,1 who was the colleague of Claudius. Nay, as became the censorship of his father, three consulships, the numerous honors of his illustri- ous house, they urged Vitellius to gird himself up for acts of daring, from desperation at least, if from no other impulse. The soldiers were inflexible in their attachment, and the af- fections of the people were still with him. To sum up all, nothing so calamitous could befall them as that into which they were rushing voluntarily. If vanquished, they must perish ; if they surrendered, they must perish. All they had to consider was, whether they would pour out their parting breath amidst scorn and contumely, or with the honor due to valor."
67. Vitellius was deaf to vigorous counsels. His whole soul was absorbed in commiseration and anxiety, lest by per- tinacious resistance the conqueror should be inexorable to his wife and children when he was gone. He had also a mother2 worn out with age ; she, however, died a few. days before, happily anticipating the downfall of her family. From the elevation of her son she derived nothing but sorrow, and an extended reputation for virtue. On the fifteenth before the calends of January,3 the defection of the legions and cohorts that surrendered at Narnia reached the ears of Vitellius, he came down from his palace in mourning apparel, surrounded by his afflicted family. His infant son was carried in a small litter, exhibiting the appearance of a funeral procession. The
1 See Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, s. 4.
2 Sextilia.
3 Vitellius abdicated on the 18th of December A.D. 69.
180 THE HISTORY. |> m
voices of the people were sweet, but out of season ; the sol- diery wrapt in sullen silence.1
68. Nor was there a man so dead to human sympathies as not to be touched by the scene before him. A Roman em- peror, but a little before lord of mankind, abandoning the habitation of his greatness, and going forth from empire, through the midst of citizens, through the streets of the capital! — they had never beheld such a spectacle; they had heard of nothing like it. Caesar the dictator fell by sudden violence ; Caligula perished by a dark conspiracy. The shades of night and rural solitudes had thrown a vail over the flight of Nero ; Piso and Galba may be said to have died in battle. Vitellius, before an assembly of the people called by himself, in the midst of his own soldiers, and in the view even of women, after declaring in brief terms, but such as assorted with the mournful circumstances, that he retired for the sake of peace and the good of the commonwealth ; that all he desired was that they would retain him still in their memory, and look with pity on the misfortunes of his brother, his wife, and unoffending children ; at the same time raising his son in his arms, and commending him now to individuals, now to the whole body, at length, suffocated with grief, took the dagger from his side, and offered it, as the symbol of the power of life and death over citizens, to Caecilius Simplex, the consul,2 who stood near him. The consul refusing to accept it, and the people loudly opposing his resignation, Vitellius left the place, to lay down the ensigns of sovereignty in the temple of Concord,3 and seek a retreat in his brother's house. Here a still louder cry arose. They objected to the house of a private citizen, and insisted on his returning to the palace.
1 Suetonius gives a much fuller account. See Life of Vitellius, ss. 14, 15.
3 We have seen that Csecilius Simplex was impatient to arrive at the consular dignity, insomuch that he was accused in the senate of a de- sign to purchase it, in the room of Marius Celsus. He did not succeed ; but Vitellius afterward gratified his ambition without a bribe. Hist, ii. 60. See the list of consuls for this year, Hist. i. 77.
3 The temple of Concord, on the Capitoline, was burred to the ground in the fire of the capitol, related in c. 71 of this book Brotier says, it was afterward rebuilt, as appears by an inscription etill U» be. seen among the ruins : —
SENATUS POPULUSQUE ROMANUS INCENDIO CONSUMPTUM RESTITUIT.
c. 69.] SABINUS SEIZES THE CAPITOL. 181
Every other way they obstructed, and none was left open, except that which led into the Sacred Way. Then, having no alternative, he returned to the palace. The abdication of the prince was already rumored through the city, and Flavius Sabinus had written to the tribunes of the cohorts, to restrain the violence of the soldiers.
69. Accordingly, as if the whole power of the state had fallen into the lap of Vespasian, the leading members of the senate, with a numerous band of the equestrian order, and all the city-soldiers, and the night-watch, crowded the house of Flavius Sabinus. They were there informed of the zeal of the people for Vitellius, and the menaces thrown out by the German cohorts. Sabinus had gone too far to think of retreat. Individuals trembling for themselves, lest, if they dispersed, and thus diminished their strength, the Vitellians should come upon them, induced Sabinus, though reluctant, to take up arms. But, as often happens in cases of this kind, all were ready to advise, and few to share the danger. Near the Fundane lake, ' a desperate band of the Vitellians met the armed citizens who were going forth in attendance on Sabi- nus. A slight encounter, in the surprise and confusion of the moment, ensued, but was favorable to the Vitellians. Sabi- nus, in the alarm and perplexity of the occasion, retreated to the fort of the capitol, which he garrisoned with the soldiers, and a small party of senators and Roman knights, judging this the safest course open to him. Their names can not be given easily, as numbers afterward, in the reign of Vespasian, assumed the merit of this service to his party. There were even women who braved a siege : among these the most dis- tinguished was Verulana Gratilla, who had neither children nor relations to attract her, but followed in the course of war. The Vitellians invested the citadel with so much negligence, that Sabinus, in the dead of night, was able to receive into the place his own children, and Domitian, his brother's son ; sending also, through the unguarded quarters, information to the Flavian generals that they were themselves besieged, and that without relief they would be reduced to a state of dis- tress. Sabinus experienced so little molestation during the
1 A Fundane lake, now called Lago di Fundi, is mentioned by Pliny, jib. iii. 5 ; but the lake now in question was in the city of Rome, near the Mons Quiriualis.
182 THE HISTORY. [B. IIL
night that he might have safely made his escape ; for the sol- diery of Vitellius, resolute in facing danger, paid little atten- tion to laborious duties and night-watches ; besides that a winter storm of rain obstructed the sight and hearing.
70. At the dawn of day, before mutual hostilities com- menced, Sabinus dispatched Cornelius Martialis, a principal centurion, with instructions and complaints to Vitellius, that the treaty was violated. " That it was a mere pretense and semblance of abdication, to deceive so many illustrious citizens. For, why did he go from the rostra to his brother's house, which overlooked the forum, and was calculated to offend the eyes of the citizens, rather than to the Aventine and the man- sion of his wife ? Such a course became a private character, and one who avoided all appearance of sovereign power. Vitellius, on the .contrary, returned to his palace, the very citadel of empire ; thence a military force was sent forth, and the most frequented part of the city was strewed with the corses of unoffending citizens. The capitol itself was not spared. Surely he had himself continued in a civil capacity, and as one of the senators, while the contest between Vitellius and Vespasian was carrying on by encounters of the legions, the capture of cities, the surrender of cohorts ; when both the Spains, the Upper and Lower Germany, and all Britain, had revolted ; though the brother of Vespasian, he had not swerved from his allegiance ; and when at length he entered into a negotiation, Vitellius invited him to it. The pacifica- tion and agreement were advantageous to the vanquished ; and to the victors brought nothing but honor. If he repented of the convention, he should not point his arms against Sabi- nus, whom he duped by perfidy ; nor the son of Vespasian, scarcely arrived at puberty.1 By the murder of one old man and one stripling, what advantage could be gained? He should make head against the legions, and decide the contest with them. Every thing would be determined by the issue of the battle." Vitellius, who was in a state of the utmost agita- tion, in his reply endeavored briefly to clear himself, laying the blame upon the soldiers, whose intemperate zeal was more than a match for his mild control. He advised Martialis to depart through a private part of the house, lest the soldiers in
1 Domitian, who was born on the 24th of October, A.D. 61. (Sueto- nius, Life of Domitian, a. 1.)
c. 71.] THE CAPITOL STORMED AND BURNED. 183
/
their fury should destroy the negotiator of a peace which they abhorred. He was himself unable to command or prohibit any measure ; no longer emperor, but merely the cause of war. 71. Martialis had scarcely re-entered the capitol, when the furious soldiers appeared before it, without a general, and each man acting on his own suggestions. Having rapidly passed the forum, and the temples that overlook it,1 they marched up the opposite hill, as far as the first gates of the citadel. On the right side of the ascent, a range of porticoes had been built in ancient times. Going out upon the roof of those, the besieged threw a shower of stones and tiles. The assailants had no weapons but their swords, and to fetch en- gines and missiles seemed a tedious delay. They threw brands into the portico that jutted near them. They followed up the fire, and would have forced their way through the gate of the capitol,2 which the fire had laid hold of, if Sabinus had not placed as a barrier in the very approach, in lieu of a wall, the statues, those honorable monuments of our ancestors, which were pulled down wherever they could be found. They then assaulted the capitol in two different quarters ; near the grove of the asylum,3 and where the Tarpeian rock is ascended by a hundred steps.4 Both attacks were unforeseen. That by the asylum was the nearer and most vigorous. Nor could they be stopped from climbing up the contiguous buildings, which being raised high under the idea of undisturbed peace, reach the basement of the capitol. Here a doubt exists whether the fire was thrown upon the roofs by the storming party or the besieged,5 the latter being more generally supposed to have
1 The forum was surrounded by a number of temples; as, the tem- ple of Fortune, of Jupiter Tonans, of JSaturn, the temple of Concord, and several others.
2 The citadel of the capitol, in -which was the temple of Jupiter Cap- itolinus, stood near the Tarpeian rock.
3 The Lucus Asyli was so called because it was made a sanctuary by Romulus to invite a conflux of foreigners to his new state. It stood between the two rocks of the Capitoline hill, on one of which was built the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus ; on the other the temple of Feretrian Jove. Brotier says, that in the place of the grove there is now erected the Piazza del Campidoglio.
* The Tarpeian rock, with its hundred steps, was on the west side of the Capitoline hill, and from that eminence malefactors were thrown headlong into the Tiber. Annals, vi. 19.
5 Pliny the elder ^ays, the capitol was set on fire by the Vitellians (lib. xxxiv. 7). Josephus gives the same account (Bell. Jud. iv. 11); and Dio agrees with them both (lib. btvj.
184 THE HISTORY. [B. m
done it, to repulse those who were climbing up, and had ad. vanced some way. The fire extended itself thence to the por- ticoes adjoining the temples ; soon the eagles that supported the cupola caught fire, and as the timber was old they fed the flame. Thus the capitol, with its gates shut, neither stormed nor defended, was burned to the ground.
72. From the foundation of the city to that hour, the Ro- man republic had felt no calamity so deplorable, so shock- ing, as that, unassailed by a foreign enemy, and, were it not for the vices of the age, with the deities propitious, the tem- ple of Jupiter supremely good and great, built by our ances- tors with solemn auspices, the pledge of empire,1 which nei- ther Porsena,2 when Rome surrendered to his arms, nor the Gauls,3 when they captured the city, were permitted to vio- late, should be now demolished by the madness of the rulers of the state. The capitol was once before destroyed by fire during a civil war;4 but it was from the guilty machinations of private individuals. Now it was besieged publicly, publicly set fire to ; and what were the motives for the war ? what was the object to be gained, that so severe a calamity was in- curred? Warred we in our country's cause? — Tarquinius Priscus, during the war with the Sabines, built it in fulfillment of a vow, and laid the foundations more in conformity with his anticipations of the future grandeur of the empire, than the limited extent of the Roman means at that time. Ser- vius Tullius, assisted by the zeal of the allies of Rome, and after him Tarquin the Proud, with the spoils of Suessa Pome- tia,5 added to the building. But the glory of completing the design was reserved for the era of liberty. When tyrants were swept away, Horatius Pulvillus,6 in his second consulship, dedicated the temple, finished with such magnificence that the wealth of after ages graced it with new embellishments,
1 See Florus, lib. i. 7.
2 It is not strictly true that Porsena became master of the city. He was at the gates, but, instead of advancing, received hostages, and raised the siege. Florus, lib. i. 10.
3 The city was taken by the Gauls, B.C. 390. See Annals, xi. 24.
4 In the civil war between Sylla and Marius, the capitol was de- stroyed by fire, B.C. 83. The Sibylline books perished in the flames. See Appian, Bell. Civ. lib. i.
5 A city of ancient Latium, about fifty miles from Rome, on the Ap- pian road. The very ruins have perished.
6 Horatius Pulvillus was consul with Valerius Publicola, B.C. 507r about three years after the expulsion of Tarquin.
c.73.] SABINUS TAKEN PRISONER. Ib5
but added nothing to its dimensions. Four hundred and fif- teen years afterward, in the consulship of Lucius Scipio and Caius Norbanus,1 it was burned to the ground, and again re- built on the old foundation. Sylla having now triumphed over his opponents, undertook to build it, but nevertheless did not dedicate it ; the only thing wanting to crown his felicity. That honor was reserved for Lutatius Catulus,2 whose name, amidst so many works of the Caesars, remained legible till the days of Vitellius. Such was the sacred building which was at this time reduced to ashes.
73. But the fire occasioned greater consternation among the besieged than among the besiegers, inasmuch as the Vitel- lian soldiers, in the moment of difficulty, wanted neither skill nor courage. In the opposite party the men were seized with panic, and the commander had neither spirit nor presence of mind ; he lost all power of speech and hearing. Deaf to the advice of others, he was unable to devise any plan himself. Driven about in all directions according to the snouts of the enemy, he ordered what he had forbidden, and countermanded what he had ordered. Soon, as usually happens in desperate emergencies, all directed, and none obeyed. At length they threw down their arms, and each man looked about for a way of escape, and how to conceal himself; the Vitellians burst in, and in a moment all was one scene of fire, and swords, and blood. A few gallant spirits made a brave resistance, and perished in the attempt. The most distinguished were Cornelius Martialis, .ZEmilius Pacensis, Casperius Niger, and Didius Scaeva. Flavius Sabinus, without his sword, and not so much as attempting flight, was surrounded ; as was also Quinctius Atticus, the consul,3 who was marked out by the shadowy ensigns of his magistracy, and his own vainglory, as he had put forth edicts to the people laudatory of Vespasian, and reflecting harshly upon Vitellius. The rest by various
1 Lucius Scipio and Caius Norbanus were consuls, B.C. 83. The cap- itol was then consumed by fire, not, however, occasioned by an open act of violence, but rather by the hands of clandestine incendiaries. Sylla undertook to rebuild the capitol, but did not dedicate it: "Hoc felicitati suse defuisse confessus est, quod capitolium non dedicavisset." —Pliny, lib. vii. 43.
2 Lutatius Catulus was consul with J3milius Lepidus, B.C. 78.
3 Quinctius Atticus and Alienus Caecina were consuls from the first of November to the end of the year. See Hist. i. 77.
186 THE HISTORY. [B. ra.
stratagems made their escape ; some in the disguise of slaves ; others protected by the fidelity of their friends, and concealed amidst the baggage. A few, who had caught the signal by which the Vitellians knew each other, by boldly asking it and giving it in reply, found security in their daring.
74. Dornitian, on the first irruption, was secreted in the apartments of the warden, and then by the contrivance of his freedman, having been clad in a linen vestment, and put among the band of the sacrificers without being recognized, he remained in concealment in the neighborhood of Velabrum, at the house of Cornelius Primus, a client of Vespasian's. During the reign of his father, he threw down the warden's lodge, and built a chapel to Jupiter Conservator, with an al- tar, having the story of his vicissitudes engraven on a marble tablet. Afterward, on his accession, he dedicated a magnifi- cent temple to Jupiter the Guardian, and a statue represent- ing the god with himself in his arms. Sabinus and Quinctius Atticus were conducted in fetters to the presence of Vitellius. He received them without an angry word or look, though the soldiers indignantly insisted on their right to murder both, and to reap the rewards of their service. A shout arising from those nearest him, the meaner portion of the populace called for vengeance on Sabinus, mingling menaces with adu- lation. Vitellius, who endeavored to address them from the stairs of the palace, was forced by their importunity to with- draw. The mob then fell upon Sabinus, stabbed him in many places, mangled him horribly, and cutting off his head, dragged his mutilated trunk to GemoniaB.
75. Such was the end of a man who, it must be admitted, was entitled to respect. He had carried arms five-and-thirty years in the service of his country, distinguished both in his civil and military capacities. His integrity and love of jus- tice were unimpeachable. His fault was that of talking too much. In the course of seven years, during which he ad- ministered the province of Mcesia, and twelve more, while he was governor of Rome, malice itself could find no other blem- ish in his character. In the close of his life some condemned him for want of spirit; many regarded him as a man of mod- eration, and sparing of Roman blood. Before the elevation of Vespasian, all agree that he was the ornament of his family. It is recorded that his fall was matter of joy to Mucianus.
c. 77.] SACK OF TARRACINA. 187
In general, his death was considered as an event of public utility, by putting an end to a contention between two rivals, one of whom would consider that he was the emperor's broth- er, and the other that he was a claimant for a share of the imperial power. The consul, Quinctius Atticus, was the next victim demanded by the populace, but Vitellius opposed their fury ; being now reconciled to him, and as it were making a requital, because being interrogated as to the destruction of the capitol, he avowed himself the author, and by that con- fession, or perhaps well-timed falsehood, he seemed to take upon himself the odium and guilt, exonerating the Vitelliao party.
76. During these transactions, Lucius Vitellius, having pitched his camp in the neighborhood of Feronia,1 menaced the destruction of Tarracina, where the marines and gladia- tors were shut up, not daring to sally out and face the enemy in the open field. The gladiators, as has been mentioned, were under the command of Julianus, and the marines under that of Apollinaris ; two men immersed in sloth and luxury, from their vices more like gladiators than generals. They kept no night-watch, nor guarded the insecure parts of the walls. Day and night abandoned to excess, they made the voluptuous haunts of the coast resound with revelry, sending the soldiers in all directions to provide luxuries, and talked of war only while feasting. Apinius Tiro, who had left the place a few days before, by unfeelingly exacting presents and contributions from the municipal towns, brought a greater accession of ill- will than of strength to the party.
77. In the mean time a slave of Verginius Capito deserted to Lucius Vitellius, with an offer, if placed at the head of a detachment, to put the citadel, loosely guarded as it was, into their hands. In the dead of night he stationed a party of light-armed cohorts on the top-most ridges of the hill, over the heads of the enemy. Thence the soldiers poured down to slaughter rather than fight. They mowed them down un- armed or arming, others scarce awake, and all thrown into consternation by the general uproar, the darkness, the clan- gor of trumpets, and the shouts of the enemy. A few of the gladiators made resistance, and sold their lives dearly. The
1 This was a town of Latium, distinguished by the worship of th« goddess Feronia. See Strabo, v. 157 ; and Dion. Hal. ii. 49,
188 THE HISTORY. IB. m
rest fled with precipitation to the ships, where all was in- volved in indiscriminate terror, the peasants being intermixed with the troops, and all were put to the sword without dis- tinction. In the beginning of the tumult, six light galleys es- caped. On board of one of them was Apollinaris, the com- mander of the fleet. The rest were either taken, or by the overweight of those that rushed on board were sunk. Julia- nus was conducted to Lucius Vitellius, and, in his presence, first ignominiously scourged, and then put to death. Some per- sons charged Triaria, the wife of Lucius the commanding of- ficer, with having appeared girt with a soldier's sword, and behaving in a tyrannical and cruel manner amidst the afflic- tions and calamities of the sacking of Tarracina. The gen- eral sent a letter wreathed with laurel to his brother, with in- telligence of the victory, desiring, at the same time, to know whether he should march directly forward to Rome, or stay to finish the entire reduction of Campania ; a delay which was of real benefit, not only to Vespasian's party, but the common- wealth ; for if a soldiery, flushed with success, and to their natural hardihood adding the insolence of victory, had been led to Rome, there would have been a conflict of no trifling magnitude, and not without the destruction of the city. For Lucius Vitellius, though his character was bad, wanted not vigor of mind. He had raised himself to eminence, not by his virtues, as is the case with good men, but by his vices, like the most profligate of mankind.
78. While these transactions were going on with the party of Vitellius, the army of Vespasian, quitting Narnia, were passing the Saturnalian holidays1 at Ocriculum,2 quite at their ease. To wait for the arrival of Mucianus, was the ostensi- ble reason for this ill-timed delay. Motives of a different nature were imputed to Antonius. There were those who suspected him of having lingered there with a fraudulent in- tent, in consequence of letters of Vitellius, in which he offered him the consulship, his daughter, who was marriageable, and a rich dowry. Others treated it as mere invention, a con- trivance to gratify Mucianus. Some were of opinion that it was the deliberate plan of all the generals to alarm the city with the appearance of war, rather than to carry it into
v The Saturnalian festival began on the 17th of December. 2 Otricoli, in the duchy of Spoleto.
c. 79.] ANTONIUS RECEIVES A CHECK. 189
Rome ; since the strongest cohorts had abandoned Vitellius, and as all his resources were cut off, it was thought he would abdicate. But all was defeated, at first by the temerity, and in the end by the irresolution, of Sabinus, who, having rashly taken up arms, was not able, against so small a force as three cohorts, to defend the capitol, a fortress of unequaled strength, and capable of resisting the shock of powerful armies. Where all were guilty of misconduct, the blame can not well be fixed on any one in particular ; for both Mucianus, by the ambigu- ity of his letters, checked the progress of the victorious army ; and Antonius, by ill-timed compliances, or perhaps to retort odium upon Mucianus, committed an error ; and the rest of the officers concluding that the war was ended, occasioned the disasters that signalized its close. Even Petilius Cerealis, who had been sent forward at the head of a thousand horse, that cutting through the Sabine country he might enter Kome by the Salarian road,1 did not push on with the requisite vig- or; but at last the news that the capitol was besieged put them on the alert.
79. Antonius in the night time, moved along the Flamin- ian road, and arrived at the Red Rocks2 when the mischief was done. There he heard that Sabinus was murdered ; that the capitol was burned ; that the city was in consternation ; in fact, nothing but bad news. Word was also brought that the populace, joined by the slaves, had taken up arms for Vi- tellius. At the same time the cavalry, under Petilius Cerea- lis, met with a defeat. Advancing incautiously, and with pre- cipitation, as against vanquished troops, they were received by a body of infantry and cavalry intermixed. The battle was fought at a small distance from Rome, amidst houses, and gardens, and zigzag ways, well known to the Vitellians, but creating alarm and confusion in men unacquainted with them. Nor did now the cavalry under Cerealis act with unanimity. They had among them a party of those who laid down their arms at Narnia, who waited to see the issue of the battle. Tullius Flavianus, who commanded a squadron of Vespasian's horse, was taken prisoner. The rest fled with scandalous
1 This road began at the Porta Collina, also called Salaria, now the Porta Salara. Pliny (xxxi. 7, 41) gives the origin of the name: "Quo- niam ilia salera in Sabinos portari convenerat."
3 About three miles from Rome.
190 THE HISTORY. [B. JD.
precipitation ; the conquering troops pursuing them only a* far as Fidense.1
80. The success of the Vitellians in this engagement in- spired the partisans at Rome with new courage. The popu- lace had recourse to arms. A few were provided with regu- lar shields ; the rest snatched up whatever weapons fell i" their way, and with one voice demanded the signal for the at- tack. Vitellius thanked them, and bade them press forward in defense of the city. He then convened the senate ; when embassadors to the armies were chosen, to propose, in the name of the commonwealth, an agreement and pacification. They were variously treated. In the camp of Petilius Cere- alis they were in danger of their lives: the soldiers disdaining all terms of accommodation. The praetor Arulenus Rusticus2 was wounded. In addition to the violation of the rights of embassadors, the personal dignity of the man increased the odium of the proceedings. His attendants were dispersed. The lictor that preceded him, presuming to clear the way, was murdered ; and if the guard appointed by Cerealis had not in- terposed in time, the privilege of embassadors, respected even by barbarous nations, had been trampled under foot, in the frenzy of civil discord, under the very walls of Rome. The deputies who went to the camp of Antonius met with a mild- er reception ; not because the soldiers had more self-control, but the general more authority.
81. Musonius Rufus,3 a Roman knight, had followed in the train of the embassadors. He professed himself devoted to the study of philosophy, and the doctrines of the Stoic sect. He mixed among the soldiers, and began to lecture armed men by a dissertation on the blessings of peace, and the ca- lamities of war. Many treated him with derision ; more were disgusted ; and some were going to beat him off and trample upon him, had he not, by the advice of the more orderly, and the menaces of others, ceased from his ill-timed lessons of wisdom. The vestal virgins went out with letters from Vi- tellius addressed to Antonius. He requested a postponement of the contest for a single day. If he allowed an interval for
1 The modern Castel Giubileo, six miles from Rome. 8 For Arulenus Rusticus, see Annals, xvi. 26 ; and Life of Agricola, *. 2.
* Musonius Rufus has been mentioned, Annals, xiv. 59; and xv. 71
c. 83.] CONFLICTS BEFORE THE CITY. 191
reflection, it would afford facilities for settling matters. The virgins were permitted to depart with every mark of honor. An answer in writing was sent to Vitellius, informing him, that by the murder of Sabinus, and the destruction of the capitol, negotiations for the settlement of the war were put out of the question.1
82. Antonius, however, called an assembly of the soldiers, and in a soothing speech endeavored to induce them to en- camp at the Milvian bridge,2 and enter Rome the next day. His reason for delay was, lest the soldiery, with feelings ex- cited by the late battle, should 'give no quarter to the people or the senate, nor respect the temples and shrines of the gods. But they looked with suspicion on every postponement of their victory, as proceeding from hostility to them. At the same time colors glittering on the hills, though followed by an un disciplined rabble, gave the appearance of a hostile army. Forming into three divisions, the first proceeded by the Flaminian road ; the second, along the banks of the Tiber ; and the third approached the gate Collina,3 by the Salarian way. The mob was put to flight by the charge of the caval- ry ; and the Vitellian soldiers, themselves also ranged in three columns, came on. Many engagements took place before the walls, with various success, but for the most part favorable to Vespasian's men, who had the advantage in the talent of their leaders. That party only that had wheeled round to the left of the city, through slippery and narrow passes, to- ward the Sallustian gardens,4 were roughly handled. The Vitellians, standing on the walls of the gardens, repulsed them with stones and javelins as they approached, for the best part of the day ; but at length Vespasian's cavalry forced their way through the Collinian gate, and took them in the rear. A fierce battle was also fought in the field of Mars. Their good fortune and reiterated success gave the Flavians the victory. The Vitellians fought under the impulse of de- spair alone ; and though dispersed, they rallied again within the walls of the city.
S3. The people were present as spectators of the combat- ants ; and, as in a theatrical contest, encouraged now this
1 This procession is mentioned by Suetonius, Life of Vitellius, s. 16 3 See Annals, xiii. 47, and note. 3 See note1, p. 189.
* See Annals, xiii. 47, and note.
i92 THE HISTORY. [u. m.
side, and, when a change took place, the other, with shouts and plaudits. Whenever one or other side gave way, and the men took shelter in shops, or ran for refuge into any houses, by demanding to have them dragged forth, and put to death, they secured to themselves a larger share of plunder; for while the soldiers were intent on blood and slaughter, the plunder fell to the rabble. The city exhibited one entire scene of ferocity and abomination ; in one place, battle and wounds; in another, bathing and revelry. Rivers of blood and heaps of bodies at the same time ; and by the side of them harlots, and women that differed not from harlots — all that unbridled passion can suggest in the wantonness of ease — all the enormities that are committed when a city is sacked by its relentless foes — so that you would positively suppose that Rome was at one and the same time frantic with rage and dissolved in sensuality. Before this period regular bodies of armed men had met in conflict within the city, twice when Sylla, and once when Cinna conquered.1 Nor was there less of cruelty on those occasions ; but now there prevailed a reck- less indifference alien from human nature ; nay, even pleasures were not intermitted, no, not for an instant. As if the occur- rence formed an accession to the delight of the festive season, they romped, they enjoyed themselves, without a thought about the success of their party, and rejoicing amidst the afflictions of their country.
84. The greatest exertions were required in storming the camp,2 which the bravest of the Vitellians still clung to as their last hope; and therefore, with the more diligent heed the conquerors, and with especial zeal the old pra?torian cohorts, applied at once whatever means had been discovered in the capture of the strongest cities ; shells, engines, mounds, and fire-brands ; exclaiming that all the fatigues and dangers they had undergone in so many battles were consummated in that effort, that their city was restored to the senate and people of Rome, and to the gods their temples ; that the camp
1 Speaking of these wars, Floras writes: "Hoe deerat unum populi Romani malis, jam ut ipse intra se parricidale bellum domi stringeret, et in urbe media, ac foro, quasi arena, cives cum civibus suis, gladia- torio more, concurrerent." — Florus, lib. iii. 21.
The camp of the praetorian guards, a little way out of the city, first devised by Sejanus, in the time of Tiberius. Annals, iv. 2.
u. 84. J CAPTURE AND DEATH OF VITELLIUS. 193
was the peculiar glory of the soldier — there was his country, there his household gods. They must either carry it forthwith, or pass the night under arms. On the other hand, the Vitel- lians, though inferior in numbers, and less favored by fortune, sought to mar the victory, to delay the pacification, stained their hearths and altars with their blood, clung to those en- dearing objects which the vanquished might never more be- hold. Many, exhausted, breathed their last upon the towers and battlements ; the few that remained tore open the gates, in a solid mass rushed in upon the victors, and fell, to a man, with honorable wounds, facing the enemy ; such was their anx- iety, even in death, to finish their course with credit. Vitel- lius, seeing the city conquered, was conveyed in a litter, by a private way at the back of the palace, to his wife's house on Mount Aventine, with intent, if he could lie concealed during the day, to fly for refuge to his brother and the cohorts at Tar- racina. Straightway, from his inert fickleness, and the natu- ral effects of fright, since, as he dreaded every thing, whatever course he adopted was the least satisfactory, he returned to his palace, and found it empty and desolate ; even his meanest slaves having made their escape, or shunning the presence of their master. The solitude and silence of the scene alarmed him ; he opened the doors of the apartments, and was horror- struck to see all void and empty. Exhausted with this ago- nizing state of doubt and perplexity, and concealing himself in a wretched hiding-place,1 he was dragged forth by Placidus, the tribune of a cohort. With his hands tied behind him, and his garment torn, he was conducted, a revolting spectacle, through crowds insulting his distress, without a friend to shed a tear over his misfortunes. The unseemliness of his end banished all sympathy. Whether one of the Germanic soldiers who met him intended for him the stroke he made, and if he did, whether from rage or to rescue him the quicker from the mockery to which he was exposed ; or whether he aimed at the tribune, is uncertain : he cut off the ear of the tribune, and was imme- diately dispatched.2
1 The porter's lodge. See Suetonius, Life of Vitellius, ss. 16, 17.
3 Dio relates this incident with a little variation. According to him, the German soldier said, " I will give you the best assistance in my power ;" and thereupon he stabbed Vitellius, and dispatched himself. Dio, lib. Ixv.
VOL. IT.— I
194 THE HISTORY. [B. in.
85. Vitellius was pushed along, and with swords pointed at his throat, forced to raise his head, and expose his countenance to insults : one while they made him look at his statues tum- bling to the ground; frequently to the rostrum, or the spot where Galba perished ; and lastly, they drove him to Gemoniay where the body of Flavius Sabinus had been thrown. One expression of his was heard, that spoke a spirit not utterly fallen, when to a tribune who insulted him in his misery he observed, that nevertheless he had been his emperor. He died soon after under repeated wounds. The populace, with the same perversity of judgment that had prompted them to honor him while living, assailed him with indignities when dead.
86. He was born at Luceria. He had completed his fifty- seventh year. He rose to the consulship, to pontifical dignities, and a name and rank among the most eminent citizens, with- out any personal merit ; but obtained all from the splendid rep- utation of his father.2 The men who conferred the imperial dignity upon him did not so much as know him. By im- potence and sloth he gained the affections of the army, to a degree in which few have attained them by worthy means. Frankness and generosity, however, he possessed ; qualities which, unless duly regulated, become the occasions of ruin. He imagined that friendships could be cemented, not by a uniform course of virtue, but by profuse liberality, and there- fore earned them rather than cultivated them. Doubtless the interest of the commonwealth required the fall of Vitellius ; but those who betrayed Vitellius to Vespasian can claim no merit for their perfidy, since they had broken faith with Galbn.
The day now verging rapidly toward sunset, on account of the consternation of the magistrates and senators who secreted themselves by withdrawing from the city, or in the several houses of their clients, the senate could not be convened. When all apprehension of hostile violence had subsided, Domitian came forth to the generals of his party, was unanimously sa- luted with the title of Cassar, and escorted by a numerous body of soldiers, armed as they were, to his father's house.
1 See Suetonius, Life of Viteliius, B. 17.
a Vitellius owed much to the illustrious name of his father ; but it appears that he advanced himself by the obsequious arts which he practiced under Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. See Suetonius, Life of Vitellius, s. 4.
c. 2.] FRIGHTFUL CONDITION OF ROME. 195
BOOK IV.
1. BY the death of Vitellius, the war was suspended rather than peace established. The victors, armed, hunted the van- quished through the city with inexorable rancor. The streets were choked with carnage, the forum and the temples inun- dated with blood, all who fell in the way of the conquerors being butchered without distinction. And in a little time, their audacity increasing, they searched for and dragged to light those who had concealed themselves ; any person they saw who was tail in stature, and in the vigor of life,1 they butchered ; making no distinction between citizen and soldier. Their cruelty satiated itself with blood in the first heat of re- sentment, and then it assumed the form of rapacity. Nothing was suffered to remain concealed, nothing unviolated, under color of detecting the partisans of Vitellius ; hence they took occasion to begin breaking open houses, or if resistance were made, it formed an excuse for shedding blood. All the vile and indigent joined in the fray; abandoned slaves came for- ward and betrayed their rich masters ; others were pointed out by their friends. Lamentations were heard in every quar- ter, and Rome was filled with the cries of despair, and the horrors of a city taken by storm ; insomuch that the people regretted the licentiousness of the Othonian and Vitellian sol ciiers, which before excited their indignation. The chiefs, who had succeeded so well in kindling the flame of civil war, were unable to check the insolence of victory : for, to stir up tu- mult and public distraction, the most profligate have the greatest power; but peace and order are the work of virtue and ability.
2. Dornitian fixed his residence in the imperial palace, with the name of Caesar, but as yet paid no attention to affairs of government. However, in riot and debauchery, he played the part of the emperor's son. The command of the praeto- rian bands Was assigned to Arrius Varus, while the supreme
1 The German troops, men of large stature, and in the prime of life, •were attached to Yitellius. See c. 4 of the Germania.
196 THE HISTORY. [B. IT.
authority rested with Antonius, who eagerly appropriated treasure and slaves from the house of the prince, as if they were the spoils of Cremona. The other officers, as from their moderation or obscurity they were undistinguished during the war, so were they unrewarded. The people, still in conster- nation, and ready to crouch in servitude, demanded that Lu- cius Vitellius, then advancing with the cohorts from Tarra- cina, might be intercepted, and the remainder of the war an- nihilated. The cavalry was sent forward to Aricia, and the legions halted on this side of BovillaB ; but Lucius Vitellius, without hesitation, surrendered himself and his cohorts to be dealt with as the victor chose; and the soldiers, abandoning an unfortunate cause, laid down their arms, as much from in- dignation as fear. The captives marched through the city in a long procession, guarded on each side by a file of troops ; not one with the mien of a suppliant, but all gloomy and sullen, not moving a muscle at the shouts and insolence of the jeering rabble. A few, who ventured to rush out upon them, were overpowered by those that hemmed them in : the rest were secured in prison. Not a word escaped from any of them unworthy of their warlike character ; and though under the frowns of fortune, they preserved their reputa- tion for valor. Lucius Vitellius was forthwith put to death. In vice equal to his brother, he surpassed him in activity while he was at the head of affairs; not so much a sharer in his good fortune, as involved in the consequences of his fall.
3. About the same time, Lucilius Bassus1 was dispatched with a party of light-armed cavalry, to restore tranquillity in Campania ; where the municipalities were agitated with dis- sensions among themselves, rather than by a spirit of disaffec- tion toward the prince. On the first appearance of a military force, all was hushed : and the cities of inferior note were treated with indulgence. The third legion was stationed in winter-quarters at Capua,2 and its principal families were exposed to severe suffering; whereas, on the other hand, to the people of Tarracina no relief was extended ; so true it is, that men are more willing to retaliate an injury than to requite an obligation: because gratitude imposes a burden,
1 For Lucilius Bassus, see Hist. ii. 100; and iii. 12.
1 The people of Capua had been partisans of Vitellius. Hist. iii. 57.
c. 4.] SERVILITY OF THE SENATE. 197
but revenge is attended with gain.1 It was some solace to the people of Tarracina to see the slave of Verginius Capito, who, as already mentioned,2 betrayed them, hanging on a gibbet, with the identical rings on his fingers which he re- ceived from Vitellius. At Rome, the senate, in high glee, and confident as to the result of things, decreed to Vespasian all the honors usually granted to their princes : for the civil war which first broke out in Spain and Gaul, involving Ger- many and soon after Illyricum, after having swept over Egypt, Judaea, Syria, and all the provinces and armies of the empire, seemed at length to have come to a close when the whole world had been, as it were, purged from its pollutions. Their zeal was heightened by letters from Vespasian, written on the supposition that the war continued. Such was their character, on a cursory view of them ; but, notwithstanding, he spoke as emperor ; though concerning himself his language was constitutional, and showed a paramount concern for the public interest. Nor was the senate backward in demonstra- tions of respect ; they decreed the consulship to Vespasian and his son Titus. Domitian was made pragtor with consular authority.3
4. Mucianus had also sent letters to the senate, which furnished matter for remarks. "If he was still a private citizen,4 why should he speak on the affairs of the state? The same might have been said in a few days in his place as a senator. His very invective, too, against Vitellius, came too late, and gave no proof of independent spirit. His vainglorious boast, that having the sovereign power in his own disposal, he conferred it on Vespasian, was degrading to the commonwealth, and insulting to the prince." In terms of much respect, they decreed triumphal decorations to Mucianus, in reality for his conduct in the civil war ; but
1 Seneca speaks to the same purpose: " Ita natura comparatum est, ut altius injurise quam merita descendant; et haec cito defluant, illas tenax memoria custodial." (De Benef. i. 1.) Hobbes of Malinesbury seems to have had his eye on Tacitus, when he says, in his Leviathan, "Benefits oblige, and obligation is thraldom; and unrequitable obli- gation perpetual thraldom, which is hateful."
2 Hist. iii. 77. 3 See Suetonius, Life of Domitian, s. 1.
* Mucianus assumed a character above the rank of a private citizen, when he took upon him to address the consuls and the senate. Se« Cicero ad Familiares, Epist. xv.
198 THE HISTORY. [B. iv.
his expedition against the Sarmatians was the pretext.1 The consular ornaments were voted to Antonius Primus, and the prastorian to Cornelius Fuscus and Arrius Varus. The gods were the next object of their care ; they resolved to rebuild the capitol. All these motions were made by Valerius Asi- aticus, consul elect. The rest signified their assent by a nod, or the hand. A few, distinguished for their rank, or habitual servility, expressed their assent in set speeches. When it came to the turn of Helvidius Priscus, praetor elect, without hesitation he delivered a speech as complimentary to a virtuous prince as it was destitute of disguise ; he was heard with applause by the whole assembly, and that day formed an important era in his life, as ministering occa- sion for a serious collision, and the acquisition of signal re- nown.
5. As I have again fallen upon the mention of a man whose name must frequently recur, the case seems to require that I should briefly trace out his character and pursuits, as well as the fortune that attended him. Helvidius Priscus was born in the municipal city of Tarracina. His father, Cluvius,2 was a centurion of principal rank. He applied his splendid talents to sublime studies, from his earliest years ; not with a design, as most men do, to vail a life of indolence with an imposing name, but to bring with him into public business a mind fortified against the accidents of fortune. He adopted the tenets of those philosophers who maintain that virtue alone is good, and vice evil ; who consider power, noble descent, and all other circumstances independent of the mind, as belonging to the class of things neither good nor evil. When yet only of quaestorian rank, Paetus Thrasea3 gave him his daughter in marriage. Of all the virtues of his father-in-law, he imbibed none so deeply as his spirit of liberty. As a citizen, senator, husband, son-in-law, friend, he discharged all the duties of his several relations with
1 Triumphs and triumphal ornaments were never granted for a vic- tory over Roman citizens.
8 Helvidius Priscus has been mentioned, Annals, xvi. 35. As Cluvi- us was his father, it follows that he was adopted by a person of the name of Helvidius Priscus. Lipsius thinks it was by Helvidius men- tioned Annals, xii. 49, who at that time served in Asia in the capacity of military tribune.
3 For Paetus Thrasea, see Annals, xvi. 28, 35,
c. 7.] NOTICE OF HELVIDIUS PRISCUS. 199
undeviating propriety ; despising riches ; in the cause of truth inflexible; and, when danger threatened, erect and firm.
6. Some might consider him as too fond of fame, for the desire of glory clings even to the best of men, longer than any other passion. When his father-in-law fell, he was driven into exile ; but being recalled in the reign of Galba, he stood forth the accuser of Eprius Marcellus, the informer against Paetus Thrasea.1 This prosecution, which whether it was the more just or magnanimous, it were hard to tell, divided the senate into contending factions ; for the ruin of Marcellus would draw after it the whole phalanx of informers. The contest at first was fiercely conducted, and sustained by speeches of consummate eloquence on both sides afterward. Galba balanced between the parties, and many senators dep- recating its continuance, Helvidius desisted ; a proceeding which subjected him to conflicting remarks: such is human nature ; some commending his moderation, others regretting his want of firmness. However, on the day when the senate voted the succession of Vespasian,2 it was agreed that depu- ties should be sent to the prince. In the debate upon this occasion, a sharp conflict ensued between Helvidius Priscus and Eprius Marcellus. The former proposed that the embas- sadors should be named by the magistrates on oath ; the lat- ter was for drawing the names by lot, as had been proposed by the consul elect.
7. But the zeal of Marcellus was stimulated by apprehen- sions of personal disgrace, if he should appear to be postponed to others in the selection. After an interchange of remarks, they proceeded gradually to continuous and acrimonious speeches ; Helvidius asking Marcellus, " Why he should dread so much the decision of the magistrates? He had wealth and eloquence, which would give him advantage over many, unless the recollection of his crimes proved a hinderance :
1 Helvidius was banished by Nero, Annals, xvi. 35. He returned to Rome among the exiles whom Galba restored to their country. Hist, ii. 92. Eprius Marcellus was the mortal enemy of Thrasea. Annals, xvi. 28.
* The decree of the senate, by which the imperial prerogative was vested in the emperor, is usually called Lex Regia. Brotier says, the law passed in favor of Vespasian is still extant on a table of brass in the palace of the Capitol
200 THE HISTORY. [B. IN-
no distinction of character was made by the lot and urn. The method of suffrage and appeal to the judgment of the senate had been adopted to reach the life and character of individuals ; it was for the interest of the community, and the honor of the prince, that such as approached him should be men of unblemished integrity, who would pour into the ear of the prince the language of truth and sincerity. Ves- pasian had been in habits of friendship with Thrasea, Sora- nus, and Sentius ;] and if the informers against them were not to suffer punishment, still it was not fitting that they should be held up as paragons. By this decision of the senate, the prince would, as it were, be warned whom he may trust, and whom he should suspect. There was no more efficient means of insuring good government than for the prince to have honest friends. Marcellus may rest satisfied with inciting Nero to the murder of so many innocent citizens ; he should be content to enjoy the rewards of his guilt and impunity, and leave Vespasian to better men than himself."
8. Marcellus observed in reply, "that the motion, which was opposed with so much warmth, did not originate with himself. It was proposed by the consul elect, in conformity to ancient precedents,2 which had established the lot for the election of embassadors, to preclude cabals and prejudices. No reason could be assigned why established usages should fall into desuetude, or the ceremony of paying respect to the prince be wrested to the. purpose of stigmatizing aiay person. All were competent to the duty of doing homage ; what was more to be guarded against was, lest by the intractable tempers of some persons, offense should be given to the prince at the opening of his reign, when his mind is naturally filled with apprehensions, and watches the very looks and language of every body. For himself, he was not unmindful of the times on which he was fallen, of the form of govern- ment established by their ancestors: he admired the past, and accommodated himself to the present system, devoutly wish- ing for virtuous princes, but willing to acquiesce under any sort. The overthrow of Thrasea could not be imputed to his
1 Who Sentius was, does not appear. Brotier proposes to read Seneca.
a See Cicero ad Atticum, lib. i. epist. 17 ; and also Suetonius, Life of Augustus, s. 35.
c. 9.] DEBATES IN THE SENATE. 201
speech,1 more than to the decision of the senate ; the cruelty of Nero accomplished its purposes by means of such mockeries as these. Nor did others suffer more from exile than he him- self did from such a friendship ; in a word, let Hejvidius be ranked with the Catos and the Bruti in courage and fortitude; for himself, he pretended to be no more than one of that very senate, which, as well as he, crouched to the tyrant. He ad- vised even Priscus not to aspire above his sovereign, nor affect to control by his lectures a prince advanced in years, who had gained triumphal honors, and the father of princes in the prime of life. As unlimited power was the aim of the worst princes, so, however excellent they may be, they desired to see liberty exercised within due bounds." These arguments, urged with earnest zeal on both sides, were heard with the extremes of approbation and aversion. The party that preferred choosing the embassadors by lot prevailed ; even those of the fathers who were for a middle course, assisting to retain the custom- ary practice ; while all the most distinguished inclined the same way, from fear of incurring odium if they should them- selves be chosen.
9. This struggle was followed by another. The praetors, who at that time conducted the department of the treasury,2 after complaining of the poverty of the state, proposed a plan of retrenchment. The consul elect was for referring this busi- ness to the prince, in consideration of the magnitude of the grievance and the difficulty of remedying it. Helvidius Pris- cus contended that it was a matter to be settled according to the discretion of the senate. The consuls were collecting the votes, when Volcatius Tertullinus, a tribune of the people, interposed his veto, that in so arduous a business any thing should be determined in the absence of the emperor. Helvid- ius had moved that the Capitol should be rebuilt by the public, with the aid of Vespasian. Men of moderation passed this proposition over in silence, and then forgot it. There were some who also remembered it.3
1 See the speech of Eprius Marcellus against Thrasea, Annals, xvi. 28.
2 For the managers of the ^rarium, or the public treasury, see An- nals, xiii. 29.
3 Helvidius contended for the independence of the senate. The ruin of this excellent man was the disgrace of Vespasian's reign.
12
202 THE HISTORY. J> IT
10. Musonius Rufus1 then made an attack on Publius Ce- ler,2 whom he charged with having accomplished the ruin of Bareas Soranus,3 by false testimony. This investigation it was thought would revive the animosities connected with the system of informations. But the defendant, base and guilty as he was, could not be screened, for the memory of Soranus was held in veneration, and Celer, who was a teacher of phi- losophy, and afterward the accuser of Bareas, appeared as the betrayer and seducer of his friend, and, as he pretended, his pupil. The next sitting was fixed for the cause. Nor did Musonius or Publius excite the public expectation so much as Priscus and Marcellus, and others of that class, now that the minds of men were inflamed with a desire of vengeance.
11. In this state of affairs, when the senate was split into factions ; when the vanquished party burned with resentment, and the conquerors were without authority ; with no laws, no sovereign at the head of affairs, Mucianus entered the city, and soon engrossed the whole power of the state. The influ- ence of Antonius Primus and Arrius Varus was demolished at once; Mucianus ill suppressing his rage against them, though he betrayed it not in his looks. But the people of Rome, shrewd in exploring the antipathies of parties, veered round, and transferred their homage to Mucianus. He alone was the object of their suit and adoration. Mucianus, on his part, omitted nothing; he appeared in public attended by armed guards; chopping and changing his palaces and gar- dens; in his equipage, his gait, his night watches, aspiring to the substance of imperial power, while repudiating the name. The murder of Calpurnius Galerianus1 diffused a sensation of extreme alarm. He was the son of Caius Piso. He was a perfectly guiltless man, but the splendor of his name and his own fine person formed frequent subjects of commenda- tion among the people ; and in a city like Rome, still in agitation, and listening with greedy ears to every fresh ru- mor, there were not wanting persons to invest him with the empty name of succeeding to the throne. By order of
1 For Musonius Rufus, see Annals, xiv. 59 ; xv. 71 ; and Hist. iii. 79t 8 Egnatius Celer; Annals, xvi. 32.
3 For Bareas Soranus, see Annals, xii. 53; xvi. 21, 23.
4 Calpurnius Galerianus was the son of C. Calpurnius Piso, who dis patched himself to avoid Nero's cruelty. Annals, xv. 59.
o. 13.] ORIGIN OF THE REVOLT OF CIVILIS. 203
Mucianus he was taken into custody, and lest his death in the city should excite too much notice, he was conveyed under guard to a place forty miles distant, on the Appian road, where his veins were opened, and he bled to death. Julius Priscus, who commanded the praetorian bands under Vitellius, dispatched himself with his own hand, from a sense of shame rather than by compulsion. Alphenus Varus preferred to protract a life of sloth and infamy; while Asiaticus,1 the freedman, suffered for his abused and ill-gotten power by be- ing put to death as a slave.
12. About this period, the report which had gained ground of a dreadful defeat in Germany reached the city, but with- out exciting any sensation of sorrow. Men talked of the re- volt of Gaul, slaughtered armies, and the capture of the win- ter-camp of the legions, as if they were not calamities. The causes which led to the war in that quarter, the commotions which it kindled among our allies, and nations unconnected with us, I will trace to their origin. The Batavians, while they dwelt beyond the Rhine, were a part of the people called the Cattians.2 Driven from their native country by intes- tine commotions, they settled on a waste tract of land on the extreme confines of Gaul, and, at the same time, took pos- session of an island among the shoals, washed at the northern extremity by the ocean, and at the back, and on both sides, by the Rhine. Unoppressed by the Roman power and an al- liance with a nation more potent than themselves, they mere- ly furnished men and arms in support of the empire ; having had much experience in the German wars, and afterward added to their fame by their service in Britain,3 whither co- horts of them were conveyed under the command of the most distinguished chiefs of their country, in conformity with their long-established practice. In their own country they also maintained a chosen body of cavalry, so remarkably expert in swimming, that in whole squadrons, with their arms, and keeping hold of their horses, they could make good their way across the Rhine.
13. The most eminent chieftains of the nation were Julius
1 Asiaticns was the favorite freedman of Vitellius. Hist. ii. 57, 95.
2 For the Batavi and the Catti, see c. 29 of the Germania.
1 The Batavians served in Britain as the allies and auxiliaries of Rome. Life of Agricola, cc. 18, 36.
204 THE HISTORY. [B. iv.
Paulus and Claudius Civilis,1 both of royal descent. Th« former, under a false charge of rebellion, was put to death by Fonteius Capito. Civilis was sent in irons to be disposed of by Nero : Galba released him from his fetters. Under "Vitel- lius, he was again in danger from the Roman soldiers, who called aloud for his execution. Hence his hatred of the Ro- man name, and his hopes of success founded on the distrac- tions of the empire. But Civilis, with a natural shrewdness above the ordinary run of barbarians, took occasion, from a similar blemish of the face, to call himself a second Serto- rius, or Hannibal ;2 and wishing to avoid an open rupture with Rome, lest a force should be sent against him as an en- emy, affected attachment to the person and cause of Vespa- sian. Some color, it must be admitted, was given to this proceeding by the letters he received from Antonius, directing him to prevent the arrival of the succors summoned by Vi- tellius, and keep the legions in the province under pretense of commotions in Germany. Hordeonius Flaccus gave the same advice in person, having espoused Vespasian's cause, and from concern for his country, whose destruction was inevitable if renewed force were given to the war, and so many thousands of troops poured down upon Italy.
14. Civilis, therefore, having taken his resolution to revolt, concealed his ulterior views for the time, and, intending to be guided by events as to other matters, thus commenced his revolutionary proceedings. By order of Vitellius, the youth of Batavia was to be called upon to enlist. This requisition, onerous in itself, was rendered still more so by the avarice and profligacy of the Roman officers, who pressed the aged and infirm into the service, to gain the price of their dis- charge. On the other hand, boys of tender years and hand- some persons (and generally their youths are well-grown) were dragged away to prostitution. Hence a feeling of in- dignation ; and the leaders of the preconcerted conspiracy in- duced them to refuse to be enrolled. Civilis, under the pre- text of a banquet, convened the nobles, and bravest of the
1 Julius Paulus and Claudius Civilis were brothers, as appears from c. 32 of this book. Civilis is called Julius Civilis, Hist. i. 59. Perhapi his name we* Julius Claudius Civilis.
8 For Hannibal's person, see Livy, lib. xxii. ; and for Sertoriu", se« his Life in Plutarch,
c. 15.] CIVILIS HARANGUES THE BATAVIANS 205
nation, in a sacred grove j1 and when he saw that they were warmed with midnight revelry and mirth, he addressed them, first expatiating on the fame and exploits of the Batavians, and then enumerating the wrongs of his countrymen, the dep- redations of the Romans, and all the other evils of thralldom. Indeed, he said, they were no longer treated as allies, but as bond-slaves. When would a lieutenant general come to gov- ern them, though with a burdensome retinue and domi- neering authority ? They were now turned over to prefects and centurions, who, as soon as they have gorged themselves with spoils and blood, are recalled, a fresh set of rapacious creatures pent out, and the same system of depredation carried on under v<;ried names. A levy was just at hand, by which children would be separated in a manner forever from their parents, brothers from brothers. The Romans were never, at any period, in so feeble a condition. Nor had they aught in their winter-quarters besides old men and plunder. Let them only lift up their eyes, and they would see no reason to dread their shadowy, unsubstantial legions. On the other hand, they had themselves an efficient force of foot and horse. The Germans were their kinsmen ; the Gauls sympathized with them. Not even the Romans' displeasure was to be appre- hended in the war he advised ; in which, if they failed, they could lay the blame on Vespasian ; and if they succeeded, there was no account to be rendered at all.
15. Having been heard with zealous approbation, he bound them all according to barbarian forms, and by the oaths and imprecations of their country. Deputies were sent to the Canninefates,2 to engage them in the confederacy. That na- tion occupies part of the island, in their origin, language, and valor equal to the Batavians, but inferior in numbers. He then, by secret communications, gained over the British auxil- iaries, consisting of cohorts of Batavians, that were sent into Germany, as I have mentioned already, and now quartered at Magontiacum.3 Among the Canninefates was a chieftain
1 The barbarians held councils of war at their festivals. (See cc. 9 and 22 of the Germania.) Brotier thinks the wood where Civilis held his convention was between the Rhine and the Mosa (the Meuse), at a place now called Dooden-Werd.
2 The Canninefates occupied the western part of the island of Bata- ria, near the Hague and Rotterdam.
' Now Mentz.
206 THE HISTORY. [B. iv.
named Brinno, a man of stolid daring, and of signally illus- trious parentage. His father, after many signal exploits, had laughed at the ridiculous expedition of Caligula with impu- nity. As the mere descendant, therefore, of a rebel family, he was acceptable to his countrymen, and, being placed on a shield, according to the custom of the nation, and rocked to and fro on the shoulders of the men, was chosen general-in- chief. Calling in the aid of the Frisians, a people beyond the Rhine, he forthwith assaulted, by way of the sea, the winter- quarters of two cohorts, which, from their proximity, lay most open to attack. The assault was not foreseen ; nor if it had been, had they force enough to repulse them. The camp was therefore taken and pillaged. They next fell upon the settlers and Roman traders, who had spread themselves over the country as in security. At the same time they menaced their strongholds with destruction ; but, as they could not be defended, they were burned by the praefects of the cohorts to the ground. Aquilus, a principal centurion, collected together all the colors and standards, and the remnant of his forces, into the upper part of the island,1 exhibiting rather the name than the strength of an army. For the flower of the cohorts having been drawn away, Vitellius had encumbered with arms a nerveless band collected from the neighboring villages of the Nervians and Germans.
16. Civilis, thinking it his interest to proceed by craft, actually blamed the praefects for deserting their forts. With the cohort under his command, he would quell the insurrec- tion of the Canninefates : the Romans might return to their respective quarters. That fraud was at the bottom of this advice, and that the cohorts, when dispersed, might fall an easy prey — and also that Civilis, and not Brinno, was at the head of this war — was evident from proofs which were grad- ually disclosing themselves, and which the Germans, a nation transported with war, were not able long to suppress. When his stratagem failed, he resorted to force, and combined the Canninefates, Frisians, and Batavians in distinct bodies in the form of wedges. The line of battle of their opponents was formed not far from the Rhine; while their ships, which, when the forts were burned, they had brought to land there, were ranged to face the enemy. The battle had not lasted 1 The part of the island now called Betuwe, or JBetaw.
c. 17.] DEFEAT OF THE ROMAN TROOPS. 207
long, when a cohort of Tungrians,1 with their ensigns dis- played, went over to Civilis. By this unexpected treachery, the Roman army was thrown into confusion, and the soldiers were slaughtered by their friends and enemies. Nor did the fleet behave with less perfidy. Some of the rowers, pretend- ing inexperience, impeded the functions of the mariners and fighting-men. Soon afterward they pulled in the opposite direction, and drove the sterns against the bank occupied by the enemy : at last they butchered the pilots and centurions who did not join with them ; till at length the whole four- and-twenty ships were either taken, or went over to the enemy.
17. This victory was attended with eclat at the moment, and with future advantages. In want of arms and shipping, they were now supplied with both, and their fame resounded throughout Gaul and Germany as the assertors of liberty. The Germanics, by their embassadors, forthwith offered auxiliaries. Civilis sought to allure the Gauls to his interest by policy and presents, granting to such of their officers as were taken prisoners liberty to return to their native country, and giving to the cohorts the power of doing as they pleased, whether they preferred to go or to remain. If they staid, honorable military employment, if they departed, the spoils of the Romans, were offered to them. At the same time, Civilis reminded them of the oppressions they had endured for so many years, while by an abuse of language they gave the name of peace to a state of miserable bondage. The Bata- vians were exempt from taxes and tributes, and yet they took up arms against the oppressors of mankind. In the first en- gagement the Romans were routed and conquered. What if the Gauls shake off the yoke ? What amount of force would remain in Italy 1 It was, he said, by the blood of the prov- inces that the provinces are conquered. He bade them not think of the battle with Vindex.2 By the Batavian cavalry the JEduans and Arvernians were put to the rout. Among the auxiliaries of Verginius on that occasion were Belgians ;3 and Gaul, on a just estimate of the case, had been crushed by
1 This name is still preserved in the town of Tongres. 8 The defeat of Vindex, at Visontium in Gaul.
3 Pliny says, " A Scalde (the Scheldt) ad Sequanam (the Seine) erat Belgica."
208 THE HISTORY. IB. IT
her own forces. At present, one common interest united all, with the further advantage of whatever military discipline was observed in a Roman camp. The veteran cohorts, before whom Otho's legions fell prostrate, had declared for them. Syria and Asia, and the Oriental nations, habituated to des- pots, might bow down in slavery. In Gaul, many still lived who were born before tributes were imposed. Unquestiona- bly, by the overthrow of Varus and his legions slavery was re- cently driven out of Germany ; when it was not Vitellius, but Augustus Caesar, who was challenged to the conflict. Lib- erty, he said, was imparted by nature even to dumb animals, while valor was the characteristic excellence of man. The gods looked with favor on superior courage. Wherefore, let them, unoccupied as they were, and with vigor unim- paired, pounce upon men whose thoughts were engaged with other matters, and whose strength was exhausted; while some espoused the cause of Vespasian, and others that of Vitellius, an opportunity of striking a blow against both was presented.
18. Thus Civilis, while vigorously prosecuting his designs upon Gaul and Germany, if his project succeeded, thought of making himself king of the richest and most powerful nations. On the other hand, Hordeonius Flaccus encouraged the first essays of Civilis by affecting not to see them. When, how- ever, messengers arrived in haste and alarm with intelligence that the camp was taken by storm, the cohorts cut to pieces, and the Roman name exterminated from the isle of Batavia, he ordered Mummius Lupercus, with two legions, then under his command in winter-quarters, to march forth against the enemy. That officer, with all speed, conveyed over into the island the legionaries he had with him, the Ubians, who were near at hand, and the Treverian cavalry, stationed at no great distance, adding a squadron of Batavian horse, long since wavering in their allegiance, but keeping up a semblance of fidelity, that by abandoning the Romans in the crisis of a regular battle, they might earn a greater reward by going over. Civilis having surrounded himself with the banners taken from the vanquished cohorts, that his own troops might have their recent trophies before their eyes, and the enemy be dispirited by the tokens of their defeat, ordered his mother and his sisters, with the wives and little ones of the
c. 19.] PROGRESS OF THE REVOLT. 209
soldiers, to stand together in the rear, as objects which would stimulate them to victory, or prevent their giving way by in- spiring a sense of shame. When the field resounded with the war-whoop of the men, and the cries of the women, the Roman legions and cohorts returned a shout by no means so great. The Batavian cavalry going over to their countrymen, and at once turning their arms against us, exposed the left wing of the army ; but the legionary soldiers, though the predicament was alarming, preserved their ranks and their arms. The Ubian and Treverian auxiliaries fled with scan- dalous precipitation, and dispersing themselves, skulked all over the fields. The Germans pressed on in that quarter : the legions, in the mean time, were enabled to retreat to the camp called Veterum.1 Claudius Labeo, captain of the squadron of Batavian cavalry, and who entertained a feeling of rivalry toward Civilis, from a contest about town mat- ters, was removed to the country of the Frisians, lest, if put to death, he might be the occasion of odium among his countrymen, or if retained, he might furnish the materials of dissension.
19. During these transactions the cohorts of the Cannine- fates and Batavians, which, by order of Vitellius, were on their march for Rome, were overtaken by a messenger dis- patched by Civilis. The soldiers immediately swelled with pride and arrogance. They demanded the donative as a rec- ompense for their march, double pay, and an augmentation of their cavalry ; all which had, it must be admitted, been promised by Vitellius; but their object was not to obtain them, but to have a pretext for sedition. Hordeonius Flac- cus yielded in several instances ; but the only effect was, that they demanded with increased importunity what they knew he would deny. Throwing aside all respect for Flaccus, they bent their course toward the Lower Germany to join Civilis. Flaccus called a council of the tribunes and centurions, to deliberate whether he should reduce the mutineers by force. Soon afterward, from his natural timidity, and the irresolu- tion of his officers, who regarded with concern the wavering fidelity of the auxiliary forces, and the legions which were re- cruited by a hasty levy, he resolved to keep his men within their intrenchments. Then altering his mind, and the very 1 Now Santen, in the duchy of Cleves.
210 THE HISTORY. [B. iv.
officers who advised the measure condemning it, under the idea of pursuing them, he sent dispatches to Herennius Gal- lus, then at the head of the first legion stationed at Bonna, to oppose the march of the Batavians, and he himself, with his army, would hang upon their rear ; and they might have been cut off, if Hordeonius on one side, and Gallus on the other, advancing their troops on either hand, had hemmed them in between them. Flaccus relinquished his project, and in a sec- ond letter to Gallus, directed him not to obstruct their depart- ure. Whence a suspicion arose that the war was fomented with the concurrence of the generals, and that all that had happened, or was apprehended, was the result, not of the su- pineness of the soldiery, or the energy of the enemy, but the dishonesty of the generals.
20. The Batavians, when they drew near to the camp at Bonna, sent forward messengers to lay before Herennius Gal- lus the resolutions of the cohorts, with which they were charged. They imported that they had often fought for the Romans, and did not mean to make war against them. Worn out in a long and painful service, they desired nothing but a retreat from labor in their native country. Their march, if not obstructed, would leave behind no trace of mischief; but if their passage was disputed, they were determined to cut their way sword in hand. The Roman general hesitated ; but the soldiers goaded him on to hazard a battle. Three thousand legionary soldiers, some Belgic cohorts raised by sudden levies, and a body of peasants, and followers of the camp, of no service in action, but tongue-valiant before the hour of danger, sallied forth from all the gates to surround the inferior numbers of the Batavians. The Batavians, who had seen much service, formed themselves into wedges, with deep files on all sides, and secured in front, rear, and flank. Thus they charged through the slender array of our troops. The Belgic cohorts giving way, the legion was driven in, and they made for the rampart and gates in dismay. There an extensive carnage took place ; the fosses were filled with heaps of bodies : nor did they perish by the sword only and by wounds, but many of them from the rush and their own weapons. The conquerors pursued their march, avoided the Agrippinian colony, during the rest of the way committing no act of hostility ; and alleged, in excuse for the encounter
c. 22.] ASSAULT ON THE ROMAN CAMP. 211
at Bonna, that they had only acted in self-defense, having so- licited peace and received a refusal.
21. Civilis, by the arrival of these veteran cohorts, found himself at the head of a regular army, but doubtful as to the course he should pursue, and reflecting on the power of the Romans, he made his whole army take the oath of fidelity to Vespasian, and also sent a deputation to the two legions, which after their late defeat retired to the Old Camp, inviting them to take the same oath. The legions returned for answer, " that it was not their custom to adopt the counsels of an en- emy, nor of a traitor. They had Vitellius for their sovereign, in whose behalf they would maintain their allegiance, and fight to their last gasp. Wherefore, let not a Batavian fugi- tive assume the style and character of an arbiter in the af- fairs of Rome, but expect the punishment due to treason." Enraged by this reply, Civilis roused the whole Batavian na- tion to arms. The Bructerians and Tencterians1 entered into the league, and by agents dispatched for the purpose, all Ger- many was invited to share in the spoil and glory of the con- quest.
22. Mummius Lupercus and Numisius Rufus, the com- manders of the legions, to meet this formidable combination o'f forces, strengthened their rampart and walls. The struc- tures erected during a long peace near the intrenchments, so as to resemble a municipal town, were leveled to the ground, lest they should be of service to the enemy. But sufficient feresight was not exercised in storing the camp with provi- sions ; they allowed them to be seized as plunder ; and thus, that which would have long sufficed for the supply of necessary wants, was consumed in a few days in unrestrained excess. Civilis commanded the centre in person, with the flower of the Batavian forces ; and that he might appear the more for- midable, he lined both banks of the Rhine with battalions of Germans, while the cavalry scoured the country round. His ships, at the same time, were brought up the river. On one side, the colors taken from the veteran cohorts, on the other the images of wild beasts2 brought forth from the woods and sacred groves, according to the custom observed by each bar-
1 For the Bructeri and Tencteri, see Annals, xiii. 56. * The Barbarians carried the heads and images of wild beasts among their standards. See c. 7 of the Germania.
212 THE HISTORY. [B. iv.
barous nation on going into action, astounded the besieged by the appearance of native and foreign forces arrayed together against them. The extent of the intrenchments, designed at first for the reception of two legions, and now defended by scarce five thousand men, inspired the assailants with addi- tional confidence. But there was within a numerous body of sutlers, who on the first alarm had crowded to the camp, and aided in the military operations.
23. A portion of the camp rose up the side of an eminence with a gentle ascent, the other part afforded a level approach. The fact was, Augustus Caesar conceived that the legions stationed there in winter-quarters would be able to check and bridle both the Germanics, but not that such an adverse state of things would occur, that they would come and actually assault our legions. In consequence, no pains were employed to add to the natural strength of the place, or to raise works ; courage and arms were deemed sufficient. The Batavians, and the troops from beyond the Rhine, in order that the valor of each separately might be more distinctly seen, took up detached positions according to the several nations, dis- charging their missile weapons in a skirmishing manner. Afterward, when most of their darts hung without effect upon the towers and pinnacles of the walls, while they were wounded by the discharge of stones from above, they raised a shout, and rushed forward to assault the ramparts, many of them applying scaling-ladders ; others, by means of a military shell, formed by their party ; and already some were gaining the top of the fortification, when they were thrown down headlong by the swords of the enemy, and by blows with their bucklers, and were overwhelmed with stakes and javelins ; for they were over hot at starting, and elated immoderately by success. They even ventured to use engines to which they were unaccustomed; nor had they themselves any skill in them. They were taught by prisoners and deserters to raise, with rude materials, a platform, in the shape of a bridge, and then to move it forward upon wheels ; that some standing on it might fight as from a rampart, while others, under cover of it, endeavored to sap the walls. But the stones discharged from the engines of the Romans dissipated the rude fab- ric. They then began to prepare penthouses and mante- lets, but the besieged attacked them with a volley of flaming
c. 26.] REINFORCEMENTS SUMMONED FROM GAUL. 213
javelins from engines, and even the assailants were enveloped in flames ; till at length, in despair of carrying the works by force, they changed their plan for more protracted operations, for they were not uninformed that the besieged had provisions but for a few days, and a vast unwarlike rabble to supply. At the same time, from the effects of scarcity, treason was an- ticipated ; the unstable attachment of slaves seemed likely also to break down, and hopes were entertained that some prize would turn up in the lottery of war.
24. Hordeonius Flaccus, having received intelligence that the Old Camp was invested, sent dispatches into Gaul for a reinforcement, and ordered Dillius Vocula, who commanded the eighteenth legion, to proceed at the head of a chosen de- tachment as rapidly as possible along the banks of the Khine ; being himself paralyzed with fear, disabled by bodily infirm- ity, and detested by his men. Indeed, his soldiers complain- ed, in terms distinct and audible, of " the Batavian cohorts sent out of Magontiacum ; of the machinations of Civilis con- nived at ; that the Germans were drawn into the revolt ; that neither by the aid of Antonius Primus or Mucianus had the interest of Vespasian more advanced. That avowed enmity and hostility might be met openly; but fraud and treachery worked in the dark, and therefore were not to be warded off. That Civilis was standing in undisguised opposition to them, drawing up his troops in order of battle: Hordeonius, from his chamber and his bed, ordered whatever served the cause of their enemy. That so many gallant soldiers, with arms in their hands, were governed by one sickly old man. Nay, rather, by putting the traitor to death, they should relieve their fortune and their valor from the inauspicious omen." While excited by these discourses among themselves, letters were brought from Vespasian which ministered fresh fuel to the flame. Flaccus, as they could not be concealed, read them to the assembled soldiers, and sent the bearer bound in chains to Vitellius.
25. The men thus pacified arrived at Bonna, the winter station of the first legion. The soldiers there, still more ex- asperated, transferred the blame of their defeat to Hordeonius. " By his orders," they said, " they had advanced in battle array against the Batavians, expecting that the troops from Magontiacum would follow. By the treachery of the same
214 THE HISTORY. [B. IT
man they were cut to pieces, no succors arriving to support them. The other armies were kept in ignorance of all that passed, nor was any account sent to Vitellius, although by the timely access of the forces of so many provinces, the perfidious outbreak might have been suppressed." Flaccus read, in the presence of the army, copies of the several letters by which he had entreated succors from Britain, Spain, and Gaul ; and introduced a bold and noxious precedent, that letters should be delivered to the eagle-bearers of the legions, to be by them communicated to the soldiers, before they were read by the generals. He then ordered one of the mutineers to be loaded with irons, rather to exercise his authority than because the blame attached to one only. From Bonna the army pro- ceeded to the Agrippinian colony, where numerous succors came pouring in from the Gauls, who at first zealously sup- ported the Roman interest ; but shortly afterward, when the Germans began to make head, most of the states had recourse to arms, from the hope of liberty, and, if the enterprise suc- ceeded, with the ambitious design of lording it over others. The resentment of the legions waxed furious ; the example of a single offender bound in chains had not inspired awe ; nay, that very man turned round upon the general, and charged him with being an accomplice, alleging that, as he had been a messenger between Civilis and Flaccus, he was overwhelmed with a false accusation, because he was a witness of the truth. Vocula mounted the tribunal with admirable firmness, and or- dered the soldier, who remonstrated vociferously, to be seized and led away to execution ; and while the seditious were panic-struck, all the well-disposed obeyed his orders. Forth- with the soldiers, with one voice, insisted that he should be their general, and Flaccus resigned the supreme command into his hands.
26. But the minds of the soldiers, still dissatisfied, were violently agitated by various causes. Deficiency of pay and provisions distressed them ; the Gauls too were averse to the levy, and to paying their tribute ; the Rhine, by reason of a drought unknown in that climate, was hardly navigable ; supplies were conveyed with difficulty ; to hinder the Ger- mans from fording over, a chain of posts was formed on the banks of the river ; and owing to the same cause the supply of grain was diminished, while the consumers were increased.
c. 27.] ENGAGEMENT AT GELDUBA 215
With vulgar minds, the very shallowness of the stream passed for a prodigy : as if even the rivers and the ancient defenses of the empire deserted them. That which in time of peace would have been regarded as accidental or natural, was then called fatality and divine vengeance.1 The army having en- tered Novesium,2 was there joined by the thirteenth legion, the commander of which, Herennius Gallus, was now associated with Vocula in the superintendence of affairs. Not daring to seek the enemy, they pitched their camp at a place called Gelduba.3 They then endeavored to restore the tone of the troops by employing them in forming the line of battle, in digging trenches, throwing up ramparts, and other military works; and to animate their courage by plunder, Vocula marched with the main body into the neighboring villages of the Gugergians,4 a people leagued with Civilis. A portion of the troops kept possession of the camp with Herennius Gallus.
27. It happened that a barge, laden with grain, was strand- ed in a shallow part of the river, at a small distance from the» camp. The Germans endeavored to draw the vessel to theii own bank. Gallus would not submit to it, and sent a co- hort to aid it. On the side of the Germans also the num- bers were increased, and succors gradually flocking in on both sides, a regular battle ensued. The Germans, after making a prodigious slaughter, carried off the vessel. The Romans, for this had now grown into a habit, imputed their defeat not to their own want of valor, but to the treachery of the general. The soldiers, dragging Gallus out of his tent, tearing his clothes, and scourging him, demanded who were his accomplices in betraying the army? what was the price of his perfidy? Their rage against Hordeonius Flaccus re- turned. He, they said, was the author of the crime, and Gallus was an instrument in his hands; and thus they pro-
1 Compare the following passage of Cicero: "Atque hsec in bello plura et majora videntur timentibus; eadem non tarn animadvertuntur in pace. Accedit illud etiam, quod in metu et periculo, cum creduntur facilius, turn finguntur impunius." — De Divinatione, lib. ii. 27. See the phenomena of this kind, Hist. i. 86.
8 Now Neuss, near Cologne. 3 Now Gelb, near Neu?s.
* These people were of German origin, situate between the Ubii and Batavians. Their country is now a part of the duchies of Cleves and Guelderland, between the Rhine and the Meuse.
216 THE HISTORY. [B. IT.
ceeded, till at length Gallus himself also, impelled by his fears of those who menaced instant destruction, charged Hor- deonius with treason ; and being loaded with fetters, he was not released till Vocula returned to the camp. That general, on the following day, ordered the ringleaders of the mutiny to be put to death. Such was the contrast of lawlessness and passive submission that existed in that army. The common men, beyond all doubt, were devoted to Vitellius, while the most distinguished officers inclined strongly to Vespasian. Hence that alternation of atrocious guilt and capital punish- ment; that medley of dutiful obedience and savage ferocity; so that those who could not be kept in order, submitted to chastisement.
28. In the mean time all Germany was swelling the power of Civilis by numberless accessions of forces, the fidelity of the several states being guaranteed by hostages of the chief of their nobility. Civilis issued his orders that the territories of the Ubians and Treverians1 should be laid waste, according to their proximity to each confederate state ; and, at the same time, that another party should pass over the Mosa,2 to harass the Menapians, the Morinians, and the frontiers of Gaul.3 Booty was seized in both quarters, but with peculiar animosity from the Ubians; because, though originally Ger- mans, they had forsworn their country, and, adopting a Ro- man name, styled themselves the Agrippinian colony. Their cohorts were cut to pieces in the town of Marcodurum,4 where they lay in a state of fancied security, because they were at a distance from the bank of the Rhine. Nor did the Ubians take it so passively as not to go in quest of plunder from Germany; at first with impunity, but afterward they were cut off; and throughout the war the fidelity they ob- served was more enviable than the fortune that attended them. Flushed with success, and rendered more formidable by the defeat of the Ubians, Civilis pressed the siege of the Old Camp, keeping strict guard that no secret intelligence of coming succors might reach the garrison. The manage- ment of the battering-engines, and other warlike preparations, he delegated to the Batavians; the forces from beyond the
1 The people of Cologne and Treves. a Now the Meuse.
3 The neighborhood of Tournay, Boulogne, and St. Om«r. * Kow Duren, in the Duchy of Juliers.
c. 80.] CIVILIS ATTACKS THE OLD CAMP. 217
Rhine, who demanded the signal for action, he ordered to ad- vance and tear down the rampart ; and when they were re- pulsed, he bade them renew the contest, as he had a redun- dance of men, and the loss of some of them would not be felt : nor did the night put a period to the effort.
29. The barbarians, having placed heaps of wood around and set fire to them, betook themselves to a repast concur- rently with their operations ; and as each grew warm with liquor, they rushed with bootless temerity to the assault. For indeed their darts were without effect from the darkness, while the Romans took aim at the barbarian line, which was exposed to full view, and singled out as marks whoever was conspicuous by his valor or the splendor of his decorations. Civilis saw the disadvantage, and ordered the fires to be put out, that all might be enveloped in darkness, and the fight carried on without distinction. Then indeed dissonant noises were heard, unforeseen accidents occurred ; there was no room for foresight either in striking or avoiding blows ; they faced about to the quarter whence the shout proceeded, and directed their weapons thither. Valor could profit nothing; chance confounded all things, and the bravest often fell by the hand of the coward. The Germans fought with blind fury ; the Roman soldiers, inured to danger, threw not their poles point- ed with iron, nor discharged their massy stones at hap-hazard. Whenever the sound of the barbarians sapping the founda- tions of the walls, or of the scaling-ladders applied to the ramparts, presented the enemy to their attack, they drove the assailants down with the bosses of their shields, and followed them up with their javelins. Many who made good their way to the top of the walls they stabbed with daggers. After a night spent in this manner, the day disclosed a new mode of conflict.
30. The Batavians had reared a turret two stories high, which, as it approached the praetorian gate,1 where the ground was most even, was shivered to pieces by strong bars brought forward for the purpose, and beams which were made to impinge upon it : many of those who stood upon it were annihilated ; and an attack was made upon the assailants, in their alarm and confusion, by a sudden and successful sally.
1 The praetorian gate of a Roman camp was opposite to the decuman- See Annals, i. 66.
VOL. IT.— K
218 THE HISTORY. [B. IT.
/
At the same time more machines were made by the legionary soldiers, who excelled in skill and ingenuity. One in par- ticular struck the enemy with terror and amazement. It was an instrument poised in the air, and having an oscillatory motion, by which, when suddenly let down, one or more of the enemy were borne aloft before the faces of their comrades, and then, by turning the whole mass, were discharged within the camp.1 Civilis, abandoning the hope of storming the place, again had recourse to a leisurely blockade, employing himself in undermining the fidelity of the legions by messages and promises.
31. These transactions happened in Germany before the battle of Cremona,2 the issue of which was communicated by a letter from Antonius Primus, with Caecina's proclamation annexed. Alpinus Montanus also, the commander of one of the vanquished cohorts, in person admitted the fate of his party. By this event the minds of the Roman army were variously affected. The auxiliaries from Gaul, who neither loved nor hated either party, and whose service was uncon- nected with sentiment, persuaded by their officers, forthwith abandoned the cause of Vitellius. The veteran soldiers hesi- tated, but at the instance of Hordeonius Flaccus, and impor- tuned by the tribunes, they swore fidelity to Vespasian ; but without any decisive indication of concurrence in their looks or their state of mind. And though they repeated accurately all the other words of the oath, they passed over the name of Vespasian in a faltering manner, or in a low murmur, and very generally in silence.
32. A letter from Antonius to Civilis, read before the assembled legions, excited the suspicions of the soldiers, as their tone was that of one writing to a co-partisan, and they spoke in a hostile manner of the Germanic army. Soon afterward, intelligence of this having been conveyed into the camp at Gelduba, the same things were said and done, and Montanus was deputed to Civilis, with instructions to require that he would " cease from prosecuting the war, and abstain from vailing his hostile views under a false pretense of mili-
1 This extraordinary engine was invented by Archimedes, the cele- brated geometrician, during the siege of Syracuse, which was con- ducted by Marcellus. See Polybius, lib. viii.
' The victory at Cremona was about the end of October. Hist. iii. 22
c. 33.] ATTACK ON THE ARMY UNDER VOCULA. 219
tary operations. If he meant to serve Vespasian, that end was answered." To this message, Civilis replied at first with subtlety; but perceiving in Montanus a determined spirit, and a promptitude for enterprise, commencing with com- plaints and the dangers he had gone through in the Roman service during five-and-twenty years, he said, " A fine reward have I received for my toils, in the death of a brother, in being loaded with fetters myself, in the ferocious language of this army, language in which I was demanded to be given up for capital punishment, and for which I now seek satisfaction according to the law of nations! But as for you Treverians, and the other crouching souls, what reward do you expect for having so often shed your blood, except hard and thankless service, eternal tributes, rods, axes, and the humors of your masters'? Lo, T, the praefect of a single cohort, with the Canninefates and the Batavians, who are but a small portion of Gaul, have razed that spacious and inefficient camp, or we hem them in and distress them with sword and famine. In a word, by daring nobly, either liberty will follow, or, if we fail, our condition can not be worse than it was before." Civ- ilis, having thus fired the ambition of Montanus, dismissed him, but with directions to report his answer in milder terms. Montanus, on his return, reported that he had failed in his negotiation, suppressing the rest ; which, however, soon after- ward came to light.
33. Civilis, reserving for himself a part of his forces, dis- patched his veteran cohorts and the bravest of the Germans under the command of Julius Maximus and Claudius Victor, to act against Vocula and his army. The latter was his sister's son. As they passed, they stormed the winter-quar- ters of a squadron of cavalry, situated at Asciburgium j1 and fell upon the camp with such suddenness, that Vocula had not time to harangue his men nor form his line. The only admonition he could give them, in the tumult of the moment, was to strengthen the centre with legionary troops. The auxiliaries were placed in the wings pellmell. The cavalry advanced to the attack; but being received by the well-or- dered ranks of the Germans, they turned their backs, and fled toward their party. From that moment it was a massa- cre, not a battle. The Nervians, through fear or treachery, 1 Now Asburg, near Meurs.
220 THE HISTORY. [B. IT.
left the flank of the Romans open to the enemy; and thus the barbarians penetrated to the legions. The legions, after losing their colors, were driven into their intrenchments with great carnage ; when on a sudden the fortune of the day was changed by the arrival of fresh succors. The Vascon co- horts,1 formerly levied by Galba, and who had then received orders to join the army, hearing, as they approached, the up- roar of battle, charged the Batavians in the rear. The terror that seized the enemy was greater than could be expected from the number. Some imagined that they were succors from Novesium ; others, the whole army from Magontiacum. That doubt added to the courage of the Romans. Depending on the valor of others, they recovered their own. The bravest of the Batavian infantry were put to the rout ; their cavalry escaped with the prisoners and standards which they had taken in the beginning of the action. The number slain on the part of the Romans greatly exceeded the loss of the ene- my ; but the slaughter fell on the worst of their troops, where- as the Germans lost the flower of their army.
34. The commanders on both sides equally deserved to fail ; and, when fortune favored, equally neglected to im- prove the advantage. For had Civilis sent into the field a stronger force, his men could not have been hemmed in by so small a number; and, having forced the intrenchments, he would have razed them to the ground. Vocula had sent out no scouts to inform him of the approach of the enemy, and therefore he had no sooner marched out of his camp than he was defeated. And afterward, falling short of that confidence which the victory should have inspired, he wasted several days before he advanced against the enemy, while, if he had hastened at once to smite, and had followed the tide of for- tune, he might have raised the siege of the legions by the same effort. Civilis, meanwhile, had endeavored to work upon the minds of the besieged, representing that it was all over with the Romans, and victory had crowned the efforts of his party. The standards and banners were carried round — even the prisoners were exhibited, one of whom had the courage to achieve a memorable act : with a loud voice he declared what had really occurred, when he was instantly put to death ; a proceeding which gave additional credibility to 1 The Vascones inhabited the country of Navarre.
c. 34] VOCULA NEGLECTS THE PURSUIT. 221
the informant. At the same time, the blaze of villages on fire, and the country laid waste on every side, announced the approach of a victorious army. Vocula commanded his men to halt in sight of the camp, and ordered a fosse to be made, and a palisade to be thrown up. His desire was, that, the baggage and knapsacks being safely deposited, they might fight without encumbrance. After this arose a clamor from the men, who demanded the signal for battle: they had even accustomed themselves to use menaces. Without taking time to form the line, fatigued by their march, and their ranks in confusion, they commenced the fight. Civilis was ready to re- ceive them : he relied no less on the errors of his enemy than on the valor of his own troops. The Romans fought with fluctuating success. The bold and forward in sedition were cowards in the field. Some, remembering their late victory, maintained their post, smote the Barbarians, kept up their own spirits, cheered on their comrades, and, having restored the broken ranks and renewed the battle, stretched out their hands t'o the besieged, inviting them to seize the opportunity. The legions from their ramparts, seeing all that occurred, rushed out at every gate. Civilis, as it happened, being thrown to the ground from his horse falling, and, in consequence, a report that he was slain or dangerously wounded being credit- ed in both armies, it is incalculable what terror the circum- stance struck into his friends, and with what alacrity it in^ spired the enemy.
35. Vocula, instead of hanging on the rear of the fugitives, repaired the rampart and turrets of the camp, as if a second siege threatened him ; so that he who so often neglected to make use of his victory, was with good reason suspected of preferring the continuance of war. The scarcity of provisions was what chiefly distressed the Roman army. The baggage of the legions, with the crowd of useless persons, were sent to Novesium, to bring in corn from that place by land; for the enemy was master of the river. The first train proceeded in safety, Civilis not having then sufficiently recovered his strength. Being informed soon after that a second party was on their way to Novesium, with a few cohorts, marching in all the 'negligence of a profound peace, but a few soldiers with the standards, their arms laid up in the wagons, and all scattered in complete disorder, he advanced against them in
222 THE HISTORY. [B. iv.
regular order, . having sent forward troops to occupy the bridges and the narrow defiles. The battle extended through a wide space, and was continued with fluctuating success, till night put an end to the encounter. The cohorts pushed into Gelduba, where the camp, remaining as before, was occupied by a garrison left there for the purpose. The danger the foragers would have been exposed to on their return, when encumbered and disheartened, was apparent. Vocula added to his own army a thousand chosen men from the fifth and fif- teenth legions, who had stood the siege in the Old Camp ; in- vincible soldiers, and exasperated against their commanding officers. A number of others, without orders, thought fit to follow, declaring aloud on their march that they would no longer bear the distress of famine, nor the treachery of their chiefs ; while those who remained behind complained that, by drawing off a part, they were abandoned to their fate. Hence two seditions raged at the same time; one demanding the return of Vocula, and the other resolved not to re-enter the camp.
36. Civilis, in the mean time, besieged the Old Camp. Vocula retired to Gelduba, and thence to Novesium. Civilis took possession of Gelduba, and soon after, in an engagement of the cavalry near Novesium, gained a victory. But all events, whether prosperous or otherwise, alike excited the soldiery to seek the destruction of their general officers. Being reinforced by the arrival of the fifth and fifteenth legions, and having gained intelligence that a sum of money was sent by Vitellius, they clamored loudly for their dona- tive. Hordeonius Flaccus complied without much hesitation, but in the name of Vespasian. This formed the great aliment of sedition. The men, betaking themselves to feasts, revel- ings, and nocturnal carousings, in their liquor renewed their old antipathy to Flaccus ; and none of the tribunes or com- manders daring to oppose them — for the night banished all feeling of respect — they dragged him from his bed and slew him. The same proceeding was meditated against Vocula, but he escaped through the darkness, effectually disguised in the habit of a slave. When their fury had subsided, and fear succeeded, they sent centurions with letters to the states of Gaul, to solicit succors and money.
37. The mutineers themselves, as is usual with a multi-
e. 38.] VESPASIAN AND TITUS CONSULS. 223
tilde without a leader, rash, faint-hearted, nerveless, on the approach of Civilis seized their arms, laid them down, and betook themselves to flight. Distress engendered a spirit of disunion ; the soldiers from the Upper Rhine separating their own cause from the rest. The images of Vitellius were, not- withstanding, set up in the camp and the adjacent Belgic cities when Vitellius had already fallen.1 Then the soldiers of the first, the fourth, and the eighteenth legions, returning to a sense of their duty, put themselves under the command of Vocula, and having, by his direction, again taken the oath of fidelity to Vespasian, marched under him to raise the siege of Magontiacum. The besiegers had departed ; a mot- ley army of Cattians, Usipians, and the Mattiaci, satiated with plunder, but not without loss of blood. While on their march, dispersed and off their guard, our soldiers fell upon them. The Treverians had even constructed a breastwork and palisade along the frontiers of their country, and in their contests with the Germans received and gave defeats of con- siderable magnitude ; but, in the end, they marred their signal services to the Roman people by renouncing their connection with them.
38. Meanwhile, Vespasian and his son Titus, though both absent from Rome, entered on the consulship ; while the city was plunged in grief, and perplexed with manifold apprehen- sions ; in addition to the calamities that pressed upon her, having given way to groundless fears that Africa2 had revolt- ed, at the instance of Lucius Piso, who had engaged in revo- lutionary schemes. Piso was at that time governor of the province ; by no means a turbulent character. But because the ships were detained by the severity of the winter, the pop- ulace, who are accustomed to buy food from day to day, and concern themselves about the price of provisions alone3 of all the affairs of the state, while they dreaded, believed that the coast was barred, and the transport of provisions prohibited. The Vitellians, not having yet renounced the spirit of party, did what in them lay to confirm the report ; and even the
1 Vitellius died about the end of December.
1 The province of Africa, now the kingdom of Tunis.
3 To have plenty of corn is the only patriot care of the vulgar. Ju- venal adds the love of spectacles in the circus: —
duas tantum res anxius optat,
Panem et Circenses. — Sat. x. 80.
224 THE HISTORY. [B. iv.
conquerors did not dislike the news, for they were men whos.e rapacious appetites, not to be glutted even with foreign war, no civil victory could ever satisfy.
39. On the calends of January, in the senate convened by Julius Frontinus,1 the city praetor, a vote of thanks was passed to the general officers, the armies, and the kings2 in alliance with Rome. Tertius Julianus, who had quitted the legion under his command, as soon as the men declared for Vespa- sian, was deprived of the praetorship. Plotius Griphus suc- ceeded to the office. Hormus was raised to the equestrian rank soon after. Upon the resignation of Frontinus, Caesar Domitian received the praetorship. His name was prefixed to all edicts and letters ; but the authority of government still centred in Mucianus, save that Domitian, prompted by his friends or his own caprice, had the temerity to do many acts. But Antonius Primus and Arrius Varus were the chief ob- jects of apprehension to Mucianus : in all the freshness of re- cent glory, renowned for the splendor of their achievements, and high in the favor of the soldiery, they were caressed also by the populace, because they had shown no severity toward any one out of the field of battle. Antonius too was reported to have urged Scribonianus Crass us,3 who derived splendor from a line of illustrious ancestors, and the reflection of his brother's fame, to undertake the government ; and he would not have wanted partisans ; but Scribonianus declined, being so little disposed to embark in dangerous uncertainties, that he would hardly have been prevailed upon to acquiesce, if every difficulty were removed. Mucianus, therefore, as Anto- nius could not be openly crushed, after accumulating praises upon him in the senate, loaded him with promises in private, holding out to his view the province of Hither Spain, vacant by the departure of Cluvius Rufus ; and at the same time be- stowed upon his friends tribuneships and prefectures. Then,
1 Brotier says, that several works by Frontinus, which show more labor than genius, are still extant; such as "Stratagemata," "De Co- loniis," "De Aqiifeductibus." Being city-praetor, he convened the sen- ate on the first of January, in the absence of the consuls, Vespasian and his son Titus.
* Sohemus, Antiochus, and Agrippa, who had taken part with Yes pasian. See Hist. ii. 81.
* Scribonianus Crassus was the brother of Piso, whom Galba adopt- ed. Hist. i. 15, 10.
c. 40.] DOMIT1AN ADDRESSES THE SENATE. 225
having filled his ambitious mind with hopes and aspirations, he destroyed the foundation of his influence, by sending the seventh legion, which was ardently attached to Antonius, into winter-quarters. The third was in the interest of Arrius Varus, and for that reason sent into Syria. Part of the army was marched into Germany ; thus, the seeds of sedition being removed, the city began to resume its ancient form : the laws revived, and the magistrates discharged the functions of their affice.
40. Domitian, on the day of his first appearance in the senate, discoursed in few and measured terms of the absence of his father and his brother and of his own inexperience. His deportment was graceful, and his propensities being as yet unknown, his frequent blushes were considered as a mark of modesty. Csesar proposing that the honors of Galba should be revived, Curtius Montanus expressed an opinion that the compliment should be paid to the memory of Piso. The sen- ate voted both propositions, but that relating to Piso was not carried into effect. Commissioners were then appointed by lot ; some with power to restore to the lawful owners the property wrested from them during the war ; others, to in- spect the tables of brass, on which the laws were engraved, and to repair such as were defaced by time ; to amend the public registers, which had been vitiated by the servile spirit of the times ;] and to set limits to the public expenditure. To Tertius Julianus, as it now appeared that he had fled to join the banners of Vespasian, the prastorian dignity was re- stored ; but the honor was confirmed to Griphus. It was resolved that the hearing of the question between Musonius Rufus and Publius Celer should be resumed.2 Celer was con- victed, and atonement made to the manes of Soranus. This day, which was signalized by an act of public justice, was not without an instance also of individual merit. Musonius was considered to have fully made out his charge in all its parts. In contrast with this was the estimation in which Demetri- us,3 a disciple of the Cynic school, was held, for having de-
1 The calendar in Nero's time was filled with days of supplication and public thanks.
2 See c. 10 of this book.
* Demetrius attended Thrasea in his last moments. Annals, xvi. 35. K2
226 THE HISTORY. \K, iv.
fended a notorious culprit, with more ambition than sincer- ity. Publius himself, in the hour of danger, had neither cour- age nor ability to defend himself. The signal for retribution on the whole race of informers being given, Junius Mauricus1 requested Caesar to lay the journals of the late emperors before the senate, that in those records they might see who were the accusers, and whom they solicited permission to accuse. Do- mitian replied, that, in a matter of such magnitude, the emper- or ought to be consulted.
41. The senate, on the motion of some of the leading mem- bers, devised a form of oath, in which all the magistrates, with rival zeal, and the rest as they were asked to vote, called the gods to witness, that no man's life by any aid of theirs had been affected, and that they themselves had derived no honor or reward from the distresses of the citizens ; while those who felt conscious of guilt were agitated, and, by various subtleties, varied the terms of the oath. The fathers approved of their respect for the sanctity of an oath, but still considered them guilty of perjury. That stigma, as it were, fell with intense force upon Sariolenus Vocula, Nonius Actianus, and Cestius Severus, notorious for their frequent informations in the reign of Nero. The first of these labored under the recent guilt of attempting the same thing with Vitellius; and the fathers continued to threaten him with violence, till he withdrew from the senate-house. Pactius Africanus was the next ob- ject of resentment. It was he, they said, who pointed out to Nero as victims the two brothers, the Scribonii,2 distinguished by the splendor of their fortunes, and the harmony in which they lived. He dared not avow the fact, and he could not deny it. Turning round upon Vibius Crispus,3 who pressed him with pointed questions, by mixing him up with acts which he could not clear himself of, he parried the odium due to his own crimes by a communication of guilt.
42. On that day Vipstanus Messala, not yet of senatorian
1 See the praise of Julius Mauricus in Pliny the younger, lib. iv. epist. 22. See also Life of Agricola, c. 45.
2 The two Scribonii, whose names were Rufus and Procnlus, were put to death by Nero, at the instigation of Pactius Africanus, A.E. 6*7.
a For Vibius Crispus, see Hist 11. 10 ; also the Dialogue coacerning Oratory, c. 8.
i 42.] MOVEMENT AGAINST THE INFORMERS. 227
age,1 acquired, in an eminent degree, the fame of eloquence and fraternal affection, in boldly standing forth to plead for his brother Aquilius Regulus.2 The ruin of the house of the Crassi, and of Orfitus,3 had raised Regulus to the pinnacle of public detestation. Of his own motion, as it appeared, he undertook the prosecution when a very young man, not to ward off danger from himself, but to promote his views of advancement. Sulpicia Praetextata, the wife of Crassus, with four children, also attended, to demand vengeance if the sen- ate should take cognizance of the case. Messala, therefore, did not attempt to defend the cause of the accused, but by his exposing himself to intercept the dangers that menaced his brother, many of the fathers were softened. To counteract that impression, Curtius Montanus,4 in a speech of great vehemence, went so far as to allege against Regulus, that as soon as Galba was dispatched, he gave money to the mur- derer of Piso, and gnawed the head of Piso with his teeth. " This surely," he said, " was an act which Nero did not force him to — nor did you, Regulus, redeem your dignity, or earn your life by that barbarity. Let us, if you will, admit the plea of those wrho, to save themselves, accomplish the ruin of others. You, Regulus, after the banishment of your father, and the distribution of his effects among his creditors, were left beyond the reach of danger. Excluded by your youth from public honors, you had nothing to tempt the avarice of Nero ; nothing to excite his fears. From a thirst for blood, a yearning for the wages of iniquity, you initiated your genius, as yet unknown and untried in the defense of any man, with the murder of an illustrious citizen ; when, after snatching the spoils of a consul from the funeral pile of your country, pampered with a reward of seven thousand great
1 That is, not five-and-twenty.
2 Regulus was a practiced informer. Pliny calls him " Bipedam nequissimas." (Lib. i. epist. 5.) See lib. ii. epist. 20.
3 Crassus Camerinus and Scribonianus Camerinus were accused by Regulus in the reign of Nero, and put to death. (See Pliny, lib. i. epist. 5. Cornelius Orfitus was consul in the time of Claudius, A.D. 51. (Annals, xii. 41.) He was afterward a time-serving orator under Nero. (Annals, xvi. 12.)
* Curtius Montanus is mentioned with ridicule (Juvenal, Sat iv. 107) as a man distinguished by the enormous size of his belly :
" Montani quoque venter adest abdomine tardus,"
228 THE HISTORY. [B. iv.
sesterces, and glittering with the sacerdotal honors, you prostrated in one common ruin, unoffending youths, aged men of the highest character, and women of illustrious rank; when you upbraided the supineness of Nero in troubling himself and the informers to go from hoase to house : the whole senate, you said, might be destroyed by one word. Retain among you, conscript fathers, preserve this man of compendious counsels, that Romans of every time of life may be instructed, and as Marcellus and Crispus are models for our old men, so our youth may imitate Regulus. Iniquity, even when unsuccessful, finds its followers. What if it thrives and flourishes? and what if we shall see the man whom we dare not now cross, though only of quaestorian rank, raised to the rank of praetor and consul? Think you that the race of tyrants ended with Nero? The men who survived Tiberius reasoned in that manner; after the death of Caligula they said the same ; whereas, in the mean time, there sprang up one still more hateful a'nd barbarous. From Vespasian we have nothing to fear ; such is his time of life, such his mod- eration ; but examples continue to operate when the authors of them are no more. Conscript fathers, we have lost all our energy: we are no longer the senate, that, after Nero was put to death, demanded that the informers and the ministers of his iniquity should be punished in the established way. The day that succeeds the downfall of a tyrant is a blessed day indeed."
43. Montanus was heard with such marked approbation that Helvidius conceived the hope that Marcellus also might be borne down. Commencing, therefore, with an encomium upon Cluvius Rufus,1 who, though equally rich and distin- guished for eloquence, during the reign of Nero, had never busied himself to work the ruin of any man, he pressed Ep- rius with this example, and the charge he had against himy at once, while the minds of the fathers were still glowing with indignation. Marcellus saw the temper of the assembly,, and, pretending to quit the senate-house, said, " I withdraw, Priscus, and leave your senate to you. Reign there in the presence of a Caesar." Vibius Crispus followed him ; both enraged, but with different expressions in their looks; Mar- cellus with eyes flashing vengeance — Crispus with a malig- 1 See Hist. i. 8.
c. 45.] MUCIANUS DEFENDS THE INFORMERS. 229
nant smile. Their friends, however, hastening up to them, prevailed on them to return. As the matter was hotly con- tested,— by the men of integrity on one side, the largest party ; on the other by a few, but powerful, striving with pertina- cious rancor to carry their point, — the day was consumed in altercation.
44. At the next meeting of the senate, Domitian proposed to bury in oblivion all complaints, all resentments, and all the sad necessities of former times. Mucianus spoke at large in behalf of the informers, and in a mild tone advised, and, as it were, entreated such as wanted to revive prosecu- tions which had been commenced, and afterward abandoned. The fathers gave up the independence which they had just begun to exercise, when they found that opposition was made to it. Mucianus apprehending that, by this check, a blow might appear to be given to the authority of the senate, and that impunity would seem to be granted to all the crimes committed in Nero's time, remanded to the islands, to which they had been banished, Octavius Sagitta,1 and Antistius Sosianus,2 of senatorian rank. The former had, in a frenzy of love, murdered Pontia Posthumia, whom he had been con- nected with, and who refused to marry him. Sosianus, by his evil practices, had been the ruin of numbers. Both had been condemned by a solemn decree of the senate, and ban- ished ; and though others were allowed to return, they were compelled to abide by the original sentence. But the odium Mucianus had incurred was not mitigated by this expedient ; for, verily, Sosianus and Sagitta, even if they had returned from exile, were of small account. The danger was from the craft, the wealth of the informers, and their influence, ever employed in schemes of villainy.
45. A cause, which was heard in the senate, according to ancient usage, had the effect of calming the excited feelings of the fathers. Manlius Patruitus, a senator, complained that, in the colony of the Senensians,3 he had been beaten by a crowd of people, and by order of the magistrates. Nor did
1 The murder committed by Octavius Sabinus Sagitta is related more fully, Annals, xiii. 44.
* Antistius Sosianus was banished for his verses against Nero. An* nals, xiv. 48. See also Annals, xri. 14.
3 Now Sienna, in Tuscany.
260 THE HISTORY. [B. iv.
the injury stop there: a representation of funeral obsequies, with wailings and lamentations, was exhibited around him in his presence, together with insults and invectives thrown out against the whole body of the senate. The parties accused were cited to appear. The cause was heard, the accused con- victed, and condign punishment inflicted. The fathers added a decree, by which the people of the colony were required to observe good order. About the same time, Antonius Flam- ma, at the suit of the inhabitants of Gyrene, was condemned to suffer the penalties under the law against extortion, and to be banished for his cruelty.
46. During these transactions, a sedition was near breaking out among the soldiery. The soldiers disbanded by Vitellius, and afterward imbodied in the service of Vespasian, claimed a right to their former rank in the praetorian guards. At the same time, a number of others, who had been drafted from the legions, under a prospect of being promoted to that sta- tion, demanded their promised pay. Even the Vitellian sol- diers could not be displaced without much bloodshed. Mu- cianus entered the camp. The better to ascertain the period of time each had served, he directed that the victorious troops, leaving proper distances between them, should be drawn up under arms, and with £heir standards. The Vi- tellians, who, as has been mentioned, surrendered at Bovillse, with all that could be found either at Rome or in the neigh- borhood, were brought forward almost in a state of nudity. These Mucianus directed to be placed apart, and the German and the British soldiery, and if there were any belonging to other armies, to stand near in separate bodies. The Vitellians were at once paralyzed with fear at the first view, since they beheld, as it were, a hostile army, exhibiting a terrific appear- ance with javelins and arms, while they themselves were in- closed, unarmed, and disfigured by neglect. But when they began to be haled hither and thither, a universal panic seized them, and great above all was the alarm of the German soldiers, who thought, from this separation, that they were marked out for slaughter. They embraced their companions, clung round their necks, bade them give a last kiss, begged that they might not be left to perish alone, nor, their cause being one, that they would allow them to suffer a different fate. One while they appealed to Mucianus, then invoked their
c. 48.] PROPOSAL TO RAISE A LOAN. 231
absent sovereign, and lastly summoned heaven and the gods to witness ; till at length Mucianus, calling to them in the name of soldiers bound by the same oath, and serving the same emperor, proceeded to obviate their groundless fears ; for the victorious army also aided their tears by clamors ; and so ended matters that day. A few days after, when Domitian addressed them, having now recovered their firmness, they replied in a tone of confidence. They spurned the lands of- fered, requested to serve, and receive their arrears of pay. Their request was in a supplicatory style, but it was not to be resisted. They were accordingly incorporated with the prae- torian guards. The superannuated, and such as had served out their time, were then discharged with honor from the service. Some were cashiered for misbehavior ; but gradual- ly and singly, the safest expedient for destroying a combina- tion of numbers.
.47. For the rest, whether it arose from real poverty, or a wish to seem poor, a scheme was proposed in the senate for raising, by a loan from private persons, the sum of sixty mill- ions sesterces.1 The management of the business was com- mitted to Poppaeus Silvanus; but, soon after, the necessity was removed, or perhaps the pretense was dropped. On the proposal of Domitian, the several appointments to the con- sulship, by Vitellius, were declared null and void. A cen- sorian funeral was performed in honor of Flavius Sabinus;2 signal instances these of the instability of fortune, exhibit- ing the extremes of elevation and depression in the same persons.
48. About this time Lucius Piso, the proconsul, was mur- dered. I shall be enabled to exhibit this sanguinary deed in the most perfect light, after having retraced a few circum- stances already related, and which are not unconnected with the cause and origin of this class of atrocities. In the time of Augustus and Tiberius, the legion quartered in Africa, with the auxiliaries employed to defend the frontier of the prov- ince, were subject to the proconsul. Caligula, whose mind was of a wild, unsettled character, suspecting Marcus Silanus, then governor of Africa, transferred the command of the le-
1 Rather more than £500,000.
* Flavius Sabinus, the brother of Vespasian, was murdered by th« Vitellians. Hist iii. 74.
232 THE HISTORY. [B. iv
gion to an imperial lieutenant, whom he sent for the purpose. The power of granting military preferment was divided be^ tween the two ; and the orders of both clashing with each other, a disagreement arose, which was aggravated by an im- proper feeling of rivalry. The authority of the lieutenants gained the ascendant, either from the long continuance of the office, or because inferiors are naturally more diligent in a contest for pre-eminence ; while the most illustrious of the proconsuls were more solicitous about personal security than the preservation of their authority.
49. But at that time Valerius Festus had the command of the legion ; a young man of lavish expenditure and immoder- ate ambition. He also felt uncomfortable on account of his alliance with Vitellius. Whether it be true, that, in private conferences, he endeavored to incite Piso to a revolt, or with*, stood the solicitations of Piso, is uncertain, as no man wa& admitted to their privacy; and after the death of Piso the generality were inclined by views of interest toward the mur- derer. The natives of the province, as well as the soldiers, were undoubtedly disaffected to Vespasian. It is likewise certain, that partisans of Vitellius, coming from Rome, repre- sented to Piso that Gaul was on the eve of a revolt ; the Ger- mans ready to take up arms; the dangerous situation in which he stood; and the greater security afforded by open var than doubtful peace. In that juncture, Claudius Sagitta, who commanded the squadron of horse called Petrina, fa- vored by a quick passage, arrived in Africa before Papirius, a centurion, dispatched by Mucianus, and asserted that the centurion was charged to assassinate Piso ; that Galerianus,1 his cousin-german and son-in-law, had already fallen : his only hope of safety was in taking a bold step ; two courses were open to him ; he might, if he preferred it, forthwith summon the province to arms ; or, passing over into Gaul, offer to head the Vitellian party. Piso remained deaf to these re- monstrances. The centurion sent by Mucianus had no soon- er landed at Carthage, than with a loud voice, and without intermission, he cried, "All prosperity to Piso!" as though he were prince, and urged all he met, thunderstruck as they were at an event so strange and unexpected, to echo his huzzas. The credulous multitude rushed to the forum» and 1 Calpurnius Galerianus, see above, c. 11.
c. 50.] MURDER OF LUCIUS PISO. 233
insisted on Piso's making his appearance. They made the whole place ring with shouts of joy, from an inherent supine- ness in ascertaining truth, and a propensity to adulation. Piso, from the information of Sagitta, or his natural modesty, went not out of his house, nor committed himself to the intemperate zeal of the people ; but interrogated the centurion ; and find- ing that the object was to lay a ground of charge against him as a pretext for his murder, he ordered his officers to put him to death, not so much from the hope of saving his life, as in- dignation at the assassin, because, being also one of the mur- derers of Clodius Macer, he had come wifh hands reeking with the blood of a legate to assassinate a proconsul. Hence- forth, having rebuked the Carthaginians in an edict indicating the anxiety he felt, he discontinued the duties of his station, and confined himself to his house, lest any occasion of fresh disturbance should arise even by accident.
50. But when Festus was apprised of the excitement of the populace, the punishment of the centurion, and other matters true and false, magnified, as usual, by the voice of fame, he dispatched a party of horse to kill Piso. The assassins, who performed the journey at full speed, rushed, sword in hand, into Piso's house, at the dim hour when the light is still but beginning to appear ; and being chosen from the Carthaginian auxiliaries and Moors, many of them were ignorant of the person of Piso. Near his chamber-door they met one of the slaves, and asked him who he was, and where was Piso. The slave replied, with a noble falsehood, that he was Piso, and was butchered on the spot. Piso in a short time after met his fate; for there was one among them who knew him, Bebius Massa,1 one of the imperial procurators in Africa, even then the bane of every worthy character, and whose name will often recur hereafter as a prime mover in the calamities of our country. Festus proceeded from Adru- metum,2 where he had stopped, anxiously looking out for the result, to the legion, and ordered Cetroriius Pisanus, praefect of the camp, to be put in bonds, from personal animosity ; but
1 For more of Bebius Massa, see Life of Agricola, c. 45. He is men, tioned by Juvenal as a noted informer : —
" Quern Massa timet, quern munere palpat
Cams." 8 See Annals, xi. 21.
234 THE HISTORY. [B. IT.
he called him a satellite of Piso. He also punished some of the soldiers, and rewarded others, with no good reason for either, but to acquire the reputation of having suppressed a war. He then adjusted a quarrel between the CEensians1 and the people of Leptis ; which, from the seizure of fruits and cattle by rustics one among another, an affair of no such magnitude, was now carried on by arms and regular battles. For the CEensians were inferior in number to their adver- saries ; but they had formed a league with the Garamantes, a fierce and savage race, and a prolific source of depredations among their neigtibors. Hence the people of Leptis were re- duced to the last extremity. Their lands were laid waste, and they were trembling within their walls, till, by the inter- vention of the Roman cohorts and cavalry, the Garamantes were routed, and all their booty was retaken, except what some of them, going about from one to another of their inaccessible huts, had sold to the inhabitants of more remote districts.
51. Vespasian having received intelligence of the victory at Cremona, and the success of his arms in every quarter, the death of Vitellius was announced to him by men of all ranks, who, with equal courage and good fortune, ventured to trav- erse the sea at that tempestuous season. Vologeses, the Parthian king, offered by his embassadors to assist him with forty thousand of his cavalry. It was a proud and gratifying circumstance to him to be solicited to accept such powerful auxiliaries, and not to want them. He returned thanks to Vologeses, and told him to send embassadors to the senate, apprising him also that the war was concluded. Vespasian, whose thoughts were anxiously fixed on Italy and the affairs of the city, heard the unfavorable rumor of the conduct of Domitian, according to which it seemed that he was outstep- ping the limits that belonged to his time of life, and assuming more than could be conceded to a son. Vespasian, therefore, consigned to Titus the main strength of his forces, to accom- plish the remains of the Jewish war.
52. Titus, we are told, before he parted from his father, entreated him, in a lengthened conversation, not to allow himself to be excited too easily by the statements of the accusers of his son ; and that in dealing with him, he would show a mind unprejudiced and placable. Fleets and armies
1 " CEensis civitas," between the two Syrtes, is mentioned by Pliny
o. 53.] THE CAPITOL REBUILT. 235
were not such impregnable bulwarks of empire, as a numer- ous family; for friends may be cut off by the effects of time, transfer their attachment in a change of fortune, or fail under the influence either of inordinate desires or erroneous views; but it was a difficult task to detach frcmi men those who are connected with them by the ties of blood : but especially in the case of princes, in whose prosperity others participate, while their misfortunes pressed peculiarly upon their near- est relatives. Even between brothers, unanimity would not be lasting, if the parent did not set the example. Vespasian, more charmed with the filial piety of Titus than softened to- ward Domitian, desired him to banish all anxiety, and proceed in the great work of aggrandizing his country by vigorous prosecution of the war. His own business should be to cul- tivate the arts of peace, and secure the welfare of his family. Vespasian then committed to the still tempestuous sea some of the swiftest of his ships, laden with corn ; and well it was he did, for the city was then tottering under a state of things so critical that the corn in the granaries was sufficient for no more than ten days' supply, when the stores from Vespasian carne in to their aid.
53. The care of rebuilding the capitol he committed to Lu- cius Vestinus,1 a man of equestrian rank, but in credit and dignity among the first men in Rome. The soothsayers, who were convened by him, advised that the ruins of the former shrine should be removed to the marshes, and a temple raised on the old foundation ; for the gods would not permit a change of the ancient form. On the eleventh day before the calends of July, the sky being remarkably serene, the whole space de- voted to the sacred structure was encompassed with chaplets and garlands. Such of the soldiers as had names of a^pi- cious import,2 entered within the inclosure, with branches from trees emblematical of good fortune. Then the vestal virgins in procession, with a band of boys and girls, whose parents, male and female, were still living, sprinkled the whole place with water drawn from living fountains and rivers. Helvid- ius Priscus, the pra3tor, preceded by Plautius ^Elianus, the pontiff, after purifying the area by sacrificing a swine, a
1 Lucius Vestinus was a native of Vienne, a city near Lyons. a Upon all solemn occasions the Romans made choice of men -whose names they thought auspicious. See Cicero, De Divinatione, lib. i. 102.
236 THE HISTORY. [B. iv
sheep, and a bull, and replacing the entrails upon the turf, in- voked Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, and the tutelar deities of the empire, praying that they would prosper the undertaking, and, with divine power, carry to perfection a work begun by the piety of man ; and then Helvidius laid his hand upon the wreaths that bound the foundation-stone and were twined about the cords ; at the same time, the magistrates, the priests, the senators, the knights, and a number of citizens, with simul- taneous efforts, prompted by zeal and exultation, haled the ponderous stone along. Contributions of gold and silver, and pieces of other metals, the first that were taken from the mines, that had never been melted in the furnace, but in their native state, were thrown upon the foundations on all hands. The soothsayers enjoined that neither stone nor gold which had been applied to other uses, should profane the building. Ad- ditional height was given to the edifice ; this was the only va- riation conceded by religion ; and in point of magnificence it was considered to be inferior to the former temple.1
54. Meanwhile, the news cf Vitellius's death, spreading through Gaul and Germany, gave rise to two wars at once : for Civilis, throwing off his mask, declared open hostility against the Romans ; and the Vitellian soldiers, rather than acknowledge Vespasian, were ready to submit to slavery un- der a foreign yoke. The Gauls had assumed a tone of con- fidence, concluding that the same fate had attended the Ro- man armies wherever stationed ; a rumor being current among them that the Dacians and Sarmatians had laid siege to the encampments in Moesia and Pannonia. Affairs in Britain were supposed to be in no better situation. Above all, the destruction of the capitol impressed them with a con- viction that the dissolution of the Roman empire was at hand ; the city, they said, had been captured formerly by the Gauls, but the abode of Jupiter being untouched, the empire had survived. The Druids,'2 in their wild enthusiasm, declared in prophetic strains that now a sign of the wrath of heaven
1 The splendor and magnificence of the capitol and the temple of Jupiter are described by Plutarch, Life of Poplicola.
3 The order of Druids had been suppressed in Gaul by Tiberiua (Pliny, lib. xxx. 4) ; and the Emperor Claudius extinguished their re- ligion (Suetonius, Life of Claudius, s. 25). It is probable, therefore, that a race of Druids was sent from Britain.
c. 56.] MOVEMENTS OF CIVILIS AND CLASSICUS. 237
had been given by the appointed fire, and that the transfer of the empire of the world to the transalpine nations was por- tended. A report prevailed, at the same time, that the chief- tains of Gaul, who had been employed by Otho against Vitellius, bound themselves in a compact not to neglect the opportunity for regaining their liberty, should the power of the Eoman people be broken in a succession of civil wars and internal calamities.
55. Before the murder of Hordeonius Flaccus, nothing transpired from which the confederacy could be inferred ; but after the assassination of Hordeonius, messengers were seen passing to and fro between Civilis and Classicus, who com- manded a squadron of Treverian horse. Classicus, in rank apd wealth, surpassed the rest of his countrymen ; he was of C royal lineage, and his ancestors renowned for wisdom and valor: as for himself, he made his boast that he was the hereditary enemy, rather than the ally of Rome. He was joined in the plot by Julius Tutor and Julius Sabinus; the former a Treverian, the latter a Lingonian. Tutor had been preferred by Vitellius to command on the banks of the Ehine. Sabinus, in addition to his natural vanity, was inflamed by pride, in consideration of his falsely supposed descent. He pretended that his great-grandmother attracted the admira- tion of the deified Julius, and had an adulterous amour with him. These men made it their business, in secret conferences, to sound the temper of others ; and, having engaged in the plot such as they thought proper for the purpose, met at a private house in the Agrippinian colony ; for, as a body, the inhabitants abhorred attempts of this kind. Nevertheless there were present certain of the Ubians and Tungrians, but the Treverians and Lingonians possessed the greatest influence ; nor could they brook the delay of deliberating. They pro- claimed, each as loud as he could, that " the Eoman people were raging with civil dissensions; her armies were cut to pieces; Italy was laid waste, and the city at that moment taken by storm ; while all her armies had each of them a war upon its hands. If the passes over the Alps should be secured by garrisons, the Gauls, having established their independence, might then determine what limit they would assign to their afforts." This project was approved as soon as heard.
56. How to dispose of the remaining Vitellian soldiers was
238 THE HISTORY. [B. iv.
a perplexing question ; many were of opinion that they ought to be put to the sword, as turbulent and unprincipled men, and polluted with the blood of their officers. The plan of sparing them prevailed, lest by removing all hope of pardon they should rouse them to a desperate resistance. It were better that they should be enticed into the confederacy. Let their officers only be put to death, and the common men, conscious of their crimes, yet entertaining hopes of impunity, would readily join them. Such was the nature of their first measure. They also sent emissaries to kindle the flame of war in Gaul. The conspirators themselves feigned submission to the commands of Vocula, that he might be the more off his guard, and fall an easier victim. Some persons, however, conveyed information to Vocula, but he wanted strength to suppress the movement, as the legions were deficient in com- plement, and not to be trusted. Surrounded by a suspect- ed soldiery and secret enemies, he concluded that his best course under existing circumstances was to proceed by dis- simulation and the arts by which he was assailed, and there- fore went down to the Agrippinian colony. Thither Claudius Labeo, who, as already mentioned, had been captured and sent out of the province to the Frisians, having corrupted his guard, had fled for refuge ; and having promised, if a force were assigned him, to penetrate into Batavia, and bring back the chiefs of the country to the interest of Rome, he obtained a small party of foot and cavalry ; but not venturing to attempt any thing with the Batavians, he induced some of the Nervians and Betasians1 to take up arms, and made incursion* upon the Canninefates and Marsacians more by stealth than open war.
57. Vocula, induced by the fraudulent representations of the Gauls, proceeded against the enemy. As soon as he approached the Old Camp, Classicus and Tutor, advancing under color of exploring the motions of the enemy, conclud- ed a treaty with the German chiefs ; and then for the first time they encamped apart from the legions, and threw a separate rampart round a camp of their own, Vocula protest- ing " that Rome was not so rent by her own divisions as to become the scorn of the Treverians and Lingones : she had still a number of provinces firm in her interest ; victorious 1 Betasii, inhabitants of what is now called Brabant
D. 58.] COURAGEOUS CONDUCT OF VOCULA. 239
armies ; the auspicious fortune of the empire ; and the gods her avengers. Thus formerly Sacrovir1 and the ^Eduans, and recently. Vindex and the Gauls, had been crushed, each by a single battle. And now, too, the violators of treaties might expect the same gods, the same fate. Julius and Augustus best understood the disposition of the Gauls; Galba, and a mitigation of tributes, had excited hostile feelings in them. They were enemies now because they were subjected to a mild rule ; when they had been despoiled and stripped of their possessions, they would resume a friendly spirit." Hav- ing delivered this speech in a tone of high displeasure, see- ing that Classicus and Tutor persisted in their perfidy, he marched back to Novesium. The Gauls encamped at the dis- tance of two miles. The minds of the centurions and soldiers that visited them there were seduced by bribes to engage that a Koman army, with a baseness of spirit till then unheard of, should swear fidelity to a foreign power ; and that an earnest of the atrocious compact should be given by the murder of their commanders, or by delivering them up in chains. Voc- ula, though many persuaded him to escape, resolved to go- boldly through with the business ; and summoning an assem- bly, discoursed in the following manner : —
58. " Never have I addressed you, my fellow-soldiers, with, more anxiety for your welfare, or with less concern for my- self. For that my destruction is meditated I hear without regret ; and look forward to death, plunged as I am in afflic- tion, as the termination of my sufferings. But I blush for you, my heart bleeds for you, against whom no battle is pre- paring, no troops are marshaling ; for that were according to the law of arms and the usage of enemies ; Classicus hopes to fight against the Roman people with your hands, and boasts of the empire of Gaul, and of the oath of fidelity to Gaul. If our good fortune and courage have failed us for the moment, are we so deficient in examples of former times, when, as was often the case, Roman legions chose to perish rather than abandon their post ? The allies of Rome have seen their cities wrapped in fire, and with their wives and children, have perished in the flames ; nor had they any other motive for undergoing that fate than the preservation of their honor and fame. At this moment, in the Old Camp, the legions 1 For Sacrovir, see Annals, iii. 46.
240 THE HISTORY. [B. IY
are enduring the horrors of famine and a siege ; but neither threats nor promises can shake their constancy. Besides arms and men, and a camp excellently fortified, we have provis- ions sufficient for a war, however protracted. Our money sufficed on a recent occasion, even for a donative ; and wheth- er you prefer to impute it to Vespasian or to Vitellius, doubt- less it is the bounty of a Roman emperor. Conquerors in so many wars, after routing the enemy so often at Gelduba at the Old Camp, if you dread a pitched battle, that surely were unworthy of you ; but you have a rampart and walls, and methods of protracting the war till succors arrive, and armies crowd to your relief from the neighboring provinces. Grant that I have incurred your displeasure ; there are other com- manders; there are tribunes; at all events, a centurion, or even a common soldier. Let not this portentous fact be cir- culated round the world, that Civilis and Classicus purpose invading Italy attended by Eoman soldiers. And if the Gauls and Germans shall lead you to the walls of Rome, will you use your arms against your country ? My soul recoils with horror at the bare idea of such an atrocity. ShalKwatches be set for Tutor the Treverian? Shall a Batavian give the signal for battle? Will you serve as recruits to complete the German battalions ? When the Roman legions appear before you in order of battle, in what horrible act will your conduct issue ? Deserters already, will you become so a second time ? Traitors to your country, will you turn traitors to your new allies ? Will you stagger between your recent and your for- mer oaths, objects of detestation to the gods'? Thee, Jove, su- premely great and good, to whom through a space of eight hundred and twenty years we have paid our vows for so many triumphs ; and thee, Quirinus, founder of the Roman name, I implore and beseech, that if it is not your pleasure that under my command this camp shall remain pure and inviolate, you would at least not suffer it to be defiled and polluted by Tu- tor and Classicus. Grant, I beseech you, to Roman soldiers, either purity of thought, or that they may repent speedily, and oefore they plunge into guilty acts."
59. This speech was heard with various emotions, between hope, fear, and shame. Vocula retired ; and while he was deliberating about putting a period to his existence, his slaves and freedmen prevented him from forestalling a horrible
o. 60.] THE LEGIONS SUBMIT TO THE GAUI£. 241
death by a voluntary act. Classicus hastened to destroy him by the hand of JKmilius Longinus, a deserter from the first legion, whom he sent for the purpose. It was thought enough that Herennius and Numisius, commanders of legions, should be secured in chains. Classicus, in a short time afterward, entered the camp, with the pomp and apparel of a Roman commander; and though he brought with him a mind inured to every kind of daring, he had not power to say any thing beyond reciting the words of the oath. All the soldiers pres- ent swore fidelity to the empire of the Gauls. The assassin of Vocula was raised to high rank in the army ; the rest he signalized by rewards in proportion to their services in crime. Tutor and Classicus took their respective shares in the conduct of the war. Tutor, with a strong force, invested the Agrip- pinian colony, and compelled the inhabitants and all the sol- diers stationed on the Upper Rhine, to swear on the same terms, after putting to death the tribunes at Magontiacum, and driving away the praefect of the camp, because they de- clined. From those who submitted, Classicus selected the most profligate, and sent them to the Old Camp, with direc- tions to promise a free pardon if they acquiesced in things as they were ; otherwise, that famine, the sword, and the utmost he could inflict, would be their portion. The messengers added the weight of their own example.
60. The besieged were distracted between the claims of duty and the pangs of hunger; between honor and infamy. While in this state of indecision, they were in want not only of ordinary food, but even of such as is unusual ; their beasts of burden and horses being consumed, and all other animals impure and filthy which necessity brought into use : at last, while tearing up shrubs and stocks, and the herbs that grew between the stones, they exhibited an example of patience and suffering ; till at length they tarnished their transcendent mer- it by an inglorious termination, in suing for their lives by dep- uties sent to Civilis. Nor were their supplications listened to till they swore fidelity to the empire of Gaul. Then having stipulated for the plunder of the camp, he assigned guards to secure the money, sutlers, and baggage, and to escort them away, destitute as they were. They had proceeded about five miles, when the Germans starting up, fell upon them as they were marching and off their guard. The most resolute of VOL. II.— L
242 THE HISTORY. [B. iv
them never stirred a. foot ; many were cut off while attempt- ing to escape ; the rest fled for refuge back to the camp ; when it must be admitted Civilis complained of the proceeding, and rebuked the Germans as having broken faith by an act of vil- lainy. Whether this was mere pretense, or he was really un- able to restrain their savage violence, is not clearly made out. After ransacking the camp they threw fire upon it, and all who survived the battle the flames destroyed.
61. Now, at length, having completed the destruction of the legions, Civilis cropped his long and burnished hair, in fulfillment of a vow common to barbarians,1 which he took upon himself after he commenced hostilities against the Ro- mans. He is also reported to have placed as marks some of the captives, to be shot by his son, a little boy, with arrows and javelins suited to children. However, he neither took the oath of allegiance to the Gauls himself, nor obliged any Batavian to do so, relying on the power of the Germans; and should it be necessary to contend for empire, he knew that his name stood high, and that he had the advantage. Mummius Lupercus, the commander of a legion, was sent, among a number of presents, as a gift to Veleda,2 a virgin of the Bructerian nation, who ruled over a large tract of territory ; according to an ancient- custom among the Germans of sup- posing that many of their women have a prophetic spirit, and, when the superstitious notion has waxed strong, of believing them to be divinities. The authority of Veleda, at that time, was at its zenith, for she had foretold the success of her countrymen, and the destruction of the legions. Lupercus was murdered on the road. A few centurions and tribunes, who were natives of Gaul, were reserved as hostages for the alliance. The winter-camps of the cohorts, the cavalry, and the legions, excepting one at Magontiacum, and another at Vindonissa,3 were pulled down and burned.
62. The thirteenth legion, with the auxiliaries that sur- rendered at the same time, received orders to march from
1 This custom obtained also in civilized nations, insomuch that Sue- tonius tells us of Julius Cfesar, — " Milites diligebat usque adeo, ut, au- dita clade Tituriana, barbam capillumque summiserit, nee ante demp- *erit, quam vindicasset." — Life of Julius Caesar, s. 67. See also c. 7 of the Germania.
3 For Veleda, and other prophetic women, see c. 8 of the Germania.
* Now Wendish, in the canton of Berne.
c. 63.] SAD PROCESSION OF THE CAPTIVE SOLDIERS. 243
Novesium to the colony of the Treverians ; a day being fixed within which they should quit the camp. The whole inter- val they passed in anxiety, some on one account, others on another ; the dastardly looked with horror at the example of those slain at the Old Camp ; the better sort were touched with shame, and felt the infamy of their situation. " What kind of march would that be, they reflected ? and who was to lead them ? And every thing would be at the caprice of those whom they had made their masters." Others, without a thought about the disgrace, stowed their money and what they valued most about their persons; some prepared their arms, and accoutred themselves as if for battle. While oc- cupied with these reflections, the day for their departure ar- rived, and brought with it still deeper woes than they antici- pated ; for indeed the mutilation and defacement within the camp was not so striking. It was the open space, the light of day, that developed their degradation. The images of the emperors were torn down ; the Roman standards neglected ; while the banners of the Gauls flared on all sides. The train moved on in silence, like a long funeral procession. Their leader was Claudius Sanctus, a man who had lost an eye, of a horrid countenance, and still more deformed in mind. The disgrace was redoubled by the arrival of another legion from the camp at Bonna ; and when the report was spread of the captured legions, all who a little before shuddered at the Ro- man name, hastening from the fields and houses, and pour- ing forth from all quarters, gazed on the unwonted spectacle, with too much zest. The joy of the jeering rabble was more than the squadron of horse, called Picentina, could endure, and heedless of the threats or promises of Sanctus, they marched off toward Magontiacum ; and in their way acci- dentally meeting Longinus, the murderer of Vocula, by over- whelming him with their darts, they made the first step in the expiation of their guilt, which they had to complete there- after. The legions, without altering their course, proceeded to the city of the Treverians, and pitched their tents under the walls.
63. Civilis and Classicus, elated with success, were in doubt whether to give up the Agrippinian colony to be plundered by the soldiers. Their own natural ferocity and love of plun- der conspired to prompt them to raze the city, but the plan
244 THE HISTORY. IB. IT
of the war suggested arguments against it, and the advantage of a reputation for clemency to those who are commencing a new empire. Civilis was also moved by the recollection of a service rendered to his son, on the first breaking out of the war, who was laid hold of in the colony of the Agrippinians, and whom they had treated with respect while in their cus- tody. But the nations beyond the Rhine saw the opulence and growth of the place with envy, and considered that, to terminate the war, it was necessary either that it should be an open city for all Germans, or that by being demolished, it should occasion the dispersion of the Ubians also.
64. Accordingly the Tencterians, a people separated by the Rhine, sent embassadors to the Agrippinian colony, with directions to explain to an assembly of the state their res- olution, which the boldest of the deputies thus laid before them: — "That you should have returned to the community and title of Germans, we give thanks to the gods, whom we adore in common, and to Mars, the chief of deities ; and we congratulate you that at length free yourselves, you will live, henceforward, among free men. For the Romans hitherto have barred our lands, our rivers, and, in a manner, the heavens, to prevent our holding intercourse in word or deed ; or, what is still more offensive to men born to arms, to make us visit you without arms, and almost naked, under the eye of a guard, and obliged to pay a tax for the favor. But, that our friendship and union may be established imperish- ably, we require of you to pull down the walls of your city, those strongholds of slavery : even savage animals, if you keep them confined, forget their natural courage. We require that you put to the sword all the Romans within your bor- ders— liberty and tyrants can not dwell together. Let the goods of the slain be brought into a common stock, that no one may embezzle any thing, or consult his own private in- terest apart. Let it be lawful for us and you to inhabit both banks of the Rhine, as our ancestors of old. As the use of light and air is given by nature to us all, she has made every land free to the brave. Revive the institutions and customs of your country ; renouncing those luxuries by which the Romans acquire power over the people subject to them, more than by their valor.1 An unmixed, and untainted, and 1 Compare the Life of Agricola, c. 21.
c. 66.] CONDUCT OF THE AGRIPPINIANS. 245
unenslaved people, you will either live upon a footing of equality, or you -will exercise authority over others."
65. The Agrippiniaris having taken time for deliberation, since their present state was not such as to admit of their accepting terms which would expose them to future danger, nor of openly rejecting them, replied in this sort : — " As soon as the opportunity of recovering our liberty presented itself, we seized it, more in compliance with our eager desire to be united with you and the rest of the Germans, our kinsmen by blood, than from calculations of security. Now that the Roman armies are just assembling, it is more for our safety to add to the strength of our walls than to demolish them. If there were any strangers out of Italy, or the provinces within our borders, they have perished in the war, or they have escaped to their respective homes. Those who of old were settled here, and have been united with us in marriages, and those who have since sprung from them, may fairly claim this colony as their country. Nor do we esteem you so inhuman as to wish us to murder our fathers, our brothers, and our children. All duties, all restrictions upon commerce we repeal. Let the passage over the river be free and un- guarded, but in the daytime and without arms, until these new and recent privileges become established by custom. We desire that Civilis and Veleda may arbitrate between us: under their sanction the treaty shall be ratified." The Tenc- terians were thus appeased, and embassadors were sent with presents to Civilis and Veleda, who concluded every thing to the satisfaction of the Agrippinians. The deputies, how- ever, were not admitted to the presence of Veleda, and to accost her. Persons were not allowed to see her, to increase the awe of her. She herself resided in the summit of a lofty tower: a relation, chosen for the purpose, was employed to convey the questions and responses, like a messenger between man and a deity.
66. Strengthened by his alliance with the Agrippinian colony, Civilis determined to gain over the neighboring states ; or, if they opposed them, to subdue them by force. The Sunicians1 had already submitted to his arms, and he had formed the youth of the country capable of bearing arms into regular cohorts. To oppose his progress, Claudius 1 IS'ow Limburg. There still exists a village with the name of Sinnich.
246 THE HISTORY. O xv.
Labeo encountered him with a body of Betasians, Tungrians, and Nervians, raised by sudden levies, relying on the advan- tage of his position, as he had got possession of the bridge over the Meuse. The battle was for some time fought in a narrow defile, with doubtful success, till the Germans swam across the river, and charged Labeo's forces in the rear. Ci- vilis at the same time, whether from an effort of courage or a preconcerted plan, rushed among the Tungrians, proclaiming aloud " that the object of the war was not to procure for the Batavians and Treverians dominion over the nations. Far be from us such arrogance," said he ; " accept our alliance : I am ready to join you ; your general, if you will ; if not, a com- mon soldier." The crowd were moved by his words, and sheathed their swords. In that moment, Campanus and Ju- venalis, the leading chieftains of the Tungrians, surrendered the whole nation to Civilis. Labeo made his escape, lest he should be cut off. The Betasians and the Nervians, who also sur- rendered, Civilis incorporated with his army ; carrying all before him, as the states were either awed into submission, or came over spontaneously.
67. Meanwhile, Julius Sabinus, having destroyed the monuments1 of the alliance with Rome, caused himself to be proclaimed Caesar ; and at the head of a large and undisci- plined body of his countrymen, marched hastily against the Sequanians, a neighboring state, and faithful to Rome. The Sequanians did not decline the conflict. Fortune favored the juster cause : the Lingones were defeated. The rashness with which Sabinus rushed on to the attack, was equaled by the precipitation with which he fled. He escaped to a farm- house, and, in order to spread a report of his death, set fire to it. It was believed that he died there voluntarily; but the various arts by which he protracted life for nine years, and the places in which he lay concealed, together with the constancy of his friends, and the memorable example of his wife Epponina, shall be recorded in their proper place.2
1 Tables of brass, on which was engraven the treaty of alliance be- tween the Romans and the Lingones.
2 The account here promised of Epponina's fidelity has not come down to us. She was discovered in a cavern with Sabinus her husband nine years afterward, and with him conveyed to Rome. Plutarch, who relates the particulars, says that her death was the disgrace of Vespasian's reign.
c. 68.] ANXIETY OF MUCIANUS. 247
The victory obtained by the Sequanians checked the progress of the war ; the states began to alter their tone, and to reflect on the obligations of justice and the faith of treaties ; the Remi1 setting the example, who sent a notice to the different states of Gaul, to send deputies to consult in common, wheth- er they should strike for liberty or remain quiet.
68. These transactions, when reported at Rome, in an ex- aggerated form, were a source of anxiety to Mucianus, lest the generals, though distinguished soldiers, for he had selected Annius Gallus and Petilius Cerealis to command the German armies, should prove unequal to the weight of the war. Rome, at the same time, could not be left without a ruler. The unbridled passions of Domitian also were dreaded ; while An- tonius Primus and Arrius Varus were suspected. The latter, who had been put in command of the praetorian guards, had arms and men in his power. Mucianus removed him from his office, and, to solace him, made him superintendent of pro- visions. To pacify the mind of Domitian, the friend of Va- rus, he appointed Arretinus Clemens, a man nearly related to the house of Vespasian, and high in favor with Domitian, to the command of the praetorian guards; urging that, in the reign of Caligula, his father held the same command with high repute. The same name, he observed, would be wel- come to the soldiers ; and Clemens himself, though, a member of the senate, would be able to discharge the duties of both stations. The most eminent individuals among the citizens were chosen to join the expedition, and others procured the appointment by intrigue. Domitian and Mucianus prepared to set out, but in dissimilar moods; the young prince in the confidence and fervor of youth, impatient for action ; Mucia- nus, studying pretexts for delay, to check his ardent spirit, lest, if he were suddenly placed at the head of an army, from the impetuosity natural to his years, and the impulse of per- nicious counselors, he should embarrass the negotiations for peace, and the operations of war. Two of the victorious legions,2 the sixth and eighth, the twenty-first from the Vi- tellian party, and the second from the forces lately raised, were marched into Gaul ; some over the Penine and Cottian
1 The Remi inhabited what is now called the diocese of Rheims.
2 Concerning all these legions, see Hist. ii. 6. The Second Legion is the additional second, " Legio Secunda Adjutrix."
248 THE HISTORY. [B. iv
Alps,1 and others over the Graian mountain.2 The fourteenth legion was summoned from Britain, and the sixth and tenth from Spain. The consequence was, that the states of Gaul, being inclined to more pacific counsels from the rumor of the approaching army, as well as the impulse of their own minds, assembled in congress at Rheims. A deputation from the Treverians waited there for the result of the deliberations, and with them Tullius Valentinus, the most strenuous promoter of the war. In a speech prepared for the purpose, he poured forth all the charges usually urged against extensive empires, with insulting and invidious reflections upon the Roman peo- ple; a congenial promoter of seditious disturbances, and a favorite with the multitude on account of his intemperate eloquence.
69. On the other hand, Julius Auspex, a leading chief among the people of Rheims, by representing the power of the Romans, and the blessings of peace — that war was under- taken even by men of no account in the field, but was carried on at the peril of the bravest spirits, and that the legions were already bearing down upon them — restrained the more dis- creet by motives of respect and allegiance, and the more inex- perienced by setting before them the danger they would en- counter, and by appealing to their fears. The consequence was, that they applauded the spirit of Valentinus, but adopt- ed the advice of Auspex. There can be no doubt that the in- terest of the Treverians and Lingones with the states of Gaul was impaired by their having espoused the cause of Verginius, in the commotions excited by Vindex. The mutual jealousies of the provinces operated in deterring many. Which was to be the leading state in the war*? where the source of authority and the auspices "? what city would they choose as the seat of empire, if all things succeeded according to their wishes'? They had not yet gained the victory, but were al- ready quarreling among themselves. One state boasted of its alliances ; another of its riches and power ; a third of its ancient origin, in their altercations. Dissatisfied with the prospect of the future, they resolved to acquiesce in their present condition. Letters were dispatched to the Treverians in the name of the states of Gaul, requiring them to lay down
1 The passes of Great St. Bernard and Brian9on. 8 The Dass of the Little St. Bernard.
o. 70.] DISSENSIONS AMONG THE GAULS. 249
their arms, while they might obtain their pardon, and their friends were ready to solicit for them. The same Valentinus opposed this course, and his countrymen, by his advice, were deaf to all remonstrances: though he was not so diligent in preparing the means of war, as he was assiduous in his attend- ance on public assemblies.
70. Thus the exertions of the Treverians, the Lingones, and other revolted states, were in no proportion to the extent of the danger they had incurred in undertaking the war. Not even their generals acted in concert. Civilis traversed the devious regions of Belgium with the object of making Labeo his prisoner, or forcing him out of the country. Classicus loitered away the best part of his time in indolence, as if he were enjoying the privileges of empire already acquired. Even Tutor neglected to secure the upper bank of the Rhine, and the passes of the Alps. In the mean time, the one-and- twentieth legion, by the way of Vindonissa, penetrated into Gaul, and Sextilius Felix, with auxiliary cohorts, through Rhaetia.1 He was joined by a squadron of horse, called Sin- gulares, first summoned to his aid by Vitellius, and afterward united with Vespasian. Their commanding officer was Julius Briganticus, whose mother was the sister of Civilis, — hated by his uncle, and hating him implacably, as is often the case in quarrels between near connections. Tutor having aug- mented his army by new musters in the country of the Van- giones,2 the Caeracatians, and Tribocians, strengthened them with a body of veterans, horse and foot, from the legions; men whom he had either inveigled by promises, or compelled by menaces. A cohort detached by Sextilius Felix appeared in sight ; they put them to the sword ; but soon after, seeing the approach of Roman generals and an army, they went over to that side ; a desertion that did them honor ; and the Tribocians, the Vangiones, and the Caeracatians, followed their example. Tutor, avoiding Magontiacum, retired with the Treverians to Bingium,3 where, having broken down the bridge over the Nava,4 he thought himself posted to advant-
1 The Rhseti, now the Grisons.
* Vangiones, now the diocese of Worms.
8 Still called Bingen ; but the town appears to have been formerly on the other side of the river.
* Now the Nahe.
L2
250 THE HISTORY. [B. iv
age ; but being charged by Felix with a cohort under his com- mand, who had found a fordable place, Tutor's reliance was gone ; and he was put to the rout. The Treverians were struck with terror at this severe defeat, and the common peo- ple laying down their arms dispersed themselves about the country. Some of their chiefs, to claim the merit of being the first to submit, fled for refuge to such states as had not re- nounced the Roman alliance. The legions which had been removed, as already mentioned, from Novesium and Bonna to the territory of the Treverians, voluntarily swore fidelity to Vespasian. Valentinus was absent during these transactions ; he returned furious, and resolved to throw every thing into confusion and peril again, but the legions went off to Medio- matricum,1 a city in alliance with Rome. Tutor and Valen- tinus induced the Treverians once more to take up arms ; put- ting to death Herennius and Numisius, commanders of legions, to strengthen the bond of guilt that held them together by di- minishing the hope of pardon.
71. Such was the state of the war when Petilius Cerealis reached Magontiacum. By his arrival the hopes of the party were raised. Eager for battle himself, and more to be ad- mired for the contempt in which he held the enemy than the prudence of his measures, he kindled the spirit of the soldiery by the bold tone of his language, intimating that he would not hesitate a moment to engage the enemy on the first oppor- tunity of getting at him. The levies, which had been raised in Gaul, he ordered back to their country, with directions to publish every where that the legions were sufficient to defend the empire ; and, therefore, that the allies might return to the employments of peace, as though the war was concluded, now Jhat the Roman armies had taken up the matter. By this message the Gauls were brought to a more submissive temper. Their young men being thus restored to their country, they felt their tribute lighter ; and were the more zealous in their duties, because they were not made much of. Civilis and Classicus, learning that Tutor was defeated, the Treverians cut to pieces, and fortune favoring the Roman arms in every thing, were in a state of alarm and nervous agitation, and drawing together their scattered forces, in the mean time warned Val- entinua, by repeated messengers, not to run the hazard of 1 Now the diocese of Metz.
& 72.] CAPITAL OF THE TREVERI TAKEN. 251
a decisive engagement. Cerealis was the more impatient to strike a sudden blow. He dispatched emissaries to Medioma- tricum, with orders to bring the legions against the enemy by a shorter route, and uniting the soldiers stationed at Magontia- cum with the forces which he brought with him from Italy, he in three days' march arrived at Rigodulum.1 At that place Valentinus, at the head of a large body of Treveriaus, had taken post, defended on one side by the Moselle, and on the other by mountains. He added a fosse, and a barrier of stones ; nor did these defenses deter the Roman general from ordering his infantry to force them, and inarching his cavalry in battle array up the hill, despising an enemy hastily drawn together, who, he knew, would not be so much benefited by their posi- tion, as that his own troops would not derive superior advant- ages from their valor. The soldiers were retarded a little in the ascent till they got clear of the enemy's missiles ; when they came to engage hand to hand, the barbarians were hurled headlong from the steep like the fragments of a falling edifice. In the mean time a party of the cavalry, wheeling round the more level eminences, made the principal Belgic chiefs prison- ers of war, with Valentinus, their general, in the number.
72. On the following day Cerealis entered the capital of the Treverians. The soldiers panted for the destruction of the city. " It was the birth-place of Classicus and of Tutor. By their treason the legions had been besieged and massacred. What was the great demerit of Cremona, a city which had been plucked from the bosom of Italy because, for a single night, she delayed the career of the victors? A city stand- ing on the confines of Germany, exulting in the spoils of armies, and reeking with the blood of generals, was left untouched. The booty might be brought into the account of the public treasury ; they would themselves be satisfied with the burning and demolition of a rebel colony, as an atonement for the destruction of so many cai^ps." Cerealis, from fear of the disgrace that would attach to him, if he should be supposed to engender in his soldiers a taste for rapine and cruelty, checked the fury of his men, and they obeyed. The rage of civil war was over, and against foreign enemies there was less violence of feeling. Their attention was immediately turned to the legions summoned from Medio- 1 Jsow Rigol, on the Moselle, near Treves.
252 THE HISTORY. [B. iv
matricum, who presented a spectacle truly wretched. Con- scious of their guilt, they stood overwhelmed with grief, with their eyes fixed on the ground. Between the two armies no mutual salutation passed when they met. They heard the words of consolation and encouragement, but made no an- swer, skulking to their tents, and shunning even the light of day. Nor was it so much a sense of danger and fear that had confounded them, as shame and humiliation ; while even the victors were overpowered by their feelings, not daring to lift up their voices and entreat for them, but interceding for their pardon with tears and silent appeals, till at length Ce- realis soothed their minds by declaring that all that had hap- pened, either in consequence of dissensions among the superior officers, and among the soldiers, or the treachery of the ene- my, was the effect of fatal necessity. They must consider that day as the first of their service, and of sworn allegiance. Their former offenses, great though they were, neither the emperor nor their general desired to look back upon. They were then admitted into the camp ; and the general gave out orders to every company, that no man should presume, upon any occasion of contest or altercation, to reproach his com- rades with having been engaged in sedition, or having suffered a defeat.
73. Cerealis then called an assembly of the Treverians and Lingones, and thus addressed them : " Eloquence, indeed, is a talent which I never cultivated. In the field of battle I have maintained the character of the Roman people for valor. But as words weigh with you more than any thing, and things good and evil are estimated by you, not with reference to their intrinsic merits, but the coloring of incen- diaries, I have resolved to address a few words to you, which, now the war is over, it will be more your interest to have heard than mine to have uttered. The Roman generals and emperors ente^d your territories, and the other provinces of Gaul, from no lust of conquest, but solicited by your ances- tors, at that time torn by intestine divisions, and driven to the brink of ruin ; and when the Germans, whom you called to your aid, enslaved, without distinction, those who invited them, and those who resisted. The battles which Rome has fought with the Teuton es and the Cimbrians,1 — her wars in 1 See Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii. 8, 12; and Plutarch, Life of Marius.
c. 74.] ADDRESS OF THE ROMAN GENERAL. 253
Germany, and the toil and vigor of her legions, with the various events that followed, are all sufficiently known. If our legions were posted on the banks of the Rhine, it was not for the defense of Italy, but lest another Ariovistus1 should aspire to reign over you. And do you now imagine that Civilis, or the Batavians, or the nations beyond the Rhine, have that affection for you and your welfare which your fore- fathers never experienced from their ancestors'? The same motives that first incited the Germans to cross the Rhine, will ever subsist : ambition, avarice, and the love of new settlements ; ready, at all times, to change their swampy fens and barren deserts to get possession of your fertile plains and yourselves. But liberty and specious pretenses are employed to vail their designs ; nor did ever any man desire to reduce others to servitude and subjection to himself, without using the same terms.
74. " Your country, till you put yourselves under our pro- tection, was at all times harassed with wars, and oppressed by tyrants. Rome, though so often provoked by war, im- posed upon you by the right of conquest that only which was necessary to preserve peace. For to maintain the tran- quillity of nations, arms are necessary ; soldiers must be kept in pay ; and without a tribute supplies can not be raised. All other things are placed upon a footing of equality. Our legions are often commanded by you ; you are governors of your own provinces, and even of others. Nothing is reserved to ourselves, no exclusiveness exercised. Does a virtuous prince reign at Rome? though placed at a distance, you feel the mildness of his government equally with ourselves. Ty- rants turn their rage upon those immediately within their reach. In the same manner as you submit to excessive rains, and barren seasons, and all the other calamities of nature, so also put up with the avarice and prodigality of princes.2 As long as human nature remains there will be faults. But
1 For Ariovistus, the German chief, who pushed his conquests in Gaul, see Caesar, De Bell. Gall. i. 31.
2 Seneca expresses himself to the same effect : " Omnia itaque sic patitur sapiens, uthiemis rigorem, et intemperantiam cceli, utfervores morbosque, et csetera forte accidentia." — Seneca, De Const. Sap. c. 9. Pope has said, in the same spirit, —
" If plagues or earthquakes break not Heaven's d^ign, Why then a Borgia or a Catiline ?"
254 THE HISTORY. [B. iv.
even these are not unvaried ; but are compensated by the occasional display of better qualities. Unless, perhaps, you expect from Tutor and Classicus a milder and more equi« table reign ; or that under their auspices armies will be raised to repel the Germans and the Britons, by means of light- er tributes than are now paid. For if the Roman domin- ion is repudiated (which may the gods avert!), what other consequence will result than that all the nations will be engaged in war with each other? During a space of eight hundred years, this fabric of empire has been raised by good fortune and strict discipline ; nor can it be torn down with- out bringing ruin upon its destroyers. But you will be ex- posed to the greatest danger. You have gold and riches, those great incentives to war. Cherish, therefore, and honor peace and the city of Rome ; a city whose privileges we enjoy, alike the conqueror and the conquered. Let the expe- rience you have had of the vicissitudes of fortune instruct you to prefer submission with security to rebellion with ruin." Such was the speech in which he allayed the fears, and re- vived the hopes of the Gauls, who apprehended severer treat- ment.
75. The Treverian state was occupied by the victorious army, when Cerealis received letters from Civilis and .Classicus, the purport of which was, that Vespasian, though they sup- pressed the intelligence, was no more ; that Italy and Rome were reduced to the last extremity by intestine war ; that the names of Domitian and Mucianus carried no weight or au- thority with them. If Cerealis aspired to the sovereignty of Gaul, Civilis and Classicus would rest contented with the limits of their own states. If he preferred the decision of the sword, they did not decline even that. To this message Cerealis returned no answer, but sent the letter, and the person who brought it, to Domitian. Meanwhile, the barba- rians, in detached parties, came pouring down from every quarter. Cerealis was generally censured for suffering the forces to form a junction, when he might have cut them off in detail. The Roman army threw a fosse and rampart round the camp, which he had occupied hitherto in an unpro- tected state.
76. The Germans were arrayed against each other in a conflict of opinions. Civilis was for waiting the arrival of
c 77.] DELIBERATIONS OF THE GERMANS. 255
the nations beyond the Rhine, with the terror of whose name the Roman forces would be disheartened, and yield an easy victory. What more were the Gauls than a ready prey to the conqueror? and yet the Belgians, the main strength of the nation, were with them, either avowedly, or in their hearts. Tutor maintained that, by protracting the war, the Roman power would increase, as their legions were drawing together from all parts. One was already arrived from Britain, others were summoned from Spain, and more were on their march from Italy ; not tumultuary bands, but vet- erans inured to war. He alleged, too, that the Germans, for whom they should wait, listened to no orders, submitted to no rule, but were governed solely by caprice ; that money and presents, the sole objects for which they bartered their principles, were possessed in a superior degree by the Romans, and that no man was so addicted to arms as not to prefer the same reward for repose to incurring danger for it. But if they engaged the enemy immediately, Cerealis had no legions except those saved from the wreck of the Germanic army, who were bound by treaties with the states of Gaul : and the very circumstance of their having lately routed an undisci- plined band under Valentinus, contrary to their own expecta- tions, would minister to their own temerity, and that of their general. They would venture again, and would encounter, not an untutored boy, whose thoughts were occupied with words and harangues more than steel and arms, but Civilis and Classicus ; whom they will no sooner have set eyes upon than their former fears will again take possession of their minds, their former flight and famine, and the thought of the many occasions in which they had been captured, and held their lives at the mercy of others. Nor were the Treveri- ans and Lingonians1 bound to them by affection ; they would take up arms against them again when their fear was re- moved. Classicus put an end to the war of opinion by ap- proving of the sentiments of Tutor, and they proceeded to car- ry them into effect.
77. In the centre of their array were the Ubians and Lin- gonians, the Batavian cohorts in the right wing, the Bructe rians and Tencterians in the left. They made their assault
1 The Treveri and Lingones had been persuaded by Cerealis to l?,y down their arms.
256 THE HISTORY. [B. IT.
with such suddenness, one division from the hills, another along the plain between the high road and the Moselle, that Cerealis, who passed the night out of his camp, received in bed the news of the attack and the defeat at once, rebuking the timidity of the messengers ; but at length the whole ex- tent of the disaster presented itself to his view. The Ger- mans had forced the intrenchments of the legions ; the cavalry were routed; and the bridge over the Moselle, which, form- ing a communication, connected the parts beyond it with the colony, was in possession of the enemy. Cerealis, undismay- ed in the midst of this confusion and alarm, and staying the fugitives with his own hand, exposed himself unsparingly amid the weapons of the enemy, though his person was un- protected; and by a happy effort of desperate courage, with the prompt assistance of the most intrepid of his troops, suc- ceeded in recapturing the bridge, and securing it by a chosen band. Then returning to the camp, he saw the legions which had been captured at Novesium and Bonna dispersed in wild disorder, their standards well-nigh abandoned, and the eagles in danger of falling into the hands of the enemy. Fired with indignation, he exclaimed, "It is not Flaccus, it is not Vocula, whom you thus abandon. There is no treachery here; nor have I any thing to be apologized for, except that I was sim- ple enough to believe that you had blotted out the remem- brance of your Gallic alliance, and had returned to your for- mer obligation of fealty to Rome. I shall be numbered with the murdered generals ; stretch me in death with the Heren- nii and Numisii ; that all your commanders may have perish- ed by the hands of their soldiers, or of the enemy.1 Go, tell Vespasian, or, if you will, tell Classicus and Civilis, for they are nearer, that you have deserted your general in the battle. But remember, the legions will come, who will neither leave me unavenged, nor you unpunished."
78. These reproaches were founded in truth ; and the trib- unes and other officers assailed them with the same topics. The soldiers rallied, and formed by cohorts and companies. Indeed, as the enemy had advanced with precipitation, and the tents and baggage obstructed them, — for the fight took place within the rampart, — their line could not extend itself
1 Hordeonius Flaccus and Vocula were murdered by their own sol- diers. Numisius and Herennius died by the sword of the enemy.
c. 79.] THE AGRIPPINIANS ENTREAT ASSISTANCE. 257
Tutor, Classicus, and Civilis, each in his station, kept up the spirit of the battle, urging the Gauls to fight for liberty, the Batavians for glory, and the Germans by motives of plunder. All things conspired in their favor, till the one-and-twentieth legion, having more space than the rest, forming into a dense body, sustained the shock of the charge, and soon after made them give way. Nor was it without divine interposition that the victors, their courage all at once forsaking them, turned their backs. Their consternation, as they themselves pre- tended, was occasioned by the appearance of the cohorts, which, having been dispersed on the first onset, rallied on the topmost ridges, and produced an impression that they were a fresh reinforcement. But the fact is, that when on the point of gaining the day, they were impeded by a pernicious rivalry in securing plunder, in the mean time intermitting their ex- ertions against the enemy. Cerealis, as by his carelessness he well-nigh ruined all, so by his intrepidity restored affairs ; and following up his success, captured and razed the camp of the enemy the same day.
79. The interval allowed to the soldiers for repose from their fatigue was but short. The Agrippinians implored his aid, offering to deliver up the wife and sister of Civilis, with the daughter of Classicus, all left in their hands as pledges of the alliance. They had, during this time, massacred all the Germans who were among them in their several houses ; whence their fears and natural entreaties for succors, before the enemy should prepare themselves for any object of ambi- tion, or to avenge their slaughtered countrymen. For Civilis had his thoughts directed to that quarter, having no mean force at his command, with a cohort of resistless bravery and unimpaired strength, composed of Chaucians and Frisians, and posted at Tolbiacum,1 in the Agrippinian territory. But he was diverted by the mournful intelligence that the cohort was annihilated by a stratagem of the Agrippinians, who, when the Germans were asleep, after a copious feast and drinking bout, fastened the doors, set fire to their habitations, and burned them. At the same time, Cerealis made a forced march to the relief of the city. Civilis was now beset by an- other source of fear, lest the fourteenth legion, co-operating with the fleet from Britain, might harass the Batavians on 1 Tolbiacum, now Zulpich, in the diocese of Cologne
£58 THE HISTORY. [B. iv.
the sea-coast. That legion, however, marched over land,1 un- der the conduct of Fabius Priscus, to invade the Tungrians and the Nervians; and those two states submitted to the Romans. The Canninefates, assuming an offensive attitude, attacked the fleet, and either took or sunk the greatest part. By the same people a large body of the Nervians, who had voluntarily taken up arms in favor of the Eomans, was overthrown. Classicus also fought with a party of horse, detached by Ce- realis to Novesium, with good success. These advantages, small it is true, but coming one after another, damaged the eclat of the recently obtained victory.
80. During these transactions, Mucianus ordered the son of Vitellius2 to be put to death, alleging, as his excuse for it, that discord would continue to prevail unless he extirpated the seeds of dissension. Nor did he suffer Antonius Primus to be summoned by Domitian to form one of his attendants in the expedition, being jealous of his favor with the sol- diery, and the lofty bearing of the man, who was so impa- tient of a superior, that he could not even brook an equal. Antonius went to join Vespasian, by whom he was received, not indeed answerably to his own anticipations, but still not in a manner which indicated any aversion on the part of the emperor. Vespasian was acted upon by conflicting considera- tions ; on the one hand, by the services of Antonius, under whose conduct the war was unquestionably terminated ; on the other, by the letters of Mucianus. The other courtiers also represented him in odious colors, as morose and overbear- ing, not forgetting the imputations that attached to his earlier years.3 Antonius himself, too, provoked animosities by his arrogance, for he was too fond of magnifying his own merits. Others he censured as men of no capacity for war ; Ca^cina he stigmatized as a captive,4 and one that could not hold out. The consequence was, that he grew daily more despised and despicable, though the emperor still kept up an appearance of friendship with him.
81. In the course of those months during which Vespasian
1 Brotier says, a military road may still be traced from Gessoriacum (now Boulogne) to Atuatuca, the capital of the Tungri; now Tongres, in the bishopric of Liege.
* He was called Germanicus ; see Hist. ii. 69.
J See Hist. ii. 86.
4 Csecina was kept in chains by his own soldiers ; Hist. iii. 31.
o. 81 } ALLEGED MIRACLES OF VESPASIAN. 259
was waiting at Alexandria for the periodical season of the summer winds, and a safe navigation, many miracles occurred, by which the favor of heaven and a sort of bias in the pow- ers above toward Vespasian were manifested. One of the common people of Alexandria, known to have a disease in his eyes, embraced the knees of the emperor, importuning with groans a remedy for his blindness.1 In this he acted in compliance with the admonition of the god Serapis,2 whom that nation, devoted to superstition, honors above all other gods ; and he prayed the emperor that he would deign to sprinkle his cheeks and the balls of his eyes with the secre- tion of his mouth. Another, who was diseased in the hand,3 at the instance of the same god, entreated that he might be pressed by the foot and sole of Caesar. Vespasian at first ridiculed the request, and treated it with contempt ; but when they persisted, at one time he dreaded the imputation of weakness, at another he was led to hope for success, by the supplications of the men themselves, and the encouragements of his flatterers. Lastly, he ordered that the opinion of phy- sicians should be taken as to whether a blindness and lame- ness of these kinds could be got the better of by human pow- er. The physicians stated various points : that in the one the power of vision was not wholly destroyed, and that it would be restored if the obstacles were removed ; in the other, that the joints which had become diseased might be renovated, if a healing power were applied ; such perad venture was the
1 It is not clear that Tacitus placed any faith in this extraordinary story. Voltaire, indeed, seems to be the only writer who has en- deavored to establish the miraculous cure. He says: "De toutes les guerisons miraculeuses, les plus attestees, les plus authentiques, sont celles de cet aveugle a qui 1'Empereur Vespasian rendit la vue, et de ce paralytic auquel il rendit 1'usage de ses membres. Ce n'est pas lui qui cherche a se faire valoir par des prestiges, dont un monarque aff'ermi n'a pas besoin." Voltaire's reason for giving credit to the story is highly unfortunate; for Suetonius expressly says, "Autoritas et quasi majestas qusedam, novo principi deerat." See Suetonius, Life of Ves- pasian, s 7.
2 In case of sickness, it was the custom of the common people, by the advice of the Egyptian priests, to abstain from food, and lie in the temple of Serapis, stretched on the skins of victims slain at the altar. Hence the distempered visions of crazed imaginations, which were con- sidered in the light of inspiration.
3 Suetonius relates the two miracles; but what Tacitus calls a par- alytic hand, he says was a paralytic leg. Life of Vespasian, s. 7.
260 THE HISTORY. [B. iv.
pleasure of the gods, and the emperor was chosen to perform their will. To sum up all, that the glory of accomplishing the cure would be Caesar's, the ridicule of its failure would rest upon the sufferers. Accordingly, under an impression that every thing was within the power of his fortune, and that after what had occurred nothing was incredible, with a cheer- ful countenance himself, and while the multitude that stood by waited the event in all the confidence of anticipated suc- cess, Vespasian executed what was required of him. Imme- diately the hand was restored to its functions, and the light of day shone again to the blind. Persons who were present even now attest the truth of both these transactions, when there is nothing to be gained by falsehood.1
82. After this, Vespasian conceived a deeper desire to visit the sanctuary of Serapis, in order to consult the god about affairs of the empire. He ordered all persons to be excluded from the temple ; and lo, when he entered, and his thoughts were fixed on the deity, he perceived behind him a man of principal note among the Egyptians, named Basilides, whom, at that moment, he knew to be detained by illness at a dis- tance of several days' journey from Alexandria.2 Vespasian inquired of the priests whether Basilides that day had entered the temple. He asked of others whom he met whether he was seen in the city. At length, from messengers whom he dispatched on horseback, he received certain intelligence that Basilides was at that instant of time eighty miles distant from Alexandria. He then concluded that it was a divine vision, and deduced the import of the response from the name of Basilides.3
83. The origin of the god Serapis is a subject hitherto not much discussed by Roman writers ; the account given by the priests of Egypt is as follows : — At the time when Ptolemy, the first of the Macedonian race, who consolidated the power of Egypt, was adding walls and temples and religious institu- tions to the new-built city of Alexandria, a youth of sur- passing grace, and in appearance transcending the human form, presented himself to him in the night, commanding
1 Tacitus wrote his History in the reign of Trajan, when the Vespa- sian or Flavian family was extinct.
8 This account of Vespasian and Basilides is related by SuetoniiB, Life of Vespasian, s. 7.
3 Basilides, from the Greek fiaoiAevc, " a king."
c. 84.] LEGEND OF SERAPIS. 261
him to send some of his most trusty friends into Pontus, to bring from that place his effigy ; that it would be a source of prosperity to his kingdom, and great and glorious would be the country that gave reception to it. In that instant the youth was seen mounting to heaven in a column of fire. Ptolemy, struck with the omen and the marvelous event, laid his visions of the night before the Egyptian priests, the usual interpreters of such things. And as they had no knowledge of Pontus, nor of foreign matters, he asked Timotheus the Athenian, one of the race of the Eumolpidse,1 whom he had invited from Eleusis, to preside over the mysteries of religion, what were those rites and ceremonies, and wrho was the deity alluded to ? Timotheus, upon inquiry of such as had traveled into Pontus, learned that there was in those parts a city called Sinope, and near it a temple celebrated from of old among the neighboring people, sacred to the infernal Jupiter; for there also stood near him a female effigy, which many called Pro- serpina. But Ptolemy, such is the character of despotic kings, easily alarmed, but when his fears had subsided, more eager in pursuit of his pleasures than concerned about relig- ious matters, came by degrees to think nothing about it, and devoted his attention to other objects ; till at length the same form, now more terrific in aspect, and more urgent in his manner, denounced destruction to himself and his kingdom, unless his behests were fulfilled. He then ordered embas- sadors and presents to be dispatched to Scydrothemis the king, who then ruled over the Sinopians, and enjoined them, when about to sail, to repair to the Pythian Apollo. They sailed with favorable winds, and had a quick passage. The answer of the oracle was in explicit terms : " That they should go and bring back the statue of his father, and leave unmoved that of his sister."
84. Having reached Sinope, they delivered the presents, supplications, and instructions of their king to Scydrothemis. Fluctuating in his resolves, one while he dreaded the dis- pleasure of the deity ; again he was alarmed by the menaces of the people, who opposed the request ; ofttimes the gifts and presents of the embassadors moved him ; and after three years had been spent, while these proceedings were going on,
1 The descendants of Eumolpus were the priests of Ceres, and pre sid«d over the Eleusinian mysteries,
262 THE HISTORY. [B. IT
Ptolemy omitted no efforts of zeal, no methods of supplication ; he added to the dignity of his embassadors, increased the number of ships, and augmented the weight of gold. A threatening vision then appeared to Scydrothemis, warning him no longer to impede the appointment of a god. The king, still hesitating, was harassed by a variety of disasters, diseases, tokens of divine vengeance which could not be mis- taken, and daily increasing in severity. He called an assem- bly of the people, and laid before them the orders of the god, the visions of Ptolemy and himself, and the miseries that threatened them. The populace turned away in disgust from their sovereign; envied the Egyptian monarch, trembled for themselves, and beset the temple. Hence a more marvelous report states that the god. of his own motion, quitted the temple, and embarked on board the fleet that lay at the shore ; and, wonderful to relate, they came to land at Alex- andria, on the third day from that time, after measuring so great an expanse of sea. A temple, such as suited a great and opulent city, was built at a place called Rhacotis, where, in ancient times, a temple had been dedicated to Serapis and Isis. Such is the most generally received history of the god Serapis, and his conveyance into Egypt. I am aware that there are those who state that he was brought from Seleucia, a city of Syria, in the reign of that Ptolemy whom the third generation produced ; others assert that he was brought from Memphis, formerly a celebrated city and the pillar of ancient Egypt, by the same Ptolemy. The god himself, on account of his healing art, is by many called ^sculapius ; by others, Osiris, the most ancient deity of the country; and many give him the name of Jupiter, as lord of the universe. But the most maintain that he is Pluto ; either from tokens which are discernible in the deity himself, or by a circuitous process of probable reasoning.
85. As for Domitian and Mucianus, before they reached the foot of the Alps, they received advices of the victory gained in the country of the Treverians. Of this victory the best evidence was afforded by the presence of Valentinus,1 the general of the enemy, who appeared by no means cast down, but exhibited in his looks the determined spirit that had animated him in the field. He was heard in his defense, for 1 Valentinus, mentioned in c. 71 of this book.
c. 86.] DOMITIAN AT LYONS. 263
the mere object of ascertaining the character of nis mind, and was condemned. While under the hands of the executioner, some one remarked insultingly, that his country was reduced to subjection ; when he replied, that that circumstance con- soled him in his death. But Mucianus now declared, as an idea which occurred to him at the time, what he had long harbored in his breast : " that as by the blessing of the gods the power of the enemy was crushed, it would be hardly be- coming in Domitian, now that the war was brought to the verge of a successful termination, to step in and seize the glory which belonged to another. If the repose of the em- pire, or the safety of the Gauls, were in jeopardy, then Caesar ought to appear in the field ; but the Canninefates and Bata- vians should be delegated to inferior generals. Domitian himself should remain at Lyons, and, at a short distance from the seat of war, dazzle the enemy with the power and auspicious fortune of the princedom : neither condescending to engage in affairs of minor importance, nor wanting when great occasions occurred."
86. His artifices were seen through, but the respect due to his station required that they should not be exposed. Thus they arrived at Lyons, from which place Domitian is believed to have sent secret messengers to sound Cerealis as to whether on his appearance he would place the army and the command in his hands.1 Whether Domitian had it in contemplation, when he thought of this proceeding, to levy war against his father, or to support and strengthen himself against his broth- er Titus, remains uncertain ; for Cerealis, by a judicious mid- dle course, evaded his question, as proceeding from one who in the inexperience of youth desired what was ridiculous. Domitian, seeing himself slighted by older officers, ceased to discharge even those functions of empire which were of limit- ed importance, and which he had been in the habit of exercis- ing; burying himself in the depths of his own reflections, while he exhibited externally a semblance of simplicity and
1 Domitian is praised by Silius Italicus for the ability and conduct with which he ended the Batavian war: —
"At tu transcendens, Germanice, facta tuorifm, Jam puer auricomo performidate Batavo." — Lib. iii. 607.
But Silius Italicus offered the incense of a poet to the reigning prince Cerealis was the general that conquered the Batavian chief.
264 THE HISTORY. [B. v.
modesty, affecting the pursuit of letters and a passion for po- etry1 to vail his real purposes and withdraw himself from the jealousy of his brother, whose dissimilar and milder nature he mistook for its opposite.
BOOK V.
1. IN the beginning of the same year, Titus, who was ap- pointed by his father to complete the subjugation of Judaea, and who, when both were no higher than subjects, had gained a reputation for military talents,2 now exercised a more ex- tended influence, and shone with augmented lustre ; the prov- inces and armies emulating each other in their zeal and at- tachment to him. Titus, on his part, that he might be thought deserving of still higher distinctions, appeared in all the splen- dor of external embellishments, and showed himself a prompt and resolute soldier, challenging respect by courtesy and affa- bility; mixing with the common soldiers when engaged in the works and on their march, without impairing the dignity of the general. He succeeded to the command of three le- gions in Judaea, the fifth, the tenth, and the fifteenth ;3 who had long served under Vespasian. To these he added the twelfth, from Syria, and the third and twenty-second, withdrawn from Alexandria. He was attended, besides, by twenty cohorts of the allies, and eight squadrons of horse, with the two kings Agrippa and Sohemus,4 and auxiliaries from Antiochus. He had also a band of Arabs, formidable in themselves, and harboring toward the Jews the bitter animosity usually subsisting between neighboring nations. Many persons had come from Rome and Italy, each impelled
1 Domitian is highly praised by Quintilian for his love of literature, lib. x. 1 ; and also by Silius Italicus, lib. iii. 618. Suetonius agrees with Tacitus: "Simulavit et ipse modestiam, imprimisque poetica studium, tarn insuetum antea sibi, quam postea spretum et abjectum." —Suetonius, Life of Domitian, a. 2.
8 Titus served "with his father in Britain, in Germany, and Judaea — Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, s. 4; and Titus, s. 4.
J See an account of the army under Titus; Josephus, Bell. Jud lib. v. 6. * See Hist. ii. 81.
c. 2.] FABLED ORIGIN OF THE JEWS. 265
by the hopes he had of preoccupying the favor of a prince who had not yet chosen his friends. With this force Titus, advanc- ing into the enemy's country in order of battle, by his scouts diligently exploring the motions of the enemy, and prepared for action, formed a camp a short distance from Jerusalem.
2. Being now about to relate the catastrophe of that cele- brated city, it seems fitting that I should unfold the particu- lars of its origin. The Jews,1 we are told, escaping from the island of Crete, at the time when Saturn was driven from his throne by the violence of Jupiter, settled in the extreme parts of Libya. Their name is adduced as a proof. Ida, it is alleged, is a well-known mountain in Crete : the neighboring Idaeans, by an addition to the name to adapt it to the lan- guage of barbarians, are ordinarily called Juda3ans.2 Some say that the population, overflowing throughout Egypt, in the reign of Isis, was relieved by emigration into the neigh- boring countries, under the conduct of Hierosolymus and Juda. Many state that they are the progeny of the ^Ethiopians,3 who were impelled by fear and detestation to change their abode in the reign of King Cepheus. There are those who report that they are a heterogeneous band from Assyria,4 a
1 This account of the origin of the Jewish nation has been the sub- ject of much criticism. The commentators are surprised that the his- torian should not have thought it worth his while to gain the most exact information concerning a people whose final ruin he was to re- late. That neglect is still more surprising when it is considered that, in the reign of Trajan, when Tacitus published his work, the page of Jewish history was fully disclosed, and accessible to the curiosity of every Roman. Josephus lived at Rome, under Vespasian, Titus, and Doraitian ; and under the last of those emperors his History of the War in Judsea was published.
a This was the fabulous tradition of the Greeks, who deduced all things from Jupiter and Saturn, as the Romans afterward from Troy and the Trojans.
3 The Ethiopians, according to Pliny the elder (lib. vi. 29), were in remote ages a great and powerful people. They held Egypt in sub- jection, and were the founders of an empire in Syria. Josephus, in his Antiquities, has a tradition, that Moses commanded armies in Ethio- pia. Hence the Jews were said to have issued from Ethiopia.
* We have in this passage something that borders on the truth. Abraham went forth from Ur of the Chaldees. (Gen. xi. 31.) He went into Egypt to sojourn there. (Gen. xii. 10.) The history of his pos- terity in Egypt, and the journey into Syria and the land of Canaan, clearly prove the descent of the Jews from Abraham, and throw a light upon what our author says of their Assyrian origin.
VOL. II.— M
266 THE HISTORY. [B. v.
people who, being destitute of a country, made themselves masters of a portion of Egypt, and subsequently settled in cities of their own in the Hebrew territories, and the parts bordering on Syria. Others, ascribing to the Jews an illus- trious origin, say that the Solymi,1 a nation celebrated in the poetry of Homer, called the city which they built Hierosolyma, from their own name.
3. Very many authors agree in recording that a pestilential disease, which disfigured the body in a loathsome manner,2 spreading over Egypt, Bocchoris, at that time king, repairing to the oracle of Jupiter Hammon,3 in quest of a remedy, was directed to purifiy his kingdom, and exterminate that race of men as being detested by the gods: that a mass of people thus searched out and collected together were in a wild and barren desert4 abandoned to their misery, when, all the rest being bathed in tears and torpid with despair, Moses, one of the exiles, admonished them not to look for any aid from gods or men, being deserted of both, but to trust themselves to him as a heaven-commissioned guide, by whose aid already they had warded off the miseries that beset them. They assented, and commenced a venturous journey, not knowing whither they went. But nothing distressed them so much as want of water ;5 and now they lay stretched through all the plains, ready to expire, when a herd of wild asses, returning from pasture, went up a rock shaded with a grove. Moses followed them, and forming his conjecture by the herbage that grew upon the ground, opened copious springs of water.6
1 Homer speaks of the Solymi ; but these were a people of Pisidia, or rather of Ethiopia, and quite distinct from the Jews.
a Justin mentions this epidemic distemper, and calls it "scabiem ac vitiliginem :" that is, the leprosy. (Justin, lib. xxxvi. 2.) This would seem to be the murrain spoken of Exod. ix. 1-3, 10. That the passage through the Red Sea should be omitted by Tacitus, Brotier observes can not be a matter of wonder, since it 's related even by Josephus in a manner that adds no authenticity to the miracle.
3 The oracle of Jupiter Hammon is mentioned by Pliny, lib. v. 9 : " In Cyrenaica Hammonis oraculum, fidei inclitse." See also Pompo- nius Mela, lib. i. 8.
* In the plains of Arabia.
6 " And they went three days in the wilderness, and found no wa- ter." Exod. xv. 22.
' This discovery of springs in a shady grove calls to mind what Moses tells us: "And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees." (Exod. xv. 27.) Wharo
o. 4.] THE MOSAIC INSTITUTIONS. 267
This was a relief; and pursuing their journey for six days without intermission, on the seventh, having expelled the na- tives, they took possession of a country where they built their city, and dedicated their temple.1
4. In order to bind the people to him for the time to come, Moses prescribed to them a new form of worship, and opposed to those of all the world beside. Whatever is held sacred by the Romans, with the Jews is profane : and what in other nations is unlawful and impure, with them is permitted. The figure of the animal through whose guidance they slaked their thirst, and were enabled to terminate their wanderings, is consecrated in the sanctuary of their temple ;2 while in con- tempi of Jupiter Hammon,3 they sacrifice a ram. The ox, worshiped in Egypt for the god Apis, is slain as a victim by the Jews. They abstain from the flesh of swine, from the recollection of the loathsome affliction which they had for- merly suffered from leprosy,4 to which that animal is subject. The famine, with which they were for a long time distressed, is still commemorated by frequent fastings ;s and the Jewish bread, made without leaven,6 is a standing evidence of their
Tacitus found the incident of the troop of wild asses does not appear; but see Gen. xxxvi. 24. The story was probably adopted in the nar- rative, to prepare the reader for the consecration of the animal, as mentioned in the following chapter.
1 Brotier observes, that a journey into Palestine, through the des- erts of Arabia, could not be performed in six days, as it appears, in the Memoirs of the French Missionaries in the Levant, that Father Sicard went over that whole tract of country, and did not reach Mount Sinai till the thirtieth day. Brotier adds, that in what Tacitus relates, something like the truth is still to be found, since we are told that Joshua and the children of Israel went round the city of Jericho once, and continued so to do six days, and on the seventh day, which was the Sabbath, entered the city ; and, having extirpated the inhabitants, became masters of the country, where David built a city, and Solomon dedicated a temple. See Josh. vi. 3, 20, 21.
2 This fable is refuted by Tacitus himself, who says in the following section, " Xulla simulacra urbibus suis, nedum templis sinunt." See also c. 9 of this book.
3 The horned head of Jupiter Hammon is often found on coins of the Cyrenseans.
* Described in Levit. xiii. xiv.
6 There was scarce a month in the Jewish calendar without fast- days; but they were instituted to record signal events, not in com- memoration of the famine in the desert.
6 The unleavened bread, mentioned in Exod. xii. 8, It was not, as
268 THE HISTORY. [B. v
seizure of corn. They say that they instituted a rest on the seventh day because that day brought them rest from their toils ; but afterward, charmed with the pleasures of idleness, the seventh year1 also was devoted to sloth. Others allege that this is an honor rendered to Saturn, either because their religious institutes were handed down by the Idaeans, who, we are informed, were expelled from their country with Saturn, and were the founders of the nation ; or else because, of the seven stars by which men are governed, the star of Saturn moves in the highest orbit, and exercises the greatest influ- ence ; and most of the heavenly bodies complete their effects and course by the number seven.
5. These rites and ceremonies, howsoever introduced, have the support of antiquity. Their other institutions, which have been extensively adopted, are tainted with execrable knavery ; for the scum and refuse of other nations, renouncing the religion of their country, were in the habit of bringing gifts and offerings to Jerusalem, — hence the wealth and grandeur of the state ; and also because faith is inviolably observed, and compassion is cheerfully shown toward each other, while the bitterest animosity is harbored against all others. They eat and lodge with one another only; and though a people of unbridled lust, they admit no intercourse with women from other nations. Among themselves no re- straints are imposed.2 That they may be known by a dis- tinctive mark, they have established the practice of circum- cision.3 All who embrace their faith submit to the same operation. The first thing instilled into their proselytes is to despise the gods, to abjure their country, to set at naught
Tacitus insinuates, their common food: it was, as we read in Deut. xvi., the bread of affliction, which they were to eat for seven days in mem- ory of the day when they came forth out of the land of Egypt.
1 The seventh year was also a year of rest, not for the sake of slug- gish inactivity, but in consequence of an express command, Levit. xxv. 3, 4. There was still another sabbath of more importance, the Jubilee; see Levit. xxv. 8, 10, 12. Josephus says that Julius Caesar, when he imposed an annual tribute on the Jewish nation, made an exception of the seventh year, which was called the Sabbath, when the people neither reaped nor sowed. See Csesar's decree, Josephus, Ant. xiv. 10.
3 The falseness of this statement is evident from the strictness of the enactments of the Jewish law.
3 Circumcision is called a token of the covenant. Gen. xvii. 2.
c. 5.] JEWISH WORSHIP. 269
parents, children, brothers. They show concern, however, for the increase of their population, for it is forbidden to put any of their brethren to death j1 and the souls of such as die in battle, or by the hand of the executioner, are thought to be immortal. Hence their desire of procreation, and con- tempt of death. The bodies of the deceased they choose rath- er to bury than burn, following in this the Egyptian custom ;2 with whom they also agree in their attention to the dead, and their persuasion as to the regions below,3 but are op- posed to them in their notions about celestial things. The Egyptians worship various animals and images, the work of men's hands ; the Jews acknowledge one God only, and con- ceive of him by the mind alone, condemning, as impious, all who, with perishable materials, wrought into the human shape, form representations of the Deity. That Being, they say, is above all, and everlasting, neither susceptible of like- ness nor subject to decay. In consequence, they allow no resemblance of him in their city, much less in their temples. In this way they do not flatter their kings, nor show their respect for the Caesars. But because their priests performed in concert with the pipe and timbrels, were crowned with ivy, and a golden vine4 was found in the temple, some have sup- posed that Bacchus, the conqueror of the East, was the object of their adoration ; but the Jewish institutions have no con- formity whatever to the rites of Bacchus. For Bacchus has
1 The Romans had power of life and death over their own children, and were not willing to be encumbered with a numerous issue.
3 It is certain that the Hebrews interred their dead, since Abraham's burying-place is frequently mentioned in Scripture. That the Egyp- tians buried their dead, is plain from their usage of embalming them. It is probable that the practice of burning the bodies of the deceased sprung originally from a design to prevent any outrage to the bodies from their enemies. Sylla, among the Romans, was the first of his family who ordered his body to be burned, lest the barbarities which he had exercised on the remains of Marius should be retaliated on his own. Cicero says: " Proculdubio cremandi ritus a Grsecis venit, nam sepultum legimus Numam ad Anienis fontem, totique genti Cornelias solemne fuisse sepulchrum usque ad Syllam, qui primus ex ea genta crematus est." — De Legibus, lib. 2.
3 The Egyptians believed in a state of future rewards and punish- ments. See Diodorus Siculus, lib. i. 51.
* No mention is made in any part of the Bible of Jewish priests crowned with ivy. A vine wrought in gold, of prodigious weight, is mentioned by Josephus as a magnificent ornament. See Ant. xv. 11.
270 THE HISTORY. [B. v.
ordained festive and jocund rites, while the usages of the Jews are dull and repulsive.
6. Their land is bounded and their borders are formed on the east by Arabia;1 on the southern confine lies Egypt; on the west Phrenicia and the sea : they command an extended range northward on the side of Syria. The natives are ro- bust, and patient of labor. Rain is seldom seen, and the soil is rich and fertile. The productions of the earth are such as are usually found with us, and besides them palms and the balm-tree flourish in great luxuriance. The palm groves are beautiful and lofty ; the balm is of moderate size. As the branches successively swell, if you apply the force of iron the veins shrink, but they may be made to discharge by the frag- ment of a stone or by a shell ; the fluid is employed as a medicine. The principal mountain which this country rears aloft is Libanus, which, astonishing to be related, in a climate intensely hot, is kept cool by its shady groves, and affords a secure retreat for snows.2 From this mountain the river Jor- dan3 springs and receives its supply of waters. The stream does not discharge itself into the sea ; it runs into two differ- ent lakes,4 without mixing with them, and is absorbed into a third. The last of these lakes is of immense circuit, resem- bling a sea, but more nauseous in taste, and, by the offensive- ness of its odor, pestiferous to the neighborhood. The wind does not stir its surface, nor can fish or water-fowl endure it. The equivocal waters sustain things thrown upon them as if they were thrown upon a solid material ; those who are able to swim and those who are not are equally upborne.5 At a stated season of the year, the lake throws up bitumen.6
1 The part known as Arabia Petrsea and Deserta.
2 The snow of Lebanon is mentioned, Jer. xviii. 14.
* See a description of this river, Pliny, lib. v. 15.
* The first of the lakes is Samachonites, mentioned by Josephus ; the second, Cinnereth, by Joshua (the Lake of Gennesaret, or Sea of Tiberias); the third, Asphaltus, called by Milton the Asphaltic Pool, by others, Mare Mortuum, from the immobility of its waters. It is said by Josephus to be seventy miles in length, and in some places twelve or thirteen in breadth.
* Pliny says of this lake, " Asphaltites nihil prseter bitumen gignit; unde nomen: tauri camelique fluitant. Inde fama nihil in eo mergi." (Pliny, lib. v. 16.) It is related by Josephus, that Vespasian, in order to make an experiment, ordered some prisoners, with their hands tied behind their backs, to be thrown into the lake ; when they all emerged and floated on the surface. See Josephus, Bell. Jud. lib. v. 8.
6 Brotier says, that the slime, or bitumen, by the Greeks called
c. 7.] DESTRUCTION OF THE CITIES OF THE PLALX. 271
Experience, the mother of all useful arts, has taught men the method of gathering it. It is a liquid substance, naturally of a black hue, and by sprinkling vinegar upon it, it floats on the surface in a condensed mass, which those whose business it is lay hold of with the hand, and draw to the upper parts of the vessel ; thence it continues to flow in and load the vessel, till you cut it off. Nor could you cut it off with brass or iron. It shrinks from the touch of blood, or a garment stained with menstrual evacuations. Such is the account transmitted to us by ancient authors ; but persons acquainted with the coun- try record that waving masses of bitumen are driven toward the shore, or drawn by the hand ; and when by the vapor from the land, or the heat of the sun, they have dried, they are cut asunder, like wood or stone, by wedges, or the stroke of the hatchet.
7. At a small distance from the lake are plains, which tradition says were formerly a fruitful country, and occupied by populous cities,1 but had been destroyed by thunder-bolts. Traces still remain, we are told, and that the soil, in appear- ance parched with fire, has lost the power of bringing forth fruits. For all things, whether spontaneously produced or planted by the hand of man, whether they grow to the extent of the blade only and the flower, or their ordinary form, blackened and unsubstantial, crumble into ashes. For my part, as I would admit that cities once famous have been destroyed by fire from heaven, so am I of opinion that the earth is tainted by the exhalation from the lake, the superin- cumbent air contaminated, and that, therefore, the young plants of corn, and the fruits of autumn, wither away, the soil and air alike being infected. There is also a river named Belus,2 which glides into the Judsean sea ; sands are found in
asphalte, is thrown up on the surface of the waters during the au- tumn. "The vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea, was full of slime- pits." (Gen. xiv. 3, 10.) And this concretion, after floating for some time, is driven by the wind to the shore, where it is carefully collected by the Arabs.
1 The cities were Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim. (Gen. xiv. 2.) "The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire, and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain." — Gen. xix. 24, 25.
a Belus, a river of Galilee, running from the foot of Mount Carmel, and emptying itself into the Mediterranean. Strabo says that the whole coast has a sand fit for glass, but that the sand of the River Belus is the best sort. Here the art of making glass was first discovered. See Pliny, lib. v. 19.
272 THE HISTORY. [B. v.
the neighborhood of its mouth, which, mixed with nitre, are fused into glass. The shore is of moderate extent, and affords an exhaustless supply to those who dig it out.
8. A great portion of Judeea consists of scattered villages. They have likewise towns. Jerusalem is the capital of the nation : there stands a temple of immense wealth ; the city is inclosed by the first fortifications you meet with ; the royal palace by the second ; the temple by the inmost. A Jew is not admitted beyond the portal ; all, except the priests, are excluded from the threshold. While the Assyrians, and after them the Medes and Persians, were masters of the East, the Jews, of all the nations then held in subjection, were deemed the vilest. After the Macedonian monarchy was established, King Antiochus having formed a plan to abolish their super- stition, and introduce the manners and institutions of Greece, was prevented by a war with the Parthians (for Arsaces had then revolted) from reforming this execrable nation. In proc- ess of time, when the Macedonians were by degrees enfeebled, when the Parthian state was in its infancy, and the Romans were at a distance, the Jews seized the opportunity to erect a monarchy of their own.1 Their kings were soon deposed by the caprice and levity of the people ; but having recovered the throne by force of arms, and having dared to drive citizens into exile, demolish cities, put to death brothers, wives, and parents, and all the cruelties usual with despotic kings, they encour- aged the superstition, because they took to themselves the Dig- nity of the priesthood as a support of their power.
9. Pompey was the first Roman that subdued the Jews, and by right of conquest entered their temple.2 Thenceforward it became generally known that the habitation was empty,
1 Justin informs us, that the power of Demetrius I. and his succes- sors, kings of Syria, not being supported with vigor, the Jews took their opportunity to shake off a foreign yoke, and assert their liberty. (See Justin, lib. xxxvi. 1, 3.) In confirmation of this, we read in Mac- cabees a treaty between Demetrius and Simon the high-priest, B.C. 143 ; and thus "the yoke of the heathen was taken awav from Israel, and the people of Israel began to write in their instruments and contracts, In the first year of Simon the high-priest, the governor and leadei of the Jews." — 1 Mace. xiii. 41, 42.
2 Pompey made himself master of Jerusalem, B.C. 63. He entered the Temple and the Holy of Holies ; but, according to Josephus (Ant. xi v. 4), abstained from plunder, content with imposing an annual tribute. See Florus, lib. iii. 5 ; and Cicero, pro Flacco, 28.
c. 9.] VARIOUS RULERS OF THE JEWS. 273
and the sanctuary unoccupied, no representation of the Deity being found within it.1 The walls of the city were leveled to the ground, the Temple remained. In the civil wars that afterward shook the empire, when the eastern provinces fell to the lot of Mark Antony, Pacorus,2 the Parthian king, made himself master of Judaea ; but was, in a short time after, put to death byVentidius, arid his forces retired beyond the Eu- phrates. Caius Sosius once more reduced the Jews to obedi- ence. Herod3 was placed on the throne by Mark Antony, and Augustus enlarged his privileges. On the death of Her- od, a man of the name of Simon,4 without waiting for the authority of the emperor, seized the sovereignty. He, how- ever, was punished for his ambition by Quinctilius Varus, the governor of Syria ; and the nation, reduced to submission, was divided in three portions between the sons of Herod. During the reign of Tiberius things remained in a state of tranquillity. Afterward, being ordered by Caligula to place his statue in the Temple, the Jews, rather than submit, had recourse to arms. This commotion the death of Caligula ex- tinguished. Claudius, the Jewish kings being either dead or their dominion reduced to narrow limits, committed the prov- ince of Judaea5 to Roman knights, or his freedmen. One of these, Antonius Felix,6 exercised the prerogatives of a king with the spirit of a slave, rioting in cruelty and licentiousness. He married Drusilla, the granddaughter of Antony and Cleo- patra, that he might be grandson-in-law of Mark Antony, who was the grandfather of Claudius.7
1 This passage affords another proof that the effigy of an ass was not consecrated in the Temple, as mentioned by Tacitus, c. 4 of this book.
3 Brotier observes, that Pacorus was son of Orodes, king of Parthia. He was sent by his father to wage war in Judasa, B.C. 40; and in the following year defeated and put to death by Ventidius, the general of Mark Antony Josephus, Ant. xiv. 13-15.
3 Herod was raised to the throne by Mark Antony, B.C. 40, and his title was confirmed by a decree of the senate three years after. Jose- phus, Ant. xiv. 26, 28.
* The Simon mentioned in this place must not be confounded with the chief of that name, who was taken prisoner at the siege of Jeru- salem, and afterward executed at Rome.
5 See Annals, xii. 23.
6 Felix was brother to Pallas, the favorite freedman and minister of tie Emperor Claudius. Annals, xii. 54. Suetonius, Life of Claudius, s. 28
7 Claudius was son of Antonia, the daughter of Mark Antony.
M 2
274 THE HISTORY. [B.T.
10. The patience, however, of the Jews held out to the time of Cassius Floras,1 the procurator. Under him a war broke out. Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, endeavored to crush the revolt. He fought some obstinate battles, most of them unsuccessfully. After his death, which happened ei- ther by destiny or from disappointment and vexation, Vespa- sian, who was sent by Nero, succeeded to the command. By his character, the good fortune that attended his arms, and with the advantage of excellent officers, in two summer cam- paigns2 he overran the whole country, and made himself mas- ter of all the cities except Jerusalem. The following year, which was devoted to civil war, passed in tranquillity so far as concerned the Jews. The peace of Italy restored, the care of foreign affairs returned. It inflamed his resentment that the Jews were the only nation that had not submitted. At the same time it was deemed politic for Titus to remain at the head of the armies, with a view to any events or casualties that might arise under the new reign. Accordingly, the prince, as already mentioned, encamped under the walls of Jerusalem, and displayed his legions in the face of the enemy.3
11. The Jews formed in order of battle under the very walls, determined, if successful, to push forward ; and, if obliged to give ground, secure of a retreat. The cavalry, with the light-armed cohorts, sent against them, fought with doubtful success. Soon the enemy gave way, and on the following days engaged in frequent skirmishes before the gates, till at length, after a series of losses, they were forced to retire within the walls. The Romans resolved now to carry the place by storm. To linger before it till famine compelled a surrender, appeared indeed unworthy cf them, and the soldiers demanded the post of danger, some from courage, many from hardihood and the hope of gaining re- wards. Rome, her splendors and her pleasures, kept flitting before the eyes of Titus himself; and if Jerusalem did not fall at once, he looked upon it as obstructing his enjoyments. But Jerusalem, standing upon an eminence, naturally difficult of approach, was rendered still more impregnable by redoubt*
1 The Jewish war, occasioned by the misconduct of Cassius Florus, began A.D. 65.
3 Vespasian's rapid success against the Jews was A.D. 67 and 68.
9 See Josephus, Bell. Jud. v. 2. Titus's first camp was near the Monnt of Olives.
c. 12.] FORTIFICATIONS OF JERUSALEM. 275
and bulwarks by which even places on a level plain would have been competently fortified. Two hills that rose to a prodigious height were inclosed by walls constructed so as in some places to project in angles, in others to curve inward. In consequence, the flanks of the besiegers were exposed to the enemy's weapons. The extremities of the rock were abrupt and craggy ; and the towers were built, upon the mountain, sixty feet high ; in the low ground, a hundred and twenty feet. These works presented a spectacle altogether astonishing. To the distant eye they seemed to be of equal elevation. Within the city there were other fortifications inclosing the palace of the kings, and the tower of Antonia, with its conspicuous pin- nacles, so called by Herod, in honor of Mark Antony.
12. The Temple1 itself was in the nature of a citadel, in- closed in walls of its own, and more elaborate and massy than the rest. The very porticoes that surrounded it were a capi- tal defense. A perennial spring supplied the place with wa- ter. Subterraneous caverns were scooped out in the mount- ains, and there were basins and tanks as reservoirs of rain- water. It was foreseen by the founders of the city that the manners and institutions of the nation, so repugnant to the rest of mankind, would be productive of frequent wars ; hence every kind of provision against a siege, howsoever protracted ; and exposed as they had been to the successful assault of Pom- pey, their fears and experience had taught them many expe- dients. On the other hand, having purchased the privilege of raising fortifications through the venality of the Claudian times, they constructed such walls in a period of peace as showed they had an eye to war;2 while their numbers were augmented by a conflux of people from every quarter, and from the overthrow of other cities ; for all the most indomi- table spirits took refuge with them, and, by consequence, they lived in a state of greater dissension. They had three armies, and as many generals. The outward walls, which were of the widest extent, were defended by Simon : John, otherwise called Bargioras,3 guarded the middle precinct; and Eleazar the
1 For a description of the Temple, see Josephus, Bell. Jud. v. 5.
2 Pompey had destroyed the outward walls of Jerusalem, as men- tioned in c. 9 of this book. The fortifications we find were made stronger than ever. See Josephus, Bell. Jud. v. 4.
3 There is an error here, either of the transcribers, or of Tacitus himself. Simon was the son of Gioras; John, of Levi.
276 THE HISTORY. [B. v.
Temple. The two former were strong in the number of men, the latter in situation. But battles, plots, and burnings oc- curred among themselves, and a large quantity of grain was consumed by fire. After a short time, John, sending a band of assassins under color of performing a sacrifice,1 to cut off Eleazar and his party, gained possession of the Temple. From that time the citizens separated into two factions ; and in this state they continued till, the Romans approaching, an enemy without produced unanimity within.
13. Prodigies had occurred which that race, enslaved to superstition, but opposed to religion, held it unlawful, either by vows or victims, to expiate. Embattled armies were seen rushing to the encounter,2 with burnished arms, and the whole Temple appeared to blaze with fire that flashed from the clouds. Suddenly the portals of the sanctuary were flung wide open, and a voice, in more than mortal accents, was heard to announce that the gods were going forth ; at the same time, a prodigious bustle, as of persons taking their departure ; occurrences which few interpreted as indicative of impending woe: the majority were deeply impressed with a persuasion that it was contained in the ancient writings of the priests, that it would come to pass at that very time, that the East would renew its strength, and they that should go forth from Judaea should be rulers of the world.3 Mysterious words, which foreshowed Vespasian and Titus : but the people, ac- cording to the usual course of human fondness, interpreting this consummation of destiny as referring to themselves, were not induced to abandon their error even by affliction. We learn that the number of the besieged of every age, male and female, was six hundred thousand;4 all that were capable bore arms, and more than could be expected out of that number had the fortitude to do so. The devotion of the women was equal to that of the men ; and if they must needs move their seat, and quit the habitation of their fathers, they dreaded to live more than to die. Such was the city, such the nation, against which ^itus Caesar determined to act
1 See Josephus, Bell. Jud. v. 6.
2 For these prodigies, see Josephus, Bell. Jud. vi. 5.
3 This prophecy, referring to the spread of the Christian religion, is applied by Josephus also to Vespasian. Bell. Jud. vi. 5.
4 Josephus says that eleven hundred thousand perished during the siege. Bell. Jud. vi. 9.
c. 15.] SKIRMISH BETWEEN CIVILIS AND CEREALIS. 277
by means of mounds and mantelets, since the nature of the lo- cality was adverse to assault and sudden attacks. The legions had each of their several duties assigned them, and there \vis a cessation of fighting until all the engines and appliances for reducing cities, invented by ancient or modern genius, were prepared.
14. As for Civilis, after the check he had received in the country of the Treverians, having recruited his army by sup- plies in Germany, he fixed his station in the Old Camp, de- pending on the strength of the place, and that the recollec- tion of the exploits already performed there might increase the confidence of the barbarians. Cerealis followed him thither, with an army doubled by the junction of the second, sixth, and fourteenth legions; and the cohorts and cavalry, which had some time before received orders to come up to his assistance, had quickened their motions after the victory. Nei- ther of the commanders was an advocate for slow operations ; but the extent of the plains, naturally marshy, kept them apart; and Cerealis had increased their moisture by erect- ing a mole athwart the Khine, by which obstruction the wa- ter was thrown back and spread over the adjacent regions. Such was the nature of the place, deceptive from the unknown variations in the depth, and unfavorable to us, inasmuch as the Roman soldiers wore heavy armor, and were fearful of getting out of their depth ; the Germans, on the contrary, ac- customed to rivers, were enabled to keep their heads above water, from the lightness of their arms and the height of their persons.
15. The Batavians therefore endeavoring to provoke a bat- tle, the most forward of our men commenced an engage- ment. A scene of confusion followed, when arms and horses as well disappeared in the deeper parts of the marshes. The Germans, who knew the shallow places, skipped about with ease and safety, for the most part declining an attack in front, but wheeling round upon our flank and rear. Nor was the contest carried on at close quarters as in a regular en- gagement upon land, but as if it were a naval combat the men shifted about amidst the waters, or if any firm footing presented itself, there grappling with their whole bodies at liberty, the wounded with the unwounded, those who could swim with those who could not, were inextricably engaged in
278 THE HISTORY. fR v.
mutual destruction. The carnage, however, was not propor- tioned to the confusion, because the Romans, not venturing to quit the marsh, returned to their camp. The issue of this encounter stimulated both the generals, but with opposite motives, to expedite a decisive engagement; Civilis to fol- low up his good fortune, Cerealis to efface the stain of failure. The Germans were flushed with their success, the Romans were goaded on by a sense of shame. The night was spent by the barbarians in songs and shouting ; by our men in rage and menaces.
16. Next day Cerealis formed his entire front with his cav- alry and auxiliary cohorts ; the legions were posted behind them. He reserved for himself a chosen band, to act as oc- casion might require. Civilis formed not in an extended line, but in platoons. On the right stood the Batavians and Gu- gernians; the left was occupied by the Germans, with the Rhine on their flank. No general harangue was made to ei- ther army, the commanders on both sides exhorting their men as they came up to them. Cerealis called to mind the estab- lished renown of the Roman name, and their victories of an- cient as well as modern date. " In order to extirpate forever a faithless, dastard, vanquished enemy, it was necessary to go and inflict the punishment due to his guilt, rather than to fight with him. In the late engagement they were inferior in num- ber, and yet the Germans, the bravest of the enemy's troops, fled before them. There remained some still who in their minds bore the memory of their flight, and on their backs the marks of wounds." He next applied to the legions the incite- ments peculiarly suited to each. The fourteenth he called the conquerors of Britain ; the example of the sixth, he said, raised Galba to the imperial dignity. The soldiers of the second, in that battle for the first time were to consecrate their new ban- ners and their new eagle. From the legions he passed to the German army, and, with hands outstretched, called upon them to redeem by the blood of the enemy their own bank of the Rhine, their own camp. The acclamations were the heartier of all those, who either after a long peace were eager for war, or from weariness of war longed for peace, and who antici- pated rewards and tranquillity for the future.
17. Nor did Civilis, when he had formed his troops, omit to address them, appealing to the ground whereon they stood
c. 18.1 BATTLE ON THE BANKS OF THE RHINE. 279
as the witness of their valor. " The Batavians and the Ger- mans," he said, " were standing on the monuments of their own fame, treading on the ashes and bones of legions. The Romans, whichever way they turned their eyes, had nothing before them but memorials of captivity and defeat. They ought not to be discouraged at the unfavorable turn of the battle in the Treverian territory ; their own victory on that occasion stood in the way of the Germans, while, neglecting to use their weapons, they encumbered their hands with plunder. From that moment they met with nothing but success, while the Romans had had to struggle with every difficulty. Whatever provision ought to be made by the skill of a general, had been made — the fields were inundated, while they themselves were aware of their nature, and swamps formed which would prove fatal to their enemies. The Rhine and the gods of Germany were before their eyes, under whose protection he bade them apply themselves to the battle, mind- ful of their wives, their parents, and their country. That day would either rank them among the most renowned of their ancestors, or hand them down to posterity with infamy." When his words had been applauded by the clangor of arms and dancing (such is their custom),1 they commenced the battle by a discharge of stone balls and other missiles ; but our men did not enter the fens, though the Germans annoyed them for the purpose of drawing them forward.
18. Their store of darts exhausted, and the battle kindling, the enemy charged with greater determination. With their long spears and towering persons, they were able at a distance to pierce the Romans, who were tossed to and fro, and could not keep their footing. A solid mass of the Bructerians, in the form of a wedge, swam across from the mole which, as I have stated, had been extended into the Rhine. In that quarter the Romans were thrown into disorder, and the auxil- iary cohorts began to give way, when the legions advanced to sustain the fight, and checking the impetuous career of the enemy, the battle was restored to an equal footing. In that moment a Batavian deserter came up to Cerealis, and assured him that the enemy might be attacked in the rear, if some cavalry were sent round the extremity of the fen. The ground, he said, was in that part firm, and the Gugernians 1 See Manners of the Germans, c. 11.
280 THE HISTORY. [3. v.
who guarded that quarter were not on the alert. Two squad- rons of horse, sent with the deserter, surrounded the un- suspecting enemy ; and the event being announced by a shout, the legions at the same time bore down in front. The bar- barians gave way, and fled toward the Rhine. Had the fleet been diligent in pursuing them, that day would have closed the war. The approach of night, and a' sudden storm of rain, hindered even the cavalry from following them up.
19. Next day, the fourteenth legion was sent into the upper province to Annius Gallus ;J Cerealis made up the deficiency thus occasioned in his army by the tenth from Spain. Civilis was reinforced by the Chaucians ; but without attempting to take active measures in defense of the Batavian cities.2 After carrying off whatever was portable, he set fire to the rest, and retired to the island ; aware that the Romans could not follow him without constructing a bridge, and for that purpose they had no boats in readiness; nay, he even demolished the mole formed by Drusus Germanicus,3 and by dissipating the ob- struction caused the river to pursue its rapid course toward Gaul. The river being thus as it were swept away, its dimin- ished stream made the space between the island and Germany assume the form of an uninterrupted continent. Tutor also and Classicus passed over the Rhine, with a hundred and thirteen Treverian senators.4 Alpinus Montanus, the deputy sent, as above mentioned,5 from Cremona by Antonius Primus to the states of Gaul, was one of the number. He was ac- companied by his brother Decimus Alpinus. At the same, time, the rest of his adherents exerted themselves in collecting troops among those nations that delighted in dangerous enter- prises, by exciting compassion, and by gifts.
20. Arid so great weje the means of prosecuting the war still left, that Civilis, dividing his army into four parts, attacked on the same day the Roman cohorts, the cavalry, and the legions ; the tenth legion at Arenacum ; the second at Batavodurum ; and the auxiliaries in their intrenchrnents
1 Anuius Gallus has been mentioned, Hist. iv. 98.
3 These towns lay between the Meuse (Mosa) and the Rhine, sup- posed to be Gennep, Cleves, and Nimeguen.
3 For the bank raised by Drusus, see Annals, xiii. 63.
* We have seen a senate and magistrates among the Frisians, Annals, xi. 19.
5 See Hist. iii. 35; iv. 31.
c. 21.] ENGAGEMENTS AT GRINNES AND VADA. 281
at Grinnes and Vada. In this enterprise, Civilis headed one of the divisions ; Verax, his sister's son, led the second ; Clas- sicus and Tutor had their separate commands : nor in all their attempts did they act in confidence of success ; but where much was hazarded, the issue in some quarter might be prosperous. They knew that Cerealis was not an officer of the strictest caution ; and therefore hoped that, while he was distracted by different tidings, hastening from one post to another, he might be intercepted on his march. The party destined to storm the quarters of the tenth legion, judging it an enterprise of too much danger, were content with surpris- ing such of the soldiers as had gone out of the camp, and were occupied in hewing wood. In this attack, the prafect of the camp, five principal centurions, and a few soldiers, were cut to pieces. The rest took shelter within the intrenchments. Meanwhile at Batavodurum they exerted themselves to de- stroy a bridge which the Romans had in part constructed over the river ; the troops engaged, but night parted them before the victory was decided.
21. The affairs at Grinnes and Vada were of a more crit- ical character. Civilis led the assault on Grinnes, Classicus that on Vada ; nor could they be checked, the bravest of the troops having fallen in the attempt, and among them Bri- ganticus, at the head of a squadron of horse ; a man, as al- ready stated, distinguished by his fidelity to Rome, and his hostility to Civilis, his uncle.1 But when Cerealis, with a select body of cavalry, came up to their relief, the fortune of the day was changed, and the Germans were sent flying into the river. Civilis, while attempting to stop their flight, was recognized, and assailed with a shower of darts ; but he quit- ted his horse and swam across the river. Verax escaped in the same way : Tutor and Classicus were conveyed away in boats that were brought to the shore for the purpose. The Roman fleet, notwithstanding positive orders, failed again to co-operate with the land forces ; but they were restrained by fear, and the circumstance of the rowers being dispersed on various other duties. It must be admitted that Cerealis did not allow due time for the execution of his orders ; hasty in taking his measures, but eminently successful in their is- sue. Where his conduct was liable to censure, fortune aided 1 See Hist iv. 70.
282 THE HISTORY. [B. v
him ; and, by consequence, discipline fell into neglect with himself and army. Only a few days after, though he had the luck to escape being made a prisoner, he fell under merited censure.
22. Going to Bonna and Novesium occasionally to inspect the camps erecting at those places for the winter-quarters of the legions, he was in the habit of returning with his fleet, his forces proceeding in a disorderly manner, and no atten- tion being paid to the watches. The Germans observed their negligence, and concerted a plan of surprising them. They chose a night overcast with clouds, and, shooting down the river, entered the intrenchments without opposition. They began the carnage with a stratagem ; they cut the cords of the tents, and butchered the men as they lay enveloped in their own dwellings. Another party, in the mean time, sur- prised the fleet, threw grappling instruments on the vessels, and hauled them away. And as they approached in silence to escape discovery, so, when the slaughter was begun, they raised a deafening shout to add to the alarm. Eoused by the wounds inflicted on them, the Romans seek their arms, hurry through the avenues of the camp ; a few of them prop- erly armed, most of them with their vestments wrapped round their arms, and with their swords drawn. The gen- eral, half asleep and almost naked, was saved by a blunder of the enemy ; for they carried off the prretorian ship, in which a flag was hoisted, under an impression that the gen- eral was aboard. Cerealis had been passing the night else- where, as was generally believed, on account of an illicit amour with Claudia Sacrata, a Ubian woman. The senti- nels made an excuse for their guilt that did no honor to the general ; alleging that their orders were to observe silence, that they might not disturb his rest, and, by consequence, making no signal, and using no watch-word, they themselves were overpowered with sleep. It was broad daylight when the Germans sailed back, towing with them the captured ves- sels, and among them the praetorian galley, which they hauled up the River Luppia,1 as an offering to Veleda.
23. Civilis conceived a vehement desire of exhibiting a naval armament : he manned all the vessels with two ranks of oars, and even those which were impelled by one rank.
1 Luppia, now the Lippe. For Veleda, see Hist. iv. 61.
c. 24.] CIVILIS SURRENDERS. 288
To these he added a prodigious number of small craft, among which were thirty or forty fitted out like the Roman Libur- nian galleys. The barks lately taken from the Romans were supplied, in lieu of sails, with mantles of various colors, which made no unbecoming appearance. The spot chosen for this naval exhibition was a space resembling a sea, where the Rhine discharges itself through the mouth of the Mosa1 into the ocean. The motives for fitting out this fleet, in addition to the inherent vanity of the Batavians, was to prevent the supplies on their way from Gaul, by the terror it would in- spire. Cerealis, from the strangeness of the thing rather than apprehension, drew out against it a fleet inferior in number, but in the skill of the mariners, the experience of the pilots, and the size of the vessels, superior. The Romans sailed with the current; the enemy had the wind in their favor. Thus, brushing by each other, they parted after a faint dis- charge of light darts. Civilis, without attempting any thing further, retired beyond the Rhine; Cerealis laid waste the isle of Batavia with determined hostility, leaving, however, the lands and houses of Civilis untouched, according to the known policy of military commanders. But during these proceedings, as it was now the latter end of autumn, and the rainy season had set in, the river, swelling above its banks, so completely inundated the naturally low and swampy isl- and, that it presented the appearance of a lake. No ships were at hand ; no means of getting provisions ; and the tents, which stood on a flat, were carried away by the force of the waters.
24. Civilis pleaded it as a merit on his part that the Ro- man army, in this juncture, might have been cut off, and that the Germans wished it, but were by his artifices divert- ed from the enterprise. The surrender by that chief, which followed soon after, made this account not improbable. For Cerealis, by secret agents, offered terms of peace to the Bata- vians, and a promise of pardon to Civilis ; and at the same time suggested to Veleda and her family to change the for- tune of the war, hitherto pregnant with disasters to them, by conferring a well-timed favor upon the Romans. " The Treverians were cut to pieces, the Ubians reduced, and the Batavians shorn of their country ; nor did aught result from 1 For the mouth of the Meuse, see Annals, ii. 6.
284 THE HISTORY. |> i,
the friendship of Civilis, but wounds, banishment, and mourn- ing. Civilis was now an exile and outcast from his country, a burden to those who harbored him. Enough of error had they committed in so often crossing the Rhine. If they carried their machination further, iniquity and guilt would be on one side; on the other, a just retribution and the gods."
25. Menaces were mingled with his promises. The attach- ment of the nations beyond the Rhine giving way, the Bata- vians also began to express dissatisfaction. " It was unwise," they said, " to persist in a desperate cause ; nor was it pos- sible that a single nation could deliver the world from bond- age. By the slaughter of the legions, and the firing of the Roman camps, what end had been answered, except that of bringing into the field a greater number of legions and more efficient? If the war was waged for Vespasian, Vespasian was master of the empire. If they were challenging the Ro- man people to a trial of strength, what proportion did the Batavians bear to the whole human race? Let them turn their eyes to Rhoetia, to Noricum, and the burdens borne by the other allies of Rome. From the Batavians Rome exacted no tribute : men and valor were all she enjoined. This was all but freedom ; and if they were to choose who should rule over them, it was more honorable to submit to the emperor of Rome, than the female rulers of the Germans." Such was the reasoning of the common people. The nobles complained that, " exasperated themselves, they were hurried into the war by the mere violent frenzy of Civilis ; that he had sought to avert the calamities of his house by the ruin of his country. Then it was that the gods were offended at the Batavians, when the legions were being besieged, commanders murdered, and a war undertaken which held out the only hope to one man, but was fatal to themselves. They were now on the brink of destruc- tion, unless they set about retracing their steps, and demon- strating their contrition, by punishing the originator of their guilt."
26. Civilis perceived this turn in the sentiments of his countrymen, and resolved to be beforehand with them ; not only because he was weary of the calamities of war, but from the hope of saving his life, a feeling which often sub- dues noble minds. He desired a conference. The bridge
o. 26.] MEETING OF CIVILIS AND CEREALIS. 285
over the Nabalia1 was broken through in the middle ; the two chiefs advanced to the extremities of the chasm, when Civilis thus began : " Were I pleading my cause before a command- er of Vitellius, I should neither deserve pardon for what I have done, nor credit for what I state. Vitellius and I were mortal foes ; we acted with avowed hostility. The quarrel was begun by him ; it was inflamed by me. Toward Vespa- sian I have long behaved with respect. While he was yet a private man, we were reputed friends. This was well under- stood by Antonius Primus, by whose letters2 I was urged to kindle the flame of war, lest the German legions and the youth of Gaul should pass over the Alps. The instructions Antonius communicated by letters, Hordeonius Flaccus gave in person. I stirred up a war in Germany in the same manner as Muci- anus did in Syria, Aponius in Moesia, and Flavianus in Pan- nonia."3
1 This was the canal of Drusus, which was made from the Rhine to the Sala, or Issel. See Annals, ii. 8.
3 Letters from Antonius. exciting Civilis to a war, in order to hinder the legions on the Rhine from marching to support Vitellius in Italy. See Hist. iv. 13
3 The rest of Mie History is lost, and with it the siege of Jerusalem, with the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian.
END OF THE HISTORY0
A TKEATISE
ON
THE SITUATION, MANNERS, AND INHABITANTS
OF
GERMANY.1
1. GERMANY2 is separated from Gaul,Rhsetia,3 and Pannonia,* by the rivers Rhine and Danube ; from Sarmatia and Dacia by mountains5 and mutual dread. The rest is surrounded by an ocean, embracing broad promontories6 and vast insular tracts,7 in which our military expeditions have lately discovered va- rious nations and kingdoms. The Rhine, issuing from the inaccessible and precipitous summit of the Rhaetic Alps,8
1 This treatise was written in the year of Rome 851, A.D. 98; during the fourth consulate of the Emperor *Nerva, and the third of Trajan.
2 The Germany here meant is that beyond the Rhine. The Ger- mania Cisrhenana, divided into the Upper and Lower, was a part of Gallia Belgica.
3 Rhaetia comprehended the country of the Grisons, with part of Suabia and Bavaria.
* Lower Hungary, and part of Austria.
5 The Carpathian Mountains in Upper Hungary.
6 " Broad promontories." Latos sinus. Sinus strictly signifies " a bending." especially inward. Hence it is applied to a gulf, or bay, of the sea. And hence, again, by metonymy, to that, projecting part of the land whereby the gulf is formed ; and still further to any promon- tory or peninsula. It is in this latter force it is here used, and refers especially to the Danish peninsula. See Livy, xxvii. 30, xxxviii. 5 ; Servius on Virgil, yRn. xi. 626.
7 Scandinavia and Finland, of which the Romans had a very slight knowledge, were supposed to be islands.
8 The mountains of the Grisons. That in which the Rhine rises is at present called Vogelberg.
c. 2.] ORIGIN OF THE PEOPLE OF GERMANY. 287
bends gently to the west, and falls into the Northern Ocean. The Danube, poured from the easy and gently-raised ridge of Mount Abnoba,1 visits several nations in its course, till at length it bursts out2 by six channels3 into the Pontic sea : a seventh is lost in marshes.
2. The people of Germany appear to me indigenous,4 and free from intermixture with foreigners, either as settlers or casual visitants. For the emigrants of former ages performed their expeditions not by land, but by water;5 and that im- mense, and, if I may so call it, hostile ocean, is rarely nav- igated by ships from our world.6 Then, besides the dangers of a boisterous and unknown sea, who would relinquish Asia, Africa, or Italy, for Germany, a land rude in its surface, rigorous in its climate, cheerless to every beholder and culti- vator, except a native? In their ancient songs,7 which are their only records or annals, they celebrate the god Tuisto,8
1 Now called Schwartz-wald, or the Black Forest. The name Dan- ubius was given to that portion of the river which is included between its source and Vindobona (Vienna): throughout the rest of its course it was called Ister.
2 Donee ervmpat. The term entmpat is most correctly and graphi- cally employed ; for the Danube discharges its waters into the Euxine with so great force, that its course may be distinctly traced for miles out to sea. 3 There are now but five.
* The ancient writers called all nations indigence (i. e., inde geniti), or avTo%Qove(;, " sprung from the soil," of whose origin they were ig- norant.
5 It is, however, well established that the ancestors of the Germans migrated by land from Asia. Tacitus here falls into a very common kind of error, in assuming a local fact (viz., the manner in which mi- grations took place in the basin of the Mediterranean) to be the ex- pression of a general law. — ED.
* Drusus, father of the Emperor Claudius, was the first Roman gen- eral who navigated the German Ocean. The difficulties and dangers which Germanicus met with from the storms of this sea are related in the Annals, ii. 23.
7 All bai'barous nations, in all ages, have applied verse to the same use, as is still found to be the case among the IS orth American Indians. Charlemagne, as we are told by Eginhart, "wrote out and committed to memory barbarous verses of great antiquity, in which the actions and wars of ancient kings were recorded."
b The learned Leibnitz supposes this Tuisto to have been the Teut or Teutates so famous throughout Gaul and Spain, who was a. Celto- Scythian king or hero, and subdued and civilized a great part of Eu- rope and Asia. Various other conjectures have been formed concern- ing him and his son Mannus, but most of them extremely vague and
288 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 2.
sprung from the earth, and his son Mannus, as the fathers and founders of their race. To Mannus they ascribe three sons, from whose names1 the people bordering on the ocean are called Ingaevones; those inhabiting the central parts, Herminones ; the rest, Istaevones. Some,2 however, assuming the license of antiquity, affirm that there were more descend- ants of the god, from whom more appellations were derived ; as those of the Marsi,3 Gambrivii,4 Suevi,5 and Vandali ;6 and that these are the genuine and original names." That
improbable. Among the rest, it has been thought that in Mannus and his three sons an obscure tradition is preserved of Adam, and his sons Cain, Abel, and Seth ; or of Noah, and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japhet.
1 Conringius interprets the names of the sons of Mannus into Ingaff, Istaff, and Hermin.
2 Pliny, iv. 14, embraces a middle opinion between these, and men- tions five capital tribes. The Vindili, to whom belong the Burgun- diones, Varini, Carini, and Guttones; the Ingaevones, including the Cimbri, Teutoni, and Chauci; the Istaevones, near the Rhine, part of \rhom are the midland Cimbri ; the Hermiones, containing the Suevi, Hermunduri, Catti, and Cherusci; and the Peucini and Bastarnae, bor dering upon the Dacians.
3 The Marsi appear to have occupied various portions of the north- west part of Germany at various times. In the time of Tiberius (A.D. 14) they sustained a great slaughter from the forces of Germanicus, who ravaged their country for fifty miles with fire and sword, sparing neither age nor sex, neither things profane nor sacred. (See Ann. i. 51.) At this period they were occupying the country in the neighborhood of the Rura (Ruhr), a tributary of the Rhine. Probably this slaughter was the destruction of them as a separate people; and by the time that Trajan succeeded 'to the imperial power they seem to have been blotted out from among the Germanic tribes. Hence their name will not be found in the following account of Germany.
4 These people are mentioned by Strabo, vii. 1, 3. Their locality is not very easy to determine.
* See note, c. 38.
• The Vandals are said to have derived their name from the German word wendeln, "to wander." They began to be troublesome to the Romans A.D. 160, in the reigns of Aurelius and Verus. In A.D. 410 they made themselves masters of Spain in conjunction with the Alans and Suevi, and received for their share what from them was termed Vandalusia (Andalusia). In A.D. 429 they crossed into Africa under Genseric, who not only made himself master of Byzacium, Gaetulia, and part of Numidia, but also crossed over into Italy, A.D. 455, and plun- dered Rome. After the death of Genseric the Vandal power declined.
7 That is, those of the Marsi, Gambrivii, <fec. Those of Ingaevones, Istaevones, and Hermiones, were not so much names of the people, as terms expressing their situation. For, according to the most learned Germans, the Ingaevones are die Inwohner, those dwelling inward,
c. 3.] THE GERMAN HERCULES. 289
of Germany, on the other hand, they assert to be a modern addition ;J for that the people who first crossed the Rhine, and expelled the Gauls, and are now called Tungri, were then named Germans ; which appellation of a particular tribe, not of a whole people, gradually prevailed ; so that the title of Germans, first assumed by the victors in order to excite terror, was afterward adopted by the nation in general.2 They have likewise the tradition of a Hercules3 of their country, whose praises they sing before those of all other heroes as they advance to battle.
3. A peculiar kind of verses is also current among them, by the recital of which, termed "barding,"4 they stimulate toward the sea ; the Istsevones, die Westwohner, the inhabitants of the western parts ; and the Hermiones, die Herumwohner, the midland in- habitants.
1 It is, however, found in an inscription so far back as the year of Rome 531, before Christ 222, recording the victory of Claudius Mar- cellus over the Galli Insubres and their allies the Germans, at Clastid ium, now Chiastezzo in the Milanese.
3 This is illustrated by a passage in Csesar, Bell. Gall. ii. 4, where, after mentioning that several of the Belgae were descended from the Germans who had formerly crossed the Rhine and expelled the Gauls, he says, "the first of these emigrants were the Condrusii, Eburones, Caeresi, and Paemani, who were called by the common name of Ger- mans." The derivation of German is Wehr mann, a warrior, or man of war. This appellation was first used by the victorious Cisrhenane tribes, but not by the whole Transrhenane nation, till they gradually adopted it, as equally due to them on account of their military repu- tation. The Tungri were formerly a people of great name,- the relics of which still exist in the extent of the district now termed the ancient diocese of Tongres.
' Under this name Tacitus speaks of some German deity, whose at- tributes correspond in the main with those of the Greek and Roman Hercules. What he was called by the Germans is a matter of doubt. — White.
* Quern barditum vacant. The word barditus is of Gallic origin, being derived from bardi, "bards;" it being a custom with the Gauls for bards to accompany the army, and celebrate the heroic deeds of their great warriors ; so that barditum would thus signify " the fulfillment of the bard's office." Hence it is clear that barditum could not be used correctly here, inasmuch as among the Germans not any particular, appointed body of men, but the whole army, chanted forth the war- song. Some editions have baritum, which is said to be derived from the German woud beren or baeren, "to shout;" and hence it is trans- lated in some dictionaries as "the German war-song." From the fol- lowing passage, extracted from Facciolati, it would seem, however, that German critics repudiate this idea: "De barito, clamore bellico, seu, ut quaedam habent exemplaria, bardito, nihil audiuimus nunc in Germani£-
VOL. II.— N
290 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. a
their courage ; while the sound itself serves as an augury of the event of the impending combat. For, according to the nature of the cry proceeding from the line, terror is inspired or felt : nor does it seem so much an articulate song, as the wild chorus of valor. A harsh, piercing note, and a broken roar, are the favorite tones ; which they render more full and sonorous by applying their mouths to their shields.1 Some conjecture that Ulysses, in the course of his long and fabulous wanderings, was driven into this ocean, and landed in Germany; and that Asciburgium,2 a place situated on the Rhine, and at this day inhabited, was founded by him, and named 'Aannrvpyiov. They pretend that an altar was for- merly discovered here, consecrated to Ulysses, with the name of his father Laertes subjoined; and that certain monuments
nisi hoc dixerimus, quod bracht, vel brecht, milites German! appellare consueverunt ; concursum videlicet certantiura, et clamorem ad pugnam descendentium ; quern bar, bar, bar, sonuisse nonnulli affirmant." — (Andr. Althameri, Schol. in C. Tacit. De Germanis.) Ritter, himself a German, affirms that baritus is a reading worth nothing; and that barritus was not the name of the ancient German war-song, but of the shout raised by the Romans in later ages when on the point of engag- ing ; and that it was derived " a clamore barrorum, i. e. elephantorum." The same learned editor considers that the words " quern barditum vo- cant" have been originally the marginal annotation of some unsound scholar, and have been incorporated by some transcriber into the text of his MS. copy, whence the error has spread. He therefore incloses them between brackets, to show that, in his judgment, they are not the genuine production of the pen of Tacitus. — White.
1 A very curious coincidence with the ancient German opinion con cerning the prophetic nature of the war-cry or song, appears in the fol- lowing passage of the Life of Sir Ewen Cameron, in " Pennant's Tour," 1769, Append., p. 363. At the battle of Killicrankie, just before the fight began, " he (Sir Ewen) commanded such of the Camerons as were posted near him to make a great shout, which being seconded by those who stood on the right and left, ran quickly through the whole army, and was returned by the enemy. But the noise of the muskets and cannon, with the echoing of the hills, made the Highlanders fancy that their shouts were much louder and brisker than those of the enemy, and Lochiel cried out, ' Gentlemen, take courage, the day is ours: I am the oldest commander in the army, and have always observed something ominous and fatal in such a dulf, hollow, and feeble noise as the enemy made in their shout, which prognosticates that they are all doomed to die by our hands this night ; whereas ours was brisk, lively, and strong, and shows we have vigor and courage.' These words, spreading quickly through the army, animated the troops in a strange manner. The event justified the prediction : the Highlanders obtained a complete victory."
* Now Asburg, in the county of Meurs.
c. 5.] CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY. 291
and tombj, inscribed with Greek characters,1 are still extant upon the confines of Germany and Rhaetia. These allega- tions I shall neither attempt to confirm nor to refute : let ev- ery one believe concerning them as he is disposed.
4. I concur in opinion with those who deem the Germans never to have intermarried with other nations ; but to be a race, pure, unmixed, and stamped with a distinct character. Hence a family likeness pervades the whole, though their numbers are so great : eyes stern and blue ; ruddy hair ; large bodies,2 powerful in sudden exertions, but impatient of toil and labor, least of all capable of sustaining thirst and heat. Cold and hunger they are accustomed by their climate and soil to endure.
5. The land, though varied to a considerable extent in its aspect, is yet universally shagged with forests, or deformed by marshes : moister on the side of Gaul, more bleak on the side of Noricum and Pannonia.3 It is productive of grain, but un- kindly to fruit-trees.4 It abounds in flocks and herds, but in general of a small breed. Even the beeve kind are destitute of their usual stateliness and dignity of head :5 they are, how- ever, numerous, and form the most esteemed, and, indeed, the only species of wealth. Silver and gold the gods, I know not
1 The Greeks, by means of their colony at Marseilles, introduced their letters into Gaul, and the old Gallic coins have many Greek characters in their inscriptions. The Helvetians also, as we are in- formed by Caesar, used Greek letters. Thence they might easily pass by means of commercial intercourse to the neighboring Germans. Count Marsili and others have found monuments with Greek inscrip- tions in Germany, but not of so early an age.
3 The large bodies of the Germans are elsewhere taken notice of by Tacitus, and also by other authors. It would appear as if most of them were at that time at least six feet high. They are still accounted some of the tallest people in Europe.
3 Bavaria and Austria.
* The greater degree of cold when the country was overspread with woods and marshes, made this observation more applicable than at present. The same change of temperature from clearing and draining the land has taken place in North America. It may be added, that the Germans, as we are afterward informed, paid attention to no kind of culture but that of corn.
3 The cattle of some parts of Germany are at present remarkably large; so that their former smallness must have rather been owing to want of care in feeding them and protecting them from the inclemencies of winter, and in improving the breed by mixtures, than to the nature of the climate.
292 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. fc
whether in their favor or anger, have denied to this country.1 Not that I would assert that no veins of these metals are gen- erated in Germany ; for who has made the search ? The pos- session of them is not coveted by these people as it is by us. Vessels of silver are indeed to be seen among them, which have been presented to their embassadors and chiefs; but they are held in no higher estimation than earthenware. The borderers, however, set a value on gold and silver for the pur- poses of commerce, and have learned to distinguish several kinds of our coin, some of which they prefer to others : the remoter inhabitants continue the more simple and ancient usage of bartering commodities. The money preferred by the Germans is the old and well-known species, such as the Ser- rati and Bigati.2 They are also better pleased with silver than gold ;3 not on account of any fondness for that metal, but because the smaller money is more convenient in their common and petty merchandise.
6- Even iron is not plentiful' among them, as may be inferred from the nature of their weapons. Swords or broad
1 Mines both of gold and silver have since been discovered in Ger- many; the former, indeed, inconsiderable, but the latter, valuable.
3 As vice and corruption advanced among the Romans, their money became debased and adulterated. Thus Pliny, xxxiii. 3, relates, that "Livius Drusus during his tribuneship mixed an eighth part of brass wilh the silver coin:" and ibid. 9, "that Antony the triumvir mixed iron with the denarius: that some coined base metal, others diminish- ed the pieces, and hence it became an art to prove the goodness of the denarii." One precaution for this purpose was cutting the edges like the teeth of a saw, by which means it was seen whether the metal was the same quite through, or was only plated. These were the Serrati, or serrated Denarii. The Bigati were those stamped with the figure of a chariot drawn by two horses, as were the Quadrigati with a chariot and four horses. These were old coin, of purer silver than those of the emperors. Hence the preference of the Germans for certain kinds of species was founded on their apprehension of being cheated with false money.
* The Romans had the same predilection for silver coin, and prob- ably on the same account originally. Pliny, in the place above cited, expresses his surprise that " the Roman people had always imposed a tribute in silver on conquered nations; as at the end of the second Punic war, when they demanded an annual payment in silver for fifty years, without any gold."
* Iron was in great abundance in the bowels of the earth ; but this barbarous people had neither patience, skill, nor industry to dig and work it. Besides, they made use of weapons of stone, great numbers of which are found in ancient tombs and barrows.
o. 6.] DESCRIPTION OF ARMOR. 293
lances are seldom used; but they generally carry a spear (called in their language framed}, which has an iron blade, short and narrow, but so sharp and manageable, that, as occasion requires, they employ it either in close or distant fighting.2 This spear and a shield are all the armor of the cavalry. The foot have, besides, missile weapons, several to each man, which they hurl to an immense distance.3 They are either naked,4 or lightly covered with a small mantle; and have no pride in equipage: their shields only are orna- mented with the choicest colors.5 Few are provided with a coat of mail ;6 and scarcely here and there one with a casque or helmet.7 Their horses are neither remarkable for
1 This is supposed to take its name from pfriem or priem, the point of a weapon. Afterward, when iron grew more plentiful, the Germans chiefly used swords.
2 It appears, however, from Tacitus's Annals, ii. 14, that the length of these spears rendered them unmanageable in an engagement among trees and bushes.
3 Notwithstanding the manner of fighting is so much changed in modern times, the arms of the ancients are still in use. We, as well as they, have two kinds of swords, the sharp-pointed, and edged (small sword and sabre). The broad lance subsisted till lately in the halberd ; the spear and framea in the long pike and spontoon ; the missile weap- ons in the war hatchet, or North American tomahawk. There are, be- sides, found in the old German barrows, perforated stone balls, which they threw by means of thongs passed through them.
* Nudi, The Latin nudus, like the Greek yvfivbg, does not point out a person devoid of all clothing, but merely one without an upper gar- ment— clad merely in a vest or tunic, and that perhaps a short one. — White.
5 This decoration at first denoted the valor, afterward the nobility, of the bearer; and in process of time gave origin to the armorial en- signs so famous in the ages of chivalry. The shields of the private men were simply colored ; those of the chieftains had the figures of animals painted on them.
6 Plutarch, in his Life of Marius, describes somewhat differently the arms and equipage of the Cimbri. "They wore (says he) helmets representing the heads of wild beasts, and other unusual figures, and crowned with a winged crest, to make them appear taller. They were covered with iron coats of mail, and carried white glittering shields. Each had a battle-axe; and in close fight they used large heavy swords." But the learned Eccard justly observes, that they had pro- cured these arms in their march; for the Holsatian barrows of that age contain few weapons of brass, and none of iron ; but stone spear- heads, and instead of swords, the wedge-like bodies vulgarly called thunder-bolts.
7 Casques (cassis) are of metal ; helmets (galea) of leather. — Tsidorus.
294 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 6.
beauty nor swiftness, nor are they taught the various evo- lutions practiced with us. The cavalry either bear down straight forward, or wheel once to the right, in so compact a body that none is left behind the rest. Their principal strength, on the whole, consists in their infantry : hence in an engagement these are intermixed with the cavalry;1 so well accordant with the nature of equestrian combats is the agility of those foot soldiers, whom they select from the whole body of their youth, and place in the front of the line. Their number, too, is determined ; a hundred from each canton ;2 and they are distinguished at home by a name expressive of this circumstance ; so that what at first was only an appella- tion of number, becomes thenceforth a title of honor. Their line of battle is disposed in wedges.3 To give ground, pro- vided they rally again, is considered rather as a prudent stratagem than cowardice. They carry off their slain even while the battle remains undecided. The greatest disgrace
1 This mode of fighting is admirably described by Csesar. " The Ger- mans engaged after the following manner: — There .were 6000 horse, and an equal number of the swiftest and bravest foot; who were chosen, man by man, by the cavalry, for their protection. By these they were attended in battle; to these they retreated; and these, if they were hard pressed, joined them in the combat. If any fell wound- ed from their horses, by these they were covered. If it were necessary to advance or retreat to any considerable distance, such agility had they acquired by exercise, that, supporting themselves by the horses' manes, they kept pace with them." — Bell. Gall. i. 48.
2 To understand this, it is to be remarked, that the Germans -were divided into nations or tribes, — these into cantons, and these into dis- tricts or townships. The cantons (pagi in Latin) were called by them- selves gauen. The districts or townships (vici) were called hunderte, whence the English hundreds. The name given to these select youth, according to the learned Dithmer, was die hunderte, hundred men. From the following passage in Caesar, it appears that in the more powerful tribes a greater number was selected from each canton. " The nation of the Suevi is by far the greatest and most warlike of the Germans. They are said to inhabit a hundred cantons; from each of which a thousand men are sent annually to make war out of their own territories. Thus neither the employments of agriculture, nor the use of arms are interrupted." — Bell. Gall. iv. 1. The warriors were summoned by the heribannum, or army-edict ; whence is derived the French arriere-ban.
3 A wedge is described by Vegetius (iii. 19) as a body of infantry, narrow in front, and widening toward the rear; by which disposition they were enabled to break the enemy's ranks, as all their weapons were directed to one spot. The soldiers called it a boar's head.
o, 7.] ELECTION OF KINGS. 295
that can befall them is to have abandoned their shields.1 A person branded with this ignominy is not permitted to join in their religious rites, or enter their assemblies ; so that many, after escaping from battle, have put an end to their infamy by the halter.
7. In the election of kings they have regard to birth ; in that of generals,2 to valor. Their kings have not an abso- lute or unlimited power ;3 and their generals command less through the force of authority than of example. If they are daring, adventurous, and conspicuous in action, they procure obedience from the admiration they inspire. None, however, but the priests4 are permitted to judge offenders, to inflict bonds or stripes; so that chastisement appears not as an act of military discipline, but as the instigation of the god whom they suppose present with warriors. They also carry with them to battle certain images and standards taken from the sacred groves.5 It is a principal incentive to their courage,
1 It was also considered as the height of injury to charge a person with this unjustly. Thus, by the Salic law, tit. xxxiii. 5, a fine of 600 denarii (about £9) is imposed upon " every free man who shall accuse another of throwing down his shield, and running away, without being able to prove it."
2 Vertot (Mem. de 1'Acad. des Inscrip.) supposes that the French maires du palais had their origin from these German military leaders. If the kings were equalty conspicuous for valor, as for birth, they united the regal with the military command. Usually, however, sev- eral kings and generals were assembled in their wars. In this case, the most eminent commanded, and obtained a common jurisdiction in War, which did not subsist in time of peace. Thus Caesar (Bell. Gall, ri.) says, " In peace they have no common magistracy." A general was efected by placing him on a shield, and lifting him on the shoul- ders of the by-standers. The same ceremonial was observed in the election of kings.
3 Hence Ambiorix, king of the Eburones, declared that the nature of his authority was such, that the people had no less power over him, than he over the people." — Csesar, Bell. Gall. v. The authority of the North America- 1 chiefs is almost exactly similar.
4 The power of life and death, however, was in the hands of magis- trates. Thus Csesar: "When a state engages either in an offensive or defensive war, magistrates are chosen to preside over it, and exercise power of life and death." — Bell. Gall. vi. The infliction of punish- ments was committed to the priests, in order to give them more so- lemnity, and render them less invidious.
* Effigiesque et signa qucedam. That effigies does not mean the im- ages* of their deities is proved by what is stated at chap, ix., viz., that they deemed it derogatory to their deities to represent them in human
296 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. a
that their squadrons and battalions are not formed by men fortuitously collected, but by the assemblage of families and clans. Their pledges also are near at hand ; they have with- in hearing the yells of their women, and the cries of their children. These, too, are the most revered witnesses of each man's conduct, these his most liberal applauders. To their mothers and their wives they bring their wounds for relief, nor do these dread to count or to search out the gashes. The women also administer food and encouragement to those who are fighting.
8. Tradition relates, that armies beginning to give way have been rallied by the females, through the earnestness of their supplications, the interposition of their bodies,1 and the pictures they have drawn of impending slavery,2 a calamity which these people bear with more impatience for their wo- men than themselves; so that those states who have been obliged to give among their hostages the daughters of noble families, are the most effectually bound to fidelity.3 They even suppose somewhat of sanctity and prescience to be inhe- rent in the female sex; and therefore neither despise their counsels,4 nor disregard their responses.5 We have beheld,
form; and, if in human form, we may argue d fortiori, in the form of the lower animals. The interpretation of the passage will be best derived from Hist. iv. 22, where Tacitus says: — "Depromptse silvis lucisve ferarum imagines, ut cuique genti inire praelium mos est." It would hence appear that these effigies and signa were images of wild animals, and were national standards preserved with religious care in sacred woods arid groves, whence they were brought forth when the clan or tribe was about to take the field. — White.
1 They not only interposed to prevent the flight of their husbands and sons, but, in desperate emergencies, themselves engaged in battle. This happened on Marius's defeat of the Cimbri (hereafter to be men- tioned); and Dlo relates, that when Marcus Aurelius overthrew the Marcomanni, Quadi, and other German allies, the bodies of women in armor were found among the slain.
3 Thus, in the army of Ariovistus, the women, with their hair di- sheveled, and weeping, besought the soldiers not to deliver them cap- tives to the Romans. — Caesar, Bell. Gall. i.
3 Relative to this, perhaps, is a circumstance mentioned by Sueto- nius in his life of Augustus. "From some nations he attempted to exact a new kind of hostages, women ; because he observed that those of the male sex were disregarded." — Aug. xxi.
* See the same observation with regard to the Celtic women, in Plu- tarch, on the virtues of women. The North Americans pay a similar regard to their females.
* A remarkable instance of this is given by Caesar. ""Wher. he
c. 9.] RESPECT PAID TO WOMEN. 297
in the reign of Vespasian, Veleda,1 long reverenced by many as a deity. Aurima, moreover, and several others,2 were for- merly held in equal veneration, but not with a servile flattery, nor as though they made them goddesses.3
9. Of the gods, Mercury4 is the principal object of their
inquired of the captives the reason why Ariovistus did not engage, he learned, that it was because the matrons, who among the Germans are accustomed to pronounce, from their divinations, whether or not a battle will be favorable, had declared that they would not prove vic- torious, if they should fight before the new moon." — Bell. Gall. i. The cruel manner in which the Cimbrian women performed their divina- tions is thus related by Strabo: "The women who follow the Cimbri to war, are accompanied by gray-haired prophetesses, in white vest- ments, with canvas mantles fastened by clasps, a brazen girdle, and naked feet. These go with drawn swords through the camp, and, strik- ing down those of the prisoners that they meet, drag them to a brazen kettle, holding about twenty amphorae. This has a kind of stage above it, ascending on which, the priestess cuts the throat of the victim, and, from the manner in which the blood flows into the vessel, judges of the future event. Others tear open the bodies of the captives thus butchered, and from inspection of the entrails, presage victory to their own party." — Lib. vii.
1 She was afterward taken prisoner by Rutilius Gallicus. Statius, in his Sylvae, i. 4, refers to this event Tacitus has more concerning her in his History, iv. 61.
2 Yiradesthis was a goddess of the Tungri ; Harimella, another pro- vincial deity ; whose names were, found by Mr. Pennant inscribed on altars at the Roman station at Burrens. These were erected by the German auxiliaries. — Vide Tour in Scotland, 1772, part ii. p. 406.
3 Ritter considers that here is a reference to the servile flattery of the senate as exhibited in the time of Nero, by the deification of Poppsea's infant daughter, and afterward of herself. (See Ann. xv. 23, Dion. Ixiii., Ann. xiv. 8.) There is no contradiction in the present passage to that found at Hist. iv. 61, where Tacitus says, "plerasque feminarum fatidicas et, augescente superstitione, arbitrantur deas;" i. e. they deem (arbitrantur) very many of their women possessed of pro- phetic powers, and, as their religious feeling increases, they deem (arbitrantur) them goddesses, i. e. possessed of a superhuman nature; they do not, however, make them goddesses and worship them, as the Romans did Poppsea and her infant, which is covertly implied iaja- cerent deas. — White.
* Mercury, i. e. a god whom Tacitus thus names, because his attri- butes resembled those of the Roman Mercury. According to Paulus Diaconus (de Gestis Langobardorum, i. 9), this deity was Wodun, or Gwodan, called also Odin. Mallet (North. Ant. ch. v.) says, that in the Icelandic mythology he is called "the terrible and severe God, the Father of Slaughter, he who giveth victory and receiveth courage in the conflict, who nameth those that are to be slain." "The Germans
N2
298 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. fc. 9.
adoration ; whom, on certain days,1 they think it lawful to propitiate even with human victims. To Hercules and Mars2 they offer the animals usually allotted for sacrifice.3
drew their gods by their own character, who loved nothing so much themselves as to display their strength and power in battle, and to signalize their vengeance upon their enemies by slaughter and desola- tion." There remain to this day some traces of the worship paid to Odin in the name given by almost all the people of the north to the fourth day of the week, which was formerly consecrated to him. It is called by a name which signifies " Odin's day;" " Old Norse, Odinsdagr; Swedish and Danish, Onsdag ; Anglo-Saxon, Wodenesdceg, Wodnesdceg ; Dutch, Woensdag ; English, Wednesday. As Odin or Wodun was sup- posed to correspond to the Mercury of the Greeks and Romans, the name of the day was expressed in Latin Dies Mercurii." — White.
1 " The appointed time for these sacrifices," says Mallet (North. Ant. ch. vi.), " was always determined by a superstitious opinion which made the northern nations regard the number ' three' as sacred and particularly dear to the gods. Thus, in every ninth month they renewed the bloody ceremony, which was to last nine days, and every day they offered up nine living victims, whether men or animals. But the most solemn sacrifices were those which were offered up at Upsal in Sweden every ninth year. . . . ." After stating the compulsory nature of attendance at this festival, Mallet adds, " Then they chose among the captives in time of war, and among the slaves in time of peace, nine persons to be sacrificed. In whatever manner they immo- lated men, the priest always took care in consecrating the victim to pronounce certain words, as ' I devote thee to Odin,' ' I send thee to Odin.'" See Lucan i. 444.
" Et quibus immitis placatur sanguine diro Teutates, horrensque feris altaribus Hesus."
Teutates is Mercury, Hesus, Mars. So also at iii. 399, <kc.
"Lucus erat longo nunquam violatus ab sevo.
Barbara ritu
Sacra Deum, structse diris altaribus arse, Omnis et humauis lustrata cruoribus arbor."
2 That is, as in the preceding case, a deity whose attributes cor- responded to those of the Roman Mars. This appears to have been not Thor, who is rather the representative of the Roman Jupiter, but Tyr, " a warrior god, and the protector of champions and brave men !" "From Tyr is derived the name given to the third day of the week in most of the Teutonic languages, and which has been rendered into Latin by Dies Martis. Old Norse, Tirsdagr, Ti«dagr ; Swedish, Tisdag ; Danish, Tirsdag ; German, Dienstag ; Dutch, Dingsdag ; Anglo-Saxon, Tyrsdceg, Tyvesdceg, Tivesdceg ; English, Tuesday." — (Mallet's North. Ant ch. v.)— White.
3 The Suevi appear to have been the Germanic tribes, and this also the worship spoken of at chap. xl. Signum in modum liburnce figuration
c. 10.] DIVINATION. 299
Some of the Suevi also perform sacred rites to Isis. What was the cause and origin of this foreign worship, I have not been able to discover, further than that her being represented with the symbol of a galley seems to indicate an imported religion.1 They conceive it unworthy the grandeur of celes- tial beings to confine their deities within walls, or to repre- sent them under a human similitude :2 woods and groves are their temples; and they affix names of divinity to that secret power, which they behold with the eye of adoration alone.
10. No people are more addicted to divination by omens and lots. The latter is performed in the following simple manner. They cut a twig3 from a fruit-tree, and divide it into small pieces, which, distinguished by certain marks, are thrown promiscuously upon a white garment. Then, the priest of the canton, if the occasion be public ; if private, the master of the family ; after an invocation of the gods, with his eyes lifted up to heaven, thrice takes out each piece, and, as they come up, interprets their signification according to the marks fixed upon them. If the result prove unfavor- able, there is no more consultation on the same affair that day ; if propitious, a confirmation by omens is still required. In common with other nations, the Germans are acquainted with the practice of auguring from the notes and flight of
corresponds with the vehiculum there spoken of; the real thing being, according to Ritter's view, a pinnace placed on wheels. That signum ipsum ("the very symbol") does not mean any image of the goddess, may be gathered also from chap, xl., where the goddess herself, si cre- dere veils, is spoken of as being washed in the sacred lake.
1 As the Romans in their ancient coins, many of which are now ex- tant, recorded the arrival of Saturn by the stern of a ship ; so other nations have frequently denoted the importation of a foreign religious rite by the figure of a galley on their medals.
2 Tacitus elsewhere speaks of temples of German divinities (e. g. 40: Templum Nerthse, Ann. i. 51 ; Templum Tanfanse); but a consecrated grove, or any other sacred place, was called templum by the Romans.
3 The Scythians are mentioned by Herodotus, and the Alans by Ammianus Marcellinus, as making use of these divining rods. The German method of divination with them is illustrated by what is said by Saxo-Grammaticus (Hist. Dan. xiv. 288) of the inhabitants of the Isle of Rugen in the Baltic Sea: "Throwing, by way of lots, three pieces of wood, white in one part, and black in another, into their laps, they foretold good fortune by the coming up of the white ; bad by that of the black."
300 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 11.
birds; but it is peculiar to them to derive admonitions and presages from horses also.1 Certain of these animals, milk- white, and untouched by earthly labor, are pastured at the public expense in the sacred woods and groves. These, yoked to a consecrated chariot, are accompanied by the priest, and king, or chief person of the community, who attentively ob- serve their manner of neighing and snorting ; and no kind of augury is more credited, not only among the populace, but among the nobles and priests. For the latter consider them- selves as the ministers of the gods, and the horses, as privy to the divine will. Another kind of divination, by which they explore the event of momentous wars, is to oblige a pris- oner, taken by any means whatsoever from the nation with whom they are at variance, to fight with a picked man of their own, each with his own country's arms ; and, according as the victory falls, they presage success to the one or to the other party.2
11. On affairs of smaller moment, the chiefs consult; on those of greater importance, the whole community ; yet with this circumstance, that what is referred to the decision of the people is first maturely discussed by the chiefs.3 They assemble, unless upon some sudden emergency, on stated days, either at the new or full moon, which they account the most auspicious season for beginning any enterprise. Nor do they, in their computation of time, reckon, like us, by the number of days, but of nights. In this way they arrange their business ; in this way they fix their appointments ; so
1 The same practice obtained among the Persians, from whom the Germans appear to be sprung. Darius was elected king by the neigh- ing of a horse; sacred white horses were in the army of Cyrus; and Xerxes, retreating after his defeat, was preceded by the sacred horses and consecrated chariot. Justin (i. 10) mentions the cause of this su- perstition, viz., that "the Persians believed the Sun to be the only God, and horses to be peculiarly consecrated to him." The priest of the Isle of Rugen also took auspices from a white horse, as may be seen in Saxo-Grammaticus.
3 Montesquieu finds in this custom the origin of the duel, and of knight-errantry.
* This remarkable passage, so curious in political history, is com- mented on by Montesquieu, in his Spirit of Laws, vi. 11. That cele- brated author expresses his surprise at the existence of such a balance between liberty and authority in the forests of Germany ; and traces the origin of the English Constitution from this source. Tacitus again mentions the German form of government in his Annals, iv. 33-
c. 12.] PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES. 301
that, with them, the night seems to lead the day.1 An incon- venience produced by their liberty is, that they do not all assemble at a stated time, as if it were in obedience to a command ; but two or three days are lost in the delays of convening. When they all think fit,2 they sit down armed.3 Silence is proclaimed by the priests, who have on this occa- sion a coercive power. Then the king, or chief, and such others as are conspicuous for age, birth, military renown, or eloquence, are heard ; and gain attention rather from their ability to persuade, than their authority to command. If a proposal displease, the assembly reject it by an inarticulate murmur; if it prove agreeable, they clash their javelins ;4 for the most honorable expression of assent among them is the sound of arms.
12. Before this council, it is likewise allowed to exhibit accusations, and to prosecute capital offenses. Punishments are varied according to the nature of the crime. Traitors and deserters are hung upon trees :5 cowards, dastards,6 and those
1 The high autiquity of this mode of reckoning appears from the Book of Genesis. "The evening and the morning were the first day." The Gauls, we are informed by Caesar, " assert that, according to the tradition of their Druids, they are all sprung from Father Dis; on which account they reckon" every period of time according to the number of nights, not of days ; and observe birth-days and the begin- nings of months and years in such a manner, that the day seems to follow the night." (Bell. Gall. vi. 18.) The vestiges of this method of computation still appear in the English language, in the terms se'n- night and fort'night.
s Ut turbce placuit. Doederlein interprets this passage as represent- ing the confused way in which the people took their seats in the na- tional assembly, without reference to order, rank, age, <fec. It rather represents, however, that the people, not the chieftains, determined when the business of the council should begin. — White.
3 And in an open plain. Vast heaps of stone still remaining, denote the scenes of these national councils. (See Mallet's Introduct. to Hist, of Denmark.) The English Stonehenge has been supposed a relic of this kind. In these assemblies are seen the origin of those which, un- der the Merovingian race of French kings, were called the Fields of March; under the Carlovingian, the Fields of May; then, the Plenary Courts of Christinas and Easter; and lastly, the Spates-General.
* The speech of Civilis was received with this expression of applause. Tacitus, Hist iv. 15.
8 Gibbeted alive. Heavy penalties were denounced against those who should take them down, alive or dead. These are particularized in the Salic law.
6 By cowards and dastards, in this passage, are probably meant those
302 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. (o. 12.
guilty of unnatural practices,1 are suffocated in mud under a hurdle.2 This difference of punishment has in view the prin- ciple, that villainy should be exposed while it is punished, but turpitude concealed. The penalties annexed to slighter offenses3 are also proportioned to the delinquency. The con- victs are fined in horses and cattle :4 part of the mulct5 goes to the king or state ; part to the injured person, or his rela- tions. In the same assemblies chiefs6 are also electegl, to
who, being summoned to war, refused or neglected to go. Caesar (Bell. Gall. vi. 22) mentions, that those who refused to follow their chiefs to war were considered as deserters and traitors. And, after- ward, the Emperor Clothaire made the following edict, preserved in the Lombard law: "Whatever freeman, summoned to the defense of his country by his Count, or his officers, shall neglect to go, and the enemy enter the country to lay it waste, or otherwise damage our liege subjects, he shall incur a capital punishment." As the crimes of cow- ardice, treachery, and desertion were so odious and ignominious among the Germans, we find by the Salic law that penalties were annexed to the unjust imputation of them.
1 These were so rare and so infamous among the Germans, that barely calling a person by a name significant of them was severely punished.
2 Incestuous people were buried alive in bogs in Scotland. Pennant's Tour in Scotland, 1772; part i. p. 351 ; and part ii. p. 421.
z Among these slighter offenses, however, were reckoned homicide, adultery, theft, and many others of a similar kind. This appears from the laws of the Germans, and from a subsequent passage of Tacitus himself.
* These were at that time the only riches of the country, as was already observed in this treatise. Afterward gold and silver became plentiful: hence all the mulcts required by the Salic law are pecuniary. Money, however, still bore a fixed proportion to cattle; as appears from the Saxon law (tit. xviii.): "The Solidus is of two kinds; one contains two tremisses, that is, a beeve of twelve months, or a sheep with its lamb ; the other, three tremisses, or a beeve of sixteen months. Homicide is compounded for by the lesser solidus ; other crimes by the greater." The Saxons had their Weregeld — the Scotch their Cro, Galnes, and Kelchin — and the Welsh their Gwerth, and Galanus, or compensations for injuries ; and cattle were likewise the usual fine. Vide Pennant's Tour in Wales of 1773, pp. 273, 274.
6 This mulct is frequently in the Salic law called "fred," that is, peace ; because it was paid to the king or state, as guardians of the public peace.
6 A brief account of the civil economy of the Germans will here be useful. They were divided into nations; of which some were under a regal government, others a republican. The former had kings, the latter chiefs. Both in kingdoms and republics, military affairs were under the conduct of the generals. The nations were divided into
e. 13.] YOUTHS INVESTED WITH ARMS. 303
administer justice through the cantons and districts. A hundred companions, chosen from the people, attend upon each of them, to assist them as well with their advice as their authority.
13. The Germans transact no business, public or private, without being armed :] but it is not customary for any person to assume arms till the state has approved his ability to use them. Then, in the midst of the assembly, either one of the chiefs, or the father, or a relation, equips the youth with a shield and javelin.2 These are to them the manly gown ;3 this is the first honor conferred on youth : before this they are considered as part of a household ; afterward, of the state. The dignity of chieftain is bestowed even on mere lads, whose descent is eminently illustrious, or whose fathers have per- formed signal services to the public; they are associated,
cantons ; each of which was superintended by a chief, or count, who administered justice in it. The cantons were divided into districts or hundreds, so called because they contained a hundred villa or town- ships. In each hundred was a companion, or centenary, chosen from the people, before whom small causes were tried. Before the count, all causes, as well great as small, were amenable. The centenaries are called companions by Tacitus, after the custom of the Romans ; among whom the titles of honor were, Caesar, the Legatus or Lieutenant of Caesar, and his comites, or companions. The courts of justice >r ere held in the open air, on a rising-ground, beneath the shade of an oak, elm, or some other large tree.
1 Even judges were armed on the seat of justice. The Romans, on the contrary, never went armed but when actually engaged in military service.
2 These are the rudiments of the famous institution of chivalry. The sons of kings appear to have received arms from foreign princes. Hence, when Audoin, after overcoming the Gepidse, was requested by the Lombards to dine with his son Alboin, his partner in the victory, he refused ; for, says he, "you know it is not customary with us for a king's son to dine with his father, until he has received arms from the king of another country." — Warnefried, De gestis Langobardorum, i. 23.
3 An allusion to the togavirilis of the Romans. The German youth were presented with the shield and spear probabl}* at twelve or fifteen years of age. This early initiation into the business of arms gave them that warlike character for which they were so celebrated. Thus, Seneca (Epist. 46) says, "A native of Germany brandishes, while yet a boy, his slender javelin." And again (in his book on Anger, i. 11), "Who are braver than the Germans? — who more impetuous in the charge? — who fonder of arms, in the use of which they are born and nourished, which are their omly care? — who more inured to hardships, insomuch that for the most part they provide no covering for their bodies, no retreat against the perpetual severity of the climate?"
304 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 14
however, with those of mature strength, who have already been declared capable of service; nor do they blush to be seen in the rank of companions.1 For the state of com- panionship itself has its several degrees, determined by the judgment of him whom they follow ; and there is a great emulation among the companions, which shall possess the highest place in the favor of their chief; and among the chiefs, which shall excel in the number and valor of his com- panions. It is their dignity, their strength, to be always sur- rounded with a large body of select youth, an ornament in peace, a bulwark in war. And not in his own country alone, but among the neighboring states, the fame and glory of each chief consists in being distinguished for the number and bravery of his companions. Such chiefs are courted by em- bassies; distinguished by presents; and often by their repu- tation alone decide a war.
14. In the field of battle, it is disgraceful for the chief to be surpassed in valor; it is disgraceful for the companions not to equal their chief; but it is reproach and infamy during a whole succeeding life to retreat from the field surviving him.2 To aid, to protect him ; to place their own gallant actions to the account of his glory, is their first and most sacred engagement. The chiefs fight for victory; the com- panions for their chief. If their native country be long sunk in peace and inaction, many of the young nobles repair to some other state then engaged in war. For, besides that repose is unwelcome to their race, and toils and perils afford them a better opportunity of distinguishing themselves ; they are unable, without war and violence, to maintain a large train of followers. The companion requires from the liberality of his chief, the warlike steed, the bloody and conquering spear; and in place of pay he expects to be supplied with a
1 Hence it seems these noble lads were deemed principes in rank, yet had their position among the comites only. The German word Gesell is peculiarly appropriated to these comrades in arms. So highly were they esteemed in Germany, that for killing or hurting them a fine was exacted treble to that for other freemen.
2 Hence, when Chonodomarus, king of the Alemanni, was taken pris- oner by the Romans, " his companions, two hundred in number, and three friends peculiarly attached to him,* thinking it infamous to sur- vive their prince, or not to die for him, surrendered themselves to be put in bonds." — Ammianus Marcellinus, xvi. 13.
c. 15.] THEIR IKDOLENCK 305
table, homely indeed, but plentiful.1 The funds for this munificence must be found in war and rapine; nor are they so easily persuaded to cultivate the earth, and await the prod- uce of the seasons, as to challenge the fae, and expose them- selves to wounds ; nay, they even think it base and spiritless to earn by sweat what they might purchase with blood.
15. During the intervals of war, they pass their time less in hunting than in a sluggish repose,2 divided between sleep and the table. All the bravest of the warriors, committing the care of the house, the family affairs, and the lands, to the women, old men, and weaker part of the domestics, stupefy themselves in inaction : so wonderful is the contrast presented by nature, that the same persons love indolence, and hate tranquillity ! 3 It is customary for the several states to pre- sent, by voluntary and individual contributions,4 cattle or grain5 to their chiefs; which are accepted as honorary gifts, while they serve as necessary supplies.6 They are peculiarly
1 Hence Montesquieu (Spirit of Laws, xxx. 3) justly derives the ori- gin of vassalage. At first, the prince gave to his nobles arms and pro- vision • as avarice advanced, money, and then lands, were required, which from benefices became at length hereditary possessions, and were called fiefs. Hence the establishment of the feudal system.
8 Cffisar, with less precision, says, "The Germans pass their whole lives in hunting and military exercises." (Bell. Gall. vi. 21.) The pic- ture drawn by Tacitus is more consonant to the genius of a barbarous people; besides that, hunting being the employment but of a few months of the year, a greater part must necessarily be passed in indo- lence by those who had no other occupation. In this circumstance, and those afterward related, the North American savages exactly agree with the ancient Germans.
3 This apparent contradiction is, however, perfectly agreeable to the principles of human nature. Among people governed by impulse more than reason, every thing is in the extreme : war and peace ; motion and rest; love and hatred; none are pursued with moderation.
4 These are the rudiments of tributes ; though the contributions here spoken of were voluntary, and without compulsion. The origin of ex- chequers is pointed out above, where "part of the mulct" is said to be " paid to the king or state." Taxation was taught the Germans by the Romans, who levied taxes upon them.
6 So, in after-times, when tributes were customary, 500 oxen or cows were required annually from the Saxons by the French kings Clo- thaire I and Pepin. (See Eccard, torn. i. pp. 84, 480.) Honey, corn, and other products of the earth, were likewise received in tribute. (Ibid, p. 392.)
6 For the expenses of war, and other necessities of state, and partic- ularly the public entertainments. Hence, besides the Steora, or an
306 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 16.
pleased with presents from neighboring nations, offered not only by individuals, but by the community at large ; such as fine horses, heavy armor, rich housings, and gold chains. We have now taught them also to accept of money. ]
16. It is well known that none of the German nations in- habit cities, 2 or even admit of contiguous settlements. They dwell scattered and separate, as a spring, a meadow, or a grove may chance to invite them. Their villages are laid out, not like ours in rows of adjoining buildings ; but every one surrounds his house with a vacant space,3 either by way of security against fire,4 or through ignorance of the art of building. For, indeed, they are unacquainted with the use of mortar and tiles ; and for every purpose employ rude un- shapen timber, fashioned with no regard to pleasing the eye. They bestow more than ordinary pains in coating certain parts of their buildings with a kind of earth, so pure and shining that it gives the appearance of painting. They also dig subterraneous caves,5 and cover them over with a great
nual tribute, the Osterstuopha, or Easter cup, previous to the public assembly of the field of March, was paid to the French kings.
1 This was a dangerous lesson, and in the end proved ruinous to the Roman empire. Herodian says of the Germans in his time, "They are chiefly to be prevailed upon by bribes ; being fond of money, and con- tinually selling peace to the Romans for gold." — Lib. vi. 139.
2 This custom was of long duration ; for there is not the mention of a single city in Ammianus Marcellinus, who wrote on the wars of the Romans in Germany. The names of places in Ptolemy (ii. 11) are not, therefore, those of cities, but of scattered villages. The Germans had not even what we should call towns, notwithstanding Caesar asserts the contrary.
3 The space surrounding the house, and fenced in by hedges, was that celebrated Salic land, which descended to the male line, exclu- sively of the female.
4 The danger of fire was particularly urgent in time of war; for, as, Caesar informs us, these people were acquainted with a method of throw- ing red-hot clay bullets from slings, and burning javelins, on the thatch of houses. (Bell. Gall. v. 42.)
5 Thus likewise Mela (ii. 1), concerning the Sarmatians : " On account of the length and severity of their winters, they dwell under ground, either in natural or artificial caverns." At the time that Germany was laid waste by a forty years' war, Kircher saw many of the natives who, with their flocks, herds, and other possessions, took refuge in the cav- erns of the highest mountains. For many other curious particulars concerning these and other subterranean caves, see his Mundus Subter- raneus, viii. 3, p. 100. In Hungary, at this day, corn is commonly stored in subterranean chambers.
c. 17.] THEIR CLOTHING. 307
quantity of dung. These they use as winter-retreats, and granaries ; for they preserve a moderate temperature ; and upon an invasion, when the open country is plundered, these recesses remain unviolated, either because the enemy is igno- rant of them, or because he will not trouble himself with the search.1
17. The clothing common to all is a sagum2 fastened by a clasp, or, in want of that, a thorn. With no other covering, they pass whole days on the hearth, before the fire. The more wealthy are distinguished by a vest, not flowing loose, like those of the Sarmatians and Parthians, but girt close, and exhibiting the shape of every limb. They also wear the skins of beasts, which the people near the borders are less curious in selecting or preparing than the more remote in- habitants, who can not by commerce procure other clothing. These make choice of particular skins, which they variegate with spots, and strips of the furs of marine animals,3 the produce of the exterior ocean, and seas to us unknown.4 The dress of the women does not differ from that of the men ; ex- cept that they more frequently wear linen,5 which they stain with purple ;6 and do not lengthen their upper garment into
1 Near Newbottle, the seat of the Marquis of Lothian, are some sub- terraneous apartments and passages cut out of the live rock, which had probably served for the same purposes of winter-retreats and granaries as those dug by the ancient Germans. Pennant's Tour in 1769, 4to, p. 63.
2 This was a kind of mantle of a square form, called also rheno. Thus Csesar (Bell. Gall. vi. 21): "They use skins for clothing, or the short rhenones, and leave the greatest part of the body naked." Isi- dore (xix. 23) describes the rhenones as " garments covering the shoul- ders and breast, as low as the navel, so rough and shaggy that they are impenetrable to rain." Mela (iii. 3), speaking of the Germans, says, "The men are clothed only with the sagum, or the bark of trees, even in the depth of winter."
3 All savages are fond of variety of colors ; hence the Germans spotted their furs with the skins of other animals, of which those here mentioned were probably of the seal kind. This practice is still con- tinued with regard to the ermine, which is spotted with black lamb's- skin.
* The Northern Sea. and Frozen Ocean.
5 Pliny testifies the same thing ; and adds, that " the women beyond the Rhine are not acquainted with any more elegant kind of clothing." — xix. 1.
' Not that rich and costly purple in which the Roman nobility shone, but some ordinary material, such as the vaccinium, which Pliny
308 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 1&
sleeves, but leave exposed the whole arm, and part of the breast.
18. The matrimonial bond is, nevertheless, strict and severe among them ; nor is there any thing in their manners more commendable than this.1 Almost singly among the barbari- ans, they content themselves with one wife ; a very few of them excepted, who, not through incontinence, but because their alliance is solicited on account of their rank,2 practice polygamy. The wife does not bring a dowry to her husband, but receives one from him.3 The parents and relations assem- ble, and pass their approbation on the presents — presents not adapted to please a female taste, or decorate the bride; but oxen, a caparisoned steed, a shield, spear, and sword. By virtue of these, the wife is espoused; and she in her turn makes a present of some arms to her husband. This they consider as the firmest bond of union; these, the sacred mysteries, the conjugal deities. That the woman may not think herself excused from exertions of fortitude, or exempt from the casualties of war, she is admonished by the very cer- emonial of her marriage, that she comes to her husband as a partner in toils and dangers ; to suffer and to dare equally with him, in peace and in war : this is indicated by the yoked oxen, the harnessed steed, the offered arms. Thus she is to live ; thus to die. She receives what she is to return invio-
says was used by the Gauls as a purple dye for the garments of the slaves, (xvi. 18.)
1 The chastity of the Germans, and their strict regard to the laws of marriage, are witnessed by all their ancient codes of law. The pu- rity of their manners in this respect afforded a striking contrast to the licentiousness of the Romans in the decline of the empire, and is ex- hibited in this light by Salvian, in his treatise De Gubernatione Dei, lib. vii.
2 Thus we find in Cassar (Bell. Gall. i. 53), that Ariovistus had two wives. Others had more. This indulgence proved more difficult to abolish, as it was considered as a mark of opulence, and an appendage of nobility.
3 The Germans purchased their wives, as appears from the following clauses in the Saxon law concerning marriage: "A person who es- pouses a wife shall pay to her parents 300 solidi (about £180 sterling) ; but if the marriage be without the consent of the parents, the damsel, however, consenting, he shall pay 600 solidi. If neither the parents nor damsel consent, that is, if she be carried off by violence, he shall pay 300 solidi to the parents, and 340 to the damsel, and restore her to her parents."
c. 19.] CHASTITY OF BOTH SEXES. 309
late1 and honored to her children ; what her daughters-in- law are to receive, and again transmit to her grandchildren.
19. They live, therefore, fenced around with chastity;2 cor- rupted by no seductive spectacles,3 no convivial incitements. Men and women are alike unacquainted with clandestine cor- respondence. Adultery is extremely rare among so numerous a people. Its punishment is instant, and at the pleasure of the husband. He cuts off the hair4 of the offender, strips her, and in presence of her relations expels her from his house, and pursues her with stripes through the whole village.5 Nor is any indulgence shown to a prostitute. Neither beauty, youth, nor riches can procure her a husband : for none there looks on vice with a smile, or calls mutual seduction the way of the world. Still more exemplary is the practice of those states6
1 Thus in the Saxon Law, concerning dowries, it is said : " The Ostfalii and Angrarii determine, that If a woman have male issue, she is to possess the dower she received in marriage during her life, and transmit it to her sons."
a Ergo septce pudicitid agunt. Some editions have septa pudicitid. This would imply, however, rather the result of the care and watchful- ness of their husbands ; whereas it seems the object of Tacitus to show that this their chastity was the effect of innate virtue, and this is rather expressed by septce pudicitid, which is the reading of the Arundelian MS.
3 Seneca speaks with great force and warmth on this subject : "No- thing is so destructive to morals as loitering at public entertainments ; for vice more easily insinuates itself into the heart when softened by pleasure. What shall I say ! I return from them more covetous, am- bitious, and luxurious." — Epist. vii.
* The Germans had a great regard for the hair, and looked upon cutting it off as a heavy disgrace ; so that this was made a punishment for certain crimes, and was resented as an injury if practiced upon an innocent person.
5 From an epistle of St. Boniface, archbishop of Mentz, to Ethel- bald, king of England, we learn that among the Saxons the women themselves inflicted the punishment for violated chastity : " In ancient Saxony (now Westphalia), if a virgin pollute her father's house, or a married woman prove false to her vows, sometimes she is forced to put an end to her own life by the halter, and over the ashes of her burned body her seducer is hanged : sometimes a troop of females as- sembling lead her through the circumjacent villages, lacerating her body, stripped to the girdle, with rods and knives ; and thus, bloody and full of minute wounds, she is continually met by new tormentors, who in their zeal for chastity do not quit her till she is dead, or scarce- ly alive, in order to inspire a dread of such offenses." See Michael Alford's Annales Ecclesia? Anglo-Saxon., and Eccard.
6 A passage in Valerius Maximus renders it probable that the Cim- brian states were of this number : " The wives of the Teutones be-
310 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 20.
in which none but virgins marry, and the expectations and wishes of a wife are at once brought to a period. Thus, they take one husband as one body and one life ; that no thought, no desire, may extend beyond him ; and he may be loved not only as their husband, but as their marriage.1 To limit the increase of children,2 or put to death any of the later prog- eny,3 is accounted infamous : and good habits have there more influence than good laws elsewhere.4
20. In every house the children grow up, thinly and mean- ly clad,5 to that bulk of body and limb which we behold with wonder. Every mother suckles her own children, and does not deliver them into the hands of servants and nurses. No indulgence distinguishes the young master from the slave. They lie together amidst the same cattle, upon the same ground, till age6 separates, and valor marks out, the free- sought Marius, after his victory, that he would deliver them as a pres- ent to the Vestal virgins ; affirming that they should henceforth, equal- ly with themselves, abstain from the embraces of the other sex. This request not being granted, they all strangled themselves the ensuing night." — Lib. vi. 1, 3.
1 Among the Heruli, the wife was expected to hang herself at once at the grave of her husband, if she would not live in perpetual infamy.
2 This expression may signify as well the murder of young children, as the procurement of abortion ; both which crimes were severely pun- ished by the German laws.
3 Quemquam ex agnatis. By agnati generally in Roman law were meant relations by the father's side ; here it signifies children born aft- er there was already an heir to the name and property of the father.
* Justin has a similar thought concerning the Scythians: "Justice is cultivated by the dispositions of the people, not by the laws." (ii. 2.) How inefficacious the good laws here alluded to by Tacitus were in preventing enormities among the Romans, appears from the frequent complaints of the senators, and particularly of Minucius Felix : " I behold you, exposing your babes to the wild beasts and birds, or strangling the unhappy wretches with your own hands. Some of you, by means of drugs, extinguish the newly-formed man within your bowels, and thus commit parricide on your offspring before you bring them into the world." (Octavius, c. 30.) So familiar was this prac- tice grown at Rome, that the virtuous Pliny apologizes for it, alleging that " the great fertility of some women may require such a license." — xxix. 4, 37.
6 Nudi ac sordidi does not mean " in nakedness and filth," as most translators have supposed. Personal filth is inconsistent with the daily practice of bathing mentioned c. 22 ; and nudus does not necessarily imply absolute nakedness (see note 4, p. 293).
6 This age appears at first to have been twelve years ; for then a youth became liable to the penalties of law. Thus in the Salic law it
o. 21.] TIES OF RELATIONSHIP. 311
born. The youths partake late of the pleasures of love,1 and hence pass the age of puberty unexhausted : nor are the vir- gins hurried into marriage ; the same maturity, the same full growth, is required : the sexes unite equally matched,2 and robust ; and the children inherit the vigor of their parents. Children are regarded with equal affection by their maternal uncles3 as by their fathers : some even consider this as the more sacred bond of consanguinity, and prefer it in the requi- sition of hostages, as if it held the mind by a firmer tie, and the family by a more extensive obligation. A person's own children, however, are his heirs and successors ; and no wills are made. If there be no children, the next in order of inher- itance are brothers, paternal and maternal uncles. The more numerous are a man's relations and kinsmen, the more comfort- able is his old age ; nor is it here any advantage to be childless.4 21. It is an indispensable duty to adopt the enmities5 of a father or relation, as well as their friendships : these, how- ever, are not irreconcilable or perpetual. Even homicide is
is said, " If a child under twelve commit a fault, ' fred,' or a mulct, shall not be required of him." Afterward the term was fifteen years of age. Thus in the Ripuary law, " A child under fifteen shall not be responsible." Again, " If a man die, or be killed, and leave a son ; before he have completed his fifteenth year, he shall neither prosecute a cause, nor be called upon to answer in a suit : but at this term, he must either answer himself, or choose an advocate. In like manner with regard to the female sex." The Burgundian law provides to the same effect. This then was the term of majority, which in later times, when heavier armor was used, was still longer delayed.
1 This is illustrated by a passage in Caesar (Bell. Gall. vi. 21) : " They who are the latest in proving their virility are most commended. By this delay they imagine the stature is increased, the strength improved, and the nerves fortified. To have knowledge of the other sex before twenty years of age, is accounted in the highest degree scandalous."
2 Equal not only in age and constitution, but in condition. Many of the German codes of law annex penalties to those of both sexes who marry persons of inferior rank.
3 Hence, in the historv of the Merovingian kings of France, so many instances of regard to sisters and their children appear, and so many wars undertaken on their account.
4 The court paid at Rome to rich persons without children, by the Haaredipetae, or legacy-hunters, is a frequent subject of censure and ridicule with the Roman writers.
5 Avengers of blood are mentioned in the law of Moses, Numb. xxxv. 19. In the Roman law also, under the head of "those who on account of unworthiness are deprived of their inheritance," it is pro- nounced, that "such heirs as are proved to have neglected revenging the testator's death, shall be obliged to restore the entire profits."
312 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 22
atoned1 by a certain fine in cattle and sheep ; and the whole family accepts the satisfaction, to the advantage of the public weal, since quarrels are most dangerous in a free state. No people are more addicted to social entertainments, or more liberal in the exercise of hospitality.2 To refuse any person whatever admittance under their roof, is accounted flagitious.3 Every one according to his ability feasts his guests : when his provisions are exhausted, he who was late the host, is now the guide and companion to another hospitable board. They enter the next house uninvited, and are received with equal cordiality. No one makes a distinction with respect to the rights of hospitality, between a stranger and an acquaintance. The departing guest is presented with whatever he may ask for ; and with the same freedom a boon is desired in return. They are pleased with presents ; but think no obligation in- curred either when they give or receive.
22. 4[Their manner of living with their guests is easy and affable.] As soon as they arise from sleep, which they gen- erally protract till late in the day, they bathe, usually in warm water,5 as cold weather chiefly prevails there. After bathing they take their meal, each on a distinct seat, and at
1 It was a wise provision, that among this fierce and warlike people, revenge should be commuted for a payment. That this intention might not be frustrated by the poverty of the offender, his whole family were conjointly bound to make compensation.
2 All uncivilized nations agree in this property, which becomes less necessary as a nation improves in the arts of civil life.
3 Convictibus et hospitiis. " Festivities and entertainments." The former word applies to friends and fellow-countrymen ; the latter, to those not of the same tribe, and foreigners. Caesar (Bell. Gall. vi. 23) says, " They think it unlawful to offer violence to their guests, who, on whatever occasion they come to them, are protected from injury, and considered as sacred. Every house is open to them, and provision every where set before them." Mela (iii. 3) says of the Germans, "They make right consist in force, so that they are not ashamed of robbery : they are only kind to their guests, and merciful to suppliants. The Burgundian law lays a fine of three solidi on every man who re- fuses his roof or hearth to the coming guest." The Salic law, however, rightly forbids the exercise of hospitality to atrocious criminals ; laying A penalty on the person who shall harbor one who has dug up or de- spoiled the dead, till he has made satisfaction to the relations.
4 The clause here put within brackets is probably misplaced ; since it does not connect well either with what goes before, or what follows.
6 The Russians are at present the most remarkable among the northern nations for the use of warm bathing. Some of the Nortli American tribes also have their hypocausts, or stoves.
c. 23. j DRUNKENNESS. 313
a separate table.1 Then they proceed, armed, to business ; and not less frequently to convivial parties, in which it is no disgrace to pass days and nights, without intermission, in drinking. The frequent quarrels that arise among them, when intoxicated, seldom terminate in abusive language, but more frequently in blood.2 In their feasts, they generally deliberate on the rec- oncilement of enemies, on family alliances, on the appointment of chiefs, and finally on peace and war ; conceiving that at no time the soul is more opened to sincerity, or warmed to heroism. These people, naturally void of artifice or disguise, disclose the most secret emotions of their hearts in the freedom of festivity. The minds of all being thus displayed without reserve, the sub- jects of their deliberation are again canvassed the next day ;3 and each time has its advantages. They consult when unable to dissemble ; they determine when not liable to mistake.
23. Their drink is a liquor prepared from barley or wheat4 brought by fermentation to a certain resemblance of wine. Those who border on the Rhine also purchase wine. Their food is simple ; wild fruits, fresh venison,5 or coagulated milk.6
1 Eating at separate tables is generally an indication of voracity. Traces of it may be found in Homer, and other writers who have de- scribed ancient manners. The same practice has also been observed among the people of Otaheite ; who occasionally devour vast quantities of food.
3 The following article in the Salic laws shows at once the frequency of these bloody quarrels, and the laudable endeavors of the legislature to restrain them : — "If at a feast where there are four or five men in company, one of them be killed, the rest shall either convict one as the offender, or shall jointly pay the composition for his death. And this law shall extend to seven persons present at an entertainment."
3 The same custom is related by Herodotus, i. p. 63, as prevailing among the Persians.
* Of this liquor, beer or ale, Pliny speaks in the following passage : "The western nations have their intoxicating liquor, made of steeped grain. The Egyptians also invented drinks of the same kind. Thus drunkenness is a stranger in no part of the world ; for these liquors are taken pure, and not diluted as wine is. Yet, surely, the Earth thought she was producing corn. Oh, the wonderful sagacity of our vices! we have discovered how to render even water intoxicating." — xiv. 22.
5 Mela says, "Their manner of living is so rude and savage, that they eat even raw flesh ; either fresh killed, or softened by working with their hands and feet, after it has grown stiff in the hides of tame or wild animals." (iii. 3.) Florus relates that the ferocity of the Cimbri was mitigated by their feeding on bread and dressed meat, and drink- ing wine, in the softest tract of Italy. — iii. 3.
6 This must not be understood to have been cheese ; although Gee-
VOL. II.— O
314 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 24.
They satisfy hunger without seeking the elegances and deli- cacies of the table. Their thirst for liquor is not quenched with equal moderation. If their propensity to drunkenness be gratified to the extent of their wishes, intemperance proves as effectual in subduing them as the force of arms.1
24. They have only one kind of public spectacle, which is exhibited in every company. Young men, who make it their diversion, dance naked amidst drawn swords and presented spears. Practice has conferred skill at this exercise, and skill has given grace ; but they do not exhibit for hire or gain : the only reward of his pastime, though a hazardous one, is the pleasure of the spectators. What is extraordinary, they play at dice, when sober, as a serious business : and that with such a desperate venture of gain or loss, that, when every thing else is gone, they set their liberties and persons on the last throw. The loser goes into voluntary servitude ; and, though the youngest and strongest, patiently suffers himself to be bound and sold.2 Such is their obstinacy in a bad practice — they
sar says of the Germans, "Their diet chiefly consists of milk, cheese and flesh." (Bell. Gall. vi. 22.) Pliny, who was thoroughly acquainted with the German manners, says, more accurately, "It is surprising that the barbarous nations who live on milk should for so many ages have been ignorant of, or have rejected, the preparation of cheese; es- pecially since they thicken their milk into a pleasant tart substance, and a fat butter : this is the scum of milk, of a thicker consistence than what is called the whey. It must not be omitted that it has the prop- erties of oil, and is us'ed as an unguent by all the barbarians, and by us for children." — xi. 41.
1 This policy has been practiced by the Europeans with regard to the North American savages, some tribes of which have been almost totally extirpated by it.
2 St. Ambrose has a remarkable passage concerning this spirit of gaming among a barbarous people: — "It is said that the Huns, who continually make war upon other nations, are themselves subject to usurers, with whom they run in debt at play; and that, while they live without laws, they obey the laws of the dice alone ; playing when drawn up in line of battle; carrying dice along with their arms, and perishing more by each others' hands than by the enemy. In the midst of victory they submit to become captives, and suffer plunder from their own countrymen, which they know not how to bear from the foe. On this account they never lay aside the business of war, because, when they have lost all their booty by the dice, they have no means of acquiring fresh supplies for play, but by the sword. They are frequently borne away with such a desperate ardor, that, when the loser has given up his arms, the only part of his property which he greatly values, he sets the power over his life at a single cast to the
c. 26.] SLAVERY. 315
themselves call it honor. The slaves thus acquired are ex- changed away in commerce, that the. winner may get rid of the scandal of his victory.
25. The rest of their slaves have not, like ours, particular employments in the family allotted them. Each is the mas- ter of a habitation and household of his own. The lord re- quires from him a certain quantity of grain, cattle, or cloth, as from a tenant ; and so far only the subjection of the slave extends. l His domestic offices are performed by his own wife and children. It is usual to scourge a slave, or punish him with chains or hard labor. They are sometimes killed by their masters ; not through severity of chastisement, but in the heat of passion, like an enemy ; with this difference, that it is done with impunity.2 Freedmen are little superior to slaves ; seldom filling any important office in the family ; never in the state, except in those tribes which are under regal government.3 There, they rise above the free-born, and even the nobles : in the rest, the subordinate condition of the freedmen is a proof of freedom.
26. Lending money upon interest, and increasing it by usury,4 is unknown among them ; and this ignorance more effectually prevents the practice than a prohibition would do. The lands are occupied by townships,5 in allotments proper- winner or usurer. It is a fact, that a person, known to the Roman em- peror, paid the price of a servitude which he had by this means brought upon himself, by suffering death at the .command of his master."
1 The condition of these slaves was the same as that of the vassals, or serfs, who a few centuries ago made the great body of the people in every country in Europe. The Germans, in after times, imitating the Romans, had slaves of inferior condition, to whom the name of slave became appropriated ; while those in the state of rural vassalage were called lidi.
2 A private enemy could not be slain with impunity, since a fine was affixed to homicide ; but a man might kill his own slave without any punishment. If, however, he killed another person's slave, he was obliged to pay his price to the owner.
3 The amazing height of power and insolence to which freedmen ar- rived by making themselves subservient to the vices of the prince, is a striking characteristic of the reigns of some of the worst of the Roman emperors.
* In Rome, on the other hand, the practice of usury was, as our au- thor terms it, " an ancient evil, and a perpetual source of sedition and discord." — Annals, vi. 16.
5 All the copies read per vices, "by turns,'' or alternately; but the connection seems evidently to require the easy alteration of per vicos,
316 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 27-
tional to the number of cultivators; and are afterward par- celed out among the individuals of the district, in shares according to the rank and condition of each person.1 The wide extent of plain facilitates this partition. The arable lands are annually changed, and a part left fallow ; nor do they attempt to make the most of the fertility and plenty of the soil, by their own industry in planting orchards, inclosing meadows, and watering gardens. Corn is the only product required from the earth : hence their year is not divided into so many seasons as ours ; for, while they know and distinguish by name Winter, Spring, and Summer, they are unacquainted equally with the appellation and bounty of Autumn.2
27. Their funerals are without parade.3 The only circum- stance to which they attend, is to burn the bodies of eminent persons with some particular kinds of wood. Neither vest-
which has been approved by many learned commentators, and is there- fore adopted in this translation.
1 Cicsar has several particulars concerning this part of German pol- ity. " They are not studious of agriculture, the greater part of their diet consisting of milk, cheese, and flesh ; nor has any one a determin- ate portion of land, his own peculiar property ; but the magistrates and chiefs allot every year to tribes and clanships forming communities, as much land, and in such situations, as they think proper, and oblige them to remove the succeeding year. For this practice they assign several reasons : as, lest they should be led, by being accustomed to one spot, to exchange the toils of war for the business of agriculture ; lest they should acquire a passion for possessing extensive domains, and the more powerful should be tempted to" dispossess the weaker ; lest they should construct buildings with more art than was necessary to protect them from the inclemencies of the weather; lest the love of money should arise among them, the source of faction and dissensions ; and in order that the people, beholding their own possessions equal to those of the most powerful, might be retained by the bonds of equity and modera- tion."— Bell. Gall. vi. 21.
2 The Germans, not planting fruit-trees, were ignorant of the proper products of autumn. They have now all the autumnal fruits of their climate; yet their language still retains a memorial of their ancient deficiencies, in having no term for this season of the year, but one de- noting the gathering in of corn alone — Herbst, Harvest.
3 In this respect, as well as many others, the manners of the Ger- mans were a direct contrast to those of the Romans. Pliny mentions a private person, C. Csccilius Claudius Isidorus, who ordered the sum of about £10,000 sterling to be expended in his funeral : and in another place he says, " Intelligent persons asserted that Arabia did not produce such a quantity of spices in a year as Nero burned at the obsequies or his Poppaea." — xxxiii. 10, and xii. 18.
c. 28.] FUNERAL RITES. 317
ments nor perfumes are heaped upon the pile r1 the arms of the deceased, and sometimes his horse,2 are given to the flames. The tomb is a mound of turf. They contemn the elaborate and costly honors of monumental structures, as mere burdens to the dead. They soon dismiss tears and lamentations ; slowly, sorrow and regret. They think it the women's part to bewail their friends, the men's to remember them.
28. This is the sum of what I have been able to learn con- cerning the origin and manners of the Germans in general. I now proceed to mention those particulars in which they differ from each other ; and likewise to relate what nations have migrated from Germany into Gaul. That great writer, the deified Julius, asserts that the Gauls were formerly the superior people ;3 whence it is probable that some Gallic col- onies passed over into Germany : for how small an obstacle would a river be to prevent any nation, as it increased in
1 The following lines of Lucan, -describing the last honors paid by Cornelia to the body of Pompey the Great, happily illustrate the cus- toms here referred to : —
Collegit vestes, miserique insignia Magni,
Armaque, et impressas auro, quas gesserat olim
Exuvias, pictasque togas, velamina summo
Ter conspecta Jovi, funestoque intulit igni. — Lib. ix. 175.
" There shone his arms, with antique gold inlaid, There the rich robes which she herself had made, Robes to imperial Jove in triumph thrice display'd: The relics of his past victorious days, Now this his latest trophy serve to raise, And in one common flame together blaze." — ROWE.
3 Thus in the tomb of Childeric, king of the Franks, were found his spear and sword, and also his horse's head, with a shoe, and gold buckles and housings. A human skull was likewise discovered, which, perhaps, was that of his groom.
3 Cesar's account is as follows : — "There was formerly a time when the Gauls surpassed the Germans in bravery, and made war upon them ; and, on account of their multitude of people and scarcity of land, sent colonies beyond the Rhine. The most fertile parts of Ger- many, adjoining to the Hercynian forest, (which, I observe, was known by report to Eratosthenes and others of the Greeks, and called by them Orcinia,) were accordingly occupied by the Volca? and Tectosages, who settled there. These people still continue in the same settlements, and have a high character as well for the administration of justice as military prowess : and they now remain in the same state of penury and content as the Germans, whose manner of life they have adopted." —Bell. Gall. vi. 24.
318 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 28.
strength, from occupying or changing settlements as yet lying in common, and unappropriated by the power of monarchies! Accordingly, the tract betwixt the Hercynian forest and the rivers Rhine and Mayne was possessed by the Helvetii:1 and that beyond, by the Boii ;2 both Gallic tribes. The name of Boiemum still remains, a memorial of the ancient settlement, though its inhabitants are now changed.3 But whether the Aravisci4 migrated into Pannonia from the Osi,5 a German nation ; or the Osi into Germany from the Aravisci ; the language, institutions, and manners of both being still the same, is a matter of uncertainty; for, in their pristine state of equal indigence and equal liberty, the same advantages and disadvantages were common to both sides of the river. The Treveri6 and Nervii7 are ambitious of being thought of Ger- man origin; as if the reputation of this descent would distin- guish them from the Gauls, whom they resemble in person and effeminacy. The Vangiones, Triboci, and Nemetes,8 who inhabit the bank of the Rhine, are without doubt German
1 The inhabitants of Switzerland, then extending further than at present, toward Lyons.
2 A nation of Gauls, bordering on the Helvetii, as appears from Strabo and Caesar. After being conquered by Caesar, the JEdui gave them a settlement in the country now called the Bourbonnois. The name of their German colony, Boiemum, is still extant in Bohemia. The era at which the Helvetii and Boii penetrated into Germany is not ascertained. It seems probable, however, that it was in the reign of Tarquinius Priscus ; for at that time, as we are told by Livy, Ambi- gatus, king of the Bituriges (people of Berry), sent his sister's son Si- govesus into the Hercynian forest, with a colony, in order to exonerate his kingdom which was overpeopled. (Livy, v. 33, et seq.)
3 In the time of Augustus, the Boii, driven from Boiemum by the Marcomanni, retired to Noricum, which from them was called Boioa- ria, now Bavaria.
* This people inhabited that part of Lower Hungary now called the Palatinate of Pilis.
5 Toward the end of this treatise, Tacitus seems himself to decide this point, observing that their use of the Pannonian language, and acquiescence in paying tribute, prove the Osi not to be a German na- tion. They were settled beyond the Marcomanni and Quadi, and oc- cupied the northern part of Transdanubian Hungary ; perhaps extend- ing to Silesia, where is a place called Ossen in the duchy of Oels, fa- mous for salt and glass works. The learned Pelloutier, however, con- tends that the Osi were Germans ; but with less probability.
8 The inhabitants of the modern diocese of Treves.
7 Those of Cambresis and Hainault.
* Those of the dioceses of Worms, Strasbourg, and Spires.
c. 29.J VARIOUS TRIBES. 319
tribes. Nor do the Ubii,1 although they have been thought worthy of being made a Roman colony, and are pleased in bearing the name of Agrippinenses from their founder, blush to acknowledge their origin from Germany ; from whence they formerly migrated, and for their approved fidelity were settled on the bank of the Rhine, not that they might be guarded themselves, but that they might serve as a guard against invaders.
29. Of all these people, the most famed for valor are the Batavi ; whose territories comprise but a small part of the banks of the Rhine, but consist chiefly of an island within it.2 These were formerly a tribe of the Catti, who, on account of an intestine division, removed to their present settlements, in order to become a part of the Roman empire. They still re- tain this honor, together with a memorial of their ancient al- liance ;3 for they are neither insulted by taxes, nor oppressed by farmers of the revenue. Exempt from fiscal burdens and extraordinary contributions, and kept apart for military use alone, they are reserved, like a magazine of arms, for the pur- poses of war. The nation of the Mattiaci4 is under a degree of subjection of the same kind : for the greatness of the Ro- man people has carried a reverence for the empire beyond the Rhine and the ancient limits. The Mattiaci, therefore, though occupying a settlement and borders5 on the opposite side of
1 Those of the diocese of Cologne. The Ubii, migrating from Ger- many to Gaul, on account of the enmity of the Catti, and their own at- tachment to the Roman interest, were received under the protection of Marcus Agrippa, in the year of Rome 717. (Strabo, iv. p. 194.) Ag- rippina, the wife of Claudius and mother of Nero, who was born among them, obtained the settlement of a colony there, which was called aft- er her name.
3 Now the Betuwe, part of the provinces of Holland and Guelderland.
3 Hence the Batavi are termed, in an ancient inscription, " the brothers and friends of the Roman people."
4 This nation inhabited part of the countries now called the Weteraw, Hesse, Isenburg, and Fulda. In this territory was Mattium, now Mar- purg, and the Fontes Mattiaci, now Wisbaden, near Mentz.
5 The several people of Germany had their respective borders, called marks or marches, which they defended by preserving them in a des- ert and uncultivated state. Thus Casar, Bell. Gall. iv. 3: — "They think it the greatest honor to a nation, to have as wide an extent of vacant land around their dominions as possible ; by which it is indi cated, that a great number of neighboring communities are unable to Withstand them. On this account, the Suevi are said to have, on one
320 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 30.
the river, from sentiment and attachment act with us ; re- sembling the Batavi in every respect, except that they are animated with a more vigorous spirit by the soil and air of their own country.1 I do not reckon among the people of Germany those who occupy the Decumate lands,2 although inhabiting between the Rhine and Danube. Some of the most fickle of the Gauls, rendered daring through indigence, seized upon this district of uncertain property. Afterward, our boundary line being advanced, and a chain of fortified posts established, it became a skirt of the empire, and part of the Roman province.3
30. Beyond these dwell the Catti,4 whose settlements, be- ginning from the Hercynian forest, are in a tract of country less open and marshy than those which overspread the other states of Germany ; for it consists of a continued range of hills, which gradually become more scattered; and the Hercynian forest5 both accompanies and leaves behind, its Catti. This
side, a tract of 600 (some learned men think we should read 60) miles . desert for their boundaries." In another place Csesar mentions, as an additional reason for this policy, that they think themselves thereby rendered secure from the danger of sudden incursions. (Bell. Gall. vi. 13.)
1 The difference between the low situation and moist air of Batavia, and the high and dry country of the Mattiaci, will sufficiently justify this remark, in the opinion of those who allow any thing to the influ- ence of climate.
2 Now Swabia. When the Marcomanni, toward the end of the reign of Augustus, quitting their settlements near the Rhine, migrated to Bohemia, the lands they left vacant were occupied by some unset- tled Gauls among the Rauraci and Sequani. They seem to have been called Decumates (Decimated), because the inhabitants, liable to the incursions of the Germans, paid a tithe of their products to be received under the protection of the Romans. Adrian defended them by a rampart, which extended from Neustadt, a town on the Danube near the mouth of the river Altmiihl, to the Neckar near Wimpfen ; a space of sixty French leagues.
3 Of Upper Germany.
* The Catti possessed a large territory between the Rhine, Mayne, and Sala, and the Hartz forest on this side the Weser ; where are now the countries of Hesse, Thuringia, part of Paderborn, of Fulda, and of Franconia. Learned writers have frequently noted, that what Caesar, Florus, and Ptolemy have said of the Suevi, is to be understood of the Catti. Leibnitz supposes the Catti were so called from the active an- imal which they resemble in name, the German for cat being Catte, or Hessen.
* Pliny, who was well acquainted with Germany, gives a very striking
c. 31.] THE CATTI. 321
nation is distinguished by hardier frames,1 compactness of limb, fierceness of countenance, and superior vigor of mind. For Germans, they have a considerable share of understanding and sagacity : they choose able persons to command, and obey them when chosen ; keep their ranks ; seize opportunities ; restrain impetuous motions; distribute properly the business of the day ; intrench themselves against the night ; account fortune dubious, and valor only certain ; and, what is ex- tremely rare, and only a consequence of discipline, depend more upon the general than the army.2 Their force consists entirely in infantry ; who, besides their arms, are obliged to carry tools and provisions. Other nations appear to go to a battle ; the ^ atti, to war. Excursions and casual encounters are rare among them. It is, indeed, peculiar to cavalry soon to obtain, and soon to yield, the victory. Speed borders upon timidity ; slow movements are more akin to steady valor.
31. A -custom followed among the other German nations only by a few individuals, of more daring spirit than the rest, is adopted by general consent among the Catti. From the time they arrive at years of maturity they let their hair and beard grow ;3 and do not divest themselves of this votive
description of the Hercynian forest: — " The vast trees of the Hercynian forest, untouched for ages, and as old as the world, by their almost immortal destiny exceed common wonders. Not to mention circum- stances which would not be credited, it is certain that hills are raised by the repercussion of their meeting roots; and where the earth does not follow them, arches are formed as high as the branches, which, struggling, as it were, with each other, are bent into the form of open gates, so wide, that troops of horse may ride under them." — xvi. 2.
1 Duriora corpora. "Hardier frames;" i. e., than the rest of the Germans. At Hist. ii. 32, the Germans, in general, are said to have ftuxa corpora ; while in c. 4 of this treatise they are described as tan- turn ad impetum valida.
2 Floras, ii. 18, well expresses this thought by the sentence "Tanti exercitus, quanti imperator." "An army is worth so much as its gen- eral is."
3 Thus Civilis is said by our author (Hist. iv. 61), to have let his hair and beard grow in consequence of a private vow. Thus too, in Paul Warnefrid's "History of the Lombards," iii. 7, it is related, that "six thousand Saxons who survived the war, vowed that they would never cut their hair, nor shave their beards, till they had been revenged of their enemies, the Suevi." A later instance of this custom is men- tioned by Strada (Bell. Belg. vii. p. 344), of William Lume, one of the Counts of Mark, "who bound himself by a vow not to cut his hair till he had revenged the deaths of Eirmont and Horn."
02
322 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. &. 32.
badge, the promise of valor, till they have slain an enemy. Over blood and spoils they unvail the countenance, and pro- claim that they have at length paid the debt of existence, and have proved themselves worthy of their country &nd parents. The cowardly and effeminate continue in their squalid dis- guise. The bravest among them wear also an iron ring1 (a mark of ignominy in that nation) as a kind of chain, till they have released themselves by the slaughter of a foe. Many of the Catti assume this distinction, and grow hoary under the mark, conspicuous both to foes and friends. By these, in every engagement, the attack is begun : they compose the front line, presenting a new spectacle of terror. Even in peace they do not relax the sternness of their aspect. They have no house, land, or domestic cares : they are maintained by whomsoever they visit: lavish of another's property, re- gardless of their own ; till the debility of age renders them unequal to such a rigid course of military virtue.2
32. Next to the Catti, on the banks of the Ehine, where, now settled in its channel, it is become a sufficient boundary, dwell the Usipii and Tencteri.3 The latter people, in addi- tion to the usual military reputation, are famed for the disci- pline of their cavalry ; nor is the infantry of the Catti in high- er estimation than the horse of the Tencteri. Their ancestors
1 The iron ring seems to have been a badge of slavery. This custom was revived in later times, but rather with a gallant than a military in- tention. Thus, in the year 1414, John duke of Bourbon, in order to ingratiate himself with his mistress, vowed, together with sixteen knights and gentlemen, that they would wear, he and the knights a gold ring, the gentlemen a silver one, round their left legs, every Sun- day for two years, till they had met with an equal number of knights and gentlemen to contend with them in a tournament. (Vertot, Me'm. de 1'Acad. des Inscr. torn. ii. p. 596.)
2 It was this nation of Catti, which, about 150 years afterward, unit- ing with the remains of the Cherusci on this side the Weser, the Attu- arii, Sicambri, Chamavi, Bructeri, and Chauci, entered into the Francic league, and, conquering the Romans, seized upon Gaul. From them are derived the name, manners, and laws of the French.
3 These two tribes, united by a community of wars and misfortunes, had formerly been driven from the settlements on the Rhine a little below Mentz. They then, according to Caesar, (Bell. Gall. iv. 1, et seq.,) occupied the territories of the Menapii on both sides the Rhine. Still proving unfortunate, they obtained the lands of the Sicambri, who, in the reign of Augustus, were removed on this side the Rhine by Tiberius : these were the present counties of Berg, Mark, Lippe, and Waldeck ; and the bishopric of Paderborn.
c. 33.] TENCTERI AND BRUCTERI. 823
established it, and are imitated by posterity. Horsemanship is the sport of their children, the point of emulation of their youth, and the exercise in which they persevere to old age. Horses are bequeathed along with the domestics, the household gods, and the rights of inheritance : they do not, however, like other things, go to the eldest son, but to the bravest and most warlike. 33. Contiguous to the Tencteri were formerly the Bruc- teri j1 but report now says that the Chamavi and Angrivarii,2 migrating into their country, have expelled and entirely ex- tirpated them,3 with the concurrence of the neighboring na- tions, induced either by hatred of their arrogance,4 love of plunder, or the favor of the gods toward the Romans. For they even gratified us with the spectacle of a battle, in which above sixty thousand Germans were slain, not by Roman arms, but, what was still grander, by mutual hostilities, as it were for our pleasure and entertainment.5 May the nations
1 Their settlements were between the rivers Rhine, Lippe (Luppia), and Ems (Amisia), and the province of Friesland; now the countries of Westphalia and Over-Issel. Alting (Notit. German. Infer, p. 20) supposes they derived their name from Broeken, or Bruchen, marshes, on account of their frequency in that tract of country.
2 Before this migration, the Chamavi were settled on the Ems, where at present are Lingen and Osnaburg; the Angrivarii on the Weser (Visurgis), where are Minden and Schawenburg. A more ancient mi- gration of the Chamavi to the banks of the Rhine, is cursorily men- tioned by Tacitus, Annal. xiii. 55. The Angrivarii were afterward called Angrarii, and became part of the Saxon nation.
3 They were not so entirely extirpated that no relics of them re- mained. They were even a conspicuous part of the Francic league, as before related. Claudian also, in his panegyric on the fourth consulate of Honorius, v. 450, mentions them.
Venit accola sylvae Bructerus Hercynise.
"The Bructerian, borderer on the Hercynian forest, came." After their expulsion, they settled, according to Eccard, between Co- logne and Hesse.
4 The Bructeri were under regal government, and maintained many wars against the Romans. Hence their arrogance and power. Before they were destroyed by their countrymen, Yestricius Spurinna terrified them into submission without an action, and had on that account a tri- umphal statue decreed him. Pliny the younger mentions this fact, book ii. epist. 7.
5 An allusion to gladiatorial spectacles. This slaughter happened near the canal of Drusus, where the Roman guard on the Rhine could be spectators of the battle. The account of it came to Rome in the first year of Trajan.
324 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 34.
retain and perpetuate, if not an affection for us, at least an animosity against each other ! since, while the fate of the em- pire is thus urgent, ] fortune can bestow no higher benefit upon us, than the discord of our enemies.
34. Contiguous to the Angrivarii arid Chamavi backward lie the Dulgibini, Chasauri,2 and other nations less known.3 In front, the Frisii* succeed ; who are distinguished by the appellations of Greater and Lesser, from their proportional power. The settlements of both stretch along the border of the Rhine to the ocean ; and include, besides, vast lakes,5 which have been navigated by Roman fleets. We have even explored the ocean itself on that side ; and fame reports that columns of Hercules6 are still remaining on that coast; whether it be that Hercules was ever there in reality, or that
1 As this treatise was written in the reign of Trajan, when the affairs of the Romans appeared unusually prosperous, some critics have imag- ined that Tacitus wrote vigentibus, "floui'ishing," instead of urgentibus, " urgent." But it is sufficiently evident, from other passages, that the causes which were operating gradually, but surely, to the destruction of the Roman empire, did not escape the penetration of Tacitus, even when disguised by the most flattering appearances. The common reading is therefore, probably, right. — Aikin.
3 These people first resided near the head of the Lippe ; and then removed to the settlements of the Chamavi and Angrivarii, who had expelled the Bructeri. They appear to have been the same with those whom Velleius Paterculus, ii. 105, calls the Attuarii, and by that name they entered into the Francic league. Strabo calls them Chattuarii.
3 Namely, the Ansibarii and Tubantes. The Ansibarii or Amsibarii are thought by Alting to have derived their name from their neighbor- hood to the river Ems (Amisia) ; and the Tubantes, from their frequent change of habitation, to have been called Tho Benten, or the wan- dering troops, and to have dwelt where now is Drente in Over-Issel. Among these nations, Furstenburg (Monum. Paderborn.). enumerates the Ambrones, borderers upon the river Ambrus, now Emmeren.
* The Frieslanders. The lesser Frisii were settled on this side, the greater, on the other, of the Flevum (Zuyder-zee).
6 In the time of the Romans this country was covered by vast meres, or lakes ; which were made still larger by frequent inundations of the sea. Of these, one so late as 1530 overwhelmed seventy-two villages ; and another, still more terrible, in 1569, laid under water great part of the sea-coast of Holland, and almost all Friesland, in which alone, 20,000 persons were drowned.
6 Wherever the land seemed to terminate, and it appeared impossible to proceed further, maritime nations have feigned pillars of Hercules. Those celebrated by the Frisians must have been at the extremity of Friesland, and not in Sweden and the Cimmerian promontory, as Rud- beck supposes.
c. 35.J THE CHAUCI. 325
whatever great and magnificent is any where met with is, bj common consent, ascribed to his renowned name. The attempt of Drusus Germanicus1 to make discoveries in these parts was sufficiently daring; but the ocean opposed any further inquiry into itself and Hercules. After a while no one renewed the attempt ; and it was thought more pious and reverential to believe the actions of the gods, than to investigate them.
35. Hitherto we have traced the western side of Germany. It turns from thence with a vast sweep to the north : and first occurs the country of the Chauci,2 which, though it be-
1 Drusus, the brother of Tiberius, and father of Germanicus, im- posed a tribute on the Frisians, as mentioned in the Annals, iv. 72, and performed other eminent services in Germany ; whence he was himself styled Germanicus.
2 The Chauci extended along the sea-coast from the Ems to the Elbe (Albis) ; whence they bordered on all the forementioned nations, between which and the Cherusci they came round to the Catti. The Chauci were distinguished into Greater and Lesser. The Greater, ac- cording to Ptolemy, inhabited the country between the Weser and the Elbe ; the Lesser, that between the Weser and Ems ; but Tacitus (An- nals, xi. 19) seems to reverse this order. Ailing supposes the Chauci had their name from Kauken, signifying persons eminent for valor and fidelity, which agrees with the character Tacitus gives them. Others derive it from Kauk, an owl, with a reference to the enmity of that animal to cats (Catti). Others, from Kaiten, daws, of which there are great numbers on their coast. Pliny has admirably described the country and manners of the maritime Chauci, in his account of people who live without any trees or fruit-bearing vegetables : — "In the North are the nations of Chauci, who are divided into Greater and Lesser. Here, the ocean, having a prodigious flux and reflux twice in the space of every day and night, rolls over an immense tract, leaving it a mat- ter of perpetual doubt whether it is part of the land or sea. In this spot, the wretched natives, occupying either the tops of hills, or arti- ficial mounds of turf, raised out of reach of the highest tides, build their small cottages ; which appear like sailing vessels when the water covers the circumjacent ground, and like wrecks when it has retired. Here from their huts they pursue the fish, continually flying from them with the waves. They do not, like their neighbors, possess cattle, and feed on milk ; nor have they a warfare to maintain against wild beasts ; for every fruit of the earth is far removed from them. With flags and sea-weed they twist cordage for their fishing-nets. For fuel they use a kind of mud, taken up by hand, and dried, rather in the wind than the sun : with this earth they heat their food, and warm their bodies, stiff- ened by the rigorous north. Their only drink is rain-water collected in ditches at the thresholds of their doors. Yet this miserable people, if conquered to-day by the Roman arms, would call themselves slaves. Thus it is that fortune spares many to their own punishment." — Hist Nat. xvi. 1.
326 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. £c. 3ft
gins immediately from Frisia, and occupies part of the sea- shore, yet stretches so far as to border on all the nations be foremen tioned, till it winds round so as to meet the territo- ries of the Catti. This immense tract is not only possessed, but filled by the Chauci ; a people the noblest of the Ger- mans, who choose to maintain their greatness by justice rath- er than violence. Without ambition, without ungoverned de- sires, quiet and retired, they provoke no wars, they are guilty of no rapine or plunder ; and it is a principal proof of their power and bravery, that the superiority they possess has not been acquired by unjust means. Yet all have arms in readi- ness;] and, if necessary, an army is soon raised; for they abound in men and horses, and maintain their military repu- tation even in inaction.
36. Bordering on the Chauci and Catti are the Cherusci ;2 who, for want of an enemy, long cherished a too lasting and enfeebling peace : a state more flattering than secure ; since the repose enjoyed amidst ambitious and powerful neighbors is treacherous ; and when an appeal is made to the sword, moderation and probity are names appropriated by the victors. Thus, the Cherusci, who formerly bore the titles of just and upright, are now charged with cowardice and folly ; and the good fortune of the Catti, who subdued them, has grown into wisdom. The ruin of the Cherusci involved that of the Fosi,3
1 On this account, fortified posts were established by the Romans to restrain the Chauci, who by Lucan are called Cayci in the following passage :
Et vos crinigeros bellis arcere Caycos Oppositi. Phars. i. 463.
" You too, tow'rd Rome advance, ye warlike band, That wont the shaggy Cauci to withstand." — ROWE.
a The Cherusci, at that time, dwelt between the Weser and the Elbe, where now are Luneburg, Brunswick, and part of the Marche of Bran- denburg on this side the Elbe. In the reign of Augustus they occupied a more extensive tract ; reaching even this side the Weser, as appears from the accounts of the expedition of Drusus given by Dio and Vellei- us Paterculus: unless, as Dithmar observes, what is said of the Cherus- ci on this side the Weser relates to the Dulgibini, their dependents. For, according to Strabo, Varus was cut off by the Cherusci, and the people subject to them. The brave actions of Arminius, the celebrated chief of the Cherusci, are related by Tacitus in the 1st and 2d books of his Annals.
3 Cluver, and several others, suppose the Fosi to have been the same with the ancient Saxons; but, since they bordered on the Cherusci, the
<s. 37.] THE CIMBRI. 327
a neighboring tribe, equal partakers of their adversity, al- though they had enjoyed an inferior share of their prosperity. 37. In the same quarter of Germany, adjacent to the ocean, dwell the Cimbri ;] a small2 state at present, but great in re- nown.3 Of their past grandeur extensive vestiges still re- main, in encampments and lines on either shore,4 from the compass of which the strength and numbers of the nation may still be computed, and credit derived to the account of so prodigious an army. It was in the 640th year of Rome that the arms of the Cimbri were first heard of, under the consulate of Caecilius Metellus and Papirius Carbo ; from which era to the second consulate of the emperor Trajan5 is a period of nearly 210 years. So long has Germany with- stood the arms of Rome. During this long interval many mutual wounds have been inflicted. Not the Samnite, the
opinion of Leibnitz is nearer the truth, that they inhabited the banks of the river Fusa, which enters the Aller (Allera) at Cellae ; and were a sort of appendage to the Cherusci, as Hildesheim now is to Bruns- wick. The name of Saxons is later than Tacitus, and was not known till the reign of Antoninus Pius, at which period they poured forth from the Cimbric Chersonesus, and afterward, in conjunction with the An- gles, seized upon Britain.
1 The name of this people still exists ; and the country they inhab- ited is called the Cimbric Chersonesus, or Peninsula; comprehending Jutland, Sleswig, and Holstein. The renown and various fortune of the Cimbri is briefly, but accurately, related by Mallet in the "Intro duction" to the " History of Denmark."
2 Though at this time they were greatly reduced by migrations, in- undations and wars, they afterward revived ; and from this store-house jf nations came forth the Franks, Saxons, Normans, and various other tribes, which brought all Europe under Germanic sway.
3 Their fame spread through Germany, Gaul, Spain, Britain, Italy, and as far as the Sea of Azoph (Palus Majotis), whither, according to Posidonius, they penetrated, and called the Cimmerian or Cimbrian Bosphorus after their own name.
4 This is usually, and probably rightly, explained as relating to both shores of the Cimbric Chersonesus. Cluver and Dithmar, however, suppose that these encampments are to be sought for either in Italy, upon the river Athesis (Adige), or in Navbonnensian Gaul near Aquae Sextise (Aix in Provence), where Florus (iii. 3) mentions that theTeu- toni defeated by Marius took post in a valley with a river running through it. Of the prodigious numbers of the Cimbri who made this terrible irruption we have an account in Plutarch, who relates that their fighting men were 800,000, with a much greater number of wor men and children. (Plut. Marius, p. 411.)
s Nerva was consul the fourth time, and Trajan the second, in the 851st year of Rome ; in which Tacitus composed this treatise.
328 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 37.
Carthaginian, Spain, Gaul, or Parthia, have given more fre- quent alarms ; for the liberty of the Germans is more vigorous than the monarchy of the Arsacidae. What has the East, which has itself lost Pacorus, and suffered an overthrow from Ventidius,1 to boast against us, but the slaughter of Crassus*? But the Germans, by the defeat or capture of Carbo,2 Cassius,3 Scaurus Aurelius,4 Servilius Crepio, and Cneius Manlius,5 deprived the Roman people of five consular
1 After the defeat of P. Decidius Saxa, lieutenant of Syria, by the Parthians, and the seizure of Syria by Pacorus, son of king Orodes, P. Ventidius Bassus was sent there, and vanquished the Parthians, killed Pacorus, and entirely restored the Roman affairs.
* The epitome of Livy informs us, that " in the year of Rome 640, the Cimbri, a wandering tribe, made a predatory incursion into Illyri- cum, where they routed the consul Papirius Carbo with his army." According to Strabo, it was at Noreia, a town of the Taurisci, near Aquileia, that Carbo was defeated. In the succeeding years, the Cim- bri and Teutonia ravaged Gaul, and brought great calamities on that country ; but at length, deterred by the unshaken bravery of the Gauls, they turned another way ; as appears from Caesar, B611. Gall. vii. 17. They then came into Italy, and sent embassadors to the Senate, de- manding lands to settle on. This was refused ; and the consul M. Ju- nius Silanus fought an unsuccessful battle with them, in the year of Rome 645. (Epitome of Livy, Ixv.)
3 "L. Cassius the consul, in the year of Rome 647, was cut off with his army in the confines of the Allobroges, by the Tigurine Gauls, a canton of the Helvetians (now the cantons of Zurich, Appenzell, Schaff- hausen, etc.), who had migrated from their settlements. The soldiers who survived the slaughter gave hostages for the payment of half they were worth, to be dismissed with safety." (Ibid.) Caasar further re- lates that the Roman army was passed under the yoke by the Tiguri- ni : — " This single canton, migrating from home, within the memory of our fathers, slew the consul L. Cassius, and passed his armv under the yoke."— Bell. Gall. i. 12.
* M. Aurelius Scaurus, the consul's lieutenant (or rather consul, as he appears to have served that office in the year of Rome 646), was de- feated and taken by the Cimbri ; and when, being asked his advice, he dissuaded them from passing the Alps into Italy, assuring them the Romans were invincible, he was slain by a furious youth, named Boio- rix. (Epit. Livy, Ixvii.)
5 Florus, in like manner, considers these two affairs separately: — " Neither could Silanus sustain the first onset of the barbarians ; nor Manlius, the second ; nor Caepio, the third." (iii. 3.) Livy joins them together: — "By the same enemy (the Cimbri) Cn. Manlius the consul, and Q. Servilius Csepio the proconsul, were defeated in an engagement, and both dispossessed of their camps." (Epit. Ixvii.) Paulus Orosius relates the affair more particularly : — " Manlius the consul, and Q. CJE- pio, proconsul, being sent against the Cimbri, Teutones, Tiguriui, and
c. 37.] BATTLES AGAINST THE ROMANS. 329
armies ;] and afterward took from Augustus himself Varus with three legions 2 Nor did Caius Marius3 in Italy, the deified Julius4 in Gaul, or Drusus,4 Nero,4 or Germanicus4 in
Ambronae, Gaulish and German nations, who had conspired to extinguish the Roman empire, divided their respective provinces by the river Rhone. Here, the most violent dissensions prevailing between them, they were both overcome, to the great disgrace and danger of the Roman name. According to Antias, 80,000 Romans and allies were slaughtered. Gaepio, by whose rashness this misfortune was occasioned, was con- demned, and his property confiscated by order of the Roman people." (Lib. v. 16.) This happened in the year of Rome 649 ; and the anni- versary was reckoned among the unlucky days.
1 The Republic , in opposition to Rome when governed by emperors.
1 This tragical catastrophe so deeply affected Augustus, that, as Suetonius informs us, "he was said to have let his beard and hair grow for several months ; during which he at times struck his head against the doors, crying out, 'Varus, restore my legions !' and ever after kept the anniversary as a day of mourning." (Aug. s. 23.) The finest history piece, perhaps, ever drawn by a writer, is Tacitus's description of the army of Germanicus visiting the field of battle, six years after, and performing funeral obsequies to the scattered remains of their slaughtered countrymen. (Annals, i. 61.)
3 "After so many misfortunes, the Roman people thought no gen- eral so capable of repelling such formidable enemies, as Marius." Nor was the public opinion falsified. In his fourth consulate, in the year of Rome 652, "Marius engaged the Teutoni beyond the Alps near Aquae Sextiae (Aix in Provence), killing, on the day of battle and the following day, above 150,000 of the enemy, and entirely cutting off the Teutonic nation." (Velleius Paterculus, ii. 12.) Livy says there were 200,000 slain, and 90,000 taken prisoners. The succeeding year he defeated the Cimbri, who had penetrated into Italy, and crossed the Adige, in the Raudian plain, where now is Rubio, killing and taking prisoners upward of 100,000 men. That he did not, however, obtain an unbought victory over this warlike people, may be conjectured from the resistance he met with even from, their women. We are told by Florus (iii. 3) that " he was obliged to sustain an engagement with their wives, as well as themselves ; who, intrenching themselves on all sides with wagons and cars, fought from them, as from towers, with lances and poles. Their death was no less glorious than their resistance. For, when they could not obtain from Marius what they requested by an embassy, their liberty, and admission into the vestal priesthaod (which, indeed, could not lawfully be granted) ; after strangling their infants, they either fell by mutual wounds, or hung themselves on trees or the poles of their carriages in ropes made of their own hair. King Boio- rix was slain, not unrevenged, fighting bravely in the field." On ac- count of these great victories, Marius, in the year of Rome 652, tri- umphed over the Tuetoni, Ambroni, and Cimbri.
4 In the 596th year of Rome, Julius Caesar defeated Ariovistus, a German king, near Dampierre in the Franche-Comte, and pursued his
330 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 38.
their own country, defeat them without loss. The subsequent mighty threats of Caligula terminated in ridicule. Then suc- ceeded tranquillity ; till, seizing the occasion of our discords and civil wars, they forced the winter-quarters of the legions,1 and even aimed at the possession of Gaul ; and, again ex- pelled thence, they have in latter times been rather triumphed over2 than vanquished.
38. We have now to speak of the Suevi ;3 who do not com- pose a single state, like the Catti or Tencteri, but occupy the greatest part of Germany, and are still distributed into dif- ferent names and nations, although all bearing the common appellation of Suevi. It is a characteristic of this people to turn their hair sideways, and tie it beneath the poll in a knot. By this mark the Suevi are distinguished from the rest of the Germans ; and the freemen of the Suevi from the slaves.4 Among other nations, this mode, either on account of some relationship with the Suevi, or from the usual propensity to imitation, is sometimes adopted ; but rarely, and only during the period of youth. The Suevi, even till they are hoary, continue to have their hair growing stiffly backward, and often it is fastened on the very crown of the head. The chiefs
routed troops with great slaughter thirty miles toward the Rhine, fill- ing all that space with spoils and dead bodies. (Bell. Gall. i. 33 and 52.) He had before chastised the Tigurini, who, as already mentioned, had defeated and killed L. Cassius. Drusus : This was the son of Livia, and brother of the emperor Tiberius. He was in Germany B.C. 12, 11. His loss was principally from shipwreck on the coast of the Chauci. See Lynam's Roman Emperors, i. 37, 45. Nero ; i. e. Tibe- rius, afterward emperor. His names were Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero. See Lynam's Roman Emperors, i. 51, 53, 62, 78. Germani- cus : He was the son of Drusus, and so nephew of Tiberius. His vic- tories in Germany took place A.D. 14 — 16. He too, like his father, was shipwrecked, and nearly at the same spot. See Lynam's Roman Emperors, i. 103 — 118.
1 In the war of Civilis, related by Tacitus, Hist. iv. and v.
3 By Domitian, as is more particularly mentioned in the Life of Agricola.
3 The Suevi possessed that extensive tract of country lying between the Elbe, the Vistula, the Baltic Sea, and the Danube. They former- ly had spread still further, reaching even to the Rhine. Hence Strabo, Caesar, Florus, and others, have referred to the Suevi what related to the Catti.
* Among the Suevi, and also the rest of the Germans, the slaves seem to have been shaven ; or at least cropped so short that they could not twist or tie up their hair in a knot.
c. 40.] THE SUEVI. 331
dress it with still greater care : and in this respect they study ornament, though of an undebasing kind. For their design is not to make love, or inspire it: they decorate themselves in this manner as they proceed to war, in order to seem taller and more terrible ; and dress for the eyes of their enemies.
39. The Semnones1 assert themselves to be the most an- cient and noble of the Suevi ; and their pretensions are con- firmed by religion. At a stated time, all the people of the same lineage assemble by their delegates in a wood, conse- crated by the auguries of their forefathers and ancient terror, and there by the public slaughter of a human victim celebrate the horrid origin of their barbarous rites. Another kind of reverence is paid to the grove. No person enters it without being bound with a chain, as an acknowledgment of his infe- rior nature, and the power of the deity residing there. If he accidentally fall, it is not lawful for him to be lifted or to rise up ; they roll themselves out along the ground. The whole of their superstition has this import : that from this spot the nation derives its origin ; that here is the residence of the Deity, the Governor of all, and that every thing else is subject and subordinate to him. These opinions receive additional authority from the power of the Semnones, who inhabit a hundred cantons, and, from the great body they compose, consider themselves as the head of the Suevi.
40. The Langobardi,2 on the other hand, are ennobled by the smallness of their numbers ; since, though surrounded by many powerful nations, they derive security, not from obse-
1 The Semnones inhabited both banks of the Viadrus (Oder) ; the country which is now part of Pomerania, of the Marche of Branden- burg, and of Lusatia.
2 In the reign of Augustus, the Langobardi dwelt on this side the Elbe, between Luneburg and Magdeburg. When conquered and driv- en beyond the Elbe by Tiberius, they occupied that part of the country where are now Prignitz, Ruppin, and part of the Middle Marche. They afterward founded the Lombard kingdom in Italy ; which, in the year of Christ 774, was destroyed by Charlemagne, who took their king Desiderius, and subdued all Italy. The laws of the Langobardi are still extant, and may be met with in Lindenbrog. The Burgun- dians are not mentioned by Tacitus, probably because they were then an inconsiderable people. Afterward, joining with the Langobardi, they settled on the Decuman lands and the Roman boundary. They from thence made an irruption into Gaul, and seized that country which is still named from them Burgundy. Their laws are likewise extant.
332 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 4Q
quiousness, but from their martial enterprise. The neigh- boring Reudigni,1 and the Aviones,2 Angli,3 Varini, Eudoses, Suardones, and Nuithones,1 are defended by rivers or forests. Nothing remarkable occurs in any of these ; except that they unite in the worship of Hertha5 or Mother Earth ; and sup- pose her to interfere in the affairs of men, and to visit the dif- ferent nations. In an island6 of the ocean stands a sacred and unviolated grove, in which is a consecrated chariot, covered with a vail, which the priest alone is permitted to touch. He becomes conscious of the entrance of the goddess into this secret recess ; and with profound veneration attends the vehicle, which is drawn by yoked cows. At this season7 all
1 From Tacitus's description, the Reudigni must have dwelt in part of the present duchy of Mecklenburg, and of Lauenburg. They had formerly been settled on this side the Elbe, on the sands of Luneburg.
1 Perhaps the same people with those called by Mamertinus, in his Panegyric on Maximian, the Chaibones. From their vicinity to the forementioned nations, they must have inhabited part of the duchy of Mecklenburg. They had formerly dwelt on this side the Elbe, on the banks of the river Ilmenavia in Luneburg ; which is now called Ava ; whence, probably, the name of the people.
3 Inhabitants of what is now part of Holstein and Sleswig; in which tract is still a district called Angeln, between Flensborg and Sleswig. In the fifth century, the Angles, in conjunction with the Saxons, migrated into Britain, and perpetuated their name by giving appellation to England.
4 From the enumeration of Tacitus, and the situation of the other tribes, it appears that the Eudoses must have occupied the modern Wismar and Rostock; the Suardones, Straslund, Swedish Pomerania, and part of the Hither Pomerania, and of the Uckerane Marche. Eccard, however, supposes these nations were much more widely ex- tended ; and that the Eudoses dwelt upon the Oder ; the Suardones, upon the Warte ; the Nuithones, upon the Netze.
5 The ancient name of the goddess Herth still subsists in the Ger- man Erde, and in the English Earth.
6 Many suppose this island to have been the isle of Rugen in the Baltic sea. It is more probable, however, that it was an island near the mouth of the Elbe, now called the isle of Helgoland, or Heiligeland (Holy Island). Besides the proof arising from the name, the situation agrees better with that of the nations before enumerated.
7 Olaus Rudbeck contends that this festival was celebrated in winter, and still continues in Scandinavia under the appellation of Julifred, the peace of Juul. (Yule is the term used for Christmas season in the old English and Scottish dialects.) But this feast was solemnized not in honor of the Earth, but of the Sun, called by them Thor or Taranim. The festival of Herth was held later, in the month of February; as may be seen in Mallet's " Introduction to the History of Denmark."
c. 41.] THE HERMUNDURL
is joy ; and every place which the goddess deigns to visit is a scene of festivity. No wars are undertaken ; arms are un- touched ; and every hostile weapon is shut up. Peace abroad and at home are then only known ;' then only loved ; till at length the same priest reconducts the goddess, satiated with mortal intercourse, to her temple.1 The chariot, with its cur- tain, and, if we may believe it, the goddess herself, then un- dergo ablution in a secret lake. This office is performed by slaves, whom the same lake instantly swallows up. Hence proceeds a mysterious horror ; and a holy ignorance of what that can be, which is beheld only by those who are about to perish. This part of the Suevian nation extends to the most remote recesses of Germany.
41. If we now follow the course of the Danube, as we be- fore did that of the Rhine, we first meet with the Hermun- duri ;2 a people faithful to the Romans,3 and on that account the only Germans who are admitted to commerce, not on the bank alone, but within our territories, and in the flourishing colony4 established in the province of Rhaetia. They pass and repass at pleasure, without being attended by a guard; and while we exhibit to other nations our arms and camps alone, to these we lay open our houses and country seats, which they behold without coveting. In the country of the Hermunduri rises the Elbe ;5 a river formerly celebrated and known among us, now only heard of by name.
1 Templo here means merely " the consecrated place," i. e., the grove beforementioned, for according to c. 9 the Germans built no temples.
2 It is supposed that this people, on account of their valor, were called Heermanner ; corrupted by the Romans into Hermunduri. They were first settled between the Elbe, the Sala, and Bohemia; where now are Anhalt, Voightland, Saxony, part of Misnia, and of Franco- nia. Afterward, when the Marcomanni took possession of Bohemia, from which the Boii had been expelled by Maroboduus, the Hermun- duri added their settlements to their own, and planted in them the Sue- vian name, whence is derived the modern appellation of that country, Suabia.
3 They were so at that time; but afterward joined with the Marco- manni and other Germans against the Romans in the time of Marcus Aurelius, who overcame them.
4 Augusta Vindelicorum, now Augsburg; a famous Roman colony in the province of Rhaetia, of which Vindelica was then a part.
5 Tacitus is greatly mistaken if he confounds the source of the Egra, which is in the country of the Hermunduri, with that of the Elbe, which rises in Bohemia. The Elbe had been formerly, as Tacitus ob-
334 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 42.
42. Contiguous to the rHermunduri are the Narisci;1 and next to them, the Marcomanni2 and Quadi.3 Of these, the Marcomanni are the most powerful and renowned ; and have even acquired the country which they inhabit, by their valor in expelling the Boii.4 Nor are the Narisci and Quadi infe- rior in bravery ;5 and this is, as it were, the van of Germany as far as it is bordered by the Danube. Within our memory the Marcomanni and Quadi were governed by kings of their own nation, of the noble line of Maroboduus6 and Tudrus. They now submit even to foreigners ; but all the power of their kings depends upon the authority of the Romans.7 We seldom assist them with our arms, but frequently with our money ; nor are they the less potent on that account.
serves, well known to the Romans by the victories of Drusus, Tiberius, and Domitius ; but afterward, when the increasing power of the Ger- mans kept the Roman arms at a distance, it was only indistinctly heard of. Hence its source was probably inaccurately laid down in the Ro- man geographical tables. Perhaps, however, the Hermunduri, when they had served in the army of Maroboduus, received lands in that part of Bohemia in which the Elbe rises; in which case there would be no mistake in Tacitus's account.
1 Inhabitants of that part of Bavaria which lies between Bohemia and the Danube.
2 Inhabitants of Bohemia.
* Inhabitants of Moravia, and the part of Austria between it and the Danube. Of this people, Ammianus Marcellinus, in his account of the reign of Valentinian and Valens, thus speaks: — "A sudden commo- tion arose among the Quadi ; a nation at present of little consequence, but which was formerly extremely warlike and potent, as their exploits sufficiently evince." — xxix. 15.
4 Their expulsion of the Boii, who had given name to Bohemia, has been already mentioned. Before this period, the Marcomanni dwelt near the sources of the Danube, where now is the duchy of Wirtem- burg; and, as Dithmar supposes, on account of their inhabiting the borders of Germany, were called Marcmanner, from Marc (the same with the old English March), a border, or boundary.
5 These people justified their military reputation by the dangerous war which, in conjunction with the Marcomanni, they excited against the Romans, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius.
6 Of this prince, and his alliance with the Romans against Armini- us, mention is made by Tacitus, Annals, ii.
7 Thus Vannius was made king of the Quadi by Tiberius. (See An- nals, ii. 63.) At a later period, Antoninus Pius (as appears from a med- al preserved in Spanheim) gave them Furtius for their king. And when they had expelled him, and set Ariogassus on the throne, Marcus Aurelius, to whom he was obnoxious, refused to confirm the electior (Dio, Ixxi.)
c. 43.] THE LYGIAN TRIBES. 335
43. Behind these are the Marsigni,1 Gothini,2 Osi,3 and Burii,4 who close the rear of the Marcomanni and Quadi. Of these, the Marsigni and Burii in language5 and dress resemble the Suevi. The Gothini and Osi prove themselves not to be Germans ; the first, by their use of the Gallic, the second, of the Pannonian tongue ; and both, by their submitting to pay tribute; which is levied on them, as aliens, partly by the Sarmatians, partly by the Quadi. The Gothini, to their additional disgrace, work iron mines.6 All these people in- habit but a small proportion of champaign country ; their settlements are chiefly among forests, and on the sides and summits of mountains ; for a continued ridge of mountains7 separates Sue via from various remoter tribes. Of these, the Lygian8 is the most extensive, and diffuses its name through several communities. It will be sufficient to name the most powerful of them — the Arii, Helvecones, Manimi, Elysii, and Naharvali.9 In the country of the latter is a grove, conse- crated to religious rites of great antiquity. A priest presides over them, dressed in woman's apparel ; but the gods wor- shiped there are said, according to the Roman interpretation,
1 These people inhabited what is now Galatz, Jagerndorf, and part of Silesia.
2 Inhabitants of part of Silesia, and of Hungary.
3 Inhabitants of part of Hungary to the Danube.
* These were settled about the Carpathian mountains, and the sources of the Vistula.
5 It is probable that the Suevi were distinguished from the rest of the Germans by a peculiar dialect, as well as by their dress and man- ners.
6 Ptolemy mentions iron mines in or near the country of the Quadi. I should imagine that the expression " additional disgrace" (or, more literally, "which might make them more ashamed") does not refer merely to the slavery of working in mines, but to the circumstance of their digging up iron, the substance by means of which they might acquire freedom and independence. This is quite in the manner of Tacitus. The word iron was figuratively used by the ancients to sig- nify military force in general. Thus Solon, in his well-known answer to Croesus, observed to him, that the nation which possessed more iron would be master of all his gold. — Aikin.
7 The mountains between Moravia, Hungary, Silesia, and Bohemia.
8 The Lygii inhabited what is now part of Silesia, of the New Marche, of Prussia and Poland on this side the Vistula.
9 These tribes were settled between the Oder and Vistula, where now are part of Silesia, of Brandenburg, and of Poland. The Elysii are supposed to have given name to Silesia.
336 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [o. 43.
to be Castor and Pollux. Their attributes are the same ; their name, Alcis.1 No images, indeed, or vestiges of foreign superstition, appear in their worship ; but they are revered under the character of young men and brothers. The Arii, fierce beyond the superiority of strength they possess over the other just-enumerated people, improve their natural ferocity of aspect by artificial helps. Their shields are black ; their bodies painted :2 they choose the darkest nights for an attack ; and strike terror by the funereal gloom of their sable bands — no enemy being able to sustain their singular, and, as it were, infernal appearance ; since in every combat the eyes are the first part subdued. Beyond the Lygii are the Gothones,3 who live under a monarchy, somewhat more strict than that of the other German nations, yet not to a degree incompatible with liberty. Adjoining to these are the Eugii4 and Lemovii,5 situated on the sea-coast : — all these tribes are distinguished by round shields, short swords, and submission to regal au- thority.
1 The Greeks and Romans, under the name of the Dioscuri, or Castor and Pollux, worshiped those meteorous exhalations which, during a storm, appear on the masts of ships, and are supposed to de- note an approaching calm. A kind of religious veneration is still paid to this phenomenon by the Roman Catholics, under the appellation of the fire of St. Elmo. The Naharvali seem to have affixed the same character of divinity on the ignis fatuus ; and the name Alcis is proba- bly the same with that of Alff or Alp, which the northern nations still apply to the fancied Genii of the mountains. The Sarmatian deities Lebus and Polebus, the memory of whom still subsists in the Polish festivals, had, perhaps, the same origin.
8 No custom has been more universal among uncivilized people than painting the body, either for the purpose of ornament, or that of in- spiring terror.
1 Inhabitants of what is now Further Pomerania, the New Marche and the Western part of Poland, between the Oder and Vistula. They were a different people from the Goths, though, perhaps, in alliance with them.
* These people were settled on the shore of the Baltic, where now are Colburg, Cassubia, and Further Pomerania. Their name is still preserved in the town of Rugenwald and Isle of Rugen.
5 These were also settlers on the Baltic, about the modern Stolpe, Dantzig, and Lauenburg. The Heruli appear afterward to have occu- pied the settlements of the Lemovii. Of these last no further mention occurs ; but the Heruli made themselves famous throughout Europe and Asia, and were the first of the Germans who founded a kingdom in Italy under Odoacer.
c. 44.] THE SUIONES. 337
44. Next occur the communities of the Suiones,1 seated in the very Ocean,2 who, besides their strength in men and arms, also possess a naval force/' The form of their vessels differs from ours in having a prow at each end,4 so that they are always ready to advance. They make no use of sails, nor have regular benches of oars at the sides : they row, as is practiced in some rivers, without order, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, as occasion requires. These people honor wealth ;5 for which reason they are subject to monarchical government, without any limitations,6 or precari- ous conditions of allegiance. Nor are arms allowed to be kept promiscuously, as among the other German nations: but are committed to the charge of a keeper, and he, too, a slave.
1 The Suiones inhabited Sweden, and the Danish isles of Funen, Langland, Zeeland, Laland, etc. From them and the Cimbri v;ere de- rived the Normans, who, after spreading terror through various parts of the empire, at last seized upon the fertile province of Normandy in France. The names of Goths, Visigoths, and Ostrogoths, became still more famous, they being the nations who accomplished the ruin of the Roman empire. The laws of the Visigoths are still extant ; but they depart much from the usual simplicity of the German laws.
2 The Romans, who had but an imperfect knowledge of this part of the world, imagined here those "vast insular tracts" mentioned in the beginning of this treatise. Hence Pliny, also, says of the Baltic Sea (Codanus sinus), that "it is filled with islands, the most famous of which, Scandinavia, (now Sweden and Norway,) is of an undiscovered magnitude ; that part of it only being known which is occupied by the Hilleviones, a nation inhabiting five hundred cantons ; who call this country another globe." (Lib. iv. 13.) The memory of the Hilleviones is still preserved in the part of Sweden named Holland.
3 Their naval power continued so great, that they had the glory of framing the nautical code, the laws of which were first written at Wis- by, the capital of the isle of Gothland, in the eleventh century.
4 This is exactly the form of the Indian canoes, which, however, are generally worked with sails as well as oars.
5 The great opulence of a temple of the Suiones, as described by Adam of Bremen, (Eccl. Hist. ch. 233,) is a proof of the wealth that at all times has attended naval dominion. "This nation," says he, "pos- sesses a temple of great renown, called Ubsola (now Upsal). not far from the cities Sictona and Birca (now Sigtuna and Bioerkoe). In this temple, which is entirely ornamented with gold, the people wor- ship the statues of three gods ; the most powerful of whom, Thor, is seated on a couch in the middle; with Woden on one side, and Fricca on the other." From the ruins of the towns Sictona and Birca arose the present capital of Sweden, Stockholm.
6 Hence Spener (Notit. German. Antiq.) rightly concludes that the crown was hereditary, and not elective, among the
VOL. II.— P
338 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 45.
The pretext is, that the Ocean defends them from any sudden incursions; and men unemployed, with arms in their hands, readily become licentious. In fact, it is for the king's inter- est not to intrust a noble, a freeman, or even an emancipated slave, with the custody of arms.
45. Beyond the Suiones is another sea, sluggish and almost stagnant,1 by which the whole globe is imagined to be girt and inclosed, from this circumstance, that the last light of the setting sun continues so vivid till its rising, as to obscure the stars.2 Popular belief adds, that the sound of his emerging3 from the ocean is also heard ; and the forms of deities;, with the rays beaming from his head, are beheld. Only thus far, report says truly, does nature extend.5 On the right shore of the Suevic sea6 dwell the tribes of the .ZEstii,7 whose dress and customs are the same with those of the Suevi, but their lan- guage more resembles the British.8 They worship the mother of the gods ;9 and as the symbol of their superstition, they carry about them the figures of wild boars.10 This serves
'- It is uncertain whether what is now called the Frozen Ocean is here meant, or the northern extremities of the Baltic Sea, the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland, which are so frozen every winter as to be un- navigable.
2 The true principles of astronomy have now taught us the reason why, at a certain latitude, the sun, at the summer solstice, appears never to set; and at a lower latitude, the evening twilight continues till morning.
3 The true reading here is, probably, "immerging;" since it was a common notion at that period, that the descent of the sun into the ocean was attended with a kind of hissing noise, like red hot iron dipped into water. Thus Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 280 : —
Audiet Herculeo stridentem gurgite solem. " Hear the sun hiss in the Herculean gnlf."
* Instead of formas deorum, "forms of deities," some, with more probability, read equorum, "of the horses," which are feigned to draw the chariot of the sun.
5 Thus Quintus Curtius, speaking of the Indian Ocean, says, " Nature itself can proceed no further." 6 The Baltic Sea.
7 Now, the kingdom of Prussia, the duchies of Samogitia and Cour- land, the palatinates of Livonia and Esthonia, in the name of which last the ancient appellation of these people is preserved.
8 Because the inhabitants of this extreme part of Germany retained the Scythico-Celtic language, which long prevailed in Britain.
9 A deity of Scythian origin, called Frea or Fricca. See Mallet's Introduct. to Hist, of Denmark.
10 Many vestiges of this superstition remain to this day in Sweden.
c. 45.] GATHERING AMBER 339
them in place of armor and every other defense: it renders the votary of the goddess safe even in the midst of foes. Their weapons are chiefly clubs, iron being little used among them. They cultivate corn and other fruits of the earth with more industry than German indolence commonly exerts.1 They even explore the sea; and are the only people who gather amber, which by them is called Glese,2 and is collected among the shallows and upon the shore.3 With the usual indifference of barbarians, they have not inquired or ascer- tained from what natural object or by what means it is pro- duced. It long lay disregarded1 amidst other things thrown up by the sea, till our luxury5 gave it a name. Useless to them, they gather it in the rough ; bring it unwrought ; and wonder at the price they receive. It would appear, however, to be an exudation from certain trees ; since reptiles, and even winged animals, are often seen shining through it, which, en- tangled in it while in a liquid state, became inclosed as it hardened.6 I should therefore imagine that, as the luxuriant
The peasants, in the month of February, the season formerly sacred to Frea, make little images of boars in paste, which they apply to various superstitious uses. (See Eccard.) A figure of a Mater Deum, with the boar, is given by Mr. Pennant, in his Tour in Scotland, 1769, p. 268, engraven from a stone found at the great station at Netherby in Cum- berland.
1 The cause of this was, probably, their confined situation, which did not permit them to wander in hunting and plundering parties, like the rest of the Germans.
2 This name was transferred to glass when it came into use. Pliny speaks of the production of amber in this country as follows : — " It is certain that amber is produced in the islands of the Northern Ocean, and is called by the G3rmans gless. One of these islands, by the natives named Austravia, was on this account called Glessaria, by our sailors in the fleet of Germanicus." — Lib. xxxvii. 3.
3 Much of the Prussian amber is even at present collected on the shores of the Baltic. Much also is found washed out of the clayey cliffs of Holderness. See Tour in Scotland, 1769, p. 16.
4 Insomuch that the Guttones, who formerly inhabited this coast, made use of amber as fuel, and sold it for that purpose to the neigh' boring Teutones. (Plin. xxxvii. 2.)
5 Various toys and utensils of amber, such as bracelets, necklaces, rings, cups, and even pillars, were to be met with among the luxurious Romans.
6 In a work by Goeppert and Berendt, on " Amber and the Fossil Remains of Plants contained in it," published at Berlin, 1845, a passage is found (of which a translation is here given) which quite harmonizes with the account of Tacitus : — " About the parts which are known by
340 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 46.
woods and groves in the secret recesses of the East exude frankincense and balsam, so there are the same in the islands and continents of the West ; which, acted upon by the near rays of the sun, drop their liquid juices into the subjacent sea, whence, by the force of tempests, they are thrown out upon the opposite coasts. If the nature of amber be ex- amined by the application of fire, it kindles like a torch, with a thick and odorous flame; and presently resolves into a glutinous matter resembling pitch or resin. The several communities of the Sitones1 succeed those of the Suiones ; to whom they are similar in other respects, but differ in sub- mitting to a female reign ; so far have they degenerated, not only from liberty, but even from slavery. Here Suevia term- inates.
46. I am in doubt whether to reckon the Peucini, Venedi, and Fenni among the Germans or Sarmatians ;2 although the Peucini,3 who are by some called Bastarnas, agree with the Germans in language, apparel, and habitations.4 All of them live in filth and laziness. The intermarriages of their chiefs with the Sarmatians have debased them by a mixture of the manners of that people.5 The Venedi have drawn much
the name of Samland an island emerged, or rather a group of islands, .... which gradually increased in circumference, and, favored by a mild sea climate, was overspread with vegetation and forest. This forest was the means of amber being produced. Certain trees in it ex- uded gums in such quantities that the sunken forest soil now appears to be filled with it to such a degree, as if it had only been deprived of a very trifling part of its contents by the later eruptions of the sea, and the countless storms which have lashed the ocean for centuries." Hence, though found underground, it appears to have been originally the production of some resinous tree. Hence, too, the reason of the appearance of insects, etc., in it, as mentioned by Tacitus.
1 Norwegians.
2 All beyond the Vistula was reckoned Sarmatia. These people, therefore, were properly inhabitants of Sarmatia, though from their manners they appeared of German origin.
Pliny also reckons the Peucini among the German nations : — " The fifth part of Germany is possessed by the Peucini and Bastarnaa, who border on the Dacians." (iv. 14.) From Strabo it appears that the Peucini, part of the Bastarnse, inhabited the country about the mouths of the Danube, and particularly the island Peuce, now Piczina, formed by the river.
4 The habitations of the Peucini were fixed ; whereas the Sarmatians wandered about in their wagons.
5 " Sordes omnium ac torpor ; procerum connubiis mixtis nonnihil in Sarmatarum habitum foedantur." In many editions the semicolon
c. 46. J THE PEUCINI AND FENNI. 341
from this source;1 for they overrun in their predatory ex- cursions all the woody and mountainous tracts between the Jfeucini and Fenni. Yet even these are rather to be referred to the Germans, since they build houses, carry shields, and travel with speed on foot ; in all which particulars they to- tally differ from the Sarmatians, who pass their time in wag- ons and on horseback.2 The Fenni3 live in a state of amaz- ing savageuess and squalid poverty. They are destitute of arms, horses, and settled abodes: their food is herbs ;l their clothing, skins ; their bed, the ground. Their only depend- ence is on their arrows, which, for want of iron, are headed with bone ;5 and the chase is the support of the women as well as the men ; the former accompany the latter in the pur- is placed not after torpor, but after procerum. The sense of the pas- sage so read is: "The chief men are lazy and stupid, besides being filthy, like all the rest. Intermarriages with the Sarmatians have de- based," etc.
1 The Venedi extended beyond the Peucini and Bastarnse as far as the Baltic Sea ; where is the Sinus Venedicus, now the Gulf of Dant- zig. Their name is also preserved in Wenden, a part of Livonia. When the German nations made their irruption into Italy, France, and Spain, the Venedi, also called Winedi, occupied their vacant settle- ments between the Vistula and Elbe. Afterward they crossed the Dan- ube, and seized Dalmatia, Illyricum, Istria, Carniola, and the Noric Alps. A part of Carniola still retains the name of Windismarck de- rived from them. This people were also called Slavi ; and their lan- guage, the Sclavonian, still prevails through a vast tract of country.
3 This is still the manner of living of the successors of the Sarma- tians, the Nogai Tartars.
3 Their country is called by Pliny, Eningia, now Finland. Warne- frid (De Gest. Langobard. i. 5) thiis describes their savage and wretch- ed state : — " The Scritobini, or Scritofinni, are not without snow in the midst of summer; and, being little superior in sagacity to the brutes, live upon no other food than the raw flesh of wild animals, the hairy skins of which they use for clothing. They derive their name, accord- ing Jo the barbarian tongue, from leaping, because they hunt wild beasts by a certain method of leaping or springing with pieces of wood bent in the shape of a bow." Here is an evident description of the snow-shoes or raquets in common use among the North American savages, as well as the inhabitants of the most northern parts of Eu- rope.
* As it is just after mentioned that tbeir chief dependence is on the game procured in hunting, this can only mean that the vegetable fcod they use consists of wild herbs, in opposition to the cultivated prodr -".is of the earth.
5 The Esquimaux and the South Sea islanders do the same thinjr to this day. >
342 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. [c. 46.
suit, and claim a share of the prey. Nor do they provide any other shelter for their infants from wild beasts and storms, than a covering of branches twisted together. This is the re- sort of youth ; this is the receptacle of old age. Yet even this way of life is in their estimation happier than groaning over the plow ; toiling in the erection of houses ; subjecting their own fortunes and those of others to the agitations of alternate hope and fear. Secure against men, secure against the gods, they have attained that most difficult point, not to need even a wish.
All our further accounts are intermixed with fable; as, that the Hellusii and Oxionse1 have human faces, with the bodies and limbs of wild beasts. These unauthenticated re- ports I shall leave untouched.2
1 People of Lapland. The origin of this fable was probably the manner of clothing in these cold regions, where the inhabitants bury themselves in the thickest furs, scarcely leaving any thing of the form of a human creature.
2 It is with true judgment that this excellent historian forbears to intermix fabulous narrations with the very interesting and instructive matter of this treatise. Such a mixture might have brought an im- peachment on the fidelity of the account in general; which, notwith- standing the suspicions professed by some critics, contains nothing but what is entirely consonant to truth and nature. Had Tacitus indulged his invention in the description of German manners, is it probable that he could have given so just a picture of the state of a people under sim- ilar circumstances, the savage tribes of North America, as we have seen them within the present century? Is it likely that his relations would have been so admirably confirmed by the codes of law still ex- tant of the several German nations ; such as the Salic, Ripuary, Bur- gundian, English, and Lombard? or that after the course of so many centuries, and the numerous changes of empire, the customs, laws, and manners he describes should still be traced in all the various people of German derivation ? As long as the original constitution and juris- prudence of our own and other European countries are studied, this treatise will be regarded as one of the most precious and authentic monuments of historical antiquity.
THE
LIFE OF CISLEUS JULIUS AGBICOLA.
[THIS work is supposed by the commentators to have been written before the treatise on the Manners of the Germans, in the third con- sulship of the emperor Nerva, and the second of Verginius Rufus, in the year of Rome 850, and of the Christian era 97. Brotier accedes to this opinion; but the reason which he assigns does not seem to be satisfactory. He observes that Tacitus, in the third section, mentions the emperor Nerva; but as he does not call him Divus Nerva, the dei- fied Nerva, the learned commentator infers that Nerva was still living. This reasoning might have some weight, if we did not read, in section 44, that it was the ardent wish of Agricola that he might live to be- hold Trajan in the imperial seat. If Nerva was then alive, the wish to see another in his room would have been an awkward compliment to the reigning prince. It is, perhaps, for this reason that Lipsius thinks this very elegant tract was written at the same time with the Manners of the Germans, in the beginning of the emperor Trajan. The ques- tion is not very material, since conjecture alone must decide it. The piece itself is admitted to be a master-piece in the kind. Tacitus was son-in-law to Agricola; and while filial piety breathes through his work, he never departs from the integrity of his own character. He has left a historical monument highly interesting to every Briton, who wishes to know the manners of his ancestors, and the spirit of liber- ty that from the earliest time distinguished the natives of Britain. "Agricola," as Hume observes, " was the general who finally establish- ed the dominion of the Romans in this island. He governed it in the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. He carried his victorious arms northward ; defeated the Britons in every encounter, pierced into the forests and the mountains of Caledonia, reduced every state to sub- jection in the southern parts of the island, and chased before him all the men of fiercer and more intractable spirits, who deemed war and death itself less intolerable than servitude under the victors. He de- feated them in a decisive action, which they fought under Galgacus; and having fixed a chain of garrisons between the friths of Clyde and Forth, he cut off the ruder and more barren parts of the island, and se- cured the Roman province from the incursions of the barbarous inhab-
344 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 1.
itants. During these military enterprises he neglected not the arts of peace. He introduced laws and civility among the Britons ; taught them to desire and raise all the conveniences of life ; reconciled them to the Roman language and manners ; instructed them in letters and science ; and employed every expedient to render those chains, which he had forged, both easy and agreeable to them." (Hume's Hist. vol. i. p. 9.) In this passage Mr. Hume has given a summary of the Life of Agricola. It is extended by Tacitus in a style more open than the didactic form of the essay on the German Manners required, but still with the precision, both in sentiment and diction, peculiar to the author. In rich but subdued colors he gives a striking picture of Agricola, leav- ing to posterity a portion of history which it would be in vain to seek in the dry gazette style of Suetonius, or in the page of any writer of that period.]
1. THE ancient custom of transmitting to posterity the actions and manners of famous men, has not been neglected even by the present age, incurious though it be about those belonging to it, whenever any exalted and noble degree of virtue has triumphed over that false estimation of merit, and that ill-will to it, by which small and great states are equally infested. In former times, however, as there was a greater propensity arid freer scope for the performance of actions worthy of remembrance, so every person of distinguished abil- ities was induced through conscious satisfaction in the task alone, without regard to private favor or interest, to record examples of virtue. And many considered it rather as the honest confidence of integrity, than a culpable arrogance, to become their own biographers. Of this, Rutilius and Scau- rus1 were instances ; who were never yet censured on this account, nor was the fidelity of their narrative called in ques- tion: so much more candidly are virtues always estimated, in those periods which are the most favorable to their pro- duction. For myself, however, who have undertaken to be the historian of a person deceased, an apology seemed necessary ;
1 Rutilius was consul B.C. 104; and for his upright life and great strictness was banished B.C. 92. Tacitus is the only writer who says he wrote his own life. Athenaeus mentions that he wrote a history of the affairs of Rome, in the Greek language. Scaurus was consul- B.C. 114, and again B.C. 106. He 'is the same Scaurus whom Sallust men- tions as having been bribed by Jugurtha. As the banishment of Ruti- lius took place on the accusation of Scaurus, it is possible that, when the former wrote his life, the latter also wrote his, in order to defend himself from charges advanced against him.
c. 1.] APOLOGY FOR WRITING THE LIFE. 345
which I should not have made, had my course lain through times less cruel and hostile to virtue.1
1 Venia opus fait. This whole passage has greatly perplexed the critics. The text is disputed, and it is not agreed why Tacitus asks indulgence. Brotier, Dronke, and others, say he asks indulgence for the inferiority of his style and manner (incondita ac rudi voce, c. 3), as compared with the distinguished authors (quisque celeberrimus} of an earlier and better age. But there would have been no less occasion to apologize for that, if the times he wrote of had not been so hostile to virtue. Hertel, La Bletterie, and many French critics, understand that he apologizes for writing the memoir of his father-in-law so late (nunc), when he was already dead (defuncti), instead of doing it, as the great men of a former day did, while the subject of their memoirs was yet alive ; and he pleads, in justification of the delay, that he could not have written it earlier without encountering the dangers of that cruel age (the age of Domitian). This makes a very good sense. The only objection against it is, that the language, opus fuit, seems rather to imply that it was necessary to justify himself for writing it at all, by citing the examples of former distinguished writers of biography, as he had done in the foregoing introduction. But why would it have been unnecessary to apologize for writing the life of Agricola, if the times in which he lived had not been so unfriendly to virtue? Because then Agricola would have had opportunity to achieve victories and honors, which would have demanded narration, but for which the jealousy and cruelty of Domitian now gave no scope. This is the explanation of Roth ; and he supports it by reference to the fact, that the achieve- ments of Agricola in the conquest of Britain, though doubtless just as Tacitus has described them, yet occupy so small a space in general history, that they are not even mentioned by any ancient historian ex- cept l)io Cassius ; and he mentions them chiefly out of regard to the discovery made by Agricola, for the first time, that Britain was an island. (Vid. R. Exc. 1.) This explanation answers all the demands of grammar and logic ; but as a matter of taste and feeling, I can not receive it. Such an apology for the unworthiness of his subject at the commencement of the biography, ill accords with the tone of dignified confidence which pervades the memoir. The best commentary I have seen on the passage is that of Walther ; and it would not, perhaps, be giving more space to so mooted a question than the scholar requires, to extract it entire : — " Venia" he says, " is here nothing else than what we, in the language of modesty, call an apology, and has respect to the very justification he has just offered in the foregoing exordium. For Tacitus there appeals to the usage, not of remote antiquity only, but of later times also, to justify his design of writing the biography of a distinguished man. There would have been no need of such an apology in other times. In other times, dispensing with all preamble, he would have begun, as in c. 4, ' Cnreus Julius Agricola,' etc., assured that no one would question the propriety of his course. But now, after a long and servile silence, when one begins again ' facta moresque posteris tradere,' when he utters the first word where speech and almost memory (c. 2) had so long been lost, when he stands forth as the first
P2
346 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 2.
2. We read that when Arulenus Rusticus published the praises of Pastus Thrasea, and Herennius Senecio those of Priscus Helvidius, it was construed into a capital crime j1 and the rage of tyranny was let loose not only against the authors, but against their writings ; so that those monuments of ex- alted genius were burned at the place of election in the forum by triumvirs appointed for the purpose. In that fire they thought to consume the voice of the Roman people, the free- dom of the senate, and the conscious emotions of all mankind ; crowning the deed by the expulsion of the professors of wis- dom,2 and the banishment of every liberal art, that nothing generous or honorable might remain. We gave, indeed, a consummate proof of our patience ; and as remote ages saw the very utmost degree of liberty, so we, deprived by inqui- sitions of all the intercourse of conversation, experienced
vindicator of condemned virtue, he seems to venture on something so new, so strange, so bold, that it may well require apology." In com- menting upon cursaturus — tempora, Walther adds : " If there is any boldness in the author's use of words here, that very fact suits the connection, that by the complexion of his language even, he might paint the audacity ' cursandi tarn saeva et infesta virtutibus tempora' — of running over (as in a race, for such is Walther' s interpretation of cur- sandi) times so cruel and so hostile to virtue. Not that those times could excite in Tacitus any real personal fear, for they were past, and he could now think what he pleased, and speak what he thought (Hist. i. 1). Still he shudders at the recollection of those cruelties; and he treads with trembling footstep, as it were, even the path lately obstructed by them. He looks about him to see whether, even now, he may safely utter his voice, and he timidly asks pardon for venturing to break the reigning silence." — Tyler.
1 A passage in Dio excellently illustrates the fact here referred to : " He (Domitian) put to death Rusticus Arulenus, because he studied philosophy, and had given Thrasea the appellation of holy ; and Heren- nius Senecio, because, although he lived many years after serving the office of quasstor, he solicited no other post, and because he had written the Life of Helvidius Priscus." (Ixvii. p. 765.) With less accuracy, Suetonius, in his Life of Domitian (s. 10), says: "He put to death Junius Rusticus, because he had published the panegyrics of Pffitus Thrasea and Helvidius Priscus, and had styled them most holy persons : and on this occasion he expelled all the philosophers from the city, and from Italy." Arulenus Rusticus was a Stoic ; on which account he was contumeliously called by M. Regulus "the ape of the Stoics, marked with the Vitellian scar." (Pliny, Epist. i. 5.) Thrasea, who killed Nero, is particularly recorded in the Annals, book xvi.
1 The expulsion of the philosophers, mentioned in the passage above quoted from Suetonius.
c. 4.] RETROSPECT. 347
the utmost of slavery. With language we should have lost memory itself, had it been as much in our power to forget, as to be silent.
3. Now our spirits begin to 'revive. But although at the first dawning of this happy period,1 the emperor Nerva unit- ed two things before incompatible, monarchy and liberty ; and Trajan is now daily augmenting the felicity of the em- pire; arid the public security2 has not only assumed hopes and wishes, but has seen those wishes arise to confidence and stability ; yet, from the nature of human infirmity, remedies are more tardy in their operation than diseases : and, as bod- ies slowly increase, but quickly perish, so it is more easy to suppress industry and genius, than to recall them. For indo- lence itself acquires a charm ; and sloth, however odious at first, becomes at length engaging. During the space of fif- teen years,3 a large portion of human life, how great a num- ber have fallen by casual events, and, as was the fate of all the most distinguished, by the cruelty of the prince ; while we, the few survivors, not of others alone, but, if I may be allowed the expression, of ourselves, find a void of so many years in our lives, which has silently brought us from youth to maturity, from mature age to the very verge of life ! Still, however, I shall not regret having composed, though in rude and artless language, a memorial of past servitude, and a tes- timony of present blessings.4
The present work, in the mean time, which is dedicated to the honor of my father-in-law, may be thought to merit ap- probation, or at least excuse, from the piety of the intention.
4. CN^EUS JULIUS AGRICOLA was born at the ancient and illustrious colony of Forumjulii.5 Both his grandfathers were
1 This truly happy period be^an when, after the death of Domitian, and the recision of his acts, the imperial authority devolved on Nerva, whose virtues were emulated by the successive emperors, Trajan, Ha- drian, and both the Antonines.
2 Securitas publica, " the public security," was a current expression and wish, and was frequently inscribed on medals.
3 The term of Domitian's rei<rn.
4 It appears that at this time Tacitus proposed to write not only the hooks of his History and Annals, which contain the "memorial of past servitude," but an account of the "present blessings" exemplified in the occurrences under Nerva and Trajan.
•~' There were two Roman colonies of this name ; one in Umbria, supposed to be the place now called Friuli ; the other in Narbonnen-
348 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 4
imperial procurators,1 an office which confers the rank of equestrian nobility. His father, Julius Graecinus,2 of the sen- atorian order, was famous for the study of eloquence and philosophy ; and by these accomplishments he drew on him- self the displeasure of Caius Caesar ;3 for, being commanded to undertake the accusation of Marcus Silanus,4 — on his re- fusal, he was put to death. His mother was Julia Procilla, a lady of exemplary chastity. Educated with tenderness in her bosom,5 he passed his childhood and youth in the at- tainment of every liberal art. He was preserved from the
sian Gaul, the modern name of which is Frejus. This last was prob- ably the birth-place of Agricola.
1 Of the procurators who were sent to the provinces, some had the charge of the public revenue ; others, not only of that, but of the pri- rate revenue of the emperor. These were the imperial procurators. All the offices relative to the finances were in the possession of the Roman knights ; of whom the imperial procurators were accounted noble. Hence the equestrian nobility of which Tacitus speaks. In some of the lesser provinces, the procurators had the civil jurisdiction, as well as the administration of the revenue. This was the case in Judaea.
2 Seneca bears a very honorable testimony to this person. "If," says he, " we have occasion for an example of a great mind, let us cite that of Julius Graecinus, an excellent person, whom Caius Caesar put to death on this account alone, that he was a better man than could be suffered under a tyrant." (De Benef. ii. 21.) His books concerning Vineyards are commended by Columella and Pliny.
3 Caligula.
* Marcus Silanus was the father of Claudia, the first wife of Caius. According to the historians of that period, Caius was jealous of him, and took every opportunity of mortifying him. Tacitus (Hist. iv. 48) mentions that the emperor deprived him of the military command of the troops in Africa in an insulting manner. Dion (lix.) states, that when, from his age and rank, Silanus was usually asked his opinion first in the senate, the emperor found a pretext for preventing this re- spect being paid to his worth. Suetonius (iv. 23) records that the em- peror one day put to sea in a hasty manner, and commanded Silanus to follow him. This, from fear of illness, he declined to do ; upon which the emperor, alleging that he staid on shore in order to get possession of the city in case any accident befell himself, compelled him to cut his own throat. It would seem, from the present passage of Tacitus, that there were some legal forms taken in the case of Sila- nus, and that Julius Graecinus was ordered to be the accuser; and that that noble-minded man, refusing to take part in proceedings so cruel and iniquitous, was himself put to death.
6 Of the part the Roman matrons took in the education of youth, Tacitus has given an elegant and interesting account, in his Dialogue concerning Oratory, c. 28.
c. 5.] IN BRITAIN, UNDER SUETONIUS PAULLINUS. 349
allurements of vice, not only by a naturally good disposition, but by being sent very early to pursue his studies at Massil- ia;1 a place where Grecian politeness and provincial frugal- ity are happily united. I remember he was used to relate, that in his early youth he should have engaged with more ar- dor in philosophical speculation than was suitable to a Ro- man and a senator, had not the prudence of his mother re- strained the warmth and vehemence of his disposition : for his lofty and upright spirit, inflamed by the charms of glory and exalted reputation, led him to the pursuit with more eagerness than discretion. Reason and riper years tempered his warmth ; and from the study of wisdom, he retained what is most difficult to compass, — moderation.
5. He learned the rudiments of war in Britain, under Suetonius Paullinus, an active and prudent commander, who chose him for his tent companion, in order to form an esti- mate of his merit.2 Nor did Agricola, like many young men, who convert military service into wanton pastime, avail him- self licentiously or slothfully of his tribunitial title, or his in- experience, to spend his time in pleasures and absences from duty ; but he employed himself in gaining a knowledge of the country, making himself known to the army, learning from the experienced, and imitating the best ; neither pressing to be employed through vainglory, nor declining it through ti- midity ; and performing his duty with equal solicitude and spirit.- At no other time in truth was Britain more agitated or in a state of greater uncertainty. Our veterans slaugh- tered, our colonies burned,3 our armies cut off,1 — we were then contending for safety, afterward for victory. During this pe-
1 Now Marseilles. This was a colony of the Phocaeans ; whence it derived that Grecian politeness for which it was long famous.
3 It was usual for generals to admit young men of promising charac- ters to this honorable companionship, which resembled the office of an aide-de-camp in the modern service. Thus, Suetonius informs us that Caisar made his first campaign in Asia as tent-companion to Marcus Thermus the prater.
3 This was the fate of the colony of veterans at Camalodunum, now Colchester or Maldon. A particular account of this revolt is given in the 14th book of the Annals.
* This alludes to the defeat of Petilius Cerialis, who came with the ninth legion to succor the colony of Camalodunum. All the infantry were slaughtered ; and Petilius, with the cavalry alone, got away to the camp. It was shortly after this, that Suetonius defeated Boadicsa and her forces.
350 THE LIFE OF AGKICOLA. £c. &
riod, although all things were transacted under the conduct and direction of another, and the stress of the whole, as well as the glory of recovering the province, fell to the general's share, yet they imparted to the young Agricola skill, experi- ence, and incentives ; and the passion for military glory en- tered his soul ; a passion ungrateful to the times,1 in which eminence was unfavorably construed, and a great reputation was no less dangerous than a bad one.
6. Departing thence to undertake the offices of magistracy in Rome, he married Doinitia Decidiana, a lady of illustrious descent, from which connection he derived credit and support in his pursuit of greater things. They lived together in ad- mirable harmony and mutual affection ; each giving the pref- erence to the other; a conduct equally laudable in both, ex- cept that a greater degree of praise is due to a good wife, in proportion as a bad one deserves the greater censure. The lot of quaestorship2 gave him Asia for his province, and the proconsul Salvius Titianus3 for his superior; by neither of which circumstances was he corrupted, although the prov- ince was wealthy and open to plunder, and the proconsul, from his rapacious disposition, would readily have agreed to a mutual concealment of guilt. His family was there in- creased by the birth of a daughter, who was both the support of his house, and his consolation ; for he lost an elder-born son in infancy. The interval between his serving the offices of quaestor and tribune of the people, and even the year of the latter magistracy, he passed in repose and inactivity; well knowing the temper of the times under Nero, in which indo- lence was wisdom. He maintained the same tenor of conduct when praetor ; for the judiciary part of the office did not fall to his share.4 In the exhibition of public games, and the idle
1 Those of Nero.
2 The office of quaestor was the entrance to all public employments. The quaestors and their secretaries were distributed by lot to the sev- eral provinces, that there might be no previous connections between them and the governors, but they might serve as checks upon each other.
3 Brother of the emperor Otho.
4 At the head of the praetors, the number of whom was different at different periods of the empire, were the Praetor Urbanus, and Praetor Peregrinus. The first administered justice among the citizens, the second among strangers. The rest presided at public debates, and had the charge of exhibiting the public games, which were celebrated
c. 7.] JOINS THE PARTY OF VESPASIAN. 351
trappings of dignity, he consulted propriety and the measure of his fortune; by no means approaching to extravagance, yet inclining rather to a popular course. When he was after- ward appointed by Galba to manage an inquest concerning the offerings which had been presented to the temples, by his strici/ attention and diligence he preserved the state from any further sacrilege than what it had suffered from Nero.1
7. The following year2 inflicted a severe wound on his peace of mind, and his domestic concerns. The fleet of Otho, roving in a disorderly manner on the coast,3 made a hostile descent on Intemelii,4 a part of Liguria, in which tke mother of Agricola was murdered at her own estate, her lands were ravaged, and a great part of her effects, which had in- vited the assassins, was carried off. As Agricola upon this event was hastening to perform the duties of filial piety, he was overtaken by the news of Vespasian's aspiring to the empire,5 and immediately went over to his party. The first acts of power, and the government of the city, were intrusted to Mucianus ; Domitian being at that time very young, and taking no other privilege from his father's elevation than that of indulging his licentious tastes. Mucianus, having ap- proved the vigor and fidelity of Agricola in the service of raising levies, gave him the command of the twentieth legion,6 which had appeared backward in taking the oaths, as soon as he had heard of the seditious practices of its commander.7
with great solemnity for seven successive days, and at a vast expense. This, indeed, in the times of the emperors, was almost the sole business of the praetors, whose dignity, as Tacitus expresses it, consisted in the idle trappings of state; whence Boethius justly terms the prastorship " an empty name, and a grievous burden on the senatorian rank."
1 Nero had plundered the temples for the supply of his extravagance and debauchery. See Annals, xv. 45.
2 This was the year of Rome 822 ; from the birth of Christ, 69.
3 The cruelties and depredations committed on the coast of Italy by this fleet are described in lively colors by Tacitus, Hist. ii. 12, 13.
4 Now the county of Vintimiglia. The attack upon the municipal town of this place, called Albium Intemelium, is particularly men- tioned in the passage above referred to.
5 In the month of July of this year.
6 The twentieth legion, surnamed the Victorious, was stationed in Britain at Deva, the modern Chester, where many inscriptions and other monument§ of Roman antiquities have been discovered.
1 Roscius Caslius. His disputes with the governor of Britain, Tre- bellius Maximus, are related by Tacitus, Hist. i. 60.
352 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 9.
This legion had been unmanageable and formidable even to the consular lieutenants;1 and its late commander, of praeto- rian rank, had not sufficient authority to keep it in obedience ; though it was uncertain whether from his own disposition, or that of his soldiers. Agricola was therefore appointed as his successor and avenger; but, with an uncommon degree of moderation, he chose rather to have it appear that he had found the legion obedient, than that he had made it so.
8. Vettius Bolanus was at that time governor of Britain, and ruled with a milder sway than was suitable to so turbu- lent a province. Under his administration, Agricola, accus- tomed to obey, and taught to consult utility as well as glory, tempered his ardor, and restrained his enterprising spirit. His virtues had soon a larger field for their display, from the appointment of Petilius Cerealis,2 a man of consular dignity, to the government. At first he only shared the fatigues and dangers of his general ; but was presently allowed to partake of his glory. Cerealis frequently intrusted him with part of his army as a trial of his abilities ; and from the event sometimes enlarged his command. On these occasions, Agricola was never ostentatious in assuming to himself the merit of his exploits ; but always, as a subordinate officer, gave the honor of his good fortune to his superior. Thus, by his spirit in executing orders, and his modesty in report- ing his success, he avoided envy, yet did not fail of acquiring reputation.
9. On tiis return from commanding the legion he was raised by Vespasian to the patrician order, and then invested with the government of Aquitania,3 a distinguished promotion, both in respect to the office itself, and in the hopes of the con- sulate to which it destined him. It is a common supposition that military men, habituated to the unscrupulous and sum- mary processes of camps, where things are carried with a strong hand, are deficient in the address and subtlety of genius requisite in civil jurisdiction. Agricola, however, by his natural prudence, was enabled to act with facility and
1 The governors of the province, and commanders in chief over all the legions stationed in it.
2 He had formerly been commander of the ninth legion.
3 The province of Aqui'tania extended from the Pyrenean mountains to the river Liger (Loire).
c. 10.] BRITAIN. 353
precision even among civilians. He distinguished the hours of business from those of relaxation. When the court or tribunal demanded his presence, he was grave, intent, awful, yet generally inclined to lenity. When the duties of his office were over, the man of power was instantly laid aside. Nothing of sternness, arrogance, or rapaciousness appeared ; and, what was a singular felicity, his affability did not impair his au- thority, nor his severity render him less beloved. To mention integrity and freedom from corruption in such a man, would be an affront to his virtues. He did not even court repu- tation, an object to which men of worth frequently sacrifice, by ostentation or artifice : equally avoiding competition with his colleagues,1 and contention with the procurators. To overcome in such a contest he thought inglorious ; and to be put down, a disgrace. Somewhat less than three years were spent in this office, when he was recalled to the immediate prospect of the consulate ; while at the same time a popular opinion prevailed that the government of Britain would be conferred upon him ; an opinion not founded upon any sug- gestions of his own, but upon his being thought equal to the station. Common fame does not always err, sometimes it even directs a choice. When consul,2 he contracted his daughter, a lady already of the happiest promise, to myself, then a very young man ; and after his office was expired I received her in marriage. He was immediately appointed governor of Britain, and the pontificate3 was added to his other dignities.
* 10. The situation and inhabitants of Britain have been de- scribed by many writers ;4 and I shall not add to the number with the view of vying with them in accuracy and ingenuity, but because it was first thoroughly subdued in the period of the present history. Those things which, while yet unascer- tained, they embellished with their eloquence, shall here be related with a faithful adherence to known facts. Britain, the
1 The governors of the neighboring provinces.
2 Agricola was consul in the year of Rome 830, A.D. 77, along with Domitian. They succeeded, in the calends of July, the consuls Ves- pasian and Titus, who began the year.
3 He was admitted into the Pontifical College, at the head of which was the Pontifex Maximus.
* Julius Csesar, Livy, Strabo, Fabius Rusticus, Pomponius Mela, Plinv, etc.
354 THE LIFE OF AGKICOLA. [c. 10.
largest of all the islands which have come within the knowl- edge of the Romans, stretches on the east toward Germany, on the west toward Spain,1 and on the south it is even within sight of Gaul. Its northern extremity has no opposite land, but is washed by a wide and open sea. Livy, the most eloquent of ancient, and Fabius Rusticus, of modern writers, have likened the figure of Britain to an oblong target, or a two-edged axe.2 And this is in reality its appearance, ex- clusive of Caledonia ; whence it has been popularly attributed to the whole island. But that tract of country, irregularly stretching out to an immense length toward the farthest shore, is gradually contracted in form of a wedge.3 The Roman fleet, at this period first sailing round this remotest coast, gave certain proof that Britain was an island ; and at the same time discovered and subdued the Orcades,4 islands till then unknown. Thule5 was also distinctly seen, which winter and eternal snow had hitherto concealed. The sea is reported to be sluggish and laborious to the rower ; and even to be scarcely agitated by winds. The cause of this stag- nation I imagine to be the deficiency of land and mountains
1 Thus Cagsar: " One side of Britain inclines toward Spain, and the setting sun ; on which part Ireland is situated." — Bell. Gall. v. 13.
3 These, as well as other resemblances suggested by ancient geogra- phers, have been mostly destroyed by the greater accuracy of modern maps.
3 This is so far true, that the northern extremity of Scotland is much narrower than the southern coast of England.
* The Orkney Islands. These, although now first thoroughly known to the Romans, had before been heard of, and mentioned by authors. Thus Mela, iii. 6: "There are thirty of the Orcades, separated from each other by narrow straits." And Pliny, iv. 16: "The Orcades are forty in number, at a small distance from each other." In the reign of Claudius, the report concerning these islands was particularly current,, and adulation converted it into the news of a victor}'. Hence Hierony- mus in his Chronicon says, " Claudius triumphed over the Britons, and added the Orcades to the Roman empire."
5 Camden supposes the Shetland Islands to be meant here by Thule ; others imagine it to have been one of the Hebrides. Pliny, iv. 1(>, mentions Thule as the most remote of all known islands; and, by plac- ing it but one day's sail from the Frozen Ocean, renders it probable that Iceland was intended. Procopius (Bell. Goth. ii. 15) speaks of another Thule, which must have been Norway, which many of the an- cients thought to be an island. Mr. Pennant supposes that the Thule here meant was Foula, a very lofty isle, one of the most westerly of the Shetlands, which might easily be descriel by the fleet.
c. 11.] INHABITANTS OF BRITAIN. 355
where tempests are generated ; and the difficulty with which such a mighty mass of waters, in an uninterrupted main, is put in motion.1 It is not the business of this work to inves- tigate the nature of the ocean and the tides ; a subject which many writers have already undertaken. I shall only add one circumstance : that the dominion of the sea is nowhere more extensive ; that it carries many currents in this direction and t(\ that ; and its ebbings and flowings are not confined to the shore, but it penetrates into the heart of the country, and works its way among hills and mountains, as though it were in its own domain.2
11. Who were the first inhabitants of Britain, whether indigenous3 or immigrants, is a question involved in the obscurity usual among barbarians. Their temperament of body is various, whence deductions are formed of their dif- ferent origin. Thus, the ruddy hair and large limbs of the Caledonians* point out a German derivation. The swarthy complexion and curled hair of the Silures,5 together with their situation opposite to Spain, render it probable that a colony of the ancient Iberi6 possessed themselves of that ter- ritory. They who are nearest Gaul7 resemble the inhabitants
1 As far as the meaning of this passage can be elucidated, it would appear as if the first circumnavigators of Britain, to enhance the idea of their dangers and hardships, had represented the Northern sea as in such a thickened half solid state, that the oars could scarcely be worked, or the water agitated by winds. Tacitus, however, rather chooses to explain its stagnant condition from the want of winds, and the difficulty of moving so great a body of waters. But the fact, taken either way, is erroneous ; as this sea is never observed frozen, and is remarkably stormy and tempestuous. — Aikin.
2 The great number of firths and inlets of the sea, which almost cut through the northern parts of the island, as well as the height of the tides on the coast, render this observation peculiarly proper.
3 Caesar mentions that the interior inhabitants of Britain were sup- posed to have originated in the island itself. (Bell. Gall. v. 12.)
* Caledonia, now Scotland, was at that time overspread by vast for. ests. Thus Pliny, iv. 16, speaking of Britain, says, that "for thirty years past the Roman arms had not extended the knowledge of the isl- and beyond the Caledonian forest."
5 Inhabitants of what are now the counties of Glamorgan, Mon- mouth, Brecknock, Hereford, and Radnor.
6 The Iberi were a people of Spain, so called from their neighbor- hood to the river Iberus, now Ebro.
7 Of these, the inhabitants of Kent are honorably mentioned by Cae- sar. "Of all these people, by far the most civilized are those inhabit-
356 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. \c. 12.
of that country ; whether from the duration of hereditary in- fluence, or whether it be that when lands jut forward in opposite directions,1 climate gives the same condition of body to the inhabitants of both. On a general survey, however, it appears probable that the Gauls originally took possession on the neighboring coast. The sacred rites and supersti- tions2 of these people are discernible among the Britons. The languages of the two nations do not greatly differ. The same audacity in provoking danger, and irresolution in fac- ing it when present, is observable in both. The Britons, however, display more ferocity,3 not being yet softened by a long peace : for it appears from history that the Gauls were once renowned in war, till, losing their valor with their lib- erty, languor and indolence entered among them. The same change has also taken place among those of the Britons who have been long subdued ;4 but the rest continue such as the Gauls formerly were.
12. Their military strength consists in infantry: some na- tions also make use of chariots in war ; in the management of which, the most honorable person guides the reins, while his dependents fight from the chariot.5 The Britons were for- merly governed by kings,6 but at present they are divided in factions and parties among their chiefs ; and this want of union for concerting some general plan is the most favorable circumstance to us, in our designs against so powerful a peo- ple. It is seldom that two or three communities concur in
ing the maritime country of Cantium, who differ little in their manners from the Gauls."— Bell. Gall. v. 14.
1 From the obliquity of the opposite coasts of England and France, some part of the former runs farther south than the northern extremity of the latter.
2 Particularly the mysterious and bloody solemnities of the Druids.
3 The children were born and nursed in this ferocity. Thus Solinus, c. 22, speaking of the warlike nation of Britons, says, "When a woman is delivered of a male chjjd, she lays its first food upon the husband's sword, and with the point gently puts it within the little one's mouth, praying to her country deities that his death may in like manner be in the midst of arms."
* In the reign of Claudius.
6 The practice of the Greeks in the Homeric age was the reverse of this.
6 Thus the kings Cunobelinus, Caractacus, and Prasutagus, and the queens Cartismandua and Boadicea, are mentioned in different parts of Tacitus.
c. 12.] CLIMATE AND SOIL. 357
repelling the common danger; and thus, while they engage singly, they are all subdued. The sky in this country is deformed by clouds and frequent rains ; but the cold is never extremely rigorous. l The length of the days greatly exceeds that in our part of the world.2 The nights are bright, and, at the extremity of the island, so short, that the close and return of day is scarcely distinguished by a perceptible inter- val. It is even asserted that, when clouds do not intervene, the splendor of the sun is visible during the whole night, and that it does not appear to rise and set, but to move across.3 The cause of this is, that the extreme and flat parts of the earth, casting a low shadow, do not throw up the darkness, and so night falls beneath the sky and the stars.4 The soil, though improper for the olive, the vine, and other productions of warmer climates, is fertile, and suitable for corn. Growth is quick, but maturation slow ; both from the
1 Csesar says of Britain, " the climate is more temperate than that of Gaul, the cold being less severe." (Bell. Gall. v. 12.) This certainly proceeds from its insular situation, and the moistness of its atmosphere.
2 Thus Pliny (ii. 75): — " The longest day in Italy is of fifteen hours, in Britain of seventeen, where in summer the nights are light."
3 Tacitus, through the medium of Agricola, must have got this report, either from the men of Scandinavia, or from those of the Britons who had passed into that country, or been informed to this effect by those who had visited it. It is quite true, that in the farther part of Nor- way, and so also again in Iceland and the regions about the North Pole, there is, at the summer solstice, an almost uninterrupted day for nearly two months. Tacitus here seems to affirm this as universally the case, not having heard that, at the winter solstice, there is a night of equal duration.
* Tacitus, after having given the report of the Britons as he had heard it, probably from Agricola, now goes on to state his own views on the subject. He represents that, as the far north is level, there is nothing, when the sun is in the distant horizon, to throw up a shadow toward the sky : that the light, indeed, is intercepted from the surface of the earth itself, and so there is darkness upon it ; but that the sky above is still clear and bright from its rays. And hence he supposes that the brightness of the upper regions neutralizes the darkness on the earth, forming a degree of light equivalent to the evening twilight or the morning dawn, or, indeed, rendering it next to impossible to decide when the evening closes and the morning begins. Compare the fol- lowing account, taken from a "Description of a Visit to Shetland," in vol. viii. of Chambers's Miscellany : — " Being now in the 60th degree of north latitude, daylight could scarcely be said to have left us during the night, and at 2 o'clock in the morning, albeit the mist still hung about us, we could see as clearly as we can do in London, at about any hour in a November day."
358 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 13.
same cause, the great humidity of the ground and the atmos- phere.1 The earth yields gold and silver2 and other metals, the rewards of victory. The ocean produces pearls,3 but of a cloudy and livid hue ; which some impute to unskillfulness in the gatherers ; for in the Ked Sea the fish are plucked from the rocks alive and vigorous, but in Britain they are collected as the sea throws them up. For my own part, I can more readily conceive that the defect is in the nature of the pearls, than in our avarice.
13. The Britons cheerrnlly submit to levies, tributes, and the other services of government, if they are not treated
1 Mr. Pennant has a pleasing remark concerning the soil and climate of our island, well agreeing with that of Tacitus: — "The climate of Great Britain is above all others productive of the greatest variety and abundance of wholesome vegetables, which, to crown our happiness, are almost equally diffused through all its parts : this general fertility is owing to those clouded skies, which foreigners mistakenly urge as a re- proach on our country ; but let us cheerfully endure a temporary gloom, which clothes not only our meadows, but our hills, with the richest verd- ure."— Brit. Zool. 4to. i. 15.
2 Strabo (iv. 138) testifies the same. Cicero, on the other hand, asserts, that not a single grain of silver is found on this island. (Ep. ad Attic, iv. 16.) If we have recourse to modern authorities, we find Camden mentioning gold and silver mines in Cumberland, silver in Flintshire, and gold in Scotland. Dr. Borlase (Hist, of Cornwall, p. 214) relates, that so late as the year 1753, several pieces of gold were found in what the miners call stream tin ; and silver is now got in con- siderable quantity from several of our lead ores. A curious paper, con- cerning the Gold Mines of Scotland, is given by Mr. Pennant in Ap- pend. (No. x.) to his second part of a "Tour in Scotland in 1772," and a much more general account of the mines and ores of Great Britain in early times, in his "Tour in Wales of 1773," pp. 51 — 66.
3 Camden mentions pearls being found in the counties of Caernar- von and Cumberland, and in the British sea. Mr. Pennant, in his "Tour in Scotland in 1769," takes notice of a considerable pearl fishery out of the fresh-water muscle, in the vicinity of Perth, from whence £10,000 worth of pearls were sent to London from 1761 to 1764. It was, how- ever, almost exhausted when he visited the country. See also the fourth volume of Mr. Pennant's Br. Zool. (Class vi. No. 18), where he gives a much more ample account of the British pearls. Origen, in his Com- ment, on Matthew, pp. 210, 211, gives a description of the British pearl, which, he says, was next in value to the Indian : — " Its surface is of a gold color, but it is cloudy, and less transparent than the Indian." Pliny speaks of the British unions as follows : — " It is certain that small and discolored ones are produced in Britain ; since the deified Julius has given us to understand that the breast-plate which he dedicated to Venus Genitrix, and placed in her temple, was made of British pearls." -ix. 35.
c. 14.] FIRST INVASION OF BRITAIN. 359
injuriously ; but such treatment they bear with impatience, their subjection only extending to obedience, not to servitude. Accordingly Julius Caesar,1 the first Roman who entered Britain with an army, although he terrified the inhabitants by a successful engagement, and became master of the shore, may be considered rather to have transmitted the discovery than the possession of the country to posterity. The civil wars soon succeeded; the arms of the leaders were turned against their country ; and a long neglect of Britain ensued, which continued even after the establishment of peace. This Augustus attributed to policy ; and Tiberius to the injunc- tions of his predecessor.2 It is certain that Caius Caesar3 meditated an expedition into Britain ; but his temper, precip^ itate in forming schemes, and unsteady in pursuing them, together with the ill success of his mighty attempts against Germany, rendered the design abortive. Claudius* accom- plished the undertaking, transporting his legions and auxil- iaries, and associating Vespasian in the direction of affairs, which laid the foundation of his future fortune. In this ex- pedition, nations were subdued, kings made captive, and Ves* pasian was held forth to the fates.
14. Aulus Plautius, the first consular governor, and his successor Ostorius Scapula,5 were both eminent for military abilities. Under them, the nearest part of Britain was grad. ually reduced into the form of a province, and a colony of veterans6 was settled. Certain districts were bestowed upon king Cogidunus, a prince who continued in perfect fidelity within our own memory. This was done agreeably to the
1 Caesar's two expeditions into Britain were in the year of Rome 699 and 700. He himself gives an account of them, and they are also men- tioned by Strabo and Dio.
2 It was the wise policy of Augustus not to extend any farther the limits of the empire; and with regard to Britain, in particular, he thought the conquest and preservation of it, would be attended with more expense than it could repay. (Strabo, ii. 79, and iv. 138.) Tibe- rius, who always professed an entire deference for the maxims and in- junctions of Augustus, in this instance, probably, was convinced of their propriety. 3 Caligula.
* Claudius invaded Britain in the year of Rome 796, A.D. 43.
5 In the parish of Dinder, near Hereford, are yet remaining the vestiges of a Roman encampment, called Oyster-hill, as is supposed from this Ostorius. Camden's Britan. by Gibson, p. 580.
' That of Camalodunum, now Colchester, or Maldon.
360 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 15.
ancient and long established practice of the Romans, to make even kings the instruments of servitude. Didius Gallus, the next governor, preserved the acquisitions of his prede- cessors, and added a very few fortified posts in the remoter parts, for the reputation of enlarging his province. Vera- nius succeeded, but died within the year. Suetonius Paul- linus then commanded with success for two years, subduing various nations, and establishing garrisons. In the confi- dence with which this inspired him, he undertook an expedi- tion against the island Mona,1 which had furnished the re- volters with supplies; arid thereby exposed the settlements behind him to a surprise.
15. For the Britons, relieved from present dread by the absence of the governor, began to hold conferences, in which they painted the miseries of servitude, compared their several injuries, and inflamed each other with such representations as these : " That the only effects of their patience were more grievous impositions upon a people who submitted with such facility. Formerly they had one king respectiv ely ; now two were set over them, the lieutenant and the procurator, the former of whom vented his rage upon their life's blood, the latter upon their properties ;2 the union or discord3 of these governors was equally fatal to those whom they ruled, while the officers of the one, and the centurions of the other, joined in oppressing them by all kinds of violence and contumely ; so that nothing was exempted from their avarice, nothing from their lust. In battle it was the bravest who took spoils; but those whom they suffered to seize their houses, force away their children, and exact levies, were, for the most part, the cowardly and effeminate ; as if the only lesson of suffering of which they were ignorant was how to die for their country. Yet how inconsiderable would the number of invaders appear did the Britons but compute their own forces ! From consider- ations like these, Germany had thrown off the yoke,4 though a
1 The Mona of Tacitus is the Isle of Anglesey, that of Csesar is the Isle of Man, called by Pliny Monapia.
2 The avarice of Cams Decidianus the procurator is mentioned as ihe cause by which the Britons were forced into this war, by Tacitus, Annal. xiv/32.
3 Julius Classicianus, who succeeded Decidianus, was at variance with the governor, but was no less oppressive to the province.
* By the slaughter of Varus.
c. 16.] DEFEAT OF BOADICEA. 361
river1 and not the ocean was its barrier. The welfare of their country, their wives, and their parents called them to arms, while avarice and luxury alone incited their enemies ; who would withdraw as even the deified Julius had done, if the pres- ent race of Britons would emulate the valor of their ancestors, and not be dismayed at the event of the first or second engage- ment. Superior spirit and perseverance were always the share of the wretched ; and the gods themselves now seemed to com- passionate the Britons, by ordaining the absence of the general, and the detention of his army in another island. The most difficult point, assembling for the purpose of deliberation, was already accomplished; and there was always more danger from the discovery of designs like these, than from their execution.", 16. Instigated by such suggestions, they unanimously rose in arms, led by Boadicea,2 a woman of royal descent, (for they make no distinction between the sexes in succession to the throne,) and attacking the soldiers dispersed through the garrisons, stormed the fortified posts, and invaded the colony3 itself, as the seat of slavery. They omitted no species of cru- elty with which rage and victory could inspire barbarians; and had not Paullinus, on being acquainted with the commo tion of the province, marched speedily to its relief, Britain would have been lost. The fortune of a single battle, how- ever, reduced it to its former subjection ; though many still remained in arms, whom the consciousness of revolt, and par- ticular dread of the governor, had driven to despair. Paulli- nus, although otherwise exemplary in his administration, hav- ing treated those who surrendered with severity, and having pursued too rigorous measures, as one who was revenging his own personal injury also, Petronius Turpilianus1 was sent in his stead, as a person more inclined to lenity, and one who, being unacquainted with the enemy's delinquency, could more easily accept their penitence. After having restored things to their former quiet state, he delivered the command to Trebel-
1 The Rhine and Danube.
2 Boadicea, whose name is variously written Boudicea, Bonduca, Voadicea, etc., was queen of the Iceni, or people of Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire. A particular account of this revolt is given in the Annals, xiv. 31, and seq.
3 Of Camalodunum.
4 This was in A.D. 61. According to Tac. Hist. i. 6, Petronius Tur- pilianus was put to death by Galba, A.D. 68.
VOL. II.— Q
S62 THE LIFE OP AGRICOLA. [c. 17.
Hus Maximus.1 Trebellius, indolent, and inexperienced in military affairs, maintained the tranquillity of the province by popular manners ; for even the barbarians had now learned to pardon under the seductive influence of vices ; and the in- tervention of the civil wars afforded a legitimate excuse for his inactivity. Sedition however infected the soldiers, who, instead of their usual military services, were rioting in idle- ness. Trebellius, after escaping the fury of his army by flight and concealment, dishonored and abased, regained a precari- ous authority ; and a kind of tacit compact took place, of safety to the general, and licentiousness to the army. This mutiny was not attended with bloodshed. Vettius Bolanus,2 succeeding during the continuance of the civil wars, was una- ble to introduce discipline into Britain. The same inaction toward the enemy, and the same insolence in the camp, con- tinued; except that Bolanus, unblemished in his character, and not obnoxious by any crime, in some measure substituted affection in the place of authority.
17. At length, when Vespasian received the possession of Britain together with the rest of the world, the great com- manders and well-appointed armies which were sent over abated the confidence of the enemy; and Petilius Cerealis struck terror by an attack upon the Brigantes,3 who are re- puted to compose the most populous state in the whole prov- ince. Many battles were fought, some of them attended with much bloodshed ; and the greater part of the Brigantes were either brought into subjection, or involved in the ravages of war. The conduct and reputation of Cerealis were so bril- liant that they might have eclipsed the splendor of a suc- cessor ; yet Julius Frontinus,4 a truly great man, supported the arduous competition, as far as circumstances would per- mit.5 He subdued the strong and warlike nation of the
1 The date of his arrival is uncertain.
2 He was sent to Britain by Vespasian, A.D. 69.
3 The Brigantes inhabited Yorkshire, Lancashire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Durham.
* The date of his arrival in Britain is uncertain. This Frontinus is the author of the work on " Stratagems," and, at the time of his ap- pointment to the lieutenancy of Britain, he was curator aquarum at Rome. This, probably, it was that induced him to write his other work on the aqueducts of Rome.
* This seems to relate to his having been curtailed in his military
c. 18.] THE ORDOVICES OF NORTH WALES. 363
Silures,1 in which expedition, besides the valor of the enemy, he had the difficulties of the country to struggle with.
18. Such was the state of Britain, and such had been the vicissitudes of warfare, when Agricola arrived in the middle of summer;2 at a time when the Roman soldiers, supposing the expeditions of the year were concluded, were thinking of enjoying themselves without care, and the natives, of seizing the opportunity thus afforded them. Not long before his arrival, the Ordovices3 had cut off almost an entire corps of cavalry stationed on their frontiers ; and the inhabitants of the province being thrown into a state of anxious suspense by this beginning, inasmuch as war was what they wished for, either approved of the example, or waited to discover the dis- position of the new governor.4 The season was now far ad- vanced, the troops dispersed through the country, and possessed with the idea of being suffered to remain inactive during the rest of the year ; circumstances which tended to retard and dis- courage any military enterprise ; so that it was generally thought most advisable to be contented with defending the sus- pected posts : yet Agricola determined to march out and meet the approaching danger. For this purpose, he drew together the detachments from the legions,5 and a small body of auxil- iariqs ; and when he perceived that the Ordovices would not venture to descend into the plain, he led an advanced party in person to the attack, in order to inspire the rest of his troops with equal ardor. The result of the action was almost the total extirpation of the Ordovices ; when Agricola, sens- ible that renown must be followed up, and that the future
operations by the parsimony of Vespasian, who refused him permission to attack other people than the Silures. See c. 11.
1 Where these people inhabited is mentioned in p. 355, note 5.
2 This was in the year of Rome 831, of Christ 78.
3 Inhabitants of North Wales, exclusive of the Isle of Anglesey.
4 i. e. Some were for immediate action, others for delay. Instead of et quibus, we read with Dr. Smith's edition (London, 1850), ut quibus.
5 Vexilla is here used for vexillarii. "Under the Empire the name of Vexillarii was given to a distinct body of soldiers supposed to have been composed of veterans, who were released from the military oath and regular service, but kept embodied under a separate flag (vex'dlum\ to render assistance to the army if required, guard the frontier, and garrison recently conquered provinces; a certain number of these supernumeraries being attached to each legion. (Tac. Hist. ii. 83, ICO ; Ann. i. 36.)" — Rich, Comp. to Diet, and Lex. s. v. Vexillum.
364 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 19
events of the war would be determined by the first success, resolved to make an attempt upon the island Mona, from the occupation of which Paullinus had been summoned by the general rebellion of Britain, as before related.1 The usual deficiency of an unforeseen expedition appearing in the want of transport vessels, the ability and resolution of the general were exerted to supply this defect. A select body of auxil- iaries, disencumbered of their baggage, who were well ac- quainted with the fords, and accustomed, after the manner of their country, to direct their horses and manage their arms while swimming,2 were ordered suddenly to plunge into the channel ; by which movement, the enemy, who expected the arrival of a fleet, and a formidable invasion by sea, were struck with terror and astonishment, conceiving nothing arduous or insuperable to troops who thus advanced to the attack. They were therefore induced to sue for peace, and make a surrender of the island ; an event which threw lustre on the name of Agricola, who, on the very entrance upon his province, had employed in toils and dangers that time which is usually devoted to ostentatious parade, and the compliments of office. Nor was he tempted, in the pride of success, to term that an expedition or a victory, which was only bridling the vanquished ; nor even to announce his success in laureate dispatches.3 But this concealment of his glory served to augment it ; since men were led to entertain a high idea of the grandeur of his future views, when such important serv- ices were passed over in silence.
19. Well acquainted with the temper of the province, and taught by the experience of former governors how little pro- ficiency had been made by arms, when success was followed by injuries, he next undertook to eradicate the causes of war. And beginning with himself, and those next him, he first laid
1 A pass into the vale of Clwyd, in the parish of Llanarmon, is still called Bwlch Agrikle, probably from having been occupied by Agricola, in his road to Mona. — Mr. Pennant.
a From this circumstance it would appear that these auxiliaries were Batavians, whose skill in this practice is related by Tacitus, Hist. iv. 12.
3 It was customary for the Roman generals to decorate with sprigs of laurel the letters in which they sent home the news of any remark- able success. Thus Pliny, xv. 30 : " The laurel, the principal messenger of joy and victory among the Romans, is affixed to letters, and to the spears and javelins of the soldiers." The laurus of the ancients was probably the bay-tree, and not what we now call laurel.
. 20.] HE ADOPTS A MILDER POLICY. 365
restrictions upon his own household, a task no less arduous to most governors than the administration of the province. He suffered no public business to pass through the hands of' his slaves or freedmen. In admitting soldiers into regular service,1 to attendance about his person, he was not influenced by private favor, or the recommendation or solicitation of the centurions, but considered the best men as likely to prove the most faithful. He would know every thing; but was content to let some things pass unnoticed.2 He could pardon small faults, and use severity to great ones ; yet did not al- ways punish, but was frequently satisfied with penitence. He chose rather to confer offices and employments upon such as would not offend, than to condemn those who had offended. The augmentation3 of tributes and contributions he mitigated by a just and equal assessment, abolishing those private ex- actions which were more grievous to be borne than the taxes themselves. For the inhabitants had been compelled in mock- ery to sit by their own locked-up granaries, to buy corn need- lessly, and to sell it again at a stated price. Long and difficult journeys had also been imposed upon them ; for the several districts, instead of being allowed to supply the nearest win- ter-quarters, were forced to carry their corn to remote and de- vious places ; by which means, what was easy to be procured by all, was converted into an article of gain to a few.
20. By suppressing these abuses in the first year of his ad- ministration, he established a favorable idea of peace, which, through the negligence or oppression of his predecessors, had
1 Ascire, al. acdre. "To receive into regular service." The refer- ence is to the transfer of soldiers from the supernumeraries to the le- gions. So Walch, followed by Dronke, Roth, and Walther. The next clause implies, that he took care to receive into the service none but the best men (optimum quemque), who, he was confident, would prove faithful (fidelissimwn).
2 In like manner Suetonius says of Julius Cassar, "He neither no- ticed nor punished every crime ; but while he strictly inquired into and rigorously punished desertion and mutiny, he connived at other delin~ quencies." — Life of Julius Caesar, s. 67.
3 Many commentators propose reading "exaction," instead of "aug- mentation." But the latter may be suffered to remain, especially as Suetonius informs us that " Vespasian, not contented with renewing gome taxes remitted under Galba, added new and heavy ones ; and augmented the tributes paid by the provinces, even doubling some."—' Life of Vesp. s. 19.
366 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 22.
been no less dreaded than war. At the return of summer1 he assembled his army. On their march, he commended the regular and orderly, and restrained the stragglers ; he marked out the encampments,2 and explored in person the estuaries and forests. At the same time he perpetually har- assed the enemy by sudden incursions; and after sufficiently alarming them, by an interval of forbearance he held to their view the allurements of peace. By this management, many states, which till that time had asserted their independence, were now induced to lay aside their animosity, and to deliver hostages. These districts were surrounded with castles and forts, disposed with so much attention and judgment, that no part of Britain, hitherto new to the Roman arms, escaped unmolested.
21. The succeeding winter was employed in the most salu- tary measures. In order, by a taste of pleasures, to reclaim the natives from that rude and unsettled state which prompted them to war, and reconcile them to quiet and tranquillity, he incited them, by private instigations and public encourage- ments, fo erect temples, courts of justice, and dwelling-houses. He bestowed commendations upon those who were prompt in complying with his intentions, and reprimanded such as were dilatory ; thus promoting a spirit of emulation which had all the force of necessity. He was also attentive to provide a liberal education for the sons of their chieftains, preferring the natural genius of the Britons to the attainments of the Gauls ; and his attempts were attended with such success, that they who lately disdained to make use of the Roman language, were now ambitious of becoming eloquent. Hence the Roman habit began to be held in honor, and the toga was frequently worn. At length they gradually deviated into a taste for those luxuries which stimulate to vice ; por- ticos, and baths, and the elegances of the table ; and this, from their inexperience, they termed politeness, while, in real- ity, it constituted a part of their slavery.
22. The military expeditions of the third year3 discovered
1 In the year of Rome 832, A.D. 79.
2 Many vestiges of these or other Roman camps yet remain in differ- ent parts of Great Britain. Two principal ones, in the county of An- nandale in Scotland, called Burnswork and Middleby, are described at large by Gordon in his Itiner. Septentrion. pp. 16, 18.
* The year of Rome 833, A.D. 80.
c. 23.] THE FIRTHS OF CLYDE AND FORTH. 367
new nations to the Romans, and their ravages extended as far as the estuary of the Tay.1 The enemies were thereby struck with such terror that they did not venture to molest the army, though harassed by violent tempests ; so that they had sufficient opportunity for the erection of fortresses.2 Per- sons of experience remarked, that no general had ever shown greater skill in the choice of advantageous situations than Agricola ; for not one of his fortified posts was either taken by storm, or surrendered by capitulation. The garrisons made frequent sallies ; for they were secured against a block- ade by a year's provision in their stores. Thus the winter passed without alarm, and each garrison proved sufficient for its own defense ; while the enemy, who were generally accus- tomed to repair the losses of the summer by the successes of the winter, now equally unfortunate in both seasons, were baffled and driven to despair. In these transactions, Agric- ola never attempted to arrogate to himself the glory of others ; but always bore an impartial testimony to the meritorious actions of his officers, from the centurion to the commander of a legion. He was represented by some as rather harsh in reproof; as if the same disposition which made him affable to the deserving, had inclined him to austerity toward the worthless. But his anger left no relics behind ; his silence and reserve were not to be dreaded ; and he esteemed it more honorable to show marks of open displeasure, than to enter- tain secret hatred.
23. The fourth summer3 was spent in securing the country which had been overrun ; and if the valor of the army and the glory of the Roman name had permitted it, our conquests would have found a limit within Britain itself. For the tides of the opposite seas, flowing very far up the estuaries of Clota and Bodotria, * almost intersect the country ; leaving only a narrow neck of land, which was then defended by a chain of forts.5 Thus all the territory on this side was held in sub-
1 Now the Firth of Tay.
2 The principal of these was at Ardoch, seated so as to command the entrance into two valleys, Strathallan and Strathearn. A description and plan of its remains, still in good preservation, are given by Mr. Pennant in his Tour in Scotland in 1772, part ii. p. 101.
3 The year of Rome 834, A.D. 81. * The Firths of Clyde and Forth.
' The neck of land between these opposite arms of the sea is only
868 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 25.
jection, and the remaining enemies were removed, as it were, into an other island.
24. In the fifth campaign,1 Agricola crossing over in the first ship,2 subdued, by frequent and successful engagements, several nations till then unknown ; and stationed troops in that part of Britain which is opposite to Ireland, rather with a view to future advantage, than from any apprehension of danger from that quarter. For the possession of Ireland, situated between Britain and Spain, and lying commodiously to the Gallic sea,3 would have formed a very beneficial con- nection between the most powerful parts of the empire. This island is less than Britain, but larger than those of our sea.4 Its soil, climate, and the manners and dispositions of its in- habitants, are little different from those of Britain. Its ports and harbors are better known, from the concourse of mer- chants for the purposes of commerce. Agricola had received into his protection one of its petty kings, who had been ex- pelled by a domestic sedition ; and detained him, under the semblance of friendship, till an occasion should offer of mak- ing use of him. I have frequently heard him assert, that a single legion and a few auxiliaries would be sufficient en- tirely to conquer Ireland and keep it in subjection ; and that such an event would also have contributed to restrain the Britons, by awing them with the prospect of the Roman arms all round them, and, as it were, banishing liberty from their sight.
25. In the summer which began the sixth years of Agric- ola's administration, extending his views to the countries situated beyond Bodotria,6 as a general insurrection of the
about thirty miles over. About fifty-five years after Agricola had left the island, Lollius Uibicus, governor of Britain under Antoninus Pius, erected a vast wall or rampart, extending from Old Kirkpatrick on the Clyde, to Caendden, two miles west of Abercorn, on the Forth, a space of near thirty -seven miles, defended by twelve or thirteen forts. These are supposed to have been on the site of those of Agricola. This wall is usually called Graham's dike; and some parts of it are now subsisting.
The year of Rome 835, A.D. 82.
Crossing the Firth of Clyde, or Dumbarton Bay, and turning to the western coast of Argyleshire, or the Isles of Arran and Bute.
The Bay of Biscay. * The Mediterranean.
The year of Rome 836, A. D. 83.
The eastern parts of Scotland, north of the Firth of Forth, where now are the counties of Fife, Kinross, Perth, Angus, etc.
c. 26.J GREAT BATTLE IN CALEDONIA 369
remoter nations was apprehended, and the enemy* army ren- dered marching unsafe, he caused the harbors to be explored byliis fleet, which, now first acting in aid of the land-forces, gave the formidable spectacle of war at once pushed on by sea and land. The cavalry, infantry, and marines were fre- quently mingled in the same camp, and recounted with mutual pleasure their several exploits and adventures ; com- paring, in the boastful language of military men, the dark recesses of woods and mountains, with the horrors of waves and tempests ; and the land and enemy subdued, with the conquered ocean. It was also discovered from the captives, that the Britons had been struck with consternation at the view of the fleet, conceiving the last refuge of the vanquished to be cut off, now the secret retreats of their seas were dis- closed. The various inhabitants of Caledonia immediately took up arms, with great preparations, magnified, however, by report, as usual where the truth is unknown ; and by be- ginning hostilities, and attacking our fortresses, they inspired terror as daring to act offensively ; insomuch that some per- sons, disguising their timidity under the mask of prudence, were for instantly retreating on this side the firth, and relin- quishing the country rather than waiting to be driven out. Agricola, in the mean time, beingjnformed that the enemy intended to bear down in several bodies, distributed his army into three divisions, that his .inferiority of numbers, and ig- norance of the country, might not give them an opportunity of surrounding him.
26. When this was known to the enemy, they suddenly changed their design ; and making a general attack in the night upon the ninth legion, which was the weakest,1 in the confusion of sleep and consternation they slaughtered the sentinels, and burst through the intrenchments. They were now fighting within the camp, when Agricola, who had received informa- tion of their march from the scouts, and followed close upon their track, gave orders for the swiftest of his horse and foot to charge the enemy's rear. Presently the whole army
1 This legion, which had been weakened by many engagements, was afterward recruited, and then called Gemina. Its station at this affair is supposed by Gordon to have been Lochore in Fifeshire. Mr. Pennant rather imagines the place of attack to have been Comerie in Perthshire.
Q2
370 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. tc. 28.
raised a general shout; and the standards now glittered at the approach of day. The Britons were distracted by op- posite dangers ; while the Romans in the camp resumed their courage, and, secure of safety, began to contend for glory. They now in their turns rushed forward .to the at- tack, and a furious engagement ensued in the gates of the camp ; till by the emulous efforts of both Roman armies, one to give assistance, the other to appeai^pot to need it, the enemy was routed : and had not the woods and marshes sheltered the fugitives, that day would have terminated the war.
27. The soldiers, inspirited by the steadfastness which char- acterized, and the fame which attended this victory, cried out that " nothing could resist their valor ; now was the time to penetrate into the heart of Caledonia, and in a continued series of engagements at length to discover the utmost limits of Britain." Those even who had before recommended cau- tion and prudence, were now rendered rash and boastful by success. It is the hard condition of military command, that a share in prosperous events is claimed by all, but misfortunes are imputed to one alone. The Britons meantime, attribut- ing their defeat not to the superior bravery of their adver- saries, but to chance, and the skill of the general, remitted nothing of their confidence ; but proceeded to arm their youth ; to send their wives and children to places of safety, and to ratify the confederacy of their several states by solemn assem- blies and sacrifices. Thus the parties separated with minds mutually irritated.
28. During the same summer, a cohort of Usipii,1 which had been levied in Germany, and sent over into Britain, performed an extremely daring and memorable action. After murdering a centurion and some soldiers who had been in- corporated with them for the purpose of instructing them in military discipline, they seized upon three light vessels, and compelled the masters to go on board with them. One of these, however, escaping to shore, they killed the other two upon suspicion ; and before the affair was publicly known, they sailed away, as it were by miracle. They were presently driven at the mercy of the waves ; and had frequent conflicts, with various success, with the Britons, defending their prop-
1 For an account of these people see Manners of the Germans, c. 32-
<3. 29.] HE REACHES THE GRAMPIANS. 37]
erty from plunder. 1 At length they were reduced to such ex- tremity of distress as to be obliged to feed upon each other ; the weakest being first sacrificed, and then such as were taken by lot. In this manner having sailed round the island, they lost their ships through want of skill ; and, being regarded as pirates, were intercepted, first by the Suevi, then by the Frisii. Some of them, after being sold for slaves, by the change of masters were brought to the Roman side of the river,2 and became notorious from the relation of their extraordinary ad- ventures.^
29. In the beginning of the next summer,4 Agricola re- ceived a severe domestic wound in. the loss of a son, about a year old. He bore this calamity, not with the ostentatious firmness which many have affected, nor yet with the tears and lamentations of feminine sorrow ; and_war was one of the remedies of his grief. Having sent forward his fleet to spread its ravages through various parts of the coast, in order to ex- cite an extensive and dubious alarm, he marched with an army equipped for expedition, to which he had joined the bravest of the Britons whose fidelity had been approved by a long allegiance, and arrived at the Grampian hills, where the enemy was already encamped.5 For the Britons, undismayed by the event of the former action, expecting revenge or slav- ery, and at length taught that the common danger was to be repelled by union alone, had assembled the strength of all their tribes by embassies and confederacies. Upward of
1 Mr. Pennant had a present made him in Skye, of a brass sword and a denarius found in that island. Might they not have been lost by some of these people in one of their landings ?
2 The Rhine.
3 This extraordinary expedition, according to Dio, set out from the western side of the island. They therefore must have coasted all that part of Scotland, must have passed the intricate navigation through the Hebrides, and the dangerous strait of Pentland Frith, and, after coming round to the eastern side, must have been driven to the mouth of the Baltic Sea. Here they lost their ships ; and, in their attempt to pro- ceed homeward by land, were seized as pirates, part by the Suevi, and the rest by the Frisii.
4 The year of Rome 837, A.D. 84.
5 The scene of this celebrated engagement is by Gordon (Itin. Sep- tent.) supposed to be in Strath ern, near a place now called the Kirk of Comerie, where are the remains of two Roman camps. Mr. Pennant, however, in his Tour in 1772, part ii. p. 96, gives reasons which appear well founded for dissenting from Gordon's opinion.
372 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 30.
thirty thousand men in arms were now descried ; and the youth, together with those of a hale and vigorous age, re- nowned in war, and bearing their several honoi;ary decora- tions, were still flocking in; when Calgacus,1 the most dis- tinguished for birth and valor among the chieftains, is said to have harangued the multitude, gathering round, and eager for battle, after the following manner : —
30. "When I reflect on the causes of the war, and the circumstances of our situation, I feel a strong persuasion that our united efforts on the present day will prove the be- ginning of universal liberty to Britain. For we are all un- debased by slavery ; and there is no land behind us, nor does even the sea afford a refuge, while the Roman fleet hovers around. Thus the use of arms, which is at all times hon- orable to the brave, now offers the only safety even to cow- ards. In all the battles which have yet been fought, with various success, against the Romans, our countrymen may be deemed to have reposed their final hopes and resources in us : for we, the noblest sons of Britain, and therefore stationed in its last recesses, far from the view of servile shores, have pre- served even our eyes unpolluted by the contact of subjection. We, at the farthest limits both of land and liberty, have been defended to this day by the remoteness of our situation and of our fame. The extremity of Britain is now disclosed ; and whatever is unknown becomes an object of magnitude. But there is no nation beyond us ; nothing but waves and rocks, and the still more hostile Romans, whose arrogance we can not escape by obsequiousness and submission. These plun- derers of the world, after exhausting the land by their devas- tations, are rifling the ocean : stimulated by avarice, if their enemy be rich ; by ambition, if poor : unsatiated by the East and by the West : the only people who behold wealth and in- digence with equal avidity. To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire ; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.2
31. "Our children and relations are by the appointment of nature the dearest of all things to us. These are torn
1 The more usual spelling of this name is Galgacus ; but the other is preferred as of better authority.
3 "Peace given to the world" is a very frequent inscription ou the Koman medals.
c. 32.J CALGACUS'S ADDRESS TO THE BRITONS. 373
away by levies to serve in foreign lands.1 Our wives and sisters, though they should escape the violation of hostile force, are polluted under names of friendship and hospitality. Our estates and possessions are consumed in tributes ; our grain in contributions. Even our bodies are worn down amidst stripes and insults in clearing woods and draining marshes. Wretches born to slavery are once bought, and afterward maintained by their masters : Britain every day buys, every day feeds, her own servitude.2 And as among domestic slaves every new-comer serves for the scorn and derision of his fellows ; so, in this ancient household of the world, we, as the newest and vilest, are sought out to destruc- tion. For we have neither cultivated lands, nor mines, nor harbors, which can induce them to preserve us for our labors. The valor too and unsubmitting spirit of subjects only render them more obnoxious to their masters ; while remoteness and secrecy of situation itself, in proportion as it conduces to security, tends to inspire suspicion. Since then all hopes of mercy are vain, at length assume courage, both you to whom safety and you to whom glory is dear. The Trinobantes, even under a female leader, had force enough to burn a colony, to storm camps, and, if success had not damped their vigor, would have been able entirely to throw off the yoke ; and shall not we, untouched, unsubdued, and struggling not for the acquisition but the security of liberty, show at the very first onset what men Caledonia has reserved for her defense ?
32. " Can you imagine that the Romans are as brave in war as they are licentious in peace ? Acquiring renown from our discords and dissensions, they convert the faults of their enemies to the glory of their own army ; an army compound- ed of the most different nations, which success alone has kept together, and which misfortune will as certainly dissipate.
1 It was the Roman policy to send the recruits raised in the provinces to some distant country, for fear of their desertion or revolt.
2 How much this was the fate of the Romans themselves, when, in the decline of the empire, they were obliged to pay tribute to the sur- rounding barbarians, is shown in lively colors by Salvian : — " We call that a gift which is a purchase, and a purchase of a condition the most hard and miserable. For all captives, when they are once redeemed, enjoy their liberty : we are continually paying a ransom, yet are neve* free." — De Gubern, Dei, vi.
374 THE LIFE OF AGKICOLA. [c. 3a
Unless, indeed, you can suppose that Gauls, and Germans, and (I blush to say it) even Britons, who, though they expend their blood to establish a foreign dominion, have been longer its foes than its subjects, will be retained by loyalty and affection ! Terror and dread alone are the weak bonds of attachment ; which once broken, they who cease to fear will begin to hate. Every incitement to victory is on our side. The Romans have no wives to animate them ; no parents to upbraid their flight. Most of them have either no home, or a distant one. Few in number, ignorant of the country, look- ing around in silent horror at woods, seas,, and a heaven itself unknown to them, they are delivered by the gods, as it were imprisoned and bound, into our hands. Be not terrified with an idle show, and the glitter of silver and gold, which can neither protect nor wound. In the very ranks of the enemy we shall find our own bands. The Britons will acknowledge their own cause. The Gauls will recollect their former lib- erty. The rest of the Germans will desert them, as the Usipii have lately done. Nor is there any thing formidable behind them : ungarrisoned forts ; colonies of old men ; municipal towns distempered and distracted between unjust masters and ill-obeying subjects. Here is a general ; here an army. There, tributes, mines, and all the train of punishments inflicted on slaves; which whether to bear eternally, or instantly to re- venge, this field must determine. March then to battle, and think of your ancestors and your posterity."
33. They received this harangue with alacrity, and testified their applause after the barbarian manner, with songs, and yells, and dissonant shouts. And now the several divisions were in motion, the glittering of arms was beheld, while the most daring and impetuous were hurrying to the front, and the line of battle was forming ; when Agricola, although his soldiers were in high spirits, and scarcely to be kept with- in their intrenchments, kindled additional ardor by these words : —
" It is now the eighth year, my fellow-soldiers, in which, under the high auspices of the Roman empire, by your valor and perseverance you have been conquering Britain. In so many expeditions, in so many battles, whether you have been required to exert your courage against the enemy, or your patient labors against the very nature of the country, neither
c. 34.] HIS ADDRESS BEFORE THE BATTLE. 375
have I ever beeD_dissatisfied with my soldiers, nor you with your general. In this mutual confidence, we have proceeded beyond the limits of former commanders and former armies ; and are now become acquainted with the extremity of the island, not by uncertain rumor, but by actual possession with our arms and encampments. Britain is discovered and sub- dued. How often, on a march, when embarrassed with mountains, bogs, and rivers, have I heard the bravest among you exclaim, ' When shall we descry the enemy 1 when shall we be led to the field of battle V At length they are unhar- bored from their retreats ; your wishes and your valor have now free scope ; and every circumstance is equally propitious to the victor, and ruinous to the vanquished. For, the great- er our glory in having marched over vast tracts of land, pene- trated forests, and crossed arms of the sea, while advancing toward the foe, the greater will be our danger and difficulty if we should attempt a retreat. We are inferior to our ene- mies in knowledge of the country, and less able to command supplies of provision ; but we have arms in our hands, and in these we have every thing. For myself, it has long been my principle, that a retiring general or army is never safe. Not only, then, are we to reflect that death with honor is pref- erable to life with ignominy, but to remember that security and glory are seated in the same place. Even to fall in this extremest verge of earth and of nature can not be thought an inglorious fate.
34. " If unknown nations or untried troops were drawn up against you, I would exhort you from the example of other armies. At present, recollect your own honors, question your own eyes. These are they, who, the last year, attacking by surprise a single legion in the obscurity of the night, were put to flight by a shout : the greatest fugitives of all the Britons, and therefore the longest survivors. As in penetrating woods and thickets the fiercest animals boldly rush on the hunters, while the weak and timorous fly at their very noise; so the bravest of the Britons have long since fallen : the remaining number consists solely of the cowardly and spiritless ; whom you see at length within your reach, not because they have stood their ground, but because they are overtaken. Torpid with fear, their boJies are fixed and chained down in yonder field, which to you will speedily be the scene of a glorious
376 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 35.
and memorable victory. Here bring your toils and services to a conclusion ; close a struggle of fifty years1 with one great day ; and convince your countrymen, that to the army ought not to be imputed either the protraction of the war, or the causes of rebellion." *
35. While Agricola was yet speaking, the ardor of the soldiers declared itself; and as soon as he had finished, they burst forth into cheerful acclamations, and instantly flew to arms. Thus eager and impetuous, he formed them so that the centre was occupied by the auxiliary infantry, in number eight thousand, and three thousand horse were spread in the wings. The legions were stationed in the rear, before the intrenchments ; a disposition which would render the victory signally glorious, if it were obtained without the expense of Roman blood ; and would insure support if the rest of the army were repulsed. The British troops, for the greater display of their numbers, and more formidable appearance, kwere ranged upon the rising grounds, so that the first line stood upon the plain, the rest, as if linked together, rose above one another upon the ascent. The charioteers2 and horse- men filled the middle of the field with their tumult aud careering. Then Agricola, fearing from the superior number of the enemy lest he should be obliged to fight as well on, his
J The expedition of Claudius into Britain was in the year of Rome 796, from which to the period of this engagement only forty-two years were elapsed. The number fifty therefore is given oratorically rather than accurately.
3 The Latin word used here, covinarius, signifies the driver of a covinus, or chariot, the axle of which was bent into the form of a scythe. The British manner of fighting from chariots is particularly described by Caesar, who gives them the name of esseda : — " The following is the manner of fighting from the essedce .- They first drive round with them to all parts of the line, throwing their javelins, and generally disorder- ing the ranks by the very alarm occasioned by the horses, and the rat- tling of the wheels : then, as soon as they have insinuated themselves between the troops of horse, they leap from their chariots and fight on foot. The drivers then withdraw a little from the battle, in order that, if their friends are overpowered by numbers, they may have a secure retreat to the chariots. Thus they act with the celerity of horse, and the stability of foot ; and by daily use and exercise they acquire the power of holding up their horses at full speed down a steep declivity, of stopping them suddenly, and turning in a short compass ; and they ac- custom themselves to run upon the pole, and stand on the cross-tree, and from thence with great agility to recover their place in the chariot-" —Bell. GalL iv. 33.
c. 36. j BATTLE OF THE GRAMPIANS. 377
flanks as in front, extended his ranks ; and although this ren- dered his line of battle less firm, and several of his officers advised him to bring up the legions, yet, filled with hope, and resolute in danger, he dismissed his horse, and took his station on foot before the colors.
36. At first the action was carried on at a distance. The ; Britons, armed with long swords and short targets,1 with steadiness and dexterity avoided or struck down our missile weapons, and at the same time poured in a torrent of their own. Agricola then encouraged three Batavian and two Tungrian2 cohorts to fall in and come to close quarters ; a method of fighting familiar to these veteran soldiers, but em- barrassing to the enemy from the nature of their armor ; for the enormous British swords, blunt at the point, are unfit for close grappling, and engaging in a confined space. When the Batavians, therefore, began to redouble their blows, to strike with the bosses of their shields, and mangle the faces of the enemy ; and, bearing down all those who resisted them on the plain, were advancing their line up the ascent ; the other co- horts, fired with ardor and emulation, joined in the charge, and overthrew all who came in their way : and so great was their impetuosity in the pursuit of victory, that they left many of their foes half dead or unhurt behind them. In the mean time the troops of cavalry took to flight, and the armed char- iots mingled in the engagement of the infantry ; but although their first shock occasioned some consternation, they were soon entangled among the close ranks of the cohorts, and the inequalities of the ground. Not the least appearance was left of an engagement of cavalry ; since the men, long keeping their ground with difficulty, were forced along with the bodies of the horses ; and frequently, straggling chariots, and af- frighted horses without their riders, flying variously as terror impelled them, rushed obliquely athwart or directly through the lines.3 ,
1 These targets, called cetrce in the Latin, were made of leather. The broad sword and target were till very lately the peculiar arms of the Highlanders.
3 Several inscriptions have been found in Britain commemorating the Tungrian cohorts.
3 The great conciseness of Tacitus has rendered the description of this battle somewhat obscure. The following, however, seems to have been the general course of occurrences in it : — The foot on botU sides
378 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 37.
37. Those of the Britons who, yet disengaged from the fight, sat on the summits of the hills, and looked with care- less contempt on the smallness of our numbers, now began gradually to descend ; and would have fallen on the rear of the conquering troops, had not Agricola, apprehending this very event, opposed four reserved squadrons of horse to their atta'ck, which, the more furiously they had advanced, drove them back with the greater celerity. Their project was thus turned against themselves ; and the squadrons were ordered to wheel from the front of the battle and fall upon the enemy's rear. A striking and hideous spectacle now appeared on the plain : some pursuing ; some striking ; some making prisoners, whom they slaughtered as others came in their way. Now, as their several dispositions prompted, crowds of armed Britons fled before inferior numbers, or a few, even unarmed, rushed upon their foes, and offered themselves to a voluntary death. Arms, and carcasses, and mangled limbs, were promiscuously strewed, and the field was dyed in blood. Even among the vanquished were seen instances of rage and valor. When the fugitives approached the woods, they collected, and surrounded the foremost of the pursuers, advancing incautiously, and unacquainted with the country ; and had not Agricola, who was every where present, caused some strong and lightly-equipped cohorts to encompass the ground, while part of the cavalry dismounted made way through the thickets, and part on horseback scoured the open woods, some disaster would have proceeded from the excess of confidence. But when the enemy saw their pursuers again formed in compact order, they renewed their flight, not in bodies as before, or waiting for their companions, but scattered
began the engagement. The first line of the Britons which was formed on the plain being broken, the Roman auxiliaries advanced up the hill after them. In the mean time the Roman horse in the wings, unable to withstand the shock of the chariots, gave way, and were pursued by the British chariots and horse, which then fell in among the Roman infantry. These, who at first had relaxed their files to prevent their being out-fronted, now closed in order better to resist the enemy, who by this means were unable to penetrate them. The chariots and horse, therefore, became entangled amidst the inequalities of the ground, and the thick ranks of the Romans ; and, no longer able to wheel and career as upon the open plain, gave not the least appearance of an equestrian skirmish : but, keeping their footing with difficulty on the declivity, were pushed off', and scattered in disorder over the field.
p. 38.J DEFEAT OF THE BRITONS. 379
and mutually avoiding each other ; and thus took their way to the most distant and devious retreats. Night and satiety of slaughter put an end to the pursuit. Of the enemy ten thousand were slain; on our part three hundred and sixty fell ; among whom was Aulus Atticus, the prsefect of a co- hort,, who by his juvenile ardor, and the fire of his horse, was borne into the midst of the enemy.
38. Success and plunder contributed to render the night joyful to the victors; while the Britons, wandering and for- lorn, amidst the promiscuous lamentations of men and women, were dragging along the wounded ; calling out to the unhurt ; abandoning their habitations, and in the rage of despair set- ting them on fire, choosing places of concealment, and then deserting them ; consulting together, and then separating. Sometimes, on beholding the dear pledges of kindred and af- tection, they were melted into tenderness, or more frequently roused into fury; insomuch that several, according to au- thentic information, instigated by a savage compassion, laid violent hands upon their own wives and children. On the succeeding day, a vast silence all around, desolate hills, the distant smoke of burning houses, and not a living soul de- scried by the scouts, displayed more amply the face of vic- tory. After parties had been detached to all quarters without discovering any certain tracks of the enemy's flight, or any bodies of them still in arms, as the lateness of the season ren- dered it impracticable to spread the war through the country, Agricola led his army to the confines of the Horesti.1 Hav- ing received hostages from this people, he ordered the com- mander of the fleet to sail round the island ; for which expe- dition he was furnished with sufficient force, and preceded by the terror of the Roman name. He himself then led back the cavalry and infantry, marching slowly, that he might im- press a deeper awe on the newly conquered nations; and at length distributed his troops into their winter-quarters. The fleet, about the same time, with prosperous gales and renown, entered the Trutulensian2 harbor, whence, coasting all the
1 People of Fifeshire.
a Where this was does not appear. Brotier calls it Sandwich, mat ing it the same as Rutupium: others Plymouth or Portsmouth. It is clear, however, this can not be the case, from the subsequent words.—' White,
380 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 39.
hither shore of Britain, it returned entire to its former sta- tion. ]
39. The account of these transactions, although unadorned with the pomp of words in the letters of Agricola, was re- ceived by Domitian, as was customary with that prince, with outward expressions of joy, but inward anxiety. He w_aa^ conscious that his late mock-triumph over Germany,2 in which he had exhibited purchased slaves, whose habits and hair3 were contrived to give them the resemblance of cap- tives, was a subject of derision ; whereas here, a real and im- portant victory, in which so many thousands of the enemy were slain, was celebrated with universal applause. His greatest dread was that the name of a private man should be exalted above that of a prince. In vain had he silenced the eloquence of the forum, and cast a shade upon all civil honors, if military glory were still in possession of another. Other accomplishments might more easily be connived at, but the talents of a great general were truly imperial. Tortured with such anxious thoughts, and brooding over them in secret,4 a certain indication of some malignant intention, he judged it most prudent for the present to suspend his ran- cor, till the first burst of glory and the affections of the army should remit: for Agricola still possessed the command in Britain.
40. He therefore caused the senate to decree him triumphal ornaments,5 — a statue crowned with laurel, and all the other
1 This circumnavigation was in a contrary direction to that of the Usipian deserters, the fleet setting out from the Firth of Tay on the eastern coast, and sailing round the northern, western, and southern coasts, till it arrived at the port of Sandwich in Kent. After staying here some time to refit, it went to its former station, in the Firth of Forth, or Tay.
2 It was in this same year that Domitian made his pompous expedi- tion into Germany, from whence he returned without ever seeing the enemy.
3 Caligula in like manner got a number of tall men with their hair dyed red to give credit to a pretended victory over the Germans.
* Thus Pliny, in his Panegyric on Trajan, xlviii., represents Domi- tian as " ever affecting darkness and secrecy, and never emerging from his solitude but in order to make a solitude."
5 Not the triumph itself, which, after the year of Rome 740, was no longer granted to private persons, but reserved for the imperial family. This new piece of adulation was invented by Agrippa in order to gratify Augustus. The "triumphal ornaments," which were still be-
c. 40.] HIS RECALL FROM BRITAIN. 381
honors which are substituted for a j*eal triumph, together with a profusion of complimentary expressions; and also directed an expectation to be raised that the province of Syria, vacant by the death of Atilius Rufus, a consular man, and usually reserved for persons of the greatest distinction, was designed for Agricola. It was commonly believed that one of the freedmen, who were employed in confidential serv- ices, was dispatched with the instrument appointing Agricola to the government of Syria, with orders to deliver it if he should be still in Britain ; but that this messenger, meeting Agricola in the straits,1 returned directly to Domitian without so much as accosting him/^J Whether this was really the fact, or only a fiction founded on the genius and character of the prince, is uncertain. Agricola, in the mean time, had deliv- ered the province, in peace and security, to his successor;3 and lest his entry into the city should be rendered too conspicuous by the concourse and acclamations of the people, he declined the salutation of his friends by arriving in the night ; and went by night, as he was commanded, to the palace. There, after being received with a slight embrace, but not a word spoken, he was mingled with the servile throng. In this M, situation, he endeavored to soften the glare of military rep- utation, which is offensive to those who themselves live in indolence, by the practice of virtues of a different cast. He resigned himself to ease and tranquillity, was modest in his garb and equipage, affable in conversation, and in public was
stowed, were a peculiar garment, a statue, and other insignia which had distinguished the person of the triumphing general.
1 Of Dover.
2 Domitian, it seems, was afraid that Agricola might refuse to obey the recall he forwarded to him, and even maintain his post by force. He therefore dispatched one of his confidential freedmen with an auto- graph letter, wherein he was informed Syria was given to him as his province. This, however, was a mere ruse ; and hence it was not to be delivered if Agricola had already set out on his return. In compliance \vith these instructions, the freedman returned at once to Domitian, when he found Agricola on his passage to Rome. According to Dion (liii.), the emperor's lieutenants were required to leave their province immediately upon the arrival of their successor, and return to Rome within three months. — White.
3 Agricola's successor in Britain appears to have been Sallustius * Lucullus, who, as Suetonius informs us, was put to death by Domitian because he permitted certain lances of a new construction to be called Lucullean. — Life of Domitian, s. 10.
382 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 42.
only accompanied by one or two of his friends ; insomuch that the many, who are accustomed to form their ideas of great men from their retinue and figure, when they beheld Agricola, were apt to call in question his renown : few could interpret his conduct, v
41. He was frequently, during that period, accused in his absence before Domitian, and in his absence also acquitted. The source of his danger was not any criminal action, nor the complaint of any injured person ; but a prince hostile to virtue, and his own high reputation, and the worst kind of enemies, eulogists.1 For the situation of public affairs which ensued was such as would not permit the name of Agricola to rest in silence : so many armies in Moesia, Dacia, Germany, and Pannonia lost through the temerity or cowardice of their generals;2 so many men of military character, with numerous cohorts, defeated and taken prisoners ; while a dubious con* test was maintained, not for the boundaries of the empire, and the banks of the bordering rivers,3 but for the winter- quarters of the legions, and the possession of our territories. In this state of things, when loss succeeded loss, and every year was signalized by disasters and slaughters, the public voice loudly demanded Agricola for general : every one com- paring his vigor, firmness, and experience in war, with the indolence and pusillanimity of the others. It is certain that the ears of Domitian himself were assailed by such discourses, while the best of his freedmen pressed him to the choice through motives of fidelity and affection, and the worst through envy and malignity, emotions to which he was of himself sufficiently prone. Thus Agricola, as well by his own virtues as the vices of others, was urged on precipitously to glory.
42. The year now arrived in which the proconsulate of Asia or Africa must fall by lot upon Agricola ;4 and as Civica
1 Of this worst kind of enemies, who praise a man in order to render him obnoxious, the emperor Julian, who had himself suffered greatly by them, speaks feelingly in his 12th epistle to Basilius : — " For we live together not in that state of dissimulation which, I imagine, you have hitherto experienced ; in which those who praise you, hate you with a more confirmed aversion than your most inveterate enemies."
2 These calamitous events are recorded by Suetonius in his Life of Domitian. 3 The Rhine and Danube.
* The two senior consulars cast lots for the government of Asia and Africa.
c. 42.] HE RETIRES FROM PUBLIC LIFE. 383
had lately been put to death, Agricola was not unprovided with a lesson, nor Domitian with an example.1 Some per- sons, acquainted with the secret inclinations of the emperor, came to Agricola, and inquired whether he intended to go to his province ; and first, somewhat distantly, began to com- mend a life of leisure arid tranquillity ; then offered their services in procuring him to be excused from the office ; and at length, throwing off all disguise, after using arguments both to persuade and intimidate him, compelled him to ac- company them to Domitian. The emperor, prepared to dis- semble, and assuming an air of stateliness, received his petition for excuse, and suffered himself to be formally thanked2 for granting it, without blushing at so invidious a favor. He did not, however, bestow on Agricola the salary3 usually offered to a proconsul, and which he himself had granted to others; either taking offense that it was not requested, or feeling a consciousness that it would seem a bribe for what he had in reality extorted by his authority. It is a principle of human nature to hate those whom we have injured;4 and Domitian was constitutionally inclined to anger, which was the more difficult to be averted, in proportion as it was the more disguised. Yet he was softened by the temper and prudence of Agricola ; who did not think it necessary, by a contumacious spirit, or a vain ostentation of liberty, to challenge fame or urge his fate.5 Let those be apprised, who are accustomed to admire every opposition to control, that
1 Suetonius relates that Civica Cerealis was put to death in his pro- consulate of Asia, on the charge of meditating a revolt. (Life of Domi tian, s. 10.)
2 Obliging persons to return thanks for an injury was a refinement in tyranny frequently practiced by the worst of the Roman emperors. Thus Seneca informs us, that "Caligula was thanked by those whose children had been put to death, and whose property had been confis- cated." (De Tranquil, xiv.) And again : — " The reply of a person who had grown old in his attendance on kings, when he was asked how he had attained a thing so uncommon in courts as old age ? is well known. Il was, said he, by receiving injuries, and returning thanks." — De Ira, ii. 33.
3 From a passage in Dio, Ixxviii. p. 899, this sum appears to have been decies sestertium, about £9000 sterling.
4 Thus Seneca: "Little souls rendered insolent by prosperity have this worst property, that they hate those whom they have injured." — De Ira, ii. 33.
5 Several who suffered under Nero and Domitian erred, though nobly, in this respect.
384 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 43.
even under a bad prince men may be truly great ; that sub- mission and modesty, if accompanied with vigor and industry, will elevate a character to a height of public esteem equal to that which many, through abrupt and dangerous paths, have attained, without benefit to their country, by an ambitious death.
43. Hi&deeease was-.a_severe affliction to his family, a grief to his friends, and a subject of regret even to foreigners, and those who had no personal knowledge of him.1 The common people too, and the class who little interest themselves about public concerns, were frequent in their inquiries at his house during his sickness, and made him the subject of conversation at the forum and in private circles ; nor did any person either rejoice at the news of his death, or speedily forget it. Their commiseration was aggravated by a prevailing report that he was taken off by poison. I can not venture to affirm any thing certain of this matter ;2 yet, during the whole course of his illness, the principal of the imperial freedmen and the most confidential of the physicians was sent much more fre- quently than was customary with a court whose visits were chiefly paid by messages ; whether that was done out of real solicitude, or for the purposes of state inquisition. On the day of his decease, it is certain that accounts of his approach- ing disssolution were every instant transmitted to the emperor by couriers stationed for the purpose; and no one believed that the information, which so much pains was taken to accelerate, could be received with regret* He put on, how- ever, in his countenance and demeanor, the semblance of grief: for he was now secured from an object of hatred, and could more easily conceal his joy than his fear. It was well known that on reading the will, in which he was nominated co-heir3 with the excellent wife and most dutiful daughter of
1 A Greek epigram still extant of Antiphilus a Byzantine, to the memory of a certain Agricola, is supposed by the learned to refer to the great man who is the subject of this work. It is in the Antho- logia, lib. i. tit. 37.
2 I)io absolutely affirms it; but from the manner in which Tacitus, who had better means of information, speaks of it, the story was prob- ably false.
3 It appears that the custom of making the emperor co-heir with the children of the testator was not by any means uncommon. It was done in order to secure the remainder to the family. Thus Prasutagus, king
c. 44.] HIS DEATH. 385
Agricola^Jie_expressed great satisfaction, as if it had been a voluntary testimony of honor and esteem : so blind and cor- rupt had his mind been rendered by continual adulation, that he was ignorant none but a bad prince could be nominated heir to a good father.
44. Agricola was born in the ides of June, during the third consulate of Caius Caesar:1 he died in his fifty-sixth year, on the tenth of the calends of September, when Collega and Priscus were consuls.2 Posterity may wish to form an idea of his person. His figure was comely rather that majestic. In his countenance there was nothing to inspire awe ; its character was gracious and engaging. You would readily have believed him a good man, and willingly a great one. And indeed, although he was snatched away in the midst of a vigorous age, yet if his life be measured by his glory, it was a period of the greatest extent. For after the full enjoy- ment of all that is truly good, which is found in virtuous pur- suits alone, decorated with consular and triumphal ornaments, what more could fortune contribute to his elevation? Im- moderate wealth did not fall to his share, yet he possessed a decent affluence.3 His wife and daughter surviving, his dig- nity unimpaired, his reputation flourishing, and his kindred and friends yet in safety, it may even be thought an addi- tional felicity that he was thus withdrawn from impending evils. For, as we have heard him express his wishes of con- tinuing to the dawn of the present auspicious day, and be-
of the Iceni in Britain, made Nero co-heir with his two daughters. Thus, when Lucius Vetus was put to death by Nero, his friends urged him to leave part of his property to the emperor, that his grandsons might enjoy the rest. (Ann. xvi. 11.) Suetonius (viii. 17) mentions that Domitian used to seize the estates of persons the most unknown to him, if any one could be found to assert that the deceased had expressed an intention to make the emperor his heir. — White.
1 Caligula. This was A.D. 40, when he was sole consul.
2 According to this account, the birth of Agricola was on June 13th, in the year of Rome 793, A.D. 40 ; and his death on August 23d, in the year of Rome 846, A.D. 93 ; for this appears by the Fasti Consu- lares to have been the year of the consulate of Collega and Priscus. He was therefore only in his fifty-fourth year when he died ; so that copyists must probably have written by mistake LVI. instead of LIV.
3 From this representation, Dio appears to have been mistaken in asserting that Agripola passed the latter part of his life in dishonor and penury.
VOL. II.— R
386 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. [c. 46.
holding Trajan in the imperial seat, — wishes in which he formed a certain presage of the event ; so it is a great conso- lation, that by his untimely end he escaped that latter period, in which Domitian, not by intervals and remissions, but by a continued, and, as it were, a single act, aimed at the destruc- tion of the commonwealth.1
45. Agricola did not behold the senate-house besieged, and the senators inclosed by a circle of arms ;2 and in one havoc the massacre of so many consular men, the flight and ban- ishment of so many honorable women. As yet, Carus Metius3 was distinguished only by a single victory; the counsels of Messalinus4 resounded only through the Albanian
1 Juvenal breaks out in a noble strain of indignation against this sav- age cruelty, wbich distinguished the latter part of Domitian 's reign :
Atque utinam his potius nugis tota ilia dedisset Tempora saevitise : claras quibus abstulit Urbi Illustresque animas impune, et vindice nullo. Sed periit, postquam cerdonibus esse timendus Coeperat : hoc nocuit Lamiarum casde madenti. — -Sat. iv. 150. " What folly this ! but oh ! that all the rest Of his dire reign had thus been spent in jest! And all that time such trifles had employ'd In which so many nobles he destroy'd ! He safe, they unrevenged, to the disgrace Of the surviving, tame, patrician race ! But when he dreadful to the rabble grew, Him, who so many lords had slain, they slew." — DUKE.
2 This happened in the year of Rome 848.
3 Carus and Massa, who were proverbially infamous as informers, are represented by Juvenal as dreading a still more dangerous villain, Heliodorus.
Quern Massa timet, quern munere palpat
Carus. Sat. i. 35.
"Whom Massa dreads^ whom Carus soothes with bribes."
Carus is also mentioned with deserved infamy by Pliny and Martial.
He was a mimic by profession.
4 Of this odious instrument of tyranny, Pliny the younger thus speaks : " The conversation turned upon Catullus Messalinus, whose loss of sight added the evils of blindness to a cruel disposition. He was irreverent, unblushing, unpitying. Like a weapon, of itself blind and unconscious, he was frequently hurled by Domitian against every man of worth." (iv. 22.) Juvenal launches the thunder of invective against him in the following lines : —
Et cum mortifero prudens Vejento Catullo, Qui numquam visas flagrabat amore puellae,
c. 45.] WITHDRAWN FROM IMPENDING EVILS. 387
citadel;1 and Massa Baebius2 was himself among the accused. Soon after, our own hands3 dragged Helvidius4 to prison ; ourselves were tortured with the spectacle of Mauricus and Rusticus,5 and sprinkled with the innocent blood of Senecio.6 Even Nero withdrew his eyes from the cruelties he commanded. Under Domitian, it was the principal part of our miseries to
Grande, et conspicuum nostro quoque tempore monstrum,
Caecus adulator, dirusque a ponte satelles,
Dignus Aricinos qui mendicaret ad axes,
Blandaque devexas jactaret basia rhedae. — Sat. iv. 113.
" Cunning Vejento next, and by his side Bloody Catullus leaning on his guide : Decrepit, yet a furious lover he, And deeply smit with charms he could not see. A monster, that ev'n this worst age outvies, Conspicuous and above the common size. A blind base flatterer ; from some bridge or gate, Raised to a murd'ring minister of state, Deserving still to beg upon the road, And bless each passing waggon and its load." — DUKE.
1 This was a famous villa of Domitian's, near the site of the ancient Alba, about twelve miles from Rome. The place is now called Albano, and vast ruins of its magnificent edifices still remain.
2 Tacitus, in his History, mentions this Massa Baebius as a person most destructive to all men of worth, and constantly engaged on the side of villains. From a letter of Pliny's to Tacitus, it appears that Herennius Senecio and himself were joined as counsel for the province of Boetica in a prosecution of Massa Baebius ; and that Massa after his condemnation petitioned the consuls for liberty to prosecute Senecio for treason.
3 By " our own hands," Tacitus means one of our own body, a senator. As Publicius Certus had seized upon Helvidius and led him to prison, Tacitus imputes the crime to the whole senatorian order. To the same purpose Pliny observes : " Amidst the numerous villainies of numerous persons, nothing appeared more atrocious than that in the senate-house one senator should lay hands on another, a praetorian on a consular man, a judge on a criminal." — B. ix. ep. 13.
4 Helvidius Priscus, a friend of Pliny the younger, who did not suffer his death to remain unrevenged. See the Epistle above referred to.
5 There is in this place some defect in the manuscripts, which critics have endeavored to supply in different manners. Brotier seems to prefer, though he does not adopt in the text, "nos Mauricum Rusti- cumque divisimus," "we parted Mauricns and Rusticus," bv the death of one and the banishment of the other. The prosecution and crime of Rusticus (Arulenus) is mentioned at the beginning of this piece, c. 2- Mauricus was his brother.
• Herennius Senecio. See c. 2.
388 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. |c. 46.
behold and to be beheld : when our sighs were registered ; and that stern countenance, with its settled redness,1 his defense against shame, was employed in noting the pallid horror of so many spectators. Happy, O Agricola ! not only in the splen- dor of your life, but in the seasonableness of your death. With resignation and cheerfulness, from the testimony of those who were present in your last moments, did you meet your fate, as if striving to the utmost of your power to make the emperor appear guiltless. But to myself and your daughter, besides the anguish of losing a parent, the aggra- vating affliction remains, that it was not our lot to watch over your sick-bed, to support you when languishing, and to satiate ourselves with beholding and embracing you. With what attention should we have received your last instructions, and engraven them on our hearts ! This is our sorrow ; this is our wound : to us you were lost four years before by a te- dious absence. Every thing, doubtless, O best of parents ! was administered for your comfort and honor, while a most affectionate wife sat beside you ; yet fewer tears were shed upon your bier, and in the last light which your eyes beheld, something was still wanting.
46. If there be any habitation for the shades of the vir- tuous ; if, as philosophers suppose, exalted souls do not perish with the body ; may you repose in peace, and call us, your household, from vain regret and feminine lamentations, to the contemplation of your virtues, which allow no place for mourning or complaining ! Let us rather adorn your memory by our admiration, by our short-lived praises, and, as far a?. our natures will permit, by an imitation of your example. This is truly to honor the dead ; this is the piety of every near relation. I would also recommend it to the wife and daughter of this great man, to show their veneration of £ husband's and a father's memory by revolving his actions and words in their breasts, and endeavoring to retain an idea ol the form and features of his mind, rather than of his person.
1 Thus Pliny, in his Panegyr. on Trajan, xlviii.: "Domitian was terrible even to behold ; pride in his brow, anger in bis eves, a feminine paleness in the rest of his body, in his face shamelessness suffused in a glowing red." Seneca, in Epist. xi. remarks, that "some are never more to be dreaded than when they blush ; as if they had effused all their modesty. Sylla was always most furious when the blood had mounted into his cheeks."
c. 46.]' CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. . 389
Not that I would reject those resemblances of the human fig- ure which are engraven in brass or marble ; but as their orig- inals are frail and perishable, so likewise are they : while the form of the mind is eternal, and not to be retained or ex- pressed by any foreign matter, or the artist's skill, but by the manners of the survivors. Whatever in Agricola was the ob- ject of our love, of our admiration, remains, and will remain in the minds of men, transmitted in the records of fame, through an eternity of years. For, while many great person- ages of antiquity will be involved in a common oblivion with the mean and inglorious, Agricola shall survive, represented and consigned to future ages.
A
DIALOGUE CONCERNING ORATORY,
OR THE CAUSES
OF CORRUPT ELOQUENCE.1
1. You have often inquired of me, Justus Fabius,2 why it is, that while ancient times display a race of great and splen- did orators, the present age, divested of all claim to the praise of oratory, has scarcely retained even the name. By the ap- pellation of orator we now distinguish none but those who flourished in a former period ; while the eminent speakers of the present day are styled pleaders, advocates, patrons, in short, every thing but orators.
The inquiry is in its nature delicate ; tending, if we are not able to vie with antiquity, to impeach our genius, and if we are not willing, to arraign our judgment. An answer to so nice a question is more than I should venture to undertake, were I to rely altogether upon myself: but it happens, that I am able to state the sentiments of men distinguished by their eloquence, such as it is in modern times ; having, in the early part of my life, been present at their conversation on the very subject now before us. What I have to offer, will not be the result of my own thinking : it is the work of memory only ; a mere recital of what fell from the most celebrated orators of their time : men who thought with subtlety, and express- ed themselves with energy and precision ; each, in his turn, assigning different but probable causes, at times insisting on the same, and, in the course of the debate, maintaining his own proper character, and the peculiar cast of his mind.
1 The scene of the following Dialogue is laid in the sixth year of Vespasian, A.TJ.C. 828, A.D. 75.
2 Justus Fabius was consul A.U.C. 864, A.D. 111. But as he did n«* begin the year, his name does not appear in the Fasti Consulares.
c. 2.J A DIALOGUE CONCERNING ORATORY. 391
What they said upon the occasion, I shall relate, as nearly as may be, in the style and manner of the several speakers, ob- serving always the regular course and order of the contro- versy. For a controversy it certainly was, where the speak- ers of the present age did not want an advocate, who support- ed their cause with zeal, and, after treating antiquity with severity, and even derision, assigned the palm of eloquence to modern times.
2. Curiatius Maternus1 gave a public reading of his trag- edy of Cato. On the following day a report prevailed, that the piece had given umbrage to the men in power. The au- thor, it was said, had labored only to enhance the character of his hero, regardless of himself. This soon became the top- ic of public conversation. Maternus received a visit from Marcus Aper2 and Julius Secundus,3 then the first orna-
1 Concerning Maternus, nothing is known with any kind of certain- ty. Dio relates that a sophist of that name was put to death by Domi- tian, for a school declamation against tyrants ; but not one of the com- mentators ventures to assert that he was the Curiatius Maternus who makes so conspicuous a figure in the Dialogue before us.
3 No mention is made of Marcus Aper, either by Quintilian or Pliny. It is supposed that he was father of Marcus Flavius Aper, who was substituted consul A.U.C. 883, A.D. 130. His oratorical character, and that of Secundus, as we find them drawn in this section, are not un- like what we are told by Cicero of Crassus and Antonius. Crassus, he says, was not willing to be thought destitute of literature, but he wished to have it said of him, that he despised it, and preferred the good sense of the Romans to the refinements of Greece. Antonius, on the other hand, was of opinion that his fame would rise to greater magnitude, if he was considered as a man wholly illiterate, and void of education. In this manner -they both expected to increase their popularity ; the former by despising the Greeks, and the latter by not knowing them. Cicero, De Oral. ii. 1.
3 Quintilian makes honorable mention of Julius Secundus, who, if he had not been prematurely cut off, would have transmitted his name to posterity among the most celebrated orators. He would have added, and he was daily doing it, whatever was requisite to complete his ora- torical genius : and all that could be desired was more vigor in argu- ment, and more attention to matter and sentiment than to the choice of words. But he died too soon, and his fame was, in some degree, intercepted. (Quintil. x. 1.) It is remarkable that Quintilian, in his list of Roman orators, has neither mentioned Maternus nor Marcus Aper. The Dialogue, for that reason, can not properly be ascribed to him: men who figure so much in the inquiry concerning oratory, would not have been omitted by the critic who thought their conver- sation worth recording.
392 A DIALOGUE fc. a
ments of the forum. I was, at that time, a constant attend- ant on those eminent men ; I heard them, not only in their courts of judicature, but, feeling an inclination to the same studies, I followed them with youthful ardor, in public and in private, to hear their familiar talk, their discussions, and the most intimate expression of their sentiments. True it is that by many it was captiously objected to Secundus, that he had no command of words, no flow of language ; and to Aper, that he was indebted for his fame, not to art or literature, but to the natural powers of a vigorous understanding. The truth is, the style of the former was remarkable for its purity; concise, yet sufficiently free and copious : and the latter was well versed in general erudition. It might be said of him, that he despised literature, not that he wanted it. He thought, perhaps, that, by scorning the aid of letters, and by drawing altogether from his own fund, his fame would stand on a more solid foundation.
3. We went together to pay our visit to Maternus. Upon entering his study, we found him with the tragedy, which he had read on the preceding day, lying before him. Secundus began : — Are you then so little affected by the censure of malignant critics, as to persist in cherishing this obnoxious tragedy of yours ? Perhaps you are revising the piece, and, after retrenching certain passages, intend to send your Cato into the world, in, I will not say an improved, but certainly a safer form. — There lies the poem, said Maternus ; you may peruse it, if you think proper ; you will find it just the same as when you heard it read. If Cato has omitted any thing, Thyestes,1 at my next reading, shall supply the deficiency. I have formed the fable of a tragedy on that subject ; the plan is warm in my imagination, and, that I may give my whole time to it, I now am eager to dispatch an edition of Cato. — Marcus Aper interposed : Are you, indeed, so enamored of your dramatic muse, as to renounce your oratorical character, and your forensic pursuits; in order to sacrifice all your time to — Medea, I think it was lately, and now to Thyestes? though, meanwhile, the causes of so many friends, and the interests of so many colonies and municipal cities, call you to the forum.2 Surely these would give you more than sufficient
1 Thyestes was a common and popular subject of ancient tragedy. 1 It was the custom of the colonies and municipal towns to v*3
e. 6.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 393
employment, though you had not imposed upon yourself this new task, laboring to add Domitius1 and Cato, that is to say, the incidents and characters of Roman story, to the fables of Greece.
4. The sharpness of that reproof, replied Maternus, would perhaps have disconcerted me, if, by frequent repetition, it had not lost its sting. To differ on this subject is grown familiar to us both. For you wage an incessant war against the poets ; and I, who am charged with deserting my clients, have yet every day the cause of poetry to defend. I rejoice the more, therefore, that we have a person present, of ability to decide between us: a judge, who will either lay me under an injunction to write no more verses, or, as I rather hope, encourage me, by his authority, to renounce forever the dry employment of forensic causes (in which I have had my share of drudgery), that I may, for the future, be at leisure to cultivate the more august and sacred eloquence of the tragic muse.
5. But I, said Secundus, before Aper refuses me as an umpire, will follow the example of all fair and upright judges, who, in particular cases, when they feel a partiality for one of the contending parties, desire to be excused from hearing the cause. The friendship and habitual intercourse which I have ever cultivated with Saleius Bassus,2 that excellent man,
their court to some great orator at Rome, in order to obtain his patronage whenever they should have occasion to apply to the senate for a redress of grievances.
1 Domitius was another subject of tragedy, taken from the Roman story. Who he was, does not clearly appear. Brotier thinks it was Domitius, the avowed enemy of Julius Caesar, who moved in the senate for a law to recall that general from the command of the army in Gaul, and afterward, on the breaking out of the civil war, fell bravely at the battle of Pharsalia. See Suetonius, Life of Nero, s. 2.
2 Saleius Bassus is mentioned by Juvenal as an eminent poet in dis- tress : —
At Serrano tenuique Saleio Gloria quantalibet quid erit, si gloria tantum est ?
Sat. vii. 80. "But to poor Bassus what avails a name,
To starve on compliments and empty fame !" — DRYDEN. Quintilian says, he possessed a poetic genius, but so warm and vehe- ment, that, even in an advanced age, his spirit was not under the control of sober judgment. This passage affords an insuperable argu- ment against Lipsius, and the rest of the critics, who named Quintilian
R2
394 A DIALOGUE [c. 5.
and no less excellent poet, are well known : and let me add, if poetry is to be arraigned, I know no client that can offer such handsome bribes.
My business, replied Aper, is not with Saleius Bassus : let him, and all of his description, who, without talents for the bar, devote their time to the Muses, pursue their favorite amusement without interruption. But, since we are now before a competent judge, Maternus must not think to escape in the crowd. I single him out from the rest. I call upon him to answer, how it happens, that a man t>f his talents, formed by nature to reach the heights of manly eloquence, whereby he might at once both acquire friendships and sup- port them, and have the glory to see whole provinces and nations rank themselves under his patronage, does yet thus re- nounce a pursuit of all others the most advantageous, whether considered with respect to interest or to honors; a pursuit that affords the most illustrious means of propagating a repu- tation, not only within our own walls, but throughout the whole compass of the Roman empire, and indeed to the most distant nations of the globe 1
If utility ought to be the governing motive of every action and every design of our lives ; can we possibly be employed to better purpose, than in the exercise of an art which en- ables a man, upon all occasions, to support the interest of his friend, to protect the rights of the stranger, to defend the cause of the injured, to strike with terror and dismay his open and secret adversaries, himself secure the while, and guarded, as it were, by an imperishable potency t
In the calm seasons of life, the true use of oratory is dis- cerned in the protection of others. Have we reason to be alarmed for ourselves? — the sword and breast-plate are not a better defense in the heat of battle. It is at once a buckler to cover yourself, and a weapon to brandish against your enemy. Armed with this, you may appear with courage before the tribunals of justice, in the senate, and even in the presence of the prince. What had Eprius Marcellus1 to op-
as a candidate for the honor of this elegant composition. Can it be imagined that a writer of fair integrity would in his great work speak of Bassus as he deserved, and in the Dialogue overrate him beyond all proportion ? Duplicity was not a part of Quintilian's character.
1 Eprius Marcellus is often a conspicuous figure in the Annals and
c. 6.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 395
pose to the united resentment of the whole senate but his elo- quence? Collected in himself, and looking terror to his ene- mies, he foiled Helvidius Priscus ; a man, no doubt, of consum- mate wisdom, but unpracticed and inexpert in contests of that kind. Such is the advantage of oratory : to enlarge upon it were superfluous. My friend Maternus will not dispute the point. 6; I proceed to the pleasure arising from the exercise of eloquence; a pleasure which does not consist in the mere sensation of the moment, but is repeated every day, and al- most every hour. For let me ask, to a man of an ingenu- ous and liberal mind, who knows the relish of elegant enjoy- ments, what can yield such true delight, as to see his house always thronged by a concourse of the most distinguished persons ; and to know that the honor is not paid to his mon- ey, or to his heirless condition,1 or to his possession of a public office, but to his very self? The rich who have no issue, and the men in high rank and power, are his follow- ers. Though he is still young, and probably destitute of fortune, all concur in paying their court to solicit his pat- ronage for themselves, or to recommend their friends to his protection. In the most splendid fortune, in all the dignity and pride of power, is there any thing that can equal the sat- isfaction of seeing the most illustrious citizens, men respected for their years, and flourishing in the opinion of the public,
History of Tacitus. To a bad heart he united the gift of eloquence. In the Annals (xvi. 28) he makes a vehement speech against Paetus Thrasea, and afterward wrought the destruction of that excellent man. For that exploit he was attacked, in the beginning of Vespasian's reign, by Helvidius Priscus. In the History (iv. 7, 8) we see them both engaged in a violent contention. In the following year (823), Helvidius in the senate opened an accusation in form : but Marcellus, by using his eloquence as his buckler and his offensive weapon, was able to ward off the blow. He rose from his seat, and, "I leave you," he said, "I leave you to give the law to the senate: reign if you will, even in the presence of the prince." See Hist. iv. 43.
1 To be rich and have no issue, gave to the person so circumstanced the highest consequence at Rome. All ranks of men paid their court to him. To discourage a life of celibacy, and promote population, Au- gustus passed a law, called Papia foppcea, whereby bachelors were sub- jected to penalties. But marriage was not brought into fashion. In proportion to the rapid degeneracy of the manners under the emperors, celibacy grew into respect ; insomuch that we find (Annals, xii. 52) a man too strong for his prosecutors, because he was rich, old, and child- less: " Valuitque pecuniosa orbitate et senecta,"
396 A DIALOGUE £c. 7.
yet courting your assistance, and, in the midst of wealth and grandeur, fairly owning, that they still want something supe- rior to all their possessions'?
Then think, too, of the honorable crowd of clients con- ducting the orator from his house, and attending him in his return ; what a glorious appearance he makes in public! what distinguishing respect is paid to him in the courts of judica- ture ! with what exultation of heart he rises up before a full audience, hushed in solemn silence, and fixed attention, press- ing round the admired speaker, and receiving every passion he deems proper to raise! Yet these are but the ordinary joys of eloquence, and visible to every common observer. There are others, and those far superior, of a more concealed and delicate kind, and of which the orator himself can alone be sensible. Does he stand forth prepared with a studied harangue? As the composition, so the pleasure, in this in- stance, is more solid and equal. Does he, on the other hand, rise not without a certain fluttering of spirit, in a new and unexpected debate? The very solicitude he has felt, enhances the pleasure of his success. Indeed the most exquisite satis- faction of this kind is, when he boldly hazards an unpremed- itated speech. For it is in the productions of genius, as in the fruits of the earth ; many things are sown and brought to maturity with toil and care, but those which spring up spon- taneously are ever the most agreeable.
7. As to myself, if I may allude to my own feelings, the day on which I obtained the laticlave, and even the days when I, an obscure man, born in a city that did not favor my pretensions,1 entered upon the offices of quaestor, tribune, and praetor, were not so joyful to me as those on which it befalls me, with such little power of speech as I possess, to defend the accused ; to argue successfully before the centum- viri,2 or, in the presence of the prince, to plead for his freed-
1 Marcus Aper, Julius Secundus, and Curiatius Maternus, according to Brotier and others, were natives of Gaul. Aper (c. 10) mentions the Gauls as their common countrymen.
3 All causes of a private nature were heard before the centumviri. Three were chosen out of every tribe, and the tribes amounted to five- and-thirty ; so that, in fact, 105 were chosen : but, for the sake of a round number, they were called centumviri. The causes that were heard before that jurisdiction are enumerated by Cicero, De Orat. lib, i. 38.
c. 8.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 397
men, and the procurators appointed by himself. Upon those occasions I seem to rise above the dignities of tribune, praetor, and consul ; and feel within myself a grandeur that springs from no external cause, that is not conferred by patent, nor obtained by favor.
Where is the art or science, the renown of which can vie with the celebrity of a great orator ? His fame does not de- pend on the opinion of thinking men, who attend to business and watch the administration of affairs ; he is applauded by the youth of Rome, at least by such of them as are of a laud- able disposition, and hope to rise by honorable means.. Whose example do parents more recommend to their sons ? Whom do the ignorant common people1 oftener name, and point at as he passes by ? The strangers, too, who arrive from all parts, are eager to behold the man of whom they have heard so much in their towns and colonies.
8. I will be bold to say that Eprius Marcellus, whom 1 have already mentioned, and Crispus Vibius,2 (I cite living examples, in preference to the names of a former day,) are not less known in the remotest parts of the empire, than they are at Capua, or Vercellae,3 where, we are told, they were born ; nor does either of them owe this extensive fame to his three hundred thousand sesterces, (though their eloquence may be
1 The common people are called in the original, tunicatus populus, that is, as we should say, " the men in their shirt-sleeves," those who appeared in the streets in their under-garment.s (tunica) and without a toga.
2 The character of Eprius Marcellus has been already stated, c. 5, note. Crispus Vibius is mentioned as a man of weight and influence, Annals, xiv. 28. Quintilian has mentioned him to his advantage : he calls him (v. 13) a man of agreeable and elegant talents, "vir ingenii jucundi et elegantis ;" and again, Vibius Crispus was distinguished by the elegance of his composition, and the sweetness of his manner ; a man born to please, but fitter for private suits than for the importance of public causes, (x. 1.)
3 Which of these two men was born at Capua, and which at Vercellas, is not clearly expressed in the original. Eprius Marcellus, who has been described of a prompt and daring spirit, ready to embark in every mischief, and by his eloquence able to give color to the worst cause, must at this time have become a new man, since we find him mentioned in this Dialogue with unbounded praise. He, it seems, and Vibius Crispus were the favorites at Vespasian's court. Vercellffi, now Verceil, was situated in the eastern part of Piedmont. Capua, rendered fa- mous by Hannibal, was a city in Campania, always deemed the seat of pleasure.
398 A DIALOGUE [c. 9.
said to have built up their fortunes ;) and, indeed, such is the divine power of eloquence, that in every age we have exam- ples of men, who by their talents raised themselves to the summit of their ambition. But these, as I have already said, are recent instances; nor are we to glean an imperfect knowledge of them from tradition ; they are every day before our eyes. The more abject the origin of these two men, and the more sordid the poverty in which they set out, the more brilliant illustration and proof do they afford of the advant- ages of oratory ; since it is apparent, that, without birth or fortune, neither of them recommended by his moral charac- ter, and one of them deformed in his person, they have made themselves, for a series of years, the first men in the state. They were the first men in the forum as long as they chose to be so ; now they are the first in Caesar's friendship ; they direct and govern all things, and the favor with which the prince regards them is little short of veneration. In fact, Vespasian, that venerable old prince, always open to the voice of truth, clearly sees that the rest of his favorites de- rive all their lustre from the favors which his munificence has bestowed: but with Marcellus and Crispus the case is different ; they carry with them, as their recommendations, what no prince can give, and no subject can receive. Com- pared with the advantages which those men possess, what are family pictures, statues, busts, and titles of honor? Not that these things are without their value ; it is with them as with wealth and honors, advantages against which you will easily find men who declaim, but none who in their hearts despise them. Hence it is, that in the houses of all who have distinguished themselves in the career of eloquence, we see titles, statues, and splendid ornaments, the reward of talents, and, at all times, the decorations of the great and powerful orator.
9. But to come to the point from which we started ; poetry, to which my friend Maternus wishes to dedicate all his time, has none of these advantages. It confers no dignity, nor does it serve any useful purpose. It is attended with some pleasure, but it is the pleasure of a moment springing from vain applause, and bringing with it no solid advantage. What I have said, and am going to add, may probably, my good friend Maternus, be unwelcome to your ear; and yet I must
c. 9.] CONCERNING ORATORY.
take the liberty to ask you, if Agamemnon1 or Jason speaks in your piece with dignity of language, what useful conse- quence follows from it ? What client has been defended ? Who returns to his own house with a grateful heart 1 Our friend Saleius Bassus is, beyond all question, a poet of emi- nence, or, to use a warmer expression, he has the god within him : but who attends his levee? who seeks his patronage, or follows in his train? Should he himself, or his intimate friend, or his near relation, happen to be involved in a troub- lesome litigation, he would of course apply to his friend Secundus ; or to you Maternus ; not because you are a poet, nor yet to obtain a copy of verses from you ; of those he has a sufficient stock at home, elegant, it must be owned, and exquisite in their kind. But after all his labor and waste of genius, what is his reward ?
When in the course of a year, after toiling day and night, he has brought a single poem to perfection, he is obliged to solicit his friends, and exert his interest, in order to bring to- gether an audience2 so obliging as to hear a recital of the
1 Agamemnon and Jason were two favorite dramatic subjects with the Roman poets.
3 Before the invention of printing, copies were not easily multiplied. Authors were eager to enjoy their fame, and the pen of the transcriber was slow and tedious. Public rehearsals were the road to fame. But an audience was to be drawn together by interest, by solicitation, and public advertisements. Pliny, in one of his letters, has given a lively description of the difficulties which the author had to surmount. " This year," he says, " has produced poets in great abundance. Scarce a day has passed in the month of April, without the recital of a poem. But the greater part of the audience comes with reluctance ; they loiter in the lobbies, and there enter into idle chat, occasionally desiring to know, whether the poet is in his pulpit ? has he begun ? is his preface over? has he almost finished ? They condescended at last to enter the room ; they looked round with an air of indifference, and soon retired, some by stealth, and others with open contempt. Hence the greater praise is due to those authors who do not suffer their genius to droop, but, on the contrary, amidst the most discouraging circumstances, atill persist to cultivate the liberal arts." Pliny adds, that he himself at- tended all the public readings, and, for that purpose, staid longer in the city than was usual with him. Being at length released, he in- tended, in his rural retreat, to finish a work of his own, but not to read it in public, lest he sjould be thought to claim a return of the civility which he had shown to others. He was a hearer, and not a creditor. The favor conferred, if redemanded, ceases to be a favor. (Pliny, lib. i. epist. 13.) Such was the state of literature under the worst of the emperors. The Augustan age was over. In the reigns of Tiberius
400 A DIALOGUE |c. 9.
piece. Nor can this be done without expense. A room must be hired, a stage or pulpit must be erected; benches must be arranged, and tickets distributed throughout the city. What if the reading succeeds to the height of his wishes'? Pass but a day or two, and the whole harvest of praise and admiration fades away, like a flower that withers in its bloom, and never ripens into fruit. By the event, how- ever flattering, he gains no friend, he obtains no patronage, nor does a single person go away impressed with the idea of an obligation conferred upon him. The poet has been heard with applause ; he has been received with acclamations ; and he has enjoyed a short-lived transport. We lately lauded it as an uncommon instance of generosity in Vespasian, that he made Saleius Bassus a present of fifty thousand sesterces. To deserve so distinguished a proof of the sovereign's esteem is, no doubt, highly honorable ; but is it not still more honor- able, if your circumstances require it, to serve yourself, to be your own benefactor, and to be the object of your own liberality1? It must not be forgotten, that the poet who would produce any thing excellent, must bid farewell to the conversation of his friends; he must renounce, not only the pleasures of Rome, but also the duties of social life ; he must
and Caligula learning drooped, but in some degree revived under the dull and stupid Claudius. Pliny, in the letter above cited, says of that emperor, that, one day hearing a noise in his palace, he inquired what was the cause, and being informed that Nonianus was reciting in pub- lic, went immediately to the place, and became one of the audience. After that time letters met with no encouragement from the great. The poets who could not hope to procure an audience, haunted the baths and public walks, in order to fasten on their friends, and, at any rate, obtain a hearing for their works. Juvenal says, the plantations and marble columns of Julius Fronto resounded with the vociferation of reciting poets. (Sat. i. 12.) The same author observes, that the poet who aspired to literary fame might borrow a house for the purpose of a public reading ; and the great man who accommodated the writer, might arrange his friends and freodmen on the back seats, with direc- tion not to be sparing of their applause ; but still a stage or pulpit, with convenient benches, was to be procured, and that expense the patrons of letters would not supply. (Sat. vii. 39.) Statins, in Juvenal's time, was a favorite poet. If he announced a reading, his auditors went in crowds. He delighted all degrees, all ranks of men ; but, when the hour of applause was over, the author was obliged to sell a tragedy to Paris, the famous actor, in order to procure a dinner. (Sat. vii. 82.) This was the hard lot of poetry, and this the state of public reading, which Aper describes to his friend Maternus.
c. 10.] CONCERNING ORATOEY. 401
retire, as the poets say, "to groves and grottoes," in other words, to solitude.
10. Fame even, which alone they worship, and which they confess to be the sole reward of all their toil, does not attend poets in the same degree as orators. The indifferent poet has no readers, the best but few. Let there be a reading of a poem by the ablest master of his art : will the fame of his per- formance reach all quarters, I will not say of the empire, but of Rome only ? Among the strangers who arrive from Spain, from Asia, or from our Gaul, who inquires1 after Saleius Bas- sus ? Should it happen that there is one, who thinks of him, his curiosity is soon satisfied ; he passes on, content with a transient view, as if he had seen a picture or a statue.
In what I have advanced, let me not be misunderstood : I do not mean to deter such as are not blessed with the gift of oratory, from the practice of their favorite art, if it serves to amuse their leisure, and gain them a degree of reputation. I am an admirer of all eloquence ;2 I hold it venerable, and even sacred, in all its departments ; in solemn tragedy, of which you, Maternus, are so great a master ; in the majesty of the epic, the gayety of the lyric muse, the wanton elegy, the keen iambic, and the pointed epigram ; all have their charms ; and Eloquence, whatever may be the subject which
1 Notwithstanding all that is said, in this Dialogue, of Saleius Bas- sus, it does not appear, in the judgment of Quintilian, that he was a poet whose fame could extend itself to the distant provinces. Perfec- tion in the kind is necessary. Livy the historian was at the head of his profession. In consequence of his vast reputation, we know from Pliny the consul, that a native of the city of Cadiz was so struck with the character of that great writer, that he made a journey to Rome, with no other intent than to see that celebrated genius ; and having gratified his curiosity, without staying to view the wonders of that magnificent city, returned home perfectly satisfied. (Lib. ii. epist. 3.)
2 In Homer and Virgil, as well as in the dramatic poets of the first order, we frequently have passages of real eloquence, with the differ- ence which Quintilian mentions: "The poet," he says, "is a slave to the measure of his verse ; and, not being able at all times to make use of the true and proper word, he is obliged to quit the natural and easy way of expression, and avail himself of new modes and turns of phrase- ology, such as tropes and metaphors, with the liberty of transposing words, and lengthening or shortening syllables, as he sees occasion." (Quintil. lib. x. 1 .) The speaker in the Dialogue is aware of this dis- tinction, and, subject to it, the various branches of poetry are with him so many different modes of eloquence.
402 A DIALOGUE [c. 10.
she chooses to adorn, is in my mind to be preferred to all oth- er arte. But this, Marternus, is no apology for you, who, formed by nature to reach the summit of perfection,1 yet choose to wander into devious paths, and rest contented with a humble station in the vale beneath.
Were you a native of Greece, where to exhibit in the public games2 is an honorable employment ; and if the gods had be- stowed upon you the force and sinew of the athletic Nico- stratus,3 do you imagine that I could tamely look on, and see
1 The original has, "the citadel of eloquence," which calls to mind an admired passage in Lucretius : —
Sed nil dulcius est bene quam munita tenere Edita doctrina sapientum templa serena, Despicere unde queas alios, passimque videre Errare, atque viam palantes quaerere vitae. — Lib. ii. 7.
3 It is a fact well known, that in Greece the most illustrious of both sexes thought it honorable to exercise themselves in the exhibitions of the theatre, and even to appear in the athletic games. Plutarch, it is true, will have it, that all scenic arts were prohibited at Sparta by the laws of Lycurgus ; and yet Cornelius Nepos assures us, that no Lacedemonian matron, however high her quality, was ashamed to act for hire on the public stage. He adds, that throughout Greece, it was deemed the highest honor to obtain the prize in the Olympic games; and no man blushed to be a performer in plays and pantomimes, and give himself a spectacle to the people. (Cor. Nep. in Prgefat.) It ap- pears, however, from a story told by JElian, that the Greek women were by law excluded from the Olympic games. Whoever was found to transgress, or even to cross the river Alpheus, during the celebration of that great spectacle, was liable to be thrown from a rock. The con- sequence was, that not one female was detected, except Callipatria, or, as others called her, Pherenice. This woman, disguised in the habit of a teacher of gymnastic exercises, introduced her son, Pisidorus, to contend for the victor's prize. Her son succeeded. Transported with joy at a sight so glorious, the mother overleaped the fence which in- closed the magistrates, and, in the violence of that exertion, let fall her garment. She was by consequence known to be a woman, but ab- solved from all criminality. For that mild and equitable sentence she was indebted to the merit of her father, her brothers, and her son, who all obtained the victor's crown. The incident, however, gave birth to a new law, whereby it was enacted that the masters of the gymnastic art should, for the future, come naked to the Olympic games. JElian, lib. x. 1 ; and see Pausanias, lib. v. 6.
3 Nicostratus is praised by Pausanias (lib. v. 20) as a great master of the athletic arts. Quintilian has also recorded his prowess : '• Nicos- tratus, whom in our youth we saw advanced in vears, would instruct his pupil in every branch of his art, and make him, what he was him- self, an invincible champion. Invincible he was, since, on one and
c. 11.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 403
that amazing vigor waste itself away in nothing better than the frivolous art of darting the javelin, or throwing the quoit *? With the same feeling I summon you now from the theatre and public recitals to the business of the forum, to the tribu- nals of justice, to scenes of real contention, to a conflict worthy of your abilities ; especially since you can not fall back upon the excuse alleged by many, that poetry is safer than oratory, less liable to give offense ; for the ardor of your fine genius has already blazed forth, and you have given offense, not for the sake of a friend — that would be far less dangerous — but on behalf of Cato ! Nor can you offer in excuse, either the duty of your profession, justice to your client, or the unguarded heat of debate. It is manifest that you fixed upon a great historical personage with deliberate design, and as a character that would give weight and authority to your sentiments. You will reply, I am aware, it was that very circumstance which gained you such universal applause, and rendered you the general topic of discourse. Talk no more then, I beseech you, of security and repose, while you thus industriously raise up to yourself so potent an adversary. For my own part, at least, I am contented with engaging in questions of a more modern and private nature ; wherein, if in defense of a friend I am under a necessity of taking liberties, unacceptable, perhaps, to my superiors, the honest freedom of my zeal will, I trust, not only be excused, but applauded.
11. Aper having delivered this with his usual warmth and earnestness, Maternus replied in a milder tone, and with an air of pleasantry: Prepared as I was to prefer against the orators an indictment no less copious than my friend's pane- gyric in their behalf, (for I expected that he would proceed to decry the poets, and confound their art,) he has some- what ingeniously softened my asperity by certain concessions he is pleased to make in their favor. He is willing to allow those whose genius does not point to oratory, to apply themselves to poetry; but I, who might do something, and obtain some distinction as a pleader, have chosen, never- theless, to build my reputation on dramatic poetry. [The first attempt I made for this purpose, was by exposing the
the same day, he entered the lists as a wrestler and a boxer, and waa proclaimed conqueror in both." — Quint, lib. ii. 8.
404 A DIALOGUE [c. 12.
dangerous power of Vatinius :l a power which even Nero him- self disapproved, and which that infamous favorite abused to the profanation of the sacred Muses.]2 And I am per- suaded, if I enjoy any share of fame, it is to poetry rather than to oratory that I am indebted for the acquisition. It is my fixed purpose, therefore, entirely to withdraw myself from the fatigue of the bar. The homage of visitors, the train of attendants, and the multitude of clients, which Aper has represented in such pompous colors, have no charms for me ; no more have those sculptured honors which he mentioned; though they too have made their way into my house, not- withstanding my inclinations to the contrary. Hitherto I find my condition and my peace of mind better secured by innocence than by eloquence ; and I am under no apprehen- sion I shall ever have occasion to open my lips in the senate, unless, perhaps, in defense of a friend.
12. But woods, and groves, and solitude itself, the objects of Aper's invective, to me afford such delight, that I reckon it among the chief blessings of poetry that it is cultivated far from the noise and bustle of the world, without a client to besiege my doors, or a criminal to distress me with his tears and squalor. Free from those distractions, the poet retires to scenes of solitude, where peace and innocence reside, and there he treads on consecrated ground. It was there that Eloquence first grew up, and there she reared her temple. In such retreats she first adorned herself with those graces which have made mankind enamored of her charms; and there she inspired the hearts of the blameless and the good. Ora-
1 Vatinius was a favorite at the court of Nero. Tacitus calls him the spawn of a cook's-shop and a tippling-house : " sutrinse et taberna? alumnus." He recommended himself to the favor of the prince by his scurrility and vulgar humor. Being, by those arts, raised above him- self, he became the declared enemy of all good men, and acted a dis- tinguished part among the vilest instruments of that pernicious court. See his character, Annals, xv. 34. When an illiberal and low buffoon basks in the sunshine of a court, and enjoys exorbitant power, the cause of literature can have nothing to expect. The liberal arts must, by consequence, be degraded by a corrupt taste, and learning will be left to run wild and grow to seed.
3 This whole passage is hopelessly unintelligible in the original : such is the sentence upon it with which Orelli (ed. 1846) sums up an elab- orate excursus, in which the most notable suggestions of preceding commentators are severally discussed.
c. 12.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 405
cles first spoke in woods and sacred groves. As to the species of oratory which practices for lucre, or with views of ambition ; that sanguinary eloquence1 now so much in vogue ; it is of modern growth, the offspring of corrupt manners, and degenerate times ; and as you, Aper, expressed it, it is adopted as a deadly weapon.
The early and more happy period of the world, or, as we poets call it, the golden age, free alike from orators and from crimes, abounded with inspired poets, who exerted their noble talents, not in defending the guilty, but in celebrating the good. Accordingly, no character was ever more eminently distinguished, or more augustly honored : first by the gods themselves, by whom the poets were supposed to be admitted to their feasts, and employed as messengers of their high behests ; and afterward by that sacred offspring of the gods, the first venerable race of legislators. In that glorious list we read the names, not of orators indeed, but of Orpheus,2 and Linus, or, if we are inclined to trace the illustrious roll still higher, even of Apollo himself.
1 The phrase in the original is full and expressive, "lucrosae hu- jus et sanguinantis eloquentiae," — that gainful and blood-thirsty elo- quence. The immoderate wealth acquired by Eprius Marcellus has been mentioned in this Dialogue, c. 8. Pliny gives us an idea of the vast acquisitions gained by Regulus, the notorious informer. From a state of indigence, he rose, by a train of villainous actions, to such immense riches, that he once consulted the omens, to know how soon he should be worth sixty millions of sesterces, and found them so favorable, that he had no doubt of being worth double that sum. (Lib. ii. epist. 20.) In another epistle, the same author relates that Regulus, having lost his son, was visited upon that occasion by multi- tudes of people, who all in secret detested him, yet paid their court with as much assiduity as if they esteemed and loved him. They retaliated upon this man his own insidious arts : to gain the friendship of Regulus, they played the game of Regulus himself. He in the mean time dwells in his villa on the other side of the Tiber, where he has covered a large tract of ground with magnificent porticos, and lined the banks of the river with elegant statues ; profuse, with all his avarice, and, in the depth of infamy, proud and vainglorious. (Lib. iv. ep. 2.) All this splendor in which Regulus lived was the fruit of a gainful and blood-thirsty eloquence ; if that may be called eloquence, which, Pliny says, was nothing more than a crazed imagination : " nihil praeter ingenium insanum." (Lib. iv. ep. 7.)
2 Orpheus, in poetic story, was the son of Calliope ; and Linus boasted of Apollo for his father. Orpheus embarked in the Argonautic expe- dition. His history of it, together with his hymns, is still extant ; but whether genuine, is much doubted.
406 A DIALOGUE [c. 12.
But these things, perhaps, will be treated by A per as fables, and inventions of fancy. He can not, however, deny that Homer has received as signal honors from posterity as Demosthenes ; or that the fame of Sophocles or Euripides is as extensive as that of Lysias1 or Hyperidet ; that Cicero's merit is less universally confessed than Virgil's ; or that not one of the orations of Asinius or Messala2 is in so much request as the Medea of Ovid, or the Thyestes of Varius.
1 Lysias, the celebrated orator, was a native of Syracuse, the chief town in Sicily. He lived about four hundred years before the Christian era. Cicero says, that he did not addict himself to the practice of the bar ; but his compositions were so judicious, so pure and elegant, that you might venture to pronounce him a perfect orator. (Cicero, De Claris Orat. s. 35.) Quintilian gives the same opinion. "Lysias," he says, "preceded Demosthenes : he is acute and elegant, and if to teach the art of speaking were the only business of an orator, nothing more perfect can be found. He has no redundancy, nothing superfluous, nothing too refined or foreign to his purpose : his style is flowing, but more like a pure fountain than a noble river." (Quint, lib. x. 1.) A considerable number of his orations is still extant, all written with exquisite taste and inexpressible sweetness. (See a very pleasing trans- lation by Dr. Gillies.) Hyperides flourished at Athens in the time of Demosthenes, ^Eschines, Lycurgus, and other famous orators. "That age," says Cicero, "poured forth a torrent of eloquence of the best and purest kind, without the false glitter of affected ornament, in a style of noble simplicity, which lasted to the end of that period." (De Claris Orat. s. 36.) Quintilian allows to Hyperides a keen discernment, and great sweetness of style ; but he pronounces him an orator designed by nature to shine in causes of no great moment. (Lib. x. 1.) Whatever might be the case when this dialogue happened, it is certain at present that the fame of Sophocles and Euripides has eclipsed the two Greek orators.
2 For an account of Asinius Pollio and Corvinus Messala, see Annals, xi. 6. The two great poets of the Augustan age have transmitted the name of Asinius Pollio to the latest posterity. Virgil has celebrated him as a poet, and a commander of armies, in the Illyrican and Dalmatic wars : and Horace, as an orator and statesman. But after all, the question put by Maternus is, Can any of their orations be compared to the Medea of Ovid, or the Thyestes of Varius? Those two tragedies are so often praised by the critics of antiquity, that the republic of letters has reason to lament the loss. Quintilian says that the Medea of Ovid was a specimen of genius that showed to what heights the poet could have risen, had he thought fit rather to curb than give the rein to his imagination. (Lib. x. 1.) The works of Varius, if we except a few fragments, are wholly lost. Horace, in his journey to Brundu • sium, met him and Virgil, and he mentions the incident with the rap- ture of a friend that loved them both. Horace also celebrates Varius as a poet of sublime genius. (Lib. i. ode 6.) A few fragments only of
c. 13.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 407
13. By no means do I shrink from comparing the fortune and the happy communion of poets, with the restless and anx- ious life of the orator ; even though the hazardous conten- tions of the latter may possibly raise him to the consular dig- nity. Far more desirable, in my estimation, was the calm retreat of Virgil:1 where yet he lived not unhonored by his prince, nor unregarded by the Roman people: witness the letters of Augustus ; witness the conduct of the people itself, who, when some of Virgil's verses were repeated in the thea- tre, where he happened to be present, rose up to a man, and saluted him with the same respect that they would have paid to Augustus.2
his works have reached posterity. His tragedy of Thyestes is highly praised by Quintilian. That judicious critic does not hesitate to say that it may be opposed to the best productions of the Greek stage. Varius lived in high favor at the court of Augustus. After the death of Virgil, he was joined with Plotius and Tucca to revise the works of that admirable poet. The Varius of Virgil, so often celebrated in the Pastorals, was, notwithstanding what some of the commentators have snid, a different person from Varius, the author of Thyestes.
1 The rural delight of Virgil is described by himself: —
Rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes ; Flumina amem, sylvasque inglorius. O ubi campi, Sperchiusque, et virginibus bacchata Lacaenis Tayweta ! O quis me gelidis sub montibus Hsemi Sistat, et ingentl ramorum protegat umbra ?
Georg. ii. 485.
" Me may the lowly vales and woodland please And winding rivers and inglorious ease ; O that I wander'd by Sperchius' flood, Or on Taygetus' sacred top I stood ! Who in cool Haemus' vales my limbs will lay, And in the darkest thicket hide from day?"
Wharton's Virgil.
Besides this poetical retreat, which his imagination could command at any time, Virgil had a real and delightful villa near Naples, where he composed his Georgics, and wrote great part of the ^Eneid.
2 When Augustus, or any eminent citizen distinguished by his public merit, appeared in the theatre, the people testified their joy by accla- mations and unbounded applause. It is recorded by Horace, that Mae- cenas received that public honor : —
Datus in theatro
Cum tibi plausus, Care Maecenas eques, ut paterni Fluminis ripae, simu? et jocosa Redderet laudes tibi Vatican!
Montis imago. — Lib. i. ode 20.
408 A DIALOGIfE [c. 13.
I
Even in our own times, will any man say that Secundus Pomponius,1 in point of dignity or extent of fame, is inferior to Domitius Afer?2 As for Crispus and Marcellus, who have been cited as bright examples, what is there in their elevation to be coveted? Is it that they are feared by numbers, and live in fear themselves ? That they are daily courted for their favors, and the men who obtain their suit hate them ? That they are bound to such a degree of adulation, as never to be thought by their masters sufficiently servile, nor by the people sufficiently free? And after all, what is the amount of this boasted power of theirs? The emperor's freedmen commonly enjoy as much. But as Virgil sings, " Me let the sweet Muses lead to their soft retreats, their living fountains, and melodious groves, where I may dwell remote from care, master of myself, and under no necessity of doing every day what my heart condemns. Let me no more be seen in the wrangling forum, a pale and anxious candidate for precari- ous fame ; and let neither the tumult of visitors crowding to my levee, nor the eager haste of officious freedmen, disturb my morning rest. Let me live free from solicitude, a stranger to the art of promising legacies,3 in order to buy the friend- When Virgil appeared, the audience paid the same compliment to a man whose poetry adorned the Roman story. The letters from Augus- tus, which are mentioned in this passage, have perished in the ruins of ancient literature.
1 Pomponius Secundus was of consular rank, and an eminent writer of tragedy. See Annals, ii. 13.
2 Quintilian makes honorable mention of Domitius Afer. He says, when he was a boy, the speeches of that orator for Volusenus Catulus were held in high estimation. (Lib. x. 1.) He adds, in another part of the same chapter, that Domitius Afer and Julius Africanus were, of all the orators who flourished in his time, without comparison the best. But Afer stands distinguished by the splendor of his diction, and the rhetorical art which he has displayed in all his compositions. You would not scruple to rank him among the ancient orators. Afer died in the reign of Nero, A.U.C. 812, A.D. 59. In relating his death, Tacitus observes, that he raised himself by his eloquence to the first civil honors ; but he does not dismiss him without condemning his morals. (Annals, xiv. 19.)
3 We find in the Annals and the History of Tacitus a number of in- stances to justify the sentiments of Maternus. The rich found it nec- essary to bequeath part of their substance to the prince, in order to secure the remainder for their families. For the same reason, Agric- ola made Domitian joint-heir with his wife and daughter. (Life of Agricola, c. 43.)
c. 14.J CONCERNING ORATORY. 409
sh*p of the great; and when nature shall give the signal to retire, may 1 possess no more than I may bequeath to whom I will. At my funeral let no token of sorrow be seen, no pompous mockery of woe. Crown me with chaplets ; strew flowers on my grave, and let my friends erect no vain memo- rial, to tell where my remains are lodged."
14. Maternus finished with an air of enthusiasm, that seemed to lift him above himself. In that moment, Vipsta- nus Messala1 entered the room. From the attention that appeared in every countenance, he concluded that some im- portant business was the subject of debate. I am afraid, said he, that I break in upon you at an unseasonable time. You have some secret to discuss, or, perhaps, a consultation upon your hands. — Far from it, replied Secundus ; I wish you had come sooner. You would have had the pleasure of hearing an eloquent discourse from our friend Aper, who has been endeavoring to persuade Maternus to dedicate the whole strength of his genius and his studies to the business of the forum; and an animated reply from Maternus, wherein, as became one who was defending his favorite art, he delivered himself with a boldness and elevation of style more akin to the poetical than the oratorical character.
It would have afforded me infinite pleasure, replied Mes- sala, to have been present at a debate of this kind. And I can not but express my satisfaction, in finding the most emi- nent orators of our times, not confining their genius to points relating to their profession, but canvassing in their conver- sation such other questions of taste and literature as give a very advantageous exercise to their faculties, at the same time that they furnish an entertainment of the most agreeable kind, not only to themselves, but to those who hear them.
1 Vipstanus Messala commanded a legion, and at the head of it went over to Vespasian's party, in the contention with Vitellius. He was a man of illustrious birth, and equal merit; the only one, says Tacitus, who entered into that war from motives of virtue. (Hist. iii. 9.) He was brother to Regulus, the vile informer. Messala, we are told by Tacitus, before he had attained the senatorian age, acquired great fame by pleading the cause of his profligate brother with extraordinary eloquence and family affection. (Hist. iv. 42.) Since Messala has now joined the company, the Dialogue takes a new turn, and, by an easy and natural transition, slides into the question concerning the causer of the decline of eloquence. VOL. II.— S
A DIALOGUE [c. 15.
And believe me, Secundus, the world received with mdch approbation your history of J. Asiaticus, J as an earnest that you intend to publish more pieces of the same nature. On the other side, it is observed with equal satisfaction, that Aper has not yet bid adieu to the questions of the schools,2 but employs his leisure rather after the example of the modern rhetoricians, than of the ancient orators.3
15. I perceive, returned Aper, that you continue to treat the moderns with your usual derision and contempt; while the ancients alone are in full possession of your esteem. It is a maxim, indeed, I have frequently heard you advance, (and, allow me to say, with much injustice to yourself and to your brother,) that there is no such thing in the present age as an orator. This you are the less scrupulous to main- tain, as you imagine it can not be imputed to a spirit of envy ; since you deny yourself a distinction which every body con- cedes to you.
I have hitherto, replied Messala, found no reason to change my opinion ; and I am persuaded, that neither Secundus, nor Maternus, nor yourself, Aper, (whatever you may sometimes affect to the contrary,) think differently from me. I should, indeed, be glad, if I could prevail on any of you to investigate and expound the causes of so remarkable a disparity, which I often seek to explore in my own thoughts. What to some appears a satisfactory solution of this phenomenon, to me, I confess, heightens the difficulty: for I find the very same difference prevails among the Grecian orators ; and that the
1 This is probably the same Asiaticus, who, in the revolt of the prov- inces of Gaul, fought on the side of Vindex. (See Hist. ii. 94.) Biog- raphy was, in that evil period, a tribute paid by the friends of departed merit, and the only kind of writing in which men could dare faintly to utter a sentiment in favor of virtue and public liberty.
2 In the declamations of Seneca and Quintilian we have abundant examples of these scholastic exercises, which Juvenal has placed in a ridiculous light : —
Et nos ergo manum ferulae subduximus, et nos Consilium dedimus Syllae, privatus ut altuni Dormiret. — Sat. i. 15.
" Provoked by these incorrigible fools, I left declaiming in pedantic schools ; Where, with men-boys, I strove to get renown, Advising Sylla to a private gown." — Dry den's Juvenal. z This is said ironically.
c. 16. j CONCERNING ORATORY. 411
priest Nicetes,1 together with others of the Ephesian and Mity- lenean2 schools, who content themselves with raising the ac- clamations of their tasteless auditors, deviate much farther from JEschines or Demosthenes, than Afer and Africanus,3 or you, my friends, from Tully or Asinius.
16. The question you have started, said Secundus, is a very important one, and well worthy of consideration. But who so capable of doing justice to it as yourself? who, be- sides the advantages of a fine genius and great literature, have given, it seems, particular attention to this inquiry. — I am very willing, answered Messala, to lay before you my thoughts upon the subject, provided you will assist me with yours as I go along. — I will engage for two of us, replied Maternus : Secundus and myself will speak to such points as you shall, I do not say omit, but think proper to leave to us. As for Aper, you just now informed us that it is usual with him to dissent from you in this matter : and, indeed, I see he is al- ready preparing to oppose us, and will not tamely bear to see us thus leagued in support of the ancients.
Undoubtedly, returned Aper, I shall not suffer the moderns to be condemned, unheard and undefended, by this conspiracy of yours. But first let me ask, who it is you call ancients 1 What age of orators do you distinguish by that designation ?4 The word always suggests to me a Nestor, or a Ulysses, men who lived about twelve hundred years since: whereas you seem to apply it to Demosthenes and Hyperides, who, it is
1 Nicetes was a native of Smyrna, and a rhetorician in great celeb- rity. Seneca says (Controversiarum, lib. iv. 25), that his scholars, content with hearing their master, had no ambition to be heard them- selves. Pliny the younger, among the commendations which he be- stows on a friend, mentions, as a praiseworthy part of his character, that he attended the lectures of Quintilian and Nicetes Sacerdos, of whom Pliny himself was at that time a constant follower. (Lib. vi. ep. 6.)
2 Mitylene was the chief city of the isle of Lesbos, in the JEgean Sea, near the coast of Asia. The place at this day is called Metelin, subject to the Turkish dominion. Ephesus was a city of Ionia, in the Lesser Asia, now called Ajaloue by the Turks, who are masters of the place.
3 Domitius Afer and Julius Africanus have been already mentioned, c. 13, note. Both are highly praised by Quintilian. For Asinius Pol- lio, see c. 12, note.
4 Quintilian puts the same question ; and, according to him, Demos- thenes is the last of the ancients, among the Greeks, as Cicero is among the Romans. See Quintilian, lib. viii, 5.
412 A DIALOGUE [c. 17.
agreed, flourished so late as the times of Philip and Alexan- der, and, indeed, survived them. It appears from hence, that there is not much above four hundred years' distance between our age and that of Demosthenes : an interval which, con- sidered with respect to human duration, appears, I acknowl- edge, extremely long ; but if compared with that immense space of time which includes the several ages of the world, is exceedingly contracted, and seems almost but of yesterday. For if it be true, what Cicero observes in his treatise inscribed to Hortensius, that the great and genuine year is that period in which the heavenly bodies return to the same position, wherein they were placed when they first began their respect- ive orbits; and this revolution contains 12,954 of our solar years ; then Demosthenes, this ancient Demosthenes of yours, lived in the same year, or rather I might say, in the same month,1 with ourselves.
17. But to mention the Roman orators: I presume, it is not Menenius Agrippa2 (who may with some propriety, indeed, be called an ancient,) you prefer to the men of eloquence among the moderns; but Cicero, Caesar,3 Caelius,4 Caivus,
1 The argument is this : If the great year is the measure of time ; then, as it consists, according to Cicero, of 12,954 solar years, the whole being divided by twelve, every month of the great year would be clearly 1080 years. According to that calculation, Demosthenes not only lived in the same year with the persons engaged in the Dialogue, but within a month of them. These are the months to which Virgil alludes in the fourth Eclogue :—
Incipient magni procedere menses.
3 Menenius Agrippa was consul A.U.C. 251.
3 Caesar the dictator was, as the poet expresses it, graced with both Minervas. Quintilian is of opinion, that if he had devoted his whole time to the profession of eloquence, he would have been the great rival of Cicero. The energy of his language, his strength of conception, and his power over the passions, were so striking, that he may be said to have harangued with the same spirit that he fought. (Lib. x. 1.)
* Marcus Caslius Rufus, in the judgment of Quintilian, was an orator of considerable genius. In the conduct of a prosecution he was re- markable for a certain urbanity, that gave a secret charm to his whole speech. It is to be regretted that he was not a man of better conduct and longer life. (Quint, lib. x. 1.) His letters to Cicero make the eighth book of the " Epistolae ad Familiares." Velleius Paterculus says of him, that his style of eloquence and his cast of mind bore a resem- blance to Curio, but raised him above that factious orator. His genius for mischief and evil deeds was not inferior to Curio's, and his motives
c. 17.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 413
Brutus,1 Asinius, and Messala, to whom you give this honor- able precedency : though why these should be deemed ancients rather than moderns, I am at a loss to know. To instance in Cicero : he was killed, as his freedman Tiro informs us, on the 26th of December, in the consulship of Hirtius and Pansa,2 in which year Augustus and Pedius succeeded them in that dignity. Now, if we take fifty-six years for the reign of Augustus, and add twenty-three for that of Tiberius, about four for that of Caius, fourteen apiece for Claudius and Nero,
were strong and urgent, since his fortune was worse than even his frame of mind. (Veil. Paterc. lib. ii. 68.) Licinius Macer Calvus, we are told by Seneca, maintained a long but unjust contention with Cicero himself for the palm of eloquence. He was a warm and vehement accuser, insomuch that Vatinius, though defended by Cicero, interrupt- ed Calvus in the middle of his speech, and said to the judges, " Though this man is eloquent, does it follow that I must be condemned ?" (Sen. Controv. iii. 19.)
1 This was the famous Marcus Junius Brutus, who stood forth in the cause of liberty, and delivered his country from the usurpation of Julius Caesar. Cicero describes him in that great tragic scene, brandishing his bloody dagger, and calling on Cicero by name, to tell him that his country was free. (Philipp. ii. 28.) Akenside has retouched this pas- sage with all the colors of a sublime imagination : —
"Look then abroad through nature, through the range Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres, Wheeling unshaken through the void immense, And speak, O man ! does this capacious scene With half that kindling majesty dilate Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose Refulgent from the stroke of Cesar's fate, Amid the crowd of patriots, and his arm Aloft extending, like eternal Jove When guilt brings down the thunder, call'd aloud On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel, And bade the Father of his Country hail ! For, lo ! the tyrant prostrate in the dust, And Rome again is free." — Pleasures of Imag. b. i. 487. According to Quintilian, Brutus was fitter for philosophical specula- tions, and books of moral theory, than for the career of public oratory. In the former he was equal to the weight and dignity of his subject : you clearly saw that he believed what he said. (Quintil. lib. x. 1.)
2 Hirtius and Pansa were consuls A.U.C. 711; before the Christian era, 43. In this year, the famous triple league, called the Triumvirate, was formed between Augustus, Lepidus, and Antony. The proscrip- tion, or the list of those who were doomed to die for the crime of ad- hering to the cause of liberty, was also settled, and Cicero was one of the number.
414 A DIALOGUE [c. 17.
one for Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, together with the six that our present excellent prince has enjoyed the empire, we shall have about one hundred and twenty years1 from the death of Cicero to these times : a period to which it is not impos- sible that a man's life may extend. I remember, when I was in Britain, to have met with an old soldier, who assured me, he had taken part in the battle in which his countrymen opposed Caesar's descent upon that island.2 If we suppose this person, by being taken prisoner, or by any other means, to have been brought to Rome, he might have heard Caesar and Cicero, and likewise any of our contemporaries. At the last public donative,3 you yourselves saw several of the popu-
1 Between the consulship of Augustus, which began immediately after the destruction of Hirtius and Pansa, A.D.C. 711, and the death of that emperor, which was A.U.C. 767, fifty-six years intervened, and to the sixth of Vespasian (A.U.C. 828), about 118 years. For the sake of a round number, it is called in the Dialogue a space of 120 years.
2 Julius Cffisar landed in Britain in the years of Rome 699 and 700. It does not appear when Aper was in Britain ; it could not be till the year of Rome 796, when Aulus Plautius, by order of the emperor Claudius, undertook the conquest of the island. At that time, the Briton who fought against Caesar must have been far advanced in years.
3 A largess was given to the people in the fourth year of Vespasian, when Domitian entered on his second consulship. This, Brotier says, appears on a medal, with this inscription : CONG. n. Cos. 11. " Congift- rium alterum, Domitiano consule secundum." The custom of giving large distributions to the people was for many ages established at Rome. Brotier traces it from Ancus Martius, the fourth king of Rome, when the poverty of the people called for relief. The like bounty was distributed by the generals who returned in triumph. Lucullus and Julius Cassar displayed on those occasions great pomp and magnif- icence. Corn, wine, and oil were plentifully distributed, and the popularity acquired by those means was, perhaps, the ruin of the com- monwealth. Caesar lavished money, Augustus followed the example; and Tiberius did the same, but prodigality was not his practice : his politic genius taught him all the arts of governing. The bounties thus distributed were called, when given to the people, congiaria, and, to the soldiers, donativa. Whoever desires to form an idea of the number of Roman citizens who, at different times, received largesses, and the prodigious expense attending them, may see an account drawn up with diligent attention by Brotier, in an elaborate note on this passage. He begins with Julius Cassar, and pursues the inquiry through the several successive emperors, fixing the date and expense at every period, as low down as the consulship of Constantius and Galerius Maximianus ; when, the empire being divided into the Eastern and Western, its former magnificence was by consequence much diminished.
c. 18.J CONCERNING ORATORY. 415
lace wno acknowledged they had received the same bounty more than once from the hands of Augustus. It is evident, therefore, that these people might have been present at the pleadings both of Corvinus1 and Asinius : for Corvinus lived to the middle of the reign of Augustus, and Asinius nearly to its close. Surely, then, you will not split a century, and call one orator an ancient, and another a modern, when the very same person might be an auditor of both; and thus, as it were, render them contemporaries.
18. I have made these preliminary remarks to show that the glory, whatever it be, that accrued to the age in which those orators lived, is not confined to that particular period, but reaches down to the present time, and may more properly be said to belong to us, than to Servius Galba,2 or to Carbo,3 and others whom with good reason we call ancients. Of that whole race of orators I may freely say, that their manner can not now be relished. The language of these last is coarse, and their composition rough, uncouth, and harsh ; and I could wish that your Calvus,1 your Caelius, and even Cicero him- self, had not thought such models worthy of imitation. I mean to speak my mind with freedom ; but I must premise that eloquence changes its form and style with the manners
1 The person here called Corvinus was Corvinus Messala, who flour- ished in the reign of Augustus, at the same time with Asinius Pol- lio.
3 Servius Sulpicius Galba was consul A.U.C. 610, before the Christian «ra 144. Cicero says of him, that he was, in his day, an orator of em- inence. When he spoke in public, the natural energy of his mind sup- ported him, and the warmth of his imagination made him vehement and pathetic : his language was animated, bold, and rapid ; but when he afterward took his pen in hand to correct and polish, the fit of en- thusiasm was over ; his passions ebbed away, and the composition wag cold and languid. (De Claris Orat. s. 93.) Suetonius says, that the person here intended was of consular dignity, and by his eloquence gave weight and lustre to his family. (Life of Galba, s. 3.)
3 Caius Papirius Carbo was consul A.U.C. 634. Cicero wishes that he had proved himself as good a citizen as he was an orator. Being impeached for his turbulent and seditious conduct, he did not choose to stand the event of a trial, but escaped the judgment of the senate by a voluntary death. His life was spent in forensic causes. Men of uense who heard him have reported that he was a fluent, animated, and harmonious speaker; at times pathetic, always pleasing, and abounding with wit. (De Claris Orat. s. 105.)
4 Calvus and Caelius have been mentioned already. See c. 17, note.
416 A DIALOGUE fc. 1&
and the taste of the age. Thus we find, that Gracchus,1 com- pared with the elder Cato,2 is full and copious ; but, in hii turn, yields to Crassus,3 an orator more polished and ornate, Cicero rises superior to both ; more pointed, more harmonious and sublime. Corvinus4 is considerably more smooth and harmonious in his periods, as well as more correct in his lan- guage, than Cicero. I am not considering which of them, is most eloquent : all I endeavor to prove at present is, that or- atory does not manifest itself in one uniform figure, but is ex- hibited by those whom you call ancients under a variety of aspects. However, it is by no means a just way of reason- ing, to infer, that one thing must necessarily be worse than another, merely because it is not the same. Yet such is the unaccountable perversity of human nature, that whatever has antiquity to boast, is sure to be admired, and every thing nov- el is certainly disapproved.
Can we doubt that there have been critics who were better pleased with Appius Caecus5 than with Cato ? Cicero had his censurers, who objected that his style was redundant, turgid, never compressed, immoderately self-complacent, and desti-
1 Caius Gracchus was tribune of the people A.U.C. 633. In that character he took the popular side against the patricians ; and, pur- suing the plan of the Agrarian law laid down by his brother, Tiberius Gracchus, he was able by his eloquence to keep the city of Rome in violent agitation. Amidst the tumult, the senate, by a decree, ordered the consul, Lucius Opimius, " to take care that the commonwealth re- ceived no injury ;" and, says Cicero, not a single night intervened be- fore that magistrate put Gracchus to death.
2 This is the celebrated Marcus Portius Cato, commonly known by the name of Cato the Censor.
3 Lucius Licinius Crassus is often mentioned, and always to his ad- vantage, by Cicero, de Claris Oratoribus. He was born, as appears in that treatise (s. 161), during the consulship of Laelius and Caepio, A.U.C. 614 : he was contemporary with Antonius, the celebrated orator and father of Antony the triumvir. Crassus was about fonr-and-thirty years older than Cicero. When Philippus the consul showed himself disposed to encroach on the privileges of the senate, and in the pres- ence of that body offered indignities to Licinius Crassus, the orator, as Cicero informs us, broke out in a blaze of eloquence against that vio- lent outrage, concluding with that remarkable sentence — " He shali not be a consul to me, to whom I am not a senator."
4 Messala Corvinus is often in this Dialogue called Corvinus only.
5 Appius Claudius was censor in the year of Rome 442 ; dictator, 465 ; and having at a very advanced age lost his sight, he became bet- ter known by the name of Appius Caecus.
c. 19.| CONCERNING ORATORY. 417
tute of Attic elegance. We all have read the letters of Calvus and Brutus to your famous orator. In the course of that correspondence, we plainly see what was Cicero's opinion of those eminent men. The former appeared to him cold and languid ; the latter, disjointed, loose, and negligent. On the other hand, we know what they thought in return: Calvus did not hesitate to say, that Cicero was diffuse, luxuriant to a fault, and florid without vigor. Brutus, in express terms, says, he was lengthened out into weakness, and wanted sinew. If you ask my opinion, each of them had reason on his side. But I shall hereafter examine them separately. At present, I speak of them in general terms.
19. The admirers of antiquity are agreed, I think, in ex tending the area of the ancients as far as Cassius Severus,1 whom they assert to have been the first that struck out from the plain and simple manner, which till then prevailed. Now I affirm that he did so, not from any deficiency in point of genius or learning, but from his superior judgment and good sense. He saw it was necessary to accommodate oratory, as I observed before, to the different times and tastes of the audience. In early times, the people, rude and unpolished, might well be contented with the tedious length of unskillful speeches ; and, indeed, to be able to harangue for a whole day together, was itself looked upon, at that illiterate period, as a
1 Cassius Severus lived in the latter end of the reign of Augustus, and through a considerable part of that of Tiberius. We read in Suetonius (Life of Octavius, s. 56), that Cassius had the hardi- ness to institute a prosecution for the crime of poisoning against Asprenas Nonius, who was, at the time, linked in the closest friend- ship with Augustus. Not content with accusations against the first men in Rome, he chose to vent his malevolence in lampoons and defamatory libels, against the most distinguished of both sexes. It was this that provoked Horace to declare war against Cassius, in an ode (lib. v. ode 6), which begins, " Quid immerentes hospites vexns, canis." See an account of his malevolent spirit, Annals, i. 72. He was at length condemned for his indiscriminate abuse, and banished by Augustus to the Isle of Crete. But his satirical rage was not to be controlled. He continued in exile to discharge his malignity, till at last, at the end of ten years, the senate took cognizance of his guilt, and Tiberius ordered him to be removed from Crete to the Rock of Seriphos, where he languished in old age and misery. (See Annals, iv. 21.) The period of ancient oratory ended about the time when Cassius began his career. He was the first of the P'-*W school.
82
418 A DIALOGUE [c. 20.
talent worthy of admiration. The prolix exordium, the cir- cumstantial detail, the ostentatious division of the argument under different heads, the endless degrees of logical deduction, with whatever else you may find laid down among the pre- cepts of those driest of all writers, Hermagoras and Apollo- dorus,1 were then held in supreme honor. And, to complete all, if the orator had just dipped into philosophy, and could sprinkle his harangue with some of the trite maxims of that science, he was extolled to the skies. And no wonder ; for these were new and uncommon topics to them ; indeed very few of the orators themselves had any acquaintance with the writings either of the philosophers or the rhetoricians.
In the present age, the tenets of philosophy and the pre- cepts of rhetoric are no longer a secret. The lowest of our popular assemblies are now, I will not say fully instructed, but certainly acquainted with the elements of literature. The orator, by consequence, finds himself obliged to seek new and more subtle avenues to the heart, that he may not offend fastidious ears, especially before a tribunal where the judge is no longer bound by precedent, but determines according to his will and pleasure ; not, as formerly, observing the meas- ure of time allowed to the advocate, but taking upon him- self to prescribe the limits. Nor is this all : the judge, at present, will not condescend to wait till the orator, in his own way, opens his case ; but, of his own authority, reminds him of the point in question, and, if he wanders, calls him back from his digression, not without a hint that the court wishes to dispatch.
20. Who at this time would bear to hear an advocate in- troducing himself with a tedious preface about the infirmities of his constitution? Yet that is the usual exordium of Corvi- nus. We have five books against Verres.2 Who now could
1 These two rhetoricians flourished in the time of Augustus. Apol- lodorus, we are told by Quintilian (iii. 1), was the preceptor of Augus- tus. He taught in opposition to Theodorus Gadareus, who read lectures at Rhodes, and was attended by Tiberius during his retreat in that island. The two contending masters were the founders of opposite sects, called the Apollodorean and Theodorian.
* Doctor Middleton says, "Of the seven excellent orations which now remain on the subject of Verres, the first two only were spoken; the one called, ' The Divination;' the other, 'The first Action,' which is nothing more than a general preface to the whole cause. The other five were published afterward, as they were prepared and intended to
c. 20.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 419
endure that vast redundance ? Who could listen to those end- less arguments upon points of form, and caviling exceptions,1 which we find in the orations of the same celebrated advocate for Marcus Tullius2 and Aulus Cascina? Our modern judges are able to anticipate the argument. Their quickness goes before the speaker. If not allured and biased by the vivacity of his manner, the elegance of his sentiments, and the glowing colors of his descriptions, they soon grow weary of the flat insipid discourse. Even the populace that come to hear have now a taste that requires the gay, the florid, and the brilliant. The dull uncouth style of antiquity would now succeed as ill at the bar, as the modern actor who should attempt to copy the deportment of Roscius,3 or Ambivius Turpio. Even the young men who are preparing for the career of eloquence, and for that purpose attend the forum and the tribunals of justice, expect not merely to hear, but to carry home some bright illustration, some splendid passage, that deserves to be remembered. What has struck their fancy, they communi-
be spoken, if Verres had made a regular defense : for as this was the only cause in which Cicero had yet been engaged, or ever designed to be engaged, as an accuser, so he was willing to leave those orations as a specimen of his abilities in that way, and the pattern of a just and diligent impeachment of a great and corrupt magistrate." — Life of Cicero, vol. i. p. 86. 4to edit.
1 The Digest enumerates a multitude of rules concerning -'excep- tions," to persons, things, the form of the action, the niceties of plead- ing, and, as the phrase is, motions in arrest of judgment. "Formula" was the set of words necessary to be used in the pleadings. See the Digest, lib. xliv. tit. 1, "De Exceptionibus, Praescriptionibus, et Prae- judiciis." See also Cujacius, Observat. xxiii.
3 The oration for Marcus Tullius is highly praised by Macrobius, but is not to be found in Cicero's works. The oration for Aulus Cae- cina is still extant. The cause was about the right of succession to a private estate, which depended on a subtle point of law, arising from the interpretation of the praetor's interdict. It shows Cicero's exact knowledge and skill in the civil law, and that his public character and employment gave no interruption to his usual diligence in pleading causes. (Middleton's Life of Cicero, vol. i. p. 116. 4to edit.)
3 Roscius, in the last period of the republic, was the comedian, whom all Rome admired for his talents. The great esteemed and loved him for his morals. ^Esop the tragedian was his contemporary. Ambivius Turpio acted in most of Terence's plays, and seems to have been a manager of the theatre. Cicero, in the treatise " De Senectute," says : " He, whD sat near him in the first rows, received the greatest pleasure ; but still, %hose who were at the farther end of the theatre, were delight- ed with him."
420 A DIALOGUE [c. 21.
cate to each other : and in their letters, the glittering thought, given with sententious brevity, the poetical allusion that en- livened the discourse, and the dazzling imagery, are sure to be transmitted to their respective colonies and provinces. The ornaments of poetic diction are now required, not indeed copied from the rude obsolete style of Accius and Pacuvius,1 but embellished with the graces of Horace, Virgil, and Lucan. In compliance with the taste of the age, our orators grow every day more polished and adorned. Let it not be said that their speeches are less effective, because they fall pleasingly on the ears of the judges. Are the temples, raised by our modern architects, of a weaker structure, because they are not formed with shapeless stones, but with polished marble, and lustrous gilding?
21. Shall I fairly own to you the impression which I gen- erally receive from the ancient orators ? They make me laugh, or lull me to sleep. Nor is this the case only when I read the orations of Canutius,2 Arrius, Furnius, Torianus, and others of the same school, or rather, the same infirmary ;3 a lean and bloodless sickly race of orators, without sinew, color, or pro- portion. But what shall be said of your admired Calvus u?4
I Accius and Pacuvius flourished at Rome about the middle of the sixth century from the foundation of the city.
3 There is in this place a blunder of the copyists, which almost makes the sentence unintelligible. Canutius may be the person men- tioned by Suetonius, De Claris Rhetoribus. Cicero says of Arrins, that he was a striking proof of what consequence it was at Rome to be useful to others, and always ready to be subservient to their honor, or to ward off danger. For, by that assiduity, Arrius raised himself from a low beginning to wealth and honors, and was even ranked in the number of orators, though void of learning, and without genius or abilities. (De Claris Orat. s. 243.) Furnius may be supposed, not with- out probability, to be the person with whom Cicero corresponded. (Epist. ad Familiares, lib. x. ep. 25, 26.) With regard to Torianus we are left in the dark. The commentators offer various conjectures ; but conjecture is often a specious amusement ; the ingenious folly of men. who take pains to bewilder themselves, and reason only to show their useless learning.
3 The puny orators are said to be in an infirmary, like sickly men, who were nothing but skin and bone. These, says Cicero, were admir- ers of the Attic manner; but it were to be wished that they had the wholesome blood, not merely the bones, of their favorite declaimers. (Cicero, De Claris Oratoribus.)
II What is here said of Calvus is not confirmed by the judgment of Quintilian. His orations, which were extant at the time of this Dialogue, are now totally lost.
c. 21.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 421
He, I think, has left no less than one-and-twenty volumes : in the whole collection, there is not more than one or two short orations with which I am satisfied. Upon this point there is no difference of opinion. Who now reads his declamations against Asitius or Drusus0? His speeches against Vatinius are in the hands of the curious, particularly the second : for the language is elegant ; the sentiments are striking, and the ear is satisfied with the roundness of the periods. In this specimen we see that he had an idea of just composition, but his genius was not equal to his judgment. What of the ora- tions of Caelius? Though upon the whole defective, they are not without their beauties. Some passages are highly fin- ished. In those we acknowledge the nice touches of modern elegance. In general, however, the coarse expression, the halting period, and the vulgarity of the sentiments, have too much of the leaven of antiquity ; nor do I think there is any one so enamored of the ancients as to admire him in that part of his character.
With regard to Julius Caesar,1 engaged as he was in vast designs and enterprises, we may forgive him the want of that perfection which might, otherwise, be expected from so sub- lime a genius. Brutus, in like manner, may be excused on account of his philosophical speculations. Both he and Cae- sar, in their oratorical attempts, fell short of themselves. Their warmest admirers acknowledge the fact, nor is there an instance to the contrary, unless there be here and there a reader of Caesar's speech for Decius the Samnite,7- and that of Brutus for king Deiotarus,3 and others of the same languid and lukewarm character ; or some one to admire their verses ; for verses they both made, and published too, I will not say, with more merit than Cicero, but certainly with better fortune, for fewer know of their existence.
Asinius too, though he lived nearer to our own times, gives
1 Here again Quintilian, that candid and able judge, has given a different opinion. Cicero tells us, that of all the eminent orators, Ca?- sar was the person who spoke the Latin language in the greatest puri- ty, and arrived at that consummate perfection by study, by diligent ap- plication, and his thorough knowledge of all polite literature. (De Claris Orat. s. 252.)
3 Caesar's speech for Decius the Samnite, and all his other produc- tions (except the Commentaries), are totally lost.
3 This speech of Brutus is also lost with his other works.
422 A DIALOGUE fc. 22
me the idea of one who had studied among the Menenii and Appii ; he certainly imitated Pacuvius and Accius, not only in his tragedies, but also in his orations, so cold and dry he is. But the beauty of an oration, like that of the human body, is then perfect, when the veins do not project, nor can the bones be counted ; but a wholesome blood fills the limbs, rises up through the flesh, and mantles over the thews and sinews with the comely hue of health. I am not willing to disturb the memory of Corvinus Messala. If he did not reach the graces of modern composition, the defect does not seem to have sprung from choice. The vigor of his genius was not equal to his judgment.
22. I now come to Cicero, who had the same contest with those of his own times, as mine, my friends, with you. They, it seems, were favorers of the ancients; while he preferred the eloquence of his contemporaries: and, in truth, he excels the orators of his own age in nothing more remarkably than in the solidity of his judgment. He was the first who set a polish upon oratory ; the first who cultivated delicacy of ex- pression, and the art of composition. He introduced into his discourses* passages of lively coloring, and phrases of pregnant brevity; particularly in his later performances, when much practice and experience had taught him a more improved manner. But his earlier compositions are not without the blemishes of antiquity. He is tedious in his exordiums, too circumstantial in his narrations, and careless in retrenching luxuriances. He seems not easily affected, and is but rarely fired ; his periods1 are seldom either properly rounded, or
1 The words sententia and sensus were technical terms with the crit- ics of antiquity. Quintilian gives the distinct meaning of each, with his usual precision. According to the established usage, the word sen- sus signified our ideas or conceptions, as they rise in the mind : by sen- tentia was intended a proposition, in the close of a period, so expressed, as to dart a sudden brilliancy, for that reason called lumen orationis. He says, these artificial ornaments, which the ancients used but sparing- ly, were the constant practice of the modern orators. " Consuetude jam tenuit, ut mente concepta, sensus vocaremus ; lumina autem, praeci- pueque in clausulis posita, sententias. Qua? minus crebra apud antiques, nostris temporibus modo carent." (Lib. viii. 5.) These luminous sen- tences, Quintilian says, may be called the eyes of an oration; but eyes are not to be placed in every part, lest the other members should lose their function. (Ibid.) As Cowley says, —
"Jewels at nose and lips but ill appear; Rather than all things wit, let none be there,"
C. 23.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 423
happily pointed: he has nothing, in fine, you would wish to make your own. His speeches, like a rude edifice, have strength, indeed, and permanency; but are destitute of that elegance and splendor which are necessary to render them perfectly agreeable.
Now I would have the orator be like the man of wealth and station, for whom it is not enough that his house will keep out the wind and the rain ; it must strike the eye, and present a pleasing object. Nor will it suffice that the furni- ture may answer all domestic purposes ; it should have gold and gems so curiously wrought, that they will bear examina- tion, often viewed, and always admired. The common uten- sils, which are either mean or sordid, should be carefully re- moved out of sight. In like manner, the true orator should avoid the trite and vulgar. Let him reject the antiquated phrase, and whatever is covered with the rust of time ; let his sentiments be expressed with spirit, not in clumsy, ill- constructed 'periods, like those of a dull writer of annals; let him banish low, insipid raillery, and let him know how to vary the structure of his periods, so as not to end every sen- tence with the same unvaried cadence.1
23. I will net expose the meanness of Cicero's conceits, such as his " wheel of Fortune,"2 and his punning on the word
1 In order to form a good style, the sentence should always be closed with variety, strength, and harmony. The ancient rhetoricians held this to be so essentially requisite, that Quintilian has given it a full discussion. That, he says, which offends the ear, will not easily gain admission to the mind. Words should be fitted to their places, so that they may aptly coalesce with one another. In building, the most ill-shapen stories may be conveniently fixed ; and in like manner, a good style must have proper words in proper places, all arranged in order, and closing the sentence with grace and harmony. (Quintil. lib. ix. 4.)
3 The remark in this place alludes to a passage in the oration against Piso, where we find a frivolous stroke of false wit. Cicero reproaches Piso for his dissolute manners, and his scandalous debauchery. " Who," he says, " in all that time, saw you sober? Who beheld you doing any one thing, worthy of a liberal mind ? Did you once appear in public ? The house of your colleague resounded with songs and minstrels : he himself danced naked in the midst of his wanton company; and while he wheeled about with alacrity in the circular motion of the dance, he never once thought of the wheel of fortune." "Quis te illis diebus so- brium, quis agentem aliquid, quod esset libero dignum ? Quis deni- que in publico vidit? Cum collegaj tui domus cantu et cymbalis per- Bonaret: cumque ipse nudus in convivio saltaret, in quo ne turn qui-
424 A DIALOGUE [c. 23.
" Verres,"1 nor his affectation of concluding almost every other period with, " as it should seem,"2 instead of pointing them with some luminous and sententious turn. I mention even these with reluctance, and pass over many others of the same injudicious cast. It is singly, however, in little affectations of this kind, that they who are pleased to style themselves ancient orators seem to admire and imitate him. I shall content myself with describing their characters, without mentioning their names : but you are aware there are cer- tain pretenders to taste who prefer Lucilius3 to Horace,
dera, cum ilium suum sanatorium versaret orbem, fortunes rotam perti- mescebat." — Oratio in Pisonem, prima pars, s. 22. Delph. edit. vol. iii.
1 The passage here alluded to, presents us with a double pun. The word Verres is the name of a man, and also signifies a boar pig, as we read in Horace, " Verris obliquum meditantis ictum." (Lib. iii. ode 22.) The word J>'MS is likewise of twofold meaning, importing law and sauce, or broth; "tepidumque ligurierit jus." (Lib. i. Sat. 3.) The objection to Cicero is, that playing on both the words, and taking ad- vantage of their ambiguous meaning, he says it could not be matter of wonder that the Verrian jus was such bad hog-soup. The wit (if it deserves that name) is mean enough ; but, in justice to Cicero, it should be remembered, that he himself calls it frigid, and says, that the men who in their anger could be so very facetious as to blame the priest who did not sacrifice such a hog (Verres), were idle and ri- diculous. He adds, that he should not descend to repeat such sayings (for they were neither witty, nor worthy of notice in such a cause), had he not thought it material to show, that the iniquity of Verres was, in the mouth of the vulgar, a subject of ridicule, and a proverbial joke. " Hinc illi homines erant, qui etiam ridiculi inveniebantur ex do- lore : quorum alii, ut audistis, negabant mirandum esse, jus tam nequam esse Verrinum: alii etiam frigidiores erant; sed quia stomachabantur, ridiculi videbantur esse, cum sacerdotem execrabantur, qui Verrem tam nequam reliquisset. Quae ego non commemorarem (neque enim perfa- cete dicta, neque porro hac severitate digna sunt) nisi vos id vellem recor- dari, istius nequitiam et iniquitatem turn in ore vulgi,atque communibus proverbiis esse versatam." — In Verrem, lib. i. pars tertia, s. 121.
2 Quintilian acknowledges that the words "esse videatur" occur fre- quently in Cicero's Orations. He adds, that he knew several who fan- cied that they had performed wonders when they placed that phrase in the close of a sentence. (Quintil. lib. x. 2.)
3 The species of composition called satire was altogether of Roman growth. Lucilius had the honor of being the inventor; and he suc- ceeded so well, that even in Quintilian's time, his admirers preferred him not only to the writers who followed in the same way, but to all poets of every denomination. (Lib. x. 1.) The great critic, however, pronounces judgment in favor of Horace, who, he says, is more terse and pure; a more acute observer of life, and qualified by nature to touch the ridicule of the manners with the nicest hand.
c. 23.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 425
and Lucretius to Virgil ; who hold the eloquence of your favorite Bassus or Nonianus1 in the utmost contempt, when compared with that of Sisenna2 or Varro ;3 in a word, who despise the productions of our modern rhetoricians, yet arc in raptures with those of Calvus. We see these men prosing in the courts of judicature after the manner of the ancients (as they call it), till they are deserted by the whole audience, and are scarce supportable even to their Very clients ; so dreary and squalid they are ; so much is their boasted healthy sobriety an evidence of a sickly habit and valetudinary abstinence. No physician would call that a sound constitution, which requires constant care and anxiety of mind. To be only not indisposed, is but a small acqui- sition ; it is spirits, vivacity, and vigor, that I require : he who can just say that he is well, and no more, is not far from being unwell.
Be it then (as with great ease it may, and in fact is) the
1 Aufidius Bassus and Servilius Nonianus were writers of history.
3 Sisenna, we are told by Cicero, was a man of learning, well skilled in the Roman language, acquainted with the laws and constitution of his country, and possessed of no small share of wit ; but eloquence was not his element, and his practice in the forum was inconsiderable. (See De Claris Oratoribus, s. 228.) In a subsequent part of the same work, Cicero says, that Sisenna was of opinion, that to use un- common words was the perfection of style. To prove this he relates a pleasant anecdote. One Caius Rufus carried on a prosecution. Sisenna appeared for the defendant ; and, to express his contempt of his adversary, said that many parts of the charge deserved to be spit upon. For this purpose he coined so strange a word, that the prosecutor implored the protection of the judges. " I do not," said he, " understand Sisenna ; I am circumvented ; I fear that some snare is laid for me. What does he mean by sputatilica? I know that sputa is spittle: but what is tilica ?" The court laughed at the oddity of a word so strangely compounded. "Rufio accusante Chritilium, Sisenna defendens dixit. quaedam ejus sputatilica esse crimina. Turn Caius Rufius, ' Circum- venior,' inquit, 'judices, nisi subvenitis. Sisenna quid dicat nescio: metuo insidias. Sputatilica! quid est hoc? Sputa quid sit, scio ; tilica nescio.' Maximi risus." (De Claris Oratoribus, s. 260.) Whether this was the same Sisenna who is said in the former quotation to have been a correct speaker, does not appear with any degree of certainty.
3 Varro was universally allowed to be the most learned of the Romans. He wrote on several subjects with profound erudition. Quintilian says, he was completely master of the Latin language, and thoroughly conversant in the antiquities of Greece and Rome. His works will enlarge our sphere of knowledge, but can add nothing to eloquence. (Lib. x. 1.)
426 A DIALOGUE [c. 24.
glorious distinction of you, my illustrious friends, to ennoble our age with the most refined eloquence. It is with infinite satisfaction, Messala, I observe, that you single out the live- liest models among the ancients for your imitation. You too, Maternus, and you, Secundus, so happily unite strength of sentiment with beauty of expression ; such a pregnancy of imagination, such a symmetry of ordonnance distinguish your speeches ; so copious or so concise in your elocution, as differ- ent occasions require ; such gracefulness of style and such lucid terseness adorn and dignify your compositions : in a word, so absolutely you command the passions of your aud- ience, and so happily temper your own, that, however the envy and malignity of the present age may withhold that applause which is so justly your due, posterity will surely speak of you as you well deserve.
24. As soon as Aper had concluded, You see, said Mater- nus, the zeal and ardor of our friend: in the cause of the moderns, what a torrent of eloquence! against the ancients, what a fund of varied invective! With what genius not alone and spirit, but with what erudition and art too he smites them with weapons borrowed from their own armory ! And yet all this vehemence must not deter you, Messala, from the performance of your promise. We do not want a formal defense of the ancients; complimented as we have been by Aper, not one of us thinks of comparing with those whom he has run down. He himself is of the same way of thinking, though, in imitation of the ancient manner much practiced by your philosophers,1 he has thought proper to take the wrong side of the question. In answer to his ar- gument, we do not desire you to expatiate in praise of the ancients : their fame wants no addition. What we request is, an investigation of the causes which have produced so rapid a decline from the flourishing state of genuine eloquence. I call it rapid, since, according to Aper's own chronology, the period from the death of Cicero does not exceed one hundred and twenty years.
25. I will pursue the plan you have laid down to me, returned Messala. I shall not enter into the question with
1 In the Dialogues of Plato and others of the Academic school, the ablest philosophers occasionally supported a wrong hypothesis, in order to provoke a thorough discussion of some important question.
c. 25.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 427
Aper, (who, I think, is the first that ever made it one,) wheth* er those who flourished above a century before us, can proper ly be styled ancients. I am not disposed to contend about words : let them be called ancients, or ancestors, or whatever other name he pleases, so it be allowed their oratory was su- perior to ours. I admit too, what he just now advanced, that there are various kinds of eloquence discernible in the same period ; much more in different ages. But as among the Attic orators Demosthenes is placed in the first rank, then jEschines, Hyperides next, and after him Lysias and Lycur- gus; and their era is on all hands agreed to have been the prime season of oratory : so among us, Cicero is by univers- al consent preferred to all his contemporaries; while after him, Calvus, Asinius, Caesar, Caelius, and Brutus, are justly acknowledged to have excelled all our preceding or subse- quent orators. Nor is it material that they differ in manner, since they agree in kind. Calvus is terse: Asinius more flowing and harmonious ; brilliancy of diction is Cassar's characteristic ; caustic bitterness is that of Caelius ; Brutus is earnest ; copiousness, strength, and vehemence are the pre- dominant qualities in Cicero. Each of them, however, dis- plays an equal soundness of eloquence ; so that if you exam- ine their works collectively, you may perceive a certain fam- ily-likeness in their general tone of thought and method, though variously modified according to their respective pecu- liarities of genius. That they detracted from each other's merit, and that there are some remaining traces of mutual malignity in their letters, is not to be imputed to them as or- ators, but as men. Calvus, Asinius, and even Cicero him- self, were liable, no doubt, to be infected with envy, hatred, and other human frailties and passions. Brutus alone I ex- cept from all imputations of malignity : he, I am persuaded, spoke what he thought in all frankness and singleness of heart ; for can it be supposed that he should envy Cicero, who does not seem to have envied even Caesar himself 1 As to Galba, l Laelius, and some others of the ancients, whom Aper has thought proper to condemn, I need not defend them, but
1 Servius Galba has been already mentioned, c. 18, note. Caius Laelius was consul, A.D.C. 614, before the Christian era HO. He was the intimate friend of Scipio, and the patron of Lucilius, the first Bo- man satirist.
428 A DIALOGUE [c. 26,
am willing to admit that they have some defects, which must be ascribed to a growing and yet immature eloquence.
26. After all, if we must relinquish the nobler kind of or- atory, and adopt some lower species, I should certainly pre- fer the impetuosity of Gracchus, or the ripe energy of Cras- sus, to the effeminate foppery of Maecenas,1 or the childish jingle of Gallio ;2 so much rather would I see eloquence clothed in the most rude and negligent garb, than decked out with false colors and meretricious ornament. There is some thing in our present manner of elocution which is so far from being oratorical, that it is not even manly; and one would imagine our modern pleaders, by their dainty sweet phrases, the inanity of their tuneful periods, and the wanton levity of their whole style, had a view to the stage in all their compositions. Accordingly, some of them are not
1 The false taste of Maecenas has been noted by the poets and crit- ics who flourished after his death. His affected prettinesses are com- pared to the prim curls in which women and effeminate men tricked out their hair. Seneca, who was himself tainted with affectation, has left a beautiful epistle on the very question that makes the main sub- ject of the present Dialogue. He points out the causes of the corrupt taste that debauched the eloquence of those times, and imputes the mischief to the degeneracy of the manners. Whatever the man was, such was the orator. "Talis oratio qualis vita." When ancient dis- cipline relaxed, luxury succeeded, and language became delicate, bril liant, spangled with conceits. Simplicity was laid aside, and quaint expressions grew into fashion. Does the mind sink into languor, the body moves reluctantly. Is the man softened into effeminacy, you see it in his gait. Is he quick and eager, he walks with alacrity. The powers of the understanding are affected in the same manner. Hav- ing laid this down as his principle, Seneca proceeds to describe the soft delicacy of Maecenas, and he finds the same vice in his phraseology He cites a number of the lady-like terms, which the great patron of letters considered as exquisite beauties. In all this, says he, we se« the man who walked the streets of Rome in his open and flowing robe. (Epist. cxiv.) What he has said of Maecenas is perfectly just. The fopperies of that celebrated minister are in this Dialogue called cala- mistri ; an allusion borrowed from Cicero, who praises the beautiful simplicity of Caesar's Commentaries, and says there were men of a vi- cious taste, who wanted to apply the curling-iron, that is, to introduce the glitter of conceit and antithesis in the place of truth and nature. (De Claris Orat. s. 262.)
2 Who Gallio was, is not clearly settled by the commentators. Quin- tilian (lib. Hi. 1) makes mention of Gallio, who wrote a treatise of elo- quence ; and in the Annals (xv. 73) we find Junius Gallio, the brothei of Seneca ; but whether either of them is the person here intended, remains uncertain.
t. 26. j CONCERNING ORATORY. 429
ashamed to boast (which one can scarce even mention with- out a blush) that their speeches are musical enough for the dancer's heel or the warbler's throat.1 It is this depravity of taste which has given rise to the very indecent and prepos- terous, though very frequent expression, that such an orator speaks delicately, and such a dancer moves eloquently. I am willing to admit, therefore, that Cassius Severus,2 (the single modern whom Aper has thought proper to name,) when com- pared to these his degenerate successors, may justly be deemed an orator; though, it is certain, in the greater part of his compositions there appears far more strength than spirit. He was the first who neglected chastity of style and propriety of method. Inexpert in the use of those very weapons with which he engaged, in his eagerness to attack he generally left himself unguarded ; and, to speak plainly, he wrangled, but did not argue. Nevertheless, he is greatly superior, as I observed before, in the variety of his learning, the urbanity
1 Pliny declares, without ceremony, that he was ashamed of the corrupt effeminate style that disgraced the courts of justice, and made him think of withdrawing from the forum. He calls it sing-song, and says that nothing but musical instruments could be added. (Lib. ii. epist. 14.) The chief aim of Persius in his first satire is leveled against the bad poets of his time, and also the spurious orators, who enervated their eloquence by antithesis, far-fetched metaphors, and points of wit, delivered with the softest tones of voice, and ridiculous airs of affectation.
Fur es, ait Pedio : Pedius quid ? Crimina rasis Librat in antithetis ; doctus posuisse figuras Laudatur. Bellum hoc ! hoc bellum ! an Romule ceves ? Men' moveat quippe, et, cantet si naufragus, assem Protulerim ? Cantas, cum fracta te in trabe pictum Ex humero portes? — Persius, Sat. i. 85.
"Theft, says the accuser, to thy charge I lay, O Pedius. What does gentle Pedius say? Studious to please the genius of the times, With periods, points, and tropes, he slurs his crimes. He lards with flourishes his long harangue: 'Tis fine, say'st thou. What! to be praised and hang? Effeminate Roman ! shall such stuff' prevail To tickle thee, and make thee wag thy tail? Say, should a shipwreck'd sailor sing his woe, Wouldst thou be moved to pity, and bestow An alms? What's more prepost'rous than to see A merry beggar? wit in misery!" — Dryden's Persius
2 For Cassius Severus, see c. 19, note.
430 A DIALOGUE [c. 21
of his wit, and the lustiness of his vigor, to those who suc- ceeded him : not one of whom, however, has Aper ventured to bring into the field. I did imagine, that after having decried Asinius, and Cselius, and Calvus, he would have produced another phalanx of orators ; that he would have named several champions, or at least an equal number, to match, man by man, against Cicero, Caesar, and the rest in succession : on the contrary, he has distinctly and severally censured all the ancients, while he has ventured to commend the moderns in general only. He thought, perhaps, if he singled out some, he should draw upon himself the resentment of all the rest ; for among the rhetoricians of the present day, is there one to be found who does not, in his own opinion, tower above Cicero, though he has the modesty to yield to Gabinianus'?1
27. What Aper has omitted, I intend to perform. I shall produce his moderns by name, to the end that, by placing the example before our eyes, we may be able, more distinctly, to trace the steps by which the vigor of ancient eloquence has fallen to decay. — Maternus interrupted him. To it then, he said, and fulfill your promise. The superiority of the ancients is not in question. We want no proof of it. Upon that point my opinion is decided. But the causes of our rapid decline from ancient excellence remain to be unfolded. You have often turned your thoughts to this subject, as you told us a little while ago, when you certainly spoke in gentler terms, and with less ire against the eloquence of our day, before Aper offended you by mauling your oratorical fathers. — I am not at all offended, returned Messala, with the senti- ments which Aper has advanced; neither must you, my friends, take umbrage if any thing I may say sounds harshly in your ears, remembering always that it is an established law in debates of this kind, that every man may, with entire security, disclose his unreserved opinion. — Proceed then, re- plied Maternus, and when you speak of the ancients, do so with the ancient freedom : from which I suspect we have more widely degenerated than even from the ancient eloquence.
1 Gabinianus was a teacher of rhetoric in the reign of Vespasian. Eusebius, in his Chronicon, eighth of Vespasian, says that Gabinianus, n. celebrated rhetorician, was a teacher of eloquence in Gaul. His admirers deemed him another Cicero, and, after him, all such orators were Called " Cicerones Gabiniani."
c. 28.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 431
28. Messala resumed his discourse. The causes of the decay of eloquence are by no means difficult to be traced. They are, I believe, well known to you, Maternus, to Se- cundus, and even to Aper, though I am now, at your request, to expound what we all feel. For is it not obvious that eloquence, with the rest of the polite arts, has lost its former lustre, not for want of men, but through the dissipation of our young men, the inattention of parents, the ignorance of those who pretend to give instruction, and the total neglect of ancient discipline? The mischief began at Kome, it has overrun all Italy, and is now spreading through the provinces. You, however, know more than I of the state of your prov- inces in this respect, and therefore I shall confine myself to those peculiar and indigenous vices of the capital which beset our youth from their birth, and gather more and more upon them through every season of life. But before I enter on the subject, let me premise a few words on the strict dis- cipline of our ancestors, in educating and training up their children. In the first place the son of every family was the legitimate offspring of a virtuous mother. The infant, as soon as born, was not consigned to the mean dwelling of a hireling nurse, but was reared and cherished in the bosom of its mother, whose highest praise it was to take care of her household affairs, and attend to her children. It was cus- tomary likewise for each family to choose some elderly female relation of approved conduct, to whose charge the children were committed. In her presence not one indecent word was uttered ; nothing was done against propriety and good manners. The hours of study and serious employment were settled by her direction ; and not only so, but even the diversions of the children were conducted with modest reserve and sanctity of manners. Thus it was that Cornelia,1 the mother of the Gracchi, superintended the education of her illustrious issue.
1 Cornelia, the mother of the two Gracchi, was daughter to the first Scipio Africanus. "The sons," Quintilian says, "owed much of their eloquence to the care and institutions of their mother, whose taste and learning were fully displayed in her letters, which were then in the hands of the public." (Quint, lib. i. 1.) To the same effect Cicero, De Claris Orat. s. 104. Again, Cicero says, "We have read the letters of Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, from which it appears, that the sons were educated, not so much in the lap of their mother, as her conversation." (Ibid. s. 211.) Pliny the elder
432 A DIALOGUE [c. 29,
It was thus that Aurelia trained up Julius Caesar ; and thus Atia formed the mind of Augustus. The consequence of this regular discipline was, that the young mind, whole and sound, and unwarped by irregular passions, received the elements of the liberal arts with hearty avidity. Whatever was the peculiar bias, whether to the military art, the study of the laws, or the profession of eloquence, that engrossed the whole attention, that was imbibed thoroughly and totally.
29. In the present age what is our practice1? The infant is committed to a Greek chambermaid, and a slave or two, chosen for the purpose, generally the worst of the whole household train, and unfit for any office of trust.1 From the idle tales and gross absurdities of these people, the tender and uninstructed mind is suffered to receive its earliest im- pressions. Throughout the house not one servant cares what he says or does in the presence of his young master;2 and, indeed, how should it be otherwise? since the parents them- selves are so far from training their young families to virtue and modesty, that they set them the first examples of luxury and licentiousness. Thus our youth gradually acquire a con- informs us that a statue was erected to her memory, though Cato the Censor declaimed against showing so much honor to women, even in the provinces. But with all his vehemence he could not prevent it in the city of Rome. (Pliny, lib. xxxiv. 14.)
1 Quintilian thinks the first elements of education so highly material, that he has two long chapters on the subject. He requires, in the first place, that the language of the nurses should be pure and correct. Their manners are of great importance, but, he adds, let them speak with propriety. It is to them that the infant first attends ; he listens, and endeavors to imitate them. The first color imbibed by yarn or thread is sure to last. What is bad generally adheres tenaciously. Let the child, therefore, not learn in his infancy what he must after- Ward take pains to unlearn.
a Juvenal has one entire satire on the subject of education : —
Nil dictu fcedum visuque ha3c limina tangat, Intra quae puer est. Procul hinc, procul inde puellae Lenonum, et cantus pernoctantis parasiti. Maxima debetur puero reverentia. — Sat. xiv. 44.
" Suffer no lewdness, no indecent speech, The apartment of the tender youth to reach, Far be from thence the glutton parasite, Who sings his drunken catches all the night. Boys from their parents may this reverence claim."
Dry den's Juvenal.
c. 29.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 433
firmed habit of impudence, and a total disregard of that rev- erence they owe both to themselves and to others. To say truth, it seems as if a fondness for horses, actors, and gladi- ators,1 the peculiar and distinguishing folly of this our city, was impressed upon them even in the womb : and when once a passion of this contemptible sort has seized and engaged the mind, what opening is there left for the noble arts? Who talks of any thing else in our houses? If we enter the schools, what other subjects of conversation do we hear among the boys? The preceptors themselves choose no other topic more fre- quently to entertain their hearers ; for it is not by establishing a strict discipline, or by giving proofs of their genius, that this order of men gain pupils, but by fawning and flattery. Not to mention how ill-instructed our youth are in the very
1 The rage of the Romans for the diversions of the theatre, and pub- lic spectacles of every kind, is often mentioned by Horace, Juvenal, and other writers under the emperors. Seneca says, that, at one time, three ways were wanted to as many different theatres : " tribus eodem tempore theatris vise postulantur." And again, The most illustrious of the Roman youth are no better than slaves to the pantomimic per- formers : " Ostendam nobilissimos juvenes mancipia pantomimorum." (Epist. 47.) It was for this reason that Petronius lays it down as a rule to be observed by the young student, never to list himself in the par- ties and factions of the theatre : —
Neve plausor in scena Sedeat redemptus, histrionise addictus.
it is well known, that theatrical parties distracted the Roman citizens, and rose almost to frenzy. They were distinguished by the green and blue. Caligula, as we read in Suetonius, attached himself to the for- mer, and was so fond of the charioteers, who wore green liveries, that he lived for a considerable time in the stables, where their horses were kept. " Prasinas factioni ita addictus et deditus, ut coenaret in stabulo assidue et maneret." (Life of Caligula, s. 55.) Montesquieu reckons such party divisions among the causes that wrought the downfall of the empire. "Constantinople," he says, "was split into two factions, the green and the blue, which owed their origin to the inclination of the people to favor one set of charioteers in the circus rather than another. These two parties raged in every city throughout the empire, and their fury rose in proportion to the number of inhabitants. Justinian fa- vored the blues, who became so elate with pride, that they trampled on the laws. All ties of friendship, all natural affection, and all relative duties were extinguished. Whole families were destroyed ; and the empire was a scene of anarchy and wild contention. He who felt him- self capable of the most atrocious deeds, declared himself a blue, and the greens were massacred with impunity." — Montesquieu, Grandeur et Decadence des Romains, ch. xx. VOL. II.— T
434 A DIALOGUE [c. 30.
elements of literatrfre, sufficient pains are by no means taken in bringing them acquainted with the best authors, or in giv- ing them a proper notion of history, together with a knowl- edge of men and things. The whole that seems to be consid- ered in their education is, to find out a person for them called a rhetorician. I will presently give you some account of the introduction of this profession at Rome, and show you with what contempt it was received by our ancestors.
30. At present I must advert to that scheme of discipline which the ancient orators practiced. Their unwearied dili- gence, their habits of meditation, and their constant exercises in every branch of study, are amply displayed in their own writings. The treatise of Cicero, called "Brutus,"1 is in all our hands. In the latter part of that work, (the former part is employed in commemorating the ancient orators,) he gives a sketch of the several progressive steps by which he formed his eloquence. He there acquaints us, that he studied the civil law under Q. Mucius;2 that he was instructed in the several branches of philosophy by Philo? the Academic, and Diodorus the Stoic ; that, not satisfied with attending the lec- tures of those eminent masters, of whom there were at that
1 This is the treatise or history of the most eminent orators (De Claris Oratoribus), which has been so often cited in the course of these notes. It is also entitled " Brutus," a work replete with the soundest criticism, and by its variety and elegance always charming.
2. Quintus Mucius Scasvola was the great lawyer of his time. Cicero draws a comparison between him and Crassus. They were both en- gaged, on opposite sides, in a cause before the centumviri. Crassus proved himself the best lawyer among the orators of that day, and Scsevola the most eloquent of the lawyers. (De Claris Orat. s. 145.) During the consulship of Sylla, A.U.C. 666, Cicero being then in the nineteenth year of his age, and wishing to acquire a competent knowl- edge of the principles of jurisprudence, attached himself to Mucius Scaevola, who did not undertake the task of instructing pupils, but, by conversing freely with all who consulted him, gave a fair opportunity to those who thirsted after knowledge. (Ibid. s. 306.)
3 Philo was a leading philosopher of the Academic school. To avoid the fury of Mithridates, who waged a long war with the Romans, he fled from Athens, and, with some of the most eminent of his fellow-cit- izens, repaired to Rome. Cicero was struck with his philosophy, and became his pupil. (De Claris Orat. s. 306.) Cicero adds, that he gave board and lodging, at his own house, to Diodotus the Stoic, and, under that master, employed himself in various branches of literature, but particularly in the study of logic, which may be considered as a mod» of eloquence, contracted, close, and nervous. (Ibid. s. 309.)
c. 31.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 435
time great numbers in Rome, he made a voyage into Greece and Asia,1 in order to enlarge his knowledge, and embrace the whole circle of the sciences. Accordingly he appears by his writings to have been familiar with geometry, music, grammar, and every liberal art. He was versed in the sub- tleties of ethics, and the practical lore of moral philosophy. He had studied the operations of nature, and explored the causes of her phenomena. And thus it was, my worthy friends, that from deep learning and the confluence of many arts and universal science, that overflowing and exuberant eloquence derived its strength and fullness. For it is not with the oratorical power and faculty as with others, which are exercised within certain precise and determinate limits: on the contrary, he alone can justly be deemed an orator, who can speak on every subject gracefully, ornately, and per- suasively, in a manner suitable to the dignity of his subject, and with pleasure to his hearers.
31. So thought those renowned orators of old. In order, however, to attain these eminent qualifications, they did not
1 Cicero gives an account of his travels, which he undertook after having employed two years in the business of the forum, where he gained an early reputation. At Athens he passed six months with Antiochus. the principal philosopher of the Old Academy, and, under the direction of that able master, resumed those abstract speculations which he had cultivated from his earliest youth. Nor did he neglect his rhetorical exercises. In that pursuit he was assisted by Demetrius the Syrian, who was allowed to be a skillful preceptor. He passed from Greece into Asia; and, in the course of his travels through that country, he lived in constant intercourse with Menippus of Stratonica, a man eminent for his learning ; who, if to be neither frivolous nor unin- telligible is the character of Attic eloquence, might fairly be called a dis- ciple of that school. He met with many other professors of rhetoric, such as Dionysius of Magnesia, JEschvlus of Cnidos, and Xenocles of Adramyttium ; but, not content with their assistance, he went to Rhodes, and renewed his friendship with Molo, whom he had heard at Rome, and knew to be an able pleader in real causes ; a fine writer, and a judicious critic, who could, with a just discernment of the beauties as well as the faults of a composition, point out the road to excellence, and improve the taste of his scholars. In his attention to the Roman orator, the point he aimed at (Cicero will not say that he succeeded) was, to lop away superfluous branches, and confine within its proper channel a stream of eloquence, too apt to swell above all bounds, and overflow its banks. After two years thus spent in the pursuit of knowl- edge and improvement in his oratorical profession, Cicero returned to Rome almost a new man. (De Claris Orat. s. 315, 316.)
436 A DIALOGUE [c. 31.
think it necessary to declaim in the school?.1 and to exercise their tongues and their voices alone upon fictitious contro- versies, remote from all reality ; but rather to fill their minds with such studies as concern life and manners, as treat of moral good and evil, of justice and injustice, of the decent and the unbecoming in actions, because these constitute the subject-matter of the orator; for in the courts of law we generally descant on equity ; in deliberations, on moral recti- tude ; while yet these two branches are not so absolutely dis- tinct, but that they are frequently blended with each other. Now it is impossible to speak on such topics with fullness, va- riety, and elegance, unless the orator is perfectly well acquaint- ed with human nature ; unless he understands the power and extent of moral duties, the perversity of vice, and other things besides, which do not partake either of vice or virtue.
From the same source, likewise, he must derive his in- fluence over the passions. He who knows the nature of indignation, will be able to kindle or allay that passion in the breast of the judge; and the advocate who has considered the effect of compassion, and from what secret springs it flows, will best know how to soften the mind, and melt it into
1 Quintilian, as well as Seneca, has left a collection of school-decla- mations, but he has given his opinion of all such performances. They are mere imitation, and, by consequence, have not the force and spir- it which a real cause inspires. In public harangues the subject is founded in reality; in declamations all is fiction. (Lib. x. 2.) Petronius has given a lively description of the rhetoricians of his time. The consequence, he says, of their turgid style, and the pompous swell of sounding periods, has ever been the same : when their scholars enter the forum, they look as if they were transported into a new world. The teachers of rhetoric have been the bane of all true eloquence. (Petron. in Satyrico, c. 1, 2.) That gay writer, who passed his days in luxury and voluptuous pleasures (see his character, Annals, xvi. 18), was, amidst all his dissipation, a man of learning, and, at intervals, of deep reflection. He knew the value of true philosophy, and, there- fore, directs the young orator to the Socratic school, and to that plan of education which we have before us in the present Dialogue. He bids his scholar begin with Homer, and there drink deep of the Pierian spring: after that, he recommends the moral system; and, when his mind is thus enlarged, he allows him to wield the arms of Demos- thenes.
Det primos versibus annos, Maeoniumque bibat felici pectore fontem : Mox et Socratico plenus grege mutet habenas Liber, et ingentis quatiat Demosthenis arma.
c. 31.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 437
tenderness. It is by these secrets of his art that the orator gains his influence. Whether he has to do with the preju- diced, the angry, the envious, the melancholy, or the timid, he can bridle their various passions, and hold the reins in his own hand. According to the disposition of each, he will apply his skill, and modify his speech, having the needful appliances in readiness for every occasion. Some there are who like best that close mode of oratory, which in a laconic manner states the facts, and forms an immediate conclusion : in that case, it is obvious how necessary it is to be a com- plete master of the rules of logic. Others admire a more diffuse and level style, illustrated by images drawn from com- mon observation : toward moving such hearers the Peripa- tetic1 writers will give him some assistance ; and indeed they will, in general, supply him with many useful hints in all the different methods of popular address. The Academics2
1 Cicero has left a book, entitled "Topica," in which he treats at large of the method of finding proper arguments. This, he observes, was executed by Aristotle, whom he pronounces the great master both of invention and judgment. (Ciceronis Topica, s. 6.) The sources from which arguments may be drawn are called loci communes, common places. To supply the orator with ample materials, and to render him copious on every subject, was the design of the Greek preceptor, and for that purpose he gave his topica. (Cicero, De Oratore.) Aristotle was the most eminent of Plato's scholars : he retired to a gymnasium, or place of exercise, in the neighborhood of Athens, called the Lyce- um, where, from a custom which he and his followers observed, of dis- cussing points of philosophy as they walked in the porticoes of the place, they obtained the name of Peripatetics, or the walking philoso- phers. (See Middleton's Life of Cicero, vol. ii. p. 537, 4to edit.)
a The Academic sect derived its origin from Socrates, and its name from a celebrated gymnasium, or place of exercise, in the suburbs of Athens, called the Academy, after Academus, who possessed it in the time of the Tyndaridae. It was afterward purchased, and dedicated to the public, for the convenience of walks and exercises for the citizens of Athens. It was gradually improved with plantations, groves, and porti- coes for the particular use of the professors or masters of the Academic school, where several of them are said to have spent their lives, and to have resided so strictly, as scarce ever to have come within the city. (See Middleton's Life of Cicero, 4to edit. vol. ii. p. 536.) Plato and his fol- lowers continued to reside in the porticoes of the Academy. They chose
"The green retreats Of Academus, and the thymy vale, Where, oft enchanted with Socratic sounds, Hiss us pure devolved his tuneful stream In gentle murmurs." — Akenside, Pleas, of Imag
438 A DIALOGUE [c. 32.
will inspire him with a becoming warmth : Plato will give him loftiness, Xenophon suavity. Even the exclamatory manner .of Epicurus,1 or Metrodorus, may be found, in some circumstances, not altogether unserviceable. For take note that I am not laying down rules for building up an imagina- ry wise man, or a city of the Stoics, but for accomplishing one who ought not to confine his attention to any one sect, but gather freely from all. Accordingly, the ancient orators not only studied the civil laws, but also grammar, poetry, mu- sic, and geometry. Indeed, there are few causes (perhaps I might justly say there are none) wherein a skill in the first is not absolutely necessary ; and there are many in which an acquaintance with the last-mentioned sciences is highly requi- site. *
32. Let no one object to me that " eloquence is the single
For dexterity in argument, the orator is referred to this school, for the reason given by Quintilian, who says that the custom of supporting an argument on either side of the question, approaches nearest to the or- ator's practice in forensic causes. (Lib. xii. 2.) Quintilian assures us that we are indebted to the Academic philosophy for the ablest orators, and it is to that school that Horace sends his poet for instruction : —
Rem tibi Socraticae poterunt ostendere chartas, Verbaque provisam rem non invita sequentur. — Ars Poet. 310. " Good sense, that fountain of the muse's art, Let the rich page of Socrates impart ; And if the mind with clear conception glow, The willing words in just expressions flow." — Francis's Horace.
1 Epicurus made frequent use of the rhetorical figure called excla- mation; and in his life, by Diogenes Laertius, we find a variety of instances. It is for that manner of giving animation to a discourse that Epicurus is mentioned in the Dialogue. For the rest, Quintilian tells us what to think of him. Epicurus, he says, dismisses the orator from his school, since 'he advises his pupil to pay no regard to science or to method. (Lib. xii. 2.) Metrodorus was the favorite disciple of Epicurus. Brotier says that a statue of the master and the scholars, with their heads joined together, was found at Rome in the year 1743.
It is worthy of notice, that except the Stoics, who, without aiming at elegance of language, argued closely and with vigor, Quintilian pro- scribes the remaining sects of philosophers. Aristippus, he says, placed his summum bonum in bodily pleasure, and therefore could be no friend to the strict regimen of the accomplished orator. Much less could Pyrrho be of use, since he doubted whether there was any such thing in existence as the judges before whom the case must be pleaded. To him the party accused, and the senate, were alike nonentities. (Quin- til. lib. xii. 2.)
<\ 32.J CONCERNING ORATORY. 439
science requisite for the orator; an occasional recourse to the others will be sufficient for all his purposes ;" I answer, in the first place, there will always be a remarkable difference in the manner of applying what we take up, as it were, upon loan, and what we properly possess ; so that it will ever be manifest, whether the orator is indebted to others for what he produces, or derives it from his own unborrowed fund. And, in the next, the sciences throw an inexpressible grace over our compositions, even where they are not immediately concerned ; as their effects are discernible where we least expect to find them. This powerful charm is not only distinguished by the learned and the judicious, but strikes even the most common and popular class of auditors ; insomuch that one may fre- quently hear them applauding a speaker of this improved kind, as a man of genuine erudition ; as enriched with the whole treasures of eloquence ; and, in one word, a complete orator. But no man, I affirm, ever did, or ever can, main- tain that exalted character, unless, like the soldier marching to battle, armed at all points, he enters the forum equipped with the whole panoply of knowledge. So much, however, is this principle neglected by our modern professors of oratory, that their pleadings are debased by the vilest colloquial bar- barisms; they are ignorant of the laws, unacquainted with the acts of the senate; the common law of Rome they pro- fessedly ridicule, and philosophy they seem to regard as some- thing that ought to be shunned and dreaded. Thus eloquence, like a dethroned potentate, is banished her rightful dominions, and confined to barren points and low conceits : and she who was once mistress of the whole circle of sciences, and charm- ed every beholder with the goodly appearance of her glorious train, is now shorn and curtailed, stripped of all her honors, all her attendants, (I had almost said of all her genius,) and is taken up as one of the meanest of the mechanic arts. This, therefore, I consider as the first, and the principal reason of our having so greatly declined from the spirit of the ancients.
If I were called upon to support my opinion by author- ities, might I not justly name, among the Grecians, Demos- thenes ? who, we are informed, constantly attended the lectures of Plato : so also, among our own countrymen, Cicero himself assures us, (and in these very words, if I rightly
440 A DIALOGUE [c. 33.
remember,) that he owed whatever advances he had made in eloquence, not to the rhetoricians, but to the Academic philosophers.
Other and very considerable reasons might be produced for the decay of eloquence. But I leave them, my friends, as it is proper I should, to be mentioned by you ; having performed my share in the examination of this question, and with a freedom which will give, I imagine, as usual, much offense. I am sure, at least, if certain of our contemporaries were to be informed of what I have here maintained, I should be told, that in laying it down as a maxim, that a knowledge both of law and philosophy are essential qualifications in an orator, I have been fondly pursuing a phantom of my own imagination.
33. I am so far from thinking, replied Maternus, that you have completed the part you undertook, that I should rather imagine you had only given us the first general sketch of your design. You have marked out to us, indeed, those sciences wherein the ancient orators were instructed, and have placed in strong contrast their successful industry with our sloth and ignorance. But something further still re- mains ; and as you have shown us what was the vastness of their knowledge, and the littleness of our own, I would have you acquaint us also with the particular exercises by which the youth of those earlier days were wont to strengthen and improve their genius. For I think you will not deny that oratory is acquired by practice far better than by precept: and our friends here seem, by their countenances, to imply as much.
Aper and Secundus having signified their assent, Messala resumed his discourse as follows :
Having then, as it should seem, disclosed to your satis- faction the seeds and first principles of ancient eloquence, by specifying the several studies in which the ancient orators were trained ; I shall now lay before you the practical exer- cises they pursued, in order to gain a facility in the exertion of eloquence. Note, however, that the very act of studying implies practice ; for it is impossible to acquire knowledge so various and recondite, without knowledge leading to reflection, reflection to grasp the command of thought, and this to ready power of utterance. Thus it appears, that to learn what you
c. 34.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 441
shall deliver, and to be able to deliver what you have learned, are in principle one and the same. But if in this I appear to any one to speculate too abstrusely ; if any one insist on sepv arating knowledge from practice, at least he will not deny that a mind filled with manifold instruction will enter with so much the more advantage upon those exercises peculiar to the oratorical circus.
34. The practice of our ancestors was agreeable to this theory. The youth who was intended for public declamation, was introduced by his father, or some near relation, with all the advantages of home discipline and a mind furnished with useful knowledge, to the most eminent orator of the time, whom thenceforth he attended upon all occasions ; he listened with attention to his patron's pleadings in the tribunals of justice, and his public harangues before the people ; he heard him in the warmth of argument ; he noted his sudden replies ; and thus, in the field of battle, if I may so express myself, he learned the first rudiments of rhetorical warfare. The ad- vantages of this method are obvious : the young candidate gained courage, and improved his judgment ; he studied in open day, amidst the heat of the conflict, where nothing weak or idle could be said with impunity ; where every thing ab- surd was instantly rebuked by the judge, exposed to ridicule by the adversary, and condemned by the whole body of advo- cates. In this way they imbibed at once the pure and uncor- rupted streams of genuine eloquence. But though they chief- ly attached themselves to one particular orator, they heard likewise all the rest of their contemporary pleaders, in many of their respective debates ; and they had an opportunity of acquainting themselves with the various sentiments of the people, and of observing what pleased or disgusted them most in the several orators of the forum. Thus they were supplied with an instructor of the best and most improving kind, ex- hibiting, not the feigned semblance of Eloquence, but her real and lively manifestation : not a pretended, but a genuine ad- versary, armed in earnest for the combat; an audience, ever full and ever new, composed of foes as well as friends, and where not a single expression could fall uncensured, or unap- plauded. For you are aware that a solid and lasting reputa- tion of eloquence must be acquired by the censure of our ene- mies, as well as by the applause of our friends; or rather,
T 2
442 A DIALOGUE [c. 35.
indeed, it is from the forrfier that it derives its surest and most unquestioned strength and firmness. Under such a schooling, the youth of whom we are speaking, a disciple of all the ora- tors ; an attentive hearer of all judicial proceedings ; instruct- ed by the experience of others; daily conversant with the laws of his country; familiar with the faces of the judges, and the aspect of a full audience ; and well acquainted with the popular taste, — might be called on to conduct a prosecu- tion or a defense, and was equal to cope, single handed, with the difficulties of his task. Crassus, at the age of nineteen,1 Caesar at twenty-one, Pollio at twenty-two, and Calvus when he was but a few years older, pronounced those several speech- es against Carbo, Dolabella, Cato, and Vatinius, which we read to this hour with admiration.
35. On the other hand, our modern youth2 are sent to the mountebank schools of certain declaimers called rhetoricians : a set of men who made their first appearance in Rome a little before the time of Cicero. And that they were by no means approved by our ancestors, plainly appears from their being enjoined, under the censorship of Crassus and Domitius,3 to shut up their schools of impudence, as Cicero expresses it. But I was going to say, our youths are sent to certain acad-
1 There is in this place a trifling mistake, either in Messala, the speaker, or in the copyists. Crassus was born A.U.C. 614. (See c. 18, note.) Papirius Carbo, the person accused, was consul, A.U.C. 634, and the prosecution was in the following year, when Crassus expressly says, that he was then only one-and-twenty. (De Orat. lib. iii. 74.) Pliny the consul was another instance of early pleading. He says himself, that he began his career in the forum at the age of nineteen, and, aft- er long practice, he could only see the functions of an orator as it were in a mist. (Lib. v. epist. 8.) Quintilian relates of Caesar, Calvus, and Pollio, that they all three appeared at the bar, long before they arrived at their quaestorian age, which was seven-and-twenty.
2 Lipsius, in his note on this passage, says, that he once thought the word scena in the text ought to be changed to schola ; but he afterward saw his mistake. The place of fictitious declamation and spurious elo- quence, where the teachers played a ridiculous part, was properly called a theatrical scene.
3 Lucius Lucinius Crassus and Domitius JEnobarbus were censors A.U.C. 662. Aulus Gellius mentions a former expulsion of the rhetori- cians, by a decree of the senate, in the consulship of Faunius Strabo and Valerius Messala, A.U.C. 593. He gives the words of the decree, and also of the edict, by which the teachers were banished by Crassus, several years after. See A. Gellius, Noctes Atticae, lib. xv. 2. See also Suetonius, De Claris Rhet. s. 1.
c. 35.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 443
emies, where it is hard to determine whether the place, the company, or the method of instruction is most likely to infect the minds of young people, and produce a wrong turn of thought. There can be nothing to inspire respect in a place where all who enter it are of the same low degree of under- standing ; nor any advantage to be received from their fellow- students, where a parcel of boys and raw youths of unripe judgments harangue before each other, without the least fear or danger of criticism. And as for their exercises, they are ridiculous in their very nature. They consist of two kinds, and are either persuasive or controversial. The first, as being easier and requiring less skill, is assigned to the youngest lads ; the other is the task of more mature years. But, good gods ! with what incredible absurdity are they composed ! and this as a matter of course, for the style of the declamations must needs accord with the preposterous nature of the subjects. Thus being taught to harangue1 in a most pompous diction, on the rewards due to tyrannicides, on the election to be
1 Seneca has left a collection of declamations in the two kinds, viz. the persuasive and controversial. (See his Suasorise and Controversiae.) In the first class, the questions are, Whether Alexander should attempt the Indian Ocean ? Whether he should enter Babylon when the augurs denounced impending danger ? Whether Cicero, to appease the wrath of Mark Antony, should burn all his works? The subjects in the second class are more complex A priestess was taken prisoner by a band of pirates and sold to slavery. The purchaser abandoned her to prostitution. Her person being rendered venal, a soldier made his offers of gallantry. She desired the price of her prostituted charms ; but the military man resolved to use force and insolence, and she stabbed him in the attempt. For this she was prosecuted, and acquitted. She then desired to be restored to her rank of priestess : that point was decided against her. These instances may serve as a specimen of the trifling declamations, into which such a man as Seneca was betrayed by his own imagination. Petronius has described the literary farce of the schools. "Young men," he says, "were there trained up in folly, neither seeing nor hearing any thing that could be of use in the business of life. They were taught to think of nothing but pirates loaded with fetters on the sea-shore ; tyrants by their edicts commanding sons to murder their fathers ; the responses of oracles de- jrianding a sacrifice of three or more virgins, in order to abate an epi- Jemic pestilence. All these discourses, void of common sense, are tricked out in the gaudy colors of exquisite eloquence, soft, sweet, and seasoned to the palate. In this ridiculous boy's play the scholars trifle away their time : they are laughed at in the forum, and still worse, what they learn in their youth they do not forget at an advanced age.'' (Petron. in Satyrico, c. 3, 4.)
444 A DIALOGUE [c. 36.
made by deflowered virgins,1 on the licentiousness of married women, on the ceremonies to be observed in times of pesti- lence, with other topics, which are daily debated in the schools, and scarce ever in the forum ; when they come before the real judges * * *.2
36. * * * The spirit of genuine eloquence is kept alive, like a flame, by fresh materials, is excited by agitation, and grows brighter as it burns. The same causes produced the same effect at Rome, and sped the fire of oratory among our ancestors ; for though our modern orators have achieved as much as possible in a settled, peaceable and happy state; yet their predecessors had manifestly a wider scope in times of turbulence and license, when all was promiscuous confusion, uncontrolled by a single moderator, and when he was deemed the ablest orator, who had most influence over a restless and ungoverned multitude. Thence came incessant multiplication of laws, promoted by popular cries ; thence those harangues of the magistrates prolonged almost to midnight, those impeach- ments of the great, those factions of the nobles, those hered- itary enmities in particular families; and, in fine, those in- cessant struggles between the senate and the commons ; all which, though they convulsed the state, yet certainly contrib- uted to produce and encourage that rich vein of eloquence which discovered itself in those tempestuous days. The more a man signalized himself by his abilities in this art, so much the more easily he opened his road to preferment, and main- tained an ascendant over his colleagues, at the same time that it heightened his interest with the nobles, his authority with the senate, and his reputation with the people in general. The patronage of these admired orators was courted even by
1 It was one of the questions usually debated in these rhetoric schools, whether the woman who had been ravished should choose to marry the violator of her chastity, or rather have him put to death.
2 Here unfortunately begins a chasm in the original. The words are, "Cum ad veros judices ventum est, .... rem cogitare .... nihil humile, nihil abjectum eloqui poterat." This is unintelligible. What follows from the words, "magna eloquentia sicut flamma," pal- pably belongs to Maternus. who is the last speaker in the Dialogue. The chasm, however, is probably not so great as many commentators have supposed ; for according to Hitter and Doederlein, the common notion that Secundus took an active part in this discussion, is un- tenable, as appears from the conclusion of the Dialogue ; which see.
c. 36.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 445
foreign nations;1 magistrates, setting out for the provinces, took care to show them the highest marks of honor, and as studiously cultivated their friendship at their return. Pra> torships and consulships were bestowed on them without any solicitation on their own part. Nor were they even in a pri- vate station without great power, as their advice and influence swayed both the senate and the people. The truth is, it waa an established maxim in those days, that, without eloquence, no man could either acquire or maintain any high position in the state. And no wonder, indeed, that such notions should universally prevail ; since men so distinguished were forced, whether they would or not, to appear before the people ;2 since it was not sufficient merely to vote in the senate, without sup- porting that vote with good sense and eloquence ; since in all public impeachments or civil causes, the accused was obliged to answer to the charge in his own person ; since written dep- ositions were not admitted in state trials, but the witnesses were called upon to deliver their evidence in open court. Thus our ancestors were eloquent, as much by urgent neces- sity as by splendid encouragements. To be possessed of the power of speech, was esteemed the highest glory ; while the man who had no tongue was held in contempt. Thus they were incited to the pursuit of oratory, no less by the dread of shame than by views of interest, lest they should be classed rather as clients than as patrons; lest they should lose de- pendents whom their ancestors had transmitted to them, and see them mix in the train of others; in fine, lest being looked upon as men of mean abilities, they should either fail to ob- tain high offices, or hold them by a precarious tenure.
1 The colonies, the provinces, and the nations that submitted to the Roman arms, had their patrons in the capital, whom they courted with assiduity. It was this mark of distinction that raised the ambitious citi- zen to the first honors in the state. To have a number of clients, as well at home as in the most important colonies, was the unremitting desire, the study and constant labor of all who aimed at pre-eminence ; inso- much that, in the time of the old republic, the men who wished to be distinguished patrons, impoverished, and often ruined their families, by their profusion and magnificence. They paid court to the common peo- ple, to the provinces, and states in alliance with Rome ; and, in their turn, they received the homage of their clients. See Annals, iii. 55.
2 Forced, that is, by the tribunes of the people. Thus Cicero was produced by Apuleius, in the consulship of Antony, and delivered his «ixth Philippic against him.
446 A DIALOGUE [c *7.
37. I know not whether those ancient historical pieces, which were lately collected and published by Mucianus,1 from the old libraries where they have hitherto been preserved, have yet fallen into your hands. This collection consists of eleven volumes of the public journals, and three of epistles; by which it appears that Pompey and Crassus2 gained as much advantage from their eloquence as their arms ; that Lucullus, Metellus, Lentulus, Curio,3 and the rest of those distinguished
* Suetonius relates that Vespasian, having undertaken to restore three thousand brazen plates, which had perished in the conflagration of the capitol (see Hist. iii. 71), ordered a diligent search to be made for copies, and thereby furnished the government with a collection of curious and ancient records, containing the decrees of the senate, acts of the commons, and treaties of alliance, almost from the building of the city. (Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, s. 8.) This, with the addi- tion of speeches and letters composed by men of eminence, was, most probably, the collection published by Mucianus. We may be sure that it contained a fund of information," and curious materials for history, but the whole is unfortunately lost.
2 The person intended in this place must not be confounded with Lucius Crassus, the orator celebrated by Cicero in the dialogue De Ora- tore. What is here said relates to Marcus Crassus, who was joined in the triumvirate with Pompey and Caesar ; a man famous for his riches, his avarice, and his misfortunes. While Caesar was engaged in Gaul, and Pompey in Spain, Crassus invaded Asia, where, in a battle with the Par- thians, his whole army was cut to pieces. He himself was in danger of being taken prisoner, but he fell by the sword of the enemy. His head was cut off, and carried to Orodes, the Parthian king, who ordered liquid gold to be infused into his mouth, that he who thirsted for gold might be glutted with it after his death. (Cicero, De Claris Oratoribus, s. 233.)
3 Lentulus succeeded more by his action than by real ability. With a quick and animated countenance, he was not a man of penetration ; though fluent in speech, he had no command of words. His voice was sweet and melodious ; his action graceful ; and with those advantages he was able to conceal all other defects. (Cicero, De Claris Oratori- bus, s. 234.) Metellus, Lucullus, and Curio are mentioned by Cicero in the same work. Curio was a senator of great spirit and popularity. He exerted himself with zeal and ardor for the legal constitution and the liberties of his country against the ambition of Julius Caesar, but afterward sold himself to that artful politician, and favored his designs. The calamities that followed are by the best historians laid to his charge, Lucan says of him, —
Audax venali comitatur Curio lingua; Vox quondam populi, libertatemque tueri Ausus, et armatos plebi miscere potentes. — Phars. lib. i- 269 And again, —
Momentumque fuit mutatus Curio rerum.
Gallorum captus spoliis, et Caesaris auro. — L?^. iv. 849.
c. 37.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 44"J
chiefs, devoted themselves with great application to this insin- uating art ; in a word, that not a single person in those times rose to any considerable degree of power, without the assist- ance of the rhetorical talents. To these considerations may be further added, that the dignity and importance of the debates in which the ancients were engaged, contributed greatly to advance their eloquence. A vast difference, indeed, it makes, whether the orator is to harangue only upon some trifling robbery, or a little paltry form of pleading ; or upon such topics as bribery at elections, the oppression of our allies, or the massacre of our fellow-citizens. Evils these, which, beyond all peradventure, it were better should never happen ; and we have reason to rejoice that we live under a government where we are strangers to such terrible calamities: still it must be acknowledged, that wherever they did happen, they were wonderful incentives to eloquence. For the orator's genius rises and expands in proportion to the dignity of the occasion upon which it is exerted ; and no magnificent speech was ever yet delivered except upon a subject of adequate im- portance. Thus the speeches of Demosthenes against his guardians1 scarcely, I imagine, established his character ; nor was it the defense of Archias, or of Quinctius, that acquired for Cicero the reputation of a consummate orator. It was Catiline, and Milo, and Verres, and Mark Antony, that in- vested him with his unequaled fame. Far am I from insin- uating, that such infamous characters deserve to be tolerated in a state, in order to supply convenient matter of oratory: all I contend for is, that this art flourishes to most advantage in turbulent times. Peace, no doubt, is infinitely preferable to war ; but it is the latter only that forms the soldier. It is just the same with Eloquence: the oftener she enters, if I may so say, the field of battle, the more wounds she gives
1 Demosthenes, when not more than seven years old, lost his father, and was left under the care of three guardians, who thought an orphan lawful prey, and did not scruple to embezzle his effects. In the mean time, Demosthenes pursued a plan of education without the aid or ad- vice of his tutors. He became the scholar of Isocrates, and he was the hearer of Plato. Under those masters his progress was such, that at the age of seventeen he was able to conduct a suit against his guardians. The young orator succeeded so well in that prelude to his future fame, that the plunderers of the orphan's portion were condemned to refund a large sum. It is said that Demosthenes, afterward, released the whole or the greatest part.
448 A DIALOGUE [c. 38.
and receives, the more powerful the adversary with whom she contends, so much the more ennobled she appears in the eyes of mankind, whose nature is to look distastefully on what is tame and placid.
38. I proceed to another advantage of the ancient forum ; I mean the form of proceeding and the rules of practice ob- served in those days. Our modern custom is, I grant, more conducive to truth and justice ; but that of former times gave to eloquence a free career, and by consequence, greater weight and splendor. The advocate was not, as now, confined to a few hours ;] he might adjourn as often as it suited his conven- ience ; he might expatiate, as his genius prompted him : and the number of days, like that of the several patrons, was un- limited. Pompey, in his third consulship,2 was the first who gave a check to eloquence, and, as it were, bridled its spir- it, but still he left all causes to be tried according to law in the forum, and before the praetors. The importance of the business, which was decided in that court of justice, will be evident, if we compare it with the transactions before the centumvirs,3 who at present have cognizance of all matters
1 The rule for allowing a limited space of time for the hearing of causes, the extent of which could not be known, began, as Pliny the younger informs us, under the emperors, and was fully established for the reasons which he gives. The custom, he says, of allowing iwo water-glasses (i. e. two hour-glasses), or only one, and sometimes half a one, prevailed, because the advocates grew tired before the business was explained, and the judges were ready to decide before they under- stood the question. Pliny, with some indignation, asks, " Are we wiser than our ancestors? are the laws more just at present? Our ancestors allowed many hours, many days, and many adjournments, in every cause ; and for my part, as often as I sit in judgment, I allow as much time as the advocate requires ; for would it not be rashness to guess what space of time is necessary in a cause which has not been opened ? But some unnecessary things may be said; and is it not better that what is unnecessary should be spoken, than that what is necessary should be omitted? And who can tell what is necessary till he has heard? Patience in a judge ought to be considered as one of the chief branches of his duty, as it certainly is of justice." See Plin. lib. vi. ep. 2.
2 Pompey's third consulship was A.U.C. 702, B.C. 52. He was at first sole consul, and in six or seven months Metellus Scipio became his col- league.
3 The centumviri, as mentioned c. 7, note, were a body of men com- posed of three out of every tribe, for the decision of such matters as the praetors referred to their judgment. The nature of the several causes that came before that judicature may be seen in the first book De Oratore.
o. 39.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 449
whatever. We have not so much as one oration of Cicero or Caesar, of Brutus, Caelius, or Calvus, or any other person famous for his eloquence, which was delivered before the last- mentioned jurisdiction, excepting only the speeches of Asinius Pollio1 for the heirs of Urbinia. But those speeches were delivered about the middle of the reign of Augustus, when, after a long peace with foreign nations, and a profound tran- quillity at home, that wise and politic prince had conquered all opposition, and not only triumphed over party and faction, but subdued eloquence itself.
39. What I am going to say will appear, perhaps, too minute; it may border on the ridiculous, and excite your mirth : with all my heart ; I will hazard it for that very reason. The dress now in use at the bar has an air of mean- ness : the speaker is confined in a close robe,2 and loses all the grace of action. The very courts of judicature are another objection ; all causes are heard, at present, in little narrow rooms, where spirit and strenuous exertion are unnecessary. The orator, like a generous steed, requires liberty and ample space : before a scanty tribunal his spirit droops, and the dullness of the scene damps the powers of genius. Add to this, we pay no attention to style ; and indeed how should we? No time is allowed for the beauties of composition : the judge calls upon you to begin, and you must obey, liable at the same time to frequent interruptions, while documents are read, and witnesses examined. Two or three stragglers are present, and to them the whole business seems to be trans-
1 The question in this cause before the centumviri was, whether Clusinius Figulus, the son of Urbinia, fled from his post in battle, and, being taken prisoner, remained in captivity during a length of time, till he made his escape into Italy ; or, as was contended by Asinius Pollio, whether the defendant did not serve under two masters, who practiced physic, and, being discharged by them, voluntarily sell him- self as a slave ? See Quintilian, lib. vii. 2.
2 The advocates at that time wore a tight cloak, or mantle, like that which the Romans used on a journey. Cicero, in his oration for Milo, argues that he who wore that inconvenient dress was not likely to have formed a design against the life of any man. A traveling-cloak could give neither grace nor dignity to an orator at the bar. The business was transacted in a kind of chat with the judges ; what room for elo- quence, and that commanding action which springs from the emo- tions of the soul, and inflames every breast with kindred passions ? The cold inanimate orator is described by Quintilian, speaking with his hand under his robe ; " manum intra pallium continens."
450 A DIALOGUE [c. 40.
acted in solitude. But the orator requires a different scene. He delights in clamor, tumult, and bursts of applause. Eloquence must have her theatre, as was the case in ancient times, when the forum was crowded with the first men in Rome ; when a numerous train of clients, the people in their several tribes, and embassadors from the colonies and a great part of Italy, attended to hear the debate ; in short, when all Rome was interested in the event. We know that in the cases of Cornelius, Scaurus, Milo, Bestia, and Vatinius, the concourse was so great, that those several causes were tried before the whole body of the people. A scene so vast and magnificent was enough to inflame the most languid orator. The speeches delivered upon those occasions are in every body's hands, and, by these above all others, we of this day estimate the genius of the respective authors.
40. If we now consider the frequent assemblies of tLe people, and the right of prosecuting the most eminent men in the state ; if we reflect on the glory that sprung from the declared hostility of the most illustrious characters ; if we recollect, that even Scipio, Sylla, and Pompey were not shel- tered from the storms of eloquence ; that the malignity of the human heart, always adverse to superior characters, encour- aged the orator to persist ; that the very players, by sarcastic allusions to men in power, gratified the public ear, — what a number of causes shall we see conspiring to rouse the spirit of the ancient forum ! I am not speaking now of that temperate1 faculty which delights in quiet times, supported by its own integrity, and the virtues of moderation. I speak of that great and notable eloquence, the offspring of that licentious- ness, to which fools have given the name of liberty : I speak
1 Maternus is now drawing to a conclusion, and therefore calls to mind the proposition with which he set out, viz. that the flame of oratory is kept alive by fresh materials, and always blazes forth in times of danger and public commotion. The unimpassioned style which suited the Areopagus of Athens, or the courts of Rome, where the advocate spoke by an hour-glass, does not deserve the name of genuine eloquence. The orations of Cicero for Marcellus, Ligarius, and king Deiotarus, were spoken before Caesar, when he was master of the Roman world. In those speeches, what have we to admire, except delicacy of sentiment, and elegance of diction? How different from the torrent, tempest, and whirlwind of passion that roused, inflamed, and commanded the senate and the people against Catiline and Mark Antony!
c. 41.] CONCERNING ORATORY. 451
cf bold and turbulent oratory, that inflamer of the people, and constant companion of sedition ; that fierce incendiary, that knows no compliance, and scorns to temporize; busy, rash, and arrogant, but, in quiet and well-regulated govern- ments, utterly unknown. Who ever heard of an orator at Crete or Lacedaemon ? In those states a system of rigorous discipline and rigorous laws were established. Macedonian and Persian eloquence are equally unknown. The same may be said of every country, where the plan of government was fixed and uniform. Rhodes and Athens (places of popular rule, where all things lay open to all men) swarmed with orators innumerable. In the same manner, Rome, while she was under no settled policy ; while she was torn with parties, dissensions, and factions; while there was no peace in the forum, no harmony in the senate, no moderation in the judges; while there was neither reverence paid to superiors, nor bounds prescribed to magistrates, — Rome, under these cir- cumstances, produced, beyond all dispute, a stronger and brighter vein of eloquence ; as in the wild uncultivated field certain plants will flourish with uncommon vigor. But the tongue of the Gracchi did nowise compensate the republic for their seditious laws; nor the superior eloquence of Cicero make him any amends for his sad catastrophe.
41. So too our modern forum (that single relic which now survives of ancient oratory) gives proof that all things in the state are not even yet conducted in that perfectly well-ordered manner one could wish. For, tell me, is it not the guilty or the miserable alone, who fly to us for assistance? When any community implores our protection, is it not because it either is insulted by some neighboring state, or torn by domestic feuds? And what province ever seeks our patronage, till she has been plundered or oppressed ? But far better it surely is, never to have been injured, than at last to be redressed. If there was a government in the world free from commotions and disturbances, the profession of oratory would there be as useless, as that of medicine to the sound : and as the physi- cian would have little practice or profit among the healthy and the strong, so neither would the orator have much busi- ness or honor where obedience and good manners universally prevail. To what purpose are studied speeches in a senate, where the better and the major part of the assembly are al-
£52 A DIALOGUE CONCERNING ORATORY. [c. 42.
feady of one mind ? What the expediency of haranguing the populace, where public affairs are not determined by the voice of an ignorant and giddy multitude, but by the steady wisdom of a single person ? To what end voluntary informations, where crimes are unfrequent and inconsiderable ? or of labored and invidious defenses, where the clemency of the judge is ever on the side of the accused ? Believe me then, my worthy (and, as far as the circumstances of the age require, my eloquent) friends, had the gods reversed the date of your existence, and placed you in the times of those ancients we so much admire, and them in yours ; you would not have fallen short of that glorious spirit which distinguished their oratory, nor would they have been destitute of a proper temperance and modera- tion. But since a high reputation for eloquence is not con- sistent with great repose in the public, let every age enjoy its own peculiar advantages, without derogating from those of a former.
42. Maternus having ended, Messala observed, that some of the points which his friend had laid down, were not per- fectly agreeable to his sentiments; and there were others, which he wished to hear explained more at large: but the time is now, said he, too far advanced. — If I have maintained any thing, replied Maternus, which seems to require explana- tion, I shall be ready to clear it up in some future conference : at the same time, rising from his seat and embracing Aper ; Messala and I (continued he smiling) shall arraign you, be well assured, before the poets and admirers of the ancients. — And I both of you (returned Aper) before the rhetoricians.1 Thus we parted in mutual good-humor.
1 Only three speakers are here mentioned, Mafcernus, Messala, and Aper, whence Ritter infers with great probability that Secundus took sio direct part in the controversy.
INDEX.
A.BDAGESES, the Parthian, his great pow- er, i. 237 ; supports Tiridates, 237 ; is vested with the whole power of the par- ty, 240 , his unfortunate counsel to Tir- idates, 241.
Abdus, the eunuch, his authority in Par- thia, i. 232 ; is poisoned by Artabanus, 233.
Accusations, their progress under Tiberi- us, i. 131 ; how incessant, and prevail- ing, 178 ; the most pestilent calamity of the time, 216 ; frequency of accusa- tion, and baseness of many of the ac- cused in the time of Nero, 431, 432.
Accusers, what bloody and destructive in- struments, i. 172 ; what powerful pro- tection they find, 178 ; their fury con- tinued, 198 ; law against them under Otho, ii. 75. See Informers.
Accusers, public, their safety in propor- tion to the public hate, i. 178.
Aceronia, one of Agrippina's women, mis- taken for her lady, and murdered, i 356.
Aceromus, Cneius, consul, i. 242.
Achaia, the government of that province changed, i. 53.
Achaia and Asia alarmed with a counter- feit Nero, ii. 74.
Acilius, Marcus, consul, i. 309.
Acratus, freedman to Nero, a pestilent in- strument and spoiler, i. 424.
Acte, Nero's mistress, i. 319; is intro- duced by Seneca, as an antidote against the enticements of Agrippina, 354.
Acutia condemned for treason, i. 243.
Adgandestrius, prince of the Chattians, offers to the senate to poison Arminius, i. 107; the reply, 107.
Adiabenians, their sufferings and com- plaints, i. 396.
Adoption of children for political purposes, i. 87.
Adoptions, fraudulent, their prevalence and iniquity, i. 407 ; a decree of senate against the abuse, 407.
Adorsians. See Eunones.
Adultery, punishment of, under Lex Ju- lia, i. 86.
.flSduans, insurrection of the, i. 133 ; ad- mitted into the senate, 264.
^Egium, a Greek city, relieved of tribute, and why, i. 163.
J3sculapius, his temple at Pergamus found to be a genuine sanctuary, i. 163- Se« Coos.
.fEstii, their customs, manners, and situa- tion, ii. 338
Afer, Domitius, a zealous accuser, i. 190; arraigns Claudia Pulchra, 190 ; he is more eloquent than upright, 190 , pur- sues the profession of accuser, and at- tacks Quintilius Varus, 190 ; his vile motions, 199 ; his death and character, 199.
Afranius. See Burrus
Africa, wars there, i. 87, 119 ; the forces there, 157.
Africanus, Julius, accused, i. 216.
Africanus, Sextius, i. 325 ; appointed to assess the Gauls, 382.
Agerinus, Agrippina's freedman, falsely charged with treason against Nero, and put in chains, i. 358.
Agrestis, Julius, a centurion, remarkable instance of his faith, fortitude, and firm- ness of spirit, ii. 170.
Agricola, Cneius Julius, introduction to the history of his life, ii. 344 ; his birth and descent, 347 , manner and place of his education, 348; his prudent behav- ior and conduct while young, 349 ; mar- ries Domitia Decidiana, 350 ; his prefer- ments, 350 ; his prohity in all offices, 350 ; his address and behavior to Cerea- lis, 352; is advanced by Vespasian to the rank of patrician, 352 ; and to the government of Aquitania, 352 ; his glo- rious character as a magistrate, 353 ; is called to the consulship, 353 , his behav- ior in Britain on his arrival there, 363 ; attacks the Ordovices, and defeats them, 363 ; conquers Mona, 364 ; his gallant behavior thereupon, 364 ; he erects forts and garrisons throughout all the known parts of Britain, 366, 367 ; by his mild and gentle treatment of the Britons they are brought to love the Roman cus- toms, 366; his skill in erecting forts, 367 ; passes the Frith, and subdues sev- eral nations, till then unknown. 368 ; places forces in that part of Britain fronting Ireland, 368 , the disposal of his army to fight the Caledonians, 369 ; he fights and routs them, 370 ; leads hie
454
HSTDEX.
army to the Grampian Hills, 371 , his animating speech to his army there, 374 ; he engages the Britons under command of Calgacus, 376 ; his behavior and con- duct, 376 , entirely vanquishes them, 379 ; after the fight he receives hostages of the Britons, and orders his fleet and army into winter - quarters, 379 ; he writes to the emperor a modest relation of these actions, 380 , leaves the govern- ment of Britain, and arrives at Rome, 381 ; his reception by the emperor, 3bl , his behavior and character, 381 , by his signal merit he incurs the envy and ha'e of the emperor and his vicious courtiers, 382 , is persuaded to petition the emperor to excuse his going as pro- consul to Asia, 382 , he dies, not with- out suspicion of being poisoned by Do- mitian's order, 384 , glorious character of him, 385.
Agrippa, king of Judaea, his death, i. 285.
Agrippa, Asinius, consul, i 176; his death and character, 196.
Agrippa, Fonteius, offers to implead Libo Drusus, i 72; why his daughter not made chief vestal, 106.
Agrippa, Haterius, stands for the preetor- ship, i. 87 ; his severe sentence against Priscus, 137 ; his scandalous flattery, 142 , his malice and debauched life, 214.
Agrippa, Julius, banished, i 441.
Agrippa, Marcus, his character, dignities, and death, i. 3 , all his children but one die a violent death, 119.
Agrippa, Posthumus, banished by his grandfather Augustus, at the instiga- tion ofLivia, i. 4- his character, 4, the first sacrifice upon the accession of Ti berius, 6.
Agrippa, Vibulenus, a Roman knight, pois- ons himself in the senate-house, i 238
Agrippina, wife to Germanicus, her fruit - fulness, chastity, love for her husband, and vehement but virtuous spirit, i 25 , is hated by Livia, 25 ; her mournful de- parture from her husband during a se- dition of the army, 30, is pitied'by the soldiery, who thence relent, 30 , her mag- nanimity and kind treatment to the sol- diers, 48 , thence rouses the jealousy of Tiberius, 48 ; she embarks for Rome with her husband's ashes, and her chil- dren, 100 , her virtue and forlorn lot, 100 , her fleet meet that of Piso, 102 ; they each fear to engage, 102 , she lands in Italy, 108 , is received by a great con- flux of people, 108 , her indiscretion, 162 , she is deceived by the arts of Se- janus, 162 , her incorruptible chastity, 162 . the universal sympathy and mourn ing of the people, 162; her vehemence,
190 ; her just reproaches upon Tiberius,
191 ; she desires a second husband, to protect her from her enemies, 191 ; is further inflamed by tho secret agents of
Sejanus, 191 ; her haughty behavior, 191 ; guards and spies placed about her, 200 ; is arraigned in the senate by bitter letters from Tiberius, 207 ; an insurrec- tion of the people in her behalf, 208 ; her tragical death, 227 , the shameful rage of Tiberius against her after she was dead, 227 , her character, 227. Agrippina the younger, mother of Nero, writes Memoirs, i. 191 ; she is married to Cneius Domitius, 205 ; persecuted by Messalina, 255 , recommended to Clau- dius for a wife, by Pallas, 273 ; caress- es her uncle Claudius, and secures her marriage with him, 274 ; meditates a match between her son and his daugh- ter, 274 ; her absolute sway, 277 , her behavior and character, 277 ; recalls Seneca from exile, and her reasons for this, 277 ; establishes a colony, and calls it by her own name, 287, what mighty power she assumes, 293 ; her manage- ment of the emperor, 295 ; removes Cris- pinus and Geta, captains of the guards, and in their room puts Burrus Afranius, 296; inveighs against Narcissus, 306, covets the gardens of Statilius Taurus, and procures his doom, 307 ; resolves on the death of Claudius, 310 , procures the condemnation and death of Domitia Lepida, 310 , employs Locusta to pre- pare poison for Claudius, 311 ; calls in the help of Xenophon, 312 , affects great sorrow, caresses Britannicus and Octa- via, 312 , procures Nero to be declared emperor, 312 , directs Julius Silanus to be murdered, 313 , had directed the mur- der of his brother Lucius, 313 ; intends a torrent of slaughters, 314; her violent lust of dominion, and tempestuous spir- it, 314; is created priestess to Clau- dius, 314 ; opposes the proceedings of the senate, 316 ; attempts to ascend the imperial tribunal, and to give audience to the embassadors, 316, her fury agamtit Acte and against Nero, 320 ; she changes her arts, and even tempts him to incest, 320 ; waxes violent again, and reproach- es him, 320 , treats him with menaces, declares for Britannicus, regrets the murder of Claudius, and reviles Sene- ca and Burrus, 321 , her consternation upon the murderof Britannicus, 323 ; ca- resses Octavia, amasses money, courts the officers and nobility, 324 , is de- prived of her guards, and forsaken by her wonted followers, 325 ; is charged with a conspiracy against her son, 325 ; heard in her defense, 326 , the boldness of it, 326 ; insists on vengeance upon her accusers and rewards to her friends, and obtains both, 327 , tempts her son to incest, 354 , her behavior from her infancy, 354 •. is designedly shipwreck- ed, but escapes, 356 ; dissembles her ap- prehensions, 357, sympathy and concern
INDEX.
455
of the populace upon discovering her danger, 358 ; her house beset with arm- ed men, her domestics fly, the assas- sins enter, 356 ; her speech to them, her murder, 359 ; her humble funeral, 359 , her end foretold, 359 ; shrieks said to be heard from her grave, 360; decrees of the senate against her memory, 361.
Agrippinian colony, its foundation, i. 287; its people slaughter the Germans dwell- ing among them, ii. 257; their treacher- ous destruction of the Chaucian and Fri- sian cohorts, 257.
Agrippinus, Paconius, accused, i. 460 , his innocence, 461 ; and banishment, 463.
Albanians, whence sprung, i. 234.
Albinus, Luceius, governor of Mauritania, murdered, as also his wife, ii. 106.
Albucilla charged with devising charms against the life of Tiberius, i. 244 ; kills herself, 245.
Aletus, Marcus, chosen by the senate to survey and relieve the Asiatic cities ru- ined by an earthquake, i. 85.
Alexander, Tiberius, an illustrious Roman knight, an assistant to Corbulo in the East, i 412.
Alexander, Tiberius, governor of Egypt, ii. 9.
Alliaria, wife of Sempronius Gracchus, i.
Allies, those of Rome, what forces they furnished, i. 157.
Alphabetic characters, invention of, i. 256 ; the Roman alphabet added to by Clau- dius, 256.
Alphenus, Varus, abandons the army, i. 176.
Alpinus, Montanus, captain of a cohort, confirms to the troops of Vitellius the fate of the battle at Cremona, ii. 218; conveys orders to Civilis to forbear war, 219.
Alps, Maritime, their inhabitants present- ed with the privileges of Latium, i. 414.
Altinus, Julius, banished, i. 455.
Amber, where found, and by whom, ii. 339 ; conjecture about its production, 339 , its nature and quality, 340.
Amisia, the river and town of that name, i. 60.
^.mpius, Titus Flavianus, governor of Pannonia, ii. 124 ; is persuaded by Fus- cus to join him, J37; in danger of being murdered by the soldiers. 141 ; is saved by Antonius, and departs from the army, 142.
Ampsivarians, expelled by the Chaucians, seek a new settlement, i. 350 ; are forced to wander from place to place, and at last perish, 351.
Ancharius Priscus, accuses Caesius Cor- dus, proconsul of Crete, i. 131.
Andecavii, revolt of the, i. 133 ; suppress- ed, 133.
Angli, See Langobards.
Angrivarii, account of their country and customs, ii. 323 ; revolt, and are chas- tised, i. 60 ; they submit, and are par- doned, 68.
Anicetus, Nero's freedman, commander of the fleet at Misenum, his contrivance for murdering Agrippina, i. 354 ; it mis- carries, 356 ; undertakes to accomplish the murder, 358 ; after the murder of Agrippina, he is detested by her son, 393 ; yet prompted by him to feign an adulterous commerce with Octavia, 393 : suffers a sort of banishment, and dies naturally, 394.
Anicetus, freedman to king Polemon, his adventures, i. 166.
Anicius, Cerialis, consul elect, moves for a temple to Nero, with the title of deifi- cation, i. 443 ; this motion why judged ominous, 443; his accusation and doom, 453.
Annius, Vivianus, son-in-law to Corbulo, commands the fifth legion, i. 413.
Anteius directs the building of a fleet, i. 59.
Anteius, Publius, made governor of Syria, but detained from possessing it, i. 327 ; he is accused, and swallows poison, 45l!
Antioch, city of, cenotaph to Germanicun at, i. 105.
Antiochus, king of Cilicia, i. 305.
Antiochus, king of Commagena, his death, i. 81.
Antistius, Sosianus, tribune of the peo- ple, his conduct censured by the senate, i. 331 ; when praetor, writes a bitter sat- ire against Nero, 383 ; hence arraigned for treason, 383 ; condemned to exile, and his estate confiscated, 384 ; after- ward becomes an informer, 451 ; again banished, ii. 229.
Antistius, Caius, consul, i. 154 ; his sec- ond consulship, 285.
Antonia, the daughter of Claudius, es- poused to Cornelius Sylla, i. 327.
Antonia, the mother of Germanicus, i. 109.
Antonius, Flamma, convicted of extortion, and banished, i. 230.
Antonius, Haterius, poor through prodi- gality, but supported by Nero, i. 334.
Antonius, Lucius, an exile, his death and funeral honors, i. 185.
Antonius, Primus. See Primus.
Antony, his power swallowed up in that of Augustus, i. 2.
Apamea, the city of, overthrown by an earthquake, eased of tribute for five years, i. 306.
Aper, Marcus, an orator, ii. 391.
Aphrodisians, their claim to a sanctuary, whence, i. 145; what deity they wor- shiped, 145.
Apicata, the wife of Sejanus, divorced, i. 156 ; discovered the murder of Drusus, 161.
Apinius, Tiro, commands the revolters at Misenum, ii. 172.
456
INDEX.
Apion, king, bequeaths his kingdom to the Roman people, i. 365.
Apollinaris, Claudius, commander of the I fleet at Misenum when it revolted to j Vespasian, ii. 172 ; escapes from Terra- cina, 188.
Apollo, (Jlarian, his oracles, how delivered at Colophon, i. 89.
Aponianus, Duillius, joins Antonius Pri- mus, and brings with him the third le- gion, ii. 141.
Aponius Saturninus, a general officer, ii. 140 ; narrowly escapes being murdered by the soldiers, 142 ; retires to Padua, 142.
Appius Appianus, for his vices degraded from the senate, i. 85.
Apronius Cesiauus, drives Tacfarinas and his forces back to the desert, i. 120.
Apronius, Lucius, a Roman knight, em- ployed to carry the demands of the sol- diery to Tiberius, i. 22 ; he is left behind by Germanicus to secure his retreat, 39 ; is distinguished with the ornaments of a triumph, 50 ; his flattery, 74.
Apronius, Lucius, governor and proconsul of Africa, his exemplary severity to the soldiers, i. 120 ; its influence, 120 ; pro- tects young Gracchus, 163.
Apronius, Lucius, governor of Lower Ger- many, attacks the Frisians with various success, i. 203, 204.
Apuleius, Sextus, consul, i. 7.
Aquila, Julius, a Roman knight, com- mands some forces in Bosporus, L 281 ; rewarded with the ornaments of the praetorship, 284.
Aquilia, punished for adultery, i. 183.
Aquilius, a principal centurion, ii. 206.
Araricus, Vulcatius, a Roman knight, one of the conspirators against Nero, i. 426.
Arbela, the great battle there, i. 2T9.
Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, under the displeasure of Tiberius, and why, i. 81 ; he is inveigled to Rome, accused, and dies, 81.
Argius buries his former master, Galba, ii.35.
Argolicus, a noble Greek, falls by the cruelty of Tiberius, i. 223.
Arians. See Lygians.
Ariobarzanes, king of Armenia, killed by accident, i. 58.
Aristobulus created king of the Lesser Armenia by Nero, i. 31T.
Armenia, contest about, between Rome and Parthia, i. 5T ; is evacuated both by the Romans and Parthians, 400.
Armenians, how estranged from the Ro- mans, i. 57 ; their fickleness and situa- tion, 90 ; they are faithless and double- minded, 334.
Armies, the mutinous, in Germany medi- tate a union, i. 27 ; a device to pacify them, but without effect, 28.
Arminiua, a German chief, his character,
i. 38 ; how violently enraged with the captivity of his wife, and that of his child yet unborn, 40 ; inflames the Che- ruscans to arms, and inveighs against the Romans and Segestes, 41 ; retires to the deserts, 44 ; engages and distresses the Romans in a morass, 44 ; the latter are supported by Germanicus, 44; his conference with his brother Flavius, 61; suborns the Roman soldiers to desert,63; harangues his men, 64 ; his bravery and escape, 65 ; his activity fails him, 67; is a champion for liberty, 84 ; animates his men by a speech, 84 ; defeats Marobo- duus, 84 ; aims to enslave his country, 107 ; falls by the fraud of his kindred, 107 ; he was the deliverer of Germany, and a great captain, 107 ; and never conquered, 107.
Army, in Germany, mutiny in the, i. 17, 23 ; in Judea and Syria, sworn to Otho, ii. 55 ; as is that in Africa, 55 ; the dis- position of Otho' s army, 64 ; it is com- manded by Silvanus Titianus, 85 ; that led by Valens, its mutiny and insurrec- tion, and how quelled, 87 ; both armies engage near Bedriacum, that of Vitellius obtains a victory, 95; Otho's army dis- patch deputies to treat of a peace, which is gladly embraced by that of Vitellius, 98 ; the meeting of the armies, 98 ; that of Vitellius let loose to spoil and ravage, 105 ; that of Otho, after his death, em- barrasses Vitellius, 111; a great part of it discharged by him, 111 ; that in the East swears to Vespasian, 121 ; as does that under the command of Caeciua, 144; they expostulate, revolt, and put Ca cina in fetters, 144 ; they choose for leaders Fabius Fabullus and Cassius Longus, 144 ; are beaten by Antonius, 147 ; are strengthened by fresh legions, renew the battle, and are again overcome, 154 ; are totally routed at Cremona, 155 ; revolt to Vespasian, 163 ; a terrible account of the conquering army, 168 ; Vitellius' s army desert and revolt, 175 ; that of Vespasian, under the command of An- tonius, arrives at Rome, which, after much resistance, they enter, 191 ; their cruelty and licentiousness, 192 ; the ar- mies of Vocula and Civilis engage, 221; that of Civilis beaten, but not pursued, 221 ; the army of Julius Sabinus beaten by the Sequanians, 246 ; that of Tutor routed by Sextilius, 250 ; that of Valen- tinus, at Rigodulum, vanquished, and he taken by Cerealis, 251 ; the meeting of the legions from the Mediomatricians with those of Cerealis, 252 ; the army under Cerealis intrench themselves, 254; in that of the Germans different opinions prevail, 255 ; upon debate, the advice of Tutor to attack is approved, 255 ; the order of the German army described, 255 ; that under Agricola routs the Cale-
INDEX.
457
donlans, 369 ; that of the Britons, under Galgacus, their number and order, 371; that under Agricola, its disposition and order at the Grampian hills, 376 ; that under Galgacus and that of Agricola engage, 377 ; the former routed, 378 ; that of Agricola retires into winter quar- ters, 379.
\rpus, prinoe of the Cattians, his wife and daughter taken, i. 60.
Ar*etinus Clemens, appointed command- er of the praetorian guards in the room of Varus, ii. 247 ; his character, 247.
Arria, wife of Thrasea Patus. desirous to die with him, i. 463.
Arrius, Varus. See Varus.
Arruntius, Lucius, incurs the displeasure of Tiberius, i. 12 ; is obnoxious for his great qualifications and fortune, 13 ; was accounted equal to the sovereignty by Augustus, 13 : and thence doomed to destruction by Tiberius, 13 ; he is em- ployed with Capito to restrain the Tiber within its banks, 54; is accused, 244; his fine and affecting reasoning, 244 ; kills himself, 245.
Arsamosata, a castle garrisoned by (Jae- sennius Pa'tus, i. 401.
Artabanus gains the kingdom of Parthia, i. 57 ; his embassy to Germanicus, 91 ; his arrogance and tyranny, 232 ; he de- spises Tiberius, and seizes Armenia for his son, 232 ; his politics, 232 ; his af- fairs ruined, and he flees from his king- dom, 235, 236 ; is accounted barbarously cruel, 239 ; is recalled by his subjects, 240 ; his activity and good conduct, 241 ; his success, 241.
Artavasdes, king of Armenia, deceived by Mark Antony, put in bonds, and slain, i. 57, 58.
Artaxata, the city of, burned and demol- ished, i. 340 ; a wonderful phenomenon there, 340.
Artaxias, king of Armenia, slain by a con- spiracy of his kindred, i. 56.
Artaxias, or Zeno, made king of Armenia by Germanicus, i. 90.
Arulenus, Rusticus, tribune of the people, a daring proposal of his in behalf of Thrasea l';vtus, i. 469 ; suffers death, it 346.
Aruseius, Lucius, put to death, i. 238.
Asclepiodotus, Cassius, his faithful and signal friendship to Soranus to the last, i. 463 ; hence despoiled of his whole for- tune and banished, 463.
Asia, twelve noble cities there overthrown by an earthquake, i. 85 ; they are re- lieved by Tiberius, 85; they decree a temple to Tiberius, the senate, and Liv- ia, 164 ; contend for the honor of erect- ing the temple decreed to Tiberius and the senate, 191 ; their several pleas, 192 ; Smyrna preferred, 193.
an infamous freedman, knight-
VOL. II.— U
ed by Vitellius, ii. 105 ; his execution de- manded by the soldiers, 130 ; his deatii, 203.
Asiaticu?, Valerius, accused and seized, L 247 ; his voluntary death, 247.
Asiaticus, Valerius, consul elect, ii. 198.
Asinius Gallus, consul, i. 54.
Asinius, Lucius, consul, i. 383.
Asinius, Marcus, consul, i. 309.
Asper, Sulpicius, the centurion, zealous in the conspiracy against Nero, i. 425 ; hig reproach to Nero, fortitude and death, 438.
Asprenas, Calpurnius, governor of Gala- tia and Pamphylia, contrives the de- struction of the counterfeit Nero, ii. 74.
Asprenas, Lucius, proconsul of Africa, L 38.
Astrologers, a decree for driving them from Rome, i. 74 ; impudent deceivers exclud- ed by law, but entertained against it, ii. 18 ; banished out of Italy by Vitellius, 108 ; Thrasullus the astrologer, i. 224.
Astrology, judicial, its falsehood, i. 194
Atilius erects a large amphitheatre at M- dena, i. 197 ; is banished for its falling, 197.
Atilla, mother to Lucan, accused among the conspirators against Nero, L 431; escapes trial, 441.
Atimetus, a freedman, in a plot against Agrippina, i. 325; executed, 327.
Atticus, ( 'urtius, by Tiberius doomed to die, i. 219.
Aufidienus Kufus, insulted and abused by the mutinous soldiers, i. 17 ; his char- acter, 17.
Augury of divine protection revived, i. 285.
Augusta, Nero's daughter by Poppaea, her birth, death, and deification, i. 409.
Augustani, a body of young Roman knights, i. 363.
Augustodunum, the capital of the JEdu- ans, i. 133 ; all the noble youth of Gaul are instructed there in the liberal arts, 133.
Augustus, how he acquired the sovereign power, i. 2 ; under what title he as- sumed it, 2 ; the spirit of flattery pre- vailing in his reign, a check upon truth and writers, 2 ; by what arts and gra- dations he engrossed all power, and with what ease. 2 ; his politics to strengthen his usurpation, 3 ; the latter end of his reign why so peaceable, 4 ; he secretly visits his grandson Agrippa in exile, and is thence thought to be poisoned by Liv- ia, 5 ; his last will produced, its tenor, and who his heirs, 8 ; his several funer- al honors, and by whom proposed, 8 ; reflections upon his funeral, 9 ; various reasoning upon his life and empire, 9 ; he adopted 'J iberius without liking him, and why, 11 ; a temple and worship de- creed to him, 11 ; the register and sum
458
INDEX.
naary kept by him of the state and forces of the empire, 11 ; his counsel against enlarging the empire, and why, 12; plays in honor of him, by whom annu- ally celebrated, 14; college of priests and public games instituted in his hon- or, 38 ; his politics in relation to Egypt, 92 ; is unhappy in his family, 121 ; turns adultery into treason, and violates his own laws, 122; institutes laws proper for a single rule, 124 ; is wont to travel ac- companied with Livia, 129 ; his easy el- ocution, 315.
Aulus, Plautius. See Plautius.
Aurelius (Jotta, supported by Nero, though a prodigal, i. 334.
Aurelius, Marcus, consul, L 109.
Aurelius, Hus, the senator, obtains a rec- ompense for the loss of his house, i. 52.
Aviola Acilius, commander of a legion, re- duces some rebellious Gauls, L 133.
Aviones. See Langobards.
Avitus, Dubins, commander in Germany, i. 349; his answer to Boiocalus, and measures against the Ampsiviarians, 351.
Baduhenna, slaughter of the Romans at, i. 204.
Balbillus, Caius, made governor of Egypt, i. 32T.
Balbus, Domitius, a will forged in his name, i. 379.
Balbus, Lselius, charges Acutia with trea- son, i. 243 ; his pestilent character and banishment, 245.
Bardanes, a competitor for the crown of Parthia, i. 252; his great vigor, 252; he gains the monarchy, 252 ; victories, tyranny, and assassination, 253.
Basilides, priest at Mount Carmel, ii. 119.
Bassus, Annius, commander of a legion, his character, ii. 16T.
Bassus, Cesellius, a Carthaginian, upon the credit of a dream, promises immense treasure to Nero, i. 443 ; digs for it in vain, and after much labor spent kills himself in despair, 445.
Bassus, Lucilius, commander of Vitellius' s fleet, his conference with Caecina, ii. 134 ; he revolts to Vespasian, 143 ; his management, 143.
Bassus, Saleius, a poet, ii. 393.
Batavi, account and character of the, ii. 203.
Bathyllus, the pantomime performer, i. 38.
Battle in Germany, i. 39 ; others, 44, 65 ; in Narbon Gaul, between the forces of Otho and Vitellius, ii. 78 ; near Cremo- na, 84 ; of ( astorum, 85 ; near Bedria- cum, 97; another at the same place, 140; on the bank of the Khine, 206; at Bonna, 210; at the camp near Geldu- ba, 219 ; between Julius Sabinus and the Sequ&nians, 246 ; between Cerealis and the Germans, 257 ; between Civilis
and Cerealis, 277 ; between the Caledo- nians and Agricola, 369 ; between Gal- gacus and Agricola, 376.
lledriacum, a village famous for several battles, ii. 84, 97; Vitellius yiews the heaps of the slain there without the least emotion, 114 ; battle there between the forces of \ espasian and Vitellius, 149.
Benefits, too large to be returned, their reward, ingratitude, i. 166.
Berenice, Queen, supports Vespasian' s in- terest, ii. 121.
Bibulus, Caius, his reasonings in the sen- ate against luxury, i. 138.
Blaesus, in dread of Tiberius, dies by his own hands, i. 239.
Blaesus, Junius, uncle to Sejanus, com- mands the legions in Pannonia, i. 15; his speeches and behavior during their insurrection, 16, 17 ; his son deputed to the emperor by the soldiery, 17 ; he pun- ishes some of the ringleaders and puts them in bonds, 17 ; they are violently released by the rest, 18 ; he is in dan- ger of being murdered by the soldiery, 18 ; named by Tiberius to the govern- ment of Africa, 130 ; his feats against Tacfarinas, 152 ; he is saluted Impera- tor by the legions, 153.
Bls?sus, Junius, governor of Lyonese Gaul, furnishes Vitellius with a most magnifi- cent train at his own charge, ii. 107 ; thus offends Vitellius, 107 ; his death sought by Vitellius, 160 ; is murdered by him, 160 ; his amiable character. 161.
Blsesus, Pedius, expelled the senate for corruption, i. 365.
Boadicea, a British queen, ignominiously used by the Romans, and her two daugh- ters deflowered, i. 372 ; leads her people to war, ii. 361 ; commands the British army, i. 376 ; her speech to them, 376 ; is defeated, and ends her life by poison, 377.
Boiocalus leads the Ampsivarians in quest of a new settlement, i. 350 ; his speech to Dubius Avitua, 350 ; his refusal of an advantageous offer to himself, and hia resolute declaration, 351.
Bolanus, Vettius, commander of a legion sent to succor Tigranes, i. 307 ; ruler i» Britain, ii. 352 ; his conduct and charac ter there, 362.
Bononia, the residence of Valens, who en- tertains Vitellius there, ii. 114.
Brigantes, a people of Britain, reduced ty 1 ublius Ostorius, i. 290.
Briganticus, -I ulius, commander of a squad ron of horse, revolts to Vitellius, ii. 83 ; he joins Sextilius Felix, 249 ; he is slain at Vada, 281.
Brinno, his character, ii. 206 ; is chosen leader of the <. 'anninefates, 206.
Britain, its situation and description, ii. 354 ; first discovered to be an island, 354;
INDEX.
459
its people and inhabitants, 356 ; their re- ligion and character, 356 ; its clime and fertility, 357; its produce, 357; invasion of, by Caesar, 350 ; its princes restore the shipwrecked Romans, i. 69 ; commo- tions there, 288 ; revolts, ii. 163 ; a great slaughter of the Romans, 372 : short his- tory of affairs there, 163 ; it is subdued and settled by Claudius, 359 ; account of several governors, 359 ; Agricola' a conquests at his first coming, 363.
Britannicus, son of Claudius by Messa- lina, i. 254 ; not so popular as Lucius Domitius, afterward Nero, 254 ; his for- lorn condition, 286 ; is bereft of all his faithful servants and adherents, 296 ; ho sings at a festival, and raises pity, 322 ; is poisoned, 322 ; his funeral, 323.
Britons, their religious rites, ii. 356 ; their manner of making war, 356 ; their gov- ernment, 356; oppressed by the Romans, fly to arms, i 372 ; they attack the col- ony of Camalodunum, and raze it, 373 ; observe no law of war, 375 ; their ex- treme cruelty, 375 ; thuir immense host and fierceness, 375; they are routed with prodigious slaughter, 377; their im- provideace, famine, and stubbornness, 378; they wonder that the victorious Romans should be subservient to slaves, 378 ; they would not endure ill treat- ment from their governors, 359 ; consult how to shake off their bondage, 360; take arms and assail the Romans, 361 ; but are again reduced by Suetonius Paul- linus, 361 ; by the mild government of Agricola are brought to cultivate arts and sciences, 367 ; and adopt the Roman customs, 367 ; are in great dismay at the sight of the Roman fleet, 369 ; the Cale- donians engage Agricola, and are routed, 369 ; are undaunted at that loss, and by embassies and confederacies draw to- gether in great numbers on the Gram- pian Hills, 371; Calgacus's speech to them there, 372; attack Agricola, and are utterly vanquished, 377 ; their des- perate and furious behavior after their defeat, 379.
Bructeri, a German nation, described, ii. 323 ; fire then1 dwellings, are routed by the Romans, and their whole country laid waste, i. 42.
Brutus, the founder of liberty and the con- sulship, i. 1.
Burians. See Marsigni.
Burr us Afranius, an officer of great re- nown, made captain of the guards to Claudius, i. 296 ; he governs, with Sene- ca, the youth of Nero, 314 ; diverts Nero from slaying his mother, and pleads for hearing her defense, 326 ; is falsely ac- cused, and acquitted, 328; what share he had in the death of Agrippina, 326, ,357; praises Nero's acting, but grieves ^"or him, 363 ; his death, and loss to the
public, 385; is thought to be poisoned by Nero, and sorely lamented, 385 ; his death weakens the interest of Seneca, 385.
Byzantium, the city of, its happy situation directed by Apollo, i. 309; its preten- sions to favor, 309; is exempted from tribute for five years, 309.
Cadicia, the wife of Scevinus, doomed to banishment unheard, i. 441.
Cadmus, from Phoenicia, instructs the Greeks in letters, i. 256.
Csecilianus, the senator, punished for ac- cusing ( otta, i. 216.
Csecilianus, Domitius, an ultimate friend of Thrasea Pa>tus, acquaints him with his doom, i. 463.
Ca-cilianus, Magius, treason forged against him, i. 131.
Caecina, Alienus, an abandoned command- er of a legion, iL 38 ; joins Vitellius, 39 ; riots in spoil and blood, 48 ; seizes on the money of the Helvetians unjustly, and destroys many of them, 48 ; passes the Alps, 76 ; his behavior changed for the better, 81 ; passes the Po, attempts to corrupt Otho's forces, and besieges Placentia, 82 ; is repulsed with loss, 83 ; repasses the Po, where more forces re- volt to him, 83 ; vexed at his repulse, he meditates an ambuscade at Castores, 85; the design betrayed to Otho's gen- erals, 85 ; the greatest part of his army routed, 86 ; is joined by Valens, 88 ; fa- vored by the soldiers, and why, 89 ; de- rides Valens, yet joins with him for the service of the cause, 89 ; feigns a design to pass the Po, 91 ; his character, 105 ; entertains Vitellius at Cremona, 113; reasons for suspecting his fidelity to Yi. tellius, 130 ; his behavior while at thft head of Vitellius' s anny, 133; his con. ference with Lucilius Bassus, 134; en, camps between Hostilia and the riv«ji Tartarus, 140 ; has it in his power to de. stroy the forces of Vespasian, 140 ; sendi letters to them, and agrees to revolt U them, 140 ; on the news of the revolt of the fleet he assembles the principal offi. cers, who all swear to Vespasian, 143; they again revolt, and he is put in irons by them, 144 ; is sued to at Cremona, to intercede for them with Antonius, 155 ; is despised by the conquerors. 155 ; An- tonius sends him to Vespasian, 155; judgment passed against him in the sen- ate, 158.
Csecina, Aulus, commands under German, icus in the Lower Germany, i. 24; is forced to yield to the outrage of the sol- diers, 24; is sent by Germanicus through the territories of the Bructeri to the riv- er Amisia, 42 ; visits the scene of the de- feat of Varus, 43 ; is beset by . \rminius and the Germans at the causeway called
460
INDEX.
the Long Bridges, 44 ; his brave coun- sel to his army in distress, 47 ; gains a victory over the Germans, 47 ; and is distinguished with the ornaments of a triumph, 50 ; directs the building of a fleet, 59 ; the ships described, 59.
Csecina, Severus, his speech against any provincial magistrate carrying his wife along with him into his province, i. 128 ; his motion eluded, 130.
Cselius, Mount, consumed by fire, i. 197 ; its former name, and antiquity, 198.
Csesar, the dictator, a great orator, i. 315.
Caia, a nickname, why given to Caligula, i. 215.
Caius Caesar, grandson to Augustus, his untimely death imputed to the fraud of Livia, i. 3.
Caius Caesar, settles Armenia, i. 58.
Caius Volusius, a soldier of the third le- gion, the first who entered Cremona, ii.
Caledonians, the, have recourse to arms, and advance against the Romans, ii. 368 ; they attack the Roman army, with success at first, but are vanquished, 369.
Calgacus. See Galgacus.
Caligula, son of Germanicus, why so call- ed, i. 30 ; his nickname of Caia, 215 ; his history why falsified, 2 ; his encomi- um upon his grandmother Livia at her funeral, 206 ; ,his marriage with t lau- dia, 224 ; his savage humor and dissimu- lation, 224 ; his wild spirit, ambition, and dissimulation, 242 ; he id hated by Tiberius, yet left his successor, 242; his- tory of his reign lost, 247 ; was a ready speaker, 315.
Callipedes, a nickname given to Tiberius, i. 34
Callistus, a freedman, an old and wary courtier, i. 267.
Calpurnia, an illustrious lady, praised by Claudius, and thence persecuted and banished by Agrippina, i. 284 ; recalled from banishment by Nero, 361.
Calpurnia, a courtesan, denounces Messa- lina, i. 267.
Calpurnius, an eagle-bearer, protects Mi- nucius Plancus from the fury of the sol- diers, i. 29.
Calpurnius Galerianus, his character, ii. 202; is murdered by Mucianus, 203.
Calpurnius, Lucius, consul, i. 196.
Calusidius, a common soldier, his brutal behavior and boldness to Germanicus, L 27.
Calvina banished from Italy, i. 276.
Calvisius instigated to accuse Agrippina, I i. 325 ; is banished, 327 ; recalled from | exile by Nero, 361.
Calvisius, Caius, consul, i. 186.
Camalodunum, a colony in Britain, plant- ed by Publius Ostorius, i. 290 ; inso- lence and tyranny of the veterans there, i 872; insatiable avarice of the priests,
372 ; terrible apparitions and presages, 373.
Camerinus, Scribonianus, one who coun- terfeits that illustrious name proves to be a slave named Geta, and is put to death, ii. 115.
Camillas, 1- urius, proconsul of Africa, routs the Numidians and Moors under Tacfarinas, L 87; and retrieves the an- cient renown of his family, 88.
Camillus !-cribonianus, consul, i. 212.
Camp, Roman, gates of the, i. 46; the Old Camp, siege of, ii. 211 ; its capture, 242 ; the Praetorian camp, i. 155.
Campania desolated by a tempest, i. 450.
Campanus and Juvenalis, Tungrian chiefs, ii. 246.
Camurius, a soldier of the fifteenth le- gion, supposed to be the murderer of Galba, ii. 30.
Cangians, a people in Britain, ravaged by Publius Ostorius, L 289.
Canninefates destroy or seize several of the Roman ships, it 258 ; also rout the Nervians, 258.
Canopus, by whom built, and whence named, i. 92.
Cantius, Publius, collects the tribute in Gaul, i. 59.
Capito, Ateius, employed with Lucius Ar- runtius to restrain the Tiber within its banks, i. 53; his great accomplish- ments, and infamous flattery. 150 ; his death and great acquirements, 153 ; his preferments and obsequiousness to pow- er, 153.
Capito, Cossutianus, accused by the Cili- cians and condemned, i. 334; he accuses Antistiua the praetor, 383.
Capito, Fonteius, once proconsul of Asia, accused and acquitted, i. 178.
Capito, Insteius, prsefect of the camp to Corbulo, his exploits, L 338.
Capito, Lucilius, the emperor's procura- tor in Asia, accused by that province before the senate, i. 164 ; disavowed by Tiberius and condemned, 164.
Capito, Valerius, recalled from exile by Nero, i. 361.
Capitol, by whom added to Rome, i. 285 ; burnt, ii. 103 ; ordered by Vespasian to be rebuilt, 235 ; direction of the work given to Lucius Yestinus, 235 ; the con- secration, 235.
Cappadocia reduced to a province, i. 81 ; its taxes lessened, 90.
Caprese, retreat of Tiberius to, i. 197 ; it» natural strength and fine climate, 199 ; its antiquity, 199.
Capua, that colony strengthened, i. 332.
Caractacus, a British king of great re* nown, at war with the Romans, i. 290; posts himself advantageously, and ha- rangues his men, 290 ; is routed by Pub- lius Ostorius, 292; flees to Queen Car- tismandua, is by her delivered to the
INDEX.
461
conquerors and sent to Rome, 292 ; his great character, and solemn reception there, 292 ; his undaunted behavior and speech to Claudius, 292 ; is pardoned with his wife and brother, and pompous j decrees passed upon taking him, 293.
Carinas, Secundus, a creature of Nero's, | learned, but void of virtue, i. 424
Cariovalda. captain of the Batavians, aft- er a brave resistance, is slain by the Germans, i. 62.
Carmel, Mount, account of the oracle there, ii. 119.
Garrhenes espouses the cause of Meherda- tes, i. 279 ; his bravery and defeat, 280.
Carsidius Sacerdos banished, i. 246.
Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantea, delivers up King Caractacus to the Ro- mans, i. 292 ; is at war with Venusius, once her husband, and supported by the Romans, 295.
Casperius, a centurion, his honest spirit and behavior, i. 299 ; is sent by Corbu- j lo to Yologeses, and delivers his mes- sage sternly, 398.
Cassius, (Jaius, governor of Syria, con- ducts Meherdates to the Euphrates, i. 2T8 ; his civil accomplishments and strict military discipline, 278 ; his good I advice to Meherdates, 279; his just ob- servation in the senate, 340 ; his speech | for the execution of all the slaves in a family, where one of them had murder- ed his lord, 380 ; without any guilt he is accused by Nero, 447 ; ridiculous and false charge against him, 447 ; is ban- ished into Sardinia, 448.
Cassius Chaerea, a centurion, escapes in a mutiny by his courage, i. 24; after- ward kills Caligula, 24.
Cassias, Longus. See Lougus.
Cassius, Lucius, marries I rusilla, grand- daughter to Tiberius, i. 221 ; his family and character, 221.
Cassius, Severus, his petulant writings, their effect, 150 ; his virulent spirit, 169 ; dies in exile, 169.
Castorum, battle at, ii. 85.
( ato, Porcius, a tool of Sejanus, i. 200.
Catonius, Justus, a principal centurion, employed to carry the demands of the soldiery to Tiberius, i. 22.
Catti, their territories, customs, manner of making war, &c., described, ii. 320; | their territories invaded by Germani- cus, they are surprised and slaughtered by him, i. 38 ; their ravages in Germa- ny, 287 ; they are routed, 287 ; are at war with the Hermundurians, their! bloody vow and defeat, 351.
Catualda, a Gothic chief, drives out Ma- roboduus, i. 94 ; is himself expelled, and received under Roman protection, 94. j
Catulinus, Blitius, banished, L 441.
Catus. Firmius, a senator, base conduct of. L 71; is expelled the senate, 175.
Catus, procurator in Britain, his rapa« ciousness, and escape into Gaul, i. 374,
Celer, Domitius| prompts the ambition of Cneius Piso, i. 101 ; attempts to corrupt the legions, 102.
Celer, Propertius, liberality of Tiberius to, i. 53.
Celer, Publius, a Roman knight, poisons Junius Silanus, i. 313 ; he is accused by the province of Asia, 334; though guilty, protected by Nero, 334.
Celer, Publius, an accuser, his character, ii. 202 ; convicted and sentenced, 225.
Celsus, Julius, a Roman knight, doomed to death, i. 221 ; he breaks his neck, 221.
Celsus, Marius, commands a legion under Corbulo in the East, i. 411; narrowly escapes being murdered, ii. 32 ; is ap- pointed by Otho commander of foot and horse, 64; signal exploits by him, 85; is preferred to the consulship under Vi- tellius, 107.
Centurions, murder of, by the Roman sol- diery, i. 19, 24 : bravery in meeting death of those who conspired against Nero, 438.
Cepio Crispinus, an informer, i. 51; his charge against Granius Marcellns, 52.
Cerealis, Turullus, revolts to Vitellius, ii 83.
Cerealis, Petilius, routed by the Britons, but escapes, i. 374 ; in danger from Vi- tellius. ii. 174; he fails in an attack against Vitellius's forces, 189; is ap- pointed commander of the army against the revolted Germans by Mucianus, 247; arrives at Magontiacum, 249 ; is impa- tient of delay, and in three marches reaches Rigodulum, 251; there takes Valentinus and many other illustrious Belgians, 251 ; rebukes the soldiers who were for razing that city, 251; his speech to the legions that had revolted, and were returned to their duty, 252 ; to the Treverians and Lingones, 252 ; receives letters from (Jivilis and (,'lassicus, as- suring him of the death of Vespasian, and offering him the empire of the Gauls, 254; dispatches the bearer of those let- ters to Domitian, 254; is surprised by the enemy, 256 ; and in danger of being vanquished, when by his own personal bravery he gains the victory, 256 ; his speech to the deserters, 256 ; by a hasty march he arrives at the Agrippinian colony to protect it, 257 ; attacks Civilis at the old intrenchment, 277 ; his en- couraging speech to the army, 278 ; his troops defeat the enemy, 280 ; his con- duct greatly censured for the loss of his ship*, 282 ; fits out a fleet, and attacks t ivilis, 283 ; ravages the islands of the Batavians, 283 ; his army in great dis- tress, 283; hi* address in gaining the Germans to submit to the Komans, 283; is appointed governor of Britain, 362; his exploits there, 362.
462
INDEX.
Cestius, Caius, becomes an informer un- der Tiberius, i. 216.
Cethegus, Cornelius, consul, i 165.
Chserea, Cassius. See Cassius Chserea.
Chalcedon, the folly of its founders, L 309. :
Chaldaeans. See Astrologers.
Chamavi, a German nation, their country ! and customs, ii. 323.
Charicles, the physician, his art to dis- cover the illness of Tiberius, i. 245 ; in- ! forms Macro of the approaching end of Tiberius, 246.
Chaucians, the noblest German tribe, ii. 325; taken into the service of the Ro- mans, i. 42; they commit hostilities against them, 258; their country and manners, ii. 325.
Cherusci, the, their country and manners, ii. 326; roused by Arminius to arms, i. 39 ; endeavor to cut off Csecina and his legions, 44; their device in a battle, 64 ; they are attacked and routed, 65 ; are at war with the Suevians, 83 ; seek a king from Rome, 257.
Christ, our blessed Savior, put to death under Pontius Pilate, procurator of J u- dea, i. 423.
Christians, Tacitus' s account of them, L 423; are barbarously murdered by Nero, 423.
Cibyra, an Asiatic city, being overthrown by an earthquake, released from tribute for three years, i. 163.
Cilicians, their insurrections and depreda- tions, i. 304 ; they defeat (Jurtius Seve- rus with a body of horse, and are re- duced to peace by King Antiochus, 305.
Cilo, Julius, the Roman procurator in Pontus, carries Mithridates to Home, L 283; rewarded with the consular or- naments, 284.
Cimbri, account and character of them, ii. 327.
Cincian law, revival of the, i. 250.
Cinithians, a people of Africa, i. 87.
Cinna, his domination but short, i. 2.
Circus, particular places allotted in it to the Roman knights, L 414.
Citizens, Roman, their number under Claudius, i. 265.
Civilis, Claudius, his royal descent and < character, ii. 204 ; his speech to his ar- I my, 205 ; destroys the Roman forces on j the lihine, and takes twenty-four ships, 207 ; courts the alliance <5f the Gauls, l 207 ; his speech to them, 207 ; engages Lupercus, and vanquishes him, 208 ; be- comes master of a regular army, 211 ; besieges the Old Camp, 211 ; letter from Antonius to him by Montanus, 218 ; his speech and direction to Montanus, 219 ; dispatches the bravest of his force to sur- prise Vocula, 219 ; his artifice to deceive the enemy, 220; cruelty to a Roman soldier, 220; throws off all disguise, and avows hostilities against the Roman peo-
ple, 236 ; cuts his hair, which he had worn in pursuance of a vow, 242 ; his great cruelty, 242 ; his ambitious views, 242 ; his reason for forbearing the plun- der of the Agrippinian colony, 244 ; de- termines to gain the neighboring cities, 245 ; his speech to the Tungrians, 246 ; he traverses the Belgic deserts in search of Claudius Labeo, 249 ; he and Clas- sicus send letters to Cerealis, asserting the death of Vespasian, and offer him the empire of the Gauls, 254 ; advises to delay engaging Cerealis, 255 ; his coun- sel overruled by Tutor and Classicus, 255 ; his army is defeated, 257 ; he sup- plies his army in Germany, and pitches his camp in the old intrenchments, 277 ; he diverts the course of the Rhine, 277 ; is attacked by Cerealis, 278 ; his order of battle, 278 ; his speech to the army, 279 ; is again defeated by Cerealis, 280 ; rallies again, and skirmishes in several places, 280 ; his fleet attacks that of t, e- realis, and captures many vessels, 282 ; by the artifices of Cerealis he is obliged to yield himself to the Romans, 285 ; his speech to Cerealis, 285.
Classicianus, Julius, procurator in Britain, envies and traduces Suetonius, i. 378.
Classicus, commander of Treverian horse, his character, ii. 237 ; tenders the oath of sovereignty to the Gauls, 241 ; the di- rection of the war shared between him and Julius Tutor, 241; his arts to reduce the Old Camp, 241; elated with success, 243 ; is immersed in sloth and ease, 249 ; joins with Civilis in sending letters to Cerealis, 254; advises to attack Cerealis, 255 ; is defeated by him, 257 ; defeats some horse sent by Cerealis to Nove- sium, 258.
Claudia, daughter of Marcus Silanus, mar- ries Caligula, i. 224 ; her death, 242.
Claudia I ulchra, a cousin of Agrippina, condemned, i. 190 ; Agrippina endeavors to save her, 190.
Claudius, the emperor, brother of German - icus, i.118, 243; his history why falsified, 2 ; means well, but his understanding de- fective, 243 ; succeeds to the empire, 247; settles the fees of pleaders, 250 ; restores Mithridates to the kingdom of Armenia, 251 ; is blind to the lewdness of his wife, 255 ; performs the office of censor, adds new letters to the Roman alphabet, brings water to Home, 256 ; his repre- sentation concerning the college of sooth- sayers, 257; his speech in behalf of the Gauls, 263 ; his reformation in the sen- ate, as censor, 264 ; he check? the flattery of \ ipsanius the consul, 265; hears at last the infamy of his wife, 265 ; his fam- ily alarmed upon the empress' s marry- ing Silius, 266 ; his terrible affright upon that marriage. 267; he inclines to relent toward her, but is hardened by >iarcis-
INDEX.
463
ess, 269 ; his affection returns, 270 ; al- ways abandoned to the dominion of his wives, 272 ; has no discernment nor pas- sions of his own, 274 ; marries his niece Agrippina, 274; his advice to Meher- dates, 278 ; and to the Parthians, 278 ; adopts Nero,286; the adoption confirmed by the senate, 286 ; his fifth consulship, 295 ; boasts his mercy without showing any, 302 ; degrades certain senators, 303 ; his absurd praises of Pallas, 303 ; is push- ed by Agrippina upon all the measures of cruelty, 306 ; he raises the power of his freedmen as high as his own or that of the laws, 307; his compliment and fa- vor to his physician Xenophon, 308 ; his death portended by several presages, 309 ; a saying of his, in his drink, fatal to him, 310 ; is poisoned by the direction of Agrippina, 312 ; his death some time concealed, 312 ; his deification and fu- neral praises, 313, 314 ; was capable of elegance of expression when he studied the same, 315.
Claudius Labeo, commander of a Batavian squadron, and competitor with (Jivilis, sent prisoner to Frisia, ii. 209 ; escapes, and joins Vocula with a few forces, 238 ; skirmishes with and defeats the Cannine- fates and Marsacians, 238 ; at the head of some new-raised forces opposes (Jivilis, 246 ; is defeated and escapes, 246.
Clemens, a slave of Agrippa Posthumus, his bold design and artifices, i. 79 ; he is seized by a device of Sallustius v'rispus, and dispatched privately, 80.
Clemens, Julius, a centurion, i. 19 ; in- duces the mutineers in Pannonia to submit, 22.
Clemens, ^alienus, accuses Junius Gallio, but is restrained by the senate, i. 442.
Cleonicus, a freedman of Seneca, i. 424.
Cleopatra, a courtesan, i. 267.
Clitaeans, revolts of the, i. 239, 304.
Cluvius Kufus, Marcus, governor of Spain, his character, ii. 6, 110, 229; congratu- lates Vitellius, 110 ; is accused by Hila- rius, and acquitted, 110.
Coeletn ans, a people of Thrace, i. 131.
Coelius, Cains, consul, i. 80.
Ccelius Cursor, a Roman knight, convict- ed of forging a charge of treason, i. 131.
Coaranus, the philosopher, exhorts Plautus to die, i. 391.
Cogidunis, a king of the Britons, and friend to the Romans, ii. 359.
Colonies, those of Italy, with what respect they attended the ashes of Germanicus, i. 109 ; their sorrow and zeal, 109 ; the manner of planting them of old, 371 ; how much corrupted, 371.
Comet seen, observations of the vulgar upon it, i. 367.
Cominius, Cains, convicted of a libel against Tiberius, i. 174 : is pardoned at the suit of his brother, 174
Comitia, policy of Tfberfws regarding the, i. 56.
Confarreation, that ceremony when used, i. 165.
Considius ./Equus, a Roman knight, con- victed of forging a charge of treason, L 131.
Conspiracy against Nero, its suddenness and strength, i. 425 ; the reality of it questioned by the people, but asserted by Tacitus, 442 ; it is followed by many flattering decrees of the senate, 443.
Conspirators, those against Nero governed by secret interest, i. 426 ; their slowness and procrastination, 427 ; are animated by a woman, 427 ; propose to dispatch Nero at Baia>, but are opposed by Piso, 428 ; 1 iso's pretended and real motives, 428 ; agree to slay N ero in the circua. 429 ; are vastly numerous and faithful, 429 ; at length betray all their dearest Mends and relations, 431 ; many executed, 434.
Consuls, their election under Tiberius, how uncertain, i. 56 ; his strange artifices in recommending or opposing candidates, 56 ; his plausible declarations upon that occasion, 56.
Consulship, by whom founded, L 1.
Coos, Isle of, the people of, claim a right of sanctuary to the temple of ^Escula- pius, i. 163 ; their pretensions to the friendship of Rome, 163 ; they are ex- empted from all impositions by Clau- dius, 308 ; the island sacred to JEscula- pius, and friendly to the Roman people, 308.
Corbulo, Domitius, his complaint against Lucius Sylla, i. 126 ; he has satisfaction made him, 126 ; and is appointed to in- spect the repair of the public roads, 127; his severity in that office, 127 ; he is appointed governor of Lower Germany, 258 ; lays there the foundation of his future fame, and defeats Gannascus the pirate, 259 ; the great severity of his dis- cipline, 259 ; he terrifies the barbarians, and settles the rebellious Frisians, 259 ; he is envied and recalled, 260 ; yet allow- ed the decorations of triumph, 260 ; he cuts a canal between the Rhine and the Meuse, 260 ; is appointed by Nero to command in the Kast, 317 ; his great estimation and experience, 318 ; his va- riance with Numidius Quadratus, 318 ; his difficulties in restoring discipline to the army, 335 ; his proposal to Tiridates, 337; prosecutes the war with success, 338 ; his wary march, 338 ; takes and razes the city Artaxata, 339; his exploits and able conduct, 360; escapes great danger, 369 ; rescues Armenia from the Parthians, and establishes therein Ti- granes the Cappadocian, 370 ; withdraws to his government of .^yria, 371; his coun- sels and measures against Vologeses, 397; his embassy and remonstrance to Volo-
464
INDEX.
geses,898; reasonings of the people upon ' his behavior, 399 ; lays a bridge over the I Euphrates, and baffles all the designs of the Parthians upon Syria, 400 ; advances to succor Pa>tus, 402 ; laments the disas- ters and misconduct of Pa'tus, 406 ; his demands on Vologeses, 406 ; is invested with unlimited power in the East against the Parthians, 410 ; assembles his army at Melitene, 411 ; appoints certain centu- rions to confer with the Parthian embas- eadors, 412 ; his ravages in Armenia, and reputation in the East, 412 ; meets Tiri- dates, 413 ; persuades him to resign the royal diadem, 414 ; feasts him sumptu- ously, and fills him with admiration of the Romans, 413.
Corcyra, Isle of, i. 108.
(Jordus, Ca sins, accused of public rapine by the (Jyrenaeans, and condemned, i. 131, 150.
Cordus, (Jremutius, the historian, arraign- ed for praising Brutus and (Jassius, i. 176; his noble defense, 177; he ends his life by abstinence, 177 ; his books are condemned to be burned, 178 ; yet con- tinue dispersed and read, 178.
Cornelia chosen chief vestal, i. 165.
Cornelia, of the Cossian family, made a vestal, i. 409.
Cornelius accuses Mamercus Scaurus, i. 231 ; he is convicted of bribery, and ban- ished, 231.
Cornelius Laco, minister to Galba, his character, ii. 5 ; shares the sovereignty with Titus \ inius, 5, 10 ; his ignorance and obstinacy, 23 ; meditates the death of Vinius, 29 ; is murdered by command of Otho, 33.
Cornutus, Caecilius, accused, but innocent, i 172 ; yet dies by his own hands, 172.
Corsica, Isle of, kept under obedience to Otho, ii. 79 ; nigh brought to destruc- tion by Decimus Pecarius, the governor, 79 ; the people kill him in his bath, 80
Corvinus, Messala, once governor of Rome, i. 177.
Cossus, Cornelius, consul, i. 176.
Cossutianus, the pleader, defends plead- ing for hire, i. 250.
Cossutianus, Capito, his villainous spirit, and hatred to Thrasea, i. 455 ; his in- flammatory speech against him to Nero, 456 ; begins the charge against Thrasea in the senate, 459 ; his reward, 463.
Gotta, Aurelius, the consul, his motion against <. neius Piso, i. 117, 118.
Cotys, king of Bosporus, his alliance with Eunoues, prince of the Adorsians, against M ithridates, i. 281.
Cotys, one of the kings of Thrace, his j peaceable character, i. 95 ; is deceived , and murdered by Khescuporis, 96.
Counsel, that of a woman the worst, i. 430.
Crassus, his power swallowed up in that , of Csesar, i. 2.
Crassus, Scribonianus, his character, ii. 224.
Cremona, battle at, ii. 84 ; Csecina enter- tains Vitellius there, 113 ; is besieged by Antonius, 153 ; ravaged, burned, and utterly destroyed, 156.
Crescens, Tarquitius, a centurion, bravery of, i. 402.
Crete, pretends to a right of sanctuary, i. 146.
Cretonius, Caius, his judgment of the mu- tinous legions, i. 32.
Crispinilla, Calvia, who had instigated Clodius Macer to revolt, and labored to famish the people of Rome, her death demanded, ii. 53 ; she eludes the pros- ecution, and escapes her doom, 53.
Crispinus, captain of the guards to Clau- dius, distinguished with the prsetorship, and a great reward in money, i. 249 ; his accusation and death, 453.
Crispinus, Rufus, why banished, L 441.
Crispinus, Varius, a tribune of the prae- torian guards, inadvertently the occa- sion of a dreadful tumult, ii. 58 ; is murdered in it, 58.
Crupellarii, what sort of forces, L 134 ; are defeated, 136.
Cuma, shipwreck of the galleys there, i. 424.
Cumanus, Ventidius, governor of Galilee, his crimes and punishment, i. 304.
Curtisius, Titus, heads an insurrection of slaves in Italy, L 171 ; is taken prison- er, 172.
Curtius, Atticus, a Roman knight, accom- panies Tiberius in his retirement, i. 194.
Curtius, Rufus, his rise, character, and adventures, i. 260.
Cyprus, people of, claim a right of sanc- tuary to three of their temples, i. 146.
Cyrenians, their charge against Acilius Strabo, i. 365 ; its issue, 365.
Cyzicus, city of, loses its liberties, i. 178.
Dacians in arms, are quelled by Mucia-
nus, ii. 164. Dalmatia, two legions stationed there, i.
157. Damaratus, the Corinthian, instructs the
Etruscans in the use of letters, i. 256. Dandarides. See Mithridates. Danube, what legions guarded it, i. 157. Deaths, voluntary, why so common in
Rome, i. 230. Decemvirate, how long it lasted, i. 2 ; why
created, 123. Decimation, instances of the punishment
of, i. 120.
Decrius, a Roman officer, his signal brav- ery and death, L 119. Deities, Tacitus' s reproach upon them. i.
463. Demetrins, the philosopher, his discourse
with Thrasea Pupfus, i. 463; attends
him at his death, 464.
INDEX.
465
Demetrius, an advocate for PubHus Celer, one of the sect of the Cynics, ii. 225.
Demianus, Claudius, a convict employed to accuse Lucius Vetus, and released by Nero, i. 448.
Densw, ^empronius, centurion of a prae- torian cohort, bravery of, ii. 31.
Deputies from the senate to Germanicus, obnoxious to the soldiers, i. 28.
Diana, her temple at Ephesub, its immu- nities, and whence derived, i 145.
Dictators, when chosen, L 1.
Didius, the Roman commander in Bospo- rus, i. 280.
Didius, Aulus, governor of Britain, his difficulties and proceedings there, i. 294.
Didius, Gallus, governor of Britain, ii. 360.
Dolabella, Cornelius, his ridiculous flat- tery, i. 136, 149.
Dolabella, Cornelius, a relative of Galba, his confinement, its cause, ii. 64 ; slain by order of Vitellius, 109.
Dolabella, Publius, proconsul in Africa, his successful exploits against Tacfari- nas, i. 171; is ungratefully treated, but his glory increased, 171 ; is drawn in to accuse his kinsman Quintilius Varus, 199 ; his motion concerning the quaes- tors, 261.
Domitia, Decidiana, wife of Agricola, her birth and character, ii. 350.
Domitia, Lepida, aunt to Nero, her great- ness, and evil character, i. 310 ; is ac- cused and condemned to die, 310.
Domitian, son of Titus, kept in custody by Vitellius, ii. 174; escapes at the burning of the Capitol, 186 ; is saluted Caesar by the soldiery, and carried to his father' s house, 194 ; his debauchery, 195 ; his carriage before the senate mod- est and graceful, 225 ; proposes all hon- ors to be restored to (lalba, 225 ; advises an amnesty, 229 ; proceeds against the Gauls, 247 ; p.-rsuaded by Mucianus to retire to Lyons, 263 ; he relinquishes all functions of government, and, to hide his designs, feigns a love for learn- j ing and poetry, 263 ; grows remarkable ! only for his debaucheries, 351.
Domitian, become emperor, stung with ' envy at the news of Agricola's con- i quests in Britain, iL 380 : yet causes triumphal honors to be decreed to him, ! 380 ; his conduct in regard to Agricola, 383; is suspected of poisoning him, 384; ; his horrid cruelty, 386.
Domitius Afer, an orator, i. 190.
Domitius, Celer. See Celer, Domitius.
Domitius, Cneius, marries the younger ' Agrippina, i. 205; his family and de- seent, 205; he is consul, 212; is ac- cused, but escapes, 244.
Domitius, Lucius, his quality, exploits, and death, i. 185.
Domitius, the only remaining male de-
u
scendant of Germanicus, i. 254; be- trothed to Octavia, the daughter of Claudius, 277 ; adopted by him, 286 ; styled prince of the Roman youth, 295 ; his marriage, 306. See >iero, the em- peror.
Doryphorus, the imperial freedman, his death, i. 395; supposed to have been poisoned, 395.
Druids prophesy the destruction of the Roman power, ii. 236; their direful curses upon the Roman army, L 372 ; their barbarous superstition and human sacrifices, 373 ; their groves cut down, 373.
Drusilla, the daughter of Germanicus, i. 109 ; married to Lucius Cassius, 221.
Drusus, father of Germanicus, his high preferment and death, i. 3; his great popularity, and its cause, 25 ; the canal cut by him in Germany, and the altar raised there, 60 ; his manes invoked by his son, 60 ; how pompously buried, 110.
Drusus, son of Germanicus, i. 109, 156: imprisoned, 211 ; starved to death, 226 ; a counterfeit Drusus appears in Greece, 211.
Drusus, son of Tiberius, i. 5 ; sent by his father to pacify the mutinous legions in Pannonia, 19 ; their stern behavior, 19 ; reads his father's letters to them, 20 ; his offers do but enrage them, 20 ; takes advantage of the superstition of the sol- diery, 21 • the reasonings of those em- ployed by him to reclaim them, 22 ; with what spirit he spoke to them, 22 ; debates arise in his council, whether to exercise rigor or mercy, 22 ; he inclines to the former, 22 ; is consul, 38 ; pre- sides over an entertainment of gladia- tors, and manifests a delight in blood, 53; lives in friendship with Germani- cus, notwithstanding the division among their friends, 83 ; is sent into Illyricum, and why, 83 ; sows feuds among the Germans, 93; ovation decreed to him, 95 ; meets the ashes of Germanicus?, 109 : goes to the army in Illyricum, 111 ; his answer to Cneius Piso, 112 ; by whom dictated, 112 ; returns to Rome, 113 ; triumphs, 119 ; his second consulship, 126 ; he mediates a difference between two senators, 127 ; professes his delight in traveling accompanied with his wife, 129 ; his justice and popular behavior, L31 ; is excused for his love of pleasure, 131 ; his letters to the senate deemed ar- rogant and haughty, 144 ; is kind to the children of Germanicus, 156 ; 1m com- plaint of the power of :-ejamis, 159 ; all his secrets betrayed by his wife, 159 ; is poisoned by the direction of Sejanns, 159 ; his splendid funeral, 160 ; his death falsely related, 161 ; reflections upon it, 161 ; not chargeable upon Tk berius, 161.
2
466
INDEX.
Drusus, a counterfeit one, in Greece and Asia, i. 211.
Drusus, (Jlaudius, the stepson of Augus- tus, i. 3.
Drusus, Libo, accused of attempts against the state, L Tl , kills himself, 73.
Duillius, Laius, the first who signalized the Roman power at sea, i. 86.
Duillius, Aponianus, leader of the third legion, joins Antonius Primus, ii. 141.
Eagles of Varus's legions, recovery of, i. 42, 69; temple raised on the occa- sion, 80.
Earthquake in Asia, i. 85 ; relief extend- ed to the sufferers, 85.
Earthquakes and famine, in the time of Claudius, i. 29T.
East, what legions there, i. 157.
Eclipse of the moon, daunts the mutinous soldiery, i. 21.
Egnatius, Publius, the Stoic, appears as an evidence against Barea Soranus, his patron and friend, i. 462 ; his sanctimo- nious outside and false heart, 462.
Egypt, ita remarkable antiquities, i. 92 ; visit of Germanicus to, 92 ; the forces there, 157.
Egyptians, their religious solemnities abolished at Rome, i. 106 ; numbers of them are banished to Sardinia, 106 ; the rest ordered to depart out of Italy, or re- nounce their profane rites, 106 ; the in- ventors of letters, 256.
Eleazar, commander of the temple at Je- rusalem, ii. 276 ; is murdered by John, surnamed Bargioras, one of the govern- ors of that city, 276.
Elianus, Plautius, the pontiff, consecrates the floor of the Capitol, ii. 235.
Elianus, Pompeius, convicted of a fraud, i.379.
Eloquence, the prize of it adjudged to Nero, ii. 367.
Elysii. See Lygians.
Emilia, Lepida, charged with imposing upon her husband a supposititious birth, and with adultery and treason, i. 120 ; her great quality, 120 ; she is pitied by the people, convicted, and banished, 121.
Emilia, Musa, her estate claimed by the exchequer, but by Tiberius surrendered to Emilius Lepidus, i. 85.
Emilian family, its character, i. 229.
Emilius, with Stertinius, relieves the Ba- tavians, i. 62.
Emilius Longinus, a deserter from the first legion, murders Yocula, by command of Classicus, ii. 241 ; is himself butchered by a squadron of horse called Picentina, 243.
Emperors, Roman, dispense with the laws, i. 249; the pernicious consequence of this, 249.
Ennia, wife of Macro, prostituted by her hosband to Caligula, i. 242.
Ennius, Lucius, a Roman knight, the strange treason charged upon him, L 150 ; protected by Tiberius, 150.
Epaphroditus, a freedman of Nero, i. 430.
Ephesians, their plea for a sanctuary, i. 144.
Epicharis, her part, zeal, and arguments in animating the conspiracy against Nero, i. 427 ; is accused to Nero by Vo- lusius Proculus, 427 ; bafr.es her accuser, yet is kept in bonds, 428 ; vehemently tortured, yet resolutely denies all, and hangs herself in her girdle, 432 ; praise of her magnanimity, 432.
Epiphanes, king, wounded at Castorum, ii. 86.
Epponnia, wife, of Julius Sabinus, ii. 246.
Erato, queen of Armenia, quickly driven out, i. 58.
Eryx, Mount, the temple of Venus there, its antiquity and decay, i. 184 ; it is re- paired by Tiberius, 184.
Eudemus, physician to Livia, a wicked in- strument of Sejanus, i. 156.
Eudoses. See Langobards.
Eunones, prince of the Adorslans, sup- ports Cotys, king of Bosporus, against Mithridates, the late king, i. 281 ; but intercedes with Claudius for Mithri- dates, 283; Claudius's answer to Euno- nes, 283.
Eunuchs in great esteem among barbari- ans, i. 232.
Euodus, a freedman, commissioned to see Messalina put to death, i. 271 ; his in. solent reproaches to her, 272.
Euphrates, the river, i. 157, 236, 370 ; ii. 273.
Evander, the Arcadian, instructs the na- tive Latins in the use of letters, i. 256.
Exchequer, the Roman, its various regu- lations, i. 81.
Fabatus, Rubrius, arraigned for despair- ing of the Roman state, i. 221 ; escapes
through oblivion, 221. Fabianus, Valerius, convicted of a fraud,
i. 379. Fabius Fabullus, commander of the fifth
legion, chosen one of the leaders of Vi-
tellius's army, ii. 144. Fabius Maximus believed to die by his own
hands, through dread of Augustus, i. 5. Fabius Paulus, consul, i. 229. Fabius Rtisticus, the historian, praises
Seneca, i. 326. Falanius, a Roman knight, strange sort of
treason charged against him, i. 51. Faustus, Annius, tried and put to death
under Otho for being an accuser in the
time of Nero, ii. 75. Faventinus, Claudius, occasions the revolt
of the fleet at Misenum, ii. 172; his
character, 172. Favorites of princes, why apt to decline In
favor, i. 126.
INDEX.
467
Felix, freedman to Claudius, governor of Judaea, his great power, fortune, and villainy, i. 304 ; his crimes and impu- nity, 304.
Felix, Sextilius, commands a squadron of horse, ii. 138 ; forces an entrance through Rhsetia, 249.
Fenius Rufus. See Rufus, Fenius.
Fenni. See Peucini.
Festus Martius, a Koman knight, one of the conspirators against Nero, i. 426.
Festus, Valerius, commander of the legion in Africa, his character, ii. 232 ; mur- ders Lucius Piso, proconsul there, 233.
Fidenae, calamity there from the fall of the amphitheatre, i. 197.
Firmius Catus, expelled from the senate for forging treasonable crimes against his sister, i. 1T4; Tiberius saves him from banishment, 175.
Firmus Plotius. See Plotius.
Flaccilla, Antonia, accompanies her hus- band in exile, i. 441.
Flaccus, Cornelius, lieutenant to Corbulo, his exploits, i. 338.
Flaccus, Hordeonius, commander of the army in Upper Germany, his character, ii. 7 ; Vitellius commits the defense of the Hhine to him, 106 ; is well disposed to Vespasian, 204 ; orders Lupercus to advance against Civilis, 208 ; escapes be- ing murdered, 213 ; for his own defense introduces an ill custom, 214; tenders the oath to the soldiers in behalf of Ves- pasian, 218 ; they hardly repeat it, 218 ; he is murdered by the soldiers, 222.
Flaccus, Pomponius, i. 96 ; captures Rhes- cnporis by treachery, i. 97.
Flattery, an ancient evil in the Roman state, i. 74.
Flavianus. See Ampius.
Flavius, brother to Arminius, fights for the Romans, i. 61 ; his conference with his brother, 61 ; his son Italicus made king of the e herusci, 257.
Flavius Hubrius, the tribune, zealous in the conspiracy against Nero, i. 425 ; his purpose to kill Nero in the theatre or in the streets, 427 ; how defeated, 427 ; of- fers to slay Nero during the examination of the conspirators, but is checked by Fenius Rufus, 433; judges Cains Piso unworthy of the empire, 4 ;7; is charged with the conspiracy, and at first defends himself, at last glories in it, and reviles Nero to his face, 438 ; his contempt of death, 438.
Fleets, the Roman, where kept, i. 157.
Florus, Julius, animates the Gauls to re- bel, i. 132 ; his speech to them, 132 ; is routed, and dies by his own hands, 133.
Fonteiu.s, < :aius, consul, i. 353 ; his mur- der, ii. 6.
Foreigners, tyrants chiefly confide in them, i. 432.
Fortunatus, freedman to Lucius Vetus,
robs his lord, then accuses him, i. 448 ; his recompense, 450.
Fortune, Equestrian, her temple, where, i. 150.
Fosians, a German nation. See CheruscL
Freedmen, their insolence to their lords, i. 329 ; reasons alleged for recalling the freedom of such as abused it, 329 ; their rights, as a body, secured, 330.
Fregellanus, Pontius, expelled from the senate, i. 245.
Friends, falling at variance, become the greatest enemies, i. 39.
Frisii, their country described, ii. 324; their sore oppression and revolt, i. 203 ; their exploits and renown, 204; they are settled, and their state modeled by Corbulo, 259 ; change their dwellings, 349 ; are threatened by Dubius Avitus, commander in Germany, and send their two chiefs to supplicate N ero, 349 ; their petition rejected, 350.
Frontinus, Julius, a governor in Britain, his signal fame and actions there, ii. 362.
Fronto, Octavius, arraigns in the senate the prevalence of luxury, i. 74.
Fronto, Vibius, general of horse, puts Vo- nones in bonds, i. 97.
Fucinus, the lake of, a naval combat ex- hibited there by Claudius, its pomp de- scribed, i. 305 ; as also a combat of glad- iators, a05.
Furnius condemned for adultery, i. 190.
Furnius, an ancient orator, ii. 420.
Fuscus, Cornelius, joins Vespasian, ii. 124 ; his character, 124; is second in com- mand of the forces under Antonius Pri- mus, 137 ; is appointed praetor, 198.
Fusius, Geminus, consul, i. 206 ; a favor- ite of Livia the elder, 207 ; his charac- ter, and why hated by Tiberius, 207 ; hie fate, 218.
Gabolus, Licinius, recalled from exile by Nero, i. 361.
Galba, Caius, once consul, terrified by a letter from Tiberius, falls by his own hands, i. 2o9.
Galba, Servius, consul, i. 224 See Gal- ba, the emperor.
Galba, the emperor, his accession predict- ed by Tiberius, i. 224 ; his history, ii. 35 ; succeeds Nero, 4; his severity, 4, 64; his court compared to Nero's, 6 ; delib- erates concerning the adoption of a suc- cessor, 10 ; adopts Piso, 12 ; his speech to him on that occasion, 12 ; declares it to the soldiers and to the senate, 14 ; or- ders nine tenths of Nero's donations to be restored, 16 ; discharges several com- manders, which alarms the soldiery, 16 ; is warned of a treasonable plot against him in the presence of Otho, 20; re- ceives the news of Otho being present- ed to the soldiery while sacrificing, 21 ; calls a council, 21; sends Piso to the
468
INDEX
camp, 25; receives false information from the crowd, 25; and from Julius Atticus, 26 ; his remarkable answer to him, 26; is in great distress and sus- pense, 29 ; his death, ZO ; his head car- ried on a pole, 31 ; his body, after many cruel indignities, is by Argius, his for- mer slave, interred in his own garden,
Galeria, wife to Vitellius the emperor, her character, ii. 110.
Gralgacus, a leader of the Britons, famous for his valor and descent, ii. 372 ; his speech to hia army on the Grampian Hills, 372.
Galla, Arria, wife to Caius Piso, her char- acter, i. 434.
Galla, Sosia, wife to Caius Silius, ar- raigned with her husband, i. 167; is condemned to exile, 167.
Gallic, Junius, brother to Seneca, his mo- tion in favor of the praetorian soldiers resented by Tiberius, i. 213 ; is expelled the senate, and banished, 213 ; brought back to. Home, and imprisoned there, 214; his fears and perils, 442; is ac- cused by Salienus Clemens, but pro- tected by the senate, 442.
Gallus, Annius, appointed commander by Otho, ii. 64; Yestriccius Spurinna join- ed with him, 76 ; is informed by Spu- rinna of Caecina's repulse from i lacen- tia, and marches to Bedriacum, 84; is appointed commander of an army against Civilis, who then headed the revolted nations in Germany, 247.
Gallus, Asinius, incurs the displeasure of Tiberius, how, i. 12 ; he had married "Vipsania, formerly wife to Tiberius, 12 ; his ambition, 12 ; opposed to the license of the players, 54 ; his flattery, 74 ; de- fends the prevailing luxury, 74; his dispute in the senate with Cneius Piso, 76 ; his dispute with Tiberius there, 76 ; is starved to death, 226 ; hypocrisy of Tiberius, 226.
Gallua, Caninius, one of the college of fif- teen, i. 220.; reproved by Tiberius, 220.
Gallus, Clitius, banished for his friend- ship to Seneca, i. 441.
Gallus, Herennius, commander of the first legion, and governor of Bonna, ii. 210; he attacks the Batavians, 210 ; is taken into a share of the command with Voc- ula, and narrowly escapes being mur- dered by the soldiers, 215.
Gallus, Publius, a Koman knight, ban- ished for his intimacy with Fenius Ru- fus and Lucius Vetus, i. 449.
Gallus, Rubrius, obtains pardon for the cohorts at Brixellum, ii. 103.
Gallus, Togonius, his extravagant flattery derided by Tiberius, i. 213.
Gallus, Vipsanius, praetor, his death, i. 87.
Games, quinquennial, instituted by Ne- ro. i. 365; celebrated at Rome, 444; the
foolish and pompous panegyrics made there upon Zero's reign, 444.
Games, secular, celebrated under Clau- dius, i. 253; as also under Augustus, 254 ; and under Domitian, 254.
Gannascus, a deserter and pirate, heads the rebellious Chaucians, i. 258; is seized and slain, 259.
Garamantes, king of the, succors Tacfari- nas, i. 170 ; his embassadors, a singular sight at Rome, 171.
Gaul, insurrection in, i. 132 ; suppressed, 135.
Gauls, a nation rich and unwarlike, i. 262 ; their nobility claim a share in the pub- lic honors of Rome, 262 ; reasonings against their pretensions, 262 ; they are admitted into the senate, 264 ; a gener- al tax imposed upon them, 382.
Geminius, a Roman knight, doomed to the pains of treason, i. 221.
Geminus, Ducennius, i. 184
Geminus, Verdius, sent by Vespasian, de- stroys Anicetus and his followers, ii. 166.
Germanicus, the son of Drusus, adopted by Tiberius at the desire of Augustus, and the aim of Augustus in this, i. 4 ; commands eight legions upon the Rhine, 4 ; acquires the proconsular power, 14 ; the armies in Germany desire him for their emperor, 23 ; he is unjustly hated by his grandmother Livia and his un- cle Tiberius, 25; and beloved by the Romans, 25 ; he promotes the establish- ment of Tiberius, 25 ; his behavior and reasonings to the mutinous legions, 25 ; he hears their complaints, 26 ; has the empire offered to him, and shows his indignation, 26 ; his life threatened, 26 ; his perplexity, 27 ; he is forced to satis- fy the unruly soldiers from his own cof- fers, 27 ; brings those in Upper Germany to swear allegiance to Tiberius, 28 ; ex- postulates with the mutinous soldiers, 29 ; is censured for not withdrawing from them, 29 ; dismisses Agrippina, 29 ; his speech to his army, 30 ; its effi- cacy, 32 ; examines the conduct of the centurions, 32 ; prepares to fight the soldiers who persist in their sedition, 33 ; his stratagem to reclaim the muti- nous soldiery, 34 ; it succeeds, and they butcher one another, 34 ; what terrible havoc they made, 35 ; he laments this, 35 ; and leads them against the Ger- mans, 35; a triumph decreed to him, 38; his conduct against the Germans, 39 ; he is saluted Imperator by the ar- my, by the direction of Tiberius, 41; how universally he is esteemed, 49 ; hia tenderness and generosity to the sol- diers, 49 ; a show of gladiators exhibit- ed in his name, 53 ; deliberates how to prosecute the war in Germany, 58 ; hi* proceedings, 59, 60; passes the Visur-
INDEX.
469
gis, 61 ; learns the designs of Arminius, 62; traverses the camp in disguise to know the sentiments of the soldiers, 62 ; hears his own praises, 62; his propi- tious dream, 63 ; his speech to the ar- my, conduct, and exhortations, 63; his good intelligence, 66 ; his wife's conduct and bravery, 66 ; he raises a monument of arms with a proud inscription, 67; embarks with some legions, and suffers a terrible shipwreck, 82 ; hence his great grief and melancholy, 82 ; he invades the Marsians, and recovers one of the eagles lost with Varus, 69 ; ravages the country, and routs the foe, 69 ; his great bounty to the soldiers, 70 ; his triumph, 80 ; the love and fears of the people for him, 80 ; the provinces beyond the sea decreed to him, 82 ; lives in friendship with Drusus, notwithstanding the divi- sion of their friends, 83 ; is consul for the second time, 88 ; visits Greece, 88 ; as also the coasts of the Propontis, 89 ; consults the oracle of Apollo at colo- phon, 89 ; his generosity to Piso, his en- emy, 89 ; proceeds to Armenia, 90 ; cre- ates Zeno king of that country, 90 ; his humane and forgiving spirit, 91; his difference with 1 iso heightened by offi- cious friends, 91 ; his noble and modest behavior to the embassadors of the 1'ar- thians, 91 ; the court paid to him by their king, 91 ; he travels to Egypt, 92 ; his popular behavior there, and thence blamed by Tiberius, 92 ; he visits the Egyptian antiquities, 92; is thwarted and affronted by Piso, 98 ; he falls ill, and is believed to be bewitched, 98 ; his apprehensions and complaints, 98; he renounces all friendship with Piso, 98 ; his affecting speech to his friends, 98 ; hia advice to Agrippina, 99 ; he expires, 99 ; his amiable character, 100 ; he is universally lamented, 100 ; compared to Alexander the Great, and surpassing him in virtue, 100 ; his body exposed to public view, 100; whether poisoned, a question, 100; honors decreed to his memory, 105 ; his ashes attended by the magistrates of Italy, and carried by tribunes and centurions, 109 ; his re- mains deposited in the tomb of Augus- tus, 110 ; his funeral thought not suffi- ciently magnificent, 110 ; his death re- venged, 118.
Germans, their original, ii. 287 ; their reg- isters and histories, what, 288; their make, form, and complexion described, 291 ; their character, 291 ; their riches consist in numbers of cattle, 291 ; they have not the use of silver or gold, 292 ; but exchange one commodity for anoth- er, 292 ; those bordering upon the fron- tiers of the Komans excepted, 292 ; they are supposed not to abound in iron, 293 ; their armor, and manner of making
war, 293 ; their greatest disgrace, what, 295; their manner of choosing kings and generals. 295 ; none but their priests allowed to inflict punishment, 295 ; their usual custom of forming their armies, an incitement to valor, 296 ; their wom- en useful and assisting even in battle, 296; their worship and deities, 297; method of divining by lots, 299 ; they have divine presages and admonitions from horses, 300 ; their method of divin- ing in affairs of the highest consequence, 300 ; their manner of reckoning time, 300 ; their manner of assembling their diets, 300; their manner of proposing and debating affairs there, 301 ; crimes and punishments, 301 ; their method of choosing rulers and officers of justice, 303 ; their notions of honor, and man- ner of bestowing it, 303 ; they can not brook repose, yet have an aversion to labor, 305; they have no cities, 306; their manner of building, 306 ; the dress of their men and women, 307; their laws of matrimony, their punishment of adultery, 309 ; their custom of edu- cating their youth, 310 ; their manner of making up quarrels of one family with another, 312 ; they are famous for their liberality and hospitality, 312; their usual way of spending their time, 312; and manner of consulting, 313; their excess in drinking, 313; their food and manner of living, 314 ; their pub- lic diversions, 314 ; they are exceeding, ly addicted to gaming, 314 ; their man- ner of treating slaves, 315 ; are strangers to usury, 315; their tillage and hus- bandry, 316 ; their funeral solemnities, 316 ; the original of several nations of them, 317 ; their great power and brave- ry, hi comparison of other nations, 327.
Germans, while under the effect of a de- bauch, attacked by Germanicus with in- finite slaughter, i. 36; their counsels how to deal with the Komans in dis- tress, 47 ; they attack the Komans with assurance of victory, 47 ; are defeated and slaughtered, 48 ; their principal ad- vantages against an invader, 59 ; their mighty defeat and slaughter, 65 ; they are enraged by a Koman trophy, 66; though defeated, they try another bat- tle, 66; their advantageous post, 66; they are routed and slaughtered, 67; their courage, 67 ; they are unfit for a close engagement, 67 ; they reckon the Komans invincible, 69.
Germany, its bounds and situation, ii. 206 ; its lands productive of grain, but not kindly to fruit-trees, 291 ; all the cattle there small, 291; near lost to the Ro- mans, 164; but upon the approach of the Koman armies that country sub- mits, 249.
Germany (so called), a part of Gaul, i. 23;
470
INDEX.
disturbances in, 24 ; how suppressed, 34 ; war with Arminius, 41.
Geta, a slave and an impostor, doomed to die for being at the head of a conspiracy against V itellius, ii. 115.
Geta, Lucius, captain of the praetorian guards to Claudius, a man of uncertain faith, i. 269.
Gotarzes, king of Parthia, his barbarities, i. 251 ; is forced to abandon his kingdom, 252 ; recalled, he plays the tyrant again, and is again forsaken by his people, 253 ; his detestable tyranny, 2T7 ; routs Me- herdates, and cuts off hia ears, 280 ; his death, 280.
Gothi, their situation and government, ii. 335.
Gothinians. See Marsignians.
Government, how many kinds of, i. 1T5 ; one equal and mixed, how rare, 175.
Governor of Home, his office, what, and when appointed, i. 219.
Gracchi, Sempronius and Cains, styled exciters of the people, i. 123 ; character of Gracchus as an orator, ii. 416.
Gracchus, Sempronius, his character and doom, i. 37 ; the adulterer of J ulia, 37 ; thence banished to Cercina, and assas- sinated by order of Tiberius, 37 ; he dies bravely, 38 ; his son Caius, 163.
Gracilis, ^Elius, his envious conduct, L 348.
Grsecina, Pomponia, accused for embrac- ing a foreign superstition, and acquitted, i. 333 ; her great age and affliction, 333.
Graius, Monatius, a Roman knight, one of the conspirators against Nero, i. 426.
Granius,Quintus. accuses Calpurnius Piso, L168.
Graptus, Nero's freedman, a subtle and wicked courtier, i. 345; forges a plot against Cornelius Sylla, 345.
Gratianus, Tatius, charged with treason, and executed, i. 238.
Greeks admire chiefly their own exploits, i. 107 ; their freedom of speech, 177.
Griphus, Plotius, a senator, ii. 169; ap- pointed praetor in the room of Tertius Julianus, 224.
Hsomus, Mount, winter begins suddenly there, L 189.
Halicarnassus, no earthquake felt there in 1200 years, i. 192.
Halotus, the eunuch, administers poison to his master Claudius, i. 311.
Haterius, Decimus, consul, i. 138.
Haterius, Quintus, offends Tiberius, i. 13 ; obtains protection from Livia, 13; vin- dicates the players, 54; arraigns the luxury of the Romans, 74; his death and quality, 196 ; character of his elo- quence, 196.
Helius, the imperial freedman, a poisoner, i. 313.
Helkiaii, a fabulous account of them, ii. 342.
Helvicones, ii. 335.
llelvidius Priscus. See Priscus.
Helvius Rufus, saves a Roman citizen, i 120 ; his reward, 120.
Heralds and priests, question of the rank of, L 146.
Hercules, his pillars reported to be stand- ing, ii. 324 ; he of Egypt the oldest of all, i. 93; he of Mount Sambulos, his hunting horses, their miraculous feats, 279 ; ap- pears to his priests in their sleep, 279.
Herennius, commander of a legion, is slain by order of Valentinus and Tutor,ii. 250 ; their reasons for his murder, 250.
Herennius Senecio, put to death, and why, ii.346.
Hermunduri, their character and situa- tion, ii. 333 ; their contest with the Cakti about the property of a river, i. 351 ; they prove conquerors, 352.
Hierocaesarea, its inhabitants claim a right of sanctuary, whence, i. 145.
Hilarius, freedman to \ itellius, his charge against Cluvius Rufus, governor of Spain, ii. 110 ; is himself doomed to punishment, 110.
Hispo, Romanus, an accuser, i. 51 ; himself condemned, 395.
Historian, duty of the, i. 147.
History, that of the free state, how abound- ing in agreeable matter, i. 175 ; the use of it, 175 ; the folly and infamy of sup- pressing it, 178.
Hormus, freedman to Vespasian, advanced to the equestrian dignity, ii. 224,
Hortalus, Marcus, grandson to the orator Hortensius, his great quality and pover- ty, i. 77; his speech to the senate for sup- port, with his address to Tiberius, 77 ; the senate favorable to him, 78; how treated by Tiberius, 78.
Hyrcanians, at war with Parthia, i. 370 ; send embassadors to Home, 370.
Iberians, whence sprung, i. 234.
Icelus, freedman to Galba, vested with the equestrian dignity, and new -named Martianus, ii. 10 ; his great sway in the ministry, 10 ; he combines with haco, 10 ; is executed by command of Otho, 33.
Icenians, a powerful people in Britain, i. 290 ; their bravery and defeat, 290.
Illyrium, the legions there recruited, i. 450.
Imperator, its original meaning, i. 3; who the last general saluted by that name^ 153.
Incendiaries, how readily delivered to pun- ishment by their brethren, i. 23.
Incest, laws against, i. 276.
Indus, Julius, a Gaul, an enemy to Julius Floras, i. 133.
Informers, rise of, i. 51; their activity, 112, 131 ; styled the guardians of the laws by Tiberius, 174.
Inguiomerus, a German leader, his advice fiercer than that of Arminius, and thence
INDEX.
471
Detter liked, i. 47; how he escaped upon a defeat, 66 ; his intrepidity, 67 ; he de- serts to Maroboduus, 83.
Insechians, a people friendly to the Ro- mans, i. 336.
Ireland, its situation, size, soil, and cli- mate, ii. 368 ; a petty king from thence under the protection of Agricola, 368.
Italian allies deceived ty promises from Rome, i. 124.
Italicus, son of Flavius, and nephew to Arminius, sent from Rome to rule over the (Jherusci, i. 257; the beginning of his reign popular, but distressed with factions, 257 ; is intoxicated with good fortune, and grows tyrannical, 258; is expelled, but restored, and continues to afflict the Cheruscan state, 258.
Italy, h<?w guarded, i. 157; a Servile War there, how checked, 171 ; from the Po to the Alps, possessed by the troops of Vi- tellius, ii. 80.
Iturea annexed to the province of Syria, i. 284.
Iturius, instigated to accuse Agrippina, L 325; banished, 327; recalled from exile by Nero, 361.
Izates, king of the Adiabenians, deserts Meherdates, i. 280.
Jerusalem, its description and situation, iL 274; its strong fortifications, 275; their alleged cause, 275 ; its sumptuous Temple, 275 ; the command of the city divided between Simon and John, sur- named Bargioras, 275; the defense and command of the Temple hi the hands of Eleazar, 276; the city is besieged by Titus, 276.
Jews, their rise and antiquity, ii. 265 ; their religious ordinances, 267; their peculiar ceremonies and customs, 268 : their various lot since the time of the Assyrian empire to the siege of Jerusa- lem by Titus, 272: their religious solem- nities abolished at Rome, i. 106 ; a great number banished to Sardinia, 106; they are obliged to leave Italy, or renounce their national rites, 106 ; their insurrec- tions in the time of Caligula and Clau- dius, 304
John, surnamed Bargioras, one of the gov- ernors of Jerusalem, employs assassins, who murder Eleazar, ii. 276 ; he takes possession of the Temple there, 276.
Jordan, that river described, iL 270.
Juba, king of Mauritania, i. 157.
Judaea, that province prays an abatement of taxes, i. 81 ; annexed to the govern- ment of Syria, 284 ; all except Jerusalem reduced by Vespasian, ii. 70; its bound- aries described, 270 ; its natural history, 270 ; a summary of its government from the Assyrian empire till the siege of Je- rusalem by Titus, 272.
Julia, daughter of Augustus and wife of
Tiberius, her character and intrigues, L 37; banished by Augustus, and doomed to perish through want by Tiberius, 37.
Julia, daughter of Drusus, married to Nero, i. 125; her imprudence, 196; her second marriage, 228 ; her death caused by Messalina, 333.
Julia, daughter of Germanicus, birth of, L 88 ; brought to Italy, 108 ; her marriage, 221.
ed, L 122 ; dies in exile, 203.
Julia Augusta, mother of Tiberius, i. 206 ; her death and funeral, 207 ; change in the conduct of Tiberius, 207.
Julia Calvina accused of incest, i. 274; banished, 276.
Julianus Tertius flees for fear of being murdered, ii. 123 ; appointed by Vitel- lius to reclaim the soldiers, and goes over to the side of Vespasian, 172 ; his character, 187 ; commands at Terracina, is taken by Lucius Vitellius, and mur- dered by him, 188.
Julianus Tertius degraded from the prse- torship by the senate, ii. 224: is restored, 225.
Julius Auspex dissuades the people of Rheims from revolt, iL 248.
Julius Florus, an insurgent in Gaul, L 132 ; kills himself, 133.
Julius Frontinus. See Frontinus.
Julius Mansuetus killed by his son at the battle of Bedriacum, ii. 151.
Julius Martialis, the tribune, suspected of the conspiracy against Galba, ii. 21.
Julius Sabinus. See Sabinus, Julius.
Julius Sacrovir, an insurgent hi Gaul, 1. 132 ; his device, 133; his successes, 133: is defeated, 135 ; kills himself, 136.
Julius Tutor. See Tutor.
Junia, sister of Marcus Brutus, death of, i. 153 ; her will, 153.
Junius, a dealer hi charms, i. 72.
Junius Decimus, consul, i. 306.
Jupiter, his priest, generally confined to Rome, L 143 ; what immunities he en- joyed, 165.
Justus Fabius, a speaker hi the Dialogue on Oratory, ii. 390.
Juvenales, sports instituted by Nero, L 363 ; in them men of all ranks debase themselves, 363.
Kings were the original magistrates of
Rome, i. 1. Knights, Roman, not suffered to associate
with actors, i. 54; their oblation upon
the recovery of Livia, 150; account of
their judicial power, 307.
Labeo, Antistius, his accomplishments, L 153 ; not a flatterer of power, and thence checked from rising to the first digni- ties, 152.
Labeo, Asconius, once tutor to Nero, di»
472
INDEX.
tinguished with the consular ornaments, i. 919.
Labeo, Claudius. See Claudius.
labeo, Pomponius. See Pomponius La- beo.
Labeo, Titidius, accused for not punishing the adulteries of his wife, i. 106.
Lacedaemonians claim a right to the tem- ple of Diana, i. 183 ; their plea, 183.
Laco, a noble Greek, falls by the cruelty of Tiberius, i. 223.
Laco. See Cornelius Laco.
Ladies, decree against such as married slaves, i. 303 ; many of illustrious quali- ty enter the public lists as gladiators, 415.
Lamia, yElius, proconsul of Africa, pro- tects young Gracchus, L 163; his death, employments, and character, 228.
Langobardi, a people few in number, but brave, ii. 331 ; their religion, 332.
Laodicea, city of, overthrown by an earth- quake, i. 371 ; it recovers again, 371.
Lateranus Plautius, restored by Nero to the rank of a senator, i. 319 ; when con- sul elect, conspires against Nero, 426; his precipitate doom, 434 ; he dies mag- nanimously, 434.
Latiaris, Latinius, a tool of Sejanus, i. 200 ; his treachery to Titius Sabinus, 200 ; is impeached, 214.
Law of violated majestv, perversion of, i. 51.
Laws, made by faction, i. 123 ; their num- ber, the sign of a corrupt state, 124.
Laws, Roman, their impotence, and why, L 3 ; they are vanquished by favor, 87 ; their history, 123 ; their sovereignty pre- ferred to that of kings, 123 ; those of the Twelve Tables, how collected, 123.
Lecanius, a soldier suspected of the death of Galba, ii. 30.
Lecanius, Caius, consul, i. 415.
Lelia, the vestal, her death, i. 409.
Lemovians, ii. 335.
Lenas, Vipsanius, condemned, i. 332.
Lentinus, Terentius, a Roman knight, con- victed of a fraud, i. 379.
Lentulus. Cneius, narrowly escapes being murdered by the soldiery, i. 21 ; softens the sentence against Caius Silanus, 149 ; his death and character, 185.
Lentulus, Getulicus, consul, i. 186 ; com- mander of the legions in Upper Ger- many, and accused, 231 ; his bold letter to Tiberius, and his accuser condemned to exile, 231.
Lepida, mother of Messalina, i. 271 ; pres- ent at her death, 271.
Lepida, Emilia, crimes and condemnation of, i. 120 ; kills herself, 239.
Lepidus, the triumvir, his power swallow- ed up in that of Augustus, i. 2 ; his tur- bulent pursuits, 124.
Lepidus, Marcus, guardian to the children of King Ptolemy, i. 97 ; in the judgment of Augustus, is qualified to reign, but
not fond of it, 13 ; pleads for Cneius Piso, 113; defends his sister Emilia, 120 ; is sent governor to Asia, 127, 246 ; his character, 127 ; is named by Tiberi- us to the government of Africa, 130 ; de- clines it, 130; his speech against exe- cuting Lutorius Priscus, 137 ; it prevails not, 138 ; restores the monuments of his family, 151 ; his wisdom and modera- tion, 167 ; his death and nobility, 229.
Letters, by whom first invented, i. 256.
Lewdness and immodesty, their encour- agement under Nero, i. 363.
Lex Julia, its provisions, i. 73, 86.
Lex Majestatix, perversion of, under the emperors, i. 51 ; punishment of Lutori- us, 137.
Lex Papia Poppa>a, mitigation of its en- actments, i. 122.
Libanus, Mount, described, ii. 270.
Libels forbidden by the law of the Twelve Tables, i. 50 ; the penalties increased by Augustus, 50 ; conduct of Tiberius, 51.
Liberty, Roman, founded by Lucius Bru- tus, i. 1.
Libo, Drusus, maliciously seduced by Fir- mius Catus, falls under the charge of treason, i. 71 ; the deceitful countenance of Tiberius toward him, 72 ; is deserted by his friends, and why, 72 ; the strange and extravagant articles against him, 72 ; his slaves examined by torture, be- ing first sold, 73 ; finds Tiberius obdu- rate, 73 ; is terrified by a guard of sol- diers, 73 ; and falls upon his sword, yet the prosecution carried on after his death, and his fortune given to the ac- cusers, 73 ; decrees of the senate against his memory, 74.
Libo, Lucius, consul, i. 56.
Licinius, Marcus, consul, i. 196 ; ii. 415.
Licinius Mucianus. See Mucianus.
Ligur, Varius, bribes his accusers, i. 231.
Liguria, a woman of, her great intrepidi- ty, and resolute answer to the plunder- ing soldiers, ii. 77.
Lingones defeated by the Sequanians. ii. 246.
Livia, mother of Tiberius, i. 3; wife of Augustus, 3; her enmity to her step- sons, 3 ; her absolute sway over Augus- tus, 4 ; suspected of his death, 5 ; her management upon the death of Augus- tus to secure the sovereignty to Tiberi- us, 6 ; styled Augusta, 8 ; flattery of the senate toward her, 13 ; Tiberius is jeal- ous of her credit, 14 ; she appears not at the funeral of Germanicus, and why, 109 ; is seized with a violent distemper, 146 ; lives upon ill terms with her son, 146; flattering decrees of senate upon her illness, and supplications for her re- covery, 146 ; jealous of her power, 162 ; at variance with her son, 194 ; her am- bition, and reproaches to him, 194 ; de» stroys most of the family of Augustus,
INDEX.
473
and affects to show kindness to the rest, 203 ; her great age, death, and charac- ter, 206.
Livia, wife of Drusua, i. 83 ; delivered of male twins, 105; joy of Tiberius, 105; debauched by Sejanus,156; plots against her husband, 156; her jealousy of Agrip- pina, 162 ; urges Sejanus to marry her, 180; her death, 227 ; decrees against her statues and memory, 213.
Livilla, wife of Drusus. See Livia.
Livineius, Regulus, banished, why, L 365.
Livy, the historian, his many encomiums upon Pompey, L 176 ; he reviles not the enemies of Caesar and Augustus, but often commends them, 176 ; friendship of Augustus, 176.
Locusta, the poisoner, an instrument of imperial rule, i. 311; she prepares a deadly potion for Claudius, 311 ; and for Britannicus, 322.
Lollia, Paullina, recommended to Claudi- us for a wife by Callistus, i. 273 ; crimes heing framed against her by Agrippina, she is doomed to banishment, and com- pelled to kill herself, 284; her great quality, and immense wealth, 284.
London, the city of, a noble mart, i. 374 ; abandoned by Suetonius, 375.
Longinus. See Emilius Longinus.
Longus, Cassius, chosen leader of Vitelli- us's army by the soldiers, ii. 144.
Lucan, the poet, ill used by Nero, i. 426 ; hates him, and conspires against him, 426 ; persists long in denying, at last, upon promises of pardon, owns the con- spiracy, 431 ; informs against his moth- er, 431 ; is sentenced to die, and nobly undergoes the pains of death, 440.
Lucilius, a centurion, put to death by the soldiery, i. 19.
Lucilius Bassus. See Bassos.
Lucilius, Longus, a constant friend to Ti- berius, his death affects the emperor, i. 164 ; his funeral honors, 164.
Lucius, Caesar, grandson to Augustus, his early death imputed to Livia, i. 3.
Lucius Piso, proconsul hi Africa, his mur- der, ii. 231.
Lucius Publius, his flattery, i. 74
Lucius Vetus. See Vetus, Lucius.
Lupercus, Mummius, advances against Ci- vilis, ii. 208 ; is obliged with his legions only to escape to the Old Camp, 209 ; which he fortifies, but neglects to secure provisions, 211 ; is besieged by Civilis, 211 ; is taken and sent to be presented to Veleda, but in the journey thither he is slain, 242.
Lupus, Curtius, quaestor, suppresses the Servile War in Italy, i. 171.
Lupus, Junius, the senator, accuses Vitel- lius, but is himself banished, L 297.
Lupus, Numisius, joins Antonius Primus, and brings with him the eighth legion, ii. 141.
Lutorius, Caius Priscus, put to death, L
137. Luxury, that of Rome declaimed against,
i. 74 ; defended, 74 ; its prevalence, 139 ;
censured by Tiberius, 139 ; how hard to
be cured, 140 ; how at last restrained,
141. Lycurgus compiled good laws for Sparta,
Lydia, whence so called, i. 192.
Lygdus, the eunuch, poisons his master
Drusus, L 159. Lygians, their situation and customs, ii.
335. Lyons, city of, damaged by fire, i. 450;
bounty of Nero, 450.
Macedon, the government of that province* changed, i. 53.
Macer, Clodius, his assassination, for rais- ing commotion hi Africa, ii. 6.
Macer, Martius, battle fought by him near Cremona, ii. 84; is in danger of being murdered by the soldiers, 92.
Macer, Pompeius, the praetor, i. 50.
Macrina, Pompeia, the strange crime al- leged against her, and her banishment, L223.
Macro, captain of the guards to Tiberius, i. 221 ; his mischievous spirit, 231 ; hia excessive power, 242 ; he pays court to Caligula, 242 ; his villainous practices against the lives of illustrious men, 244 ; hid notorious enmity to Arruntius, 244 ; he is worse than Sejanus, 244 ; he mur- ders his master, Tiberius, 246.
Maecenas, first favorite to Augustus, i. 126.
Maecenas, Cilnius, once governor of Rome, i.219.
Magicians and astrologers expelled from Italy, L 74.
Magistrates, choice of, transferred from the people to the senate, i. 14.
Magistrates, provincial, why prohibited from presenting public shows, i. 333.
Magnesia ruined by an earthquake, i. 85.
Magnesians, their claim to a sanctuary, whence, i. 145.
Magontiacum, siege of, ii. 223.
Majesty, violated, that law revived, i, 50 ; how different it was of old, 50 ; is per- verted by Augustus, 50 ; by him libels made treason, 50.
Malori, L 349.
Malovendus, general of the Marsians, i. 69.
Maluginensis, Servius, though priest of Jupiter, demands the government of Asia, L 143 ; his suit disallowed, 150.
Manlius banished Italy for adultery with Yarilia Apulcia, i. 86.
Manlius, Patruitus, a senator, complains to the senate of insults and indignities from the magistrates of Sienna, who ar« convicted, and suffer capitally, ii. 229.
Marcellus, son-in-law of Augustus. L 81-
474
INDEX.
Marcellus, Asinius, convicted of a fraud,
i. 379 ; his quality and character, 379 ;
accounts poverty the worst of all evils,
3Y9.
Marcellus, Claudius, nephew to Augustus,
a mere youth, highly preferred, i. 3. Marcellus, Eprius, created praetor for one day, i. 274; accused by the people of Lycia, 334 ; but acquitted through fac- tion, 334 ; his furious speech against Thrasea in the senate, 459 ; his mighty rewards for accusing Thrasea, 460 ; dis- pute between him and llelvidins con- cerning sending embassadors to Vespa- sian, ii. 202 ; his artful speech on that occasion, 202.
Marcellus, Granius, praetor of Bithynia, accused of treason, but acquitted, i. 51.
Marcomanni, their bravery, ii. 334 ; rav- aged by Catualda, i. 94.
Mariccus, a Boian of mean birth, takes upon him the title of a god, ii. 108 ; at the head of eight thousand men invades the ./Eduans, 108 ; is taken and thrown among wild beasts, but not hurt by them, 108 ; is put to death in the pres- ence of Vitellius, 148.
Marius, Publius, consul, i. 383.
Marius, Sextus, condemned and executed for incest, i. 223 ; his great riches proved his bane, 223 ; these seized by Tiberius, 224.
Maroboduus, king of the Suevians, unpop- ular at home, i. 83 ; his speech to his army, 84 ; he is vanquished by Armini- us, 84 ; and invokes the aid of the Ro- mans, 84 ; his power broken, 94 ; what a terrible enemy to the Romans, 94 ; he grows old in exile at Ravenna, 94
Marriage, various forms of contracting, at Rome, i. 165 ; marriage with slaves, edict against, 303.
Marsians, their forces routed by Csecina, L39.
Marsigni, their situation, speech, and dress, ii. 335.
Marsus, Vibius, i. 100 ; accuses Fiso of the death of Germanicus, 102.
Marsus, Vibius, summons Piso to his trial at Rome, i. 102.
Martia, wife of Fabius Maximus, i. 5.
Martialis, Cornelius, the tribune, feared by Nero, and dismissed, i. 440.
Martianus, Granius, the senator, charged with treason, i. 238 ; he dies by his own hands, 238.
Martina, an infamous woman, i. 100 ; sent to Italy on suspicion of poisoning Ger- manicus, 100 ; her sudden death, 111.
Marullus, Junius, consul elect, his severe sentence against Antistius, i. 383.
Massa, Bebius, a procurator in Africa, one of the assassins of Lucius Piso, ii. 233.
Maternus, Curiatius, ii. 391 ; his tragedy of Cato, 391.
Mattiaci, their territories and customs de-
scribed, ii. 319 ; a silver mine opened in their country, i. 260.
Maturus, Marius, governor of the mari- time Alps, attempts to repel the force* of Otho, but on the first shock his peo- ple are dissipated, ii. 77 ; the rage of the soldiery, 77 ; kindly receives Fabius Valens in his distress, 162.
Mauricus, Junius, moves Domitian to communicate the registers of the late emperors, thence to discover the ac- cusers, ii. 226.
Maximilla, Kgnatia, accompanies her hus- band in exile, i. 441.
Maximus, Caesonius, doomed to banish- ment unheard, i. 441.
Maximus, Fabius, death of, i. 5.
Maximus, Trebellius, appointed to assess the Gauls, i. 382 ; governor of Britain, discarded, and his place supplied by Vettius Bolanus, ii. 110 ; his conduct and character while in Britain, 362.
Mazippa, general of the Moors in Africa, i. 87.
Meherdates, called to the crown of Par- thia, L 253 ; is sent by Claudius to take possession of the kingdom, 278 ; his ill conduct, 279 ; his confederates revolt, 280 ; is routed, and his ears cut off, 280.
Mela, Annseus, a Roman knight, brother to Seneca, and father to Lucan, accused, and dies by his own hands, i. 452 ; his great consideration and authority, with his immense legacy to Tigellinus and Cossutianus Capito, 453.
Memnon, a colossus in Egypt, L 92.
Mennius, prsefect of the camp, his bold- ness in quelling an insurrection of the veterans, L 20.
Merula, Apidius, why struck from the list of senators, i. 183.
Merula, Cornelius, death of, i. 143.
Messala, Corvinus, gloried in having served under Cassius, yet exalted by Augustus, i. 177.
Messala, Valerius, consul, i. 334 ; his pov- erty and good character, 334.
Messala, Valerius, artful flattery of, i. 8.
Messala, Vipstanus, his character, ii. 140 ; his conduct in the field, 147 ; gains vast applause in the senate by pleading for his brother Aquilius Regulus, 226.
Messalina, the empress, her rapacious- ness and rancor to Valerius Asiaticus, i. 248 ; she procures the death of Pop- paea Sabina, the elder, 248 ; is bent to destroy Agrippina. 255 ; her desperate passion for Silius, 255 ; her boldness in the pursuit of it, 255 ; her extravagant lewdness, 265 ; in the absence of her husband she marries Silius, 265; her nuptials publicly and formally cele- brated, 266 : her frantic riot and volup- tuousness, 266 ; she is threatened with the vengeance of the emperor, 268 ; yet ventures to meet him, 269 ; her impor
INDEX.
475
tunate entreaties to Claudius, 269 ; is put to death by a tribune, 272 ; decree of the senate, 2T2.
Messalinus, Cotta, his flattering motion against the memory of Libo Urusus, i. 74 ; his odd motion, 168 ; his forward- ness to gratify the cruelty and tyranny of Tiberius, 207 ; he is arraigned in the senate, 214 ; his crimes detested, 215 ; his character, 215 ; he appeals to Tibe- rius, and gains his protection, 215 ; his accuser punished, 216.
Messalinus, Valerius, his speech in de- fense of magistrates who carried their wives into the provinces, i. 129.
Messeuians claim a right to the temple of Diana, i. 183 ; their plea, 183.
Miletus, people of, pretend a right to a §anctuary there, i. 146.
Milichus, a traitorous freedman, urged by his wife, betrays his lord, and first dis- covers the conspiracy against Nero, i 430 ; his rewards, 440.
Milvian Bridge, the nightly revelings there, i. 345 ; massacre at the, ii. 5, 3T.
Minos gives good laws to Crete, i. 123.
Minutius, Thermus, accused and con- demned, but turns evidence, i. 216.
Miracles, some said to be performed by Vespasian, ii. 259.
Mithridates, king of Pontus, caused a gen- eral massacre of the Romans in Asia and the isles, i. 163.
Mithridates, of Bosporus, he gathers forces and seizes the kingdom of the Danda- rides, i. 280 ; his desperate fortune and great distress, 282 ; he throws himself upon the mercy of Eunones, 282 ; is car- ried to Rome, 283 ; the boldness of his behavior th-re, 283.
Mithridates, the Iberian, favored by Tibe- rius, i. 233 ; gains the kingdom of Ar- menia, 252 ; his violent administration, 252 ; is dethroned and murdered by Rhadamistus his nephew, and the hus- band of his daughter, 300.
Mnester, freedman to Agrippina, slays himself at her funeral pile, i. 359.
Mnester, the comedian, i. 266 ; put to death, 2T1.
Mcesia, two legions there, i. 157.
Moneses, appointed general by Vologeses, i. 397 ; hastens into Armenia, but finds Tigranes ready to receive him, 397.
Monobazus incites Vologeses to war, i. 396.
Montanus, Alpinus. See Alpinus.
Montanus, (Jurtius, accused, i. 460 ; his virtue, innocence, and writings, 460 ; his sentence, 463.
Montanus, L'urtius, the senator, proposes that public honors be paid to the mem- ory of Piso, ii. 225 ; his speech in the senate agaiust Regulus, one of the ac- cusers, 228. Maatanus, Julius, a senator, assaulted by
Nero in the dark, repulses him, and thence forced to die, i. 328.
Montanus, Traulus, a lovely youth, de- bauched by Messalina, i. 270 ; put to death, 271.
Montanus, Votienus, a man of celebrated wit, accused of invectives against Tibe- rius, L 183 ; he is condemned, 183.
Moses, his address to secure the subjec- tion of the Jewish nation to himself, ii. 267.
Mucianus, Licinius, his character, ii. 8 ; rules over Syria, 70 ; his speech to Ves- pasian, 116 ; administers to his soldiers the oath of allegiance to Vespasian, 119 ; his speech to the people of Antioch, 120 ; holds a council at Berytus, 121 ; is ap- pointed leader against Vitellius, 122 ; his disposition of the fleet, 122 ; his base arts to raise money, 122 ; is stung with envy at the sudden victories of Antoni- us, 169 ; his treachery to him, 189 ; in his letters boasts to the senate of his services, 197 ; arrives in Lome, and bears universal sway, 202 ; murders Calpurnius dalerianus, 202 ; his artful address and management in regard to Antonius, 224 ; harangues the senate in behalf of the accusers, 229 ; his dispo- sal of the soldiery, 230 ; sends over Pa- pirius, a centurion, to Africa, to murder Lucius Piso the proconsul, 232 ; he makes choice of Gallus Annius and Pe- tilius Cerealis for commanders of the army in Germany, 247 ; makes changes and promotions, 247 ; orders the son of Vitellius to be slain, 258 ; can not en- dure that Antonius should attend Do- mitian in the intended expedition, 258 ; when informed of the success of the Ro- mans against the Treverians, he ad- vises Domitian to retire to Lyons, where they arrive, 262.
Mummius. See Lupercus.
Musonius the Tuscan, i. 391.
Musonius, Rufus, banished for his signal reputation by Nero, i. 441 ; derided and abused by the soldiery, for recommend- ing the blessings of peace, and enlarging on the calamities of war, ii. 190; ac- cuses Publius Celer of having, by false witnesses, procured the death of Barea ^oranus, 202 ; obtains sentence against him, 2-25.
Musulanians, a people of Africa, i. 87.
Mutilius, Papius, his flattery, i. 74
Naharvali, their situation and religion, ii. 335.
Naples, the vast conflux of people there to hear Nero sing on the stage, i. 415 ; the theatre falls without hurting any body, 415; Nero's inference from this, and great joy, 415.
Narbon Gaul, privilege allowed to the seu- ators of that province, i. 284.
476
INDEX.
Narcissus, a freedman, i. 267; suborns j two courtesans to accuse Alessalina to Claudius, 267 ; confirms the charge of her marriage with Silius, and frightens the emperor, 267 ; of his own accord or- | ders Messalina to be executed, 271 ; his public reward, and pestilent sway, 272 ; inveighs boldly against Agrippina,306; his griefs and complaints, 310; is doom- ed by Agrippina to perish in prison, 313 ; ia beloved by Nero for his vices, 314.
Narisci, ii. 334.
Nasica, Csesius, commands a legion in Lrit- ain, i. 295.
Naso, Valerius, chosen to supervise the building of a temple to Tiberius in Asia, i. 193.
Natalis, Antonius, a Roman knight, one of the conspirators against Nero, i. 436 ; is the great confidant of v aius Hso,436 ; is terrified with the rack, and confesses, 431 ; is pardoned, 440.
Nauportum, plunder of, by mutineers, i. 17.
Nen, the river, ii. 289.
Nepos, Havius, the tribune, feared by Nero, and dismissed, i. 441.
Nepos, Marius, for his vices degraded from the senate, i. 85.
Nero, the emperor, accession of, i. 312 ; his title reckoned unjust by the popu- lace, 313 ; his humor profuse and rapa- cious, 314 ; above the control of slaves, 314; makes a funeral panegyric upon Claudius, composed by Seneca, 314; the first Roman emperor who needed an- other man's eloquence, 315; he wanted not some grounds of science, 315; his first speech to the senate, and scheme of future government, 315; makes prep- arations for the war in Parthia, 317 ; re- fuses compliments and statues, restrains accusations, does acts of mercy, and pro- fesses great clemency, 319 ; falls in love with Acte, 319 ; is consul, 319 ; his pleas- ures why indulged by his ministers, 319 ; loathes his wife Octavia, 319; surren- ders himself entirely to Seneca, 320 ; is aware of his mother' s arts, 320 ; makes her a mighty present, 320; dismisses Pallas, 321; is jealous of Britannicus, 322 ; causes him to be poisoned, 322 ; affects to lament his death, 324 ; gives vast gifts to his friends, 324; his wild nocturnal rambles and revelings in Rome, 328 ; bereaves his aunt Domitia of Paris, her freedman, 331 ; is consul a second time, 332 ; erects a wooden am- phitheatre in the field of Mars, 332 ; is consul a third time, 332 ; is proclaimed Imperator, 340 ; the many flatteries of the senate to him, 340; falls in love with Poppsea, 344 ; removes Otho from Rome, 345 ; his vileness and suspicions, 345; dreads Cornelius Sylla, and drives bom into banishment, 345 ; his purpose
to abolish all taxes, 347 ; the reasonings of the senate against this, 347 ; resolves to kill his mother, 353 ; is transported with a passion for Hoppsea, and insti- gated by her arts, 353 ; avoids his moth er, 354 ; finds it difficult to dispatch her and wheedles her out of Rome, 354 ; his prodigious falsehood, and show of filial tenderness, 355 ; his fears when his moth- er escaped, 357 ; urges Anicetus to fin- ish the murder, 357 ; his horror and ag- onies afterward, 359 ; affects great sor- row for her death, 360 ; transmits to the senate many heavy charges against her, 360 ; receives flattering compliments upon the death of his mother from the officers, 361 ; and from the senate, 361 ; his profligate court, 361 ; after the mur- der of his mother fears to return to Rome, 362 ; but is there received with flattery by all, and thence abandons himself to all iniquity and vileness, 362 ; his propensity to the harp, and apology for that diversion, 362 ; diverts himself with chariot-driving, at first privately, at last in the face of the people, 362 ; en- gages several noble Romans by money to perform upon the stage, 363 ; mounts the stage as a public singer and player upon the harp, 363 ; is addicted to po- etry, 364 ; likes to hear the disputes of philosophers, 364; is the fourth time consul, 365; his voluptuousness and sickness, 368; institutes a wrestling school, 382 ; is suspected of causing Bur- ma to be poisoned, 385 ; is attached only to mischievous and wicked men, 385 ; his deceitful speech to Seneca, 388 ; his many caresses to him, and extreme mal- ice, 389 ; dooms Sylla to die, 390 ; jests upon seeing his bloody head, 390 ; or- ders Plautus to die, 390 ; what he de- clared upon seeing his head, 391 ; com- plains of both to the senate after their death, 391 ; banishes his wife Octavia from his bed, and espouses Poppsea his mistress, 392 ; suborns Anicetus to de- clare himself Octavia's adulterer, 393; publishes an edict against her, and dooms her to exile, 394 ; and to death, 395; boasts his management and fru- gality, 407; his statue is melted by lightning, 409 ; a daughter is born to him by I 'oppsea, 409 ; his transport of joy upon this occasion, and of grief for her death, 409 ; his behavior to i lira- sea, 410 ; his raillery upon Csesennius Psetus, 411; he sings upon the public stage at Naples, 415 ; purposes to visit Greece, there to gain the victory in song, 415 ; in the midst of his gayeties he riots in feats of blood, 416 ; but pro- fesses clemency, 416 ; purposes to visit Egypt and the Kast, but is dismayed and changes hi.^ mind, 416 ; his popular declarations, 416 • his riot well-pleasing
INDEX.
477
to the pupulace, 41T ; banquets fre- quently in public places, 41T ; his abom- inable pollutions, 417 ; personates a woman, and marries Pythagoras, 417 ; relieves and assists the people after the burning of Rome, 419 ; but is supposed to have caused it, and to have chanted the destruction of Troy during the fire, 419; builds an immense palace, 421; attempts works impossible, 421 ; causes Rome to be rebuilt, and directs the manner of building, 421 ; the new and the late city compared, 422 ; to acquit himself charges the Christians with hav- ing burned Rome, 423 ; and treats them with many horrible cruelties, 423 ; ex- hausts the empire, spoils Italy, the Ro- man provinces, the allies of Rome, cit- ies, temples, deities, and all thing*, 423 ; attempts to poison Seneca, 424 ; is wont to expiate omens by illustrious murders, 425; universally detested, and his de- struction sought, 425 ; his tyranny threatens the empire with dissolution, 426 ; his great dismay upon discovering the extent of the conspiracy against him, 432 ; his rage against Seneca, 435 ; dooms him to die, 435 ; but prevents the voluntary death of Paullina, Seneca's wife, 436; his earnestness to destroy Vestinus the consul, 439 ; his intimacy with him, his dread of him, and resent- ment for his bitter sarcasms, 439 ; can charge him with no crime, yet dooms him to perish, 439 ; is an insulting ty- rant, and sports with the misery and fears of men, 439 ; his mighty donative to the soldiery, after he had suppressed the conspiracy, 441 ; his friendship for Cocceius Nerva and Tigellinus, and his favor to Petronius Turpilianus and NymphiJius, 441 ; his discourse to the senate and edict to the people, 442 ; he publishes the evidence against the con- spirators, but is sorely reproached by the public voice, 442 ; accidents seeming to presage his sudden fall, 443 ; becomes the jest of fortune, 443 ; is infatuated with hopes of mighty treasure to be found in Africa, 444; hence his fresh feats of prodigality and waste, 444 ; en- ters the public theatre as a competitor for the prizes there, 445 ; his great as- siduity in acting,and court to the judges, 445; is shamefully applauded by the commonalty of Rome, 445 ; such as do not applaud him beaten by the soldiers, 446 ; he employs observers to watch the faces of the audience, 446 ; many are punished for neglecting to applaud him, j 446 ; his acting continued night and day. I 446 ; kill* his wife with a kick, 446 ; pur- j sues the destruction ©f v 'aius i.'assius and Lucius silanus, 447 ; his rancor to- ward Lucius Vetus and his family, 448 ; Is petitioned by Yetus's daughter in his
behalf, but is inexorable, 449 ; his mock mercy to them after they were dead, 449 ; lives in continual dread, 452 ; his cruelty his strongest appetite, 454 ; his vengeance to silia, whence, and her doom, 455 ; gratifies the bloody venge- ance of Tigellinus, 455 ; is bent to ex- tirpate virtue from the earth, 455 ; and to destroy Thrasea and Soranus, 455; sends a speech in writing to the sen- ate against Thrasea, without naming him, 459 ; his death, and what public joy it caused, ii 4 ; his wild profuseness, 16; a counterfeit Nero appears, 74.
Nero, son of Germanicus, i. 109 ; favored by Tiberius, 125 ; his marriage, 125 ; his modesty and gracefulness, 164 : his dan~ ger from Sejanus, 164 ; his imprudence, 195 ; formal accusation against him, 207 ; his death, 209.
Nerulinus, son to Publius ^uilius, arraign- ed and acquitted, i. 342.
Nerva, Cocceius, his dignity and accom- plishments, i. 194; accompanies Tibe- rius in his retirement, 194; in perfect health he chooses a voluntary death, affected with the sadness of the times, 228.
Nerva, Cocceius, praetor elect, distinguish- ed with the ornaments of triumph, i. 441.
Nerva, Silius, consul, i. 200 ; a second time consul, 425.
Niger, Brutidius, i. 147 ; his accomplish- ments and wayward ambition, 148.
Niger, Veianus, the tribune, his trembling and consternation in executing Subrius Flavins, i. 438 ; boasts his own cruelty, 438.
Nile, an artificial lake for the reaeption of its waters, i. 93.
Nobility of Rome, bribed into bondage, i. 3.
Norbanus, Caius, consul, i. 38.
Norbanus, Lucius, consul, i. 92.
Novius, Cneius, a Roman knight, his de- sign upon the life of Claudius, i. 261 ; he is vehemently racked, but does not disclose his accomplices, 261.
Nuceria, that colony supplied, i. 333 ; quar- rel of this colony with that of Pompeium, 364; its inhabitants are defeated, and numbers of them slaughtered and maim- ed, 364.
Nuithones, ii. 332.
Numantina, accused of exercising charms, and acquitted, i. 169.
Numisius Lupus. See Lupus.
Numisius Rufus, commander of a legion at the < >ld Camp, besieged by (Jivilis, ii. 211 ; is slain by command of Valen- tinus and Tutor, 250.
Nymphidius Sabinus, distinguished with "the consular ornaments, i. 441 ; his birth and rise, 442 ; his designs upon the sov- ereignty, ii. 4 ; perishes, 4,
Obultronius Sabinus, quaestor of the ex-
478
INDEX.
chequer, censured by Helvidius Priscus, i.331.
Occia, chief vestal, her death, age, and holiness, i. 106.
Octavia, the daughter of Claudius by Mes- salina, i. 268 ; she is betrothed to Lucius Silanus, 274 ; but withholden from him, 274 ; and betrothed to Nero, 277 ; is forced to dissemble her sorrow and sur- prise upon the murder of her brother Britannicus, 323 ; is falsely accused of adultery, her maids racked, and her innocence asserted, 392 ; the passionate affections of the people toward her, 393 ; a further false charge against her, 394 ; her banishment, and forlorn lot, 394 ; is doomed to die, and executed, 395; her head presented to Poppsea, 395.
Octavius Sagitta banished at the motion of Mucianus, ii. 229.
Odryseans, a people of Thrace, i. 131.
Olennius, a centurion, oppressive conduct of, i. 203.
Omens. See Prodigies.
Opsius, Marcus, his infamy, i. 200 ; meets his just doom, 200.
Oracles, their style dark and doubtful, i. 89.
Orators, question of the payment of, i. 250.
Oratory, dialogue concerning, ii. 390 ; its utility, 394; pleasure of its exercise, 395; fame of the orator, 397 ; neglect of the poet, 399 ; reply, 403 ; are the modern inferior to the ancient orators ? 410 ; Roman orators enumerated, 412 ; criti- cisms on Cicero, 416, 422 ; on Corvinus, 418 ; reply, 426 ; criticism on the mod- erns, 430 ; discipline of the ancient ora- tors, 434; Demosthenes, 439, 447 ; course of study, 440 ; the Rhetoricians, 442 ; absurd questions debated by them, 443 ; oratory thrives best in troubled times, 444, 447 ; no limit imposed on the ancient orator, 448 ; condition of the pleader in the courts, 449 ; true eloquence the off- spring of licentiousness, misnamed lib- erty, 450 ; therefore not to be met with in an orderly state, 452.
Ordovicians, a people of Britain, under revolt, attacked by Publius Ostorius, i. 290 ; they are defeated, 291.
Orfitus, Servius Cornelius, consul, i. 295.
Ornospades, the Parthian, his great power and command, i. 236.
Orodes, son of Arabanes, commands the Parthian army against Pharasmanes, i. 234 ; his speech to his men, 234 ; is rout- ed, 235.
Orphitus, Pactius, fights against the orders of Corbulo, and is defeated, i. 336 ; he is doomed with his men to notable disgrace, 336.
Oecan, the farce so called, what tumults it caused, i. 164.
Osii, a German nation, ii. 335.
Ostorius Scapula, Marcus, son of the gen- eral in Britain, acquires the civic crown,
i. 289 ; a satire upon Nero said to hare been read in his house, i. 383 ; denies to have heard it, 383 ; is accused, 451 ; dies by his own hands, 451.
Ostorius Scapula, Publius, pro-prsetor in Britain, ii. 359 ; routs and slays the re> volters there, i. 289 ; disarms all such as he suspects, 289 ; his successful battle against the Icenians and their confede- rates, 289 ; reduces the Brigantes, settles a colony to bridle the conquered nations, and marches against the Silures, 290 ; attacks them with the Ordovicians and other confederates, 290 ; the great diffi- culties which he found, 290 ; yet gains a signal victory, 291; sends their general, Caractacus, with his wife and brothers, prisoners to Rome, 292 ; and is distin- guished with the triumphal ornaments, 293 ; his misfortunes and losses, anxiety, and death, 294.
Otho, his intimacy with Nero, i. 319 ; his passion for Poppsea, 344; marries her, and extols her beauty to Nero, 344 ; gov- erns Lusitania with great honor, 345; his various character, 345 ; ii. 11; Nero's confidence in him, ii. 11 ; his course of life riotous and expensive, 17 ; his rage against Galba, and envy of ) iso, inflame his inordinate ambition, 17 ; his fears for his life, 17 ; believes in an astrologer, 18 ; his artifices with the soldiery, 18 ; commits the direction of his treason tc Onomastus, 19 ; is saluted emperor by twenty-three praetorians only, 21 ; his behavior to the soldiery, 26 ; his inflam- matory harangue to them, 27 ; orders the common armory to be thrown open, 28 ; the ill effects of this, 28 ; he commands the soldiers to march into Tome, 29 ; re- ceives news of the death of J iso with the utmost delight, 31 ; orders the murder of Laco and Icelus, 33 ; tribunitial au- thority, and the name of Augustus, are decreed to him, 34 ; grants leave to bury the heaps of slain, 34 ; his known vices make him dreaded, 36 ; he suspends his pleasures, dissembles his luxury, and causes Celsus, whom he had confined, to be pardoned, 51 ; dooms Tigellinus to death, 52 ; his letters to Vitellius firs* deceitful,, then abusive, 53 ; attempts to destroy Vitellius. 54 ; appoints consuls, and makes other promotions, 56 ; is sus> pected to have intended public honors tfl Nero, 57; his joy on the victory in ?>lo3sia, 58 ; is struck with fear from an outrage, ous tumult, 59 ; speaks to the soldiery, and calms them, 60 ; his disposal of his army sent against Vitellius, 64; urged by the approach of Csecina, he leaves Rome, 66 ; commits to his brother, Sal- vius Titianus, the management of the empire and city, 67 ; the first motions of the war propitious to < itho, and four more legions join him, 75 ; his forces in
INDEX.
479
Narbon Gaul have the advantage over those of Vitellius, 77 ; he is made un- easy by false news, sends for his brother Titianus, and to him commits the direc- tion of the war, 85; is bent upon engag- ing Csecina and Valens, 91 ; returns to Brixellum, 91 ; his motions no secret to the army of Vitellius, 91 ; his army de- feated near Bedriacum, 95; is determ- ined in his purpose, and waits undis- mayed for an account of the battle, 99 ; his speech and calm behavior before he dies, 99 ; his death and funeral, 101 ; some of his soldiers, from affection to him, kill themselves, 101 ; his charac- ter, 102.
Otho, Junius, praetor, a creature of ?e- janus, i. 147 ; he is condemned to exile, 243.
Otho, Salvius, consul, L 302 ; father of the emperor, ii. 102.
Oxiones, ii. 342.
Pacarius, Decimus, governor of Corsica, his attempt to engage the Corsicans for Vitellius, ii. 79; kills Claudius Fyrrhicus and Quinctius Certus for opposing him, 79 ; is himself killed in his bath, 80.
Paconianus, :?extus, a tool of Sejanus, i. 214; accused by Tiberius, 214; makes satirical verses against him, and is strangled in prison, 238.
Pacorua occupies the realm of Media, i. 397.
Pactius, Africanus, charged with having accused the two brothers of the i^cribo- nian house, endeavors to evade the pun- ishment of his guilt by showing others as guilty, ii. 226.
Psetus, one infamous for accusations and informing, condemned to banishment, i.327.
Paetus, Caesennius, sent to command in Armenia, i. 399 ; his forces, boasts, and folly, 399 ; sad presages upon his pass- ing the Euphrates, 400 ; his ill conduct and vainglory, 400 ; he is not furnished with intelligence, nor with firmness, 400; his foolhardiness and cowardice, with his rashness in dispersing his forces, 401 ; his forces defeated, 402 ; deserts all the duties of a captain, and sends humble entreaties to Corbulo for succors, 402 ; his consternation and that of his men, 403; their despair, 403; expostulates by letter with Vologeses, 404; desires a conference with him, 404 ; his interview with Vasaces, 404 ; his scandalous treaty and concessions, 405; his soldiers insult- ed and treated like captives, 405; his oath and covenant with the Parthians, 406; his march like a flight, 405; he and his men meet Corbulo and his at the Ku- phrates, 405 ; the sorrowful interview of the two armies, 405 ; he urges Corbulo to proceed to Armenia, 406 ; withdraws
to Cappadocia, 406; returns to Rome, 411 ; his dread of punishment, but es- capes it, 411.
Paetus, Caesonius, consul, i. 372.
1 alias, a freedman, a reigning favorite with Claudius, i. 267; his authority with Claudius, 286; advises him to adopt Domitius (Nero), 286 ; his intrigue with Agrippina, 286 ; public honors and extravagant present devised for him, 303 ; his immense wealth, 303 ; is dis< missed by Nero, but without passing any account, 321 ; is charged with a conspiracy, but innocent, 328 ; his arro- gance, 328; his death, 395; supposed to have been poisoned by order of > e- ro, on account of his vast wealth, 395.
Pammenes, a famous astrologer, in exile, i. 451.
Pandus, Latinius, propraetor of Moasia, i. 96.
Pannonia, the legions there mutiny, i. 15 ; they are unruly and debauched, 15 ; the revolt suppressed, 22 ; how many le. gions there, 157.
Papia Poppsea, the law so called, what, i. 122 ; its rigor softened by Tiberius, 124.
Papinius, Sextus, consul, death of, i 245.
lapirius, a centurion, one of the murder, ers of Clodius Macer, ii. 233 ; sent b> Mucianus to destroy Lucius Piso, pro- consul in Africa, is executed by com- mand of Piso, 232.
Paris, the player, charges Agrippina with a conspiracy against her son, and alarms him, i. 325; is the instrument of the emperor's debauches, 327; the emper- or's partiality to him, 327.
Parthia, commotions in, i. 56 ; embassa- dors from, 232 ; intrigues in, 233 ; war with Armenia, 235 ; civil wars in, 251, 278.
larthians, the, seek a king from Rome, i. 56; are dissatisfied with him, and then expel him, 57 ; send embassadors to Tiberius to seek 1 hraates for their king, 232 ; are not expert in sieges, 398.
Passienus, a famous observation of hia concerning Caligula, i. 224
Passions, that of reigning the most vehe- ment of all, L 429.
Patruitus. t?ee Manlius.
Patuleius, a rich Koman knight, leaves part of his estate to Tiberius, who re- signs it to Servilius, i. 85.
Paulinus, Pompeius, commander in Ger- many, perfects the dam for restraining the overflowing of the Rhine, i. 348.
Paulinus, Suetonius, appointed command- er by Otho, ii. 64; his character, 64; signal exploits by him, 85 ; his discourse on the state of the war, and the concur- rence of Celsus and Gallus with him, 90 ; is pardoned by Vitellius, 107 ; gov- ernor of Britain, 360; quells a revolt there, 361.
480
INDEX.
Paulinus, Valerius, a brave officer, and fast friend to Vespasian, diverts Valens from his designs, ii. 162 ; sends after him and takes him prisoner, 163.
Paullina. wife to Seneca, resolves to die with her husband, and has her veins cut, but is restrained from dying by Nero, i. 436 ; ever reverences the memory of her husband, nor lives long after him, 436.
Paullus, Venetus, the centurion, one of the conspirators against Nero, L 426.
Paxea, wife of Pomponius Labeo, dies by her own hands, L 230.
Pedo, commander of the cavalry sent by Germanicus along the confines of the Frisians, i. 42.
Pelago, the eunuch, superintendent of Nero's cruelties, i. 391.
Pelignus, Julius, the emperor's buffoon, made governor of Cappadocia, his ab- surd attempts and vile behavior, i. 301 ; he becomes the hireling of the usurper Rhadamistus, 301.
Peloponnesus divided among the descend- ants of Hercules, i. 184.
People, those of Rome, their grief and lamentation at the funeral of Germani- cus, i. 109 ; their prayers for Agrippina and her children, 110 ; why not sorry for the death of Drusus, 162; their fondness for the house of Germanicus, 162; their extreme debasement, 205; their licentious behavior toward Tibe- rius, 220 : they are reproved by a de- cree of senate, 221 ; their descantings upon the war with Parthia, in the be- ginning of Nero's reign, 316; how sensi- bly they feel the many evils of war, ii. 65.
People of Vienne, their humble submis- sion and application to the army, ii. 47.
Percennius, an incendiary among the le- gions in Pannonia, i. 15; his character and harangue, 15; he is executed by the command of Drusus, 22.
Petilius Cerealis. See Cerealis.
Petina, ^Klia, recommended to Claudius for a wife by Narcissus, i. 273 ; she was once married to the emperor before, but divorced, 273.
Petrse, two illustrious Roman knights of that name, and brothers, put to death under Claudius for a dream, i. 249.
Petronius, Cains, his luxury and accom- plishments, pleasures, and abilities, i. 453 ; is acceptable to Nero, thence hated by Tigellinus, 454; is accused, seized, and opens his veins, 454; his manner of dying, 454 ; his remarkable will, 454.
Petronius. see Turp^liauus.
E'eucini, their situatiw and customs, ii.
Pharasmanes, king of the Iberians, es- pouses the interes ^ of Tiridates, i. 233 ; leads an army into Armenia against the
Parthians, 233; gains the city of Artwc- ata, 234; his speech to his army, 235; he attacks Orodes, and defeats him, 235; his advice to his brother Mithri- dates, 251 ; his treacherous designs and cruelty toward Mithridates and family, 298 ; he aids the Romans, 336.
Philadelphia ruined by an earthquake, i. 85.
Philippopolis, the city of, by whom found- ed, i. 132.
Philopater, king of Cilicia, his death, i. 59.
Phoebus, Nero's freedman, his insolence and menaces to Vespasian, i. 446.
Phoenicians, first brought the use of let- ters into Greece, i. 256 ; but had them from Egypt, 256.
Phoenix, one seen in Egypt, i. 229; the several accounts of that bird, 229.
Phraates, what court he paid to Augus- tus, and why, i. 56 ; is destined by Ti- berius to the Parthian diadem, but dies in Syria, 233.
Phrixus, the oracle of, in Colchis, i. 234
Physicians, Roman, dark picture of the, i. 156.
Pilate, Pontius, i. 423.
Piso, Caius, a conspirator against Nero, his popularity and noble descent, his great accomplishments and his vices, i. 425 ; is jealous of Lucius ;-ilanus, 428 ; of Vestinus the consul, 428 ; the brave advice given him when the conspiracy was first detected, 433 ; neglects it, and dies by opening his veins, but in tender- ness to his wife flatters Nero in his will, 433.
Piso, Cneius, his dispute in the senate with Asinius Gallus, i. 76 ; is a man of a violent spirit, and preferred to the government of Syria in despite to Ger- manicus, 82 ; his character, 82 ; he re- proaches Germanicus, 89 ; insults and hates the Athenians, why, 89 ; his be- havior to Germanicus, 89; hastes to Syria, and corrupts the army there, 90 ; his insolence and disobedience to Ger- manicus, 91 ; parts from him in open enmity, 91 ; his intemperate joy and ex- ultation for the death of Germanicus, 101 ; is flattered by the centurions, 101 ; is prompted by Domitius Celer, 101 ; his letter to Tiberius against the conduct of Germanicus, 102 ; he raises forces, 102 ; his disdainful answer to Marsus, 102 ; seizes a castle and harangues his men, 103 ; his forces flee, 103 ; is forced to abandon Syria, 103; is doomed to vengeance by the public voice, 111 ; his son is civilly received by Tiberius, 112 ; he arrives with his wife Hancina at Rome, 112 ; their magnificent entrance resented by the populace, 112; is ar- raigned, and by whom, 112; hi* trial, 112; the charge against him, 114; liid defense impotent, eccept in one to-
INDEX.
481
stance, 115 ; his judges implacable, and •why, 115 ; the fury and indignation of the people toward him, 115; he finds all things threatening and boding, 116 ; waves all further defense, 116; and is found dead in his chamber with his throat cut, 116 ; his crimes thought to be suborned by Tiberius, who in the senate recites a letter from him, and af- fects to complain of his manner of dy- ing, 116 ; his son acquitted by the em- peror, 117; his sons defend their moth- er, 117 ; their favor from the emperor, 117; the sentence awarded against him, 117 ; it is softened by Tiberius, 118.
Piso, Lucinianus, his extraction, charac- ter, and adoption by Galba, ii. 11, 34; his modest behavior, 14; his speech to the cohort upon duty at the palace, on occasion of the insurrection of Otho, 22 ; is sent to the camp, 25 ; returns, and is encountered by numbers of mutineers, but by the assistance of Sempronius Densus escapes to the temple of Vesta, 31 ; by order of Otho, he is murdered in the porch, 31 ; is buried by his wife Ve- rania and his brother Scribonianus, 34
Piso, Lucius, consul, i. 332; he, Ducen- nius Gemintis and I'ompeius Paulinus set over the public revenue, 406.
Piso, Lucius, governor of Spain, assassin- ated there, i. 185 ; desperate spirit of the assassin, 185.
Piso, Lucius, pontiff, his death and char- acter, i. 219 ; a public funeral decreed to him, 220.
Piso, Lucius Calpronins, his boldness in the "p.nate, and prosecution of L'rgula- nia, i. 75; he pleads for (Jneius Pwo, 113 ; is charged with treasonable words, 168; kills himself, 168.
Piso, Marcus, son of (Jneius, i. 101, 102 ; his reception by Tiberius, 112 ; screened by him from punishment, 117.
Pituanus, Lucius, a magician, cast from the Tarpeian rock, i. 74
Placentia, besieged by t'aecina, ii. 82 ; gal- lant behavior of the besieged, 82.
Plancina, wife of Cneius Piso, instructed by Li via to persecute Agrippina, i. 82; her unseemly behavior and invectives against Agrippina and Germanicus, 90 ; her arrogant joy for the death of Ger- manicns, 101; returns to Rome, 112; se- cures the protection of Livia, 115 ; her ferial, 117 ; screened from punishment by Tiberius, 118 ; again accused, kills her- self, 228.
Plancus, Minutius, a senator of consular dignity, in danger from the soldiers, i. 29.
Plautius, Aulus, the first governor of Brit- ain of consular quality, ii. 359 ; tri- umphs for his exploits there, i. 333.
I lautius Quintus, consul, i. 238.
Plautus, doomed to be murdered in Asia
VOL. II.— X
by order of Nero, i. 390 ; is advised to resist, 390 ; but peaceably submits to die, 391 , his head presented to Nero, 391 ; is degraded from the rank of sen- ator after his death, 391.
Plautus, Kubellius, his great quality, i. 325 ; is mentioned in a plot, 325 ; but not questioned, 327; his nobility and vir- tues, 368 ; is destined to succeed Nero by the public voice, and thence obliged to retire to Asia, 368.
Players, their factions, i. 38 ; they are ex- empt from stripes, according to the judg- ment of Augustus, 54 ; are laid under restrictions, and their wages limited, 54 ; their insolence, 103 ; they promote pri- vate debauchery, and disturb the pub- lic, 104 ; are driven out of Italy, 164.
Pleaders, how mercenary, L 249 ; are de- barred by law from taking fees, 250 ; are attacked in the senate, 250 ; their apology for themselves, 251 ; their fees ascertained, 251.
Plotius 1- irmus, a common soldier, chosen as commander of the praetorians, ii. 32 ; his devotion to Otho, 99.
Posnius, Posthumus, praefect of the camp in Britain, slays himself, and why, i. 377.
Pollio, Annius, charged with treason, i. 218 ; his trial postponed, 218 ; is ban- ished for hia friendship to Seneca, ii. 255.
Pollio, Asinius, his daughter made chief vestal, i. 106.
Pollio, Asinius, the historian, praises Bru- tus and Cassius, yet in favor with Au- gustus, i. 177.
Pollio, Caelius, a Roman commander in Armenia, his perfidiousness and venal- ity, i. 99.
Pollio, Julius, tribune of the guards, his part in the murder of Britannicus, i. 322.
Pollio, Memmius, consul elect, his motion in the senate for the marriage of Nero
. and Octavia, 277.
Pollio, Vinicianus, charged with treason, i. 218.
Pollutia, widow of Rubellius Plautus, doomed to destruction by Nero, i. 448 ; her sorrowful widowhood, and suppli- cations for her father, Lucius Vet us, 449 ; she advises him to die, and dies with him, 449 ; they are condemned aft' er death, 449.
Polyclitus, a manumitted slave of Nero, sent to inspect the state of Britain, i. 378 ; his amazing state and retinue, 8T8 ; is an object of derision to the Britons, 378.
Pompeium, that colony checked by a de- cree of senate, i. 365 ; overthrown by an earthquake, 409. See Nuceria.
Pompeius, a Roman knight, doomed to th* pains of treason, i. 221.
482
INDEX.
Pompeins, the tribune, feared by Nero, and dismissed, i. 440.
Pompeius, Macer, prater, i. 50.
Pompeius, Sextus, consul, i. 7.
Pompeius, Sextus, his reproaches upon Marcus Lepidus, i. 127.
Pompey, his power swallowed up in that of Csesar, i. 2 ; is chosen to correct the public enormities, 124; his remedies worse than the disease, 124 ; his theatre, burned and restored by Tiberius, 151 ; retains its old name, 151 ; was the first founder of a permanent theatre, 366.
Pomponius, Flaccus. his flattering motion against the memory of JLibo Drusus, i. 74 ; is preferred to the government of Mcesia, 96 ; deceives and seizes Rhes- cuporis, 9T ; dies propra-tor of Syria, 228.
Pomponius Labeo, governor of Mcesia, i. 186 ; kills himself, 250.
Pomponius, Lucius, consul, i. 80 ; com- mander in Upper Germany, defeats the invading Catti, 28T ; is rewarded with a triumph, 287 ; he is a celebrated poet, 287.
Pomponius, Quintus, the accuser, his no- torious impudence, i. 223.
Pomponius, Secundus, accused, i. 210 ; his character, 210 ; outlives Tiberius, 210.
Pomponius Silvanus, proconsul in Africa, accused of maladministration, i. 348 ; how acquitted, 348.
Ponticus, Valerius, banished for a fraud, i. 379.
Pontius, Caius, consul, i. 242.
Poppsea Sabina the Klder, her death pro- cured by Messalina, i. 248.
Poppaea Sabina the Younger, her descent, character, and mischievous charms, i. 344; marries Rufius Crispinus, but is carried away by Otho, 344; she man- ages and intoxicates Nero, 344; inflames him against his mother and his wife, 353 ; rules him implicitly, 392 ; is mar- ried to him, 392 ; forges a charge of adultery against Octavia, 392 ; her stat- ues thrown down by the populace, 392 ; her artful and inflammatory discourse to Nero, 393 ; is delivered of a daughter, 409 ; the servile vows and zeal of the senate upon her pregnancy and deliv- ery, 409 ; assists Nero in his cruelties, 435 ; her death and panegyric, both by Nero, 446 ; her pompous and royal fu- neral, with the popular joy for her death,
Poppseus Sabinus. See fabinus, Poppeeus.
Populace, at Rome, their resentments and complaints toward Tiberius and Livia, about Germanicus, i. 117 ; their tumult during a famine, 297 ; their vile be- havior in the contest between Galba and Otho, 24 ; they rejoice at the murder of the emperor, 32 ; many present memo- rials to Otho for reward for their crime,
32 ; just punishment of the authors by Vitellius, 32 ; their dread and anguish, occasioned by two such princes as Otho and Vitellius, 36 ; they raise a terrible tumult, 58 ; are filled with suspicion and distrust, 63 ; want bread, and employ- ment to earn it, 63 ; some of them elated by the public commotions, 65 ; they re- joice when Vitellius is proclaimed, 104,
Porcius, Cato, his infamous practice, i. 200.
Prseneste, a tumult of the gladiators there suppressed, i. 424 ; it causes public ter- ror, 424
Praetorian guards, their institution, i. 7 ; collected into one camp by tejanus, 155 ; honors proposed for them, 213; place Otho on the throne, ii. 21 ; sent on act- ive service by him, 64, 66 ; their treat- ment by Mucianus, 230.
Praetors, Tiberius reserves to himself the nomination of four, i. 14 ; they manage the treasury, 52 ; are employed to pun- ish unruly spectators at the theatre, 54.
Irasutagus,a British king, leaves the em- peror joint heir with his own daughters, i. 372 ; the policy of this, 372.
rrimus, Antonius, convicted of a fraud, L 379 ; his daring spirit, 379 ; expelled the senate, 379 ; his revolt to Vespasian, and character, ii. 124; his speech for dis- patch and pushing the war in Italy, 135 ; is leader of the army into Italy, 137 ; ac- quires great fame by ordering the stat- ues of Galba to be restored, 139 ; as- saults the enemy, 140 ; is re-enforced by the seventh legion, 140 ; and by the third and eighth, 141 ; appeases a tumult, and saves Ampius Flavianus from being murdered, 142 ; is suspected to occasion the seditions which obliged Flavianus and Saturninus to retire, 142 ; when in- formed of the distractions of the enemy, he determines to engage them before Va- lens could head them, 145 ; encamps at Bedriacum, and is informed of the ene- my's approach, 145; his disposition of his army, and his gallant behavior, 146 ; obtains the victory, 146 ; is joined by the whole power of \ espasian's army, who are for attacking Cremona instantly, 147 ; but restrained by his address and eloquence, 148 ; is informed of the ap- proach of the enemy, with six legions, 149 ; the disposal of his army, 149 ; his behavior and management, 150; be- sieges Cremona, 153 : orders the most sumptuous buildings without the city to be burned, 154 ; on sign of submission he orders all violence to be stayed, 155 ; is supposed to have given orders for burning the city, 156 ; is struck with shame, and orders that none should hold as a captive any citizen of Cremona, 157 ; oppresses Italy, debauches the army, and commits rapine, 167 ; finds himself ill- used by Mucianus, and writes to Vespa-
INDEX.
483
sian, 169 ; his speech to pacify the sol- diers at Carsuhe, 175 ; his behavior to the revoltere, and disposal of them, 177; is suspected of treachery, 188 ; he ad- vances along the great Flaminian road, 189; and approaches Rome, 191; is prin- cipal in authority there, 196 ; obtains the consular dignity, 198 ; his power and au- thority quite sunk by the arrival of Mu- cianus, 202 ; is reported to have per- suaded Scriboniamis Crassus to assume the sovereignty, 224 ; goes to Vespasian, •-58 ; his reception and treatment, 258 ; grows daily more despised and despica- ble, 258.
Princes, in what sense the representatives of the gods, i. 131 : the force of their ex- ample, 141 ; their death ever accompa- nied with dismal tales, 161 ; their pas- sions and prejudices unaccountable, 168 : how dangerous to upbraid them, 173 ; they may easily distinguish true ap- plause from flattery, 174 ; their most last- ing monuments, 179 ; always remember sharp railleries, 207 ; how they behold the instrument of their cruelties, 393.
Priscus, Ancharius, impleads Csesius Cor- du.s, i. 149.
Priscus, Caius Lutorius, hia celebrated poem upon the death of Germanicus, and its reward, i. 137 ; is accused by an informer for preparing another upon the death of Drusus, when it should hap- pen, 137.
Priscus, Fabius, leader of the fourteenth legion from Britain, takes the Nervians and Tungrians under the Roman pro- tection, ii. 258.
Priscus, Helvidius, sent to regulate the disorders in the East, and his prudent management there, i. 301 ; why sudden- ly recalled, 301 ; is accused, 460 ; hia innocence, 460 ; his banishment, 464 ; his discourse and sentiments gain him great glory in the senate, ii. 198 ; his great character, 198 ; speech of his, 199 ; as prsetor he consecrates the floor of the Capitol, 235.
Priscus, Helvidius, son of the above- mentioned, executed under Domitian, ii. 387.
Priacus, .Julius, commander of an army under Vitellius, ii. 171 ; abandons the camp, 176 ; on the death of Vitellius, and reduction of Rome to Vespasian, he kills himself, 203.
Priscus, Nonius, a friend of Seneca, and for this banished by Nero, i. 441.
Priscus, I'etronius, banished, i. 441.
Priscus, Tarquitius, condemned for pub- lic rapine in Bithynia. i. 382.
Proculus, Cervarius, a Roman knight, one of the conspirators against Nero, i. 426 ; his confession and pardon, 440.
Proculus, Cestius, accused and acquitted, i. 332.
Proculus, Considius, suddenly charged with treason, and executed, i. 223 ; San- cia, his sister, banished, 223.
Proculus, Licinius, captain of the praeto- rian guards to Utho, advises to engage Csecina and Valens, ii. 91 ; is pardoned by Vitellius, 107.
Proculus, Volusius, helped to murder Agrippina, Nero's mother, i. 427 ; dis- contented with Nero, and threatens vengeance, 427.
Prodigies observed at Rome, i. 297 ; many and various, with their supposed por- tent, 425.
Propertius, Celer, a poor senator, relieved and supported by i iberius, i. 53.
Prostitutes of old punished only by infa- my, L 106.
Provinces, Roman, why not averse to the sovereignty of one, i. 3 ; a decree for preventing their application to the sen- ate for public thanks to their governors, i.409.
Proximtis, Statius, the tribune, one of the, conspirators against Nero, i. 426 ; is pardoned, but offends again, and dies, 440.
Ptolemy, son of Juba, king of Mauritania, i. 170 ; honors paid to him by the sen ate, 171.
I ulchra, Claudia, accused and condemn. ed, i. 189.
Puteoli, dissensions between the senate and the populace there, i. 346 ; digni- fied by Nero with the title of a colony, 371.
Pyramids of Egypt, their immense bulk and situation, i. 93 ; by whom raised. 93.
Quadi, governed by kings, ii. 334
(.xuadratus, Numidius, governor of Syria, i. 299 ; he connives at the usurpation and cruelty of Rhadamistus, yet seems to oppose him, 300 ; composes the trou- ble in Juda3a, and protects Felix, 304.
Quadratus, Seius, accused, i. 216.
Qufestor.ship, origin of the office, and how supplied, i. 261.
Quietus, v luvidienus, banished, i. 441.
Quinta, rlaudia, the vestal, her statue twice spared by the fire, L 198.
Quintianus, Afranius, the senator, a man of evil fame, but active in the conspira- cy against Nero, i. 426 ; he denies the charge long, 431 : is corrupted by a promise of pardon, and informs against Glitius Gallus, 431 ; suffers death with resolution, 440.
Quintilianus, tribune of the people, his motion concerning one of the Sibyl1 a books, i. 220.
Quirinalis, Clodius, his conviction, and voluntary death, i. 332.
Quirinius, Sulpicius, husband to Emilia Lepida, hia mean character, i. 136 : his
484
INDEX.
public funeral at the request of Tiberi- us, 136 , his merits toward the emperor, 136 ; his warlike exploits and unpopu- larity, 1ST.
Red Sea, the boundary of the Roman em- pire, i. 93.
Regulus, the consul, his quarrel with Trio, i. 211, 214.
Regulus, Aquilius, charged as the accuser and destroyer of the illustrious house of the ancient Crassi, and that of Orphi- tus, ii. 227 ; his horrid cruelty set forth in a speech of Lurtius Montanus, 22T.
Regulus, Livineius, pleads for Cneius Piso, i. 113.
Regulus, Memmius, his death and illus- trious character, i. 382 ; Nero's opinion of him, 382.
Remmius, a veteran soldier, slays Vono- nes, i. 97.
Reudigni, ii. 332.
Revels, popular, censured, i. 366 ; defend-
Rhadamistus, son of Pharasmanes, king of Iberia, his ambition and guile, i. 298 ; by force and fraud he seizes Armenia, the kingdom of Mithridates, his father- in-law and uncle, 298 ; and causes him and his wife (sister to Rhadaniistus) to be murderfed, as also their children, 300; is driven out of Armenia with his Ibe- rians, 301 ; recovers it once more, and is more bloody than ever, 301 ; the peo- ple incensed, and he forced again to flee, 302 ; his love and barbarity to Ze- nobia, his wife, 302 ; he renounces all further struggles, 316 ; is put to death by his father, 336.
Rhamses, an Egyptian king, his wide con- quests, i. 93.
Rhemetalces, a king of Thrace, i. 95 ; an- other, 97 ; besieged hi Philippopolis, and relieved by the Romans, 132 ; serves with them against his countrymen, 186.
Rhescuporis, a king of Thrace, his treach- ery, i. 96 ; his imprisonment and death,
Rhine, its course described, i. 59 ; how many legions guarded it, 157.
Rhodes, the city of, often loses and recov- ers its liberties, i. 306.
Rhoxolanians, a people of Sarmatia, in- vade Mcesia, ii. 57 ; their character, and overthrow by Marcus Aponius, 57.
Riots connected with the theatre, i. 53; factions of the players, 38.
Rivers, to alter their courses reckoned unholy, according to the opinion of the Latins, i. 55.
Roman dominions, extent of the, i. 157 ; fleets and legions, 157.
Roman government, various forms of the, i. 1, 175 ; change in its character, 4.
Romans, lost all spirit of liberty under Augustus, i. 4 ; their reasonings and
fears about his successor, 4 ; under the conduct of Germanicus, their great vic- tory over the Germans, 65 ; their gen- erosity to their foes, 107 ; they chiefly delight to magnify ancient exploits, 107 ; are alarmed with the revolt in Gaul, 134 ; inveigh against Tiberius, 134. See Populace.
Rome, city of, its first magistrates were kings, i. 1 ; excessive servility and flat- tery there upon the accession of Tiberi- us, 7 ; extreme public sorrow for the death of Germanicus, 104 ; and expos- tulations of the populace, 104 ; what forces guarded the city, 157 ; mutual fears among all men there, whence, 201 ; many bloody executions, 238 ; great fires, 197, 241 ; its circumference en- larged by Claudius, 285 : its ancient bounds, 285 ; false rejoicings there, 406 ; state of public provisions, 406 ; terrible conflagration, 418 ; terrors and misery of the people, 419 ; the flames willfully heightened by incendiaries, who allege authority for their behavior, 419 ; Nero suspected for the author of this calami- ty, 420 , many public buildings and monuments destroyed, 420 ; public sup- plications and devotions after the fire, 422 ; public rejoicings and inward mournings, 440 ; a terrible pestilence, 450 ; is entered by the forces of Vespa- sian, ii. 192 ; the terrible havoc which eusues, 192 ; calamitous condition of the city after the death of Vitellius, 195 ; uneasiness and terrors there, lest Afri- ca should rebel, 223 ; the city restored to her pacific form, 225.
Rome, office of prsefect of, i. 219.
Romulus, arbitrary in the administration of justice, i. 123 ; his wisdom, 263.
Roscius, Regulus, appointed consul for a day only, ii. 159.
Rubellius Blandus, marries Julia, the daughter of Drusus, i. 228.
Rubellius Geminus, consul, i. 206.
Rubrius, a Roman knight, strange sort of treason charged against him, i. 51.
Rufilla, Annia, her remarkable insolence, i. 130.
Rufinus, Vincius, a Roman knight, con- victed of a fraud, i. 379.
Rufius, Crispinus, husband to Popptea, i. 344.
Kufus, Aufidienus, prsefect of the camp, ill treatment of, i. 17 ; driven out, 19.
Rufus, Curtius, history of, i. 260.
Rufus, Fenius, made superintendent of public provisions, i. 327 ; captain of the guards to Nero, and in credit with the public, 386 ; hence disliked by the em- peror, 386 ; his authority depressed, 389 ; is one of the conspirators against Nero, 426 ; his constant danger from Tigellinus, 426 ; his violent behavior in examining the other conspirators, to
INDEX.
485
prevent being suspected himself, 432 ; is accused of the conspiracy, and seized, 437 ; dies meanly, 438.
Rufus, Numisius. See Numisius.
Rufus, Petilius, a tool of Sejanus, i. 200.
Rufus, Trebellienus, appointed to admin- ister the government in Thrace, L 97 ; accused, and kills himself, 238.
Rufus, Verginius, consul, L 409.
Kugii, ii. 336.
Ruminalis, the tree so called at Rome de- cays and revives, i. 352.
Rusticus, Arulenus. See Arulenus.
Rusticus, Junius, keeps a journal of the proceedings of the senate, i. 208 ; warns them against prosecuting Agrippina and Nero, 208.
Sabinus, Calvisius, charged with treason, i 218 ; commander of a legion under Caesennius Paitus in the East, i. 400.
Sabinus, Flavius, brother to the emperor Vespasian, consul elect, appointed by Otho to command in Macer's room, ii. 92 ; with the forces under his command, he goes over to Vitellius, 103 ; draws up all the forces in Rome, who are by him sworn to Vitellius, 104; he is persuad- ed to leave Vitellius, 175 ; is suspected to envy his brother's fortune, 177; his character, 178 ; he attacks a party of Vitellius1 s men, but is forced to retire, and shuts himself in the Capitol, 181 ; sends to Yitellius to expostulate, 181; is besieged in the Capitol, 183 ; is taken and murdered, 186 ; funeral honors are paid to him as censor, 231.
Sabinus, Julius, one of the Lingones, val- ues himself as being descended from Julius Ca?sar, ii. 237 ; causes himself to be proclaimed Caesar, 246 ; leads a huge host of his countrymen, the Lingones, to invade the Sequanians, 246; he is put to flight by them, and thence the war is stayed, 247.
Sabinus, Ostorius, accuses Barea Soranus, i. 457 ; as also his daughter, Servilia, 461; his charge against her, 461; his great rewards, 463.
Sabinus, Poppaeu^, governor of Moasia, i. 55; his successful exploits against the Thracians, 106 ; his death and charac- ter, 238.
Sabinus, Publius, captain of the praetori- an guards to Vitellius, ii." 128 ; put in chains, 158.
Sabinus, I itius, a Roman knight, i. 166; his faithful adherence to the family of Germanicus, 201 ; by what vile fraud circumvented, 201; he is condemned and executed, 202 ; his last words, 202.
Sacvrdors Carsidius, once praetor, banish- ed, i. 245.
Sacrovir, .'nlius, incites the Gauls to re- volt, i. 13J ; speech to them, 132 ; his deceit, 133 ; his great forces, 133 ; he
holds as hostages all the noble youths of Gaul, 133 ; harangues his army, 135 ; is routed, and slays himself, 136.
Sagitta, Octavius, his extravagant passion for Pontia, i. 343 ; he murders her, and is condemned, 343 : the generous spirit of his freedman, 343.
Sallustius, Crispus, his credit at court, and counsel to Livia, i. 6; aids Tiberius by his counsel, 79 ; his death, favor, and character, 126.
Salonina, wife to Csecina, ii. 82.
Saloninus, Asinius, his death and illustri- ous descent, i 153.
Salt, singular way of producing, in Ger- many, i. 351.
Salvianus, Calpurnius, accuses Sextus Ma- rius unseasonably, i. 178 ; and thence banished, 178.
Salvius, Titianus. See Titianus.
Samos, the people of, claim a right of sanc- tuary to the temple of Juno, i. 63.
Sancia, banishment of, i. 223.
Sanctuaries, rights of, examined, L 144; limited by the senate, 146 ; other claims, 163.
Sanquinius, Maximus, his speech in the senate, i. 214 ; governor of Lower Ger- many, dies, 258.
Sardis, the city of, destroyed by an earth, quake, i. 85; it claims a right to a sanc- tuary, 146.
Sariolenus, Vocula, expelled the senate for endeavoring to introduce the practice of accusing under Nero and \ itellius, ii. 226.
Sarmatians, manners of the, ii. 341 ; their wars with the Romans, 2, 57, 151 ; en- gage for pay on different sides, L 234 ; their conduct in battle, 235.
Satrius Secundus, an agent of Sejanus, L 176 ; betrays his conspiracy, 244.
Saturnius, a turbulent tribune, i. 123.
Saturnius. Aponius, commander in Moesia, attempts to murder Tertius Julianus, ii. 123.
Scaevinus, Ilavius, the senator, a vicious man, active in the conspiracy against Nero, i. 426 ; his behavior and prepara- tions observed by Milichus, his freed- man, 430; is by him accused, and thence brought before the tribunal, 430 ; his bold defense, 431 ; suffers death with resolution, 440.
Scapula. See Ostorius.
Scaurus, Mamercus, offends Tiberius, who conceals his own rancor, i. 13 ; his quar- rel with Lucius ^ylla, 127 ; prosecutes Caius Silanus, 147 ; is accused of adul- tery and magic, 231 ; kills himself, 231.
Scaurus, Maximus, a centurion, one of the conspirators against Nero, i. 426.
Scipio, husband to Poppwa the Elder, his temper and address, i. 240.
Scipio, Cornelius, his monstrous flattery *••
486
INDEX.
Scipio, Publius, his courteous demeanor in Sicily of old, i. 92.
Scipio, Publius, consul, i. 328.
Scribonianus, Camillus, takes arms in Dal- matia, i. 302.
Scribonianus Crassus declines the offer of Antonius, ii. 224.
Scribonianus, Inirius, doomed to exile, why, i. 302 ; J unia his mother involved in his crime, 302 ; he soon dies, 302.
Scribonii, the two brothers of that name compose the troubles at Puzzoli, i. 346.
Sea-fight, mock, exhibited by Claudius, i. 305.
Secular games, exhibition of the, i. 253.
Secundus, Julius, ii. 391.
Secundus, Pedaneus, governor of Rome, murdered by one of his slaves, i. 380 ; all the rest executed, 382.
Segestes, a German chief, in alliance with the Romans, i. 38 ; his advice to Varus, 38 ; his affinity to Arminius, and vari- ance with him, 39 ; he prays relief from Germanicus against his own country- men, 39 ; is rescued by Germanicus, 40; his daughter wife to Arminius, her be- havior and great spirit in captivity, 40 ; his speech and apology to Germanicus, 40 ; his desertion, how variously it af- fected the Germans, 41.
Segimund, son to Segestes, a deputy from his father to Germanicus, i. 40 ; a priest among the Ubians, 40 ; had once revolt- ed from the Romans, but is graciously received, 40.
Sejanus, commands the praetorian guards, L 154 ; his origin and character, 154 ; appointed governor to Drusus, 19 ; his great credit with Tiberius, 19 ; his arts to incense him against Agrippina and others, 48 ; marries his daughter to the son of Claudius, 125 ; this resented by the people, 125; his aspiring views, 125; a statue erected to him by the senate, 151 ; the partiality of Tiberius to him, 151; his mighty sway with Tiberius, 154; how ruinous to the state, 154; his designs against Drusus, 155 ; de- bauches his wife, 159 ; divorces his own, 156 ; at first recommends himself by good counsels, 150 ; studies to destroy the house of Germanicus, 162 ; his wick- ed artifices and instruments, 162 ; he continually instigates Tiberius against Agrippina, 162 ; his excessive power and infatuation, 180 ; he seeks I.ivia (the widow of Drusus) in marriage, 180; reply of Tiberius, 181 ; is alarmed, and urges the emperor to leave Rome, 182 ; his views in this, 183 ; he exposes his life for Tiberius, 195; hence the in- crease Of his power, 195 ; sets himself to destroy the offspring of Germanicus, 195 ; no access to honors but through his favor, this purchased only by iniquity, 200 ; how he managed the prince's cru-
elty, 203 ; his great power and insolence, 205 ; his conspiracy and death, 209 ; his two children executed, and their bodies exposed, 210 ; his effects how disposed of, 213 ; all those under accusation of any attachment to him put to death, 224.
Seleucia, the city of, by whom founded, i. 239 ; its government, and flattery to Ti- ridates, 239 ; it baffles the whole power of the Parthian monarchy for seven years together, 253.
Semnones, their religious customs, ii. 331 ; their authority, 331.
Senate, the Roman, discussion in, on the funeral of Augustus, i. 8 ; humiliating importunity to Tiberius, 12; its con- duct in the affair of Libo, 72, 74 ; inde- pendence of Piso, 76 ; application of Hortalus, 77 ; they meet the ashes of Germanicus, 109 ; their adulation, 142 ; they retain a shadow of their old juris- diction, 144 ; why not sorry for the death of Drusus, 162 ; their fear and flattery, 205 ; their suppleness, 209 ; their syco- phancy to Claudius, 275; they legiti- mate his marriage with his niece, 276 ; infamous flights of flattery upon the murder of Octavia, 395 ; their care to avert Nero's public shame, 445; but to no purpose, 445 ; more flattering acts to Nero, 449 ; decree tribunitial authority, and the name of Augustus, to Utho, ii. 34 ; are insulted by the soldiers, 103 ; and in suspense and terror at the death of Otho, 103 ; all him their thoughts and obedience to Mtellins, 103; are frightened by Coenus, a freedman of Nero, 104; decree all honors at once to \ iti'llius, 165; pronounce judgment on Csecina, 158 ; decree to Vespasian all ti- tles and prerogatives, 197 ; and the con- sulship, with Titus for his colleague, 197 ; also the praetorship and consular authority to Domitian, 197 ; award thanks to the generals, to the armies, and confederate kings, 224; appoint Plotius Griphus praetor in the room of Tertius J ulianus, 224 ; devise an oath, by which they severally appeal to the de- ities, that they had in no degree sought the damage or life of any person, 226 ; their abhorrence of accusers, 226.
Senators not suffered to enter the house of an actor, i. 54 ; many of them fight upon the stage as gladiators, 415.
Senators, poor, some relieved by Tiberius, i. 77 ; others expelled or allowed to re- tire, 85.
Seneca, Annaeus, recalled from banish- ment, i. 277 : his great abilities, 277 ; is appointed with Burrus to govern the youth of Nero, 314 ; his accomplish- ments and fine genius, 314 ; composes speeches for Nero, 319 ; is reviled by Suilius, 340 ; his share in the death of Agrippina, 357 ; incurs popular censure,
INDEX.
487
95T; is traduced to Nero by wicked counselors, 385; their charge against him, aiid their flattery to Nero, 385 ; his speech to the emperor, 386 ; offers to re- sign all his wealth and power, and begs to retire, 386 ; avoids the court, 424 ; his constant danger and abstemious life, 424; his destruction sought by Nero, 434 ; his accusation, defense, and firm- ness of mind, 434 ; his great calmness when doomed to die, 435 ; is anxious for the lot of his wife, 435 ; his exhortations to her, 436 ; orders all his veins to be opened, but without effect, and utters excellent discourses, 436 ; swallows poi- son, but in vain, 437 ; is suffocated in a hot bath ; his last words, and plain fu- neral, 437 ; a purpose among the con- spirators of transferring the empire to him, 437.
Senecio, Claudius, his intimacy with Ne- ro, i. 319.
Senecio, Tullius, a Roman knight, one of the conspirators against Nero, i. 426; is intimate with him, 426; informs against Annius Pollio, 431; suffers death with resolution, 440.
Sentius, Cneius, becomes governor of Syr- ia, on the death of Germanicus, i. 100 ; defeats the attempts of Piso, 103.
Septimius, a centurion, murder of, i. 24.
Septimius, Portius, his character, ii. 138.
Sequanians, the, ravaged by Caius :-iiius, i. 134; obtain a victory over the Lin- gones, ii. 246.
Serapis, god of the Egyptians, sends a man to Vespasian to be cured of blindness, ii. 259; another to be cured of lame- ness, 260 ; history of this deity, accord- ing to the arch-priests of Egypt, 260.
Serenus, Annaeus, cloaks Nero's passion for Acte, L 320.
Serenus, (Jaius Vibius, joins in the prose- cution of Libo, i. 72 ; offends the empe- ror by his remonstrances on that occa- sion, 173; condemned and banished, 163 ; accused of treason by hia son, 172 ; condemned to death, but his life spared by Tiberius, 173.
Serenus, Yibius, the younger, threatened by the populace, flees from the city, but is brought back, i. 173 ; his false accu- sation against 1'onteius Capito, 178.
Servseus, i^uintus, governor of Comma- gena, i. 91 ; is accused, and condemned, 216 ; saves himself by accusing others, 216.
Servilia, the daughter of Soranus, accused with him, i. 461; risks her own life to save his, 461 ; her affecting speech and behavior in the senate, 462 ; is permit- ted to choose her own death, 463.
Servilius accuses Mamercus Scaurus, i. 231 ; takes a bribe and is banished, 231.
Servilius, Marcus, consul, L 232 ; his death and character, 365.
Servitude, with peace, preferred to a peril- ous struggle for liberty, i. 3.
Servius Galba. See Galba.
Servius Tullius, commended for his laws, i. 123.
Sestius, Caius, his complaint in the sen- ate against turning the statues of the emperors into sanctuaries, i. 130; ia consul, 232.
Severn, the river, i. 289.
Severus preferred to pontifical honors, L 119.
Severus Csecina, his motion in the senate against the influence of women, i. 128.
Severus, Titus Alledius, a homan knight, his strange court to Agrippiua, i. 276.
Severus, Verulanus, commander of a le- gion sent to succor Tigranes, i 397.
Sextia, wife to Mamercus Scaurus, per- suades her husband to die, and dies with him, i. 231.
Sextia, mother-in-law to Lucius Vetus, ac- cused, 448 ; kills herself, 449 ; is con- demned after death, 449.
Sextilia, mother to Vitellius, ii. 110 ; her good character, 110 ; her death, 179.
t-'extilius. See Felix.
Sibylline books not suffered to be consult ed, i. 53 ; they are suppressed by au- thority, and called in, 220.
Sicily, privilege allowed the senators of that province, i. 284.
Sido and Italicus, kings of the Suevians. join Vespasian's army, ii. 138, 149.
Siege of Cremona, by Antonius, ii. 152; of the Old Camp, 211 ; of Magontiacum, 223 ; of Placentia, by Caecina, 82.
Sigimer, brother of Segestes, surrenders himself, with his son, to Stertinius, i. 49.
Silana, the wife of Caius Silius, divorced to oblige Messalina, i. 255, 325 ; her char- acter, 325 ; forms a plot against Agrii/- pina, 325 ; is banished, 327 ; returns to Italy, and dies at Tarentum, 361.
Silanus, Appius, charged with treason, L 218.
Silanus, Caius, proconsul of Asia, accused of robbing the public, i. 147 ; guilty, but hardly used, 148 ; and doomed to exile, 149.
Silanus, Creticus, governor of Syria, i. 58 ; removed by Tiberius, because of his friendship and affinity to Germanicus, 82.
Silanus, Decius, banished under Augus- tus, i. 121 ; is restored under Tiberius, 121 ; but arrives at no preferment, 121.
Silanus, Junius, consul, i. 200 ; is poi- soned, by whom and why, 313 ; his in- nocence and great quality, 313.
Silanus, Lutius, engaged to Octavia, the daughter of Claudius, i. 274; unjustly accused of incest, and degraded from the rank of a senator, 274 ; deprived of Oc- tavia, and divested of his prsetorship, 276; kills himself, 276.
488
INDEX.
Silanus, Lucius, the younger, his eminent character, i. 447 ; accused by Nero, 447 ; is doomed to exile, 448 ; is murdered by a centurion and band of soldiers, 448 ; dies like a brave man, 448.
Silanus, Marcus, his flattery of Tiberius, i. 142.
Silanus, Torquatus, his accusation, and voluntary death, i. 416.
i^ilia, why doomed, to banishment, i. 455.
Silius, Caius, commands under Germani- cus in Upper Germany, i. 23 ; is dis- tinguished with the ornaments of a tri- umph. 50 ; directs the building of a fleet, 60; invades the Cattians, 60; takes their prince, with his wife and daughter, 60 ; is dispatched with an army against the (Jatti, 69 ; sends forces against the revolted Gauls, 133 ; the alacrity of his men, 134; his speech to them, 135; routs Sacrovir, 135 ; is arraigned, 166 ; the friendship of Germanicus fatal to him, 166 ; hurts himself by boasting his services, 166 ; kills himself before con- demnation, 167; yet his estate confis- cated, 167.
Silius, v_aius, the younger, consul elect, his speech against mercenary pleaders, i. 250; is obliged by Messalina to di- vorce Silana, his wife, 255 ; the danger of this amour, 255 ; his desperate in- toxication, 265 ; he marries the emper- or's wife, 266; his riot with Messalina, 268 ; is alarmed with the approach and menaces of Claudius, 268 ; is presented before the tribunal, 270 ; begs a dispatch of his doom, 270; his accomplices tx_- cuted, 270.
Silures, a people of Britain, very fierce au.l | hard to be reclaimed, i. 250 ; are defea4- ; ed, 294; yet continue implacable, 294; ; are repulsed by Didius, 294.
Filvanus, Granius, the tribune, one of the ! conspirators against Nero, i. 426 ; is par- doned, but falls by his own hands, 440.
Silvanus, Plautius, the praetor, murders his wife, i. 169 ; and dies by opening his veins, 169.
Silvanus, Poppseus, governor of Dalmatia, ii. 167.
Simon, one of the governors of Jerusalem, ii. 275.
Simplex, Csecilius, appointed consul, ii. 108.
Sinnaces, his great credit in Parthia, i. 236 ; supports Tiridates, 237.
Sirpicus, a centurion so called, the cause i of a quarrel between two legions, i. 19. i
Sisenna, a centurion, flees from the coun- terfeit Nero, ii. 74.
Sitones, their situation and government, ' ii. 340.
Slaves, a regulation concerning them, i. 333; their doom, where one of them killed his lord, 382.
Smyrna, the city of, claims a right to a
sanctuary, i. 146 ; its claim not proved, 146 ; its antiquity, and early friendship to Rome, 192.
Sofonius Tigellinus. See Tigellinus.
Sohemus, king of Iturea, his death, i. 285.
Sohemus created king of Sophene by Ne- ro, i. 317 ; joins the party of Vespasian, ii. 121.
Soldiers, those newly levied in Rome, de- bauch the rest, i. 24 ; their fury and ex- cesses, 24 ; their barbarity to the cen- turions, 24 ; how stubborn in their sedi- tion, 24 ; after a sedition they deliver up the authors to execution, 32 ; their behavior to Galba, ii. 42; to Otho, 26 ; their terrible march into Lome, 29 ; they destroy many citizens, and murder Gal- ba, 30 ; and Titus Vinius, 30 ; all things transacted by their will, 32 ; they insist upon being exempt from paying fees to their centurions, 33 ; advance Jblavius Sabinus to the government of Rome, and choose their officers, 33 ; reflections on them, 37 ; some in Germany break in pieces the image of G alba, to whom just before they had sworn, 40 ; terrible instances of their fury, cruelty, and madness, 42, 45 ; they insist on destroy- ing the Helvetians, who are saved by the eloquence of Claudius Cossus, 58 ; horrible instance of their rage, frenzy, and cruelty, 58 ; are calmed by a speech of Otho's, 60; those in Judsea, Syria, and Egypt, are uneasy that they have no share in the disposal of the empire, 72 ; they burn, plunder, and lay waste, without distinction, their own country, 77 ; their insolence to Annius Gallus, especially of those who had murdered Galba, 84; those of Vitellius let loose to spoil and ravage, 105 ; their outrage- ous behavior at Ticinum, 112 ; great numbers of them discharged, 111 ; they magnify their service to N itellius, 114 ; their behavior in regard to Vespasian, 123 ; many cruel murders committed by them, 125 ; a great mortality among them, 129 ; they doom to death Titus Ampius 1- lavianus, 141 ; are kept from murdering him by Antonius Primus, 142 ; they then assail Aponius Saturni- nus, 142 ; those of V itellius go over to Vespasian, 176 ; their insolence and baseness, 190 ; a cruel instance of their outrage to Gallus, 215; they murder llordeonius Flaccus, 222 ; and are dis- appointed of murdering Vocula, by his escape, 222 ; put themselves again un- der the command of Vocula, 223 ; and again they take the oath to Vespasian, 223 ; new sedition, 230 ; quieted by Mu- cianus, 230 ; their bravery and forti- tude in the Old Camp, 241 ; their de- struction. 241; agitation at Novesium, 243 ; as they are led by Claudius Sanc- tus, a squadron of horse go off from
INDEX.
489
him, and meeting Longinus they butch- er him, 243.
Solon, the Athenian lawgiver, i. 123.
Soothsaying, edict of the senate respecting, L256.
Sophene, region of, bestowed on Sohemus by Nero, i. 317.
"Soranus, Bareas, consul elect, his flattery to Pallas, i. 303 ; is destined to destruc- tion by Nero, 465 ; his excellent govern- ment in Asia, and benevolent behavior there, matter of jealousy and hate to Nero, 457 ; is accused, 461 ; imputations against him, 461 ; tenderness and gen- erosity of his daughter Servilia, 461 ; his concern for her, 462 ; is permitted to choose his own death, 463.
Sosianus, Antistius. See Antistius.
Sosibius, tutor to Britannicus, his treacher- ous counsel to Claudius, i. 247 ; reward- ed, 249.
Spaniards allowed to build a temple to Augustus, L 54; they are desirous to build one to Tiberius and his mother, 178 ; not allowed, 179.
Spartacus never admitted to treat with the Komans, L 151.
Speech, freedom of, how insecure under Tiberius, i. 107.
Speech of Tiberius, on the trial of Piso, L 113 ; refusing divine honors, 179 ; of Germanicus to his soldiers, 30 ; on his death-bed, 98 ; of Seneca to Nero, 387 ; Nero's reply, 388; of Galba to Piso, npon his adopting the latter, ii. 12 ; of Piso to the cohort upon duty, upon the first revolt of the army, 22 ; of Fabius Valens to Vitellius, 39 ; of Otho to the soldiers, 27, 60 ; and a remarkable one before his death, 99 ; of Mucianus to Vespasian, 116; and to the people of Antioch, 120 ; of Antonius to his army, 148; and to his soldiers at Carsute, 175 ; of the leading men of Rome to .^abinus, 177 ; of the followers of Vitellius to him, 178 ; of Helvidius Priscus in the senate, 199 ; of Eprius Marcellus there, 200 ; of Civilis to the Batavians, 215 ; a glorious one of (Jurtius Montanus in the senate, 227 ; of Vocula to Classicus and Tutor, 238 ; of Vocula to the soldiers, 239 ; of the embassador of the Tencterians to the \ Agrippinian colony, 244 ; their answer, 245 ; of Civilis to the Tungrians, 246 ; | of the soldiers of Cerealis, 251 ; of Cere- alis to his army, 278 ; of Civilis to Cere- alis, when the former submitted to the i Komans, 285 ; of Calgacus to his army, 372 ; of Agricola to his army at the same I time, 374.
Bpurinna,Vestricius, appointed command- ; er by Otho, ii. 76 ; commands in Placen- tia, 80 ; he defends the place against Cse- cina, 82 ; sends word of the siege being raised to Annius Callus, 84 ; leaves Pla- centia and joins the army, 92.
X
Statius, Domitius, the tribune, feared by Nero, and bereft of his command, i. 441.
Statues, those of the emperors, become the sanctuaries of profligates, i. 130.
Stella, Arruntius, receives the submission of Sigimer, i. 49 ; appointed to direct public shows, 327.
Stertinius routs the Bructeri, i. 42 ; takes vengeance on the Angrivari, 60 ; with ^Emilius relieves the Batavians, beset with a host of Germans, 61.
Strabo, Acilius, complaints of the Cyrenw- ans against, i. 365.
Strabo, Seius, captain of the praetorian guards, i. 7.
Stratoniceans, their claim to a sanctuary, whence, i. 145 ; what deity they wor- shiped, 145.
Suardones, ii. 332.
Suetonius, Caius, consul, i. 451.
Suetonius, Paullinus, a general of renown, governor of Britain, i. 372 ; ii. 360 ; gains a great victory in Mona, i. 373 ; his vigor and strength of men, 374 ; he embattles his army, 375 ; harangues them, 376 ; gains a mighty victory, 377 ; his army recruited, 378 ; his devastations through- out Britain, 379 ; is maligned and mis- represented by Julius Classicianus, the procurator, 378 ; ordered to resign his command, 378.
Suevia, the riches of that kingdom, i. 288.
Suevians, at war with the Cheruscans, their country and customs, i. 83.
Suilius, Csesonius, an abandoned accuser, L 271 ; he takes an immense reward, yet betrays the cause, 249 ; defends pleading for hire, 250 ; is arraigned, 341 ; his mis- chievous spirit and stubbornness, 341 ; inveighs against Seneca, 341 ; the many charges against him, and his impotent defense, 342 ; is convicted and banished, 34-2.
Suilius, Marcus, consul, i. 285.
^uilius, Publius, sells judgment for money, is convicted and banished, L 174 ; proves afterward a mischievous minister under Claudius, 248.
Suiones, their situation and power, ii. 337; their ships, and manner of working them, 337; their government, 337.
Milpitius, Caius, consul, L 138.
Sulpitius, Camerinus, proconsul in Africa, accused of maladministration, and ac- quitted, L 348.
Sumptuary law, discussion on, in the sen- ate, i 74 ; remarks on, 139.
Superstition, its force upon ignorant minds, i. 23.
Sygambrians, the, subjected by Tiberius* i. 70 ; serve against the Thracians, 187.
Sylla, the dictator, his domination not long, i. 2 ; his regulations, 124
Sylla, Cornelius, for his vices degraded from the senate, i. 85 ; mentioned in a plot, 327; his splendid descent and
2
490
INDEX.
alliance, 327 ; falsely accused and ban- ished to Marseilles, 345 ; suddenly mur- dered at Marseilles by order from Nero, 390 ; his head presented to the emperor, 391 ; degraded from the dignity of a sen- ator after his death, 391.
Sylla, Faustus, consul, L 302.
Sylla, Lucius, his contests with Domitius (Jorbulo, L 127 : he becomes consul, 221.
Syracusans, a decree in their favor, i. 346.
/Syria, that province prays an abatement of taxes, L 81 ; the legions there how much debauched, 335.
Tacfarinas raises war in Africa, L 87 ; his progress and strength, 87; the revolt suppressed, 88 ; renews the war, 119 ; his arrogant embassy to Tiberius, 151 ; is distressed, pursued, and forced to re- tire, 152 ; his strength and stratagems, 169 ; his forces surprised and defeated, 171 ; he dies bravely, 171.
Tacitus, his design in writing these Annals, what, L 2 ; declares his impartiality, 2 ; laments the subject of his history as melancholy and confined, 175; is one of the quindecemviral priesthood under Domitian, 254; and prsetor, 254; laments so many tragical deaths under Nero, and the passiveness of the Romans, 452 ; his advancement by Vespasian, by Titus, and by Domitian, and his design to write of Nerva and Trajan, ii. 2; his digressions on the state of affairs, 2, 93 ; and on the burning of the Capitol, 184 ; during the consulship of Agricola, he is contracted to his daughter, 353; his account of Britain, 353 ; his reflections on the prudence and moderation of Agricola, 383 ; his relation of the death of Agricola, 383.
Tanfana, a celebrated temple of the Ger- mans, razed, i. 36.
Tarquitius Priscus accuses Statilius Tau- rus, and is expelled from the senate, i. 307.
Taurians, a barbarous people, slay some of the Romans, i. 282.
Taurus, Sisenna Statilius, consul, i. 56.
Taurus, Statilius, once governor of Home, i 220 ; his accusation and voluntary death, 306.
Tax, that of the hundredth penny confirm- ed, i. 54.
Taxes, regulations about gathering them, i. 347 ; the true measure of public taxes, 347.
Tax-gatherers, complaints against them, L 347 ; their power restrained, 347.
Telesinus, Lucius, consul, i. 451.
Temple, that of Venus at Paphos, its tradi- tion and customs, ii. 69 ; that of Jerusa- lem described, 272.
Tencterians, embassy of the, ii. 244 ; their territories, manners, customs described,
Tenos, isle of, its claim to a right of sane. tuary, i 146.
Terentius, Marcus, a Roman knight, ac- cused for his friendship with Sejauus, i. 217 ; his bold defense, 217 ; is acquit- ted, and his accusers banished, 218.
Tertius, Julianus. See Julianus Tertius.
Teutoburgium, the forest of, contained the bones of Varus and the legions there slain, i. 42 ; the monuments there described, as also the slaughter, 42 ; the bones buried by the army, 43.
Thames, phantoms seen in its marshes, i. 373.
Theatre at Rome, dissensions and blood- shed there, L 53 ; the usual guard re- moved from thence, 328 ; and recalled, 329.
Theatres, formerly erected occasionally, L 366 ; Pompey founded the first perma- nent one, 366.
Thebes, in Egypt, its mighty opulence of old, i 93 ; obelisks and ancient charac- ters there, 93.
Theophanes of Mitylene, i. 223.
Thermus, Numicius, once praetor, his inno- cence and bloody doom, i. 455.
Thrace, Roman interference in, i. 95, 97 ; commotions in, 131.
Thracians, uneasy under the Roman gov- ernment, and revolt, i. 131 ; are routed, 131 ; their fresh insurrection, 186 ; their defiance and warlike songs, 187 ; their misery and distress, 188 ; their despair and furious onset, 189 ; their defeat, 189.
Thrasea, Psetus, opposes a decree of the senate, i. 346 ; invectives of his enemies against him, 346 ; his apology for his conduct, 347; he provokes the vengeance of Nero, 361; his speech about punishing Antistius the praetor, 383 ; his great in- fluence in the senate, 384 ; his firmness and credit, 384 ; his speech upon the trial of Timarchus of Crete, 408 : is warned of Nero's vengeance, 410; his undaunted spirit, 410 ; is destined to destruction by Nero, 455 ; forbid even to attend Tiri- dates' entry into Rome, 457 ; offers to vindicate himself, 457 ; his great spirit and free speech hateful to Nero, 458 ; reasonings of his friends for and against his repairing to the senate, and attempt- ing a defense, 458 ; his advice to Arule- nus Rusticus, 459 ; the senate beset with armed men upon his trial, 459 ; dismay of the senators, 461 ; his composed and noble behavior when apprised of his doom, 463 ; his conversation with the philosopher Demetrius, his concern for his friends, and advice to Arria his wifr, 463 ; his veins opened, his magnanimity and noble discourse, 464
Thrasullus, the astrologer, i. 224 ; a sig- nal proof of his skill, 224 ; he is dear to Tiberius, 225 ; his son foretold the em- pire to Nero, 226.
INDEX.
491
Throsobor heads the rebellious peasants in Cilicia, L 304 ; is put to death, 305.
Thumelicus, a son of Arminius, i. 41.
Tiberius, the Emperor, his history why falsified, L 2 ; his favor and great com- maud, 4 ; his dissimulation upon the murder of young Agrippa, 6 ; he would seem to decline the sovereignty, yet acts as sovereign, 1 ; affects to derive all his authority from the commonwealth, 7 ; his fear of Germanicus, 7 ; his resolu- tion, and its causes, 8 ; his speech against assuming the sovereignty, 11 ; he is naturally obscure and distrustful, 11 ; is blamed at Rome for not going in person to quell the insurrection of the armies in Germany, 33 ; determines not to leave Rome, 33 ; yet feigns to go, 34 ; he repines at the glory of Gerinanicus, though glad of his success, 37 ; extols him in the senate in a style very pom- pous and insincere, 37 ; his temper and politics different from those of Augus- tus, 38 ; displeased at the proceedings of Germanicus, 43 ; affects self-denial, but gains no public esteem, 50 ; is ex- asperated by satirical verses, 50 ; his letter to the senate, 51 ; is assiduous in the tribunals of justice, 52 ; private jus- tice promoted under him, but public lib- erty overthrown, 52 ; what virtue he long retained, 53 ; his austereness, 53 ; he suppresses all inquiries, human as well aa divine, 53 ; his absence from popular entertainments, to what as- cribed, 53 ; his policy in prolonging pro- vincial governments, 55; not fond of eminent virtue, yet hated vice, 55 ; why pleased with the commotions in the East, 58 ; is proclaimed Imperator by the army, 66 ; urges Germanicus to re- turn to Kome, 71 ; he discourages the restraint of luxury, 75 ; his prudence and moderation, 76 ; he helps some ne- cessitous senators, 77 ; opposes the ap- plication of llortalus to the senate for relief, 78 ; is suspected of evil purposes toward Germanicus, 81 ; studies to re- move him far from Rome, and finds a pretense, 81 ; proposes to the senate to send him into the East, 82 ; encourages no wills in his own favor, but often re- jects inheritances, 85 ; finishes and con- secrates certain temples, 86 ; is consul for the third time, 88 ; his pacific poli- cy, 95 ; his art and dissimulation, 96 ; he turns all things to his own glory, 105 ; lessens the price of grain, 106 ; refuses flattering titles, 106 ; appears not at the funeral of Germanicus, 109 ; checks the people by an edict, for their excessive grief for Germanicus, 110 ; his artful speech to the senate about the trial of Cneius Piso, 113 ; is proof against the temptation of money, 118 ; his strange subtlety and variations, 120 ; his fourth
consulship, 126 ; his dark spirit and dis- trusts, 131 ; his firmness against popu- lar reproaches, 134 ; his reasons to the senate for not repairing to the war, 136 ; his affected moderation, his policy and rigor, 138 ; his letter to the senate about the cure of luxury, 139 ; desires the sen- ate to confer upon his son Drusus the tribunitial power, 142 ; his modest char- acter of Drusus, 142 ; restrains the hon- ors decreed to Drusus, 144; censures extravagant flattery, 144 ; his exclama- tion against the servile spirit of the sen- ate, 147 ; his rigor in the trial of Caius Silanus, 148 ; yet moderates his punish- ment, 149 ; much affected with the ar- rogance of Tacfarinas, 151 ; instructs Bla>sus how to seduce his followers, 152 ; grows more tyrannical, 154; reckons the death of Germanicus a blessing, 154 ; blind to the designs of Sejanus, 155 ; his reign moderate till the death of Drusus, 159 ; shows no concern for the death of his son, 159 ; his speech to the senate, 159 ; recommends to them the sons of Germanicus, 160 ; his ad- monition to the latter, 160 ; his hollow proposal to restore the commonwealth, 160 ; his speech about creating a priest of Jupiter, 165 ; encourages zeal for things divine, 165 ; cloaks his acts of tyranny under venerable names, 167 ; grows rapacious, 167 ; his vengeful and unforgiving spirit, 168 ; how long he retained his wrath, 173 ; he mitigates a severe motion, 173 ; is a shameless ad- vocate for the accusers, 174 ; an in- stance of his mercy applauded by the public, 174 ; his discernment, yet a ty- rant, 174 ; though usually wary and slow of speech, yet in pleading he spoke readily, 174 ; his wise reasoning against admitting divine honors, 179 ; various- ly construed, 180 ; his artful answer to Sejanus, 181 ; he praises and disap- points him, 182 ; what determined him to shun all assemblies of the Fathers, 183 ; grows more cruel, because charged with cruelty, 183 ; makes no answer to the suit of Agrippina, and why, 191 ; retires from Kome, 193 ; his pretense for this, 193 ; the true causes of his re- tirement, 194 ; his life threatened by an accident, 195 ; his bounty to such as had suffered by fire, 198 ; his statue un- hurt by the flames, 198 ; shuts himself up in the isle of Caprese, 199 ; in what fear he pretends to live, 202 ; he pro- tects the ministers of his cruelties from others, but sometimes crushes them himself, 202 ; is solicitous to hide his purposes, 203 ; his neglect of his mother in her sickness, 206 ; abridges the hon- ors decreed to her, 207 ; grows a com- plete tyrant, 207 ; is animated by Seja- nus, 208 ; his prodigious pollution and
492
INDEX.
lewdness, 212 ; his agonies, and the hor- rors that haunted him, 215 ; the sad- ness of the times under him, 216 ; avoids returning to Rome, 221 ; he commands horrid massacre, 224 ; his extreme tyr- anny, 224 ; his presage concerning Gal- I ba, 224 ; is addicted to astrology, 224 ; ; AVOWS his cruelty to his grandson, 226 ; , knows how much he is hated, 232 ; is ' insatiable of blood, 237 ; approaches , Rome, as it were to behold the many tragical executions there, 238 ; his boun- ! ty, 242 ; he is sparing in buildings, pri- vate and public, 242 ; various new hon- I ors decreed to him, 242 ; in settling the | succession he is regardless of the public ! weal, 243 ; he wavers about it, 243 ; ! foretells the cruelty and bloody reign of | Caligula, 243 ; is taken ill, but conceals his condition, and continues his volup- I tuousness, 243 ; ridicules physicians, i 243 ; is near his end, yet feigns perfect ' health, 243 ; is seized with a deep swoon, j but recovers, 246 ; is smothered by Ma- j cro, 246 ; his character, 247.
Tigellinus, Sofonius, captain of the guards j to Nero, polluted with every abomina- tion, i. 385 ; his great sway with the emperor, whence, 386 ; his power grows more mighty, 389 ; he inflames the em- peror's cruelty, and incites him to the murder of Sylla and Plautus, 389 ; urges Octavia's maids to accuse their lady of adultery, 392 ; his prodigious entertain- ment made for Nero on the lake of Agrippa, 417 ; the monstrous scenes of lewdness seen at it, 417 ; by forged crimes he labors the destruction of Fe- nius Rufus, 426 ; is minister of blood to Nero, 435 ; is distinguished with the or- naments of triumph, 441 ; suborns one of the slaves of Caius Petronius to ac- cuse his master, 454 ; a summary of his life and wicked character, ii. 52 ; he is doomed to die, and kills himself, 52.
Tigranes, king of Armenia, reigns not long, i. 58 ; is put to death under Tibe- rius, 239.
Tigranes, the Cappadocian, created king of Armenia by Nero, i. 370; his nobili- ty, education, and servile spirit, 370 ; he overruns the * diabenians, 396.
Tigranocerta, surrendered to (Jorbulo, and spared by him, i. 369 ; its citadel forced to yield, 370 ; possessed by Tigranes, 370 ; its situation and strength, 370 ; well garrisoned and victualed, 370.
Tigris, the river, i. 237, 279.
Timarchus, Claudius, of Crete, his accu- sation and trial, i. 407.
liridates destined by Tiberius to the crown of Parthia, i. 233; his progress and strength, 236 ; he passes the Eu- phrates, and takes possession of several cities, 239 ; the hopes conceived of him by the Parthians, 239 ; his ill conduct
and miscarriage, 240 ; he is deserted, and retires into Syria, 241.
Tiridates, brother to king Vologeses, gains the kingdom of Armenia, i. 301 ; speed- ily loses it, 301 ; his efforts to gain Ar- menia prove abortive, 337 ; he expostu- lates with Corbulo, 337 ; his fraudulent dealings and retreat, 337 ; his perplex- ity and distress, 339 ; his impotent as- saults, 339 ; marches away, 339 ; is be- reft of all hopes of Armenia, 370 ; his advice to Vologeses, 396 ; is crowned by his brother Vologeses, 397 ; meets Cor- bulo, 413 ; lays his diadem at the feet of the statue of Nero, 413 ; undertakes to sue for the same to the emperor in person, 413 ; gives his daughter as a hostage, and writes a suppliant letter to Nero, 414; arrives in Rome to re- ceive from Nero the crown of Armenia, 457.
Titianus, Salvius, brother to Otho, ii. 67 ; has the whole command committed to him, 85 ; advises to engage Csecina and Valens, 91.
Titus, son of Vespasian, promoted the au- thor, ii. 1 ; is sent by his father to con- gratulate Galba, hears of his murder, and stops in Greece, 68 ; visits the tem- ple of Venus, at Paphos, 69 ; consults the oracle there, has an auspicious an- swer, and returns to his father, 70 ; is decreed colleague to his father in the consulship, 197 ; is left by his father to command the army, and to prosecute the war against the Jews, 234 ; his speech to his father at parting, 234 ; his winning behavior to his soldiers, 264; his army described, 264 ; encamps near Jerusalem, 264 ; besieges the city, 274.
Torquata, a vestal, her sanctity and in- terest, i. 149.
Trade, duties upon, regulated, i. 347.
Treason, how common a charge, i. 131 ; the bulwark of all accusations, 131 ; what minute and harmless things pass for it under Nero, such as looks, smiles, and accidents, 432.
Trebellienus, Kufus, made administrator of Thrace during a minority there, i. 97.
Trebellius, lieutenant to Vitellius in Syr- ia, overcomes the rebellious Clitseans, i. 239.
Trebellius Maximus. See Maximus, Tre- bellius.
Treveri, insurrection of the, i. 133.
Triaria, wife to Lucius Vitellius, her wick- ed character, ii. 109 ; an instance of her barbarity, 188.
Tribunes, military, with consular author- ity, lasted not long, i. 2.
Tribunes of the people, their jurisdiction restrained, i. 331.
Tribunitial power, a title devised by Au- gustus, and why, i. 142.
Trio, Fulcinius, an informer, i. 72 ; he a<v
INDEX.
493
Libo Drusus, 72 ; arraigns Cneius Piso, 112 ; advice of 'I iberius, 119 ; is consul, 211 ; his quarrel with Kegulus, 212 ; he leaves a will full of invectives against Tiberius and bis ministers, 237.
Triumphal arch raised near the temple of Saturn for the victories of Germanicus, i 80.
Troxobor, a chief of the Clitseans, i. 304, 305.
Tubero, Seius, commands the horse un- der Germanicus, i. 66.
Tugurinus, Julius, a Koman* knight, oue of the conspirators against Nero, L 426.
Turonii, insurrection of the, i. 133.
Turpilianus, Petronius, consul, i. 372 ; is governor of Britain, 378 ; his lifeless ad- ministration, 378 ; is distinguished with the ornaments of triumph, 441 ; put to death, ii. 5.
Turranius, (Jaius, the intendant, i. 7.
Tutor, Julius, the Treverian, his charac- ter, ii 237 ; commands the Treverians, and shares the direction of the war with Classicus, 241 ; neglects to fortify the bank of the Rhine, 249 ; is routed by Cerealis, 250 ; advises to attack Cerea- lis instantly, 255 ; is defeated, 257.
Tyrants, how miserable and insecure, i. 215 ; how readily forsaken by their ser- vile adherents, 236.
Tyrrhenians, whence their name, L 192.
Tbians, calamity to the, L 352.
Urgulania, a friend of the Kmpress T.ivia, L 75 ; a suit against her prosecuted by Piso, 75 ; deference shown to her, 76 • advises suicide to Plautius, her grand- son, 169.
Usipii, memorable adventure of a cohort of them, ii. 370. See Tencterians.
Uspes, city of, besieged, stormed, and its inhabitants put to the sword, i. 281.
Usurers attacked by the accusers, i. 223.
Usury, the laws against, i. 223 ; its ex- cesses and evil consequences, with the expedients to remove them, 223.
Valens, Fabius, commander of a legion, his speech to Vitellius, ii. 39; revolts with the first legion, and salutes him emperor, 42 ; is suspected of taking a great sum for saving Viennefrom being sacked, 48 ; his prodigality and venal- ity, 48 ; sends letters to the praetorian bands and city cohorts, 54 ; sends forces under Julius Classicus to defend the coast of Narbon Gaul against Otho's fleet, 78; a battle ensues, when the victory in- clines most to Otho's side, 79 ; quells a mutiny and insurrection, 87 ; joins Cae- cina, 89 ; derides him, yet to promote the same cause concurs with him, 89 ; is infamous for pillage and feats of rapine, 105 ; resides at Bononia, and there ex- hibits a combat of gladiators, 115 ; ad-
vances at the head of a huge host against Antonius Primus, 161 ; his scandalous behavior, 161 ; embarks, and is well re- ceived by Marias Maturius, 162 ; is taken prisoner, 163 ; he is slain in prison, at Urbinum, 176 ; his character, 176.
Valens, Manlius, commander of the Italic legion, ill used by Fabius Valens, ii. 46.
Valentinus, Tullius, an embassador of the Treverians, and promoter of the war, ii. 248; his harangue at I, helms, 248; is opposed by Julius A uspex, 248 ; his char- acter, 249 ; joins Tutor, and they put to death llerennius and Numisius, com- manders of legions, 250 ; their reasons for it, 250 ; is vanquished at Kigodulum, and taken by Cerealis, 251 ; his wonder- ful fortitude and intrepidity at his death,
Valerius Asiaticus. See Asiaticus.
Valerius, Marcus, consul, i. 109.
Valerius, Paulinus. Fee Paulinus.
Vangio and Sido, joint kings of Huevia, at first beloved by their subjects, afterward hated, i. 288.
Vannius, king, a Quadian, L 95; made king of the Suevians, i. 287 ; popular in the beginning of his reign, 287 ; he grows insolent with power, and provokes a con- spiracy, 288 ; fights bravely, but is over- thrown and flies, 288 ; is allowed a set- tlement by Claudius, 288.
Vardanes, the son of Vologeses, seeks to dethrone his father, i. 317.
Varilia, Apuleia, charged with opprobri- ous words against Augustus, Tioerius, and his mother, and with adultery, L 86 ; is banished from Rome, 86.
Varini, ii. 332.
Varro, C'ingonius, his severe motion against freedmen, i. 382 ; consul elect, slain by Galba, as an accomplice in the conspiracy of Nyinphidius, ii. 5.
Varro, Vibidius, for his vices degraded from the senate, i. 85.
Varro, Visellius, governor of Lower Ger- many, L 133; he sends forces against Sacrovir, is consul, the tool of Sejanus, 167.
Varus, Alphenus, routs a body of gladia- tors, and attacks the forces of Otho in flank, ii. 97 ; is appointed commander by Vitellius, 171 ; abandons the army, 176.
Varus, Arrius, his character, ii. 138 ; ac- companies Antonius I rimus, 138; is ap- pointed at Rome commander of the prae- torian guards, 195; and praetor, 198; is displaced by Mucianus, and set over the public grain, 247.
Varus, quintilius, the emperor's kinsman, accused, i. 198 ; his trial postponed by the senate, 199.
Varus, Quintilius, i 4 ; scene of the de- feat of, 43 ; Germanicus buries the dead,
494
INDEX.
Yasaces, general of horse to Vologeses, his conference and stipulations with Csesen- nius Psetus, i. 404.
Vatinius, a favorite of Nero, an upstart buffoon, and wicked instrument, i. 415 ; presents Nero with a combat of gladia- tors at Beneventum, 415.
Veiento, Fabricius, his invectives against the senate, i. 384 ; is convicted of sell- ing the emperor's favors, and banished, 384.
Veleda, a German virgin and prophetess, ii. 242 ; is treated as a deity, 245.
Velleius, Publius, routs the Thracians, i. 132.
Venedi. ii. 340.
Venusius, a British general, i. 295.
Verania, wife to Lucinianus Piso, buries him, ii. 34.
Veranius, Quintus, governor of Cappado- cia, lessens the public taxes, i. 90 ; pre- pares a charge against Piso and Plan- cina, i. 100 ; accuses Piso for the death of Germanicus, 112 ; is preferred to pon- tifical honors, 119 ; governor of Britain, ii. 360 ; his death and great reputation, i. 372 ; the servile strain of his last will, 372.
Verginius, slow in declaring for Galba, ii. 7 ; is applied to by the soldiery to accept of the sovereignty, 103 ; refuses it, 103 ; is with much difficulty saved from the fury of the soldiers by Vitellius, 112.
Verginius, the rhetorician, banished for his great fame by Nero, i. 441.
Verona, city of, possessed by Antonius Primus, ii. 139.
Verritus and Malorix, heads of the Fri- sians, go with a petition to Rome, i. 349 ; their behavior in the theatre there, 349 ; are created Roman citizens, but their petition rejected, 349.
Verulamium, the slaughter there, i. 375.
Vescularius, Flaccus, a Koman knight, his part in the ruin of Libo Drusus, i. 71 ; is by Tiberius doomed to die, 218.
Vespasian, his frugality, its effect, i. 141 ; his life in danger for having nodded while Nero acted, 446 ; serves in Britain, ii. 359 ; commands the army against the Jews, 8 ; his great character as a gen- eral, 70; agrees with Mucianus by means of Titus, 73 ; deliberates on the business of war and arms, 115 ; is encouraged by the speech of .Mucianus, and the propi- tious answers of oracles, and determines to strive for the empire, 119 : is acknowl- edged emperor, and has allegiance first sworn to him at Alexandria, 119 ; all the forces in the East, with the provinces, swear allegiance to him, 121 ; establishes a council, 121 ; and promotes many de- serving men, 121 ; invites all to join him who were discharged by Vitellius, 122 : several legions revolt to him, 123 ; dis- patches are sent to Britain, Spain, and
Gaul, 125 ; his forces, led by Antonius Primus, arrive in Italy, 135; they ob- tain a victory at liedriacum, 145; and at Cremona, 149 ; is informed of the bat- tle of Cremona, and hastes to Alexan- dria, 166 ; his scheme for distressing the enemy, 166 ; his sovereignty confirmed by the senate, 197 ; commences consul a second time^ 223 ; receives news of the victory at Cremona, and fate of Vitelli- us, 234; embassadors from Vologeses offer to assist him with forty thousand Parthian horse, 234; hears ill reports of Domitian, and commits to Titus the army for subduing the Jews, 234 ; their discourse at parting, 234 ; he arrives at Rome, and gives orders for restoring the Capitol, 235; said to work many mir.
- acles, 259.
Vestals wont to attend the tribunals, when their evidence was required there, i. 76.
Vestilius, Sextus, accused by Tiberius, though lately his friend, i. 218 ; he dies by his own hand, 218.
Vestinus, Atticus, consul, i. 425; is not concerned in the conspiracy against Nero, 428 ; not trusted by the conspira- tors, 439 ; intimate with Nero, and scorns his vile spirit, 439 ; a great guard sent against him, with his quick and manly death, 439.
Vestinus, Lucius, the restoring of the Cap- itol committed to his care, ii. 235.
Vestricius. See Spurinna.
Veterans, concessions made to them dur- ing their mutiny canceled, L 54
Vettius Bolanus. See Bolanus.
Vettonianus, Funisulanus, commander of a legion under Csesennius Paetus in the East, i. 400.
Vetus, Antistius, a principal nobleman of Macedonia, accused, and condemned to exile, i. 131.
Vetus, Lucius, commander in Germany, makes a canal between the rivers Arar and Moselle, i. 348 ; the prosecution of the work marred by the envy of yEliua Gracilis, lieutenant of Belgic Gaul, 348 ; his destruction sought by Nero, 448 ; dies by his own hands, 449 ; condemned aft- er his death, 459.
Vibidia, the chief vestal, intercedes foi Messalina, i. 268.
Vibilius, captain of the Hermundurians, i. 94, 287.
Vibius, Caius, supports the charge against Libo Drusus, L 72.
Vibius, Secundus, a Roman knight, con. demned to exile for public rapine, i. 372.
Vibius, Serenus, the younger, accuses hia father of treason, i. 172 ; is threatened by the populace with the pains of parri- cide, flees, but is forced to return, 173.
Vibulenus, his speech to the mutinous soL diers, i. 18 ; executed by the command of Drusus, -22.
INDEX.
495
Vibullius, the prater, his judgment con- firmed by the senate, i 331.
Vinicius, Marcus, marries Julia, grand- daughter to Tiberius, L 221 ; his char- acter and descent, 2'21.
Vinius, Titus, colleague in the consulship with Galba, ii. 134 ; is minister to Gal- ba, 5 ; his character, 5 ; the more pow- erful he grows, the more detestable he is, 10 ; shares the sovereignty with Cor- nelius Laco, 10 ; is in the interest of Otho, 10 ; his advice to Galba, 24 ; is op- posed by Laco, 25 ; is killed by Julius Carus, 30 ; his head carried on a pole round the camp, 31 ; is buried by hia daughter Crispina, 34.
Vipsania, formerly wife of Tiberius, mar- ried to Asinius Gallus, L 12 ; her death, 119.
Vipsanius, Lenas, condemned, i. 332.
Vipsanius, Lucius, consul, i. 242.
Vipstanus, Caius, consul, i. 353.
Vistilia, a lady of great quality, publishes herself a prostitute, i. 106 ; banished, 106.
Vitellia, her firmness, L 13T.
Vitellius, Aulus, consul, i. 262 ; sent by Galba to command in the Lower Ger- many, ii. 7 ; above a hundred and twen- ty distinct memorials of the murderers of Galba fall into his hands, all claim- ing rewards, 32 ; he causes the authors to be put to the sword, 32 ; tidings of him put the people of Rome under the greatest consternation, 36 ; rise and cause of the commotion and revolt be- gun by him, 37 ; a short character of him, 38 ; gratifies the cruel revenge of his soldiers, 42 5 dooms to destruction four centurions for adhering to their duty, 43; many forces join him, 43; his stupidity and slothfulness, 45 ; sends letters to Otho, treats him absurdly, and abuses him, 53; attempts the death of Otho, 54 ; writes to Otho's brother with menaces, 54 ; some of his forces in Nar- bon Gaul worsted by Otho's, 78; his forces under laecina repulsed at Placen- tia, 82 ; they are routed, and forced to fly at Castorum, 85 ; which loss rather reforms than dismays them, 87 ; is join- ed by Valens, 89 ; his army under Cas- cina and Valens obtain a victory near Bedriacum, 96 ; the senate and people swear allegiance to him, 105 ; all hon- ors decreed him, 105 ; his army let them- eelves loose to spoil and ravage, nor dared their general to restrain them, 105 ; receives intelligence of the victory at Bedriacum, and of the death of Otho, 105; dignifies his freedman Asiaticus with knighthood, 106 ; he takes no no- tice of the murder of several great men, nor makes inquiry into any affairs, 106 ; celebrates the praises of Valens and Cae- cina, 107 ; orders hia son to be brought,
and names him Germanicus, 107 ; he puts to death all the centurions who had been faithful to Otho, 107 ; hardly ad- mits Paullinus and Proculus to trial, but pardons them, 107 ; punishes Hilari- us for falsely accusing Cluvius, 110 ; dis- charges the praetorian cohorts, 111 ; with difficulty saves Verginius from the sol- diery, 112 ; views the field of battle near Bedriacum without any sign of remorse, 114 ; his train of followers described, 114 ; his partiality in the disposal of the consulship, 114 ; upon news that the east- ern provinces had sworn to him, he be- comes abandoned to all the excesses of cruelty, lust, and rapine, 115 ; grows daily more stupid and slothful, 125 ; hia followers described, 125 ; cities consumed to furnish him provisions, 125 ; his en- try into Home described, and his public speech, 127 ; all the functions of sover- eignty administered by Caecina and Va- lens, 128 ; they both dread and despise Vitellius, 128 ; he humors the common soldiers, and by that means ruins his army, 130 ; solemnizes the obsequies of Nero, 130 ; his prodigality, 131 ; hears of the first revolt, 131 ; sends for sue. cors, 131 ; the remissness of his com- manders, 131 ; he orders Caacina and Valens to take the field, 133; resigns himself to voluptuousness, 158 ; upon receiving news of the revolt of the fleet and of Csecina, he puts Sabinus in chains, 158 ; murders Blaesus, 159 ; feigns thaf all his proceedings prosper, and mur ders those who contradict it, 170 ; orders an army to secure the passes of the Ap- ennines, 171 ; himself, accompanied by a vast number of senators, arrives at the camp, 171; his irresolute behavior there, 171 ; returns to Home, 172 ; sends his brother Lucius Vitellius to quell the insurrection in Campania, 173; wantn to assume the title of Caesar, is ashamed, terrified, and forsaken, 174 ; his troops d.sert and go over to Vespasian, 176; he is deaf to all magnanimous counsels, 179 ; his abject demeanor, 179 ; he raises pity and compassion in all, and offers to abdicate, 180 ; but he is not permitted, 181 ; attempts to escape from Home, 195 ; his tragical death, 194 ; his character, 194.
VitelliuB, Lucius, father of the emperor, consul, i. 229 ; is set over the East by Tiberius, 9G3 ; his variable character, a good governor, a slavish flatterer, 233 ; his management of the Parthians, 235 ; his advice to Tiridates, 236 ; he is the tool of Messalina, 248 ; his great hypoc- risy and falsehood, 248 ; his silence and reserve, 269 ; engage in the counsels of Agrippina, 274 ; falsely accuses Lucius Silanus, 274 ; his servile spirit, 274 ; he prostitutes the office of censor, 274:
496
INDEX.
brings the senate to legitimate the mar- riage of Claudius with his niece Agrip- pina, 275 ; is accused, but protected by Agrippina, and his accuser banish- ed, 297 ; his spirit slavish and insolent, 384
Vitellius, Lucius, brother of the emperor, follows undistinguished in the train of Otho, ii. 65 ; presents himself to the senate to be flattered, 104; proposes judgment against Csecina for his revolt, accuses Blsesus, is appointed to take care of the city, 171 ; storms and takes Tarracina, 187 ; his infamous spirit, 188 ; delivers himself up to Vespasian's party, 198 ; is put to death, 198 ; his character, 198.
Vitellius, Publius, his dangerous march, i. 48 ; collects the tribute in Gaul, 59 ; a friend of Germanicus, 100 ; his speech against Hso, 114 ; receives pontifical honors, 119 ; his death, 210.
Vitellius, Quintus, for his vices degraded from the senate, i. 86.
Vitia, an aged woman, executed for be- wailing the death of her sou, i. 218.
Vocula, Dillius, commander of the eight- eenth legion, sent to raise the siege of the Old Camp, ii. 213 ; a signal instance of his intrepidity and courage, whence he obtains the command in chief, 214 ; is surprised by the enemy in the camp at Gelduba, 219 ; is blamed, 220 ; en- gages Civilis, and routs him, but makes no pursuit, 220 ; thence suspected of in- tention to prolong the war, 221 ; obtains a victory, and narrowly escapes being murdered by his own soldiers, 222 ; in distress, he is obliged to use dissimula- tion with the enemy, 238 ; his speech to Classicus and Tutor, 238 ; he returns to Novesium, 239 ; speech to the soldiers, 239; is restrained by his own slaves from putting a period to his life, 240 ; is murdered by Kmilius Longinus at the command of Classicus, 241.
Volcatius, Moschus, dies in exile at Mar- seilles, and to that city leaves his estate, i. 184.
Vologeses, king of Parthia, i. 280 ; he seizes Armenia for his brother Tin- dates, 301 ; loses it again, 301 ; medi- tates fresh war against Armenia, 396 ; is animated by Monobazus, governor of the Adiabenians, and by his own broth- er Tiridates, 396 ; his speech to his coun- cil, 397 ; crowns Tiridates, and com- mands his general Moneses to drive Ti- granes from Armenia, 397 ; intends to head a great army against the Romans, j 397 ; is afraid of the Romans, his many disappointments and misfortunes, 398 ; his answer to Corbulo, 399 ; his embas- j •adors to Nero unsuccessful, 400 ; ad- i
vances against Armenia with a great host, 401 ; overthrows the forces of Pse- tus, 402 ; besieges him in his camp, 403 ; his answer to Pa>tus, 404 ; takes pos- session of the Roman fortresses and stores, 405 ; raises a pompous trophy, 405 ; his message to Corbulo, and the answer of the latter, 406 ; sends other embassadors to Rome, 410 ; his letters and offers, 410 ; the embassadors dis- missed with presents, but without suc- cess, 411 ; demands a truce, 412 ; his tenderness for the honor of Tiridatee his brother, and request to Corbulo on his behalf, 414.
Volusius, Lucius, his death, preferments and character, i. 126, 332.
Volusius, Quintus, consul, i. 328 ; is ap- pointed to assess the Gauls, 382.
Vonones, king of 1 arthia, his unpopular- ity and expulsion, i. 57 ; he finds a re- treat and a crown in Armenia, 58 ; but is forced to relinquish it, 58 ; he is held a captive by the l.omans, 58; is re- moved to Pompeiopolis, in Cilicia, 91 ; his great court and presents to Plancina, 92 ; he escapes, is taken and slain, 95.
Vonones, governor of Media, created king of Parthia, i. 281 ; his short reign, 281.
Wahal, a branch of the Rhine, i. 59.
Wives, those of provincial magistrates generally sharers in the guilt of their husbands, i. 128 ; apt to meddle in af- fairs, and to be corrupted in the absence of their husbands, 129.
Women, British, their frantic behavior in their armies, i. 372 ; the German, ii. 308.
Women, laws against the licentiousness of, i. 106 ; their counsel the worst, 430.
Writers, their punishment gains credit to their writings, i. 178.
Writings, obnoxious and forbidden, are eagerly read, i. 384 ; otherwise neglect- ed, 384.
Xenophon, physician to Claudius, his cred- it, i. 308; helps to poison his master, 312.
Zeal, popular, too mighty for magistracy and laws, i. 144.
Zeno of Pontus, made king of Armenia by Germanicus, i. 90.
Zenobia, wife to Rhadamistus, wounded by her husband and thrown into the River Araxes, i. 302 ; saved by some shepherds, and entertained by Tiri- dates, 302.
Zorsines, king of the Siracians, i. 281 ; assists Mithridates of Bosporus, 282 ; deserts him, and submits to the Ro» mans, 282.
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Handbook of Greek and Roman History
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Outlines of General History
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This General History possesses certain features and ad- vantages which distinguishes it from all other text-books of its class. While designed primarily for use as a text-book, it presents such a conspectus of the history of the whole world as admirably adapts it for the use of special students and of general readers. The special feature which char- acterizes the book most is the interesting style in which it is written, the story from beginning to end being told simply and clearly, and yet in a most attractive manner. The book gives in brief compass a comprehensive outline of the history of the whole world, but a larger proportional space is given to mediaeval and modern history than in most other text-books in recognition of the relation of those later periods to the present status of the world's history. To this end also the great events of the nine- teenth century are especially emphasized. Throughout the book the author has sought to point out the signifi- cance of events so that they should clearly explain later historical developments.
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186 4
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101 00301 6079
PA Tacitus, Cornelius 6708 Works. The Oxford Al translation, rev. 19— v.2
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