 Book 1 Part 4 of the Annals by Publius Conellius Tacitus Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Annals by Publius Conellius Tacitus Volume 1 Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib Book 1 A.D. 14 and 15 part 4 and So the Roman army now on the spot Six years after the disaster in grief and anger began to bury the bones of the three legions Not a soldier knowing whether he was in touring the relics of a Frelative or a stranger But looking on all is kinsfolk and of their own blood while their wrath rose higher than ever against the foe in Raising the barrow Caesar laid the first sod Rendering thus a most welcome honor to the dead and sharing also in the sorrow of those present This Tiberius did not approve either interpreting unfavorably every act of Germanicus Or because he thought that the spectacle of the slain and unburied made the army slow to fight and more afraid of the enemy and That a general invested with the augury and its very ancient ceremonies ought not to have polluted himself with funeral rites Germanicus however pursued Arminius as he fell back into trackless wilds And as soon as he had the opportunity ordered his cavalry to sally forth and scour the planes occupied by the enemy Arminius having bitten his men to concentrate themselves and keep close to the woods Suddenly wheeled round and soon gave those whom he had concealed in the forest passes the signal to rush to the attack Thereupon our cavalry was thrown into disorder by this new force and some cohorts in reserve were sent Which broken by the shock of flying troops increased the panic They were being pushed into a swamp well known to the victorious assailants Perilous to men unacquainted with it when Caesar led forth his legions in battle array This struck terror into the enemy and gave confidence to our men and they separated without advantage to either Soon afterwards Germanicus led back his army to the Amicia Taking his legions by the fleet as he had brought them up Part of the cavalry was ordered to make for the Rhine along the seacoast Chikina who commanded a division of his own was advised though He was returning by a route which he knew to pass long bridges with all possible speed This was a narrow road amid vast swamps, which had formerly been constructed by Lucius Domitius On each side were quagmires of thick clinging mud or perilous with streams Around were woods of a gradual slope which Arminius now completely occupied as soon as by a short route in quick March He had outstripped troops heavily laden with baggage and arms As Chikina was in doubt how he could possibly replace bridges which were ruinous with age And at the same time hold back the enemy he resolved to encamp on the spot that some might begin the repair and others the attack The barbarians attempted to break through the outposts and throw themselves on the engineering parties Which they harassed pacing round them and continually charging them There was a confused din from the men at work and the combatants Everything alike was unfavorable to the Romans the place with its deep swamps Insecured to the foot and slippery as one advanced limbs burdened with coats of mail and the impossibility of aiming their javelins amid the water The Cheruski on the other hand were familiar with fighting and fens They had huge frames and lances long enough to inflict wounds even at a distance Knight at last released the legions which were now wavering from a disastrous engagement The Germans whom success rendered unwirried Without even then taking any rest turned all the streams which rose from the slopes of the surrounding hills into the lands beneath The ground being thus flooded and the completed portion of our works submerged the soldiers labor was doubled This was Kaikina's 40th campaign as a subordinate or a commander and With such experience of success and peril. He was perfectly fearless As he thought over future possibilities He could devise no plan but to keep the enemy within the woods till the wounded and the more encumbered troops were in advance For between the hills and the swamps there stretched a plane which would admit of an extended line The legions had their assigned places the fifth on the right wing the 21st on the left The men of the first to lead the van and the 20th to repel pursuers It was a restless night for different reasons The barbarians in their festivity filling the valleys under the hills and the echoing glens with Mary song or savage Shouts while in the Roman camp were flickering fires Broken exclamations and the men lay scattered along the entrenchments or wandering from tent to tent Wakeful rather than watchful a Gasly dream appalled the general he seemed to see Quintilius Varus covered with blood Rising out of the swamps and to hear him as it were calling to him But he did not as he imagined obey the call He even repelled his hand as he stretched it over to him At daybreak the legions posted on the wings from panic or perversity deserted their position and hastily occupied a plane beyond the morass Yet Arminius though free to attack did not at the moment rush out on them But when the baggage was clogged in the mud and in the fossils the soldiers around it in disorder The array of the standards in confusion Everyone in selfish haste and all ears deft to the word of command he ordered the Germans to charge exclaiming again and again Behold of Varus and legions once more entangled in Varus's fate As he spoke he cut through the columns with some picked men inflicting wounds chiefly on the horses Staggering in their blood on the slippery marsh they took off their riders Driving hither and thither all in their way and trampling on the fallen The struggle was hottest around the Eagles which could neither be carried in the face of the storm of missiles Nor planted in the myreres soil Kaikina while he was keeping up the battle fell from his horse Which was pierced under him and was being hemmed in when the first legion threw itself in the way The greed of the foe helped him For they left the slaughter to secure the spoil and the legions towards evening struggled on to an open and firm ground Nor did this end their miseries Entrenchments had to be thrown up Materials sought for earthworks while the army had lost to a great extent their implements for digging earth and cutting turf There were no tents for the rank and file No comforts for the wounded as they shared their food soiled by mire or blood They bewildered the darkness with its awful omen and the one day which yet remained to so many thousand men It chanced that a horse which had broken its halter and wandered wildly in fright at the uproar Overthrough some men against whom it dashed Then arose such a panic from the belief that the Germans had burst into the camp that all rushed to the gates of These the Decoumen gate was the point chiefly sought as it was furthest from the enemy and safer for flight Kaikina having a certain that the alarm was groundless yet being unable to stop or stay the soldiers by authority or in treaties Or even by force threw himself to the ground in the gateway and At last by an appeal to their pity as they would have had to pass over the body of their commander close the way At the same moment the tribunes and the centurions convinced them that it was a false alarm Having then assembled them at his headquarters and ordered them to hear his words in silence. He reminded them of the urgency of the crisis Their safety he said Lay in their arms, which they must however use with discretion They must remain within the entrenchments till the enemy approached closer in the hope of storming them Then there must be a general sortie by that sortie. The Rhine must be reached Whereas if they fled more forest deeper swamps and a savage foe awaited them But if they were victorious glory and renown would be theirs He dwelt on all that was dear to them at home all that testified to their honor in the camp without any illusion to disaster Next he handed over the horses beginning with his own of the officers and tribunes to the bravest fighters in the army Quite impartially that these first and then the infantry might charge the enemy There was as much restlessness in the German host with his hopes its eager longings and the conflicting opinions of its chiefs Arminius advised that they should allow the Romans to quit their position And when they had quitted it again surprised them in swampy and intricate ground In Guiomaris with fiercer councils Hardly welcomed to barbarians was for beleaguering the entrenchments in armed array as to storm them would he said be easy And there would be more prisoners in the booty unspoilt So at daybreak they trampled in the fossils flung hurdles into them Sees the upper part of the breastwork where the troops were thinly distributed and seemingly paralyzed by fear When they were fairly within the fortifications the signal was given to the cohorts the horns and trumpets sounded Instantly with a shout and a sudden rush our men threw themselves on the German rear with taunts That here were no woods or swamps, but that they were on equal ground with equal chances The sound of trumpets the gleam of arms which are so unexpected Burst with all the greater effect on the enemy Thinking only as they were of the easy destruction of a few half armed men and they were struck down as Unprepared for reverse as they had been elated by success Arminius and in Guiomaris fled from the battle the first unhurt the other severely wounded Their followers were slaughtered as long as our fury and the light of day lasted It was not till night that the legions returned and though more wounds and the same one to provisions distress them Yet they found strength healing sustenance everything indeed in their victory Meanwhile a rumor had spread that our army was cut off and that a furious German host was marching on gall And had not agrippina prevented the bridge over the Rhine from being destroyed Some in their cowardice would have dared that base act a Woman of heroic spirit she assumed during those days the duties of a general and Distributed clothes or medicine among the soldiers as they were destitute or wounded According to Gaius Plinius the historian of the German wars She stood at the extremity of the bridge and bestowed praise and thanks on the returning legions This made a deep impression on the mind of Tiberius Such zeal he thought could not be guiltless It was not against a foreign foe that she was thus courting the soldiers Generals had nothing left them when a woman went among the companies attended the standards Ventured on bribery as though it showed but slight ambition to parade her son in a common soldiers uniform and wish him to be called Caesar Caligula Agrippina had now more power with the armies than officers than generals a woman had quelled a mutiny Which the sovereign's name could not check? All this was inflamed and aggravated by Sejanus Who with his thorough comprehension of the character of Tiberius? Sewed for a distant future hatreds which the emperor might treasure up and might exhibit when fully matured of The legions which he conveyed by ship Germanicus gave the second and 14th to Publius Vitelius to be marched by land So that the fleet might sail more easily over a sea full of shoals or take the ground more lightly at the Ebtide Vitelius at first pursued his route without interruption Having a dry shore or the waves coming in gently After a while through the force of the north wind and the equinotial season When the sea swells to its highest his army was driven and tossed hither and thither The country too was flooded sea shore fields presented one aspect Nor could the treacherous quicksands be distinguished from solid ground or shallows from deep water Men were swept away by the waves or sucked under by eddies Beasts the Burton baggage lifeless bodies floated about and blocked their way The companies were mingled in confusion now with the breast now with the head only above water Sometimes losing their footing imparted from their comrades or drowned The voice of mutual encouragement availed not against the adverse forces of the waves There was nothing to distinguish the brave from the coward the prudent from the careless forethought from chance the same strong power swept everything before it At last Vitelius struggled out to higher ground and let his men up to it There they passed the night without necessary food without fire Many of them with bare or bruised limbs and a plight as pitiable as that of men besieged by an army For such at least have the opportunity of a glorious death while here was destruction without honor Daylight restored land to their site and they pushed their way to the river Visorgius where Caesar had arrived with the fleet The legions then embarked while a rumor was flying about that they were drowned Nor was there a belief in their safety till they saw Caesar and the army returned By this time Sturtinius who had been dispatched to receive the surrender of Segui Marus Brother of Segui Estes had conducted the chief together with his son to the canton of the Ubi Both were pardoned Segui Marus readily the son with some Hedgetation because it was said that he insulted the corpse of Quintilius Varus Meanwhile Gaul Spain and Italy vied in repairing the losses of the army Offering whatever they had at hand arms horses gold Geomanicus having praised their zeal took only for the war their arms and horses and Relieved the soldiers out of his own purse and that he might also soften the remembrance of the disaster by kindness He went round to the wounded applauded the feats of a soldier after soldier Examine their wounds raise the hopes of one the ambition of another and the spirits of all by his encouragement and interest Thus strengthened their ardor for himself and for battle That year triumphal honors were decreed to Aulis Chaiquina Luchius Apronius and Gaius Cilius for their achievements under Geomanicus The title of father of his country which the people had so often thrust on him Tiberius refused Nor would he allow obedience to be sworn to his enactments though the Senate voted it for he said Repeatedly that all human beings were uncertain and the more he had obtained the more precarious was his position But he did not thereby create a belief in his patriotism For he had revived the law of treason the name of which indeed was known in ancient times Though other matters came under its jurisdiction such as the betrayal of an army or seditious stirring up of the people or In short any corrupt act by which a man had impaired the majesty of the people of Rome Deeds only reliable to accusation words went unpunished It was Augustus who first under color of this law Applied legal inquiry to libelous writings provoked as he had been by the licentious freedom With which Cassius Severus had defamed men and women of distinction in his insulting satires Soon afterwards Tiberius when consulted by Pompeus Macer the praetor as to whether Prosecutions for treason should be revived Reply that the laws must be enforced He too had been exasperated by the publication of verses of uncertain authorship Pointed at his cruelty his arrogance and his dissensions with his mother It will not be uninteresting if I relate in the cases a felonious and ruberious Roman knights of moderate fortune the first experiments in such accusations in order to explain the origin of a most terrible Scourge how by Tiberius's cunning it crept in among us how Subsequently it was checked finally how it burst into flame it consumed everything Against felonious it was alleged by his accuser that he had admitted among the votaries of Augustus Who in every great house were associated into a kind of brotherhood One Cassius a buffoon of infamous life and then he had also in selling his gardens included in the sale a statue of Augustus Against Ruberius the charge was that he had violated Bipurgery the divinity of Augustus when this was known to Tiberius he wrote to the consuls that His father had not had a place in heaven decreed to him that the honor might be turned to the destruction of the citizens Cassius the actor with men of the same profession Used to take part in the games which had been consecrated by his mother to the memory of Augustus Nor was it contrary to the religion of the state for the emperor's image Like those of other deities to be added to the sale of gardens and houses As to the oath the thing ought to be considered as if the man had deceived Jupiter Wrong done to the gods were the gods concerns Not long afterwards Granius Marcellus Procouncil of Bethenia was accused of treason by his questor Caipio Crispinus and the charge was supported by Romanus his bow Crispinus then entered on a line of life afterwards rendered notorious by the miseries of the age and men's shamelessness Needy obscure and restless He warned himself by stealthy informations into the confidence of a vindictive prince and soon imperiled all the most distinguished citizens and having thus gained influence with one Hatred from all besides he left an example in following which Beggars became wealthy the insignificant formidable and brought ruin first on others finally on themselves He alleged against Marcellus that he had made some disrespectful remarks about Tiberius a charge not to be evaded In so much as the accuser selected the worst features of the emperor's character and grounded his case on them The things were true and so were believed to have been said Hyspil added that Marcellus had placed his own statue above those of the Caesars and had set a bust of Tiberius on Another statue from which he had struck off the head of Augustus At this the emperor's wrath blazed forth and breaking through his habitual silence He exclaimed that in such a case he would himself to give his vote openly on oath And that the rest might be under the same obligation They're lingered even then a few signs of expiring freedom and so Nius Piso asked In what order will you vote Caesar if first I shall know what to follow if last I fear that I might differ from you unwillingly Tiberius was deeply moved and repenting of the outburst all the more because of its thoughtlessness He quietly allowed the accused to be acquitted of the charges of treason as for the question of extortion It was referred to a special commission Not satisfied with judicial proceedings in the Senate the emperor would sit at one end of the praetor's tribunal But so as not to displace him from the official seat Many decisions were given in his presence in opposition to improper influence and the solicitations of great men This though it promoted justice ruined freedom Pius Aurelius for example a senator complained that the foundations of his house had been weakened by the pressure of a public road and Aqueduct and he appealed to the Senate for assistance He was opposed by the praetor's of the treasury But the emperor helped him and paid him the value of his house for he liked to spend money on a good purpose a Virtue which he'd long retained when he had cast off all others To Fort Pertius Keller an ex praetor who sought because of his indigence to be excused from his rank as a senator He gave a million sister she's having a certain that he had inherited poverty He bade others who attempted the same prove their case to the Senate as for the love of strictness He was harsh even when he acted on right grounds Consequently everyone else preferred silence and poverty to confession and relief In the same year that Tiber swollen by continuous rains flooded the levels portions of the city Its subsidence was followed by destruction of buildings and of life Thereupon a sinious gallus proposed to consult the Sibyline books Tiberius refused veiling in obscurity the divine as well as the human However, the devising of means to confine the river was entrusted to Ateus Capito and Lucius Aruntius Achaia and Macedonia on complaining of their burdens were it was decided to be relieved for a time from proconsular government and to be transferred to the emperor Drusus provided over a show of gladiators which he gave in his own name and then that of his brother Germanicus For he gloated intensely over bloodshed. However cheap its victims This was alarming to the populace and his father had it was said rebuked him Why Tiberius kept away from the spectacle was variously explained According to some it was his loathing of a crowd According to others his gloomy temper and a fear of contrast with the gracious presence of Augustus I cannot believe that he deliberately gave his son the opportunity of displaying his ferocity and provoking the people's discuss Though even this was said Meanwhile the unruly tone of the theater Which first showed itself in the preceding year broke out with worst violence and some soldiers and a centurion Besides others of the populace were killed and the tribune of the praetorian cohort was wounded while they were trying to stop insults to the magistrates and the strife of the mob This disturbance was the subject of a debate in the Senate and opinions were expressed in favor of the praetors having authority to scourge actors Hattarius Agrippa Tribune of the people interposed his veto and was sharply centered in a speech From a sinious gallus without a word from Tiberius who liked to allow the Senate such shows of freedom Still the interposition was successful Because Augustus had once pronounced that actors were exempt from the scourge and it was not lawful for Tiberius to infringe his decisions Many enactments were passed to fix the amount of their pay and to check the disorderly behavior of their partisans of These the chief were that no senator should enter the house of a pantomime player That Roman knights should not crowd round them in the public streets And that they should exhibit themselves only in the theater and that praetor should be empowered to punish with Banishment any riotous conduct in the spectators a Request from the Spaniards that they might erect a temple to Augustus in the colony of Tarako was granted and a precedent thus given for all the provinces When the people of Rome asked for a remission of the 1% tax on all saleable commodities Tiberius declared by edict that the military exchequer depended on that branch of revenue and Further that the state was unequal to the burden Unless the 20th year of service was to be that of a veteran's discharge Thus the ill-advised results of the late mutiny by which the limit of 16 campaigns have been extorted were cancelled for the future a question was then raised in the Senate by Aruntius and Ateus whether in order to restrain the inundations of the Tiber the rivers and lakes which swell its water should be diverted from their courses a Hearing was given to embassies from the municipal towns and colonies and the people of Florentia Begged that the clanists might not be turned out of its channel and made to flow into the Arnus as that would bring ruin on themselves Similar arguments were used by the inhabitants of interam now The most fruitful planes of Italy. They said would be destroyed if the River Nara for this was the plan proposed Were to be divided into several streams and overflow the country Nor did the people of Reate remain silent They remonstrated against the closing up of the Veline Lake which empties itself into the Nara as it would burst in a flood on the entire Neighborhood nature had admirably provided for human interests and having assigned to the rivers their mouths their channels and their limits as Well as their sources Regard too must be paid to the different religions of the allies who had dedicated sacred rites Groves and altars to the rivers of their country Tiber himself would be altogether unwilling to be deprived of his neighboring streams and to flow with less glory Either the entreaties of the colonies or the difficulty of the work or superstitious motives prevailed and they yielded to Piso's opinion who declared himself against any change Pope Pius Sabinus was continued in his government of the province of Moesia with the addition of a Kaia and Macedonia It was part of Tiberius's character to prolong indefinitely Military commands and to keep many men to the end of their life with the same armies and in the same administrations Various motives had been assigned for this some say that out of adversion to any fresh anxiety He retained what he had once approved is a permanent arrangement Others that he grudged to see many enjoying promotion Some again think that though he had an acute intellect his judgment was irresolute For he did not seek our eminent merit yet. He detested vice From the best man he apprehended danger to himself from the worst disgrace to the state He went so far at last in this irresolution that he appointed to the provinces men whom he did not mean to allow to leave Rome and of book one part four Book two part one of the annals by Publius Cornelius Tacitus volume one This is a liver vox recording all liver vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer Please visit liver vox.org Recording by James Christopher Jx Christopher at yahoo.com the annals by Publius Cornelius Tacitus volume one Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Bodrib Book two ad 16 to 19 part one in The consul ship of Sustenus Stadillus Tarsus and Lucius Lebo There was a commotion in the kingdoms in Roman provinces of the east It had its origin among the Parthians who disdained as a foreigner a king whom they had sought and received from Rome Though he was of the family of the Arsacids This was Venones who had been given as a hostage to Augustus by Freyates For although he had driven before him armies and generals from Rome Freyates had shown to Augustus every token of reverence and it sent him some of his children to cement the friendship Not so much from dread of us as from distrust of the loyalty of his countrymen After the death of Freyates and the succeeding kings in the bloodshed of civil wars There came to Rome envoys from the chief men of Parthia in quest of Venones his eldest son Caesar thought this a great honor to himself and loaded Venones with wealth The barbarians too welcomed him with rejoicing as is usual with new rulers Soon they felt shame at Parthians having become degenerate at their having sought a king from another world One too infected with the training of the enemy at the throne of the Arsacids now being possessed and given away among the provinces of Rome Where they asked was the glory of the men who slew Crassus who drove out Antonius if Caesar's drudge After an endurance of so many years slavery were to rule over the Parthians Venones himself too further provoked their disdain by his contrast with their ancestral manners by his rare indulgence in the chase by his feeble interest in horses And by the litter in which he was carried whenever he made a progress through their cities and by his contemptuous dislike of their national festivities They also were to kill to his Greek attendance and his keeping under seal the commonest household articles But he was easy of approach His courtesy was open to all and he had thus virtues with which the Parthians were unfamiliar and vices new to them And as his ways were quite alien from theirs. They hated alike what was bad and what was good in him Accordingly they summoned our tabernas and Arsacid by blood who had grown to manhood among the dahe and who though routed in the first encounter Rallied his forces and possessed himself of the kingdom the conquer Venones found a refuge in Armenia then a free country and Exposed to the power of Parthia in Rome without being trusted by either in Consequence of the crime of Antonius Who under the guise of friendship had invagaled Artavastes king of the Armenians Then loaded him with chains and finally murdered him His son Artaxius our bitter foe because of his father's memory found defense for himself in his kingdom in the might of the Arsacids When he was slain by the treachery of kinsmen Caesar gave Tigranis to the Armenians And he was put in possession of the kingdom under the escort of Tiberius Nero But neither Tigranis nor his children reigned long Though in foreign fashion. They were united in marriage and in royal power Next at the bidding of Augustus Artavastes was set on the throne nor was he deposed without disaster to ourselves Chai Caesar was then appointed to restore order in Armenia He put over the Armenians area Bizarres a mead by birth Whom they willingly accepted because of a singularly handsome person and noble spirit on the death of area Bizarres through a fatal accident They would not endure his son having tried the government of a woman named Erado and having soon afterwards driven her far from them Beguilded and disorganized rather indeed without a ruler than enjoying freedom. They received for their king the fugitive Venones When however our tabanus began to threaten and but feeble support could be given by the Armenians or War with Parthia would have to be undertaken if Venones was to be upheld by our arms The governor of Syria Creticus Solanus sent for him and kept him under surveillance letting him retain his royal pomp and title How Venones mediated and escaped from this mockery. I will relate in the proper place Meanwhile the commotion in the east was rather pleasing to Tiberius as it was a pretext for withdrawing Germanicus from the legions Which knew him well and placing him over new provinces where he would be exposed to both treachery and two disasters Germanicus however in proportion to the strength of the soldiers attachment and to his uncle's dislike was eager to hasten his victory And he pondered on plans of battle and on the reverses or successes which during more than three years of war had fallen to his lot The Germans he knew were beaten in the field and on fair ground. They were helped by woods swamps short summers and early winters His own troops were affected not so much by wounds as by long marches and damage to their arms Gaul had been exhausted by supplying horses a long baggage train presented facilities for embass gates and was embarrassing to its defenders But by embarking on the sea Invasion would be easy for them and a surprise to the enemy While a campaign to would be more quickly begun the legions and supplies would be brought up simultaneously in the Calvary What their horses would arrive in good condition by the river mouths and channels at the heart of Germany? To this accordingly he gave his mind and sent Publius Vitalis and Chius Antius to collect the taxes of Gaul Cilius and Tius and Sassina had the charge of building a fleet It seemed that a thousand vessels were required and they were speedily constructed Some of a small draft with a narrow stem and stern and a broad center that they might bear the ways more easily Some flat-bottomed that they might ground without being injured Several furnished with a ruddered each end so that by a sudden shifting of the oars they might be running to shore either way Many were covered in with decks on which engines for missiles might be conveyed and were also fit for the carrying of horses or supplies and Being equipped with sails as well as rapidly moved by oars They assumed through the enthusiasm of our soldiers and imposing and formidable aspect The island of the Batavia was the appointed rendezvous because of its easy landing places and its convenience for receiving the army and carrying the war across the river For the Rhine after flowing continuously in a single channel or encircling merely insignificant islands divides itself So to say where the Batavian territory begins into two rivers Retaining its name and the rapidity of its course in the stream which washes Germany till it mingles with the ocean on the Gallic Bank It's flow is broader and Jettler. It is called by an altered name the Baha'u by the inhabitants of its shore Soon that name too has changed for the Mosa River through whose vast mouth that empties itself into the same ocean Caesar however while the vessels were coming up ordered Silius his lieutenant general to make an enroad on the Chitae with a flying column He himself on hearing that a fort on the river Lupia was being besieged led six legions to the spot Silius owing to sudden rains did nothing but carry off a small booty and the wife and daughter of Arpus the chief of the Chitae and Caesar had no opportunity of fighting given him by the besiegers who dispersed on the rumor of his advance They had however Destroyed the Barrow lately raised in memory of various's legions and the old altar of Drusus The prince restored the altar and himself with his legions celebrated funeral games in his father's honor To raise a new Barrow was not thought necessary All the country between the Fort Eliso and the Rhine was thoroughly secured by new barriers and earthworks by this time the fleet had arrived and Caesar having sent on his supplies and assigned vessels for the legions and the allied troops Entered Drusus's Fosse as it was called He prayed Drusus his father to lend him now that he was venturing on the same enterprise The willing and favorable aid of the example and willing and favorable aid of the example in memory of his consoles and achievements And he arrived at our prosperous voyage through the lakes in the ocean as far as the river Amicia His fleet remained there on the left bank of the stream and it was a blunder that he did not have it brought up the river He disembarked the troops which were to be marched to the country on the right and thus several days were wasted in the construction of bridges The Calvary and the legions fearlessly crossed the first estuaries in which the tide had not yet risen The rear of the auxiliaries and the Badevi among the number Funging recklessly into the water and displaying their skill and swimming fell into disorder and some were drowned While Caesar was measuring out his camp. He was told of a revolt of the Angravara in his rear He at once dispatched to Tinius with some Calvary and a light armed force who punished their perfidy with fire and sword The waters of the Vesergis flowed between the Romans and the Cherusai On its bank stood Arminius with the other chiefs He asked whether Caesar had arrived and on the reply that he was present he begged leave to have an interview with his brother That brother surnamed Flavius was with our army a man famous for his loyalty and for having lost an eye by a wound a Few years ago when Tiberius was in command The permission was then given and he stepped forth and was saluted by Arminius Who had removed his guards to a distance and required that the bowmen ranged on our banks should retire When they had gone away Arminius asked his brother whence came the scar which disfigured his face and on being told the particular place in battle He inquired what reward he had received Flavius spoke of increased pay of a neck chain a crown and other military gifts while Arminius jeered at such paltry recompense for slavery Then began a controversy The one spoke of the greatness of Rome the resources of Caesar the dreadful punishment in store for the vanquished The ready mercy for him who surrenders and the fact that neither Arminius's wife nor his son were treated as enemies The other of the claims of fatherland of ancestral freedom of the gods of the homes of Germany of the mother who shared his prayers That Flavius might not choose to be the deserter and betrayer rather than the ruler of his kinfolk and relatives and Indeed of his own people by degrees they fell into bitter words and even the river between them would not have hindered them from joining Combat had not Sturtenius hurried up and put his hand on Flavius who in the full tide of his fury was demanding his weapons and his charger Arminius was seen facing him full of menaces and challenging him to conflict Much of what he said was in Roman speech for he had served in our camp as leader of his fellow countrymen Next day the German army took up its position on the other side of the surges Caesar thinking that without bridges and troops to guard them It would not be good general ship to expose the legions to danger sent the cavalry across the river by the forts It was commanded by Sturtenius and Emilius one of the first rank centurions who had attacked at widely different points So as to distract the enemy Cherry of Alda the Batavian chief dashed into the charge where the stream is most rapid The chair you saw by a pretended flight drew him into a plane surrounded by forest passes Then bursting on him in a sudden attack from all points. They thrust aside all who resisted Pressed fiercely on their retreat driving them before them when they rallied in a compact array Some by close fighting others by missiles from a distance Cherry of Alda after long sustaining the enemy's fury cheered on his men to break by a dense formation the onset of their bands While he himself plunged into the thickest of the battle fell amid a shower of darts with his horse pierced under him and round him many noble chiefs The rest were rescued from the peril by their own strength or by the cavalry which came up with Sturtenius and Emilius Caesar on crossing the surges Learned by the information of a deserter that our minneas had chosen a battlefield that other tribes to had assembled in a force sacred to Hercules and would venture on a night attack on his camp He put faith in this intelligence and besides several watch fires were seen Scouts also who had crept close up to the enemy reported that they had heard the name of horses and the hum of a huge and tumultuous host and So as the decisive crisis drew near that he ought thoroughly to sound the temper of his soldiers He considered with himself how this was to be accomplished with a genuine result Tribunes and centurions he knew often reported what was welcome than what was true freedmen had slavish spirits Friends a love of flattery if an assembly were called there, too The lead of a few was followed by the shout of the many He must probe their innermost thoughts when they were uttering their hopes and fears at the military mess among themselves and unwatched At nightfall leaving his tent of augury by a secret exit unknown to the centuries with one companion His shoulders covered with a wild bee skin He visited the camp streets stood by the tents and enjoyed the men's talk about himself as One extolled his noble rank another his handsome person Nearly all of them his endurance his gracious manner and the evenness of his temper whether he was justing or was serious While they acknowledged that they ought to repay him with their gratitude in battle and at the same time Sacrifice to a glorious vengeance the perfidious violators of peace Meanwhile one of the enemy Acquainted with the Roman tongue spurred his horse up to the entrenchments and an allowed voice promised in the name of Arminius to all Deserters wives and lands with daily pay of a hundred cesteries as long as the war lasted The insult fired the wrath of the legions Let daylight come they said let battle be given The soldiers will possess themselves of the lands of the Germans and will carry off their wives We hail the omen we mean the women and the riches of the enemy to be our spoil About midday there was a skirmishing attack upon our camp Without any discharge of missiles when they saw the cohorts in close array before the lines and no sign of carelessness The same night brought with it a cheering dream to Germanicus He saw himself engaged in sacrifice in his row being sprinkled with the sacred blood Another more beautiful was given him by the hands of his grandmother Augusta Encouraged by the omen and finding the auspices favorable He called an assembly and explained the precautions which wisdom suggested is suitable for the impending battle It is not he said planes only which are good for the fighting of Roman soldiers But woods and forest passes of science be used for the huge shields and unwieldy lances of the barbarians Cannot amid trunks of trees and brushwood that springs from the ground be so well managed as our javelins and swords and Close-fitting armor Shower your blows thickly strike at the face with your swords points. The German has neither carass nor helmet Even a shield does not strengthen with leather or steel But is of Ossier's woven together or a thin and painted board If their first line is armed with spears the rest have only weapons hardened by fire or very short Again though their frames are terrible to the eye and formidable in a brief onset They have no capacity of enduring wounds Without any shame at the disgrace without any regard to their leaders. They quit the field and flee they quail under disaster Just as in success. They forget alike divine and human laws If in your weariness of land and sea you desire an end of service this battle prepares the way to it The Elb is now near than the Rhine and there is no war beyond Provided only you enable me Keeping close as I do to my father's and uncle's footsteps to stand a conqueror on the same spot The general speech was followed by enthusiasm in the soldiers and the signal for battle was given Nor were Arminius and the other German chiefs slow to call their respective clansmen to witness that these Romans were the most cowardly Fugitive out of various his army Men who rather than endure war had taken to mutiny Half of them have their backs covered with wounds half are once again exposing limbs battered by waves and storms to a foe full of fury and To hostile deities with no hope of advantage They have in fact had recourse to a fleet and to a trackless ocean that their coming might be unopposed their flight unpursued But when once they adjoin conflict with us the help of winds or oars will be unavailing to the vanquished Remember only their greed their cruelty their pride is anything left for us But to retain our freedom or to die before we are enslaved When they were thus roused and were demanding battle their chiefs led them down to a plane named Idista vissus It winds between the Vesergis and a hill range Its breath varying as the river banks recede or the spurs of the hills project on it in their rear rows of forest With the branches rising to a great height while there were clear spaces between the trunk The barbarian army occupied the plane in the outskirts of the wood The chair you sigh were posted by themselves on the high ground So as to rush down on the Romans during the battle our army advanced in the following order The auxiliary Gauls and Germans were in the van then the foot archers after them for legions and Caesar himself with two Praetorian cohorts and some pick cavalry Next came as many other legions and light armed troops with horse bowmen and the remaining cohorts of the allies The men were quite ready and prepared to form in line of battle according to their marching order Caesar as soon as he saw the Cherusian bands which in their impetuous spirit had rushed to the attack Ordered the finest of his cavalry to charge them in flank Sturtenius with the other squadrons to make a detour and fall on their rear promising himself to come up in good time Meanwhile, there was a most encouraging augury eight Eagles seen to fly towards the woods and enter them caught the general's eye Go he exclaimed follow the Roman birds the true deities of our legions at the same moment The infantry charged and the cavalry which had been sent on in advance dashed on the rear and the flanks and strange to relate Two columns of the enemy fled in opposite directions that which had occupied the wood rushing into the open Those who have been drawn up on the plane into the wood The chair you sigh who were between them were dislodged from the hills While Arminius conspicuous among them by gesture voice and a wound he had received kept up the fight He had thrown himself on our archers and was on the point of breaking through them when the cohorts of the Rattai Vendellisi and Gauls faced his attack By a strong bodily effort however and a furious rush of his horse He made his way through them having smeared his face with his blood that he might not be known Some have said that he was recognized by the Chossi serving among the Roman auxiliaries who let him go In Geomerus owed his escape to similar courage or treachery The rest were cut down in every direction many and attempting to swim across the beserges were overwhelmed under a storm of missiles Or by the force of the current lastly by the rush of fugitives and the falling in of the banks Some in their ignominious flight climbed the tops of trees and as they were hiding themselves in the bowels Archers were brought up and they were shot for sport others were dashed to the ground by the felling of the trees It was a great victory and without bloodshed to us From nine in the morning to nightfall the enemy were slaughtered and ten miles were covered with arms and dead bodies While they were found in mid to plunder the change which the Germans had brought with them for the Romans as though the issue Were certain the soldiers on the battlefield held Tiberias's Imperator and raised a mound on which arms were piled in the style of a trophy with the names of the conquered tribes inscribed beneath them That site caused keener grief and rage among the Germans than their wounds their mourning and their losses Those who but now were preparing to quit their settlements and to retreat to the further side of the Elba long for battle and flew to arms Common people and chiefs young and old rushed on the Roman army and spread disorder At last they chose a spot closed in by a river and by forest Within which was a narrow swampy plane the woods too were surrounded by a bottomless morass Only on one side of it the Angrivarie had raised a broad earthwork as a boundary between themselves in the chair you sigh Here their infantry was ranged their cavalry. They concealed in neighboring woods So as to be on the legions rear as soon as they entered the forest End of book 2 part 1 This recording by James Christopher Jx Christopher at yahoo.com Book 2 part 2 of the annals by Publius Cornelius Tacitus volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Graham Redman The annals by Publius Cornelius Tacitus volume 1 Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broadrib Book 2 AD 16 to 19 part 2 All this was known to Caesar. He was acquainted with their plans their positions with what met the eye and what was hidden and He prepared to turn the enemy's stratagems to their own destruction To say as Tuberot his chief officer. He assigned the cavalry and the plane His infantry he drew up so that part might advance on level ground into the forest and Part clamber up the earthwork which confronted them He charged himself with what was the specially difficult operation Leaving the rest to his officers Those who had the level ground easily forced a passage Those who had to assault the earthwork encountered heavy blows from above as if they were scaling a wall The general saw how unequal this close fighting was and having withdrawn his legions to a little distance Ordered the slingers and artillery men to discharge a volley of missiles and scatter the enemy Spears were hurled from the engines and the more conspicuous were the defenders of the position The more the wounds with which they were driven from it Caesar with some Praetorian cohorts was the first after the storming of the ramparts to dash into the woods There they fought at close quarters a Marass was in the enemy's rear and the Romans were hemmed in by the river or by the hills Both were in a desperate plight from their position Valor was their only hope victory their only safety The Germans were equally brave But they were beaten by the nature of the fighting and of the weapons for their vast host in so confined a space Could neither thrust out nor recover their immense lances or avail themselves of their nimble movements and lithe frames Forced as they were to a close engagement Our soldiers on the other hand with their shields pressed to their breasts and their hands grasping their sword hilts Struck at the huge limbs and exposed faces of the barbarians Cutting a passage through the slaughtered enemy for Arminius was now less active Either from incessant perils or because he was partially disabled by his recent wound As for Ingeomerus who few hither and thither over the battlefield It was fortune rather than courage which for silk him Germanicus too that he might be the better known took his helmet off his head and begged his men to follow up the slaughter as They wanted not prisoners and the utter destruction of the nation would be the only conclusion of the war and Now late in the day he withdrew one of his legions from the field to entrench a camp While the rest till nightfall glutted themselves with the enemy's blood Our cavalry fought with indecisive success Having publicly praised his victorious troops Caesar raised a pile of arms with the proud inscription The army of Tiberius Caesar after thoroughly conquering the tribes between the Rhine and the Elbe Has dedicated this monument to Mars, Jupiter and Augustus He added nothing about himself fearing jealousy or thinking that the consciousness of the achievement was enough Next he charged Statenius with making war on the angry Verii, but they hastened to surrender And as suppliants by refusing nothing they obtained a full pardon When however summer was at its height some of the legions were sent back over land into winter quarters But most of them Caesar put on board the fleet and brought down the river Amicia to the ocean At first the calm waters merely sounded with the oars of a thousand vessels or were ruffled by the sailing ships Soon a hail storm bursting from a black mass of clouds While the waves rolled hither and thither under tempestuous gales from every quarter Rendered clear sight impossible and the steering difficult While our soldiers terror-stricken and without any experience of disasters on the sea By embarrassing the sailors or giving them clumsy aid neutralized the services of the skilled crews After a while wind and wave shifted wholly to the south and from the hilly lands and deep rivers of Germany Came with a huge line of rolling clouds a strong blast all the more frightful from the frozen north which was so near to them and Instantly caught and drove the ships hither and thither into the open ocean or on islands with steep cliffs Of which hidden shoals made perilous These they just escaped with difficulty and when the tide changed and bore them the same way as the wind They could not hold to their anchors or bail out the water which rushed in upon them Horses beasts of burden baggage were thrown overboard in order to lighten the hulls which leaked copiously through their sides While the waves too dashed over them As the ocean is stormier than all other seas and as Germany is conspicuous for the terrors of its climate So in novelty and extent did this disaster transcend every other For all around were hostile coasts or an expanse so vast and deep that it is thought to be the remotest shoreless sea Some of the vessels were swallowed up many were rekt on distant islands and the soldiers finding there No form of human life perished of hunger except some who supported existence on carcasses of horses washed on the same shores Germanicus's trireme alone reached the country of the chores I Day and night on those rocks and promontries He would incessantly exclaim that he was himself responsible for this awful ruin and Friends scarce restrained him from seeking death in the same sea At last as the tide ebbed and the wind blew favorably The shattered vessels with but few rowers or clothing spread as sails Some towed by the more powerful returned And Germanicus having speedily repaired them sent them to search the islands Many by that means were recovered the angry very eye who had lately been admitted to our alliance Restored to us several whom they had ransomed from the inland tribes Some had been carried to Britain and were sent back by the petty chiefs Every one as he returned from some far distant region told of wonders of Violent hurricanes and unknown birds of monsters of the sea of forms half human half beast like Things they had really seen or in their terror believed Meanwhile the rumoured loss of the fleet stirred the Germans to hope for war as it did Caesar to hold them down He ordered Gaius Cilius with 30,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry to march against the chattai He himself with a larger army invaded the Marseilles whose leader Malavendus whom we had lately Admitted to surrender pointed out a neighbouring wood where he said an eagle of one of Varus's legions was buried and guarded only by a small force Immediately troops were dispatched to draw the enemy from his position by appearing in his front Others to hem him in his rear and open the ground Fortune favoured both So Germanicus with increased energy advanced into the country laying it waste and utterly ruining a foe who dared not encounter him or who was Instantly defeated wherever he resisted and as we learnt from prisoners was never more panic stricken The Romans they declared were invincible rising superior to all calamities For having thrown away a fleet having lost their arms After screwing the shores with the carcasses of horses and of men They had rushed to the attack with the same courage with equal spirit and seemingly with augmented numbers The soldiers were then led back into winter quarters Rejoicing in their hearts that having been compensated for their disasters at sea by a successful expedition They were helped to by Caesar's bounty which made good whatever loss anyone declared he had suffered It was also regarded as a certainty that the enemy were wavering and consulting on negotiations for peace And that with an additional campaign next summer the war might be ended Tiberius however in repeated letters advised Germanicus to return for the triumph to creed him He had now had enough of success enough of disaster He had fought victorious battles on a great scale He should also remember those losses which the winds and waves had inflicted and which though due to no fault of the general Was still grievous and shocking He Tiberius had himself been sent nine times by Augustus into Germany and had done more by policy than by arms By this means the submission of the Sugambri had been secured and the Suivai with their king Maribodius had been forced into peace The Churraschi too and the other insurgent tribes since the vengeance of Rome had been satisfied might be left to their internal feuds When Germanicus requested a year for the completion of his enterprise Tiberius put a severe a pressure on his modesty by offering him a second consulship the functions of which he was to discharge in person He also added that if war must still be waged he might as well leave some materials for renown to his brother Drusus who as there was then no other enemy could win only in Germany the imperial title and the triumphal laurel Germanicus hesitated no longer though. He saw that this was a pretense and that he was hurried away through jealousy from the glory He had already acquired About the same time libo Drusus of the family of Scribonii was accused of revolutionary schemes I will explain somewhat minutely the beginning progress and end of this affair Since then first were originated those practices which for so many years have eaten into the heart of the state Firmius Catus a senator an intimate friend of libos prompted the young man who was thoughtless and an easy prey to delusions To resort to astrologers promises magical rites and interpreters of dreams Dwelling ostentatiously on his great-grandfather Pompeius his aunt Scribonia who had formerly been wife of Augustus His imperial cousins his house crowded with ancestral busts And urging him to extravagance and debt himself the companion of his profligacy and desperate embarrassments Thereby to entangle him in all the more proofs of guilt As soon as he found enough witnesses with some slaves who knew the facts He begged an audience of the emperor after first indicating the crime and the criminal through flakus vascularius A Roman knight who was more intimate with Tiberius than himself Caesar without disregarding the information declined an interview for the communication he said might be conveyed to him through the same messenger flakus Meanwhile he conferred the preter ship on libo and often invited him to his table Showing no unfriendliness in his looks or anger in his words so thoroughly had he concealed his resentment And he wished to know all his sayings and doings though it was in his power to stop them Till one junius who had been tampered with by libo for the purpose of evoking by incantations spirits of the dead Gave information to fulcinius trio Trio's ability was conspicuous among informers as well as his eagerness for an evil notoriety He at once pounced on the accused went to the consuls and demanded an inquiry before the senate The senators were summoned with a special notice that they must consult on a momentous and terrible matter Libo meanwhile in mourning apparel and accompanied by ladies of the highest rank Went to house after house in treating his relatives and imploring some eloquent voice to ward off his perils Which all refused on different pretexts, but from the same apprehension On the day the senate met jaded with fear and mental anguish Or as some have related feigning illness he was carried in a litter to the doors of the senate house And leaning on his brother he raised his hands and voice in supplication to tiberius Who received him with unmoved countenance The emperor then read out the charges and the accuser's names With such calmness as not to seem to soften or aggravate the accusations Besides trio and catus Fontaeus Agrippa and Caus Vibius were among his accusers and claimed with eager rivalry the privilege of conducting the case for the prosecution Till Vibius as they would not yield one to the other and libo had entered without counsel Offered to state the charges against him singly and produced an extravagantly absurd accusation According to which libo had consulted persons whether he would have such wealth As to be able to cover the apian road as far as brandisium with money There were other questions of the same sort quite senseless and idle If leniently regarded pitiable But there was one paper in libo's handwriting so the prosecutor alleged With the names of caesars and of senators to which marks were affixed of dreadful or mysterious significance When the accused denied this it was decided that his slaves who recognized the writing should be examined by torture As an ancient statute of the senate for bad such inquiry in a case affecting a master's life Tiberius with his cleverness in devising new law Ordered libo's slaves to be sold singly to the state agent So that for sooth without an infringement of the senate's decree libo might be tried on their evidence As a consequence the defendant asked an adjournment till next day And having gone home he charged his kinsman publius querinas with his last prayer to the emperor The answer was that he should address himself to the senate Meanwhile his house was surrounded with soldiers They crowded noisily even about the entrance so that they could be heard and seen When libo whose anguish drove him from the very banquet he had prepared as his last gratification Called for a minister of death grasped the hands of his slaves and thrust a sword into them In their confusion as they shrank back they overturned the lamp on the table at his side And in the darkness now to him the gloom of death he aimed two blows at a vital part At the groans of the falling man his freedman hurried up and the soldiers seeing the bloody deed Stood aloof yet the prosecution was continued in the senate with the same persistency And tiberius declared on oath that he would have interceded for his life guilty though he was But for his hasty suicide His property was divided among his accusers And preterships out of the usual order were conferred on those who were of senators rank Cotter meselinus then proposed that libo's bust should not be carried in the funeral procession of any of his descendants And cnius lentulus that most ribonius should assume the surname of drusus Days of public thanksgiving were appointed on the suggestion of pomponius flakas Offerings were given to jupiter mars and concord And the thirteenth day of september on which libo had killed himself Was to be observed as a festival on the motion of gallus a sinious papius mutilus and lucius aproneus I have mentioned the proposals and sycophancy of these men In order to bring to light this old standing evil in the state Decrees of the senate were also passed to expel from italy astrologers and magicians One of their number lucius pituanius was hurled from the rock Another publius marsius was executed according to ancient custom by the consuls outside the esquiline gate After the trumpets had been bitten to sound On the next day of the senate's meeting much was said against the luxury of the country by quintus heterius an ex-consul And by octavius fronto an ex-preter It was decided that vessels of solid gold should not be made for the serving of food And that men should not disgrace themselves with silken clothing from the east Fronto went further and insisted on restrictions being put on plate furniture and household establishments It was indeed still usual with the senators when it was their turn to vote to suggest anything they thought for the state's advantage Gallus a sinious argued on the other side With the growth of the empire private wealth too, he said, had increased and there was nothing new in this But it accorded with the fashions of the earliest antiquity Riches were one thing with the fabricii quite another with the sypios The state was the standard of everything When it was poor the homes of the citizens were humble When it reached such magnificence private grandeur increased In household establishments and plate and in whatever was provided for use There was neither excess nor parsimony except in relation to the fortune of the possessor A distinction had been made in the assessments of senators and knights not because they differed naturally But that the superiority of the one class in places in the theater in rank and in honor Might be also maintained in everything else which ensured mental repose and bodily recreation Unless indeed men in the highest position were to undergo more anxieties and more dangers And to be at the same time deprived of all solace under those anxieties and dangers Gallus gained a ready ascent under these specious phrases By a confession of failings with which his audience sympathized And Tiberius too had added that this was not a time for censorship And that if there were any declension in manners a promoter of reform would not be wanting During this debate Lucia's piezo after exclaiming against the corruption of the courts the bribery of judges The cruel threats of accusations from hired orators Declared that he would depart and quit the capital and that he meant to live in some obscure and distant rural retreat At the same moment he rose to leave the senate house Tiberius was much excited and though he pacified piezo with gentle words He also strongly urged his relatives to stop his departure by their influence or their entreaties Soon afterwards this same piezo gave an equal proof of a fearless sense of wrong by suing Ergulania Whom Augustus friendship had raised above the law Neither did Ergulania obey the summons for in defiance of piezo she went in her litter to the emperor's house Nor did piezo give way though Augusta complained that she was insulted and her majesty slighted Tiberius to win popularity by so humoring his mother as to say that he would go to the preter's court and support Ergulania Went forth from the palace having ordered soldiers to follow him at a distance He was seen as the people thronged about him to wear a calm face While he prolonged his time on the way with various conversations Till at last when piezo's relatives tried in vain to restrain him Augusta directed the money which was claimed to be handed to him This ended the affair and piezo in consequence was not dishonored and the emperor rose in reputation Ergulania's influence however was so formidable to the state that in a certain cause which was tried by the senate She would not condescend to appear as a witness The preter was sent to question her at her own house Although the vestal virgins according to ancient custom were heard in the courts before judges Whenever they gave evidence I should say nothing of the adjournment of public business in this year If it were not worthwhile to notice the conflicting opinions of cunayus piezo and a sinious gallus on the subject Piezo although the emperor had said that he would be absent Held that all the more ought the business to be transacted That the state might have honor of its senate and knights being able to perform their duties in the sovereign's absence Gallus as piezo had forestalled him in the display of freedom Maintained that nothing was sufficiently impressive or suitable to the majesty of the roman people Unless done before Caesar and under his very eyes And that therefore the gathering from all Italy and the influx from the provinces ought to be reserved for his presence Tiberius listened to this in silence and the matter was debated on both sides in a sharp controversy The business however was adjourned A dispute then arose between gallus and the emperor Gallus proposed that the elections of magistrates should be held every five years And that the commanders of the legions who before receiving a preter ship discharged this military service Should at once become preter's elect the emperor nominating 12 candidates every year It was quite evident that this motion had a deeper meaning and was an attempt to explore the secrets of imperial policy Tiberius however argued as if his power would be thus increased It would he said be trying to his moderation to have to elect so many and to put off so many He scarcely avoided giving offence from year to year even though a candidate's rejection was solaced by the near prospect of office What hatred would be incurred from those whose election was deferred for five years How could he foresee through so long an interval what would be a man's temper or domestic relations or estate Men became arrogant even with this annual appointment What would happen if their thoughts were fixed on promotion for five years It was in fact a multiplying of the magistrates fivefold And a subversion of the laws which had prescribed proper periods for the exercise of the candidate's activity and the seeking or securing office With this seemingly conciliatory speech he retained the substance of power He also increased the incomes of some of the senators Hence it was the more surprising that he listened somewhat disdainfully to the request of Marcus Hortulus a youth of noble rank inconspicuous poverty He was the grandson of the orator Hortensius And had been induced by Augustus on the strength of a gift of a million sistercies To marry and rear children that one of our most illustrious families might not become extinct Accordingly with his four sons standing at the doors of the senate house the senate then sitting in the palace When it was his turn to speak he began to address them as follows His eyes fixed now on the statue of Hortensius which stood among those of the orators Now on that of Augustus Senators these whose numbers and boyish years you behold I have reared not by my own choice But because the emperor advised me at the same time my ancestors deserved to have descendants For myself not having been able in these altered times to receive or acquire wealth or popular favor Or that eloquence which has been the hereditary possession of our house I was satisfied if my narrow means were neither a disgrace to myself nor burden to others At the emperor's bidding I married Behold the offspring and progeny of a succession of consuls and dictators Not to excite odium do I recall such facts but to win compassion While you prosper Caesar they will attain such promotion as you shall bestow Meanwhile save from penury the great grandsons of Quintus Hortensius the foster children of Augustus The senate's favorable bias was an incitement to Tiberius to offer prompt opposition Which he did in nearly these words If all poor men begin to come here and to beg money for their children Individuals will never be satisfied and the state will be bankrupt Certainly our ancestors did not grant the privilege of occasionally proposing amendments or of suggesting In our turn for speaking something for the general advantage in order that we might in this house Increase our private business and property Thereby bringing odium on the senate and on emperors whether they concede or refuse their bounty In fact it is not a request but an Importunity as utterly unreasonable as it is unforeseen for a senator when the house has met on other matters To rise from his place and pleading the number and age of his children Put a pressure on the delicacy of the senate Then transfer the same constraint to myself and as it were break open the exchequer Which if we exhaust it by improper favoritism will have to be replenished by crimes Money was given you Hortulus by Augustus but without solicitation And not on the condition of its being always given Otherwise industry will languish and idleness be encouraged if a man has nothing to fear Nothing to hope from himself and everyone in utter recklessness will expect relief from others Thus becoming useless to himself and a burden to me These and like remarks though listened to with assent by those who make it a practice To eulogize everything coming from sovereigns both good and bad were received by the majority In silence or with suppressed murmurs Tiberius perceived it and having paused a while said that he had given Hortulus his answer But that if the senators thought it right he would bestow two hundred thousand Sistercies on each of his children of the male sex The others thanked him Hortulus said nothing either from alarm or because even in his reduced fortunes He clung to his hereditary nobility Nor did Tiberius afterwards show any pity though the house of Hortensius sank into shameful poverty That same year the daring of a single slave had it not been promptly checked Would have ruined the state by discord and civil war A servant of posthumous agripper Clemens by name Having ascertained that Augustus was dead Formed a design beyond a slave's conception of going to the island of planasia And seizing a gripper by craft or force and bringing him to the armies of Germany The slowness of a merchant vessel thwarted his bold venture Meanwhile the murder of a gripper had been perpetrated And then turning his thoughts to a greater and more hazardous enterprise He stole the ashes of the deceased Sales took Cosa a promontory of Etruria And there hid himself in obscure places till his hair and beard were long In age and figure he was not unlike his master Then through suitable emissaries who shared his secret It was rumoured that a gripper was alive First in whispered gossip soon as is usual with forbidden topics in vague talk Which found its way to the credulous ears of the most ignorant people Or of restless and revolutionary schemas He himself went to the towns as the day grew dark Without letting himself be seen publicly or remaining long in the same places But as he knew that truth gains strength by notoriety and time Falsehood by precipitancy and vagueness He would either withdraw himself from publicity or else Forstall it It was rumoured meanwhile throughout Italy and was believed at Rome That a gripper had been saved by the blessing of heaven Already at Ostia where he had arrived He was the centre of interest to a vast concourse As well as to secret gatherings in the capital While Tiberius was distracted by the doubt whether he should crush this slave of his By military force or allow time to dissipate a silly credulity Sometimes he thought that he must overlook nothing Sometimes that he'd need not be afraid of everything His mind fluctuating between shame and terror At last he entrusted the affair to Celestius Crispus Who chose two of his dependents Some say they were soldiers And urged them to go to him as pretended accomplices Offering money and promising faithful companionship in danger They did as they were bitten Then waiting for an unguarded hour of night They took with them a sufficient force And having bound and gagged him dragged him to the palace When Tiberius asked him how he had become a gripper He is said to have replied As you became Caesar He could not be forced to divulge his accomplices Tiberius did not venture on a public execution But ordered him to be slain in a private part of the palace And his body to be secretly removed And although many of the emperor's household and knights and senators Were said to have supported him with their wealth And helped him with their councils No inquiry was made At the close of the year was consecrated an arch Near the temple of Saturn To commemorate the recovery of the standards lost with Varus Under the leadership of Germanicus and the auspices of Tiberius A temple of force Fortuna by the Tiber In the gardens which Caesar the dictator bequeathed To the Roman people A chapel to the Julian family And statues at Bovilli to the divine Augustus In the consulship of Gaius Cicilius and Lucius Pomponius Germanicus Caesar on the 26th day of May Celebrated his triumph over the Cherusci, Chatae and Angriveri Eye and the other tribes which extend as far as the Elbe There were born in processions spoils, prisoners, representations of the mountains, the rivers And battles, and the war, seeing that he had been forbidden to finish it, was taken as finished The admiration of the beholders was heightened by the striking comeliness of the general And the chariot which bore his five children Still there was a latent dread when they remembered how unfortunate in the case of Drusus his father had been the favour of the crowd How his uncle Marcellus, regarded by the city populace with passionate enthusiasm, Had been snatched from them while yet a youth And how short-lived and ill-starred were the attachments of the Roman people End of book two, part two Recording by Graham Redman