 Book 1, Part 1 of the Annals by Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Volume 1. This is LibriVox Recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Annals by Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Volume 1. Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib. Book 1, A.D. 14-15, Part 1. Rome, at the beginning, was ruled by kings. Freedom and the consulship were established by Lucius Brutus. Dictatorships were held for a temporary crisis. The power of the Decemberers did not last beyond two years, nor was the consular jurisdiction of the military tribunes of long-duration. The despotisms of Sina and Silla were brief. The rules of Pompeius and of Crassus soon yielded before Caesar. The arms of Lepidus and Antonius before Augustus, who, when the world was weary by civil strife, subjected it to empire under the title of prince. But the successes and reverses of the old Roman people had been recorded by famous historians and fine intellects were not wanting to describe the times of Augustus till growing sycophancy scared them away. The histories of Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius, and Nero while they were in power were falsified through terror and after their death were written under the irritation of a recent hatred. Hence my purpose is to relate a few facts about Augustus, more particularly his last acts, then the reign of Tiberius and all which follows without either bitterness or partiality for many motives to which I am far removed. When, after the destruction of Brutus and Cassius, there was no longer any army of the Commonwealth, when Pompeius was crushed in Sicily and when, with Lepidus pushed aside and Antonius slain, even the Julian faction had only Caesar left to lead it, then dropping the title of Triumvir and giving out that he was a consul and was satisfied with a Tribune's authority for the protection of the people. Augustus won over the soldiers with gifts, the populace with cheap corn, and all men with the sweets of repose and so grew greater by degrees while he concentrated in himself the functions of the Senate, the magistrates and the laws. He was wholly unopposed for the boldest spirits had fallen in battle or in the prescription while the remaining nobles, the reddier they were to be slaves, were raised the higher by wealth and promotion. So that, aggrandized by revolution, they preferred the safety of the present to the dangerous past. Nor did the provinces dislike that condition of affairs, for they distrusted the government of the Senate and the people because of the rivalries between the leading men and the rapacity of the officials while the protection of the laws was unavailing. They grew as they were continually deranged by violence, intrigue, and finally by corruption. Augustus, meanwhile, as supports to his despotism, raised to the pontificate and curial edileship, Claudius Marcellus, his sister's son, while Amir stripling and Marcus Agrippa of humble birth, a good soldier, and one who shared his victory to two consecutive consulships. And as Marcellus soon afterwards died, he also accepted him as son-in-law. Tiberius Nero and Claudius Drusus, his step-sons, he honored with imperial titles, although his own family was as yet undiminished, for he had admitted the children of Agrippa, Gaius and Lucius, into the house of the Caesars. And before they had laid aside the dress of boyhood, he had most feverently desired, with an outward show of reluctance that they should be entitled, Princes of the Youth, and be consuls-elect. When Agrippa died, and Lucius Caesar, as he was on his way to our armies in Spain, and Gaius, while returning from Armenia, still suffering from a wound, were prematurely cut off by destiny, or by their step-mother, Livia's treachery. Drusus, too, having long been dead, Nero remained alone of the step-sons, and in him everything tended to center. He was adopted as a son, as a colleague in empire, as a partner in the Trubinician power, and paraded through all the armies, no longer through his mother's secret intrigues, but at her open suggestion. For she had gained such a hold on the age of Augustus that he drove out, as an exile, into the island of Planassia, his only grandson, Agrippa Postumus, who, though devoid of worthy qualities and having only the brute courage of physical strength, had not been convicted of any gross offense. And yet, Augustus had appointed Germanicus, Drusus' offspring, to the command of eight legions on the Rhine, and required Tiberius to adopt him, although Tiberius had a son, now a young man, in his house. But he did it that he might have several safeguards to rest on. He had no war at the time on his hands, except against the Germans, which was rather to wipe out the disgrace of the loss of Quintilius Varus, and his army then out of ambition to extend the empire, or for any adequate recompense. At home, all was tranquil, and there were magistrates with the same titles. There was a younger generation, sprung up since the victory of Actium, and even many of the older men had been born during the Civil Wars, how few were left who had seen the Republic. Thus the state had been revolutionized, and there was not a vestige left at the old sound morality. Stripped of equality, all looked up to the commands of a sovereign without the least apprehension for the present, while Augustus was in the vigor of life, could maintain his own position, that of his house, and the general tranquility. When in advanced old age, he was worn out by a sickly frame, and the end was near, and news prospects opened. A few spoke in vain of the blessings of freedom, but most people dreaded, and some longed for war. Popular gossip of the large majority fastened itself, variously on their future masters. A grippa was savage, and had been exasperated by insult, and neither from age nor experience in affairs was equal to so great a burden. Tiberius Nero was of mature years, and had established his fame in war, but he had the old arrogance in bread in the Claudian family, and many symptoms of a cruel temper, though they were repressed, and now and then broke out. He had also, from the earliest infancy, been reared in an imperial house. Consulships and triumphs had been heaped on him in his younger days. Even in the years which, on the pretext of seclusion he spent in exile at Rhodes, he had no thoughts but of wrath, hypocrisy, and secret sensuality. There was his mother, too, with a woman caprice. They must, it seemed, be subject to a female, and to two striplings besides, for a while would burden, and some day rend asunder the state. While these, and like topics, were discussed, the infirmities of Augustus increased, and some suspected guilt on his wife's part, for a rumor had gone abroad that a few months before he had sailed to Planesia on a visit to Agrippa with the knowledge of some chosen friends and with one companion, Fabius Maximus, that many tears were shed with expressions of affection and that there was a hope of the young man being restored to the home of his grandfather. This, it was said, Maximus had divulged to his wife, Marcia, and she again to Livia. All was known to Caesar, and when Maximus soon afterwards died by a death some thought to be self-inflicted, they were heard at his funeral wailings from Marcia in which she reproached herself for having been the cause of his death. Whatever the fact was, Tiberius, as he was just entering Illyria, was summoned home by an urgent letter from his mother, and it had not been thoroughly ascertained whether at the city of Nola he found Augustus still breathing or quite lifeless. For Livia had surrounded the house and its approaches with a strict watch, and favorable bulletins were published from time to time, till provision having been made the report told men that Augustus was dead and that Tiberius Nero was master of the state. The first crime of the new reign was the murder of Postumus Agrippa. Though he was surprised and unarmed, a centurion of the fittest resolution dispatched him with difficulty. Tiberius gave no explanation of the matter to the Senate. He pretended that there were directions from his father ordering the Tribune in charge for the prisoner to slaughter of Agrippa. Whenever he should have himself breathed his last. Beyond a doubt, Augustus had often complained of the young man's character and had thus succeeded in obtaining the sanction of a decree of the state for his banishment. But he was never hard-hearted enough to destroy any of his kinsfolk, nor was it credible that death was to be the sentence of the grandson in order that the stepson might feel secure. It was more probable that Tiberius and Agrippa, the one from fear, the other from a stepmother's enmity, hurried on the destruction of a youth whom they suspected and hated. When the centurion reported, according to military custom, that he had executed the command, Tiberius replied that he had not given the command and that the act must be justified to the Senate. As soon as Salustius Crispus, who shared the secret, he had in fact sent the written order to the Tribune knew this, that the charge would be shifted on himself and that his peril would be the same whether he uttered fiction or truth. He advised Livia not to divulge the secrets of her house or the counsels of her friends or any services performed by the soldiers, nor to let Tiberius weaken the strength of imperial power by referring everything to the Senate. For the condition, he said, of holding empire is that an account cannot be balanced unless it be rendered by one person. Meanwhile, at Rome, people plunged into slavery, counsels, senators, knights. The higher a man's rank, the more eager his hypocrisy and his looks the more carefully studied, so as neither to betray joy at the decease of one emperor nor sorrow at the rise of another, while he mingled delight and lamentations with his flattery. Sextus Pompeus and Sextus Apuelius, the counsels were the first to swear allegiance to Tiberius Caesar, and in their presence the oath was taken by Seus Strabo and Gaius Turanius, respectively the commander of the Praetorian cohorts and the superintendent of the corn supplies. Then the Senate, the soldiers and the people did the same, for Tiberius would inaugurate everything with the counsels, as though the ancient constitution remained and he hesitated about being emperor. Even the proclamation by which he summoned the senators to their chamber, he issued merely with the title of Tribune which he had received under Augustus. The wording of the proclamation was brief and in a very modest tone. He would, it said, provide for the honors due to his father and not leave the lifeless body and that it was the only public duty he now claimed. As soon, however, as Augustus was dead he had given the watchword to the Praetorian cohorts as commander-in-chief. He had the guard under arms. With all the other agents of a court soldiers attended him to the forum. Soldiers went with him to the Senate house. He sent letters to the different armies as though superior power was now his and showed hesitation only when he spoke in the Senate. His chief motive was fear that Germanicus who had at his disposal so many legions, artillery forces of the allies and such wonderful popularity might prefer the possession to the expectation of empire. He looked also at public opinion wishing to have the credit of having been called and elected by the Senate rather than having crept into power through the intrigues of a wife and a dotter's adoption. It was subsequently understood that he assumed a wavering attitude to test likewise the temper of the nobles or he would twist a word or a look into a crime and treasure it up in his memory. On the first day of the Senate he allowed nothing to be discussed but the funeral of Augustus whose will which was brought in by the Vestal Virgins named as his heirs Tiberius and Livia. The latter was to be admitted into the Julian family with the name of Augusta. Next an expectation were the grand and great-grandchildren. He was the chief man of the State most of whom he hated simply out of ostentation and to win credit with posterity. His legacies were not beyond the scale of a private citizen accepted bequest of 43,500,000 sistercies to the people and populace of Rome of 1,000 to every praetorian soldier and of 300 to every man in the legionary cohorts composed of Roman citizens. Next followed a deliberation about funeral honors. Of those the most imposing were thought fitting. The procession was to be conducted through the Gate of Triumph on the motion of Gallus Asinius. The titles of the laws passed. The names of the nations conquered by Augustus were to be borne in front on that of Lucius Aruntius. Masala Valerius further proposed that the oath of allegiance to Tiberius should be yearly renewed and when Tiberius asked him whether it was at his bidding that he had brought forward this motion he replied that he had proposed it spontaneously and that in whatever concerning the state he would use only his own discretion even at the risk of offending. This was the only style of adulation which yet remained. The senators unanimously exclaimed that the body ought to be borne on their shoulders to the funeral pile. The emperor left the point to them with disdainful moderation. He then admonished the people by a proclamation not to indulge in that tumultuous enthusiasm which had distracted the funeral of the divine Julius or express a wish that Augustus should be burnt in the forum instead of in his appointed resting place on the campus marshes. On the day of the funeral soldiers stood round as a guard amid much ridicule from those who had either themselves witnessed or had heard from their parents when slavery was still something fresh and freedom had been re-salt in vain when the slaying of Caesar the dictator seemed to sum the vilest to others the most glorious of deeds. Now, they said, an agent sovereign whose power has lasted long who had provided his heirs with abundant means to coerce the state requires forsooth the defense of soldiers that his burial may be undisturbed. Then followed much talk about Augustus himself and many expressed an idle wonder that the same day marked the beginning of his assumption of empire and the close of his life and again that he had ended his days at Nola in the same house and room as his father Octavius. People extolled to the number of his consulships in which he equalled Valerius Corvus and Gaius Marius combined the continuance for 37 years of the tribunation power the title of Imperator 21 times earned and his other honors which had either frequently repeated or were wholly new. Sensible men, however, spoke variously of his life with praise and censure. Some said that dutiful feelings towards a father and the necessities of the state in which the laws had then no place drove him into civil war which can neither be planned nor conducted by any right principles. When the latter sank into feeble dotage and the former had been ruined by his profligacy the only remedy for his distracted country was a rule of a single man. Yet the state had been organized under the name neither of a kingdom nor a dictatorship but under that of a prince. The ocean and remote rivers were the boundaries of the empire. The legions, provinces, fleets, all things were linked together. There was law for the citizens. There was respect shown to the allies. The capital had been embellished on a grand scale only in a few instances had he resorted to force simply to secure general tranquility. It was said on the other hand that filial duty and state necessity were merely assumed as a mask. It was really from a lust of sovereignty that he had excited the veterans by bribery when had when a young man and a subject raised an army tampered with the consul's legions and feigned an attachment to the faction of Pompeius. Then when by a decree of the senate he usurped the high functions and authority of Praetor when Herschis and Panza were slain whether they were destroyed by the enemy or Panza by poison fused into a wound Herschis by his own soldiers and Caesar's treacherous machinations he at once possessed himself of both their armies rested the consulate from a reluctant senate and turned against the state the arms which he had been entrusted against Antonius. Citizens were proscribed lands divided without so much as the approval of those who executed these deeds even granting that the deaths of Cassius and of the Brutti were sacrifices to a hereditary enmity no duty requires us to wave private feuds for the sake of the public welfare still Pompeius had been deluded by the phantom of peace and Lepidus by the mask of friendship subsequently Antonius had been lured on by the treaties of Tarentum and Brundisium and by his marriage with his sister and had paid by his death the penalty of a treacherous alliance no doubt there was peace after all this but it was a peace stained with blood there were the disasters of Lolius and Varus the murders at Rome of the Varos, Ignatii and Julie the domestic life too of Augustus was not spared Nero's wife had been taken from him and there had been the farce of consulting the Pontiffs whether with a child conceived and not yet born she could properly marry there were the excesses of Quintus Tidius and Vidius Polio there was Livia terrible to the state as a mother terrible to the house of the Caesars as a stepmother no honor was left for the gods when Augustus chose to be himself worshipped with temples and statues like those of the deities and with flamens and priests he had not even adopted Tiberius as his successor out of the affection or any regard to the state but having thoroughly seen his arrogant and savage temper he sought glory for himself by a contrast of extreme wickedness for in fact Augustus a few years before when he was a second time asking from the senate the tribunation powers for Tiberius though his speech was complimentary had thrown out certain hints as to his manners, style and habits of life which he meant as reproaches while he seemed to excuse however when his upsequies had been duly performed a temple with a religious ritual was decreed him after this all prayers were addressed to Tiberius he on his part urged various considerations the greatness of the empire his distrust of himself only, he said the intellect of the divine Augustus was equal to such a burden called as he had been by him to share his anxieties he had learnt by experience how exposed to fortunes caprices was the task of universal rule consequently in a state which had the support of so many great men they should not put everything on one man as many by uniting their efforts would more easily discharge public functions there was more grand sentiment than good faith in such words Tiberius' language even in matters which he did not care to conceal either from nature or habit was always hesitating and obscure and now that he was struggling to hide his feelings completely it was all the more involved in uncertainty and doubt the senators, however, whose only fear was, lest they might seem to understand him burst into complaints tears and prayers they raised their hands to the gods to the statue of Augustus to the knees of Tiberius when he ordered a document to be produced and read this contained a description of the resources of the state of the number of citizens and allies under arms of the fleets and subject kingdoms provinces, taxes direct and indirect necessary expenses and customary bounties all these details Augustus had written with his own hand and had added a council that the empire should be confined to his present limits either from fear or out of jealousy meantime while the senate stooped to the most abject supplication Tiberius happened to say that although he was not equal to the whole burden of the state yet he would undertake the charge of whatever part of it might be entrusted to him thereupon Asinius Gallus said I ask you, Caesar, which part of the state you wish to have entrusted to you confounded by the sudden inquiry he was silent for a few moments then recovering his presence of mind he replied that it would by no means become his modesty to choose or to avoid in a case where he would prefer to be excused then Gallus again who had inferred anger from his looks said that the question had not been asked with the intention of dividing what could not be separated but to convince him by his own admission that the body of the state was won and must be directed by a single mind he further spoke in praise of Augustus and reminded Tiberius himself of his victories and of his admirable deeds for many years as a civilian the emperor's resentment for he had long been detested from an impression that as he had married Vipsania the daughter of Marcus Agrippa who had once been the wife of Tiberius he aspired to be more than a citizen and cupped up the arrogant tone of his father Asinius Polio next Lucius Aruntius who differed but little from the speech of Gallus gave like offence though Tiberius had no old grudge against him but simply mistrusted him because he was rich and daring had brilliant accomplishments and corresponding popularity for Augustus when in his last conversations he was discussing who would refuse the highest place though sufficiently capable who would aspire to it without being equal to it and who would unite both the ability and ambition had described Marcus Levitus as able but contemptuously indifferent Gaius Asinius as ambitious but ending capable Lucius Aruntius as not unworthy of it and should the chance be given him sure to make the venture about the two first there is a general agreement but instead of Aruntius some have mentioned Neus Piso and all these men except Levitus were soon afterwards destroyed by various charges through the contrivance of Tiberius Quintus Hatterius too and Mamercus Scoris ruffled his suspicious temper Hatterius by having said how long Caesar will you suffer the state to be without a head Scoris by the remark that there was a hope that the senate's prayers would not be fruitless seeing that he had not used his right as tribune to negative the motion of the consuls Tiberius instantly broke out into a vective against Hatterius Scoris with whom he was far more deeply displeased he passed over in silence wearied at last by the assembly's clamorous importunity and the urgent demands of individual senators he gave way by degrees not admitting that he undertook empire but yet ceasing to refuse it and to be entreated it is known that Hatterius after having entered the palace to ask pardon and thrown himself at the knees of Tiberius as he was walking was almost killed by the soldiers because Tiberius fell forward accidentally or from being entangled by the suppliant's hands yet the peril of so great a man did not make him relent till Hatterius went with entreaties to Augusta and was saved by her very earnest intercessions great too was the senate's sycophancy to Augusta some would have her styled parent others mother of the country and a majority proposed that to the name of Caesar should be added son of Julia the emperor repeatedly asserted that there must be a limit to the honors paid to women and that he would observe similar moderation in those bestowed on himself but annoyed at the invidious proposal and indeed regarding a woman's elevation as a slight to himself he would not allow so much as a lictor to be assigned her and forbade the erection of an altar in memory of her adoption and any like distinction but for Germanicus Caesar he asked proconsular powers and envoys were dispatched to confer them on him and also to express sympathy with his grief at the death of Augustus the same request was not made for Drusus because he was consul-elect and present at Rome twelve candidates were named for the pritorship the number which Augustus had handed down and when the senate urged Hatterius to increase it he bound himself to exceed it it was then for the first time that the elections were transferred from the campus marshes to the senate for up to that day though the most important rested with the emperor's choice some were settled by the partialities of the tribes nor did the people complain of having the right taken from them except in mere idle talk and the senate being now released from the necessity of bribery and of degrading solicitations gladly upheld the change Hatterius confining himself to the recommendation of only four candidates who were to be nominated without rejection or canvas meanwhile the tribunes of the people asked leave to exhibit at their own expense games to be named after Augustus and added to the calendar as the Augustolese money was, however voted from the exchequer and though the use of the triumphal robe in the circus was prescribed it was not allowed them to ride the chariot soon the annual celebration was transferred to the praetor to whose lot fell the administration of justice between citizens and foreigners this was the state of affairs at Rome when a mutiny broke out in the legions of Panonia which could be traced to no fresh cause except the change of emperors and the prospect it held out of license and tumult and a profit from a civil war in the summer camp the legions were quartered under the command of Junius Blicis who on hearing of the death of Augustus and the accession of Tiberius had allowed his men of rest for military duties either for mourning or rejoicing this was the beginning of demoralization among the troops of quarrelling and of listening to the talk of every pestilent fellow in short of craving for luxury and idleness and loathing discipline and toil when Perkinius who having been a leader of one of the theatrical factions then became a common soldier had a saucy tongue and had learned from his applause of actors how to stir up a crowd by working on ignorant minds which doubted as to what would be the terms of military service after Augustus this man gradually influenced them in conversations at night or at nightfall and when the better men had dispersed him all the worst spirits at last when there were others ready to be a better of a mutiny he asked in the tone of a demagogue why like slaves they submitted to a few centurions and still fewer tribunes when he said will you dare to demand relief if you do not go with your prayers or arms to a new and yet tottering throne we have blundered enough in our tameness for so many years and having endured 40 or 40 campaigns till we grow old most of us with bodies maimed with wounds even dismissal is not the end of our service but quartered under a legion standard we toil through the same hardships under another title if a soldier survives so many risks he is still dragged into remote regions where under the name of lands he receives soaking swamps or mountainous wastes assuredly military service is burdensome and unprofitable 10 as is a day is the value set on life and limb out of this clothing, arms, tents as well as the mercy of centurions and exemptions from duty have to be purchased but indeed a flogging in wounds of hard winters weary some summers of terrible war or barren peace there is no end our only relief can come from military life being entered on under six conditions from receiving each the pay of a denarius and from the 16th year terminating our service we must be retained no longer under a standard but in the same camp compensation and money must be paid us do the praetorian cohorts which have just got their two denari per man and which after 16 years I return to their homes encounter more perils we do not disparage the guards of the capital still here amid barbarous tribes we have to face the enemy from our tents end of book 1 part 1 book 1 part 2 of the annals by Publius Cornelius Tacitus 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 Cornelius Tacitus volume 1 translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib book 1 AD 14 and 15 part 2 the throng applauded from various motives some pointing with indignation to the marks of the lash others to their gray locks and most of them to their threadbare garments and naked limbs at last in their fury they went so far as to propose to LibriVox to combine the three legions into one driven from their purpose by the jealousy with which everyone sought the chief honor for his own legion they turned to other thoughts and set up in one spot the three eagles with the insigns of the cohorts at the same time they piled up turf and raised a mound that they might have a more conspicuous meeting place amid the bustle Blicis came up he upgraded them and helped back the legion better imbrew your hands in my blood it would be less guilt to slay your commander than it is to be in revolt from the emperor either living I will uphold the loyalty of the legions or pierce to the heart I will hasten on your repentance nonetheless however was the mound piled up and it was quite breast high when at last overcome by his persistency they gave up their purpose with the consummate tact of an orator said it is not through mutiny and tumult that the desires of the army all to be communicated to Caesar nor did our soldiers of old ever ask so novel a boon of ancient commanders nor have you yourselves asked it of the divine Augustus it is far from opportune that the emperor's cares now in their first beginning should be aggravated if however you are bent upon attempting in peace what even victory in the civil wars you did not demand why contrary to the habit of obedience contrary to the laws of discipline do you meditate violence decide on sending envoys and give them instructions in your presence it was carried by acclamation that the son of Blicis one of the tribunes should undertake the mission and demand for the soldiers release from service after 16 years he was to have the rest of their message the first part had been successful after the young man's departure there was comparative quiet but there was an arrogant tone among the soldiers to whom the fact that their commander's son was pleading their common cause clearly showed that they had rested by compulsion what they had failed to obtain by good behavior meanwhile the companies which previous to the mutiny had been sent to Nalportus to make roads and bridges and for other purposes when they heard of the tumult in the camp tore up the standards and having plundered the neighboring villages and Nalportus itself which was like a town assailed the centurions who restrained them with jeers and insults and last of all with blows their chief rage was against Alfidianus Rufus the camp prefect whom they dragged from a wagon loaded with baggage and drove on at the head of the column asking him in ridicule whether he liked to bear such huge burdens for such long marches Rufus who had long been a common soldier then a centurion and subsequently camp prefect tried to revive the old severe discipline and nurtured as he was to work and toil and all the sterner because he had endured on the arrival of these troops the mutiny broke out afresh and straggling from the camp they plundered the neighborhood Blicis ordered a few who had conspicuously loaded themselves with spoiled to be scourged and imprisoned as a terror to the rest for even as it then was the commander was still obeyed by the centurions and by all the best men among the soldiers as the men were dragged off they struggled violently clasped the knees of the bystanders called to their comrades by name or to the company cohort or legion to whom they were respectively belonged exclaiming that they were all threatened with the same fate they were accused on the commander they appealed to heaven and to the gods and left nothing undone by which they might excite resentment and pity, alarm, and rage they all rushed to the spot broke open the guard house unbound the prisoners and were in a moment fraternizing with deserters and men convicted on capital charges then arose a more furious outbreak with more leaders of the mutiny Vubilanes a common soldier was hoisted in front of a gunel on the shoulders of the bystanders and addressed the excited throng who eagerly awaited his intentions you have indeed restored light and air to these innocent and most unhappy men but who restores to my brother his life or my brother to myself sent to you by the german army in our common cause he was last night butchered by the gladiators whom the general keeps and arms for the destruction of his soldiers answer, Blicis where have you flung aside the corpse even an enemy grudges not burial when, with embraces and tears I have sated my grief order me also to be slain provided that only when we have been destroyed for no crime but only because we have consulted the good of the legions we may be buried by those men around me he inflamed their excitement by weeping and smiting his breast and face with his hands curling aside those who bore him on their shoulders and impetuously flinging himself at the feet of one man after another he roused such dismay and indignation that some of the soldiers put fetters on the gladiators who were among the number of Blicis' slaves others did the like to the rest of his household while a third party hurried out to look for the corpse and had it not quickly been known that no corpse was found that the slaves, when tortures were applied denied the murder and that the man never had a brother they would have been on the point of destroying the general as it was, they thrust out the tribunes and the camp-prefect they plundered the baggage of the fugitives and they killed a centurion, Lucilius to whom, with soldiers' humor they have given the name bring another because when he had broken one vine-stick on a man's back, he would call an allowed voice for another the rest sheltered themselves in concealment and only one was detained Clemens Julius, whom the soldiers considered a fit person to carry messages from his ready wit two legions, the eighth and the fifteenth were actually drawing swords against each other the former demanding the death of a centurion whom they nicknamed Serpicius when the men of the fifteenth defended him but the soldiers of the ninth interposed their entreaties and when these were disregarded this intelligence had such an effect on Tiberius close as he was and most careful to hush up every very serious disaster that he dispatched his son, Drusus with the leading men of the state and with two praetorian cohorts without any definite instructions to take suitable measures the cohorts were strengthened beyond their usual force with some picked troops there was in addition the heart of the praetorian cavalry and the flower of the german soldiery which was then the emperor's guard with them too was the commander of the praetorians Aelius Sejanus who had been associated with his own father Strabo had great influence with Tiberius and was to advise and direct the young prince and to hold out punishment or reward to the soldiers when Drusus approached the legions as a mark of respect met him with his glad looks or the glitter of military decorations but in unsightly squalor and faces which though they simulated grief rather expressed defiance as soon as he entered the entrenchments they secured the gates with sentries and ordered bodies of armed men to be in readiness at certain points of the camp the rest crowded round the general's tribunal in a dense mass Drusus stood there and with the gesture of his hand he started silent as often as they turned their eyes back on the throng they broke into savage exclamations then looking up to Drusus they trembled there was a confused hum a fierce shouting and a sudden law urged by conflicting emotions they felt panic and they caused the like at last in an interval of the uproar Drusus read his father's letter in which it was fully stated that he had a special care for the brave legions with which he had endured a number of campaigns that as soon as his mind was recovered from his grief he would lay their demands before the senators that meanwhile he had sent his son to concede unhesitatingly what could be immediately granted and that the rest must be reserved for the senate which ought to have a voice in showing either favor or severity the crowd replied that they had delivered their instructions to Clemens one of the centurions which he was to convey to Rome he began to speak of the soldiers discharge after sixteen years of the rewards of completed service of the daily pay being a denarius and of the veterans not being detained under a standard when Drusus pleaded an answer referenced to the senate and to his father he was interrupted by a tumultuous shout why had he come neither to increase the soldiers pay nor to alleviate their hardships nor to allow power better than their lot heaven knew that they were all allowed to scourge and execute Tiberius used formally in the name of Augustus to frustrate the wishes of the legions and to the same tricks are now revived by Drusus was it only sons who were to visit them certainly it was a new thing for the emperor to refer to the senate merely what concerned the soldiers interests was then the same senate to be consulted whenever notice was given of the execution or of a battle were there rewards to be at the discretion of absolute rulers their punishment to be without appeal at last they deserted the generals tribunal and to any praetorian soldier or friend of Caesar's who met them they used those threatening gestures which are the cause of strife and the beginning of a conflict with special rage against Nius Lentulus because they thought that he above all others by his age and war like renowned Drusus and was the first to score in such blots on military discipline soon after as he was leaving with Drusus to be take himself in foresight of his danger to the winter camp they surrounded him and asked him again and again whether he was going was it to the emperor or to the senate there also to oppose the interests of the legions at the same time they menaced him savagely and flung stones and now bleeding from a blow and feeling of destruction certain he was rescued by the hurry arrival of the throng which had accompanied Drusus that terrible night which threatened an explosion of crime was tranquilized by a mere accident suddenly in a clear sky the moon's radiance seemed to die away this the soldiers and their ignorance of the cause regarded as an omen of their condition comparing the failure of her light to their own efforts and imagining that their attempts would end desperately should her brightness and splendor be restored to the goddess and so they raised a den with brazen instruments and the combined notes of trumpets and horns with joy or sorrow as she brightened or grew dark when the clouds arose and obstructed their sight it was thought she was buried in the gloom and that proneness the superstition which steals over minds once thoroughly cowed they lamented that this was a portent and that heaven frowned on their deeds Drusus thinking that he ought to avail himself of this change in their temper and turn what chance it offered to a wise account ordered the tents to be visited Clemens the Centurion was summoned with all others who for their good qualities were liked by the common soldiers these men made their way among the patrols sentries and guards of the camp gates suggesting hope or holding out threats how long were you besieged the emperor's son? was there to be no end of our strifes? will Pernicius and Vibholenus give pay to the soldiers and land to those who have earned their discharge? in a word are they instead of the Nero's and the Drusai to control the empire of the Roman people why are we not rather first than our repentance as we were last in the offence? demands made in common are granted slowly a separate favor you may deserve at the same moment with minds affected by these words and growing mutually suspicious they divided off the new troops from the old and one legion from another and then by degrees the instinct of obedience returned they quitted the gates and restored to their places the standards which at the beginning of the mutiny they had grouped into one spot at Daybreak at Daybreak Drusus called them to an assembly and though not a practice speaker yet with natural dignity upgraded them for their past and commended their present behavior he was not he said to be conquered by terror or by threats were he to see them were he to see them inclining to submission and hear the language of entreaty he would write to his father that he might be merciful and receive the legion's petition at their prayer Blicis and Luchius Apronius a Roman knight on Drusus's staff with Drusus Catonius a first rank centurion were again sent to Tiberius this ensued a conflict of opinion among them some maintaining that it was best to wait the envoy's return and meanwhile humor the soldiers others that stronger measures ought to be used in so much as the rabble knows no mean and inspires fear unless they are afraid though when they have once been overawed they can be safely despised while superstitions still swayed them the general should apply terror by removing the leaders of the mutiny Drusus's temper was inclined to harsh measures he summoned Vubulenus and Perkeneus and ordered them to be put to death the common account is that they were buried in the general's tent although according to some their bodies were flung outside the entrenchments for all to see search was then made for the chief mutineers some as they roamed outside the camp were cut down by the centurions or by the soldiers of the praetorian cohorts some even the companies gave up in proof of their loyalty the men's troubles were increased by an early winter with continuous storms so violent that they could not go beyond their tents or meet together or keep their standards in their places from which they were perpetually torn by hurricane and rain they feared the dread of the divine wrath nor was it without meaning they thought that hostile to an empires host the stars grew dim and storms burst over them their only relief for misery was to quit an ill omen in polluted camp and having perched themselves of their guilt to be take themselves again everyone to his winter quarters first the eighth then the fifteenth legion returned the ninth cried again and again they ought to wait for the letter from Tiberius but soon finding themselves isolated by the departures of the rest they voluntarily forestalled their inevitable fate Drusus, without awaiting the envoy's return as for the present all was quiet, went back to Rome about the same time from the same causes the legions of Germany rose in mutiny with a fury proportion to their greater numbers in the confident hope that the Caesar would not be able to endure another supremacy and offer himself to the legions whose strength would carry everything before it there were two armies on the bank of the Rhine that named the upper army had Gaius Cilius for general the lower was under the charge of Aulis Caikina the supreme direction rested with Germanicus then busily employed in conducting the assessment of Gaul the troops under the command of Cilius, with minds yet in suspense watched the issue of mutiny elsewhere but the soldiers of the lower army fell into a frenzy which had its beginning in the men of the 21st and 5th legions and into which the 1st and 20th were also drawn for they were all quartered in the same summer camp in the territory of the UBE enjoying ease or having only light duties accordingly on hearing the death of Augustus a rabble of city-slaves who had been enlisted under a recent levy at Rome habituated to laxity and impatient of hardship filled the ignorant minds of the other soldiers with notions that the time had come when the veteran might demand a timely discharge the young more liberal pay all an end of their miseries and vengeance on the cruelty of the Centurions it was not one alone who spoke thus as did Perkinius among the legions of Panonia nor was it in the ears of trembling soldiers who looked with apprehension to other and mightier armies but there was sedition in many a face and voice the Roman world, they said was in their hand their victories aggrandized the state it was from them that emperors received their titles nor did their commander check them indeed the blind rage of so many had robbed him of his resolution in a sudden frenzy they rushed with drawn swords on the Centurions the immemorable object of the soldiers' resentment in the first cause of savage fury they threw them to the earth and beat them sorely, sixty to one so as to correspond with the number of Centurions then tearing them from the ground mangled and some lifeless they flung them outside the entrenchments or into the river Rhine one Septimius, who fled to the tribunal and was groveling at Caikina's feet was persistently demanded till he was given up to destruction Cassius Chaireia who won for himself a memory with posterity by the murder of Gaius Caesar being then a youth of high spirit cleared a passage with his sword through the armed and opposing throng either tribune nor camp prefect maintained authority any longer patrols, sentries and whatever else the needs of the time required were distributed by the men themselves to those who could guess the temper of soldiers with some penetration the strongest symptom of a widespread and intractable commotion was the fact that instead of being divided or instigated by a few persons they were unanimous in their fury and equally unanimous in their composure with so uniform a constancy that one would have thought them to be under command meantime Germanicus, while as I have related he was collecting the taxes of Gaul, received news of the death of Augustus he was married to the granddaughter of Augustus, Agrippina by whom he had several children and though he was himself the son of Drusus, brother of Tiberius and grandson of Augusta he was troubled by the secret hatred of his uncle and grandmother the motives for which were the more venomous because unjust for the memory of Drusus was held in honor by the Roman people and they believed that had he attained empire he would have restored freedom, hence they regarded Germanicus with favor and with the same hope he was indeed a young man of uninspiring temper and of wonderful kindness contrasting strongly with the proud and mysterious reserve that marked the conversation and the features of Tiberius then there were feminine jealousies Livia feeling a stepmother's bitterness towards Agrippina and Agrippina herself too being rather excitable only her purity and love of her husband gave a right direction to her otherwise imperious disposition but the nearer Germanicus was to the highest hopes the more laboriously did he exert himself for Tiberius and he made the neighboring Sequani and all the Belgic states swear obedience to him and in the legions he instantly went to the spot and met them outside the camp eyes fixed on the ground and seemingly repentant as soon as he entered the entrenchments confused murmurs became audible some men seizing his hand under pretence of kissing it thrust his fingers into their mouths that he might touch their toothless gums others showed him their limbs bowed with age he ordered the throng which stood near him as it seemed a promiscuous gathering to separate itself into its military companies they replied that they would hear better as they were the standards were then to be advanced so that at least the cohorts might be distinguished the soldiers obeyed reluctantly then beginning with a reverent mention of Augustus he passed on to the victories and triumphs of Tiberius dwelling with a special praise on his glorious achievements with those legions in Germany he told the unity of Italy the loyalty of Gaul the entire absence of turbulence or strife he was heard in silence or with but a slight murmur as soon as he touched on the mutiny and asked what had become of soldierly obedience of the glory of ancient discipline whether they had driven their tribunes and centurions they were all bared their bodies and taunted him with the scars of their wounds and the marks of the lash with confused exclamations they spoke bitterly of the prices of exemptions of their scanty pay of the severity of their tasks with special mention of the entrenchment the foes the conveyance of fodder building timber, firewood and whatever else had to be procured from necessity or as a check on idleness in the camp the fiercest clamor arose from the veteran soldiers who, as they counted their 30 campaigns or more implored him to relieve worn out men and not let them die under the same hardships but to have an end of such harassing service and repose without beggary some even claimed the legacy of the divine Augustus with words of good omen for Germanicus and should he wish for empire they showed themselves abundantly willing thereupon as though he were contracting the pollution of guilt he leapt impetuously from the tribunal the men opposed his departure with their weapons threatening him repeatedly if he would not go back but Germanicus protested that he would die rather than cast off his loyalty plucked his sword from his side raised it aloft and was plunging it into his breast when those nearest him seized his hand and held it by force the remotest and most densely crowded part of the throng and what almost passes belief some who came close up to him urged him to strike the blow Caesar by the name Calusidius offered him a drawn sword saying that it was sharper than his own even in their fury this seemed to them a savage act and one of evil precedent and there was a pause during which Caesar's friends hurried him into his tent there they took council on how to heal matters for news was also brought that the soldiers were preparing the dispatch of envoys who were to draw the upper army into their cause that the capital of the Ubee was marked out for destruction and that hands with the state of plunder on them would soon be daring enough for the pillage of Gaul the alarm was heightened by the knowledge that the enemy was aware of the Roman mutiny and was certainly in attack if the Ryan Bank were undefended yet if the auxiliary troops and allies were to be armed against the retiring legions civil war was in fact begun severity would be dangerous and the brutality would be scandalous whether all or nothing were conceded to the soldiery the state was equally in jeopardy accordingly having weighed their plans one against each other they decided that a letter should be written in the prince's name to the effect that full discharge was granted to those who had served in 20 campaigns and there was a conditional release for those who had served 16 and that they were to be retained under a standard with immunity from everything except actually keeping off the enemy that the legacies which they had asked were to be paid and doubled the soldiers perceived that this was all invented for the occasion and instantly pressed their demands the discharge from service was quickly arranged by the tribunes payment was put off till they reached their respective winter quarters the men of the 5th and 21st legions refused to go till in the summer camp where they stood the money was made up out of the purses of Germanicus himself and his friends and paid in full the 1st and 20th legions were led back by their officer Kikina to the canton of the Ube marching in disgrace some sums of money which had been extorted from the general were carried among the eagles and standards Germanicus went to the upper army in the 2nd, 13th and 16th legions without any delay accepted from him both of the legions the 14th hesitated a little but their money and the discharge were offered even without their demanding it end of book 1, part 2 book 1, part 3 of the annals by Publius Quenelius 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 Quenelius Tacitus volume 1 translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib book 1 AD 14 and 15 part 3 meanwhile there was an outbreak among the Chausi begun by some veterans of the mutinous legions on garrison duty they were quelled for a time by the instant execution of two soldiers such was the order of Minius the camp prefect more as a salutary warning than as a legal act then when the commotion increased he fled and having been discovered as his hiding place was now unsafe he borrowed a resource from audacity it was not the camp prefect it was Germanicus their general it was Tiberius their emperor whom they were insulting at the same moment in his resistance he seized the standard faced round towards the river bank and exclaiming that whoever left the ranks he would hold as a deserter he led them back into their winter quarters disaffected indeed but cowed meanwhile envoys from the senate had an interview with Germanicus who had now returned at the altar of the Ube two legions the 1st and 20th with veterans discharged and serving under a standard were there in winter quarters in the bewilderment of terror and conscious guilt they were penetrated by an apprehension that persons had come at the senate's orders to cancel the concessions they had extorted by mutiny and as it is the way with the mob to fix any charge however groundless on some particular person they reproached Manatius Plancus an ex-consul and the chief envoy with being the author of the senate's decree at midnight they began to demand the imperial standard kept in Germanicus's quarters and having rushed together to the entrance burst the door dragged Caesar from his bed and forced him by menaces of death to give up the standard then roaming through the camp streets they met the envoys who on hearing of the tumult were hastening to Germanicus they loaded them with insults and were on the point of murdering them Plancus especially in his peril he found safety only in the camp of the first legion there clasping the standards and the eagle he sought to protect himself under their sanctity and had not the eagle-bearer Calpurnius saved him from the worst violence the blood of an envoy of the Roman people an occurrence rare even among our foes wood in a Roman camp have stained the altars of the gods at last with the light of day when the general and the soldiers in the whole affair were clearly recognized Germanicus entered the camp ordered Plancus to be conducted to him and received him on the tribunal he then uprated them with their fatal infatuation revived not so much by the anger of the soldiers as that of heaven and explained the reasons of the envoys' arrivals on the rights of ambassadors on dreadful and undeserved peril of Plancus and also on the disgrace into which he brought itself he dwelt with the eloquence of pity and while the throng was confounded rather than appeased he dismissed the envoys with an escort of auxiliary cavalry amid the alarm all condemned Germanicus for not going to the upper army where he might find obedience and help against the rebels enough and more than enough blunders they said had been made by granting discharges and money indeed by military measures even if Germanicus held his own life cheap why should he keep a little son and a pregnant wife among madmen who outraged every human right let these at least be restored safely to their grandsire and to the state when his wife spurned the notion protesting that she was a descendant of the divine Augustus and could face peril with no degenerate spirit he at last embraced her and the son of their love with many tears and after long delay compelled her to depart slowly moved among a pitiful procession of women a general's fugitive wife with a little son in her bosom her friends' wives weeping round her as with her they were dragging themselves from the camp not less sorrowful were those who remained there was no appearance of the triumphant general about Germanicus and he seemed to be in a conquered city rather than in his own camp while groans and wailings attracted the ears and looks even of the soldiers they came out of their tents asking what was that mournful sound what meant the sad sight here were ladies of rank not a centurion to escort them not a soldier, no sign of a prince's wife none of the usual rentadou could they be going to the trevary to be subjects of the foreigner then they felt shame and pity and remembered his father Agrippa her grandfather Augustus her father-in-law Drusus her own glory as a mother of children her noble purity and there was her little child too born in the camp brought up amid the tents of the legions whom they used to call in soldiers' fashion Caligula because he often wore the shoes so called to win the men's goodwill but nothing moved them so much as jealousy towards the trevary they entreated, stopped the way that Agrippina might return some running to meet her while most went back to Germanicus he, with a grief and anger that were yet fresh began to address the throng around him neither wife nor son are dearer to me than my father in the state but he will surely have the protection of his own majesty the empire of Rome that of our other armies my wife and children whom were at a question of your glory I would willingly expose the destruction I now remove to a distance from your fury so that whatever wickedness is thereby threatened may be expiated by my blood only and that you may not be made more guilty by the slaughter of a grandson of Augustus by the murder of a daughter-in-law of Tiberius for what have you not dared what have you not profaned during these days what name shall I give to this gathering am I to call you soldiers you who have beset with entrenchments and arms your general son or citizens when you have trampled under foot the authority of the senate even the rights of public enemies the sacred character of ambassador the laws of nations have been violated by you the divine Julius once quelled an army's mutiny with a single word by calling those who were renouncing their military obedience citizens the divine Augustus cowed the legions who had fought at Actium and looked at his face though I am not yet what they were still descended as I am from them it would be a strange and unworthy thing should I be spurned by the soldiery of Spain or Syria first and 20th legions you who received your standards from Tiberius you men of the 20th who have shared with me so many battles and have been enriched with so many rewards is not this a fine gratitude with which you are repaying your general are these the tidings which I shall have to carry to my father when he hears only joyful intelligence from our other provinces that his own recruits his own veterans are not satisfied with discharge or pay that here only centurions are murdered tribunes are driven away envoys imprisoned camps and rivers stained with blood while I am myself dragging on a precarious existence amid those who hate me why on the first day of our meeting why did you my friends rest for me in your blindness the steel with which I was preparing to plunge into my breast better and more loving was the act of the man who offered me the sword at any rate I should have perished before I was yet conscious of the disgraces of my army while you would have chosen of general who though he might allow my death to pass on punish would avenge the death of Varus and his three legions never indeed may heaven suffer the bell guy although they proffer their aid to have the glory and honor of having rescued the name of Rome and quelled the tribes of Germany it is thy spirit divine Augustus now received into heaven thine image fathered Drusus and the remembrance of thee which with these same soldiers who are now stimulated by shame and ambition should wipe out this blot and turn the wrath of civil strife to the destruction of the foe you too in whose faces and in whose hearts I perceive a change if only you restore to the senate their envoys to the emperor his due allegiance to myself my wife and son do you stand aloof from pollution and separate the mutinous from among you this will be a pledge of your repentance a guarantee of your loyalty thereupon as suppliance confessing that his reproaches were true they implored him to punish the guilty pardon those who had erred and lead them against the enemy and he was to recall his wife to let the nursing of the legions return and not be handed over as a hostage to the Gauls as to Agrippina's return he made the excuse of her approaching confinement and of winter his son he said would come and the rest they might settle themselves a way they hurried hither and thither altered men and dragged the chief mutineers in change to Gaius Chitronius commander of the first legion who tried and punished them one by one in the following fashion in front of the throng stood the legions with drawn swords each accused man was on a raised platform and was pointed out by a tribune if they shouted out that he was guilty he was thrown headlong and cut to pieces the soldiers gloated over the bloodshed as though it gave them absolution nor did Caesar check them seeing that without any order from himself the same men were responsible for all the cruelty and all the odium of the deed the example was followed by the veterans who were soon afterwards sent into racia nominally nominally to defend the province against a threatened invasion of the suave but really that they may tear themselves from a camp stamped with the horror of a dreadful remedy no less than with the memory of guilt then the general revised the list of centurions each at his summons stated his name, his rank, his birthplace the number of his campaigns what brave deeds he had done in battle his military rewards if any if the tribunes in the legion commended his energy and good behavior he retained his rank where they unanimously charged him with propacity or cruelty he was dismissed the service quiet being thus restored for the present a no less formidable difficulty remained with the turbulence of the fifth and twenty-first legions who were in winter quarters sixty miles away at old camp as the place was called these in fact had been the first to begin the mutiny and the most atrocious deeds had been committed at their hands unawed by the punishment of their comrades and unmoved by their contrition they still retained their resentment Caesar accordingly proposed to send an armed fleet to realize down the Rhine resolve to make war on them should they reject his authority at Rome meanwhile when the result of affairs in Illyrium was not yet known and men had heard of the commotion among the German legions the citizens in alarm reproached Tiberius for the hypocritical irresolution with which he was befooling the senate and the people feeble and disarmed as they were while the soldiery were all the time welled by the yet imperfectly matured authority of two strictlings he ought to have gone himself and confronted with his imperial magistory those who would have soon yielded when they once saw a sovereign of long experience who was the supreme dispenser of rigor or of bounty could Augustus with the feebleness of age on him so often visit Germany and is Tiberius in the vigor of life to sit in the senate and criticize its members' words he had taken good care that there should be slavery at Rome he should now apply some soothing medicine to the spirit of the soldiers that they might be willing to endure peace notwithstanding these were monstrances it was the inflexible purpose of Tiberius not to quit the headquarters of empire or to imperil himself and the state indeed many conflicting thoughts troubled him the army in Germany was the stronger in Pannonia the nearer the first was supported by all the strength of Gaul the latter menaced Italy which was he to prefer without the fear that those whom he slided would be infuriated by the affront but his sons might alike visit both and not compromise the imperial dignity which inspired the greatest awe at a distance there was also an excuse for mere youths referring some matters to their father with the possibility that he could conciliate or crushed those who resisted Germanicus or Drusus what resource remained if they despised the emperor however as if on the eve of departure he selected his attendants provided his camp equipage and prepared a fleet then winter and matters in business were the various pretexts with which he amused first sensible men then the populace last and longest of all the provinces Germanicus meantime though he had concentrated his army and prepared vengeance against the mutineers thought that he ought still to allow them an interval in case they might with the late warning before them regard their safety he sent dispatch to Caikina saying that he was on the way with a strong force and that unless they forestalled his arrival by the execution of the guilty he would resort to an indiscriminate massacre Caikina read the letter confidentially to the eagle and standard bearers and to all in the camp who were least tainted by disloyalty and urged them to save the whole army from disgrace and themselves from destruction in peace he said the merits of a man's cause are carefully weighed when war bursts on us innocent and a guilty alike parish upon this they sounded those whom they thought best for their purpose that a majority of their legions remain loyal at the commander's suggestion they fixed a time for falling with the sword on the vialist and foremost of the mutineers then at a mutually given signal they rushed into the tents and butchered the unsuspecting men none but those in the secret knowing what was the beginning or what may be the end of the slaughter the scene was a contrast to all civil wars which have ever occurred it was not in battle it was not from opposing camps it was from those same dwellings where day saw them at their common meals night resting from labor that they divided themselves into two factions and showered on each other their missiles uproar, wounds, bloodshed were everywhere visible the cause was a mystery all else was at the disposal of chance even some loyal men were slain for on its being once understood who were the objects of fury some of the worst mutineers too had seized on weapons neither commander nor tribune was present to control them the men were allowed license and vengeance to their hearts content soon afterwards Guermanicus entered the camp exclaiming with a flood of tears that this was destruction rather than remedy ordered the bodies to be burnt even then their savage spirit was seized with desire to march against the enemy as an atonement for their frenzy and it was felt that the shades of their fellow soldiers could be appeased only by exposing such impious breasts to honorable scars Caesar followed up the enthusiasm of the men and having bridged over the Rhine he sent across it twelve thousand from the legions with six and twenty allied cohorts and eight squadrons of cavalry whose discipline had been without a stain during the mutiny there was exaltation among the Germans not far off as long as we were detained by the public morning for the loss of Augustus and then by our dissensions but the Roman general in a forced march cut through the Kaisian forest in the barrier which had been begun by Tiberius and pitched his camp on this barrier his front and rear being defended by entrenchments his flanks by timber barricades he then penetrated some forest passes but little known and as there were two routes he deliberated whether he should pursue the short and ordinary route or that which was more difficult unexplored and consequently unguarded by the enemy he chose the longer way and hurried on every remaining preparation for his scouts had brought word that among the Germans it was a night of festivity with games and one of their grand banquets Chikina had orders to advance with some light cohorts and to clear away any obstructions from the woods the legions followed at a moderate interval they were helped by a night of bright starlight reached the villages of the Marcy and threw their pickets round the enemy who even then were stretched on beds or at their tables without the least fear or any sentries before their camp so complete was their carelessness and disorder and of war indeed there was no apprehension peace certainly was not merely the languid and heedless ease of half intoxicated people Caesar to spread devastation widely divided his eager legions into four columns and ravaged a space of fifty miles with fire and sword neither sex nor age moved his compassion everything sacred or profane the temple too of Temphana as they called it the special resort of all those tribes was leveled to the ground there was not a wound among our soldiers who cut down a half asleep or unarmed or a straggling foe the brook terry, tubantes, and usepetes were roused by this slaughter and they beset the forest passes through which our army had to return the general knew this and he marched prepared both to advance and to fight part of the cavalry and some of the auxiliary cohorts led the van then came the first legion and with the baggage in the center the men of the twenty first closed up the left those of the fifth the right flank the twentieth legion secured the rear and next were the rest of the allies meanwhile the enemy moved not till the army began to defile in column through the woods then made some slight skirmishing attacks on its flanks and van and with his whole force charged the rear the light cohorts were thrown into confusion by the dense masses of the Germans when Caesar rode up to the men of the twentieth legion and in a loud voice exclaimed that this was the time for wiping out the mutiny advance, he said and hastened to turn your guilt into glory this fired their courage and at a single dash they broke through the enemy and drove him back with great slaughter into the open country at the same moment the troops of the van emerged from the woods and entrenched a camp after this their march was uninterrupted and the soldiery with the confidence of recent successes and forgetful of the past were placed in winter quarters the news was a source of joy and also of anxiety to Tiberius he rejoiced that the mutiny was crushed but the fact that Germanicus had won the soldier's favor by lavishing money and promptly granting the discharge as well as his fame as a soldier annoyed him still he brought his achievements under the notice of the senate and spoke much of his greatness which elaborated for effect more so than can be believed to come from his inmost heart he bestowed a briefer praise on Drusus and on the termination of the disturbance in Elyricum but he was more earnest and his speech more hearty and he confirmed too in the armies of Pannonia all the concessions of Germanicus that same year Julia ended her days for her profligacy she had formally been confined under Augustus in the island of Pandatria and then in the town of the Regni on the shores of the Straits of Sicily she had been the wife of Tiberius while Gaius and Lucius Caesar were in their glory and had disdained him as an unequal match this was Tiberius's special reason for retiring to Rhodes when he obtained the empire he left her in banishment and disgrace deprived of all hope after the murder of Postermus Agrippa and let her perish by a lingering death of destitution with the idea that an obscurity would hang over her head from the length of her exile he had a like motive for cruel vengeance on Sampronius Gracchus a man of noble family of shrewd understanding and a perverse eloquence who had seduced the same Julia when she was the wife of Marcus Agrippa and this was not the end of the intrigue when she had been handed over to Tiberius her persistent paramour inflamed her with disobedience and hatred towards her husband and a letter which Julia wrote to her father, Augustus invade against Tiberius was supposed to be the composition of Gracchus he was accordingly banished to Curcina where he endured an exile of 14 years then the soldiers who were sent to slay him found him on a promontory expecting no good on their arrival he begged a brief interval in which to give by letter his last instructions to his wife, Aliaria and then offered his neck to the executioners dying with the courage not unworthy of the Sampronian name which his degenerate life had dishonored some have related that these soldiers were not sent from Rome but from Lucius Asperanus proconsul of Africa on the authority of Tiberius who had vainly hoped that the infamy of the murder might be shifted on Asperanus the same year witnessed the establishment of religious ceremonies in a new priesthood of the brotherhood of the Augustales just as in former days Titus Tatius to retain the rights of the Sabines had instituted the Titian brotherhood 21 were chosen by Lot from the chief men of the state Tiberius, Drusus, Claudius and Germanicus were added to their number the Augustal games which were then inaugurated were disturbed by quarrels arising out of rivalry between the actors Augustus had shown indulgence to the entertainment by way of humoring Mycanus' extravagant passion for Bathilus nor did he himself dislike such amusements and he thought it citizen-like to mingle in the pleasures of the populace very different was the tendency of Tiberius' character but a people of so many years indulgently treated he did not yet venture to put under harsher control in the consulship of Drusus Caesar in Gaius Norbanus Germanicus had a triumph decreed him though war still lasted and though it was for the summer campaign that he was most vigorously preparing he anticipated it by a sudden in-road of the Chatti in the beginning of spring there had in fact sprung up a hope of the enemy being divided between Arminius and Segestis and Arminius respectively for treachery and loyalty towards us Arminius was the disturber of Germany Segestis often revealed the fact that a rebellion was being organized more especially at that last banquet after which they rushed to arms and he urged Varus to arrest himself and Arminius and all the other chiefs assuring him that the people would attempt nothing if the leading men were removed and that he would then have an opportunity to restricting accusations and distinguishing the innocent but Varus fell by fate and by the sword of Arminius with whom Segestis though dragged into war by the unanimous voice of the nation continued to be at feud his resentment being heightened by personal motives as Arminius had married his daughter who was betrothed to another with his son-in-law detested and father's-in-law also in enmity what are the bounds of love between united hearts became with bitter foes incentives to fury Germanicus accordingly gave Caikina four legions, five thousand auxiliaries, with some hastily raised levies from the Germans dwelling on the left bank of the Rhine he was himself at the head of an equal number of legions and twice as many allies having established a fort on the site of his father's entrenchments on Mount Taunus he hurried his troops in quick-marching order against the Chatti leaving Lucius Apronius to direct works connected with roads and bridges with a dry season and comparatively shallow streams a rare occurrence in that climate he had accomplished without obstruction rapid march and he feared for his return heavy rains and swollen rivers but so suddenly did he come on the Chatti that all the helpless from age or sex were at once captured or slaughtered their able-bodied men had swum across the river Adrana and were trying to keep back the Romans as they were commencing a bridge subsequently they were driven back by missiles and arrows and having in vain attempted for peace some took refuge with Germanicus while the rest leaving their cantons and villages dispersed themselves in their forest after burning Matium the capital of the tribe and ravaging the open country they were back towards the Rhine the enemy not daring to harass the rear of the retiring army which was his usual practice whenever he fell back by way of stratagem rather than from panic it had been the intention of the Cherusci to help the Chatti but Caikina thoroughly cowed them carrying his arms everywhere and the Marci who ventured to engage him he repulsed in a successful battle not long after from Segestes imploring aid against the violence of his fellow countrymen by whom he was hemmed in and with whom Arminius had greater influence because he consul'd war for with barbarians the more eager a man's daring the more does he inspire confidence and the more highly is he esteemed in times of revolution with the envoys Segestes had associated his son by name Sigimundus he was sent back from a conscientious of guilt for in the year of the revolt of Germany he had been appointed a priest at the altar of the Ube and had rent the sacred garlands and fled to the rebels induced however to hope for mercy from Rome he brought his father's message he was graciously received and sent with an escort to the Gallic bank of the Rhine it was now worthwhile for Gammanicus to march back his army a battle was fought against the besiegers Segestes was rescued with the numerous band of kinsfolk and dependents in the number were some women of rank among them the wife of Arminius who was also the daughter of Segestes but who exhibited the spirit of her husband rather than of her father subdued neither to tears nor to the tones of a suppliant her hands tightly clasped within her bosom and eyes which dwelt on her hope of offspring the spoils also taken in the defeat of virus were brought in having been given as plunder to many of those who were then being surrendered Segestes too was there in person a stately figure fearless in the remembrance of having been a faithful ally his speech was to this effect this is not my first day of steadfast loyalty towards the Roman people from the time that the divine Augustus gave me the citizenship I have chosen my friends and foes with an eye to your advantage not from hatred of my fatherland for traitors are detested even by those whom they prefer but because I held that Romans and Germans have the same interests and that peace is better than war and therefore I denounced to Varus who then commanded your army Arminius the ravisher of my daughter the violator of your treaty I was put off by that dilatory general and as I found but little protection in the laws I urged him to arrest myself Arminius and his accomplices that night is my witness would that it had been my last what followed may be deplored rather than defended however I threw Arminius into chains and I endured to have them put on myself by his partisans and as soon as given opportunity I showed my preference for the old over the new for peace or commotion not to get a reward but that I might clear myself from treachery and be at the same time a fit mediator for the German people should they choose repentance rather than ruin for the youth and error of my son I entreat forgiveness as for my daughter I admit that it is by compulsion that she has been brought here it will be for you to consider which fact weighs most with you to me Caesar in a gracious reply promised safety to his children and kinsfolk and a home for himself in the old province he then led back the army and received on the proposal of Tiberius the title of Imperator the wife of Arminius gave birth to a male child the boy who was brought up at Ravenna soon afterwards suffered an insult which at the proper time I shall relate the report of the surrender to the deception of Segestes when generally known was heard with hope or grief according as men shrank from war or desired it Arminius with his naturally furious temper was driven to frenzy by the seizure of his wife and the fordooming to slavery of his wife's unborn child he flew hither and thither among the Cherusci demanding war against Segestes war against Caesar and he refrained not from taunts noble the father he would say mighty the general brave the army which with such strength has carried off one weak woman before me three legions three commanders have fallen not by treachery not against pregnant women but openly against our men do I wage war there are still to be seen in the groves of Germany the Roman standards which I hung up to our country's gods let Segestes dwell on the conquered bank let him restore to his son his priestly office one thing there is which Germans will never thoroughly excuse they're having seen between the Elba and the Rhine the Roman rods axes and toga other nations in their ignorance of Roman rule have no experience of punishments no nothing of tributes and as we have shaken them off as the great Augustus ranked among deities and his chosen air Iberias departed from us baffled let us not quail before an inexperienced tripling before a mutinous army if you prefer your fatherland your ancestors your ancient life to tyrants and to new colonies follow as your leader a minius to glory and to freedom rather than Segestes to ignominious servitude this language rouse not only the Cheruski but the neighboring tribes and drew to their side the uncle of Arminius who had long been respected by the Romans this increased Caesar's alarm that the war might not burst in all its fury at one point he sent Caikina through the brooktery to the river Amicia with 40 Roman cohorts to distract the enemy while the cavalry was led by its commander Pado through the territories of the Frisi Germanicus himself put on ship board and conveyed them through the lakes and the infantry cavalry and fleets met simultaneously at the river already mentioned the Chausi on promising aid were associated with us in military fellowship Lucius Sturtenius was dispatched by Germanicus with a flying column and routed the brooktery as they were burning their possessions and amid the carnage and plunder found the eagle of the 19th Legion had been lost with Varus the troops were then marched to the furthest frontier of the brooktery and all the country between the rivers Amicia and Lupia was ravaged not far from the forest of Teto Burgium where the remains of Varus and his legions were said to lie unburied Germanicus upon this was seized with an eager longing to pay the last honor to those soldiers and their general while the whole army present was moved to compassion by the thought of their kinsfolk and friends and indeed of the calamities of wars and the lot of mankind having sent on Kaikina in advance to reconnoiter the obscure forest passes and to raise bridges and causeways over watery swamps and treacherous plains they visited the mournful scenes with their horrible sights and associations Varus' first camp with its wide circumference and the measurements of its central space clearly indicated the handiwork of three legions further on the partially fallen rampart and the shallow foes suggested the inference that it was a shattered remnant of the army which had there taken up a position in the center of the field were the whitening bones of man as they had fled or stood their ground strewn everywhere or piled in heaps near lay fragments of weapons and limbs of horses and also human heads prominently nailed to trunks of trees in the adjacent groves were the barbarous altars on which they had emulated tribunes and first rank centurions some survivors of the disaster who had escaped from the battle or from captivity described how this was the spot where the officers fell how yonder the eagles were captured where Varus was pierced by his first wound where too by the stroke of his own ill-starred hand he found for himself death they pointed out to the raised ground from which Arminius had haranged his army the number of gibbets for the captives the pits for the living and how in his exaltation he insulted the standards and eagles End of Book 1, Part 3