 Chapter 9, Sections 3-4 of J. B. Bury's The Student's Roman Empire, Part 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 Student's Roman Empire, Part 1 by John Bagnell Bury. Chapter 9, The Winning and Losing of Germany, The Death of Augustus, Sections 3 and 4. Section 3, The German Rebellion and Defeat of Varus The Emperor seems to have entertained few fears of the possibility of a rising in his new German province, for he named as commander of the Rhine armies a man distantly related to himself by marriage who had no experience of active warfare and was quite incompetent to meet any grave emergency. This was Publius Quintilius Varus, who as imperial legatus in Syria had won wealth if not fame. It was said that when he came to that province he was poor and Syria was rich, but when he went he was rich and Syria was poor. His experiences as governor of Syria proved unlucky for him as governor in Germany. He utterly misconceived the situation. He imagined that the policy which he had successfully pursued in Syria might be adopted equally well in Germany. He failed to perceive the differences between the two cases and to mark the weak grasp with which Rome as yet held the lands between the Rhine and the Albus. He seems to have felt himself perfectly safe in the wild places of Germany under the shield of the Roman name. He imposed taxes on the natives and dealt judgment without any fear of consequences. But a storm was brewing under his very eyes. It seemed to those German patriots who could never brook with patience the rule of a foreign master that the moment had come when a struggle for the liberty of their nation might be attempted with some chance of success. In this enterprise only four prominent German peoples were concerned. The Cherusci, the Chadi, the Marci and the Bruchterri, the same who had before distinguished themselves by their opposition to Drusus. The Frisians, the Chausi, the Swevic peoples who acknowledged the overlordship of Marobodus, took no part in this insurrection. The plotter and leader of the rebellion was the Cheruscan prince Arminius, son of Sigimer, then in the 26th year of his age. He and his father Flavius had received the privilege of Roman citizenship from Augustus. He had been raised to the equestrian rank and had seen military service under the Roman standard. He was not only physically brave, but it was thought that he possessed intellectual qualities unequal in a barbarian. The Romans naturally trusted his loyalty and the insinuations of Sigestes his countrymen, who knew him better, received no attention. Sigimer, the brother, and Segamund, the son of the Sigestes, threw themselves into the enterprise of Arminius, and through Snelda, the daughter of Sigestes, married the young patriot against the wishes of her father. It was the policy of the contrivers of the insurrection to keep the design dark until the last moment, and in the meantime to lull Varus, already secure, into a security still more complete. Of the five Germanic legions, two had their winter quarters at Moguntiakum, the other three at Castraveterra on the lower Rhine, or at the fortress of Eliso on the Lupia. In summer they used some times to visit the interior parts of the province, and in 9 AD, Varus, with three legions, occupied summer quarters on the Visergis, probably not far from the modern town of Minden and the port of Westphalica. The camp was full of advocates and clients, and the chief conspirators were present, on intimate terms with the governor and constantly dining with him. Autumn came, and as the rainy season approached, Varus prepared to retrace his steps westward. There can be no doubt that a line of communication connected his summer station with Eliso, and if the army had returned as it came, Arminius could hardly have been successful in his plans. But a message suddenly arrived that a distant tribe had revolted, and Varus decided to take a roundabout way homewards in order to suppress it. This news was suspiciously opportune for the rebels. The Romans had to make their way through a hilly district of pathless forests, and their difficulties were increased not only by the encumbrances of heavy baggage and camp followers, but by the heavy rains, which had already begun and made the ground slippery. The moment had come for the German patriots to strike a desperate blow for independence. Sigestis warned Varus of the impending danger, but the infatuated governor trusted the assivirations of Arminius. As the legions were making their laborious way through the saltis tutoburgiensis, they were assailed by the confederate insurgents. This tutoburg forest cannot be identified with any certainty, but it seems to have been somewhere between the Amicia and the Lupia northeast of Aliso. It is impossible to determine how far the circumstances of the case and how far the incompetence of the general were to blame for the disaster which followed. For three days the Romans continued to advance, resisting as well as they could the attacks of the foe, and if Varus had possessed the confidence of his soldiers and known how to hold them together, it seems probable that he might have passed through the danger and safety. But both officers and soldiers were demoralized under his command. The prefect of the horse deserted his post, taking all the cavalry with him and leaving the foot soldiers to their fate. Varus was the first to despair. He had received a wound and he slew himself. Others followed his example and the rest surrendered. The prisoners were slain, some buried alive, some crucified, some sacrificed on the altars. The forces of Varus consisted of three legions, 17th, 18th, 19th, six cohorts, and three squadrons of cavalry. The army had been weakened by the loss of detachments, which at the request of the conspirators had been sent to the territories of various tribes to preserve order. These detachments, taken chiefly from the auxiliary cohorts, were slaughtered when the insurrection broke out. Of the troops which were entrapped in the Tutobird Forest, numbering probably almost 20,000 men, only the cavalry escaped and a few individual foot soldiers. The three eagles of the three legions fell into the hands of the victors. Such a disaster had not befallen since the day of Carhay. The peoples of central Germany from the Rhine to the Visurgus had thus thrown off the Roman yoke. The cause of freedom had been victorious. Two results fraught with great danger to the Roman Empire seemed likely to follow. It was to be feared that the triumphant Germans would push across to the left bank of the Rhine, arouse a revolt there, and perhaps shake the fidelity of Gaul. And seemingly it was to be feared that Maro Bodus, lord of the Marcomani, and chief of the Swevik Confederacy, would declare himself on the side of the insurgents, now they were successful. But neither of these dangers were realized. The first was foiled by the bravery of Lucius Sedicius, commander of the garrison in Eliso, and the promptness of Lucius Nonius Asprenas, who commanded the two legions stationed at Moguntiakum. The first movement of the rebels after their victory was to attack Eliso, but Sedicius defended it so bravely that they were obliged to blockade it. When provisions ran short and no relief came, the garrison stole out on a dark night and made their way, harassed by the attacks of the enemy, to Castro Viterra. Thither Asprenas, when the news of the disaster reached him, had hastened with his two legions to hinder the Germans from crossing the Rhine. The other danger was frustrated by the peculiar temper of Maro Bodus himself. Arminius had triumphantly sent him the head of Varus as a token of his own amazing success, hoping to persuade him to join the Confederacy against Rome. But the message was ineffectual. Maro Bodus refused to link himself with the insurgents or to depart from his policy of neutrality. When the news of the defeat reached Rome, Augustus met the emergency with spirit and energy. The citizens seemed indifferent to the crisis. Many of them refused to place their names on the military roll, and the emperor was obliged to resort to fines and threats of severe punishment. Troops hastily levied from the veterans and freedmen were sent with all speed to the Rhine, and the Germans, who served as an imperial bodyguard, were disarmed and driven forth from Rome. In the following year, 10 AD, Tiberius assumed the command of the Rhine army, which was increased to eight legions. Four of these were doubtless stationed at Moguntiacum and four at Viterra, and it was probably the emperor's intention that when the immediate crisis was passed, the command of the Germanic armies should be divided between two generals. During the first year, Tiberius seems to have been engaged in organizing the defense of the Rhine, restoring the confidence of the old legions and establishing discipline among the new. In the next year, 11 AD, he crossed the river and spent the summer in Germany, but he does not seem to have ventured far into the country or to have attempted any hostile enterprise. He was accompanied by his nephew Germanicus, to whom procouncelor powers had been granted. In the following year, the duties of his consulship retained Germanicus at Rome, but in 13 AD, he succeeded Tiberius in the sole command on the Rhine. During these years, nothing was done against the Germans, though the state of war still continued, but Germanicus was not long content with inactivity. Upon him seemed to devolve the duty of restoring his father's work, which had been so disastrously demolished, and he burned to do it. But his efforts to recover the lost dominion and reach the Albus once more must form the subject of another chapter. Section 4 The Death of Augustus The slaughter of the Varian legions in the wilds of Germany tarnished the luster of Roman arms and cast a certain gloom over the last days of the Augustan age. The emperor himself, now stricken in years, felt the blow painfully. He let his hair and beard grow long. It is said that he dashed his head against the walls of his chamber, crying, Varus, Varus, give me back my legions. Every year he went into mourning on the anniversary of the defeat. He knew that his end must soon come, and he began to set his house in order. In 12 AD he addressed a letter to the senate in which he commended Germanicus to its protection and commended the senate itself to the vigilance of Tiberius. In the following year he assumed once more the procounselor power for a period of ten years. At the same time, as has been recorded in chapter 4, Tiberius was raised to a position almost equal to that of the emperor himself, and his son Drusus received a privilege of standing for the councilship in three years without the preliminary step of the praetorship. A census was held in 14 AD, and after its completion Tiberius set out for Illyricum, where he was to resume the supreme command. Augustus accompanied him as far as Beneventum, but in returning to the Campanian coast was attacked by dysentery and died at Nola, August 19. Tiberius had been sent for without delay, and came perhaps in time to hear the parting words of his stepfather. There is no good reason to believe the insinuation that the emperor's death was caused or hastened by poison administered by Livia. Her son's ascension was sure, and Augustus was old and weak, so that it would hardly have been worthwhile to commit this crime. Both contemporaries and posterity had good cause to regard Augustus as a benefactor. He had given them the gift of peace. They also esteemed him fortunate, Felix, and his good fortune became almost proverbial. Yet it has been truly remarked that luck was the one thing that failed him. Both points of view are true. He was unusually fortunate. When he entered upon his career as a competitor for power, his motives were probably as vulgar as those of his rivals. There is no reason to suppose that in the pursuit of ambition he had large views of political reform or an exalted ideal of statesmanship. His actions throughout the Civil War indicate the shrewd, cool and collected mind. They give no token of wide views, no promise of the future greatness. Quote, but his intellect expanded with his fortunes and his soul grew with his intellect, end quote. When he came to be supreme ruler, he rose to the position. He learned to take a large view of the functions of the Lord of the Roman world. And there was born in him a spirit of enthusiasm for the work which history set him to accomplish. He knew too how to bear his fortune with dignity. But he was unlucky when his fortune was most firmly established. It was not given to the founder of the empire to leave a successor of his own blood. And as we have seen, his endeavors to settle the succession were doomed to one bitter disappointment after another and led to domestic unhappiness. And it was not given to him to establish a secure frontier for the northern provinces of the empire. The efforts in that direction, which were made under his auspices and seemed on the eve of being crowned with success, were undone by a stroke of bad luck. Yet, reviewing his whole career as a statesman and reflecting on all that he achieved, we may assuredly say that the divine Augustus was fortunate with a measure of good fortune that is rarely bestowed on men who live out their life. The written memorial of his own axe, which Augustus composed before his death, may be spoken of here. It has been incompletely preserved in a Latin inscription which covers the walls of the Pronoos of a temple of Augustus at Enchira. Owing to this accident, it is generally known as the Monumentum Enchiranum, but its proper title was Res geste dini agusti. Fragments of the Greek text of the same work have been found in Pisidia and have helped scholars in restoring the sense where the Latin fails. In this document, the emperor briefly describes his axe from his 19th to his 77th year with remarkable dignity, reserve, and moderation. The great historical value of this memorial, composed by the founder of the empire himself, need hardly be pointed out. An extract will give an idea of the way in which the great statesman wrote the brief chronicle of the history which he made. Quote, I extended the frontiers, he says, of all those provinces of the Roman people on whose borders there were nations not subject to our empire. I pacified the provinces of the Gauls and the Spains and Germany from Gades to the mouth of the Albus. I reduced to a state of peace the Alps from the district which is nearest to the Adriatic Sea to the Tuscan Sea without wrongful aggressions on any nation. My fleet navigated the ocean from the mouth of the Rhine eastward as far as the borders of the Simbri, wither no Roman before ever passed either by land or sea. And the Simbri, the Charites and the Simones and other German peoples of the same region, sought the friendship of me and the Roman people. By my command and under my auspices, two armies were sent almost at the same time to Ethiopia and to Arabia called Yudemann Felix and very large forces of the enemies in both countries were cut to pieces in battle and many towns taken. The invaders of Ethiopia advanced as far as the town of Nabata very near Moro. The army which invaded Arabia marched into the territory of the Sabe as far as the town of Moriba. End quote. Another work compiled by Augustus was the Braverium Imperii containing a short statement of all the resources of the Roman state and including the number of the population of citizens, subjects and allies. It was in fact a handbook to the statistics of the Roman Empire. At the end of this work he recorded his solemn advice to succeeding sovereigns not to attempt to extend the boundaries of the Empire. End of chapter 9, sections 3 and 4. Chapter 10 of J. B. Bury's The Student's Roman Empire Part 1 This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Kalinda. The Student's Roman Empire Part 1 by John Bagnell Bury. Chapter 10 Rome under Augustus His Buildings The Augustan Age marks a new period in the history of the city of Rome. Augustus boasted that he founded a city of brick and left it a city of marble. For the change consisted not only in the large number of new buildings which were erected under his auspices but in the material which was used. The white marble quarries of Luna had been recently discovered and this rich stone was employed in many of the public edifices while the aristocrats stimulated by the example of the emperor used bright travertine to adorn the facades of their private houses. The most striking change that took place in the appearance of the city during the reign of Augustus was the transformation of the Forum and the opening up of the adjacent quarters. In this as in so much else Julius Caesar had suggested innovations which he did not live to carry out himself. The Roman Forum extends from the foot of the capital to the northwest corner of the Palatine. Adjoining it on the north side but separated from it by the rostrum was the Commidium, a small enclosed space in which the Curia stood. The first step to the transformation of the Forum was the removal of the rostrum, 42 BC, so that the Forum and Commidium formed one place. The Curia had been burnt down ten years before and Caesar began the building of a new one which was finished by Augustus and was completed under the name of Curia Giulia. But this was only the beginning of the new splendor that was to come upon the great centre of Roman life. A short description of the chief buildings which adorned it at the death of Augustus will show how much it was changed under the auspices of the first princeps. At the northwest corner close under the Capitoline where the ascent to the arcs begins stood the Temple of Concord rebuilt by Tiberius in 10 AD and dedicated in the name of himself and his dead brother Drusus as Edis Concordier Auguste. Owing to the nature of the ground this Temple had a peculiar cramped shape the pronouse being only half as broad as the cella. A jacent on the south side was the Temple of Saturn between the Clivus Capitolinas and the Vicus Jugarius. It was built anew in 42 BC by the munificence of Monatius Plancus. The eight Ionic pillars which still mark the spot where it stood date from a later period. This Temple served as the state treasury which was therefore called the Cerrarium Saturni. Between the Vicus Jugarius and the Vicus Tuscus occupying the greater part of the south side of the forum stood the Basilica Giulia which like the Curia the elder Caesar had left to his son to finish. Begun in 54 BC it was dedicated in 46 but after its completion some years later it was burnt down. Then it arose again on a larger and more splendid scale and was finally dedicated by Augustus a few months before his death in the name of his unfortunate grandsons Gaius and Lucius Caesar. East of the Basilica on the other side of the Vicus Tuscus was situated the Temple of Castor of which three Corinthian columns and a splendid Greek entablature still stand. Founded originally in memory of the help which the great twin brethren were said to have given to the Romans at Lake Regulus it was renewed for the second time by Tiberius under the auspices of Augustus and like the Temple of Concord dedicated in the name of the two sons of Livia. The Temple of the Divine Julius built on the spot where his body had been burned by the piety of his son stood at the eastern end of the forum facing the new rostra which had been erected at the western side in front of the Temple of Concord. Behind the Edes Divi Giulia and on the north side of the venerable round Temple of Vesta was the Regia a foundation of high antiquity ascribed to Numa and used under the Republic as the office of the Pontifix Maximus. It had been often destroyed by fire and in 36 BC it was rebuilt in splendid style by C. Domitius Calvinus and there Lepidus transacted the duties of his Pontifical office. But when Augustus himself became chief Pontif 12 BC he resigned the Regia to the use of the Vestal Virgins. On the north side east of the Couria stood a building originally designed in 179 BC by the censors Fulvius and Emilius but built anew by L. Emilius Paulus in 54 BC and since then known as the Basilica Emilia. Burnt down 40 years later it was rebuilt by Augustus with pillars of Phrygian marble. The Temple of Janus which Augustus thrice closed stood somewhere the exact position is uncertain near the point where the Argillatum entered the Forum between the Couria and the Basilica Emilia. The Argillatum, a street famous for booksellers traversed the populous and busy region north of the Forum which was densely packed with houses and threaded only by narrow streets. Caesar formed the design of opening up this crowded quarter and establishing a free communication on this side between the Forum and the great suburb of Rome, the campus Martius. In order to effect this it had a new marketplace. It was owing probably to this scheme that the Couria Giulia whose building began about the same time 54 BC was built nearer to the Forum than the old Couria. The Forum Giulium as it was called lay north of the Couria and like it was dedicated 46 BC before completion and finished after Caesar's death. The chief building which adorned it was the Temple of Venus Genetrix mother of the Julian race Sallia. As the elder Caesar had made a vow at Versalia, so the younger Caesar made a vow at Philippi. The vow was to Mars Ulter and was duly fulfilled. The house of Mars the Avenger likewise became the center of a new Forum. This temple, dedicated by its founder on the first of his own month in 2 BC served as the resting place of the standards which his diplomacy had recovered from the Parthians. The Forum Augustum adjoined that of Caesar on the northeast side. It was rectangular in shape but on the east and west sides there were semi-circular spaces with porticoes in which the statues of Roman generals in triumphal robes were set up. It became the practice that in this Forum the members of the imperial family should assume the Toga virilis and when victorious generals were honored by statues of bronze they were set up here. These fora of the first Caesar's father and son were the beginning of a rehabilitation of this quarter of the city which was resumed a century by the emperors Nerva and Trajan and they established an easy communication between the Forum and the Field of Mars. Hitherto the way from the campus to the Forum had been round by the west and south sides of the Capitoline through the Porta Carmentalis. The campus Martius itself whether taken in the wider or the narrower sense put on a new aspect under the auspices of the Caesar's. The campus in the stricter sense was bounded on the south by the Circus Flaminius by the Vialata. It was the great rival of Caesar who set the example of building on this ground. In 55 B.C. Pompey erected his marble theater. Caesar began the construction of a marble septa, an enclosure for the voting of the centuries which was finished by Agrippa. The name of Agrippa has more claim to be associated with the Field of Mars than either Caesar's or Pompey's. The construction of the Pantheon which is preserved to the present day is a complex enterprise. This edifice is of circular form and crowned with a dome which was originally covered with tiles of gilt bronze. The dome is an instance of the extraordinarily skillful use of concrete by the Romans. It is cast in one solid mass and is as free from lateral thrust as if it were cut out of one block of stone. Though having the arch form it is in no way constructed on the principle of the arch. The interior measures 132 feet in diameter as well as in height. The walls are broken by 7 niches 3 semicircular and alternating with them 3 rectangular wherein at a later period splendid marble columns with entablatures were introduced. Above this rises an Attica with pilasters the original portion of which has undoubtedly been changed since we know that Diogenes cariatidis once rose above the entablatures of the columns and divided the apertures of the great niches. Above the Attica rises in the form of a hemisphere the enormous dome which has an opening in the top 26 feet in diameter through which a flood of light pours into the space beneath. Its simple regularity the beauty of its parts the magnificence of the materials employed the quiet harmony resulting from the method of illumination give to the interior a solemnly sublime character which has hardly been impaired even by the subsequent somewhat inharmonious alterations. These have especially affected the dome the beautiful and effectively graded panels of which were formerly richly adorned with bronze ornaments. Only the splendid columns of yellow marble Giallo Antico with white marble capitals and bases and the marble decorations of the lower walls bear witness to the earlier magnificence of the building. The porch is adorned with 16 Corinthian columns. Agrippa also built the adjacent baths called after him Therme Agrippe 27 and 25 BC and a basilica which he dedicated to Neptune in memory of his naval victories and enclosed with a portico which from the pictures adorning it was called the Portico of the Argonauts. Another wealthy noble of the day Statilius Taurus constructed the first stone amphitheater in Rome and its site too was somewhere in the field of Mars. The first princeps himself seemed content to leave the adornment of the campus chiefly to the munificence of his lesser fellow citizens. But much further north than all the buildings which have been mentioned where the campus becomes narrow by the approach of the Via Flaminia to the river he built a great mausoleum for the Julian family a round structure surmounted by a statue of himself. On the south side of the Flaminian Circus in the Prata Flaminia a region which might be included in the campus in a wider sense of the name Augustus erected the Porticus Octavia in the name of his sister a library and a collection of works of art. It was close to the Templum Herculis Mousarum built by Fulvius Nobiliore the patron of the poet Enius and renewed under Augustus and surrounded by a portico which was dedicated as the Porticus Philippi in honor of L. Marcius Philippus the stepfather of the emperor. Near the Portico of Octavia were the theaters of Balbus and Marcellus both dedicated in the same year 11 BC. The first was one of those works which the rich men of the day executed through the influence an example of Augustus. The second had been begun by Caesar but was finished by Augustus and dedicated in the name of his nephew Marcellus. The Porticus Octavia close to the Flaminian Circus which was dedicated by C. Octavius after the victory over Perseus was burnt down and restored under Augustus. It was remarkable as the earliest example of Corinthian pillars at Rome. From the Forum the Clivus Capitolinas passing the Temple of Saturn led up to the saddle of the Mons Capitolinas the smallest of all the mountains of Rome. Then it ascended to the southern height called specially the Capitolium the Citadel of Servian Rome where the treaties with foreign nations were kept and triumphal spoils were dedicated. Another path led up to the northern height the Arcs which underwent little change under the empire but on the southern hill it was otherwise where new buildings arose under the auspices of Augustus. The highest part of the hill was occupied by the great temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in which the senate used to meet on certain solemn occasions. This temple burned down in 83 BC had been rebuilt but it required and received costly repairs in the time of Augustus. Ranged around it on lower ground were many lesser temples of which that of Jupiter Ferretrius to whom Romulus dedicated his Spolia Opima and that of Fides founded by Numa may be specially mentioned. Augustus increased their number in 20 BC he dedicated the round temple of Mars Ulthor and in 22 BC that of Jupiter Tonans in memory of an occasion during his Cantabrian expedition on which he had narrowly escaped death by lightning. This temple marvelous for its splendor attracted multitudes of visitors and worshippers and its position at the point where the Clivus reached the area capitalina might suggest that Jupiter Tonans was a sort of gatekeeper for the greater Jupiter on the summit. But the Palatine Mount was the center from which the development of Rome went out. It was the original Rome, the Roma Quadrata where were localized the legends of its foundation. There were to be seen the Casa Romali the Lupercal where Romulus and Remus were fed by the wolf the Cornell Tree and the Mundus receptacle of those things which at the foundation of the city ensured its prosperity. Under the Republic the Palatine was the quarter where the great nobles and public men lived. Augustus himself was born there and there he built his house. So it came about that the name which designated the city of Rome in its earliest shape, Palatium, became the name of the private residence of its first citizen. The Palace of Augustus was a magnificent building in the new and costly style which had only recently been introduced Avid, standing in imagination by the Temple of Jupiter Stator where the Palatine Hill slopes down to the Via Sacra, could see the splendid front of the palace worthy of a god. Singula dum miror Vidaeo fulgentibus armis conspicuos postes tectacue dignadeo The other great building by which Augustus transformed the appearance of the Palatine was the Temple of Apollo. It was a city after the end of the war with Sextus Pompeius and dedicated eight years later. It was an eight-pillared peripteros built of the white marble of Luna and richly adorned with works of art. The chief site was the Colossus of Bronze representing Augustus himself under the form of Apollo. Between the columns stood the statues of the fifty Denaids and over against them their woors, the sons of Egyptus, mounted on horseback. The palatine and the god were deposited in a vault the Sibylene books. In the porticoes were two libraries, one Latin and one Greek. On the northern slope of the Palatine facing the capital stood the Temple of Augustus which Tiberius and the Empress Olivia erected in his honor after his death. On the south side the Palatine looks down on the Circus Maximus which was restored by Augustus. Opposite rises the Aventine, a hill long uninhabited and chiefly a plebian quarter on which the chief shrine was the Temple of Diana whence the hill was sometimes called Callus Dianae. This temple was rebuilt by El Cornifesius under Augustus who himself restored the sanctuaries of Minerva, Juno Regina and Jupiter Libertas on the same hill. Livy was hardly guilty of exaggeration when he called Augustus the founder and restorer of all the temples of Rome. A word must be said here about the triumphal arc, Arcus Triumfalis which was a characteristic feature in the external appearance of Rome and other important cities of the empire. Under this name are included not only arches erected in honor of victories but also those which celebrate other public achievements. A triumphal arch was built across a street. It consisted either of a single archway or of a large central and two side ones or sometimes of two of the same heights side by side. There were generally columns against the piers supporting an entablature and each façade was ornamented with low reliefs. Above all rose an attica with the inscription and upon it were placed the trophies in case the arch commemorated a victory. The arch of Augustus at Araminum erected in memory of the completion of the Via Flaminia and his arches at Augusta Pretoria and Sousa still stand. The general appearance of the arch resembles that of the gate of a city and it seems to have owed its origin to the triumphal gate through which a victorious general led his army into Rome to celebrate his triumph. End of Chapter 10 Recording by Kalinda in Lüneburg, Germany on March 21st, 2009 Chapter 11, Section 1 of J. B. Buries The Student's Roman Empire Part 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 Kalinda The Student's Roman Empire Part 1 by John Bagnell Burry Chapter 11, Section 1 Literature of the Augustan Age Latin Poetry Latin literature was affected seriously and in many ways by the fall of the Republic and the foundation of the Empire. The Augustan Age itself was brilliant, but after the Augustan Age literature rapidly declined. The most conspicuous figures in the world of letters under Augustus had outlived their youth under the Republic. Some of them had served on the losing side. But these soon became reconciled to the new order of things. The Emperor drew men to himself by virtue of the peace and security which he had established cungtos dulcedine ot pelexid and it was his special object to patronize men of literary talent and engage their services for the support of his policy. His efforts were successful. He won not only flattery but sympathy for the new age which he had inaugurated. He enlisted in his cause not only time-servers, but the finest spirits of the day. Although the Augustan literature is certainly marked by a vein of flattery to the court and by a lack of Republican independence he could recognize a genuine enthusiasm for the new age, for the peace which it had brought after the long civil wars and for the greatness of the Roman Empire. And from a literary point of view the Augustan age ranks among the most brilliant in the history of the world below the Paraclean, perhaps below the Elizabethan but certainly far above that of Louis XIV. It is true that the cessation of the political life of the Republic is at the decline of oratory. It is true that historians could no longer treat contemporary events with free and independent criticism. It is true likewise that the severe style of old Latin prose begins to degenerate and that poetry lays aside its popular elements and becomes more strictly artificial. In fact the poets deprecate popularity and despise the public. Horace's cry, Augustus at Arceo, is characteristic of the age. But for literary excellence and for the perfection of art the best of the Augustan writers had a clear judgment and a delicate taste. The tendencies of the new age inevitably led to a decline but as an ample compensation we have Virgil, Horace, Tabullus, Livy. Augustus, as we have said concerned himself with the promotion of men of letters. He fostered in all ways the talents of his age. He founded two libraries, one in the portico of Octavia the other at the temple of Apollo on the Palatine. He was an author himself both in prose and verse. He wrote exhortations to philosophy and a poem in hexameters entitled Cecilia. The monumentum and seranum and the breviarum totius impiri have been mentioned elsewhere. Their chief ministers of Augustus were authors likewise. Agrippa wrote memoirs of his own life and edited an atlas of the world. Messanus composed occasional poems of a light nature and also wrote some prose works. But he is more famous as a patron of poets than as a poet himself. His literary circle included Horace, Virgil, Various, Tuca, Domitius Marces besides many lesser names. The orator Valerius Massala, 64 BC to 9 AD also drew around him a group of men of letters among whom the most distinguished were the poets Tybulus, Valgius Rufus, Emilius Masser and perhaps Ovid. This circle seems to have held quite a loop from politics. Massala's own literary work can chiefly consisted in translations from the Greek both prose and verse. C. Asinius Polio, 75 BC to 5 AD held a unique position. Having been on the side of Antonius he withdrew after Actium from political life and holding himself aloof from the court devoted himself to literature with a certain independence and perhaps antagonism to the spirit of the age. He was very learned and a very severe critic. He wrote tragedies which are praised by Virgil and a history of the Civil Wars Historiae reaching from 60 to about 42 BC. He was a friend of both Virgil and Horus. Publius Virgilius Maro was born in 70 BC at Andes near Mantua. His rustic features bore testimony to his humble origin. His father was an artisan. He went to school at Cremona. Afterwards he studied at Medellanum and finally at Rome where Octavius, afterwards to be Caesar and Augustus was his fellow student in rhetoric. He studied philosophy under the Epicurean Syro. After his return home he and his family experienced the calamities of the Civil War. Octavius Musa who was appointed to carry out the distribution of land to veteran soldiers in the district of Cremona transgressed the limits of that district and encroached upon the neighboring territory of Mantua 41 BC. Virgil's father was among the sufferers but a sinious polio who was then legatus in Gallia and Spadana and the poet Cornelius Gallus interested themselves in his behalf. At their suggestion Virgil but took himself to Rome and obtained from Caesar the restitution of his father's farm. The first eclogue is an expression of gratitude to Caesar for this protection. Deus, Nobis, Hec, Othia, Fetchit But Virgil and his father were not permitted to remain long in position of their recovered homestead. The same injustice was repeated a year or two later and the poet was even in danger of his life. Again he went to Rome and the influence of Messianus to whom he had probably become known by the publication of some of his bucolics secured him not restitution but compensation perhaps by a farm in Campania where he spent much of his later life. Virgil's first work the bucolics consisting of ten eclogae was composed in the years 41 to 39 BC. Inspired by Theocratus they are written in the same meter and are in great part imitations from his idols. But most of them contain references to contemporary persons and events especially to the hardships in Transbadane Gaul from which Virgil himself had suffered so sorely. Caesar, Cornelius Galus Alphenus Varus the successor of Polio as Legatus and above all Polio himself have their places in the woods of Titerus. The fourth eclog written for the year of Polio's consulship 40 BC treats a theme which hardly belongs to bucolic poetry. Virgil feels that he has to make his woods worthy of a consul. He salutes the return of the Saturnian kingdoms and the golden age. The salutation was premature by ten years and when peace at length came to the Roman world Polio, instead of being its inaugurator was rather an opponent. But it is interesting to observe that the idea of some great change for the better was in the air. The bucolic were written in the north of Italy not yet Italy at that time. His next work was written in the south chiefly at Naples. It was Messenas who suggested the subject of the Georgics a didactic poem in hexameters dealing with the various parts of a farmer's work. The first book treats of agriculture the second of the plantation of trees the third of the care of livestock the fourth of bees. No subject was more congenial to Virgil's muse his rustic muse as he says himself and from some points of view the Georgics may be regarded as his masterpiece. He has here achieved a task which is the hardest that a poet can undertake to write true poetry in a didactic form. Rare artistic instinct and genuine love of his subject were happily joined to produce this unique poem in which Virgil seems to be more truly himself than either in the bucolics or the Aeneid. The composition and revision of this work occupied the years from 37 to 30 BC when it was read aloud to Caesar on his return from Actium. It is interesting to note that the latter part of the fourth book was originally devoted to the praises of the poet's friend Cornelius Gallus but that after his execution 27 BC this passage was cut out by the wish of the Emperor and replaced by the story of Orpheus. In the Georgics, Virgil promises that he will soon gird himself to a greater task and sing the deeds of Caesar but his poem took the form of an epic in which not Caesar but Aeneas, the founder of the Julian Gens was the hero. The work was begun about 29 BC and occupied the remaining ten years of the poet's life. He died at Brindusium in 19 BC leaving the Aeneid unfinished. His wishes were that the great manuscript should be burnt but Augustus, that such a great work should not perish committed its publication to Various and Tuca Friends of Virgil on the condition that they should make no alterations. Though Augustus was not the hero there were opportunities in a poem dealing with the origin of the Latin race and the Albin Fathers and the walls of lofty Rome to look forward over the ages of Roman history and celebrate the glories of him who was to found a golden age. The Aeneid has suffered from the premature death of its creator. It was neither finished nor revised yet it would hardly be an injustice to Virgil to say that its excellence and charm lie in particular episodes in delicate and subtle details of language and rhythm and not in the poem regarded as a whole. But it must always stand beside the Iliad and Odyssey as the third great epic of antiquity. The Roman dignity and magnitude of the subject and the wonderful power of the narratives in the second, fourth, and sixth books have exalted the Aeneid far above the Georgics in the estimation of posterity. Yet it might be argued that Virgil had more in common with Wordsworth than with Milton or with his worship or Dante. The note of Virgil is natural piety. Perhaps he cannot be better described than by the happy expression which his friend Horace applied to him. Anima Candida Virgil was buried close to Naples on the road to Puteoli and the inscription on his tomb said to have been dictated by himself before his death ran thus Roura Tutses In connection with Virgil it is natural to mention his elder contemporary and friend El Various Rufus, B.C. 74-14 celebrated for his epics on Caesar and Octavian and more celebrated for his tragedy, the Thiestes. Another poet of about the same age was Emilius Masser of Verona also a friend of Virgil and disguised in the Buchalics under the name Nichander. He wrote poems on natural history Ornithogonia and Theriaca but they have been less lucky than his models, the Greek poems of Nichander which survived to the present day. The unfortunate Cornelius Gallus 69 B.C. to 27 must also be mentioned here though his name has its place rather in the age of Catellus and Sinna. It was he who transplanted the erotic elegy of the Alexandrian Greeks to Roman soil and founded the school of Euphorion to which Catellus and Sinna belonged. He translated Euphorion into Latin and wrote four books of original elegies on his own mistress Scytheris under the name of Lycoris. His death has already been noticed. The great lyric, like the great epic poet of Rome, was of humble birth. Q Horatius Flacus was the son of a freedman and was born at Venusia on the borders of Apulia and Lucania in 65 B.C. After the death of Julius Caesar 44 B.C., he joined the cause of Brutus and served under him in Asia and Macedonia until the battle of Philippi 42 B.C. On that occasion he took part in the general flight as he tells us himself and afterwards returning to Rome obtained a post as a Quasier's secretary. During the next ten years he wrote his satires and epodes which brought him fame and secured him the friendship of Virgil and Various who introduced him to Messianus. In 37 B.C. we find him accompanying Messianus on the journey to Brindusium of which he has left us a pleasant description. The intimacy with Messianus ripened. The Epicurean views of life which both held were a bond between the poet and his patron. Horus had a taste for country life in 33 B.C. Messianus bestowed upon him a farm in the Sabina territory which he preferred to royal Rome. Independence was one of the chief characteristics of Horus and he felt more independent in the country than in the immediate neighbourhood of the court. The first book of the satires appeared about 35 B.C. the second book about five years later. In this style of composition the predecessor of Horus was Lucilius who criticised persons and politics freely. Horus prudently confined himself to generalities on society and literature owing to the altered circumstances of the time. Lucilius had imitated the Greek writers of old comedy such as Cretinus and Aristophanes and Horus stood in somewhat the same relation to his predecessor as the new comedy stood to the old. From these talks Sermones as Horus calls them himself written like those of Lucilius in hexameter verse and in colloquial style we learn much about the personality of Horus and about his friends. In the Epodes which were published about the same time as the second book of the satires Horus imitated Archilochus and attacked persons in coarse language. All these poems except the last are written in couplets consisting of a longer and a shorter line generally an iambic trimeter They are the least interesting work of Horus but they were a good exercise in handling meters and in the imitation of the Greek models and they led to the Odes. The greatest monument of poetry that Horus has bequeathed to posterity is the collection of lyrical poems in our books known as the Odes. The first three books were published in 24 BC the fourth, eleven years later. In lyric composition he does not claim originality he only adapted Aeolian song to Italian measures but he claims priority he was the first except Catullus to make the attempt Princeps Aeolium Carmen at Italos de Duxi Semodos For this he bids the Muse crown him with Delphic Laurel but though the Greek lyric poets especially Sappho and Alcheas were his models it was an original idea to turn away from the Alexandrian poets who were then in vogue and go back to the older singers it required true genius and wonderful artistic instinct to tune the borrowed lyre to the accents of another tongue Horus was supremely successful in the Odes his poetic judgment is with few exceptions faultless the happiest word comes almost inevitably his Felicity Curiosa Felicitas was praised by Roman critics some of these poems are probably free translations from the Greek but many refer to contemporary people and events some deal with Roman history and the victories won under the auspices of Augustus the fourth book of the Odes is said to have been published at the instance of the Emperor but in the interval between his earlier and later lyric works Horus wrote Epistles the first book appeared about 20 BC after the strict technical constraints to which he had subjected himself in the Odes it was a relaxation for the poet to expand himself in the easy and familiar style of the Sermones but the Urbane Epistles both written in the same colloquial language are very different from the satires they are more mature less polemical and they have a charm of serenity which is wanting in the earlier work it might be said that if the genius of Virgil found its truest expression in the Georgics so that of Horus Horus was best expressed in his Epistles and in this form of composition he has never been equaled the second book of the Epistles written in the later years of his life includes a treatise on poetry the Ars Poetica in the form of a letter to his friends the Pizos Horus died in 8 BC surviving by a few months his benefactor Messenes beside whom he was buried though he had at first stood aloof he became reconciled and went on to the Empire was on good terms with Augustus and did what was required of him as an Augustan poet and independent though Horus was he had a decided weakness for friendships with great people the influence of Messenes probably did much to stimulate his poetic activity for Horus was by no means one of those who cannot help singing he was not inspired his poetry is marked by lucidity and judgment many poets whose works have not survived but famous in their own day are mentioned by Horus his friend Valgius who wrote epigrams and elegies was actually compared to Homer Aristius Fuscus and Fundanius composed dramas poopiest doleful tragedies here may be mentioned also see Melissa's who wrote a jest book and originated the fabula trabeata and Demisius Marsus famous chiefly for his epigrams in the field he was the predecessor and master of Marshal of the alleged poets of this period whose works have come down to us the most charming is Albius Tabullus 54 to 19 BC adopting the form of alexandron elegy he breathed into it a fresh spirit of Italian country life in his love poems to Delia whose true name was Plania there is a certain tender melancholy which we do not find in the rest of classical literature by his deft handling of the pentameter he made an important technical advance in the development of Latin elegy along with his works and under his name were published after his deft some poems which were not by him but by a certain Ligdamas perhaps a fictitious name also included in the collection of his elegies are some which were written by Cilpicia the niece of his patron Masala the Umbrian poet sexed as propersious probably born at Assisium about 49 to 15 BC did not emancipate himself like Tabullus from the influence of his alexandron models Callimacus and Philatus on the contrary he prides himself on his alexandronism and calls himself the Roman Callimacus he was very learned and his elegies are full of obscure references to out of the way myths nevertheless no works of the age are so thoroughly impressed with the individuality of the writer as the passionate poems of propersious the passion which inspired his song was his love for Hostia a beautiful and accomplished courtesan whom he disguised under the name of Cynthia as Catellus had disguised Claudia under Lesbia and Tabullus Plania under Delia his first book of elegies brought him fame and probably secured him in admission into the circle of Messianus the imagination of propersious was eccentric his nature melancholic he looked at things on their gloomy side and perhaps his special charm is his skillfulness in suggesting vague possibilities of pain or terror he loved the vague both in thought and in expression in his metaphors the image and the thing imaged often pass into each other and the meaning becomes indistinct he seems to have been a man of weak will and this is reflected in his poetry it has been noticed by those who have studied his language that he prefers to express feelings as possible rather than real his thoughts naturally ran in the potential mood his connection with Cynthia lasted for about five years and after it was broken off propersious wrote little it was Cynthia who had made him a great poet the third of the great Roman elegiac poets P. Ovidius Nazo of equestrian family was born at Solmo in the Polygnean territory 43 B.C trained in rhetoric and law he entered upon an official career and by the favor of Augustus received the Latus Clavus and held some of the lower equestrian posts such as Vigintiver and Decimver but he gave his profession up for the sake of poetry he has said himself in a verse which probably suggested a familiar line of Pope that verse writing came to him by nature quid quid tentabum dicere versus erat he is the only one of the great Augustan poets whose literary career belongs entirely to the Augustan age his works may be classified in three periods the extant works of the early period are all on amatory subjects and an elegiac verse the Amoris in three books celebrate Carina the Aris Amatoria likewise in three books give advice to lovers of both sexes as to the conducting of their love affairs while the Remedia Amoris prescribes cures for a troublesome passion but the best work of this period is the Heroides a collection of imaginary letters of legendary heroines such as Penelope, Dido, Phaedra to their lovers here Avid has shown his poetic power at its best the two works of the second period the Metamorphosis and the Fasty are the most ambitious of Avid's works they deal respectively with Greek and Roman mythology for the metamorphosis or transformations composed in hexameter verse Avid obtained his material chiefly from the Alexandrian poets Nikander and Parthenius the Fasty, a sort of commentary on the Roman calendar in elegiac meter should have consisted of twelve books one for each month of the year but only six March to August were completed the third period begins with Avid's banishment to Tomi in Scythia in 9 AD the cause of this banishment is one of those historical mysteries which can never be decided with certainty the poet himself only ventures on dark hints he mentions a poem and an error Carmen et error as the two charges which led to his fate he also said that his eyes were to blame the poem probably refers to his licentious Ars Amatoria which was so opposed in spirit to the attempts at social reform made by the framer of the Julian laws but the true cause must have been the mysterious error it has been conjectured with considerable probability that Avid had witnessed some act of misconduct on the part of a member of the Emperor's family and was punished for not having prevented it this may have been connected with the adultery of the younger Julia and De Cilanus the poet perhaps was made the scapegoat in his exile on the shores of the Uxin he composed the letters Ex Ponto in four books and the Tristia in five books in which he laments his fate and implores to be forgiven the Ibis, a bitter attack on some anonymous enemy on the model of a poem which Callimacus wrote against Apollonius of Rhodes and an unfinished poem on fishing he also wrote a Gethic poem in honor of Augustus but neither Augustus nor his successor Tiberius revoked the sentence of the unhappy poet and Avid died at Tomei in 17 AD in handling the Elegiac meter Avid banned himself by stricter rules than his predecessors he had wonderful facility in versification but he was more of a retribution than a poet and he is most successful where rhetoric tells as in the Heroides he lived in ease and luxury and rejoiced that he lived in the age of Augustus when life went smoothly his love poetry was distinguished by lubricity and in this he contrasted unfavorably with Tiberius and propersious the tragedy of Medea which he composed in his early period is not extant but it and theestes of various were the two illustrious tragedies of the day two poems, Nooks and Elegi and the Consolatio ad Liviam were falsely ascribed to Avid but were probably written by some contemporary of inferior talent among the friends of Avid who were likewise poets maybe mentioned Sabinas who wrote answers to the Heroides Ponticus, Arthur or Thebiad Cornelius Severus who treated the Sicilian war with Sextus Pompeus in verse the starry Albinovanus Pedo wrote a Thesiod and also an epic on contemporary history the Georgics of Virgil and the Haliotics of Avid belong to the kind of poetry known as didactic other works of this class are the Sinigetica of Gratius on the Art of Hunting and the Astronomica of Manilius in five books of the author of this astronomical poem we know nothing even his name is uncertain but he possessed poetical facility of no mean order and considerable originality most of the short occasional pieces of a light and humorous nature which were collected under the title of Priapia belong to the Augustan age and many of them to the best poets End of Chapter 11, Section 1 Recording by Kalinda in Lüneburg, Germany on March 4th, 2009 Chapter 11, Sections 2 and 3 of J. B. Buries The Student's Roman Empire, Part 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 Kalinda The Student's Roman Empire, Part 1 by John Bagnell Burry Chapter 11 Literature of the Augustan Age Sections 2 and 3 Latin prose writers The History of Rome by Titus Livius 59 BC to 17 AD stands out as the greatest prose work of the Augustan period. Livy was born at Patavium and a certain patavinity has been remarked in his diction. But most of his life was spent at Rome where he studied rhetoric, wrote philosophical dialogues and enjoyed the friendship of Augustus. He began his history Ab Urbe Condita Libri was the title soon after the foundation of the empire and carried it down as far as the death of Drusus 9 BC. The work consisted of 142 books in all, originally distributed in decades and half decades which appeared separately according as they were completed. But only 35 books have been preserved to us namely books 1 to 10 and books 21 to 45. We have however short epitomes of this contents of almost all the lost books. Livy was a mild and amiable man who held no extreme views like compromise and conciliation hated violence and turbulence and could be indulgent to men of all parties. This fair and equitable temper can be traced in his history. The one thing which is unpardonable in his eyes is harsh fanaticism. Ancient Rome is his ideal and he regards his own age as degenerate destitute of the virtues, simplicity and piety which made the old time so great. His heroes are Sincenaeus Camillus, Fabius the Delayer. The general view of the course of Roman history he states in strong language and general preface to his work. He invites his readers to learn by what men and by what policy at home and abroad the empire of Rome was won and increased then to follow the gradual decline of discipline and morals then witness that decline becoming more and more market and ending a long downward rush until his own times are reached in which we cannot endure our vices nor submit to remedies. We cannot doubt his honesty as a historian but his views of writing history were such that his statements must often be received with caution. For though he wished to tell the truth he cared much more for style than for facts. He had little idea of historical method or of historical research. He gave himself no trouble to ascertain the doubtful cases. For the early history he simply worked up into an artistic form the narratives of Polybius and of late Roman analysts especially Valerius of Antium and did not exert himself to consult all the available sources or even the best. His knowledge of constitutional matters was unsound nor was he at home in military history. He approached his subject rather as a rhetorician than as a historian and as a literary work his history was among the great histories of the world. His style was Prolex. Ancient critics observed that he used more words than were necessary and his abundance, Lactea ubertas was contrasted with the conciseness of Salist. Pompeius Trogas wrote a universal history in 44 books beginning with the Assyrian Ninis and ending with his own time. It was entitled Historiae Philippike. The original work has not come down to us but in a later age it was abbreviated by a certain Justinus and this abridgment is extant. Other historians of the Augustan period were El Aruntius who wrote an account of the Punic War in the style of Salist and Fenestella an antiquarian who, in his analysis, paid special attention to social and constitutional history. C. Julius Hyginus a freedman of Augustus and a librarian of the Palatine Library was an interesting figure in the literary history of his time. He may be regarded as the successor of Varro as an antiquarian and polymath. He wrote on the cities of Italy De Sittu Urbium Italicorum on illustrious Romans De Viris Claris on agriculture also a commentary on Virgil. All these books are lost but a mythological fabule and an astronomical work have come down under his name and these books are really his. Of other antiquarians many of whose names we know must be mentioned M. Varius Flakis who wrote a book on the calendar Fasti and an important lexical graphical work entitled De Verborum Significatu Most valuable as the only work of the kind that has been preserved is the Treaties of Vitruvius Polio De Architectura in ten books. Finished before 13 BC Of the many philosophers Rhetors and Orators who talked and wrote at this period there is none of any interest to posterity. Among philosophical writers may be mentioned Q. Sextius Niger and his son of the same name among the Rhetors M. Porcius Latro of whose declamations some extracts are preserved and among Orators the Fluentotarius the rabid Lebienus and Cassius Severus. The two great jurists of the Augustan age were M. Antistias Labeo 59 BC to 12 AD and his younger rival C. Ateos Capito 34 BC to 22 AD who founded schools afterwards known as the Proculian and Sabinian respectively. Section 3 Greek Literature From the year 146 BC forward Greek Literature begins to hold a place in Roman history along with the advance of Roman sway over the Greek world. By the time of Augustus nearly all the Greeks of Europe, Asia and Egypt have become either immediate or federate subjects of Rome. Their literature therefore on this grounds claims the attention of the student of Roman history. But still more because many Greek writers busied themselves with the history and antiquities of their new mistress. Polybius is the first and most famous example of Greek writing Roman history. But under the empire Greek books on Roman subjects are numerous. Dionysus of Halachannassus came to Rome soon after the Battle of Actium and lived there for more than 20 years studying Latin literature and writing in his own language on Latin subjects. While he was at Rome he associated with men of the senatorial class and his writings are animated with republican sentiments. He continued the work of Polybius to reconcile his countrymen to Roman sway. Polybius had expanded the role which Rome was destined to play in history. Dionysus is concerned to show that she was worthy to play it. In his work on Roman archaeology which he finished in 8 BC he seems to prove by tracing out mythical connection between Roman and Greece that the Romans were not really barbarians. It was a mark of gratitude for the kind treatment which he experienced at Rome. This work consisted of 20 books but only the first 11 are preserved entire. The style is wordy and rhetorical very unlike that of Polybius. He used good sources but he has no appreciation of the meaning or methods of history. He even puts long rhetorical speeches into the mouths of legendary persons. He defines history as philosophy by examples. In questions of literary criticism however he is quite at home and his various literary treatises in which he shows thorough appreciation for the old masters are of considerable value. More interesting in some ways than the literary treatise of Dionysius is that of a certain longinus of whom personally nothing is known on the sublime or more correctly on loftiness of style which seems to have been written in the early years of the first century AD. It contains much enlightened and suggestive criticism. The author had some acquaintance with the Hebrew scriptures. Nicolaus of Damascus born about 64 BC was a great friend of King Herod whom he assisted in his work of Hellenism. He had been the teacher of the children of Antony and Cleopatra. He was a very prolific author and wrote on philosophical, rhetorical and historical subjects. His greatest work was a universal history planned on a very large scale which Herod stimulated him to compose. Of it we have only fragments but his panedurgical life of Caesar a declamatory rather than historical work has come down to us complete. The long geographica of Strabo 63 BC to 23 AD in 17 books is of great historical importance as giving a picture of some of the subject lands of Rome in the Augustan age. Strabo was of a good Cappadocian family a native of Amazaea and lived at Alexandria. He came to Rome about the same time as Nicius but soon left it. He describes the whole known world but in many cases his information was mainly derived from older books and cannot be taken as representing the condition of things which prevailed in his own time. Books 1 and 2 deal with physical geography. Books 3 to 10 describe Europe. Books 11 to 16 Asia Books 17 Africa His accounts of Asia Minor and Egypt are especially valuable as he knew these lands himself and mentions many of his own experiences. His description of Spain is also valuable for though he had not been there he had evidently received recent information about it probably at Rome. From Strabo's work we get a very distinct impression of the blessings of the Pax Augusta and the safety which travelers now enjoyed both by sea and land. He also wrote a work entitled Historical Memoirs in over 40 books but it has not been preserved. End of Chapter 11 Section 3 Recording by Kalinda in Lüneburg, Germany on March 4th, 2009 Chapter 12 Sections 1 to 2 of J. B. Burys The Student's Roman Empire Part 1 This is a LibriVox according or LibriVox according during the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording my relief on Malachem. The Student's Roman Empire Part 1 by John Bagnol Buri Chapter 12 The Principe of Tiberias Sections 1 to 2 Section 1 Excession of Tiberias It was generally regarded as a matter of cause that Tiberias should step into the place of Augustus. The Roman world did not dream of a revolution and it was felt that a monarchy fell to him. He stood in the same relation to his now divine Augustus as Augustus himself to the Divine Julius. Men universally acquiesced in the succession of Tiberias as the heir, the adopted son, the chosen cohort of the deceased emperor. But though such feelings moved men's minds constitutionally the empire was elective not hereditary and the senate and the people could in infringing the constitution have conferred the principle on someone wholly unconnected with the Julian family. Augustus had himself named three nobles who might possibly compete with Tiberias. Lepidus who was equal to the position but despised it. Ascinius Gallus who might desire it but was unequal to it. And Aerencius who was not unworthy of it but even from Aerencius Tiberias had nothing to fear the only possible rival seemed to be his own kinsman his nephew Germanicus who was absent in Gaul and Agrippa Pustumus who was still pined in the island to which his grandfather had banished him. The unlucky Agrippa was slain by his Gauler immediately after the death of Augustus and there can be no doubt that the order for his execution was given either by Tiberias or by Livia. When the death of Augustus was announced Tiberias by virtue of the tribunition power which he had received in the preceding year for an indefinite period convoked the Senate. He had already given the watchword to the Praetorian go-hards and sent dispatchers to his allegiance as if he were formerly emperor. It is not quite clear why this was formally enacted of his opation for it might have been held that the proconsular imperium which Tiberias possessed before the death of Augustus having been bestowed by the degree of the Senate and not being merely derived from the imperium of the princeps did not cease on the death of the princeps. In any case the act seemed an anticipation of his election to the princepid and Tiberias afterwards made a sort of apology for it to the Senate but Senate and people, consuls and prefects took a note of obedience to him without a sign of hesitation. The proconsular imperium was renewed or confirmed and the various rides which had been granted to Augustus by separate enactments were conferred upon him doubtless by single comprehensive law like the imperial. Tiberias indeed adopting the maxims of statecraft which he had learned from his predecessor feigned reluctance to assume the immense task of directing such a vast empire and suggested that the functions of government should be divided among more than one ruler but it was easily seen that suggestion was not intended seriously. It was part of the transparent comedy which was played hands forward between the Senate and the princeps It is important to observe that a practice adopted by Augustus of assuming the empire for a defined period of years was now abandoned. On the other hand Tiberias would not assume it for life. No term was fixed but he intimated his intention of resigning the princepid when the state no longer needed him Here again no one took his word seriously meant. The first care of Tiberias was a funeral and afication of Augustus The dead body was born by Senators to the campus Marcius where it was burned and the ashes were bestowed in the imperial mausoleum. Funeral orations were pronounced both by Tiberias and by his son Roses The Senate decreed temples and priests to the Divus Augustus was thus raised to place beside his father the Divus Julius His will which had been deposited in the charge of the Vessel Virgins was read before the Senate and thus published abroad It bequeasers two thirds of his fortune to Tiberias and the remainder to Livia who was to be adopted into the Julian family and bear the name Augusta. These heirs failed one third of the property was to descend to Drusus the son of Tiberias and the remainder to Germanicus and his three sons But these legacies were considerably diminished by the large donations which were left to the citizens and to the Praetorian and legionary soldiers Along with his fortune the old emperor bequeasered in his Brivarium in Biri some councils of government He deprecated the admission of Provincials to the privileged position of Roman citizens He condemned the further extension of defunctures of Roman dominion and he advised that as many men of ability as possible should be engaged in the administration of public affairs It seems probable that the second of these councils specially regarded the conquest of Trans-Rena in Germany and we shall see how Tiberias acted on it Section 2 Germanicus on the Rhine The first weeks of the reign of Tiberias were disturbed by mutinies in the Rhine and Danube armies This content had long been smordering and had only been hindered from bursing force by respect for the old emperor The soldiers who defended the German frontiers contrasted the hardships which they were obliged to endure in the exiled and rumoured regions The small pay which they received the unduly long term of service and the inadequate provision awaiting them at its expiration was the easy life and a higher pay of the Praetorian guards who could look forward to gifts of land in Italy itself On the news of the death of Augustus mutinies broke out simultaneously on the Danube and on the Rhine The Panonian army consisting of three legions and as a command of Julius Blaesis threw off the authority of their general and demanded that a term of service should be reduced from twenty to sixteen years and that veterans should receive their pensions and money Blaesis was forced to send a son to Rome to bear these demands to the new emperor and in the meantime the troops ventured their pent-up rest on the centurions whom they most detested and refused to perform their military duties Tiberius dispatched some Praetorian cohorts under his son Drusus to treat with some mutineers and restore order but sent no definite message of concession The soldiers were enraged when they discovered that Drusus was instructed to evade rather than comply with their demands and the young prince was with difficulty rescued from their fury but an eclipse of the moon opportunity took place the superstitious soldiers were alarmed and seized with the fit of remorse they listened to the indefinite promises of Drusus and returned to their religions The ringleaders were given up and put to death The revolt of the Rhine legions was a more serious danger In Panonia there was no question of setting up a rival emperor but this danger existed on the Rhine Germanicus Caesar governor of Gaul and general of the 8th Legion stationed on the German frontier was marked out as a success of Tiberius his adoptive father and the troops of lower Germany conceived the design of hastening his reign They not only demanded shorter service higher pay and lighter labour but proclaimed their intention of carrying Germanicus to Rome and making him emperor Germanicus was at the time absent in Lugudunum occupied with his census of Gaul Aulus Sikina, an experienced officer was in command of the legions of the lower province while upper Germany had been assigned to see Cilius When the news reached Germanicus he hastened to his camp on the lower Rhine which lay in the land of the Ubi and appeared in the presence of the mutineers An exciting scene then took place the soldiers besieging their popular commander to right their wrongs showing him the marks of their wounds and stripes finally urging him to march to Rome and seize the sovereign power Germanicus expostulating and praising the verges of Tiberius The excitement reached such a pitch that it was necessary to withdraw the general from the presence of the troops It was a critical moment The mutineers talked of destroying the town with the Ubi Obidum obiorum and plundering the cities of Gaul The German foes beyond the Rhine would not fail to take advantage speedily of the broken discipline of the army To restore order Germanicus was forced to concede in the name of Tiberius and the troops He promised that the terms of service should be shortened and that large donatives should be distributed The legions then returned to their winter quarters to under Germanicus to Obidum obiorum the other two and the Delegatus Aulus Zekina to Castrivetra But at this moment messengers arrived from Rome for the purpose of investigating the causes of the discontent and when the soldiers saw that concessions might fail to be retified the mutiny broke out more furiously than ever Germanicus decided that his wife and children should leave the camp It does not appear that he apprehended any serious danger on their account for no measures were taken to conceal their flight They departed in broad daylight and in view of the whole camp The side of Agrippina carrying in her arms the little boy Gaius who had been born and reared in the camp and whom they had nicknamed Caligula Boots from the Caligulae or military boots which if they made him wear in sport moved to their hearts to remorse The memory of her father Agrippa, her grandfather Augustus, her father in law Dresses, stirred their pride and when they learned that her destination was the city of the trevery Jealousy prompted them to make peace with their general Germanicus ceased on the propitious moment to work on their softened feelings and recalls him to their duty They fell on their knees before him begged for forgiveness and zealously delivered their ring-leaders to punishment It seems likely that this scene was expressly devised by Germanicus as a last resource for repealing to the noble sentiments of the insurgents Thus was the danger averted in the Eubing camp In Castravetra the skillful management of the experienced Zechina restored discipline While at Mogontiacum the agitators who tried to stir to rebellion the army of the upper province seemed to have totally failed The only peril which threatened the succession of the armies was thus hindered and for this he had to thank the unshaken fidelity of his nephew Germanicus had refused to listen when the troops tempted him to disloyalty He declined to take the flood of the tide which might have led him to fortune If he had marched Jerome ahead of the Germanic legions he would have plunged if the state once more in civil war But it is not certain that he would have been the survivor Germanicus was a man of considerable ability and his affable menace and urbanity won him friends everywhere and the camp he associated freely with the soldiers and they idolized him He had his father's gift of making himself popular but he had not his father's genius It was his dream however to restore to the work which Drusus had so brilliantly begun to bury the eagles of Rome once more to the albis Immediately after the suppression of the mutiny the young Caesar decided to employ the discontented legions who were themselves anxious for reactive service Oscillities against the Germans had been slumbering for the past few years but no treaty had been made since the defeat of Ferris so that in making a sudden incursion the Romans were formally justified It had been questioned why Sir Germanicus was not exceeding his powers in taking the offense without the express permission of the Emperor but as he had been entrusted by Gustus with his large command for the purpose of conducting the war and defending a frontier against the Germans it must clearly have been after his discretion when he might advance and when he should retire In the late autumn 14 AD the legions and cohorts of the lower province crossed the Rhine cut their way through the Silver Caesar and through the Rampard which Hyperius had constructed after the Varian disaster as the lemies of Roman territory Thus they reached the land of the Marzi who dwelled between the rivers which are now called Lippi and Ur say Kena advance and front with some light cohorts to clear the way It was discovered that the Marzi were to spend the night in solemn festivities and when the Romans approached their villages after sunset the inhabitants and suspicious and inebriated offered an easy prey The legions were divided into four wedges cune which devastated the country for fifty miles with fire and sword sparing nigh the sex nor rage Many places of the Marzi especially the sacred precinct of the deity Tampana were leveled with the ground The fate of the Marzi roused to arms neighbouring tribes the brooktery who lived northward the tubentes who dwelled on the rura rur and the usipetes between the Lopia and the Manus They stationed themselves in the woods through which the Romans had to return but the zeal of the legions and the skill of the commander shook off the enemy and the winter quarters were safely reached The revolt on the lower Rhine had caused serious anxiety at Rome and especially to Tiberius coming as a date in conjunction with the mutiny Pannonia The Pannonic army was nearer Italy On the other hand the Germanic army was far larger and the emperor uncertain in which of the camps his presence was more needful and afraid of giving the preference to either ended by remaining in Rome and watching the issue of events The news that Germanicus had quelled the mutiny was a great relief but it was suspected that the military success which he gained in his brief campaign was not so agreeable to Tiberius If so the emperor dissembled his jealousy raised the achievement of his nephew in the presence of the senate and granted him the honour of a triumph The following year was marked by two distinct invasions of Germany which, however, hung closely together and were parts of a common design Of all the German tribes the Geraski, the tribe of Arminius was the most formidable and the most hostile They had been the leaders in the fight for freedom which ended in the very disaster Against them, above all others policy and revenge excited the spirit of Germanicus His plan was to prevent his neighbouring peoples from assisting them and then attack them alone Their most powerful neighbours were the Catti and the first expedition was directed against them One In the spring the four legions of the lower Rhine crossed the river from Castravetra and as a command Zechina was to prevent the tribes in that quarter especially the Marci and the Keraski from marching to aid the Catti Zechina's army was augmented by bands of desist three nine German tribes Batavians, Ube, Sugambri Meanwhile Germanicus himself at the head of the four legions of the upper Rhine advanced into the territory of mountainous and detected the Catti so subtly no serious resistance could be made their fortress Mattium was destroyed By this means the Catti were prevented from making common cause with the Keraski that people were distracted at this time by domestic discords The Guesties was invoking the help of the Romans against his enemy and son-in-law Arminius the hero of the two Dubuque Forest The messengers of the Guesties reached and was returning to the Rhine and besought him to relieve their master who was blockaded by his enemies The Roman army retraced their steps entered the borders of the Keraski and delivered to Tharelli who was able in return to restore some of the spoils of Faris and hand over some important hostages among Caesar's daughter Cecelda the wife of Arminius that warrior infuriated at the capture of his wife left nothing undone to stir up the passions of his nation and to succeed it in winning over in Guoma an influential noble who had his atoe sided with the Romans 2. Germanicus Emsaikina who had signally defeated the Marcy having returned to the Rhine prepared for a grand expedition against the enemy conceived on the same plan as Caesar's had formally adopted with success The army was divided in three parts Cekina let his legions through the land of the Bractory to the banks of the Upper Armisia Germanicus and the four legions of the Upper Province embark to coast along the shore of the North Sea and enter the river at its mouth while the cavalry under Peter Albinovenous the poet marched to the same gall successfully united the combined army laid waste far and wise the land between the Armisia and the Lepia here there were neither Celtus Tentoburgiensis whereas the remains of Varys and his legions lay unburied and Germanicus could not resist the desire of visiting the spot erecting a mound over the white bones and honouring with funeral rides the slaughtered Romans the lowly and melancholy the lowly and melancholy scene produced a deep impression on the legions but they were soon required to extricate themselves from a drip similar to that which had ensnared the Varian army Arminius had hidden his forces in the forest and the Romans had not secured themselves sufficiently against surprise but Germanicus and Cekina were more skillful than Varys and though he did not defeat his enemy he retreated to Amidia with great difficulty the return to his Rhine was not easy the cavalry of Pado reached of their cordus without mischance but a country through which the way of Cekina lay was heavy and marshy and the Germans of Arminius and Inguema sought to surround him as they had surrounded Varys the experienced Cekina was cool and collected in these perils and knew how to maintain discipline but he might have failed to extricate his army but for a false move of the foe the Germans had made successful attack on the cavalry and baggage of the Romans and elated by their luck proceeded, contrary to his accounts of Arminius, to assault the Roman camp waiting until they had reached the rampart Cekina suddenly threw open the gates and poured out his troops on the besiegers the Germans suffered a decisive defeat Inguema was severely wounded and the Romans were able to proceed on their way a false rumour of their destruction had gone before them to Castrovetra and it was proposed there to break down the Rhine bridge but a humanity encouraged of Acropina saved to the means of retreat for the fugitive army she stood at the head of the bridge and would not move until the Ramlan should reach it and she was repaid by seeing the arrival of the four legions, save and whole the return of Germanicus himself was attended with ill luck and serious losses he found it necessary to light in his ships amid the shallow waters of the Frigian coast and disembark two legions directing them to march along the shore the treacherous equinoctinal tides swept away a large number of the soldiers who had much of their baggage on the who the campaign could hardly be regarded as its success the dangers and losses of the return march threw a cloud over the expedition and Tiberias had some reason to murmur at the little results obtained at such expense the advantages won by Germanicus were only momentary for he had done nothing to affect a permanent occupation of the country which he had laid waste he had built no fort and established no lines of communication his wisdom in visiting the battlefield of Varus was open to question Tiberias, naturally distrustful nourished some jealousy and perhaps fear of his popular nephew and there were enemies of Germanicus at Rome who were eager to encourage such feelings but the emperor had not yet decided to fear with the plans of Germanicus for the subjugation of Germany and he professed to regard the achievements of the year as worthy of a triumph he seems not to have fully made up his mind yet whether the conquest of Germany was really desirable or its permanent occupation possible the next and last campaign of Germanicus, 16 AD was planned on a larger scale this time he hoped to reach the albis and break the last resistance of the carousel a fleet of one thousand ships was collected where the Rhine Brodens and branches and twos of a hall is and the whole army embarked and sailed down the Fossed Rusiana where Germanicus invoked the spirit and recalled the memory of his father before starting he had taken the precaution to send his lequetas C. Cilius to make a demonstration against a catty and had himself with six legions marched up the valley of Lupia to secure strongholds and to make revisions for the return of his army the fleet reached the mouth of Amidia safely and leaving the ships anchored and guarded the Romans advanced in a south-eastern direction to the banks of the Visurgis where the Germans prepared for their coming had concentrated their forces with the leadership of the Indefatigable Aminias here at length the Roman invader and the champion of German freedom were to fairly drive their strength in a field of battle the reserved historian Tacitus rises to the occasion as he describes the campaign which decided both the destinies of Germany and the fortunes of his hero Germanicus he embellishes his Germaniad with tales which have a ring of legend so over the young general a halo of Romans which his deeds hardly deserved the colloquy of Aminias and his renegade brother Flavius standing on the opposite banks of the Visurgis is, if not true, well imagined Flavius had lost an eye in the service of the Romans and Aminias, when he had inquired and learned the cause of the disfigurement asked, what was I reward I received, said Flavius increase of pay a gold chain and crown and other military distinctions vile badges of slavery sneered his brother Flavius continued to praise the great as of Rome and the emperor while Aminias appealed to ancestral freedom and the national gods of Germany at length such bitter words were bandied and rest of the brothers rose so high that they were about to plunge into a stream and grip each other in mortal struggle but the Romans intervened and wracked Flavius from the bank the night adventure of Germanicus has the same epic flavour as a converse of the German brethren the Romans crossed the Visurgis in the phase of the enemy who had retreated into the recesses of a sacred wood and use was brought that Aminias contemplated the night attack of the Roman camp Tessitus tells us how Germanicus like our own Henry V was seized with the desire to assert him the spirit of his soldiers and how for this purpose he disguised himself and with the skin over his shoulders attended by one companion he went round to camp and listened to near the tents he was pleased to hear his own praises loudly sung and to observe that the men were eager to punish the perfidious foe as he traversed a camp a German horseman rode up to the rampart and in the Latin Tongue invited deserters in the name of Aminias with promises of lands, wives and a daily sum of money scornful was the answer let the day break let battle begin we will ourselves seize your wives and lands the battle was fought in the plain of Edistaviso which probably lies to the south of the port of Mesfalica on the right bank of Devisergis the Germans had occupied the lowest slopes of the mountains and were protected in the rear by wood and encumbered with brushwood and thus offering an easy retreat the carousel placed themselves on the higher hills intending to rush down upon the roms in the midst of the battle while the legions and auxiliaries advanced to attack the German position in the open plain Germanicus sent a body of cavalry round to outflank the enemy and fall on their rear this movement was completely successful the German forces which were stationed in the wood were driven out of their cover into the plain while at the same time the ranks which were drawn up in the plain were beaten back before the onset of the legions into the wood the confusion was increased by Keraski who were forced by the attack of the cavalry to descend from the hills into the midst of the battle Arminius assayed bravely to sustain the fight but he and his fellows were surrounded by the Roman forces and their doom seemed sealed Arminius however and Inguema managed to escape perhaps owing to the treachery of some German auxiliaries the rest was lain but this is a victory was gained by the Romans without any serious loss the soldiers saluted Tiberius as Emperor Adho and erected a trophy of the arms of the enemy subscribing the names of the conquered nations the defeated and dejected Germans were, it is said preparing to cross the Albas and leave their country to the victor but this trophy excited their rage and decided them to make another desperate attempt it may be suspected however that the battle of Idis Erizo was less decisive than it has been represented in any case the enemy once more collected large forces and occupied a place protected by woods and a deep swamp and on one side by an old rampard but Germanicus discovered their position and did not fall into the trap he attacked them on the side of the earthwork and forced his way into the small space in which they were sickly packed together but the enemy did not fall into the trap he attacked them on the side of the earthwork in which they were sickly packed together their position was desperate they retreated and they must perish in the march and with a long sword they could sustain no equal combat with allegiance at such close quarters Germanicus, it is said was in the sickest of the fray crying that the Germans must be exterminated but the barbarians fought it well Armenians escaped and the cavalry engagement was indecisive at nightfall the Romans returned to their camp victorious indeed but without having exterminated or rooted the foe the angry Vari were the only tribe pursued for peace Germanicus erected a second trophy which it told have the army of Tiberius Caesar having subdued all the nations between the Rhine and the Albas dedicated this monument to Mars and Jupiter and Augustus it was now the middle of summer and Germanicus, notwithstanding his successes resolved to retrace his steps some of the legions returned by land others by sea on the ships which awaited them at the mouth of the Emyzia the voyage was disastrous owing to the violent gales which agitate the North Sea in the autumn season the fleet was scattered and Germanicus himself racked on the shore of Ducorsi the losses, however, were not so great as was at first thought and on his return to the Rhine some successes gained against Marsy and the Catty partly restored the spirit of the troops which the sea disaster had damned and the loss of decapitated eagles of eras were recovered Germanicus deemed that it was now near the goal of his ambition one more campaign would suffice for the complete subjugation of Germany but destiny decreed and Tiberius judged otherwise it is clear enough that the victories of the last campaign were far less important and complete than Tessitus has tried to make some out their results were only temporary and the emperor perhaps wisely decided that no abiding result was likely to be achieved by Germanicus there was indeed reason for disappointment nothing had been accomplished in proportion to the magnitude of the expeditions accordingly Tiberius offered the consulship to his nephew and this was equivalent to a recall how far the sovereign was influenced by a lurking jealousy of the popular general how far he deemed it inexpedient that a close connection between Germanicus and the Rhine army should continue we cannot say but it is only fair to point out that a recall of Germanicus can be completely explained by political considerations without taking into account any personal motives Tiberius may have come to the conclusion that annual invasions of Germany were too slow and costly method of winning the new province even though it was certain that this method must ultimately succeed a different policy was suggested with the intestine feud of the Barbarians if the Romans retired from the field a deadly contest must soon take place between the Saxon and the Swavian tribes and when the enemy had enfeebled themselves in domestic war the Romans might step in and take possession of their country this was a plausible policy and was perhaps seriously entertained by Tiberius but it is possible that he had really come to regard the advance to the Albas as a visionary idea which it would not be expedient to realise if the Rhine troops changed their station to the banks of the Albas would not another army be required to watch gall and would the state be able to support another army these were the questions which a statement had to consider and they may have decided Tiberius as they seem to have decided Augustus that the Rhine was roughly the limit in any case financial considerations had probably much to do with the disappointment of the dreams of Germanicus from the year 1780 forward we never find one man uniting under his single authority both the government of the Gallic provinces and the command of the Germanic armies hence forward the three provinces of Gaul are administered by three Praetorian governors the larger districts upper and lower Germany are kept strictly separate under two consulate Legati who are always up to the time of Hadrian strictly military commanders the Guardi exeggitos inferioris et superioris not legati provinciae though often loosely spoken of as such the financial administration of these military districts was at first combined with that of Numeria, like that of Numidia with Africa it is to be observed that for many years yet the province of lower Germany extended beyond the Rhine and as far as the lower Amidia the young general celebrated a brilliant triumph 26th of May 1780 over the concord nations between the Rhine and Albus the Sinalda the wife of Aminians and her husband's son Semelechus whom she had worn in captivity was among the captives who were dawned to the procession it is said that in the midst of the festivities people felt a gloomy presentiment comparing the young Caesar with his father Drosus and his uncle Marcellus who like him had been so popular but had died so early brave and unlucky they said have been the loves of the Roman people after his triumph Germanicus was appointed to an honourable mission in the east at the same time his cousin Drosus was sent to Illyricum to observe the cause of affairs in northern Europe Aminius and his Kerosci with their Saxon fadrids having no longer to oppose the invasions of the Romans hastened to deal with the Swaven state in the south over which Maribodius held sway with the title of king it will be remembered that this chief had refused to join Aminius after the defeat of Varys he was an admirer of Roman civilization having spent part of his youth in Rome and she tried to introduce Roman manners and government among his countrymen throughout this struggle for freedom he had remained persistently neutral the scent of his power and his palace lay in Boyohamen but he was recognised as a head of a large and loose swavy confederacy of these tribes the Samnones and Langebadi deserted his cause on the first attack of the Kerosci on the other hand the Keroscan and Guilmer and over to Maribodius a decisive battle was fought in which the Swavians were defeated and many more of his allies deserted the Swavy king who then applied for aid to the Roman emperor Tiberius immediately sent Rousses to confirm peace perhaps really to effect the downfall of Maribodius the unlucky king was finally overthrown and driven from his realm by Catoelda chief of the Cadonis a people who lived on the lower Vistula they invaded the land of the Marcomani and stormed the town and stronghold of Maribodius who was forced to flee to the refuge and throw himself on the emperor's mercy Ravenna was assigned to him as a dwelling place where Tilsnelda and her son had been also doomed to live it was a curious historical coincidence that the city of Demarches which was destined five centuries later to be the capital of the great German hero the Ostrogodic king Theodoric should have been selected as the habitation of Maribodius his predecessor in attempting to spread Roman ideas among his countrymen Maribodius lived 18 years at Ravenna and vainly inspecting to be restored to power he had the satisfaction to seek Catoelda overthrown and like himself seeking a refuge from the Romans he had the satisfaction to see his younger rival Arminius a comp to the guile of a domestic enemy 21 AD after the defeat of the Suavians the hero of Germany had been forced himself to the freedom for which he had fought and tried to establish a monarchial power he was undoubtedly says the Roman historian the deliverer of Germany and not one of those who attacked the Roman people at the beginning of its power but when it was at the height of its prosperity he lost battles but in war he was unconquered he died at the age of 37 in the twelfth year of his power and he is still sung among the Dabau Barians although to the annals of the Greeks he is unknown and among the Romans not as celebrated as he deserves End of chapter 12 section 1 to 2