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Friday, July 23, 2010 - 7:34 PM
Next, at the bidding of Augustus, Artavasdes was set on the throne,
nor was he deposed without disaster to ourselves. Caius
Caesar was then
appointed to restore order in Armenia. He put over the
Armenians Ariobarzanes,
a Mede by birth, whom they willingly accepted, because
of his singularly
handsome person and noble spirit. On the death of
Ariobarzanes through
a fatal accident, they would not endure his son. Having
tried the government
of a woman named Erato and having soon afterwards
driven her from them,
bewildered and disorganised, rather indeed without a
ruler than enjoying
freedom, they received for their king the fugitive
Vonones. When, however,
Artabanus began to threaten, and but feeble support
could be given by the
Armenians, or war with Parthia would have to be
undertaken, if Vonones
was to be upheld by our arms, the governor of Syria,
Creticus Silanus,
sent for him and kept him under surveillance, letting
him retain his royal
pomp and title. How Vonones meditated an escape from
this mockery, I will
relate in the proper place.
Meanwhile the commotion in the East was rather
pleasing to Tiberius,
as it was a pretext for withdrawing Germanicus from the
legions which knew
him well, and placing him over new provinces where he
would be exposed
both to treachery and to disasters. Germanicus,
however, in proportion
to the strength of the soldiers' attachment and to his
uncle's dislike,
was eager to hasten his victory, and he pondered on
plans of battle, and
on the reverses or successes which during more than
three years of war
had fallen to his lot. The Germans, he knew, were
beaten in the field and
on fair ground; they were helped by woods, swamps,
short summers, and early
winters. His own troops were affected not so much by
wounds as by long
marches and damage to their arms. Gaul had been
exhausted by supplying
horses; a long baggage-train presented facilities for
ambuscades, and was
embarrassing to its defenders. But by embarking on the
sea, invasion would
be easy for them, and a surprise to the enemy, while a
campaign too would
be more quickly begun, the legions and supplies would
be brought up simultaneously,
and the cavalry with their horses would arrive, in good
condition, by the
rivermouths and channels, at the heart of Germany.
To this accordingly he gave his mind, and sent
Publius Vitellius
and Caius Antius to collect the taxes of Gaul. Silius,
Anteius, and Caecina
had the charge of building a fleet. It seemed that a
thousand vessels were
required, and they were speedily constructed, some of
small draught with
a narrow stem and stern and a broad centre, that they
might bear the waves
more easily; some flat-bottomed, that they might ground
without being injured;
several, furnished with a rudder at each end, so that
by a sudden shifting
of the oars they might be run into shore either way.
Many were covered
in with decks, on which engines for missiles might be
conveyed, and were
also fit for the carrying of horses or supplies, and
being equipped with
sails as well as rapidly moved by oars, they assumed,
through the enthusiasm
of our soldiers, an imposing and formidable aspect.
The island of the Batavi was the appointed
rendezvous, because
of its easy landing-places, and its convenience for
receiving the army
and carrying the war across the river. For the Rhine
after flowing continuously
in a single channel or encircling merely insignificant
islands, divides
itself, so to say, where the Batavian territory
begins, into two rivers,
retaining its name and the rapidity of its course in
the stream which washes
Germany, till it mingles with the ocean. On the Gallic
bank, its flow is
broader and gentler; it is called by an altered name,
the Vahal, by the
inhabitants of its shore. Soon that name too is
changed for the Mosa river,
through whose vast mouth it empties itself into the
same
ocean.
Caesar, however, while the vessels were coming
up, ordered Silius,
his lieutenant-general, to make an inroad on the
Chatti with a flying column.
He himself, on hearing that a fort on the river Luppia
was being besieged,
led six legions to the spot. Silius owing to sudden
rains did nothing but
carry off a small booty, and the wife and daughter of
Arpus, the chief
of the Chatti. And Caesar had no opportunity of
fighting given him by the
besiegers, who dispersed on the rumour of his advance.
They had, however,
destroyed the barrow lately raised in memory of
Varus's legions, and the
old altar of Drusus. The prince restored the altar,
and himself with his
legions celebrated funeral games in his father's
honour. To raise a new
barrow was not thought necessary. All the country
between the fort Aliso
and the Rhine was thoroughly secured by new barriers
and
earthworks.
By this time the fleet had arrived, and
Caesar, having sent on
his supplies and assigned vessels for the legions and
the allied troops,
entered "Drusus's fosse," as it was called. He prayed
Drusus his father
to lend him, now that he was venturing on the same
enterprise, the willing
and favourable aid of the example and wi memory of his
counsels and achievements,
and he arrived after a prosperous voyage through the
lakes and the ocean
as far as the river Amisia. His fleet remained there
on the left bank of
the stream, and it was a blunder that he did not have
it brought up the
river. He disembarked the troops, which were to be
marched to the country
on the right, and thus several days were wasted in the
construction of
bridges. The cavalry and the legions fearlessly
crossed the first estuaries
in which the tide had not yet risen. The rear of the
auxiliaries, and the
Batavi among the number, plunging recklessly into the
water and displaying
their skill in swimming, fell into disorder, and some
were drowned. While
Caesar was measuring out his camp, he was told of a
revolt of the Angrivarii
in his rear. He at once despatched Stertinius with
some cavalry and a light
armed force, who punished their perfidy with fire and
sword.
The waters of the Visurgis flowed between the
Romans and the Cherusci.
On its banks stood Arminius with the other chiefs. He
asked whether Caesar
had arrived, and on the reply that he was present, he
begged leave to have
an interview with his brother. That brother, surnamed
Flavus, was with
our army, a man famous for his loyalty, and for having
lost an eye by a
wound, a few years ago, when Tiberius was in command.
The permission was
then given, and he stepped forth and was saluted by
Arminius, who had removed
his guards to a distance and required that the bowmen
ranged on our bank
should retire. When they had gone away, Arminius asked
his brother whence
came the scar which disfigured his face, and on being
told the particular
place and battle, he inquired what reward he had
received. Flavus spoke
of increased pay, of a neck chain, a crown, and other
military gifts, while
Arminius jeered at such a paltry recompense for
slavery.
Then began a controversy. The one spoke of the
greatness of Rome,
the resources of Caesar, the dreadful punishment in
store for the vanquished,
the ready mercy for him who surrenders, and the fact
that neither Arminius's
wife nor his son were treated as enemies; the other,
of the claims of fatherland,
of ancestral freedom, of the gods of the homes of
Germany, of the mother
who shared his prayers, that Flavus might not choose
to be the deserter
and betrayer rather than the ruler of his kinsfolk and
relatives, and indeed
of his own people.
By degrees they fell to bitter words, and even
the river between
them would not have hindered them from joining combat,
had not Stertinius
hurried up and put his hand on Flavus, who in the full
tide of his fury
was demanding his weapons and his charger. Arminius
was seen facing him,
full of menaces and challenging him to conflict. Much
of what he said was
in Roman speech, for he had served in our camp as
leader of his
fellow-countrymen.
Next day the German army took up its position
on the other side
of the Visurgis. Caesar, thinking that without bridges
and troops to guard
them, it would not be good generalship to expose the
legions to danger,
sent the cavalry across the river by the fords. It was
commanded by Stertinius
and Aemilius, one of the first rank centurions, who
attacked at widely
different points so as to distract the enemy.
Chariovalda, the Batavian
chief, dashed to the charge where the stream is most
rapid. The Cherusci,
by a pretended flight, drew him into a plain
surrounded by forest-passes.
Then bursting on him in a sudden attack from all
points they thrust aside
all who resisted, pressed fiercely on their retreat,
driving them before
them, when they rallied in compact array, some by
close fighting, others
by missiles from a distance. Chariovalda, after long
sustaining the enemy's
fury, cheered on his men to break by a dense formation
the onset of their
bands, while he himself, plunging into the thickest of
the battle, fell
amid a shower of darts with his horse pierced under
him, and round him
many noble chiefs. The rest were rescued from the
peril by their own strength,
or by the cavalry which came up with Stertinius and
Aemilius.
Caesar on crossing the Visurgis learnt by the
information of a
deserter that Arminius had chosen a battle-field, that
other tribes too
had assembled in a forest sacred to Hercules, and
would venture on a night
attack on his camp. He put faith in this intelligence,
and, besides, several
watchfires were seen. Scouts also, who had crept close
up to the enemy,
reported that they had heard the neighing of horses
and the hum of a huge
and tumultuous host. And so as the decisive crisis
drew near, that he ought
thoroughly to sound the temper of his soldiers, he
considered with himself
how this was to be accomplished with a genuine result.
Tribunes and centurions,
he knew, oftener reported what was welcome than what
was true; freedmen
had slavish spirits, friends a love of flattery. If an
assembly were called,
there too the lead of a few was followed by the shout
of the many. He must
probe their inmost thoughts, when they were uttering
their hopes and fears
at the military mess, among themselves, and unwatched.
At nightfall, leaving his tent of augury by a
secret exit, unknown
to the sentries, with one companion, his shoulders
covered with a wild
beast's skin, he visited the camp streets, stood by
the tents, and enjoyed
the men's talk about himself, as one extolled his
noble rank, another,
his handsome person, nearly all of them, his
endurance, his gracious manner
and the evenness of his temper, whether he was jesting
or was serious,
while they acknowledged that they ought to repay him
with their gratitude
in battle, and at the same time sacrifice to a
glorious vengeance the perfidious
violators of peace. Meanwhile one of the enemy,
acquainted with the Roman
tongue, spurred his horse up to the entrenchments, and
in a loud voice
promised in the name of Arminius to all deserters
wives and lands with
daily pay of a hundred sesterces as long as war
lasted. The insult fired
the wrath of the legions. "Let daylight come," they
said, "let battle be
given. The soldiers will possess themselves of the
lands of the Germans
and will carry off their wives. We hail the omen; we
mean the women and
riches of the enemy to be our spoil." About midday
there was a skirmishing
attack on our camp, without any discharge of missiles,
when they saw the
cohorts in close array before the lines and no sign of
carelessness.
The same night brought with it a cheering
dream to Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire.
He saw himself engaged in sacrifice, and his robe
being sprinkled with
the sacred blood, another more beautiful was given him
by the hands of
his grandmother Augusta. Encouraged by the omen and
finding the auspices
favourable, he called an assembly, and explained the
precautions which
wisdom suggested as suitable for the impending battle.
"It is not," he
said, "plains only which are good for the fighting of
Roman soldiers, but
woods and forest passes, if science be used. For the
huge shields and unwieldly
lances of the barbarians cannot, amid trunks of trees
and brushwood that
springs from the ground, be so well managed as our
javelins and swords
and closefitting armour. Shower your blows thickly;
strike at the face
with your swords' points. The German has neither
cuirass nor helmet; even
his shield is not strengthened with leather or steel,
but is of osiers
woven together or of thin and painted board. If their
first line is armed
with spears, the rest have only weapons hardened by
fire or very short.
Again, though their frames are terrible to the eye and
formidable in a
brief onset, they have no capacity of enduring wounds;
without, any shame
at the disgrace, without any regard to their leaders,
they quit the field
and flee; they quail under disaster, just as in
success they forget alike
divine and human laws. If in your weariness of land
and sea you desire
an end of service, this battle prepares the way to it.
The Elbe is now
nearer than the Rhine, and there is no war beyond,
provided only you enable
me, keeping close as I do to my father's and my
uncle's footsteps, to stand
a conqueror on the same spot."
The general's speech was followed by
enthusiasm in the soldiers,
and the signal for battle was given. Nor were Arminius
and the other German
chiefs slow to call their respective clansmen to
witness that "these Romans
were the most cowardly fugitives out of Varus's army,
men who rather than
endure war had taken to mutiny. Half of them have
their backs covered with
wounds; half are once again exposing limbs battered by
waves and storms
to a foe full of fury, and to hostile deities, with no
hope of advantage.
They have, in fact, had recourse to a fleet and to a
trackless ocean, that
their coming might be unopposed, their flight
unpursued. But when once
they have joined conflict with us, the help of winds
or oars will be unavailing
to the vanquished. Remember only their greed, their
cruelty, their pride.
Is anything left for us but to retain our freedom or
to die before we are
enslaved?
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