The Reign of Tiberius, Out of the First Six Annals of Tacitus Part 3

Not long after, Granius Marcellus, Praetor of Bithynia, was charged with high treason by his own Quaestor, Cepio Crispinus; Roma.n.u.s Hispo, the pleader, supporting the charge. This Cepio began a course of life which, through the miseries of the times and the bold wickedness of men, became afterwards famous: at first needy and obscure, but of a busy spirit, he made court to the cruelty of the Prince by occult informations; and presently, as an open accuser, grew terrible to every distinguished Roman.

This procured him credit with one, hatred from all, and made a precedent to be followed by others, who from poverty became rich; from being contemned, dreadful; and in the destruction which they brought upon others, found at last their own. He accused Marcellus of "malignant words concerning Tiberius," an inevitable crime! when the accuser, collecting all the most detestable parts of the Prince's character, alleged them as the expressions of the accused; for, because they were true, they were believed to have been spoken. To this, Hispo added, "That the statue of Marcellus was by him placed higher than those of the Caesars; and that, having cut off the head of Augustus, he had in the room of it set the head of Tiberius." This enraged him so, that breaking silence, he cried, "He would himself, in this cause, give his vote explicitly and under the tie of an oath." By this he meant to force the a.s.sent of the rest of the Senate. There remained even then some faint traces of expiring liberty.

Hence Cneius Piso asked him, "In what place, Caesar, will you choose to give your opinion? If first, I shall have your example to follow; if last, I fear I may ignorantly dissent from you." The words pierced him, but he bore them, the rather as he was ashamed of his unwary transport; and he suffered the accused to be acquitted of high treason. To try him for the public money was referred to the proper judges.

Nor sufficed it Tiberius to a.s.sist in the deliberations of the Senate only: he likewise sat in the seats of justice; but always on one side, because he would not dispossess the Praetor of his chair; and by his presence there, many ordinances were established against the intrigues and solicitations of the Grandees. But while private justice was thus promoted, public liberty was overthrown. About this time, Pius Aurelius, the Senator, whose house, yielding to the pressure of the public road and aqueducts, had fallen, complained to the Senate and prayed relief: a suit opposed by the Praetors who managed the treasury; but he was relieved by Tiberius, who ordered him the price of his house; for he was fond of being liberal upon honest occasions: a virtue which he long retained, even after he had utterly abandoned all other virtues. Upon Propertius Celer, once Praetor, but now desiring leave to resign the dignity of Senator, as a burden to his poverty, he bestowed a thousand great sesterces; [Footnote: 8333.] upon ample information, that Celer's necessities were derived from his father. Others, who attempted the same thing, he ordered to lay their condition before the Senate; and from an affectation of severity was thus austere even where he acted with uprightness. Hence the rest preferred poverty and silence to begging and relief.

The same year the Tiber, being swelled with continual rains, overflowed the level parts of the city; and the common destruction of men and houses followed the returning flood. Hence Asinius Callus moved "that the Sibylline books might be consulted." Tiberius opposed it, equally smothering all inquiries whatsoever, whether into matters human or divine.

To Ateius Capito, however, and Lucius Arruntius, was committed the care of restraining the river within its banks. The provinces of Achaia and Macedon, praying relief from their public burdens, were for the present discharged of their Proconsular government, and subjected to the Emperor's lieutenants. In the entertainment of gladiators at Rome, Drusus presided: it was exhibited in the name of Germanicus, and his own; and at it he manifested too much l.u.s.t of blood, even of the blood of slaves: a quality terrible to the populace; and hence his father was said to have reproved him. His own absence from these shows was variously construed: by some it was ascribed to his impatience of a crowd; by others to his reserved and solitary genius, and his fear of an unequal comparison with Augustus, who was wont to be a cheerful spectator. But, that he thus purposely furnished matter for exposing the cruelty of his son there, and for raising him popular hate, is what I would not believe; though this too was a.s.serted.

The dissensions of the theatre, begun last year, broke out now more violently, with the slaughter of several, not of the people only, but of the soldiers, with that of a Centurion. Nay, a Tribune of a Praetorian cohort was wounded, whilst they were securing the magistrates from insults, and quelling the licentiousness of the rabble. This riot was canva.s.sed in the Senate, and votes were pa.s.sing for empowering the Praetors to whip the players. Haterius Agrippa, Tribune of the People, opposed it; and was sharply reprimanded by a speech of Asinius Gallus.

Tiberius was silent, and to the Senate allowed these empty apparitions of liberty. The opposition, however, prevailed, in reverence to the authority of Augustus; who, upon a certain occasion, had given his judgment, "that players were exempt from stripes:" nor would Tiberius a.s.sume to violate any words of his. To limit the wages of players, and restrain the licentiousness of their partisans, many decrees were made: the most remarkable were, "That no Senator should enter the house of a pantomime; no Roman Knight attend them abroad; they should show nowhere but in the theatre; and the Praetors should have power to punish any insolence in the spectators with exile."

The Spaniards were, upon their pet.i.tion, permitted to build a temple to Augustus in the colony of Tarragon; an example this for all the provinces to follow. In answer to the people, who prayed to be relieved from the _centesima_, a tax of one in the hundred, established at the end of the civil wars, upon all vendible commodities; Tiberius by an edict declared, "That upon this tax depended the fund for maintaining the army; nor even thus was the Commonwealth equal to the expense, if before their twentieth year the veterans were dismissed." So that the concessions made them during the late sedition, to discharge them finally at the end of sixteen years, as they were made through necessity, were for the future abolished.

It was next proposed to the Senate, by Arruntius and Ateius, whether, in order to restrain the overflowing of the Tiber, the channels of the several rivers and lakes by which it was swelled, must not be diverted.

Upon this question the deputies of several cities and colonies were heard.

The Florentines besought, "that the bed of the Clanis [Footnote: Chiana.]

might not be turned into their river Arnus; [Footnote: Arno.] for that the same would prove their utter ruin." The like plea was urged by the Interamnates; [Footnote: Terni.] "since the most fruitful plains in Italy would be lost, if, according to the project, the Nar, branched out into rivulets, overflowed them." Nor were the Reatinians less earnest against stopping the outlets of the Lake Velinus into the Nar; "otherwise," they said, "it would break over its banks, and stagnate all the adjacent country; the direction of nature was best in all natural things: it was she that to rivers had appointed their courses and discharges, and set them their limits as well as their sources. Regard too was to be paid to the religion of our Latin allies, who, esteeming the rivers of their country sacred, had to them dedicated Priests, and altars, and groves; nay, the Tiber himself, when bereft of his auxiliary streams, would flow with diminished grandeur." Now, whether it were that the prayers of the colonies, or the difficulty of the work, or the influence of superst.i.tion prevailed, it is certain the opinion of Piso was followed; namely, that nothing should be altered,

To Poppeus Sabinus was continued his province of Mesia; and to it was added that of Achaia and Macedon. This too was part of the politics of Tiberius, to prolong governments, and maintain the same men in the same armies, or civil employments, for the most part, to the end of their lives; with what view, is not agreed. Some think "that from an impatience of returning cares, he was for making whatever he once liked perpetual."

Others, "that from the malignity of his invidious nature, he regretted the preferring of many." There are some who believe, "that as he had a crafty penetrating spirit, so he had an understanding ever irresolute and perplexed." So much is certain, that he never courted any eminent virtue, yet hated vice; from the best men he dreaded danger to himself, and disgrace to the public from the worst. This hesitation mastered him so much at last that he committed foreign governments to some, whom he meant never to suffer to leave Rome.

Concerning the management of consular elections, either then or afterwards under Tiberius, I can affirm scarce anything: such is the variance about it, not only amongst historians, but even in his own speeches. Sometimes, not naming the candidates, he described them by their family, by their life and manners, and by the number of their campaigns; so as it might be apparent whom he meant. Again, avoiding even to describe them, he exhorted the candidates not to disturb the election by their intrigues, and promised himself to take care of their interests. But chiefly he used to declare, "that to him none had signified their pretensions, but such whose names he had delivered to the Consuls; others too were at liberty to offer the like pretensions, if they trusted to the favour of the Senate or their own merits." Specious words! but entirely empty, or full of fraud; and by how much they were covered with the greater guise of liberty, by so much threatening a more hasty and devouring bondage.

BOOK II

A.D. 16-19.

The commotions in the East happened not ungratefully to Tiberius, since then he had a colour for separating Germanicus from his old and faithful legions; for setting him over strange provinces, and exposing him at once to casual perils and the efforts of fraud. But he, the more ardent he found the affections of the soldiers, and the greater the hatred of his uncle, so much the more intent upon a decisive victory, weighed with himself all the methods of that war, with all the disasters and successes which had befallen him in it to this his third year. He remembered "that the Germans were ever routed in a fair battle, and upon equal ground; that woods and bogs, short summers, and early winters, were their chief resources; that his own men suffered not so much from their wounds, as from tedious marches, and the loss of their arms. The Gauls were weary of furnis.h.i.+ng horses; long and c.u.mbersome was his train of baggage, easily surprised, and with difficulty defended; but, if we entered the country by sea, the invasion would be easy, and the enemy unapprised. Besides, the war would be earlier begun; the legions and provisions would be carried together; and the cavalry brought with safety, through the mouths and channels of the rivers, into the heart of Germany."

On that method therefore he fixed: whilst Publius Vitellius and Publius Cantius were sent to collect the tribute of the Gauls; Silius, Anteius, and Caecina had the direction of building the fleet. A thousand vessels were thought sufficient, and with despatch finished: some were short, sharp at both ends, and wide in the middle, the easier to endure the agitations of the waves; some had flat bottoms, that without damage they might bear to run aground; several had helms at each end, that by suddenly turning the oars only they might work either way. Many were arched over, for carrying the engines of war. They were fitted for holding horses and provisions, to fly with sails, to run with oars, and the spirit and alacrity of the soldiers heightened the show and terror of the fleet. They were to meet at the Isle of Batavia, which was chosen for its easy landing, for its convenience to receive the forces, and thence to transport them to the war. For the Rhine, flowing in one continual channel, or only broken by small islands, is, at the extremity of Batavia, divided as it were into two rivers; one running still through Germany, and retaining the same name and violent current, till it mixes with the ocean; the other, was.h.i.+ng the Gallic sh.o.r.e, with a broader and more gentle stream, is by the inhabitants called by another name, the Wahal, which it soon after changes for that of the river Meuse, by whose immense mouth it is discharged into the same ocean.

While the fleet sailed, Germanicus commanded Silius, his lieutenant, with a flying band, to invade the Cattans; and he himself, upon hearing that the fort upon the river Luppia [Footnote: Lippe.] was besieged, led six legions thither: but the sudden rains prevented Silius from doing more than taking some small plunder, with the wife and daughter of Arpus, Prince of the Cattans; nor did the besiegers stay to fight Germanicus, but upon the report of his approach stole off and dispersed. As they had, however, thrown down the common tomb lately raised over the Varian legions, and the old altar erected to Drusus, he restored the altar; and performed in person with the legions the funeral ceremony of running courses to the honour of his father. To replace the tomb was not thought fit; but all the s.p.a.ce between Fort Aliso and the Rhine, he fortified with a new barrier.

The fleet was now arrived, the provisions were sent forward; s.h.i.+ps were a.s.signed to the legions and the allies; and he entered the ca.n.a.l cut by Drusus, and called by his name. Here he invoked his father "to be propitious to his son attempting the same enterprises; to inspire him with the same counsels, and animate him by his example." Hence he sailed fortunately through the lakes and the ocean to the river Amisia, [Footnote: Ems.] and at the town of Amisia the fleet was left upon the left sh.o.r.e; and it was a fault that it sailed no higher, for he landed the army on the right sh.o.r.e, so that in making bridges many days were consumed. The horse and the legions pa.s.sed over without danger, as it was yet ebb; but the returning tide disordered the rear, especially the Batavians, while they played with the waves, and showed their dexterity in swimming; and some were drowned. Whilst Germanicus was encamping, he was told of the revolt of the Angrivarians behind him, and thither he despatched a body of horse and light foot, under Stertinius. who with fire and slaughter took vengeance on the perfidious revolters.

Between the Romans and the Cheruscans flowed the river Visurgis, [Footnote: Weser.] and on the banks of it stood Arminius, with the other chiefs: he inquired whether Germanicus was come; and being answered that he was there, he prayed leave to speak with his brother. This brother of his was in the army, his name Flavius; one remarkable for his lasting faith towards the Romans, and for the loss of an eye in the war under Tiberius. This request was granted: Flavius stepped forward, and was saluted by Arminius, who, having removed his own attendance, desired that our archers ranged upon the opposite banks might retire. When they were withdrawn, "How came you," says he to his brother, "by that deformity in your face?" The brother having informed him where, and in what fight, was next asked, "what reward he had received?" Flavius answered, "Increase of pay, the chain, the crown, and other military gifts;" all which Arminius treated with derision, as the vile wages of servitude.

Here began a warm contest: Flavius pleaded "the grandeur of the Roman Empire, the power of the Emperor, the Roman clemency to submitting nations, the heavy yoke of the vanquished; and that neither the wife nor son of Arminius was used like a captive." Arminius to all this opposed "the natural rights of their country, their ancient liberty, the domestic G.o.ds of Germany; he urged the prayers of their common mother joined to his own, that he would not prefer the character of a deserter, that of a betrayer of his family, his countrymen, and kindred, to the glory of being their commander." By degrees they fell into reproaches; nor would the interposition of the river have restrained them from blows, had not Stertinius hasted to lay hold on Flavius, full of rage, and calling for his arms and his horse. On the opposite side was seen Arminius, swelling with ferocity and threats, and denouncing battle. For, of what he said, much was said in Latin, having as the General of his countrymen served in the Roman armies.

Next day, the German army stood embattled beyond the Visurgis. Germanicus, who thought it became not a General to endanger the legions, till for their pa.s.sage and security he had placed bridges and guards, made the horse ford over. They were led by Stertinius, and Aemilius, Lieutenant- Colonel of a legion; and these two officers crossed the river in distant places, to divide the foe. Cariovalda, Captain of the Batavians, pa.s.sed it where most rapid, and was by the Cheruscans, who feigned flight, drawn into a plain surrounded with woods, whence they rushed out upon him and a.s.saulted him on every side; overthrew those who resisted, and pressed vehemently upon those who gave way. The distressed Batavians formed themselves into a ring, but were again broken, partly by a close a.s.sault, partly by distant showers of darts. Cariovalda, having long sustained the fury of the enemy, exhorted his men to draw up into platoons, and break through the prevailing host; he himself forced his way into their centre, and fell with his horse under a shower of darts, and many of the princ.i.p.al Batavians round him; the rest were saved by their own bravery, or rescued by the cavalry under Stertinius and Aemilius.

Germanicus, having pa.s.sed the Visurgis, learned from a deserter, that Arminius had marked out the place of battle; that more nations had also joined him; that they rendezvoused in a wood sacred to Hercules, and would attempt to storm our camp by night. The deserter was believed; the enemy's fires were discerned; and the scouts having advanced towards them, reported that they had heard the neighing of horses, and the hollow murmur of a mighty and tumultuous host. In this important conjuncture, upon the approach of a decisive battle, Germanicus thought it behoved him to learn the inclinations and spirit of the soldiers and deliberated with himself how to be informed without fraud: "for the reports of the Tribunes and Centurions used to be oftener pleasing than true; his Freedmen had still slavish souls, incapable of free speech; friends were apt to flatter; there was the same uncertainty in an a.s.semble, where the counsel proposed by a few was wont to be echoed by all; in truth, the minds of the soldiery were then best known, when they were least watched; when free and over their meals, they frankly disclosed their hopes and fears."

In the beginning of night, he went out at the augural gate, with a single attendant; himself disguised with the skin of a wild beast hanging over his shoulders; and choosing secret ways, he escaped the notice of the watch, entered the lanes of the camp, listened from tent to tent, and enjoyed the pleasing display of his own popularity and fame; as one was magnifying the imperial birth of his general; another, his graceful person; and all, his patience, condescension, and the equality of his soul in every temper, pleasant or grave: they confessed the grat.i.tude due to so much merit, and that in battle they ought to express it, and to sacrifice at the same time to glory and revenge these perfidious Germans, who for ever violated stipulations and peace. In the meantime one of the enemy who understood Latin rode up to the palisades, and with a loud voice offered, in the name of Arminius, to every deserter a wife and land, and as long as the war lasted an hundred sesterces a day. [Footnote: 16s. 8d.] This contumely kindled the wrath of the legions: "Let day come," they cried, "let battle be given: the soldiers would seize and not accept the lands of the Germans; take and not receive German wives; they, however, received the offer as an omen of victory, and considered the money and women as their destined prey." Near the third watch of the night, they approached and insulted the camp; but without striking a blow, when they found the ramparts covered thick with cohorts, and no advantage given.

Germanicus had the same night a joyful dream: he thought he sacrificed, and, in place of his own robe besmeared with the sacred blood, received one fairer from the hands of his grandmother Augusta; so that elevated by the omen, and by equal encouragement from the auspices, he called an a.s.sembly, where he opened his deliberations concerning the approaching battle with all the advantages contributing to victory: "That to the Roman soldiers not only plains and dales, but, with due circ.u.mspection, even woods and forests were commodious for an engagement. The huge targets, the enormous spears, of the Barbarians could never be wielded amongst thickets and trunks of trees like Roman swords and javelins, and armour adjusted to the shape and size of their bodies, so that with these tractable arms they might thicken their blows, and strike with certainty at the naked faces of the enemy, since the Germans were neither furnished with headpiece nor coat of mail, nor were their bucklers bound with leather or fortified with iron, but all bare basket-work or painted boards; and though their first ranks were armed with pikes, the rest had only stakes burnt at the end, or short and contemptible darts; for their persons, as they were terrible to sight and violent in the onset, so they were utterly impatient of wounds, unaffected with their own disgrace, unconcerned for the honour of their general, whom they ever deserted and fled; in distress cowards, in prosperity despisers of all divine, of all human laws. In fine, if the army, after their fatigues at sea and their tedious marches by land, longed for an utter end of their labour, by this battle they might gain it. The Elbe was now nearer than the Rhine; and if they would make him a conqueror in those countries where his father and his uncle had conquered, the war was concluded." The ardour of the soldiers followed the speech of the general, and the signal for the onset was given.

Neither did Arminius or the other chiefs neglect to declare to their several bands that "these Romans were the cowardly fugitives of the Varian army, who, because they could not endure to fight, had afterwards chosen to rebel. That some with backs deformed by wounds, some with limbs maimed by tempests, forsaken of hope, and the G.o.ds against them, were once more presenting their lives to their vengeful foes. Hitherto a fleet, and unfrequented seas, had been the resources of their cowardice against an a.s.saulting or a pursuing enemy; but now that they were to engage hand to hand, vain would be their relief from wind and oars after a defeat. The Germans needed only remember their rapine, cruelty, and pride; and that to themselves nothing remained but either to maintain their native liberty, or by death to prevent bondage."

The enemy, thus inflamed and calling for battle, were led into a plain called Idistavisus: [Footnote: Near Minden.] it lies between the Visurgis and the hills, and winds unequally along, as it is straitened by the swellings of the mountains or enlarged by the circuits of the river.

Behind rose a forest of high trees, thick of branches above but clear of bushes below. The army of Barbarians kept the plain, and the entrances of the forest. The Cheruscans alone sat down upon the mountain, in order to pour down from thence upon the Romans as soon as they became engaged in the fight. Our army marched thus: the auxiliary Gauls and Germans in front, after them the foot archers, next four legions, and then Germanicus with two Praetorian cohorts and the choice of the cavalry; then four legions more, and the light foot with archers on horseback and the other troops of the allies; the men all intent to march in order of battle and ready to engage as they marched.

As the impatient bands of Cheruscans were now perceived descending fiercely from the hills, Germanicus commanded a body of the best horse to charge them in the flank, and Stertinius with the rest to wheel round to attack them in the rear, and promised to be ready to a.s.sist them in person. During this a joyful omen appeared: eight eagles were seen to fly toward the wood, and to enter it; a presage of victory to the General.

"_Advance_," he cried, "_follow the Roman birds; follow the tutelar Deities of the legions!_" Instantly the foot charged the enemy's front, and instantly the detached cavalry attacked their flank and rear: this double a.s.sault had a strange event; the two divisions of their army fled opposite ways; that in the woods ran to the plain; that in the plain rushed into the woods. The Cheruscans, between both, were driven from the hills; amongst them Arminius, remarkably brave, who with his hand, his voice, and distinguished wounds was still sustaining the fight. He had a.s.saulted the archers, and would have broken through them, but the cohorts of the Retians, the Vindelicians, and the Gauls marched to their relief; however, by his own vigour and the force of his horse, he escaped, his face besmeared with his own blood to avoid being known. Some have related that the Chaucians, who were amongst the Roman auxiliaries, knew him, and let him go; the same bravery or deceit procured Inguiomerus his escape; the rest were everywhere slain; and great numbers attempting to swim the Visurgis were destroyed in it, either pursued with darts, or swallowed by the current, or overwhelmed with the weight of the crowd, or buried under the falling banks; some seeking a base refuge on the tops of trees, and concealment amongst the branches, were shot in sport by the archers, or squashed as the trees were felled: a mighty victory this, and to us far from b.l.o.o.d.y!

This slaughter of the foe, from the fifth hour of the day till night, filled the country for ten miles with carca.s.ses and arms: amongst the spoils, chains were found, which, sure of conquering, they had brought to bind the Roman captives. The soldiers proclaimed Tiberius _Imperator_ upon the field of battle, and raising a mount, placed upon it as trophies the German arms, with the names of all the vanquished nations inscribed below.

This sight filled the Germans with more anguish and rage than all their wounds, past afflictions, and slaughters. They, who were just prepared to abandon their dwellings, and flit beyond the Elbe, meditate war and grasp their arms: people, n.o.bles, youth, aged, all rush suddenly upon the Roman army in its march and disorder it. They next chose their camp, a strait and moist plain shut in between a river and a forest, the forest too surrounded with a deep marsh, except on one side, which was closed with a barrier raised by the Angrivarians between them and the Cheruscans. Here stood their foot; their horse were distributed and concealed amongst the neighbouring groves, thence, by surprise, to beset the legions in the rear as soon as they had entered the wood.

Nothing of all this was a secret to Germanicus: he knew their counsels, their stations, what steps they pursued, what measures they concealed; and, to the destruction of the enemy, turned their own subtilty and devices. To Seius Tubero, his Lieutenant, he committed the horse and the field; the infantry so disposed, that part might pa.s.s the level approaches into the wood, and the rest force the ramparts; this was the most arduous task, and to himself he reserved it; the rest he left to his Lieutenants.

Those who had the even ground to traverse, broke easily in; but they who were to a.s.sail the rampart, were as grievously battered from above, as if they had been storming a wall. The General perceived the inequality of this close attack, and drawing off the legions a small distance, ordered the slingers to throw, and the engineers to play, to beat off the enemy: immediately showers of darts were poured from the engines, and the defenders of the barrier, the more bold and exposed they were, with the more wounds they were beaten down. Germanicus, having taken the rampart, first forced his way, at the head of the Praetorian cohorts, into the woods, and there it was fought foot to foot; behind, the enemy were begirt with the mora.s.s, the Romans with the mountains or the rivers; no room for either to retreat, no hope but in valour, no safety but in victory.

The Germans had no inferior courage, but they were exceeded in the fas.h.i.+on of arms and art of fighting. Their mighty mult.i.tude, hampered in narrow places, could not push nor recover their long spears, nor practise in a close combat their usual boundings and velocity of limbs. On the contrary, our soldiers, with handy swords, and their b.r.e.a.s.t.s closely guarded with a buckler, delved the large bodies and naked faces of the Barbarians, and opened themselves a way with a havoc of the enemy: besides, the activity of Arminius now failed him, either spent through his continual efforts or slackened by a wound just received. Inguiomerus was everywhere upon the spur, animating the battle, but fortune rather than courage deserted him.

Germanicus, to be the easier known, pulled off his helmet, and exhorted his men "to prosecute the slaughter; they wanted no captives," he said; "only the cutting off that people root and branch would put an end to the war." It was now late in the day, and he drew off a legion to make a camp; the rest glutted themselves till night, with the blood of the foe; the horse fought with doubtful success.

Germanicus, in a speech from the tribunal, praised his victorious army, and raised a monument of arms with a proud inscription: "That the army of Tiberius Caesar, having vanquished entirely the nations between the Rhine and the Elbe, had consecrated that monument to Mars, to Jupiter, and to Augustus." Of himself, he made no mention, either fearful of provoking envy, or that he thought it sufficient praise to have deserved it. He had next commanded Stertinius to carry the war amongst the Angrivarians; but they instantly submitted; and these supplicants, by yielding without articles, obtained pardon without reserve.

The summer now declining, some of the legions were sent back into winter quarters by land; more were embarked with Germanicus upon the river Amisia, to go from thence by the ocean. The sea at first was serene, no sound or agitation but from the oars or sails of a thousand s.h.i.+ps; but suddenly a black host of clouds poured a storm of hail; furious winds roared on every side, and the tempest darkened the deep, so that all prospect was lost; and it was impossible to steer. The soldiers too, unaccustomed to the terrors of the sea, in the hurry of fear disordered the mariners, or interrupted the skilful by unskilful help. At last the south wind, mastering all the rest, drove the ocean and the sky: the tempest derived new force from the windy mountains and swelling rivers of Germany, as well as from an immense train of clouds; and contracting withal fresh vigour from the boisterous neighbourhood of the north, it hurled the s.h.i.+ps and tossed them into the open ocean, or against islands sh.o.r.ed with rocks or dangerously beset with covered shoals. The s.h.i.+ps by degrees, with great labour and the change of the tide, were relieved from the rocks and sands, but remained at the mercy of the winds; their anchors could not hold them; they were full of water, nor could all their pumps discharge it: hence, to lighten and raise the vessels swallowing at their decks the invading waves, the horses, beasts, baggage, and even the arms were cast into the deep.

By how much the German ocean is more outrageous than the rest of the sea, and the German climate excels in rigour, by so much this ruin was reckoned to exceed in greatness and novelty. They were engaged in a tempestuous sea, believed deep without bottom, vast without bounds, or no sh.o.r.es near but hostile sh.o.r.es: part of the fleet were swallowed up; many were driven upon remote islands void of human culture, where the men perished through famine, or were kept alive by the carca.s.ses of horses cast in by the flood. Only the galley of Germanicus landed upon the coast of the Chaucians, where wandering sadly, day and night, upon the rocks and prominent sh.o.r.e, and incessantly accusing himself as the author of such mighty destruction, he was hardly restrained by his friends from casting himself desperately into the same hostile floods. At last, with the returning tide and an a.s.sisting gale, the s.h.i.+ps began to return, all maimed, almost dest.i.tute of oars, or with coats spread for sails; and some, utterly disabled, were dragged by those that were less. He repaired them hastily, and despatched them to search the islands; and by this care many men were gleaned up; many were by the Angrivarians, our new subjects, redeemed from their maritime neighbours and restored; and some, driven into Great Britain, were sent back by the little British kings. Those who had come from afar, recounted wonders at their return, "the impetuosity of whirlwinds; wonderful birds; sea monsters of ambiguous forms, between man and beasts." Strange sights these! or the effects of imagination and fear.

The noise of this wreck, as it animated the Germans with hopes of renewing the war, awakened Germanicus also to restrain them: he commanded Caius Silius, with thirty thousand foot and three thousand horse, to march against the Cattans: he himself, with a greater force, invaded the Marsians, where he learnt from Malovendus, their general, lately taken into our subjection, that the Eagle of one of Varus's legions was hid underground in a neighbouring grove, and kept by a slender guard.

Instantly two parties were despatched; one to face the enemy and provoke them from their post; the other to beset their rear and dig up the Eagle; and success attended both. Hence Germanicus advanced with great alacrity, laid waste the country, and smote the foe, either not daring to engage, or, wherever they engaged, suddenly defeated. Nor, as we learnt from the prisoners, were they ever seized with greater dismay: "The Romans," they cried, "are invincible: no calamities can subdue them: they have wrecked their fleet; their arms are lost; our sh.o.r.es are covered with the bodies of their horses and men; and yet they attack us with their usual ferocity, with the same firmness, and with numbers as it were increased."

The army was from thence led back into winter quarters, full of joy to have balanced, by this prosperous expedition, their late misfortune at sea; and by the bounty of Germanicus, their joy was heightened, since to each sufferer he caused to be paid as much as each declared he had lost; neither was it doubted but the enemy were humbled, and concerting measures for obtaining peace, and that the next summer would terminate the war. But Tiberius by frequent letters urged him "to come home, there to celebrate the triumph already decreed him; urged that he had already tried enough of events, and tempted abundant hazards: he had indeed fought great and successful battles; but he must likewise remember his losses and calamities, which, however, owing to wind and waves, and no fault of the general, were yet great and grievous. He himself had been sent nine times into Germany by Augustus, and effected much more by policy than arms: it was thus he had brought the Sigambrians into subjection, thus drawn the Suevians and King Maroboduus under the bonds of peace. The Cheruscans too, and the other hostile nations, now the Roman vengeance was satiated, might be left to pursue their own national feuds." Germanicus besought one year to accomplish his conquest; but Tiberius a.s.sailed his modesty with a new bait and fresh opportunity, by offering him another Consuls.h.i.+p, for the administration of which he was to attend in person at Rome. He added, "that if the war was still to be prosecuted, Germanicus should leave a field of glory to his brother Drusus, to whom there now remained no other; since the Empire had nowhere a war to maintain but in Germany, and thence only Drusus could acquire the t.i.tle of Imperator, and merit the triumphal laurel." Germanicus persisted no longer; though he knew that this was all feigned and hollow, and saw himself invidiously torn away from a harvest of ripe glory.

Decrees of the Senate were made for driving astrologers and magicians out of Italy; and one of the herd, Lucius Pituanius, was precipitated from the Tarpeian Rock: Publius Marcius, another, was, by the judgment of the Consuls, at the sound of trumpet executed without the Esquiline Gate, according to the ancient form.

Next time the Senate sat, long discourses against the luxury of the city were made by Quintus Haterius, a consular, and by Octavius Fronto, formerly Praetor; and a law was pa.s.sed "against using table-plate of solid gold, and against men debasing themselves with gorgeous and effeminate silks." Fronto went further, and desired that "the quant.i.ties of silver plate, the expense of furniture, and the number of domestics might be limited;" for it was yet common for senators to depart from the present debate and offer, as their advice, whatever they judged conducing to the interest of the commonweal. Against him it was argued by Asinius Callus, "That with the growth of the Empire private riches were likewise grown, and it was no new thing for citizens to live according to their conditions, but agreeable to the most primitive usage: the ancient Fabricii and the later Scipios, having different wealth, lived differently; but all suitably to the several stages of the Commonwealth.

Public property was accompanied with domestic; but when the State rose to such a height of magnificence, the magnificence of particulars rose too.

As to plate, and train, and expense, there was no standard of excess or frugality, but from the fortunes of men. The law, indeed, had made a distinction between the fortunes of senators and knights; not for any natural difference between them, but that they who excelled in place, rank, and civil pre-eminence, might excel too in other particulars, such as conduced to the health of the body or to the peace and solacement of the soul; unless it were expected, that the most ill.u.s.trious citizens should sustain the sharpest cares, and undergo the heaviest fatigues and dangers, but continue dest.i.tute of every alleviation of fatigue and danger and care." Gallus easily prevailed, whilst under worthy names he avowed and supported popular vices in an a.s.sembly engaged in them. Tiberius too had said, "That it was not a season for reformation; or, if there were any corruption of manners, there would not be wanting one to correct them."

During these transactions, Lucius Piso, after he had declaimed bitterly in the Senate against "the ambitious practices and intrigues of the Forum, the corruption of the tribunals, and the inhumanity of the pleaders breathing continual terror and impeachments," declared "he would entirely relinquish Rome, and retire into a quiet corner of the country, far distant and obscure." With these words he left the Senate; Tiberius was provoked; and yet not only soothed him with gentle words, but likewise obliged Piso's relations, by their authority or entreaties, to retain him.

The same Piso gave soon after an equal instance of the indignation of the free spirit, by prosecuting a suit against Urgulania; a lady whom the partial friends.h.i.+p of Livia had set at defiance with the laws. Urgulania being carried, for protection, to the palace, despised the efforts of Piso; so that neither did she submit; nor would he desist, notwithstanding the complaints and resentments of Livia, that in the prosecution "violence and indignity were done to her own person." Tiberius promised to attend the trial, and a.s.sist Urgulania; but only promised in civility to his mother, for so far he thought it became him; and thus left the palace, ordering his guards to follow at a distance. People the while crowded about him, and he walked with a slow and composed air: as he lingered, and prolonged the time and way with various discourse, the trial went on. Piso would not be mollified by the importunity of his friends; and hence at last the Empress ordered the payment of the money claimed by him. This was the issue of the affair: by it, Piso lost no renown; and it signally increased the credit of Tiberius. The power, however, of Urgulania was so exorbitant to the State, that she disdained to appear a witness in a certain cause before the Senate: and, when it had been always usual even for the Vestal Virgins to attend the Forum and Courts of Justice, as oft as their evidence was required; a Praetor was sent to examine Urgulania at her own house.

The procrastination which happened this year in the public affairs, I should not mention, but that the different opinions of Cneius Piso and Asinius Gallus about it, are worth knowing. Their dispute was occasioned by a declaration of Tiberius; "that he was about to be absent," and it was the motion of Piso, "that for that very reason, the prosecution of public business was the rather to be continued; since, as in the Prince's absence, the Senate and equestrian order might administer their several parts, the same would redound to the honour of the Commonwealth." This was a declaration for liberty, and in it Piso had prevented Gallus, who now in opposition said, "that nothing sufficiently ill.u.s.trious, nor suiting the dignity of the Roman People, could be transacted but under the immediate eye of the Emperor, and therefore the conflux of suitors and affairs from Italy and the provinces must by all means be reserved for his presence."

Tiberius heard and was silent, while the debate was managed on both sides with mighty vehemence; but the adjournment was carried.

A debate too arose between Gallus and the Emperor: for Gallus moved "that the magistrates should be henceforth elected but once every five years; that the legates of the legions, who had never exercised the Praetors.h.i.+ps, should be appointed Praetors; and that the Prince should nominate twelve candidates every year." It was not doubted but this motion had a deeper aim, and that by it the secret springs and reserves of imperial power were invaded. But Tiberius, as if he rather apprehended the augmentation of his power, argued "that it was a heavy task upon his moderation, to choose so many magistrates, and to postpone so many candidates. That disgusts from disappointments were hardly avoided in yearly elections; though, for their solacement, fresh hopes remained of approaching success in the next; now how great must be the hatred, how lasting the resentment of such whose pretensions were to be rejected beyond five years? and whence could it be foreseen that, in so long a tract of time, the same men would continue to have the same dispositions, the same alliances and fortunes? even an annual designation to power made men imperious; how imperious would it make them, if they bore the honour for five years! besides, it would multiply every single magistrate into five, and utterly subvert the laws which had prescribed a proper s.p.a.ce for exercising the diligence of the candidates, and for soliciting as well as enjoying preferments."

By this speech, in appearance popular, he still retained the spirit and force of the sovereignty. He likewise sustained by gratuities, the dignity of some necessitous Senators: hence it was the more wondered, that he received with haughtiness and repulse the pet.i.tion of Marcus Hortalus, a young man of signal quality and manifestly poor. He was the grandson of Hortensius the Orator; and had been encouraged by the deified Augustus, with a bounty of a thousand great sestertia, [Footnote: 8333.] to marry for posterity; purely to prevent the extinction of a family most ill.u.s.trious and renowned. The Senate were sitting in the palace, and Hortalus having set his four children before the door, fixed his eyes, now upon the statue of Hortensius, placed amongst the orators; then upon that of Augustus; and instead of speaking to the question, began on this wise: "Conscript Fathers, you see there the number and infancy of my children; not mine by my own choice, but in compliance with the advice of the Prince: such too was the splendour of my ancestors, that it merited to be perpetuated in their race; but for my own particular, who, marred by the revolution of the times, could not raise wealth, nor engage popular favour, nor cultivate the hereditary fortune of our house, the fortune of Eloquence: I deemed it sufficient if, in my slender circ.u.mstances, I lived no disgrace to myself, no burden to others. Commanded by the Emperor, I took a wife; behold the offspring of so many Consuls; behold the descendants of so many Dictators! nor is this remembrance invidiously made, but made to move mercy. In the progress of your reign, Caesar, these children may arrive at the honours in your gift; defend them in the meantime from want: they are the great-grandsons of Hortensius; they are the foster sons of Augustus."

The inclination of the Senate was favourable; an incitement this to Tiberius the more eagerly to thwart Hortalus. These were in effect his words: "If all that are poor recur hither for a provision of money to their children, the public will certainly fail, and yet particulars never be satiated. Our ancestors, when they permitted a departure from the question, to propose somewhat more important to the State, did not therefore permit it, that we might here transact domestic matters, and augment our private rents: an employment invidious both in the Senate and the Prince; since, whether they grant or deny the pet.i.tioned bounties, either the people or the pet.i.tioners will ever be offended. But these, in truth, are not pet.i.tions; they are demands made against order, and made by surprise: while you are a.s.sembled upon other affairs, he stands up and urges your pity, by the number and infancy of his children; with the same violence, he charges the attack to me, and as it were bursts open the exchequer; but if by popular bounties we exhaust it, by rapine and oppression we must supply it. The deified Augustus gave you money, Hortalus; but without solicitation he gave it, and on no condition that it should always be given: otherwise diligence will languish; sloth will prevail; and men having no hopes in resources of their own, no anxiety for themselves, but all securely relying on foreign relief, will become private sluggards and public burdens." These and the like reasonings of Tiberius were differently received; with approbation by those whose way it is to extol, without distinction, all the doings of Princes, worthy and unworthy; by most, however, with silence, or low and discontented murmurs.

Tiberius perceived it, and having paused a little, said "his answer was particularly to Hortalus; but if the Senate thought fit, he would give his sons two hundred great sestertia each." [Footnote: 1666.] For this all the Senators presented their thanks; only Hortalus said nothing; perhaps through present awe, or perhaps possessed, even in poverty, with the grandeur of his ancient n.o.bility. Nor did Tiberius ever show further pity, though the house of Hortensius was fallen into shameful distress.