Book 4, Part 3 of the Histories by Publius Cornelius Tacitus. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Histories by Publius Cornelius Tacitus, translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib. Book 4, January to November, A.D. 70, Part 3 These men, headstrong, cowardly and spiritless, as a mob without a leader always is, on the approach of chivalrous, hastily took up arms, and as hastily abandoning them, but took themselves to flight. Disaster produced disunion. The troops from the Upper Army disassociating their cause from that of their comrades. Nevertheless, the statues of Vitellius were again set up in the camp and in the neighboring Belgian towns, and this at a time when Vitellius himself had fallen. Then the men of the First, the Fourth, and the Eighteenth Legions, repenting of their conduct, followed Vocala, and again, taking in his presence, the oath of allegiance to Vespasian, marched by him to the relief of Mogantiacum. The besieging army and heterogeneous mass of Chatti, Lucipe and Matiaki, had raised the siege, blooded with spoils, but not without suffering loss. Our troops attacked them on the way, disbursed and unprepared. Moreover, the trevery had constructed a breastwork and rampart across their territory, and they and the Germans continued to contend with great losses on both sides up to the time when they tarnished by rebellion their distinguished services to the Roman people. Meanwhile, Vespasian, now consul for the second time, and Titus entered upon their office, both being absent from Rome. People were gloomy and anxious under the pressure of manifold fears. Four, over and above, immediate perils, they had taken groundless alarm under the impression that Africa was in rebellion through the revolutionary movements of Luchius Pysil. He was the governor of that province, and was far from being a man of turbulent disposition. The fact was that the wheat ships were detained by the severity of the weather, and the lower orders who were accustomed to buy their provisions from day to day, and to whom Chief Corn was the sole subject of public interest, feared and believed that the ports had been closed and the supply stopped. The Vitellianists, who had not given up their party feelings, helping to spread the report, which was not displeasing even to the conquerors. Their ambition, which even foreign campaigns could not fill to the full, was not satisfied by any triumphs that civil war could furnish. On the 1st of January, at a meeting of the Senate, convoked for the purpose by Julius Frontinus, praetor of the city, votes of thanks were passed to the legates, to the armies, and to the allied kings. The office of praetor was taken away from Tetius Julianus, as having deserted his legion when it passed over to the party of Espasium, with the view to its being transferred to Plotius Griffis. Equestrian rank was conferred on Hormos. Then, on the resignation of Frontinus, Caesar Domitian assumed the office of praetor of the city. His name was put at the head of dispatches and edicts, but the real authority was in the hands of Mukianus, with this exception, that Domitian ventured on several acts of power, at the instigation of his friends or at his own caprice. But Mukianus found his principal cause of apprehension in Primus Antonius and Varus Aureus, who, in the freshness of their fame, while distinguished by great achievements and by the attachment of the soldiery, were also supported by the people, who in no case had they extended their severities beyond the battlefield, had urged Scribonianus Crassus, whom an illustrious descent added to the honors of his brother, made a conspicuous person, to assume the supreme power. And it was understood that a number of accomplices would not have failed to support him, had not the proposal been rejected by Scribonianus, who was a man not easily to be tempted, even by a certainty, and was proportionately apprehensive of risk. Mukianus, seeing that Antonius could not be openly crushed, heaped many praises upon him in the Senate, and loaded him with promises and secret, holding out as a prize the government of eastern Spain, then vanquished in consequence of the departure of Cluvius Rufus. At the same time he lavished on his friends tribunships and prefectures, and then, when he had filled the vain heart of the man with hope and ambition, he destroyed his power by sending into winter quarters the seventh legion, whose affection for Antonius was particularly vehement. The third legion, old troops of Varus Aureus, were sent back to Syria. Part of the army was on its way to Germany. Thus all elements of disturbance being removed, the usual appearance of the capital, the laws, and the jurisdiction of the magistrates were once more restored. Domitian, on the day of his taking his seat in the Senate, made a brief and measured speech in reference to the absence of his father and brother, and to his own youth. He was graceful in his bearing, and, his real character being yet unknown, the frequent blush of his countenance passed for modesty. On his proposing the restoration of the imperial honors of Galba, Cirtius Montanus moved that respect should also be paid to the memory of Piso. The Senate passed both motions, but that which referred to Piso was not carried out. Certain commissioners were then appointed by Lot, who were to see to the restitution of property plundered during the war, to examine and restore to their place the brazen tables of the laws, which had fallen down through age, to free the calendar from the additions which the edulatory spirit of the time had disfigured it, and to put a check on the public expenditure. The office of Praetor was restored to Tetius Julianus, as soon as it was known that he had fled for refuge to Vespasian. Griffis still retained his rank. It was then determined that the cause of Mussonius Rufus against Publius Keller should again be brought on. Publius was condemned, and thus expiation was made to the shade of Sauronus. The day thus marked by an example of public justice was not barren of distinction to individuals. Mussonius was thought to have fulfilled the righteous duty of an accuser, but men spoke very differently of Demetrius, a disciple of the cynical school of philosophy, who pleaded the cause of a notorious criminal by appeals to corrupt influences rather than by fair argument. Publius himself, in his peril, had neither spirit nor power of speech left, the signal for vengeance on informers, having been thus given. Junius Baricus had asked Caesar to give the senate access to the imperial registers, from which they might learn what impeachance several informers had proposed. Caesar answered that in a matter of such importance the emperor must be consulted. The senate, led by its principal members, then framed a form of oath, which was eagerly taken by all the magistrates and by the other senators in the order in which they voted. They called the gods to witness that nothing had been done by their instrumentality to prejudice the safety of any person, and that they had gained no distinction or advantage by the ruin of Roman citizens. Great was the alarm, and various the devices for altering the words of the oath, among those who felt the consciousness of guilt. The senate appreciated this grouple, but denounced the perjury. This public censure, as it might be called, fell with a special severity on three men, Sarriolones Vocola, Nuneas Atianus, and Casteus Severus, all of them infamous for having practiced the trade of the informer in the days of Nero. Sarriolones indeed labored under an imputation of recent date. It was said that he had attempted the same practices during the reign of Vitellius. The senators did not desist from threatening gestures till he quitted the chamber. Then, passing to Pacceus Africanus, they assailed him in the same way. It was he, they said, who had singled out as victims for Nero, the brothers Scribonius, renowned for their mutual affection and for their wealth. Africanus dared not confess his guilt and could not deny it, but he himself turned to Vibius Crispus, who was pressing him with questions, and complicating a charge which he could not rebut, shifted the blame from himself by associating another with his guilt. Great was the reputation for brotherly affection, as well as for eloquence, which Vipstanius Messala earned for himself on that day, by venturing, though not yet of senatorial age, to plead for his brother, Aquilius Regulus. The fall of the families of the Crassi and Orphitus had brought Regulus into the utmost odium, of his own free will, as it seemed, while still a mere youth, he had undertaken the prosecution, not to ward off any peril from himself, but in the hope of gaining power. The wife of Crassus, Sopichia Pritextata, and her four children were ready, should the Senate take cognizance of the cause to demand vengeance. Accordingly Messala, without attempting to defend the case or the person accused, had simply thrown himself in the way of the plurals that threatened his brother, and had thus wrought upon the feelings of several senators. On this, Curtius Montanus met him with the fierce speech, in which he went to the length of asserting that after the death of Galba, money had been given by Regulus to the murderer of Pysil, and that he had even fastened his teeth in the murdered man's head. Certainly, he said, Nero did not compel this act.  We may bear with the defense put forward by men who thought it better to destroy others than to come into peril themselves. As for you, the exile of your father, and the division of his property among his creditors, had left you perfectly safe. Besides that your youth incapacitated you for office, there was nothing in you which Nero could either covet or dread. You were from sheer lust of slaughter and greed of gain that you, unknown as you were, you who had never pleaded in any man's defense, steeped your soul in noble blood, when, though you had snatched from the very grave of your country the spoils of a man of consular rank, had been fed to the full with seven million sistercies and shone with all the sacerdotal honors, you yet overwhelmed in one common ruin, with boys, old men of illustrious name and noble ladies, when you actually blamed the tardy movements of Nero in wearing himself and his informers with the overthrow of single families and declared that the whole senate might be destroyed by one word. Keep, conscript fathers, preserve a man of such ready councils that every age may be furnished with his teacher to imitate Marcellus and Crispus. Even unsuccessful villainy finds some to emulate it. What will happen if it flourish and be strong? In the man whom we dare not offend when he holds only the quaester's rank, are we to see him rise to the dignity of praetor and consul? Do you suppose that Nero would be the last of the tyrants? Those who survived Tiberius, those who survived Caligula yet after each there arose another ruler yet more detestable and more cruel. We are not afraid of Espasian, the age and moderation of the new emperor reassure us. But the influence of an example outlives the individual character. We have lost our vigor, conscript fathers. We are no longer the senate which, when Nero had fallen, demanded that the informers and ministers of the tyrant should be punished according to ancient custom. The first day after the downfall of a wicked emperor is the best of opportunities. Montenus was heard with such approval on the part of the senate that Helvidius conceived a hope that Marcellus also might be overthrown. He therefore began with the Panagyric on Cluvius Rufus, who, though not less rich nor less renowned for eloquence, had never imperiled a single life in the days of Nero. By this comparison as well as by direct accusations he pressed Aprilus hard and stirred the indignation of the senators. When Marcellus perceived this he made as if he would leave the house exclaiming, we go, Priscus, and leave you your senate. Act the king though Caesar himself be present. Crispus followed. Both were enraged but their looks were different. Marcellus cast furious glances about him while Crispus smiled. They were drawn back however into the senate by the hasty interference of friends. The contest grew fiercer while the well-disposed majority on the one hand and the powerful minority on the other followed out their obstinate quarrel and thus the day was spent in altercation. At the next meeting of the senate Caesar began by recommending that the wrongs, the resentments and the terrible necessities of former times should be forgotten and Mukriannus spoke at great length in favor of the informers. At the same time he admonished in gentle terms and in a tone of entreaty those who were reviving indictments which they had before commenced and afterwards dropped. The senators when they found themselves opposed relinquished the liberty which they had begun to exercise. That it might not be thought that the opinion of the senate was disregarded or that the impunity was encoded or that it was done in the days of Nero Mukriannus sent back to their islands two men of senatorial rank Octavius Sagita and Antistius Sociannus who had quitted their places of banishment. Octavius had seduced one Pontia Postuma and on her refusing to marry him in the frenzy of passion had murdered her. Sociannus in his depravity had brought many to ruin. Both had been condemned and banished by a solemn decision of the senate and though others were permitted to return were kept under the same penalty but this did not mitigate the hatred felt against Mukriannus. Sociannus and Sagita were utterly insignificant even if they did return but men dreaded the abilities of the informers, their wealth and the power which they exercised in many sinister ways. A trial conducted in the senate according to ancient precedents brought into harmony for a time the feelings of its members. Manlius Patruitus a senator laid a complaint that he had been beaten by a mob in the colony of Sena and that by the order of the magistrates that the wrong had not stopped here but that lamentations and wailings in fact a representation of funeral obsequies had been enacted in his presence accompanied with contemptuous and insulting expressions leveled against the whole senate. The persons accused were summoned to appear and after the case had been investigated punishment was inflicted on those who were found guilty. A resolution of the senate was also passed recommending more orderly behavior to the people of Sena. About the same time Antonio's flama was condemned under the law against extortion at the suit of the people of Sirene and was banished for cruel practices. Amidst all this a mutiny in the army all but broke out the troops who having been disbanded by Vitelius had flocked to support Vespasian asked to leave to serve again in the Praetorian Guard and the soldiers who had been selected from the legions with the same prospect now clamored for their promised pay even the Vitelianists could not be got rid of without much bloodshed but the money required for retaining in the service so vast a body of men was immensely large Mukianus entered the camp to examine more accurately the individual claims the victorious army wearing their proper decorations and arms he drew up with moderate intervals of space between the divisions then the Vitelianists whose capitulation at Bovali I have already related and the other troops of the party who had been collected from the capital and its neighborhood were brought forth almost naked Mukianus ordered these men to be drawn up apart making the British the German and any other troops who were belonging to other armies take up separate positions the very first view of their situation paralyzed them they saw opposed to them what seemed an hostile array threatening them with javelin and sword they saw themselves hemmed in without arms filthy and squalid and when they began to be separated some to be marched to one spot and some to another a thrill of terror ran through them all among the troops in Germany the panic was particularly great for they believed that this separation marked them out for slaughter they embraced their fellow soldiers clung to their necks begged for parting kisses and entreated that they might not be deserted or doomed in a common cause a different lot they invoked now Mukianus now the absent emperor and as a last resource heaven and the gods till Mukianus came forward and calling them soldiers bound by the same oath and the servants of the same emperor stopped the groundless panic and indeed the victorious army seconded the tears of the vanquished with their approving shouts this terminated the proceedings for the day but when Domitian harangued them a few days afterwards they received him with increased confidence the land that was offered them they contemptuously rejected and begged for regular service and pay theirs were prayers indeed but such as it was impossible to reject they were therefore received into the praetorian camp then such as had reached the prescribed age had served the proper number of campaigns received an honorable discharge others were dismissed for misconduct but this was done by degrees and in detail always the safest mode of reducing the united strength of a multitude it is a fact that whether suggested by real poverty or by a wish to give the appearance of it a proposition passed the senate to the effect that a loan of 60 million cisterces from private persons was accepted Pompeius Silvanus was appointed to manage the affair before long either the necessity ceased or the pretense was dropped after this on the motion of Domitian the consulships conferred by Vitellius were cancelled and the honors of a censor's funeral were paid to Sabinus great lessons both of the mutability of fortune ever bringing together the highest honors and the lowest humiliations about the same time the proconsul Lucius P. Sil was murdered I shall make the account of this murder as exact as possible by first reviewing a few earlier circumstances which have a bearing on the origin and motives of such deeds the legion and the auxiliaries stationed in Africa to guide the frontiers of the empire were under the proconsul's authority during the reigns of the divine Augustus and Tiberius but in the course of time Caligula prompted by his restless temper and by this fear of Marcus Silanus who then held Africa took away the legion from the proconsul and handed it over to a legate whom he had sent for that purpose the patronage was equally divided between the two officers a source of disagreement was thus studiously sought in the continual clashing of their authority and it was further developed by an unprincipled rivalry the power of the legates grew through their length and tenure of office and perhaps because an inferior feels greater interest in such a competition all the more distinguished of the proconsul's cared more for security than for power at this time the legion in Africa was commanded by Valerius Festus a young man of extravagant habits and in moderate ambition who was now made uneasy by his relationship to Vitellius whether this man in their frequent interviews tempted Piso to revolt or whether he resisted such overtures is not known for certain for no one was present at their confidential meetings and after Piso's death many were disposed to ingratiate themselves with the murderer there was no doubt that the province and the troops entertained feelings of hostility to Vespasian and some of the Vitellianists who were made from the capital incessantly represented to Piso that Gaul was hesitating in Germany ready to revolt that his own position was perilous and that for one who in peace must be suspected war was the safer course while this was going on Claudius Sagittà prefect of Petra's horse making a very quick passage reached Africa before Papyrus the centurion dispatched by Mukianus he declared that in order to put Piso to death had been given to the centurion and that Gallerianus his cousin and son-in-law had perished that his only hope of safety was in bold action that in such action two paths were open he might defend himself on the spot or he might sail for Gaul and offer his services as general to the Vitellianist armies Piso was wholly unmoved by this statement the centurion dispatched by Mukianus on landing in the port of Carthage raised his voice and invoked in succession all the blessings on the head of Piso as if he were emperor and bade the bystanders who were astonished by this sudden and strange proceeding take up the same cry the credulous mob rushed into the marketplace and demanded that Piso should show himself they threw everything into uproar with their clamorous shouts of joy careless of the truth and only eager to flatter Piso acting on the information of Sagita or perhaps from natural modesty would not make his appearance in public or trust himself to the zeal of the populace on questioning the centurion and finding that he had sought a pretext for accusing and murdering him he ordered the man to be executed moved not so much by any hope of saving his life is by indignation against the assassin for this fellow had been one of the murderers of Macer and now had come to slay the proconsul with hands already stained with the blood of the legate he then severely blamed the people of Carthage in an edict which betrayed his anxiety and ceased to discharge even the usual duties of his office shutting himself up in his palace to guard against any casual occurrence which might lead to a new outbreak but when the agitation of the people the execution of the centurion and other news true or false exaggerated as usual by report came to the ears of Festus he sent some cavalry to put Piso to death they rode over at full speed and broke into the dwelling of the proconsul in the dim light of early dawn with their swords drawn in their hands many of them were unacquainted with the person of Piso but the legate had selected some Moorish and Carthaginian auxiliaries to perpetrate the deed near the proconsul's chamber they chanced to meet a slave and asked him who he was and where Piso was to be found the slave with a noble untruth replied I am he and was immediately cut down soon after Piso was killed for there was on the spot one who recognized him Bibius Massa one of the procurators of Africa a name even then fatal to the good and destined often to reappear among the causes of the sufferings which he had ere long to endure from Adrementum where he had stayed to watch the result Festus went to the legion and gave orders that Petronius Pisannus prefect of the camp should be put in irons he did this at a private peak but called the man an accomplice of Piso some few centurions and soldiers he punished others he rewarded either the one nor the other deservedly but he wished man to believe that he had extinguished a war he then put an end to the quarrel between the Kensis and the Lepetani which originating in robberies of corn and cattle on two rustic populations had grown from this insignificant beginning till it was carried on in pitch battles the people of K.I. who were inferior in numbers had summoned to aid the Garamantes a wild race incessantly occupied in robbing their neighbors this had brought the Lepetani to extremities their territory had been ravaged far and wide and they were trembling within their walls when the Garamantes were put to flight by the arrival of the auxiliary infantry and cavalry and the whole of the booty was recaptured with the exception of some which the plunderers in their wanderings through inaccessible hamlets had sold to more distant tribes Vespasian had heard of the victory of Cormona and had received favorable tidings from all quarters and he was now informed of the fall of Vitellius by many persons of every rank who with a good fortune equal to their courage risked the perils of the wintery sea envoys had come from King Vologuesus to offer him 40,000 Parthian cavalry it was a matter of pride and joy to him to be courted with such splendid offers of help from the allies and not to want them he thanked Vologuesus and recommended him to send ambassadors to the senate and to learn for himself that peace had been restored while his thoughts were fixed on Italy and on the state of the capital he heard an unfavorable account of Domitian which represented him as overstepping the limits of his age and the privileges of a son he therefore entrusted Titus with the main strength of the army to complete what had yet to be done it was said that Titus, before his departure had a long interview with his father in which he implored him not to let himself be easily excited by the reports of slanderers but to show an impartial and forgiving temper towards his son legions and fleets, he reminded him are not such sure bulwarks of imperial power as a numerous family as for friends, time, altered fortunes perhaps their passions or their heirs may weaken, may change may even destroy their affection a man's own race can never be disassociated from him least of all with princes whose prosperity is shared by others while their reverses touch but their nearest kin even between brothers there can be no lasting affection except the father sets the example V. Spasian delighted with the brotherly affection of Titus rather than reconciled to Domitian bait his son to be of good cheer and aggrandize the state by wars and deeds of arms he would himself provide for the interests of the peace and for the welfare of his family he then had some of the swiftest vessels laden with corn and committed them to the perils of the still stormy sea Rome indeed was in the very critical position of not having more than ten days consumption in the granaries when the supplies from Vespasian arrived the work of rebuilding the capital was assigned by him to Luchius Vestinius a man of the equestrian order who however for a high character and reputation ranked among the nobles the soothsayers whom he assembled directed that the remains of the old shrine should be removed to the marshes and the new temple raised on the original site the gods they said the old form to be changed on the 21st of June beneath a cloudless sky the entire space devoted to the sacred enclosure was encompassed with chaplets and garlands soldiers who bore auspicious names entered the precincts with sacred boughs then the Vestal Virgins with the troop of boys and girls whose fathers and mothers were still living sprinkled the whole space with water drawn from the fountains and rivers after this, Helvidius Priscus the praetor first purified the spot with the usual sacrifice of a sow a sheep and a bull and duly placed the entrails on turf then in terms dictated by Publius Aeleanus the high priest Bisaute Jupiter, Juno, Minerva and the tutular deities of the place to prosper the undertaking and to lend their divine help to raise the abodes which the piety of men had founded for them he then touched the wreaths which were wound round the foundation stone and entwined with the ropes while at the same moment all the other magistrates of the state the priests, the senators, the knights and a number of the citizens with zeal and joy uniting their efforts dragged the huge stone along contributions of gold and silver and virgin ores never smelted in the furnace but still in their natural state were showered on the foundations the soothsayers had previously directed that no stone or gold which had been attended for any other purpose should profane the work additional height was given to the structure this was the only variation which religion would permit in the one feature which had been thought wanting in the splendor of the old temple meanwhile the tidings of the death of Vitellius spreading through Gaul in Germany had caused a second war Chivalus had thrown aside all disguise and was now openly assailing the Roman power while the legions of Vitellius preferred even a foreign yoke to the rule of Espasian Gaul had gathered fresh courage from the belief that the fortunes of our armies had been everywhere disastrous for a report was rife that our winter caps in Moesia and Pannonia were hemmed in by the summations and nations rumors equally false were circulated respecting Britain above all the conflagration of the capital had made them believe that the end of the Roman Empire was at hand the Gauls they remember had captured the city in former days but as the abode of Jupiter was uninjured the empire had survived whereas now the Druids declared with the prophetic utterances of an idle superstition that this fatal conflagration was a sign of the anger of heaven and portended universal empire for the trans Alpine nations a rumor had also gone forth that the chiefs of Gaul whom Arthur had sent against Vitellius had before their departure bound themselves by a compact not to fail the cause of freedom should the power of Rome be broken by a continuous secession of civil wars and internal calamities End of Book 4, Part 3 Book 4, Part 4 of the Histories by Publius Cornelius Tastus 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 Andrew Coleman The Histories by Publius Cornelius Tastus Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib Book 4, January to November AD 70 Part 4 Before the murder of Lackus Hordeonius nothing had come out by which any conspiracy could be discovered After his death Messengers passed to and fro between Cavillius and Clascus commander of the cavalry of the trevery Clascus was first among his countrymen in rank and wealth He was of royal house of a race distinguished both in peace and war and he himself claimed to be by family tradition the foe rather than the ally of the Romans Julius Tudor and Julius Sabinas joined him in his schemes One was a Trevor, the other a Lingon Tudor had been made by Vitellius guardian of the banks of the Rhine over and above his natural vanity was inflamed with the pride of an imaginary descent for he asserted that his great-grandmother had by her personal charms attracted the admiration of the Divine Julius when he was campaigning in Gaul These two men held secret conferences to sound the views of the rest of their countrymen and when they had secured as accomplices such as they thought suitable for their purpose they met together in a private house in the colonial agri-penances for the state in its public policy was strongly opposed to all such attempts Some, however, of the Udbi and Tongri were present, but the trevery and Lingonis had the greatest weight in the matter nor could they endure the delay of deliberation They rivaled each other in vehement assertions that the Romans were in a frenzy of discord that their legions had been cut to pieces that Italy was laid waste that Rome itself was, at that very moment undergoing capture while all her armies were occupied by wars of their own if they were but to secure the passes of the Alps with bodies of troops Gaul, with her own freedom firmly established might look about her and fix the limits of her dominion These views were no sooner stated than approved As to the survivors of the Vitalianist army they doubted what to do many voted for putting to death men so turbulent and faithless stained too with the blood of their generals still the policy of mercy prevailed to cut off all hope of quarter might provoke an obstinate resistance it would be better to draw them into friendly union if only the legions of the legions were put to death the remaining multitude moved by the consciousness of guilt and the hope of escape would readily join their cause such was the outline of their original plan emissaries were likewise dispatched throughout Gaul to stir up war while they themselves feigned submission that they might be the better able to crush the unsuspecting vocular persons however were found to convey information to him but he had not sufficient strength to suppress the movement as the legions were incomplete in numbers and disloyal so what with soldiers of doubtful fidelity and secret enemies he thought it best under the circumstances to make his way by meeting deceit with deceit and by using the same arts with which he was himself assailed he therefore went down to the colonial agri penances there the Claudius Labio who as I have related had been taken prisoner and sent out of the province into the country of the Frisii made his escape by bribing his jailers this man undertook if a force were given him to enter the Batavian territory and bring back to the Roman alliance the more influential part of that state but though he obtained a small force of infantry and cavalry he did not venture to attempt anything among the Batavi but only induced some of the Nervee and Batazi to take up arms and made continual attacks on the Canine Fates and the Masaki more in the way of robbery than of war lord on by the treacherous representations of the Gauls vocular marched against the enemy he was near the old camp when Clasicus and Tuta who had gone on in advance under the pretense of reconnoitering concluded an agreement with the German chiefs they then for the first time separated themselves from the legions and formed a camp of their own with a separate line of entrenchment while vocular protested that the power of Rome was not so utterly shaken by civil war as to have become contemptible even to trevery and lingonies there are still, he said faithful provinces, victorious armies the fortune of the empire and avenging gods thus it was that Sacravir and the Aiguille in former days Vindex and the Gauls in more recent times were crushed in a single battle the breakers of treaties may look for the vengeance of the same deities and the same doom Julius and Augustus understood far better the character of the people Gulba's policy and the diminution of their tribute have inspired them with hostile feelings they are now enemies because their yoke is easy when they have been plundered and stripped they will be friends after uttering this defiance finding that Clasicus and Tudor persisted in their treachery he changed his line of march and retired to Novesium the Gauls encamped at a distance of two miles and plied with bribes the centurions and soldiers who visited them there striving to make a Roman army admit the unheard of baseness of swearing allegiance to foreigners and pledge itself to the perpetration of this atrocious crime by murdering or imprisoning its officers Fogular, though many persons advised him to escape thought it best to be bold and summoning an assembly spoke as follows Never, when I have addressed you have I felt more anxious for your welfare never more indifferent about my own of the destruction that threatens me I can hear with cheerfulness at amidst so many evils I look forward to death as the end of my sufferings for you I feel shame and compassion against you indeed no hostile ranks are gathering that would be but the lawful course of war and the right which an enemy may claim but Clasicus hopes to wage with your strength his war against Rome and proudly offers to your allegiance an empire of gall though our fortune and courage have for the moment failed us have we so utterly forgotten the old memories of those many times when the legions of Rome resolve to perish but not to be driven from their post often have our allies endured to see their cities destroyed and with their wives and children to die in the flames with only this reward in their death the glory of untarnished loyalty at this very moment our legions at the old camp are suffering the horrors of famine and of siege and cannot be shaken by threats or by promises we, besides our arms our numbers and the singular strength of our fortifications have corn and supplies sufficient for a campaign however protracted we had lately money enough even to furnish a donative and whether you choose to refer the bounty to Vitelius or Vespasian it was at any rate from a Roman emperor that you received it if you who have been victorious in so many campaigns who have so often routed the enemy at Gelduba and at the old camp yet shrink from battle this indeed is an unworthy fear still you have an entrenched camp you have fortifications and the means of prolonging the war till suckering armies pour in from the neighbouring provinces it may be that I do not satisfy you you may fall back on other legions or tribunes on some centurion even on some common soldier let not this monstrous news go forth to the whole world that with you in their train Kivvilles and Clasicus are about to invade Italy should the Germans and the Gauls lead you to the walls of the capital will you lift up arms against your country my soul shudders at the imagination of so horrible a crime will you mount guard for Tutor the Trevor shall a Batavian give the signal for battle will you serve as recruits in the German battalions what will be the issue of your wickedness when the Roman legions are marshaled against you will you be a second time deserters a second time traitors will you brave the anger of heaven while you waver between your old and your new allegiance I implore and entreat the old Jupiter supremely good and great to whom through 820 years we have paid the honours of so many triumphs and thou Quarena's father of Rome that if it be not your pleasure that this camp should be preserved pure and inviolate under my command you will at least not suffer it to be polluted and defiled by a tutor and a classicus grant that the soldiers of Rome may either be innocent of crime or at least experience a repentance speedy and without remorse they received his speech with feelings that varied between hope, fear and shame Vocula then left them and was preparing to put an end to his life when his freedmen and slaves prevented him from anticipating by his own act a most miserable death classicus dispatched one Emilius Longinus a deserter from the first legion and speedily accomplished the murder with respect to the two legates, Heranias and Numisius it was thought enough to put them in chains classicus then assumed the insignia of Roman imperial power and entered the camp hardened though he was to every sort of crime he could only find words enough to go through the form of oath all who were present swore allegiance to the empire of Gaul he distinguished the murderer of Vocula by high promotion and the others by rewards proportioned to their services in crime Tutor and classicus then divided the management of the war between them Tutor, investing the colonial agri-ponensis with a strong force compelled the inhabitants and all the troops in the upper Rhine to take the same oath he did this after having first put to death the tribunes at Mogantiacum and driven away the prefect of the camp because they refused obedience classicus picked out all the most unprincipled men from the troops who had capitulated and made them go to the besieged and offer them quarter if they would accept the actual state of affairs otherwise there was no hope for them they would have to endure famine, the sword and the darest extremities the messengers whom he sent supported their representations by their own example the ties of loyalty on the one hand and the necessities of famine on the other kept the besieged wavering between the alternatives of glory and infamy while they thus hesitated all usual and even unusual kinds of food failed them for they had consumed their horses and beasts of burden and all the other animals which though unclean and disgusting necessity compelled them to use at last they tore up shrubs and roots and the grass that grew between the stones and thus showed an example of patience under privations till at last they shamefully tarnished the lustre of their fame by sending envoys to Cavillis to beg for their lives their prayers were not heard till they swore allegiance to the empire of Gaul Cavillis then stipulated for the plunder of the camp and appointed guards who was to secure the treasure the camp followers and the baggage and accompany them as they departed stripped of everything about five miles from the spot the Germans rose upon them and attacked them as they marched without thought of danger the bravest were cut down where they stood the greater part as they were scattered in flight the rest made their escape to the camp while Cavillis certainly complained of the proceeding and upbreeded the Germans with breaking faith by this atrocious act whether this was mere hypocrisy or whether he was unable to restrain their fury is not positively stated they plundered and then fired the camp and all who survived the battle the flames destroyed then Cavillis fulfilled a vow often made by Barbarians his hair which he had let grow long and coloured with red dye from the day of taking up arms against Rome he now cut short when the destruction of the legions had been accomplished it was also said that he set up some of the prisoners as marks for his little son to shoot at with a chance arrows and javelins he neither took the oath of allegiance to Gaul himself nor obliged any Batavian to do so for he relied on the resources of Germany and felt that should it be necessary to fight for empire with the Gauls he should have on his side a great name and superior strength Muneus Lupercus, legate of one of the legions was sent along with other gifts to Vellada the maiden of the tribe of the Bruchtery who possessed extensive dominion for by ancient usage the Germans attributed to many of their women prophetic powers and as the superstition grew in strength even actual divinity the authority of Vellada was then at its height because she had foretold the success of the Germans and the destruction of the legions Lupercus however was murdered on the road a few of the centurions and tribunes who were natives of Gaul were reserved as hostages for the maintenance of the alliance the winter encampments of the auxiliary infantry and cavalry and of the legions with the sole exception of those at Mongatiakum and Vindonesa were pulled down and burnt the 16th legion with the auxiliary troops that capitulated at the same time received orders to march from Novesium to the colony of the Trevery a day having been fixed by which they were to quit the camp the whole of this interval they spent in many anxious thoughts their cowards trembled to think of those who had been massacred at the old camp the better men blushed with shame at the infamy of their position what a march is this before us? they cried who will lead us on our way? all is at the disposal of those whom we have made our masters for life or death others without the least sense of their disgrace stowed away about their persons their money and what else they prized most highly while some got their arms in readiness and girded on their weapons as if for battle while they were thus occupied the time for their departure arrived and proved even more dismal than their anticipation but in their entrenchments their woeful appearance had not been so noticeable the open plain and the light of day revealed their disgrace the images of the emperors were torn down the standards were born along without their usual honors while the banners of the Gauls glittered on every side the train moved on in silence like a long funeral procession their leader was Claudius Sanctus one of his eyes had been destroyed he was repulsive in countenance and even more feeble in intellect the guilt of the troops seemed to be doubled when the other legion deserting the camp at Bonner joined their ranks when the report of the capture of the legions became generally known all who but a short time before trembled at the name of Rome rushed forth from the fields and houses and spread themselves everywhere to enjoy with extravagant delight the strange spectacle the paikentine horse could not endure the triumph of the insulting rabble and disregarding the promises and threats of Sanctus rode off to Mogartiacum chanceing to fall in with longiness the murderer of Vocula they overwhelmed him with a shower of darts and made a beginning towards a future expiation of their guilt the legions did not change the direction of their march and encamped under the walls of the colony of the trevery elated with their success Cavillis and Clasicus doubted whether they should not give up the colonial agri-ponensis to be plundered by their troops their natural ferocity and lust for spoil prompted them to destroy the city the necessities of war and the advantage of a character for clemency to men founding a new empire forbade them to do so Cavillis was also influenced by recollections of kindness received for his son, who at the beginning of the war had been arrested in the colony had been kept in honourable custody but the tribes beyond the Rhine disliked the place for its wealth and increasing power and held that the only possible way of putting an end to war would be either to make it an open city for all Germans or to destroy it and so disperse the OBE upon this the tenctary a tribe separated by the Rhine from the colony sent envoys with orders to make known their instructions to the senate of the agri-ponensis these orders the boldest spirit among the ambassadors thus expounded for your return into the unity of the germination and name we give thanks to the gods whom we worship in common and to Mars the chief of our divinities and we congratulate you that at length you will live as free men among the free up to this day have the Romans closed river and land and in a way the very air that they may bar our converse and prevent our meetings or what is a still worse insult to men born to arms may force us to assemble unarmed and all but stripped watched by sentinels and taxed for the privilege but that our friendship and union may be established forever we require of you to strip your city of its walls which are the bulwarks of slavery even savage animals if you keep them in confinement forget their natural courage we require of you to massacre all Romans within your territory liberty at a dominant race cannot well exist together let the property of the slain come into a common stock so that no one may be able to secrete anything or to detach his own interest from ours let it be lawful for us and for you to inhabit both banks of the Rhine as it was of old for our ancestors as nature has given light and air to all men so has she thrown open every land to the brave resume the manners and customs of your country renouncing the pleasures through which rather than through their arms the Romans secure their power against subject nations a pure and untainted race for getting your past bondage you will be the equals of all or will even rule over others the inhabitants of the colony took time for deliberation and as dread of the future would not allow them to accept the offered terms while their actual condition forbade an open and contemptuous rejection they replied to the following effect the very first chance of freedom that presented itself we seized with more eagerness than caution that we might unite ourselves with you and the other Germans our kinsmen by blood with respect to our fortifications as at this very moment the Roman armies are assembling it is safer for us to strengthen than to destroy them all strangers from Italy or the provinces that may have been in our territory have either perished in the war or have fled to their own homes as for those who informer days settled here and have been united to us by marriage and as for their offspring this is their native land we cannot think you so unjust as to wish that we should slay our parents our brothers and our children all duties and restrictions on trade we repeal let there be a free passage across the river but let it be during the daytime and for persons unarmed till the new and recent privileges assumed by usage the stability of time as arbiters between us we will have Cavillis and Velaida under their sanction the treaty shall be ratified the temporary were thus appeased and ambassadors were sent with presents to Cavillis and Velaida who settled everything to the satisfaction of the inhabitants of the colony they were not however allowed to approach or address Velaida herself in order to inspire them with more respect they were prevented from seeing her she dwelt in a lofty tower and one of her relatives chosen for the purpose conveyed like the messenger of a divinity the questions and answers thus strengthened by his alliance with the colonial agribonances Cavillis resolved to attach to himself the neighbouring states or to make war on them if they offered any opposition he occupied the territory of the Sunniqi and formed the youth of the country into regular cohorts to hinder his further advance Claudius Labio encountered him with a hastily assembled force of B'tazi, Tungri and Nervi relying on the strength of his position as he had occupied a bridge over the river Mosa they fought in a narrow dothal without any decided result till the Germans swam across and attacked Labio's rear at the same moment, Cavillis acting either on some bold impulse or by a preconcerted plan rushed into the Tungrian column exclaiming in a loud voice we have not taken arms in order that the B'tazi and Trevri may rule over their nations far from us be such arrogance accept our alliance I am ready to join your ranks whether you would prefer me to be your general or your comrade the multitude was moved by the appeal and were beginning to sheath their swords when Campanas and Juveniles, two of the Tungrian chieftains surrendered the whole tribe to Cavillis Labio made his escape before he could be intercepted the B'tazi and Nervi, also capitulating were incorporated by Cavillis into his army he now commanded vast resources as the states were either completely cowed or else were naturally inclined in his favour meanwhile Julius Sabinas after having thrown down the pillars that recorded the treaty with Rome bade his followers salute him as Emperor and hastened at the head of a large and undisciplined crowd of his countrymen to attack the Sequani, a neighbouring people still faithful to Rome the Sequani did not decline the contest Fortune favoured the better cause and the Legones were defeated Sabinas fled from the battle with a cowardice equal to the rashness with which he had precipitated it and in order to spread a report of his death he set fire to a country house where he had taken refuge it was believed that he there perished by a death of his own seeking the various shifts by which he contrived to conceal himself and to prolong his life for nine years the firm fidelity of his friends and the noble example of his wife Epinina I shall relate in their proper place by this victory of the Sequani the tide of war was stayed the states began by decrees to recover their senses and to reflect on the claims of justice and of treaties the Remy were foremost in this movement announcing throughout Gaul that deputies were to be sent to consult in common assembly whether they should make freedom or peace their object at Rome report exaggerated all these disasters and disturbed Mucchianus with the fear that the generals, though distinguished men for he had already appointed Gallus Aeneas and Petilius Kerialis to the command would be unequalled the weight of so vast a war yet the capital could not be left without a ruler and men feared the ungoverned passions of the mission while Prima-Santonius and Varus Arius were also, as I have said, objects of suspicion Varus, who had been made commander of the Praetorian Guard had still at his disposal much military strength Mucchianus ejected him from his office and not to leave him without consolation made him superintendent of the sale of corn to pacify the feelings of demission which were not unfavorable to Varus he appointed Aratina's Clemens who was closely connected with the house of Vespasian and who was also a great favorite with demission to the command of the Praetorian Guard alleging that his father, in the reign of Caligula had admirably discharged the duties of that office the old name he said would please the soldiers and Clemens himself, though on the role of senators would be equal to both duties he selected the most eminent men in the state to accompany him while others were appointed through interest at the same time, demission and Mucchianus prepared to set out but in a very different mood demission in all the hope and impatience of youth Mucchianus ever contriving delays to check his ardent companion who he feared were he to intrude himself upon the army might be led by the recklessness of youth or by bad advisors to compromise at once the prospects of war and of peace two of the victorious legions the sixth and eighth the 21st which belonged to the Vitellianist army the second which consisted of new levies were marched into Gaul some over the Penine and Cotien some over the Greyen Alps the 14th legion was summoned from Britain and the 6th and 10th from Spain thus rumours of an advancing army as well as their own temper inclined the states of Gaul which assembled in the country of the Remi to more peaceful councils envoys from the Trevri were awaiting them there and among them Tullius Valentinas the most vehement promoter of the war who in a set speech poured forth all the charges usually made against great empires and levelled against the Roman people many insulting and exasperating expressions the man was a turbulent fermenter of sedition and pleased many by his frantic eloquence on the other hand Tullius Auspex one of the leading chieftains among the Remi dwelt on the power of Rome and the advantages of peace pointing out that war might be commenced indeed by cowards but must be carried on at the peril of the braver spirits and that the Roman legions were close at hand he restrained the most prudent by considerations of respect and loyalty and held back the younger by representations of danger and appeals to fear the result was that while they extolled the spirit of Valentinas they followed the councils of Auspex it is certain that the Trevri and Lingonis were injured in the eyes of the Gallic nations by their having sided with Vaginius in the movement of Vindex many were deterred by the mutual jealousy of the provinces where they asked could a head be found for the war where could they look for civil authority and the sanction of religion if all went well with them what city could they select as the seat of empire the victory was yet to be gained dissension had already begun one state angrily boasted of its alliances another of its wealth and military strength or of the antiquity of its origin disgusted with the prospect of the future they acquiesced in their present condition letters were written to the Trevri in the name of the states of Gaul requiring them to abstain from hostilities and reminding them that pardon might yet be obtained and that friends were ready to intercede for them should they repent Valentinas still opposed and succeeded in closing the ears of his countrymen to this advice though he was not so diligent in preparing for war as he was assiduous in her ranking accordingly neither the Trevri, the Lengones nor the other revolted states took measures at all proportion to the magnitude of the peril they had incurred even their generals did not act in concert Gavillis was traversing the pathless wilds of the Belgi in attempting to capture Claudius Labio or to drive him out of the country Clasicus for the most part wasted his time in indolent repose as if he had only to enjoy an empire already won even Tuta made no haste to occupy with troops the upper bank of the Rhine and the passes of the Alps meanwhile the 21st Legion by way of Vindonesa a sextileus phelix with the auxiliary infantry by way of Rhaetia penetrated into the province they were joined by the singularian horse which had been raised some time before by Vitellius and had afterwards gone over to the side of Vespasian their commanding officer was Julius Briganticus he was sister's son to Gavillis and he was hated by his uncle and hated him in return with all the extreme bitterness of a family feud Tuta having augmented the army of the Trevri with fresh levies from the Vangiones the Caracattis and the Treboki strengthened it with a force of veteran infantry and cavalry men from the legions whom he had either corrupted by promises or overborn by intimidation their first act was to cut to pieces a cohort which had been sent on in advance by sextileus phelix soon afterwards however on the approach of the Roman generals at the head of their army they returned their duty by an act of honourable desertion and the Treboki, Vangiones and Caracattis followed their example avoiding Mongatiakum Tuta retired with the Trevri to Bingium trusting to the strength of the position as he had broken down the bridge of the river Nava a sudden attack however was made by the infantry under the command of sextileus a thord was discovered and he found himself betrayed and routed the Trevri were panicked stricken by this disaster and the common people threw down their arms and dispersed themselves through the country some of the chiefs anxious to seem the first to cease from hostilities fled to those states which had not renounced the Roman alliance the legions which had been removed as I have before related from Novesium and Bonner to the territory of the Trevri most heavily swore allegiance to Vespasian these proceedings took place in the absence of Valentinas when he returned full of fury and bent on again throwing everything into confusion and ruin the legions withdrew to the Mediomatrici a people in alliance with Rome Valentinas and Tuta again involved the Trevri in war and murdered the two legions Heranias and Numisius that by diminishing the hope of pardon they might strengthen the bond of crime End of Book 4 Part 4 Book 4 Part 5 of the Histories by Publius Cornelius Tastus This is LibriVox Recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Andrew Coleman Their Histories by Publius Cornelius Tastus Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib Book 4 January to November 8070 Part 5 Such was the state of the war when Petilius Kerialis reached Mangatiacum Great expectations were raised by his rival Eager for battle and more ready to despise than to be on his guard against the enemy He fired the spirit of the troops by his bold language For he would, he said, fight without moments delay as soon as it was possible to meet the foe The levies which had been raised in Gaul he ordered back to their respective states with instructions to proclaim that the legions suffice to defend the empire and that the allies might return to the duties of peace secure in the thought that a war which Roman arms had undertaken was finished This proceeding strengthened the loyalty of the Gauls Now that their youth were restored to them they could more easily bear the burden of the tribute and finding themselves despised they were more ready to obey Kivillis and Clascus having heard of the defeat of Tuta and of the rout of the Trevery and indeed of the complete success of the enemy hastened in their alarm to concentrate their own scattered forces At meanwhile sent repeated messages to Valentinas warning him not to risk a decisive battle This made Kerialis move with more rapidity He sent to the Mediumatrici persons commissioned to conduct the legions which were there by the shortest route against the enemy and collecting such troops as there were at Mongatiakum and such as he had brought with himself he arrived in three days march at Rigidulam Valentinas at the head of a large body of Trevery had occupied this position which was protected by hills and by the river Mosella He had also strengthened it with ditches and breast-works of stones These defences however did not deter the Roman general from ordering his infantry to the assault and making his cavalry advance up the hill He scorned the enemy whose forces hastily levied could not he knew to arrive any advantage of this position but what would be more than counterbalanced by the courage of his own men There was some little delay in the ascent while the troops were passing through the range of the enemy's missiles As soon as they came to close fighting the barbarians were dislodged and hurled like a falling house from their position A detachment of the cavalry rode round where the hills were less steep and captured the principal Belgic chiefs and among them Valentinas their general On the following day Keryalis entered the colony of the Trevery The soldiers were eager to destroy the city This, they said, is the birthplace of Clasicus and Tuta It was by the treason of these men that our legions were besieged and massacred What had Cremona done like this? Cremona which was torn from the very bosom of Italy because it had occasioned to the conquerors the delay of a single night Here on the borders of Germany stands unharmed a city which exalts in the spoils of our armies and the blood of our generals Let the plunder be brought into the imperial treasury We shall be satisfied with a fire that will destroy a rebellious colony and compensate for the overthrow of so many camps Keryalis, fearing the disgrace of being thought to have imbued his soldiers with a spirit of license and cruelty checked their fury They submitted For now that civil war was at an end they were tractable enough in dealing with an enemy Their thoughts were then diverted by the pitiful aspect of the legions which had been summoned from the Medi-Matricy They stood oppressed by the consciousness of guilt their eyes fixed on the earth No friendly salutations passed between the armies as they met They made no answer to those who would console or encourage them but hid themselves in their tents and shrank from the very light of day Nor was it so much their peril or their alarm that confounded them as their shame and humiliation Even the conquerors were struck dumb and dared not utter a word of entreaty but pleaded for pardon by their silent tears till Keryalis at last sooth their minds by declaring that destiny had brought about all that had happened through the discords of soldiers and generals or through the treachery of the foe They must consider that day as the first of their military service and of their allegiance Their past crimes would be remembered by the Emperor nor by himself They were thus admitted into the same camp with the rest and an order was read in every company that no soldier was in any contention or altercation to reproach a comrade with mutiny or defeat Keryalis then convoked an assembly of the Trevri and Lingonis and thus addressed them I have never cultivated eloquence It is by my sword that I have asserted the excellence of the Roman people Since, however, words have very great weight with you Since you estimate good and evil not according to their real value but according to the representations of seditious men I have resolved to say a few words Which, as the war is at an end it may be useful for you to have heard rather than for me to have spoken Roman generals and emperors entered your territory as they did the rest of Gaul with no ambitious purposes but at the solicitation of your ancestors who were weary to the last extremity by entestine strife while the Germans, whom they had summoned their help had imposed their yoke alike on friend and foe How many battles we have fought against the Kimbrie and Tutonies at the cost of what hardships to our armies and with what result we have waged our German wars is perfectly well known It was not to defend Italy that we occupied the borders of the Rhine but to ensure that no second area vistas should seize the empire of Gaul Do you fancy yourselves to be dearer in the eyes of Cavillis and the Bittavi and the Transrenane tribes than your fathers and grandfathers were to their ancestors There have ever been the same causes at work to make the Germans cross over into Gaul Lust, avarice and the longing for a new home prompting them to leave their own marshes and deserts and to possess themselves of this most fertile soil and of you its inhabitants Liberty indeed and the like specious names are their pretexts but never did any man seek to enslave his fellows and secure dominion for himself without using the very same words Gaul always had its petty kingdoms and intestine wars till you submitted to our authority We, though so often provoked have used the right of conquest to burden you only with the cost of maintaining peace for the tranquility of nations cannot be preserved without armies armies cannot exist without pay pay cannot be furnished without tribute All else is common between us You often command our legions You rule these and other provinces There is no privilege, no exclusion From worthy emperors you derive equal advantage though you dwell so far away while cruel rulers are most formidable to their neighbours Endure the passions and rapacity of your masters just as you bear barren seasons and excessive rains and other natural evils There will be vices as long as there are men but they are not perpetual and they are compensated by the occurrence of better things Perhaps, however you expect a moulded rule under tutor and classicus and fancy that armies to repel the Germans and the Britons will be furnished by less tribute than you now pay Shall the Romans be driven out which God forbid what can result but wars between all these nations by the prosperity and order of 800 years has this fabric of empire been consolidated nor can it be overthrown without destroying those who overthrow it Yours will be the worst peril for you have gold and wealth and these are the chief incentives to war Give therefore your love and respect to the cause of peace and to that capital in which we, conquerors and conquered claim an equal right Let the lessons of fortune in both its forms teach you not to prefer rebellion and ruin to submission and safety With words to this effect he quieted and encouraged his audience who feared harsher treatment The territory of the trevery was occupied by the victorious army when Cavillis and classicus sent letters to Carialis the purport of which was as follows For Spasian, though the news is suppressed, is dead Rome and Italy are thoroughly wasted by intestine war Mocchianis and Domitian are mere empty and powerless names If Carialis wishes for the empire of Gaul we can be content with the boundaries of our own states If he prefers to fight we do not refuse that alternative Carialis sent no answer to Cavillis and classicus but dispatched the bearer and the letter itself to Domitian The enemy advanced from every quarter in several bodies Carialis was generally censured for allowing them to unite when he might have destroyed them in detail The Roman armies surrounded their camp with the Foss and Rempart for up to that time they had been rash enough to occupy it without any defence Among the Germans there was a conflict of opinions Cavillis said We must await the arrival of the Transrenane tribes the terror of whose name will break down the shattered strength of Rome As for the Gauls, what are they but the prey of the conqueror and yet the chief strength of the nation the Belgi are with us, either openly or in heart Tutor maintained that the power of Rome would only increase with delay as her armies were assembling from all quarters One legion, he said, has already been brought over from Britain Others have been summoned from Spain or are advancing from Italy Nor are these troops newly raised levies but they are veteran soldiers experienced in war But the Germans whom we are expecting do not obey orders and cannot be controlled but always act according to their own caprice The money too and other presence by which alone they can be bribed are more plentiful among the Romans and no one can be so bent on fighting as not to prefer repose to peril when the prophet is the same But if we at once meet the foe Kerialis has no legions but those that survive from the wreck of the German army and these are bound by treaties to the states of Gaul and the very fact of their having contrary to their expectations lately routed the undisciplined force of Valentinas will confirm in their rashness both them and their general They will venture again and will find themselves in the hands not of an ignorant stripling whose thoughts were of speeches and harangues rather than of battle and the sword but in those of Kerialis and Clasicus whom when they once behold they will be reminded of panic of flight, of famine and of the many times when as captives they had to beg for life Nor are the Trevri and Lingonis bound by any ties of affection once let their fear cease and they will resume their arms Clasicus put an end to these differences of opinion by giving his approval to the suggestions of Tuta which were at once acted on The centre was the post assigned to the OBE and Lingonis on the right were the Batavian cohorts on the left the brooktory and the tanktory One division marching over the hills another passing between the high road and the river Mosella made the attack with such suddenness that Kerialis who had not slept in the camp was in his chamber and even in his bed when he heard at the same moment that the battle had begun and that his men were being worsted he rebuked the alarm of the messengers till the whole extent of the disaster became visible and he saw that the camp of the legions had been forced that the cavalry were routed that the bridge of the Mosella which connected the further bank of the river with the colony was held by the Germans undismayed by the confusion Kerialis held back the fugitives with his own hand and readily exposing himself with his person entirely unprotected to the missiles of the enemy he succeeded by a daring and successful effort with the prompt aid of his briefest soldiers in recovering the bridge and holding it with a picked force then returning to the camp he saw the broken companies of the legions which had been captured at Bonner and Nevesium with but few soldiers round the standards and the eagles all but surrounded by the foe fired with indignation he exclaimed it is not flackers or vocular whom you are thus abandoning there is no treachery here I have nothing to excuse but that I rushily believe that you forgetting your alliance with Gaul had again recollected your allegiance to Rome I shall be added to the number of the Numizii and Hrenii so that all your commanders will have fallen by the hands of their soldiers or of the enemy go tell Vespasian or since they are nearer Kivilis and Clasicus that you have deserted your general on the battlefield legions will come who will not leave me unavenged or you unpunished all this was true and the tribunes and prefix heaped on their men the same reproaches the troops formed themselves in cohorts and companies for they could not deploy into line as the enemy was scattered everywhere while from the fact that the battle was raging within the entrenchments they were themselves hampered with their tents and baggage Tuta, Clasicus and Kivilis each at his post animated the competence the Gauls they urged to fight for freedom the Petavi for glory the Germans for plunder everything seemed in favour of the enemy till the 21st legion having more room than the others formed itself into a compact body which stood and soon drove back the assailants nor was it without an interposition of heaven that by a sudden change of temper the conquerors turned their backs and fled their own account was that they were alarmed by the sight of the cohorts which after being broken at the first onset rallied on the top of the hills had presented the appearance of reinforcements or checked them in their course of victory was a mischief of struggle among themselves to secure plunder while they forgot the enemy Kerialis having thus all but ruined everything by his carelessness restored the day by his resolution following up his success he took and destroyed the enemy's camp on the same day no long time was allowed to the soldiers for repose the agri-ponencies were begging for help and were offering to give up the wife and sister of Kivilis and the daughter of Clasicus who had been left with them as pledges for the maintenance of the alliance in the meanwhile they had massacred all the Germans who were scattered throughout their dwellings hence their alarm and reasonable importunity in begging for help before the enemy recovering their strength could raise their spirits for a new effort or for thoughts of revenge and indeed Kivilis had marched in their direction nor was he by any means weak as he had still in unbroken force the most warlike of his cohorts which consisted of Chauki and Frisji and which was posted at Obliacum on the frontiers of the agri-ponencies he was however diverted from his purpose by the deplorable news that this cohort had been entirely destroyed by a stratagem of the agri-ponencies who having stupefied the Germans via profuse entertainment and abundance of wine fastened the doors, set fire to the houses and burned them at the same time Kerialis advanced by forced marches and relieved the city Kivilis too was beset by other fears he was afraid that the 14th Legion supported by the fleet from Britain might do mischief to the Batavi along their line of coast the Legion was however marched over land under the command of Fabius Priscus into the territory of the Nervee and Tungri and these two states were allowed to capitulate the Canine Fates taking the offensive attacked our fleet and the larger part of the ships was either sunk or captured the same tribe also routed a crowd of Nervee who by a spontaneous movement had taken up arms on the Roman side Clascus also gained a victory over some cavalry who had been sent on to Novesium by Kerialis these reverses which though trifling came in rapid succession destroyed by degrees the prestige of the recent victory about the same time Mucchianus ordered the son of Vitellius to be put to death alleging that his sentient would never cease if he did not destroy all seeds of civil war nor would he suffer Antonius' premise to be taken into the number of Domitian's attendants for he felt uneasy at his popularity with the troops and feared the proud spirit of the man who could not endure an equal much less a superior Antonius then went for Spasin who received him not indeed as he expected but in a not unfriendly spirit two opposite influences acted on the emperor on the one hand were the merits of Antonius under whose conduct the war had beyond all doubt been terminated on the other were the letters of Mucchianus and everyone else invade against him as an ill-affected and conceited man nor did they forget the scandals of his early life Antonius himself failed not to provoke offence by his arrogance and his excessive propensity to dwell on his own services he reproached other men with being cowards Caikina he stigmatized as a captive and a prisoner of war thus by degrees he came to be thought of less weight and worth though his friendship with the emperor to all appearance remained the same in the months during which Vespasian was waiting at Alexandria for the periodical return of the summer gales and settled weather at sea many wonders occurred which seemed to point him out as the object of the favour of heaven and of the partiality of the gods one of the common people of Alexandria well known for his blindness threw himself at the emperor's knees and implored him with groans to heal his infirmity this he did by the advice of the god Serapis whom this nation devoted as it is to many superstitions worships more than any other divinity he begged Vespasian that he would deign to moisten his cheeks and eyeballs with his spittle another with a diseased hand at the council of the same god they might feel the print of a Caesar's foot at first Vespasian ridiculed and repulsed them they persisted and he though on the one hand he feared the scandal of a fruitless attempt yet on the other was induced by the entreaties of the men and by the language of his flatteries to hope for success at last he ordered that the opinion of physicians should be taken as to whether such blindness and infirmity were within the reach of human skill they discussed the matter from different points of view in the one case they said the faculty of sight was not wholly destroyed and might return if the obstacles were removed in the other case the limb which had fallen into a diseased condition might be restored if a healing influence were applied such perhaps might be the pleasure of the gods and the emperor might be chosen to be the minister of the divine will at any rate all the glory of a successful remedy would be Caesar's while the ridicule of failure would fall on the sufferers and so Vespasian supposing that all things were possible to his good fortune and that nothing was any longer past belief with a joyful countenance amid the intense expectation of the multitude of bystanders accomplished what was required the hand was instantly restored to its use and the light of day again shone upon the blind persons actually present attest both facts even now when nothing is to be gained by falsehood Vespasian thus came to conceive a deeper desire to visit the sanctuary of Serapis that he might consult the god about the interests of his throne he gave orders that all persons should be excluded from the temple he had entered and was absorbed in worship when he saw behind him one of the chief men of Egypt named Basilides whom he knew at the time to be detained by sickness at a considerable distance as much as several days journey from Alexandria he inquired of the priests whether Basilides had on this day entered the temple he inquired of others whom he met whether he had been seen in the city at length sending some horsemen he ascertained that at that very instant the man had been 80 miles distant he then concluded that it was a divine apparition and discovered an irracula force in the name of Basilides the origin of this god Serapis has not hitherto been made generally known by our writers the Egyptian priests give this account while Ptolemy the first Macedonian king who consolidated the power of Egypt was setting up in the newly built city of Alexandria fortifications temples and rites of worship there appeared to him in his sleep a youth of singular beauty and more than human stature who counseled the monarch to send his most trusty friends to Pontus and fetch his effigy from that country this he said would bring prosperity to the realm and great and illustrious would be the city which gave it reception at the same moment he saw the youth ascend to heaven in a blaze of fire roused by so significant and strange an appearance Ptolemy disclosed the vision of the night to the Egyptian priests whose business it is to understand such matters as they knew but little of Pontus or of foreign countries he inquired of Timtheus an Athenian one of the family of the Umulpids whom he had invited from Elucis to preside over the sacred rites what this worship was and who was the deity Timotheus questioning persons who had found their way to Pontus learnt that there was a city Synope and near it a temple which according to an old tradition of the neighbourhood was sacred to the infernal Jupiter for there also stood close at hand a female figure to which many gave the name of Preserpene Ptolemy however with a true disposition of a despot though prone to alarm was when the feeling of security returned more intent on pleasures than on religious matters and he began by degrees to neglect the affair and to turn his thoughts to other concerns to length the same apparition but now more terrible and peremptory denounced ruin against the king and his realm unless his bidding were performed Ptolemy then gave directions that an embassy should be dispatched with presence to King Skydrow Themis who at that time ruled the people of Synope and instructed them when they were on the point of sailing to consult the Pythian Apollo their voyage was prosperous and the response of the oracle was clear the god made them go and carry back with them the image of his father but leave that of his sister behind on their arrival at Synope they delivered to Skydrow Themis the presence from their king with his request and message he wavered in purpose dreading at one moment the anger of the god terrified at another by the threats and opposition of the people often he was wrought upon by the gifts and promises of the ambassadors and so three years passed away while Ptolemy did not cease to urge his zealous solicitations he continued to increase the dignity of his embassies the number of his ships and the weight of his gold a terrible vision then appeared to Skydrow Themis warning him to thwart no longer the purposes of the god as he yet hesitated various disasters, pestilence and the unmistakable anger of heaven which grew heavier from day to day continued to harass him he summoned an assembly and explained to them the bidding of the god the visions of Ptolemy and himself and the miseries that were gathering about them the people turned away angrily from their king were jealous of Egypt and fearing for themselves thronged around the temple the story becomes at this point more marvellous and relates that the god of his own will conveyed himself on board the fleet which had been brought close to shore and wonderful to say fast as was the extent of sea that they traversed they arrived at Alexandria on the third day a temple, proportion to the grandeur of the city was erected in a place called Rekotis where there had stood a chapel consecrated in old times to Serapis and Isis such is the most popular account of the origin and introduction of the god Serapis I am aware indeed that there are some who say that he was brought from Seleucia a city of Syria in the reign of Ptolemy III while others assert that it was the act of the same king but that the place from which he was brought was Memphis once a famous city and the strength of ancient Egypt the god himself, because he heals the sick many identified with Iscalapius others with Osiris the deity of the highest antiquity among these nations not a few with Jupiter as being supreme ruler of all things but most people with Pluto arguing from the emblems which may be seen on his statues or from conjectures of their own Domitian and Mukianus received before they reached the Alps favourable news of the operations among the trevery the best proof of the victory was seen in the enemies general Valentinas who with undaunted courage showed in his look his habitual high spirit he was heard but only that they might judge of his character and he was condemned during his execution he replied to one who taunted him with the subjection of his country that I take as my consolation in death Mukianus now brought forward as new thought a plan he had long concealed since, he said, by the blessing of the gods the strength of the enemy has been broken it would little become a mission now that the war is all but finished to interfere with the glory of others if the stability of the empire or the safety of Gaul were in danger it would have been right for Caesar to take his place in the field but the Canine Fates and Batavi should be handed over to inferior generals let the emperor display from the near neighbourhood of Lugdanum the might and prestige of imperial power not meddling with trifling risks though he would not be wanting on greater occasions his artifices were understood but it was a part of their respect not to expose them thus they arrived at Lugdanum it is believed that from this place the mission dispatched secret emissaries to Caryalis and tempted his loyalty with the question whether on his showing himself he would hand over to him the command of the army whether in this scheme the mission was thinking of war with his father or of collecting money and men to be used against his brother was uncertain for Caryalis by a judicious temporizing eluded the request as prompted by an idle and childish ambition the mission, seeing that his youth was despised by the older officers gave up even the less important functions of government which he had before exercised under a semblance of simple and modest tastes he wrapped himself in a profound reserve and affected a devotion to literature and a love of poetry thus seeking to throw a veil over his character and to withdraw himself from the jealousy of his brother of whose moulded temper so unlike his own he judged most falsely