90 



service, was terrified by the awful fate that seemed to await him. In 

 his dream he saw the bloodstained figure of Vams rise from the morass 

 and beckon him to follow. Thus superstition and fear seemed to com- 

 bine the for destruction of a second Eoman army. 



A disastrous day succeeded this dreadful night. The Germans had 

 turned all the streams of the surrounding hills into the plain and flooded 

 the road. A panic seized two legions, who were stationed to protect 

 the flank ; they fled. Two Roman legions fled (!) and left the remainder 

 with the wounded, the heavy baggage, and their general, to extricate 

 themselves as well as they could. They were saved by the cupidity of 

 their undisciplined enemies, who rushed to possess themselves of the 

 plunder, and allowed the legions to escape. But so demoralised was 

 that proud army, that in the following night a sudden panic seized it, 

 and it would have been dissolved in a wild and disorderly flight, and 

 certainly cut down to a man, if their grey-haired general had not thrown 

 himself down on the ground before the fugitives, and thus at last pre- 

 vailed upon them to remain in the camp. Here they were attacked in 

 the morning by the Germans, whose impetuosity could not be restrained 

 by the wiser counsels of Arminius, that they should allow their enemies 

 to leave their camp and then attack them on their march. This time 

 the discipline of the Romans prevailed over the untutored valour of the 

 Germans ; they repelled them, though not without great loss, and thus 

 at length secured an unmolested retreat to the Rhine. 



If such were the disasters of the four legions of Caecina, Germanicus 

 could not boast of greater success. He was compelled to land two of 

 his legions, to lighten his transports. The poor fellows, thus left on 

 a strange coast, were almost entirely overwhelmed and destroyed by a 

 high tide. Those who were fortunate enough to escape to higher 

 ground were again taken on board by Germanicus, and thus the rem- 

 nants of this inglorious expedition at length reached the camps of the 

 Rhine. 



The greatest consternation prevailed here before their return. Rumom- 

 had increased their disasters. It was reported that the whole army was 

 destroyed, and that the victorious Germans were approaching to invade 

 Gaul, and if the manly spirit of Agrippina had not prevented it, the 

 honour of Rome would have been stained by a mean act of cowardice, 

 the destruction of the bridge over the Rhine. 



How considerable must have been the losses of this campaign we 

 may judge from an incidental observation of Tacitus, that Gaul, Spain, 

 and Italy vied with one another to repair them. Can we wonder that 

 Tiberius felt uneasy? — the cautious, careful Tiberius, sparing in 

 all, especially in the resources of the state, on whom his friend and 



