ROMAN EMPIRE. 



409 



and di*i 



Jnsurrec- 



army in 



1'annonia. 



mm*, it hns been suspected that Livia listened his 

 death, by giving n ' m p<" s < ; n'-'l li^s. Augustus recom- 

 mended Tiberius MS his successor. He Ic't Ir- fortune 

 partly to Tiberius and partly to J)nniis; and lie be- 

 queathed li- j 11 it's both to the people and the army. '1 lie 

 virtues of this great man have been embalmed in the 

 writings of Virgil, Horace, and Ovid ; and ihu Angus- 

 tan age of Roman literature has been celebrated by the 

 admiration of nil succeeding ages. 



Tiberius began his reign by acts of cruelty and de- 

 ceit. ' After Cl using A^nppa 1'osthumius to be mur- 

 inuUriun of dered by a military trilune, Tiberin> ;il!'. etc 1 to hesitate. 

 Tibcriun. about the ncceptnnee of the stipremfc power. Tlie two 

 coMMils, however, having first reluctantly taken the oath 

 of fidelity to him as emperor, administered it to the se- 

 nate, the people, and the soldiers; yet notwithstanding 

 11 this e.'.'.MTne>s in his service, Tiberius declared that 

 he would only hold the empire till the conscript fathers 

 should, in their great wisdom, think proper to give re- 

 poe to his old age. 



The festivities and consequent relaxation of discip- 

 line in which the Roman armies were permitted to in- 

 dulge on the accession of Tiberius, gave rise to two re- 

 volts of a most akrming nature. Percennius, a com- 

 mon soldier, and known in Rome as the ringleader of 

 hissing parties in the theatre, had excited his fellow 

 soldiers by inflammatory speeches. Tiberius himself 

 Wrote to the insurgents ; but finding his remonstrances 

 unavailing, he sent his son Drusus to try the influence 

 of persuasion and of force. The insurgents, however, 

 massacred several of their officers ; and it was only by 

 the effect of an eclipse of the moon on their superstitious 

 feelings that they were brought to reflection. J)rusus 

 availed himself of this favourable incident, and hav- 

 ing condemned and executed some of the ringlead- 

 ers, the mutiny was completely subdued with the 

 timely aid of some violent storms which had alarmed 

 their fears. 



The revolt which took place in Germany almost at 

 the same time, and from the same causes, assumed a 

 more inveterate character. When the insurgents had 

 gone so far as to drown several of the centurions in the 

 Rhine, Germanicus hastened from Gaul to restore sub- 

 ordination. Unable, however, to effect any change, 

 he feigned letters from Tiberius, in which it was agreed 

 that all soldiers who had served sixteen years should 

 be deemed veterans ; that those who had served twenty 

 should be discharged ; and that some legacies which 

 had been bequeathed to them by Augustus should be 

 paid to double their amount. When this money was 

 paid, the troops retired peaceably into their quarters. 

 The arrival of deputies, however, from Tiberius, gave 

 rise to a report that their object was to revoke the terms 

 granted by Germanicus ; and notwithstanding that every 

 assurance was given them that the report had no foun- 

 dation, yet they attacked the deputies, and conducted 

 themselves with such outrageous violence, that Germa- 

 nicus thought it prudent to send home his wife Agrip- 

 pina, who was then pregnant, along with her infant son 

 Claudius ; and many of the principal officers followed 

 his example. 



No sooner was Agrippina seen, with her infant in her 

 arms, preparing to seek for refuge from the treachery 

 of Roman soldiers, than an impression was made on the 

 feelings of the insurgents which no arguments could 

 have produced. Some of them now ran to prevent her 

 from quitting the army, while others went to Germa- 

 nicus, and entreated him to recal his wife. Having 

 seized and massacred their own ringleaders, all the le 



VOL, XVII. PART II. 



Revolt in 



Cicrmany. 



Quelled by 

 (krmani- 



gions except two returned to their allegiance. Ceecina, 

 who commanded these two legions, having misunder- 

 stood a message from Germanicus, called out those who 

 had not joined the insurgent*, and led them to the mas- 

 sacre of the disaffected. Germanicus was distressed 

 beyond measure at this piece of cruelty, and endea- 

 voured to expiate it by performing every mark of re- 

 spect to the bodies of those who had fallen. 

 Having thus brought his army to a proper sense of Who de- 

 their duty, Germanicus erected a bridge over the frau ihc 

 Rhine, and marched across with 12,000 legionaries, Man*, 



cohorts of allies, and about 24-00 cavalry. There A. D. is. 

 l.i- (ell in with the Marsi, and surprising them in the 

 midst of a festivity and debauch, he slaughtered the 

 whole army, and laid waste the country for fifty miles 

 round with fire and sword. He next entered the 

 country of the Cotti, and having, after some resistance, The Coui, 

 burnt their villages and towns, he destroyed their ca- 

 pital and returned to the Rhine. 



Germanicus was now called to oppose the army of 

 Arminius, who had cut to pieces the Romans under 

 Varus. Having marched against them while besieging 

 Segestes, an ally of the Romans, he routed his forces, 

 and took many prisoners, among whom was Thusncl- 

 dis, the wife of Arminius, whom he had carried off 

 against the will of her father Segestes. Enraged at 

 the loss of one to whom he was deeply attached, Armi- 

 nius arrayed all the neighbouring kingdoms against the 

 Romans. In marching against Arminius, Germanicus 

 fell in with the dead bodies of the Roman soldiers who 

 had fallen under Varus, and who had been left unbu- 

 ried on the field. These he committed to* the earth 

 with all the ceremonies which he had leisure to per- 

 form. In this expedition various battles were fought, 

 in which both parties were successful by turns. The 

 Romans had gained few advantages, and retired into 

 winter quarters, after experiencing great losses of every 

 kind. 



In his next expedition, for which he had made vast 

 preparations, Germanicus was more successful. He 

 marched against Arminius, who was encamped on the 

 opposite bank of the Weser; and who had resolved to 

 dispute the passage of the river. Cariovalda, the leader 

 of the Batavian auxiliaries, crossed the river, and was 

 slain in an ambuscade, which had been laid for him 

 by the enemy. Stertinius and /Emilius, having hasten- 

 ed to the assistance of the Batavians, Germanicus in 

 the mean time passed the river, and defeated the Ger And ArmU 

 mans with such slaughter, that the country for ten nius. 

 miles round was covered with arms and with dead bodies. 

 After another victory, Germanicus put an end to the 

 campaign. He sent some of his legions into winter 

 quarters by land, while he embarked with the rest in 

 order to return by sea ; but a violent storm arising, 

 his fleet, of a thousand vessels, was dispersed in all di- 

 rections. Some of them were swallowed up in the 

 ocean, others were dashed against the rocks, while 

 many were driven to distant and barren shores, where 

 the men either died of hunger, or protracted a miser- 

 able existence, by feeding on the flesh of the dead hor 

 ses which had been thrown overboard, to lighten the 

 sinking vessels. Many of the troops, however, were 

 saved, and a considerable number of the ships recover- 

 ed ; those who had been driven on the coast of Britain 

 having been generously sent back. After several other 

 successful expeditions against the Germans, Germani- 

 cus was recalled by Tiberius. He was afterwards ap- A. D. 17. 

 pointed along with Piso to the government of Syria, 

 but he died of poison, which was supposed to have been 

 3 F 



