Tacitus: ANNALES

[1] Sisenna Statilio [Tauro] L. Libone consulibus mota Orientis regna provinciaeque Romanae, initio apud Parthos orto, qui petitum Roma acceptumque regem, quamvis gentis Arsacidarum, ut externum aspernabantur. is fuit Vonones, obses Augusto datus a Phraate. nam Phraates quamquam depulisset exercitus ducesque Romanos, cuncta venerantium officia ad Augustum verterat partemque prolis firmandae amicitiae miserat, haud perinde nostri metu quam fidei popularium diffisus.

[1] In the consulship of Sisenna Statilius [Taurus] and L. Libo, the kingdoms of the East and the Roman provinces were set in motion, the beginning arising among the Parthians, who spurned as a foreigner the king sought from Rome and accepted, although of the Arsacid race. This was Vonones, a hostage given to Augustus by Phraates. For Phraates, although he had driven back the Roman armies and commanders, had turned all the offices of veneration toward Augustus and had sent a portion of his progeny to strengthen friendship, not so much from fear of us as because he distrusted the fidelity of his compatriots.

[2] Post finem Phraatis et sequentium regum ob internas caedis venere in urbem legati a primoribus Parthis, qui Vononem vetustissimum liberorum eius accirent. magnificum id sibi credidit Caesar auxitque opibus. et accepere barbari laetantes, ut ferme ad nova imperia.

[2] After the end of Phraates and of the subsequent kings, on account of internal slaughters, envoys came into the city from the foremost Parthians, to summon Vonones, the eldest of his children. Caesar deemed that magnificent for himself and augmented him with resources. And the barbarians received him rejoicing, as commonly at new regimes.

mox subiit pudor degeneravisse Parthos: petitum alio ex orbe regem, hostium artibus infectum; iam inter provincias Romanas solium Arsacidarum haberi darique. ubi illam gloriam trucidantium Crassum, exturbantium Antonium, si mancipium Caesaris, tot per annos servitutem perpessum, Parthis imperitet? accendebat dedignantis et ipse diversus a maiorum institutis, raro venatu, segni equorum cura; quotiens per urbes incederet, lecticae gestamine fastuque erga patrias epulas.

soon there came over them a shame that the Parthians had degenerated: that a king had been sought from another orb, tainted by the arts of enemies; that now among the Roman provinces the throne of the Arsacids was being held and bestowed. where was that glory of slaughtering Crassus, of driving out Antony, if a mancipium of Caesar, after so many years enduring servitude, should exercise command over the Parthians? he himself too inflamed their disdain, being divergent from the institutions of the ancestors—seldom at the hunt, with a sluggish care of horses; whenever he proceeded through the cities, by the conveyance of a litter, and by haughtiness toward native banquets.

inridebantur et Graeci comites ac vilissima utensilium anulo clausa. sed prompti aditus, obvia comitas, ignotae Parthis virtutes, nova vitia; et quia ipsorum moribus aliena perinde odium pravis et honestis.

they also mocked the Greek companions, and the very cheapest of the utensils sealed with a ring. but access was easy, courtesy met one on the way, virtues unknown to the Parthians, vices new; and, because alien to their own mores, there was equal hatred for the depraved and the honorable.

[3] Igitur Artabanus Arsacidarum e sanguine apud Dahas adultus excitur, primoque congressu fusus reparat viris regnoque potitur. victo Vononi perfugium Armenia fuit, vacua tunc interque Parthorum et Romanas opes infida ob scelus Antonii, qui Artavasden regem Armeniorum specie amicitiae inlectum, dein catenis oneratum, postremo interfecerat. eius filius Artaxias, memoria patris nobis infensus, Arsacidarum vi seque regnumque tutatus est.

[3] Therefore Artabanus, of the blood of the Arsacids, grown up among the Dahae, is summoned; and, routed in the first encounter, he replenishes his forces and gets possession of the kingdom. With Vonones defeated, Armenia was a refuge, then vacant and, between the powers of the Parthians and the Romans, treacherous because of the crime of Antonius, who had lured Artavasdes, king of the Armenians, under the appearance of friendship, then loaded him with chains, and finally had killed him. His son Artaxias, hostile to us in memory of his father, defended both himself and the kingdom by the might of the Arsacids.

occiso Artaxia per dolum propinquorum datus a Caesare Armeniis Tigranes deductusque in regnum a Tiberio Nerone. nec Tigrani diuturnum imperium fuit neque liberis eius, quamquam sociatis more externo in matrimonium regnumque.

after Artaxias had been slain through the deceit of his kinsmen, Tigranes was given to the Armenians by Caesar and conducted into the kingdom by Tiberius Nero. nor was Tigranes’s rule of long duration, nor that of his children, although, by the foreign custom, they had been associated in marriage and in kingship.

[4] Dein iussu Augusti inpositus Artavasdes et non sine clade nostra deiectus. tum Gaius Caesar componendae Armeniae deligitur. is Ariobarzanen, origine Medum, ob insignem corporis formam et praeclarum animum volentibus Armeniis praefecit.

[4] Then by Augustus’s order Artavasdes was imposed, and, not without our disaster, was cast down. Then Gaius Caesar is chosen for the composing of Armenia. He set over them Ariobarzanes, by origin a Mede, with the Armenians willing, on account of his remarkable form of body and his preeminent spirit.

Ariobantane morte fortuita absumpto stirpem eius haud toleravere; temptatoque feminae imperio, cui nomen Erato, eaque brevi pulsa, incerti solutique et magis sine domino quam in libertate profugum Vononen in regnum accipiunt. sed ubi minitari Artabanus et parum subsidii in Armeniis, vel, si nostra vi defenderetur, bellum adversus Parthos sumendum erat, rector Syriae Creticus Silanus excitum custodia circumdat, manente luxu et regio nomine. quod ludibrium ut effugere agitaverit Vonones in loco reddemus.

With Ariobarzanes carried off by a chance death, they did not tolerate his stock; and, the rule of a woman attempted—her name was Erato—and she soon expelled, uncertain and unbound, and rather without a master than in liberty, they receive the fugitive Vonones into the kingdom. But when Artabanus began to threaten and there was too little succor among the Armenians, or, if he were defended by our force, a war against the Parthians would have to be undertaken, the rector of Syria, Creticus Silanus, surrounds the roused man with custody, his luxury and royal name remaining. How Vonones contrived to escape that mockery we shall report in its place.

[5] Ceterum Tiberio haud ingratum accidit turbari res Orientis, ut ea specie Germanicum suetis legionibus abstraheret novisque provinciis impositum dolo simul et casibus obiectaret. at ille, quanto acriora in eum studia militum et aversa patrui voluntas, celerandae victoriae intentior, tractare proeliorum vias et quae sibi tertium iam annum belligeranti saeva vel prospera evenissent. fundi Germanos acie et iustis locis, iuvari silvis, paludibus, brevi aestate et praematura hieme; suum militem haud perinde vulneribus quam spatiis itinerum, damno armorum adfici; fessas Gallias ministrandis equis; longum impedimentorum agmen opportunum ad insidias, defensantibus iniquum.

[5] But it was by no means unwelcome to Tiberius that the affairs of the East were thrown into turmoil, so that under that pretext he might draw Germanicus away from his accustomed legions and, once imposed upon new provinces, expose him at once to intrigue and to chances. But he, the keener for hastening victory in proportion as the soldiers’ zeal for him was sharper and his uncle’s will averted, set himself to consider the ways of battles and what, now warring for the third year, had befallen him adverse or prosperous: that the Germans are routed in pitched line and on fair ground; that they are aided by woods, marshes, the brief summer and the premature winter; that his own soldier is affected not so much by wounds as by the stretches of the marches and the loss of arms; that Gaul is wearied by furnishing horses; that the long train of impedimenta is a fair mark for ambushes, and unfair for those defending it.

at si mare intretur, promptam ipsis possessionem et hostibus ignotam, simul bellum maturius incipi legionesque et commeatus pariter vehi; integrum equitem equosque per ora et alveos fluminum media in Germania fore.

but if the sea were entered, there would be a prompt possession for themselves and one unknown to the enemy; at the same time the war would be begun more quickly and the legions and supplies be carried together; the cavalry and the horses, intact, would be through the mouths and channels of the rivers in the midst of Germany.

[6] Igitur huc intendit, missis ad census Galliarum P. Vitellio et C. Antio. Silius et Anteius et Caecina fabricandae classi praeponuntur. mille naves sufficere visae properataeque, aliae breves, angusta puppi proraque et lato utero, quo facilius fluctus tolerarent; quaedam planae carinis, ut sine noxa siderent; plures adpositis utrimque gubernaculis, converso ut repente remigio hinc vel illinc adpellerent; multae pontibus stratae, super quas tormenta veherentur, simul aptae ferendis equis aut commeatui; velis habiles, citae remis augebantur alacritate militum in speciem ac terrorem.

[6] Therefore he bent his aim hither, having sent Publius Vitellius and Gaius Antius to the censuses of the Gauls. Silius and Anteius and Caecina are set over the fabrication of the fleet. 1,000 ships seemed sufficient and were hurried on, some short, with narrow stern and prow and a broad belly, that they might more easily tolerate the waves; certain with flat keels, so that they might settle without harm; more with rudders affixed on both sides, so that, the rowing suddenly reversed, they might be brought this way or that; many decked with gangways, over which artillery would be carried, at the same time fit for bearing horses or for commissariat; fit for sails, swift by oars, they were augmented by the alacrity of the soldiers, for show and for terror.

insula Batavorum in quam convenirent praedicta, ob facilis adpulsus accipiendisque copiis et transmittendum ad bellum opportuna. nam Rhenus uno alveo continuus aut modicas insulas circumveniens apud principium agri Batavi velut in duos amnis dividitur, servatque nomen et violentiam cursus, qua Germaniam praevehitur, donec Oceano misceatur: ad Gallicam ripam latior et placidior adfluens (verso cognomento Vahalem accolae dicunt), mox id quoque vocabulum mutat Mosa flumine eiusque inmenso ore eundem in Oceanum effunditur.

the island of the Batavians, into which the aforesaid were to assemble, on account of easy approaches and for receiving forces, and suitable for being transferred across to the war. For the Rhine, continuous in a single channel or encircling small islands, at the beginning of the territory of the Batavians, as it were, is divided into two rivers, and it keeps both the name and the violence of its course, by which it is borne along past Germany, until it is mingled with the Ocean: toward the Gallic bank flowing broader and more placid (with the appellation altered the inhabitants call it the Waal), soon it even changes that appellation by the Meuse river, and by its immense mouth is poured into the same Ocean.

[7] Sed Caesar, dum adiguntur naves, Silium legatum cum expedita manu inruptionem in Chattos facere iubet: ipse audito castellum Lupiae flumini adpositum obsideri, sex legiones eo duxit. neque Silio ob subitos imbris aliud actum quam ut modicam praedam et Arpi principis Chattorum coniagem filiamque raperet, neque Caesari copiam pugnae opsessores fecere, ad famam adventus eius dilapsi: tumulum tamen nuper Varianis legionibus structum et veterem aram Druso sitam disiecerant. restituit aram honorique patris princeps ipse cum legionibus decucurrit; tumulum iterare haud visum.

[7] But Caesar, while the ships were being driven together, orders the legate Silius with an expeditionary band to make an inruption into the Chatti: he himself, on hearing that a castellum set beside the river Lupia was being besieged, led six legions thither. Nor was anything else accomplished by Silius, because of sudden downpours, than to seize a modest booty and the wife and daughter of Arpus, chieftain of the Chatti; nor did the besiegers offer Caesar the chance of battle, having melted away at the rumor of his arrival: yet they had torn down a mound recently heaped up for the Varian legions and an old altar set by Drusus. He restored the altar, and for his father’s honor the princeps himself with the legions performed a parade; to renew the mound did not seem advisable.

et cuncta inter castellum Alisonem ac Rhenum novis limitibus aggeribusque permunita.

and everything between the castellum Aliso and the Rhine was thoroughly fortified with new limites and ramparts.

[8] Iamque classis advenerat, cum praemisso commeatu et distributis in legiones ac socios navibus fossam, cui Drusianae nomen, ingressus precatusque Drusum patrem ut se eadem ausum libens placatusque exemplo ac memoria consiliorum atque operum iuvaret, lacus inde et Oceanum usque ad Amisiam flumen secunda navigatione pervehitur. classis Amisiae ore relicta laevo amne, erratumque in eo quod non subvexit aut transposuit militem dextras in terras iturum; ita plures dies efficiendis pontibus absumpti. et eques quidem ac legiones prima aestuaria, nondum adcrescente unda, intrepidi transiere: postremum auxiliorum agmen Batavique in parte ea, dom insultant aquis artemque nandi ostentant, turbati et quidam hausti sunt.

[8] And now the fleet had arrived, when, the provisions sent ahead and the ships distributed to the legions and allies, he entered the canal which has the Drusian name, and prayed Drusus his father that, he too having dared the same things, he would help him gladly and propitiously by the example and memory of his counsels and works; from there, with a favorable navigation, he is conveyed over the lakes and the Ocean as far as the river Amisia. the fleet having been left at the Amisia’s mouth, by the left channel, there was an error in that he did not carry up or transfer the soldier who was going to go into the right-hand lands; thus more days were consumed in constructing bridges. and the cavalry indeed and the legions crossed the first tidal inlets, the wave not yet swelling, unafraid; but the rear of the auxiliaries and the Batavi in that quarter, while they leap upon the waters and display the art of swimming, were thrown into confusion, and some were swallowed up.

metanti castra Caesari Angrivariorum defectio a tergo nuntiatur: missus ilico Stertinius cum equite et armatura levi igne et caedibus perfidiam ultus est.

as Caesar was measuring out the camp, a defection of the Angrivarii was announced from the rear: Stertinius was sent immediately with cavalry and light armature, and with fire and slaughters he avenged the perfidy.

[9] Flumen Visurgis Romanos Cheruscosque interfluebat. eius in ripa cum ceteris primoribus Arminius adstitit, quaesitoque an Caesar venisset, postquam adesse responsum est, ut liceret cum fratre conloqui oravit. erat is in exercitu cognomento Flavus, insignis fide et amisso per vulnus oculo paucis ante annis duce Tiberio.

[9] The river Visurgis flowed between the Romans and the Cherusci. On its bank Arminius stood with the other foremost men, and, inquiry having been made whether Caesar had come, after it was answered that he was present, he begged that it might be permitted to confer with his brother. He was in the army, by cognomen Flavus, remarkable for fidelity, and, his eye having been lost by a wound a few years earlier under the leadership of Tiberius.

tum permissu * * progressusque salutatur ab Arminio; qui amotis stipatoribus, ut sagittarii nostra pro ripa dispositi abscederent postulat, et postquam digressi, unde ea deformitas oris interrogat fratrem. illo locum et proelium referente, quodnam praemium recepisset exquirit. Flavus aucta stipendia, torquem et coronam aliaque militaria dona memorat, inridente Arminio vilia servitii pretia.

then, permission having been granted, * * and having advanced, he is greeted by Arminius; who, the bodyguards having been removed, demands that our archers, posted along the bank, withdraw, and after they departed, he asks his brother whence that disfigurement of the face. with him recounting the place and the battle, he inquires what reward he had received. Flavus mentions increased stipends, a torque and a crown, and other military gifts, Arminius mocking the paltry prices of servitude.

[10] Exim diversi ordiantur, hic magnitudinem Romanam, opes Caesaris et victis gravis poenas, in deditionem venienti paratam clementiam; neque coniugem et filium eius hostiliter haberi: ille fas patriae, libertatem avitam, penetralis Germaniae deos, matrem precum sociam; ne propinquorum et adfinium, denique gentis suae desertor et proditor quam imperator esse mallet. paulatim inde ad iurgia prolapsi quo minus pugnam consererent ne flumine quidem interiecto cohibebantur, ni Stertinius adcurrens plenum irae armaque et equum poscentem Flavum attinuisset. cernebatur contra minitabundus Arminius proeliumque denuntians; nam pleraque Latino sermone interiaciebat, ut qui Romanis in castris ductor popularium meruisset.

[10] Then they begin from different premises: this one the Roman grandeur, the resources of Caesar, and the heavy penalties for the conquered, clemency prepared for one coming into surrender; that neither his wife nor his son are being held in a hostile manner: the other, the fas of the fatherland, ancestral liberty, the gods of innermost Germania, his mother as partner in prayers; that he not prefer to be a deserter and betrayer of his kinsfolk and relatives, finally of his own nation, rather than a commander. Little by little slipping thence into quarrels, they were not restrained from joining battle, not even by the river thrown between, if Stertinius, running up, had not held back Flavus, full of wrath and demanding arms and his horse. Over against him was seen Arminius, menacing and proclaiming battle; for he interjected most things in Latin speech, as one who had served in the Roman camps as a leader of his compatriots.

[11] Postero die Germanorum acies trans Visurgim stetit. Caesar nisi pontibus praesidiisque inpositis dare in discrimen legiones haud imperatorium ratus, equitem vado tramittit. praefuere Stertinius et e numero primipilarium Aemilius, distantibus locis invecti, ut hostem diducerent.

[11] On the next day the German battle line stood across the Visurgis. Caesar, deeming it not imperatorial to put the legions into peril unless bridges and garrisons had been set in place, sends the cavalry through a ford. Stertinius was in command, and Aemilius, from the number of the primipilarii, rode in at separated points, so as to draw the enemy apart.

qua celerrimus amnis, Chariovalda dux Batavorum erupit. eum Cherusci fugam simulantes in planitiem saltibus circumiectam traxere: dein coorti et undique effusi trudunt adversos, instant cedentibus collectosque in orbem pars congressi, quidam eminus proturbant. Chariovalda diu sustentata hostium saevitia, hortatus suos ut ingruentis catervas globo perfringerent, atque ipse densissimos inrumpens, congestis telis et suffosso equo labitur, ac multi nobilium circa: ceteros vis sua aut equites cum Stertinio Aemilioque subvenientes periculo exemere.

where the river is most swift, Chariovalda, leader of the Batavi, broke out. The Cherusci, simulating flight, drew him into a plain encircled by forests; then, having sprung up and poured out on every side, they shove those who oppose them, press upon the yielding, and, the men gathered into a ring, some, having joined battle, engage hand to hand, others drive them back from afar. Chariovalda, the savagery of the enemy long withstood, urged his own to shatter the onrushing masses in a globus, and he himself, bursting into the densest ranks, with missiles heaped upon him and his horse stabbed from beneath, falls, and many of the nobles around. The rest their own force, or the cavalry coming to help with Stertinius and Aemilius, rescued from peril.

[12] Caesar transgressus Visurgim indicio perfugae cognoscit delectum ab Arminio locum pugnae; convenisse et alias nationes in silvam Herculi sacram ausurosque nocturnam castrorum oppugnationem. habita indici fides et cernebantur ignes, suggressique propius speculatores audiri fremitum equorum inmensique et inconditi agminis murmur attulere. igitur propinquo summae rei discrimine explorandos militum animos ratus, quonam id modo incorruptum foret secum agitabat.

[12] Caesar, having transgressed the Visurgis, learns by the indication of a deserter that a place for battle had been selected by Arminius; that other nations too had come together into a grove sacred to Hercules and were going to dare a nocturnal assault upon the camp. Credit was given to the informer, and fires were being discerned, and scouts, having come up closer, brought word that the neighing of horses and the murmur of an immense and incondite column were being heard. Therefore, with the crisis of the whole affair at hand, thinking that the spirits of the soldiers must be explored, he was debating with himself by what method that would be uncorrupted.

tribunos et centuriones laeta saepius quam comperta nuntiare, libertorum servilia ingenia, amicis inesse adulationem; si contio vocetur, illic quoque quae pauci incipiant reliquos adstrepere. penitus noscendas mentes, cum secreti et incustoditi inter militaris cibos spem aut metum proferrent.

that tribunes and centurions announce cheerful rather than ascertained tidings more often, that freedmen’s dispositions are servile, that flattery is inherent in friends; if an assembly be called, there too the things which a few begin the rest roar approval of. Minds must be thoroughly learned, when, in private and unguarded, amid soldiers’ meals, they bring forth hope or fear.

[13] Nocte coepta egressus augurali per occulta et vigilibus ignara, comite uno, contectus umeros ferina pelle, adit castrorum vias, adsistit tabernaculis fruiturque fama sui, cum hic nobilitatem ducis, decorem alius, plurimi patientiam, comitatem, per seria per iocos eundem animum laudibus ferrent reddendamque gratiam in acie faterentur, simul perfidos et ruptores pacis ultioni et gloriae mactandos. inter quae unus hostium, Latinae linguae sciens, acto ad vallum equo voce magna coniuges et agros et stipendii in dies, donec bellaretur, sestertios centenos, si quis transfugisset, Arminii nomine pollicetur. intendit ea contumelia legionum iras: veniret dies, daretur pugna; sumpturum militem Germanorum agros, tracturum coniuges; accipere omen et matrimonia ac pecunias hostium praedae destinare.

[13] With night begun, he went out from the augural headquarters by hidden ways, unknown to the sentries, with one companion, his shoulders covered with a wild-beast pelt; he goes to the camp-streets, stands by the tents, and enjoys the talk about himself, as here one extolled the nobility of the leader, another his decorum, the very many his patience and comity, the same spirit in seriousness and in jests; and they avowed that thanks should be rendered on the battle-line, and that the treacherous and breakers of the peace should be sacrificed to vengeance and glory. Meanwhile one of the enemy, skilled in the Latin tongue, having ridden his horse up to the rampart, with a loud voice promises, in the name of Arminius, wives and fields and pay by the day—so long as there was war—one hundred sesterces, if anyone should desert. That insult strained the anger of the legions: let the day come, let battle be given; the soldier would seize the fields of the Germans, drag their wives; they take the omen, and assign the marriages and monies of the enemy for booty.

tertia ferme vigilia adsultatum est castris sine coniectu teli, postquam crebras pro munimentis cohortes et nihil remissum sensere.

About the third watch, an assault was made upon the camp without the casting of a missile, after they perceived numerous cohorts before the ramparts and that nothing had been relaxed.

[14] Nox eadem laetam Germanico quietem tulit, viditque se operatum et sanguine sacri respersa praetexta pulchriorem aliam manibus aviae Augustae accepisse. auctus omine, addicentibus auspiciis, vocat contionem et quae sapientia provisa aptaque inminenti pugnae disserit. non campos modo militi Romano ad proelium bonos, sed si ratio adsit, silvas et saltus; nec enim inmensa barbarorum scuta, enormis hastas inter truncos arborum et enata humo virgulta perinde haberi quam pila et gladios et haerentia corpori tegmina.

[14] The same night brought to Germanicus a joyful repose, and he saw himself performing the rite and, his praetexta spattered with the blood of the sacrifice, that he had received another, more beautiful one, from the hands of his grandmother Augusta. Strengthened by the omen, with the auspices assenting, he calls an assembly and expounds matters foreseen by wisdom and suited to the imminent battle. Not only plains, he says, are good for the Roman soldier for combat, but, if rational method be present, woods and forest-passes as well; for the immense shields of the barbarians and their enormous spears cannot be handled among the trunks of trees and the brushwood sprung from the soil as well as pila and swords and coverings clinging to the body.

denserent ictus, ora mucronibus quaererent: non loricam Germano, non galeam, ne scuta quidem ferro nervove firmata, sed viminum textus vel tenuis et fucatas colore tabulas; primam utcumque aciem hastatam, ceteris praeusta aut brevia tela. iam corpus ut visu torvom et ad brevem impetum validum, sic nulla vulnerum patientia: sine pudore flagitii, sine cura ducum abire, fugere, pavidos adversis, inter secunda non divini, non humani iuris memores. si taedio viarum ac maris finem cupiant, hac acie parari: propiorem iam Albim quam Rhenum neque bellum ultra, modo se patris patruique vestigia prementem isdem in terris victorem sisterent.

let them press their blows thick and fast, let them seek the faces with the sword-points: the German has no cuirass, no helmet, not even shields strengthened with iron or sinew, but wicker weaves or thin, color-dyed boards; the first battle-line, such as it is, spear-armed; the rest with fire-hardened or short javelins. though their body is grim to look upon and strong for a brief onset, yet it has no endurance of wounds: without shame for disgrace, without care for their leaders, they draw off, they flee—cowardly in adversity; amid successes mindful of neither divine nor human law. if they long for an end to the tedium of roads and sea, let it be procured by this battle-line: the Elbe is now nearer than the Rhine, and there will be no war beyond—provided only that they set him, treading in his father’s and uncle’s footsteps, as victor in the same lands.

[15] Orationem ducis secutus militum ardor, signumque s pugnae datum. nec Arminius aut ceteri Germanorum proceres omittebant suos quisque testari, hos esse Romanos Variani exercitus fugacissimos qui ne bellum tolerarent, seditionem induerint; quorum pars onustavulneribus terga, pars fluctibus et procellis fractos artus infensis rursum hostibus, adversis dis obiciant, nulla boni spe. classem quippe et avia Oceani quaesita ne quis venientibus occurreret, ne pulsos premeret: sed ubi miscuerint manus, inane victis ventumm remorumve subsidium.

[15] The ardor of the soldiers followed the oration of the leader, and the signal of battle was given. Nor did Arminius or the other princes of the Germans omit, each to testify to his own men, that these were the Romans of Varus’s army, most fugacious, who, rather than endure war, had donned sedition; of whom one part, laden with wounds, offers their backs, another, with limbs shattered by billows and storms, exposes them, with the gods adverse and no hope of good, to foes now hostile anew. For indeed the fleet and the pathless places of the Ocean were sought out, that no one might encounter them as they came, nor press them when driven back; but once they have joined hands, to the vanquished the wind or the oars are an empty succor.

meminissent modo avaritiae, crudelitatis, superbiae: aliod sibi reliquum quam tenere libertatem aut mori ante servitium?

let them only remember avarice, cruelty, arrogance: what other thing was left to them than to hold their freedom, or to die before servitude?

[16] Sic accensos et proelium poscentis in campum, cui Idistaviso nomen, deducunt. is medius inter Visurgim et collis, ut ripae fluminis cedunt aut prominentia montium resistunt, inaequaliter sinuatur. pone tergum insurgebat silva editis in altum ramis et pura humo inter arborum truncos.

[16] Thus inflamed and demanding battle, they are led down into the field whose name is Idistaviso. This lies midway between the Visurgis and the hills, and, as the banks of the river recede or the prominences of the mountains stand forth, it is unevenly indented. To the rear a forest was rising, with branches lifted high, and clear soil between the trunks of the trees.

campum et prima silvarum barbara acies tenuit: soli Cherusci iuga insedere ut proeliantibus Romanis desuper incurrerent. noster exercitus sic incessit: auxiliares Galli Germanique in fronte, post quos pedites sagittatii; dein quattuor legiones et cum duabus praetoriis cohortibus ac delecto equite Caesar; exim totidem aliae legiones et levis armatura cum equite sagittario ceteraeque sociorum cohortes. intentus paratusque miles ut ordo agminis in aciem adsisteret.

the barbarian battle-line held the plain and the foremost fringe of the woods: only the Cherusci sat the ridges, so that, the Romans fighting, they might charge down from above. our army advanced thus: auxiliary Gauls and Germans in the front, after whom the foot archers; then four legions, and Caesar with two praetorian cohorts and chosen cavalry; next, just as many other legions, and the light-armed troops with mounted archers, and the remaining cohorts of the allies. the soldiery was intent and prepared, so that the order of the marching column might take its stand in battle array.

[17] Visis Cheruscorum catervis, quae per ferociam proruperant, validissimos equitum ineurrere latus, Stertinium cum ceteris turmis circumgredi tergaque invadere iubet, ipse in tempore adfuturus. interea pulcherrimum augurium, octo aquilae petere silvas et intrare visae imperatorem advertere. exclamat irent, sequerentur Romanas avis, propria legionum numina.

[17] On seeing the Cheruscan squadrons, which had burst forth in ferocity, he orders the stoutest of the cavalry to charge the flank, and Stertinius with the other squadrons to wheel around and assail the rear, he himself to be at hand in due time. Meanwhile a most beautiful augury drew the commander’s attention: eight eagles were seen to make for the woods and to enter. He cries out for them to go, to follow the Roman birds, the proper numina of the legions.

simul pedestris acies infertur et praemissus eques postremos ac latera impulit. mirumque dictu, duo hostium agmina diversa fuga, qui silvam tenuerant, in aperta, qui campis adstiterant, in silvam ruebant. medii inter hos Cherusci collibus detrudebantur, inter quos insignis Arminius manu voce vulnere sustentabat pugnam.

at the same time the pedestrian battle-line is borne forward, and the equestrian cavalry sent ahead drove the rear and the flanks. and, marvelous to say, the two formations of the enemy, in divergent flight—those who had held the forest were rushing into the open, those who had stood on the plains, into the forest. in the midst between these the Cherusci were being thrust down from the hills, among whom the distinguished Arminius, with hand and voice, and even with his wound, sustained the fight.

incubueratque sagittariis, illa rupturus, ni Raetorum Vindelicorumque et Gallicae cohortes signa obiecissent. nisu tamen corporis et impetu equi pervasit, oblitus faciem suo curore ne nosceretur. quidam adgnitum a Chaucis inter auxilia Romana agentibus emissumque tradiderunt.

and he had borne down upon the archers, about to break through them, if the cohorts of the Raeti and Vindelici and the Gallic cohorts had not thrown their standards in his path. Yet by the strain of his body and the impetus of his horse he forced his way through, having smeared his face with his own gore so that he might not be recognized. Some reported that, recognized by the Chauci, who were serving among the Roman auxiliaries, he was let go.

virtus seu fraus eadem Inguiomero effugium dedit: ceteri passim trucidati. et plerosque tranare Visurgim conantis iniecta tela aut vis fluminis, postremo moles ruentium et incidentes ripae operuere. quidam turpi fuga in summa arborum nisi ramisque se occultantes admotis sagittariis per ludibrium figebantur, alios prorutae arbores adflixere.

Whether valor or the same deceit afforded Inguiomerus an escape: the rest were everywhere butchered. And most who were trying to swim the Visurgis, hurled missiles or the force of the river, and finally the mass of those collapsing and the caving banks, overwhelmed. Certain men, in shameful flight, hiding themselves in the tops of trees and upon the branches, once archers were brought up, were pinned for sport; others prostrate were crushed by trees thrown down.

[18] Magna ea victoria neque cruenta nobis fuit. quinta ab hora diei ad noctem caesi hostes decem milia passuum cadaveribus atque armis opplevere, repertis inter spolia eorum catenis quas in Romanos ut non dubio eventu portaverant. miles in loco proelii Tiberium imperatorem salutavit struxitque aggerem et in modum tropaeorum arma subscriptis victarum gentium nominibus imposuit.

[18] That victory was great and not blood-stained for us. From the fifth hour of the day until night, the slaughtered enemies filled ten miles with corpses and arms, chains having been found among their spoils which they had carried against the Romans, as though the outcome were not in doubt. The soldiery, on the spot of the battle, hailed Tiberius as imperator, and built an embankment and, in the manner of trophies, placed the arms with the names of the conquered nations inscribed.

[19] Haut perinde Germanos vulnera, luctus, excidia quam ea species dolore et ira adfecit. qui modo abire sedibus, trans Albim concedere parabant, pugnam volunt, arma rapiunt; plebes primores, inventus senes agmen Romanum repente incursant, turbant. postremo deligunt locum flumine et silvis clausum, arta intus planitie et umida: silvas quoque profunda palus ambibat nisi quod latus unum Angrivarii lato aggere extulerant quo a Cheruscis dirimerentur.

[19] Not so much wounds, griefs, and destructions as that spectacle afflicted the Germans with pain and wrath. Those who just now were preparing to leave their seats, to withdraw across the Elbe, want battle, seize arms; the common folk and the leading men, the youth and the old men, suddenly charge the Roman column and throw it into disorder. Finally they choose a place shut in by a river and forests, with a narrow and damp plain within: a deep marsh also encircled the woods, except that on one side the Angrivarii had raised a broad agger, by which they were separated from the Cherusci.

hic pedes adstitit: equitem propinquis lucis texere ut ingressis silvam legionibus a tergo foret.

here the infantry took their stand; they concealed the cavalry in the neighboring groves, so that, when the legions entered the forest, it would be at their rear.

[20] Nihil ex his Caesari incognitum: consilia locos, prompta occulta noverat astusque hostium in perniciem ipsis vertebat. Seio Tuberoni legato tradit equitem campumque; peditum aciem ita instruxit ut pars aequo in silvam aditu incederet, pars obiectum aggerem eniteretur; quod arduum sibi, cetera legatis permisit. quibus plana evenerant, facile inrupere: quis inpugnandus agger, ut si murum succederent, gravibus superne ictibus conflictabantur.

[20] Nothing of this was unknown to Caesar: the counsels and the locations, the manifest and the hidden he knew, and he would turn the enemy’s astuteness to their own perdition. To the legate Seius Tubero he entrusts the cavalry and the plain; the battle-line of the foot he arrayed in such a way that part would advance into the wood by an even approach, part would strive up the opposing rampart; what was arduous he reserved for himself, the rest he permitted to the legates. For those to whom level ground befell, they broke in easily: for those by whom the rampart had to be assaulted, as if they were coming up under a wall, they were being battered with heavy blows from above.

sensit dux inparem comminus pugnam remotisque paulum legionibus funditores libritoresque excutere tela et proturbare hostem iubet. missae e tormentis hastae, quantoque conspicui magis propugnatores, tanto pluribus vulneribus deiecti. primus Caesar cum praetoriis cohortibus capto vallo dedit impetum in silvas; conlato illic gradu certatum.

The general sensed the fight at close quarters to be unequal, and, the legions having been withdrawn a little, he orders the slingers and dart-throwers to hurl their missiles and to drive the enemy back. Spears were sent from the engines, and the more conspicuous the defenders of the rampart, the more numerous the wounds by which they were cast down. Caesar was first, with the praetorian cohorts, and, the rampart having been captured, he launched an assault into the woods; there, with ranks closed, the struggle was joined.

hostem a tergo palus, Romanos flumen aut montes claudebant: utrisque necessitas in loco, spes in virtute, salus ex victoria.

a marsh enclosed the enemy at the rear; a river or mountains enclosed the Romans: for both sides, necessity was in the position, hope in virtue, safety from victory.

[21] Nec minor Germanis animus, sed genere pugnae et armorum superabantur, cum ingens multitudo artis locis praelongas hastas non protenderet, non colligeret, neque adsultibus et velocitate corporum uteretur, coacta stabile ad proelium; contra miles, cui scutum pecotri adpressum et insidens capulo manus, latos barbarorum artus, nuda ora foderet viamque strage hostium aperiret, inprompto iam Arminio ob continua pericula, sive illum recens acceptum vulnus tardaverat. quin et Inguiomerum, tota volitantem acie, fortuna magis quam virtus deserebat. et Germanicus quo magis adgnosceretur detraxerat tegimen capitii orabatque insisterent caedibus: nil opus captivis, solam internicionem gentis finem bello fore.

[21] Nor was the spirit of the Germans lesser, but they were overmatched by the kind of fighting and by the arms, since a huge multitude, in tight places, could neither extend nor draw back their very-long lances, nor make use of rush-attacks and the speed of their bodies, forced as they were into a stationary battle; by contrast the soldier, with his shield pressed to his breast and his hand gripping the hilt, stabbed the broad limbs and bare faces of the barbarians, and opened a way by the slaughter of the foe—Arminius now taken unprepared by the continual dangers, or else a recently received wound had slowed him. Indeed even Inguiomerus, flying over the whole battle-line, was being deserted by Fortune rather than by valor. And Germanicus, that he might be the more recognized, had pulled off the covering of his head and was urging them to persist in the killings: no need of captives; only the extermination of the tribe would be the end of the war.

iamque sero diei subducit ex acie legionem faciendis castris: ceterae ad noctem cruore hostium satiatae sunt. equites ambigue certavere.

and now, late in the day, he withdraws a legion from the battle-line for the making of camp; the rest, until night, were satiated with the blood of the enemies. The cavalry contested ambiguously.

[22] Laudatis pro contione victoribus Caesar congeriem armorum struxit, superbo cum titulo: debellatis inter Rhenum Albimque nationibus exercitum Tiberii Caesaris ea monimenta Marti et Iovi et Augusto sacravisse. de se nihil addidit, metu invidiae an ratus conscientiam facti satis esse. mox bellum in Angrivarios Stertinio mandat, ni deditionem properavissent.

[22] Having praised the victors before the assembly, Caesar built a heap of arms, with a proud title: that, the nations between the Rhine and the Elbe having been brought to an end of war, the army of Tiberius Caesar had consecrated these monuments to Mars and Jupiter and Augustus. He added nothing about himself, whether from fear of envy or thinking the consciousness of the deed to be sufficient. Soon he assigns war against the Angrivarii to Stertinius, unless they should hasten to surrender.

atque illi supplices nihil abnuendo veniam omnium accepere.

and they, as suppliants, by refusing nothing, received pardon for all.

[23] Sed aestate iam adulta legionum aliae itinere terrestri in hibernacula remissae; pluris Caesar classi inpositas per flumen Amisiam Oceano invexit. ac primo placidum aequor mille navium remis strepere aut velis inpelli: mox atro nubium globo effusa grando, simul variis undique procellis incerti fluctus prospectum adimere, regimen inpedire; milesque pavidus et casuum maris ignarus dum turbat nautas vel intempestive iuvat, officia prudentium corrumpebat omne dehinc caelum et mare omne in austrum cessit, qui tumidis Germaniae terris, profundis amnibus, immenso nubium tractu validus et rigore vicini septentrionis horridior rapuit disiecitque navis in aperta Oceani aut insulas saxis abruptis vel per occulta vada infestas. quibus paulum aegreque vitatis, postquam mutabat aestus eodemque quo ventus ferebat, non adhaerere ancoris, non exhaurire inrumpentis undas poterant: equi, iumenta, sarcinae, etiam arma praecipitantur quo levarentur alvei manantes per latera et fluctu superurgente.

[23] But with summer now advanced, some of the legions were sent back to winter quarters by a land route; a greater number Caesar, having put aboard the fleet, carried by the river Amisia into the Ocean. And at first the calm sea made a din with the oars of a thousand ships, or was driven by sails: soon, with a black mass of clouds, hail poured forth, and at the same time with various squalls from every side the shifting waves took away the view and impeded the steering; and the soldier, panic-stricken and ignorant of the chances of the sea, while he throws the sailors into confusion or helps them unseasonably, was spoiling the duties of the skilled. Thereafter the whole sky and the whole sea yielded to the South wind, which, strong with Germany’s swelling lands, its deep rivers, the immense sweep of clouds, and made more horrid by the rigor of the neighboring North, snatched up and scattered the ships into the open of the Ocean, or among islands infested with sheer rocks or by hidden shoals. These having been avoided a little and with difficulty, after the tide was changing and was setting the same way as the wind, they could neither hold by anchors nor bail out the waves bursting in: horses, pack-animals, baggage, even arms are hurled headlong, in order that the hulls, streaming through the sides and with the wave surging over, might be lightened.

[24] Quanto violentior cetero mari Oceanus et truculentia caeli praestat Germania, tantum illa clades novitate et magnitudine excessit, hostilibus circum litoribus aut ita vasto et profundo ut credatur novissimum ac sine terris mare. pars navium haustae sunt, plures apud insulas longius sitas eiectae; milesque nullo illic hominum cultu fame absumptus, nisi quos corpora equorum eodem elisa toleraverant. sola Germanici triremis Chaucorum terram adpulit; quem per omnis illos dies noctesque apud scopulos et prominentis oras, cum se tanti exitii reum clamitaret, vix cohibuere amici quo minus eodem mari oppeteret.

[24] The more violent than the rest of the sea is the Ocean, and Germany excels in truculence of sky by so much, by so much did that disaster exceed in novelty and magnitude, with shores around of enemies, or so vast and deep that it is believed to be the farthest and landless sea. Part of the ships were swallowed, more were cast up near islands situated farther off; and the soldier, with no cultivation of men there, was consumed by hunger, except those whom the bodies of horses, dashed there likewise, had sustained. Only Germanicus’s trireme touched the land of the Chauci; him through all those days and nights among the rocks and jutting shores, while he kept crying out that he was guilty of so great a destruction, his friends scarcely held back from meeting death in the same sea.

tandem relabente aestu et secundante vento claudae naves raro remigio aut intentis vestibus, et quaedam a validioribus tractae, revertere; quas raptim refectas misit ut scrutarentur insulas. collecti ea cura plerique: multos Angrivarii nuper in fidem accepti redemptos ab interioribus reddidere; quidam in Britanniam rapti et remissi a regulis. ut quis ex longinquo revenerat, miracula narrabant, vim turbinum et inauditas volucris, monstra maris, ambiguas hominum et beluarum formas, visa sive ex metu credita.

at last, the tide slipping back and the wind seconding, the crippled ships, with rare rowing or with garments stretched tight, and some dragged by the stronger, returned; these, repaired in haste, he sent out to scrutinize the islands. by that care most were collected: many the Angrivarii, lately received into fealty, ransomed from the interior, gave back; some carried off to Britain and sent back by petty kings. as each had returned from afar, they were telling marvels—the force of whirlwinds and unheard-of birds, sea-monsters, forms ambiguous between men and beasts—things seen, or, out of fear, believed.

[25] Sed fama classis amissae ut Germanos ad spem belli, ita Caesarem ad coercendum erexit. C. Silio cum triginta peditum, tribus equitum milibus ire in Chattos imperat; ipse maioribus copiis Marsos inrumpit, quorum dux Mallovendus nuper in deditionem acceptus propinquo luco defossam Varianae legionis aquilam modico praesidio servari indicat. missa extemplo manus quae hostem a fronte eliceret, alii qui terga circumgressi recluderent humum.

[25] But the report of the fleet lost raised the Germans to the hope of war, and Caesar to restrain it. He orders Gaius Silius with 30,000 of infantry and 3,000 of cavalry to go against the Chatti; he himself with larger forces bursts into the Marsi, whose leader Mallovendus, recently received in surrender, indicates that the eagle of Varus’s legion, buried in a neighboring grove, was being kept with a small guard. Straightway a band was sent to draw the enemy out from the front, others to, having gone around their backs, open up the ground.

et utrisque adfuit fortuna. eo promptior Caesar pergit introrsus, populatur, excindit non ausum congredi hostem aut, sicubi restiterat, statim pulsum nec umquam magis, ut ex captivis cognitum est, paventem. quippe invictos et nullis casibas superabilis Romanos praedicabant, qui perdita classe, amissis armis, post constrata equorum virorumque corporibus litora eadem virtute, pari ferocia et velut aucti numero inrupissent.

and Fortune attended both. Thereupon Caesar, the more prompt, proceeds inward, lays waste, extirpates—the foe not daring to engage, or, wherever he had stood his ground, at once driven back—and never more, as was learned from captives, panic‑stricken. For they kept proclaiming the Romans unconquered and superable by no disasters: who, the fleet lost, their arms gone, after the shores had been strewn with the bodies of horses and men, with the same virtue, with equal ferocity, and as if increased in number, had broken in.

[26] Reductus inde in hiberna miles, laetus animi quod adversa maris expeditione prospera pensavisset. addidit munificentiam Caesar, quantum quis damni professus erat exsolvendo. nec dubium habebatur labare hostis petendaeque pacis consilia sumere, et si proxima aestas adiceretur, posse bellum patrari.

[26] Thence the soldiery was brought back into winter quarters, glad in spirit that they had counterbalanced the adversity of the sea-borne expedition with prosperous outcomes. Caesar added munificence, by paying out as much loss as each had professed. Nor was it doubted that the enemy was wavering and taking counsels for seeking peace, and that, if the next summer were added, the war could be consummated.

sed crebris epistulis Tiberius monebat rediret ad decretum triumphum: satis iam eventuum, satis casuum. prospera illi et magna proelia: eorum quoque meminisset, quae venti et fluctus, nulla ducis culpa, gravia tamen et saeva damna intulissent. se novies a divo Augusto in Germaniam missum plura consilio quam vi perfecisse.

but with frequent epistles Tiberius kept admonishing that he return to the decreed triumph: enough now of events, enough of chances. Prosperous and great battles were his; he should also remember those things which the winds and waves, by no fault of the leader, had nevertheless inflicted as grave and savage losses. He himself, sent nine times into Germany by the deified Augustus, had effected more by counsel than by force.

sic Sugambros in deditionem acceptos, sic Suebos regemque Maroboduum pace obstrictum. posse et Cheruscos ceterasque rebellium gentis, quoniam Romanae ultioni consultum esset, internis discordiis relinqui. precante Germanico annum efficiendis coeptis, acrius modestiam eius adgreditur alterum consulatum offerendo cuius munia praesens obiret.

thus the Sugambri were received into surrender, thus the Suebi and King Maroboduus were bound by peace. The Cherusci too and the other peoples of the rebels, since provision had been made for Roman vengeance, could be left to internal discords. When Germanicus was praying for a year for bringing the undertakings to completion, he more sharply assailed his modesty by offering a second consulship, whose duties he should discharge in person.

simul adnectebat, si foret adhuc bellandum, relinqueret materiem Drusi fratris gloriae, qui nullo tum alio hoste non nisi apud Germanias adsequi nomen imperatorium et deportare lauream posset. haud cunctatus est ultra Germanicus, quamquam fingi ea seque per invidiam parto iam decori abstrahi intellegeret.

At the same time he appended that, if there was still to be warring, he should leave material for the glory of his brother Drusus, who, there being then no other enemy, could attain the imperatorial name and carry the laurel only in the Germanies. Germanicus did not hesitate further, although he understood that these things were being feigned and that he himself, through envy, was being drawn off from a distinction already won.

[27] Sub idem tempus e familia Scriboniorum Libo Drusus defertur moliri res novas. eius negotii initium, ordinem, finem curatius disseram, quia tum primum reperta sunt quae per tot annos rem publicam exedere. Firmius Catus senator, ex intima Libonis amicitia, invenem inprovidum et facilem inanibus ad Chaldaeorum promissa, magorum sacra, somniorum etiam interpretes impulit, dum proavom Pompeium, amitam Scriboniam, quae quondam Augusti coniunx fuerat, consobrinos Caesares, plenam imaginibus domum ostentat, hortaturque ad luxum et aes alienum, socius libidinum et necessitatum, quo pluribus indiciis inligaret.

[27] At about the same time Libo Drusus of the Scribonian house is informed against for attempting novelties. I will more carefully discourse the beginning, the order, and the end of this affair, because then for the first time there were discovered those things which for so many years were eating away the commonwealth. Firmius Catus, a senator, from the innermost intimacy of Libo’s friendship, impelled a heedless youth, and one easily swayed by inanities, to the promises of the Chaldaeans, to the sacred rites of the magi, and even to interpreters of dreams, while he paraded before him his great‑grandfather Pompey, his aunt Scribonia, who once had been the wife of Augustus, his cousins the Caesars, a house full of images, and he urged him to luxury and to debt, a partner of his lusts and necessities, in order that he might entangle him with more proofs.

[28] Vt satis testium et qui servi eadem noscerent repperit, aditum ad principem postulat, demonstrato crimine et reo per Flaccum Vescularium equitem Romanum, cui propior cum Tiberio usus erat. Caesar indicium haud aspernatus congressus abnuit: posse enim eodem Flacco internuntio sermones commeare. atque interim Libonem ornat praetura, convictibus adhibet, non vultu alienatus, non verbis commotior (adeo iram condiderat); cunctaque eius dicta factaque, cum prohibere posset, scire malebat, donec Iunius quidam, temptatus ut infernas umbras carminibus eliceret, ad Fulcinium Trionem indicium detulit.

[28] When he had found enough witnesses and slaves who knew the same things, he requested access to the princeps, with the charge and the defendant indicated through Flaccus Vescularius, a Roman knight, who had a closer familiarity with Tiberius. Caesar, not spurning the disclosure, refused a meeting: for conversations could pass to and fro by this same Flaccus as inter-nuncio. And meanwhile he adorns Libo with the praetorship, brings him to banquets, not alienated in countenance, not more stirred in words (to such a degree he had buried his anger); and all his sayings and doings, though he could forbid them, he preferred to know, until a certain Junius, tempted to draw forth the infernal shades by incantations, carried the disclosure to Fulcinius Trio.

celebre inter accusatores Trionis ingenium erat avidumque famae malae. statim corripit reum, adit consules, cognitionem senatus poscit. et vocantur patres, addito consultandum super re magna et atroci.

Trio’s genius was celebrated among accusers and avid for ill-fame. At once he seizes the defendant, approaches the consuls, and demands the Senate’s cognizance. And the Fathers are summoned, with the addition that there should be deliberation upon a matter great and atrocious.

[29] Libo interim veste mutata cum primoribus feminis circumire domos, orare adfinis, vocem adversum pericula poscere, abouentibus cunctis, cum diversa praetenderent, eadem formidine. die senatus metu et aegritudine fessus, sive, ut tradidere quidam, simulato morbo, lectica delatus ad foris curiae innisusque fratri et manus ac supplices voces ad Tiberium tendens immoto eius vultu excipitur. mox libellos et auctores recitat Caesar ita moderans ne lenire neve asperare crimina videretur.

[29] Meanwhile Libo, with his dress changed, went about the houses with the foremost women, begging his kinsfolk, asking for a voice against the dangers—while all were abjuring, since they were putting forward different pretexts, with the same fear. On the day of the senate, exhausted by fear and sickness, or, as some have handed down, with a feigned illness, he was carried in a litter to the doors of the Curia; leaning on his brother and stretching his hands and suppliant cries toward Tiberius, he is received with that one’s countenance unmoved. Soon Caesar reads out the papers and their authors, so moderating that he might not seem either to soften or to exasperate the charges.

[30] Accesserant praeter Trionem et Catum accusatores Fonteius Agrippa et C. Vibius , certabantque cui ius perorandi in reum daretur, donec Vibius, quia nec ipsi inter se concederent et Libo sine patrono introisset, singillatim se crimina obiecturum professus, protulit libellos vaecordes adeo ut consultaverit Libo an habiturus foret opes quis viam Appiam Brundisium usque pecunia operiret. inerant et alia huiusce modi stolida vana, si mollius acciperes, miseranda. uni tamen libello manu Libonis nominibus Caesarum aut senatorum additas atrocis vel occultas notas accusator arguebat.

[30] There had come in addition to Trio and Catus the accusers Fonteius Agrippa and Gaius Vibius , and they contended as to whom the right of making the peroration against the defendant should be granted, until Vibius—because neither of them would yield to the other and Libo had entered without a patron—declaring that he would object the charges one by one, produced little books so crazed that Libo had consulted whether he would have the means with which he might cover the Appian Way all the way to Brundisium with money. There were also other stupid vanities of this sort, which, if you took them more mildly, were pitiable. Yet in one notebook, in Libo’s hand, the accuser was arguing that to the names of the Caesars or of senators there had been added atrocious or occult marks.

negante reo adgnoscentis servos per tormenta interrogari placuit. et quia vetere senatus consulto quaestio in caput domini prohibebatur, callidus et novi iuris repertor Tiberius mancipari singulos actori publico iubet, scilicet ut in Libonem ex servis salvo senatus consulto quaereretur. ob quae posterum diem reus petivit domumque digressus extremas preces P. Quirinio propinquo suo ad principem mandavit.

With the defendant denying, it was resolved that the slaves who were cognizant be interrogated under torture. And because by an old senatorial decree an inquest upon the head of the master was prohibited, Tiberius, crafty and a discoverer of new law, ordered the several slaves to be mancipated to the public prosecutor, namely so that, with the senatus consultum preserved, inquiry might be made against Libo from his slaves. On account of which the defendant asked for the next day, and, having gone home, he entrusted his last prayers to P. Quirinius, his kinsman, to be conveyed to the princeps.

[31] Responsum est ut senatum rogaret. cingebatur interim milite domus, strepebant etiam in vestibulo ut audiri, ut aspici possent, cum Libo ipsis quas in novissimam voluptatem adhibuerat epulis excruciatus vocare percussorem, prensare servorum dextras, inserere gladium. atque illis, dum trepidant, dum refugiunt, evertentibus adpositum cum mensa lumen, feralibus iam sibi tenebris duos ictus in viscera derexit.

[31] The answer was that he should ask the senate. Meanwhile the house was being ringed by soldiers; they were making a din even in the vestibule, so that they might be heard, so that they might be seen, when Libo, racked by the very banquets which he had used for his latest pleasure, began calling for the executioner, grasping the right hands of the slaves, thrusting in the sword. And as they, in their panic, in their recoiling, overturned the lamp set with the table, in darkness already funereal to him, he directed two blows into his vitals.

ad gemitum conlabentis adcurrere liberti, et caede visa miles abstitit. accusatio tamen apud patres adseveratione eadem peracta, iuravitque Tiberius petiturum se vitam quamvis nocenti, nisi voluntariam mortem properavisset.

At the groan of the one collapsing the freedmen ran up, and, the slaughter having been seen, the soldier stood aside. Nevertheless the accusation among the Fathers was carried through with the same asseveration, and Tiberius swore that he would petition for life even for a guilty man, unless he had hastened a voluntary death.

[32] Bona inter accusatores dividuntur, et praeturae extra ordinem datae iis qui senatorii ordinis erant. tunc Cotta Messalinus, ne imago Libonis exequias posterorum comitaretur, censuit, Cn. Lentulus, ne quis Scribonius cognomentum Drusi adsumeret. supplicationum dies Pomponii Flacci sententia constituti, dona Iovi, Marti, Concordiae, utque idumn Septembrium dies, quo se Libo interfecerat, dies festus haberetur, L. Piso et Gallus Asinius et Papius Mutilus et L. Apronius decrevere; quorum auctoritates adulationesque rettuli ut sciretur vetus id in re publica malum.

[32] The goods are divided among the accusers, and praetorships, out of turn, were given to those who were of the senatorial order. Then Cotta Messalinus proposed that the image of Libo should not accompany the funerals of his descendants; Cn. Lentulus, that no Scribonius should assume the cognomen of Drusus. Days of supplications were established by the opinion of Pomponius Flaccus, offerings to Jupiter, Mars, and Concord, and that the day of the Ides of September, on which Libo had killed himself, be held a festival day, L. Piso and Asinius Gallus and Papius Mutilus and L. Apronius decreed; whose authorities and flatteries I have recorded so that it might be known that that evil in the Republic was old.

facta et de mathematicis magisque Italia pellendis senatus consulta; quorum e numero L. Pituanius saxo deiectus est, in P. Marcium consules extra portam Esquilinam, cum classicum canere iussissent, more prisco advertere.

Senate decrees were also made for expelling the mathematici and magi from Italy; of whose number L. Pituanius was thrown down from the rock, and upon P. Marcius the consuls, outside the Esquiline Gate, when they had ordered the war-trumpet to be sounded, inflicted punishment in the old-fashioned manner.

[33] Proatus die multa in luxum civitatis dicta a Q. Haterio consulari, Octavio Frontone praetura functo; decretumque ne vasa auro solida ministrandis cibis fierent, ne vestis serica viros foedaret. excessit Fronto ac postulavit modum argento, supellectili, familiae: erat quippe adhuc frequens senatoribus, si quid e re publica crederent, loco sententiae promere. contra Gallus Asinius disseruit: auctu imperii adolevisse etiam privatas opes, idque non novum, sed e vetustissimis moribus: aliam apud Fabricios, aliam apud Scipiones pecuniam; et cuncta ad rem publicam referri, qua tenui angustas civium domos, postquam eo magnificentiae venerit, gliscere singulos.

[33] On the following day many things were spoken against the luxury of the civitas by Q. Haterius, of consular rank, and Octavius Fronto, who had performed the praetorship; and it was decreed that vessels of solid gold should not be made for the ministering of foods, nor that silken vesture should disgrace men. Fronto overstepped and demanded a measure upon silver, upon household furnishings, upon the familia; for it was still frequent among senators, if they believed something to be for the res publica, to bring it forward in place of a formal opinion. In opposition Gallus Asinius argued: that with the augmentation of the empire private wealth also had grown, and that this was not new, but from the most ancient mores: one kind of money among the Fabricii, another among the Scipios; and that all things are to be referred to the commonwealth, in which state, when it was on slender means, the citizens’ houses were narrow, but after it had come to such magnificence, individuals wax in wealth.

neque in familia et argento quaeque ad usum parentur nimium aliquid aut modicum nisi ex fortuna possidentis. distinctos senatus et equitum census, non quia diversi natura, sed ut locis ordinibus dignationibus antistent, ita iis quae ad requiem animi aut salubritatem corporum parentur, nisi forte clarissimo cuique pluris curas, maiora pericula subeunda, delenimentis curarum et periculorum carendum esse. facilem adsensum Gallo sub nominibus honestis confessio vitiorum et similitudo audientium dedit.

nor in the household and in silverware should the things provided for use be either excessive or meager, except according to the fortune of the possessor. the censuses of the senate and the equestrians are distinct, not because they are different by nature, but so that they may take precedence in places, orders, dignities; so too, in those things which are provided for the repose of the mind or the salubrity of bodies, one ought not to be deprived of the alleviations of cares and dangers—unless perhaps those most illustrious, for whom more cares and greater dangers must be undergone, should be the very ones to be deprived of the alleviations of cares and dangers. easy assent to Gallus, under honorable names, was given by the confession of vices and the likeness of the hearers.

adiecerat et Tiberius non id tempus censurae nec, si quid in moribus labaret, defuturum corrigendi auctorem.

Tiberius had added also that this was not the time for a Censorship, nor, if anything in morals were slipping, would there be lacking an author of correction.

[34] Inter quae L. Piso ambitum fori, corrupta iudicia, saevitiam oratorum accusationes minitantium increpans, abire se et cedere urbe, victurum in aliquo abdito et longinquo rure testabatur; simul curiam relinquebat. commotus est Tiberius, et quamquam mitibus verbis Pisonem permulsisset, propinquos quoque eius impulit ut abeuntem auctoritate vel precibus tenerent. haud minus liberi doloris documentum idem Piso mox dedit vocata in ius Vrgulania, quam supra leges amicitia Augustae extulerat.

[34] Among these things L. Piso, rebuking the electoral canvassing of the forum, corrupted courts, the savagery of orators threatening accusations, declared that he was going away and withdrawing from the city, that he would live in some hidden and far‑distant countryside; at the same time he was leaving the curia. Tiberius was moved, and although he had soothed Piso with mild words, he also impelled his kin to hold back the departing man by their authority or by prayers. By no less a proof of unrestrained indignation the same Piso soon gave, by summoning into court Vrgulania, whom the friendship of the Augusta had exalted above the laws.

nec aut Vrgulania optemperavit, in domum Caesaris spreto Pisone vecta, aut ille abscessit, quamquam Augusta se violari et imminui quereretur. Tiberius hactenus indulgere matri civile ratus, ut se iturum ad praetoris tribunal, adfuturum Vrgulaniae diceret, processit Palatio, procul sequi iussis militibus. spectabatur occursante populo compositus ore et sermonibus variis tempus atque iter ducens, donec propinquis Pisonem frustra coercentibus deferri Augusta pecuniam quae petebatur iuberet.

Nor did Urgulania comply, having, with Piso spurned, been conveyed into Caesar’s house; nor did he withdraw, although the Augusta complained that she was being violated and diminished. Tiberius, thinking it a civic thing thus far to indulge his mother, said that he would go to the praetor’s tribunal and be present for Urgulania; he proceeded from the Palatine, having ordered the soldiers to follow at a distance. He was beheld, as the populace ran to meet him, with composed countenance, and by varied conversations drawing out the time and the journey, until, with his relatives restraining Piso in vain, the Augusta ordered the money that was being demanded to be delivered.

isque finis rei, ex qua neque Piso inglorius et Caesar maiore fama fuit. ceterum Vrgulaniae potentia adeo nimia civitati erat ut testis in causa quadam, quae apud senatum tractabatur, venire dedignaretur: missus est praetor qui domi interrogaret, cum virgines Vestales in foro et iudicio audiri, quotiens testimonium dicerent, vetus mos fuerit.

and that was the end of the affair, from which neither was Piso inglorious and Caesar was of greater fame. but the power of Vrgulania was so excessive for the commonwealth that, as a witness in a certain case which was being handled before the senate, she disdained to come: a praetor was sent to question her at home, though the Vestal Virgins were heard in the forum and in court whenever they gave testimony; that had been the ancient custom.

[35] Res eo anno prolatas haud referrem, ni pretium foret Cn. Pisonis et Asinii Galli super eo negotio diversas sententias noscere. Piso, quamquam afuturum se dixerat Caesar, ob id magis agendas censebat, ut absente principe senatum et equites posse sua munia sustinere decorum rei publicae foret. Gallus, quia speciem libertatis Piso praeceperat, nihil satis inlustre aut ex dignitate populi Romani nisi coram et sub oculis Caesaris, eoque conventum Italiae et adfluentis provincias praesentiae eius servanda dicebat.

[35] I would not be reporting matters deferred in that year, were it not worth the price to learn the divergent opinions of Cn. Piso and Asinius Gallus concerning that business. Piso, although Caesar had said he would be absent, for that very reason judged they should all the more be transacted, so that, with the princeps absent, it would be decorous for the republic that the senate and the equestrian order be able to sustain their own functions. Gallus, because Piso had preempted the appearance of liberty, said that nothing was sufficiently illustrious or in keeping with the dignity of the Roman people unless in the presence and under the eyes of Caesar, and for that reason he declared that the gathering of Italy and the provinces thronging in should be kept for his presence.

audiente haec Tiberio ac silente magnis utrimque contentionibus acta, sed res dilatae.

While Tiberius was hearing these things and keeping silent, the proceedings were conducted with great contentions on both sides, but the matters were deferred.

[36] Et certamen Gallo adversus Caesarem exortum est. nam censuit in quinquennium magistratuum comitia habenda, utque legionum legati, qui ante praeturam ea militia fungebantur, iam tum praetores destinarentur, princeps duodecim candidatos in annos singulos nominaret. haud dubium erat eam sententiam altius penetrare et arcana imperii temptari.

[36] And a contest arose for Gallus against Caesar. For he proposed that the elections of magistrates be held for a quinquennium, and that the legates of the legions, who before the praetorship used to discharge that service, be already then designated praetors, the princeps to nominate twelve candidates for each single year. There was no doubt that that proposal penetrated more deeply and that the arcana of imperial rule were being probed.

Tiberius tamen, quasi augeretur potestas eius, disseruit: grave moderationi suae tot eligere, tot differre. vix per singulos annos offensiones vitari, quamvis repulsam propinqua spes soletur: quantum odii fore ab iis qui ultra quinquennium proiciantur? unde prospici posse quae cuique tam longo temporis spatio mens, domus, fortuna?

Tiberius, however, expounded, as if his power were being augmented: a grave burden upon his moderation, to select so many, to defer so many. Scarcely, year by year, can offenses be avoided, although a near hope is wont to solace a repulse: how much hatred will there be from those who are projected beyond five years? Whence can it be foreseen what, for each man, over so long a span of time, his mind, his household, his fortune will be?

superbire homines etiam annua designatione: quid si honorem per quinquennium agitent? quinquiplicari prorsus magistratus, subverti leges, quae sua spatia exercendae candidatorum industriae quaerendisque aut potiundis honoribus statuerint. favorabili in speciem oratione vim imperii tenuit.

men grow proud even from an annual designation: what if they were to agitate the honor for five years? the magistracies would be outright quintuplicated, the laws subverted, which have established their proper spans for the exercise of the candidates’ industry and for seeking or obtaining honors. with a speech favorable in appearance, he held fast the force of imperial power.

[37] Censusque quorundam senatorum iuvit. quo magis mirum fuit quod preces Marci Hortali, nobilis iuvenis, in paupertate manifesta superbius accepisset. nepos erat oratoris Hortensii, inlectus a divo Augusto liberalitate decies sestertii ducere uxorem, suscipere liberos, ne clarissima familia extingueretur.

[37] And he aided the census-rating of certain senators. All the more was it a marvel that he had received with greater haughtiness the petition of Marcus Hortalus, a noble youth, in manifest poverty. He was the grandson of the orator Hortensius, induced by the deified Augustus by a liberality of a million sesterces to marry a wife and to beget children, lest a most illustrious family be extinguished.

igitur quattuor filiis ante limen curiae adstantibus, loco sententiae, cum in Palatio senatus haberetur, modo Hortensii inter oratores sitam imaginem modo Augusti intuens, ad hunc modum coepit: 'patres conscripti, hos, quorum numerum et pueritiam videtis, non sponte sustuli sed quia princeps monebat; simul maiores mei meruerant ut posteros haberent. nam ego, qui non pecuniam, non studia populi neque eloquentiam, gentile domus nostrae bonum, varietate temporum accipere vel parare potuissem, satis habebam, si tenues res meae nec mihi pudori nec cuiquam oneri forent. iussus ab imperatore uxorem duxi.

therefore, with his four sons standing before the threshold of the Curia, in place of an opinion, when the senate was being held on the Palatine, looking now at the image of Hortensius set among the orators, now at Augustus, he began in this manner: 'Conscript Fathers, these, whose number and boyhood you see, I did not rear of my own accord but because the Princeps advised; at the same time my ancestors had deserved to have descendants. For I, who, by the vicissitude of the times, could neither receive nor procure money, nor the enthusiasms of the people, nor eloquence—the hereditary good of our house—held it enough if my slender means were neither a shame to me nor a burden to anyone. Ordered by the Emperor, I took a wife.'

en stirps et progenies tot consulum, tot dictatorum. nec ad invidiam ista sed conciliandae misericordiae refero. adsequentur florente te, Caesar, quos dederis honores: interim Q. Hortensii pronepotes, divi Augusti alumnos ab inopia defende.'

lo, the stock and progeny of so many consuls, so many dictators. nor do I recount these things for envy, but for the conciliating of mercy. they will obtain, while you are flourishing, Caesar, whatever honors you grant: meanwhile defend from want the great-grandsons of Q. Hortensius, the wards of the deified Augustus.'

[38] Inclinatio senatus incitamentum Tiberio fuit quo promptius adversaretur, his ferme verbis usus: 'si quantum pauperum est venire huc et liberis suis petere pecunias coeperint, singuli numquam exsatiabuntur, res publica deficiet. nec sane ideo a maioribus concessum est egredi aliquando relationem et quod in commune conducat loco sententiae proferre, ut privata negotia et res familiaris nostras hic augeamus, cum invidia senatus et principum, sive indulserint largitionem sive abnuerint. non enim preces sunt istud, sed efflagitatio, intempestiva quidem et inprovisa, cum aliis de rebus convenerint patres, consurgere et numero atque aetate liberum suorum urgere modestiam senatus, eandem vim in me transmittere ac velut perfringere aerarium, quod si ambitione exhauserimus, per scelera supplendum erit.

[38] The inclination of the senate was an incitement to Tiberius, whereby he the more promptly opposed, using words to this effect: 'if as many poor people as there are should begin to come here and to ask moneys for their children, individuals will never be satisfied, the commonwealth will be exhausted. nor indeed for this reason was it granted by our ancestors to go out at times from the relatio and to bring forward, in the place of a sententia, what conduces to the common good, that we might here augment our private business and household estate, with the ill-will of the senate and of the princes, whether they indulge largess or refuse it. for that is not prayers, but a demand, untimely indeed and unlooked-for, when the fathers have met about other matters, to rise and, by the number and age of their children, to press upon the modesty of the senate, to transmit the same force upon me and, as it were, to break open the treasury, which, if we drain by ambition, will have to be replenished through crimes.'

dedit tibi, Hortale, divus Augustus pecuniam, sed non conpellatus nec en lege ut semper daretur. languescet alioqui industria, intendetur socordia, si nullus ex se metus aut spes, et securi omnes aliena subsidia expectabunt, sibi ignavi, nobis graves.' haec atque talia, quamquam cum adsensu audita ab iis quibus omnia principum, honesta atque inhonesta, laudare mos est, plures per silentium aut occultum murmur excepere. sensitque Tiberius; et cum paulum reticuisset, Hortalo se respondisse ait: ceterum si patribus videretur, daturum liberis eius ducena sestertia singulis, qui sexus virilis essent.

dīvus Augustus gave you, Hortalus, money, but not compelled nor under a law that it should always be given. Otherwise industry will languish, sloth will be stretched, if there is no fear or hope from oneself, and all, feeling secure, will expect alien subsidies—idle for themselves, burdensome for us.' These and such things, although heard with assent by those whose custom it is to praise all the deeds of princes, honorable and dishonorable, more people received with silence or with a hidden murmur. And Tiberius perceived it; and when he had kept quiet a little, he said that he had replied to Hortalus: but if it seemed good to the Fathers, he would give to his children 200,000 sesterces apiece, those who were of the male sex.

egere alii grates: siluit Hortalus, pavore an avitae nobilitatis etiam inter angustias fortunae retinens. neque miseratus est posthac Tiberius, quamvis domus Hortensii pudendam ad inopiam delaberetur.

Others rendered thanks; Hortalus was silent, whether from fear or preserving the ancestral nobility even amid the straits of fortune. Nor thereafter did Tiberius commiserate, although the house of Hortensius was sliding down into shameful indigence.

[39] Eodem anno mancipii unius audacia, ni mature subventum foret, discordiis armisque civilibus rem publicam perculisset. Postumi Agrippae servus, nomine Clemens, comperto fine Augusti pergere in insulam Planasiam et fraude aut vi raptum Agrippam ferre ad exercitus Germanicos non servili animo concepit. ausa eius inpedivit tarditas onerariae navis: atque interim patrata caede ad maiora et magis praecipitia conversus furatur cineres vectusque Cosam Etruriae promunturium ignotis locis sese abdit, donec crinem barbamque promitteret: nam aetate et forma haud dissimili in dominum erat.

[39] In the same year, the audacity of a single slave, if timely aid had not been brought, would have struck down the commonwealth by discords and civil arms. A slave of Agrippa Postumus, by name Clemens, once he learned of the end of Augustus conceived, with a mind not servile, to make his way to the island of Planasia and, by fraud or force, to carry off Agrippa and bear him to the Germanic armies. The slowness of a cargo-ship impeded his attempts: and meanwhile, with the slaughter perpetrated, turning to greater and more headlong ventures, he steals the ashes; and, conveyed to Cosa, a promontory of Etruria, he hides himself in unknown places, until he should let his hair and beard grow long; for in age and appearance he was not unlike his master.

tum per idoneos et secreti eius socios crebrescit vivere Agrippam, occultis primum sermonibus, ut vetita solent, mox vago rumore apud inperitissimi cuiusque promptas auris aut rursum apud turbidos eoque nova cupientis. atque ipse adire municipia obscuro diei, neque propalam aspici neque diutius isdem locis, sed quia veritas visu et mora, falsa festinatione et incertis valescunt, relinquebat famam aut praeveniebat.

then, through fit men and comrades privy to his secret, it grows frequent that Agrippa lives—at first in occult speeches, as forbidden things are wont, soon in a vague rumor among the ready ears of each most unskilled, or again among the turbulent and therefore desiring novelties. and he himself would approach municipalities in the dimness of the day, to be neither seen openly nor for longer in the same places; but since truth gathers strength by sight and by delay, false things by haste and uncertainties, he would either leave a reputation behind or forestall it.

[40] Vulgabatur interim per Italiam servatum munere deum Agrippam, credebatur Romae; iamque Ostiam invectum multitudo ingens, iam in urbe clandestini coetus celebrabant, cum Tiberium anceps cura distrahere, vine militum servum suum coerceret an inanem credulitatem tempore ipso vanescere sineret: modo nihil spernendum, modo non omnia metuenda ambiguus pudoris ac metus reputabat. postremo dat negotium Sallustio Crispo. ille e clientibus duos (quidam milites fuisse tradunt) deligit atque hortatur, simulata conscientia adeant, offerant pecuniam, fidem atque pericula polliceantur.

[40] Meanwhile it was being spread abroad through Italy that Agrippa had been preserved by the munus of the gods; it was believed at Rome; and now a huge multitude was reporting him brought into Ostia, now clandestine coetus in the city were being celebrated, when an ambivalent care was distracting Tiberius, whether by the vis of soldiers he should coerce his slave, or allow empty credulity to vanish by time itself: at one moment he was reckoning that nothing should be spurned, at another that not all things were to be feared, ambiguous between shame and fear. At last he gives the business to Sallustius Crispus. He selects two from his clients (some hand down that they were soldiers) and urges them, with feigned complicity, to approach, to offer money, and to promise loyalty and perils.

exequuntur ut iussum erat. dein speculati noctem incustoditam, accepta idonea manu, vinctum clauso ore in Palatium traxere. percontanti Tiberio quo modo Agrippa factus esset respondisse fertur 'quo modo tu Caesar.' ut ederet socios subigi non potuit.

They executed it as it had been ordered. Then, having reconnoitered that the night was unguarded, after taking a suitable band, they dragged him, bound and with his mouth shut, into the Palatium. To Tiberius, as he questioned how he had become Agrippa, he is said to have answered, “In the way you became Caesar.” He could not be forced to divulge his associates.

nec Tiberius poenam eius palam ausus, in secreta Palatii parte interfici iussit corpusque clam auferri. et quamquam multi e domo principis equitesque ac senatores sustentasse opibus, iuvisse consiliis dicerentur, haud quaesitum.

nor did Tiberius, not daring to inflict his punishment openly, order him to be killed in a secret part of the Palatium and the body to be removed clandestinely. and although many from the princeps’s household, as well as equestrians and senators, were said to have sustained him with resources and to have aided him with counsels, no inquiry was made.

[41] Fine anni arcus propter aedem Saturni ob recepta signa cum Varo amissa ductu Germanici, auspiciis Tiberii, et aedes Fortis Fortunae Tiberim iuxta in hortis, quos Caesar dictator populo Romano legaverat, sacrarium genti Iuliae effigiesque divo Augusto apud Bovillas dicantur. C. Caelio L. Pomponio consulibus Germanicus Caesar a. d. VII. Kal.

[41] At the end of the year an arch beside the temple of Saturn, on account of the standards recovered—lost with Varus—under the leadership of Germanicus and the auspices of Tiberius, and a temple of Fors Fortuna next to the Tiber in the gardens which Caesar the dictator had bequeathed to the Roman people, a shrine for the Julian gens and effigies to the deified Augustus at Bovillae, were dedicated. Under the consulship of C. Caelius and L. Pomponius, Germanicus Caesar, on the 7th day before the Kalends...

Iunias triumphavit de Cheruscis Chattisque et Angrivariis quaeque aliae nationes usque ad Albim colunt. vecta spolia, captivi, simulacra montium, fluminum, proeliorum; bellumque, quia conficere prohibitus erat, pro confecto accipiebatur. augebat intuentium visus eximia ipsius species currusque quinque liberis onustus.

In June he triumphed over the Cherusci, the Chatti, and the Angrivarii, and whatever other nations dwell up to the Elbe. Spoils, captives, simulacra of mountains, rivers, and battles were carried; and the war, because he had been forbidden to bring it to completion, was accepted as accomplished. The spectacle was heightened in the eyes of the onlookers by his own exceptional appearance and by a chariot laden with 5 children.

sed suberat occulta formido, reputantibus haud prosperum in Druso patre eius favorem vulgi, avunculum eiusdem Marcellum flagrantibus plebis studiis intra inventam ereptum, brevis et infaustos populi Romani amores.

but an occult dread underlay, as men reckoned the favor of the crowd toward Drusus, his father, had been not prosperous; that his maternal uncle Marcellus, with the zeal of the plebs blazing, had been snatched away scarce after being discovered; the loves of the Roman people are brief and ill‑fated.

[42] Ceterum Tiberius nomine Germanici trecenos plebi sestertios viritim dedit seque collegam consulatui eius destinavit. nec ideo sincerae caritatis fidem adsecutus amoliri iuvenem specie honoris statuit struxitque causas aut forte oblatas arripuit. rex Archelaus quinquagesimum annum Cappadocia potiebatur, invisus Tiberio quod eum Rhodi agentem nullo officio coluisset.

[42] However, Tiberius, in the name of Germanicus, gave to the plebs three hundred sesterces apiece, and he designated himself as colleague to his consulship. Nor thereby did he attain the credit of sincere charity, and he resolved to remove the youth under the guise of honor, and he constructed pretexts or else seized upon such as chance offered. King Archelaus was in possession of Cappadocia for the fiftieth year, odious to Tiberius because, while he was sojourning at Rhodes, he had honored him with no service.

nec id Archelaus per superbiam omiserat, sed ab intimis Augusti monitus, quia florente Gaio Caesare missoque ad res Orientis intuta Tiberii amicitia credebatur. ut versa Caesarum subole imperium adeptus est, elicit Archelaum matris litteris, quae non dissimulatis filii offensionibus clementiam offerebae, si ad precandum veniret. ille ignarus doli vel, si intellegere crederetur, vim metuens in urbem properat; exceptusque immiti a principe et mox accusatus in senatu, non ob crimina quae fingebantur sed angore, simul fessus senio et quia regibus aequa, nedum infima insolita sunt, finem vitae sponte an fato implevit.

nor did Archelaus omit that out of pride, but, warned by the intimates of Augustus, because while Gaius Caesar was flourishing and sent to the affairs of the East, the friendship of Tiberius was thought unsafe. when, the stock of the Caesars having been changed, he gained the imperium, he lured Archelaus by letters of his mother, who, not dissembling her son's resentments, offered clemency if he would come to beg. he, ignorant of the trick, or, if he was thought to understand it, fearing force, hastens to the city; and, received with harshness by the princeps and soon accused in the senate, not on account of the crimes that were being fabricated but from anguish, at once wearied by old age and because to kings even equal treatment—much less the lowest things—is unfamiliar, he completed the end of life, whether by his own will or by fate.

regnum in provinciam redactum est, fructibusque eius levari posse centesimae vectigal professus Caesar ducentesimam in posterum statuit. per idem tempus Antiocho Commagenorum, Philopatore Cilicum regibus defunctis turbabantur nationes, plerisque Romanum, aliis regium imperium cupientibus; et provinciae Syria atque Iudaea, fessae oneribus, deminutionem tributi orabant.

the kingdom was reduced into a province, and Caesar, professing that the tax of the hundredth could be lightened by its revenues, for the future fixed the two-hundredth. At the same time the nations were being disturbed, their kings having died—Antiochus of the Commagenes, Philopator of the Cilicians—most desiring Roman rule, others royal rule; and the provinces Syria and Judaea, weary with burdens, were begging a diminution of tribute.

[43] Igitur haec et de Armenia quae supra memoravi apud patres disseruit, nec posse motum Orientem nisi Germanici sapientia conponi: nam suam aetatem vergere, Drusi nondum satis adolevisse. tunc decreto patrum per missae Germanico provinciae quae mari dividuntur, maiusque imperium, quoquo adisset, quam iis qui sorte aut missu principis obtinerent sed Tiberius demoverat Syria Creticum Silanum, per adfinitatem conexam Germanico, quia Silani filia Neroni vetustissimo liberorum eius pacta erat, praefeceratque Cn. Pisonem, ingenio violentum et obsequii ignarum, insita ferocia a patre Pisone qui civili bello resurgentis in Africa partis acerrimo ministerio adversus Caesarem iuvit, mox Brutum et Cassium secutus concesso reditu petitione honorum abstinuit, donec ultro ambiretur delatum ab Augusto consulatum accipere. sed praeter patemos spiritus uxoris quoque Plancinae nobilitate et opibus accendebatur; vix Tiberio concedere, liberos eius ut multum infra despectare.

[43] Accordingly he discoursed before the fathers both these points and those about Armenia which I related above, that the stirred Orient could not be composed save by the wisdom of Germanicus: for his own age was declining, Drusus had not yet sufficiently grown to manhood. Then by decree of the fathers the provinces which are divided by the sea were assigned to Germanicus, and a greater imperium, wherever he should go, than those who might hold it by lot or by the princeps’s dispatch; but Tiberius had removed from Syria Creticus Silanus, linked to Germanicus by affinity, because Silanus’s daughter had been betrothed to Nero, the eldest of his children, and he had put in charge Gnaeus Piso, violent in disposition and ignorant of obedience, with a fierceness inborn from his father Piso, who in the civil war aided, with most keen service, the party rising again in Africa against Caesar, soon followed Brutus and Cassius; when return was granted he refrained from canvassing for honors, until, unasked, he was courted to accept the consulship conferred by Augustus. But besides his paternal spirits he was inflamed also by the nobility and resources of his wife Plancina; to yield scarcely to Tiberius, to look down upon his children as far beneath.

nec dubium habebat se delectum qui Syriae imponeretur ad spes Germanici coercendas. credidere quidam data et a Tiberio occulta mandata; et Plancinam haud dubie Augusta monuit aemulatione muliebri Agrippinam insectandi divisa namque et discors aula erat tacitis in Drusum aut Germanicum studiis. Tiberius ut proprium et sui sanguinis Drusum fovebat: Germanico alienatio patrui amorem apud ceteros auxerat, et quia claritudine matemi generis anteibat, avum M. Antonium, avunculum Augustum ferens.

nor did he have a doubt that he had been chosen to be set over Syria to restrain the hopes of Germanicus. Some believed that secret mandates had also been given by Tiberius; and Plancina, without doubt, Augusta admonished—to persecute Agrippina in womanly emulation. For the court was divided and at odds, with silent partisanships for Drusus or for Germanicus. Tiberius cherished Drusus as his own and of his blood; for Germanicus, the estrangement of his uncle had increased his favor among the rest, and because he excelled in the renown of his maternal stock, claiming as grandfather Marcus Antonius and as uncle Augustus.

contra Druso proavus eques Romanus Pomponius Atticus dedecere Claudiorum imagines videbatur: et coniunx Germanici Agrippina fecunditate ac fama Liviam uxorem Drusi praecellebat. sed fratres egregie concordes et proximorum certaminibus inconcussi.

by contrast, for Drusus, his great-grandfather, the Roman eques Pomponius Atticus, seemed to disgrace the images of the Claudii: and the spouse of Germanicus, Agrippina, in fecundity and fame outshone Livia, the wife of Drusus. but the brothers were remarkably concordant and unshaken by the contests of their nearest relations.

[44] Nec multo post Drusus in Illyricum missus est ut suesceret militiae studiaque exercitus pararet; simul iuvenem urbano luxu lascivientem melius in castris haberi Tiberius seque tutiorem rebatur utroque filio legiones obtinente. sed Suebi praetendebantur auxilium adversus Cheruscos orantes; nam discessu Romanorum ac vacui externo metu gentis adsuetudine et tum aemulatione gloriae arma in se verterant. vis nationum, virtus ducum in aequo; set Maroboduum regis nomen invisum apud popularis, Arminium pro libertate bellantem favor habebat.

[44] Not long after, Drusus was sent into Illyricum, that he might grow accustomed to military service and prepare the loyalties of the army; at the same time Tiberius judged that a young man wantoning in urban luxury was better kept in the camp, and he reckoned himself safer with both sons holding legions. But the Suebi were put forward as a pretext, begging for aid against the Cherusci; for, with the departure of the Romans and, emptied of fear from without, by the nation’s habit and then through an emulation of glory, they had turned arms upon themselves. The force of the nations, the valor of the leaders, was on a level; but for Maroboduus the name of king was odious among his countrymen, whereas favor attended Arminius, fighting for liberty.

[45] Igitur non modo Cherusci sociique eorum, vetus Arminii miles, sumpsere bellum, sed e regno etiam Marobodui Suebae gentes, Semnones ac Langobardi, defecere ad eum. quibus additis praepollebat, ni Inguiomerus cum manu clientium ad Maroboduum perfugisset, non aliam ob causam quam quia fratris filio iuveni patruus senex parere dedignabatur. deriguntur acies, pari utrimque spe, nec, ut olim apud Germanos, vagis incursibus aut disiectas per catervas: quippe longa adversum nos militia insueverant sequi signa, subsidiis firmari, dicta imperatorum accipere.

[45] Therefore not only the Cherusci and their confederates, the old soldiery of Arminius, took up war, but even from the kingdom of Maroboduus Suebian peoples, the Semnones and the Langobardi, defected to him. With these added he would have been prepotent, had not Inguiomerus, with a band of clients, fled for refuge to Maroboduus, for no other cause than that the paternal uncle, an old man, disdained to obey his brother’s son, a youth. The battle-lines are set in array, with equal hope on both sides, and not, as once among the Germans, with roaming incursions or in ranks broken up into squads: for by long soldiery against us they had become accustomed to follow the standards, to be made firm by reserves, to receive the dicta of their commanders.

ac tunc Arminius equo conlustrans cuncta, ut quosque advectus erat, reciperatam libertatem, trucidatas legiones, spolia adhuc et tela Romanis derepta in manibus multorum ostentabat; contra fugacem Maroboduum appellans, proeliorum expertem, Hercyniae latebris defensum; ac mox per dona et legationes petivisse foedus, proditorem patriae, satellitem Caesaris, haud minus infensis animis exturbandum quam Varum Quintilium interfecerint. meminissent modo tot proeliorum, quorum eventu et ad postremum eiectis Romanis satis probatum, penes utros summa belli fuerit.

and then Arminius, surveying everything on horseback, as he rode up to each, was displaying the recovered liberty, the slaughtered legions, the spoils and even now the weapons torn from the Romans in the hands of many; by contrast he was calling Maroboduus a fugitive, untried in battles, shielded by the hiding-places of the Hercynian forest; and that soon by gifts and legations he had sought a treaty—a betrayer of the fatherland, a satellite of Caesar—one to be driven out with feelings no less hostile than those with which they had slain Quintilius Varus. Let them only remember so many battles, by the outcome of which, and at the last with the Romans ejected, it had been sufficiently proved in whose hands the summa of the war had lain.

[46] Neque Maroboduns iactantia sui aut probris in hostem abstinebat, sed Inguiomerum tenens illo in corpore decus omne Cheruscorum, illius consiliis gesta quae prospere ceciderint testabatur: vaecordem Arminium et rerum nescium alienam gloriam in se trahere, quoniam tres vagas legiones et ducem fraudis ignarum perfidia deceperit, magna cum clade Germaniae et ignominia sua, cum coniunx, cum fiius eius servitium adhuc tolerent. at se duodecim legionibus petitum duce Tiberio inlibatam Germanorum gloriam servavisse, mox condicionibus aequis discessum; neque paenitere quod ipsorum in manu sit, integrum adversum Romanos bellum an pacem incruentam malint. his vocibus instinctos exercitus propriae quoque causae stimulabant, cum a Cheruscis Langobardisque pro antiquo decore aut recenti libertate et contra augendae dominationi certaretur.

[46] Nor did Maroboduus abstain from vaunting himself or from reproaches against the enemy, but, keeping Inguiomerus—since in that person was the whole adornment of the Cherusci—he attested that by that man’s counsels the deeds which had turned out prosperously were achieved: that the frenzied Arminius, ignorant of affairs, was drawing to himself another’s glory, inasmuch as by perfidy he had deceived three wandering legions and a commander unaware of the fraud, with great disaster to Germany and with his own ignominy, while his wife, while his son were still enduring servitude. But that he, assailed by twelve legions under Tiberius as leader, had preserved inviolate the glory of the Germans, and that afterward there had been a parting on equitable terms; nor did he repent, since it was in their own hand whether they preferred an entire war against the Romans or a bloodless peace. Stirred by these words, the armies were also spurred by their own causes, since on the part of the Cherusci and Langobardi the contest was for ancient honor or for recent liberty, and, on the contrary, for the augmenting of domination.

non alias maiore mole concursum neque ambiguo magis eventu, fusis utrimque dextris cornibus; sperabaturque rursum pugna, ni Maroboduns castra in collis subduxisset. id signum perculsi fuit; et transfugiis paulatim nudatus in Marcomanos concessit misitque legatos ad Tiberium oraturos auxilia. responsum est non lure eum adversus Cheruscos arma Romana invocare, qui pugnantis in eundem hostem Romanos nulla ope iuvisset.

Never at any other time was there a clash of greater mass, nor with a more ambiguous outcome, the right wings on both sides having been routed; and a renewed fight was expected, had not Maroboduns withdrawn his camp onto the hills. That was the sign of being panic-struck; and, gradually stripped by defections, he retired to the Marcomani and sent legates to Tiberius to beg for auxiliaries. The reply was that he had no right to invoke Roman arms against the Cherusci, since he had in no way helped the Romans fighting the same enemy.

missus tamen Drusus, ut rettulimus, paci firmator.

Drusus, however, as we have related, was sent to confirm peace.

[47] Eodem anno duodecim celebres Asiae urbes conlapsae nocturno motu terrae, quo inprovisior graviorque pestis fuit. neque solitum in tali casu effugium subveniebat in aperta prorumpendi, quia diductis terris hauriebantur. sedisse inmensos montis, visa in arduo quae plana fuerint, effulsisse inter ruinam ignis memorant.

[47] In the same year twelve celebrated cities of Asia collapsed in a nocturnal movement of the earth, whereby, being more unforeseen, the calamity was the heavier. Nor did the usual escape in such a case—of bursting out into the open—come to their aid, because, the ground having been split apart, they were swallowed up. They report that immense mountains subsided, that things which had been level were seen on steep heights, and that fires flashed forth amid the ruin.

asperrima in Sardianos lues plurimum in eosdem misericordiae traxit: nam centies sestertium pollicitus Caesar, et quantum aerario aut fisco pendebant in quinquennium remisit. Magnetes a Sipylo proximi damno ac remedio habiti. Temnios, Philadelphenos, Aegeatas, Apollonidenses, quique Mosteni aut Macedones Hyrcani vocantur, et Hierocaesariam, Myrinam, Cymen, Tmolum levari idem in tempus tributis mittique ex senatu placuit, qui praesentia spectaret refoveretque.

the very harsh plague upon the Sardians drew the greatest mercy toward those same people: for Caesar promised 10,000,000 sesterces, and remitted for a five-year period whatever they owed to the aerarium or the fisc. The Magnesians at Sipylus were held as next both in loss and in remedy. It was decided that the Temnians, the Philadelphians, the Aegaeans, the Apollonideans, and those who are called the Mosteni or the Hyrcanian Macedonians, and Hierocaesarea, Myrina, Cyme, and Tmolus be lightened of tributes for the same time, and that there be sent from the Senate someone who would inspect the present circumstances and revive them.

delectus est M. Ateius e praetoriis, ne consulari obtinente Asiam aemulatio inter pares et ex eo impedimentum oreretur.

Marcus Ateius was chosen from the praetorian rank, lest, with a consular man holding Asia, emulation among peers—and from that an impediment—should arise.

[48] Magnificam in publicum largitionem auxit Caesar haud minus grata liberalitate, quod bona Aemiliae Musae, locupletis intestatae, petita in fiscum, Aemilio Lepido, cuius e domo videbatur, et Pantulel divitis equitis Romani here ditatem, quamquam ipse heres in parte legeretur, tradidit M. Servilio, quem prioribus neque suspectis tabulis scriptum compererat, nobilitatem utriusque pecunia iuvandam praefatus. neque hereditatem cuiusquam adiit nisi cum amicitia meruisset: ignotos et aliis infensos eoque principem nuncupantis procul arcebat. ceterum ut honestam innocentium paupertatem levavit, ita prodigos et ob flagitia egentis, Vibidium Varronem, Marium Nepotem, Appium Appianum, Cornelium Sullam, Q. Vitellium movit senatu aut sponte cedere passus est.

[48] Caesar increased his magnificent largess to the public by a no less welcome liberality, in that he handed over the goods of Aemilia Musa, a wealthy woman who died intestate, which had been claimed for the fisc, to Aemilius Lepidus, from whose household she seemed to be; and the inheritance of Pantulel, a rich Roman eques, although he himself had been named as an heir in part, he transferred to M. Servilius, whom he had found written in earlier and not suspect tablets, declaring that the nobility of each was to be aided by the money. Nor did he enter upon anyone’s inheritance unless he had earned it by friendship: those unknown to him and odious to others, and for that reason entitling the princeps as heir, he kept far away. Moreover, just as he relieved the honorable poverty of the innocent, so the prodigals and those needy on account of their flagitia—Vibidius Varro, Marius Nepos, Appius Appianus, Cornelius Sulla, Q. Vitellius—he removed from the senate or allowed to withdraw of their own accord.

[49] Isdem temporibus deum aedis vetustate aut igni abolitas coeptasque ab Augusto dedicavit, Libero Liberaeque et Cereri iuxta circum maximum, quam A. Postumius dictator voverat, eodemque in loco aedem Florae ab Lucio et Marco Publiciis aedilibus constitutam, et Iano templum, quod apud forum holitorium C. Duilius struxerat, qui primus rem Romanam prospere mari gessit triumphumque navalem de Poenis meruit. Spei aedes a Germanico sacratur: hanc A. Atilius voverat eodem bello.

[49] At the same time he dedicated the temples of the gods that had been abolished by age or by fire, and those begun by Augustus: to Liber and Libera and to Ceres, next to the Circus Maximus, which A. Postumius, dictator, had vowed; and in the same place the temple of Flora, established by Lucius and Marcus Publicius, aediles; and the temple of Janus, which at the Forum Holitorium C. Duilius had built—he who first conducted the Roman cause prosperously on the sea and earned a naval triumph over the Punics. The temple of Hope is consecrated by Germanicus: this A. Atilius had vowed in the same war.

[50] Adolescebat interea lex maiestatis. et Appuleiam Varillam, sororis Augusti neptem, quia probrosis sermonibus divum Augustum ac Tiberium et matrem eius inlusisset Caesarique conexa adulterio teneretur, maiestatis delator arcessebat. de adulterio satis caveri lege Iulia visum: maiestatis crimen distingui Caesar postulavit damnarique, si qua de Augusto inreligiose dixisset: in se iacta nolle ad cognitionem vocari.

[50] Meanwhile the law of majesty was growing; and Appuleia Varilla, granddaughter of Augustus’s sister, because she had mocked the deified Augustus and Tiberius and his mother with abusive speeches, and was held as connected with the Caesar by adultery, was being arraigned by a delator for majesty. As to adultery, it seemed that sufficient provision was made by the Julian law; Caesar demanded that the charge of majesty be distinguished and that she be condemned, if she had spoken irreligiously about Augustus; as for things hurled against himself, he did not wish them to be called to an inquiry.

interrogatus a consule quid de iis censeret quae de matre eius locuta secus argueretur reticuit; dein proximo senatus die illius quoque nomine oravit ne cui verba in eam quoquo modo habita crimini forent. liberavitque Appuleiam lege maiestatis: adulterii graviorem poenam deprecatus, ut exemplo maiorum propinquis suis ultra ducentesimum lapidem removeretur suasit. adultero Manlio Italia atque Africa interdictum est.

Asked by the consul what he judged about the matters for which she was accused of having spoken improperly about his mother, he kept silent; then, on the next day of the Senate, he also pleaded in her name that words uttered against her in any manner should not be a crime to anyone. And he acquitted Appuleia under the law of treason; deprecating a graver penalty for adultery, he advised, after the example of the ancestors, that she be removed from her kin beyond the 200th milestone. For the adulterer Manlius, interdiction from Italy and Africa was imposed.

[51] De praetore in locum Vipstani Galli, quem mors abstulerat, subrogando certamen incessit. Germanicus.atque Drusus (nam etiam tum Romae erant) Haterium Agrippam propinquum Germanici fovebant: contra plerique nitebantur ut numerus liberorum in candidatis praepolleret, quod lex iubebat. laetabatur Tiberius, cum inter filios eius et leges senatus disceptaret.

[51] About subrogating a praetor in the place of Vipstanus Gallus, whom death had removed, a contest arose. Germanicus and Drusus (for they too were still at Rome) were favoring Haterius Agrippa, a kinsman of Germanicus; against them the majority strove that the number of children should preponderate among the candidates, as the law ordered. Tiberius rejoiced, since the senate was disputing between his sons and the laws.

victa est sine dubio lex, sed neque statim et paucis suffragiis, quo modo etiam cum valerent leges vincebantur.

the law was, without doubt, defeated, but neither immediately nor by a few suffrages, in the same way as even when the laws had force they were defeated.

[52] Eodem anno coeptum in Africa bellum, duce hostium Tacfarinate. is natione Numida, in castris Romanis auxiliaria stipendia meritus, mox desertor, vagos primum et latrociniis suetos ad praedam et raptus congregare, dein more militiae per vexilla et turmas componere, postremo non inconditae turbae sed Musulamiorum dux haberi. valida ea gens et solitudinibus Africae propinqua, nullo etiam tum urbium cultu, cepit arma Maurosque accolas in bellum traxit: dux et his, Mazippa.

[52] In the same year a war was begun in Africa, with Tacfarinas as leader of the enemy. He, by nation a Numidian, having earned auxiliary stipends in the Roman camps, soon a deserter, began first to gather vagabonds and men accustomed to latrociny for prey and rapines, then to marshal them in the military manner by vexilla and troops; at last he was held not as the head of an incondite mob but as leader of the Musulamians. That people was strong and near the solitudes of Africa, with no cultivation of cities even then; they took up arms and drew the Moors, their neighbors, into the war: and for these also, the leader was Mazippa.

divisusque exercitus, ut Tacfarinas lectos viros et Romanum in modum armatos castris attineret, disciplina et imperiis suesceret, Mazippa levi cum copia incendia et caedis et terrorem circumferret. coapulerantque Cinithios, haud spernendam nationem, in eadem, cum Furius Camillus pro consule Africae legionem et quod sub signis sociorum in unum conductos ad hostem duxit, modicam manum, si multitudinem Numidarum atque Maurorum spectares; sed nihil aeque cavabatur quam ne bellum metu eluderent; spe victoriae inducti sunt ut vincerentur. igitur legio medio, leves cohortes duaeque alae in cornibus locantur.

And the army was divided: so that Tacfarinas might keep the chosen men, armed in the Roman manner, within the camp and accustom them to discipline and to commands; while Mazippa, with a light force, might carry about conflagrations and slaughter and terror. And they had also drawn the Cinithii, a nation not to be scorned, into the same [cause]; when Furius Camillus, proconsul of Africa, led against the enemy the legion and such forces of the allies as had been brought together under the standards into one—an only moderate band, if you considered the multitude of Numidians and Mauri; but nothing was guarded against so much as that they should not elude the war by fear; by hope of victory they were induced to be conquered. Therefore the legion is placed in the center, the light cohorts and two alae on the flanks.

nec Tacfarinas pugnam detrectavit. fusi Numidae, multosque post annos Furio nomini partum decus militiae. nam post illum reciperatorem urbis filiumque eius Camillum penes alias familias imperatoria laus fuerat; atque hic, quem memoramus, bellorum expers habebatur.

Nor did Tacfarinas decline the fight. The Numidians were routed, and, after many years, a glory of the military was won for the name of Furius. For after that restorer of the city and his son Camillus, the imperatorial praise had been in the hands of other families; and this man, whom we mention, was held to be without experience of wars.

eo pronior Tiberius res gestas apud senatum celebravit; et decrevere patres triumphalia insignia, quod Camillo ob modestiam vitae impune fuit.

All the more on that account Tiberius celebrated the achievements before the senate; and the fathers decreed the triumphal insignia, which for Camillus, on account of the modesty of his life, was without penalty.

[53] Sequens annus Tiberium tertio, Germanicum iterum consules habuit. sed eum honorem Germanicus iniit apud urbem Achaiae Nicopolim, quo venerat per Illyricam oram viso fratre Druso in Delmatia agente, Hadriatici ac mox Ionii maris adversam navigationem perpessus. igitur paucos dies insumpsit reficiendae classi; simul sinus Actiaca victoria inclutos et sacratas ab Augusto manubias castraque Antonii cum recordatione maiorum suorum adiit.

[53] The following year had Tiberius for the third time, Germanicus for the second, as consuls. But Germanicus entered upon that honor at Nicopolis, a city of Achaia, to which he had come along the Illyric coast, after seeing his brother Drusus conducting operations in Dalmatia, having endured an adverse navigation of the Adriatic and soon the Ionian sea. Therefore he expended a few days on refitting the fleet; at the same time he visited the bays renowned by the Actian victory and the spoils consecrated by Augustus and the camp of Antony, with a recollection of his ancestors.

namque ei, ut memoravi, avunculus Augustus, avus Antonius erant, magnaque illic imago tristium laetorumque. hinc ventum Athenas, foederique sociae et vetustae urbis datum ut uno lictore uteretur. excepere Graeci quaesitissimis honoribus, vetera suorum facta dictaque praeferentes quo plus dignationis adulatio haberet.

For to him, as I have mentioned, Augustus was a maternal uncle, Antonius a grandfather, and there a great image of things sad and glad. Thence they came to Athens, and to the federate ally and ancient city it was granted that he should make use of one lictor. The Greeks received him with the most carefully sought honors, preferring the ancient deeds and sayings of their own, so that adulation might have the more of dignity.

[54] Petita inde Euboca tramisit Lesbum ubi Agrippina novissimo partu Iuliam edidit. tum extrema Asiae Perinthumque ac Byzantium, Thraecias urbes, mox Propontidis angustias et os Ponticum intrat, cupidine veteres locos et fama celebratos noscendi; pariterque provincias internis certaminibus aut magistratuum iniuriis fessas refovebat. atque illum in regressu sacra Samothracum visere nitentem obvii aquilones depulere.

[54] Thence, making for Euboea, he crossed over to Lesbos, where Agrippina, in her latest childbirth, bore Julia. Then the farthest parts of Asia and Perinthus and Byzantium, Thracian cities; soon he enters the narrows of the Propontis and the Pontic mouth, from a desire of getting to know old places and those celebrated by fame; and at the same time he was restoring the provinces wearied by internal contests or the injuries of magistrates. And him, on the return, as he strove to visit the sacred rites of the Samothracians, north winds meeting him drove off.

igitur adito Ilio quaeque ibi varietate fortunae et nostri origine veneranda, relegit Asiam adpellitque Colophona ut Clarii Apollinis oraculo uteretur. non femina illic, ut apud Delphos, sed certis e familiis et ferme Mileto accitus sacerdos numerum modo consultantium et nomina audit; tum in specum degressus, hausta fontis arcani aqua, ignarus plerumque litterarum et carminum edit responsa versibus compositis super rebus quas quis mente concepit. et ferebatur Germanico per ambages, ut mos oraculis, maturum exitum cecinisse.

Therefore, having approached Ilion and the things there venerable for the variety of fortune and for our origin, he re-traversed Asia and put in at Colophon to make use of the oracle of Clarian Apollo. Not a woman there, as at Delphi, but a priest from certain families, and generally summoned from Miletus, hears only the number and the names of those consulting; then, having gone down into a cave, after drinking the water of a secret spring, ignorant for the most part of letters and of songs, he gives forth responses in composed verses about matters which each has conceived in his mind. And it was reported that for Germanicus, through ambiguities—as is the custom with oracles—it had chanted a timely end.

[55] At Cn. Piso quo properantius destinata inciperet civitatem Atheniensium turbido incessu exterritam oratione saeva increpat, oblique Germanicum perstringens quod contra decus Romani nominis non Atheniensis tot cladibus extinctos, sed conluviem illam nationum comitate nimia coluisset: hos enim esse Mithridatis adversus Sullam, Antonii adversus divum Augustum socios. etiam vetena obiectabat, quae in Macedones inprospere, violenter in suos fecissent, offensus urbi propria quoque ira quia Theophilum quendam Areo iudicio falsi damnatum precibus suis non concederent. exim navigatione celeri per Cycladas ee compendia maris adsequitur Germanicum apud insulam Rhodum, haud nescium quibus insectationibus petitus foret: sed tanta mansuetudine agebat ut, cum orta tempestas raperet in abrupta possetque interitus inimici ad casum referri, miserit triremis quarum subsidio discrimini eximeretur.

[55] But Gnaeus Piso, that he might begin his designs the more hastily, rebukes with savage speech the state of the Athenians, terrified by his turbulent gait, obliquely slashing at Germanicus, because, contrary to the honor of the Roman name, he had not tended the Athenians, extinguished by so many disasters, but had cultivated with excessive affability that congeries of nations: for these, he said, were the allies of Mithridates against Sulla, of Antony against the divine Augustus. He even cast up old charges, what they had done unsuccessfully against the Macedonians, and violently against their own; and he was offended with the city by his own private anger as well, because they would not yield to his entreaties on behalf of a certain Theophilus, condemned of falsification by the judgment of the Areopagus. Then, by swift navigation through the Cyclades and the short-cuts of the sea, he overtakes Germanicus at the island of Rhodes, not unaware by what harryings he had been attacked; but he (Germanicus) conducted himself with such mildness that, when a storm arose and was sweeping his enemy into the abyss, and the destruction of the foe could be ascribed to chance, he sent triremes, by whose aid he was taken out of danger.

neque tamen mitigatus Piso, et vix diei moram perpessus linquit Germanicum praevenitque. et postquam Syriam ac legiones attigit, largitione, ambitu, infimos manipularium iuvando, cum veteres centuriones, severos tribunos demoveret locaque eorum clientibus suis vel deterrimo cuique attribueret, desidiam in castris, licentiam in urbibus, vagum ac lascivientem per agros militem sineret, eo usque corruptionis provectus est ut sermone vulgi parens legionum haberetur. nec Plancina se intra decora feminis tenebat, .sed exercitio equitum, decursibus cohortium interesse, in Agrippinam, in Germanicum contumelias iacere, quibusdam etiam bonorum militum ad mala obsequia promptis, quod haud invito imperatore ea fieri occultus rumor incedebat.

Nor, however, was Piso mitigated; and scarcely enduring a day’s delay, he leaves and goes ahead of Germanicus. And after he reached Syria and the legions, by largess, by ambitus, by aiding the lowest of the rank‑and‑file, while he was removing veteran centurions and strict tribunes and assigning their places to his own clients or to the very worst of men, allowing idleness in the camps, license in the cities, and the soldier to roam and carouse through the fields, he advanced to such a pitch of corruption that in the talk of the common crowd he was held the father of the legions. Nor did Plancina keep herself within the decorums for women, .but she would take part in the cavalry’s drill and the maneuvers of the cohorts, hurl insults at Agrippina and at Germanicus, with certain even of the good soldiers ready for evil compliances, because an occult rumor was circulating that these things were done with the emperor by no means unwilling.

nota haec Germanico, sed praeverti ad Armenios instantior cura fuit.

These things were known to Germanicus, but a more pressing concern was to turn first to the Armenians.

[56] Ambigua gens ea antiquitus hominum ingeniis et situ terrarum, quoniam nostris provinciis late praetenta penitus ad Medos porrigitur; maximisque imperiis interiecti et saepius discordes sunt, adversus Romanos odio et in Parthum invidia. regem illa tempestate non habobant, amoto Vonone: sed favor nationis inclinabat in Zenonem, Polemonis regis Pontici filium, quod is prima ab infantia instituta et cultum Armeniorum aemulatus, venatu epulis et quae alia barbari celebrant, proceres plebemque iuxta devinxerat. igitur Germanicus in urbe Artaxata adprobantibus nobilibus, circumfusa multitudine, insigne regium capiti eius imposuit.

[56] That nation is ambiguous from antiquity, in the dispositions of men and in the situation of the lands, since, stretched widely along our provinces, it extends deep to the Medes; and, set between the greatest empires and more often at variance, they are, against the Romans, moved by hatred, and toward the Parthian by envy. At that time they did not have a king, Vonones having been removed; but the favor of the nation inclined to Zeno, son of Polemon, king of Pontus, because he, from earliest infancy, having emulated the institutions and culture of the Armenians—by hunting, banquets, and whatever else the barbarians celebrate—had bound alike the nobles and the common people. Therefore Germanicus, in the city Artaxata, the nobles approving and a multitude poured around, placed the royal insignia upon his head.

ceteri venerantes regem Artaxiam consalutavere, quod illi vocabulum indiderant ex nomine urbis. at Cappadoces in formam provinciae redacti Q. Veranium legatum accepere; et quaedam ex regiis tributis deminuta quo mitius Romanum imperium speraretur. Commagenis Q. Servaeus praeponitur, tum primum ad ius praetoris translatis.

the rest, doing reverence, hailed King Artaxias, because they had bestowed upon him an appellation from the name of the city. But the Cappadocians, reduced into the form of a province, received Quintus Veranius as legate; and certain of the royal tributes were diminished, so that a milder Roman imperium might be expected. Over the Commagenians Quintus Servaeus is set, they then for the first time having been transferred to the jurisdiction of a praetor.

[57] Cunctaque socialia prospere composita non ideo laetum Germanicum habebant ob superbiam Pisonis qui iussus partem legionum ipse aut per filium in Armeniam ducere utrumque neglexerat Cyrri demum apud hiberna decumae legionis convenere, firmato vultu, Piso adversus metum, Germanicus ne minari crederetur; et erat, ut rettuli, clementior. sed amici accendendis offensionibus callidi intendere vera, adgerere falsa ipsumque et Plancinam et filios variis modis criminari. postremo paucis familiarium adhibitis sermo coeptus a Caesare, qualem ira et dissimulatio gignit, responsum a Pisone precibus contumacibus; discesseruntque apertis odiis.

[57] And although all the allied affairs were composed prosperously, they did not on that account hold Germanicus glad, on account of the pride of Piso, who, though ordered to lead a part of the legions either himself or through his son into Armenia, had neglected both; at Cyrrhus at last, at the winter-quarters of the 10th Legion, they met, with countenance made firm—Piso against fear, Germanicus lest he be thought to threaten; and he was, as I have related, more clement. But friends, skilled at inflaming affronts, would stretch the truths, heap up falsehoods, and in various ways criminate him and Plancina and the sons. Finally, with a few familiars admitted, a talk was begun by the Caesar, such as anger and dissimulation beget, and there was a reply from Piso in contumacious entreaties; and they departed with hatreds laid open.

post quae rarus in tribunali Caesaris Piso, et si quando adsideret, atrox ac dissentire manifestus. vox quoque eius audita est in convivio, cum apud regem Nabataeorum coronae aureae magno pondere Caesari et Agrippinae, leves Pisoni et ceteris offerrentur, principis Romani, non Parthi regis filio eas epulas dari; abiecitque simul coronam et multa in luxum addidit quae Germanico quamquam acerba tolerabantur tamen.

after which Piso was seldom at Caesar’s tribunal, and if ever he sat beside him, he was fierce and manifestly at odds. His voice too was heard at a banquet, when before the king of the Nabataeans golden crowns of great weight were being offered to Caesar and to Agrippina, and light ones to Piso and the others: that those feasts were being given for the Roman princeps, not for the son of the king of Parthia; and at the same time he cast away his crown and added many remarks against luxury—things which, though bitter to Germanicus, were nevertheless endured.

[58] Inter quae ab rege Parthorum Artabano legati venere. miserat amicitiam ac foedus memoraturos, et cupere novari dextras, daturumque honori Germanici ut ripam Euphratis accederet: petere interim ne Vonones in Syria haberetur neu proceres gentium propinquis nuntiis ad discordias traheret. ad ea Germanicus de societate Romanorum Paue magnifice, de adventu regis et cultu sui cum decore ac modestia respondit.

[58] Meanwhile legates came from Artabanus, king of the Parthians. He had sent them to recall amity and treaty, and to desire that right hands be renewed, and that, in honor of Germanicus, he would come up to the bank of the Euphrates: they asked in the meantime that Vonones not be kept in Syria, nor that, by reports from so near at hand, he draw the nobles of the peoples into discords. To this Germanicus replied magnificently about the alliance of the Romans and peace, and about the king’s arrival and the honoring of himself with decorum and modesty.

Vonones Pompeiopolim, Ciliciae maritimam urbem, amotus est. datum id non modo 6 precibus Artabani, sed contumeliae Pisonis cui gratissimus erat ob plurima oflicia et dona quibus Plancinam devinxerat.

Vonones was removed to Pompeiopolis, a maritime city of Cilicia. That was granted not only 6 to the prayers of Artabanus, but as a contumely to Piso, to whom he was most gratifying on account of the many services and gifts by which he had bound Plancina.

[59]M. Silano L. Norbano consulibus Germanicus Aegyptum proficiscitur cognoscendae antiquitatis. sed cura provinciae praetendebatur, levavitque apertis horreis pretia frugum multaque in vulgus grata usurpavit: sine milite incedere, pedibus intectis et pari cum Graecis amictu, P. Scipionis aemulatione, quem eadem factitavisse apud Siciliam, quamvis flagrante adhuc Poenorum bello, accepimus. Tiberius cultu habituque eius lenibus verbis perstricto, acerrime increpuit quod contra instituta Augusti non sponte principis Alexandriam introisset.

[59] Under the consulship of Marcus Silanus and Lucius Norbanus, Germanicus sets out to Egypt to become acquainted with antiquity. But the care of the province was put forward as a pretext, and by opening the granaries he lowered the price of grain, and he adopted many things pleasing to the common people: to go about without a soldier, with feet uncovered and wearing the same dress as the Greeks, in emulation of Publius Scipio, whom we are told to have done the same in Sicily, although the Punic war was still blazing. Tiberius, after merely touching upon his attire and dress with gentle words, censured him most sharply because, contrary to the institutes of Augustus, he had entered Alexandria without the princeps’s consent.

nam Augustus inter alia dominationis arcana, vetitis nisi permissu ingredi senatoribus aut equitibus Romanis inlustribus, seposuit Aegyptum ne fame urgeret Italiam quisquis eam provinciam claustraque terrae ac maris quamvis levi praesidio adversum ingentis exercitus insedisset.

for Augustus, among other arcana of domination, set Egypt apart, with entry forbidden unless by permission to senators or illustrious Roman equestrians, lest whoever had occupied that province and the barriers of land and sea, with however light a garrison against enormous armies, should press Italy with famine.

[60] Sed Germanicus nondum comperto profectionem eam incusari Nilo subvehebatur, orsus oppido a Canopo. condidere id Spartani ob sepultum illic rectorem navis Canopum, qua tempestate Menelaus Graeciam repetens diversum ad mare terramque Libyam deiectus est. inde proximum amnis os dicatum Herculi, quem indigenae ortum apud se et antiquissimum perhibent eosque, qui postea pari virtute fuerint, in cognomentum eius adscitos; mox visit veterum Thebarum magna vestigia. et manebant structis molibus litterae Aegyptiae, priorem opulentiam complexae: iussusque e senioribus sacerdotum patrium sermonem interpretari, referebat habitasse quondam septingenta milia aetate militari, atque eo cum exercitu regem Rhamsen Libya Aethiopia Medisque et Persis et Bactriano ac Scytha potitum quasque terras Suri Armeniique et contigui Cappadoces colunt, inde Bithynum, hinc Lycium ad mare imperio tenuisse.

[60] But Germanicus, not yet having learned that that departure was being blamed, was being carried up the Nile, beginning from the town of Canopus. The Spartans founded it on account of the pilot of the ship, Canopus, being buried there, at which time Menelaus, as he was seeking Greece again, was cast down to a different sea and the land of Libya, is. Thence the nearest mouth of the river, dedicated to Hercules, whom the natives assert to have had his origin among them and to be most ancient, and that those who afterward were of equal virtue were admitted into his cognomen; soon he visits the great vestiges of ancient Thebes. And on piled structures there still remained Egyptian letters, encompassing former opulence: and when one of the elder priests was ordered to interpret the ancestral speech, he reported that once there had dwelt seven hundred thousand of military age, and that with that army King Rhamses had gained possession of Libya, Ethiopia, the Medes and Persians and the Bactrian and the Scythian, and those lands which the Syrians and Armenians and the bordering Cappadocians inhabit, and that on one side he held under his imperium Bithynia, on the other Lycia down to the sea.

legebantur et indicta gentibus tributa, pondu.s argenti et auri, numerus armorum equorumque et dona templis ebur atque odores, quasque copias frumenti et omnium utensilium quaeque natio penderet, haud minus magnifica quam nunc vi Parthorum aut potentia Romana iubentur.

And were read too the tributes indicted upon the gentes: the weight of silver and gold, the number of arms and horses, and the gifts to the temples—ivory and odors (perfumes)—and what supplies of grain and of all utensils each nation should pay, no less magnificent than those which now are commanded by the vis of the Parthians or by Roman potentia.

[61] Ceterum Germanicus aliis quoque miraculis intendit animum, quorum praecipua fuere Memnonis saxca effigies, ubi radiis solis icta est, vocalem sonum reddens, disiectasque inter et vix pervias arenas instar montium eductae pyramides certamine et opibus regum, lacusque effossa humo, superfluentis Nili receptacula; atque alibi angustiae et profunda altitudo, nullis inquirentium spatiis penetrabilis. exim ventum Elephantinen ac Syenen, claustra olim Romani imperii, quod nunc rubrum ad mare patescit.

[61] But Germanicus directed his mind to other marvels as well, the chief of which were the stone effigy of Memnon, which, when struck by the rays of the sun, gives back a vocal sound; and the pyramids, raised to the likeness of mountains amid scattered and scarcely passable sands, by the rivalry and resources of kings; and lakes dug out of the earth, receptacles for the overflowing Nile; and elsewhere narrows and a profound depth, penetrable by no lengths of those inquiring. Thence they came to Elephantine and Syene, once the barriers of the Roman empire, which now lies open to the Red Sea.

[62] Dum ea aestas Germanico pluris per provincias transigitur, haud leve decus Drusus quaesivit inliciens Germanos ad discordias utque fracto iam Maroboduo usque in exitium insisteretur. erat inter Gotones nobilis iuvenis nomine Catualda, profugus olim vi Marobodui et tunc dubiis rebus eius ultionetn ausus. is valida manu finis Marcomanorum ingreditur corruptisque primoribus ad societatem inrumpit regiam castellumque iuxta situm.

[62] While that summer was being spent by Germanicus through several provinces, Drusus sought no light glory, enticing the Germans into discords and that, with Maroboduus now broken, he be pressed upon all the way to destruction. There was among the Gothones a noble youth named Catualda, once a fugitive by the force of Maroboduus and now, with his fortunes doubtful, daring vengeance. He, with a strong force, enters the frontiers of the Marcomanni, and the leading men bribed to alliance, he bursts into the palace and a fortress sited nearby.

veteres illic Sueborum praedae et nostris e provinciis lixae ac negotiatores reperti quos ius commercii, dein cupido augendi pecuniam, postremo oblivio patriae suis quemque ab sedibus hostilem in agrum transtulerat.

there were found there ancient spoils from the Suebi, and, from our provinces, sutlers and men of business, whom the right of commerce, then the desire of augmenting money, and finally oblivion of fatherland had transferred, each from his own seats, into hostile land.

[63] Maroboduo undique deserto non alind subsidium quam misericordia Caesaris fuit. transgressus Danuvium, qua Noricam provinciam praefluit, scripsit Tiberio non ut profugus aut supplex sed ex memoria prioris fortunae: nam multi s nationibus clarissimum quondam regem ad se vocantibus Romanam amicitiam praetulisse. responsum a Caesare tutam ei honoratamque sedem in Italia fore, si maneret: sin rebus eius aliud conduceret, abiturum fide qua venisset.

[63] With Maroboduus deserted on all sides, his only subsidy was the mercy of Caesar. Having transgressed the Danube, where it flows along the province of Noricum, he wrote to Tiberius not as a fugitive or a suppliant but from the memory of his prior fortune: for that, though many nations were summoning to themselves a once most illustrious king, he had preferred Roman friendship. A response from Caesar was that there would be for him a safe and honored seat in Italy, if he should remain; but if something else would conduce to his affairs, he would depart with the good faith in which he had come.

ceterum apud senatum disseruit non Philippum Atheniensibus, non Pyrrhum aut Antiochum populo Romano perinde metuendos fuisse. extat oratio qua magnitudinem viri, violentiam subiectarum ei gentium et quam propinquns Italiae hostis, suaque in destruendo eo consilia extulit. et Marobodous quidem Ravennae habitus, si quando insolescerent Suebi quasi rediturus in regnum ostentabatur: sed non excessit Italia per duodeviginti annos consenuitque multum imminuta claritate ob nimiam vivendi cupidinem.

however, before the senate he argued that not Philip to the Athenians, nor Pyrrhus or Antiochus to the Roman people, had been as much to be feared. There exists an oration in which he set forth the greatness of the man, the violence of the nations subjected to him, and how near to Italy the enemy was, and he displayed his own counsels for destroying him. And Marobodous indeed was kept at Ravenna, and, if ever the Suebi grew overbearing, he was paraded as though about to return to his kingdom; but he did not leave Italy for 18 years, and he grew old with his renown much diminished because of an excessive desire for living.

idem Catualdae casus neque aliud perfugium. pulsus haud multo post Hermundurorum opibus et Vibilio duce receptusque, Forum Iulium, Narbonensis Galliae coloniam, mittitur. barbari utrumque comirati, ne quietas provincias immixti turbarent, Danuvium ultra inter flumina Marum et Cusum locantur, dato rege Vannio gentis Quadorum.

the same fate for Catualda, and no other asylum. Driven out not much later by the power of the Hermunduri, with Vibilius as leader, and, having been received, he is sent to Forum Iulium, a colony of Narbonensian Gaul. The barbarians, having escorted both, lest, if mingled in, they disturb the quiet provinces, are located beyond the Danube between the rivers Marus and Cusus, with Vannius, of the nation of the Quadi, given as king.

[64] Simul nuntiato regem Artaxian Armeniis a Germanico datum, decrevere patres ut Germanicus atque Drusus ovantes urbem introirent. structi et arcus circum latera templi Martis Vltoris cum effigie Caesarum, laetiore Tiberio quia pacem sapientia firmaverat quam si bellum per acies confecisset. igitur Rhescuporim quoque, Thraeciae regem, astu adgreditur.

[64] At the same time, when it was announced that Artaxias had been given as king to the Armenians by Germanicus, the fathers decreed that Germanicus and Drusus should enter the city in ovation. And arches were erected around the flanks of the Temple of Mars the Avenger, with the effigy of the Caesars, Tiberius being happier because he had secured peace by wisdom than if he had finished a war through battle-lines. Therefore he also addresses Rhescuporis, king of Thrace, with craft.

omnem eam nationem Rhoemetalces tenuerat; quo defuncto Augustus partem Thraecum Rhescuporidi fratri eius, partem filio Cotyi permisit. in ea divisione arva et urbes et vicina Graecis Cotyi, quod incultum ferox adnexum hostibus, Rhescuporidi cessit: ipsorumque regum ingenia, illi mite et amoenum, huic atrox avidum et societatis impatiens erat. sed primo subdola concordia egere: mox Rhescuporis egredi finis, vertere in se Cotyi data et resistenti vim facere, cunctanter sub Augusto, quem auctorem utriusque regni, si sperneretur, vindicem metuebat.

Rhoemetalces had held all that nation; upon his decease, Augustus permitted part of the Thracians to Rhescuporis, his brother, part to his son Cotys. In that division, the fields and cities and the tracts adjacent to the Greeks went to Cotys, whereas what was uncultivated, ferocious, and conjoined to the enemies fell to Rhescuporis; and the dispositions of the kings themselves—mild and agreeable in that one, in this one grim, avid, and impatient of partnership. But at first they acted with an insidious concord; soon Rhescuporis began to overstep the boundaries, to turn to himself what had been given to Cotys, and to use force upon him when he resisted—hesitatingly under Augustus, whom, as the author of both kingdoms, he feared as an avenger if he were scorned.

enimvero audita mutatione principis immittere latronum globos, excindere castella, causas bello.

indeed, on hearing of the change of the princeps, he began to send in bands of brigands, to excise the castles—causes for war.

[65] Nihil aeque Tiberium anxium habebat quam ne composita turbarentur. deligit centurionem qui nuntiaret regibus ne armis disceptarent; statimque a Cotye dimissa sunt quae paraverat auxilia. Rhescuporis ficta modestia postulat eundem in locum coiretur: posse de controvensiis conloquio transigi.

[65] Nothing kept Tiberius so anxious as that the arrangements might not be disturbed. He selects a centurion to announce to the kings not to dispute by arms; and immediately by Cotys the auxiliaries which he had prepared were dismissed. Rhescuporis, with feigned modesty, demands that they meet in the same place: that the controversies could be settled by colloquy.

nec diu dubitatum de tempore, loco, dein condicionibus, cum alter facilitate, alter fraude cuncta inter se concederent acciperentque. Rhescuporis sanciendo, ut dictitabat, foederi convivium adicit, tractaque in multam noctem laetitia per epulas ac vinolentiam incautum Cotyn postquam dolum intellexerat, sacra regni, eiusdem familiae deos et hospitalis mensas obtestantem catenis onerat. Thraeciaque omni potitus scripsit ad Tiberium structas sibi insidias, praeventum insidiatorem; simul bellum adversus Bastarnas Scythasque praetendens novis peditum et equitum copiis sese firmabat.

nor was there long doubting about the time, the place, then the conditions, since the one with easy compliance, the other with fraud, were conceding and accepting everything between themselves. Rhescuporis, for the sanctioning, as he kept saying, of the treaty, adds a banquet, and joy prolonged far into the night through banqueting and vinolence; Cotys, off his guard, after he had understood the trick, calling to witness the sacred things of the kingdom, the gods of the same family, and the hospitable tables, he loads with chains. and, having possessed himself of all Thrace, he wrote to Tiberius that ambushes had been laid for him, that the ambusher had been forestalled; at the same time, holding forth as a pretext war against the Bastarnae and the Scythians, he was strengthening himself with new forces of foot and horse.

molliter rescriptum, si fraus abesset, posse eum innocentiae fidere; ceterum neque se neque senatum nisi cognita causa ius et iniuriam discreturos: proinde tradito Cotye veniret transferretque invidiam criminis.

A gentle rescript was sent: if fraud were absent, he could trust to his innocence; but neither he nor the Senate would discern right and wrong unless the case were known: therefore, with Cotys handed over, let him come and transfer the odium of the charge.

[66] Eas litteras Latinius Pandusa pro praetore Moesiae cum militibus quis Cotys traderetur in Thraeciam misit. Rhescuporis inter metum et iram cunctatus maluit patrati quam incepti facinoris reus esse: occidi Cotyn inbet mortemque sponte sumptam ementitur. nec tamen Caesar placitas semel artes mutavit, sed defuncto Pandusa quem sibi infensum Rhescuporis arguebat, Pomponium Flaccum, veterem stipendiis et arta cum rege amicitia eoque accommodatiorem ad fallendum, ob id maxime Moesiae praefecit.

[66] Those letters Latinius Pandusa, acting as praetor of Moesia, sent into Thrace with soldiers by whom Cotys was to be handed over. Rhescuporis, wavering between fear and anger, preferred to be guilty of a crime accomplished rather than of one begun: he orders Cotys to be killed and pretends that the death was taken of his own accord. Yet Caesar did not change the tactics once agreed upon; but, with Pandusa—whom Rhescuporis was accusing as hostile to himself—deceased, he put in charge of Moesia Pomponius Flaccus, a veteran in campaigns and in close friendship with the king, and for that reason the more suited to deceive him—on that account especially he appointed him.

[67] Flaccus in Thraeciam transgressus per ingentia promissa quamvis ambiguum et scelera sua reputantem perpulit ut praesidia Romana intraret. circumdata hinc regi specie honoris valida manus, tribunique et centuriones monendo, suadendo, et quanto longius abscedebatur, apertiore custodia, postremo gnarum necessitatis in urbem traxere. accusatus in senatu ab uxore Cotyis damnatur, ut procul regno teneretur.

[67] Flaccus, having crossed into Thrace, through vast promises, although he was wavering and reckoning up his own crimes, compelled him to enter the Roman garrisons. Then, around the king, under the semblance of honor, a strong band was set; and the tribunes and centurions, by admonishing, by persuading, and, the farther they were going, with a more open custody, at last, aware of the necessity, dragged him into the city. Accused in the senate by the wife of Cotys, he is condemned, that he be held far from the kingdom.

Thraecia in Rhoemetalcen filium, quem paternis consiliis adversatum constabat, inque liberos Cotyis dividitur; iisque nondum adultis Trebellenus Rufus praetura functus datur qui regnum interim tractaret, exemplo quo maiores M. Lepidum Ptolemaei liberis tutorem in Aegyptum miserant. Rhescuporis Alexandriam devectus atque illic fugam temptans an ficto crimine interficitur.

Thrace is divided between Rhoemetalces, the son—who was agreed to have been adverse to his father’s counsels—and the children of Cotys; and as these were not yet adult, Trebellenus Rufus, one who had performed the praetorship, is assigned to handle the kingdom in the interim, by the example by which our elders had sent M. Lepidus as tutor to the children of Ptolemy into Egypt. Rhescuporis, conveyed to Alexandria, and there, whether attempting flight or on a feigned crimen, is put to death.

[68] Per idem tempus Vonones, quem amotum in Ciliciam memoravi, corruptis custodibus effugere ad Armenios, inde Albanos Heniochosque et consanguineum sibi regem Scytharum conatus est. specie venandi omissis maritimis locis avia saltuum petiit, mox pernicitate equi ad amnem Pyramum contendit, cuius pontes accolae ruperant audita regis fuga, neque vado penetrari poterat. igitur in ripa fluminis a Vibio Frontone praefecto equitum vincitur, mox Remmius evocatus, priori custodiae regis adpositus, quasi per iram gladio cum transigit.

[68] At the same time Vonones, whom I have mentioned as removed into Cilicia, with his guards corrupted, tried to flee to the Armenians, thence to the Albanians and Heniochi, and to the king of the Scythians, his kinsman. Under the pretext of hunting, abandoning the maritime places, he sought the pathless tracts of the forests; soon, by the swiftness of his horse, he hastened to the river Pyramus, whose bridges the inhabitants had broken on hearing of the king’s flight, nor could it be forded. Accordingly, on the bank of the river he is captured by Vibius Fronto, prefect of cavalry; soon Remmius, an evocatus, who had been set over the former guard of the king, as if in anger, runs him through with a sword.

unde maior fides conscientia sceleris et metu indicii mortem Vononi inlatam.

whence the stronger belief that, from consciousness of the crime and fear of exposure, death was inflicted on Vonones.

[69] At Germanicus Aegypto remeans cuncta quae apud legiones aut urbes iusserat abolita vel in contrarium versa cognoscit. hinc graves in Pisonem contumeliae, nec minus acerba quae ab illo in Caesarem intentabantur. dein Piso abire Syria statuit.

[69] But Germanicus, returning from Egypt, learns that everything which he had ordered among the legions or the cities had been abolished or turned into the contrary. Hence weighty contumelies against Piso, and no less bitter were those which by him were being aimed at Caesar. Then Piso decided to depart from Syria.

mox adversa Germanici valetudine detentus, ubi recreatum accepit votaque pro incolumitate solvebantur, admotas hostias, sacrificalem apparatum, festam Antiochensium plebem per lictores proturbat. tum Seleuciam degreditur, opperiens aegritudinem, quae rursum Germanico acciderat. saevam vim morbi augebat persuasio veneni a Pisone accepti; et reperiebantur solo ac parietibus erutae humanorum corporum reliquiae, carmina et devotiones et nomen Germanici plumbeis tabulis insculptum, semusti cineres ac tabo obliti aliaque malefica quis creditur animas numinibus infernis sacrari.

soon, being detained by the adverse health of Germanicus, when he learned that he had been restored and vows for his safety were being paid, he drove off, through the lictors, the victims brought up, the sacrificial apparatus, the festive populace of the Antiochenes. Then he goes down to Seleucia, awaiting the sickness which had again befallen Germanicus. The savage force of the disease was increased by the persuasion of poison received from Piso; and there were found, dug out of the floor and walls, the remains of human bodies, spells and devotions, and the name of Germanicus inscribed on leaden tablets, half-burned ashes and things smeared with gore, and other malefic arts by which souls are believed to be consecrated to the infernal numina.

simul missi a Pisone incusabantur ut valetudinis adversa rimantes.

at the same time, those sent by Piso were being accused as prying into the adverse turns of his health.

[70] Ea Germanico haud minus ira quam per metum accepta. si limen obsideretur, si effundendus spiritus sub oculis inimicorum foret, quid deinde miserrimae coningi, quid infantibus liberis eventurum? lenta videri veneficia: festinare et urgere, ut provinciam, ut legiones solus habeat.

[70] These things were received by Germanicus no less in wrath than through fear. If the threshold were besieged, if his spirit had to be poured out under the eyes of enemies, what then would befall his most wretched consort, what the infant children? The poisonings seemed slow: he was hastening and pressing on, that he alone might hold the province, the legions.

sed non usque eo defectum Germanicum, neque praemia caedis apud interfectorem mansura. componit epistulas quis amicitiam ei renuntiabat: addunt plerique iussum provincia decedere. nec Piso moratus ultra navis solvit moderabaturque cursui quo propius regrederetur si mors Germanici Syriam aperuisset.

but Germanicus was not brought low to that point, nor would the prizes of slaughter abide with the slayer. he composes letters by which he renounced friendship with him; most add that he was ordered to depart from the province. nor did Piso delay longer: he loosed his ships and regulated his course so that he might return the nearer, if the death of Germanicus should lay Syria open.

[71] Caesar paulisper ad spem erectus, dein fesso corpore ubi finis aderat, adsistentis amicos in hunc modum adloquitur: 'si fato concederem, iustus mihi dolor etiam adversus deos esset, quod me parentibus liberis patriae intra inventam praematuro exitu raperent: nunc scelere Pisonis et Plancinae interceptus ultimas preces pectoribus vestris relinquo: referatis patri ac fratri, quibus acerbitatibus dilaceratus, quibus insidiis circumventus miserrimam vitam pessima morte finierim. si quos spes meae, si quos propinquus sanguis, etiam quos invidia erga viventem movebat, inlacrimabunt quondam florentem et tot bellorum superstitem muliebri fraude cecidisse. erit vobis locus querendi apud senatum, invocandi leges.

[71] Caesar, for a little while raised to hope, then, when with his body weary the end was at hand, addresses the friends standing by in this manner: 'If I were yielding to fate, a just grief would be mine even against the gods, because they would snatch me from my parents, my children, my fatherland, in the midst of youth, by a premature exit: now, cut off by the crime of Piso and Plancina, I leave my last prayers in your hearts: that you report to my father and brother by what bitterness I was torn, by what ambushes I was encircled, that I have ended a most miserable life by a most evil death. If there are any whom my hopes, if any whom kindred blood, even those whom envy toward me while living was moving, will shed tears that one once flourishing and a survivor of so many wars fell by womanly fraud. There will be for you a place of complaint before the senate, of invoking the laws.

non hoc praecipuum amicorum munus est, prosequi defunctum ignavo questu, sed quae voluerit meminisse, quae mandaverit exequi. flebunt Germanicum etiam ignoti: vindicabitis vos, si me potius quam fortunam meam fovebatis. ostendite populo Romano divi Augusti neptem eandemque coniugem meam, numerate sex liberos.

This is not the principal office of friends, to attend a deceased with ignoble lamentation, but to remember what he willed, to execute what he commanded. Even strangers will weep for Germanicus: you yourselves will avenge me, if you cherished me rather than my fortune. Show to the Roman people the granddaughter of the deified Augustus, and the same woman my wife; enumerate six children.

misericordia cum accusantibus erit fingentibusque scelesta mandata aut non credent homines aut non ignoscent.' iuravere amici dextram morientis contingentes spiritum ante quam ultionem amissuros.

mercy will be with the accusers and with those fabricating criminal mandates: either men will not believe, or they will not pardon.' The friends swore, touching the right hand of the dying man, that they would lose their breath before their vengeance.

[72] Tum ad uxorem versus per memoriam sui, per communis liberos oravit exueret ferociam, saevienti fortunae summitteret animum, neu regressa in urbem aemulatione potentiae validiores inritaret. haec palam et alia secreto per quae ostendisse credebatur metum ex Tiberio. neque multo post extinguitur, ingenti luctu provinciae et circumiacentium populorum.

[72] Then, turning to his wife, he begged, by the memory of himself, by their common children, to strip off ferocity, to submit her spirit to raging Fortune, and, on returning to the city, not to provoke those stronger in power by emulation of power. These things he said openly and others in secret, through which he was believed to have shown fear of Tiberius. And not long after he is extinguished, with immense mourning of the province and of the surrounding peoples.

indoluere exterae nationes regesque: tanta illi comitas in socios, mansuetudo in hostis; visuque et auditu iuxta venerabilis, cum magnitudinem et gravitatem summae fortunae retineret, invidiam et adrogantiam eflugerat.

Foreign nations and kings mourned: so great in him was comity toward allies, mansuetude toward enemies; and equally venerable to behold and to hear, while he retained the magnitude and gravity of supreme fortune, he had escaped envy and arrogance.

[73] Funus sine imaginibus et pompa per laudes ac memoriam virtutum eius celebre fuit. et erant qui formam, aetatem, genus mortis ob propinquitatem etiam locorum in quibus interiit, magni Alexandri fatis adacquarent. nam utrumque corpore decoro, genere insigni, haud multum triginta annos egressum, suorum insidiis externas inter gentis occidisse: sed hunc mitem erga amicos, modicum voluptatum, uno matrimonio, certis liberis egisse, neque minus proeliatorem, etiam si temeritas afuerit praepeditusque sit perculsas tot victoriis Germanias servitio premere.

[73] The funeral, without images and pomp, was celebrated through praises and the memory of his virtues. And there were those who, on account of his form, age, the kind of death, and even the propinquity of the places in which he perished, would equate him to the fates of Alexander the Great. For both, of a comely body, of distinguished lineage, not much past thirty years, fell by the plots of their own among foreign peoples: but this man was gentle toward friends, moderate in pleasures, with one marriage, with acknowledged children, and no less a fighter, even if rashness was absent and he was hampered from pressing the Germanies, shattered by so many victories, into servitude.

quod si solus arbiter rerum, si lure et nomine regio fuisset, tanto promptius adsecuturum gloriam militiae quantum clementia, temperantia, ceteris bonis artibus praestitisset. corpus antequam cremaretur nudatum in foro Antiochensium, qui locus sepulturae destinabatur, praetuleritne veneficii signa parum constitit; nam ut quis misericordia in Germanicum et praesumpta suspicione aut favore in Pisonem pronior, diversi interpretabantur.

But if he had been the sole arbiter of affairs, if in right and in royal name, he would have the more promptly attained the glory of soldiery, in proportion as he excelled in clemency, temperance, and the other good arts. His body, before it was cremated, having been laid bare in the forum of the Antiochenes—which place was destined for the sepulture—whether it displayed signs of poisoning was not well established; for, as each was more inclined by compassion toward Germanicus and by a presupposed suspicion, or by favor toward Piso, they interpreted the features diversely.

[74] Consultatum inde inter legatos quique alii senatorum aderant quisnam Syriae praeficeretur. et ceteris modice nisis, inter Vibium Marsum et Cn. Sentium diu quaesitum: dein Marsus seniori et acrius tendenti Sentio concessit. isque infamem veneficiis ea in provincia et Plancinae percaram nomine Martinam in urbem misit, postulantibus Vitellio ac Veranio ceterisque qui crimina et accusationem tamquam adversus receptos iam reos instruebant.

[74] Then there was deliberation among the legates and such other senators as were present as to who should be put in charge of Syria. And, the rest striving moderately, there was long inquiry between Vibius Marsus and Cn. Sentius; then Marsus yielded to Sentius, the elder and pressing more keenly. And he sent to the city a woman infamous for poisonings in that province and very dear to Plancina, by the name Martina, at the demands of Vitellius and Veranius and the others who were arranging the charges and the accusation as though against defendants already accepted.

[75] At Agrippina, quamquam defessa luctu et corpore aegro, omnium tamen quae ultionem morarentur intolerans ascendit classem cum cineribus Germanici et liberis, miserantibus cunctis quod femina nobilitate princeps, pulcherrimo modo matrimonio inter venerantis gratantisque aspici solita, tunc feralis reliquias sinu ferret, incerta ultionis, anxia sui et infelici fecunditate fortunae totiens obnoxia. Pisonem interim apud Coum insulatn nuntius adsequitur excessisse Germanicum. quo intemperanter accepto caedit victimas, adit templa, neque ipse gaudium moderans et magis insolescente Plancina, quae luctum amissae sororis tum primum laeto cultu mutavit.

[75] But Agrippina, although exhausted by grief and a sick body, yet intolerant of all things that might delay vengeance, boarded the fleet with the ashes of Germanicus and the children, all pitying that a woman foremost in nobility, accustomed, in the most beautiful manner in her marriage, to be seen among those revering and congratulating, then should carry funereal relics in her bosom, uncertain of vengeance, anxious for herself, and so often at the mercy of fortune through an unlucky fecundity. Meanwhile, a messenger overtook Piso on the island of Cos with news that Germanicus had deceased. Receiving it intemperately, he slaughters victims and visits temples, neither he himself restraining his joy, and with Plancina growing more insolent, she who then for the first time changed the mourning for her lost sister into a joyful attire.

[76] Adfluebant centuriones monebantque prompta illi legionum studia: repeteret provinciam non iure ablatam et vacuam. igitur quid agendum consultanti M. Piso filius properandum in urbem censebat: nihil adhuc inexpiabile admissum neque suspiciones imbecillas aut inania famae pertimescenda. discordiam erga Germanicum odio fortasse dignam, non poena; et ademptione provinciae satis factum immicis.

[76] Centurions were flocking in and were advising that the zeal of the legions was ready for him: he should retake the province, taken from him not by right and now vacant. Therefore, as he was consulting what ought to be done, his son M. Piso judged that there must be haste to the city: nothing as yet had been committed that was inexpiable, nor should feeble suspicions or the empty stuff of rumor be dreaded. Discord toward Germanicus perhaps worthy of hatred, not of punishment; and by the removal of the province enough had been done to his enemies.

quod si regrederetur, obsistente Sentio civile bellum incipi; nec duraturos in partibus centuriones militesque apud quos recens imperatoris sui memoria et penitus infixus in Caesares amor praevaleret.

but if he were to return, with Sentius opposing, a civil war would be initiated; nor would the centurions and soldiers endure on his side, among whom the fresh memory of their emperor and a love for the Caesars, deeply implanted, would prevail.

[77] Contra Domitius Celer, ex intima eius amicitia, disseruit utendum eventu: Pisonem, non Sentium Syriae praepositum; huic fascis et ius praetoris, huic legiones datas. si quid hostile ingruat, quem iustius arma oppositurum quam qui legati auctoritatem et propria mandata acceperit? relinquendum etiam rumoribus tempus quo senescant: plerumque innocentis recenti invidiae imparis.

[77] On the contrary, Domitius Celer, an intimate friend of his, argued that the turn of events must be used: that Piso, not Sentius, had been placed over Syria; to this man the fasces and the right of a praetor, to this man legions had been given. If anything hostile should press in, whom more justly would set arms in opposition than the one who has received the authority of a legate and personal mandates? Time too should be left to rumors for them to grow old: for the innocent are for the most part unequal to fresh envy.

at si teneat exercitum, augeat viris, multa quae provideri non possint fortuito in melius casura. 'an festinamus cum Germanici cineribus adpellere, ut te inauditum et indefensum planctus Agrippinae ac vulgus imperitum primo rumore rapiant? est tibi Augustae conscientia, est Caesaris favor, sed in occulto, et perisse Germanicum nulli iactantius maerent quam qui maxime laetantur.'

but if he should hold the army, augment it in men, many things which cannot be foreseen will fortuitously fall out for the better. ‘Or are we hastening to make landfall with Germanicus’s ashes, so that you, unheard and undefended, may be swept away by Agrippina’s lamentation and the ignorant mob at the first rumor? You have the Augusta’s cognizance, you have Caesar’s favor—but in secret; and that Germanicus has perished, no one more vauntingly mourns than those who rejoice most.’

[78] Haud magna mole Piso promptus ferocibos in sententiam trahitur missisque ad Tiberium epistulis incusat Germanicum luxus et superbiae; seque pulsum, ut locus rebus novis patefieret, curam exercitus eadem fide qua tenuerit repetivisse. simul Domitium impositum triremi vitare litorum oram praeterque insulas lato mari pergere in Syriam iubet. concurrentis desertores per manipulo componit, armat lixas traiectisque in continentem navibus vexillum tironum in Syriam euntium intercipit, regulis Cilicum ut se auxiliis iuvarent scribit, haud ignavo ad ministeria belli iuvene Pisone, quamquam suscipiendum bellum abnuisset.

[78] With no great effort Piso, being ready, is drawn into the opinion of the fierce; and, letters sent to Tiberius, he accuses Germanicus of luxury and pride; and that he himself, having been expelled, in order that room be opened for new measures, had resumed the care of the army with the same fidelity with which he had held it. At the same time he orders Domitius, put aboard a trireme, to avoid the shore-line and to proceed to Syria on the broad sea past the islands. He arranges the converging deserters into maniples, arms the camp‑followers, and, ships ferried across to the mainland, intercepts the banner‑detachment of recruits going to Syria; he writes to the petty kings of the Cilicians to aid him with auxiliaries, Piso the younger being a not unenergetic youth for the tasks of war, although he had refused that a war be undertaken.

[79] Igitur oram Lyciae ac Pamphyliae praelegentes, obviis navibus quae Agrippinam vehebant, utrimque infensi arma primo expediere: dein mutua formidine non ultra iurgium processum est, Marsusque Vibius nuntiavit Pisoni Romam ad dicendam causam veniret. ille eludens respondit adfuturum ubi praetor qui de veneficiis quaereret reo atque accusatoribus diem prodixisset. interim Domitius Laodiciam urbem Syriae adpulsus, cum hiberna sextae legionis peteret, quod eam maxime novis consiliis idoneam rebatur, a Pacuvio legato praevenitur.

[79] Accordingly, coasting along the shore of Lycia and Pamphylia, on encountering the ships which were conveying Agrippina, hostile on both sides they at first made ready arms: then, by mutual fear, it did not advance beyond a wrangle, and Vibius Marsus notified Piso to come to Rome to plead his case. He, evading, replied that he would be present when the praetor who inquired into poisonings should have appointed a day for the defendant and the accusers. Meanwhile Domitius, having put in at Laodicea, a city of Syria, when he was aiming for the winter‑quarters of the 6th Legion, because he judged it most suitable for new counsels, was forestalled by the legate Pacuvius.

id Sentius Pisoni per litteras aperit monetque ne castra corruptoribus, ne provinciam bello temptet. quosque Germanici memores aut inimicis eius adversos cognoverat, contrahit, magnitudinem imperatoris identidem ingerens et rem publicam armis peti; ducitque validam manum et proelio paratam.

Sentius discloses this to Piso by letters and warns him not to expose the camp to corruptors, nor to attempt the province by war. And those whom he had recognized as mindful of Germanicus or opposed to his enemies he draws together, repeatedly impressing the greatness of the Emperor and that the commonwealth was being sought by arms; and he leads a strong force, prepared for battle.

[80] Nec Piso, quamquam coepta secus cadebant, omisit tutissima e praesentibus, sed castellum Ciliciae munitum admodum, cui nomen Celenderis, occupat; nam admixtis desertoribus et tirone nuper intercepto suisque et Plancinae servitiis auxilia Cilicum quae reguli miserane in numerum legionis composuerat. Caesarisque se legatum testabatur provincia quam is dedisset arceri, non a legionibus (earum quippe accitu venire), sed a Sentio privatum odium falsis criminibus tegente. consisterent in acie, non pugnaturis militibus ubi Pisonem ab ipsis parentem quondam appellatum, si iure ageretur, potiorem, si armis, non invalidum vidissent tum pro munimentis castelli manipulos explicat colle arduo et derupto; nam cetera mari cinguntur.

[80] Nor did Piso, although his undertakings were turning out otherwise, let go the safest among the present options, but he seizes a very well-fortified stronghold of Cilicia, by name Celenderis; for, with deserters and a recruit recently intercepted mixed in, and with his own and Plancina’s slave-staffs, he had composed into the number of a legion the auxiliaries of the Cilicians which the petty-kings had sent. And he kept attesting that he was the Caesar’s legate and that the province which he had assigned was being shut out, not by the legions (for at their summons he was coming), but by Sentius, cloaking private hatred with false charges. Let them take their stand in the battle-line: the soldiers would not fight, when they saw Piso, once by them called “father”; by right he would be the preferable one; if by arms, not powerless. Then, in front of the fortifications of the fortress, he deploys maniples on a steep and precipitous hill; for the rest is girded by the sea.

contra veterani ordinibus ac subsidiis instructi: hinc militum, inde locorum asperitas, sed non animus, non spes, ne tela quidem nisi agrestia aut subitum in usum properata. ut venere in manus, non ultra dubitatum quam dum Romanae cohortes in aequum eniterentur: vertunt terga Cilices seque castello claudunt.

over against them, veterans arranged in ranks and with reserves: on this side the strength of the soldiers, on that the ruggedness of the places; but not spirit, not hope, not even missiles except rustic ones or hurried up for a sudden in use. when they came to close quarters, there was no further hesitation than while the Roman cohorts were struggling onto the level ground: the Cilicians turn their backs and shut themselves within the fort.

[81] Interim Piso classem haud procul opperientem adpugnare frustra temptavit; regressusque et pro muris, modo semet adflictando, modo singulos nomine ciens, praemiis vocans, seditionem coeptabat, adeoque commoverat ut signifer legionis sextae signum ad eum transtulerit. tum Sentius occanere cornua tubasque et peti aggerem, erigi scalas iussit ac promptissimum quemque succedere, alios tormentis hastas saxa et faces ingerere. tandem victa pertinacia Piso oravit ut traditis armis maneret in castello, dum Caesar cui Syriam permitteret consulitur.

[81] Meanwhile Piso tried in vain to attack the fleet waiting not far off; and having returned and, before the walls, now by dashing himself about, now calling individuals by name, summoning with rewards, he was initiating a sedition, and he had so stirred them that the standard-bearer of the sixth legion transferred the standard to him. Then Sentius ordered the horns and trumpets to strike up, and the rampart to be assailed, the ladders to be raised and the most forward to advance, others with engines to hurl javelins, stones, and torches. At length, his pertinacity overcome, Piso begged that, the arms having been handed over, he might remain in the stronghold, while Caesar is consulted as to whom he would commit Syria.

non receptae condiciones nec aliud quam naves et tutum in urbem iter concessum est.

the conditions were not received, nor was anything granted other than ships and a safe journey into the city.

[82] At Romae, postquam Germanici valetudo percrebuit cunctaque ut ex longinquo aucta in deterius adferebantur, dolor ira, et erumpebant questus. ideo nimirum in extremas terras relegatum, ideo Pisoni permissam provinciam; hoc egisse secretos Augustae cum Plancina sermones. vera prorsus de Druso seniores locutos: displicere regnantibus civilia filiorum ingenia, neque ob aliud interceptos quam quia populum Romanum aequo iure complecti reddita libertate agitaverint.

[82] But at Rome, after Germanicus’s state of health had spread abroad and everything, as from a distance, was being reported augmented for the worse, there was grief, anger, and complaints were bursting forth. For that reason, no doubt, he had been relegated to the farthest lands, for that reason the province had been permitted to Piso; to this end the secret conversations of Augusta with Plancina had aimed. The elders had spoken true, precisely, about Drusus: to those reigning the civil dispositions of their sons were displeasing, and they had been intercepted for no other cause than that, with liberty restored, they had agitated to embrace the Roman people with equal right.

hos vulgi sermones audita mors adeo incendit ut ante edictum magistratuum, ante senatus consultum sumpto iustitio desererentur fora, clauderentur domus. passim silentia et gemitus, nihil compositum in ostentationem; et quamquam neque insignibus lugentium abstinerent, altius animis maerebant. forte negotiatores vivente adhuc Germanico Syria egressi laetiora de valetudine eius attulere.

These conversations of the crowd the news of his death so inflamed that, before an edict of the magistrates, before a decree of the senate, with a iustitium adopted, the fora were deserted, the houses were shut. Everywhere silence and groans, nothing arranged for ostentation; and although they did not refrain from the insignia of mourners, they grieved more deeply in their hearts. By chance merchants, who had left Syria while Germanicus was still alive, brought more favorable reports about his health.

statim credita, statim vulgata sunt: ut quisque obvius, quamvis leviter audita in alios atque illi in plures cumulata gaudio transferunt. cursant per urbem, molinutur templorum foris; iuvat credulitatem nox et promptior inter tenebras adfirmatio. nec obstitit falsis Tiberius donec tempore ac spatio vanescerent: et populus quasi rursum ereptum acrius doluit.

immediately they were believed, immediately they were spread abroad: as each person met another, though the things had been lightly heard, they transfer them to others, and those to more, heaped up with joy. they run through the city, they set swinging the doors of the temples; night helps credulity and assertion is more ready amid the shadows. nor did Tiberius oppose the false reports until they should wane with time and interval: and the people grieved more sharply, as if snatched away again.

[83] Honores ut quis amore in Germanicum aut ingenio validus reperti decretique: ut nomen eius Saliari carmine caneretur; sedes curules sacerdotum Augustalium locis superque eas querceae coronae statuerentur; ludos circensis eburna effigies praeiret neve quis flamen aut augur in locum Germanici nisi gentis Iuliae crearetur. arcus additi Romae et apud ripam Rheni et in monte Syriae Amano cum inscriptione rerum gestarum ac mortem ob rem publicam obisse. sepulchrum Antiochiae ubi crematus, tribunal Epidaphnae quo in loco vitam finierat.

[83] Honors were devised and decreed, as each man, strong either in love for Germanicus or in ingenuity, discovered them: that his name be sung in a Saliar hymn; that curule seats of the Augustalian priests be set up in their places, and above them oaken crowns; that an ivory effigy should lead the circus games in procession; and that no flamen or augur be appointed in the place of Germanicus unless he were of the Julian gens. Arches were added at Rome and at the bank of the Rhine and on Mount Amanus in Syria, with an inscription of his deeds and that he had met death for the commonwealth. A tomb at Antioch, where he was cremated; a tribunal at Epidaphne, in which place he ended his life.

statuarum locorumve in quis coleretur haud facile quis numerum inierit. cum censeretur clipeus auro et magnitudine insignis inter auctores eloquentiae, adseveravit Tiberius solitum paremque ceteris dicaturum: neque enim eloquentiam fortuna discerni et satis inlustre si veteres inter scriptores haberetur. equester ordo cuneum Germanici appellavit qui iuniorum dicebatur, instituitque uti turmae idibus Iuliis imaginem eius sequerentur.

Of the statues and places in which he was venerated, hardly could anyone take the count. When a shield, distinguished by gold and by magnitude, was being proposed among the authors of eloquence, Tiberius asserted that he had been and would be called equal to the rest: for eloquence is not distinguished by fortune, and it is sufficiently illustrious if he be held among the old writers. The equestrian order named the wedge of seats that was called “of the younger men” the “Germanicus wedge,” and ordained that the squadrons on the Ides of July should follow his image.

pleraque manent: quaedam statim omissa sunt aut vetustas oblitteravit.

Most things remain: certain things were at once omitted, or antiquity has obliterated them.

[84] Ceterum recenti adhuc maestitia soror Germanici Livia, nupta Druso, duos virilis sexus simul enixa est. quod rarum laetumque etiam modicis penatibus tanto gaudio principem adfecit ut non temperaverit quin iactaret apud patres nulli ante Romanorum eiusdem fastigii viro geminam stirpem editam: nam cuncta, etiam fortuita, ad gloriam vertebat. sed populo tali in tempore id quoque dolorem tulit, tamquam auctus liberis Drusus domum Germanici magis urgeret.

[84] However, with the grief still recent, Livia, sister of Germanicus, wedded to Drusus, at once bore two of the male sex. A thing rare and gladsome even in modest households, it affected the princeps with such joy that he did not restrain himself from vaunting before the Fathers that to no man among the Romans before, of the same eminence, had a twin stock been produced: for he turned everything, even fortuitous things, to glory. But to the people, at such a time, this too brought sorrow, as though Drusus, augmented with children, were pressing the house of Germanicus the more.

[85] Eodem anno gravibus senatus decretis libido feminarum coercita cautumque ne quaestum corpore faceret cui avus aut pater aut maritus eques Romanus fuisset. nam Vistilia praetoria familia genita licentiam stupri apud aedilis vulgaverat, more inter veteres recepto, qui satis poenarum adversum impudicas in ipsa professione flagitii credebant. exactum et a Titidio Labeone Vistiliae marito cur in uxore delicti manifesta ultionem legis omisisset.

[85] In the same year, by weighty decrees of the senate the libido of women was restrained, and provision was made that no one should make gain by her body who had a grandfather or father or husband a Roman eques. For Vistilia, born of a praetorian family, had made public before the aediles a license of stuprum, by a custom received among the ancients, who believed that in the very profession of the flagitium there was penalty enough against shameless women. It was also exacted of Titidius Labeo, Vistilia’s husband, why, with the offense of his wife manifest, he had omitted the vengeance of the law.

atque illo praetendente sexaginta dies ad consultandum datos necdum praeterisse, satis visum de Vistilia statuere; eaque in insulam Seriphon abdita est. actum et de sacris Aegyptiis Iudaicisque pellendis factumque patrum consultum ut quattuor milia libertini generis ea superstitione infecta quis idonea aetas in insulam Sardiniam veherentur, coercendis illic latrociniis et, si ob gravitatem caeli interissent, vile damnum; ceteri cederent Italia nisi certam ante diem profanos ritus exuissent.

and when he alleged that sixty days had been granted for consultation and had not yet elapsed, it seemed sufficient to decide about Vistilia; and she was secluded on the island of Seriphos. It was also transacted concerning the expulsion of the Egyptian and Judaic rites, and a decree of the fathers was passed that four thousand of the freedman class infected with that superstition, whose age was fit, be conveyed to the island Sardinia, for the restraining there of latrociny; and, if they should perish on account of the heaviness of the climate, a cheap loss; the rest were to depart from Italy unless before a fixed day they had put off profane rites.

[86] Post quae rettulit Caesar capiendam virginem in locum Occiae, quae septem et quinquaginta per annos summa sanctimonia Vestalibus sacris praesederat; egitque grates Fonteio Agrippae et Domitio Pollioni quod offerendo filias de officio in rem publicam certarent. praelata est Pollionis filia, non ob aliud quam quod mater eius in eodem coniugio manebat; nam Agrippa discidio domum imminuerat. et Caesar quamvis posthabitam decies sestertii dote solatus est.

[86] After these things, Caesar brought forward that a maiden be taken in the place of Occia, who for 57 years had presided with the highest sanctity over the Vestal rites; and he gave thanks to Fonteius Agrippa and Domitius Pollio because, by offering their daughters, they were competing in duty for the commonwealth. Pollio’s daughter was preferred, for no other reason than that her mother remained in the same marriage; for Agrippa had diminished his household by a divorce. And Caesar, although she had been passed over, consoled her with a dowry of 1,000,000 sesterces.

[87] Saevitiam annonae incusante plebe statuit frumento pretium quod emptor penderet, binosque nummos se additurum negotiatoribus in singulos modios. neque tamen ob ea parentis patriae delatum et antea vocabulum adsumpsit, acerbeque increpuit eos qui divinas occupationes ipsumque dominum dixerant. unde angusta et lubrica oratio sub principe qui libertatem metuebat adulationem oderat.

[87] With the plebs accusing the savagery of the grain-supply, he fixed for grain a price which the buyer should pay, and that he would add two coins to the traders for each modius. Nor, however, on account of these things did he assume the title—offered before—of Father of the Fatherland, and he bitterly rebuked those who had called his occupations divine and himself “lord.” Whence speech was cramped and slippery under a princeps who feared liberty and hated adulation.

[88] Reperio apud scriptores senatoresque eorundem temporum Adgandestrii principis Chattorum lectas in senatu litteras, quibus mortem Arminii promittebat si patrandae neci venenum mitteretur, responsumque esse non fraude neque occultis, sed palam et armatum populum Romanum hostis suos ulcisci. qua gloria aequabat se Tiberius priscis imperatoribus qui venenum in Pyrrum regem vetuerant prodiderantque. ceterum Arminius abscedentibus Romanis et pulso Maroboduo regnum adfectans libertatem popularium adversam habuit, petitusque armis cum varia fortuna certaret, dolo propinquorum cecidit: liberator haud dubie Germaniae et qui non primordia populi Romani, sicut alii reges ducesque, sed florentissimum imperium lacessierit, proeliis ambiguus, bello non victus.

[88] I find among the writers and senators of the same times letters of Adgandestrius, prince of the Chatti, read in the senate, in which he promised the death of Arminius if poison were sent to accomplish the killing; and that the reply was that the Roman People avenge their enemies not by fraud nor by occult means, but openly and in arms. By this glory Tiberius equated himself with the ancient commanders who had forbidden and divulged poison against King Pyrrhus. However, Arminius—while the Romans were withdrawing and Maroboduus had been driven out—aiming at a kingship, found the liberty of his compatriots opposed to him; and, attacked with arms as he contended with varying fortune, he fell by the deceit of his kinsmen: a liberator, without doubt, of Germany, and one who assailed not the beginnings of the Roman People, like other kings and leaders, but its most flourishing imperium; in battles of uncertain outcome, in war not conquered.

septem et triginta annos vitae, duodecim potentiae explevit, caniturque adhuc barbaras apud gentis, Graecorum annalibus ignotus, qui sua tantum mirantur, Romanis haud perinde celebris, dun vetera extollimus recentium incuriosi.

he fulfilled 37 years of life, 12 of power, and he is still sung among barbarian nations, unknown to the annals of the Greeks, who admire only their own; not so celebrated among the Romans, while we extol the ancient and are careless of the recent.