he had brought in ships, to Publius Vitellius to conduct them by land,
that his fleet, thus lightened, might sail on the shoally sea, or run
aground with safety when the tide ebbed. Vitellius at first marched
without interruption while the ground was dry or the tide flowed within
bounds. Presently the ocean beginning to swell by the action of the
northwest wind upon it, and also by the influence of the equinoxial
constellation--at which season the sea swells most--the troops were
miserably harassed and driven about. The lands were completely
inundated; the sea, the shore, the fields, had one uniform face: no
distinction of depths from shallows, of firm from treacherous footing;
they were overturned by billows, absorbed by the eddies; beasts of
burden, baggage, and dead bodies floated among them and came in contact
with them. The several companies were mixed at random, wading now breast
high, now up to their chin; sometimes, the ground failing them, they
fell, some never more to rise. Their cries and mutual encouragements
availed them nothing; the noise of the water drowning them; no
difference between the coward and the brave, the wise and the foolish;
none between circumspection and hap-hazard, but all were involved in the
sweeping torrent. Vitellius at length, having by great exertion gained
the higher ground, withdrew the legions thither, where they passed the
night without fire and without food, many of them naked or lamed, not
less miserable than men enclosed by an enemy--for even such had the
resource of an honorable death, while these must perish ingloriously.
Daylight restored the land, and they marched to the river Unsingis,
whither Germanicus had gone with the fleet. The legions were then
embarked, while rumor reported that they were sunk; nor was their escape
believed until Germanicus and the army were seen to return.
Stertinius, who had been sent before to receive the submission of
Sigimer, the brother of Segestes, had now brought him and his son to the
city of the Ubians; both were pardoned, the father promptly, the son
with more hesitation, because he was said to have insulted the corpse of
Varus. For the rest, Spain, Italy, and the Gauls vied in supplying the
losses of the army, offering arms, horses, money, whatever each had at
hand. Germanicus, applauding their zeal, accepted only the horses and
arms for the war; with his own money he assisted the soldiers; and, to
soften by kindness also the memory of the late disaster, he visited the
wounded, extolled the exploits of individuals, and, looking at their
wounds, with hopes encouraged some, with a sense of glory animated
others, and by affability and attention confirmed them all in devotion
to himself and to his service. Between the Romans and the Cheruscans
flowed the river Visurgis. On its bank stood Arminius, with the other
chiefs, inquiring whether Germanicus was come; and being answered that
he was there, he prayed leave to speak with his brother. This brother of
his was in the army, his name Flavius, remarkable for his fidelity, and
for the loss of an eye under Tiberius. Permission was then granted.
Flavius, advancing, was saluted by Arminius, who having removed his own
attendants, requested that the archers ranged upon our bank might
retire. When they were gone--"How came you," he asked his brother, "by
that deformity in your face?" The brother having informed him where and
in what fight, he desired to know "what reward he had received"? Flavius
answered, "Increase of pay, the chain, the crown, and other military
gifts"; which Arminius treated with derision, as the vile wages of
servitude.
After that they began in different strains. Flavius urged "the Roman
greatness, the power of Cæsar, the severe punishment inflicted on the
vanquished; and the clemency vouchsafed to those who submitted; that
neither the wife nor son of Arminius was treated as a captive." Arminius
to this opposed "the claims of country, their hereditary liberty, the
domestic gods of Germany; their mother, who joined in his prayer that he
would not prefer the character of a deserter, and a betrayer of his
kinsmen and connections, in short, of his race, to that of their
general." From this they gradually proceeded to invectives; nor would
the interposition of the river have restrained them from an encounter,
had not Stertinius, running to him, held back Flavius, full of rage and
calling for his arms and his horse. On the opposite side was seen
Arminius, menacing furiously and proclaiming battle. For most of what he
said in this dialogue was in Latin, having, as the general of his
countrymen, served in the Roman camp.
Next day the German army stood in order of battle beyond the Visurgis.
Germanicus, who thought it became not a general to endanger the legions
in the passage without bridges and guards, made the horse ford over.
They were led by Stertinius and Æmilius, one of the principal
centurions, who entered the river at distant places to divide the
attention of the foe. Cariovalda, captain of the Batavians, dashed
through where the stream was most rapid, and was by the Cheruscans--who
feigned flight--drawn into a plain surrounded by woods. Then starting up
at once, and pouring upon him on every side, they overthrew those who
resisted, and pressed after those who gave way, who at length, forming
themselves into a circle, were assailed by some hand-to-hand, by others
were annoyed by missiles. Cariovalda, having long sustained the fury of
the enemy, exhorted his men to break through the assailing bands in a
solid body; he himself charged into the thickest, and fell under a
shower of darts--his horse also being killed--and many nobles fell
around him. The rest were saved by their own bravery, or by the cavalry
under Stertinius and Æmilius, which came up to their assistance.
Germanicus, having passed the Visurgis, learned from a deserter that
Arminius had marked out the place of battle; that more tribes also had
joined him at a wood sacred to Hercules, and would attempt to storm our
camp by night. The deserter was believed, the enemy's fires were in
view, and the scouts, having advanced toward them, reported that they
heard the neighing of horses and the murmur of a mighty and tumultuous
host. Being thus upon the eve of a decisive battle, Germanicus thought
it behooved him to learn the sentiments of the soldiers, and deliberated
with himself how to get at the truth; "the reports of the tribunes and
centurions were oftener agreeable than true; the freedmen had servile
spirits; friends were apt to flatter; if an assembly were called, there,
too, the counsel proposed by a few was carried by the clamorous plaudits
of the rest. The minds of soldiers could, then, only be thoroughly known
when, by themselves, free from all restraint, and over their mess, they
gave unreserved utterance to their hopes and fears."
At nightfall, taking the path leading by the place of divination,[20] he
went out with a single attendant, a deerskin covering his shoulders,[21]
and proceeding by a secret way where there were no sentinels, entered
the avenues of the camp, stationed himself near the tents, and eagerly
listened to what was said of himself, while one magnified the imperial
birth of his general, another his graceful person, very many his
firmness, condescension, and the evenness of his temper, whether
seriously occupied or in moments of relaxation; and they confessed that
their sense of his merits should be shown in battle, protesting at the
same time that those traitors and violators of peace should be made a
sacrifice to vengeance and to fame. In the mean time one of the enemy
who understood Latin rode up to the palisades, and with a loud voice
offered, in the name of Arminius, to every deserter a wife and land,
and, as long as the war lasted, a hundred sesterces a day. This affront
kindled the wrath of the legions. "Let day come," they cried, "battle
should be given, the soldiers would themselves take the lands of the
Germans, lead away wives by right of conquest; they, however, welcomed
the omen, and considered the wealth and women of the enemy their
destined prey." About the third watch[22] an attempt was made upon the
camp, but not a dart was discharged, as they found the cohorts planted
thick upon the works, and nothing neglected that was necessary for a
vigorous defence.
Germanicus had the same night a cheering dream: he thought he
sacrificed, and, in place of his own robe besmeared with the blood of
the victim, received one fairer from the hands of his grandmother
Augusta. Elated by the omen, and the auspices being favorable, he called
an assembly, and laid before them what in his judgment seemed likely to
be advantageous and suitable for the impending battle. He said "that to
the Roman soldiers not only plains, but, with due circumspection, even
woods and forests were convenient. The huge targets, the enormous spears
of the barbarians, could never be wielded among trunks of trees and
thickets of underwood shooting up from the ground like Roman swords and
javelins, and armor fitting the body; that they should reiterate their
blows, and aim at the face with their swords. The Germans had neither
helmet nor coat of mail; their bucklers were not even strengthened with
leather or iron, but mere contextures of twigs, and boards of no
substance flourished over with paint; their first rank was armed with
pikes, in some sort, the rest had only stakes burned at the end, or
short darts. And now to come to their persons, as they were terrific to
sight, and vigorous enough for a brief effort, so they were utterly
impatient of wounds; unaffected with shame for misconduct, and destitute
of respect for their generals. They would quit their posts or run away
before the enemy; cowards in adversity, in prosperity despisers of all
divine, of all human laws; if weary of marches and sea voyages, they
wished an end of these things, by this battle it was presented to them.
The Elbe was now nearer than the Rhine; there was nothing to subdue
beyond this; they had only to place him, crowned with victory, in the
same country which had witnessed the triumphs of his father and uncle,
in whose footsteps he was treading." The ardor of the soldiers was
kindled by this speech of the general, and the signal for the onset was
given.
Neither did Arminius or the other chiefs neglect solemnly to assure
their several bands that "these were Romans; the most desperate
fugitives of the Varian army, who, to avoid the hardships of war, had
put on the character of rebels; who, without any hope of success, were
again braving the angry gods, and exposing to their exasperated foes,
some of them backs burdened with wounds, others limbs enfeebled with the
effects of storms and tempests. Their motive for having recourse to a
fleet and the pathless regions of the ocean was that no one might oppose
them as they approached or pursue them when repulsed; but when they
engaged hand-to-hand, vain would be the help of winds and oars after a
defeat. The Germans needed only remember their rapine, cruelty, and
pride; was any other course left them than to maintain their liberty,
and, if they could not do that, to die before they took a yoke upon
them?"
The enemy thus inflamed, and calling for battle, were led into a plain
called Idistavisus. It lies between the Visurgis and the hills, and
winds irregularly along, as it is encroached upon by the projecting
bases of the mountains or enlarged by the receding banks of the river.
At their rear rose a majestic forest, the branches of the trees shooting
up into the air, but the ground clear between their trunks. The army of
barbarians occupied the plain and the entrances of the forest; the
Cheruscans alone sat in ambush upon the mountain, in order to pour down
from thence upon the Romans when engaged in the fight. Our army marched
thus: the auxiliary Gauls and Germans in front, after them the foot
archers, next four legions, and then Germanicus with two prætorian
cohorts and the choice of the cavalry; then four legions more, and the
light foot with the mounted archers, and the other cohorts of the
allies; the men were on the alert and in readiness, so that the order of
march might form the order of battle when they halted.
As the bands of Cheruscans who had impatiently rushed forward were now
perceived, Germanicus commanded the most efficient of his horse to
charge them in the flank, and Stertinius with the rest to wheel round to
attack them in the rear, and promised to be ready to assist them at the
proper moment. Meanwhile an omen of happiest import appeared; eight
eagles, seen to fly toward the wood and to enter it, caught the eye of
the general. "Advance!" he cried, "follow the Roman birds; follow the
tutelar deities of the legions!"
At once the foot charged, and the cavalry sent forward attacked their
flank and rear, and, strange to relate, the two divisions of their army
fled opposite ways; that in the wood ran to the plain, that in the plain
rushed into the wood. The Cheruscans between both were driven from the
hills; among them Arminius formed a conspicuous object, while with his
hand, his voice, and the exhibition of his wounds he strove to sustain
the fight. He had vigorously assaulted the archers, and would have
broken through them had not the cohorts of the Rhætians, the
Vindelicians, and the Gauls advanced to oppose him. However, by his own
personal effort and the impetus of his horse he made good his passage,
his face besmeared with his own blood to avoid being known. Some have
related that the Chaucians, who were among the Roman auxiliaries, knew
him and let him go; the same bravery or stratagem procured Inguiomer his
escape; the rest were slain on all hands; great numbers attempting to
swim the Visurgis perished either by the darts showered after them or
the violence of the current, or, if they escaped these, they were
overwhelmed by the weight of the rushing crowd and the banks which fell
upon them. Some, seeking an ignominious refuge, climbed to the tops of
trees, and, concealing themselves among the branches, were shot in
sport by the archers, who were brought up for the purpose; others were
dashed against the ground as the trees were felled. This was a great
victory, and withal achieved without loss on our side.
This slaughter of the foe, from the fifth hour[23] of the day until
night, filled the country for ten miles with carcasses and arms. Among
the spoils, chains were found, which, sure of conquering, they had
brought to bind the Roman captives. The soldiers saluted Tiberius as
"Imperator"[24] upon the field of battle, and, raising a mount, placed
upon it, after the manner of trophies, the German arms, with the names
of all the vanquished nations inscribed below.
This sight filled the Germans with more anguish and rage than all their
wounds, afflictions, and overthrows. They, who were just now prepared to
abandon their dwellings and retire beyond the Elbe, meditate war and
grasp their arms; people, nobles, youth, aged, all rush suddenly upon
the Roman army in its march and disorder it. Lastly, they chose a
position shut in by a river and a forest, the inner space being a
confined and humid plain; the forest, too, surrounded with a deep marsh,
except that the Angrivarii had elevated one side by erecting a broad
mound to part them and the Cheruscans. Here their foot were posted;
their horse were concealed among the neighboring groves, that they might
be on the rear of the legions when they had entered the wood.
Nothing of all this was a secret to Germanicus. He knew their counsels,
their stations, their overt movements and their concealed measures; and
turned their subtlety to the destruction of themselves. To Seius Tubero,
his lieutenant, he committed the horse and the plain; the infantry he
so formed that part might pass the level approaches into the wood, and
the rest force their way up the rampart; whatever was arduous he
reserved to himself, the rest he committed to his lieutenants. Those who
had the even ground to traverse easily forced an entrance; but they who
were to storm the rampart were battered from above, as if they had been
assaulting a wall. The general perceived the inequality of this close
encounter, and, drawing off the legions a small distance, ordered the
slingers and engineers to discharge their missiles and dislodge the
enemy. Immediately darts were poured from the engines, and the defenders
of the barrier, the more conspicuous they were, with the more wounds
were beaten down. Germanicus, having taken the rampart, first forced his
way at the head of the prætorian cohorts into the wood, and there
fought, foot-to-foot. Behind the enemy was the morass, behind the Romans
the mountains or the river; no room for either to retreat, no hope but
in valor, no safety but in victory.
The Germans were not inferior in courage, but in their method of
fighting and the nature of their arms; as their vast numbers, hampered
in narrow places, could not push forward, nor recover their immense
spears, nor practise their usual assaults and rapid motions, being
compelled by their crowded condition to adopt a stationary manner of
fighting. On the contrary, our soldiers, with shields fitted to their
breasts, and their hands firmly grasping their sword hilts, could gash
the brawny limbs and naked faces of the barbarians, and open themselves
a way with havoc to the enemy. Besides, the activity of Arminius now
failed him, being either exhausted by a succession of disasters or
disabled by his recent wound. Nay, Inguiomer, too, who flew from place
to place throughout the battle, was abandoned by fortune rather than
courage. Germanicus, to be the easier known, pulled off his helmet, and
exhorted his men "to prosecute the slaughter; they wanted no captives,"
he said; "the extermination of the people alone would put an end to the
war!" It was now late in the day and he drew off a legion to pitch a
camp; the rest glutted themselves till night with the blood of the foe;
the horse fought with doubtful success.
Germanicus, having in a public harangue praised his victorious troops,
raised a pile of arms with this proud inscription: "That the army of
Tiberius Cæsar, having subdued the nations between the Rhine and the
Elbe, had consecrated these memorials to Mars, to Jupiter, and to
Augustus." Of himself he made no mention; either fearful of provoking
envy or that he felt satisfied with the consciousness of his own merit.
He next charged Stertinius with the war among the Angrivarians, and he
would have proceeded had they not made haste to submit; approaching as
supplicants, and making a full confession of their guilt, they received
pardon without reserve.
The summer being now far advanced, some of the legions were sent back
into winter quarters by land; the greater part Cæsar put on board the
fleet and conveyed them along the Amisia to the ocean. The sea, at first
serene, resounded only with the oars of a thousand ships or their
impulse when under sail; but presently a shower of hail poured down from
a black mass of clouds; at the same time storms raging on all sides in
every variety, the billows rolling now here, now there, obstructed the
view and made it impossible to manage the ships. The soldiers, too,
unaccustomed to the perils of the sea, in their alarm embarrassed the
mariners, or, helping them awkwardly, rendered unavailing the services
of the skilful. After this, the whole expanse of air and sea was swept
by a southwest wind, which, deriving strength from the mountainous
regions of Germany, its deep rivers, and boundless tract of clouded
atmosphere, and rendered still harsher by the rigor of the neighboring
north, tore away the ships, scattered and drove them into the open
ocean, or upon islands, dangerous from precipitous rocks or the hidden
sand-banks which beset them. Having got a little clear of these (but
with great difficulty), the tide turned, and, flowing in the same
direction as that in which the wind blew, they were unable to ride at
anchor or bale out the water that broke in upon them. Horses, beasts of
burden, baggage, even arms, were thrown overboard to lighten the holds
of the vessels, which took in water at their sides and from the waves
running over them. Around them were either shores inhabited by enemies
or a sea so vast and unfathomable as to be supposed to be the limit of
the world and unbounded by any land. Part of the fleet was swallowed
up; many ships were driven upon remote islands where, without a trace of
civilized humanity, the men perished through famine, or were kept alive
by the carcasses of horses that were dashed upon the same shore. The
galley of Germanicus alone reached the coast of the Chaucians[25] where,
during the whole period of his stay, both day and night, amid the rocks
and prominences of the shore, he reproached himself as being the author
of such overwhelming destruction, and was hardly restrained by his
friends from destroying himself in the sea. At last, with the returning
tide and favoring gale, the shattered ships returned--almost all
destitute of oars, or with garments spread for sails, and some towed by
those which were less disabled. He repaired them hastily, and despatched
them to search the islands. By this diligence the greater part were
recovered; many were by the Angrivarians (our new subjects) redeemed
from their more inland neighbors and restored; and some, driven into
Great Britain, were sent back by the petty kings. Each according to the
remoteness of the region he had returned from recounted the wonders he
had witnessed: "the impetuosity of whirlwinds; strange birds; sea
monsters of ambiguous form between man and beast"--things either seen or
fancied from the effects of fear.
Intelligence of this wreck animated the Germans with hopes of renewing
the war, which Germanicus, perceiving, resolved to check. He commanded
Caius Silius, with thirty thousand foot and three thousand horse, to
march into the country of the Cattians; he himself, with a greater
force, invaded the Marsians, where he learned from Malovendus, their
general--lately taken into our subjection--that the eagle of one of
Varus' legions was hidden underground in a neighboring grove kept by a
slender guard. Instantly two parties were despatched: one to face the
enemy and draw him from his position, the other to march around upon the
rear and open the ground. Success attended both. Hence Germanicus,
advancing toward the interior with greater alacrity, laid waste the
country and destroyed the effects of the late disaster. The foe,
wherever they engaged, were instantly defeated; nor (as was learned from
the prisoners) were they ever more dismayed. "The Romans," they
exclaimed, "are invincible; no calamities can subdue them; they have
wrecked their fleet, their arms are lost, our shores are covered with
the bodies of their horses and men; and yet they have invaded us with
their usual spirit, with the same firmness, and as if their numbers were
increased."