The great secular fact of Rome’s history under Augustus Cæsar was the
destruction of the Roman general Varus and his legions in Germany by the
celebrated Arminius,--the great national hero Herman,--in whose honor a
colossal statue has been erected in the northwest of Germany, near the
scene of his patriotic and momentous achievement. He was the chief of
the Cherusci, a powerful tribe dwelling on both sides of the river
Visurgis (Weser), and closely akin to the Angles and Saxons who
conquered the island of Britain.
If Arminius had not done what he did against Rome, Germany might have
been thoroughly subdued; the Latin language might have extinguished the
Teutonic; the Teutonic tribes might have been overwhelmed; the Teutonic
influence over modern Europe, and as an element of the English race,
might never have been exerted, and Europe and the world would have had a
widely different development from that which they have actually
undergone.