20 1 Claudius, however, lenient though he was to foreign potentates, still doubted whether it was preferable to accept the captive, under a guarantee of safety, or to reclaim him by arms. He was impelled to the second course by resentment of his injuries and by the desire of revenge; yet it was urged on the other side that “he would be undertaking a war in a roadless country and upon a harbourless sea. Consider, too, the martial kings, their nomadic peoples, the unfruitful soil; the tedium consequent on delay, the dangers consequent on haste; the modest laurels of victory, the pronounced ignominy of repulse! Better to embrace the proffered opportunity, and spare an exile to whom every extension of his poverty-stricken life would be an extension of punishment.” Impressed by these arguments, he wrote to Eunones that “Mithridates, it was true, had earned the last penalties; nor was it out of his power to exact them; but it had been a maxim of his ancestors to display as much charity to suppliants as pertinacity against the enemy: for it was at the expense of peoples and monarchies still undefeated that triumphs were earned.”
21 1 Mithridates was handed over in due course and conveyed to Rome by Junius Cilo, the procurator of Pontus. The tale went that he spoke before the emperor’s tribunal with a spirit not warranted by his situation, and one sentence came to the knowledge of the public, the words being: “I have not been returned to you; I return. If you doubt, let me go, and fetch me!” His features did not even lose their intrepidity, when he was being displayed beside the Rostra, in the midst of his warders, to the gaze of the populace. — Consular decorations were voted to Cilo, praetorian to Aquila.
22 1 In the same consulate, Agrippina, fierce in her hatreds, and infuriated against Lollia as her rival for the emperor’s hand, arranged for her prosecution and her prosecutor, the charges to be traffic with Chaldaeans and magicians, and application to the image of the Clarian Apollo for information as to the sovereign’s marriage. On this, Claudius — without hearing the defendant, — delivered a long exordium in the senate on the subject of her family distinctions, pointing out that her mother had been the sister of Lucius Volusius, her great-uncle Cotta Messalinus, herself the bride formerly of Memmius Regulus (her marriage with Caligula was deliberately suppressed); then added that her projects were pernicious to the state and she must be stripped of her resources for mischief: it would be best, therefore, to confiscate her property and expel her from Italy. Accordingly, out of her immense estate five million sesterces were spared to support her exile. Calpurnia also, a woman of high rank, came to ruin because Claudius had praised her appearance, not amorously, but in a casual conversation, so that Agrippina’s anger stopped short of the last consequences: in Lollia’s case, a tribune was despatched to enforce her suicide. Another condemnation was that of Cadius Rufus under the law of extortion, the indictment being brought by the Bithynians.
23 1 For its exemplary deference to the senate, Narbonese Gaul was so far privileged that members from the province were allowed the right, obtaining in the case of Sicily, of visiting their estates without first ascertaining the pleasure of the emperor. Ituraea and Judaea, on the death of their sovereigns, Sohaemus and Agrippa, were attached to the province of Syria. A decision was taken that the Augury of Safety, disused for the last seventy-five years, should be reintroduced and continued for the future. The Caesar also enlarged the pomerium, in consonance with the old custom, by which an expansion of the empire confers the right to extend similarly the boundaries of the city: a right, however, which, even after the conquest of powerful nations, had been exercised by no Roman commander except Lucius Sulla and the deified Augustus.
24 1 As to the vanity or glory of the various kings in that respect, differing accounts are given; but the original foundation, and the character of the pomerium as fixed by Romulus, seem to me a reasonable subject of investigation. From the Forum Boarium, then, where the brazen bull which meets the view is explained by the animal’s use in the plough, the furrow to mark out the town was cut so as to take in the great altar of Hercules. From that point, boundary-stones were interspersed at fixed intervals along the base of the Palatine Hill up to the altar of Consus, then to the old curiae, then again to the shrine of the Lares, and after that to the Forum Romanum. The Forum and the Capitol, it was believed, were added to the city, not by Romulus but by Titus Tatius. Later, the pomerium grew with the national fortunes: the limits as now determined by Claudius are both easily identified and recorded in public documents.
25 1 In the consulate of Gaius Antistius and Marcus Suillius, the adoption of Domitius was hurried forward by the influence of Pallas, who, pledged to Agrippina as the agent in her marriage, then bound to her by lawless love, kept goading Claudius to consult the welfare of the country and to supply the boyish years of Britannicus with a stable protection:—”So, in the family of the divine Augustus, though he had grandsons to rely upon, yet his step-children rose to power; Tiberius had issue of his own, but he adopted Germanicus; let Claudius also gird to himself a young partner, who would undertake a share of his responsibilities!” The emperor yielded to the pressure, and gave Domitius, with his three years’ seniority, precedence over his son, reproducing in his speech to the senate the arguments furnished by his freedman. It was noted by the expert that, prior to this, there was no trace of an adoption in the patrician branch of the Claudian house, which had lasted without interruption from Attus Clausus downward.
26 1 Thanks, however, were returned to the sovereign; a more refined flattery was bestowed on Domitius; and the law was carried providing for his adoption into the Claudian family and the designation of Nero. Agrippina herself was dignified by the title of Augusta. When the transaction was over, no one was so devoid of pity as not to feel compunction for the lot of Britannicus. Stripped little by little of the services of the very slaves, the boy turned into derision the officious importunities of his stepmother, whose hypocrisy he understood. For report credits him with no lack of intelligence, possibly with truth, or possibly through the sympathy inspired by his dangers he has retained a reputation which was never put to the proof.
27 1 Agrippina, on the other hand, in order to advertise her strength to the provinces also, arranged for the plantation of a colony of veterans in the Ubian town where she was born. The settlement received its title from her name; and, as chance would have it, it had been her grandfather Agrippa who extended Roman protection to the tribe on its migration across the Rhine.
At the same period, a panic was caused in Upper Germany by an incursion of Chattan marauders. Thereupon, the legate Publius Pomponius sent the auxiliary Vangiones and Nemetes, supported by allied cavalry, with instructions to head off the raiders, or, if they scattered, to envelop and surprise them. The general’s plan was seconded by the activity of the troops. They separated into two columns; one of which, marching to the left, entrapped a newly-returned detachment of pillagers, who, after employing their booty in a debauch, were sleeping off the effects. The exultation of the men was heightened by the fact that, after forty years, they had redeemed from slavery a few survivors of the Varian disaster.
28 1 Their companions, who had taken the shorter route by the right, inflicted graver loss on the enemy, who met them and risked a set engagement. Laden with their spoils and honours, they returned to the heights of Taunus, where Pomponius was waiting with the legions, in hopes that the Chatti, anxious for revenge, would afford him an opportunity for battle. They, however, afraid of being caught between the Romans on one side and their eternal adversaries, the Cherusci, on the other, sent a deputation to Rome with hostages, and triumphal honours were voted to Pomponius: a slender portion of his fame in the eyes of posterity, with whom the glory of his verse ranks higher.
29 1 Much at the same time, Vannius, imposed on the Suebi by Drusus Caesar, was expelled from his kingdom. Esteemed and loved by his countrymen in the first years of his sovereignty, then, by continuous power, perverted to tyranny, he now succumbed to his neighbours’ hatred combined with domestic discords. The authors of his fall we
re Vibilius, king of the Hermunduri, and Vangio and Sido, the children of his own sister. Nor did Claudius, though often appealed to, interpose his arms between the warring barbarians, but promised a secure retreat to Vannius in the case of his expulsion, and wrote to the governor of Pannonia, Palpellius Hister, to station one legion, with a chosen body of auxiliaries from the province itself, upon the Danube bank there to act as a support to the conquered and a deterrent to the conquerors, lest in the elation of success they should disturb the Roman peace as well. For a countless horde was on the march — Lugians and other tribes, allured by the fame of that wealthy monarchy, which Vannius, for thirty years, had aggrandized by depredations and by exactions. The king’s own force of infantry and his cavalry, recruited from the Sarmatian Iazyges, were unequal to the numbers of the enemy; and he had consequently decided to hold out in his fortresses and to protract the campaign.
30 1 The Iazyges, however, impatient of confinement, spread over the adjacent plains and made a battle imperative, as the Lugians and Hermunduri had there rushed to the attack. Vannius accordingly descended from his strongholds and was worsted in the engagement, earning, despite his ill-success, a meed of praise for fighting sword in hand and taking his wounds in front. Still, he sought refuge with the flotilla waiting in the Danube: his vassals, who quickly followed, received a grant of lands and were settled in Pannonia. Vangio and Sido partitioned the kingdom between them, and to ourselves showed admirable loyalty: by their subjects — whether the fault lay in their own nature or in that of despotism — they were well loved whilst winning their power, better hated when their power was won.
31 1 Meanwhile, in Britain the propraetor Publius Ostorius had a troubled reception, as the enemy had poured into the territory of our allies with a violence all the greater from their belief that a new commander would not take the field with an untried army and with winter begun. Ostorius, aware that the first results are those which engender fear or confidence, swept his cohorts forward at speed, cut down the resisters, chased the broken bands and — to obviate a second rally, to be followed by a sullen and disloyal peace which would allow no rest either to the general or his troops — prepared to disarm the suspect and to overawe the whole district on this side of the Trent and Severn. The first to become restive were the Iceni, a powerful community not yet broken in battle, as they had voluntarily acceded to our alliance. At their suggestion, the surrounding tribes chose for their field of battle a position protected by a rustic embankment with a narrow approach, designed to be impervious to cavalry. This defence the Roman commander prepared to carry, though he was leading an auxiliary force without the strength of the legions, and distributing the cohorts in appropriate positions, turned even his mounted squadrons to infantry work. Then, on the signal, they broke through the embankment, and threw the enemy, hampered by his own barrier, into confusion. The Britons, with their rebellion on their conscience, and every egress closed, performed many remarkable feats; and during the engagement the legate’s son, Marcus Ostorius, earned the reward for saving a Roman life.
32 1 By the Icenian defeat all who were wavering between war and peace were reduced to quietude, and the army was led against the Ceangi. The country was devastated, booty collected everywhere, while the enemy declined to risk a battle, or, if he made a stealthy attempt to harass the marching columns, found his treachery punished. And now Ostorius was within measurable distance of the sea which looks towards Ireland, when an outbreak of sedition among the Brigantes recalled a leader who was firm in his resolution to attempt new conquests only when he had secured the old. The Brigantian rising, it is true, subsided on the execution of a handful of men, who were beginning hostilities, and the pardon of the rest; but neither severity nor clemency converted the Silurian tribe, which continued the struggle and had to be repressed by the establishment of a legionary camp. To facilitate that result, a colony was settled on conquered lands at Camulodunum by a strong detachment of veterans, who were to serve as a bulwark against revolt and to habituate the friendly natives to their legal obligations.
33 1 The march then proceeded against the Silurians, whose native boldness was heightened by their confidence in the prowess of Caratacus; whose many successes, partial or complete, had raised him to a pinnacle above the other British leaders. But on this occasion, favoured by the treacherous character of the country, though inferior in military strength, he astutely shifted the seat of war to the territory of the Ordovices; where, after being joined by all who feared a Roman peace, he put the final chance to trial. The place fixed upon for the struggle was one where approaches, exits, every local feature would be unfavourable to ourselves and advantageous to his own forces. On one side the hills rose sheer; and wherever a point could be reached by a gentle ascent, the way was blocked with stones composing a sort of rampart. Along the front ran a river with a precarious ford, and bands of warriors were in position before the defences.
34 1 In addition, the tribal chieftains were going round, haranguing the men and confirming their spirits by minimizing fear, by kindling hope, and by applying the various stimulants of war. As for Caratacus, he flew hither and thither, protesting that this day — this field — would be the prelude to their recovery of freedom or their eternal servitude. He invoked the names of their ancestors, who had repelled the dictator Caesar, and by whose valour they were immune from the Axes and the tributes and still preserved inviolate the persons of their wives and children. — To these appeals and the like the crowd shouted assent, and every man took his tribal oath to give way neither for weapons nor for wounds.
35 1 This ardour disconcerted the Roman general; and he was daunted also by the intervening river, by the added rampart, the beetling hills, the absence of any point that was not defiant and thronged with defenders. But the soldiers insisted on battle; against courage, they clamoured, no place was impregnable; and prefects and tribunes, employing the same language, intensified the zeal of the army. After surveying the ground to discover its impenetrable and its vulnerable points, Ostorius now put himself at the head of the eager troops and crossed the river without difficulty. When the embankment was reached, so long as the struggle was carried on by missiles, most of the wounds, and numerous casualties, fell to our own lot. But a mantlet was formed; and, once the rude and shapeless aggregate of stones had been demolished and matters came to an equal encounter at close quarters, the barbarians withdrew to the hill-tops. Yet even there the light and heavy troops broke in, the former skirmishing with their darts, the latter advancing in closer, while the British ranks opposite were in complete confusion: for they lacked the protection of breastplates and helmets; if they offered a resistance to the auxiliaries, they were struck down by the swords and javelins of the legionaries; if they faced against the legionaries, they fell under the falchions and lances of the auxiliaries. It was a notable victory; and the wife and daughter of Caratacus were taken, his brothers being admitted to surrender.
36 1 Caratacus himself — for adversity seldom finds a refuge — after seeking the protection of the Brigantian queen Cartimandua, was arrested and handed to the victors, in the ninth year from the opening of the war in Britain. Through that resistance, his reputation had gone beyond the islands, had overspread the nearest provinces, and was familiar in Italy itself; where there was curiosity to see what manner of man it was that had for so many years scorned our power. Even in Rome, the name of Caratacus was not without honour; and the Caesar, by attempting to heighten his own credit, added distinction to the vanquished. For the populace were invited as if to some spectacle of note; the praetorian cohorts stood under arms upon the level ground in front of their camp. Then, while the king’s humble vassals filed past, ornaments and neck-rings and prizes won in his foreign wars were borne in parade; next his brothers, wife, and daughter were placed on view; finally, he himself. The rest stooped to unworthy entreaties dictated by fear; but on the part of Caratacus not a downcast look nor a word requested pity. Arrived at the tribunal, he spoke as follow
s: —
37 1 “Had my lineage and my rank been matched by my moderation in success, I should have entered this city rather as a friend than as a captive; nor would you have scorned to admit to a peaceful league a king sprung from famous ancestors and holding sway over many peoples. My present lot, if to me a degradation, is to you a glory. I had horses and men, arms and riches: what wonder if I lost them with a pang? For if you would rule the world, does it follow that the world must welcome servitude? If I were dragged before you after surrendering without a blow, there would have been little heard either of my fall or of your triumph: punishment of me will be followed by oblivion; but save me alive, and I shall be an everlasting memorial of your clemency.” The answer was the Caesar’s pardon for the prince, his wife, and his brothers; and the prisoners, freed from their chains, paid their homage to Agrippina also — a conspicuous figure on another tribunal not far away — in the same terms of praise and gratitude which they had employed to the emperor. It was an innovation, certainly, and one without precedent in ancient custom, that a woman should sit in state before Roman standards: it was the advertisement of her claim to a partnership in the empire which her ancestors had created.
38 1 The Fathers, who were convened later, delivered long and florid orations on the capture of Caratacus—”an incident as glorious as the exhibition to the Roman people of Syphax by Publius Scipio, of Perseus by Lucius Paulus, of other manacled kings by other generals.” Triumphal insignia were awarded to Ostorius; whose fortunes, so far unclouded, now became dubious — possibly because, with the removal of Caratacus, our energy in the field had been slackened in the belief that the war was won, or possibly sympathy with their great king had fired the enemy’s zeal to avenge him. A camp-prefect and some legionary cohorts, left behind to construct garrison-posts in Silurian territory, were attacked from all quarters; and, if relief had not quickly reached the invested troops from the neighbouring forts — they had been informed by messenger — they must have perished to the last man. As it was, the prefect fell, with eight centurions and the boldest members of the rank and file. — Nor was it long before both a Roman foraging party and the squadrons despatched to its aid were totally routed.
Complete Works of Tacitus (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 24) Page 75