[78] Templum ut in colonia Tarraconensi strueretur Augusto petentibus Hispanis permissum, datumque in omnis provincias exemplum. centesimam rerum venalium post bella civilia institutam deprecante populo edixit Tiberius militare aerarium eo subsidio niti; simul imparem oneri rem publicam, nisi vicesimo militiae anno veterani dimitterentur. ita proximae seditionis male consulta, quibus sedecim stipendiorum finem expresserant, abolita in posterum.
78 Permission to build a temple of Augustus in the colony of Tarraco was granted to the Spaniards, and a precedent set for all the provinces. A popular protest against the one per cent duty on auctioned goods (which had been imposed after the Civil Wars) brought from Tiberius a declaration that “the military exchequer was dependent on that resource; moreover, the commonwealth was not equal to the burden, unless the veterans were discharged only at the end of twenty years’ service.” Thus the misconceived reforms of the late mutiny, in virtue of which the legionaries had extorted a maximum term of sixteen years, were cancelled for the future.
[79] Actum deinde in senatu ab Arruntio et Ateio an ob moderandas Tiberis exundationes verterentur flumina et lacus, per quos augescit; auditaeque municipiorum et coloniarum legationes, orantibus Florentinis ne Clanis solito alveo demotus in amnem Arnum transferretur idque ipsis perniciem adferret. congruentia his Interamnates disseruere: pessum ituros fecundissimos Italiae campos, si amnis Nar (id enim parabatur) in rivos diductus supersta gnavisset. nec Reatini silebant, Velinum lacum, qua in Narem effunditur, obstrui recusantes, quippe in adiacentia erupturum; optume rebus mortalium consuluisse naturam, quae sua ora fluminibus, suos cursus utque originem, ita finis dederit; spectandas etiam religiones sociorum, qui sacra et lucos et aras patriis amnibus dicaverint: quin ipsum Tiberim nolle prorsus accolis fluviis orbatum minore gloria fluere. seu preces coloniarum seu difficultas operum sive superstitio valuit, ut in sententiam Pisonis concederetur, qui nil mutandum censuerat.
79 Next, a discussion was opened in the senate by Arruntius and Ateius, whether the invasions of the Tiber should be checked by altering the course of the rivers and lakes swelling its volume. Deputations from the municipalities and colonies were heard. The Florentines pleaded that the Clanis should not be deflected from its old bed into the Arno, to bring ruin upon themselves. The Interamnates’ case was similar:—”The most generous fields of Italy were doomed, if the Nar should overflow after this scheme had split it into rivulets.” Nor were the Reatines silent:—”They must protest against the Veline Lake being dammed at its outlet into the Nar, as it would simply break a road into the surrounding country. Nature had made the best provision for the interests of humanity, when she assigned to rivers their proper mouths — their proper courses — their limits as well as their origins. Consideration, too, should be paid to the faith of their fathers, who had hallowed rituals and groves and altars to their country streams. Besides, they were reluctant that Tiber himself, bereft of his tributary streams, should flow with diminished majesty.” Whatever the deciding factor — the prayers of the colonies, the difficulty of the work, or superstition — the motion of Piso, “that nothing was to be changed,” was agreed to.
[80] Prorogatur Poppaeo Sabino provincia Moesia, additis Achaia ac Macedonia. id quoque morum Tiberii fuit, continuare imperia ac plerosque ad finem vitae in isdem exercitibus aut iurisdictionibus habere. causae variae traduntur: alii taedio novae curae semel placita pro aeternis servavisse, quidam invidia, ne plures fruerentur; sunt qui existiment, ut callidum eius ingenium, ita anxium iudicium; neque enim eminentis virtutes sectabatur, et rursum vitia oderat: ex optimis periculum sibi, a pessimis dedecus publicum metuebat. qua haesitatione postremo eo provectus est ut mandaverit quibusdam provincias, quos egredi urbe non erat passurus.
80 Poppaeus Sabinus was continued in his province of Moesia, to which Achaia and Macedonia were added. It was one of the peculiarities of Tiberius to prolong commands, and, as often as not, to retain the same man at the head of the same army or administrative district till his dying day. Various reasons are given. Some hold it was the weary dislike of recurring trouble which caused him to treat a decision once framed as eternally valid; others that he grudged to see too many men enjoying preferment; while there are those who believe that as his intellect was shrewd so his judgment was hesitant; for, on the one hand, he did not seek out pre-eminent virtue, and, on the other, he detested vice: the best he feared as a private danger, the worst as a public scandal. In the end, this vacillation carried him so far that he gave provinces to men whom he was never to allow to leave Rome.
[81] De comitiis consularibus, quae tum primum illo principe ac deinceps fuere, vix quicquam firmare ausim: adeo diversa non modo apud auctores, sed in ipsius orationibus reperiuntur. modo subtractis candidatorum nominibus originem cuiusque et vitam et stipendia descripsit ut qui forent intellegeretur; aliquando ea quoque significatione sub tracta candidatos hortatus ne ambitu comitia turbarent, suam ad id curam pollicitus est. plerumque eos tantum apud se professos disseruit, quorum nomina consulibus edidisset; posse et alios profiteri, si gratiae aut meritis confiderent: speciosa verbis, re inania aut subdola, quantoque maiore libertatis imagine tegebantur, tanto eruptura ad infensius servitium.
81 As to the consular elections, from this year’s — the first — down to the last of the reign, I can hardly venture a single definite assertion: so conflicting is the evidence, not of the historians alone, but of the emperor’s own speeches. Sometimes, he withheld the candidate’s names, but described the birth, career, and campaigns of each in terms that left his identity in no doubt. Sometimes even these clues were suppressed, and he urged “the candidates” not to vitiate the election by intrigue, and promised his own efforts to that end. Generally, he declared that no one had applied to him for nomination, except those whose names he had divulged to the consuls: others might still apply, if they had confidence in their influence or their merits. In words the policy was specious; in reality, it was nugatory or perfidious and destined to issue in a servitude all the more detestable the more it was disguised under a semblance of liberty!
LIBER SECVNDVS — BOOK II
[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 With the consulate of Statilius Sisenna and Lucius Libo came an upheaval among the independent kingdoms and Roman provinces of the East. The movement started with the Parthians, who despised as an alien the sovereign whom they had sought and received from Rome, member though he was of the Arsacian house. This was Vonones, once given by Phraates as a hostage to Augustus. For, though he had thrown back Roman armies and commanders, to the emperor Phraates had observed every point of respect, and, to knit the friendship closer, had sent him part of his family, more from distrust of his countrymen’s loyalty than from any awe of ourselves.
[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. 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. 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.
2
After domestic murders had made an end of Phraates and his successors, a deputation from the Parthian nobility arrived in Rome, to summon Vonones, as the eldest of his children, to the throne. The Caesar took this as an honour to himself and presented the youth with a considerable sum. The barbarians, too, accepted him with the pleasure they usually evince at a change of sovereigns. It quickly gave place to shame:—”The Parthians had degenerated: they had gone to another continent for a king tainted with the enemy’s arts, and now the throne of the Arsacidae was held, or given away, as one of the provinces of Rome. Where was the glory of the men who slew Crassus and ejected Antony, if a chattel of the Caesar, who had brooked his bondage through all these years, was to govern Parthians?” Their contempt was heightened by the man himself, with his remoteness from ancestral traditions, his rare appearances in the hunting-field, his languid interest in horseflesh, his use of a litter when passing through the towns, and his disdain of the national banquets. Other subjects for mirth were his Greek retinue and his habit of keeping even the humblest household necessaries under seal. His easy accessibility, on the other hand, and his unreserved courtesy — virtues unknown to Parthia — were construed as exotic vices; and the good and ill in him, as they were equally strange to the national character, were impartially abhorred.
[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. 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.
3 Consequently Artabanus, an Arsacian of the blood, who had grown to manhood among the Dahae, was brought into the lists, and, though routed in the first engagement, rallied his forces and seized the kingdom. The defeated Vonones found shelter in Armenia, then a masterless land between the Parthian and Roman empires — a dubious neighbour to the latter owing to the criminal action of Antony, who, after entrapping the late king, Artavasdes, by a parade of friendship, had then thrown him into irons and finally executed him. His son Artaxias, hostile to ourselves on account of his father’s memory, was able to protect himself and his crown by the arms of the Arsacidae. After his assassination by the treachery of his own relatives, the Caesar assigned Tigranes to Armenia, and he was settled in his dominions by Tiberius Nero. Tigranes’ term of royalty was brief; and so was that of his children, though associated by the regular oriental ties of marriage and joint government.
[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. 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.
4 In the next place, by the mandate of Augustus, Artavasdes was imposed upon his countrymen — only to be shaken off, not without a measure of discredit to our arms. Then came the appointment of Gaius Caesar to compose the affairs of Armenia. He gave the crown to Ariobarzanes, a Mede by extraction; to whose good looks and brilliant qualities the Armenians raised no objection. But when an accident carried off Ariobarzanes, their tolerance did not reach to his family; and after an experiment in female government with a queen called Erato, who was quickly expelled, the drifting, disintegrated people, ownerless rather than emancipated, welcomed the fugitive Vonones to the throne. But as Artabanus became threatening little support could be expected from the Armenians, while the armed protection of Rome would entail a Parthian war, Creticus Silanus, governor of Syria, obtained his eviction, and placed him under a surveillance which still left him his luxuries and his title. His attempt to escape from this toy court we shall notice in its proper 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. 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.
5 For Tiberius the disturbances in the East were a not unwelcome accident, as they supplied him with a pretext for removing Germanicus from his familiar legions and appointing him to unknown provinces, where he would be vulnerable at once to treachery and chance. But the keener the devotion of his soldiers and the deeper the aversion of his uncle, the more anxious grew the prince to accelerate his victory; and he began to consider the ways and means of battle in the light of the failures and successes which had fallen to his share during the past two years of campaigning. In a set engagement and on a fair field, the Germans, he reflected, were beaten — their advantage lay in the forests and swamps, the short summer and the premature winter. His own men were not so much affected by their wounds as by the dreary marches and the loss of their weapons. The Gallic provinces were weary of furnishing horses; and a lengthy baggage-train was easy to waylay and awkward to defend. But if they ventured on the sea, occupation would be easy for themselves and undetected by the enemy; while the campaign might begin at an earlier date, and the legions and supplies be conveyed together: the cavalry and horse would be taken up-stream through the river-mouths and landed fresh in the centre 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. 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.
6 To this course, then, he bent his attention. Publius Vitellius and Gaius Antius were sent to assess the Gallic tribute: Silius and Caecina were made responsible for the construction of a fleet. A thousand vessels were considered enough, and these were built at speed. Some were short craft with very little poop or prow, and broad-bellied, the more easily to withstand a heavy sea: others had flat bottoms, enabling them to run aground without damage; while still more were fitted with rudders at each end, so as to head either way the moment the oarsmen reversed their stroke. Many had a deck-flooring to carry the mi
litary engines, though they were equally useful for transporting horses or supplies. The whole armada, equipped at once for sailing or propulsion by the oar, was a striking and formidable spectacle, rendered still more so by the enthusiasm of the soldiers. The Isle of Batavia was fixed for the meeting-place, since it afforded an easy landing and was convenient both as a rendezvous for the troops and as the base for a campaign across the water. For the Rhine, which so far has flowed in a single channel, save only where it circles some unimportant islet, branches at the Batavian frontier into what may be regarded as two rivers. On the German side, it runs unchanged in name and vehemence till its juncture with the North Sea: the Gallic bank it washes with a wider, gentler stream, known locally as the Waal, though before long it changes its style once more and becomes the river Meuse, through whose immense estuary it discharges, also into the North Sea.
Complete Works of Tacitus (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 24) Page 234