37 In addition, Considius Aequus and Caelius Cursor, Roman knights, who had laid fictitious charges of treason against the praetor Magius Caecilianus, were at the emperor’s instance punished by decree of the senate. Both incidents were laid to the credit of Drusus; for it was believed that, moving in the capital among the gatherings and conversations of his fellow-men, he had a softening influence on the inscrutable designs of his father. In view of his youth, not even his laxities were too unpopular: better he should follow the bent he did — play the architect by day, the epicure by night — than live in solitude, deaf to the voice of pleasure, and immersed in sullen vigilance and sinister meditations.
[38] Non enim Tiberius, non accusatores fatiscebant. et Ancharius Priscus Caesium Cordum pro consule Cretae postulaverat repetundis, addito maiestatis crimine, quod tum omnium accusationum complementum erat. Caesar Antistium Veterem e primoribus Macedoniae, absolutum adulterii, increpitis iudicibus ad dicendam maiestatis causam retraxit, ut turbidum et Rhescuporidis consiliis permixtum, qua tempestate Cotye [fratre] interfecto bellum adversus nos volverat. igitur aqua et igni interdictum reo, adpositumque ut teneretur insula neque Macedoniae neque Thraeciae opportuna. nam Thraecia diviso imperio in Rhoemetalcen et libetos Cotyis, quis ob infantiam tutor erat Trebellenus Rufus, insolentia nostri discors agebat neque minus Rhoemetalcen quam Trebellenum incusans popularium iniurias inultas sinere. Coelaletae Odrusaeque et Dii, validae nationes, arma cepere, ducibus diversis et paribus inter se per ignobilitatem; quae causa fuit ne in bellum atrox coalescerent. pars turbant praesentia, alii montem Haemum transgrediuntur ut remotos populos concirent; plurimi ac maxime compositi regem urbemque Philippopolim, a Macedone Philippo sitam, circumsidunt.
38 For Tiberius and the informers showed no fatigue. Ancharius Priscus had accused Caesius Cordus, proconsul of Crete, of malversation: a charge of treason, the complement now of all arraignments, was appended. Antistius Vetus, a grandee of Macedonia, had been acquitted of adultery: the Caesar reprimanded the judges and recalled him to stand his trial for treason, as a disaffected person, involved in the schemes of Rhescuporis during that period after the murder of Cotys when he had meditated war against ourselves. The defendant was condemned accordingly to interdiction from fire and water, with a proviso that his place of detention should be an island not too conveniently situated either for Macedonia or for Thrace. For since the partition of the monarchy between Rhoemetalces and the children of Cotys, who during their minority were under the tutelage of Trebellenus Rufus, Thrace — unaccustomed to Roman methods — was divided against herself; and the accusations against Trebellenus were no more violent than those against Rhoemetalces for leaving the injuries of his countrymen unavenged. Three powerful tribes, the Coelaletae, Odrysae, and Dii, took up arms, but under separate leaders of precisely equal obscurity: a fact which saved us from a coalition involving a serious war. One division embroiled the districts at hand; another crossed the Haemus range to bring out the remote clans; the most numerous, and least disorderly, besieged the king in Philippopolis, a city founded by Philip of Macedon.
[39] Quae ubi cognita P. Vellaeo (is proximum exercitum praesidebat), alarios equites ac levis cohortium mittit in eos qui praedabundi aut adsumendis auxiliis vagabantur, ipse robur peditum ad exolvendum obsidium ducit. simulque cuncta prospere acta, caesis populatoribus et dissensione orta apud obsidentis regisque opportuna eruptione et adventu legionis. neque aciem aut proelium dici decuerit in quo semermi ac palantes trucidati sunt sine nostro sanguine.
39 On receipt of the news, Publius Vellaeus, who was at the head of the nearest army, sent the auxiliary horse and light cohorts to deal with the roving bands who were in quest of plunder or recruits: he himself led the flower of the infantry to raise the siege. Success came everywhere at once: the marauders were put to the sword; differences broke out in the besieging force; the king made an opportune sally, and the legion arrived. Neither battle nor engagement is a term applicable to an affair in which half-armed men and fugitives were butchered with no effusion of Roman blood.
[40] Eodem anno Galliarum civitates ob magnitudinem aeris alieni rebellionem coeptavere, cuius extimulator acerrimus inter Treviros Iulius Florus, apud Aeduos Iulius Sacrovir. nobilitas ambobus et maiorum bona facta eoque Romana civitas olim data, cum id rarum nec nisi virtuti pretium esset. ii secretis conloquiis, ferocissimo quoque adsumpto aut quibus ob egestatem ac metum ex flagitiis maxima peccandi necessitudo, componunt Florus Belgas, Sacrovir propiores Gallos concire. igitur per conciliabula et coetus seditiosa disserebant de continuatione tributorum, gravitate faenoris, saevitia ac superbia praesidentium, et discordare militem audito Germanici exitio. egregium resumendae libertati tempus, si ipsi florentes quam inops Italia, quam inbellis urbana plebes, nihil validum in exercitibus nisi quod externum, cogitarent.
40 The same year saw an incipient rebellion among the heavily indebted communities of the Gallic provinces. The most active promoters were Julius Florus among the Treviri and Julius Sacrovir among the Aedui. Each was a man of birth, with ancestors whose services had been rewarded by Roman citizenship in years when Roman citizenship was rare and bestowed upon merit only. At secret conferences, taking into their councils every desperado or any wretch whose beggary and guilty fears made crime a necessity, they arranged that Florus should raise the Belgae and Sacrovir the less distant Gauls. And so in assemblies and conventicles they made their seditious pronouncements on the continuous tributes, the grinding rates of interest, the cruelty and pride of the governors:—”The legions were mutinous since the news of Germanicus’ murder, and it was an unequalled opportunity for regaining their independence: they had only to look from their own resources to the poverty of Italy, the unwarlike city population, the feebleness of the armies except for the leavening of foreigners.”
[41] Haud ferme ulla civitas intacta seminibus eius motus fuit: sed erupere primi Andecavi ac Turoni. quorum Andecavos Acilius Aviola legatus excita cohorte quae Lugduni praesidium agitabat coercuit. Turoni legionario milite quem Visellius Varro inferioris Germaniae legatus miserat oppressi eodem Aviola duce et quibusdam Galliarum primoribus, qui tulere auxilium quo dissimularent defectionem magisque in tempore efferrent. spectatus et Sacrovir intecto capite pugnam pro Romanis ciens ostentandae, ut ferebat, virtutis: sed captivi ne incesseretur telis adgnoscendum se praebuisse arguebant. consultus super eo Tiberius aspernatus est indicium aluitque dubitatione bellum.
41 There was hardly a community in which the seeds of the movement had not fallen; but the first outbreak came from the Andecavi and Turoni. The former were quelled by the legate Acilius Aviola, who called out a cohort on garrison duty at Lugdunum: the Turoni were crushed by a body of legionaries sent by Visellius Varro, the legate of Lower Germany. The commander was again Aviola, supported by several Gaulish chieftains, who brought up auxiliaries with the intention of screening their defection for the moment and unmasking it at a more favourable juncture. Sacrovir himself was there, a conspicuous figure, urging his men to strike for Rome, and bare-headed,—”to let his courage be seen,” he explained. The prisoners, however, charged him with making his identity clear so as to avoid becoming a target for missiles. Tiberius, consulted on the point, rejected the information, and fostered the war by his indecision.
[42] Interim Florus insistere destinatis, pellicere alam equitum, quae conscripta e Treviris militia disciplinaque nostra habebatur, ut caesis negotiatoribus Romanis bellum inciperet; paucique equitum corrupti, plures in officio mansere. aliud vulgus obaeratorum aut clientium arma cepit; petebantque saltus quibus nomen Arduenna, cum legiones utroque ab exercitu, quas Visellius et C. Silius adversis itineribus obiecerant, arcuerunt. praemissusque cum delecta manu Iulius Indus e civitate eadem, discors Floro et ob id navandae operae avidior, inconditam multitudinem adhuc disiecit. Florum incertis latebris victores frustratus, postremo visis militibus, qui effugia insederant, sua manu cecidit. isque Trevirici tumultus finis.
42 Meanwhile, Florus pressed on with his designs and endeavoured to induce a t
roop of horse, enrolled in the neighbourhood of Treves but kept in our service and under our discipline, to open hostilities by a massacre of Roman financiers. A few men were actually won over, but the greater number remained loyal. Apart from these, a rabble of debtors and dependants took up arms, and were making for the forest country known as the Ardennes, when they were debarred by the legions which Visellius and Gaius Silius had detached from their two armies, by opposite roads, to intercept their march. Julius Indus, a countryman of the insurgents, at feud with Florus and hence the more eager to be of service, was sent ahead with a body of picked men, and dispersed the still orderless multitude. Florus eluded the conquerors in unknown coverts, to fall at last by his own hand, on descrying the soldiers who had occupied every egress.
[43] Apud Aeduos maior moles exorta quanto civitas opulentior et comprimendi procul praesidium. Augustodunum caput gentis armatis cohortibus Sacrovir occupaverat [ut] nobilissimam Galliarum subolem, liberalibus studiis ibi operatam, et eo pignore parentes propinquosque eorum adiungeret; simul arma occulte fabricata iuventuti dispertit. quadraginta milia fuere, quinta sui parte legionariis armis, ceteri cum venabulis et cultris quaeque alia venantibus tela sunt. adduntur e servitiis gladiaturae destinati quibus more gentico continuum ferri tegimen: cruppellarios vocant, inferendis ictibus inhabilis, accipiendis impenetrabilis. augebantur eae copiae vicinarum civitatum ut nondum aperta consensione, ita viritim promptis studiis, et certamine ducum Romanorum, quos inter ambigebatur utroque bellum sibi poscente. mox Varro invalidus senecta vigenti Silio concessit.
43 So ended the rising as far as the Treviri were concerned. Among the Aedui trouble came in the graver form to be expected from the superior wealth of the community and the remoteness of the suppressing force. The tribal capital, Augustodunum, had been seized by armed cohorts of Sacrovir, whose intention was to enlist those cadets of the great Gallic families who were receiving a liberal education at the city-schools, and to use them as pledges for the adhesion of their parents and relatives: simultaneously he distributed weapons, secretly manufactured, among the younger men. His followers amounted to forty thousand; one-fifth armed on the legionary model; the rest with boar-spears, hangers, and other implements of the hunting-field. To these he added a contingent of slaves, destined for the gladiatorial ring and encased in the continuous shell of iron usual in the country: the so-called “cruppelarians” — who, if too weighty to inflict wounds, are impregnably fortified against receiving them. These forces were steadily increased: the neighbouring districts had not as yet openly committed themselves, but private enthusiasm ran high, and relations were strained between the Roman generals, then at issue over the conduct of the campaign, which was claimed by each as his own prerogative. Finally, Varro, now old and weakly, withdrew in favour of Silius, who was still in the prime of life.
[44] At Romae non Treviros modo et Aeduos sed quattuor et sexaginta Galliarum civitates descivisse, adsumptos in societatem Germanos, dubias Hispanias, cuncta, ut mos famae, in maius credita. optumus quisque rei publicae cura maerebat: multi odio praesentium et cupidine mutationis suis quoque periculis laetabantur increpabantque Tiberium quod in tanto rerum motu libellis accusatorum insumeret operam. an Sacrovirum maiestatis crimine reum in senatu fore? extitisse tandem viros qui cruentas epistulas armis cohiberent. miseram pacem vel bello bene mutari. tanto impensius in securitatem compositus, neque loco neque vultu mutato, sed ut solitum per illos dies egit, altitudine animi, an compererat modica esse et vulgatis leviora.
44 At Rome, however, the tale ran that not the Treviri and Aedui only were in revolt, but the four-and-sixty tribes of Gaul: the Germans had joined the league, the Spains were wavering, and, as in all rumours, every statement was amplified and credited. The patriot, anxious for the commonwealth, grieved; but in many hatred of the existing order and a craving for change were such that they exulted even in their own perils, and lavished reproaches on Tiberius, who, in this convulsion of affairs, could centre his attention on the memoranda of the informers:—”Was Sacrovir also to stand his trial for treason before the senate? At last, men had arisen to check these murderous epistles by the sword! War itself was a welcome exchange for the horrors of peace.” All the more resolute was his studied unconcern; he made no change of place, none of looks, but maintained his wonted behaviour through all those days, whether from deep reserve or because he had information that the disturbances were of moderate extent and slighter than reported.
[45] Interim Silius cum legionibus duabus incedens praemissa auxiliari manu vastat Sequanorum pagos qui finium extremi et Aeduis contermini sociique in armis erant. mox Augustodunum petit propero agmine, certantibus inter se signiferis, fremente etiam gregario milite, ne suetam requiem, ne spatia noctium opperiretur: viderent modo adversos et aspicerentur; id satis ad victoriam. duodecimum apud lapidem Sacrovir copiaeque patentibus locis apparuere. in fronte statuerat ferratos, in cornibus cohortis, a tergo semermos. ipse inter primores equo insigni adire, memorare veteres Gallorum glorias quaeque Romanis adversa intulissent; quam decora victoribus libertas, quanto intolerantior servitus iterum victis.
45 In the meantime, Silius, marching with two legions, had sent forward an auxiliary troop, and was devastating the villages of the Sequani; who lay on the extreme frontier, adjoining the Aedui and their allies under arms. Then he moved at full speed upon Augustodunum. The march was a race between the standard-bearers, and even the private soldiers protested angrily against pausing for the usual rest or the long nightly bivouac:—”Let them only see the rebels in front, and be seen: it was enough for victory!” At the twelfth milestone Sacrovir and his powers came into view on an open piece of ground. He had stationed his iron-clad men in the van, his cohorts on the wings, his half-armed followers in the rear. He himself, splendidly mounted, amid a group of chieftains, rode up to his troops, reminding them of the ancient laurels of the Gauls, and the reverses they had inflicted upon the Romans; how glorious their freedom, if they conquered; how much more insufferable their bondage, should they be vanquished once again.
[46] Non diu haec nec apud laetos: etenim propinquabat legionum acies, inconditique ac militiae nescii oppidani neque oculis neque auribus satis competebant. contra Silius, etsi praesumpta spes hortandi causas exemerat, clamitabat tamen pudendum ipsis quod Germaniarum victores adversum Gallos tamquam in hostem ducerentur. ‘una nuper cohors rebellem Turonum, una ala Trevirum, paucae huius ipsius exercitus turmae profligavere Sequanos. quanto pecunia dites et voluptatibus opulentos tanto magis imbellis Aeduos evincite et fugientibus consulite.’ ingens ad ea clamor et circumfudit eques frontemque pedites invasere, nec cunctatum apud latera. paulum morae attulere ferrati, restantibus lamminis adversum pila et gladios; set miles correptis securibus et dolabris, ut si murum perrumperet, caedere tegmina et corpora; quidam trudibus aut furcis inertem molem prosternere, iacentesque nullo ad resurgendum nisu quasi exanimes linquebantur. Sacrovir primo Augustodunum, dein metu deditionis in villam propinquam cum fidissimis pergit. illic sua manu, reliqui mutuis ictibus occidere: incensa super villa omnis cremavit.
46 His words were few and to a cheerless audience: for the embattled legions were drawing on; and the undrilled townsmen, new to the trade of war, had little control over their eyes and ears. On the other side — though anticipated hope had removed the need for exhortation — Silius exclaimed that it was an insult to the conquerors of the Germanies to be led as though to meet an enemy and to be confronted with Gauls! “But recently one cohort shattered the rebel Turoni; one troop of horse, the Treviri; a few squadrons of this very army, the Sequani. The richer the Aedui, the more extravagant in their pleasures, the more unwarlike are they; put them to the rout, and have mercy on them when they flee.” The answer was returned in a great shout: the cavalry enveloped the flanks, and the infantry attacked the van. On the wings there was no delay; in front, the iron-clad men offered a brief impediment, as their plating was proof against javelin and sword. But the legionaries caught up their axes and picks and hacked at armour and flesh as
if demolishing a wall: others overturned the inert masses with poles or forks, and left them lying like the dead without an effort to rise again. Sacrovir, with his staunchest adherents, made his way first to Augustodunum; then, apprehending his surrender, to an adjacent villa. Here he fell by his own hand, the rest by mutually inflicted wounds; the bodies were burnt by the house being fired over them.
[47] Tum demum Tiberius ortum patratumque bellum senatu scripsit; neque dempsit aut addidit vero, sed fide ac virtute legatos, se consiliis superfuisse. simul causas cur non ipse, non Drusus profecti ad id bellum forent, adiunxit, magnitudinem imperii extollens, neque decorum principibus, si una alterave civitas turbet * * omissa urbe, unde in omnia regimem. nunc quia non metu ducatur iturum ut praesentia spectaret componeretque. decrevere patres vota pro reditu eius supplicationesque et alia decora. solus Dolabella Cornelius dum antire ceteros parat absurdam in adulationem progressus, censuit ut ovans e Campania urbem introiret. igitur secutae Caesaris litterae quibus se non tam vacuum gloria praedicabat ut post ferocissimas gentis perdomitas, tot receptos in iuventa aut spretos triumphos, iam senior peregrinationis suburbanae inane praemium peteret.
47 And now at last a letter from Tiberius informed the senate of the outbreak and completion of a war. He neither understated nor overstated the facts, but remarked that the fidelity and courage of his generals, and his own policy, had gained the day. At the same time, he added the reasons why neither Drusus nor himself had left for the campaign, insisting on the extent of the empire and on the loss of prestige to the sovereign if the disaffection of one or two communities could make him abandon the capital, which was the centre of government for the whole. However, now that fear was not the motive-force, he would go, view matters on the spot, and arrange a settlement. The Fathers decreed vows for his return, supplications, and other compliments: Cornelius Dolabella alone, intent upon distancing his competitors, carried sycophancy to the absurd point of proposing that he should enter the city from Campania with an ovation. The sequel was a missive from Caesar, who asserted, with a touch of pride, that “after subduing some of the fiercest of nations, and receiving or rejecting so many triumphs in his youth, he was not so bankrupt in fame as to court in his age a futile honour conferred for an excursion in the suburbs.”
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