49 I should not record a commonplace decree of the senate which authorized the town of Syracuse to exceed the numbers prescribed for gladiatorial exhibitions, had not Thrasea Paetus, by opposing it, presented his detractors with an opportunity for censuring his vote. “Why,” it was demanded, “if he believed senatorial freedom a necessity to the state, did he fasten on such frivolities? Why not reserve his suasion or dissuasion for the themes of which war or peace, of finance and law, and for the other matters on which hinged the welfare of Rome? Every member, each time that he received the privilege of recording his opinion, was free to express what views he desired and to demand a debate. — Or was it the one desirable reform, that shows at Syracuse should not be too liberal? and were all things else in all departments of the empire as entirely admirable as if not Nero’s, but Thrasea’s hand, were at the helm? But if the highest questions were to be slurred over by ignoring their existence, how much more was it a duty not to touch irrelevances!” Thrasea, on the other side, as his friends pressed for his explanation, answered that it was not ignorance of existing conditions which made him amend decrees of this character, but he was paying members the compliment of making it clear that they would not dissemble their interest in great affairs when they could give attention even to the slightest.
[50] Eodem anno crebris populi flagitationibus, immodestiam publicanorum arguentis, dubitavit Nero, an cuncta vectigalia omitti iuberet idque pulcherrimum donum generi mortalium daret. sed impetum eius, multum prius laudata magnitudine animi, attinuere seniores, dissolutionem imperii docendo, si fructus, quibus res publica sustineretur, deminuerentur: quippe sublatis portoriis sequens, ut tributorum abolitio expostularetur. plerasque vectigalium societates a consulibus et tribunis plebis constitutas acri etiam tum populi Romani libertate; reliqua mox ita provisa, ut ratio quaestuum et necessitas erogationum inter se congruere[nt]. temperandas plane publicanorum cupidines, ne per tot annos sine querela tolerata novis acerbitatibus ad invidiam verterent.
50 In the same year, as a consequence of repeated demands from the public, which complained of the exactions of the revenue-farmers, Nero hesitated whether he ought not to decree the abolition of all indirect taxation and present the reform as the noblest of gifts to the human race. His impulse, however, after much preliminary praise of his magnanimity, was checked by his older advisers, who pointed out that the dissolution of the empire was certain if the revenues on which the state subsisted were to be curtailed:—”For, the moment the duties on imports were removed, the logical sequel would be a demand for the abrogation of the direct taxes. To a large extent, the collecting companies had been set up by consuls and plebeian tribunes while the liberty of the Roman nation was still in all its vigour: later modifications had only been introduced in order that the amount of income and the necessary expenditure should tally. At the same time, a check ought certainly to be placed on the cupidity of the collectors; otherwise a system which had been endured for years without a complaint might be brought into ill odour by new-fashioned harshnesses.”
[51] Ergo edixit princeps, ut leges cuiusque publici, occultae ad id tempus, proscriberentur; omissas petitiones non ultra annum resumerent; Romae praetor, per provincias qui pro praetore aut consule essent iura adversus publicanos extra ordinem redderent; militibus immunitas servaretur, nisi in iis, quae veno exercerent; aliaque admodum aequa, quae brevi servata, dein frustra habita sunt. manet tamen abolitio quadragesimae quinquagesimaeque et quae alia exactionibus inlicitis nomina publicani invenerant. temperata apud transmarinas provincias frumenti subvectio, et, ne censibus negotiatorum naves adscriberentur tributumque pro illis penderent, constitutum.
51 The emperor, therefore, issued an edict that the regulations with regard to each tax, hitherto kept secret, should be posted for public inspection. Claims once allowed to lapse were not to be revived after the expiry of a year; at Rome, the praetor — in the provinces, the propraetors or proconsuls — were to waive the usual order of trial in favour of actions against collectors; the soldiers were to retain their immunities except in the case of goods which they offered for sale: and there were other extremely fair rulings, which were observed for a time and then eluded. The annulment, however, of the “fortieth,” “fiftieth,” and other irregular exactions, for which the publicans had invented titles, is still in force. In the provinces over sea, the transport of grain was made less expensive, and it was laid down that cargo-boats were not to be included in the assessment of a merchant’s property nor treated as taxable.
[52] Reos ex provincia Africa, qui proconsulare imperium illic habuerant, Sulpicium Camerinum et Pompeium Silvanum absolvit Caesar, Camerinum adversus privatos et paucos, saevitiae magis quam captarum pecuniarum crimina obicientes. Silvanum magna vis accusatorum circumsteterat poscebatque tempus evocandorum testium; reus ilico defendi postulabat. valuitque pecuniosa orbitate et senecta, quam ultra vitam eorum produxit, quorum ambitu evaserat.
52 Two defendants from the province of Africa, in which they had held proconsular power, were acquitted by the Caesar: Sulpicius Camerinus and Pompeius Silvanus. The opponents of Camerinus were private persons and not numerous, while the offences alleged were acts of cruelty rather than of embezzlement: around Silvanus had gathered a swarm of accusers, who were demanding time for the production of their witnesses. The defendant insisted on presenting his case at once, and carried his point, thanks to his wealth, his childlessness, and his advanced age, which he prolonged, however, beyond the lifetime of the fortune-hunters by whose intrigues he had escaped.
[53] Quietae ad id tempus res in Germania fuerant, ingenio ducum, qui pervulgatis triumphi insignibus maius ex eo decus sperabant, si pacem continuavissent. Paulinus Pompeius et L. Vetus ea tempestate exercitui praeerant. ne tamen segnem militem attinerent, ille inchoatum ante tres et sexaginta annos a Druso aggerem coercendo Rheno absolvit, Vetus Mosellam atque [Ararim] facta inter utrumque fossa conectere parabat, ut copiae per mare, dein Rhodano et Arare subvectae per eam fossam, mox fluvio Mosella in Rhenum, exim Oceanum decurrerent, sublatisque itineris difficultatibus navigabilia inter se Occidentis Septentrionisque litora fierent. invidit operi Aelius Gracilis Belgicae legatus, deterrendo Veterem, ne legiones alienae provinciae inferret studiaque Galliarum adfectaret, formidolosum id imperatori dictitans, quo plerumque prohibentur conatus honesti.
53 Up to this period, quiet had prevailed in Germany, thanks to the temper of our commanders; who, now that triumphal emblems were staled, expected greater distinction from the maintenance of peace. The heads of the army at the time were Pompeius Paulinus and Lucius Vetus. Not to keep the troops inactive, however, the former finished the embankment for checking the inundations of the Rhine, begun sixty-three years earlier by Drusus; while Vetus prepared to connect the Moselle and the Arar by running a canal between the two; so that goods shipped by sea and then up the Rhone and Arar could make their way by the canal, and in due course into the ocean: a method which would remove the natural difficulties of the route and create a navigable highway between the shores of the West and North. The scheme was nullified by the jealousy of Aelius Gracilis, the governor of Belgica, who discouraged Vetus from introducing his legions into a province outside his competence and so courting popularity in Gaul, “a proceeding,” he said, “which would awaken the misgivings of the emperor” — the usual veto upon honourable enterprise.
[54] Ceterum continuo exercituum otio fama incessit ereptum ius legatis ducendi in hostem. eoque Frisii iuventutem saltibus aut paludibus, imbellem aetatem per lacus admovere ripae agrosque vacuos et militum usui sepositos insedere, auctore Verrito et Malori[g]e, qui nationem eam regebant, in quantum Germani regnantur. iamque fixerant domos, semina arvis intulerant utque patrium solum exercebant, cum Dubius Avitus, accepta a Paulino provincia, minitando vim Romanam, nisi abscederent Frisii veteres in locos aut novam sedem a Caesare impetrarent, perpulit Verritum et Malorigem preces suscipere. profectique Romam, dum aliis curis intentum Neronem opperiuntur, inter ea, quae barbaris ostentantur, intravere Pompei
theatrum, quo magnitudinem populi viserent. illic per otium (neque enim ludicris ignari oblectabantur) dum consessum caveae, discrimina ordinum, quis eques, ubi senatus, percunctantur, advertere quosdam cultu externo in sedibus senatorum: et quinam forent rogitantes, postquam audiverant earum gentium legatis id honoris datum, quae virtute et amicitia Romana praecellerent, nullos mortalium armis aut fide ante Germanos esse exclamant degrediunturque et inter patres considunt. quod comiter a visentibus exceptum, quasi impetus antiqui et bona aemulatione. Nero civitate Romana ambos donavit, Frisios decedere agris iussit. atque illis aspernantibus auxiliaris eques repente immissus necessitatem attulit, captis caesisve qui pervicacius restiterant.
54 However, through the continuous inaction of the armies a rumour took rise that the legates had been divested of authority to lead them against an enemy. The Frisians accordingly moved their population to the Rhine bank; the able-bodied men by way of the forests and swamps, those not of military age by the Lakes. Here they settled in the clearings reserved for the use of the troops, the instigators being Verritus and Malorix, who exercised over the tribe such kingship as exists in Germany. They had already fixed their abodes and sown the fields, and were tilling the soil as if they had been born on it, when Dubius Avitus, — who had taken over the province from Paulinus, — by threatening them with the Roman arms unless they withdrew to their old district or obtained the grant of a new site from the emperor, forced Verritus and Malorix to undertake the task of presenting the petition. They left for Rome, where, in the interval of waiting for Nero, who had other cares to occupy him, they visited the usual places shown to barbarians, and among them the theatre of Pompey, where they were to contemplate the size of the population. There, to kill time (they had not sufficient knowledge to be amused by the play), they were putting questions as to the crowd seated in the auditorium — the distinctions between the orders — which were the knights? — where was the senate? — when they noticed a few men in foreign dress on the senatorial seats. They inquired who they were, and, on hearing that this was a compliment paid to the envoys of nations distinguished for their courage and for friendship to Rome, exclaimed that no people in the world ranked before Germans in arms or loyalty, went down, and took their seats among the Fathers. The action was taken in good part by the onlookers, as a trait of primitive impetuosity and generous rivalry. Nero presented both with the Roman citizenship, and instructed the Frisians to leave the district. As they ignored the order, compulsion was applied by the unexpected despatch of a body of auxiliary horse, which captured or killed the more obstinate of those who resisted.
[55] Eosdem agros Ampsivarii occupavere, validior gens non modo sua copia, sed adiacentium populorum miseratione, qui pulsi a Chaucis et sedis inopes tutum exilium orabant. aderatque iis clarus per illas gentes et nobis quoque fidus nomine Boiocalus, vinctum se rebellione Cherusca iussu Arminii referens, mox Tiberio et Germanico ducibus stipendia meruisse, et quinquaginta annorum obsequio id quoque adiungere, quod gentem suam dicioni nostrae subiceret. quotam partem campi iacere, in quam pecora et armenta militum aliquando transmitterentur! servarent sane receptus gregibus inter hominum famem, modo ne vastitatem et solitudinem mallent quam amicos populos. Chamavorum quondam ea arva, mox Tubantum et post Usiporum fuisse. sicuti caelum deis, ita terras generi mortalium datas; quaeque vacuae, eas publicas esse. solum inde suspiciens et cetera sidera vocans quasi coram interrogabat, vellentne contueri inane solum: potius mare superfundere[nt] adversus terrarum ereptores.
55 The same ground was then seized by the Ampsivarii, a more powerful clan, not only in numbers, but in consequence of the pity felt for them by the adjacent tribes, as they had been expelled by the Chauci, and were now a homeless people imploring an unmolested exile. They had also the advocacy of Boiocalus, as he was called, a celebrated personage among those clans, and at the same time loyal to ourselves:—”In the Cheruscan rebellion,” he reminded us, “he had been thrown into chains by order of Arminius; next, he had served under the leadership of Tiberius and Germanicus; and now he was crowning an obedience of fifty years by subjecting his people to our rule. Why should such an extent of clear ground lie waste, merely that on some distant day the flocks and herds of the soldiers could be brought over to it? By all means let them keep reservations for cattle in the midst of starving men, but not to the extent of choosing a desert and a solitude for neighbours in preference to friendly nations! Once on a time those fields had been held by the Chamavi; then by the Tubantes, and later by the Usipi. As heaven had been given to the gods, so had earth to the race of mortal men, and what lacked a tenant was common property.” Then, raising his eyes to the sun and invoking the rest of the heavenly host, he demanded, as if face to face with them, “if they wished to look down on an empty earth. Sooner let them flood it with the sea and arrest these ravishers of the land!”
[56] Et commotus his Avitus: patienda meliorum imperia; id dis, quos implorarent, placitum, ut arbitrium penes Romanos maneret, quid darent quid adimerent, neque alios iudices quam se ipsos paterentur. haec an in publicum Ampsivariis respondit, ipsi Boiocalo ob memoriam amicitiae daturum agros. quod ille ut proditionis pretium aspernatus addidit “deesse nobis terra ubi vivamus, in qua moriamur, non potest.” atque ita infensis utrimque animis discessum. illi Bructeros, Tencteros, ulteriores etiam nationes socias bello vocabant: Avitus scripto ad Curtilium Manciam superioris exercitum legatum, ut Rhenum transgressus arma a tergo ostenderet, ipse legiones in agrum Ten[ct]erum induxit, excidium minitans, ni causam suam dissociarent. igitur absistentibus his pari metu exterriti Bructeri; et ceteris quoque aliena pericula deserentibus sola Ampsivariorum gens retro ad Usipos et Tubantes concessit. quorum terris exacti cum Chattos, dein Cheruscos petissent, errore longo hospites, egeni, hostes in ali[en]o quod iuventutis erat caeduntur, imbellis aetas in praedam divisa est.
56 Avitus, who had been unmoved by the appeal, replied that all men had to bow to the commands of their betters: it had been decreed by those gods whom they implored that with the Roman people should rest the decision what to give and what to take away, and that they should brook no other judges than themselves.” This was his answer to the Ampsivarii as a people: to Boiocalus he said that in memory of their friendship he would make him a grant of land. The offer was indignantly rejected by the German as the wage of treason:—”We may lack,” he added, “a land to live in, but not one to die in.” They parted, therefore, with bitterness on both sides. The Ampsivarii invited the Bructeri, the Tencteri, and still more remote tribes, to join them in war: Avitus wrote to Curtilius Mancia, the commander of the upper army, asking him to cross the Rhine and display his arms in the rear; he himself led his legions into the territory of the Tencteri, threatening them with annihilation unless they dissociated their cause from that of the confederates. They seceded accordingly; the same threat deterred the Bructeri; and as the rest also forsook a dangerous and alien cause, the Ampsivarian clan, thus left isolated, fell back to the Usipi and Tubantes. Expelled from their ground, they sought refuge with the Chatti, then with the Cherusci; and, after a long pilgrimage in which they were treated in turn as guests, as beggars, and as enemies, their younger men found death on a foreign soil, and those below fighting age were portioned out as booty.
[57] Eadem aestate inter Hermunduros Chattosque certatum magno proelio, dum flumen gignendo sale fecundum et conterminum vi trahunt, super libidinem cuncta armis agendi religione insita, eos maxime locos propinquare caelo precesque mortalium a deis nusquam propius audiri. inde indulgentia numinum illo in amne illisque silvis [s]alem provenire, non ut alias apud gentes eluvie maris arescente, sed unda super ardentem arborum struem fusa ex contrariis inter se elementis, igne atque aquis, concretum. sed bellum hermunduris prosperum, Chattis exitiosius fuit, quia victores diversam aciem marti ac Mercurio sacravere, quo voto equi viri, cuncta viva occidioni dantur. et minae quidem hostiles in ipsos vertebant. sed civitas Ubiorum socia nobis malo improviso adflicta est. nam ignes terra editi villas arva vicos passim corripiebant ferebanturque in ips
a conditae nuper coloniae moenia. neque exstingui poterant, non si imbres caderent, non [si] fluvialibus aquis aut quo alio humore, donec inopia remedii et ira cladis agrestes quidam eminus saxa iacere, dein residentibus flammis propius suggressi ictu fustium aliisque verberibus ut feras absterrebant. postremo tegmina corpori derepta iniciunt, quanto [magis] profana et usu polluta, tanto magis oppressura ignes.
57 In the same summer, a great battle was waged between the Hermunduri and Chatti, both attempting to appropriate by force a river which was at once a rich source for salt and the frontier line between the tribes. Apart from their passion for deciding all questions by the sword, they held an ingrained religious belief that this district was peculiarly close to heaven and that nowhere did the gods give more immediate audience to human prayer. Hence, by the divine favour, salt in that river and in these forests was not produced, as in other countries, by allowing water to evaporate in a pool left by the sea, but by pouring it on a blazing pile of trees, crystallization taking place throughout the union of two opposed elements, water and fire. The struggle, which went in favour of the Hermunduri, was the more disastrousº to the Chatti in that both sides consecrated, in the event of victory, the adverse host to Mars and Mercury; a vow implying the extermination of horses, men, and all objects whatsoever. The threats of the enemy thus recoiled upon himself. But the federate Ubian community was visited by an unlooked-for catastrophe. Fires, breaking from the ground, fastened on farm-houses, crops, and villages, in all quarters, and soon were sweeping towards the very walls of the recently founded colony. Nothing could extinguish them — neither falling rain nor running water nor moisture in any form — until a few rustics, powerless to devise a remedy and enraged by the havoc, started to throw stones from a distance. Then, as the flames became stationary, they went close up and attempted to scare them away like wild animals by striking them with clubs and thrashing them with other implements: finally, they stripped off their clothes and piled them on the fire, which they were the more likely to smother as they had been worn and soiled by common use.
Complete Works of Tacitus (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 24) Page 286