In 7 CE, Quinctilius Varus was appointed legatus augusti pro praetore of Germania. The son of the impoverished patrician family had done rather well for himself. In the complex world of political favours, Augustus tended to promote men from within his own family and social network. Varus was now married to Augustus’ great niece, Claudia Pulchra. Varus’ task was to pacify the region and transform it into a province. Perhaps he did the job too well.117 As the summer of 9 CE turned to autumn word reached Rome from Germania of a terrible disaster. At a place few Romans had ever heard of called saltus Teutoburgiensis reports came of a military catastrophe.118 Three legions – Legiones XVII, XVIII and XIX, all of them once under Drusus’ command – had been destroyed by a coalition of Germanic bandits.119 Incredibly the reports stated that the rebels had been led by C. Iulius Arminius, who was supposedly a trusted Roman ally. Cunningly he had used his position of status and trust to trick Varus and his intimate knowledge of Roman military doctrine to wipe out the governor’s army.120 As remarkably, it was a repeat of the same ambush tactic Drusus had suffered at Arbalo almost two decades before, except this time the Cherusci had not wavered and the Romans had lost. The Roman population panicked: barbarians were not supposed to be able to outwit them and now there was little between the Rhine and the Tiber to stop an invasion of Germanic hordes.121 Many recalled with terror the stories they had heard from grandparents about the Cimbri and Teutones. Where in this time of need was their Marius? A state of emergency was declared. Citizens were to be called up and given rudimentary training on the Campus Martius before being dispatched to Tres Galliae.122 When the appeal for volunteers went unheeded, Augustus drew men’s names by lot. When that failed to produce enough men he began ordering executions, and enlisted freedmen to the colours – a measure of how desperate the situation had become.123 It was then that he fired his German bodyguard.124 The feared invasion never came, but the trauma of the clades Variana remained for years. The few survivors from the three ambushed legions struggled back with tales of horror at the hands of blood-crazed Germani. That kind of talk was corrosive to public morale, decided Augustus: by edict, all survivors were banned from entering the Italian homeland for fear they would scare the local communities.125 The stain of shame would live with those men until their deaths. Augustus himself took the news personally and very badly. “Qinctilius Varus!” he was heard to cry as he tore at his hair and clothes, “give me back my legions!”126 It seemed his dream of a Roman Germania and beyond lay in tatters, yet Tiberius returned the following year and, with Germanicus’ support, after two years’ campaigning restored Roman control, at least along the river.127
As his reign drew to a close, Augustus’ interest in annexing Germania waned and he attended to more modest enterprises. Before he died he is said to have made his successor promise not to overextend the boundaries of the empire: the Romans had their Lebensraum – let that be enough. When Augustus finally passed away on 19 August 14 CE at the age of 77, his adopted son Tiberius reluctantly assumed the role of princeps. Quickly and quietly Agrippa Postumus was executed leaving Tiberius without a rival.128 Drusus may have wished for a return to the traditional res publica but under his elder brother the form of autocratic government set up by Augustus continued and with it most of his policies, though Tiberius went out of his way to show great deference to the senate.129 For the most part Tiberius heeded the advice of his stepfather, and disregarded that of his brother. Just months into Tiberius’ principate, the Rhine legions mutinied citing poor pay and conditions.130 Germanicus went to them to restore order. He appealed to their sense of duty and invoked the name of Drusus, saying how their behaviour shamed his father’s memory. Germanicus negotiated fairer terms, the mutiny was suspended, its ringleaders executed, and he returned to Rome.131 The infamy of Teutoburg remained, however, and Germanicus pleaded the case to restart the war in Germania to avenge the vanquished legions and to retrieve the three lost aquilae – indeed to reclaim Germania itself. Tiberius agreed.132 Again it was to his father Drusus’ first campaigns that Germanicus looked for strategy and tactics, copying both the amphibious and land campaigns to the last detail. Leading his fleet through the fossa Drusiana, it was said “he prayed to his father to lend him, now that he was venturing on the same enterprise, the willing and favourable aid of the example and memory of his counsels and achievements”.133 Though they found the bleached bones of the fallen at Teutoburg, gave them a decent burial, and engaged the Germans in battle, the campaigns of 15 and 16 CE against Arminius were inconclusive. The Germanic leader survived to fight another day and the Roman commander recovered two of the eagles. Germanicus argued for a troop surge to break the Germanic insurgency, but Tiberius had become frustrated with Germania. He had first hand experience of the region, lost too many men there, not least his brother. To his adopted son he granted a full triumph, not an ovatio – the first the city had seen since Augustus’ own in 29 CE – for the following year, recognising the young man’s capabilities.134 The Romans would celebrate their hollow victory over the Germanic tribes in an all-singing, all-dancing tickertape parade, but there would be no further missions over the Rhine on his watch. The formidable force of eight legions gathered along the mighty river’s banks would remain in the winter camps Drusus had established thirty years earlier.135 The idea of outright conquest by military means was quietly forgotten and replaced with a cheaper, slower, more indirect approach of letting the Germans fight each other in an ongoing Roman proxy war.136 Even without the presence of urban centres and their civilian administrations on the right bank, Roman influence had still taken root. Germanic tribal society was changing as enterprising leaders sought to exploit the insatiable Roman demand for blond haired slave boys and girls and resinous amber nodules, using exchange with or raids on their neighbours to meet it. In return the Romans satisfied the Germans’ lust for silver coins, bronze buckets and finely decorated daggers.137 From the archetypal consumer society that was Rome, the Germanic nobility had developed a taste for their flashy trash and trinkets.
Drusus’ eldest son was now widely regarded as the favourite to succeed Tiberius – indeed the Rhine army had actually wanted Germanicus to succeed Augustus.138 From the far northwest frontier the diplomatic and military focus shifted to the near east and it was delegated to Germanicus to oversee it.139 Hardly a year had passed, however, when Germanicus died suddenly in Antioch, Syria on 10 October 19 CE.140 Death from poisoning was suspected and Tiberius’ involvement was implicated through the machinations of Calpurnius Piso, but never categorically proved.141 The ashes were returned to Rome for a state funeral and Rome was plunged into a period of deep depression by the young commander’s death.142 Callously Antonia and Livilla were forbidden by Tiberius to attend.143 Drusus’ brother was a changed man. Happier to be among soldiers, Tiberius had not wanted to be princeps and ruling the Roman Empire was a lonely and unpopular business. He retired to Capreae (Capri).144 He entrusted the running of the state to L. Aelius Seianus, praefectus of his Praetorian cohorts, a man he had come to trust completely, some said blindly.145 The princeps could now spend increasingly longer breaks from the boredom of politics in Rome. Tiberius became increasingly reclusive, retiring to his fabulous villa on Capri and indulging in depravities that would have disgusted his younger brother’s vanilla sensibilities.146 But Tiberius had been duped. In 31 CE Antonia Minor discovered a plot hatched by Seianus and her own daughter, Livilla, to remove the emperor in a coup d’etat. Of the three children of Drusus and Antonia she had proved the problem child – in her the ‘wickedness gene’ of the Claudian clan had manifested itself and she had already allegedly poisoned her husband – Tiberius’ son named after his brother, Drusus Iulius Caesar.147 Antonia informed Tiberius who had the prefect arrested and executed.148 Livilla was given over to her mother who locked her away in her bedroom where she starved to death on 29 June 29 CE.
After six tediously long years, Tiberius died on 16 March 37 CE and the Roman world let out a sigh of relief.149 Drus
us’ young grandson G. Iulius Caesar (Stemma Drusorum no. 19) now succeeded him.150 Though he had grown up in the winter camps of the legions along the Rhine, basking in the fine reputation of his father and grandfather and earned the nickname caligula on account of his little army boots, he lacked hands-on military experience.151 When Germanicus died, Caligula’s grandmother Antonia assumed responsibility for his upbringing.152 As the new princeps Caligula looked to his father for the halo of inherited military glory. Indeed his reign started with great promise.153 He was in fact a damaged individual who barely survived the torment of living as a favourite in the perverted household of his uncle Tiberius, witnessing terrible things a child should never see.154 Then, suddenly, he fell ill. The Roman people held their breath and prayed for his recovery. When he did re-emerge he now displayed signs of madness, not least of which was his fervent belief that he was now a god. The family tree of the Claudii Nerones had grown its bitterest fruit yet.
Antonia Minor was now 73 years old and she had been Drusus’ widow for forty-six of those. She had received honours from her grandson but witnessed the monster he had become.155 She had grown weary with life. She had lost her husband early in their marriage, outlived her son Germanicus and overseen the death of her daughter Livilla. Of her sole surviving son Claudius she had little good to say. In September or October 37 CE she finally passed away. Caligula allegedly did not attend the funeral preferring to watch the flames consume the pyre from his triclinium.156
Caligula’s behaviour became increasingly erratic and extreme, some said insane.157 There were arrests and executions, confiscations and exiles. One of these was the governor of Germania, Gn. Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicius on a charge of conspiracy. On the military front there was a successful march into Germania apparently as far as the territory of the Suebi in 39 CE, imitating what his father had done after the mutinies, which harassed the natives and raised the morale of the troops.158 There was a failed attempt at an invasion of Britannia, in which the troops allegedly picked up seashells off the Gallic beach as trophies of war against Neptunus.159 At his triumph Gauls were dressed up as Germanic warriors in an unconvincing display that was a mockery of a triumph.160 Finally, the reign of terror was too much even for members of the privileged Praetorian Cohorts. Led by Cassius Chaerea a plot was hatched to assassinate him. On 24 January 41 CE they struck, Drusus’ grandson fell bleeding and the tyrant was slain.161 Initially the population was too terrified to believe it, fearing it was a trick to expose the disloyal.
Glory Restored
Soldiers swept through the palace looking for the murderers. When they found the uncle of Caligula, rather than slaying him, they decided that he should now be their leader.162 Unexpectedly Drusus’ youngest son, the lame and stammering Ti. Claudius Nero, now found himself ruler of the Roman world (plate 34).163 The senate was resistant at first, but rather than discussing the restoration of the republic, they argued instead over who should be princeps.164 When the Praetorian Cohorts rallied around Claudius, the Senate finally relented.165 As with his predecessor he lacked credibility in the eyes of the senate, the people and in particular, the army of Rome. The reluctant Emperor Claudius realised he needed to quickly gain their confidence to avoid meeting the same fate as his predecessor. It was to his filial connection with Drusus that he looked to bolster his reputation. His biggest assest was being the son of one of Rome’s most respected and loved citizen-commanders of all time. After almost half a century Drusus’ reputation was still golden. The previous year the philospher Seneca had written to a woman who was grieving for the loss of her son. Writing around 40 CE, he compared her situation to that of Livia Drusilla. She too had lost a son, he wrote, but when she had laid the urn containing his ashes in the mausoleum, she set aside her grief. In the essay Seneca remarks that Drusus would have made a great princeps having already proved himself a great leader (dux).166 Claudius hoped the halo effect might rub off on his damaged public image.
That connection became his message and he found a quick way to promulgate it through the coinage. It was the mass medium of the time. A series of specially designed coins was minted shortly after Claudius’ accession celebrating Drusus’ achievements in Germania and Claudius’ filial relationship.167 The coins were minted in all the major denominations – aurei, denarii, sestertii, dupondii – to reach the money bags of all segments of the population, most importantly the army. On the reverse side under the slogan DE GERMANIS, ‘in honour of Germania’, some coins showed war spoils (plate 35), others the triumphal arch of Drusus (plate 36–39). On the obverse a finely detailed side-profile portrait of the youthful commander wearing the victor’s laurels was surrounded by his full name and honours, NERO CLAVDIVS DRVSVS GERMANICVS IMP[ERATOR]. Only on the lower denomination sestertii did Claudius show his own portrait and his name TI[BERIVS] CLAVDIVS NERO and many official titles, including the important imperator. The distinct haircut, the thick neck and prominent nose all declared him to be of the same blood as Drusus (plate 38). It was a shrewd and calculated move and gradually the public warmed to their eccentric ruler.
Claudius was known as a competent writer of history. He wrote a history of his own life in eight books “full of absurdities, but in no bad style” that surely contained anecdotes about his father.168 He also wrote a book of history presumably down to the time of his writing and starting with the end of the civil wars, but it attracted the censure of his grandfather and grandmother and feeling himself unable to write frankly and truthfully it is unclear if he finished it.169 That would also certainly have described the exploits of Drusus the Elder. If he wrote a book exclusively about his father, it is not mentioned anywhere.
At about the same time in Germania, Pliny the Elder was embarking on a career in the military. His tour of duty included a term as praefectus equitum.170 He discovered his passion for writing and published On Cavalry Javelin Exercise In One Book, a how-to manual for riders looking to raise their kill ratio. His nephew recorded the extraordinary story of how he came to write his third work, The German Wars In Twenty Books (Bella Germaniae Libri Viginti):
in which he collected all the wars we have waged with the Germans. This he commenced during a campaign in Germania, by admonition of a dream. During his sleep there stood by him the form of Drusus Nero (who, after triumphing far and wide, died in their country), commended his memory to my uncle, and entreating the latter to rescue him from unmerited oblivion.171
Was it just a nightmare or had Pliny suffered a bout of sleep paralysis – or was it a shrewd marketing story created by him? Whatever the truth of the story, with the emperor keen to promote his association with Drusus, Pliny’s timing could not have been better and his book would have found a ready audience. Sadly not a single volume of it survives. However it was a source used by Tacitus in his works, substantial parts of which have come down to us.172
Claudius was planning a display of bravura even his father would be proud of.173 In 43 CE A. Plautius and Gn. Sentius Saturninus landed an expeditionary force on the southern coast of Britannia.174 If Germania was considered remote to the Romans, Britannia was positively on the edge of the world. With a keen eye to its propaganda value, Claudius set off himself to take part in the invasion. On the outbound route he chose to sail from Ostia to Massilia and nearly came to grief off the Ligurian coast on account of two storms.175 Having reached the port, he travelled overland via Lugdunum to Gesoriacum. Then crossing the Mare Germanicum (English Channel) he landed safely on the island. Plautius was there to greet him and escort him to Camulodunum, the oppidum of the Cautuvellauni nation, where in a triumphal procession, which included elephants, he accepted the surrender of several British chieftains.176 Meanwhile in the south of the island, the legate of Legio II Augusta, T. Flavius Vespasianus, was laying siege to hill-forts of the Belgae and Durotriges nations.177 After a brief sojourn Claudius returned to the mainland, mission accomplished. Taking the military road along the Rhine, he would have been able to visit each of the fortresses his fathe
r had established in turn and to speak with the commanders of the three replacement legions that had moved there following the deployment of the original garrisons to Britannia. En route he most likely stopped at Mogontiacum in time to attend the fifty-second annual festival and race held in honour of his father at the great tumulus.178 From Augusta Vindelicorum, the colonia founded by Drusus fifty-eight years before, he traced the route in reverse which his father had taken during the Alpine and Norican Wars.179 Winding through the Reschen Pass of the Alps, he crossed the bridge named after his father that had lent its name to a town, Pons Drusi, and then went on to Tridentum, where his father had first engaged the Raeti. In celebrating his victory on arriving at the port of Vatrenus on the Adriatic Sea he took a lavishly equipped ship that was considered so large that calling it a palace would have been a better description, remarked Pliny the Elder.180 The entire trip took just six months.181 It had been a homage to his father, but it was also Claudius’ moment to establish his own profile independent of him.182 Claudius was awarded the title imperator, the honorary title Britannicus, a triumph and an arch.183 A new series of coins now entered circulation. Golden aurei and silver denarii proudly showed his portrait on the obverse with his name and titles, and on the reverse his triumphal arch.184 The arch shown on the coin bore the inscription DE BRITANN[IS], ‘in honour of Britannia’. The design of the coin exactly matched the earlier issue of Drusus the Elder. With his conquest, titles and trophies, he was now at least the equal of his father and able to stand on his own merits. The rise in personal prestige is reflected in the so-called Volubilis inscription carved in 44 CE in which Claudius is referred to as ‘son of the deified’ rather than the more prosaic ‘son of Drusus’.185 Yet he did not forget his father. In 46 CE he commissioned the upgrading of the transalpine road, giving it the official name via Claudia Augusta.186 At regular intervals, milestones declared it to be “the route of which his father Drusus had opened up across the Alps through war”.187 It was the shortest route from Italia to the Rhine-Danube frontier and along it Rome’s administrators, couriers, soldiers and traders travelled for as long as the empire endured.
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