CXIV
O rem dictu non eminentem, sed solida veraque virtute atque utilitate maximam, experientia suavissimam, humanitate singularem! Per omne belli Germanici Pannonicique tempus nemo e nobis gradumve nostrum aut praecedentibus aut sequentibus imbecillus fuit, cuius salus ac valetudo non ita sustentaretur Caesaris cura, tamquam distractissimus ille tantorum onerum mole huic uni negotio vacaret animus. Erat desiderantibus paratum iunctum vehiculum, lectica eius publicata, cuius usum cum alii tum ego sensi; iam medici, iam apparatus cibi, iam in hoc solum uni portatum instrumentum balinei nullius non succurrit valetudini; domus tantum ac domestici deerant, ceterum nihil, quod ab illis aut praestari aut desiderari posset. Adiciam illud, quod, quisquis illis temporibus interfuit, ut alia, quae retuli, agnoscet protinus: solus semper equo vectus est, solus cum iis, quos invitaverat, maiore parte aestivarum expeditionum cenavit sedens; non sequentibus disciplinam, quatenus exemplonon nocebatur, ignovit; admonitio frequens, interdum et castigatio, vindicta tamen rarissima, agebatque medium plurima dissimulantis, aliqua inhibentis. Hiems emolumentum patrati belli contulit, sed insequenti aestate omnis Pannonia reliquiis totius belli in Delmatia manentibus pacem petiit. Ferocem illam tot milium iuventutem, paulo ante servitutem minatam Italiae, conferentem arma, quibus usa erat, apud flumen nomine Bathinum prosternentemque se universam genibus imperatoris, Batonemque et Pinnetem excelsissimos duces, captum alterum, alterum a se deditum iustis voluminibus ordine narrabimus, ut spero. Autumno victor in hiberna reducitur exercitus, cuius omnibus copiis a Caesare M. Lepidus praefectus est, vir nomini ac fortunae Caesarum proximus, quem in quantum quisque aut cognoscere aut intellegere potuit, in tantum miratur ac diligit tantorumque nominum, quibus ortus est, ornamentum iudicat.
[114] (1) And now for a detail which in the telling may lack grandeur, but is most important by reason of the true and substantial personal qualities it reveals and also of its practical service — a thing most pleasant as an experience and remarkable for the kindness it displayed. Throughout the whole period of the German and Pannonian war there was not one of us, or of those either above or below our rank, who fell ill without having his health and welfare looked after by Caesar with as much solicitude indeed as though this were the chief occupation of his mind, preoccupied though he was by his heavy responsibilities. (2) There was a horsed vehicle ready for those who needed it, his own litter was at the disposal of all, and I, among others, have enjoyed its use. Now his physicians, now his kitchen, and now his bathing equipment, brought for this one purpose for himself alone, ministered to the comfort of all who were sick. All they lacked was their home and domestic servants, but nothing else that friends at home could furnish or desire for them. (3) Let me also add the following trait, which, like the others I have described, will be immediately recognized as true by anyone who participated in that campaign. Caesar alone of commanders was in the habit of also travelling in the saddle, and, throughout the greater portion of the summer campaign, of sitting at the table when dining with invited guests. Of those who did not imitate his own stern discipline he took no notice, in so far as no harmful precedent was thereby created. He often admonished, sometimes gave verbal reproof, but rarely punishment, and pursued the moderate course of pretending in most cases not to see things, and of administering only occasionally a reprimand.
(4) The winter brought the reward of our efforts in the termination of the war, though it was not until the following summer that all Pannonia sought peace, the remnants of the war as a whole being confined to Dalmatia. In my complete work I hope to describe in detail how those fierce warriors, many thousand in number, who had but a short time before threatened Italy with slavery, now brought the arms they had used in rebellion and laid them down, at a river called the Bathinus, prostrating themselves one and all before the knees of the commander; and how of their two supreme commanders, Bato and Pinnes, the one was made a prisoner and the other gave himself up.
(5) In the autumn the victorious army was led back to winter quarters. Caesar gave the chief command of all the forces to Marcus Lepidus, a man who in name and in fortune approaches the Caesars, whom one admires and loves the more in proportion to his opportunities to know and understand him, and whom one regards as an ornament to the great names from whom he springs.
CXV
Caesar ad alteram belli Delmatici molem animum atque arma contulit. In qua regione quali adiutore legatoque fratre meo Magio Celere Velleiano’ usus sit, ipsius patrisque eius praedicatione testatum est et amplissimorum donorum, quibus triumphans eum Caesar donavit, signat memoria. Initio aestatis Lepidus educto hibernis exercitu per gentis integras immunesque adhuc clade belli et eo feroces ac truces tendens ad Tiberium imperatorem et cum difficultate locorum et cum vi hostium luctatus, magna cum clade obsistentium excisis agris, exustis aedihciis, caesis viris, laetus victoria praedaque onustus pervenit ad Caesarem, et ob ea, quae si propriis gessisset auspiciis, triumphare debuerat, ornamentis triumphalibus consentiente cum iudicio principum voluntate senatus donatus est. Illa aestas maximi belli consummavit effectus: quippe Perustae et Desidiates Delmatae, situ locorum ac montium, ingeniorum ferocia, mira etiam pugnandi scientia et praecipue angustiis saltuum paene inexpugnabiles, non iam ductu, sed manibus atque armis ipsius Caesaris tum demum pacati sunt, cum paene funditus eversi forent. Nihil in hoctanto bello, nihil in Germania aut videre maius aut mirari magis potui, quam quod imperatori numquam adeo ulla opportuna visa. est victoriae occasio, quam damno amissi pensaret militis semperque visum est gloriosissimum, quod esset tutissimum, et ante conscientiae quam famae consultum nec umquam consilia ducis iudicio exercitus, sed exercitus providentia ducis rectus est.
[115] (1) Caesar then devoted his attention and his arms to his second task, the war in Dalmatia. What assistance he had in this quarter from his aide and lieutenant Magius Celer Velleianus, my brother, is attested by the words of Tiberius himself and of his father, and signalized by the record of the high decorations conferred upon him by Caesar on the occasion of his triumph. (2) In the beginning of summer Lepidus led his army out of winter quarters, in an effort to make his way to Tiberius the commander, through the midst of races that were as yet unaffected and untouched by the disasters of war and therefore still fierce and warlike; after a struggle in which he had to contend with the difficulties of the country as well as the attacks of the enemy, and after inflicting great loss on those who barred his way, by the devastation of fields, burning of houses, and slaying of the inhabitants, he succeeded in reaching Caesar, rejoicing in victory and laden with booty. (3) For these feats, for which, if they had been performed under his own auspices he would properly have received a triumph, he was granted the ornaments of a triumph, the wish of the senate endorsing the recommendation of the Caesars.
(4) This campaign brought the momentous war to a successful conclusion; for the Perustae and Desiadates, Dalmatian tribes, who were almost unconquerable on account of the position of their strongholds in the mountains, their warlike temper, their wonderful knowledge of fighting, and, above all, the narrow passes in which they lived, were then at last pacified, not now under the mere generalship, but by the armed prowess of Caesar himself, and then only when they were almost entirely exterminated.
(5) Nothing in the course of this great war, nothing in the campaigns in Germany, came under my observation that was greater, or that aroused my admiration more, than these traits of its general; no chance of winning a victory ever seemed to him timely, which he would have to purchase by the sacrifice of his soldiers; the safest course was always regarded by him as the best; he consulted his conscience first and then his reputation, and, finally, the plans of the commander were never governed by the opinion of the army, but rather the army by the wisdom of its leader.
CXVI
Magna in bello Delmatico experimenta virtutis in incultos ac difficilis locos praemissus Germanicus dedit; celebri etiam opera diligentique Vibius Postumus vir consularis, praepositus Delmatiae, ornamenta meruit triumphalia: quem honorem ante paucos annos Passienus
et Cossus, viri quamquam diversis virtutibus celebres, in Africa meruerant. Sed Cossus victoriae testimonium etiam in cognomen filii contulit, adulescentis in omnium virtutum exempla geniti. At Postumi operum L. Apronius particeps illa quoque militia eos, quos mox consecutus est, honores excellenti virtute meruit. Utinam non maioribus experimentis testatum esset, quantum in omni re fortuna posset! Sed in hoc quoque genere abunde agnosci vis eius potest. Nam et Aelius Lamia, vir antiquissimi moris et priscam gravitatem semper humanitate temperans, in Germania Illyricoque et mox in Africa splendidissimis functus ministeriis, non merito, sed materia adipiscendi triumphalia defectus est, et A. Licinius Nerva Silianus, P. Silii fihus, quem virum ne qui intellexit quidem abunde miratus est, in eo nihil non optimo civi simplicissimo duci superesse praeferens, inmatura morte et fructu amplissimae principis amicitiae et consummatione evectae in altissimum paternumque fastigium imaginis defectus est. Horum virorum mentioni si quis quaesisse me dicet locum, fatentem arguet; neque enim iustus sine mendacio candor apud bonos crimini est.
[116] (1) In the Dalmatian war Germanicus, who had been dispatched in advance of the commander to regions both wild and difficult, gave great proof of his valour. By his repeated services and careful vigilance (2) the governor of Dalmatia, Vibius Postumusº the consular, also earned the ornaments of a triumph. A few years before this honour had been earned in Africa by Passienus and Cossus, both celebrated men, though not alike in merit. Cossus passed on to his son, a young man born to exhibit every variety of excellence, a cognomen that still testifies to his victory. (3) And Lucius Apronius, who shared in the achievements of Postumus, earned by the distinguished valour which he displayed in this campaign also, the honours which he actually won shortly afterwards.
Would that it had not been demonstrated, by greater proofs, how mighty an influence fortune wields in all things; yet even here her power can be recognized by abundant examples. For instance, Aelius Lamia, a man of the older type, who always tempered his old-fashioned dignity by a spirit of kindliness, had performed splendid service in Germany and Illyricum, and was soon to do so in Africa, but failed to receive triumphal honours, not through any fault of his, but through lack of opportunity; (4) and Aulus Licinius Nerva Silianus, the son of Publius Silius, a man who was not adequately praised even by the friend who knew him best, when he declared that there were no qualities which he did not possess in the highest degree, whether as an excellent citizen or as an honest commander, through his untimely death failed not only to reap the fruit of his close friendship with the emperor but also to realize that lofty conception of his powers which had been inspired by his father’s eminence. (5) If anyone shall say that I have gone out of my way to mention these men, his criticism will meet no denial. In the sight of honest men fair-minded candour without misrepresentation is no crime.
CXVII
Tantum quod ultimam imposuerat Pannonico ac Delmatico bello Caesar manum, cum intra quinque consummati tanti operis dies funesta ex Germaniae epistulae nuntium attulere caesi Vari trucidatarumque legionum trium todidemque alarum et sex cohortium, velut in hoc slatem tantummodo indulgente nobis fortuna, ne occupato duce tanta clades inferretur. Sed etcausa et persona moram exigit. Varus Quintilius inlustri magis quam nobili ortus familia, vir ingenio mitis, moribus quietus et corpore et animo immobilior, otio magis castrorum quam bellicae adsuetus militiae, pecuniae vero quam non contemptor, Syria, cui praefuerat, declaravit, quam pauper divitem ingressus dives pauperem reliquit; is cum exercitui, qui erat in Germania, praeesset, concepit esse homines, qui nihil praeter vocem membraque haberent hominum, quique gladiis domari non poterant, posse iure mulceri. Quo proposito mediam ingressus Germaniam velut inter viros pacis gaudentes dulcedine iurisdictionibus agendoque pro tribunali ordine trahebat aestiva.
[117] (1) Scarcely had Caesar put the finishing touch upon the Pannonian and Dalmatian war, when, within five days of the completion of this task, dispatches from Germany brought the baleful news of the death of Varus, and of the slaughter of three legions, of as many divisions of cavalry, and of six cohorts — as though fortune were granting us this indulgence at least, that such a disaster should not be brought upon us when our commander was occupied by other wars. The cause of this defeat and the personality of the general require of me a brief digression.
(2) Varus Quintilius, descended from a famous rather than a high-born family, was a man of mild character and of a quiet disposition, somewhat slow in mind as he was in body, and more accustomed to the leisure of the camp than to actual service in war. That he was no despiser of money is demonstrated by his governorship of Syria: he entered the rich province a poor man, but left it a rich man and the province poor. (3) When placed in charge of the army in Germany, he entertained the notion that the Germans were a people who were men only in limbs and voice, and that they, who could not be subdued by the sword, could be soothed by the law. (4) With this purpose in mind he entered the heart of Germany as though he were going among a people enjoying the blessings of peace, and sitting on his tribunal he wasted the time of a summer campaign in holding court and observing the proper details of legal procedure.
CXVIII
At illi, quod nisi expertus vix credat, in summa feritate versutissimi natumque mendacio genus, simulantes fictas litium series et nunc provocantes alter alterum in iurgia, nunc agentes gratias, quod ea Romana iustitia finiret feritasque sua novitate incognitae disciplinae mitesceret et solita armis discerni iure terminarentur, in summam socordiam perduxere Quintilium, usque eo, ut se praetorem urbanum in foro ius dicere, non in mediis Germaniae finibus exercitui praeesse crederet. Tum iuvenis genere nobilis, manu fortis, sensu celer, ultra barbarum promptus ingenio, nomine Arminius, Sigimeri principis gentis eius filius, ardorem animi vultu oculis praeferens, adsiduus militiae nostrae prioris comes, iure etiam civitatis Romanae decus equestris consecutus gradis, segnitia ducis in occasionem sceleris opprimi, quam qui nihil timeret, et frequentissimum initium esse calamitatis securitatem. Primo igitur paucos, mox pluris in societatem consilii recepit: opprimi posse Romanos et dicit et persuadet, decretis facta iungit, tempus insidiarum constituit. Id Varo per virum eius gentis fidelum clarique nominis, Segesten, indicatur. Postulabat etiam vinciri socios. Sed praevalebant iam fata consiliis omnemque animi eius aciem praestrinxerant: quippe ita se res habet, ut plerumque cuius fortunam mutaturus deus, consilia corrumpat efficiatque, quod miserrimum est, ut, quod accidit, etiam meritoaccidisse videatur et casus in culpam transeat. Negat itaque se credere speciemque in se benevolentiae ex merito aestimare profitetur. Nec diutius post primum indicem secundo relictus locus.
[118] (1) But the Germans, who with their great ferocity combine great craft, to an extent scarcely credible to one who has had no experience with them, and are a race to lying born, by trumping up a series of fictitious lawsuits, now provoking one another to disputes, and now expressing their gratitude that Roman justice was settling these disputes, that their own barbarous nature was being softened down by this new and hitherto unknown method, and that quarrels which were usually settled by arms were now being ended by law, brought Quintilius to such a complete degree of negligence, that he came to look upon himself as a city praetor administering justice in the forum, and not a general in command of an army in the heart of Germany. (2) Thereupon appeared a young man of noble birth, brave in action and alert in mind, possessing an intelligence quite beyond the ordinary barbarian; he was, namely, Arminius, the son of Sigimer, a prince of that nation, and he showed in his countenance and in his eyes the fire of the mind within. He had been associated with us constantly on private campaigns, and had even attained the dignity of equestrian rank. This young man made use of the negligence of the general as an opportunity for treachery, sagaciously seeing that no one could be more quickly overpowered than the man who feared nothing, and that the most common beginning of disaster was a sense of security. (3) At first, then, he admitted but a few, later a large number, to a share in his design; he told them, and convinced them too, that the Romans could be crushed, added exe
cution to resolve, and named a day for carrying out the plot. (4) This was disclosed to Varus through Segestes, a loyal man of that race and of illustrious name, who also demanded that the conspirators be put in chains. But fate now dominated the plans of Varus and had blindfolded the eyes of his mind. Indeed, it is usually the case that heaven perverts the judgement of the man whose fortune it means to reverse, and brings it to pass — and this is the wretched part of it — that that which happens by chance seems to be deserved, and accident passes over into culpability. And so Quintilius refused to believe the story, and insisted upon judging the apparent friendship of the Germans toward him by the standard of his merit. And, after this first warning, there was no time left for a second.
CXIX
Ordinem atrocissimae calamitatis, qua nulla post Crassi in Parthum damnum in externis gentibus gravior Romanis fuit, iustis voluminibus ut alii, ita nos conabimur exponere: nunc summa deflenda est. Exercitus omnium fortissimus, disciplina, manu experentiaque bellorum inter Romanos milites princeps, marcore ducis, refidia hostis,iniquitate fortunae circumventus, cum ne pugnandi quidem aut egrediendi occasio iis, in quantum voluerant, data esset immunis, castigatis etiam quibusdam gravi poena, quia Romanis et armis et animis usi fuissent, inclusus silvis, paludibus, insisiis ab eo hoste ad internecionem trucidatus est, quem ita semper more pecudum trucidaverat, ut vitam aut mortem eius nunc ira nunc venia temperraret. Duci plus ad moriendum quam ad pugnandum animi fuit: quippe paterni avitique successor exempli se ipse transfixit. At e praefectis castrorum duobus quam clarum exemplum L. Eggius, tam turpe Ceionius prodidit, qui, cum longe maximam partem absumpsisset acies, auctor deditionis supplicio quam proelio mori maluit. At Vala Numonius, lagatus Vari, cetera quietus ac probus, diri auctor exempli, spoliatum equite peditem relinquens fuga cum alis Rhenum petere ingressus est. Quod factum eius fortuna ulta est; non enim desertis superfuit, sed desertor Vari corpus semiustum hostilis laceraverat feritas; caput eius abscisum latumque ad Marboduum et ab eo missum ad Caesarem gentilicii tamen tumuli sepultura honoratum est.
Complete Works of Velleius Paterculus Page 61