Complete Works of Velleius Paterculus

by Velleius Paterculus

  [119] (1) The details of this terrible calamity, the heaviest that had befallen the Romans on foreign soil since the disaster of Crassus in Parthia, I shall endeavour to set forth, as others have done, in my larger work. Here I can merely lament the disaster as a whole. (2) An army unexcelled in bravery, the first of Roman armies in discipline, in energy, and in experience in the field, through the negligence of its general, the perfidy of the enemy, and the unkindness of fortune was surrounded, nor was as much opportunity as they had wished given to the soldiers either of fighting or of extricating themselves, except against heavy odds; nay, some were even heavily chastised for using the arms and showing the spirit of Romans. Hemmed in by forests and marshes and ambuscades, it was exterminated almost to a man by the very enemy whom it had always slaughtered like cattle, whose life or death had depended solely upon the wrath or the pity of the Romans. (3) The general had more courage to die than to fight, for, following the example of his father and grandfather, he ran himself through with his sword. (4) Of the two prefects of the camp, Lucius Eggius furnished a precedent as noble as that of Ceionius was base, who, after the greater part of the army had perished, proposed its surrender, preferring to die by torture at the hands of the enemy than in battle. Vala Numonius, lieutenant of Varus, who, in the rest of his life, had been an inoffensive and an honourable man, also set a fearful example in that he left the infantry unprotected by the cavalry and in flight tried to reach the Rhine with his squadrons of horse. But fortune avenged his act, for he did not survive those whom he had abandoned, but died in the act of deserting them. (5) The body of Varus, partially burned, was mangled by the enemy in their barbarity; his head was cut off and taken to Maroboduus and was sent by him to Caesar; but in spite of the disaster it was honoured by burial in the tomb of his family.

  CXX

  His auditis revolat ad patrem Caesar; perpetuus patronus Romani imperii adsuetam sibi causam suscipit. Mittitur ad Germaniam, Gallias confirmat, disponit exercitus, praesidia munit et se magnitudine sua, non fiducia hostis metiens, qui Cimbricam Teutonicamque militiam Italiae minabatur, ultro Rhenum cum exercitu transgreditur. Arma infert hosti quem arcuisse pater et patria contenti erant; penetrat interius, aperit limites, vastat agros, urit domos, fundit obvios maximaque cum gloria, incolumi omnium, quos transduxerat, numero in hiberna revertitur. Reddatur verum L. Asprenati testimonium, qui legatus sub avunculo suo Varo militans gnava virilique opera duarum legionum, quibus praeerat, exercitum immunem tanta calamitate servavit matureque ad inferiora hiberna descendendo vacillantium etiam cis Rhenum sitarum gentium animos confirmavit. Sunt tamen, qui ut vivos ab eo vindicatos, ita iugulatorum sub Varo occupata crediderint patrimonia hereditatemque occisi exercitus, in quantum voluerit, ab eo aditam. L. etiam Caedicii praefecti castrorum eorumque, qui una circumdati Alisone immensis Germanorum copiis obsidebaniur, laudanda virtus est, qui omnibus difficultatibus superatis, quas inopia rerum intolerabilis, vis hostium faciebat inexsuperabilis, nec temerario consilio nec segni providentia usi speculatique opportunitatem ferro sibi ad suos peperere reditum. Ex quo apparet Varum, sane gravem et bonae voluntatis virum, magis imperatoris defectum consilio quam virtute destitutum militum se magnificentissimumque perdidisse exercitum. Cum in captivos saexiretur a Germanis, praeclari facinoris auctor fuit Caldus Caelius, adulescens vetustate familiae suae dignissimus, qui complexus catenarum, quibus vinctus erat, seriem, ita illas inlisit capiti suo, ut protinus pariter sanguinis cerebrique eRuvio expiraret.

  [120] (1) On hearing of this disaster, Caesar flew to his father’s side. The constant protector of the Roman empire again took up his accustomed part. Dispatched to Germany, he reassured the provinces of Gaul, distributed his armies, strengthened the garrison towns, and then, measuring himself by the standard of his own greatness, and not by the presumption of an enemy who threatened Italy with a war like that of the Cimbri and Teutones, he took the offensive and crossed the Rhine with his army. (2) He thus made aggressive war upon the enemy when his father and his country would have been content to let him hold them in check, he penetrated into the heart of the country, opened up military roads, devastated fields, burned houses, routed those who came against him, and, without loss to the troops with which he had crossed, he returned, covered with glory, to winter quarters.

  (3) Due tribute should be paid to Lucius Asprenas, who was serving as lieutenant under Varus his uncle, and who, backed by the brave and energetic support of the two legions under his command, saved his army from this great disaster, and by a quick descent to the quarters of the army in Lower Germany strengthened the allegiance of the races even on the hither side of the Rhine who were beginning to waver. There are those, however, who believed that, though he had saved the lives of the living, he had appropriated to his own use the property of the dead who were slain with Varus, and that inheritances of the slaughtered army were claimed by him at pleasure. (4) The valour of Lucius Caedicius, prefect of the camp, also deserves praise, and of those who, pent up with him at Aliso, were besieged by an immense force of Germans. For, overcoming all their difficulties which want rendered unendurable and the forces of the enemy almost insurmountable, following a design that was carefully considered, and using a vigilance that was ever on the alert, they watched their chance, and with the sword won their way back to their friends. (5) From all this it is evident that Varus, who was, it must be confessed, a man of character and of good intentions, lost his life and his magnificent army more through lack of judgement in the commander than of valour in his soldiers. (6) When the Germans were venting their rage upon their captives, an heroic act was performed by Caldus Caelius, a young man worthy in every way of his long line of ancestors, who, seizing a section of the chain with which he was bound, brought down with such force upon his own head as to cause his instant death, both his brains and his blood gushing from the wound.

  CXXI

  Eadem virtus et fortuna subsequenti tempore ingressi Germaniam imperatoris Tiberii fuit, quae initio iuerat. Qui concussis hostium viribus classicis peditumque expeditionibus, cum res Galliarum maximae molis accensasque plebis Viennensium dissensiones coercitione magis quam poena mollisset, senatus populusque Romanus postulante patre eius, ut aequum ei ius in omnibus provinciis exercitibusque esset, quam erat ipsi, decreto complexus est. Etenim absurdum erat non esse sub illo, quae ab illo vindicabantur, et qui ad opem ferendam primus erat, ad vindicandum honorem non iudicari parem. In urbem reversus iam pridem debitum, sedcontinuatione bellorum dilatum ex Pannoniis Delmatisque egit triumphum. Cuius magnificentiam quis miretur in Caesare? Fortunae vero quis non miretur indulgentiam? Quippe omnis eminentissimos hostium duces non occisos fama narravit, sed vinctos triumphus ostendit; quem mihi fratrique meo inter praecipuos praecipuisque donis adornatos viros comitari contigit.

  [121] (1) Tiberius showed the same valour, and was attended by the same fortune, when he entered Germany on his later campaigns as in his first. After he had broken the force of the enemy by his expeditions on sea and land, had completed his difficult task in Gaul, and had settled by restraint rather than by punishment the dissensions that had broken out among the Viennenses, at the request of his father that he should have in all the provinces and armies a power equal to his own, the senate and Roman people so decreed. For indeed it was incongruous that the provinces which were being defended by him should not be under his jurisdiction, (2) and that he who was foremost in bearing aid should not be considered an equal in the honour to be won. On his return to the city he celebrated the triumph over the Pannonians and Dalmatians, long since due him, but postponed by reason of a succession of wars. Who can be surprised at its magnificence, since it was the triumph of Caesar. Yet who can fail to wonder at the kindness of fortune to him? (3) For the most eminent leaders of the enemy were not slain in battle, that report should tell thereof, but were taken captive, so that in his triumph he exhibited them in chains. It was my lot and that of my brother to participate in this triumph among the men of distinguished rank and those who were decorated with dist
inguished honours.

  CXXII

  Quis non inter reliqua, quibus singularis moderatio Ti. Caesaris elucet atque eminet, hoc quoque miretur, quod, cum sine ulla dubitatione septem triumphos meruerit, tribus contentus fuit. Quis enim dubitare potest, quin ex Armenia recepta et ex rege praeposito ei, cuius capiti insigne regium sua manu imposuerat, ordinatisque rebus Orientis ovans triumphare debuerit, et Vindelicorum Raetorumque victor curru urbem ingredi? Fractis deinde post adoptionem continua triennii militia Germaniae viribus idem illi honor et deferendus et recipiendus fuerit? Et post cladem sub Varo acceptam, expectato ocius prosperrimo rerum eventu eadem excisa Germania triumphus summi ducis adornari debuerit? Sed in hoc viro nescias utrum magis mireris quod laborum periculorumque semper excessit modum an quod honorum temperavit.

  [122] (1) Among the other acts of Tiberius Caesar, wherein his remarkable moderation shines forth conspicuously, who does not wonder at this also, that, although he unquestionably earned seven triumphs, he was satisfied with three? For who can doubt that, when he had recovered Armenia, had placed over it a king upon whose head he had with his own hand set the mark of royalty, and had put in order the affairs of the east, he ought to have received an ovation; and that after his conquest of the Vindelici and the Raeti he should have entered the city as victor in a triumphal chariot? (2) Or that, after his adoption, when he had broken the power of the Germans in three successive campaigns, the same honour should have been bestowed upon him and should have been accepted by him? And that, after the disaster received under Varus, when this same Germany was crushed by a course of events which, sooner than was expected, came to a happy issue, the honour of a triumph should have been awarded to this consummate general? But, in the case of this man, one does not know which to admire the more, that in courting toils and danger he went beyond all bounds or that in accepting honours he kept within them.

  CXXIII

  Venitur ad tempus, in quo fuit plurimum metus. Quippe Caesar Augustus cum Germanicum nepotem suum reliqua belli patraturum misisset in Germaniam. Tiberium autem filium missurus esset in Illyricum ad firmanda pace quae bello subegerat, prosequens eum simulque interfuturus athletarum certaminis ludicro, quod eius honori sacratum a Neapolitanis est, processit in Campaniam. Quamquam iam motus imbecillitatis inclinataeque in deterius principia valetudinis senserat, tamen obnitente vi animi prosecutus filium digressusque ab eo Beneventi ipse Nolam petiit: et ingravescente in dies valetudine, cum sciret, quis volenti omnia post se salva remanere accersendus foret, festinanter revocavit filium; ille ad patrem patriae expectato revolavit maturius. Tum securum se Augustus praedicans circumfususque amplexibus Tiberii sui, commendans illi sua atque ipsius opera nec quidquam iam de fine, si fata poscerent, recusans, subrefectus primo conspectu alloquioque carissimi sibi spiritus, mox, cum omnem curam fata vincerent, in sua resolutus initia Pompeio Apuleioque consulibus septuagesimo et sexto anno animam caelestem caelo reddidit.

  [123] (1) We now come to the crisis which was awaited with the greatest foreboding. Augustus Caesar had dispatched his grandson Germanicus to Germany to put an end to such traces of the war as still remained, and was on the point of sending his son Tiberius to Illyricum to strengthen by peace the regions he had subjugated in war. With the double purpose of escorting him on his way, and of being present at an athletic contest which the Neapolitans had established in his honour, he set out for Campania. Although he had already experienced symptoms of growing weakness and of a change in his health for the worse, his strong will resisted infirmity and he accompanied his son. Parting from him at Beneventum he went to Nola. As his health grew daily worse, and he knew full well for whom he must send if he wished to leave everything secure behind him, he sent in haste for his son to return. Tiberius hurried back and reached the side of the father of his country before he was even expected. (2) Then Augustus, asserting that his mind was now at ease, and, with the arms of his beloved Tiberius about him, commending to him the continuation of their joint work, expressed all his readiness to meet the end if the fates should call him. He revived a little at seeing Tiberius and at hearing the voice of one so dear to him, but, ere long, since no care could withstand the fates, in his seventy-sixth year, in the consulship of Pompeius and Apuleius he was resolved into the elements from which he sprang and yielded up to heaven his divine soul.

  CXXIV

  Quid tunc homines timuerint, quae senatus trepidatio, quae populi confusio, quis urbis metus, in quam arto salutis exitiique fuerimus confinio, neque mihi tam festinanti exprimere vacat neque cui vacat potest. Id solum voce publica dixisse satis habeo: cuius orbis ruinam timueramus, eum ne commotum quidem sensimus, tantaque unius viri maiestas fuit, ut nec pro bonis neque contra malos opus armis foret. Una tamen veluti luctatio civitatis fuit, pugnantis cum Caesare senatus populique Romani, ut stationi paternae succederet, illius, ut potius aequalem civem quam eminentem liceret agere principem. Tandem magis ratione quam honore victus est, cum quidquid tuendum non suscepisset, periturum videret, solique huic contigit paene diutius recusare principatum, quam, ut occuparent eum, alii armis pugnaverant. Post redditum caelo patrem et corpus eius humanis honoribus, numen divinis honoratum, primum principalium eius operum fuit ordinatio comitiorum, quam manu sua scriptam divus Augustus reliquerat. Quo tempore mihi fratrique meo, candidatis Caesaris, proxime a nobilissimis ac sacerdotalibus viris destinari praetoribus contigit, consecutis quidem, ut neque post nos quemquam divus Augustus neque ante nos Caesar commendaret Tiberius.

  [124] (1) Of the misgivings of mankind at this time, the trepidation of the senate, the confusion of the people, the fears of the city, of the narrow margin between safety and ruin on which we then found ourselves, I have no time to tell as I hasten on my way, nor could he tell who had the time. Suffice it for me to voice the common utterance: “The world whose ruin we had feared we found not even disturbed, and such was the majesty of one man that there was no need of arms either to defend the good or to restrain the bad.” (2) There was, however, in one respect what might be called a struggle in the state, as, namely, the senate and the Roman people wrestled with Caesar to induce him to succeed to the position of his father, while he on his side strove for permission to play the part of a citizen on a parity with the rest rather than that of an emperor over all. At last he was prevailed upon rather by reason than by the honour, since he saw that whatever he did not undertake to protect was likely to perish. He is the only man to whose lot it has fallen to refuse the principate for a longer time, almost, than others had fought to secure it.

  (3) After heaven had claimed his father, and human honours had been paid to his body as divine honours were paid to his soul, the first of his tasks as emperor was the regulation of the comitia, instructions for which Augustus had left in his own handwriting. (4) On this occasion it was my lot and that of my brother, as Caesar’s candidates, to be named for the praetorship immediately after those of noble families and those who had held the priesthoods, and indeed to have had the distinction of being the last to be recommended by Augustus and the first to be named by Tiberius Caesar.

  CXXV

  Tulit protinus et voti et consilii sui pretium res publica, neque diu latuit aut quid non impetrando passuri fuissemus aut quid impetrando profecissemus. Quippe exercitus, qui in Germania militabat praesentisque Germanici imperio regebatur, simulque legiones, quae in Illyrico erant, rabie quadam et profunda confudendi omnia cupiditate novum ducem, novum statum, novam quaerebant rem publicam; quin etiam ausi sunt minaridaturos se senatui, daturos principi leges; modum stipendii, finem militiae sibi ipsi constituere conati sunt. Processum etiam in arma ferrumque strictum est et paene in ultima gladiorum erupit impunitas, defuitque, qui contra rem publicam duceret, non qui sequerentur. Sed haec omnia veteris imperatoris maturitas, multa inhibentis, aliqua cum gravitate pollicentis, et inter severam praecipue noxiorum ultionem mitis aliorum castigatio brevi sopiit ac sustulit. Quo quidem tempore ut pleraque non ignave Germanicus, ita Drusus, qui a patre in id ipsum plurimo quidem igne emicans incendium militaris t
umultus missus erat, prisca antiquaque severitate usus ancipitia sibi maluit tenere quam exemplo perniciosa, et his ipsis militum gladiis, quibus obsessus erat, obsidentes coercuit, singulari adiutore in eo negotio usus Iunio Blaeso, viro nescias utiliore in castris an meliore in toga: qui post paucos annos proconsul in Africa ornamenta triumphalia cum appellatione imperatoria meruit. At Hispanias exercitumque in iis cum M. Lepidus, de cuius virtutibus celeberrimaque in Illyrico militia praediximus, cum imperio obtineret, in summa pace et quiete continuit, cum ei pietas rectissima sentiendi et auctoritas quae sentiebat obtinendi superesset. Cuius curam ac fidem Dolabella quoque, vir simplicitatis generosissimae, in maritima parte Illyrici per omnia imitatus est.