XXXI.
Haec in Germania ante Cremonense proelium gesta, cuius eventum litterae Primi Antonii docuere, addito Caecinae edicto; et praefectus cohortis e victis, Alpinius Montanus, fortunam partium praesens fatebatur. diversi hinc motus animorum: auxilia e Gallia, quis nec amor neque odium in partis, militia sine adfectu, hortantibus praefectis statim a Vitellio desciscunt: vetus miles cunctabatur. sed adigente Hordeonio Flacco, instantibus tribunis, dixit sacramentum, non vultu neque animo satis adfirmans: et cum cetera iuris iurandi verba conciperent, Vespasiani nomen haesitantes aut levi murmure et plerumque silentio transmittebant.
31.
These troubles in Germany occurred before the battle of Cremona, the outcome of which was made known in a letter sent by Primus Antonius, containing also Caecina’s edict. Alpinus Montanus, the prefect of a cohort from the vanquished army, was in attendance to confirm the news. The reaction to this was mixed: the auxiliary troops from Gaul, who felt no partisan love or hate and served without passion, immediately abandoned the Vitellian cause. The legions’ veteran soldiers hung back, but at the instance of [the governor] Hordeonius Flaccus dictating the oath and pressed by their officers to repeat, they swore allegiance [to Vespasian], although their looks and hearts did nor really confirm their words. While they said the rest of the formula, they pronounced Vespasian’s name with hesitancy or just murmured it and the majority let it pass in silence.
XXXII.
Lectae deinde pro contione epistulae Antonii ad Civilem suspiciones militum inritavere, tamquam ad socium partium scriptae et de Germanico exercitu hostiliter. mox adlatis Geldubam in castra nuntiis eadem dicta factaque, et missus cum mandatis Montanus ad Civilem ut absisteret bello neve externa armis falsis velaret: si Vespasianum iuvare adgressus foret, satis factum coeptis. ad ea Civilis primo callide: post ubi videt Montanum praeferocem ingenio paratumque in res novas, orsus a questu periculisque quae per quinque et viginti annos in castris Romanis exhausisset, ‘egregium’ inquit ‘pretium laborum recepi, necem fratris et vincula mea et saevissimas huius exercitus voces, quibus ad supplicium petitus iure gentium poenas reposco. vos autem Treviri ceteraeque servientium animae, quod praemium effusi totiens sanguinis expectatis nisi ingratam militiam, immortalia tributa, virgas, securis et dominorum ingenia? en ego praefectus unius cohortis et Canninefates Batavique, exigua Galliarum portio, vana illa castrorum spatia excidimus vel saepta ferro fameque premimus. denique ausos aut libertas sequetur aut victi idem erimus.’ sic accensum, sed molliora referre iussum dimittit: ille ut inritus legationis redit, cetera dissimulans, quae mox erupere.
32.
Next, Antonius’ letter to Civilis was read in a general assembly of the troops and this raised the soldiers’ suspicion. The letter had the appearance of being written to an ally of Vespasian and of being hostile to the army of Germany. Then the news reached the Roman camp at Gelduba, where the same talk and actions followed. Montanus was sent on to Civilis to dissuade him from waging war and from concealing his own designs [of a national uprising] by pretending to fight for Vespasian. [He was to tell him] that, if his aggression was meant to help Vespasian, what he had done was enough. In response Civilis at first gave ingenious answers, then he saw that Montanus was a passionate man, not disinclined to rebellion, and began to complain of all the dangers he had endured in twenty-five years spent in Roman camps. ‘A fine reward indeed have I received for my labors’, he said, ‘the murder of a brother, my own imprisonment, and the savage cries of the Roman army here clamoring for my death. By the right of nations, I want to visit vengeance on these troops. You Treveri, and all the others that have the hearts of slaves, what recompense do you expect, after shedding so much of your blood, except thankless service, endless tributes, beatings, the headsman’s axe, and the whims of cruel masters? Look how I, the prefect of a single cohort, with the help of the Canninefates and the Batavi –a mere fraction of Gaul—have razed those useless Roman camps or am squeezing them hard in a ring of steel and famine. In short, either liberty will be ours or, if we lose, we shall be no worse off than now. Having thus set the man’s emotions on fire, Civilis let him go, enjoining him to report back a more moderate answer. Montanus returned to camp, behaving as if he had failed in his mission, hiding all the rest which soon came out in full view.
XXXIII.
Civilis parte copiarum retenta veteranas cohortis et quod e Germanis maxime promptum adversus Voculam exercitumque eius mittit, Iulio Maximo et Claudio Victore, sororis suae filio, ducibus. rapiunt in transitu hiberna alae Asciburgii sita; adeoque improvisi castra involavere ut non adloqui, non pandere aciem Vocula potuerit: id solum ut in tumultu monuit, subsignano milite media firmare: auxilia passim circumfusa sunt. eques prorupit, exceptusque compositis hostium ordinibus terga in suos vertit. caedes inde, non proelium. et Nerviorum cohortes, metu seu perfidia, latera nostrorum nudavere: sic ad legiones perventum, quae amissis signis intra vallum sternebantur, cum repente novo auxilio fortuna pugnae mutatur. Vasconum lectae a Galba cohortes ac tum accitae, dum castris propinquant, audito proeliantium clamore intentos hostis a tergo invadunt latioremque quam pro numero terrorem faciunt, aliis a Novaesio, aliis a Mogontiaco universas copias advenisse credentibus. is error Romanis addit animos, et dum alienis viribus confidunt, suas recepere. fortissimus quisque e Batavis, quantum peditum erat, funduntur: eques evasit cum signis captivisque, quos prima acie corripuerant. caesorum eo die in partibus nostris maior numerus et imbellior, e Germanis ipsa robora.
33.
Civilis kept back part of his forces and sent the veteran cohorts and the best of the German contingent against Vocula and his army, under the command of Julius Maximus and Claudius Victor, his sister’s son. On the way they sacked the winter quarters of a cavalry squadron at Asciburgium and they swooped down so suddenly on the Gelduba camp, that Vocula could neither address his men nor deploy them properly. The only order he could issue in the confusion was to reinforce the center of the line with the legionaries. The auxiliaries became scattered everywhere; the cavalry charged but being met by the massed formations of the enemy, fled back to their lines. What followed was a massacre, not a battle. The Nervian cohorts left our wings exposed, moved by fear or treachery. Thus the brunt of the fighting was now on the legionaries who, having lost their standards, were falling in large numbers inside the camp palisade, when the fortunes of battle were overturned by unexpected relief. Some cohorts, recruited earlier by Galba among the Vascones and recently summoned to Germany, were approaching the camp and, on hearing the din of fighting, fell on the engaged enemy from the rear, spreading more panic than was justified by their numbers. Some thought that the forces from Novaesium, others that those from Mogantiacum had arrived in a body and the misapprehension lent new courage to the Romans, who, while relying on the strength of others, recovered their own. The pick of the Batavian infantry was destroyed and the cavalry fled, taking with them the standards and prisoners seized during the initial onslaught. On our side we lost more men than the enemy that day, but these were inferior soldiers. On the German side the very mainstay of their strength was gone.
XXXIV.
Dux uterque pari culpa meritus adversa prosperis defuere. nam Civilis si maioribus copiis instruxisset aciem, circumiri a tam paucis cohortibus nequisset castraque perrupta excidisset: Vocula nec adventum hostium exploravit, eoque simul egressus victusque; dein victoriae parum confisus, tritis frustra diebus castra in hostem movit, quem si statim impellere cursumque rerum sequi maturasset, solvere obsidium legionum eodem impetu potuit. temptaverat interim Civilis obsessorum animos, tamquam perditae apud Romanos res et suis victoria provenisset: circumferebantur signa vexillaque, ostentati etiam captivi. ex quibus unus, egregium facinus ausus, clara voce gesta patefecit, confossus illico a Germanis: unde maior indici fides; simul vastatione incendiisque flagrantium villarum venire victorem exercitum intellegebatur. in conspectu castrorum constitui signa fossamque et vallum circumdari Vocula iubet: depositis impedimentis sarcinisque expediti certarent. hinc in ducem clamor pugnam poscentium; et minari adsueverant. ne tempore quidem ad ordinandam aciem capto incompositi fessique proelium sumpsere; nam Civilis aderat, non minus vitiis hostium quam virtute suorum fretus. varia apud Romanos fortuna et seditiosissimus quisque ignavus: quidam recentis victoriae memores retinere locum, ferire hostem, seque et proximos hortari et redintegrata acie manus ad obsessos tendere ne tempori deessent. illi cuncta e muris cernentes omnibus portis prorumpunt. ac forte Civilis lapsu equi prostratus, credita per utrumque exercitum fama vulneratum aut interfectum, immane quantum suis pavoris et hostibus alacritatis indidit: sed Vocula omissis fugientium tergis vallum turrisque castrorum augebat, tamquam rursus obsidium immineret, corrupta totiens victoria non falso suspectus bellum malle.
34.
Civilis and Vocula fell equally short in their duty as commanders: both deserved the reverse they met with; both failed to profit from success. For if Civilis had fielded more troops, he would not have been outflanked by so few cohorts and would have destroyed the already compromised camp. Vocula did not keep track of the approaching enemy and for that reason was beaten as soon as he marched out of camp. Then, having no faith in his victory, he wasted precious days before resuming the initiative. Had he instead been quick to strike and to follow up his advantage, he might, by the same impetus, have lifted the siege of the Vetera camp. During the lull in the fighting, Civilis had been trying the staying power of the besieged by artfully representing that all was lost for the Romans and that victory had favored his troops: the Roman standards and banners were paraded around the wall of the camp and even the prisoners were exhibited. One of these, with supreme daring, shouted what had in truth occurred and was run through on the spot by the Germans, thereby lending more credence to the man’s words. Meanwhile it became obvious from the devastation of the fields and the torching of buildings that Vocula’s victorious army was about to arrive. When within sight of the camp, Vocula ordered his men to set up the standards and surround them with a ditch and wall. [He told them] they were to leave their baggage and backpacks behind and fight in light trim. Thereupon, loud protests arose against the general: the soldiers clamored for battle; by now it had become their habit to threaten as well. Without even taking time to form a proper line, they commenced fighting, tired and in disarray though they were. Civilis was there waiting for them, relying no less on the enemy’s blunders than on his troops’ bravery. The Romans fought with uneven fortune; the worst troublemakers among them were now cowards. Some of the soldiers, mindful of their last victory, stood firm at their posts, striking at the foe and encouraging one another. Having restored the line, they kept gesturing to the besieged not to waste the opportunity open to them. These, who from the wall were witnesses of all that took place in the field, burst forth from all the gates of the camp. Just then it chanced that Civilis was thrown by a fall of his horse. The rumor that he was wounded or killed spread in both armies and immense was both the the terror the news produced among his men and the fresh vigor it gave the Romans. But Vocula failed to pursue the retreating Germans and instead reinforced the camp towers and rampart, as if a renewal of the siege were imminent. He had bungled victory so often that he was suspected with good reason of preferring not to see the war end.
XXXV.
Nihil aeque exercitus nostros quam egestas copiarum fatigabat. impedimenta legionum cum imbelli turba Novaesium missa ut inde terrestri itinere frumentum adveherent; nam flumine hostes potiebantur. primum agmen securum incessit, nondum satis firmo Civile. qui ubi rursum missos Novaesium frumentatores datasque in praesidium cohortis velut multa pace ingredi accepit, rarum apud signa militem, arma in vehiculis, cunctos licentia vagos, compositus invadit, praemissis qui pontis et viarum angusta insiderent. pugnatum longo agmine et incerto Marte, donec proelium nox dirimeret. cohortes Geldubam perrexere, manentibus, ut fuerant, castris, quae relictorum illic militum praesidio tenebantur. non erat dubium quantum in regressu discriminis adeundum foret frumentatoribus onustis perculsisque. addit exercitui suo Vocula mille delectos e quinta et quinta decima legionibus apud Vetera obsessis, indomitum militem et ducibus infensum. plures quam iussum erat profecti palam in agmine fremebant, non se ultra famem, insidias legatorum toleraturos: at qui remanserant, desertos se abducta parte legionum querebantur. duplex hinc seditio, aliis revocantibus Voculam, aliis redire in castra abnuentibus.
35.
Nothing was wearing down our army as much as the shortage of supplies. The legions’ baggage was sent on to Novaesium together with a crowd of non-combatants, who were to transport back grain from there by land, for the enemy was in control of the Rhine. The first trip was done safely, as Civilis was still recovering from his fall. But when he found out that that the foragers had again been sent to Novaesium and the cohorts escorting them were moving along as if it were peacetime, with few soldiers by the standards, weapons carried in the wagons, and the troops roaming about at will, he fell on them in regular fighting order, having first sent troops ahead to seize bridges and defiles. They fought in an extended column and inconclusively until night put an end to the engagement. The cohorts reached Gelduba, the camp there remaining as it had been, held by a garrison that had been left there. It was obvious to everyone how dangerous the return trip was going to be with the foragers carrying a heavy load and demoralized by fear. [So] Vocula added to his army one thousand men selected from the Fifth and Fifteenth legions besieged at Vetera, an untameable lot full of grudges against their officers. More men left the camp than had been ordered and on the march they grumbled openly, saying they would never again put up with famine and the intrigues of the leaders. Those who remained behind, on the other hand, were complaining they had been abandoned, one part of the legions being lost to them. Hence discontent now took two forms: some were pressing Vocula to come back to camp, others were adamant they would never return to it.
XXXVI.
Interim Civilis Vetera circumsedit: Vocula Geldubam atque inde Novaesium concessit, [Civilis capit Geldubam] mox haud procul Novaesio equestri proelio prospere certavit. sed miles secundis adversisque perinde in exitium ducum accendebatur; et adventu quintanorum quintadecimanorumque auctae legiones donativum exposcunt, comperto pecuniam a Vitellio missam. nec diu cunctatus Hordeonius nomine Vespasiani dedit, idque praecipuum fuit seditionis alimentum. effusi in luxum et epulas et nocturnos coetus veterem in Hordeonium iram renovant, nec ullo legatorum tribunorumve obsistere auso (quippe omnem pudorem nox ademerat) protractum e cubili interficiunt. eadem in Voculam parabantur, nisi servili habitu per tenebras ignoratus evasisset.
36.
During this time Civilis kept blockading Vetera: Vocula retired to Gelduba first, then to Novaesium. [Civilis took Gelduba] then was victorious in a cavalry encounter near Novaesium, but the Roman soldiers were provoked by successes and reverses alike to murder their generals. The legions [in Vocula’s army], reinforced by the men of the Fifth and Fifteenth legions, now demanded the donative, for they knew that Vitellius had sent the money. Without much hesitation, Hordeonius gave it in Vespasian’s name and this, more than anything else, added fuel to the rebellion. Abandoning themselves to excesses, feasts, and nocturnal gettogethers, they brought back to life their old loathing of Hordeonius and, without a single legate or tribune venturing to resist (darkness had abolished all proprieties), they dragged him out of bed and killed him. They had reserved the same fate for Vocula, had he not escaped unnoticed in the night disguised as a slave.
XXXVII.
Vbi sedato impetu metus rediit, centuriones cum epistulis ad civitates Galliarum misere, auxilia ac stipendia oraturos: ipsi, ut est vulgus sine rectore praeceps pavidum socors, adventante Civile raptis temere armis ac statim omissis, in fugam vertuntur. res adversae discordiam peperere, iis qui e superiore exercitu erant causam suam dissociantibus; Vitellii tamen imagines in castris et per proximas Belgarum civitates repositae, cum iam Vitellius occidisset. dein mutati in paenitentiam primani quartanique et duoetvicensimani Voculam sequuntur, apud quem resumpto Vespasiani sacramento ad liberandum Mogontiaci obsidium ducebantur. discesserant obsessores, mixtus ex Chattis Vsipis Mattiacis exercitus, satietate praedae nec incruenti: in via dispersos et nescios miles noster invaserat. quin et loricam vallumque per finis suos Treviri struxere, magnisque in vicem cladibus cum Germanis certabant, donec egregia erga populum Romanum merita mox rebelles foedarent.
37.
When the fit of frenzy subsided and their fears returned, the mutineers sent centurions with letters to the Gallic states to plead for reinforcements and money. These soldiers, impulsive, timorous, and obtuse like all mobs without a leader, at Civilis’ approach instantly grabbed their arms, then hastily dropped them and fled. Misfortune bred discord: the men from the army of Upper Germany dissociated their cause from that of the others. And yet the images of Vitellius were set up again in the camps and in all neighboring Belgian districts, although Vitellius had by then perished. Next, the troops of the First, Fourth, and Twenty-second legions, regretting their conduct, followed Vocula, who again made them swear allegiance to Vespasian before leading them to relieve the siege of Mogantiacum. The besiegers, however, a mixed crowd of Chatti, Usipi, and Mattiaci, glutted with plunder, had already left, yet not without losses, for they were set upon by our troops while dispersed and off-guard. Moreover, the Treveri erected a breastwork and rampart along their border and kept fighting the Germans with great losses on either side, until the Treveri stained their record of eminent service to Rome with their imminent rebellion.
XXXVIII.
Interea Vespasianus iterum ac Titus consulatum absentes inierunt, maesta et multiplici metu suspensa civitate, quae super instantia mala falsos pavores induerat, descivisse Africam res novas moliente L. Pisone. is <pro consule> provinciae nequaquam turbidus ingenio; sed quia naves saevitia hiemis prohibebantur, vulgus alimenta in dies mercari solitum, cui una ex re publica annonae cura, clausum litus, retineri commeatus, dum timet, credebat, augentibus famam Vitellianis, qui studium partium nondum posuerant, ne victoribus quidem ingrato rumore, quorum cupiditates externis quoque bellis inexplebilis nulla umquam civilis victoria satiavit.
38.
Meanwhile Vespasian and Titus entered the consulate –the second for Vespasian—although both were absent from Rome. Gloomy and beset by multiple anxieties, the city had not only the real evils of the day to contend with, but also labored under the imaginary fear that Africa had revolted and was lost to the empire. It was rumored that Lucius Piso, the governor of Africa, hardly a man intent on violence, was fomenting revolution. The reason was that the grain ships were prevented from sailing by the rigors of winter, but the rabble, who had the habit of buying food from day to day and no other interest in public matters than the free distribution of grain, put trust in their fears that the ports were closed and convoys halted. The Vitellians, still clinging to their party loyalties, exaggerated the rumors, which were not displeasing to the victors themselves, whose greed, unappeasable even by foreign wars, could never be satisfied by any civil victory.
XXXIX.
Kalendis Ianuariis in senatu, quem Iulius Frontinus praetor urbanus vocaverat, legatis exercitibusque ac regibus laudes gratesque decretae; Tettio Iuliano praetura, tamquam transgredientem in partis Vespasiani legionem deseruisset, ablata ut in Plotium Grypum transferretur; Hormo dignitas equestris data. et mox eiurante Frontino Caesar Domitianus praeturam cepit. eius nomen epistulis edictisque praeponebatur, vis penes Mucianum erat, nisi quod pleraque Domitianus instigantibus amicis aut propria libidine audebat. sed praecipuus Muciano metus e Primo Antonio Varoque Arrio, quos recentis clarosque rerum fama ac militum studiis etiam populus fovebat, quia in neminem ultra aciem saevierant. et ferebatur Antonius Scribonianum Crassum, egregiis maioribus et fraterna imagine fulgentem, ad capessendam rem publicam hortatus, haud defutura consciorum manu, ni Scribonianus abnuisset, ne paratis quidem corrumpi facilis, adeo metuens incerta. igitur Mucianus, quia propalam opprimi Antonius nequibat, multis in senatu laudibus cumulatum secretis promissis onerat, citeriorem Hispaniam ostentans discessu Cluvii Rufi vacuam; simul amicis eius tribunatus praefecturasque largitur. dein postquam inanem animum spe et cupidine impleverat, viris abolet dimissa in hiberna legione septima, cuius flagrantissimus in Antonium amor. et tertia legio, familiaris Arrio Varo miles, in Syriam remissa; pars exercitus in Germanias ducebatur. sic egesto quidquid turbidum redit urbi sua forma legesque et munia magistratuum.
39.
On the first day of January public praise and thanks were decreed in the Senate –convoked by Julius Frontinus, the city praetor—to the generals, the armies, and to the allied kings. Tettius Julianus had the praetorship taken from him and transferred to Plotius Grypus, the reason given being that he had abandoned his legion when it crossed over to Vespasian’s party. Hormus was given equestrian status, then, when Frontinus resigned, Caesar Domitian became city praetor. His name appeared at the head of dispatches and proclamations, but real power was in Mucianus’ hands, except that Domitian often ventured to act independently, either at the urging of friends or to please himself. The main threat to Mucianus, however, came from Primus Antonius and Varus Arrius, the new stars of the day, thanks to the fame of their exploits, the soldiers’ devotion, and the support of the people, who favored them for not harming anyone outside of the battlefield. Antonius was rumored to have encouraged Scribonianus Crassus, a man distinguished by noble ancestry and by the memory of his brother, to make a bid for the imperial power. There was no doubt that many would have joined the plot, but Scribonianus refused: he was not the type to be easily enticed even by assured success, so extremely averse was he to taking risks. Mucianus, since he could not openly suppress Antonius, praised him to the skies in the senate and snowed him under with secret promises, dangling before his eyes the province of nearer Spain, left vacant after Cluvius Rufus’ departure. At the same time he liberally granted Antonius’ friends posts as tribunes and prefects; then, after he had filled Antonius’ vain mind with ambitious hopes, he undermined his strength by sending the Seventh legion, most ardently attached to him, to winter quarters and the Third legion, Arrius Varus’ very own, back to Syria, while a part of the army was conducted to Germany. Thus, with the removal of all sources of trouble, the city regained its habitual aspect, together with the return of law and civil authority.
XL.
Quo die senatum ingressus est Domitianus, de absentia patris fratrisque ac iuventa sua pauca et modica disseruit, decorus habitu; et ignotis adhuc moribus crebra oris confusio pro modestia accipiebatur. referente Caesare de restituendis Galbae honoribus, censuit Curtius Montanus ut Pisonis quoque memoria celebraretur. patres utrumque iussere: de Pisone inritum fuit. tum sorte ducti per quos redderentur bello rapta, quique aera legum vetustate delapsa noscerent figerentque, et fastos adulatione temporum foedatos exonerarent modumque publicis impensis facerent. redditur Tettio Iuliano praetura, postquam cognitus est ad Vespasianum confugisse: Grypo honor mansit. repeti inde cognitionem inter Musonium Rufum et Publium Celerem placuit, damnatusque Publius et Sorani manibus satis factum. insignis publica severitate dies ne privatim quidem laude caruit. iustum iudicium explesse Musonius videbatur, diversa fama Demetrio Cynicam sectam professo, quod manifestum reum ambitiosius quam honestius defendisset: ipsi Publio neque animus in periculis neque oratio suppeditavit. signo ultionis in accusatores dato, petit a Caesare Iunius Mauricus ut commentariorum principalium potestatem senatui faceret, per quos nosceret quem quisque accusandum poposcisset. consulendum tali super re principem respondit.
40.
On the day he sat for the first time in the Senate, Domitian spoke a few moderate words about the absence of his farher and brother and about his own young age. This he did in a manner that was quite becoming. His character was not yet known and his frequent blushing was taken for modesty. On his proposing that Galba’s honors be restored, Curtius Montanus moved that Piso’s memory be likewise honored. The Senate approved both motions, but the one about Piso was not acted on. The members of various committees were then drawn by lot who were to see about the return of property plundered during the war, to identify and fix back in place the bronze tablets of the laws that had come undone through age, to cleanse the calendar tarnished by the servile temper of the times, and finally to set a limit to public expenditures. The praetorship was given back to Tettius Julianus when it became clear he had abandoned his legion to seek protection with Vespasian. Grypus retained his praetorship. The Senate next decided to look again into the case between Musonius Rufus and Publius Celer. Publius was convicted and justice done to the memory of Soranus. That day, made notable by this example of public severity, was not without private luster either, [for] Musonius was seen as having obtained a just conviction. But the opposite view was taken of [the man defending Celer], Demetrius, a follower of the cynic school, for defending an obviously guilty man with more personal ambition than honesty. Publius himself, when he came under attack, had neither courage nor speaking skills left. The impulse for a reprisal against informers having thus been given, Junius Mauricus asked Domitian to grant the Senate authority to consult the imperial archives and find out against whom each of the informers had demanded legal action. Domitian answered that on so serious a question the emperor must first be consulted.