LI.
At Vespasiano post Cremonensem pugnam et prosperos undique nuntios cecidisse Vitellium multi cuiusque ordinis, pari audacia fortunaque hibernum mare adgressi, nuntiavere. aderant legati regis Vologaesi quadraginta milia Parthorum equitum offerentes. magnificum laetumque tantis sociorum auxiliis ambiri neque indigere: gratiae Vologaeso actae mandatumque ut legatos ad senatum mitteret et pacem esse sciret. Vespasianus in Italiam resque urbis intentus adversam de Domitiano famam accipit, tamquam terminos aetatis et concessa filio egrederetur: igitur validissimam exercitus partem Tito tradit ad reliqua Iudaici belli perpetranda.
51.
Meanwhile, after the battle of Cremona and the glad tidings pouring in from every corner of the empire, people of every class brought Vespasian news of Vitellius’ death by braving the winter sea with as much courage as good fortune. The envoys of king Vologesus had come from Parthia with an offer of forty thousand mounted men. It was indeed a source of great pride and satisfaction to be wooed with such offers of help from one’s allies and not to need them. Thanks were returned to the king with an invitation to send ambassadors to the Senate and assure himself that the Empire was at peace. Vespasian, now intent on Italy and the situation in Rome, heard rumors unfavorable to Domitian, insofar as he was exceeding the limits of his years and the prerogatives of an emperor’s son. Consequently, he handed over to Titus command of the best part of the army that would give him sufficient forces to bring the Jewish war to a conclusion.
LII.
Titum, antequam digrederetur, multo apud patrem sermone orasse ferunt ne criminantium nuntiis temere accenderetur integrumque se ac placabilem filio praestaret. non legiones, non classis proinde firma imperii munimenta quam numerum liberorum; nam amicos tempore, fortuna, cupidinibus aliquando aut erroribus imminui, transferri, desinere: suum cuique sanguinem indiscretum, sed maxime principibus, quorum prosperis et alii fruantur, adversa ad iunctissimos pertineant. ne fratribus quidem mansuram concordiam, ni parens exemplum praebuisset. Vespasianus haud aeque Domitiano mitigatus quam Titi pietate gaudens, bono esse animo iubet belloque et armis rem publicam attollere: sibi pacem domumque curae fore. tum celerrimas navium frumento onustas saevo adhuc mari committit: quippe tanto discrimine urbs nutabat ut decem haud amplius dierum frumentum in horreis fuerit, cum a Vespasiano commeatus subvenere.
52.
Titus is said to have had a long conversation with his father before leaving, entreating him not to be too hastily moved to anger by the allegations against Domitian and to show himself unbiased and forgiving towards his son. Neither legions nor fleets, he said, were such solid mainstays of a ruler as a large family. For friends’ devotion was cooled, altered, or lost by time, by circumstances, sometimes by excessive expectations or by misunderstandings. Blood is an indissoluble tie for every man and all the more so for emperors, whose good fortune benefits also outsiders, while adverse fortune affects only their nearest of kin. Not even brothers would keep living in concord unless the father had set the example. Vespasian, not so much reconciled to Domitian as he was pleasantly impressed with Titus’ brotherly affection, told him to put his mind at ease and to raise Rome’s prestige by force of arms: he himself would see to the maintenance of peace and the good of the family. Then he had the swiftest ships loaded with grain and committed to the still dangerous waters, for Rome was tottering in the face of such penury, that hardly ten more days’ supplies were left in the granaries, when relief came from Vespasian.
LIII.
Curam restituendi Capitolii in Lucium Vestinum confert, equestris ordinis virum, sed auctoritate famaque inter proceres. ab eo contracti haruspices monuere ut reliquiae prioris delubri in paludes aveherentur, templum isdem vestigiis sisteretur: nolle deos mutari veterem formam. XI kalendas Iulias serena luce spatium omne quod templo dicabatur evinctum vittis coronisque; ingressi milites, quis fausta nomina, felicibus ramis; dein virgines Vestales cum pueris puellisque patrimis matrimisque aqua e fontibus amnibusque hausta perluere. tum Helvidius Priscus praetor, praeeunte Plautio Aeliano pontifice, lustrata suovetaurilibus area et super caespitem redditis extis, Iovem, Iunonem, Minervam praesidesque imperii deos precatus uti coepta prosperarent sedisque suas pietate hominum inchoatas divina ope attollerent, vittas, quis ligatus lapis innexique funes erant, contigit; simul ceteri magistratus et sacerdotes et senatus et eques et magna pars populi, studio laetitiaque conixi, saxum ingens traxere. passimque iniectae fundamentis argenti aurique stipes et metallorum primitiae, nullis fornacibus victae, sed ut gignuntur: praedixere haruspices ne temeraretur opus saxo aurove in aliud destinato. altitudo aedibus adiecta: id solum religio adnuere et prioris templi magnificentiae defuisse credebatur.
53.
Vespasian assigned the task of rebuilding the Capitol to Lucius Vestinus, a member of the equestrian order, but whose authority and reputation placed him among the leading citizens. The haruspices he called together advised that what remained of the temple be carried off to the marshes and that the new Capitol be raised in the same location as the old. The gods, they warned, forbade that its shape be altered. On the twenty-first of June, under clear skies, the entire site devoted to the temple was festooned with ribbons and garlands. Then, in marched soldiers who had names of good omen, bearing branches of trees agreeable to the gods. The Vestal virgins came next, escorted by boys and girls whose parents were alive, and sprinkled water drawn from springs and streams. After them, Helvidius Priscus , the praetor, under the guidance of the pontiff Plautius Aelianus saying the words for him to repeat, purified the site with the sacrifice of the suovetaurilia. He exposed the entrails on an altar of turf and called on Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, and the gods watching over the empire to bring to a good end the undertaking before them and to offer divine assistance in raising the temple – their own dwelling—for which men’s piety was about to lay the foundation. He then touched the votive ribbons wound around the first stone, to which ropes were attached. At that moment the other magistrates, the priests, the senators, the knights, and a large part of the people, exerting themselves to the utmost in a burst of joyful zeal, dragged the huge stone [into position]. From every side offerings of gold and silver and of metals in their natural state, just as they come to be, undaunted by the furnace, were thrown into the foudations. The haruspices had prescribed that the work must not be profaned by stone or gold used for other purposes. The temple was built higher, the only change strict adherence to religious practice did permit, one in respect of which the beauty of the old temple was found wanting.
LIV.
Audita interim per Gallias Germaniasque mors Vitellii duplicaverat bellum. nam Civilis omissa dissimulatione in populum Romanum ruere, Vitellianae legiones vel externum servitium quam imperatorem Vespasianum malle. Galli sustulerant animos, eandem ubique exercituum nostrorum fortunam rati, vulgato rumore a Sarmatis Dacisque Moesica ac Pannonica hiberna circumsederi; paria de Britannia fingebantur. sed nihil aeque quam incendium Capitolii, ut finem imperio adesse crederent, impulerat. captam olim a Gallis urbem, sed integra Iovis sede mansisse imperium: fatali nunc igne signum caelestis irae datum et possessionem rerum humanarum Transalpinis gentibus portendi superstitione vana Druidae canebant. incesseratque fama primores Galliarum ab Othone adversus Vitellium missos, antequam digrederentur, pepigisse ne deessent libertati, si populum Romanum continua civilium bellorum series et interna mala fregissent.
54.
Meanwhile, the news of Vitellius’ death spreading through Gaul and Germany had doubled the intensity of the revolt. Civilis, giving up all pretense, now openly hurled his forces at the Romans and the legions of Vitellius preferred to be enslaved even by foreign domination than to submit to Vespasian. The Gauls were emboldened by the conviction that our armies were meeting the same fate everywhere, since rumors had reached them that our winter quarters in Moesia and Pannonia had come under attack by the Sarmatae and Dacians. Similar fabrications were current about Britain, but nothing had incited them so much to believe that the end of the empire was near as the burning of the Capitol. Rome had been captured once by the Gauls, they said, but the power had survived because Jupiter’s home was left intact. But now, with that fatal conflagration, a sign had been given of the gods’ anger, a sign that portended the mastery of the world by the nations on the other side of the Alps. Such were the prophecies chanted by the Druids in their vain superstition. Reports had also circulated that the Gallic chiefs sent by Otho to plot against Vitellius had agreed among themselves before departing never to abandon the struggle for national freedom, should the unending succession of civil wars and intestine strife wear down the might of the Roman people.
LV.
Ante Flacci Hordeonii caedem nihil prorupit quo coniuratio intellegeretur: interfecto Hordeonio commeavere nuntii inter Civilem Classicumque praefectum alae Trevirorum. Classicus nobilitate opibusque ante alios: regium illi genus et pace belloque clara origo, ipse e maioribus suis hostis populi Romani quam socios iactabat. miscuere sese Iulius Tutor et Iulius Sabinus, hic Trevir, hic Lingonus, Tutor ripae Rheni a Vitellio praefectus; Sabinum super insitam vanitatem falsae stirpis gloria incendebat: proaviam suam divo Iulio per Gallias bellanti corpore atque adulterio placuisse. hi secretis sermonibus animos ceterorum scrutari, ubi quos idoneos rebantur conscientia obstrinxere, in colonia Agrippinensi in domum privatam conveniunt; nam publice civitas talibus inceptis abhorrebat; ac tamen interfuere quidam Vbiorum Tungrorumque. sed plurima vis penes Treviros ac Lingonas, nec tulere moras consultandi. certatim proclamant furere discordiis populum Romanum, caesas legiones, vastatam Italiam, capi cum maxime urbem, omnis exercitus suis quemque bellis distineri: si Alpes praesidiis firmentur, coalita libertate disceptaturas Gallias quem virium suarum terminum velint.
55.
Before the murder of Hordeonius Flaccus, nothing came to light that would point to a conspiracy. But after his death, messengers went back and forth between Civilis and Classicus, the prefect of the Treviran cavalry. Classicus was above all others in terms of birth and wealth. Royal blood ran in his veins and he came of a race famous both in war and peace. He himself boasted to have among his ancestors more foes of the Romans than allies. Julius Tutor and Julius Sabinus, the one a Trevir the other a Lingonus, became involved in the plot. Tutor had been assigned by Vitellius to guard the [west] bank of the Rhine. Sabinus, aside from his natural vanity, was obsessed with the glory of a fanciful pedigree in that his great-grandmother had seduced with her beauty and her compliance the divine Julius during the Gallic wars. These two men kept sounding the sentiments of the others in secret meetings, and when they had secured the complicity of those they believed suited to their cause, they convened at Cologne in a private house, the community being officially against such undertakings. Yet some members of the Ubii and of the Tungri managed to attend the conference, but the influence of the Treveri and of the Lingones was preponderant and they showed little patience with long debates. Emulating one another, they proclaimed that the Romans were bedeviled by discord, that their legions were decimated, that Italy was laid waste, that Rome in particular was just then a captive city, and that all the Roman armies were engaged, each occupied in fighting its own wars. If they fortified the alpine passes, the Gallic nations, liberty then firmly in their hands, would be in a position to decide what limits to set to their power.
LVI.
Haec dicta pariter probataque: de reliquiis Vitelliani exercitus dubitavere. plerique interficiendos censebant, turbidos, infidos, sanguine ducum pollutos: vicit ratio parcendi, ne sublata spe veniae pertinaciam accenderent: adliciendos potius in societatem. legatis tantum legionum interfectis, ceterum vulgus conscientia scelerum et spe impunitatis facile accessurum. ea primi concilii forma missique per Gallias concitores belli; simulatum ipsis obsequium quo incautiorem Voculam opprimerent. nec defuere qui Voculae nuntiarent, sed vires ad coercendum deerant, infrequentibus infidisque legionibus. inter ambiguos milites et occultos hostis optimum e praesentibus ratus mutua dissimulatione et isdem quibus petebatur grassari, in coloniam Agrippinensem descendit. illuc Claudius Labeo, quem captum et [extra commentum] amendatum in Frisios diximus, corruptis custodibus perfugit; pollicitusque, si praesidium daretur, iturum in Batavos et potiorem civitatis partem ad societatem Romanam retracturum, accepta peditum equitumque modica manu nihil apud Batavos ausus quosdam Nerviorum Baetasiorumque in arma traxit, et furtim magis quam bello Canninefatis Marsacosque incursabat.
56.
These sentiments were approved as soon as they were expressed. There were doubts about what to do with the remnants of the Vitellian army. Most were in favor of eliminating these men, turbulent, disloyal, sullied with blood of their own officers. The view they should be spared prevailed, for fear that the removal of any hope of pardon might further inflame their obstinacy: it was wiser, they decided, to lure them to their side. If the legion commanders alone were done away with, the common soldiery could be easily won over, prodded by the conscience of their crimes and by the prospect of escaping retribution. Such was the tenor of their first conference and emissaries were sent all over Gaul to push for war. The heads of the conspiracy pretended obedience to Vocula to take him more easily by surprise and kill him. Yet Vocula had informers to warn him of the plot, but forces were wanting for repressive action, as the legions were under strength and not reliable. Between troops he could not trust and enemies he could not see, he decided the best available option was to dissemble in his turn and have recourse to the same ploys by which he was beset. Consequently, he descended towards Cologne and there found Cludius Labeo, whose capture and subsequent exile among the Frisians I mentioned earlier, and who fled for protection to Cologne after bribing his guardians. He promised Vocula that if he were given some troops, he would go among the Batavi and win back the better part of his nation to the Roman alliance. Provided with a small force of infantry and cavalry, he did not venture anything with the Batavi, but he prevailed on a few Nervii and Baetasii to take up arms and he also kept harassing the Canninefates and the Marsaci, though more by stealth than by frontal attacks.
LVII.
Vocula Gallorum fraude inlectus ad hostem contendit; nec procul Veteribus aberat, cum Classicus ac Tutor per speciem explorandi praegressi cum ducibus Germanorum pacta firmavere. tumque primum discreti a legionibus proprio vallo castra sua circumdant, obtestante Vocula non adeo turbatam civilibus armis rem Romanam ut Treviris etiam Lingonibusque despectui sit. superesse fidas provincias, victores exercitus, fortunam imperii et ultores deos. sic olim Sacrovirum et Aeduos, nuper Vindicem Galliasque singulis proeliis concidisse. eadem rursus numina, eadem fata ruptores foederum expectarent. melius divo Iulio divoque Augusto notos eorum animos: Galbam et infracta tributa hostilis spiritus induisse. nunc hostis, quia molle servitium; cum spoliati exutique fuerint, amicos fore. haec ferociter locutus, postquam perstare in perfidia Classicum Tutoremque videt, verso itinere Novaesium concedit: Galli duum milium spatio distantibus campis consedere. illuc commeantium centurionum militumque emebantur animi, ut (flagitium incognitum) Romanus exercitus in externa verba iurarent pignusque tanti sceleris nece aut vinculis legatorum daretur. Vocula, quamquam plerique fugam suadebant, audendum ratus vocata contione in hunc modum disseruit:
57.
Vocula, led on by the treacherous tactics of the Gauls, was moving against the enemy and was not far from Vetera, when Classicus and Tutor moved ahead of the main body, under the pretext of scouting the district, and concluded their pact with the German chiefs. Then for the first time they made their camp apart from the legions and surrounded it with an entrenchment of their own, against Vocula’s objections, who protested that the power of Rome had not been disorganized by civil war to such a point as to become contemptible even in the eyes of Treveri and Lingones. Other loyal provinces were left, he said, and with them victorious armies, the fortunes of the empire, and the avenging gods. It was in similar circumstances that Sacrovir and the Aeduans long before and Vindex and the Gallic nations but lately had been beaten hollow in just one battle. Let those, he warned, who again violated treaties, beware of the same gods, of the same retribution. The divine Julius and Augustus understood the Gauls better. It was Galba and his tampering with the tribute that put these hostile ideas in their heads. They were now enemies because servitude was soft. The day they were going to be stripped naked, they would become friends. Vocula spoke these words in anger and when he saw Classicus and Tutor persist in their perfidy, he retraced his steps and made for Novaesimus. The Gauls made their camp in the fields two miles from the town and began to undermine the loyalty of our centurions and soldiers during their frequent visits to the camp, with the intent of having a Roman army swear allegiance (unheard-of infamy!) to barbarians, the pledge required for their heinous crime being the death or imprisonment of the Roman commanders. Vocula, though most advised him to flee, decided to act boldly, called a general assembly, and spoke as follows:
LVIII.
‘Numquam apud vos verba feci aut pro vobis sollicitior aut pro me securior. nam mihi exitium parari libens audio mortemque in tot malis [hostium] ut finem miseriarum expecto: vestri me pudet miseretque, adversus quos non proelium et acies parantur; id enim fas armorum et ius hostium est: bellum cum populo Romano vestris se manibus gesturum Classicus sperat imperiumque et sacramentum Galliarum ostentat. adeo nos, si fortuna in praesens virtusque deseruit, etiam vetera exempla deficiunt, quotiens Romanae legiones perire praeoptaverint ne loco pellerentur? socii saepe nostri excindi urbis suas seque cum coniugibus ac liberis cremari pertulerunt, neque aliud pretium exitus quam fides famaque. tolerant cum maxime inopiam obsidiumque apud Vetera legiones nec terrore aut promissis demoventur: nobis super arma et viros et egregia castrorum munimenta frumentum et commeatus quamvis longo bello pares. pecunia nuper etiam donativo suffecit, quod sive a Vespasiano sive a Vitellio datum interpretari mavultis, ab imperatore certe Romano accepistis. tot bellorum victores, apud Geldubam, apud Vetera, fuso totiens hoste, si pavetis aciem, indignum id quidem, sed est vallum murique et trahendi artes, donec e proximis provinciis auxilia exercitusque concurrant. sane ego displiceam: sunt alii legati, tribuni, centurio denique aut miles. ne hoc prodigium toto terrarum orbe vulgetur, vobis satellitibus Civilem et Classicum Italiam invasuros. an, si ad moenia urbis Germani Gallique duxerint, arma patriae inferetis? horret animus tanti flagitii imagine. Tutorine Treviro agentur excubiae? signum belli Batavus dabit, et Germanorum catervas supplebitis? quis deinde sceleris exitus, cum Romanae legiones contra derexerint? transfugae e transfugis et proditores e proditoribus inter recens et vetus sacramentum invisi deis errabitis? te, Iuppiter optime maxime, quem per octingentos viginti annos tot triumphis coluimus, te, Quirine Romanae parens urbis, precor venerorque ut, si vobis non fuit cordi me duce haec castra incorrupta et intemerata servari, at certe pollui foedarique a Tutore et Classico ne sinatis, militibus Romanis aut innocentiam detis aut maturam et sine noxa paenitentiam.’
58.
‘Never in addressing you have I felt more anxiety for you and less concern for myself. For I hear with pleasure that my death is decided on and, amid so many evils, I await my fate as the end of suffering. I feel pity and shame for you, who are not even accorded the honor of a pitched battle, since that would be the accepted code of war and your just right if you were the enemy. But Classicus counts on you to wage his war against Rome and holds out the empire of Gaul to your allegiance. Even if fortune and courage have deserted us for the present, are we also so bereft of examples from the past as to forget how often our legions preferred to die than to give way? More than once our allies have allowed their cities to be razed to the ground and have offered themselves, their wives, and their children up to the flames, for no other reward for their deaths than renown for keeping faith. The legions at Vetera are at this very moment enduring famine and siege and neither threats nor promises shake their resolve. Beside arms and men and a well fortified camp we have grain and supplies ample enough for a war however long. Lately money has been sufficient even for a donative and whether you prefer to see the bounty as coming from Vespasian or from Vitellius, it is nevertheless from a Roman emperor that you have received it. If you, the victors in so many campaigns, who had the enemy so often on the run at Golduba and Vetera, are now afraid to engage them in the field, that fear is indeed unworthy of you as soldiers: but you still have entrenchments, ramparts, and other ways of gaining time until reinforcements come to your aid from neighboring provinces. Though I may not please you, what of it? There are other legates and tribunes to lead you, even a centurion or, lastly, a common soldier. Just do not let this monstrous aberration become known to the world, that of you turning into Civilis’ and Classicus’ accessories in their invasion of Italy. Will you really bear arms against your country if the Germans and the Gauls lead you to the walls of Rome? My mind recoils from the very thought of such infamy. Would you mount guard for Tutor, a Trevir? Shall a Batavian give you the signal for battle? And will you fill up vacancies in the German hordes to bring them up to strength? Later, what will the fruit of your treachery be when Roman legions array themselves against you? Twice deserters and turncoats, will you sway to and fro between your new and your old allegiance, hateful in the eyes of the gods? O Jupiter best and greatest, whom for eighteen hundred and twenty years we have honored with the offer of so many triumphs, and you Quirinus, father of Rome, if it is not your will that I should preserve, as general, this camp unstained and unimpaired, I beg and implore you to grant at least that it be not defiled and polluted by Tutor and Classicus and to accord these Roman soldiers either freedom from guilt or prompt repentance before they do harm.
LIX.
Varie excepta oratio inter spem metumque ac pu dorem. digressum Voculam et de supremis agitantem liberti servique prohibuere foedissimam mortem sponte praevenire. et Classicus misso Aemilio Longino, desertore primae legionis, caedem eius maturavit; Herennium et Numisium legatos vinciri satis visum. dein sumptis Romani imperii insignibus in castra venit. nec illi, quamquam ad omne facinus durato, verba ultra suppeditavere quam ut sacramentum recitaret: iuravere qui aderant pro imperio Galliarum. interfectorem Voculae altis ordinibus, ceteros, ut quisque flagitium navaverat, praemiis attollit. Divisae inde inter Tutorem et Classicum curae. Tutor valida manu circumdatos Agrippinensis quantumque militum apud superiorem Rheni ripam in eadem verba adigit, occisis Mogontiaci tribunis, pulso castrorum praefecto, qui detractaverant: Classicus corruptissimum quemque e deditis pergere ad obsessos iubet, veniam ostentantis, si praesentia sequerentur: aliter nihil spei, famem ferrumque et extrema passuros. adiecere qui missi erant exemplum suum.
59.
The speech was received with reactions varying between hope, fear, and shame. Vocula left, determined to take his own life, but his freedmen and slaves prevented him from staying ahead of a most dishonorable death. Then Classicus sent Aemilius Longinus, a deserter from the First legion, and had Vocula quickly done away with. The legates Herennius and Numisius were put in chains and that was sufficient to satisfy Classicus, who then assumed the Roman insignia of command and entered the camp. Though inured to all kinds of villainy, he could find words only to recite the oath. Those present swore allegiance to the empire of Gaul. He promoted to the highest rank the murderer of Vocula; others he distinguished with rewards proportionate to the crimes each had perpetrated. From there on Tutor and Classicus divided among themselves the responsibilities of command. Tutor with a large force besieged Cologne and forced its inhabitants, as well as all the troops stationed on the Rhine in Upper Germany, to swear the same oath. At Magontiacum he had the tribunes executed and the camp prefect expelled for refusing to comply. Classicus ordered the worst elements among the soldiers who had surrendered to go to the besieged at Vetera with offers of pardon if they accepted the new situation. If they refused surrender, they were to say that no hope for them was left and were to suffer famine, wounds, and ultimately death. To lend more weight to their words, the messengers pointed to their own experience as evidence.
LX.
Obsessos hinc fides, inde egestas inter decus ac flagitium distrahebant. cunctantibus solita insolitaque alimenta deerant, absumptis iumentis equisque et ceteris animalibus, quae profana foedaque in usum necessitas vertit. virgulta postremo et stirpis et internatas saxis herbas vellentes miseriarum patientiaeque documentum fuere, donec egregiam laudem fine turpi macularent, missis ad Civilem legatis vitam orantes. neque ante preces admissae quam in verba Galliarum iurarent: tum pactus praedam castrorum dat custodes qui pecuniam calones sarcinas retentarent et qui ipsos levis abeuntis prosequerentur. ad quintum ferme lapidem coorti Germani incautum agmen adgrediuntur. pugnacissimus quisque in vestigio, multi palantes occubuere: ceteri retro in castra perfugiunt, querente sane Civile et increpante Germanos tamquam fidem per scelus abrumperent. simulata ea fuerint an retinere saevientis nequiverit, parum adfirmatur. direptis castris faces iniciunt, cunctosque qui proelio superfuerant incendium hausit.
60.
Loyalty on one hand and famine on the other kept the besieged hesitating between honorable resistance and shameful surrender. As they held out, all kinds of nourishment, both common and unusual, failed them. They had consumed the beasts of burden, the horses, and all the animals necessity turns to use, even those that are unclean and repulsive. In the end they were reduced to tearing up bushes, roots, and clumps of weeds pushing up in the cracks between the stones, a sure testimony of their suffering and endurance, until they tarnished their splendid performance by a disgraceful end, when they sent envoys to Cilvilis to plead for their lives. Their prayers were unheeded until they swore allegiance to the empire of Gaul. Civilis then claimed the booty of the camp as the price of surrender and assigned guards to watch over the treasury, the army servants, and the baggage and to escort the vanquished troops as they left the camp stripped of their possessions. About five miles from Vetera the Germans pounced on the unsuspecting column. The bravest, who scorned flight, were killed where they stood, many others perished as they dispersed; the rest fled back to camp. Civilis himself, to be sure, inveighed loudly against the Germans for criminal breach of faith and cannot be determined whether his indignation was mere posturing or he was unable to restrain the rabid Germans. After pillaging the camp, the attackers set it on fire and all who had survived the ambush the flames consumed.