Tacitus: Annals: Book 2 [1]

The Works of Tacitus

tr. by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb

[1864-1877]

Tacitus: Annals Book 2 [1]

A.D. 16-19

1. IN the consulship of Sisenna Statilius Taurus and Lucius Libo there was a
commotion in the kingdoms and Roman provinces of the East. It had its origin
among the Parthians, who disdained as a foreigner a king whom they had sought
and received from Rome, though he was of the family of the Arsacids. This was
Vonones, who had been given as an hostage to Augustus by Phraates. For although
he had driven before him armies and generals from Rome, Phraates had shown to
Augustus every token of reverence and had sent him some of his children, to
cement the friendship, not so much from dread of us as from distrust of the
loyalty of his countrymen.

2. After the death of Phraates and the succeeding kings in the bloodshed of
civil wars, there came to Rome envoys from the chief men of Parthia, in quest
of Vonones, his eldest son. Caesar thought this a great honour to himself, and
loaded Vonones with wealth. The barbarians, too, welcomed him with rejoicing,
as is usual with new rulers. Soon they felt shame at Parthians having become
degenerate, at their having sought a king from another world, one too infected
with the training of the enemy, at the throne of the Arsacids now being possessed
and given away among the provinces of Rome. “Where,” they asked, “was the glory
of the men who slew Crassus, who drove out Antonius, if Caesar’s drudge, after
an endurance of so many years’ slavery, were to rule over Parthians.” Vonones
himself too further provoked their disdain, by his contrast with their ancestral
manners, by his rare indulgence in the chase, by his feeble interest in horses,
by the litter in which he was carried whenever he made a progress through their
cities, and by his contemptuous dislike of their national festivities. They
also ridiculed his Greek attendants and his keeping under seal the commonest
household articles. But he was easy of approach; his courtesy was open to all,
and he had thus virtues with which the Parthians were unfamiliar, and vices
new to them. And as his ways were quite alien from theirs they hated alike what
was bad and what was good in him.

3. Accordingly they summoned Artabanus, an Arsacid by blood, who had grown to
manhood among the Dahae, and who, though routed in the first encounter, rallied
his forces and possessed himself of the kingdom. The conquered Vonones found
a refuge in Armenia, then a free country, and exposed to the power of Parthia
and Rome, without being trusted by either, in consequence of the crime of Antonius,
who, under the guise of friendship, had inveigled Artavasdes, king of the Armenians,
then loaded him with chains, and finally murdered him. His son, Artaxias, our
bitter foe because of his father’s memory, found defence for himself and his
kingdom in the might of the Arsacids. When he was slain by the treachery of
kinsmen, Caesar gave Tigranes to the Armenians, and he was put in possession
of the kingdom under the escort of Tiberius Nero. But neither Tigranes nor his
children reigned long, though, in foreign fashion, they were united in marriage
and in royal power.

4. Next, at the bidding of Augustus, Artavasdes was set on the throne, nor was
he deposed without disaster to ourselves. Caius Caesar was then appointed to
restore order in Armenia. He put over the Armenians Ariobarzanes, a Mede by
birth, whom they willingly accepted, because of his singularly handsome person
and noble spirit. On the death of Ariobarzanes through a fatal accident, they
would not endure his son. Having tried the government of a woman named Erato
and having soon afterwards driven her from them, bewildered and disorganised,
rather indeed without a ruler than enjoying freedom, they received for their
king the fugitive Vonones. When, however, Artabanus began to threaten, and but
feeble support could be given by the Armenians, or war with Parthia would have
to be undertaken, if Vonones was to be upheld by our arms, the governor of Syria,
Creticus Silanus, sent for him and kept him under surveillance, letting him
retain his royal pomp and title. How Vonones meditated an escape from this mockery,
I will relate in the proper place.

5. Meanwhile the commotion in the East was rather pleasing to Tiberius, as it
was a pretext for withdrawing Germanicus from the legions which knew him well,
and placing him over new provinces where he would be exposed both to treachery
and to disasters. Germanicus, however, in proportion to the strength of the
soldiers’ attachment and to his uncle’s dislike, was eager to hasten his victory,
and he pondered on plans of battle, and on the reverses or successes which during
more than three years of war had fallen to his lot. The Germans, he knew, were
beaten in the field and on fair ground; they were helped by woods, swamps, short
summers, and early winters. His own troops were affected not so much by wounds
as by long marches and damage to their arms. Gaul had been exhausted by supplying
horses; a long baggage-train presented facilities for ambuscades, and was embarrassing
to its defenders. But by embarking on the sea, invasion would be easy for them,
and a surprise to the enemy, while a campaign too would be more quickly begun,
the legions and supplies would be brought up simultaneously, and the cavalry
with their horses would arrive, in good condition, by the rivermouths and channels,
at the heart of Germany.

6. To this accordingly he gave his mind, and sent Publius Vitellius and Caius
Antius to collect the taxes of Gaul. Silius, Anteius, and Caecina had the charge
of building a fleet. It seemed that a thousand vessels were required, and they
were speedily constructed, some of small draught with a narrow stem and stern
and a broad centre, that they might bear the waves more easily; some flat-bottomed,
that they might ground without being injured; several, furnished with a rudder
at each end, so that by a sudden shifting of the oars they might be run into
shore either way. Many were covered in with decks, on which engines for missiles
might be conveyed, and were also fit for the carrying of horses or supplies,
and being equipped with sails as well as rapidly moved by oars, they assumed,
through the enthusiasm of our soldiers, an imposing and formidable aspect. The
island of the Batavi was the appointed rendezvous, because of its easy landing-places,
and its convenience for receiving the army and carrying the war across the river.
For the Rhine after flowing continuously in a single channel or encircling merely
insignificant islands, divides itself, so to say, where the Batavian territory
begins, into two rivers, retaining its name and the rapidity of its course in
the stream which washes Germany, till it mingles with the ocean. On the Gallic
bank, its flow is broader and gentler; it is called by an altered name, the
Vahal, by the inhabitants of its shore. Soon that name too is changed for the
Mosa river, through whose vast mouth it empties itself into the same ocean.

7. Caesar, however, while the vessels were coming up, ordered Silius, his lieutenant-general,
to make an inroad on the Chatti with a flying column. He himself, on hearing
that a fort on the river Luppia was being besieged, led six legions to the spot.
Silius owing to sudden rains did nothing but carry off a small booty, and the
wife and daughter of Arpus, the chief of the Chatti. And Caesar had no opportunity
of fighting given him by the besiegers, who dispersed on the rumour of his advance.
They had, however, destroyed the barrow lately raised in memory of Varus’s legions,
and the old altar of Drusus. The prince restored the altar, and himself with
his legions celebrated funeral games in his father’s honour. To raise a new
barrow was not thought necessary. All the country between the fort Aliso and
the Rhine was thoroughly secured by new barriers and earthworks.

8. By this time the fleet had arrived, and Caesar, having sent on his supplies
and assigned vessels for the legions and the allied troops, entered “Drusus’s
fosse,” as it was called. He prayed Drusus his father to lend him, now that
he was venturing on the same enterprise, the willing and favourable aid of the
example and willing and favorable aid of the example and memory of his counsels
and achievements, and he arrived after a prosperous voyage through the lakes
and the ocean as far as the river Amisia. His fleet remained there on the left
bank of the stream, and it was a blunder that he did not have it brought up
the river. He disembarked the troops, which were to be marched to the country
on the right, and thus several days were wasted in the construction of bridges.
The cavalry and the legions fearlessly crossed the first estuaries in which
the tide had not yet risen. The rear of the auxiliaries, and the Batavi among
the number, plunging recklessly into the water and displaying their skill in
swimming, fell into disorder, and some were drowned. While Caesar was measuring
out his camp, he was told of a revolt of the Angrivarii in his rear. He at once
despatched Stertinius with some cavalry and a light armed force, who punished
their perfidy with fire and sword.

9. The waters of the Visurgis flowed between the Romans and the Cherusci. On
its banks stood Arminius with the other chiefs. He asked whether Caesar had
arrived, and on the reply that he was present, he begged leave to have an interview
with his brother. That brother, surnamed Flavus, was with our army, a man famous
for his loyalty, and for having lost an eye by a wound, a few years ago, when
Tiberius was in command. The permission was then given, and he stepped forth
and was saluted by Arminius, who had removed his guards to a distance and required
that the bowmen ranged on our bank should retire. When they had gone away, Arminius
asked his brother whence came the scar which disfigured his face, and on being
told the particular place and battle, he inquired what reward he had received.
Flavus spoke of increased pay, of a neck chain, a crown, and other military
gifts, while Arminius jeered at such a paltry recompense for slavery.

Next: Book 2 [10]