The Works of Tacitus
tr. by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb
[1864-1877]
Tacitus: History Book 4 [50]
50. But when the agitation of the people, the execution of the centurion, and
other news, true or false, exaggerated as usual by report, came to the ears
of Festus, he sent some cavalry to put Piso to death. They rode over at full
speed, and broke into the dwelling of the proconsul in the dim light of early
dawn, with their swords drawn in their hands. Many of them were unacquainted
with the person of Piso, for the legate had selected some Moorish and Carthaginian
auxiliaries to perpetrate the deed. Near the proconsul’s chamber they chanced
to meet a slave, and asked him who he was, and where Piso was to be found? The
slave with a noble untruth replied, “I am he,” and was immediately cut down.
Soon after Piso was killed, for there was on the spot one who recognized him,
Baebius Massa, one of the procurators of Africa, a name even then fatal to the
good, and destined often to reappear among the causes of the sufferings which
he had ere long to endure. From Adrumetum, where he had stayed to watch the
result, Festus went to the legion, and gave orders that Cetronius Pisanus, prefect
of the camp, should be put in irons. He did this out of private pique, but he
called the man an accomplice of Piso. Some few centurions and soldiers he punished,
others he rewarded, neither the one nor the other deservedly, but he wished
men to believe that he had extinguished a war. He then put an end to a quarrel
between the Censes and the Leptitani, which, originating in robberies of corn
and cattle by two rustic populations, had grown from this insignificant beginning
till it was carried on in pitched battles. The people of Ceea, who were inferior
in numbers, had summoned to their aid the Garamantes, a wild race incessantly
occupied in robbing their neighbours. This had brought the Leptitani to extremities;
their territories had been ravaged far and wide, and they were trembling within
their walls, when the Garamantes were put to flight by the arrival of the auxiliary
infantry and cavalry, and the whole of the booty was recaptured, with the exception
of some which the plunderers, in their wanderings through inaccessible hamlets,
had sold to more distant tribes.
51. Vespasian had heard of the victory of Cremona, and had received favourable
tidings from all quarters, and he was now informed of the fall of Vitellius
by many persons of every rank, who, with a good fortune equal to their courage,
risked the perils of the wintry sea. Envoys had come from king Vologesus to
offer him 40,000 Parthian cavalry. It was a matter of pride and joy to him to
be courted with such splendid offers of help from the allies, and not to want
them. He thanked Vologesus, and recommended him to send ambassadors to the Senate,
and to learn for himself that peace had been restored. While his thoughts were
fixed on Italy and on the state of the Capital, he heard an unfavourable account
of Domitian, which represented him as overstepping the limits of his age and
the privileges of a son. He therefore entrusted Titus with the main strength
of the army to complete what had yet to be done in the Jewish war.
52. It was said that Titus before his departure had a long interview with
his father, in which he implored him not to let himself be easily excited by
the reports of slanderers, but to shew an impartial and forgiving temper towards
his son. “Legions and fleets,” he reminded him, “are not such sure bulwarks
of Imperial power as a numerous family. As for friends, time, altered fortunes,
perhaps their passions or their errors, may weaken, may change, may even destroy,
their affection. A man’s own race can never be dissociated from him, least of
all with Princes, whose prosperity is shared by others, while their reverses
touch but their nearest kin. Even between brothers there can be no lasting affection,
except the father sets the example.” Vespasian, delighted with the brotherly
affection of Titus rather than reconciled to Domitian, bade his son be of good
cheer, and aggrandise the State by war and deeds of arms. He would himself provide
for the interests of peace, and for the welfare of his family. He then had some
of the swiftest vessels laden with corn, and committed them to the perils of
the still stormy sea. Rome indeed was in the very critical position of not having
more than ten days’ consumption in the granaries, when the supplies from Vespasian
arrived.
53. The work of rebuilding the Capitol was assigned by him to Lucius Vestinius,
a man of the Equestrian order, who, however, for high character and reputation
ranked among the nobles. The soothsayers whom he assembled directed that the
remains of the old shrine should be removed to the marshes, and the new temple
raised on the original site. The Gods, they said, forbade the old form to be
changed. On the 21st of June, beneath a cloudless sky, the entire space devoted
to the sacred enclosure was encompassed with chaplets and garlands. Soldiers,
who bore auspicious names, entered the precincts with sacred boughs. Then the
vestal virgins, with a troop of boys and girls, whose fathers and mothers were
still living, sprinkled the whole space with water drawn from the fountains
and rivers. After this, Helvidius Priscus, the praetor, first purified the spot
with the usual sacrifice of a sow, a sheep, and a bull, and duly placed the
entrails on turf; then, in terms dictated by Publius Aelianus, the high-priest,
besought Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, and the tutelary deities of the place, to prosper
the undertaking, and to lend their divine help to raise the abodes which the
piety of men had founded for them. He then touched the wreaths, which were wound
round the foundation stone and entwined with the ropes, while at the same moment
all the other magistrates of the State, the Priests, the Senators, the Knights,
and a number of the citizens, with zeal and joy uniting their efforts, dragged
the huge stone along. Contributions of gold and silver and virgin ores, never
smelted in the furnace, but still in their natural state, were showered on the
foundations. The soothsayers had previously directed that no stone or gold which
had been intended for any other purpose should profane the work. Additional
height was given to the structure; this was the only variation which religion
would permit, and the one feature which had been thought wanting in the splendour
of the old temple.
54. Meanwhile the tidings of the death of Vitellius, spreading through Gaul
and Germany, had caused a second war. Civilis had thrown aside all disguise,
and was now openly assailing the Roman power, while the legions of Vitellius
preferred even a foreign yoke to the rule of Vespasian. Gaul had gathered fresh
courage from the belief that the fortunes of our armies had been everywhere
disastrous; for a report was rife that our winter camps in Moesia and Pannonia
were hemmed in by the Sarmatians and Dacians. Rumours equally false were circulated
respecting Britain. Above all, the conflagration of the Capitol had made them
believe that the end of the Roman Empire was at hand. The Gauls, they remembered,
had captured the city in former days, but, as the abode of Jupiter was uninjured,
the Empire had survived; whereas now the Druids declared, with the prophetic
utterances of an idle superstition, that this fatal conflagration was a sign
of the anger of heaven, and portended universal empire for the Transalpine nations.
A rumour had also gone forth that the chiefs of Gaul, whom Otho had sent against
Vitellius, had, before their departure, bound themselves by a compact not to
fall the cause of freedom, should the power of Rome be broken by a continuous
succession of civil wars and internal calamities.
55. Before the murder of Flaccus Hordeonius nothing had come out by which
any conspiracy could be discovered. After his death, messengers passed to and
fro between Civilis and Classicus, commander of the cavalry of the Treveri.
Classicus was first among his countrymen in rank and wealth; he was of a royal
house, of a race distinguished both in peace and war, and he himself claimed
to be by family tradition the foe rather than the ally of the Romans. Julius
Tutor and Julius Sabinus joined him in his schemes. One was a Trever, the other
a Lingon. Tutor had been made by Vitellius guardian of the banks of the Rhine.
Sabinus, over and above his natural vanity, was inflamed with the pride of an
imaginary descent, for he asserted that his great-grandmother had, by her personal
charms, attracted the admiration of the divine Julius, when he was campaigning
in Gaul. These two men held secret conferences to sound the views of the rest
of their countrymen, and when they had secured as accomplices such as they thought
suitable for their purpose, they met together in a private house in the Colonia
Agrippinensis; for the State in its public policy was strongly opposed to all
such attempts. Some, however, of the Ubii and Tungri were present but the Treveri
and Lingones had the greatest weight in the matter. Nor could they endure the
delay of deliberation; they rivalled each other in vehement assertions that
the Romans were in a frenzy of discord, that their legions had been cut to pieces,
that Italy was laid waste, that Rome itself was at that very moment undergoing
capture, while all her armies were occupied by wars of their own. If they were
but to secure the passes of the Alps with bodies of troops, Gaul, with her own
freedom firmly established, might look about her, and fix the limits of her
dominion.
56. These views were no sooner stated than approved. As to the survivors
of the Vitellianist army, they doubted what to do; many voted for putting to
death men so turbulent and faithless, stained too with the blood of their generals.
Still the policy of mercy prevailed. To cut off all hope of quarter might provoke
an obstinate resistance. It would be better to draw them into friendly union.
If only the legates of the legions were put to death, the remaining multitude,
moved by the consciousness of guilt and the hope of escape, would readily join
their cause.
57. Lured on by the treacherous representations of the Gauls, Vocula marched
against the enemy. He was near the Old Camp, when Classicus and Tutor, who had
gone on in advance under the pretence of reconnoitring, concluded an agreement
with the German chiefs. They then for the first time separated themselves from
the legions, and formed a camp of their own, with a separate line of entrenchment,
while Vocula protested that the power of Rome was not so utterly shaken by civil
war as to have become contemptible even to Treveri and Lingones. “There are
still,” he said, “faithful provinces, victorious armies, the fortune of the
Empire, and avenging Gods. Thus it was that Sacrovir and the Aedui in former
days, Vindex and the Gauls in more recent times, were crushed in a single battle.
The breakers of treaties may look for the vengeance of the same Deities, and
the same doom. Julius and Augustus understood far better the character of the
people. Galba’s policy and the diminution of their tribute have inspired them
with hostile feelings. They are now enemies, because their yoke is easy; when
they have been plundered and stripped, they will be friends.” After uttering
this defiance, finding that Classicus and Tutor persisted in their treachery,
he changed his line of march, and retired to Novesium. The Gauls encamped at
a distance of two miles, and plied with bribes the centurions and soldiers who
visited them there, striving to make a Roman army commit the unheard of baseness
of swearing allegiance to foreigners, and pledge itself to the perpetration
of this atrocious crime by murdering or imprisoning its officers. Vocula, though
many persons advised him to escape, thought it best to be bold, and, summoning
an assembly, spoke as follows:
58. “Never, when I have addressed you, have I felt more anxious for your
welfare, never more indifferent about my own. Of the destruction that threatens
me I can hear with cheerfulness; and amid so many evils I look forward to death
as the end of my sufferings. For you I feel shame and compassion. Against you
indeed no hostile ranks are gathering. That would be but the lawful course of
war, and the right which an enemy may claim. But Classicus hopes to wage with
your strength his war against Rome, and proudly offers to your allegiance an
empire of Gaul. Though our fortune and courage have for the moment failed us,
have we so utterly forgotten the old memories of those many times when the legions
of Rome resolved to perish but not to be driven from their post? Often have
our allies endured to see their cities destroyed, and with their wives and children
to die in the flames, with only this reward in their death, the glory of untarnished
loyalty. At this very moment our legions at the Old Camp are suffering the horrors
of famine and of siege, and cannot be shaken by threats or by promises. We,
besides our arms, our numbers, and the singular strength of our fortifications,
have corn and supplies sufficient for a campaign however protracted. We had
lately money enough even to furnish a donative; and, whether you choose to refer
the bounty to Vitellius or Vespasian, it was at any rate from a Roman Emperor
that you received it. If you, who have been victorious in so many campaigns,
who have so often routed the enemy at Gelduba and at the Old Camp, yet shrink
from battle, this indeed is an unworthy fear. Still you have an entrenched camp;
you have fortifications and the means of prolonging the war, till succouring
armies pour in from the neighbouring provinces. It may be that I do not satisfy
you; you may fall back on other legates or tribunes, on some centurion, even
on some common soldier. Let not this monstrous news go forth to the whole world,
that with you in their train Civilis and Classicus are about to invade Italy.
Should the Germans and the Gauls lead you to the walls of the capital, will
you lift up arms against your Country? My soul shudders at the imagination of
so horrible a crime. Will you mount guard for Tutor, the Trever? Shall a Batavian
give the signal for battle? Will you serve as recruits in the German battalions?
What will be the issue of your wickedness when the Roman legions are marshalled
against you? Will you be a second time deserters, a second time traitors, and
brave the anger of heaven while you waver between your old and your new allegiance?
I implore and entreat thee, O Jupiter, supremely good and great, to whom through
eight hundred and twenty years we have paid the honours of so many triumphs,
and thou, Quirinus, father of Rome, that, if it be not your pleasure that this
camp should be preserved pure and inviolate under my command, you will at least
not suffer it to be polluted and defiled by a Tutor and a Classicus. Grant that
the soldiers of Rome may either be innocent of crime, or at least experience
a repentance speedy and without remorse.”
59. They received his speech with feelings that varied between hope, fear,
and shame. Vocula then left them, and was preparing to put an end to his life,
when his freedmen and slaves prevented him from anticipating by his own act
a most miserable death. Classicus despatched one Aemilius Longinus, a deserter
from the first legion, and speedily accomplished the murder. With respect to
the two legates, Herennius and Numisius, it was thought enough to put them in
chains. Classicus then assumed the insignia of Roman Imperial power, and entered
the camp. Hardened though he was to every sort of crime, he could only find
words enough to go through the form of oath. All who were present swore allegiance
to the empire of Gaul. He distinguished the murderer of Vocula by high promotion,
and the others by rewards proportioned to their services in crime.
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