The Works of Tacitus
tr. by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb
[1864-1877]
Tacitus: Annals Book 3 [40]
40. That same year, some states of Gaul, under the pressure of heavy debts,
attempted a revolt. Its most active instigators were Julius Florus among the
Treveri and Julius Sacrovir among the Aedui. Both could show noble birth and
signal services rendered by ancestors, for which Roman citizenship had formerly
been granted them, when the gift was rare and a recompense only of merit. In
secret conferences to which the fiercest spirits were admitted, or any to whom
poverty or the fear of guilt was an irresistible stimulus to crime, they arranged
that Florus was to rouse the Belgae, Sacrovir the Gauls nearer home. These men
accordingly talked sedition before small gatherings and popular assemblies about
the perpetual tributes, the oppressive usury, the cruelty and arrogance of their
governors, hinting too that there was disaffection among our soldiers, since
they had heard of the murder of Germanicus. “It was,” they said, “a grand opportunity
for the recovery of freedom, if only they would contrast their own vigour with
the exhaustion of Italy, the unwarlike character of the city populace, and the
utter weakness of Rome’s armies in all but their foreign element.”
41. Scarcely a single community was untouched by the germs of this commotion.
First however in actual revolt were the Andecavi and Turoni. Of these the former
were put down by an officer, Acilius Aviola, who had summoned a cohort which
was on garrison duty at Lugdunum. The Turoni were quelled by some legionary
troops sent by Visellius Varro who commanded in Lower Germany, and led by the
same Aviola and some Gallic chieftains who brought aid, in order that they might
disguise their disaffection and exhibit it at a better opportunity. Sacrovir
too was conspicuous, with head uncovered, cheering on his men to fight for Rome,
to display, as he said, his valour. But the prisoners asserted that he sought
recognition that he might not be a mark for missiles. Tiberius when consulted
on the matter disdained the information, and fostered the war by his irresolution.
42. Florus meanwhile followed up his designs and tried to induce a squadron
of cavalry levied among the Treveri, trained in our service and discipline,
to begin hostilities by a massacre of the Roman traders. He corrupted a few
of the men, but the majority were steadfast in their allegiance. A host however
of debtors and dependents took up arms, and they were on their way to the forest
passes known as the Arduenna, when they were stopped by legions which Visellius
and Silius had sent from their respective armies, by opposite routes, to meet
them. Julius Indus from the same state, who was at feud with Florus and therefore
particularly eager to render us a service, was sent on in advance with a picked
force, and dispersed the undisciplined rabble. Florus after eluding the conquerors
by hiding himself in one place after another, at last when he saw some soldiers
who had barred every possible escape, fell by his own hand. Such was the end
of the rebellion of the Treveri.
43. A more formidable movement broke out among the Aedui, proportioned to
the greater wealth of the state and the distance of the force which should repress
it. Sacrovir with some armed cohorts had made himself master of Augustodunum,
the capital of the tribe, with the noblest youth of Gaul, there devoting themselves
to a liberal education, and with such hostages he proposed to unite in his cause
their parents and kinsfolk. He also distributed among the youth arms which he
had had secretly manufactured. There were forty thousand, one fifth armed like
our legionaries; the rest had spears and knives and other weapons used in the
chase. In addition were some slaves who were being trained for gladiators, clad
after the national fashion in a complete covering of steel. They were called
crupellarii, and though they were ill-adapted for inflicting wounds, they were
impenetrable to them. This army was continually increased, not yet by any open
combination of the neighbouring states, but by zealous individual enthusiasm,
as well as by strife between the Roman generals, each of whom claimed the war
for himself. Varro after a while, as he was infirm and aged, yielded to Silius
who was in his prime.
44. At Rome meanwhile people said that it was not only the Treveri and Aedui
who had revolted, but sixty-four states of Gaul with the Germans in alliance,
while Spain too was disaffected; anything in fact was believed, with rumour’s
usual exaggeration. All good men were saddened by anxiety for the country, but
many in their loathing of the present system and eagerness for change, rejoiced
at their very perils and exclaimed against Tiberius for giving attention amid
such political convulsions to the calumnies of informers. “Was Sacrovir too,”
they asked, “to be charged with treason before the Senate? We have at last found
men to check those murderous missives by the sword. Even war is a good exchange
for a miserable peace.” Tiberius all the more studiously assumed an air of unconcern.
He changed neither his residence nor his look, but kept up his usual demeanour
during the whole time, either from the profoundness of his reserve; or was it
that he had convinced himself that the events were unimportant and much more
insignificant than the rumours represented?
45. Silius meantime was advancing with two legions, and having sent forward
some auxiliary troops was ravaging those villages of the Sequani, which, situated
on the border, adjoin the Aedui, and were associated with them in arms. He then
pushed on by forced marches to Augustodunum, his standard-bearers vying in zeal,
and even the privates loudly protesting against any halt for their usual rest
or during the hours of night. “Only,” they said, “let us have the foe face to
face; that will be enough for victory.” Twelve miles from Augustodunum they
saw before them Sacrovir and his army in an open plain. His men in armour he
had posted in the van, his light infantry on the wings, and the half-armed in
the rear. He himself rode amid the foremost ranks on a splendid charger, reminding
them of the ancient glories of the Gauls, of the disasters they had inflicted
on the Romans, how grand would be the freedom of the victorious, how more intolerable
than ever the slavery of a second conquest.
46. His words were brief and heard without exultation. For now the legions
in battle array were advancing, and the rabble of townsfolk who knew nothing
of war had their faculties of sight and hearing quite paralysed. Silius, on
the one hand, though confident hope took away any need for encouragement, exclaimed
again and again that it was a shame to the conquerors of Germany to have to
be led against Gauls, as against an enemy. “Only the other day the rebel Turoni
had been discomfited by a single cohort, the Treveri by one cavalry squadron,
the Sequani by a few companies of this very army. Prove to these Aedui once
for all that the more they abound in wealth and luxury, the more unwarlike are
they, but spare them when they flee.” Then there was a deafening cheer; the
cavalry threw itself on the flanks, and the infantry charged the van. On the
wings there was but a brief resistance. The men in mail were somewhat of an
obstacle, as the iron plates did not yield to javelins or swords; but our men,
snatching up hatchets and pickaxes, hacked at their bodies and their armour
as if they were battering a wall. Some beat down the unwieldy mass with pikes
and forked poles, and they were left lying on the ground, without an effort
to rise, like dead men. Sacrovir with his most trustworthy followers hurried
first to Augustodunum and then, from fear of being surrendered, to an adjacent
country house. There by his own hand he fell, and his comrades by mutually inflicted
wounds. The house was fired over their heads, and with it they were all consumed.
47. Then at last Tiberius informed the Senate by letter of the beginning
and completion of the war, without either taking away from or adding to the
truth, but ascribing the success to the loyalty and courage of his generals,
and to his own policy. He also gave the reasons why neither he himself nor Drusus
had gone to the war; he magnified the greatness of the empire, and said it would
be undignified for emperors, whenever there was a commotion in one or two states,
to quit the capital, the centre of all government. Now, as he was not influenced
by fear, he would go to examine and settle matters. The Senate decreed vows
for his safe return, with thanksgivings and other appropriate ceremonies. Cornelius
Dolabella alone, in endeavouring to outdo the other Senators, went the length
of a preposterous flattery by proposing that he should enter Rome from Campania
with an ovation. Thereupon came a letter from the emperor, declaring that he
was not so destitute of renown as after having subdued the most savage nations
and received or refused so many triumphs in his youth, to covet now that he
was old an unmeaning honour for a tour in the neighbourhood of Rome.
48. About the same time he requested the Senate to let the death of Sulpicius
Quirinus be celebrated with a public funeral. With the old patrician family
of the Sulpicii this Quirinus, who was born in the town of Lanuvium, was quite
unconnected. An indefatigable soldier, he had by his zealous services won the
consulship under the Divine Augustus, and subsequently the honours of a triumph
for having stormed some fortresses of the Homonadenses in Cilicia. He was also
appointed adviser to Caius Caesar in the government of Armenia, and had likewise
paid court to Tiberius, who was then at Rhodes. The emperor now made all this
known to the Senate, and extolled the good offices of Quirinus to himself, while
he censured Marcus Lollius, whom he charged with encouraging Caius Caesar in
his perverse and quarrelsome behaviour. But people generally had no pleasure
in the memory of Quirinus, because of the perils he had brought, as I have related,
on Lepida, and the meanness and dangerous power of his last years.
49. At the close of the year, Caius Lutorius Priscus, a Roman knight, who,
after writing a popular poem bewailing the death of Germanicus, had received
a reward in money from the emperor, was fastened on by an informer, and charged
with having composed another during the illness of Drusus, which, in the event
of the prince’s death, might be published with even greater profit to himself.
He had in his vanity read it in the house of Publius Petronius before Vitellia,
Petronius’s mother-in-law, and several ladies of rank. As soon as the accuser
appeared, all but Vitellia were frightened into giving evidence. She alone swore
that she had heard not a word. But those who criminated him fatally were rather
believed, and on the motion of Haterius Agrippa, the consul-elect, the last
penalty was invoked on the accused.
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