No More Learning

[263] i. e. he was crucified.


THE REVOLT OF CIVILIS AND THE BATAVI

The growing rumour of a reverse in Germany[264] had not as yet 12
caused any alarm in Rome. People alluded to the loss of armies, the
capture of the legions' winter quarters, the defection of the Gallic
provinces as matters of indifference. I must now go back and explain
the origin of this war, and of the widespread rebellion of foreign and
allied tribes which now broke into flame.

The Batavi were once a tribe of the Chatti,[265] living on the further
bank of the Rhine. But an outbreak of civil war had driven them across
the river, where they settled in a still unoccupied district on the
frontier of Gaul and also in the neighbouring island, enclosed on one
side by the ocean and on the other three sides by the Rhine. [266]
There they fared better than most tribes who ally themselves to a
stronger power. Their resources are still intact, and they have only
to contribute men and arms for the imperial army. [267] After a long
training in the German wars, they still further increased their
reputation in Britain, where their troops had been sent, commanded
according to an ancient custom by some of the noblest chiefs. There
still remained behind in their own country a picked troop of horsemen
with a peculiar knack of swimming, which enabled them to make a
practice[268] of crossing the Rhine with unbroken ranks without losing
control of their horses or their weapons.

Of their chieftains two outshone the rest. These were Julius 13
Paulus and Julius Civilis, both of royal stock. Paulus had been
executed by Fonteius Capito on a false charge of rebellion.
[269] On
the same occasion Civilis was sent in chains to Nero. Galba, however,
set him free, and under Vitellius he again ran great risk of his life,
when the army clamoured for his execution. [270] This gave him a motive
for hating Rome, and our misfortunes fed his hopes. He was, indeed,
far cleverer than most barbarians, and professed to be a second
Sertorius or Hannibal, because they all three had the same physical
defect. [271] He was afraid that if he openly rebelled against the
Roman people they would treat him as an enemy, and march on him at
once, so he pretended to be a keen supporter of Vespasian's party.
This much was true, that Antonius Primus had written instructing him
to divert the auxiliaries whom Vitellius had summoned, and to delay
the legions on the pretence of a rising in Germany. Moreover,
Hordeonius Flaccus[272] had given him the same advice in person, for
Flaccus was inclined to support Vespasian and anxious for the safety
of Rome, which was threatened with utter disaster, if the war were to
break out afresh and all these thousands of troops come pouring into
Italy.

Having thus made up his mind to rebel, Civilis concealed in the 14
meantime his ulterior design, and while intending to guide his
ultimate policy by future events, proceeded to initiate the rising as
follows. The young Batavians were by Vitellius' orders being pressed
for service, and this burden was being rendered even more irksome than
it need have been by the greed and depravity of the recruiting
officers. They took to enrolling elderly men and invalids so as to get
bribes for excusing them: or, as most of the Batavi are tall and
good-looking in their youth, they would seize the handsomest boys for
immoral purposes. This caused bad feeling; an agitation was organized,
and they were persuaded to refuse service. Accordingly, on the pretext
of giving a banquet, Civilis summoned the chief nobles and the most
determined of the tribesmen to a sacred grove. Then, when he saw them
excited by their revelry and the late hour of the night, he began to
speak of the glorious past of the Batavi and to enumerate the wrongs
they had suffered, the injustice and extortion and all the evils of
their slavery. 'We are no longer treated,' he said, 'as we used to be,
like allies, but like menials and slaves. Why, we are never even
visited by an imperial Governor[273]--irksome though the insolence of
his staff would be. We are given over to prefects and centurions; and
when these subordinates have had their fill of extortion and of
bloodshed, they promptly find some one to replace them, and then there
are new pockets to fill and new pretexts for plunder.