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Part of them lay along the entrenchments; many were roaming abroad; and
both were slain with the keener vengeance, as they were upbraided "for
fugitives and traitors, who bore arms to establish servitude over their
country and themselves. "

Next day Sabinus drew up his army in view of the enemy, on ground equal
to both; to try, if elated with their success by night, they would
venture a battle: and, when they still kept within the fortress, or
on the cluster of hills, he began to begird them with a siege; and
strengthening his old lines and adding new, enclosed a circuit of four
miles. Then to deprive them of water and forage, he straitened his
entrenchment by degrees, and hemmed them in still closer. A bulwark
was also raised, whence the enemy now within throw, were annoyed with
discharges of stones, darts, and fire. But nothing aggrieved them so
vehemently as thirst, whilst only a single fountain remained amongst a
huge multitude of armed men and families: their horses too and cattle,
penned up with the people, after the barbarous manner of the country,
perished for want of provender: amongst the carcasses of beasts lay
those of men; some dead of thirst, some of their wounds; a noisome
mixture of misery and death; all was foul and tainted with putrefaction,
stench, and filthy contamination. To these distresses also accrued
another, and of all calamities the most consummate, the calamity of
discord: some were disposed to surrender; others proposed present death,
and to fall upon one another. There were some too who advised a sally,
and to die avenging their deaths. Nor were these last mean men, though
dissenting from the rest.

But there was one of their leaders, his name Dinis, a man stricken in
years, who, by long experience, acquainted with the power and clemency
of the Romans, argued, "that they must lay down their arms, the same
being the sole cure for their pressing calamities;" and was the first
who submitted, with his wife and children to the conqueror. There
followed him all that were weak through sex or age, and such as had a
greater passion for life than glory. The young men were parted between
Tarsa and Turesis; both determined to fall with liberty: but Tarsa
declared earnestly "for instant death; and that by it all hopes and
fears were at once to be extinguished;" and setting an example, buried
his sword in his breast. Nor were there wanting some who despatched
themselves the same way. Turesis and his band stayed for night: of
which our General was aware. The guards were therefore strengthened
with extraordinary reinforcements: and now with the night, darkness
prevailed, its horror heightened by outrageous rain; and the enemy with
tumultuous shouts, and by turns with vast silence, alarmed and puzzled
the besiegers. Sabinus therefore going round the camp, warned the
soldiers, "that they should not be misguided by the deceitful voice of
uproar, nor trust to a feigned calm, and thence open an advantage to the
enemy, who by these wiles sought it; but keep immovably to their several
posts; nor throw their darts at random.
"

Just then came the Barbarians, pouring in distinct droves: here, with
stones, with wooden javelins hardened in the fire, and with the broken
limbs of trees, they battered the palisade: there with hurdles, faggots
and dead bodies, they filled the trench: by others, bridges and ladders,
both before framed, were planted against the battlements; these they
violently grappled and tore, and struggled hand to hand with those who
opposed them. The Romans, on the other side, beat them back with their
bucklers, drove them down with darts, and hurled upon them great mural
stakes and heaps of stones. On both sides were powerful stimulations: on
ours the hopes of victory almost gained, if we persisted; and thence the
more glaring infamy, if we recoiled: on theirs, the last struggle for
their life; most of them, too, inspired with the affecting presence of
their mothers and wives, and made desperate by their dolorous wailings.
The night was an advantage to the cowardly and the brave; by it, the
former became more resolute; by it, the latter hid their fear: blows
were dealt, the striker knew not upon whom; and wounds received, the
wounded knew not whence: such was the utter indistinction of friend and
foe. To heighten the general jumble and blind confusion, the echo from
the cavities of the mountain represented to the Romans the shouts of the
enemy as behind them: hence in some places they deserted their lines, as
believing them already broken and entered: and yet such of the enemy,
as broke through, were very few. All the rest, their most resolute
champions being wounded or slain, were at the returning light driven
back to their fort; where they were at length forced to surrender; as
did the places circumjacent of their own accord. The remainder could
then be neither forced nor famished; as they were protected by a furious
winter, always sudden about Mount Haemus.

At Rome, discord shook the Prince's family: and, to begin the series of
destruction, which was to end in Agrippina, Claudia Pulchra her cousin
was accused; Domitius Afer the accuser. This man, just out of the
Praetorship, in estimation small, but hasty to signalise himself by
some notable exploit however heinous, alleged against her the "crimes
of prostitution, of adultery with Furnius, of magical execrations
and poison prepared against the life of the Emperor. " Agrippina ever
vehement, and then in a flame for the peril of her kinswoman, flew to
Tiberius, and by chance found him sacrificing to the Emperor his father.
Having got this handle for upbraiding him, she told him "that it ill
became the same man to slay victims to the deified Augustus and to
persecute his children: his divine spirit was not transfused into dumb
statues: the genuine images of Augustus were the living descendants
from his celestial blood: she herself was one; one sensible of impending
danger, and now in the mournful state of a supplicant. In vain were
foreign crimes pretended against Pulchra; when the only cause of her
concerted overthrow was her affection for Agrippina, foolishly carried
even to adoration; forgetful as she was of the fate of Sosia, a
condemned sufferer for the same fault. " All these bitter words drew
small answer from the dark breast of Tiberius: he rebuked her by quoting
a Greek verse; "That she was therefore aggrieved, because she did not
reign:" Pulchra and Furnius were condemned. Afer, having thus displayed
his genius, and gained a declaration from Tiberius, pronouncing him
_eloquent in his own independent right_, was ranked with the most
celebrated orators: afterwards in prosecuting accusations, or in
protecting the accused, he flourished more in the fame of eloquence than
in that of uprightness: however, old age eminently sunk the credit and
vigour of his eloquence; while, with parts decayed, he still retained
a passion for haranguing. [Footnote: Dum fessa mente, retinet silentii
inpatientiam. ]

Agrippina still fostering her wrath, and seized too with a bodily
disorder, received the Emperor, come purposely to see her, with
many tears and long silence.