No More Learning

About five miles down the
road their line was surprised by an ambush of Germans. The bravest
fell on the spot; many were cut down in flight; the rest got back to
camp. Civilis, indeed, complained that the Germans had criminally
broken faith and rebuked them for it. There is no evidence to show
whether this was a pretence or whether he was really unable to
restrain his savage troops. The camp was plundered and burnt, and all
who had survived the battle were devoured by the flames.

When Civilis first took up arms against Rome he made a vow, such 61
as is common with barbarians, to let his ruddled hair[399] grow wild;
now that he had at last accomplished the destruction of the legions he
had it cut. It is said also that he put up some of the prisoners for
his little son to shoot in sport with javelins and arrows. However
that may be, he did not himself swear allegiance to All Gaul, nor did
he force any of the Batavi to do so. He felt that he could rely on the
strength of the Germans, and that if any quarrel arose with the Gauls
about the empire, his fame would give him an advantage. Munius
Lupercus, one of the Roman commanding-officers, was sent among other
presents to Veleda, a virgin of the Bructeran tribe who wielded a
wide-spread authority. [400] It is an ancient custom in Germany to
credit a number of women with prophetic powers, and with the growth of
superstition these develop into goddesses. At this moment Veleda's
influence was at its height, for she had prophesied the success of the
Germans and the destruction of the Roman army. [401] However, Lupercus
was killed on the journey. A few of the centurions and officers who
had been born in Gaul were detained as a security for good faith. The
winter camps of the legions and of the auxiliary infantry and cavalry
were all dismantled and burnt, with the sole exception of those at
Mainz and Vindonissa.
[402]

The Sixteenth legion and the auxiliary troops who had surrendered 62
with it now received orders to migrate from their quarters at
Novaesium to Trier, and a date was fixed by which they had to leave
their camp. They spent the meantime brooding on various anxieties, the
cowards all shuddering at the precedent of the massacre at Vetera, the
better sort covered with shame at their disgrace. 'What sort of a
march would this be? Whom would they have to lead them? Everything
would be decided by the will of those into whose hands they had put
their lives. ' Others, again, were quite indifferent to the disgrace,
and simply stowed all their money and most cherished possessions about
their persons, while many got their armour ready and buckled on their
swords, as if for battle. While they were still busy with these
preparations the hour struck for their departure, and it proved more
bitter than they had expected. Inside the trenches their disgrace was
not so noticeable. The open country and the light of day revealed
their depth of shame. The emperors' medallions had been torn down[403]
and their standards desecrated, while Gallic ensigns glittered all
around them. They marched in silence, like a long funeral procession,
led by Claudius Sanctus,[404] a man whose sinister appearance--he had
lost one eye--was only surpassed by his weakness of intellect. Their
disgrace was doubled when they were joined by the First legion, who
had left their camp at Bonn. The famous news of their capture had
spread, and all the people who shortly before had trembled at the very
name of Rome, now came flocking out from fields and houses, and
scattered far and wide in transports of joy at this unwonted sight.
Their insulting glee was too much for 'The Picenum Horse'. [405]
Defying all Sanctus' threats and promises, they turned off to Mainz,
and coming by chance upon Longinus, the man who killed Vocula, they
slew him with a shower of javelins and thus made a beginning of future
amends. The legions, without changing their route, came and camped
before the walls of Trier.