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Then turning to his wife, he
besought her "that in tenderness to his memory, in tenderness to their
common children, she would banish her haughty spirit, yield to
her hostile fortune, nor, upon her return to Rome, by an impotent
competition for ruling, irritate those who were masters of rule. " So
much openly, and more in secret; whence he was believed to have warned
her of guile and danger from Tiberius. Soon after he expired, to the
heavy sorrow of the province, and of all the neighbouring countries;
insomuch that remote nations and foreign kings were mourners: such
had been his complacency to our confederates; such his humanity to his
enemies! Alike venerable he was, whether you saw him or heard him; and
without ever departing from the grave port and dignity of his sublime
rank, he yet lived destitute of arrogance and untouched by envy.

The funeral, which was performed without exterior pomp or a procession
of images, drew its solemnity from the loud praises and amiable memory
of his virtues. There were those who from his loveliness, his age,
his manner of dying, and even from the proximity of places where both
departed, compared him in the circumstances of his fate, to Great
Alexander: "Each of a graceful person, each of illustrious descent;
in years neither much exceeding thirty; both victims to the malice and
machinations of their own people, in the midst of foreign nations: but
Germanicus gentle towards his friends; his pleasures moderate; confined
to one wife; all his children by one bed; nor less a warrior, though not
so rash, and however hindered from a final reduction of Germany, broken
by him in so many victories, and ready for the yoke: so that had he been
sole arbiter of things, had he acted with the sovereignty and title of
royalty, he had easier overtaken him in the glory of conquests, as he
surpassed him in clemency, in moderation, and in other virtues. " His
body, before its commitment to the pile, was exhibited naked in the
Forum of Antioch, the place where the pile was erected: whether it
bore the marks of poison, remained undecided: for, people as they were
divided in their affections, as they pitied Germanicus, and presumed the
guilt of Piso, or were partial to him, gave opposite accounts.

It was next debated amongst the legates of the legions and the other
senators there, to whom should be committed the administration of Syria:
and after the faint effort of others, it was long disputed between
Vibius Marsus and Cneius Sentius: Marsus at last yielded to Sentius, the
older man and the more vehement competitor. By him one Martina, infamous
in that province for practices in poisoning, and a close confidant of
Plancina, was sent to Rome, at the suit of Vitellius, Veranius, and
others, who were preparing criminal articles against Piso and Plancina,
as against persons evidently guilty.

Agrippina, though overwhelmed with sorrow, and her body indisposed,
yet impatient of all delays to her revenge, embarked with the ashes of
Germanicus, and her children; attended with universal commiseration,
"that a lady, in quality a princess, wont to be beheld in her late
splendid wedlock with applauses and adorations, was now seen bearing in
her bosom her husband's funeral urn, uncertain of vengeance for him and
fearful for herself; unfortunate in her fruitfulness, and from so many
children obnoxious to so many blows of fortune. " Piso the while was
overtaken at the Isle of Coös by a message, "that Germanicus was
deceased," and received it intemperately, slew victims and repaired with
thanksgiving to the temples: and yet, however immoderate and undisguised
was his joy, more arrogant and insulting proved that of Plancina, who
immediately threw off her mourning, which for the death of a sister she
wore, and assumed a dress adapted to gaiety and gladness.

About him flocked the Centurions with officious representations, "that
upon him particularly were bent the affections and zeal of the legions,
and he should proceed to resume the province, at first injuriously taken
from him and now destitute of a governor. " As he therefore consulted
what he had best pursue, his son Marcus Piso advised "a speedy journey
to Rome: hitherto," he said, "nothing past expiation was committed; nor
were impotent suspicions to be dreaded; nor the idle blazonings of fame:
his variance and contention with Germanicus was perhaps subject to hate
and aversion, but to no prosecution or penalty; and, by bereaving him of
the province, his enemies were gratified: but if he returned thither, as
Sentius would certainly oppose him with arms, a civil war would thence
be actually begun: neither would the Centurions and soldiers persist in
his party; men with whom the recent memory of their late commander, and
an inveterate love to the Caesarian general, were still prevalent. "

Domitius Celer, one in intimate credit with Piso, argued on the
contrary, "that the present event must by all means be improved; it was
Piso and not Sentius who had commission to govern Syria; upon him, were
conferred the jurisdiction of Praetor, and the badges of magistracy, and
with him the legions were instructed: so that if acts of hostility were
by his opponents attempted, with how much better warrant could he avow
assuming arms in his own right and defence, who was thus vested with the
authority of general, and acted under special orders from the Emperor.
Rumours too were to be neglected, and left to perish with time: in
truth to the sallies and violence of recent hate the innocent were often
unequal: but were he once possessed of the army, and had well augmented
his forces, many things, not to be foreseen, would from fortune derive
success.
Are we then preposterously hastening to arrive at Rome with the
ashes of Germanicus, that you may there fall, unheard and undefended, a
victim to the wailings of Agrippina, a prey to the passionate populace
governed by the first impressions of rumour? Livia, it is true, is your
confederate; Tiberius is your friend; but both secretly: and indeed none
will more pompously bewail the violent fate of Germanicus, than such as
for it do most sincerely rejoice. "

Piso of himself prompt to violent pursuits, was with no great labour
persuaded into this opinion, and, in a letter transmitted to Tiberius,
accused Germanicus "of luxury and pride: that for himself, he had been
expulsed, to leave room for dangerous designs against the State, and now
resumed, with his former faith and loyalty, the care of the army. " In
the meantime he put Domitius on board a galley, and ordered him to avoid
appearing upon the coasts or amongst the isles, but, through the
main sea, to sail to Syria. The deserters, who from all quarters were
flocking to him in crowds, he formed into companies, and armed all the
retainers to the camp; then sailing over to the continent, intercepted
a regiment of recruits, upon their march into Syria; and wrote to the
small kings of Cilicia to assist him with present succours: nor was
the younger Piso slow in prosecuting all the measures of war, though to
adventure a war had been against his sentiments and advice.

As they coasted Lycia and Pamphilia, they encountered the ships which
carried Agrippina, with hostile spirit on each side, and each at first
prepared for combat; but as equal dread of one another possessed
both, proceeded not further than mutual contumelies. Vibius Marsus
particularly summoned Piso, as a criminal, to Rome, there to make his
defence: he answered with derision "that when the Praetor, who was to
sit upon poisonings, had assigned a day to the accusers and the accused,
he would attend. " Domitius, the while, landing at Laodicea, a city of
Syria, would have proceeded to the winter quarters of the sixth legion,
which he believed to be the most prone to engage in novel attempts, but
was prevented by Pacuvius, its commander. Sentius represented this by
letter to Piso, and warned him, "at his peril to infect the camp by
ministers of corruption; or to assail the province of war;" and drew
into a body such as he knew loved Germanicus, or such as were averse to
his foes: upon them he inculcated with much ardour, that Piso was with
open arms attacking the majesty of the Prince, and invading the Roman
State; and then marched at the head of a puissant body, equipped for
battle and resolute to engage.

Neither failed Piso, though his enterprises had thus far miscarried, to
apply the securest remedies to his present perplexities; and therefore
seized a castle of Cilicia strongly fortified, its name Celendris: for,
to the auxiliary Cilicians, sent him by the petty kings, he had joined
his body of deserters, as also the recruits lately intercepted, with all
his own and Plancina's slaves; and thus in number and bulk had of
the whole composed a legion. To them he thus harangued: "I who am the
lieutenant of Caesar, am yet violently excluded from the province which
to me Caesar has committed: not excluded by the legions (for by their
invitation I am arrived), but by Sentius, who thus disguises under
feigned crimes against me, his own animosity and personal hate: but with
confidence you may stand in battle, where the opposite army, upon the
sight of Piso, a commander lately by themselves styled their _Father_,
will certainly refuse to fight; they know too, that were right to decide
it, I am the stronger; and of no mean puissance in a trial at arms. "
He then arrayed his men without the fortifications, on a hill steep and
craggy, for all the rest was begirt by the sea: against them stood the
veterans regularly embattled, and supported with a body of reserve;
so that here appeared the force of men, there only the terror and
stubbornness of situation. On Piso's side was no spirit, nor hope,
nor even weapons save those of rustics, for instant necessity hastily
acquired. As soon as they came to blows, the issue was no longer
doubtful than while the Roman cohorts struggled up the steep: the
Cilicians then fled, and shut themselves up in the castle.

Piso having the while attempted in vain to storm the fleet, which rode
at a small distance, as soon as he returned, presented himself upon the
walls; where, by a succession of passionate complaints and entreaties,
now bemoaning in agonies the bitterness of his lot, then calling and
cajolling every particular soldier by his name, and by rewards tempting
all, he laboured to excite a sedition; and thus much had already
effected, that the Eagle-bearer of the sixth legion revolted to him with
his Eagle. This alarmed Sentius, and instantly he commanded the cornets
and trumpets to sound, a mound to be raised, the ladders placed, and
the bravest men to mount, and others to pour from the engines volleys of
darts and stones, and flaming torches.